COMC order #3 - Michael Jordan

1992-93 Topps Archives Michael Jordan #52 - I picked a copy of this card up after regretting skipping past one during a card show rummage three years ago.

While the card sat in COMC account - I got another copy from a card show rummage, which was added to my first all-time Top 100 keepers collection.

Maybe it would have been nicer if Topps had tried to mimic an original back for the Topps Archives cards - where the front matches the back as far as mimicking the 1984 Topps [baseball] set design.

1994 Classic Minor League All Star Edition - Michael Jordan #1 - I have had at least three or four Jordan baseball cards in my collections, but may have seen this posted on another card blog [Dime Boxes?] one time, so I was inspired to hunt for a copy to make a keeper.

Jordan's dalliance in pro baseball in 1994 was peculiar where he hit .202, which was right at the Mendoza line. - but it's kind of an impressive feat to have the season he did, for a guy who never played baseball past high school and had to learn some basic things about being a pro ball player.

My experiences with some junk boxes of doom - box 3.2

Maybe I find the pair of random cards unique in an odd sort of way - something I can goof on, whether there is really something to make fun of or perhaps not.

Maybe my first exposure to NBA cards was in the early 1990s and while I've never collected basketball seriously to this day - maybe the late 1980s Fleer stragglers are interesting to look at from an 'old school cool' point of view.

I remember the craze with these 1992 Topps Gold scratch off cards - a childhood friend's father bought at least a case of 1992 Topps boxes, to pull the contest cards and take advantage of using a pen light to see which areas would lead to 'winners.'

Through collecting sports cards, maybe I imagine myself as a historian - so while there is the tired caveat [these cards aren't worth anything], each are keepers for my 'beyond the glory' collection.

Finally, maybe a couple more 1994 Upper Deck SP wrong backs - I thought these kinds of errors where a Topps, junk wax era thing, not something that carried on through the early UV era.

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 pickups - the other sports GOATS

This could have been part of the last post, but these guys are stand alone figures as far as their sports go - maybe not anything but cheap cards of Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Phil Jackson and a couple of Michael Jordans [on the Washington Wizards...], but they are keepers as I found them.

Card show pickups - the other sports

Through my collecting life, there have actually been efforts to be a multi-sport collector - however long term interest hasn't really lingered, where focusing on collecting one sport gets complicated as it is.

At times, I think it would be a nice change of pace to get away from baseball, though digging around bins jumbled around as opposed to being separated by sport - it maybe a sign of desperation, where I'm not finding what I'm looking for when I add non-baseball cards to my probable keeper pile.

I don't think I have a hierarchy to collect other sports, like I do with my baseball cards - these cards may end up as misfits, though I'll see if I can funnel them into my mini-collections and make something up, so random cards have a purpose somewhere in my head.

For football, I gravitate towards cards of quarterbacks, wide receivers or running backs, notably the top tier guys from the past 25-30 years - if nothing else, I might also consider cards of 'personalities' such as former players working as analysts and/or have crossed over into pop culture.

For basketball, I've mostly tuned out keeping up with NBA players, so I'm just not familiar with most players that aren't on that national superstar level - however, I pounced on what look to be a quartet of Rui Hachimura's most basic [yet still NBA branded] rookie issues just because I might have heard of him briefly somewhere.

I found base cards of Giannis Antetokounmpo, which may not be a big deal - but he is coming off a NBA championship run this past summer and also purchased a share of the Milwaukee Brewers, so there is a MLB tie in there.

More NBA cards of guys fans have heard about over the past 25 years - Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, a pair of Shaqs and a completely random Karl Malone card.

The 1992-93 Topps Stadium Club Members Choice Malone #205 probably replaces the other one I picked up under dubious circumstances as wee young lad - I want to say the original may still be lurking somewhere in my collections of loose cards for other sports, but I wanted another outright just to keep handy.

These cards may represent the 'other other' sports though a 1981 Fleer Steve Garvey #110 makes a cameo - it's not a big deal where it's all fun and games, but the Garvey card has a crease running just above his batting helmet.

Rummaging through cards quickly, maybe I just don't pay close enough to see if any particular card has blemishes or imperfections - however I do try to be picky about anything obvious.

Hockey is out of sight out of mind but dare me to name two NHL players off the top of my head and it would probably be Alexei Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby - why not splurge on some cards for the duo just to say I have them.

I found a mini card of Alexandra O'Laughlin - who maybe best described as more of a 'personality' rather than an an athlete, but in this circumstance I'll give her a pass.

