The Diamond King Draft 2 results

It was fun trying to take this card draft seriously for a moment where there was an opportunity to participate in something with other card bloggers - for me, it was kind of like trading by proxy and I was happy to see where 7 of my 9 cards sent in were picked out.

Round 1

#89 [Gleyber] Torres - I got the #1 card off my board, which was a nice looking triple relic card.

Round 2

#5 [Joey] Bart - as other cards that piqued my interest were claimed, I snatched up a B/W rookie year parallel of a one-time prospect who looks to finally stick at catcher for the San Francisco Giants. 

Round 3

#3 [Joe] Saunders - I can't believe this a first year autograph of a one-time Angels All-Star is 20 years old and counting.

Round 4

#36 [Carlos] Delgado - I’m not sure if this was originally encased as an eTopps card, but pops real nice.  

Maybe I started to go off script as cards on my draft list were picked by other collectors - where my personal draft order had broken down a little bit.

I’m just happy to be participating where I got at least three cards I wanted so far [regardless of whether they were the actual cards I prioritized on my list besides my #1] - it’s was more fun and games pivoting towards other choices, especially where the draft cupboard wasn’t bare just yet.

Round 5

#79 [Joe] Cronin - this was a shiny, card from an older, higher end release. 

Round 6

#62 [Aaron] Judge - had my eyes on #83 [Trae] Young and #17 [Nolan] Ryan; would have gone with the NBA star for a change of pace if it wasn’t claimed.

Both the Young and Ryan cards ended up being claimed by other collectors - so I went with a card fitting a mini-collection of players pointing to the sky as a tribute.

Round 7

#63 [Andrew] Abbott - went with a shiny card of a one time Team USA guy who is now a pitching prospect in the Cincinnati Reds organization.

Round 8

#32 [Jeff] Kent - I went with something kind of odd with this parallel card from a one-off set all the way back in 2005.

Kent was never a warm and fuzzy personality but he may have been a true accumulator as a slugging second baseman - where his counting numbers as a batter look pretty good on the surface, notably for the position he took on the field.

Round 9

#2 [Bradley] Zimmer - actually had him listed twice by accident; maybe a variation card common enough but nothing I’d pick up outright, so why not?

This card probably goes into either my hats-off mini-collection or my game face; focused mini-collection - at this point, Zimmer has been all disappointment and no promise.

TTM autographs received: Tom Walker

The former big league pitcher from the 1970s signed my two cards in three weeks - I wanted to send a request because of the 'beyond the glory' story he shared about nearly joining Roberto Clemente in the legend's fatal plane flight in December 1972.

There is a bloodlines tie where the elder Walker is the father of a former big leaguer [Neil], who played for 12 seasons through 2020 - I added an extra card of Neil to my request for Tom to keep.

Looking up his stats, it just happens he pitched in one game for the Angels back in 1977 - so he was a retired player I needed in my Angels all-time autograph collection.

Dime Boxes 10th anniversary give away results

It's fun checking when Nick over at Dime boxes posts his latest card hauls and poring over blog is the closest thing to making me feel like a Stan - I was able to pick out several cards from his blog anniversary celebration where he had a 10 post marathon gifting cards to those who wanted them.

I tried not to impose too much on his generosity by claiming only so many cards - my favorites are probably the Mike Schmidt, Fred Lynn oddball, Bo Jackson promo and the Topps rookie year subset feat. Shohei Ohtani / Ichiro.

As much as I've read Nick's blog over the past 5-6 years, I just have not interacted with him like other collectors who may do trades and /or send him stuff [and vice versa] - besides the cards, it was nice touch to personalize things with a short note.

Some old-school 1980s card show pick ups

I'd braved the foot traffic and narrow aisles at the last card I show I was at - I wear a mask and standing idle digging through rows of random cards in a stuffy room has me feeling out of sorts.

Still, I was able to do my thing at some of the value boxes and after just a couple of hours into the show, I was down to my last $20 - there was a table with sorting tray of all sorts of cards.

A Corey Kluber certified autograph [$10] and a David Wright certified autograph [either $10 or $20, but it was a sticker Panini issue] intrigued - but they might not have been appealing impulse purchases where I was content to leave them.  

