The longtime star first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres signed my cards in about a couple of weeks for $10 - I've gotten him to sign 4 or 5 times in-person over the past 20 years, but I needed a 1984 Donruss and saw he signed TTM.
The 1984 Donruss was my priority regardless, but I also sent a 2021 Donruss to see what the card would look like autographed - I wish I had an old school Garvey from the 1970s handy to send as a second card, but the straggler might have been ideal to throw in because it was a recent 2021 pull.
Go figure one of the Garvey autographs I got in-person years ago was on the plastic slab of a graded 1984 Donruss - it was likely at the 2000 National where some wannabe non PSA and/or BGS grading company had samples at their booth for the taking and I ended up with the Garvey.
I didn't have anything better to do with the slab, so I must have taken it where Garvey was making an appearance - after 20 years, I think the card is loose somewhere collecting dust with the autograph probably not as bold due to the cirumstances of time passing.
I saw a flier posted on an Instagram account for a card show and since it was otherwise local, thought it might be worth my time to check things out -
there is always a fear I might get stuck in some kind of weird swap meet atmosphere where the are only a limited number of tables with mostly vendors who might not actually be selling cards.
There is still the COVID-19 pandemic to worry about, so I haven't really entertained thoughts of going to any card show in the past year or so - maybe I shouldn't make a big deal about stopping at a place where there might be like minded vendors selling their wares.
As I got to the spot, I was afraid there was an entrance fee but it was only a lady checking temperatures - it looks like everything was outside.
There might have been 30-35 tables and with at least several customers crowding around many of the tables, where it was hard to squeeze into looking into the loose non-showcase cards put out - I was probably looking for more of an old school baseball vendor with dated material I can dwell on, maybe some junk wax / mid 1990s uv-coated era repacks just to see if I can get a bunch of cards as a ‘teaser’ purchase for not much money.
I ended up at some random booth to dig into and started leafing through $1 cards just left out on the table - nothing in card holders, probably off-condition scraps from at least the 1950s through the mid 1980s.
For the most part I ended up grabbing many of the assorted vintage Topps World Series subset cards I could find - as opposed to the regular cards of the related years / players, the WS subsets actually pictured actual action and various cards can be funneled as 'awesome action' adds.
I grabbed these rookie cards and/or XRCs [by 1980s Beckett definition] to my stash - a Hall of Famer in Boggs, a pair of fan favorite types [for the most part] in Guillen and Coleman and a pair of pitchers [Gooden and Hershiser] who had era defining runs as superstar pitchers in the mid 1980s.
I started building up a stash of cards here and while I didn’t know what I was looking for, was worried the stack had mushroomed to more like 60-70 cards - I didn't even realize I ended up with a pair of 1978 O-Pee-Chee Willie McCoveys, but I found a 1973 Topps Al Kaline, a 1977 O-Pee-Chee Tom Seaver, a 1980 Topps Joe Morgan, a pair of 1982 Topps Traded cards of Ozzie Smith and Reggie Jackson and a pair of 1989 Upper Deck Nolan Ryan cards [I think I already had the multiple exposure version, but not the throwing football version from the high series].
I couldn't leave 1954 Topps and 1955 Topps cards because they feature a pair of catchers - while my tools of ignorance collection cards might be more of a 'side project' compared to other collector (s) whose similarly themed focus is simply more comprehensive, its pretty cool to have catcher cards that are at least 65-years old.
I also found a 1991-92 Topps Stadium Club Michael Jordan, 1965 Topps Tony Kubek and a random card from the 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set - maybe it was tough to decide which were my keepers as I had make some choices on what to put back, but least I found that one booth to get into.
When I whittled things down, I relented to pay $40 straight up for my mash up of cards, which still may have been too much - but after a long year or so, it was fun just to rummage through random cards in-person.
For the rest of the time I spent [maybe an hour or so total], I was walking around looking to see what I maybe able to grab - I was hoping to find someone selling plastic pages and/or magnetic trading card holders, but it didn’t look like there was one table set-up for supplies.
The story I've commonly heard is because of supply chain issues from China through the pandemic - the demand for supplies have intensified where once common items like top loaders command a premium.
