TTM autographs received: Rich Harden

I got a straggler SASE in the mail box a couple of weeks ago and wondered who could it be since sending out TTMs has not been a thing for me - inside were the cards I sent out to the former big league pitcher on October 2020.

These were counted off as goners, but even if the eventual response took a while - it's a cheap thrill to get something back from a request I remember making a mission to send out.

It has been just such a long time from the early 2000s - but I remember trying to get Harden to sign in-person around the first time he got called up as a top flight pitching prospect with a rocket arm.

While Harden didn't have a metronomic run of success where he became a star pitcher in the big leagues - he was pretty good when relatively healthy and was named to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2023.

2025 Topps value box recap

Pack one

#484 Andrew Walters - High numbered short prints Chrome variation Pink Sparkle 

#187 Cole Ragans

#173 Luis Castillo

#284 Raisel Iglesias

#277 Hunter Feduccia

#264 Patrick Bailey

#NS-59 J. Robert Oppenheimer - Notable Americans insert

#212 Giancarlo Stanton

#38 José Berríos

Pack two

#105 Michael King

#255 Colt Keith

#250 Edmundo Sosa

#200 Seth Lugo / José Berríos / Tarik Skubal - 2024 AL Victory Leaders

#380 Aaron Judge

#425 Nick Gonzalez - SP

#129 Cody Bellinger

#172 Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Pack three

#53 Grant McRae - Dark Green border 

#194 Juan Soto / Anthony Santander / Aaron Judge - 2024 AL Home Run Leaders

#128 Dansby Swanson

#311 Mitchell Parker

#245 Colton Cowser

#181 Rhett Lowder RC

#TTY-20 Mike Trout - Through the Years insert

#100 Jordan Hicks

#341 Willie Mays - The Topps News All-Time All-Stars

Pack four 

#359 Max Muncy

#32 Heliot Ramos

#335 Framber Valdez

#207 Joey Ortiz

#278 Mark Vientos - This was a 'backwards' card out of the pack and ends up being an image variation

#484 Andrew Walter - High numbered short prints Chrome variation 

#213 Rob Refsnyder

#319 Justin Wrobleski RC

Pack five

#497 Matt Waldron - High numbered short prints Chrome variation Pink Sparkle

#203 Zack Wheeler / Dylan Cease / Chris Sale - 2024 NL Strikeout Leaders

#184 Porter Hodge

#146 Mitch Keller

#4 Jose Miranda - Record Breakers

#103 Masyn Winn

#273 Nolan Schanuel

#358 Yuki Matsui

#197 Brice Turang / Shohei Ohtani / Elly De La Cruz - 2024 NL Stolen Base Leaders

Pack six 

#254 Lake Bachar RC

#331 Vaughn Grissom

#99 Michael Massey

#46 Tyler Stephenson

#309 Zebby Matthews RC

#413 Andrew Vaughn - SP

#27 Ryan Mountcastle

#227 Kyle Tucker

Pack seven

#198 Jazz Chisholm Jr. / José Caballero / José Ramírez - 2024 AL Stolen Base Leaders - Dark Green border

#97 Jorge Polanco

#346 Hank Aaron - The Topps News All-Time All-Stars

#39 Luis Arraez

#191 Luis Arraez / Marcell Ozuna / Shohei Ohtani - 2024 NL Batting Leaders

#318 Lance Lynn

#219 Cade Povich RC

#149 Jared Jones

#3 Aaron Judge - Record Breakers

Pack eight

#365 Ozzie Albies

#71 Jace Jung

#52 Nico Hoerner

#362 Shay Whitcomb RC

#328 Mike Burrows RC

#160 Sean Reynolds - Chrome variation

#257 Chris Sale

#94 Andy Ibáñez

Card show trip - some odds and ends

I went to a card show a couple of weeks ago and while I might need only a few sellers tables to rummage through and find something to wrangle cash out of my pocket - what I may have noticed is the shift to Pokemon or TCG sellers, where just two or three years ago there would be more seller tables with primarily sports cards.

Maybe I've come to expect that any card show dates I go to onward will not have more of the familiar sports card seller tables - where for better or for worse, I prefer the swap meet style set-ups I might have seen back in 2005 or 1995.

One seller table did have a swap meet vibe going on where he had bins of loose cards - none of the bulk cards had prices on them and I guess you just make a pile and the seller gives you a 'deal.'

