2021 Topps Heritage High blaster recap

It looks like my local Walmart has been getting cards once again with a dedicated display area - when I don't plan to go to a Walmart [but end up doing so] and/or I don't expect to see anything on the shelves, I'm more likely to stumble upon cards.

For the most part, it's still hit or miss, but I tend to believe baseball is actually the least collected sport for retail flippers - so if there ends up something left over on the shelves, it probably ends up being loose baseball product.

Pack one

#640 Jose Iglesias

#606 Joe Musgrove

#651 Dane Dunning RC

#591 JoJo Romero RC 

#511 Brent Rooker RC

#587 Gary Sanchez

#698 Greg Holland

#501 Francisco Lindor

#529 Michael Fulmer

Pack two

#579 Marcus Stroman

#566 Manny Machado

#504 Jorge Ona RC

#687 Albert Pujols - Chrome Red Border parallel serial #’d 148/372

#711 Andrew Knizer - SP

#537 Garrett Crochet RC

#638 Edwin Diaz

#609 Kohei Arihara RC

#684 Mitch Haniger

Pack three

#558 Ozzie Albies

#675 Nivaldo Rodriguez RC

#674 Patrick Weigel RC

#528 Eddie Alvarez RC

#546 Alex Kirilloff

#564 Hunter Harvey

#624 Andrew Vaughn RC

#605 Reynaldo Lopez

#589 Josh Palacios RC

Pack four

#503 Avisail Garcia

#597 Taylor Rogers 

#551 Sean Murphy

#690 Francisco Mejia

#RP-13 Bobby Dalbec - Rookie Performers insert

#660 Lorenzo Cain

#567 Willie Castro

#554 Paul De Jong

#693 Salvador Perez

Pack five

#695 Cole Tucker 

#639 Travis D’Arnaud

#630 Santiago Espinal RC

#555 Codi Heuer RC

#701 Zach Plesac - SP

#617 Mike Minor

#625 Jake Fraley

#655 Trey Mancini

#678 Taylor Trammell RC

Pack six

#523 Brent Honeywell Jr. RC

#610 Ashton Goudeau RC

#687 Albert Pujols

#547 Aristides Aquino

#532 D.J. Peters RC 

#572 Andrew Benintendi

#682 Geraldo Perdomo RC

#611 D.J. Stewart

#628 Kolten Wong

Pack seven

#657 Josh James

#560 Mike Ford

#677 Matt Carpenter

#604 Steven Matz

#577 Victor Gonzalez RC

#533 Adam Eaton

#607 Jameson Taillon

#629 Julian Merryweather RC

#510 Miles Mikolas

Pack eight

#658 Jose Marmolejos RC

#620 Jonah Heim RC

#601 Nico Goodrum

#AW-6 Kevin Cash - Award Winners insert; AL Manager of the Year

#710 David Dahl - SP

#562 Eddie Rosario

#688 Ryan Pressly

#600 Trevor Story

#514 Jose Urena

It wasn't surprising, but there was a sense of finality

From a guy I dreamed on posting big numbers after the signed with the Angels to this moment - I had to do double take when I saw that Angels Facebook post where all time great Albert Pujols was being designated for assignment.

Reading bits and pieces, he might still be with the team but perhaps being unhappy about his playing time sealed his fate - in what was supposed to be his last year [as a player] as part of the mega contract he inked up during the 2011 offseason.

Through games this season, there was talk about how much healthier Pujols was and how much harder he was hitting the ball according to all that exit velocity data - I told myself, guy is hitting .195 and while batting average maybe outdated, go wake me up when he's hitting .250.

At this point, my sentimentally towards Pujols is a little muted - I won't ever question his intensity, work ethic or his intentions, but he's the No. 1 example where getting old and modern day shifts really accelerate the deterioriation of a superstar player's ability to perform on a year-to-year basis past a certain point.

Is this guy still playing for the Angels?

Maybe a 60-game season is just what Albert Pujols needs to stay healthy and put up a batting line that looks somewhat decent - rather than slogging through a normal season that started in late March and likely ended in late September.

Even if Pujols plays in only 30-40 games, I would love to see him put go on a tear - it's probably too late in his career, but it would be nice to see once last burst of dominance from the all-time great.

As far as the upcoming big league season goes, I think it's going kind of unique, but peculiar to have no fans in the stands - maybe I'm an odd duck, but I get self-conscious about watching a game remotely at home while 35,000 other people get to experience watching a big league game in person.

