Card show recap #2 - more minutia, more commentary

I spent $10 for 16 quarter cards and a trio of individually priced singles digging through boxes off one guy who may have been sharing the table space with his buddy - I think of all the loose 'here and now' i.e. 2021 cards I could have picked up instead of these and for $10 total, I just hope I don't lose sleep over the choices I made.

I don't know why I picked up random Chan Ho Park and J.T. Snow cards from the mid 1990s - but the Action Packed minor league cards were unique with rounded corners and raised, embossed surfaces.

Park was a rising star who peaked in Los Angeles, went to Texas 20 years ago as coveted free agent and promptly bombed - ended up as a journeyman who was kind of decent, but never really was able to replicate the success he had pitching his home games at Dodger Stadium.

Snow was a fan favorite as Angel for a little bit when he might have formed a 1-2 punch with Tim Salmon as rookies in 1993 - he was a bit inconsistent with the bat during his time as an Angel and while he broke out past his early struggles, I want to say he was eventually exiled to the San Francisco Giants, where he generally became a more dependable all-around player.

I grabbed a Bronson Arroyo rookie card to squirrel away somewhere - while he was more of a rank-and-file guy in my book, I'll give him his due as a Boston Red Sox cult favorite back in the day and a pitcher who continued to be a solid innings eater for the Cincinnati Reds until all the mileage took its toll on his right arm.

A random pack pulled minor league card of Ryan Klesko takes me back just a bit - where I remember him being hyped as a prospect all the way back in 1991.

I grabbed the Matt Stairs just to have a random card of a fan favorite - who had a significant 19-year playing career.

I guess I'll look it up but I didn't know what the Todd Helton card was so I grabbed it - since I collect him on the down low.

The Walker is a rookie card reprint and while it looks better in hand - the 'registration' on the back is really bad quality.

I don't like grabbing cards of players labeled as part of a rookie subset, when the actual card is not - however the image of a young Scott Rolen juggling makes the 1997 Collector's Choice #15 a keeper for my 'fun' collection.

I figured to grab another copy of Hugh Quattlebaum's rookie card after the other I've had for the past 20 years is loose somewhere I cannot recall - I guess the dual player card is more notable for one-time Texas Rangers prospect Edwin Encarnacion, but Quattlebaum was hired just 3 weeks ago as the New York Mets' hitting coach after Chili Davis was fired.

I'm at a blank as to why I picked up a Skal Labissière card - looking closer, I think this is the Prizm cougar parallel.

I don't know if I consider these unique finds, but I grabbed them anyway - a 1988 Topps Mark McGwire Record Breakers subset #3 stamped buyback, a pack pulled minor league card of Austin Romine serial #'d / 25 and a Billy Hamilton refractor for my awesome outfield collection.

Some more cards I found that may not mean much, but may serve their purpose somewhere - a David Fletcher prospect card and a pair of 2019 Bowman Platinum cards of Corbin Burnes, who has turned into a dominant starting pitcher.

Even though it isn't the rookie card, I like the Burnes insert better - it pops a bit more that just the base card.

I don't know if this Randy Johnson is considered a true oddball, but maybe it is classified as such - I grabbed it for $2 because I think rookie year cards from junk wax era boxed sets may have a little novelty compared to the actual rookie cards that were released the same year or rookie year cards that were released in traded / extended sets.

I grabbed these poverty Jordans cards for the prices listed in the back - maybe I paid too much but the hologram caught my eye and I can make believe these are a little different because they are international versions of their U.S. counterparts.

The text on the back of the hologram card is translated in German and the text on the back of the base card is translated in Spanish - I wonder if these were distributed by language / country.