I ended up picking up only so many cards, including the oddball Dodgers cards that were in perforated panels [?] - I didn't know what the cards exactly were but might be worth taking a flier on, with a Sandy Koufax and a Juan Marichal [Dodgers] card among the others.

I presented what I found and the seller ended up charging me $4 - seemed reasonable enough where I wouldn't walk away from this show date with nothing.

After doing a circuit around the two 'rooms' that had seller tables - I ended up at a familiar seller table where I've bought from the person before.

He kept redirecting a few times towards his dime boxes and I relented to plug away and see what I could find - maybe I should have screened through my finds at some point instead of blindly building up a couple of bricks of cards.

I was probably hoping to bundle the cards with some other finds but basically just ended up with around 260 dime cards to take home - rather than a combination of other cards from the seller's value boxes.

Days after the show, I went to see if I can spread the cards out somewhere to make sense of them - this ends up being the finished product where the cards ended up mostly in a couple of piles, after being sorted according to my hierarchy of interests.

These were two random cards from the dollar bin I managed to tack on top of my bulk finds - each featuring a pair of all-time NFL greats that continue to end up polarizing in their own infamous or unique ways, long after retirement as players.

Blog bat around - junk wax favorites

1990 Upper Deck - I don't know if I thought Upper Deck was anymore special than the other sets of the day, but it had nicer production quality than Topps, Donruss or Fleer.

I think I wandered into a video store selling cards and picked up a copy of the Ryan for $0.50 - when I was just starting to collect as an adolescent.

1987 Topps - I felt like the commons from this set was perpetual repack fodder, where I have no lingering nostaglia for it as a whole.

For at least for a small period of time in the early 1990s however, the McGwire, Will Clark and Jose Canseco were still worth $2-$4 - as the most accessible early MLB cards for those junk wax era stars.

Maybe at a random stop mall show one time as a kid - I may have bought a few packs of the O-Pee-Chee version and ended up pulling a Barry Bonds rookie.

1990 Leaf - I remember a childhood friend coming over and showing me his trade box, where I was triggered by this card, a Ron Gant and Kevin Mitchell.

Admittedly, this was a set I did not get a chance to heavily collect - where the Frank Thomas and David Justice rookies ended up being out of sight, out of mind, I remember coveting a Carlos Baerga rookie since it was a $10 card of rising star second baseman.

1992 Fleer Ultra - I felt like after a boring and drab inaugural Fleer Ultra release the previous year, Fleer came correct with a jazzy, UV coated, foil stamped masterpiece.

Maybe I could not get enough thumbing through the stars that were teased in the base set as well as various insert sets - where I thought cards from this set would somehow be valuable for a long time.

1991 Fleer Ultra Update - it was not until this late season boxed set was released did I warm up to 1991 Fleer Ultra, with key rookies of the day like Jeff Bagwell, Mike Mussina and Ivan Rodriguez.

1990 Fleer - this was a basic set I had access to and there was a certain quaintness that appealed to me; maybe it was the effect where the image is coming through the card.

1991 Upper Deck - I remember blowing gift money to buy a box for $36 from a Thrifty's Drug Store, where the trading cards were locked up in a display case by one of the cashier counters.

Maybe this had some crossover appeal where there was a Michael Jordan baseball card inserted in packs - while the High Number version featured a Jeff Bagwell rookie.

1991 Bowman - I probably didn't care for the junk wax era Bowman sets, but I guess the 1991 set had rookie cards of Chipper Jones, Ivan Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton, etc.

I end up giving the set credit for allowing me to discover my first card of an Angels prospect named Tim Salmon - when thumbing through the bulk cards a friend had a accumulated in a row within 3,200 count monster box at his house.

1990 Score - this was the first complete set I bought, probably from a Target and I used to thumb through the cards once in a while.

1992 Upper Deck - I kind of feel like this was the first Upper Deck set from the early 1990s that was everywhere regular packs, boxes, jumbo packs, team set blisters probably put together and sold by a third party distributor, etc.

At some point, I may have gotten tired of seeing the Ken Griffey Jr. multiple exposure card - where it was forever going to be a card worth $0.50.

I've come to appreciate the Bloodlines subset, featuring some of the more prominent Big League families of the day - I don't know if I'm misremembering things, but a neighborhood kid I used to play with used to pronounce 'bloodlines' as 'blood-lee-ness' and I used to get a chuckle out of that.

