Card show results - getting lost in my finds

After being a spectator at my niece's soccer doubleheader to close out her season and having lunch with my parents - maybe I got my one chance go back to the show / card shop I'd previously visited.

While I didn’t know how it was during the morning - I want to say there were only 5-10 tables when I got the show and still a lot of empty space in the storefront.

There was one table with a box of loose dollar cards - I was digging around, but it was more ‘here and now’ stuff from just past couple of years and not a deal where I found keepers outright.

I made it to one other table with a display of top loaded cards and loose sleeved cards for $0.50 each - I probably spent about 45 minutes just rummaging through the rows of cards, while another person had already been doing the same before I got there.

I think the setup was primarily other sports, but there were assorted ‘runs’ of baseball to be found just the same - maybe I was a little unsure of what I may find, but I thought this might be my only table, so maybe I should be patient and see if I could make something of my time.

The other person was really into it and was looking to he could get a discount for something like 200 cards purchased - not that I particularly cared, but I was trying to make sure to stay out of his way as he dug into another row of cards.

With no rhyme or reason, I started to get on a mission myself - I didn’t know if I’d have the time to go through the cards I'd pulled and there was a little anxiety about weeding out certain ones while making others my keepers.

I don't want to dilute my decade stars collections, so by default the star cards I pull or find are sorted into my decade stars collection - however mini-collection quality cards finds picturing legitimate stars should end up as highlights out of my various collecting topics subsets, rather than really just ending up my 30th or 31st random card of a certain player to squirrel away somewhere.

I try to stay away from any non-MLB licensed Panini products on principle, but any loose shiny and/or unique parallels / inserts are fair game - notably when there is star power involved.

I would have ignored the random Beltre otherwise as just another low end pack pulled minor league insert - but it's a now a nearly 25 year old card that chronicles the future hall of famer's time in the minors, just as he was getting to the big leagues at 19.

The Maddux isn't worth much more than what I paid, but it's an insert I've never seen before - it looks pretty sharp as a binder material card.

Maybe I was aiming for adding some odder looking cards and while the way the cards look a little beat up in-hand [or at least the sealed holders that hold the cards] - I found a pair of 1996 Danbury Mint cards of Duke Snider and Bob Feller, which features a gold leaf surface.

Maybe I lose something in the moment, when I make some of the same rookie cards keepers, maybe multiple times over - however, current year rookies don't always make it to the boxes I'm looking at, so I'll grab them as I find them.

When rummaging through random boxes, I like to do a little GOAT hunting, where I like to make believe that the most basic cards of legendary and iconic pro athletes are keepers - regardless of actual value or relevance.

I don't really concern myself with other sports, because if I get serious about it - I feel like the best I can aspire to build on a 'repack collection,' but it's a tease to see all these assorted cards for the taking featuring all these pros I'm casually aware of, except they do not play pro baseball.

I grabbed a second year card of Aaron Rodgers because it just happens to be the closest thing to his rookie year - while he is otherwise holding out so far, he has just been one of these top flight quarterbacks who is tough to go against.

I grabbed a Steve Young card because it was shiny and die-cut - I remember not being able to throw a football at all and even though I was a roly poly kid, I would imagine being able to take the ball [in touch football games] and scramble around like Young did during the years where he was QB1 for the San Francisco 49ers through the mid 1990s.

I found some 1990 Leaf cards and while I'd have to pay a pretty price to get any of them actually inked up - it was nice dig out a Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan [I ended up with two, because I wasn't paying attention] and a Clemens [which I may have already].

Maybe there was some overlapping interest in star cards from the early 1980s and older, even as the junk wax era was at its peak through the early 1990s - maybe a copy of the Ryan was loose among a one-time friend's collection that his mother kept nagging on him to clean up and in passing, I wanted a copy for myself.

The Ozzie Smith maybe a misfit find, from a fugly 1981 Fleer set that is hard to take seriously - however there is something quaint about the card, picturing a younger, smiling Smith as a member of the San Diego Padres.

I almost consider Smith just about a one team guy with the St. Louis Cardinals - but The Wizard established his reputation as a slick fielding magician as a Padre.

