Card show singles rummage

The previous post maybe the last of my dime box rummage stuff - unless I can muster up the enthusiasm to dig up some other cards from that stash.

The following cards are from a seller's individually priced bins - I guess I'm comfortable for making keepers out of these cards, where they are still kind of random, but not quite 'dollar and under' value fodder [in my card show experience].

Early Miguel Cabrera cards - I have never liked cards part of a 'rookies' subset like this 2004 Upper Deck if they are not considered actual rookie cards or a 'prospect era' card like this 2002 Bowman Draft Chrome.

The Bowman Drat Chrome is neither a rookie card [released a couple of years after his 2000 Topps Traded] - nor a big league era card [Cabrera had not gotten to the big leagues at this point, even if he was certaintly on his way].

After all these years, it might be a novelty to have some cards of a future Hall of Famer in his formative years in pro baseball - even if not talking about rookie cards here, each card may be worth keeping.

Miscellaneous Angels cards - I just had to pay $10 for a Elpidio Guzman rookie card even though he was a couple of years older than listed on this card and he never reached the big leagues.

Guzman shares the dual rookie card with 2001 Seattle Mariners rookie Ichiro Suzuki.

The 1994 Donruss Editors Choice Tim Salmon #6 ends up being my favorite because it's a little different looking - designed to look like the image was from a roll of film.

The Troy Percival, Darin Erstad and Rod Carew are sort of nondescript inserts from the era they printed in - but they are serial #'d numbered parallels, so either I was a fool to be lured to add them to my stack or they are cards that should be instant keepers if they show guys from my home team.

I've made it a mission to make keepers out of scattered Topps Silver pack cards out in the wild like this Ken Griffey Jr. - I do not want to pay too much for one particular card, but they irresistibly pop so much, I'll make keepers out the stars and HOFers featured in the sets over the years.

I picked up the Ozzie Smith parallel because it's kind of subdued and classy looking - I like it's also serial #'d on the back, so that makes it a couple of dollars special rather than $0.50 special.

I ended up grabbing a 1996 Pinnacle Team Tomorrow Derek Jeter #9 - since Jeter was a national superstar of 'recent vintage,' he is probably a guy I'll blindly collect where I'm more apt to make keepers out of a card like this rookie era Dufex style insert that pops in-hand.

Mini collection confessions through my card show rummage

Maybe it's been for a couple of years, but I've been at a crossroads with my mini-collection cards - I love making them keepers out in the wild, but I've gotten overwhelmed with just thow many I've gone out and brought home.

I haven't actually listed out the past couple of year's worth of cards somewhere like a spreadsheet - where I've counted them up as a year-to-year achievement where I can see how many cards I've picked up and how many towards specific collecting topics.

Maybe the worst part is having the actual cards sitting in loose bricks or in boxes - where I can't dig them up on a whim, be able to look at them where the cards maybe displayed in a binder to flip through or have it where I only have 'so many.'

I'm not really shying away from more loose cards, it's just I need to find ways back to accounting for them - as well as finding the motivation to get back into managing bloats and backlogs with these loose cards.

Awesome action cards - I do not know whether I've ever had the card, but grabbed the 2003 Topps Jim Thome #71 with the Mountain Dew signage in the background.

Awesome action cards - I'm not sure if it's an 'odd thing,' but find the 1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess Greg Maddux #6 funny because he is pitching with sunglasses on; I assume he is pitching either live BP or an intrasquad game, rather than at an actual MLB game.

There is a lot of signage in the 1998 Upper Deck John Smoltz #32 - so it's a kind of fun to identify them.

I've tried to collect what I call 'good job, game over' cards like 1998 Upper Deck Luis Gonzalez Houston Astros #103 - where a player is shown congratulating one or more teammates at the end of a win.

I can imagine myself being a big leaguer with a sense of accomplishment and/or relief to be able to go out onto the field and celebrate a victory - even if it is only one game out a 162-game schedule.

It looks like Gonzalez is congratulating Craig Biggio here - so a HOFer cameo is pretty cool too.

Awesome outfield action and inking it up cards - because I was able to get him to sign something once in-person, I find it fun to find images of the perpetually grumpy Albert Belle doing any sort of 'fan service.'

Tools of ignorance - I always waffle on whether cards of star players or better should go into my mini-collections or my decade stars collections.

When I can pick up old loose cards of Ivan Rodriguez or Mike Piazza at the bulk level, where the cards do not matter - I maybe content to add them into my mini-collections where I can have some star power.

I'm not not sure whether I had the Russell Martin card before, but it looks like Carlos Beltran is shown walking back to the dugout - I might have tabbed it as a 'bonus baby' card where a better player is shown on a lesser player's card, but a case can be made where Martin was a low-key star at points of his big league career.