2006 Upper Deck Ovation Andre Ethier (RC) #125

I had an image of this card saved for at least the past 10-15 years and wanted to see if I could buy it outright - it looks like Ethier doesn't have much bat left after being sawed off, so it's was a neat broken bat shot I could slot into my themed mini-collection.

I assume this serial #'d (RC) of a longtime, if now retired Los Angeles Dodgers fan favorite is not hard to find - presumably I could have bought it at any time, but it might be a case where there might not be as many copies posted on sale at one time.

It was only during one random eBay search, where I remembered the card - did I feel comfortable paying a couple of dollars for the card and another couple of dollars to have it shipped to me, where I was able to scratch the itch.

Card shop trip - some odds and ends

I needed a good number of penny sleeves for various loose card projects, so I finally decided to make a card shop trip - I could literally be making weekly visits to my closest card shop, but I've been weird about it, where I don't want to make it a habit.

Of course if I'm at a card shop, I can't just be worried about card supplies - when I have the opportunity, I want to dig around and rummage a little, especially at the quarter bins.

Go figure the last time I was at the card shop, my priority was getting penny sleeves as well - but after I was completely done with my rummage, paid up and left the store entirely, did I realize that I'd forgotten my precious card sleeves.

As I hovered around the counter to go and pay for what I'd gone through this time around - I'd made sure to look for the penny sleeves and ended up grabbing one of the 1000-count bundles [rather than individual packs] that were being sold for $8.

This is just a tease of the cards I ended up with from the quarter bins - I've mostly bought bulk cards online, but there is nothing like building up a card shop or card show pile.

Building up 50 card stacks, I ended up with exactly 125 cards / items - where to make things easier, I always try and make sure I count out exactly the right tally.

In the quarter bins, I also found an oddball pack of 1993 Topps Stadium Club teams with only Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins cards - maybe this was handed out somewhere and/or sold regionally, rather than a national pack release?

Florida Marlins portion
#11 Cris Carpenter
#16 Ryan Bowen
#17 Ramon Martinez
#18 Bret Barberie
#22 Mike Myers
#24 Darrell Whitmore
#23 Geronimo Berroa

Colorado Rockies portion
#2 Quinton McCracken
#1 David Nied
#11 Andres Galarraga
#29 Roger Bailey
#28 Danny Sheaffer
#24 Butch Henry
#30 Brad Ausmus

A couple of random pick ups

I was inspired by a post on X to grab this 2024 Choice Portland Sea Dogs Team Set Tyler McDonough #11 for $2 - as far as I'm concerned, the McDonough ends up an instant headliner to a future all-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers set.

I was inspired by another post on X to grab this 1999 Topps HD On the Cutting Edge Vladimir Guerrero #CE5 - a unique, die-cut Vladdy that ends up being a highlights towards a 'probable player themed curated set' sooner than never.

2025 Topps Series 1 blaster box breaks

Box one

Pack one

#218 Zack Wheeler

#120 Cristian Mena RC

#240 Will Brennan

#58 Dylan Cease

#159 Philadelphia Phillies team card

#136 Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 

#53 Christ Taylor

#225 Tyrone Taylor

#288 Evan Carter - Future Stars

#332 Riley Greene

#15 Mitch Haniger

#SMLB-21 Rafael Devers - Stars of MLB insert

Pack two

#39 San Diego Padres team Card - Spring Training base card parallel exclusive to value boxes

#193 Michael McGreevy

#329 Paul Blackburn

#2 Thairo Estrada

#289 Michael Siani

#280 Ky Bush RC

#200 Mike Trout

#81 Carlos Correa - Checklist

#114 Ryan O'Hearn

#104 Yilber Diaz RC

#299 Yainer Diaz

#T90-100 Shohei Ohtani - 1990 Topps Baseball insert

#SMLB-19 Brooks Lee - Stars of MLB insert

Pack three

#293 Tyler Phillips RC

#182 Brandon Pfaadt

#146 Clayton Kershaw

#306 Sonny Gray

#100 Bobby Witt Jr.

