Mini Mall pt. 3 - Nickel Braves: Mac and Chipper

One thing the guy at the flea market always has is a cheap Braves box. I've seen it as high as 10 cents a card and during some blowouts at 2 cents a card. Normally though it's a nickel a pop, which is what is was this weekend. I usually take a cursory look through it, but often it's filled up with stuff I've already got like late '80s-early '90s commons. It had been refreshed with some new goodies though and there was lots of recent stuff in there. I started looking through for some cards I deemed to be worth a nickel when I discovered a wonderful thing:

CHIPPERS

Normally the Chippers are segregated in their own box, but not today. Everything was in the nickel box. I started scrounging and plunked down 4 bucks on the 5 cent cheapies. 80 cards is a lot for one post so I'm busting the lot into three sections. First up: Chipper Jones and Brian McCann.

Chipper Jones is my favorite player as everyone knows. Brian McCann is favorite 1-A, and in two or three years will be completely ahead of Chipper. There are literally thousands of Chipper cards out there but McCann cards are a little harder to come by. That's why out of the box, I left tons of Chipper cards but got one of every single McCann card I saw whether I had it already or not. Here's the haul:

2006:
Topps #362
Topps Updates & Highlights All-Star #UH258

2007:
Bowman #27
Upper Deck #265
Upper Deck First Edition #179

2008:
Topps #294
Bowman #61
Heritage #425

I'm kind of bummed that Mac is going to by himself at the All Star Game but he just keeps making the roster, doesn't he?

The Chippers were plentiful and I picked out 27 that I liked. I probably have some (most) of them, but who cares. Five cents for a Chipper Jones card! I should be arrested for stealing. Here are four I found interesting:

1999 Upper Deck Century Legends #81

This is one of my favorite sets of all time. The set was based on a Sporting News Top Players of All Time list and featured 50 Hall of Fame players and 50 comtemporary players with a few prospects thrown in for good measure. Chipper was ranked the #31st best player in the majors by Upper Deck in 1999.

1999 Sports Illustrated #98

Fleer's Sports Illustrated line are some really underrated sets. They're super glossy, have reasonably good photography and some really neat subsets. Too bad not many people know they even exist.

2002 Donruss Orininals #393

Donruss Originals was Donruss' entry into the retro craze. It crashed and burned like the Hindenburgh dive bombing right into Chernobyl. Donruss made a product featuring '80s designs (1982, 1984, 1986 and 1988), printed them up on really cheap cardboard (just like the originals) and then had the colossal gall to charge 3 bucks for 5 cards. The real insult was that Ted Williams puzzle piece cards were a hard to find INSERT. There obviously was no Orignals Two with the odd numbered year designs which sucks because those are my favorites.

2007 SP Authentic #1

I hardly ever buy packs of SP Authentic (foreshadowing) but I have to admit the design is usually very simple and clean. I really like the way this card here looks.

Here's the rest of 'em for completeness sake.

1997 Fleer checklist #494
1998 Pinnacle Performers Far and Away #143
1999 Collector's Choice #55
1999 Victory Big Play Makers #30
1999 Victory #32
2001 Fleer Tradition #70
2001 Fleer Platinum RC Team Leaders #459
2002 Topps Total Braves Checklist #TTC3
2003 Upper Deck #384
2003 Donruss #240
2003 UD Patch Collection #11
2004 Upper Deck Vintage #48
2004 UD Diamond Collection #8
2005 National Pastime #27
2006 Fleer Tradition #2
2006 Sweet Spot #15
2006 UD Artifacts #5
2006 Fleer #57
2007 Ultra #5
2007 Fleer #309
2007 UD Artifacts #36
2007 Upper Deck #261
2008 Co-Signers #023