Featured autograph - Conor Gillaspie

For the Angels, Gillaspie is nothing but a warm body to fill in for the injured David Freese at third base - if Gillaspie does anything with the bat, then perhaps he sticks around as a utility guy who can fill in at a few spots.

Regional collecting

My team is the Angels and while I may say I'm interested in a number of non-Angels players like everyone else - I'm a one-team guy when it comes to collecting.

As is, I'm probably stuck to loose Angels inserts and base I may end up with like this Garrett Richards card I found - I can't get into high end cards, because it's all about Mike Trout, I kind of missed the boat on him, but now everyone is into him as the hot, young superstar.

I don't like the idea of trying to complete team sets [too tedious, especially when it comes to junk wax years], but want a collection of different, Angels cards - I think I do have to de-emphasize my interests somewhat because while I covet Angels cards, but I don't want it so I'm held hostage by the need to have all Angels related cards [even if the player pictured aren't really favorites].

An idea would be to scour for cards of prospects, so I have some better cards of guys who maybe future Angel stars - though guys anointed as top prospects turn into busts, guys who seem like future stars are disappointments and guys get traded or even find themselves cut prematurely.

2015 Topps Series I pack breaks

When it comes to loose packs, I'm more inclined to pick them up at my card shop, since there is peace of mind that the packs haven't been searched - even if the box isn't entirely 'new' and there have been multiple packs pulled already, I'll take my chances as opposed to a gravity feed at Target and/or Walmart.

Results vary, but I cling to the the idea hobby packs gives me a better chance to pull a card of note - regardless of actual value since flagship Topps costs $2 a pack.

Pack one
#184 Melvin Upton
#15 Joey Votto
#320 Shin-Soo Choo
#269 Jordy Mercer
#343 Shane Greene
#H-19 Mike Schmidt - Highlight of the Year insert
#237 Lucas Duda
#89 Michael Choice
#266 Brandon Phillips
#274 Ryan Zimmerman

Pack two
#178 Christian Yelich
#52 Fernando Rodney
#29 Brandon Belt
#190 Zach Britton

#CRH-FF Freddie Freeman - game used memorabilia card
#133 Daisuke Matsuzaka
#95 Junior Lake
#236 Zack Wheeler

Pack three
#37 Arismendy Alcantara
#169 Adam Jones
#197 Glen Perkins
#160 Washington Nationals team card
#288 Chris Parmelee
#50 Yu Darvish

#FP-13 Suzy - First Pitch insert
#100 Clayton Kershaw
#249 Jose Reyes
#157 Ubaldo Jimenez

Pack four
#74 Tyler Skaggs
#53 Nathan Eovaldi
#24 New York Mets team card
#38 Jordan Zimmerman
#48 John Axford
#FP-09 Tom Willis - First Pitch insert
#179 Jason Vargas
#164 Brian Schlitter
#152 Michael Pineda
#172 Didi Gregorius

Pack five
#16 David DeJesus
#252 Travis Wood - it's just a base card, but there is peeling on the upper right hand corner.
#263 Dillon Gee
#25 Jose Bautista
#9 Hunter Pence
#232 Andrew Susac
#H-18 Willie McCovey - Highlight of the Year insert
#39 Salvador Perez
#69 Justin Upton
#293 Zach Duke

2015 Topps Series I jumbo pack recap

In the last couple of years, a collecting ritual is to pick up at least one, loose hobby jumbo pack from Topps / Bowman products - it doesn't mean I won't end up buying any more hobby jumbo packs or even splurging for a jumbo box, but I've got to get that initial, hobby jumbo pack break out of the way.

#178 Christian Yelich
#52 Fernando Rodney
#37 Arismendy Alcantara
#169 Adam Jones
#197 Glen Perkins
#289 Matt Joyce
#255 James Russell
#166 Jenrry Mejia
#134 Brett Lawrie
#344 Manny Parra
#279 Coco Crisp
#1 Derek Jeter
#42 Todd Frazier
#61 Clayton Kershaw / Johnny Cueto / Adam Wainwright - 2014 National League ERA Leaders
#342 San Diego Padres team card - feat. Rymer Liriano?
#319 Derek Jeter
#43 Starlin Castro
#317 Clayton Kershaw
#314 Jackie Bradley Jr.
#298 Rymer Liriano
#215 Alejandro De Aza
#21 Brett Gardner
#38 Jordan Zimmerman
#48 John Axford
#297 Scott Kazmir
#A-15 Mike Piazza - Archetypes insert
#226 Dioner Navarro - Rainbow Foil parallel
Babe Ruth Call Your Shot game card
#FP-14 50 Cent - First Pitch insert
#CRH-DPA Dustin Pedroia - game used memorabilia card
#233 Carlos ruiz
#55 Trevor May
#216 Greg Holland
#99 Yonder Alonso
#335 Matt Barnes
#293 Zach Duke
#11 Jon Jay
#130 Mike Napoli
#27 Kendrys Morales
#198 Alexi Ogando
#47 Anthony Rizzo
#244 Bartolo Colon
#226 Dioner Navarro
#264 Tony Cingrani
#68 Lonnie Chisenhall
#46 Wilson Ramos
#118 Domonic Brown
#H-20 Fergie Jenkins - Highlight of the Year insert

Random mail day - McKayla Maroney

These 2015 Topps First Pitch inserts are not hard to pull at all, though I picked up the Maroney outright for $0.50 - I might end up trying to complete the set for fun, since there are only 15 cards and I already have five or six.