One through Ten Sportlots Edition

With my card pickups being few and far between lately, I decided to take a look back at some sweet deals that I have picked up from Sportlots over the years. Sportlots can be a great tool to find that weird last card you need for a set, an oddball card from a cereal or snack cake brand, a parallel from a random Pacific set from the 90’s, or a common card that you don’t feel like paying $2 shipped for on eBay. Most of the time when I am on that site, I am digging for a card from my childhood, a parallel I can't find elsewhere, a rookie of a player who popped into my head randomly, or something that will be added to one of my many weird player collections. So, here is my 1-10 best purchases from Sportlots (tax hasn’t been taken into account with these prices below because…whatever):

10. 1991 Stadium Club Eric Show #138 - Purchace price $.68 shipped

My Sportlots history says I purchased this on 11/25/2018. So, a Black Friday purchase for me! I never actually scanned this card until today. I re-sleeved and top-loaded it and tossed it in my “To be scanned” box, but never got around to it. I picked this card up because when I was a kid, I thought this card was some sort of short print because Show wasn’t in his uniform or on the field (most likely because my older cousins would put such nonsense in my head to try to fleece me in trades). Now I know it was just Stadium Club thinking outside the box. It’s still one of my favorite card photos I have ever seen. Also, RIP to Eric Show. 

9. 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Khris Davis Blue Refractor Auto RC /150 #BCP163 - Purchase price $8.00

This Khris Davis card purchase came after his career was pretty much done. I purchased this card on 12/12/21. Also, I purchased several other cards from this seller so $8 was not the total shipped price. You get the idea. I honestly felt like I was taking advantage of the guy at this price so I felt obligated to buy more from him. The whole time I was waiting for this to come in, I was praying that the seller top-loaded the card. It turns out that he did! It was very well-packaged. You will find out when you use Sportlots that some sellers will send you a less than Nrmt card, use the dirtiest sleeves and toploaders known to mankind and some cards will smell like cigarette smoke. Luckily, none of the 10 cards on this list fell into this category. For $8, I will take a card of a player who pretty much carried me to my only fantasy baseball title in 2018. For that, I will always be a fan of Khris Davis!

8. 2003/04 Fleer Ultra Darko Milicic Platinum Medallion RC /100 #172 - Purchase price $2.90 shipped

I realize that Mr. Milicic is a bust, but certainly his Platinum Medallion Rookie is worth more than $2.90.   Sportlots says I purchased this on 8/22/2018. I remember that day going over to my brothers house for cake and ice cream to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday. My oldest son, who was a little over 3 months old at the time sat in my lap and tried to eat my ice cream. I didn’t let him though because we had a huge list of do’s and don’ts from the hospital and with me being a new dad, I stuck to said list. Back to the card, Platinum Medallion cards are always top notch in my book (especially the earlier ones from the 90’s). This years Platinum Medallions honestly look less than stellar to me personally, but still something cool to add to my collection, or even possibly something that I could move for something I need.  

7. 2003 Upper Deck Finite Kliff Kingsbury Gold RC /50 #203 - Purchase price $1

I had made a multiple card purchase with the Kingsbury, but I purchased it for $1. This purchase was made 11/22/2018. Mere days before I would purchase the Eric Show card mentioned at #10 on this list. The reason I had been searching Kingsbury, wasn’t because he was going to be coaching the Cardinals, no, not at all. I initially heard rumors he was heading to USC to be their offensive coordinator and I thought this card might turn into a decent buy. Shortly after I bought this, he would resign from USC and get hired as head coach of the Cardinals. Wacky weird world of sports. 2 other cards were purchased with this Kingsbury card, but both came damaged. I was lucky that the Kingsbury was spared. The seller shipped all 3 cards just in sleeves and in a manila envelope. The damaged cards included a 1995 Topps Finest Jeff Blake and a 1997 Topps Chrome Eddie Kennison Refractor. The seller never made it right after multiple attempts at trying to resolve the matter. I did pay up for special shipping on this lot, but sometimes things don’t go your way at Sportlots, so just be aware. I have eaten my fair share of purchases from this site. A lot of times sellers ignore when there is a problem. 

