Bonus babies collection - a visual guide

I grabbed 18 'bonus babies' cards for my mini-collection sampler - bonus babies which are probably referred to as 'cameo' cards, pictures a star player on a common player's card.

I like stumbling upon them because it's like an easter egg most collectors wouldn't pay attention to while flipping through loose cardboard - for a player to count as a 'star' cameo, an all-star appearance is considered as well as whether a player has had some name recognition through points of his MLB career.

Probably the most difficult aspect collecting these cards besides finding them in the first place are the inconclusive images - who is exactly pictured on the background of certain players' cards when the focus is on the player who is listed on the card?

Most of the time the obscured player in the background is who I assume it is - but when the image is blurred, there is some doubt at times.

1975 Topps Robin Yount RC #223

I added another old school rookie card to the personal collection and while this was more of an impulsive pick-up as opposed to a priority at the top of a wantlist - there is some lingering nostalgia over this card, especially when paired up with George Brett's rookie card [#228] from the same set.

While Brett's playing career was a bit more larger than life and his rookie card seems to be held in higher regard than Yount's - both players are one-team franchise legends who each got their 3,000th hit in 1992 and were part of the same Hall of Fame class in 1999.

While I was superficially aware of Yount as a HOF legend with all these accomplishments - I had to dig through his numbers to see how his playing career evolved since I somehow believed he was more of a compiler as opposed to being a dominant player at various points of his playing career.

Getting to the big leagues as an 18-year old really helped boost Yount's counting numbers - maybe if he'd come up at 23 or 24 like a more typical big leaguer, his playing career would be more like J.J. Hardy's than Derek Jeter's.

But what changed my perspective about about Yount's 20-year career is when he became an impact offensive player in his prime - for a 4-year period through the mid 1980s, Yount established himself as one of the best players in all of baseball, checking off all the boxes as far as a guy who could hit for average, hit for power, steal bases and be a good defender at shortstop.

If somehow I'd be aware of baseball when Yount was really putting up the numbers, he would have been a fun player to follow, reminiscent of offense minded shortstops who would come of age in the late 1990s - guys like Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra.

Random 2017 Topps Archives '1992' finds

I visited a card shop to see if I could sample some packs of 2017 product - with individual packs [2017 Topps Allen and Ginter, 2017 Donruss Optic] reaching $5 however, I opted to buy some supplies [penny sleeves, magnetics and other holders] and loose cards from the quarter bin instead.

Even if I've forgotten specific, sentimental memories about 1992 and collecting - looking back, that year was really where I might have hit my collecting prime, where I was interested in all sorts of cards, trading with a friend or two, looking up cards in monthly price guides, et al.

George Brett #254 - I don't actively collect basic star cards, though I grabbed this one to add a current year retro card to my miscellaneous collection of Brett cards.

T.J. Rivera #257 - The New York Mets aren't going anywhere, but Rivera has stuck around as a 28-year old rookie infielder who has show he can hit in the big leagues.

On this card, Rivera looks like a middle aged guy who paid $4,895 to go to Mets fantasy camp - having the time of his life, sliding into a base in an old-school Mets uniform.

Rob Zastryzny #261 - I try to grab rookie logo cards of seemingly less heralded rookies when I can find them, just to kind of see if I can have one more card of a fringe big league player.

Randy Johnson #265 - I like the horizontal image picturing a languid Johnson in an Montreal Expos uniform.

David Robertson #282 - I grabbed this card for the mid 1980s style retro uniform Robertson is wearing.

As much as I try to be a mini-collection 'hawk,' where there is no chance this card isn't going to be a part of my stash of card shop finds to take home - this might as well be a card I may not care to find again, if I didn't pick it up the first time I saw it.

Paul Goldschmidt #287 - I picked this up to show my love, 'nickel-and-dime' style, to the first baseman who has been under the radar for years and having an MVP caliber year for a contending Arizona Diamondbacks team.

2015 Topps Stadium Club blaster recap III

I relented to pick my third blaster of 2015 TSC even though I still have not picked up one 2015 Topps Series II blaster - I've thought about building the 300-card base set but I don't want to be huffing and puffing to focus my energy on one trading card product.

Because I like the cards, I am going to be hunting down the base cards in bits and pieces [for my mini collections] - I printed out a generic trading card checklist to mark off cards I end up with, so when I'm looking for loose cards, I don't end up with dupes.