I found one card each of a couple of probable decade stars / binder guys for the 2020s - Alex Kirilloff is an outfielder who became the first player to make his MLB debut in the postseason, penciled into the starting lineup, while Adley Rutschman is probably the top catching prospect in the minors.

Finally there are a pair of Shohei Ohtanis - obvious keepers if I don't have them, even basic, no MLB logo cards from Panini.

Maybe my second pit stop at this card show didn't turn out to be a 'full blown' experience for me, but I was able to dig around and do my thing for a short time - to have some loose cards to take home and dwell on.

Card show results - Puckett and Yaz

I made a mid week pit stop at a potential LCS storefront and new card show set-up twice a week - I took look a around and maybe there was four or five tables along with the shop set-up, so it wasn't looking too good.

I did realize it wasn't the weekend and it may take time for guys possibly setting up - to be on that weekday grind with real life stuff in the way.

I don’t know if it was the same guy at this particular table I stumbled on, but I recognized some old school / vintage material from the very first show I attended this year - there maybe a couple of binders with vintage football sets on display and a showcase with some modern and / better stuff.

There were was a couple of piles of $5 cards and I doubt I would find anything - but I ended up with a 1973 Topps Carl Yastrzemski #245 and a 1985 Fleer Kirby Puckett RC #286.

The Yastrzemski was the mutton chops Yaz card featured an episode of The Simpsons, so there was some novelty there - I saw the Yastrzemski displayed before, but the table setup changed up over the past several shows.

With ‘here and now’ interests taking priority, maybe the Yaz was just another card collecting dust in a seller’s stash somewhere - but I was able to to find it again today and it’s worth $5 to have it in-hand.

Come to think of it, I’ve never had a Puckett rookie so it maybe a start to looking for his more common rookie cards - the 1984 Fleer Update is the XRC to have, but that maybe a card that I'm not going to run into anytime, while I still kind of think his 1985 rookies were kind of ‘second tier’ at best.

Puckett was a larger than life superstar during the junk wax era and I ended up with his share of cards - he was a gamer and was on his way to posting more significant counting number through his mid 30s, sbefore he was diagnosed with glaucoma late in his career.

When he was playing, there was never a bad thing spoken about him on or off the field - but he was a flawed human being, who wasn’t the most savory of characters, especially after retirement.

Some newer card show recaps #5 [FIN]

I stumbled upon what would be my last table of the day, where I started going over dollar box cards - unlike the dollar box collection I stumbled upon in recap #2, maybe the cards here didn't have that nostalgic pull to them.

But maybe it's kind of like looking up cards on COMC, where I may not be interested in one specific card - but going down the rabbit hole, maybe I see a run of cards, where it's random and I want it.

After the fact, part of the challange was looking up and trying to figure out what exactly I had in-hand - whether it's an insert, parallel or a base card.

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospect J. D. Martinez #BCP165
2014 Topps Chrome Jose Ramirez RC #45
2018 Topps Factory Set Rafael Devers #18
2019 Bowman's Best Austin Riley RC #4 - x2
2019 Panini Elite Extra Edition OptiChrome Riley Greene #5
2019 Topps Independence Day parallel Aramis Garcia #659 - serial #’d 61/76
2019 Topps Update Vintage Stock parallel Tommy La Stella #US29 - serial #’d 57/99
2019 Topps Update SP Variation Tony Gwynn #US56
2019 Topps Update SP Variation Robin Yount #US168
2019 Topps Chrome Update Will Smith #47
2020 Bowman Chrome Sapphire Prospects Kody Hoese #BCP4
2020 Bowman Sterling Prospects J.J. Bleday #BPR-43
2020 Topps Archives 1955 Bowman insert Bo Bichette #B55-9
2020 Topps SP Variation Bob Gibson #508
2020 Topps SP Variation Dave Winfield #556
2020 Topps Vintage Stock parallel Nick Markakis #156 - serial #’d 15/99
2020 Topps Chrome Sapphire Edition Spencer Turnbull #445
2020 Topps Chrome Update Sapphire Edition Jason Castro #U-232
2020 Topps Pro Debut Chrome Dylan Carlson #PDC-142 - gum card
2021 Bowman Jasson Dominguez #BP-13 - it's nothing notable, but my first card of the teenage prospect nicknamed 'The Martian.'

