Featured autograph - Howard Kendrick

I got this card signed in-person during the last Angels homestand - Kendrick has been a pretty good signer before Angels home games, though depending on the crowd lined up along the rail, he might not be able to sign for everyone.

The Angels are my team and it hurts to watch them go through this prolonged funk while that other Southern California team playing in Los Angeles is flourishing at the moment - it looks like one of the teams has the best player in baseball right now and his name isn't Albert Pujols...

Trade with "é rayhahn, rayhahn" - adding depth to my Angels collection

Minnesota Twins fan and card blogger Rhubarb_Runner saw my 2012 Topps Tribute pack break on my blog and wanted the Joe Mauer base card - he wanted to do a bigger deal though I was stumped, wondering what other card I really have for trade?

MAYBE THIS SITUATION ILLUSTRATES HOW I CAN USE MY INSERT DATABASE THAT I'VE WORKED ON - I sorted my database of inserts to look for Twins cards and actually found some trade bait.

I put together a list and was eager to see if there was any interest in the cards I rounded up - apparently there was interest and after thinking about the cards I was actually going to be sending and what I was getting back, I relented to get something done.

I don't want to be too greedy about keeping most cards featuring players - that aren't exactly 'my guys' from 'my team.'

I got jersey / memorabilia cards [of Ervin Santana and Howie Kendrick], a 2008 Topps Heritage Chrome refractor of Mike Napoli and a handful of Angels inserts and serial #'d cards - some nice cards to add to the collective.

Featured autographs - Maicer Izturis and Howard Kendrick

My friend and I ended up at the Rich Thompson / Matt Palmer line at the Angels FanFest - I think all I had for Palmer was a 2010 Topps Target retro, which I guess I should get signed sooner than later, even though he is generally a good signer.

My friend and I were almost close to reaching the table with Thompson and Palmer before the players switched off - the new signers were Maicer Izturis and Howard Kendrick, which was actually a good thing since getting those guys can be tricky to get during the season.

Hopefully Izturis stays relatively healthy for the entire year while Kendrick sort of builds upon what he has done in the Major Leagues so far - he has shown the ability to be a good Major League player, but I think he can get a little better.