Dime Boxes 11th anniversary giveaway results

Through the end of December, I was on a posting hiatus due to traveling outside the country through Christmas - I'm acutely aware there may not be anyone hanging on when there is a new post here and honestly, I might be having some self-existential doubts about card blogging going forward.

If nothing else however, I look to end 2022 with a post featuring what I claimed from the Dime Boxes blog - where I want to go through some cards one-by-one as a way of appreciating what I received.

This Sparky Anderson Detroit Tigers oddball is a larger than a regular sized card, but was too fun to ignore - where the Hall of Fame manager is chatting up a young fan.

I was going to mention how I didn't really like odd-sized cards that are either too big or too small - but go figure I claimed one card that is a little larger and one card that is a little smaller than a regular sized card.

I'm not sure what drew me into this card, except it's vintage and it's fun to see where the batter is not wearing batting gloves - while imagining him ready to take a big whack at the ball during some early 1970s game action.

I claimed this retro card because it looks like a fun looking insert inspired by a vintage oddball issue - sometimes I want cards that are just a little different.

I couldn't imagine claiming every single card I saw, but this shiny Mike Trout was certainly a keeper - this card ends up really popping in-hand.

For all the cards posted, this oddball was kind of a no brainer as well - I don't know how many Mark McGwire cards show him trying to barrel his way past a catcher in some play at the plate collision action.

I get my Matt Duffy Angels card for my Angels all-time team register collection - this Vintage Stock parallel ends up being a little more fancy than a regular base card.

I really liked this boxed set oddball card of a Hall of Famer who'd spend the twilight of his big league career with the Angels - it's the most random, irrelevant card, but just something a little different than the usual Topps, Donruss, Fleer or Score flagship issues from the junk wax era.

Like the Anderson at the top of the post, this oddball was too fun to ignore where the vintage slugger appears with a child - this could be a centerpiece page card, where Killebrew appears on a card for a cause, rather than the countless issues where it's basically the typical baseball card.

I ended up claiming a Hunter Greene rookie parallel card for fun, just because despite an up-and-down season for the first year big leaguer - he really showed promise, striking out 164 batters in just 125 2/3 innings pitched.

I claimed this card to add some old-school flavor to my stack - maybe I like the 'lil color match action going on with the red borders and the red showing from Simmons' uniform to his cap.

I guess like this card for a number of reasons, where there is some dirt fetish going on as Rickey looks to have a moment to gather himself - it's also a hats-off card and really looking closely, Rickey has a chain of some sort hanging from his neck.

Besides the cards I claimed, there was also a small stack of Angels added - maybe featuring a couple of guys I'd rather forget [Josh Hamilton and Zack Cozart], a couple guys I haven't thought in about 10 years [Torii Hunter and Jered Weaver] and a young guy like like Reid Detmers who still looks to get better with more big league experience.

These three were added as well, which ends up a little 'no context' in my book - but there is always room to add cards of legends in my collection.

A little change of pace at the card show

I stumbled upon a little different table where it was a woman selling ephemera rather than cards - set up next to the seller I'd just bought some cards from, it looks like they were friends and/or good acquaintances.

I was looking through the cheaper dollar baseball themed postcards, team issued photo cards, et al - even at the lowest end, maybe I wasn't finding much, where I don’t collect any of this I’m looking through, but I’ll humor myself with this cutesy stuff.

Maybe some of this stuff is old-school or vintage - but still feel like they are mass produced and already used where it's not worth much.

I'm not sure if it's how postcard sellers do things, but seeing prices marked in pencil on the back are kind of peculiar - it would not prevent me from picking something up I liked, but kind of a turn off.

I was going through another misc baseball themed box - there were scattered First Day Covers, but they are literally envelopes and I'm not familiar with them as perhaps a dated sports collectible.

I didn't want anything newer skewing towards the 1990s onwared, but than found a Reggie Jackson FDC from 1984 for $4 - I don't think I was looking for this, but it wasn't unreasonable to consider.

While I wonder about dealing with odd-sized baseball card items, I found some loose I found some old MSA oddball discs - featuring Thurman Munson, Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver and a Willie Stargell for $2 each.

The seller was showing me a full box panel where the cards came from - though it seemed the cards on the box seemed smaller than the ones I was considering as keepers.

I ended up spending $12 for what I picked out - after the fact two of the discs were marked lightly on the back, but they were still OK purchases, even if they don't end up unlocking something that takes me to a different place with the odds and ends I find.

More, The Angels, In Order goodies

I really didn't pay attention but wanted this 1990s UV-era insert - at first glance, I thought this Jose Canseco was an Ivan Rodriguez card.

This was a card from the same insert set as the Canseco - in my book, Belle and Canseco fall into the 'iffy' guys pile, but they were 'fun' players I was aware of and squirrel their loose cards like I would prominent stars from the eras they played in.

Maybe Randle was strictly rank-and-file as a big leaguer, but was considered a personality - who marched to the beat of his own drummer.

Ramirez was a superstar big league talent - who like Randle, marched to the beat of his own drummer.

