Looking For Sports Gems in the Antiques Capital of the Country

One weekend each spring, my wife and I like to get away, stay at a new bed-and-breakfast out of town, and enjoy some time away. This year, we decided to go to Adamstown, Pennsylvania, near Lancaster. It's widely considered the antiques capital of the country. So, in between eating, drinking, and being massaged, I also wanted to soak up the town and each dusty shop to see if I could find any cool sports cards or memorabilia.

Early on, I was quickly reminded of the difference between antiquing and flea marketing, as many of the items in the shops were full retail, if not beyond.

We were basically shopping at establishments run by people who do this for a living. Not that I'm expecting crazy deals across the board; I was just hoping to pick and choose and find an item first and foremost for my collection, or, secondly, something unique and interesting that I would hang on to and eventually find a good home for.

A few of the early shops, we stopped that had literally nothing sports related, which again I understand that there's more to the world than sports (at least that's what I hear). So, we looked for a little bit and moved on.

The first sign of sports cards was the classic flea-market move of just throwing junk-era cards into a plastic crate and blindly listing them for a dollar each. This is really throwing card crap against the wall and seeing what sticks. I think I'm going to have to pass on the Upper Deck Michael Barrow and the 91 Fleer basketball commons.

The next card-related product that caught my eye was a handful of two-row boxes full of mid-seventies baseball cards organized by team. Again, there's nothing wrong with stumbling across a few vintage baseball cards. Everything remaining in these boxes was pretty much all commons and not in incredible shape. I thumbed through and moved on.

Seeing what vendors choose to put behind glass is always a fun exercise. When I was looking at sports items around the next corner, I found some Ryan Minor Upper Deck UD Choice sealed can of rookie cards. For you young bucks who weren't around to experience this firsthand, yes, at one point, multiple companies were putting packs of cards in sealed aluminum cans. Yes, it was as cool as it sounds. Hey, they tried everything in the 90s.

Any reputable flea market or antiques shop should have Starting Lineups hanging around somewhere. These glorious plastic figures were a staple of my childhood, and every time I see one, I still have to stop, pick it up, and take a look.

Luckily, I found one of the former Atlanta Braves, NL MVP Terry Pendleton. Of course, holding these now, they don't hold a candle to MacFarlane figures, and even 3D printing, you could probably do in your own home. But back in the day, the SLUs were literally everything.

Next up, I got my hands on a sealed, unsealed, maybe resealed, former factory set of 1990 Fleer baseball cards for the door-busting deal of $25. Again, I had to fight the urge to add this to my shopping cart.

Sometimes you have to go a little bit outside of the box (no pun intended) to find some sports items worth picking up. Although I didn't buy it, I found some really cool black-and-white photos, including this one of New York Giants all-time great Lawrence Taylor.

After that, we were right back to the 80's oddball items, including this Orel Hershiser MVP Pin. Produced by Ace Novelty in 1990, these unique pins were coupled with the player's 1990 Score card of the same year. These beautifully carved items still catch my eye every time I see them as it's a blast right to my prime childhood collecting days. Of course, I was grabbing all the Pittsburgh Pirates pins I could back in the day.

I finally made it to a section dedicated to sports cards. It was a nice 12-foot-by-12-foot area, and as you can see by the picture, there was some real organization. In baseball, basketball, and football singles, including many modern guys and ultra-modern cards. I took a few of these boxes out to the counter and leafed through them for a few minutes, but there was nothing quite worth pulling and going through the process of buying. My wife continued to look in the area and check back on me periodically.

Speaking of pop culture finds, there was a really interesting section that had all kinds of random stuff that any 80's or 90's kid would dig. It was somewhat pro wrestling heavy, led by this pretty realistic Ultimate Warrior mask. I definitely enjoy digging through some 80s and 90s WWF merchandise, so this was a fun stop for us. I think I found my inspiration for my Halloween costume this year.

You know, you're in the right spot when you start seeing screw downs. I managed to get my hands on the stack of Heath Shuler rookie cards from 1994. Whoever had these bad boys wanted to keep them safe and sound and potentially retire on the sale of these cards by this point. Unfortunately, we all know that's not the case, but these remnants still remain from a fun collection from the past.

This next item had me shaking my head and rolling my eyes. Everyone in the collectible space knew how hot vintage Starter jackets and pretty much any name brand sports garment from the 80s and 90s blew up in recent years. That fact had a lot of us lifelong sports fans digging through our attics and basements and storage units to try and find some gold but as I walked out of the one antique shop, this jacket caught my eye, it's a Portland Trailblazers Starter jacket from back in the day, and it looks like the person wearing it was attacked by a grizzly bear. The asking price was $50 but that seems incredibly steep considering the condition.

The shot clock was winding down as the shop was about 10 minutes from closing. So I started gathering the items I wanted to take a chance on, including this cool vintage plastic kids' football helmet from the 60's. You just don't see legitimate vintage relics in a card shop every day.

I also picked up two bats, both designated as game used. Again, buyer beware. One was a nice black Louisville Slugger signed pro model, the second was a Hank Aaron model used at Swarthmore College decades ago. Regardless of who took this to the plate, it's a cool little piece of baseball history.

I also picked up this cool framed MLB patch piece, all with other collectors in mind. For $20, it was a purchase for a friend and one that is as colorful and fun as any I found this weekend.

I still have both bats and the patches, as I have friends and customers who will be interested in them. I just really enjoy picking up items I haven't seen before that have a story that I might need to research a bit, yet, and just taking a chance on some cool items.

Our trip concluded with a few more stops on our way out of town on Sunday morning, but this was the last of the notable sports-card stuff. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on more adventures.

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