Goodwill find!

What a find!

As I began this blog, my intention was to share my findings as I dug through the thousands of mid-80s to early-90s junk wax I collected during my childhood. I had little to no intention of adding more junk wax - and more work - to my collection. That is, until I stopped at Goodwill last week.

Being a teacher, I had months to clean my basement. With that came countless trips to Goodwill to unload our old stuff (I lost count after 15). I would often stop in and look for bobbleheads or other diamonds in the rough. Well, I had to make another trip recently and thought I'd stop in. What I found was a $10 bag containing a shoebox full of junk wax and some spilling out. A quick inspection saw some fun-looking items, so for $10 it was well worth it. Here's a look at what I found. I am still sorting through some of the stuff, but here are some highlights.

It felt like an episode of Storage Wars. I could only see so much without actually getting into the bag. But I did see some old cards floating around. That was enough for me, hoping to unearth some vintage gems. These three weren't exactly gems, but they are the first from their sets that I added to my collection - especially since I wasn't alive for the 68 set.

These glossy sets always intrigued me as a kid. They were 30 or more stars in a box, and as the $1.99 price tags attest, they were cheap. I found four boxes like this, with these three containing full sets. There was another box of Fleer League Leaders, but that box was short three cards. If you like Mike Schmidt, Robin Yount, Tony Gwynn and many other '80s stars, these sets were always fun.

These gems were sweet as well. Two unopened rack packs, one from 89 Topps and one from 91 Fleer. The Fleer are in a pile to be sent to a Twitter friend (@dubmentality), as I know he loves the mustard yellow look. The 89s are staying with me, as I had already planned to finish that and the 88 Topps set this summer. That leads me to ...

As I sorted these into piles, you'll notice a large pile of 88 Topps. Jackpot! I've only sorted through the 0-100 cards, and probably found 80 or so cards out of those 100. And this isn't even adding in the cards I already owned. Once the school year is over (June 12 can't come fast enough), sorting all my 88s is my first project. This box will undoubtedly help me finish the 88 set - and, who knows, maybe even two sets.

An added gem may be the stack of 88 Donruss. This may be the set I didn't know I was destined to complete. But with this pile - and the large pile I already owned - I should come quite close to finishing. Twitter should be a great way to finish the set as well.

This 89 Upper Deck pack would have been so enticing had it not already been ripped open. The hunt for Griffey was obviously gone, but there were still a few nice cards in the mix.

I still need to sort through everything. I have only got through the initial sort of putting them into sets. There are a lot of 88 Topps and Donruss, some 89 Score, some other 90s Topps, one random Steve DeBerg football card, a business card for a Wisconsin Teacher of the Year and some other assorted items. All in all, for $10, it turned out to be a fun box. It should help complete a set or two. It offered some mail day items for a Twitter friend who helped me find my love for baseball cards again. It offered three vintage cards. It offered some fun, some nostalgia and some more work for the summer junk wax sort. Not a bad find for $10.