Peeking in on cards displayed in showcases, I was impressed with random cool things like vintage 1953 Topps Mickey Mantle, a supposed Babe Ruth cut [I think that is what I saw] that was inserted as part of an autograph repack product, a couple of Michael Jordan certified autographs and a PSA 10 2018 Topps Update Juan Soto gold parallel- maybe not the cream of the crop of sports collectibles, just 'wish they were in my collection' cards I quickly made note of.
There were tables with your typical retail flipper material and I relented to pick up a 2021 Topps Series I Mike Trout tin for $25 - presumably 'new in box,' shrink wrapped with the cards still inside.
The Trout tin might have been a no brainer buy, even if they retailed much less - another booth may have sold similar tins [no Trout] for $35-$40 each.
Out of a small sample size of two vendors I bought from, no bags were provided - I might already be planning my next time and I need to bring something to carry what I purchase.
Off a Facebook f/s listing, maybe it was easier to pick up a signed card [$5] of the one-time Angels utility infielder from the early 1990s - without worrying about sending an autograph request to some address and not getting a response, where I have to look somewhere else to add to my all-time Angels autograph collection.
Whether certain guys would actually sign if I just took the time to send them a request - there are countless rank-and-file guys that don’t seem to get any TTM traffic reported over the years, so I assume they don't sign or perhaps might do so through an autograph middleman of sorts.
Inspired by this post, I wanted to see if I can come up with a list of bands / artists I like - I get self-conscious about listening to the same things over and over, where most of what I like to listen to has been preprogrammed over the past 5 decades.
It's pretty clear where I stand as far as dating myself, but for the most part these are probably my 'ride or die' music artists / bands with a few exceptions - where I've listed artist / band with a random 'ride or die' song I come back to even though I won't dig for any other songs by the same artists / bands.
A - AC/DC, Aerosmith - AC/DC was all about the hard hitting arena rock that gets the blood flowing, that teased all sort of trouble and mayhem, while the Aerosmith I followed through the early 1990s starred in a run of great music videos that really made think long and hard.
B - Bon Jovi, Beastie Boys - no one has to know I still seek out Bon Jovi songs and rock out to the classics like Wanted Dead or Alive or Livin' on a Prayer, Blaze of Glory.
C - Coldplay - I have never really embraced them, but through the course of the 2000s, these guys set the tone as far as what I listened to.
D - Daft Punk, Darude - I was into Daft Punk because the electronic music beats kept me on my feet as something a little different. Darude = Sandstorm.
E - Eminem - I never really embraced him as an artist, but Higher and Till I Collapse are on list of pump me up songs.
F - Foo Fighters, Fleetwood Mac, Fun - through the course of the late 1990s onward, Foo Fighters set the tone as far as what I listened to as far as mainstream rock band.
I like to imagine myself back in the late 1970s, listening to some Fleetwood Mac but in the here and now want to be like that guy on a skateboard - who got his 15 minutes of fame in 2020 chilling to Dreams with his cranberry drink.
G - Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Guns N'Roses, Genesis - I've thought about at least a couple of crushes in my life listening to Goo Goo Dolls; I swear Green Day's 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours was all about my high school crush.
Guns N' Roses was the mainstream super rock band of the early 1990s and hard to ignore at their peak.
I think when referring to Genesis, I think mostly about Phil Collins.
"Take the lyrics to 'Land of Confusion", in this song Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority .. "In Too Deep", is the most moving pop song of the 1980s about monogamy and commitment .. the song is extremely uplifting, the lyrics are as positive and affirmative as, uh, anything I've heard in rock .. "
H - Hall & Oates - I grew up on listening pop, soft rock stations playing mid 1980s songs.
I - Ice Cube - for the most part I fit into the stereotype of someone from suburbia trying to latch onto a little hip hop as some kind of edgy thing.
J - John Mayer - there might have been a time, where I turned into mush listening to some of his songs.
K - Killswitch Engage - The End of Heartache - I only know of this one song, because it was the entrance music of one time Angels reliever Brian Fuentes during the 2009 season.
L - Linkin Park - through the course of 2000s through 2010s, didn't realize these guys would set the tone as far as what I listened to, for better or for worse. I once found them loud and abrasive but I find them inspirational now, even with the passing of the lead vocalist Chester Bennington in 2017.
M - Michael Jackson - my childhood GOAT.
N - Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana - with the music I listened to, there might have an been an edgy phase that revolved being a wannabe, angsty teen where I wanted to listen to loud, unconventional industrial music or at times depressing themes that Kurt Cobain [R.I.P.] pushed.
O - The Offspring, Oasis - The Offspring was a punk band that found mainstream success so I maybe latched through them through early 1990s as the new, coolest thing where I'd gone from pop music, rock, grunge and then punk. Oasis probably hit my consciousness through the mid 1990s as an import from England and looking past their popular hit songs, Acquiesce still lingers.
P - Pearl Jam
Q - Queen
R - R.E.M. - a girl I had a crush on in the early 1990s had a R.E.M. t-shirt and as a joke, I remember mimicking the lead singer Michael Stipe in that Losing My Religion video. Maybe a couple of songs I liked was Everybody Hurts and Man on the Moon.
S - Staind, Sylvester, Social Distortion, Stone Temple Pilots - Staind lead singer Aaron Lewis really had a nice little run of some really heartfelt songs [It's Been Awhile, So Far Away, For You] that just hit a little different back in the early 2000s.
T - Third Eye Blind, Tears for Fears, Toad the Wet Sprocket - go figure, crushes play a big part of music I listen to and 3EB's first album [titled Third Eye Blind] is always going to be about that certain college crush.
Tears for Fears, Everybody Wants to Rule the World symbolizes the decade of the 1980s for me.
Toad the Wet Sprocket might not have ever reached true mainstream success but for me, past all bands that were at their peak commercially - listening to Toad the Wet Sprocket songs [Walk On the Ocean, Fall Down] always gets me nostalgic for the early part of the 1990s.
U - U2 - through the course of the early 1990s onward, these guys set the tone as far as what I end up listening to through the here and now. They end up probably my No. 1 group of all time, though I keep going back to mostly their older catalog than any of the 'here and now' songs.
V - The Verve - Lucky Man
W - Weezer
X - X Ambassadors - Renegades
Y - Young the Giant - My Body
Z - Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400- this and Darude's Sandstorm end up probably the most well known 'jock jams' songs played at stadiums during the past 15-20 years.
The former big league reliever from the 1980s signed my cards in about 3 weeks - the priority was getting back the 1984 Donruss, though there really wasn't a light area of the card to sign over.
I don't remember where I got the 1989 Bowman, but maybe the odd size has always annoyed me - however, I was able to send the card out and maybe I like the 'challenge' of seeing something other than a regular sized trading card signed through the mail.
While the bulk of my recent loose card purchases revolves around trying to fill rank-and-file holes between 1984 Donruss and 1990 Leaf for possible TTM requests - to change things up, I grabbed a few of the more quirky cards I've saved a picture / screenshot off in my camera roll and/or listed out on a cheat sheet.
I wouldn't normally buy a minor league team set card of a pitching coach - but the shopping cart caught my eye along with the billboard ad for an ancient cell phone from the late 1980s.
This is the post that inspired me to have this card on a list somewhere - H/T
This is the post that inspired me to have this card on a list somewhere - H/T
I haven't done anything with my Angels frankenset [see sidebar for details] but I like this card - I don't know if I can whittle down my 40-50 wants outright but I'll see if I can do something [or not].
It's early but India looks like a high flying big league rookie so far - strictly on the low end side of things, I picked up a pair of his first paper Bowman Draft cards from 2018.
Just as a change of pace, I can imagine collecting a retro, more high brow looking set like 2005-2006 Turkey Red - this Palmer might be sent out for a TTM request, but the background may just be too dark to make it a priority.
Glenallen Hill was one strong man
I picked up this Mlicki for the baserunner with a svelte, familiar body shape lurking in the background.
I find 'some' 2021 Topps Heritage blasters at a Target one day, the next day, I find the shelves wiped out in the card section - however a straggler hanger box got put back on the shelf by a Target employee.
I don’t like Donruss, but I’m desperate enough these days to pick up anything that is a baseball product - good thing I haven’t seen anything put out by Leaf or I may fold under pressure.
Flippers are still going to take it all if product is sitting around, though I tend to feel like interest in hoarding retail stock is really in NBA, NFL or non-sport cards - despite my anecdotal evidence not playing out most of the time, I might be able to find baseball cards [maybe unopened blasters or loose packs] ‘once in a while’ where I would be shut out entirely if I primarily focused on the other stuff.