I stumbled upon the seller's table where I bought a 1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy #357 reverse negative from another show date - on my first go around, maybe I wasn’t feeling the table, but gave things another go.

There are rows and clusters of mid 1980s rookies, mid 1980s minor league cards, junk wax era singles, assorted old school and vintage cards from all sorts of sports - it’s fun to consider making some of the random singles keepers, but I have to watch for some obvious blemishes and imperfections where the eye appeal isn't quite there.  

I'd like to think I don't need a chair, but I'm not getting younger and if the primary seller at the table offers me a chair as I dig through his stock of cards - that may actually encourage me to find something.

Go figure, I settled on a 1985 Leaf Kirby Puckett RC [$5] and a 1982 TCMA Orel Hershiser [$10] - maybe the Puckett is a little off center but it’s not bad looking.

Puckett was one of the kings of the junk wax era superstars for me, though his actually rookie year [1985] was before I knew anything about trading cards - I may look to catch up on picking up Puckett's 1985 rookies when I can.

The Hershiser is somewhat of an oddball where it's an early 1980s minor league card [it might be his first pro card released in the United States] that predates his 1985 MLB rookie issues - the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers favorite is still visible as their primary color commentator and like Puckett was a junk wax era star.

There was a 1983 TCMA Hershiser [$10] that may have been a keeper as well and I probably could have gotten the three cards for $20 or less - but to be on the safe side, just picked the older of the two Hershiser cards.

I handed off the cards and the seller took a look at the prices for a moment before asking $7 for the pair.

I could have sworn the seller gave off more of a senior vibe the first time I'd seen him with his adult son who might as well have been tagging along as muscle - but someone had asked him about having Satchel Paige cards in his collection and he said, "I'm not that old."

2022 Topps Series 1 blaster recap - 3 of 3

Pack one

#265 Keston Hiura

#30 Kyle Muller RC

#86 Kris Bryant

#188 Ha-Seong Kim

#157 Bruce Zimmerman

#217 Eli Morgan RC

#77 Josh Naylor

#312 Taijuan Walker

#268 Liam Hendriks

#16 Tommy Pham

#81 Jesse Winker

#327 Ty France 

#42 Mitch Moreland - Royal Blue parallel

#SMLB-2 Ronald Acuña Jr. - Stars of MLB insert

Pack two

#179 Zach Eflin

#108 Zach Pop RC

#195 Drew Smyly

#291 Sean Manaea 

#131 Luis Gil RC

#31 Matt Manning RC

#153 Eddie Rosario

#137 Anthony DeSclafani

#128 Matthew Boyd

#152 Austin Meadows

#261 Framber Valdez

#200 Ronald Acuña Jr.

#T87-10 Vidal Brujan - 1987 35th Anniversary insert

#SMLB-28 Clayton Kershaw - Stars of MLB insert

Pack three

#273 Luke Weaver

#35 Gerrit Cole

#113 Brock Holt

#219 Salvador Perez

#319 Kyle Tucker

#151 Kwang-Hyun Kim

#194 Miguel Cabrera

#78 Aaron Ashby RC

#92 Avisail Garcia

#158 Riley Adams RC

#115 Austin Riley

#292 Kyle Higashioka

#256 James McCann - Rainbow Foil parallel

#SMLB-22 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - Stars of MLB insert

Pack four

#216 Kyle Schwarber

#257 Justin Turner

#193 Dom Nunez

#305 Starling Marte

#102 Ian Kennedy

#191 Willi Castro

#13 Freddy Peralta

#171 Kurt Suzuki

#231 Ronnie Dawson RC

#182 J.D. Martinez

#178 Jean Segura

#295 Jake Meyers RC

#21GH-11 Ronald Acuña Jr. - 2021's Greatest Hits insert

#SMLB-16 Ke'Bryan Hayes - Stars of MLB insert

Pack five

#6 Jazz Chisholm Jr.