6. 2005/06 Fleer Hot Prospects Eric Healey White Hot RC /10 - Purchase price $6.70 shipped

This card was one of my first on Sportlots and was the first time I used the “Best Offer” option. It was listed at $12 initially and I sent an offer of $6 and after a few hours it was accepted. So, who the heck is Eric Healey you ask? Just one of the best forwards in the AHL from 2002-2008. Healey was a beast. Sadly, the only award he would win from his time in the AHL was the Fred T Hunt Memorial Trophy for sportsmanship. Healey never made a splash in the NHL, but that isn’t how I remember the guy. I remember him from potting 42 goals in 2002/03 for the Manchester Monarchs. This card went straight to my PC and I will eventually make a post about Eric Healey when time permits. Anyways, $6.70 shipped for a PC card out of 10 is a win in my book!

5. 1974 Topps Ed Marinaro RC #189 - Purchase price $1.75 shipped

Some of you out there might be thinking, “Ok, who the crap is Ed Marinaro?” Well, he was actually a decent college football player, but also became an actor. Marinaro played his college ball at Cornell and in 1971 was runner up for the Heisman Trophy. He was a badass. Plain and simple. I know him from a raunchy college football comedy show called Blue Mountain State. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t recommend you go out of your way to. It was a funny show my friends and I watched during our 20’s. It was pretty ridiculous, raunchy and fairly low budget (it was on Spike TV). My friends and I had a drinking game we would play with each episode, and it made it fun. We were a bunch of weirdos, but those are my kinda people. Anyways, once I stumbled upon Marinaro being an actual football player, I had to have this card. Most of the ones I found on eBay were overpriced, so I went with the one on Sportlots with the seller saying the card was in EX+ condition. To my surprise, the condition was better than expected. Thad Castle would approve!

4. 1997 Bowman Chrome Miguel Tejada RC #273 - Purchase price $3.80 shipped

Sometimes a seller may mislabel a card on Sportlots for whatever reason or another. This purchase falls into that category. Purchase date on this fella was on 4/17/2019. It was just a single card purchase. I figure PWE would be cool on just one card, even if for the PC, but I still sweat it out with each day it wasn’t here. Then when it arrived, I noticed it was the wrong card. It was actually the Refractor version! I messaged the seller, and she got back to me saying she was selling her son’s collection because he didn’t have time to and she was going by what he had written down and to enjoy the card and to give it a good home. I told her I would do that and it wasn’t going anywhere. Well, it’s 2022 and I’ve kept my promise! 

3. 2018/19 Upper Deck Rookie Materials Logan Brown Patch RC /15 - Purchase price $12

Logan Brown is a PC player of mine. Finding a decent hockey card on Sportlots sometimes is like finding a needle in a haystack. On 2/11/2022, I found that needle. This seller had a nice batch of hockey cards and I ended up buying 5 or 6 cards total because the prices were decent. Ok, back to the Brown patch, the cheapest one of these I found was around $34 at the time. It was on COMC and I almost at one point pulled the trigger. It had a gold patch with a speck of black. Boy am I glad I held out. Although 2 of the corners on this card kinda suck, the patch more than makes up for it. I posted this on social media the day it came in and got rave reviews on the patch. This one went directly into my PC where it will remain. Seriously though….that patch!

2. 1994/95 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice Glenn Robinson Gold Signature RC #266 - Purchase price $3

I’m not even sure if $3 was a deal on this. Maybe I am overhyping this card? Anyways, these Gold Signature cards were tough pulls back then. I remember the hype surrounding Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson when he was made the 1st overall selection in the 1994 NBA Draft. I bought so many packs of this product among many others that year trying to pull Glenn Robinson rookies. I ended up with the regular version of this card, a Fleer Ultra and an Upper Deck. The Gold Signature Collector’s Choice card was the main card I was after that year, but it never happened for me. Well, last year I made it happen. The seller of this card had several Gold Signature cards for sale and I bought them all. The Robinson though was the real prize for me!

1. 2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Mark Giordano SP Limited RC /100 #255 - Purchase price $3

It is still hard for me to believe this purchase is real, but I assure you guys it is. I purchased this card on 2/5/2022. I couldn't hit the Pay button fast enough. I'm not totally 100% certain this seller realized this is the same Mark Giordano who won the Norris Trophy, captained the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken, but it is. One of my most common searches is for SP Authentic Future Watch Limited cards. 2005/06 SP Authentic Future Watch Limited's are some of my favorites out there. Anyways, after this card finally arrived, I decided to purge the regular version of this that I had that was /1999. I threw it up on social media for $25 and someone bought it within 10 minutes of me posting it. No need to hold onto it when I have one of Giordano's best rookie cards out there! 

Do you guys have any steals you found at Sportlots? If so, what were they?