For at least a little bit, everyone seems like they have to watch MLB somewhere other than a ballpark - so maybe I'll be more focused about the game happening on the field, rather than feel a little jealous about the fans in the stands and asking why I'm not where they are.

2001 Upper Deck Albert Pujols #295

I don't think I actually saw many Pujols rookie cards in his rookie year, so after all these years, I guess I'd like to add at least a couple to my PC - the 2001 Upper Deck and 2001 Bowman [#264] were the most 'widely' available rookie cards from Pujols' rookie year even though all his cards were in demand all season long.

While Pujols rookie card and rookie year issues were pumped out in mid through late season products, but I never had a chance to own but maybe two or three - including a factory set rookie year card from the 2001 Fleer Tradition, maybe an ugly Team Leaders subset card [#435] from 2001 Fleer Platinum RC Edition, a 2001 Topps Traded Pujols / Ichiro subset card [T99] and a 2001 Topps rookie card I bought at a card shop for a quarter maybe in 2002.

I remember finding the Topps Pujols in the particular card shop, when the quarter boxes were color coded with tabs - because the store owner was selling certain rows of cards on consignment.

The Topps rookie had a soft corner and I'd foolishly sent it to Pujols as a TTM autograph request - of course after 17 years, it never came back, even as a failure.

In recent years, the 38-year old Pujols hasn't been as relevant and still has at least 3 years left to go to play out his Angels contract [on the field] - however, Pujols' baseball accomplishments [short of a PED scandal] can't be taken away by what he has done away from St. Louis.

2018 Topps Living Set Albert Pujols #22

Pujols's Topps Living Set card maybe a topical pick-up since he collected his 3,000th hit and join three others with 3,000 hits / 600 home runs - it's not that I've completely warmed up to the Topps Living Set, but it's kind of a no-brainer to spend $5 on a Living Set card of a hot rookie or a guy from 'my team?'

Because it’s an ongoing set, I just don’t know if there will be any sort of completion or closure - but maybe a plan is to pick up Topps Living Set cards of Angels players when they pop up.

COMC finds - binder stars / decade stars

I had a haul of cards I'd gotten from COMC come in - after I'd started the shipping process, my order only took about a week, which was a pleasant surprise.

On their Web site, COMC lists when to expect delivery depending on the service chosen - I figure I don’t have a claim to anything otherwise if it they ship within the estimated window for the $3.99 economy charge, even if it takes two or three weeks.

I've had misgivings about a typical COMC order taking too long, but I actually got my shipment about five days earlier than expected - maybe the Web site might be an option again as far as picking up the most random cards and having them shipped sooner than never.

I kind of see COMC as a glorified swap meet of sorts - however they always seem to package cards well enough, regardless of shipping method chosen.

It’s nice to finally go through the cards I've had sitting in my account - though there maybe a caveat with some of the random cards I’ve chosen to pick up as far as finding an actual spot for them in my collections.

I’m trying to list and put away as many of the cards I purchased - while trying to feel something for most cards, so they aren't meaningless after the fact.

The following are too random to be stand alone A-Z singles or PC cards - yet I’d rather showcase them as highlights within others cards of the same player, than be obscured as rank-and-file additions within my A-Z inserts collection.

2002 Topps Gold Label Awards Ceremony Relics Class 1 Gold Andy Pettite ACR-AEP [$4.75] - considering their franchise history and late 1990s dynasty run, I'd probably be a New York Yankees fan, if not rooting for the Angels.

I was doing a random search and this card caught my eye - it's kind of shiny card featuring an image of a relevant Topps card in the inset image and a window with a pinstripe jersey swatch.

Pettitte is hardly a favorite but on the down low, maybe I want to build up a micro-mini collection of selected cards - featuring the Yankees Core Four [Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada].

1997 Topps Team Timber Frank Thomas #TT5 [$1.05] - I thought it would be cool to have a card in hand that was printed entirely on some sort of simulated wood material.

I've never seen these cards except for a Rafael Palmeiro on a page of scanned cards - these may have been long forgotten inserts and wanting a ‘sample’ card from the set, a more appealing player choice [Thomas] wasn't that much more than a Palmeiro.

The card fronts actually feature a more conventional glossy surface and not a 'wood' feel like I'd anticipated - it's actually the back of the cards that have a sort of matte / textured surface that may resemble a wood finish.

I suspect it's to make the cards seem like they actually came from a piece of wood - but it looks like someone poured water on the surface to create some depressions going down from top to bottom.

2003 Donruss Diamond Kings DK Evolution Barry Bonds #DK-16 [$1.25] - Bonds may not be going to the Hall of Fame since he was presumably both a perpetual ass and an alleged PED abuser, however I was drawn to his bad ass act when he broke the single-season and career home run marks through his 40s.