#41 Alec Burleson

#80 Jace Jung RC

#279 Trevor Larnach

#342 Davis Schneider

#298 J.P. Crawford

#184 Aaron Judge / Juan Soto / Alex Verdugo - Checklist; Rainbow Foilboard parallel

#SMLB-5 Julio Rodríguez - Stars of MLB insert

Pack four

#305 Max Schuemann - Spring Training base card parallel exclusive to value boxes

#89 Zach Dezenzo RC

#8 Seth Brown

#57 Nick Gordon

#183 Taj Bradley

#64 Ian Happ

#331 Brandon Nimmo

#151 Tarrik Skubal / José Berríos / Seth Lugo - 2024 American League Wins Leaders

#23 Jorge Soler

#188 Zach Eflin

#310 Jose Miranda

#GH15 Juan Soto - Greatest Hits insert

#SMLB-12 Gunnar Henderson - Stars of MLB insert

Pack five

#99 Cincinnati Reds team card

#21 Nick Lodolo

#147 Bryson Stott

#337 Ben Rice RC

#210 Nolan Schanuel - Future Stars

#295 Elly De La Cruz - Checklist

#224 Reese Olson

#335 Sandy Alcantara

#9 Luis García Jr.

#234 Chris Sale / Zack Wheeler / Shota Imanaga - 2024 National League Wins Leaders

#37 Spencer Steer - Holo Foil parallel

#SMLB-24 Christian Yelich - Stars of MLB insert

Pack six

#330 Jake Burger - Spring Training base card parallel exclusive to value boxes 

#270 Andrés Giménez

#175 Ha-Seong Kim

#161 Bradley Blalock RC

#242 Logan Webb

#246 Sean Reynolds RC

#117 Josh Jung

#60 Chicago Cubs team card

#207 Ronald Acuña Jr.

#93 Rhys Hoskins

#ATT-8 Jarren Duran - 2024 All-Topps Team insert

#T90-40 Tony Gwynn - 1990 Topps Baseball insert

#SMLB-30 Dylan Crews - Stars of MLB insert

Pack seven

#311 Charlie Blackmon

#232 Jake Cronenworth

#249 Brooks Baldwin RC

#44 Brenton Doyle

#301 Cal Quantrill

#215 Manny Machado

#24 Jhonkensy Noel RC

#228 Geraldo Perdomo

#176 Teoscar Hernández

#281 Corey Seager

#39 San Diego Padres team card

#SMLB-15 Corbin Carroll - Stars of MLB insert

Box two 

Pack one

#101 Nolan Arenado - Spring Training base card parallel exclusive to value boxes 

#193 Michael McGreevy

#329 Paul Blackburn

#2 Thairo Estrada

#293 Tyler Phillips RC

#165 Joey Ortiz

#33 José Berrios

#244 Yordan Alvarez

#105 Dylan Moore

#54 Austin Riley

#28 Trevor Megill

#ATT-6 William Contreras - 2024 All-Topps Team insert

#SMLB-22 Juan Soto - Stars of MLB insert

Pack two

#182 Brandon Pfaadt

#146 Clayton Kershaw

#306 Sonny Gray

#89 Zach Dezenzo RC

#96 Seattle Mariners team card

#46 Tanner Houck

#149 Jeff McNeil

#97 Will Warren RC

#261 Mike Tauchman 

#130 Nathan Eovaldi

#123 New York Yankees team card

#SMLB-29 Matt Chapman - Stars of MLB insert

Pack three

#67 Trey Sweeney - Spring Training base card parallel exclusive to value boxes

#8 Seth Brown

#57 Nick Gordon

#183 Taj Bradley

#254 Kyle Finnegan

#184 Aaron Judge / Juan Soto / Alex Verdugo - Checklist

#190 Miguel Vargas

#185 Jazz Chisholm Jr.

#220 Jackson Holliday - Future Stars

#128 Ketel Marte

#1 Shohei Ohtani

#T90-18 Hurston Waldrep - 1990 Topps Baseball insert

#SMLB-2 Aaron Judge - Stars of MLB insert

Pack four

#99 Cincinnati Reds team card

#21 Nick Lodolo

#147 Bryson Stott

#337 Ben Rice RC

#7 Alec Bohm

#320 Drew Thorpe RC

#227 Ty France

#28 Nico Hoerner

#286 Edwin Díaz

#252 Pedro Pagés

#348 Brant Hurter RC

#SMLB-13 Elly De La Cruz - Stars of MLB insert

Pack five

#275 Carlos Correa - Spring Training base card parallel exclusive to value boxes; Spring Training Green Foilboard parallel, serial #'d 11/99

