Swap Meet Finds Colored Silver and Black

My sister had a table set up selling shirts and greeting cards that she makes.  The table was at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet in Pasadena,CA.  This was a great excuse for me to visit with her and go on the prowl for some sports cards or memorabilia.  The Rose Bowl Swap Meet doesn't have many card dealers.  They have a sizable amount of people selling toys or comic books in the locker rooms underneath the stadium.  But, as far as guys selling cards, well, there are a lot of people that sell junk and those vendors may have some cards at there table.

I try to go on the look out for people with cards that are scattered or in a card box that looks old.  Because cards that a vendor may have are ones that he is tired of lugging around to different swap meets.  With the vendor thinking that cards are too heavy and take up space, they may be more willing to sell some on the cheap. 

Also, swap meets usually have a wide mix of cards available for sale.  You never know what your going to find there.  The Rose Bowl Swap Meet is huge.  It was hot and there was a lot of walking.  I was chugging waters like an animal just to keep going on my quest.

I found one guy that was selling random junk.  There are tons of vendors at the Rose Bowl that are selling a lot of random items such as furniture, clothes, and old books.  This guy was one of those sellers.  He also had a box of cards!

His box of cards were marked at a buck a piece and I knew that I wasn't going to be paying that.  These cards are packaged in top loaders and in a card box that looks like it has been through many shows in its life.  Every thing is negotiable at a swap meet.  That is an aspect that adds some fun to the purchase. 

I picked up some of the oldest football cards that I have now.  This card is a 1978 Topps Ken Stabler.  Stabler was the leader of the Raiders in the 70s.  He was a total bad ass and played hard like a true Raider.

I am not a big football collector at all.  But, I do love the Raiders and love the team's history.  This 1976 Topps Ken Stabler is in nice condition.  I may start to collect Raiders cards of the 70s.  I only have a small amount of Raiders autographs and GUs.

Stabler showed up to games on Sunday hungover and he still would dominate.  Stabler will always have a special place in Raiders lore.  If I was a kid in the 70s, I would probably have a Ken Stabler poster in my bedroom.

These Stablers that I picked up from this seller are in really good shape.  They appear to have been sitting in this box untouched for awhile.  This was a great find in order to get me started on my 70s Raiders PC.

This is a 1979 Topps Fred Biletnikoff!  I love the way the helmet looks to be made of cheap plastic.  I could buy a helmet of similar design nowadays at Wal-Mart on the cheap.  Biletnikoff and other receivers of the 70s had to be real men going across the middle.

Jack Tatum was a wild man patrolling the Raiders secondary.  If he had a shot to take someones head off, he would take that chance.  Tatum put fear into every wide out that he played against.  I need to find more Jack Tatum cards.  There must be some good action shots of him made in the 70s.

Art Shell was the man that I first remember seeing as the coach of the Raiders in the 90s.  The early to mid 90s is when I started watching the Raiders play and Shell was walking up and down the sidelines coaching up the players.

Shell was also a great player as an Oakland Raider.  He is a hall of fame offensive lineman.  He was a monster of a man that crushed his opponents.  His bushy beard featured on this card has mauled several defensive ends in 1980.

That is a recap of the bulk of my findings at the Rose Bowl Swap Meet.  This will also be the beginning of a nice old school Raiders collection.  Please help me out if you have any for trade.

Also, how many of you guys collect football cards?  I know of a handful of bloggers that do collect baseball and football.  To people that know more than me, what is considered football's junk wax era?  Also, what era is considered vintage football?  I need some background on football collecting.  Please help a friend out.