#240 Josh Beckett
#40 Josh Hamilton

#243 Salvador Perez
#272 Alexander Guerrero

Pack two
#229 Dayan Viciedo
#28 Dallas Kuechel

#233 Felix Hernandez
#268 Carlos Baerga
#194 Carlos Gomez

Pack three

#217 Yu Darvish
#101 Mookie Betts

#53 Chipper Jones
#T-5B Giancarlo Stanton - Luminous Triumvirate insert
#297 Wade Davis

Pack four

#16 Robinson Cano - I like the way the image captures the dirt on Cano's batting gloves as he swings away; when cards have images of players hitting a ball, I always wonder if the guy actually got a hit or merely made an out.
#15 Adrian Beltre
#193 David Wright
#185 Josh Harrison - Gold foil parallel
#220 Jake Peavy

Pack five
#205 Jose Altuve
#57 Marcus Stroman

#264 Alex Rodriguez
#CS-2 Andrew McCutchen - Contact Sheet insert
#19 Scott Kazmir

Pack six
#263 Anthony Rizzo

#91 Dusty Baker
#123 Lenny Harris - he had a fine career, holds the career record for pinch hits and played until he was 40, but why is he in a 2015 trading card product?
#TCA-AP Albert Pujols - True Colors insert
#207 Doug Fister

Pack seven
#139 Andrew McCutchen
#148 Kevin Gausman

#288 David Peralta

#210 George Brett - Black foil parallel; I've wanted this card since the image used was supposedly the inspiration for 30-year old singer Lorde's Royals song that got popular a few years back; it's a nice bonus that it's a parallel version of the base card.
#29 Trevor Rosenthal

Pack eight
#118 Yasiel Puig
#253 Hisashi Iwakuma
#245 Edgar Martinez

#78 Juan Gonzalez - Foil board parallel serial #'d 20/25; Gonzalez is a 'has been,' with at least couple of bad raps in his MLB career, but 'Igor' was simply legit in his prime and may still have some die-hard collectors.
#219 C.J. Cron

Assorted finds from a card shop

A numbered Freese parallel - hopefully Freese has a better season as an Angel this season after being pedestrian in 2014.

I find like finding the odd base card or two from a $50 pack in the quarter box - because they are a little thicker, a little shinier than most cards I'd usually find, these mean a little bit more to a cardboard scavenger I fancy myself as.

A couple of guys who got late season opportunities with the Angels in 2014 - Diaz is now with the Colorado Rockies and O'Malley is with the Seattle Mariners.

Greinke is a little awkward and the guy doesn't like to sign autographs interact unless obligated to do so - but he gets paid to be a starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the last I checked, has enjoyed a fairly successful run as one of the better starters in Major League Baseball.

Gonzalez is a pretty good player who can occasionally turn it up a notch - even though as a guy in his mid 30's now, he's really more steady than spectacular

Quarter box finds - what else is new?

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Evan Longoria #44
2006 Topps Turkey Red Joe Blanton #434
2010 Topps Pro Debut Randal Grichuk #147 - x3
2013 Topps Jason Grilli #174 - gold serial #'d 1711/2013
2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Jose Quintana #42
2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Salvador Perez #136

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen George Brett #230
2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Dustin Pedroia #275
2013 Topps Heritage Memorable Moments #MM-TR

2013 Panini Totally Certified Jeremy Lin #129

Topps Diamond Giveaway trade

I didn't exactly wait to jump on an 'interesting offer,' but I did dump my 1989 Topps George Brett for a 1995 Topps Jose Canseco - even 20 years later, I think the 1989 Topps set makes my skin crawl because it was such an uninspired, boring set devoid of innovation.

Probably from about 1994 through the present, Topps has come out with consistently decent looking sets - while not every set is a 'winner,' there are no '1989 Topps' among the last 16 or 17 years.

This was almost a done deal - if there were only more cards offered instead of one lone Cal Ripken Jr. card...maybe a combination of some vintage 1988, 1989, 1990 Topps to sweeten the pot for my 1960 Topps Frank Malzone.

Last of the two Topps Diamond code cards - 1983 Topps Bill Madlock and 1989 Topps George Brett

1983 Topps Bill Madlock - don't know much about him, but doing some digging around on his stats, it looks like he was a pretty good player collecting just over 2,000 hits in his playing career and winning National League batting titles in 1975, 1976, 1981 and 1983.

1989 Topps George Brett - this is a card I probably won't have delivered, though I'm hoping to get some interesting offers for it, since Brett is a Hall of Famer.

Admittedly, my early years in card collecting was spent with the likes of 1989 Topps, 1990 Topps, 1990 Fleer and 1990 Donruss - there is something I just don't like about this particular card. Maybe I've seen it too many times over the years and realize it was worth a quarter back 20 years ago and it is probably now worth a nickel in 2011.