#45 Sonny Gray

#241 Tommy La Stella

#284 Yasmani Grandal

#117 Brandon Crawford

#22 Bryan De La Cruz RC

#54 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 

#243 Brandon Marsh RC

#56 Ke'Bryan Hayes

#271 Patrick Wisdom 

#272 Eric Hosmer

#60 Mike Moustakas

#112 Marco Gonzalez

#JNM-GC Gerrit Cole - Commemorative relic card

#SMLB-6 Luis Robert - Stars of MLB insert

Pack six

#192 Eduardo Rodriguez

#10 Archie Bradley

#98 NL East Division Smiles - feat. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Francisco Lindor.

#82 Charlie Morton

#23 Gio Urshela 

#286 Jacob Stallings

#71 Ernie Clement RC

#211 Cristian Javier 

#228 Spencer Turnbull

#196 Randy Arozarena

#155 Mike Minor

#213 Jon Lester

#T87-52 Roberto Clemente - 1987 35th Anniversary insert

#SMLB-11 Christian Yelich - Stars of MLB insert

Pack seven

#163 Stuart Fairchild RC

#207 Eduardo Escobar

#170 Kevin Pillar

#18 Emmanuel Rivera RC

#177 Carson Kelly

#247 St. Louis Cardinals team card - feat. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado

#136 Houston Astros team card - feat. Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez

#26 Devin Williams

#25 Vidal Brujan RC

#40 David Price

#120 Andrew Vaughn

#261 Framber Valdez - Gold parallel serial #'d 0832/2022

#HRC-19 Nolan Arenado - Home Run Challenge game card

#SMLB-17 Fernando Tatis Jr. - Stars of MLB insert

2022 Topps Series 1 blaster recap - 2 of 3

Pack one

#189 Michael Pineda

#187 Jarren Duran RC

#269 Jose Ramirez

#80 Mitch Haniger

#46 Raimel Tapia

#328 Keegan Akin

#59 2021 NL Batting Average Leaders - feat. Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Bryce Harper

#110 Liftoff - feat. Yordan Alvarez and Yulieski Gurriel

#225 Harrison Bader

#103 Mike Yastrzemski

#53 Hanser Alberto

#311 Chris Flexen

#SMLBC-12 Byron Buxton - Stars of the MLB insert; Chrome parallel

#SMLB-19 Yadier Molina - Stars of MLB insert

Pack two

#183 Ji-Man Choi

#252 Victor Reyes

#322 Joey Gallo

#313 Brady Singer

#11 Jesus Luzardo

#132 Ryan McMahon

#229 Double Bath - feat. Xander Bogaerts and Christian Vasquez

#105 2021 NL Wins Leaders - feat. Julio Urias, Adam Wainwright and Walker Buehler

#68 Alex Bregman

#300 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

#234 Garrett Hampson

#324 Mike Zunino

#WTTS-13 Hank Aaron - Welcome to the Show

#SMLB-21 Joey Gallo - Stars of MLB insert

Pack three

#150 Juan Soto

#237 Albert Pujols

#220 Gerardo Parra

#36 Jorge Alfaro

#244 Shane McLanahan

#326 Miami Marlins team card - feat. Jorge Alfaro

#330 Jacob deGrom

#293 Mike Foltnewicz

#26 Cesar Hernandez

#34 Adam Wainwright

#290 Joey Votto

#185 Justin Dunn

#192 Eduardo Rodriguez - Royal Blue parallel

#SMLB-18 Buster Posey - Stars of MLB insert

Pack four

#161 Jon Gray

#39 Andrew Miller

#242 Anthony Rizzo

#100 Fernando Tatis Jr.

#63 Christian Vasquez

#201 Reid Detmers RC

#165 2021 AL Batting Average Leaders - feat. Yuli Gurriel, Michael Brantley and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

