Trout fishing - reeling in some catches

As primarily an Angels team collector, I don't always end up focusing on Mike Trout since everyone else does - though I know I can't really afford to pick up his high end cards, I still feel like any particular 'non-rookie, non autograph, non limited' Trout singles are kind of just afterthoughts that I would not want to pay a premium for.

However, to scratch the regional / Trout collection itch, maybe I was looking for cheap Trout cards [$1-$3] that kind of pop and might nice additions - even if they are random, miscellaneous issues.

I grabbed a trio Topps Update All-Star Game Access inserts [2014, 2015, 2016] because as retail exclusive cards, they maybe harder to track down after the fact - these maybe just what I'm looking for as far as low-key adds to a Trout collection without having to think too much about whether they will hold value over time.

2017 Panini Donruss Optic Mike Trout #13 - Diamond Kings Prizm parallel; I might have been looking to snatch up several Panini promotional / oddball issues but it is hard to look at cards that have no logos; this one looks kind of classy and jazzy at the same time.

2017 Topps Finest Mike Trout #FB-MT - Finest Breakthroughs insert; I like the comic book ‘Pow!’ style graphic.

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.

2015 Donruss pack breaks #3 of 3

Pack nine
#86 Justin Verlander
#78 Corey Kluber
#105 Adrian Gonzalez
#96 James Shields
#175 R.A. Dickey
#170 Leonys Martin
#11 Maikel Franco - Donruss Preferred insert
#81 Troy Tulowitzki - Statline parallel serial #'d 262/340

Pack 10
#48 Patrick Corbin
#46 Paul Goldschmidt
#73 Devin Mesoraco
#80 Yan Gomes
#195 Ernie Banks
#194 Bo Jackson
#18 Zack Wheeler - Elite Series insert

#198 Andrew McCutchen - 1981 Donruss insert

Pack 11
#52 Justin Upton
#49 Alex Wood
#97 Alex Gordon
#88 Victor Martinez
#149 Hunter Pence
#147 Ian Kennedy
#146 Everth Cabrera
#14 Daniel Norris - Donruss Preferred insert

#14 Clayton Kershaw - Diamond Kings insert

Pack 12
#104 Clayton Kershaw
#95 Eric Hosmer
#120 Danny Santana
#113 Jose Fernandez
#185 Frank Thomas
#180 Stephen Strasburg
Dummy card
#21 Jimmy Rollins

#24 Bob Gibson - All-Time Diamond Kings insert

2015 Donruss pack breaks #2 of 3

Pack five
#119 Brian Dozier
#112 Henderson Alvarez
#124 Matt Harvey
#117 Francisco Rodriguez
#159 Kolten Wong
#155 Mike Zunino

#4 Nolan Ryan - Donruss Preferred insert

#13 Christian Walker - The Rookies insert

Pack six
#119 Brian Dozier
#112 Henderson Alvarez
#131 Josh Donaldson
#126 Ichiro
#192 Pete Rose
#189 George Brett
#6 Javier Baez - Donruss Preferred insert
#43 Christian Walker

Pack seven
#60 Dustin Pedroia
#72 Todd Frazier
#66 Jake Arrieta
#193 Tony Gwynn
#191 Ryne Sandberg
#28 Eric Hosmer - Donruss Preferred insert / VIP Reserved serial #'d 52/99
#2 George Brett - Donruss Preferred insert

#4 Dustin Pedroia - Diamond Kings insert Press Proof parallel serial #'d 006/199

Pack eight
#71 Joey Votto
#65 Starlin Castro
#87 Miguel Cabrera
#79 Carlos Santana
#165 Kevin Kiermaier
#160 Yadier Molina
#28 Leonys Martin - Elite Series insert

#6 Jose Abreu - Diamond Kings insert

Spent time at a card shop - found these

2014 Donruss Miguel Cabrera #9 - Diamond Kings subset / SP
2014 Donruss Chris Carter #26 - Diamond Kings subset / SP
2014 Donruss Kolten Wong #35
2014 Donruss James Paxton #39
2014 Donruss Yan Gomes #142
2014 Donruss Shelby Miller #16 - Breakout Pitchers insert
2014 Donruss Starling Marte #19 - Breakout Hitters insert
1972 Topps Ed Sprague #121 - I picked this up for my bloodlines collection, though I supposed I'll try and send it out TTM before putting it in its permanent home.
1972 Topps Mike Kekich #138 - he and a teammate swapped wives and families; goes into my infamous collection.
1980 Topps Randy Niemann #469 - x2 / was a Boston Red Sox coach a couple of years ago when Bobby Valentine was the manager but is now working in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system; if I have no way of getting these cards signed, these go into my facial hair collection.
2013 Topps 75th Anniversary Funny Valentines - Diamond Anniversary parallel serial #'d 32/75

Etc - a dollar each
2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Braden Shipley #BDPP 12 - Refractor parallel
2013 Bowman Chrome Draft Austin Wilson #BDPP 105 - Refractor parallel

2014 Donruss box topper - Stephen Strasburg #18

I saw an unopened 5x7 one-card pack and picked it up for $2 to see if I could end up with something to get signed in-person or to see if I'd pulled a certified Signatures version - I ended up with an unsigned Strasburg, which probably ends up somewhere in my oddball 'to be signed' pile, where one day I hope to pull it out if I ever run into Strasburg again [not that I haven't gotten his sig before, but I haven't seen him in-person since 2009].