Rojas was apparently part Angels lore as he was paralyzed in a car accident, which killed his two daughters - however, it wasn't until he already left the team did the accident happen and at least his part in the long time franchise curse may have been debunked.
Rojas died in 2002 at the age of 63.
Maybe serious collectors / speculators are not really interested in Sano's handful of certified autograph released in various prospect sets over the last several years - besides his true first year Bowman Chrome autograph back in 2010, the other certified autographs [before his RC logo cards come out] maybe all kind of 'junk' unless it's some hard to pull, low numbered parallel.
Sano was subject of a documentary who [along with his family] received a lot of scrutiny when he was looking to sign with a MLB team for a big bonus - now he is mashing home runs in the Major Leagues and maybe a franchise star for the Minnesota Twins for years to come.
I like how the card design mimics the 1993 Upper Deck SP Premier Prospects subset - I was looking at images of the Adenhart online and thought the card scanned too dark until I realized the card was designed to highlight the player's image with a muted background.
It's a shiny card which is appealing - though it's not exactly refractor shiny where the image pops off the card like a firecracker.
As is, I should have gone with my better judgement and left the blasters where I found them in the card section - the cutesy Archives inserts are missing from years past and I'm also vaguely aware that the short prints are harder to pull.
Pulling mostly base cards, I didn't care how thin the card stock was and the cards look fine - maybe I can't be making snap judgements busting only one retail box, but I felt like these should probably be $10 blasters i.e. like 2015 Topps Opening Day.
Pack one
#248 Catfish Hunter
#66 Dalton Pompey
#192 Matt Barnes
#WF-2 Will Ferrell - Seattle Mariners
#175 Masahiro Tanaka
#211 Kenley Jansen
#33 Oswaldo Arcia
#134 Duke Snider
#213 Brooks Robinson
#35 Eddie Murray
Pack two
#261 Gary Brown
Regardless of what the Rawlings Gold Glove meant 20 years ago and what it means now [with regards to advanced metrics] - Snow was a six-time winner of the award and had a great reputation as a defender at first base.
Sets are not hard to find though there might be a little premium placed on singles - I jumped on the Angels ones I can find to add a little oddball flair to my Angels frankenset.
For what it's worth Stubing is the only guy among the five whose autograph I actually have - he shows up in the 1989 Topps set because of his 1988 managerial cameo with the Angels which went 0-8.
A caveat is admittedly not being an expert on the nuances of old school / vintage cards - it's one thing to find off-condition, well worn cards as 'cardboard relics,' but there are cards tampered with [trimmed, re-colored, et al] that I may end up picking up along the way.
I picked up this card to put away, maybe hoping there is a strong push to get Walker to the Hall of Fame - even though Walker's autograph is not on card and there are better versions of this card as far as the swatches used, I do like how this non-MLB licensed card is put together.
Superficially Walker was one of a number the big hitting stars / fan favorites during the last 20 years - if nothing else, I have these two highlights to look back on:
Since I've gotten a bunch of loose cards over the last 10 years or so, I'd do a frankenset featuring the Angels - at first, I thought the idea of doing a frankenset was stupid because I was worried that for the number of cards [500] I'm going for, there might not be a particular card to represent each number.
I'm checking things up on eBay and it's been kind of fun to type in random numbers [search term - number Angels -dodgers] and seeing if any Angels cards pop up - I was pleasantly surprised to see there is at least one Angels card to represent 1-500 in one way or the other.
Doing my research, the only number I thought that did not have an Angels card was '408,' but with the help of my friend Google - it turns out there is a Vladimir Guerrero Sports Illustrated for Kids insert card from September 2004 to track down.
Things have come together fast as I've started off collecting cards in-hand as well as typing up a list of sorts - to note cards I have and cards I can possibly add.
There has to be rules of course:
1.) Cards must refer to a player on the Angels or the city name - no minor league cards, but draft pick and prospect cards of players are OK even if they picture a player who never actually played with the parent team.
2.) Cards be inserts and/or parallels - I want to showcase cards that pop.
3.) Cards can be ones I've gotten autographed TTM / in-person - if I was doing a set of cards for themselves, I think I prefer all the cards be unsigned, but it's fun to see cards autographed as long as it doesn't detract from the actual card.
4.) Duplication of players is fine - though a limit of three of the same player per page.
5.) Duplication of sets is fine - though a limit of four of the same set per page.
6.) I figure I'm not going to worry about filling holes where there is no card for that number - in general, if I can't fill certain holes, then it's going to make my head hurt.
7.) The accumulation of cards will actually be sleeved and boxed - until the time where I feel I can showcase the cards into a binder.
8.) I want to say I'm stuck with cards I already have in my collection - though in doing my 'research,' it's kind of fun to see a card somewhere and realize I suddenly 'need it,' even if it might turn out where I already have a card to represent a particular number.
9.) Manager / coaches cards OK
10.) The first 20 cards in this set - maybe to give me an idea of how random things get.
1 2014 Topps Mike Trout
2 2013 Bowman Platinum Mike Trout
3 2000 Black Diamond Rookie Edition Darin Erstad
4 2005 Donruss Studio Vladimir Guerrero S-4 - Studio Stars insert
5 1996 Mother's Cookies Jim Abbott
6 1996 Mother's Cookies Jim Edmonds
7 2003 Donruss Champions Jarrod Washburn - Sample
8 1996 Mother's Cookies J.T. Snow
9 1996 Mother's Cookies Chuck Finley
10 1990 Score Young Superstar Dante Bichette
11 1991 Fleer Update Luis Polonia U-11
12 2013 Bowman Mark Trumbo
13 1996 Mother's Cookies Troy Percival
14 1996 Mother's Cookies Randy Velarde
15 1996 Mother's Cookies Garret Anderson
16 2008 Topps Torii Hunter #WMDP 16 - Walmart Dick Perez insert
17 1984 Topps Ralston / Purina Rod Carew
18 2009 Ticket to Stardom Erick Aybar - deckle edge
19 1972 Topps Billy Cowan
20 1974 Topps Nolan Ryan - incoming
I was digging through a box of assorted Bowman and Topps cards from the 1950's - the card shop owner had to dig through a price guide before setting a price of $3 for this card, which gave me a bit of pause, since the card was an impulsive find.
After being suspended by Major League Baseball in 2014, A-Rod has come back and actually put up some fine hitting numbers as a designated hitter - who knows if A-Rod will continue to put up the numbers, but he's had his share of hitting highlights, including passing Willie Mays on the all-time home run list, getting his 3,000th hit and hitting three home runs in one game.
A-Rod is a flawed, tained player who has stumbled in more ways than one - but by being able to play well again, his road to irrelevance has taken a little detour.
