Six finds from the quarter box

I'm going through miscellaneous, older cards at the LCS and at times I feel I'm scraping at the bottom of the barrel, particularly when it's a dead period for newer cards - I like to spend time finding so-called keepers as adds to my mini-collections, though I feel like I'm paying a premium for cards I see are otherwise discarded, traded and/or usually gifted to others.

1974 Topps Traded Kurt Bevacqua #454 T - I think I have his 1976 Topps bubble gum champion card autographed.

2003 Fleer Ultra Dmitri Young #161

2003 Fleer Ultra Aramis Ramirez #182

2003 Topps Milton Bradley #415 - Jim Thome cameo

2004 Upper Deck Jose Valverde #281 - chilling out at Wrigley Field, inking it up for fans perhaps

2004 Topps Total Danny Graves #94  - inking it up

Featured autograph - Brandon Webb

I got this autograph card through the mail when I wrote to the former ace and recently retired pitcher of the Arizona Diamondbacks back in the mid 2000's - I don't think Webb was a guy who wasn't heralded nationally as the next big thing but stuck around and quietly proved himself to be a very good pitcher.

After Webb won the 2006 National League Cy Young and built upon that with a couple more great years - I thought this guy was living the charmed life, part of a core of young DBacks in the late 2000's that included Conor Jackson, Stephen Drew, Justin Upton, Chris Young, Chris Snyder and Mark Reynolds in the mix.

Those core of Diamondbacks players never really developed as their individual careers sort of went all over the place - in the middle of his prime, Webb's once consistent career was derailed in 2009 and he was never able to throw a MLB pitch again.

I don't know if I followed Webb's career in-depth, but I find it perhaps morbidly fascinating when certain MLB players have enjoyed so much success - but are now 'has beens' or 'what could have beens' or have fans wondering, 'whatever happened to that guy?'