#164 Atlanta Braves team card

#199 Michael Brantley

#33 Danny Jansen

#50 Mookie Betts

#7 Bobby Dalbec

#T87-27 Ke'Bryan Hayes - 1987 35th Anniversary insert

#SMLB-14 Aaron Judge - Stars of MLB insert 

Pack five

#250 Bryce Harper

#166 Patrick Mazeika RC

#72 Pedro Severino

#95 Chad Pinder

#219 Washington Nationals team card - feat. Josh Bell

#9 Eliezer Hernandez

#90 Enrique Hernandez

#105 Pavin Smith

#139 Omar Narvaez

#186 Jake Burger RC

#173 Raisel Iglesias

#32 Taylor Rogers

#243 Brandon Marsh - Rainbow Foil parallel

#JNM-JV Joey Votto - Commemorative relic card

#SMLB-7 Jose Ramirez - Stars of MLB insert

Pack six

#20 Jake Cousins RC

#75 Christian Walker

#37 Michael Conforto

#325 Max Kranick RC

#245 Whit Merrifield

#126 Bo Bichette

#133 Zac Lowther RC

#122 Minnesota Meet Up - feat. Shohei Ohtani and Kenta Maeda

#38 Mason Thompson RC

#74 Merrill Kelly

#267 Edwin Diaz

#184 Hoy Park RC

#TT-8 Willy Adames / Kolten Wong - 6-4 Stars insert

#SMLB-27 Kris Bryant - Stars of MLB insert 

Pack seven

#41 Clayton Kershaw

#29 Jose Berrios

#62 Luke Williams RC

#65 Austin Hedges

#205 Yadier Molina

#270 2021 AL Wins Leaders - feat. Gerrit Cole, Chris Flexen and Steven Matz

#159 Angels team card - feat. Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout

#175 Tyler Stephenson

#8 Xander Bogaerts

#180 J.T. Realmuto

#227 Zach Thompson RC

#147 Willson Contreras

#105 2021 National League Wins Leaders - feat. Julio Urias, Adam Wainwright and Walker Buehler; Pink parallel serial #'d 11/50

#SMLB-24 Shohei Ohtani - Stars of MLB insert

2022 Topps Series 1 blaster recap - 1 of 3

Pack one

#198 Jake Rogers

#57 Kyle Gibson

#55 Robbie Grossman

#172 Nick Solak

#83 Will Smith

#253 John Means 

#352 Greg Holland

#87 Nolan Arenado

#70 Ryan Weathers

#190 Emmanuel Clase

#206 Kyle Lewis

#169 Kyle Freeland

#T87-56 Bo Bichette - 1987 35th Anniversary insert

#SMLB-9 Mookie Betts - Stars of MLB insert

Pack two

#116 Alicides Escobar

#24 Trevor Rogers

#197 Alex Kirilloff

#265 Keston Hiura

#315 Pete Alonso

#298 Drew Ellis RC

#321 Bryce Harper - City of Walk-Off Love

#181 2021 NL RBI Leaders - feat. Adam Duvall, Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies

#145 Joey Wendle

#223 Martin Maldonado 

#297 Hyn-Jin Ryu

#76 Nicky Lopez

#HRC-17 Matt Olson - Home Run Challenge game card

#SMLB-4 Rafael Devers - Stars of MLB insert

Pack three

#30 Kyle Muller RC

#86 Kris Bryant

#188 Ha-Seong Kim

#157 Bruce Zimmerman

#127 2021 National League Strikeout Leaders - feat. Zach Wheeler, Max Scherzer and Corbin Burnes

#109 Toronto Blue Jays team card - feat. Marcus Semien, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette Jr.

#260 Trevor Story

#318 Josh Reddick

#296 Ryan Zimmerman

#240 Corbin Burnes

#215 Wander Franco (RC)

#288 Christian Yelich

#GN-17 Cody Bellinger - Generation Now insert

#SMLB-30 Dante Bichette - Stars of MLB insert

Pack four

#179 Zach Eflin

#108 Zach Pop RC

#195 Drew Smyly

#291 Sean Manaea 

#131 Luis Gil RC

#49 Brett Gardner

#302 Tyler Glasnow

#134 Tylor Megill RC 

#119 Walk-Off Water - feat. New York Yankees / Gleyber Torres

#264 Jackson Kowar RC

#21 Shane Bieber

#91 Kyle Seager

#SMLBC-5 Javier Baez - Stars of the MLB insert; Chrome parallel

#SMLB-25 Nolan Arenado - Stars of the MLB insert

Pack five

#273 Luke Weaver

#35 Gerrit Cole

#113 Brock Holt

#219 Salvador Perez

#216 Kyle Schwarber

#202 2021 American League RBI Leaders - feat. Salvador Perez, Jose Abreu and Teoscar Hernandez

#138 2021 American League Strikeout Leaders - feat. Robbie Ray, Gerrit Cole and Dylan Cease

#285 Ben Gamel

#141 Yermin Mercedes

#73 Johnny Cueto

#291 Lucas Giolito

#209 Buster Posey

#JNF-FF Freddie Freeman - Commemorative relic card

#T87-45 Casey Mize - 1987 35th Anniversary insert

#SMLB-13 Jacob deGrom - Stars of MLB insert

Pack six

#257 Justin Turner

#193 Dom Nunez

#305 Starling Marte

#6 Jazz Chisholm Jr. 