2003 Donruss Diamond Kings DK Evolution Tony Gwynn #DK-21 [$0.99] - unlike Bonds, the player was considered a saint where he was universally loved as a professional baseball player and a person, R.I.P.

I was vaguely aware of these lenticular cards but had just forgotten about them over time - I might have thought there might have been a time elapse image where a picture of a player early in his career is contrasted with a current [as of 15 years ago] picture, but this clears things up.

1998 Upper Deck Blue Chip Prospects Todd Helton #BC11 [$1.70] - serial #'d to 2000; it’s not a rookie or anything ‘special,’ but I guess I’d collect the retired Helton on the down low and this one caught my eye as a ‘film cell’ material card.

2015 Topps Update Series MLB All-Star Game Access Albert Pujols MLB-2 [$0.98] - this captures a poignant moment where another big leaguer [Joc Pederson] is hugging Pujols at the 2015 All-Star Home Run Derby for presumably all Pujols has done for Pederson’s developmentally disabled [Down Syndrome] brother Champ in particular.

Ugh, yuck...something smells like Pujols

Go figure, the Angels are right there in the chase for an American League Wild Card spot [68-65, 1 game behind the Minnesota Twins] and while Mike Trout has recently been mired in a slump on his own - it's hard to watch another rally killing ground ball hit by Albert Pujols to the left side of the infield while he can barely run it out to first base.

Unfortunately, Pujols isn't going anywhere, but it would be nice to see him come up clutch with the bat over the last month of the season - Pujols has proven to be a 'money player' before, but his turn in the lineup has just a black hole of suck.

At times I feel like the old man that he is, still grinding it out, like the good pro that he is - but I can only take so much out of his recent performance and from fan to player, Pujols needs to put up numbers fast.

Congrats Albert Pujols on hitting 600 home runs

Go figure I was channel surfing between the Angels game and the NCAA regional baseball game in Long Beach when Pujols hit a grand slam for his 600th home run of his career - I may have missed the milestone by moments and figured something finally happened when I tuned back into the Angel game.

Maybe the coolest thing about the aftermath is when the Angels TV guys were interviewing the guy who caught the home run ball - the Angels fan was really excited and was just in awe as he was teased about asking for Mike Trout stuff [by Victor Rojas] once he gave the ball back to Pujols and then about getting a chance to breathe [by Mark Gubicza].

2016 Bowman Albert Pujols oversize card

I was able to pick up four different 25h anniversary Arizona Fall League 5x7 cards at a couple of AFL games I attended - the cards were handed out in pairs, with an Andrew McCutchen card to go with the Pujols.

The other cards I got were of Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright - these cards resemble the 2016 Bowman design but with the AFL's league 25th anniversary logo added in front.

The card backs identify the players' fall league teams as well as a AFL team logo added - there is a write-up of the players' career highlights with a line featuring their fall league stats.

2001 Topps Traded Ichiro and Pujols #99

While neither are in the prime of their careers they've made some noise this season - I think the only Ichiro and/or Pujols cards I ever pulled out of packs when their rookie cards came out in 2001 were two or three subset cards from late season releases including this one.

Pujols just hit 570th and 571st home runs and while perhaps he can reach 600 home runs this year - maybe passing Harmon Killebrew [573], Mark McGwire [583] and Frank Robinson [586] are more realistic for Pujols to reach and pass this season.

While his overall numbers had trended upwards since the season started, Pujols is still hitting about .220 - so it's really discouraging watching what was once an all-around hitter merely hang on an all-or-nothing hitter.

It's been a slow crawl, but I'm hoping Pujols can bump his average all the way to .250 or so - with 'decent' power numbers by the All-Star break.

As for Ichiro, he's 39 hits away from reaching 3,000 hits, so it's a foregone conclusion that he is going to get to the milestone mark and more - maybe an added bonus is at the moment, he is showing flashes of the vintage Ichiro with a .351 batting average and a .407 on-base percentage.

It's fun keeping track of a great player still being able to get it done at such an advanced [as far as professional baseball goes] age of 42 - however, it's not 2004 and I'm afraid that if he gets overexposed [not that it matters since it seems he's done just about everything], that his resurgent numbers will get dragged down over the course of the season.

Collecting topics - awesome outfield action

More cards from an 87-card mix I put together at a card show for $20 - I tried to build up a 'run' of mini-collection adds perhaps with an emphasis on the assorted star cards [I was finding for the most part] as opposed to strictly commons.