To round things out, I ended up finding a couple of cards [same ones] of race car driver Hailie Deegan - I ended up grabbing one for $2 just because I've heard her name mentioned in some card show videos I've watched on YouTube and maybe she's the next big thing.

Maybe I shouldn't mess with the bargain bins

At my local card show for the past 3 or 4 weekends, the temptation to stop at the table with the $0.50 bins of cards is too much - the cost of being in the 'here and now' as far as collecting or speculating on cards is something I feel is a bit out of whack.

A part of me wants to be in my own little world as a bargain bin hunter, because I want to go through cards I can flag as keepers - I'm not smarter than the guys in the same room might be scheming to selling or trading for cards worth hundreds or thousands of dollar at minimum, but I'm content to make something of my finds.

In the back of my head, I'm trying to salvage 'good cards' for cheap, even if reality dictates the cards I'm trying to set aside - are irrelevant to the 'show me the money' mentality.

I do wonder if I'm going a little overboard with my digs, where I want it all as a hoarder rather than a collector - maybe there has to be a bigger ambition to look for ideally better cards, even if better cards cost money and I'm not going to pay any sort of 'premium' to land cards that maybe cost as much as I'd spend on 40-80 [$0.50] cards.

A couple of weeks ago it was almost a relief not to see the seller setup at the show, where I didn't see the table with the siren song of loose cards - the seller was back this past weekend however and I was planted at this bins once again.

Maybe I was aiming to take only so many cards since things do add up, but go figure - the seller said the cards I was going through were all a quarter each, so that may not be a nickel or dime per card, but any sort of resistance to avoid rummaging through has been rendered hopeless.

This was my haul of cards from several weeks ago, when the seller still had them for $0.50 each - I don't know if the seller even bothers to refresh the cards, but I'm still pulling stuff out, so it's just a crapshoot.

Binder material for my decade stars collection from the 1950s through the 1980s - there might a new focus towards the vintage / old-school guys, though the cards I'll end up with will be either retro cards and/or cards that just aren't as old.

Binder material for my decade stars collection from the 1990s through the 2000s - Hideki Matsui [2003 Upper Deck rookie card] and Alfonso Soriano [fold out 'ticket' insert] ends up being the pair of 'iffy' guys in this grouping, but they are still decade stars for me.

Binder material for my decade stars collection from the 2010s through the 2020s - besides Rafael Devers and Juan Soto, maybe there is a 'wait and see' approach to see if these guys have some lasting power.

I want to believe Brandon Lowe will end up being the next Chase Utley of the decade - a second baseman who might be a little underrated but who has good pop and might string together a solid peak as a hitter.

Other sports - can I really go wrong with any cards of these guys? Stephen Curry? Aaron Rodgers? Peyton Manning? Brett Favre? Charles Barkley? I threw in a Ricky Williams in the mix because the shine was too much to ignore.

Randomness - cards of Eddie Murray and Reggie Jackson I can use for my Topps year-to-year run, a project I've neglected seriously hunting down cards for, a couple of Rod Carew cards I can use for my Angels Opening Day starters projects, a random retro Joe DiMaggio insert and a Pedro Guerrero rookie card for my team boxes 'dump,' a shiny Taylor Hearn Texas [Rangers] parallel from 2019, a 1984 Donruss Murray and Nick Maton [Philadelphia Phillies] prospect card.

Mini-collection material - baserunning [Sammy Sosa], baserunning; plays at the plate [Yordan Alvarez, George Springer], batting; horizontal [Sosa], making the throws; shortstop; horizontal [Miguel Rojas], fun cards; having fun [Favre], fun cards; oddities [Larry Bird], game face; focused [Mike Piazza] and personality shots; fired up [Rickey Henderson].

Mini-collection material - facial hair [Nolan Arenado and Murray], grips [Kevin Gausman and Pedro Martinez], hats-off [Joe Morgan and Jim Palmer], infamous [O.J. Simpson], local / bloodlines [Austin Pettis], retro uniforms [Ken Griffey Jr. and Greg Maddux], shades [Keston Hiura] and tools of ignorance [Piazza - I found a dupe in a penny sleeve].

The process behind my bargain bin digs - the last cuts

When it's 'last call' as far as my mind is concered, I'm trying rein in a good number of cards to take home [from a $0.50 bin] - where I've made up my mind as to how much I'll have to pay [where at times, it's going to be a strict card per card tally from a seller's POV].

These might be the 10 'other cards' that I might have just put back [where I wasn't going to spend $5 more on 10 more lousy cards] - but go figure ended up in my stash anyway.

