Five for $5 from a bitter beer face seller

Off a card show trip, I don't know what I was thinking but I had to go back to a random table I stopped earlier and look for a 2020 Donruss Retro 2000 Football Tom Brady #R2K-TB - I’d also seen the card in the $0.50 boxes from the previous post, but maybe that copy had a soft corner I couldn’t live with.

One of the guys out of the seller duo at the table seemed like he was a little off where he seemed like a miserable, glum person - where maybe he didn't want to get out of bed or someone ran over his dog.

I think the guy at the table was the same guy that told me this at show date in late June - maybe it was a nothing remark, but maybe in my head I'm thinking this guy's tone was a little passive aggressive for no reason.

"[Chief], there are lots of good cards in there," the guy sitting at the table said. "You just gotta dig, the cards are not going to pop out in front of your face."

I eventually found the said Brady and spent $4 more to pick up some other dollar cards - including a 2022 Panini Father's Day Bryce Harper #28, the only baseball card I was able to fish out of a two-row shoebox.

2020 Panini Select Concourse Brady #1

2021 Panini Mosaic Tom Brady #135

2020-21 Panini Select Concourse Luka Doncic #15

As far as the Panini Donruss Brady, I remember the 2000 Donruss design [and a 1999 Donruss design] used as ‘never has been throwback’ inserts in 2001 Donruss baseball - where it was the first Donruss product that came out after Donruss Leaf Playoff went bankrupt in 1998.

Maybe after time things start to look old school and I was more nostalgic about the design - I might have thought it was only created to see what cards from a 2000 Donruss [and 1999 Donruss] baseball set would look like, but they were were actually used in the Donruss football sets for those years, which DLP had the licenses to make.

Looking things up, Brady does have a harder to pull, short printed [serial #'d] rookie from the 2000 Donruss football set - if there was one 'stud' quarterback from Michigan I was thinking about 25 years ago, it was definitely Drew Henson.

Featured autograph - Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons

I was digging around to look for a Simmons autograph card I thought I'd gotten and found a Miller autograph card rummaging through a random binder - I got this card signed through the mail 10-15 years ago, though the card came back creased in the middle and it looks like my card was signed in ballpoint.

I looked through all my assorted binders and I don’t even know what I’m looking for, so maybe I didn’t get Simmons after all - though I remember it may have been a 1984 Topps AS subset I got signed.

I thought I'd gotten at least one during the 2007 spring training time frame when he was a coach with the Milwaukee Brewers - as far as I was concerned, the newly minted Hall of Fame catcher was just another retired player to get an autograph from.

I thought the autograph card wasn’t in the A-Z box I tried to create as an archive for autographs - because I'd looked through a pile of loose cards with the last name 'S' and Simmons wasn't there.

What I didn't realize was there was another grouping of 'S' cards that was actually in the box - I did some digging and I finally found my Simmons card sandwiched around other common autographs from 10-15 years ago.

From the bits and pieces I've heard, Simmons generally isn’t good about signing [he’s done paid signings, but it seems like he just doesn’t like to do it] - maybe I'd seen him a few times as a 'scout' in the Arizona Fall League, where you knew not to ask.

He'd give you a quiet "no thank you” like Eddie Murray [from my personal experiences] - where the person wouldn't make a big scene but basically refuse to pick up a Sharpie for you when approached.

Panini Black Friday pack recaps

Pack one
#15 Albert Pujols - we all are waiting to see where he'll end up, how much he'll be getting paid and for how many years.

#201 Terrelle Pryor - serial #'d 173/199 - this one looks like a card from 2011 Donruss Elite; I'm vaguely aware Pryor as more of a 'project,' considering how his college career at Ohio St. ended and how he profiles more as an athlete than quarterback; needless to say he is now Cam Newton...

Pack two
#18 Matt Kemp - the typical modern day metrosexual baseball player exemplified on a trading card.

I didn't pull anything special in these two-card packs, given as promotional items when I made a Black Friday box purchase at a local card shop - I didn't realize Panini inserted cards of baseball players in these packs, giving baseball cards collectors a sneak peek of what the cards look like out of their non-MLB [but MLBPA] licensed baseball product.

