Working on the small things at the card show

In a more quaint card show setting, I actually spied a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle #311 in one particular showcase and did a little window shopping for all sorts of high end prospect cards teasing a top rookie like Corbin Carroll or a top prospect like Jackson Holliday - still I wasn't quite at a big time show in this particular location I was at, where it was teeming with the sellers that had the odds and ends I may indulge in.

These cards were from the value bins of a grandfather and grandson duo I've bought from at other show dates, but have only really seen set up two other times - their 'binned singles' with prices on the back are all jumbled up by sport, so it's kind of a mess to spend time at.

Their lesser [maybe $5 and under] material are sorted by sport, so ideally it's easier to try and go through the monster boxes of toploaded cards row by row - I did as much deep cut picking as I could to flag potential keepers, but wasn't as emotionally invested, where I wanted to spend only so much to get my cheap thrills.

1995 Pinnacle Museum Collection Tim Salmon #391 - who would have thought that out of sheer randomness, I can find a card that just hits the spot, as a cheap but unique parallel of a local team star I've collected for just over 30 years.

1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Silver Signature Barry Bonds #610 and 1995 Pinnacle Trevor Hoffman Museum Collection #85 - I profess to collect Bonds, where I think he should be in the Hall of Fame already, but the iffy factor maybe too much where he is not particularly well liked.

While Hoffman is a Hall of Fame closer, he's not a guy whose cards I'd look for, so maybe I can appreciate a parallel - where it's a little different from much of the basic cards that represent Hoffman in my binder / decade stars collection.

1985 Topps Pete Rose #106 - though it was not a vintage card, maybe the first card I actually set aside, because it presumably shows an image from Rose's collision with Ray Fosse [R.I.P.] in the 1970 All-Star game.

The back of the Rose card partially pictures his 1970 Topps Super card - the card I picked up is part of a subset that makes up a puzzle in the Pete Rose set.

Maybe at some point, these shiny inserts were fillers to skip over when looking for bigger hits - but these types of cards end up being ideal binder material, where they don't cost much and at times really pop.

I liked Mike Piazza as one of the biggest superstars of his era, but what does it do to pick up cards of his in 2023 [?] - I almost skipped past this 2006 Topps Hit Parade #HR9, but for the countless cards a notable player may have printed, the ones showing them in unfamiliar uniforms might be the ones worth taking a flyer on.

A couple of card show single pick ups

So at the card show where the last two posts worth of cards came from, I went back to table with what I term the dollar boxes of doom - through 2021, I was all about raiding those bargain boxes when I could get to them, but perhaps the relative quality had dwindled.

I didn't think I'd see the day where the dollar cards were now $0.50 each, but maybe the seller was preoccupied by other things - however my interests have shifted where I'd rather look for impulse purchases out of the scattered singles [$5-$20] boxes.

As is who knows if I can count on seeing cards I may have flagged in months and months ago - being generally in the same place, whether displayed in one of the showcases or in a box.

I plucked an MLB rookie year Derek Jeter insert and an Ichiro rookie year card, though I wasn't enthused about what I was finding - I thought this seller would have all these boxes of 'interesting' cards, but maybe it just depends on collections the person purchases, what maybe left and what he decides to put out.

I found a 1992 Bowman Mike Piazza RC #461 and while I really wanted a graded copy as part of my scratch the itch list - a loose, unslabbed card was in my wheelhouse as a notable single pick up where I'd rather have the card that not.

I still remember buying loose jumbo packs of 1992 Bowman for $12 each at least a few times off a random seller at the show that still runs at least a couple of times a week - after the fact, I don't think I pulled one notable player or rookie so maybe there was a sequence where pulling cards of note was a no-go.

I found several copies of the Carlos Beltran certified autograph card and while he has a Hall of Fame case with the career numbers that merit eventual induction - he may never avoid questions about his role in the Houston cheating scandal in 2017 and his firing as a New York Mets manager, before he even got to manage in a game.

As I considered making my singles purchases, I was absentmindedly digging through the $0.50 boxes - where I was trying to think about the combination of singles I'd relent to pick up, I just grabbed the Piazza and a Beltran for $20 to have a couple keepers beside all the other bulk cards I picked up.

1994 UD Fun Pack Mike Piazza #231

I probably thought any Piazza cards I could find back in through the mid 1990s were cardboard gold - with his Hall of Fame election this week, I can't help but think this card is my favorite random Piazza card from the last 20 years.

When heat is applied to the card surface, it reveals a silly cartoon image - I probably didn't care about the obscured image, though I had fun marveling over the lowbrow 'interactivity.'

