Stragglers from the dollar boxes of doom

I was at a new card show earlier this past month, trying to traverse the circuit of tables, but didn't feel like I had the patience where maybe I get a little self-conscious about what I collected - besides the showcase tables, heavy concentration on more NBA, NFL, soccer and nonsport cards, what I'd consider the baseball first, weekend warrior, swap meet, tables I can really get into were just about non-existent.

Go figure, I was just kind of idle digging through the dollar boxes from the table I've always bought from at the monthly show - maybe the value boxes were relatively thinned out, where I was going to impose a hard limit on what I may pick up.

When it comes to that loose card hunt however, the fun is having no real plan because YMMV with each row of a value box - where it's kind of like going down a rabbit hole hunting for odds and ends.

Maybe I'd settle on 10 cards, then the numbers crept up to a little more and then I found other cards - if I'd put all the cards back and just walked away, then no harm, no foul, but go figure, I was really loitering around and for better or for worse, ended up with 20 keepers.

These cards may not be dollar material, but even if I'd only pay $0.50 or less for each of them - I feel like having them in hand for basically $0.50 more probably justifies cards that end up being mini-collection adds.

1997 Denny's 3-D Holograms Jackie Robinson #29 - awesome action; baserunning; plays at the plate; 'H'
1991 Star Nolan Ryan Promo Red - blank back; awesome action; unique perspectives; interviews
1996 Pinnacle Summit Foil Barry Bonds #107 - inking it up; there is another card I picked up previously featuring an image shot at the same time, but is cropped where it may not be obvious Bonds was signing anything.
2002 Upper Deck National Convention Sammy Sosa #N-2 - inking it up; I thought this was regular Sosa card and didn't think much of it but came around on making it a keeper because he is signing autographs and it's a little odder issue.

I'm not sure about picking up blank back cards I'm unfamiliar with where I worry it's not a 'real' card - but I'll take my chances with the Ryan.

Basketball
1996/97 Upper Deck UD3 Hardwood Prospects Ray Allen #5 - even though the card maybe only worth what I paid, what I believe is a rookie of a certified all-time great should be a keeper, right?
2019-20 Panini Chronicles Donruss Rated Rookie Nicolo Melli RC #197 - I would have skipped passed this card but my eagle eye spotted LeBron making a cameo along the side, so I had to make this a reluctant keeper.
2021 NBA Panini Hoops Lebron James #146 - an actual card of 'Bron, I'm not sure if I really have any of his cards, so I'll grab it.

Football
2020 Panini Donruss Optic Tom Brady #92
2020 Panini Select Concourse Patrick Mahomes #2

Baseball
2021 Donruss Diamond Kings Blue Holo Fernando Tatis #27
2021 Donruss Blue Holo Fernando Tatis #71
2021 Donruss Rated Rookie Blue Holo Dylan Carlson #37 - maybe 'Mr. Irrelevant' here where this might have been the last card I grabbed to make my little stash an even $20.
1969 Topps Dick Allen #350 - Allen doesn't register much for me like it would for others perhaps, but I maybe thirsty for the occasional old-school and/or vintage card when I see them for a buck in the wild.
2019 Topps Heritage High Numbers Hot Box Purple Andrew McCutchen #THC-702
2020 Topps Gallery Heritage Freddie Freeman #HT-3

More baseball
2010 Yankees Topps 27 World Championships Mickey Mantle 1951 Topps #YC14
2010 Yankees Topps 27 World Championships Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps #YC15 - the '52 Mantle is such an iconic card, so even if it's to be reprinted in perpetuity [who knows what happens when Fanatics steps in], any Topps branded replications are keepers.
2010 Yankees Topps 27 World Championships Mickey Mantle 1953 Topps #YC16
1986 Donruss Fred McGriff RC #28
1999 Revolution Tripleheader Craig Biggio #24 - it's not that I've intentionally sought them out, but Pacific branded inserts and parallels maybe low-key keepers if and when I find them.

A card show and tell conundrum

It is harder for me to do any in-depth recaps because purchases have added up and I can't conjure up these nice and neat stories about how certain cards were chosen over others - maybe what I really want to say is look at my hauls, pore over my finds, but maybe I'm just reading the room wrong or there is no real audience to cater to.

I'm a glutton for punishment however, where I need an outlet where there is a routine to get the word out once in a while - so here goes another bunch of purchases [at what has been the monthly show, though there might be 1 or 2 more dates added in a given month] to literally amuse myself with.

I found what maybe a complete 'stand alone' set of Bryce Harper minor league cards - I assume these are official issues, though a case where the cards were printed to capitalize on his hype as a prospect.

