TTM autographs received: Bobby Richardson

The former New York Yankees second baseman signed my cards in 10 days - I found a 1961 Nu-Card Scoops card off a card show rummage and thought it might great to send out, though I assume it's a reprint.

I found some other cards and sent it off, though I kept thinking I had a card I was sitting on at first - maybe it was a card of Tony Kubek instead, but after I'd mailed off my request, found that one other Richardson card- which I didn't realize was a 1993 Upper Deck B.A.T. Triple-Folders, folded so it could fit a penny sleeve.

Latest The Angels, In Order goodies

I got a PWE in the mail from The Angels, In Order's latest trade giveaway post - after claiming free cards from the last two occasions, I need to dig around to send something back for Tom.

I collect primarily baseball, but just to be on these no-context side missions, I might free myself to pick up odder non-sport cards that end up falling into my lap - while this card didn't catch my eye immediately, it is a topical card every January when Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday comes around.

This card was unfamiliar enough to put a claim on despite the subject pictured - Vizquel was probably headed to Cooperstown as an already polarizing candidate, whose reputation as a fan favorite and defensive whiz at shortstop far exceeded any objective fielding or hitting numbers.

However, Vizquel's personal problems and other mishaps of his own doing - have likely torpedoed any serious opportunities to sneak into the Hall of Fame.

Like the King claim, this kind of represents a card that is something a little different besides the pictures of ballplayers I collect - Bieber is millenial pop star from the past 15 years that ends up being an unwilling paparazzi magnet.

An odd-size [mini], I claimed this to remind myself how much Torii Hunter was a personal fan favorite as an Angel - I don't think he gets any sort of serious Hall of Fame consideration, but maybe I can see where I end up favoring his career over Andruw Jones [who might not end up a Hall of Famer in reality, but has gotten support for the way he played center field in his prime].

I may have been scrolling from the last sheet on the bottom to the top and might have not claimed this Reggie card - if I hadn't punted on a couple of other cards I'd picked out at first.

I claimed this card thinking it was another broken bat shot I can add to my mini-collections - however it turns out I have the card, so it could be a centerpiece card to a random Murray page if I get enough other cards together.

Unfortunately, this rookie year card of Mike Mussina didn't make it through transit for some reason - the same could be said for the cards below, but while the two others [Fred McGriff and Tom Seaver] end up 'bent,' the Mussina got bent and got creased.

For now, I've placed the McGriff and the Seaver in a semi-rigid plastic holder - to see if I straighten the cards out [or not].

This Seaver is a little odd where it looks like he is trying to hit some fungos - it's close enough where I'll add it to my pitchers hitting mini-collection.

TTM autographs received: Joe Redfield

I was able to round up some cards and get the one-time big leaguer to sign in about a couple of months - maybe I saw a success posted with Redfield on an autograph forum and by chance, looked him up.

I saw he had made his big league debut with the 1988 California Angels - that spanned all of two hitless at-bats and 1 game.

Maybe as a pro baseball player, he was strictly a 4A guy - but put up some decent numbers in the minors and as a reward, got a cup of coffee for two big league teams.

Making myself at home at the card show

I was digging through a sellers discount box trying to figure out how many cards I'm going to stack in my keeper pile and maybe the seller's grandson was annoyed - "are you going to buy any of those cards?"

While it's kind of a do-or-die decision for me to come up with the cards I'm picking up - maybe I've been a little idle at the seller's table and I'm probably going to seem a little off, standing directly infront of a bored teenager [behind the table] for about 30-40 minutes.

It probably didn't help the teen didn't know any better and his grandfather was telling him about random people who might show interest in certain cards and kick the tires for a little bit - only to disappear for good.

In the end, I found my 'sweet spot' of finds - that end up not being worth more than what I paid in most cases, but fun to go through after the fact.

The shiny cards from the UV era of the mid 1990s onward tend to be nice to look at in-hand - but a chore to get a good picture of.

A hard to photograph, but shinyManny Ramirez insert - Manny ends up being an 'iffy' guy for me, where do I wonder about continuing to pick up his stray cards?

I think Manny was a force despite all his misgivings as a big league superstar and if a card is remotely interesting and/or 'pops' in a certain way - I may just have to make them keepers.

The rest of the best including some old-school rookies [Darryl Strawberry, Johnny Damon and Kerry Wood], a Team USA and a relic bat card of Nomar Garciaparra - along with a 1993 Topps Finest Tim Salmon, which isn't really a rookie or a rookie year card, but was in a first-year product during Salmon's rookie year.

TTM autographs received: Kevin McReynolds

This is my first success of 2023, though the request was mailed out in last month - I realized McReynolds had both a 1984 Donruss and a 1990 Leaf, but sat on sending out a request for the longest time because I had to go out and grab those two set cards first.

I tried picking up a 1990 Leaf McReynolds several years ago, but I ended up being shipped a miscut copy, so that was a waste of time - I had found an early 1980s minor league team issue in a card show dollar boxes of doom, but wasn't going to send the card out [McReynolds charges a $5 fee to sign] without the two priorities.

At the end of 2022, I just made it a mission where I picked up the two set cards I needed, put a request together with the cool minor league card and finally sent off a request - even though I might have other loose McReynolds cards [from the junk wax era], I figure I have the cards I really want signed out of the way.

TTM autographs received: Al Oliver

This return is probably my success of 2022 just because I wasn't sure if it would make it back to me - after sending out a request last August, I kept waiting and wondering what had happened to my cards and the $20 I sent.

Because Oliver was a fee guy, I thought I would get a quicker response - but it wasn't until the end of December until I finally got my cards inked up.

Maybe it was kind of ironic that this was part of the mail held at the post office while I was out of the country - but it wasn't bundled with the other pieces of mail I got, but a straggler that might have been found a day or so later.