Card show trip - some odds and ends

I went to a card show a couple of weeks ago and while I might need only a few sellers tables to rummage through and find something to wrangle cash out of my pocket - what I may have noticed is the shift to Pokemon or TCG sellers, where just two or three years ago there would be more seller tables with primarily sports cards.

Maybe I've come to expect that any card show dates I go to onward will not have more of the familiar sports card seller tables - where for better or for worse, I prefer the swap meet style set-ups I might have seen back in 2005 or 1995.

One seller table did have a swap meet vibe going on where he had bins of loose cards - none of the bulk cards had prices on them and I guess you just make a pile and the seller gives you a 'deal.'

I ended up picking up only so many cards, including the oddball Dodgers cards that were in perforated panels [?] - I didn't know what the cards exactly were but might be worth taking a flier on, with a Sandy Koufax and a Juan Marichal [Dodgers] card among the others.

I presented what I found and the seller ended up charging me $4 - seemed reasonable enough where I wouldn't walk away from this show date with nothing.

After doing a circuit around the two 'rooms' that had seller tables - I ended up at a familiar seller table where I've bought from the person before.

He kept redirecting a few times towards his dime boxes and I relented to plug away and see what I could find - maybe I should have screened through my finds at some point instead of blindly building up a couple of bricks of cards.

I was probably hoping to bundle the cards with some other finds but basically just ended up with around 260 dime cards to take home - rather than a combination of other cards from the seller's value boxes.

Days after the show, I went to see if I can spread the cards out somewhere to make sense of them - this ends up being the finished product where the cards ended up mostly in a couple of piles, after being sorted according to my hierarchy of interests.

These were two random cards from the dollar bin I managed to tack on top of my bulk finds - each featuring a pair of all-time NFL greats that continue to end up polarizing in their own infamous or unique ways, long after retirement as players.

A glitch in the Matrix - feat. Wade Boggs

I don't know if I liked the image on the 2023 Donruss Wade Boggs - I imagine Boggs following through hitting a ball during an at-bat, but kind of hard to tell, where it's almost an awkward shot.

As I'm scrolling through some f/s posts on social media, I saw a Boggs lot with a 1992 Upper Deck Boggs that kind of looked familiar - it looks like Panini found and used the same image that Upper Deck did all the way back in 1992.

Maybe better eyes will spot the minute differences between the two images but I have to go look for the 1992 Upper Deck Boggs - as both a stadium project card and to put together as a pair with the newer Panini Donruss card.

Some stadium project collection adds

I probably had 45 minutes during another pit stop at a card show - I ended up hanging around the hosting card shop's bulk bins and eventually started to find some probable keepers, where I was able to build a take home stack.

By the time I was seriously collecting in the early 1990s, I was probably aware of the Classic game cards - though probably not the early sets from 1987 or 1988.

I don't think I've ever seen these particular cards before - so they end up nice finds, even if their only value is esoteric.

No one is coveting a common of Mark McLemore in 2023 - but I had to make room for a 1996 Upper Deck Collector's choice in my pile since it is a nice horizontal shot of McLemore, presumably taking a hack at an Angel game.

I wouldn't remember McLemore actually playing with the Angels through the first part of his MLB career - though I kind of remember he was at a career crossroads back in the early 1990s, before re-inventing himself as a valuable jack-of-all trades utilty guy that allowed him to stick aroud.

Now it's like a reward finding a parallel for my stadium project - I don't think I'd ever buy any Panini baseball product outright, but the occasional parallels maybe worth a second look.

Mini collection confessions through my card show rummage

Maybe it's been for a couple of years, but I've been at a crossroads with my mini-collection cards - I love making them keepers out in the wild, but I've gotten overwhelmed with just thow many I've gone out and brought home.

I haven't actually listed out the past couple of year's worth of cards somewhere like a spreadsheet - where I've counted them up as a year-to-year achievement where I can see how many cards I've picked up and how many towards specific collecting topics.

Maybe the worst part is having the actual cards sitting in loose bricks or in boxes - where I can't dig them up on a whim, be able to look at them where the cards maybe displayed in a binder to flip through or have it where I only have 'so many.'

I'm not really shying away from more loose cards, it's just I need to find ways back to accounting for them - as well as finding the motivation to get back into managing bloats and backlogs with these loose cards.

Awesome action cards - I do not know whether I've ever had the card, but grabbed the 2003 Topps Jim Thome #71 with the Mountain Dew signage in the background.

Awesome action cards - I'm not sure if it's an 'odd thing,' but find the 1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess Greg Maddux #6 funny because he is pitching with sunglasses on; I assume he is pitching either live BP or an intrasquad game, rather than at an actual MLB game.

There is a lot of signage in the 1998 Upper Deck John Smoltz #32 - so it's a kind of fun to identify them.