Some newer card show recaps #4

I went through a table that had a ‘5 for $1’ box and started grabbing loose 2021 Topps Home Run Challenge contest / code cards - I don’t think they were scratched, so maybe I can use them, even though I consider them throwaways after I've used the cards for the codes.

I scratched off cards of Pete Alonso, Eugenio Suarez, Nolan Arenado and Giancarlo Stanton last week - Alonso and Stanton ended up being winners for me, so I await my prize cards in several months.

I missed on using a code for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - not that I would have picked the right date, but he's been on an absolute tear and hit 3 straight home runs over the weekend.

Star power - I started to pull cards including some cheap binder material cards to add shine to my indidivual player collections.

2020 Donruss Optic Carolina Blue and White Prizm Anthony Rendon #155
2020 Donruss Optic Holo Prizm Anthony Rendon #155
2020 Donruss Optic Diamond Kings Lime Green Prizm Juan Soto #23
2020 Panini Optic Lime Green Prizm Max Scherzer #138
2020 Panini Prizm Numbers Game insert Shohei Ohtani #NG8
2020 Panini Optic Lime Green Prizm Bryce Harper #183
2020 Topps Chrome Aaron Judge Sepia refractor #50
2020 Topps Chrome Kris Bryant Prism refractor #53
2020 Topps Chrome Kris Bryant Sepia refractor #53
2020 Topps Chrome Max Scherzer Sepia refractor #139
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Clayton Kershaw Emperor of the Zone insert #EOZ-11
2021 Topps Series 1 Jacob deGrom Rainbow Foil #200

Legends and icons

2020 Panini Donruss Optic Retro 1986 Holo Prizm Don Mattingly #R86-16
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Cal Ripken Jr. #106
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Stan Musial #187
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Ken Griffey Jr. #270
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome X-Fractor Roberto Clemente #159

Miscellaneous

2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Mojo refractor Noah Song #BCP161 - he was the prospect who had to fulfill obligations to go to Navy flight school.
2020 Donruss Optic T-Minus insert Deshaun Watson #TM-10 - I thought this NFL card was pretty neat looking, though it's probably an 'infamous' add.
2020 Topps Chrome refractor Andrew Heaney #28 - I'm sure I have my share of Heaney's but this parallel goes towards my Angels Opening Day starters set.
2020 Topps Chrome X-Fractor Scott Kingery #64 - maybe some base running, dirt fetish or hats-off add.
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Mitch Garver #20 - gum card
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome Xfractor Justin Turner #45 - honestly, he's not a decade stars / binder guy for me, but might as well be.
2020 Topps Stadium Club Chrome refractor Salvador Perez #206 - tools of ignorance
2021 Topps Series 1 History of Topps insert Sy Berger / first complete set #HOT-3
2021 Topps Series 1 History of Topps insert Topps Receives MLB Exclusive #HOT-7

Miscellaneous prospects - it's a little confusing and redundant [even if the checklist was actually different], but intriguing to see there were Mega Box Mojo refractor cards for both 2020 Bowman and 2020 Bowman Chrome; unlike the cards from recap #1, these loose cards came from 2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Boxes.

2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Mojo refractor Kyle Isbel #BCP-165
2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Mojo refractor Brandon Marsh #BCP-166
2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Mojo refractor Francisco Alvarez #BCP-198
2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Mojo refractor Marco Luciano #BCP-213
2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Mojo refractor Michael Toglia #BCP-225
2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Mojo refractor Trevor Larnach #BCP-249
2020 Bowman Chrome Mega Box Dawn is Glory insert Adley Rutschman #DG-13
2021 Bowman Chrome Prospects Brennen Davis #BCP-65
2021 Bowman Chrome Prospects Carson Tucker #BCP-77
2021 Bowman Chrome Prospects Brandon Marsh #BCP-112
2021 Bowman Chrome Prospects Drew Romo #BCP-126

Some newer card show recaps #3

I’m trying to make something out of what was left of my time, going around to see what may catch my eye - I ended up seeing a 1989 Donruss Baseball’s Best set I relented to pick up.

I remember being envious of a childhood friend in possession of a loose Ken Griffey Jr. rookie year card laying around loose in his room 30 years ago - I finally got a graded version of the Griffey Jr. back in 2006 and didn’t realize centering on the back of the cards were generally ‘off.’

