Michigan Shop & Show Tour - Part 2

After we picked up the 1992 Fleer boxes the first day, we headed over to The Stadium in Bay City. 

This shop also does a lot of gaming.  The center of the shop is long tables usually occupied by tournament players.  But they do have an extensive inventory of sports singles.  You just have to ask for what you want and the employees will bring it out to you (and pick the cards for you).  While this is a bit cumbersome, it is understandable that they need to control their inventory.  They track each card in a computer database, so they can tell you instantly if they have the singles you're looking for.  They also have an online store.  There are some late 80's/early 90's stuff in binders and boxes off to one corner, as well as local team singles and higher end cards in several long display cases.  There are some binders that you can pick from as well that are sorted by star player or local Detroit team.

Our purchases from this shop were relatively light, but not insignificant.  Stuart had started me on a basketball set a year or two ago, 1991-92 Hoops.  It is only my third set of basketball cards.  I was down to just a couple cards on my wantlist, but I didn't realize that I only had Series One.  There was a whole other half of this set that I hadn't seen yet.  So I picked up a box of the second series here at the Stadium.

While the guy helping us was picking through their stock for Stuart, I had him check on some of my Priority page wants.  These are my top set killers that I am looking for over all others.  We managed to find one from that list.  It was the last Gypsy King from the 2012 Gypsy Queen set.  I'm not sure ol' Wasso actually existed - he may just be a character that some suit at Topps came up with.  If you google "Price Wasso", all you get is the cards.  Anyway, I'm glad to get him off that list.  Now if I could only find the last few framed blues and the rest of the mini blacks....

One of the other shops we hit was what I know as Rick's in Mason, MI.  It is actually called Extra Innings.  Rick's inventory is not as extensive as some, but he can find you what you want.  And is just a nice guy to talk cards and sports with.

The picture is from Google maps, so it isn't that great.  He is located near exit 66 on Route 127 near the Wendy's on Cedar Street.

The first items I found were several of my player collection guys in a very unusual item.  Sportscaster cards were advertised on TV and were similar to several different themed series in the same medium.  These oversize cards put large color photos on the front, and tons of facts and stats on the backs for every sport imaginable.  And Rick had a lot of them there.  You could get Joe Morgan along with Jai-Alai, and horse racing, and any other imaginable sport.

Found a few more singles from his dollar box and a few other places, and we were on our way.

Next post - the treasure trove that is the shop in Clio!