#45 Sonny Gray

#142 Aroldis Chapman

#233 Cristian Pache

#97 Curtis Terry RC

#2 Craig Kimbrel

#317 Colin Moran

#3 Huascar Ynoa

#176 Matt Chapman

#293 Mike Foltynewicz - Royal Blue parallel

#SMLB-2 Ronald Acuña Jr. - Stars of MLB insert

Pack seven

#241 Tommy La Stella

#284 Yasmani Grandal

#117 Brandon Crawford

#192 Eduardo Rodriguez

#146 2021 National League Home Run Leaders - feat. Fernando Tatis Jr., Adam Duvall and Pete Alonso

#204 2021 National League ERA Leaders - feat. Corbin Burnes, Max Scherzer and Walker Buehler

#121 New York Yankees team card - feat. Aaron Judge

#44 Didi Gregorius 

#258 Andre Jackson RC

#275 Ketel Marte 

#256 James McCann

#12 Gavin Sheets RC

#WTTS-50 Mike Piazza - Welcome to the Show insert

#SMLB-28 Clayton Kershaw - Stars of MLB insert

Pick ups off a dollar box smorgasbord

1979 TCMA Baseball History Series Jackie Robinson #291 - I like the old school look of this card, though the it's valued as much as any basic, retro themed Robinson card released over the past 40 years.

2006 Upper Deck All-Time Legends Satchel Paige #ATL-39 - the first time I became aware of Paige was seeing a 'poster' featuring his Six Rules For A Happy Life in my junior high language arts teacher's classroom.

1995 Flair Cal Ripken Jr. Enduring #15 - mail in - acknowledging the crowd in his historic 2,131 game.

1996 Topps Finest Landmark Series Promos Cal Ripken Jr. NNO - the greening gave me pause, but this oddball, smaller sized card may have been too weird not to make a keeper.

1985 Star Ryan Nolan Ryan promo "Baseball's K-King - labeled as an NBA card, so I assume this sample was printed as a mock up rather than part of the actual set [if it was made] that was supposed to be released.

TTM autograph received: Orlando Pena

I had a SASE come back and someone actually wrote [his name] on it, even though I had trouble reading it at first and thought it might have been something from the post office - it turned out to be one-time Angel Orlando Pena who signed a 1975 Topps buyback mailed out at the end of August 2020.

Maybe after a calendar year, requests I haven't gotten back are as good as gone in my book, but its better late than never when I get one back - especially from a guy I need in my Angels all-time autograph collection.

1953 Topps Minnie Minoso #66 find

At a show I went to, I ended up leafing through this seller's bargain bin boxes sitting off to the side - I've seen the person wandering around at other shows and while he seems to do a lot of wheeling and dealing, he seems to be more of a private collector where he might not have a physical shop. 

Maybe his off-condition vintage boxes piqued my interest, despite the idea I didn't know if I was willing to spend anything - I spotted this card of Minoso for $5 and while the condition isn't great, it's a 60-year old card of a 'new' Hall of Famer. 

I might have had other things in my mind however, but as I ended up going through a $3 or '2 for $5' box at another table - I gave up where I couldn't pair up a couple of cards together.

I took a breather outside and thought I should circle back to the table with the playing era Minoso - where it might be a no brainer keeper compared a different combination of cheap-o cards.

I let things be where I might have lingered other tables while seeing another person going through the boxes - when I finally got to coming back around, was able to find the Minoso card again. 

However, the seller was in middle of a big time deal / trade where he might have been getting back a few cards and the other person was getting back a whole box collection of assorted slabs and other various cards - here I am waiting my turn to show the seller the card I wanted and once he was done, I was finally able to get his attention for a moment to make my purchase.