2012 Tristar Show - Part 1

This is going to the be the shorter of two posts that I'll be doing regarding the Tristar show. When I went, I didn't have much of a budget to work with, most of what we spent was for the autograph session and VIP package for Christmas. Anyways, my quest for Gypsy Queen was overriding all other purchases. Within 10 minutes I had found the one and only piece of un-opened Gypsy Queen in the entire building. It was a retail blaster and it was $40. Considering I hadn't seen one in months at a Target, and it was highly unlikely to find one again, I went ahead and bought it reluctantly. In hindsight, I shouldn't have, I managed 2 mini's that I needed and one SP for my second set. This blaster (unlike many I opened) was not loaded with a "hit" so I got a stack of base and insert duplicates for my $40, but so it goes.

Anyways, I did end up buying a few packs here and there and found a $1 box that had the auto you'll see below. I managed to cross off 3 of the bronze border cards from the set that I needed. I picked up 3 other SP's that I needed as well, and 3 more mini's from $.25 boxes. Anyways, from the packs and $1 boxes, here are the actual cards I ended up picking up:

I grabbed the Cedeno from the $1 bin because he spent a majority of his career with the Astros and I didn't have an auto of his yet. All three of the other cards were pack pulls, and are definitely for trade.

The one other item I spent a little bit of money on, was a package of the Tristar Hidden Treasures baseballs. I've always been intrigued by this set, as each package contains a signed baseball. The checklist isn't going to blow you away with awesome names, but there are decent names on there, some HOF'ers, some prospects and a fair number of names of guys who had OK but not GREAT careers. Anyways, since it won't fit on the scanner and I'm too tired/lazy this morning to take a picture and get it uploaded etc... I'll just tell you, my autograph ended up being Harold Baines. A good, possibly great (depending on who you're listening to) players who has an outside shot at the HOF as one of the first real pure DH guys in the game. Might be one I hold on to just in case he makes it, or if there's a Baines collector reading this who wants it, shoot me a line and I'm sure we can work out a trade.

Have a great Friday everyone... it's been a rough week for me and I'm ready for the weekend for sure...