Just for old time's sake, I'll probably dig the card out though I don't know if the card is still in 'functioning' condition - because of the warm So. Cal weather, there are times where the card has looked like this without being touched.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza to the Hall

Knowing the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement was coming up, I picked up a nicer version of Griffey Jr.'s iconic rookie card - I was worried the card would get a little ‘artificial’ bump and wanted to upgrade the ‘raw’ copy I must have picked up 10-15 years ago.

My favorite Griffey Jr. rookie card would probably be my first, which is his 1989 Donruss, but the Upper Deck was the one to have - I've read random blurbs posted on card forums about UD running the presses to make this card to order, so I had reservations about putting a premium on the card as a legit pick-up for the personal collection I’m trying to build up.

Regardless of apparent overproduction however, the 1989 UD itself has had a legacy on its own among collectors and now that he's been elected with the highest vote percentage - it would probably make the card even much more of a hassle to pick up, just to have one that is a bit cleaner than the one I've had.

As far as Piazza goes, I've got to dig up the 1992 Fleer Update card I picked up at some point when either towards the end of his career or several years after he retired - unlike Griffey Jr., who had a graceful swing and was a great athlete, there was no subtleties in Piazza's game as he was a slugging beast who put up monster numbers as a catcher.

Regardless of the era Piazza played in and the innuendo [Murray Chass and bacne] and actual drugs [Vioxx, Andro, greenies among others] he took to be a dominant player or just to be able to play through a MLB season - I think his election to the Hall of Fame validates Piazza's accomplishments as a major leaguer.

Featured autograph - Mike Piazza

I told my friend I was going to drop a ball on Piazza at the Inland Empire 66'ers game Sunday night until I realized it wasn't that Mike Piazza - in all seriousness, it's not that confusing to figure out that 44-year old former MLB superstar catcher Mike Piazza would not be pitching [much less doing anything else] for a Single-A team in the California League, though seeing the name does throw people off for a moment.

The younger Mike Piazza is old to be a serious prospect in any MLB organization, but the Angels have held onto him for parts of five minor league seasons - so perhaps if he continues to show something [maybe as a swingman], he may get an opportunity to reach the Major Leagues at some point, even if it's only for a cup of coffee.

Congrats Craig Biggio - my thoughts on the Hall

With 68 percent of the vote in 2013 - you are probably getting into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 or 2015 at the latest.

The fact no one is getting into the Hall of Fame this year except these dead guys and/or ones honored as writers and broadcasters is disappointing but not surprising - the writers have finally taken a stand [at least for one year] and have refused [at least for one year] to let numbers [boo hoo stats guys] bully their judgement of guys who played in the Steroid Era.

It doesn't mean guys like Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza, Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens won't eventually enshrined - but they aren't sailing in with the stats alone and even the guys fans / writers assume have done things the right way might be scrutinized because of the era they played in.

I think it's even sadder for guys like Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa - those two schmucks look like they'll never get any serious consideration despite 3,000 hits / 569 home runs for Palmeroids and 609 home runs for Sosa.

It might be unfair to the standouts of the mid 1990's through mid 2000's - but as much as I enjoyed watching Bonds personally and recognized others' excellence [even through suspected PEDs], it doesn't pain me to make any those guys wait.

Cardboard curiosity - Mike Piazza

I found a 1998 Fleer Tradition [#391] card of the former All-Star catcher in a dime box along with other 'goodies' that I'll highlight at some point soon - maybe the interesting but ultimately trivial fact about this card is Piazza is shown as a Florida Marlin, which he ended up playing five games with before getting traded to the New York Mets back in 1998.

I came of age as a baseball during the 1990's and Piazza was one of big name superstar players back in that Era - there is no doubt that he is a first ballot Hall of Famer for what he has done as power hitting catcher and someone who became the face of the New York Mets post 9/11.

However, there has been PED innuendos tacked onto his career and it might derail his Hall of Fame chances in upcoming years - still, if there was any blemish to his MLB at any point, it might have been this wrinkle, where he was called out by a veteran Brett Butler for not being a true leader and caring more about his individual stats.

Random baseball card dream

In my dream, I had about $18 dollars of spending money for food but come across this box of cards [marked $2 each] at some card show - I figure I wouldn't find anything, but there was a Mike Piazza certified autograph card [it was an ugly card with a sticker auto, but it was still Piazza!], various patch cards and other cards which I wanted. I didn't know how much it was going to add up to or which cards I would regretfully have to leave behind.

In my dream there was at least a Jim Thome patch card I was thinking of picking up - among others that caught my eye.

I guess the closest these 'fantasy cards' would resemble are the cardboard jersey/bat displays - that come you can purchase at a retail shop like Walmart or Target i.e. like the one pictured, except the cards in my dream where horizontal and had multiple windows for several patch pieces.

As I flipped through the cards, I realized I was probably dreaming - there was a realization as this was too good to be true. No matter how I tried to prolong the experience of finding all these cards, when I woke up, they wouldn't be in my hands.