Even though it’s a nearly worthless card of a big league pariah - maybe another highlight was an early MLB card of Sammy Sosa, his only big league card from 1989.

I thought the cards were still factory sealed, though that might not be the case with the outer packaging - the cards are still in bricks wrapped in plastic, though might have been banging around in the display box after all these years.

I don't know if I should try to keep things 'as is' and preserve the set as best as I can or if I should just break things up - so I can make sure the Sosa and Griffey Jr. cards are actually in-hand and see what they look like as far as condition goes.

I stumbled upon a table with a ‘3 for $1’ vintage box - I'm up for having real, old cardboard in-hand, but at this point just haven't been that collecting to gravitate to them.

At the table, maybe the three or four row box of cards were set-up too neat, where there isn't that lure of not knowing what I may find - when clearly it's commons separated by year [from something like 1969 Topps through some scattered early 1970s years].

For the just the rank-and-file commons, I think the 1969 Topps tends to be boring and generic, while other vintage years don’t quite inspire the right perspective in me - I grabbed a trio featuring a 1974 Topps Sonny Jackson #591 [possible TTM], a 1971 Topps John Cumberland #108 [possible TTM] and a 1973 Topps Bob Didier #574 that has a pretty definitive tools of ignorance, plays at the plate image pictured.

I have 1990 ProCards AAA cards for Jackson and Cumberland [Cumberland was a one-time Angel] but those are kind of ugly cards picturing them as coaches - I wanted actual cards from their playing days and kind of found what I was looking for.

Some newer card show recaps #2

I spent the longest time going through a table with seemingly never ending boxes of dollar cards, where I kept finding more cards to add to a stack I’m building up - the table wasn't getting too much traffic, where a few others may have passed by and spent a couple of minutes doing a quick check of things, but I'm the one fiending out, trying to flag some probable keepers.

There is a time element involved where I may give myself an hour or a couple of hours at most - I haven’t even circled back and forth to browse through the entire room yet, so maybe I'm getting self conscious about planting myself in one spot before my time is up.

I was finding baseball from at least the past 25 years, maybe mid 1990s UV-coated inserts, but also a lot of other sports mixed in from a bunch of different years like base cards stars and rookie cards of minor stars - there may have been handfuls of early 1980s stuff sprinkled in.

I'd never seen Perma-Graphics cards in-hand before and was almost tempted to pick up one or two [there was a Davey Lopes, Jack Morris, George Foster] - because they looked so different from your typical flagship Topps, Donruss, Fleer cards from the era.

I was worried about spending so much for cards [where I had 70-80 cards to worry about whittling down] that are kind of just ‘there’ and in the end - I had to let my imagination settle down and settle to pick up so-called priorities.

I feel like I have to quietly put back stuff I’m going through on a whim, where it's out of sight, out of mind - where a next time to pick something I’ve left behind might not happen, but I had to save my bullets.

I was disappointed there no deals for these dollar cards in quantity, just straight up a dollar each - which was fair enough I guess and maybe as I was leaving the show, I could have swallowed my pride and broke down to pick up 5-10 more cards.

Rookie card stuff - I probably wouldn't seek out any of these cards outright, but I get some satisfaction in picking up a little run of XRCs/RCs featuring pretty good players, fan favorites types and a trio of Hall of Famers.

1988 Fleer Update John Smoltz XRC #U-74
1988 Fleer Update Craig Biggio XRC #U-89
1991 Topps Stadium Club Jeff Bagwell RC #338
1995 Bowman Bartolo Colon RC #22
1995 Bowman’s Best Bartolo Colon RC #73
1998 Bowman Jimmy Rollins RC #181
1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars J.D. Drew #332
1999 Bowman C.C. Sabathia RC #344
2001 Upper Deck Prospects Premieres David Wright XRC #52
2008 Topps Stadium Club Joey Votto RC #112 - x2
2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Joey Votto RC #112

Inking it up adds - I can probably get any particular cards online, if I know what I'm looking for, but it's an accomplishment to find cards in-hand featuring a specific, collecting topics subset theme.

