A quick pit stop at the card show #2

I usually spend at least a couple of hours at a card show date, but this time it was literally 20 minutes - where I ended up at the hosting card shop's bulk bins and dug up the following before it was time for me to go.

Out of this pile of shiny cardboard, the Ernie Banks stands out - where I've made it a micro-mini mission to seek out Topps Silver Pack cards out in the wild.

I tend to think of Dontrelle Willis as a guy who had some early big league success and hype, but flamed out too early - it seemed like he was trying out for half the big leagues and then some, but was never able to stick around to revive what was promising big league career.

He's not a guy whose playing career I would be overtly nostalgic about - but may deserve a second look.

I'm not really a football collector but occasionally, random non-baseball card (s) will make it to my keeper pile on a whim - the insert on the left pops so I made it a keeper for now.

I think the other card I found was a 2022 Panini Zenith Pacific Metal Prizm Matt Stafford - it might be a base card or a more common insert, but looks more like a printing plate card that feels unique to have in-hand.

Random card of guys who have had teams in the postseason - I grabbed a 2020 Topps Fire National Card Day Bryce Harper #FP-7, where I may have come around on the player, where I consider him the real deal [even if it was obvious from day one at 16, 17 or whenever he started generating hype].

I grabbed the Yordan Alvarez because it's actually from the UK version of 2022 Topps' flagship set - a little bit of an oddball, even if not particularly hard to find.

The Minnesota Twins have since been eliminated, but the oft-injured Royce Lewis - showed why he was the No. 1 overall pick back in 2017.

I found these random old-school cards and while they end up blemished, worn and/or are beater quality otherwise - they end up as keepers, to add some historicity to my random stack.

I grabbed a pair of cards featuring a pair of longtime greats at first base - the second year Paul Goldschmidt card might be a 'dated classic' in my book, where such a card is never going to be particularly valuable, but enough time has passed where it might generate some nostalgia.

I kind of feel like a 2020 Donruss Optic Stained Glass Miguel Cabrera #4 I grabbed kind of falls under the 'dated classic' category as well - though it has only been a 'little bit of time,' it also feels like 2020 has been 10 years ago already.

In-hand, there is a little 'stained glass' effect going on - but maybe it's a little bit more subdued where the cards don't pop as much.

These might have been my last second grabs except for the Bob Feller mini - I would not chase cards of either J.D. Martinez or Khris Davis outright, but these 2019 Topps Heritage 1970 Cloth Stickers were kind of unique to feel in-hand, so I made them keepers.

There were a handful of Fernando Tatis Jr. cards to thumb through - I still look to occasionally make the random card a keeper if it's unique enough like this dual-sided card he shares with Manny Machado [on the reverse].

Maybe Ryan Mountcastle ends up being the forgotten 'young veteran' in the Baltimore Orioles rise to prominence this past year - I thought he would be a franchise star for years to come, but has to take a backseat to guys like like Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, et al.