A bit ago, I was in Pasadena and while I was out there, I wanted to hit up some card shops. Specifically, I wanted to check out Burbank Sports Cards, which is one of the biggest card shops in the world. I have actually ordered cards from them before via Beckett, but I wanted to see the actual operation.

The store surprised me because it wasn’t really a store. You walk in and it’s a small room with some supplies, a ton of wax in cases, and a couple computers. There are little offices surrounding it with some guys working away at computers. So, I go in and am sort of confused. That is until one of the owners, Rob, came out from behind his desk and asked me if he could help. I said I was visiting from the East Coast and was just browsing. He proceeded to tell me how his store wasn’t your typical card store and how they have everything filed away, you look up the cards on their computers, and they retrieve them. He then offered to give me a tour of the back and WOW! It was like a warehouse full of wax and monster boxes, all filled with cards. How many? Rob said they have 44 MILLION and I believe it. There were a bunch of kids working, sorting, filing, etc. I met Rob’s father who is (maybe) also an owner and discovered that they used to vacation in my area back in the day. It made me wonder if they ever visited my father’s old shop. Anyways, the place was impressive, the owners super nice, and I walked out with a couple Marty Barrett singles I needed, some other random singles, and a bunch of hockey junk wax that I’ll be posting later.

Moving on. I bit the bullet and finally decided to finish the 2010-11 Donruss Tough Times Signatures set. These two cards arrived recently:

Bob McGill was a late addition to the signature set, replacing Harold Snepsts who apparently couldn’t/wouldn’t sign. This set actually features three replacement autos. Anyways, here is the complete set, in all of its goon glory.

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