I've tried to collect what I call 'good job, game over' cards like 1998 Upper Deck Luis Gonzalez Houston Astros #103 - where a player is shown congratulating one or more teammates at the end of a win.

I can imagine myself being a big leaguer with a sense of accomplishment and/or relief to be able to go out onto the field and celebrate a victory - even if it is only one game out a 162-game schedule.

It looks like Gonzalez is congratulating Craig Biggio here - so a HOFer cameo is pretty cool too.

Awesome outfield action and inking it up cards - because I was able to get him to sign something once in-person, I find it fun to find images of the perpetually grumpy Albert Belle doing any sort of 'fan service.'

Tools of ignorance - I always waffle on whether cards of star players or better should go into my mini-collections or my decade stars collections.

When I can pick up old loose cards of Ivan Rodriguez or Mike Piazza at the bulk level, where the cards do not matter - I maybe content to add them into my mini-collections where I can have some star power.

I'm not not sure whether I had the Russell Martin card before, but it looks like Carlos Beltran is shown walking back to the dugout - I might have tabbed it as a 'bonus baby' card where a better player is shown on a lesser player's card, but a case can be made where Martin was a low-key star at points of his big league career.

Change of pace finds through my rummage at the card show

I thought it might be fun to dig through the non-sport portion of the quarter boxes that turned into dime boxes [in quantity] at the show I was at - even if the celebrity cards are dated [I can't believe 2008 is 15-16 years ago already], they still end up adding some novelty eye candy, when the rest of my haul ends up cards of men who mostly play pro sports.

I was worried that the celebrity cards would end up dupes since I picked up some at another bulk card rummage earlier in the year - though I apparently only had the Evan Mendes [actress] and Kristen Stewart [actress].

Stadium project cards I found through my rummage at the card show

Maybe I've had to turn my back on picking up more cards that are over a dollar or more [depending on type] of visiting players at Angels or Anaheim Stadium - but it is a thing to indulge at the bulk level, where I feel like I'm doing a thing salvaging random cards.

My favorite is probably the 1987 Topps Danny Tartabull #476 - I've always thought it was good looking card of a guy who was a star slugger for a little bit through the junk wax era, though I never really thought I needed it.

The 2007 Upper Deck Jim Thome #80 teases a nice horizontal image of the Hall of Fame slugger about to take a whack at the ball - you can see the red in the background and the fan in the dugout seats wearing an Angels jersey.

I was iffy on grabbing a copy of the 1990 Score Young Superstars Series 1 Omar Vizquel #28 online - but it made it easier for to stash it in my keeper pile as just another card, rather than make a deliberate decision to pick it up.

Because I assume it's a fairly common card, I was iffy on grabbing a copy 1989 Upper Deck Fred McGriff #572 when I'd see it posted online - I probably didn't have it however and I assume it's a stadium card, so it went into my keeper pile.

The 2009 Topps Update Gold Jeff Weaver #UH115 - teases signage promoting Las Vegas and the rock pile at Angel Stadium, so it's kind of a nice parallel with some identifiers to where the image was taken.

Maybe the 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Baseball Alex Rios #96 and 1987 Fleer Glossy Card Dennis Eckersley #U-30 end up being close enough to stadium cards - where there might not be obvious 'tells' at first glance whether or not they do count, but I'll assume they are anyway.

Angels I found through my rummage at the card show

I might decide to show some of the themes that came together out of the loose cards I made keepers - from my 'big' haul teased in the previous post.

These are 10 random Angels cards I flagged and despite how the current team is going - it's always fun to find keepers of my 'ride or die' home team.

Maybe the most interesting cards are the Bob Boone and Johnny Ray - I could have gone without adding them onto my pile, because as much as I am a 'team guy,' I'm not really attached to junk wax era Angels whose cards I get bored of seeing.

The unique thing was that the cards had orange backs and I think they had glossier fronts - where they were from the Topps Tiffany set from 1988, which are harder to find versions, mirroring the flagship set.

I think I found a little handful of the Tiffany cards - if I was a little savvier I would have added them in my pile, but they were just about commons I would not know what to do with after the fact.

What I worked through at the card show

I was able to make it out twice to a 4-day show held at a local venue - this wasn't the normal monthly show and definitely not the one held two times a week.

I think there are expectations to try and come up with some big splash purchases - especially when paying a $25 each day [at the venue] that actually takes away from what I can spend on cards.

What maybe painfully obvious is what I end up bringing ends up being play money for others - reality sets in where I maybe content to do what I've done, which is to rummage around, but maybe in a bigger setting where there is potential to see new sellers to buy odds and ends from.

I found a quarter box and thought it might be worth thumbing through for a couple of minutes - I may have found some cards to dwell on and at some point, the seller came over and said they'd be a dime each per 100 cards.