For obvious reasons, recent Donruss cards are so basic and an eyesore [for obvious reasons] - maybe their ‘tributes’ to the brand’s sets [from the mid 1980s] are pretty hollow, where it’s hard to get nostalgic over ‘new takes’ that feel more like uninspired knock offs.
A redeeming factor that may not actually mean much, but give credit where credit is due are the parallels and inserts - they have a lot of shine to them and if nothing else, amuse me for a moment where I’d like to imagine actually caring enough about them to chase.
#148 Eloy Jimenez
#106 Jose Abreu
#64 Marcell Ozuna
#122 Matt Olson
#80 Cavan Biggio
#137 Adam Wainwright
#160 Patrick Corbin
#118 Austin Meadows
#76 Carlos Correa
#133 Zac Gallen
#90 Lucas Giolito
#147 Marco Gonzalez
#105 Clayton Kershaw
#252 David Ortiz - Retro 1987; would have been nicer if the black borders on the originals were used; might be even more interesting if the surface wasn’t glossy and the card stock was more faithful to the originals.
#210 Miguel Rojas
#231 Ozzie Smith - Retro 1987
#164 Jose Berrios
#255 Dale Murphy - Retro 1987
#188 Brandon Woodruff
#234 Cal Ripken Jr. - Retro 1987
#167 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#258 Andre Dawson - Retro 1987
#191 Luke Voit
#227 Larry Walker - Retro 1987
#185 Brad Keller
#251 Steve Garvey - Retro 1987
#209 Anthony Santander
#52 Keibert Ruiz - Independence Day parallel
#135 Ramon Laureano - Holo Orange parallel
#92 Jeimer Candelario - Holo Orange parallel
#182 Aaron Judge - Holo Orange parallel
#248 Andy Pettitte - Retro 1987; Holo Orange parallel
Experiencing a case of a little FOMO a couple of weeks ago, I picked up a $30 blaster off Topps.com that is still processing in limbo - however, I also found a stash of about 10-15 blasters on a random Target stop, so I wasn't completely left in the cold.
I ended up eventually grabbing a couple of blasters despite the posted policy [which seems to vary for different Target locations or on different visits to my nearest Target store] - being a limit of one item per trading card brand / product.
The last time I tried to buy cards off Target, a cashier knew a bit too much and wouldn't let me get multiples of any one product - I was buying two lousy blasters of baseball cards, not hoarding an entire stock for myself, so it's weird to wonder if I was going to be able to take home what I had in-hand.
As for the actual breaks, I didn’t know what I was expecting but it doesn’t look like I pulled anything of note - maybe a couple of SPs between the pair of boxes, some dual player rookies, but no parallels or hits.
The MO for Topps as far as Topps Heritage goes has been to these posed spring training images over and over - the cards get boring real fast, regardless of any of 'quirks' inspired by the originals and pointed out by other collectors who have an eye to compare.
Box 1
Pack one
#311 Miguel Castro
#244 Tim Anderson - In Action
#272 Myles Straw
#230 Byron Buxton
#200 Michael Taylor
#179 Joey Gallo
#215 J.P. Crawford
#130 Brady Singer - In Action
#339 Wil Myers
Pack two
#50 Joey Bart - In Action
#293 Bo Bichette
#170 Mike Trout - In Action
#163 Alex Bregman
#218 Tyler Chatwood
#49 2021 Rookie Stars - feat. Joey Bart, Daulton Varshaw and Ryan Jeffers
#243 Tim Anderson
#110 Luis Garcia - In Action
#127 Hanser Alberto
Pack three
#76 Alec Mills
#312 Jesus Sanchez - In Action
#400 2021 Texas Rangers Rookie Stars - feat. Anderson Tejeda and Leody Taveras
#395 Josh Hader
#82 Rafael Montero
#GO-7 Roberto Clemente - The Great One insert
#469 Raimel Tapia - SP
#10 Miguel Rojas - In Action
#279 Jeff Samardzija
Pack four
#399 Kolten Wong
#18 Yadier Molina - In Action
#123 Matt Chapman
#343 Mauricio Dubon
#395 Josh Hader
#86 2020 AL Batting Leaders - feat. D.J. LeMahieu, Tim Anderson and David Fletcher
#389 Jeimer Candelario
#310 Josh Bell - In Action
#3 Raisel Iglesias
Pack five
#114 Jose Berrios - In Action
#199 Zach Davies
#184 Trea Turner - In Action
#72 Miguel Andujar
#390 Jake Cave
#112 Ryan Yarbrough
#129 2021 Kansas City Rookie Stars - feat. Brady Singer and Nick Heath
#128 Hanser Alberto - In Action
#158 2021 New York Yankees Rookie Stars - feat. Estevan Florial and Clarke Schmidt
Pack six
#345 Zack Godley
#240 Andrew McCutchen - In Action
#213 Mike Soroka
#205 Nathan Eovaldi
#39 Freddie Freeman
#115 Jalen Beeks
#456 Miguel Sano - SP
#194 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - In Action
#315 2021 Rookie Stars - feat. Jorge Mateo and Edward Olivares
Pack seven
#27 2020 World Series Game 2 - feat. Brandon Lowe
#48 Shane Bieber - In Action
#270 Cesar Hernandez
#137 Fernando Tatis Jr.