NNO Terrelle Pryor - this one looks like a subset card from Playoff Prestige.

2009 Fan Pak!

Sometimes there isn't too much fun to be had with trading cards anymore and it maybe fun to have a trading card product - where you have cards with players' images [to punch out, pop out and maybe display for a few hours].

2009 Fan Pak! will likely have a short shelf life, because with their odd size, the cards have a gimmicky feel to them - even though Enterplay [the company making these cards' aimed to produce these cards for young children, instead of advanced, adult collectors.

I ended up picking a couple of packs of these cards - to the credit of Enterplay, the cards are glossy, colorful and actually have players' images on them, so it makes the cards a little more collectible for traditional baseball card collectors.

The trivia and mini-games cards are OK, though seem boring without a player images -

The temporary tattoos are OK if you are going to actually apply them onto your skin - I'm not 12 years old though, so no dice here.

Team stickers would have been nice - maybe to put on a homemade card or flat paper item to get autographed randomly.

2009 Fan Pak by Enterplay [$1.99 each / two packs] -

Pack #1
56 Jimmy Rollins - pictured
43 Brian Roberts - pictured
31 Kosuke Fukudome Top Stories
8 Ryan Howard Top Stories
8 Trivia and Mini-Games
T12 Fan Pak / Fan Tats

Pack #2
40 Derek Jeter
62 Alfonso Soriano
27 Placido Polanco Top Stories
3 Geovany Soto Top Stories
75 Trivia and Mini-Games
T18 Fan Pak / Fan Tats

Minor matters and picking up random cards

Sometimes you feel you are in your own world - I went to a sports card shop, looking for some minor league product.

You always have your usual Major League cards, but sometimes you are looking for something a little different - I was looking for the 'mass produced' cards by Tristar.

"It's not really [something that is] in demand," the man I spoke to said. "We only carry mainstream [product] like Topps and Upper Deck."

Well I guess I'd better stick with official MLB licensed and/or MLBPA licensed baseball cards - I usually try to get my rank-and-file cards autographed in-person and through the mail and perhaps if I'm looking to find a minor league card of a particular player [probably a young prospect], he probably has a first-year Bowman/Bowman Chrome card.

With the MLBPA rookie card rules - Topps and Upper Deck are probably printing cards of particular players as they make their MLB debuts.

Why bother with minor league cards?

At the shop, I found 20 random cards [$0.10 each] from the commons boxes - I'm not really enamored by cards right now, so they were not a priority.

I feel like more cards = more work I'm not willing to do when it comes to sorting - I don't care about my collecting topics as much at this point.

I did find several minor league cards- 2008 Just [unlicensed; meaning the cards can't display team logos, even of minor league teams] of Logan Morrison, Chris Davis, Bobby Parnell, Andrew McCutchen and Jordan Bachanov [Angels draft pick in 2007 who had Tommy John surgery].

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes - these cards are styled after the Baseball Heroes inserts of the 1990s. Upper Deck has rolled out the Baseball Heroes graphics more than a few times.

#46 Corey Hart - a rising semistar who I probably had a chance to get, but didn't have any cards for during spring training.



#79 Alex Gordon - he hasn't made the leap from highly touted elite prospect to all-star performer [or better].
#168 Luke Scott

2008 Topps Baseball Series I and II - you need Topps, but there is an expectation these cards are very basic and boring.

#132 Ramon Vazquez - a decent utility guy

#428 Jair Jurrjens - was he really the Atlanta Braves No. 1 pitcher in 2008?
#487 Corey Patterson - breaking his bat

#489 Joakim Soria - I try pick-up cards of such players because you are more inclined to do your homework on new faces.
#607 Ryan Spilborghs - Spilborghs is making a nice attempt to grab the ball.
#618 Pat Neshek - didn't really need this one, but he is a fan favorite.
#644 Reggie Willits - a fan favorite even though he barely played in 2008.

2008 Upper Deck II - I like these cards, but they are very boring. There isn't anything grabbing at you.

#534 Reggie Willits
#645 Yuniesky Betancourt
#647 Ramon Vazquez

2008 Upper Deck A piece of History

#43 Hunter Pence
#68 Phil Hughes