This Fred McGriff insert card came from when Upper Deck was high brow and modern - after 30 years later, maybe inserts like this still feel kind of classy.

I like the dirt showing on this common parallel of a player who I thought was going to be a star for years - but through the 1990s, never really ended up being more than a rank-and-file guy.

This maybe my favorite out of the cards I received just because it's not something I'm looking for, but had to make a keeper - where it's a broken bat shot of a longtime star, who might originally known for as a Seattle Mariner or in his slugging prime, a New York Yankee.

I don't want to say I want to collect Angels card-per-card, but it's kind of a reward to find them out in the wild - especially if look odder than your normal base cards.

I like the dirt showing on this common from a set I never, ever had exposure to in the first place - for the decades I've collected, I don't think I've ever busted a single pack of Topps Finest.

Knoblauch had won a World Series ring a couple of years before this card was printed and starred for the Minnesota Twins through the mid 1990s - maybe he would have been a one-team legend if he'd stayed with the Twins, but chose to move on to the New York Yankees and was never quite the same player.

Better than a blaster [?] - some vintage and old school cards

At a card show I went to, I started rummaging through some old-school and vintage cards at a table - I don't think I've seen this seller before and he might have been real happy to be there, where people might be interested in what he was selling.

From the bits and pieces I was overhearing, the seller was a longtime collector - but maybe starting to sell off some odds and ends to his collection.

The seller had scattered $2, $3, $5, $7, $10, $15 and up cards in his boxes - maybe I wanted to get started somewhere else at the show where I didn't want to get stuck in one table at the beginning of my journey, but I started finding some oddball Hostess cards for $2 each and was resigned to see if I can find some other cards to build a stack with.

Maybe the $2 portions had some of the 'newer' cards from the junk wax / UV era - I wanted to focus on finding the occasional off-condition vintage / old school star cards in the $5 rows, though maybe I don't want to blow my wad of cash outright.

Then seller told me the cards priced $5 and up where buy 2, get 1 free - I think what caught my eye was a 1970 Topps Bud Harrelson #634, which in a vintage card of a player inking it up.

Even though it's either miscut or even trimmed up, anything I pick up would have to start and end with that card - it was going home with me

I picked up some other cards, just to have some vintage card 'relics' in-hand - including some fairly loved, off-condition at best star cards.

The seller said if he knew someone was going to look for the Hostess cards, he would have brought more - he said they were mostly common, but unique [because they were not packed out like normal baseball cards].

Along with the old-school, oddball Hostess cards, I was charged $22 for my stack, which seemed reasonable - rather than settling for a shiny, new blaster box for at least several dollars more.

TTM autographs received: Sonny Jurgensen and Billy Kilmer

I was rummaging through my lone plastic box with my other sports cards - I found some loose football cards to send out TTM and maybe it was a challenge to send to at least a couple of non-baseball subjects.

I'd probably picked up this pair of unsigned 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game at least 20 years ago but just forgot about them - however, after all this time, there was still an opportunity to get the cards inked up as intended.

The 88-year old Jurgensen signed my card in about three weeks - I enclosed $10 with my request to the Pro Football Hall of Famer.

The 83-year old Kilmer signed my card in about three weeks - maybe I wanted something a little different and these cards didn't turn out so bad.

TTM autographs received: Dennis Rasmussen

Sometimes a straggler success like this gets me through stretches when there isn't any action in the mail box - the former big league signed my cards that were mailed out in April 2021.

Maybe I found it silly that I attempted to mail to Rasmussen c/o a burger joint he worked at and/or his family had owned for the longest time - but despite a long wait, was pleasantly surprised a response actually came back.

The Angels, In Order giveaway mail

I like being able to jump in on card blog posts basically offering freebies, like the one Tom had recently - for the price of a comment left, it allows me to claim some miscellaneous cards I might not consider picking up outright.

When I really don't do much trading back and forth, it feels like I am doing something - where I end up looking to send something back to the sender.

I cross my fingers hoping the cards from my end, get to where they need to be and can be material - that can be of use on the recipient's end, especially if it's more of a blind trade.

Maybe I feel obligated to feel a certain way about at least 10-15 'decade stars' from their respective eras - from the 1980s, a collector might be a Donnie Baseball guy, a Wade Boggs guy, a Rickey Henderson guy or a Mike Schmidt guy, but making keepers out of Gwynn's cards [even ones printed to this day] ends up being the priority before the rest.

A 1981 Donruss maybe the last card I'd expect to claim, but it's not that serious - where I probably need a card to possibly send out for TTM.

This 1992 Leaf Gold ends up being a nice parallel to tease Clark's sweet swing.

Hunter was a fun player to watch with the Minnesota Twins even before his time with the Angels - I don't know if I would have grabbed this card outright, knowing he was an Angel for 5-6 years, but the shine is mighty fine.

I was never really too big on Mussina pitching for the New York Yankees - but another shiny card like the Hunter ends up being a keeper, where it looks like Mussina is about to throw a knuckle curve.

I didn't expect to claim a Danny Tartabull card, but it teases a 'hats-off' player I can add to that mini-collection - maybe it works as TTM, if I am inclined to send it off.