#214 Chris Bassitt
#15 2021 Miami Marlins Rookie Stars - feat. Sixto Sanchez and Jesus Sanchez
With how I still play with my cards after all these years, maybe it makes or breaks the 'order of things' when I can't find a random card I apparently have misplaced somewhere - I'm sorting through countless cards and may occasionally visualize related cards in my head that are not immediately in-hand.
In my big sort through my active team boxes, I was going through my Colorado Rockies cards and in the 'minors' section, find a pair of 2018 Bowman Draft cards for Terrin Vavra - currently a Baltimore Orioles farmhand who was traded from the Colorado Rockies with Tyler Nevin and PTBNL in the Mycal Givens deal in 2020.
I thought I just put one away somewhere and looked to get the 3 cards together - the third card must be a 2019 Topps Pro Debut since I picked up a hand collated set.
I might have already set it aside with my temporary set-up for my Orioles ‘minors’ cards but it wasn’t there - I may be getting Mandela Effect vibes here, where I’m misremembering and misplacing things in my head.
I should have a copy of the card somewhere since it was supposed to be one of the cards in the set I purchased - wouldn’t that be something if the card was missing off the set and out of all the cards after the fact, it’s only at this point a random base card becomes a first world problem.
Maybe the Vavra card was part of the book of cards I put together for spring training in 2019 - but the card came out after ST, so that couldn’t have been the case.
Maybe the Vavra was in a Mega box of cards that was supposed to be for Cal League teams through 2019 - Vavra was still playing at a level below, but maybe I had a hunch that it was grouped there in case Vavra moved up.
Unfortunately the only card for the Rockies affiliate at the time was a Casey Golden - so I was stumped, worried about some random card being in a forgotten pile I've never get to.
I'm in the middle of this rejigger project with my active team boxes and through a couple of weeks I was at a loss - I was messing around with my main box for my active team boxes, seeing if I could straighten my set-ups with the idea the card I’m looking for might shake out of the blue and go figure, that is exactly what happened.
I was utterly shocked when the Vavra card was found sandwiched between two Roy Smalley cards in the alumni portion of my Minnesota Twins cards - how would this random card end up there?
I racked my brain looking everywhere for the card - I’m glad it wasn’t buried among my other claptrap of cards I dared to rummage through because that would have meant I just left it somewhere and forgot about it.
I think it I just ended up mindlessly sorting through too many cards and one fell through the cracks - for now the card is with my two other Vavra cards, though this particular one may have a story behind it now to remind me of my perpetual folly.
Here was a previous episode to remind me - that these things happen and it doesn't always have to be a crisis.
The Angels closer signed my cards in about 2 weeks c/o Angels ST address - though his autographs are basically his initials and his number, unlike the autograph I got when I first got his autograph years ago, he's always been a pretty good signer through the mail.
Even though I might lose a couple of cards [regardless of all the success reported over the years] due to uncertain times, I mail a request towards the end of spring training - I wanted to see if I can get some fresh ink off a current Angels player I look to watch close out ballgames throughout the 2021 season.