1993 Leaf Stars Ken Griffey Jr. / Van Slyke #7 of 20 - Gold Leaf Stars

2001 Topps Archives Willie Mays #225

2004 Fleer Ultra Albert Pujols #71 - Gold Medallion

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Willie Mays #BH-21 - Baseball Highlight Sketches

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Ichiro Suzuki #40 - mini / ‘B’ fielding

2013 Topps Jon Jay #224 - Gold parallel serial #’d 0586/2013

2016 Topps Series I 72-card hanger box

#327 Anthony Rizzo

#190 Jeurys Familia

#328 Anthony DeSclafani

#163 Joaquin Benoit

#115 Aaron Harang

#269 Giancarlo Stanton

#77 Clay Buchholz

#158 Henry Urrutia

#15 Ryan Howard

#26 AL Home Run Leaders - feat. Davis, Cruz and Trout

#289 Nick Hundley

#126 Papi and the Prince - feat. Ortiz and Pujols

#181 Minnesota Twins team card

#185 AL ERA Leaders - feat. Price, Keuchel and Gray

#315 San Diego Padres team card

#108 Ben Paulsen

#BB-10 Bill Mazeroski - Berger’s Best insert

#350 Kris Bryant - Rainbow Foil parallel

#FP-5 Evelyn Jones - First Pitch insert

#WRIG-22 Rafael Palmeiro - 100 Years at Wrigley Field insert

#P-4 Bryce Harper - Perspectives insert

#MLBD-9 Yu Darvish - MLB Debut insert

#AM-5 Nolan Ryan - Amazing Milestones insert

#62 Trayce Thompson

#64 Corey Kluber

#35 Luke Hochevar

#118 Jose Fernandez

#218 Andrew Miller

#228 Matt Garza

#304 Charlie Furbush

#208 Kurt Suzuki

#68 Odubel Herrera

#239 Huston Street

#82 Michael Bourn

#296 Yordano Ventura

#258 Devon Travis

#145 Jon Niese

#74 Troy Tulowitzki

#133 Aaron Nola

#201 Adam Jones

#194 Chase Headley

#17 Billy Butler

#300 Buster Posey

#113 Aaron Sanchez

#9 Eric Hosmer

#267 Chris Heston

#298 Ryan Braun

#230 Ryan Vogelsong

#234 David Robertson

#276 Francisco Cervelli

#349 Ben Revere

#58 NL ERA Leaders - feat. Greinke, Arrieta and Kershaw

#139 Yasiel Puig

#53 George Springer

#221 Ryan LaMarre

#MLBW-4 Los Angeles Dodgers - Wacky Packages sticker insert

#259 Paul Goldschmidt

#232 Michael Conforto

#138 Francisco Liriano

#19 Delino DeShields Jr.

#293 Hyun-Jin Ryu

#92 Darren O’Day

#196 Hunter Strickland

#244 Matt Carpenter

#86 Wilmer Flores

#271 Kevin Kiermaier

#213 Matt Shoemaker

#319 Adam Wainwright

#134 Yadier Molina

#55 Jesus Montero

#116 Brett Gardner

#38 Jed Lowrie

#264 Jake Arrieta

Best binder page - my starting nine

My best binder page represents nine cards that stick out in my collection - for better or for worse.

2001 Fleer Tradition Albert Pujols #451 - ever since he made his MLB debut in 2001, he has always been a guy to universally collect though the Pujols the Angels have is just not the same guy that played for the St. Louis Cardinals.

1987 Donruss Greg Maddux #36 - I never really noticed Maddux until he won his first Cy Young Award in 1992 and I had to pick up his key rookie card, which might have been going for about $6.

Because the card came out during junk wax era, the card maybe worth $3 these days - but between the wisp of facial hair he sporting and the Cubs uniform he is wearing sort of coming together with the design [with the Rated Rookie subset banner too], the card has grown on me.

1990 Leaf Frank Thomas #300 - it was either him or Ken Griffey Jr. battling it out for the top spot of Beckett Baseball Card Montly Magazine's Hot List back through the mid 1990s.

Thomas was a dominant offensive force and even though his numbers took a dive in his 30's - he still had his moments and has Hall of Fame plaque to show for his numerous achievements.

I'm not really sure what I paid for this card but I think I bought it 10-15 years ago - the price was likely less than the $30 I spent for a Sammy Sosa rookie card from the same set.

1987 Fleer Barry Bonds #604 - I prefer the juiced up version rather than the great all-around baseball player through the 1990's because he just didn't give a hoot and at least on the field, it was fun watching him portrayed as the biggest heel of the Steroid Era.