Was this my favorite card out of this pile [?] - where there might be a curiosity over cards from the 1980s that came out during the years preceding the junk wax era.

I grabbed this Todd Worrell TTM/IP autograph because the visible parts of the blue ink autograph goes well with the 1994 Fleer - which may just be another forgotten baseball card set in history, but still ends up quite appealing for me.

TTM autographs received: Rollie Fingers

For about 15-20 years, I was occasionally getting Fingers to sign when he was a participant at celebrity golf tournaments - maybe the last time I saw him was back in 2014 or 2015 and my in-person autograph adventures has ceased for the most part.

I made it a mission to send a couple of loose cards to be signed by Fingers TTM [$15 per item] and they came back in 10 days - I am tempted to send the 1984 Donruss dual card off to Gaylord Perry, but perhaps old age has made him a spotty signer at best, even though he was doing TTM for a fee for the longest time.

Angels all-time team register collection

Team collecting like I've seen others do it [trying to collect card-by-card, set by set, year by year] is not quite a thing for me where I only care so much to really want to track everything and anything - but that doesn't mean I have local team interests where I'd like to play up cards featuring my home team Angels.

These non-Angel cards do not quite fit within the team related umbrella - but will likely be added into my all-time team register collection as guys who end up having these obscure stints with the team as bit players before moving on.

My team register collection is basically one more way for me to do something with loose cards that come my way and see how many different subjects I can add up - maybe completion isn't a realistic goal, but it might be good enough where I can add assorted cards of different players and see where I have 200-300 different subjects.

Maybe I'm spreading my interests too thin where this overlaps with my Angels all-time autograph collection - but maybe my all-time register is more of a side project.

Matt Duffy [2022] seems to have devolved from upstart big leaguer at the beginning of his career into basically being a replacement player - it probably will be the case where if I end up with an Angels Duffy card [he does have at least one in 2022 Topps Update], the non-Angels card gets bumped off somewhere else.

Austin Romine [2022] has bounced around in the big leagues, but like Duffy, ends up being a veteran who will still have cards made as long as they are in the big leagues and part of the MLBPA - however I don't think his three game stint with the Angels this past year will be immortalized on cardboard.

Elliot Soto [2020] ends up being the most obscure of the three, where he is more of a longtime infielder in the minors - who was basically rewarded with a big league call up during the 2020 pandemic season.

While Soto has some draft pick cards with the Chicago [Cubs] from 2011 - it was like a reward to do a random search off a seller's ebay store and find a team set card of his I made a keeper for a dollar.

Featured autographs - Jesse Barfield

On a forum I belong to, I saw a post where someone was going to helping out with a signing with the former outfielder from the 1980s through early 1990s - the idea of looking for and sending out cards to an organized, paid signing ends up feeling like too much work, but the person helping out had extra unsigned cards in-hand and I picked out a 1984 Donruss and a 1990 Leaf.

I sent out a SASE and $15 per card about a month before the signing and waited around - where I got my cards back several days after the signing was completed.

Featured autographs - Tony Armas

Through a Facebook post, I picked up a pair of extras [$12.50 each] from a signing featuring the Venezuelan slugger who peaked in the 1980s as sort of Dave Kingman / Rob Deer lite - I had to get a 1984 Donruss, where I'm trying to chase down signed cards from the set and a 1990 Score, which goes into my Angels all-time autograph collection.

Purchase fails made correct by a seller

When I pick up some cheap-o cards from an online card outlet, I usually let the incoming PWE sit loose after I open it up and briefly scan through the contents - I think it's pretty neat that I can pick up certain cards impulsively, though maybe it gets tricky getting exactly the odd cards I want, in a presentable condition.

On a whim, I took a closer look at the cards shipped to me from an order and go figure two of the cards I threw in to maximize the shipping rate were damaged - the 1991 Classic card of Will Clark I picked up for about a quarter has some residue and staining along the right side while the 1991 Classic card of Tim Salmon for a quarter was creased.

The seller even put a 1991 Classic Wes Chamberlain card as a dummy protector card on top - but both cards may have been in garbage condition even before they were shipped out.

The 2010 Topps Update Tales of the Game Joel Youngblood and 2017 Topps Update Johnny Damon that might have been the centerpiece purchases [yeah at another quarter or so each] were jammed in another semi-rigid holder [which is often the case more than not] - maybe they were subject to some of the conditions as well, but being ‘newer’ cards, they otherwise still look okay.

Assuming there were no problems with the cards in the first place, I already left feedback - I figured I basically ended up paying more for the two cards I really wanted, but ended up contacting the seller, where credit for the two damaged cards was added to my account.

Now I wonder if I'm going to use the credit to try and pick up similar copies of the Clark and Salmon cards - or will my $0.50 credit go into something else entirely.

TTM autograph received: Jim Rice

Maybe he was $10 per autograph for the longest time, but bumped his fee to $20 a couple of years ago - I sat on his 1984 Donruss for a while, but didn't want to make it where there was another hike i.e. to $30 before I relented to finally send out the card.