They seem more like customs than anything else - however, enough time has passed where the cards are 'old enough' to have some pre-rookie novelty.

In the pecking order of sporting GOATS over the past 20 years, Jeter might be the token baseball guy - still have to put aside some Jeters, where maybe I'm looking for some mainstream, if dated oddballs [Upper Deck Collectors Club, Upper Deck FanFest, Upper Deck National] just to have something different.

This Willie Mays caught my eye because it just stood out as a little larger, even though I like my cards standard size - it looks like it's a Topps branded card rather than some custom, so my best guess it was from a National VIP package, since I've seen them put out similar, vintage themed card sets as part of their National Convention promotions.

Miscellaneous baseball isn't where it's at at a 'here and now' card show, but I'm digging away to see what odds and ends I can pull - including an old Joe Mauer minor league card from his pro debut season, a 2018 Topps Archives Aaron Judge card I thought was some parallel [it's just a base] because of the cardboard stain design element [on the back] and a real old 1963 Fleer card of Bob Aspromonte.

I remember when I thought Xavier Nady was going to be the next hot prospect just over 20 years ago - I wanted his rookie cards so bad when they first came out and while it wasn't the one I had in mind, grabbed one of the serial #'d rookies that came out his pro debut season where he might have been guaranteed to get a big league call up in 2000.

While Nady was a very good player in spurts - he never did turn into that perennial all-star talent I assumed most guys with a little bit of prospect pedigree turned out to be back in the day.

I grabbed basic rookie cards of Ke'Bryan Hayes and Jo Adell just because maybe there is a desperation to think about future considerations - even if talking about putting away lowest end rookies of a couple of potential future stars.

I didn't think I'd end up with a pair of serial #'d Ryan Freel rookie cards but maybe there is some sentimentality there - where the cards go towards my beyond the glory collection.

It's only a checklist card, but the old school Catfish Hunter / Nolan Ryan card maybe a nice add to Ryan collection in my Angels binder - I may keep an eye out for old-school / vintage stragglers when available where there is a little novelty in something now over 45 years old.

More baseball odds and ends, including an Albert Belle inside printed on simulated wood material and a Chipper Jones insert printed on simulated base material- it has been said somewhere else but those types of cards are always fun to pick up.

I ended up with a couple of Reggie Jackson cards that may fall into the oddball territory - I've seen the card where he is promoting soccer on other blogs, so I had to make it a keeper [the only thing weirder than seeing Reggie promoting the World Cup back in 1993 is realizing that he is a special assistant to the owner of the Houston Astros] along with his 1982 O-Pee-Chee In Action subset card.

I don't know if Giancarlo Stanton is relevant as far as who I may collect but seeing a couple of cards from his minor league days [included a mini] - triggered me to pick them up where enough time has passed to make them a little 'old school' novelties rather than just finding another big league issued card of the 12-year veteran.

I don't think Nick Castellanos is any sort of baseball card superstar, but he has put up some numbers where is considered an actual baseball star - I make make his 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League blue tint card a keeper, even if it's worth only what I paid.

I didn't anticipate finding these prospect cards and while they are strictly base [and not even first year cards], maybe I haven't had much exposure to prospect products in recent years - so if I see cards of notable guys, maybe I should squirrel them away as far as guys who are likely going to be decade stars through the 2020s.

These are kind of my 'junk' GU / auto finds - I didn't really want to spend a dollar on a J.C. Romero card, but want to pick up certified autographs of one-time Angels outright and add them [to the non-Angels card portion] of my Angels all-time autograph collection without worrying about digging up an TTM/IP of the same player that I may or may not actually have.

Cesar Hernandez is nothing special at all, but he is an active big leaguer who I didn't have an autograph of - I think he is wearing a retro uniform, so maybe I can add his Topps Stadium Club autograph to that mini-collection.

The Fred McGriff bat card may have come out during a time where maybe memorabilia cards were still a novelty - maybe not the late 1990s, but in the early 2000s where game used cards were featured highlights in baseball card products rather just another insert type that would lose its collectibility.

I don't think I'll ever be collecting other sports but I'll add a few stragglers to the mix - where it's cards of some other sport GOATS [Michael Jordan, Tom Brady], an interesting, fun card [Jake The Snake Plummer posing with an actual snake] or a card featuring an individual [Colin Kaepernick] that has transcended past just being another pro athlete.

Card show results - getting lost in my finds

After being a spectator at my niece's soccer doubleheader to close out her season and having lunch with my parents - maybe I got my one chance go back to the show / card shop I'd previously visited.