I was eating up all his theatrics and I probably paid about $60 for this card - like the Maddux rookie, it was a junk wax era card, but I was to hoping to possess the best mainstream rookie card of an all-time great.

Bonds might have been easy to ignore if he was an average ballplayer augmented his numbers and kind of faded away - but Bonds was already a superstar talent who managed to propel his numbers to historic heights.

While he is now trying to make inroads back into the game as the Florida Marlins hitting coach - Bonds is probably not going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame anytime soon and my once prized card is worth about $3.

2011 Topps Update Mike Trout #US 175 - it's a no brainer to have this guy's rookie card in the mix, even though there is a tinge of disappointment, just because I never got one of his 'big money' first-year autograph cards.

1994 Flair Alex Rodriguez #340 - ever since he had his first big season in 1996, he's always been a guy to universally collect.

Whatever he's done has always captured my interest, though the luster had finally faded after he was suspended by Major League Baseball in 2014 - as is, he had a quiet and successful 'comeback' run in 2015, though it remains to be seen if he can sort of leave the game on his terms.

I probably paid $40 for this card and now it's worth about $5.

1989 Procards Keith Comstock #14 - I have to throw this 'fun card' into the mix.

1993 Topps Derek Jeter #98 - he has always been a guy to universally collect and while I think this is a boring card from a boring set, it features a guy who put up some pretty good numbers, a 5-time World Series winner who always put on a good public face.

1989 Donruss Ken Griffey Jr.#33 - I was more or less just starting to collect 25 years ago when this card caught my attention in a loose stack at my cousin's house and I thought it was a big deal it was going for $8...during the same time, I think I bought a 1989 Donruss rack pack from a card shop and pulled another copy of the card.

A trio of Albert Pujols cards

I picked up a 2015 Topps Stadium Club [card #170] and a 2014 Donruss Diamond Kings subset [card #205] for my Angels frankenset - the 2014 Panini Donruss The Elite Series insert was a random pick up.

Pujols had his season resurgence in June, hit 26 home runs by the All-Star break and starred in the Home Run Derby - as September comes however, it looks like he and the Angels are gassed.

The Angels have faded out of playoff contention and any last month resurgence from Pujols - may merely bump up his final numbers a little bit.

Despite having an opportunity to hit nearly 40 home runs [not sure if he is going to get there at this point] - it looks like Pujols about to set a career low in batting average, on-base percentage and his ability to hit doubles has been sapped.

Teammate Mike Trout has struggled in the month of August, but there is more confidence in the 24-year old bouncing back - with six years left on Pujols' contract after this season, I'm afraid what you see is what you are going to get from the aged slugger.

2013 Topps Albert Pujols #350 variation

This Out of Bounds Pujols card was in a random bubble mailer after I picked it up several years ago - a card like the Pujols can be added as a showcase piece in my Angels frankenset, since unlike other team collectors, I really have no set collection of Angels cards I'm chasing down.

2015 Topps Stadium Club blaster recap II

Pack one

#118 Yasiel Puig
#253 Hisashi Iwakuma
#200 Mike Morse

#25 Juan Lagares

#152 Jose Abreu

Pack two
#169 Brock Holt

#274 Tim Hudson

#56 Hunter Pence
#102 Cliff Lee
#201 Rafael Montero

Pack three 

#22 Ivan Rodriguez
#257 Paul Molitor
#296 Max Scherzer
#289 Danny Santana - Gold parallel
#35 Ryne Sandberg

Pack four
#211 Justin Verlander
#32 Nolan Arenado
#275 Freddie Freeman
#242 Troy Tulowitzki
#226 Dennis Eckersley

Pack five
#122 Mike Minor
#71 Curtis Granderson
#111 Whitey Ford
#222 Tanner Roark
#43 Jose Bautista

Pack six

#117 Lenny Dykstra - with all the shady things he's gotten involved with in the past 10 years, I just wonder why he is in a 2015 baseball card product.

#54 Bip Roberts
#90 Justin Morneau

#TCA-AP Albert Pujols - True Colors insert
#234 Brandon Guyer

Pack seven
#249 Daniel Murphy
#42 Jordan Zimmerman
#138 Ben Zobrist

#34 Mariano Rivera - Gold parallel

#58 Jason Giambi

Pack eight
#232 Corey Dickerson
#31 Albert Belle
#46 Yonder Alonso
#T-7C Gregory Polanco - Luminous Triumvirate insert
#273 Mike Piazza