The die-cut Chipper Jones insert, the shiny Tom Glavine parallel and the boxed set Jim Abbott are likely binder material - the Sammy Sosa goes into my batting [horizontal] collection, where I try to round up cards of unique images of batters at the plate.

I don't know if the Chipper insert does anything for me, since it's a little loud, but doesn't 'pop' like a refractor - but Jones ends up being one of my guys on the down low.

The Glavine was just too shiny to ignore - even though I probably underrate his HOF career as far as sentiment goes.

Abbott remains a larger than life figure because of what the one-time big league pitcher was able to do without a right hand - but maybe I'm lukewarm on picking up a run of his cards up because through the junk wax era, he had his share of cards.

Maybe the period of time where cards were getting a little fancy, Abbott had moved on from the Angels for a bit - maybe his second stint with the team through the mid 1990s, was really the beginning of the end.

McKenzie might end up being a decade stars / binder guy so I ended up grabbing the 2021 Panini Diamond Kings insert - he had flashes of success in his rookie year in 2020 but maybe the results are a little uneven this past season, especially with his walk totals.

I don't know how to classify Kyle Hendricks where at the moment he doesn't get into my binders as a decade stars guy - even though he's been consistently great, he doesn't have flashy stuff and just isn't that in your face kind of big leaguer.

There was probably a 4-5 year stretch from the mid 1990s onward where Brett Favre was the biggest thing in the NFL - the back of the card I picked up has him having a little bit of 'photo op' fun where there is someone taking his picture while he's playfully spinning a football like a basketball.

I like the Steve Francis card because it shows him 'hoopin over a bewildered Tim Duncan - which reminds me of this tweet.

These are a pair of Ted Williams inserts from the mid 1990s - I grabbed them because it looks like they have a lenticular, 3D surface that make them a little more unique.

The process behind my bargain bin digs - mini-collection material

Maybe I intend this post to be a little all over the place, but to have something to go with my other post - here are images that showcase my focus towards the mini-collections.

I have mini-collections for baserunning, home run trots, base hit gestures, fielding plays [separated by positions] and a horizontal batting shot - it doesn't seem that long ago that Vladimir Guerrero was an active player through the late 2000s and now his son is enjoying a breakout season on his own as a big league star.

The shiny cards are a pain to take pictures of because of the excess glare - but the way they 'pop' is quite the nice sight to see.

There is a couple of Derek Jeters, a Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza and Rickey Henderson to add star power to my mini-collections - I like the 1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Big Shots insert because there is a lot of dirt on the uniform, while the 1996 Upper Deck V.J. Lovero [R.I.P.] inserts are classy.

Maybe the Piazza is a fun card / oddities add because while he had 'unfamiliar' stints with the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics at the end of his MLB career - in his prime, it was strange to see him traded from the Los Angeles Dodgers to end up on the Florida Marlins, for a stint lasting 5 games.

There is a Tim Anderson refractor which is nice with him fired up, a random Upper Deck Masterpieces Eli Manning / David Tyree card and a Bryce Jarvis card - Jarvis was a first round pick in 2020 and a son of a former big leaguer [Kevin], so that's a bloodlines collection add.

The rest of the cards [a Pedro Martinez might be obscured on the top right corner] - feature stars signing autographs and doing a little fan service for the fans.

This top row of this assortment features 'pitchers hitting' cards with Greg Maddux on the bases and ready to take his hacks alongside the batting cage - it maybe the last card I would ever think about picking up, but a 2019 Topps Chrome Kolby Allard '84 Topps #84TC22 ends up a keeper.

The second row features a 2013 Topps Chrome David Ortiz #79, one that has him in a Boston Red Sox 'retro uniform,' a 1994 Topps Stadium Club Rickey Henderson #654 that goes into my 'shades' collection and a pair of cards of NBA legends Patrick Ewing and Ray Allen - which coincidentally features a pair of other NBA legends [Roger Murdock and Kobe Bryant] making 'star on star' cameos.

I'm not quite the authority on collecting catcher cards but I like to round up the 'tools of ignorance' guys just the same - I picked up the cards of [Piazza, Willson Contreras and Yogi Berra] as probable binder material, but figured why not make them mini-collection adds to add to my yearly totals.

Finally I picked up a couple cards featuring Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain because they are iconic NBA figures who have a lifetime's worth of narratives behind their playing careers - maybe I wanted to step out of my comfort zone for a moment and pick these up, even if there was only a dollar spent between the two pieces of cardboard.