While I didn’t know how it was during the morning - I want to say there were only 5-10 tables when I got the show and still a lot of empty space in the storefront.

There was one table with a box of loose dollar cards - I was digging around, but it was more ‘here and now’ stuff from just past couple of years and not a deal where I found keepers outright.

I made it to one other table with a display of top loaded cards and loose sleeved cards for $0.50 each - I probably spent about 45 minutes just rummaging through the rows of cards, while another person had already been doing the same before I got there.

I think the setup was primarily other sports, but there were assorted ‘runs’ of baseball to be found just the same - maybe I was a little unsure of what I may find, but I thought this might be my only table, so maybe I should be patient and see if I could make something of my time.

The other person was really into it and was looking to he could get a discount for something like 200 cards purchased - not that I particularly cared, but I was trying to make sure to stay out of his way as he dug into another row of cards.

With no rhyme or reason, I started to get on a mission myself - I didn’t know if I’d have the time to go through the cards I'd pulled and there was a little anxiety about weeding out certain ones while making others my keepers.

I don't want to dilute my decade stars collections, so by default the star cards I pull or find are sorted into my decade stars collection - however mini-collection quality cards finds picturing legitimate stars should end up as highlights out of my various collecting topics subsets, rather than really just ending up my 30th or 31st random card of a certain player to squirrel away somewhere.

I try to stay away from any non-MLB licensed Panini products on principle, but any loose shiny and/or unique parallels / inserts are fair game - notably when there is star power involved.

I would have ignored the random Beltre otherwise as just another low end pack pulled minor league insert - but it's a now a nearly 25 year old card that chronicles the future hall of famer's time in the minors, just as he was getting to the big leagues at 19.

The Maddux isn't worth much more than what I paid, but it's an insert I've never seen before - it looks pretty sharp as a binder material card.

Maybe I was aiming for adding some odder looking cards and while the way the cards look a little beat up in-hand [or at least the sealed holders that hold the cards] - I found a pair of 1996 Danbury Mint cards of Duke Snider and Bob Feller, which features a gold leaf surface.

Maybe I lose something in the moment, when I make some of the same rookie cards keepers, maybe multiple times over - however, current year rookies don't always make it to the boxes I'm looking at, so I'll grab them as I find them.

When rummaging through random boxes, I like to do a little GOAT hunting, where I like to make believe that the most basic cards of legendary and iconic pro athletes are keepers - regardless of actual value or relevance.

I don't really concern myself with other sports, because if I get serious about it - I feel like the best I can aspire to build on a 'repack collection,' but it's a tease to see all these assorted cards for the taking featuring all these pros I'm casually aware of, except they do not play pro baseball.

I grabbed a second year card of Aaron Rodgers because it just happens to be the closest thing to his rookie year - while he is otherwise holding out so far, he has just been one of these top flight quarterbacks who is tough to go against.

I grabbed a Steve Young card because it was shiny and die-cut - I remember not being able to throw a football at all and even though I was a roly poly kid, I would imagine being able to take the ball [in touch football games] and scramble around like Young did during the years where he was QB1 for the San Francisco 49ers through the mid 1990s.

I found some 1990 Leaf cards and while I'd have to pay a pretty price to get any of them actually inked up - it was nice dig out a Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan [I ended up with two, because I wasn't paying attention] and a Clemens [which I may have already].

Maybe there was some overlapping interest in star cards from the early 1980s and older, even as the junk wax era was at its peak through the early 1990s - maybe a copy of the Ryan was loose among a one-time friend's collection that his mother kept nagging on him to clean up and in passing, I wanted a copy for myself.

The Ozzie Smith maybe a misfit find, from a fugly 1981 Fleer set that is hard to take seriously - however there is something quaint about the card, picturing a younger, smiling Smith as a member of the San Diego Padres.

I almost consider Smith just about a one team guy with the St. Louis Cardinals - but The Wizard established his reputation as a slick fielding magician as a Padre.

I found one card each of a couple of probable decade stars / binder guys for the 2020s - Alex Kirilloff is an outfielder who became the first player to make his MLB debut in the postseason, penciled into the starting lineup, while Adley Rutschman is probably the top catching prospect in the minors.

Finally there are a pair of Shohei Ohtanis - obvious keepers if I don't have them, even basic, no MLB logo cards from Panini.

Maybe my second pit stop at this card show didn't turn out to be a 'full blown' experience for me, but I was able to dig around and do my thing for a short time - to have some loose cards to take home and dwell on.