1993 Upper Deck On Deck Nolan Ryan #D20
1995 Megacards Ken Griffey Jr. Wishlist ...A Lot to Live For #10 - this one actually talks about his suicide attempt early in his pro career.
1995 SkyBox E-Motion - Cal Ripken Jr. Timeless Literacy Work #9
1996 Pinnacle Summit retail foil board parallel Chipper Jones #126
1996 Upper Deck Derek Jeter #156
1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified Platinum Blue Jim Thome #47 - on the reverse image, serial #’d 0986/1999; I could have probably left this card, but I collect cards for the images on the back sometimes and it's going to be harder to track any one specific card showing a mini-collection 'hit.'
1997 Upper Deck Michael Jordan Rare Air box set #54

Miscellaneous - maybe this gives me an opportunity to do some free style commentary on cards I picked up, even if what I type out gets a bit too long-winded and/or may devolve into something harder to understand.

1990 Topps Glossy Send-Ins Ken Griffey Jr. #20 - I find myself an old head, where Junior was my original Mike Trout from a past generation over 30 years ago.
1991 Pro Set Bill Belichick #126 - in my collecting life, what was worse than junk wax era baseball cards were junk wax era football [or basketball or hockey] cards.

What I do have here is a card features a coaching GOAT - so I grabbed it, even as a probable 'infamous' mini-collection add for all the chicanery 'The Hoodie' has orchestrated during his time in New England.

1992-93 Stadium Club Members Choice subset Michael Jordan #210 - maybe I'm leaning towards making a PC official, featuring all the cheap Jordans I find.
1993 Topps Finest Kirby Puckett #112 - this could be my first 1993 Finest card, maybe a landmark set I had no real idea about back in the day.
1993 Topps Stadium Club First Day Issue Vince Coleman #195 - this was the last card out I picked out and while I wonder why I subjected myself to picking up a random card of Vince Coleman, whose early high octane base stealing years with the St. Louis Cardinals was drowned out through the 1990s by firecrackers and generally bouncing around as a journeyman.

However there is some 'dirt fetish action' on the card and the little First Day Issue stamp makes the parallel a keeper - even if I don't have the original base card in-hand, at times I'd rather have parallels for my mini-collections.

1994 Topps SS Prospects Derek Jeter #158 - I don't like multiplayer cards of prominent players who end up with one or more random guys, but this second-year big league card of Jeter, chronicles his rise, where he was still plying his trade in the minors.
1994 Topps Archives ‘54 Roberto Clemente #251 - out of all the retro cards I found featuring Hall of Fame legends and icons, maybe this is the one I wanted to put away in my pocket because it chronicles the time Clemente spent with another big league organization's minor league squad.
1996 Fleer Update Smooth Leather Cal Ripken Jr. #9 - this ends up being a binder material card to put away.
1997 Upper Deck Derek Jeter #440 - I funnel my 'star cards' towards my decade / binder stars collection by default, where my player accumulations supercedes any mini-collection priorities.

In some cases, I'll relent to make a card like the Jeter a mini-collection add - with a little dirt fetish showing or even a bit of signage going on, where you can make out a certain brand of beer.

2000 Upper Deck MVP Game Used Souvenirs Manny Ramirez bat #MRB - I was excited to find a bat card out of the dollar box, even if relic cards haven't been a thing for the past 10-15 years and while I probably collected it just the same, UD MVP was more a budget collector brand.

Some newer card show recaps #1

Pictured is the Pelican case I bring to hold all my pick ups - I store it in a drawstring bag I lug around as I try to make deals for key showcase money cards at different card show venues, always ready for some action.

Seriously however, much of what I value are cards that may be dated, too plentiful and never going to be valued - I hunt the type of cards I do in the meantime, to have my own inspired smorgasbord to aspire to as a card collecting lifer.

I made it to another card show, a different one from the last post, though they were on back-to-back weeks - knock on wood, maybe the plan through the summer is to get to as many local card shows as I can as something to get me out of the house until I get tired of going to the same promoted places with the same stuff.

This latest show was held inside a gym with lots of tables and lots of foot traffic, so this was already looking better, even if what I actually find at various tables may not be line up with my ideals - it was actually little cramped all around as I tried to snake my way through the rows and find the first accessible table.

I landed on a table where I started to dig through the quarter boxes and was starting to pull cards out that interested me - even though I could have ended up with more different cards, I tried to grab multiples of certain basic rookie cards as I found them.

