The Angels, In Order freebies

An opportunity to pick out some cards for free is always fun- even cards that are mostly forgotten, like stuff from the junk wax era.

Tom, at The Angels, In Order had a free card giveaway and I chose five random cards - just to anticipate getting something in the mail.

2-1 2005 Upper Deck Classics Ray Dandridge #79 - picked a card of a Negro Leaguer who never got to the big leagues because of segregation and institutionalized racism, but was good enough to eventually get to the Hall of Fame.

3-8 1992 Topps Stadium Club Jose Canseco #370 - not the most notable, but a card that may take me back to my peak collecting years of the early 1990s, even for a moment.

3-5 1993 Fleer Ultra All-Stars Gary Sheffield #5 of 20 - not the most notable, but a card that may take me back to my peak collecting years of the early 1990s, even for a moment.

5-4 1988 Fleer Baseball MVP Dave Winfield #43 - while junk wax era boxed sets are still way too common to ever be worth anything, I liked the different looking cards to compare to the flagship set design released within the same year.

5-9 1993 Donruss Diamond Kings Pat Listach #DK-29 - I was surprised when this showed up because I thought I'd selected another card, but I goofed on listing the correct slot number.

Listach wasn’t built to last though he was American League Rookie of the Year in 1992 - I still may have my original copy of the insert somewhere, where I got it signed in-person back in 1996.