1995 Pinnacle Jose Valentin #127

I may have been browsing a dealer's listings on eBay when I discovered this Valentin card with what looks to be a Roberto Alomar cameo - while it's not for my Angels frankenset, I picked up the 'nicer' Museum Collection parallel for my 'bonus babies' mini-collection, consisting of star players' cameos on common players' cards.

Card shop finds - loose 2013 Topps Update cards

#US 21 Junior Lake 

#US 45 Joey Terdoslavich - Emerald parallel 

#US 51 Brett Marshall 

#US 137 Yoervis Medina - Target Red parallel

#US 243 Marwin Gonzalez - x2 

#US 263 Austin Romine - Gold parallel serial #'d 1810/2013 - bonus baby / cameo by Mariano Rivera.

#US 267 Nick Tepesch 

#US 267 Nick Tepesch - Emerald parallel 

#US 278 Jose Alvarez 

#US 302 Yan Gomes - Gold parallel serial #'d 1302/2013 

#US 329 Henry Urrutia - Target Red parallel

Featured cards: 1992 Topps Stadium Club

Topps' sophomore effort may have as impressive and/or better images than their first release in 1991 - the problem for me was Topps turned Stadium Club into a bloated 900 card set, issued in three series of 300 cards. It was the first Stadium Club product I remember picking up with some sort of regularity, but it also became this monster, clusterF of a set littered with unproven players and players who'd be the 25th man on a roster. It should have remained a 600 card set like the initial release in 1991, but Topps thought they could capitalize on the initial popularity of the 1991 set.

The Van Slyke [card #232] features a very nice horizontal shot of Van Slyke diving with a head first slide at third base - you can see Pittsburgh Pirates' then third base coach Gene Lamont kneeling to see what will happen as third baseman Tim Wallach of the Montreal Expos presumably awaits the throw from the cutoff man. The only reservation is the photographer is able to catch Lamont and Wallach's butts lined up with the image of Van Slyke's impending slide.

The Hoiles [card #161] features a play at the play - we don't know if the runner is safe or out as he crashes home, kicking up dirt as Hoiles is looking for the baseball.

Surhoff [card #117] looks like he is making the throw on a pickoff as Ken Griffey Jr. tries to get out of the way - I can eat up 'bonus babies' or common cards featuring cameos by stars all day long.