Miscellaneous - maybe a few more rookie cards of rank-and-file guys and other cards I picked up on a whim.

Angels content - I found a couple of 2018 Leaf Shohei Ohtani cards and I relented to make them keepers, even if Leaf branded cards from the past 10 years through present have no place in my collection.

Miscellaneous prospects - it feels like it has been at least a couple of years since I had any loose Bowman prospect cards in-hand, especially Mega Box stuff from 2020, so while related, pictured cards may not be actual first-year guys, they are shiny cards of hopefuls.

Some high and dry card show finds

I was desperate to make something of my latest card show trip and for $20, relented to pick up some cards that may not be priorities - but cards of some current stars and some retro cards of legends, notably from more 'here and now' Topps products I may not be exposed to at all.

After a pandemic related hiatus, I've attended three card shows [same promoter] between the past couple of months and go figure, they've ended up being carbon copies of each other - I see the guy with the off-brand graded cards display and I don't think he is ever going to sell anything.

I try to be inconspicuous, but I get a little aimless when I’m going around the track of the same tables multiple times - there was one random table with some retail product and the lady told me the 2021 Bowman blasters were $50 each or two for $90; there might have been 5 or 6 2021 Bowman Mega boxes at another table I wasn’t going to bother asking the price for.

I was really hoping to get inspired rummaging through tables like I’ve seen and read, where I end up with more cards than I know what to do with - but reality falls a bit short of my expectations and maybe I felt like the treasure hunt aspect just wasn't happening.

I didn’t really see what I would consider old-school, old-timey weekend warrior sellers with boxes of loose cards that can be had for a dollar or less - sellers had their heavy hitter showcase material and maybe tiers of ‘the rest,’ featuring assorted singles in boxes or set aside, most were other than baseball.

I felt a million miles away from anything happening in the room, with the hustle and bustle over tables, guys wanting to make plays - even as things at the very moment are supposedly, finally on a bit of a downturn.

I think a good sign is when I can’t be pulled away, wanting to linger and hang around a venue - that really wasn’t the case here and things were just kind of ‘meh,’ even if I did end up with cards regardless.

2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Ronald Acuña Jr. #2 - $2
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Fernando Tatis Jr. #5 - $2
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #20
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Juan Soto #6 - $2
2021 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Juan Soto #11 - $2
2021 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Ronald Acuña Jr. #18 - $2
2021 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Lost Set Joey Bart #2 - $1

2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Hank Aaron #12
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Ted Williams #14
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Willie Mays #15
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Set 2 1968 Action Stickers Ted Williams #9 - $2
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Set 2 1968 Action Stickers Willie Mays #20 - $2

TTM autographs received: Ernie Whitt

The former big league catcher signed my cards in about 3 months, including a 1984 Donruss and a 1990 Leaf - I wasn't familiar with his playing career, but Whitt had a nice run through the 1980s as a catcher who could get on base and hit for some pop at the plate.

There might be a Mandela Effect going on, but I have a random memory where I might have seen Whitt on TV over 30 years ago - grinding through an at-bat in a Atlanta Braves game, he had the most awkward looking stance to hit from and I guess at his age then, was clearly overmatched by the pitcher he was facing.

2021 Topps Home Run Challenge prize card - J.D. Martinez

Off some early 2021 Topps breaks, I pulled Home Run Challenge inserts for Freddie Freeman, Gleyber Torres and J.D. Martinez - pick a date when a player would hit a home run, enter the code on the Topps contest Web site [you have to be registered at Topps.com] and see if the player connects on the game chosen.

Martinez was the only 'winner' out of the group and I felt pretty smart trying to guestimate when he would hit his home run - after seeing I had a winner, it probably took a couple of months for Topps to ship the winning [serial #'d to the number of correct entries] card to me.

I think I've only entered a single Home Run Challenge card before 2021 and didn't know much about the actual prize cards before - going through a box of cards at a show, I think saw a similar Martinez card from a previous year and I guess most of the winning cards printed from the contest are fairly common.

I'd like to point out, Martinez is not a favorite at all, but the slugger has put up significant hitting numbers - while putting together a collection of loose cards together in a page, I made sure to save space for Martinez's 2021 Topps Home Run Challenge card.