Though this was not the only seller I bought from, I know I am not just paying a quarter or a dime in quantity for these bulk cards - I have to factor in what I paid in admission fees as well.

On the other hand, I'm here and it was a welcome challenge to have some 'freedom' to see if I can come up with a brick of 100 cards - and most likely double that number, depending onf what I found.

It's not like I worked through each of the rows one by one, but would grab from a different section to see if there was anything that caught my eye - I end up being in my own world where all I care about is seeing the next stack of cards.

I do not know if I was finding anything great but I guess it's all fun stuff to take home, go through and dwell on - I've made a habit of making claims through sales on social media and/or clicking around to buy cards online, but there is nothing like making the rummages come to life when I am at a show.

I was surprised there was still interest in some of the dated non-boxes and packs displayed at the table - maybe I would have been interested as well, but was focused on making a couple of bricks.

I think another collector asked me if I found any gems in what I was dug up - maybe the guy is just trying to make small talk, but I asked myself, 'is he really talking to me?'

I do not know what to say, how to describe the cards I end up with - when they are not the higher brow material like I might assume the collector has in his carrying case he goes through for a moment.

Dime Boxes 11th anniversary giveaway results

Through the end of December, I was on a posting hiatus due to traveling outside the country through Christmas - I'm acutely aware there may not be anyone hanging on when there is a new post here and honestly, I might be having some self-existential doubts about card blogging going forward.

If nothing else however, I look to end 2022 with a post featuring what I claimed from the Dime Boxes blog - where I want to go through some cards one-by-one as a way of appreciating what I received.

This Sparky Anderson Detroit Tigers oddball is a larger than a regular sized card, but was too fun to ignore - where the Hall of Fame manager is chatting up a young fan.

I was going to mention how I didn't really like odd-sized cards that are either too big or too small - but go figure I claimed one card that is a little larger and one card that is a little smaller than a regular sized card.

I'm not sure what drew me into this card, except it's vintage and it's fun to see where the batter is not wearing batting gloves - while imagining him ready to take a big whack at the ball during some early 1970s game action.

I claimed this retro card because it looks like a fun looking insert inspired by a vintage oddball issue - sometimes I want cards that are just a little different.

I couldn't imagine claiming every single card I saw, but this shiny Mike Trout was certainly a keeper - this card ends up really popping in-hand.

For all the cards posted, this oddball was kind of a no brainer as well - I don't know how many Mark McGwire cards show him trying to barrel his way past a catcher in some play at the plate collision action.

I get my Matt Duffy Angels card for my Angels all-time team register collection - this Vintage Stock parallel ends up being a little more fancy than a regular base card.

I really liked this boxed set oddball card of a Hall of Famer who'd spend the twilight of his big league career with the Angels - it's the most random, irrelevant card, but just something a little different than the usual Topps, Donruss, Fleer or Score flagship issues from the junk wax era.

Like the Anderson at the top of the post, this oddball was too fun to ignore where the vintage slugger appears with a child - this could be a centerpiece page card, where Killebrew appears on a card for a cause, rather than the countless issues where it's basically the typical baseball card.

I ended up claiming a Hunter Greene rookie parallel card for fun, just because despite an up-and-down season for the first year big leaguer - he really showed promise, striking out 164 batters in just 125 2/3 innings pitched.

I claimed this card to add some old-school flavor to my stack - maybe I like the 'lil color match action going on with the red borders and the red showing from Simmons' uniform to his cap.

I guess like this card for a number of reasons, where there is some dirt fetish going on as Rickey looks to have a moment to gather himself - it's also a hats-off card and really looking closely, Rickey has a chain of some sort hanging from his neck.

Besides the cards I claimed, there was also a small stack of Angels added - maybe featuring a couple of guys I'd rather forget [Josh Hamilton and Zack Cozart], a couple guys I haven't thought in about 10 years [Torii Hunter and Jered Weaver] and a young guy like like Reid Detmers who still looks to get better with more big league experience.

These three were added as well, which ends up a little 'no context' in my book - but there is always room to add cards of legends in my collection.

Dime Boxes 10th anniversary give away results

It's fun checking when Nick over at Dime boxes posts his latest card hauls and poring over blog is the closest thing to making me feel like a Stan - I was able to pick out several cards from his blog anniversary celebration where he had a 10 post marathon gifting cards to those who wanted them.

I tried not to impose too much on his generosity by claiming only so many cards - my favorites are probably the Mike Schmidt, Fred Lynn oddball, Bo Jackson promo and the Topps rookie year subset feat. Shohei Ohtani / Ichiro.

As much as I've read Nick's blog over the past 5-6 years, I just have not interacted with him like other collectors who may do trades and /or send him stuff [and vice versa] - besides the cards, it was nice touch to personalize things with a short note.