Change of pace finds through my rummage at the card show

I thought it might be fun to dig through the non-sport portion of the quarter boxes that turned into dime boxes [in quantity] at the show I was at - even if the celebrity cards are dated [I can't believe 2008 is 15-16 years ago already], they still end up adding some novelty eye candy, when the rest of my haul ends up cards of men who mostly play pro sports.

I was worried that the celebrity cards would end up dupes since I picked up some at another bulk card rummage earlier in the year - though I apparently only had the Evan Mendes [actress] and Kristen Stewart [actress].

Stadium project cards I found through my rummage at the card show

Maybe I've had to turn my back on picking up more cards that are over a dollar or more [depending on type] of visiting players at Angels or Anaheim Stadium - but it is a thing to indulge at the bulk level, where I feel like I'm doing a thing salvaging random cards.

My favorite is probably the 1987 Topps Danny Tartabull #476 - I've always thought it was good looking card of a guy who was a star slugger for a little bit through the junk wax era, though I never really thought I needed it.

The 2007 Upper Deck Jim Thome #80 teases a nice horizontal image of the Hall of Fame slugger about to take a whack at the ball - you can see the red in the background and the fan in the dugout seats wearing an Angels jersey.

I was iffy on grabbing a copy of the 1990 Score Young Superstars Series 1 Omar Vizquel #28 online - but it made it easier for to stash it in my keeper pile as just another card, rather than make a deliberate decision to pick it up.

Because I assume it's a fairly common card, I was iffy on grabbing a copy 1989 Upper Deck Fred McGriff #572 when I'd see it posted online - I probably didn't have it however and I assume it's a stadium card, so it went into my keeper pile.

The 2009 Topps Update Gold Jeff Weaver #UH115 - teases signage promoting Las Vegas and the rock pile at Angel Stadium, so it's kind of a nice parallel with some identifiers to where the image was taken.

Maybe the 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Baseball Alex Rios #96 and 1987 Fleer Glossy Card Dennis Eckersley #U-30 end up being close enough to stadium cards - where there might not be obvious 'tells' at first glance whether or not they do count, but I'll assume they are anyway.

Angels I found through my rummage at the card show

I might decide to show some of the themes that came together out of the loose cards I made keepers - from my 'big' haul teased in the previous post.

These are 10 random Angels cards I flagged and despite how the current team is going - it's always fun to find keepers of my 'ride or die' home team.

Maybe the most interesting cards are the Bob Boone and Johnny Ray - I could have gone without adding them onto my pile, because as much as I am a 'team guy,' I'm not really attached to junk wax era Angels whose cards I get bored of seeing.

The unique thing was that the cards had orange backs and I think they had glossier fronts - where they were from the Topps Tiffany set from 1988, which are harder to find versions, mirroring the flagship set.

I think I found a little handful of the Tiffany cards - if I was a little savvier I would have added them in my pile, but they were just about commons I would not know what to do with after the fact.

What I worked through at the card show

I was able to make it out twice to a 4-day show held at a local venue - this wasn't the normal monthly show and definitely not the one held two times a week.

I think there are expectations to try and come up with some big splash purchases - especially when paying a $25 each day [at the venue] that actually takes away from what I can spend on cards.

What maybe painfully obvious is what I end up bringing ends up being play money for others - reality sets in where I maybe content to do what I've done, which is to rummage around, but maybe in a bigger setting where there is potential to see new sellers to buy odds and ends from.

I found a quarter box and thought it might be worth thumbing through for a couple of minutes - I may have found some cards to dwell on and at some point, the seller came over and said they'd be a dime each per 100 cards.

Though this was not the only seller I bought from, I know I am not just paying a quarter or a dime in quantity for these bulk cards - I have to factor in what I paid in admission fees as well.

On the other hand, I'm here and it was a welcome challenge to have some 'freedom' to see if I can come up with a brick of 100 cards - and most likely double that number, depending onf what I found.

It's not like I worked through each of the rows one by one, but would grab from a different section to see if there was anything that caught my eye - I end up being in my own world where all I care about is seeing the next stack of cards.

I do not know if I was finding anything great but I guess it's all fun stuff to take home, go through and dwell on - I've made a habit of making claims through sales on social media and/or clicking around to buy cards online, but there is nothing like making the rummages come to life when I am at a show.

I was surprised there was still interest in some of the dated non-boxes and packs displayed at the table - maybe I would have been interested as well, but was focused on making a couple of bricks.

I think another collector asked me if I found any gems in what I was dug up - maybe the guy is just trying to make small talk, but I asked myself, 'is he really talking to me?'

I do not know what to say, how to describe the cards I end up with - when they are not the higher brow material like I might assume the collector has in his carrying case he goes through for a moment.