#270 Andrés Giménez

#175 Ha-Seong Kim

#161 Bradley Blalock RC

#311 Charlie Blackmon

#113 Marco Gonzalez

#36 Greg Jones RC

#138 Ceddane Rafaela - Future Stars

#237 Marcell Ozuna - Checklist

#209 Taylor Ward - Pencil bat card

#135 Maikel Garcia

#FP-9 Lauren Alaina - First Pitch insert; Country singer

#SMLB-26 Shota Imanaga - Stars of MLB insert

Pack six

#232 Jake Cronenworth

#249 Brooks Baldwin RC

#44 Brenton Doyle

#350 Francisco Lindor

#139 Jordan Beck

#125 Jackson Merrill

#83 Anthony Rendon

#65 Gunnar Henderson

#40 Joe Ryan

#101 Nolan Arenado

#179 Ryan Pepiot - Rainbow Foilboard parallel

#SMLB-24 Coby Mayo - Stars of MLB insert

Pack seven

#257 Korey Lee

#287 DJ Herz RC

#138 Isaac Paredes

#35 Anthony Volpe

#341 Ronel Blanco

#338 Mitch Garver

#84 Kameron Misner RC

#119 Daulton Varsho

#79 Aaron Judge / Juan Soto / Anthony Santander - 2024 American League Home Run Leaders

#67 Trey Sweeney RC

#257 Korey Lee

#T90-56 Rece Hinds - 1990 Topps Baseball insert

#SMLB-4 Fernando Tatis Jr. - Stars of MLB insert

2021 Topps Chrome NPB Nippon Professional Baseball Roki Sasaki #194

A little bit of FOMO got me pulling the trigger on picking this card up for roughly the price of a blaster box - there will likely be countless rookie-year MLB issues released soon enough, especially Sasaki can build on the hype he has generated over the past five years in Japan.

On the other hand, where I'm not a Dodgers collector - maybe a non-MLB card ends up more as a novelty, where I'll wait to see if he is healthy to withstand the rigors of a MLB season, to decide whether I'll softly scoop up his MLB cards as I find them.

Immaculate Grid

I was filling out an Immaculate Grid game and it was killing me I couldn't think up a player who played both for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers - it was the last spot I needed filled and I was really having an existential crisis about knowing my obscure MLB players, before a 'Matt Kata' finally popped from my memory banks.

I used to be into this game a couple of years ago, where I was compelled to have a go at thinking up players that matched a 3 by 3 grid - it made me think just how little I know, where my knowledge of most MLB players start through the junk wax era and then up through the last 10-15 years.

I feel like I'm not filling out the grid with vintage / old school players before the junk era and/or filling the grid with players from recent years - especially for rank-and-file guys who came up past the pandemic.

I think I got bored filling out grids with the guys I'm familiar with and it got to be where I tried to always take screenshots and save my results - as is, when I see results posted somewhere, I'm tempted to fill out a grid, though I try not to use names I've just seen.

2024 Topps Black & White highlights

I haven't kept up with any of Topps' online releases in the past five years, but I pounced on some 2024 Topps Black & White singles sold online for $0.50 or $1.00 - where the cards add some instant fuel to my themed curated sets or to my specific player decade / binder stars collections.

I've never formally collected Parker where I've sought out his loose cards with any intent - but being a committee Hall of Fame inductee has me on the look out for the Cobra's cards in a 'catch all' sort of way, unlike ever before.

Maybe like Parker, I've considered Valenzuela an 'out of sight, out of mind' guy for the longest time - though he isn't in or currently bound for the Hall of Fame, his passing gave me some pause, where I give his loose cards a second look.

I've been on the receiving end on these fan service interactions with Pedro - so I like cards that show a player like him signing autographs in-person.

Maybe Andruw has been an 'out of sight, out of mind' guy for me but there might be scattered Hall of Fame campaigns - where he might be an eventual hall of famer or will have his case discussed as just about the best defensive center fielder in MLB history.

Mattingly is a retired non-HOF player I collect in a 'catch all' sort of way - where cheap but unique cards end up instant keepers.

McGriff is a retired HoF player I collect in a 'catch all' sort of way - where cheap but unique cards end up instant keepers.

Trout is my team's franchise icon and I feel obligated to still collect him one way or the other - go figure it might be closer to the end and these upcoming years might be Trout's last big league run, where playing for so long as taken a real toll.

Witt Jr. maybe the next great hope realized as far as a baseball superstar goes - I like this 'game face' on deck shot where he might be studying the pitcher and getting ready to go up to bat.

Henderson is another young MLB player that looks to star through his prime years - is this considered a unique majestic / panoramic shot?

Maybe this ends up being a boring card, of a player idle in the dugout - but he's blowing a bubble, so I was obligated to stake my claim to it.