Some card show material to dwell on

Through last year, the promoters of the monthly show I attend have tried to branch out into a hotel venue - the first couple of 'new' shows were held at a hotel about 10-15 minutes away from my house compared to the 'flagship location' each month, which takes about 35-45 minutes through traffic.

However the promoters may have had to change things up to a different hotel location [same chain though] - not as close to my house but only really a couple of cities over. 

I ended going to the first hotel show of the year, which is just a little different than being in a gym - though it's still about finding that accessible table where I can dig around for some stuff rather than be idle.

I ended up at a table with a younger guy [maybe at least 25-30] who partners up with an older, guy whose booth at another card show was actually a go-to outlet for me through the late 2000s - I know it's the same person, but I don't know how he is still around and still looks virtually the same.

I was setting aside random dollar cards, because I saw a 2021 Bowman Blaze Jordan #BP71 and found at least four in the table's dollar bin - I'm not a serious prospector, but I've been really out of the loop the last couple of years.

I haven’t really harvested as many loose prospect cards of the younger guys where it's almost 'out of sight, out of mind' - until guys break through to the big leagues for the most part. 

I was going through a row of cards that had some rookie year Shohei Ohtanis and I found a 2018 Topps Gallery #116 and a 2018 Topps RC #700 for $10 each - there were other Ohtanis from Panini branded products, but I wanted to dig for some licensed singles.

I might have the Topps Ohtani since it’s fairly common, but if I didn’t, it might be worth picking up [along with the Topps Gallery] - where I’m would be trying to some squirrel away cheap rookie cards for my regional PC.  

I grabbed those cards and built up a miscellaneous stash of dollar cards - as long as I had a couple of Jordans in-hand, then I was good. 

I spent $15 on dollar cards [and a $3 Nolan Ryan insert], which were from the younger guy’s portion of the table - while the pair of Ohtani’s cost me $15 and were actually from the older guy’s boxes. 

The top row features 2019 Bowman Heritage, which I assume was an on-demand product that wasn't too popular - the second year cards of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Juan Soto off the set are kind of 'oddballs' in my book.

Even though numbered prospect parallels are a dime a dozen it seems and end up cards no one really wants - I bit on cards of Triston McKenzie and Ethan Hankins because I don't know any better.

At least McKenzie has reached the big leagues with some promise - while Hankins is a Tommy John case who looks to be on a mound pitching in some games again.

The second row features some serial #'d Topps Heritage Chrome parallels - maybe the values don't reflect it at all, but for me, it maybe a case where contemporary cards [from the last 10-15 years] turn into old school material where enough time has passed to make them novelties depending on player and card type.

I might have left a Josh Hamilton behind and would have left the Felix Hernandez - the last part of big league career stalled, but King Felix was a pitching superstar at his peak and deserves some post career love.

The last row featured a 2021 Topps Archives 1989 Big Foil Ryan #89BF-6 - it might be a case where I'd be getting one card for $3 instead of three more random dollar cards, but I had to put a newer shiny card of an Angels legend in my pile.

I've lost track of the Topps Stadium Club releases since 2014 where they don't have that same impact for me - but any loose TSC cards I think I might not have are nice finds, like this 2019 Topps Stadium Club Jackie Robinson #70 where he is inking it up over the dugout.

Finally, I don't know if it's a personal vow or anything, but any loose Satchel Paige cards should be made keepers - like a 2021 Panini Diamond Kings Gallery of Stars insert #GS3.

A slice of card show miscellany

I was able to attend a couple of card shows last weekend and maybe the routine is taking a little breather where maybe boredom does set in - on this particular outing, I've bought assorted bulk cards, some dollar cards and a couple of low end singles, but I don't know if I can make my way back into the dealer room, where I just might be done for the afternoon.

However, despite feeling like this maybe it, it's almost a challenge - where I do want to go around and see if there is still at least a table or two to find some keepers.   

I found a table with some $0.50 boxes to dig through - there may have been a small stack of 1999 Fleer Sports Illustrated cards that had some nice images but they weren't priced as commons. 

The seller was packing up his display case and I probably decided to move on - but came back around when it looked like another collector was on a mission, searching deep and pulling cards out of the other boxes at the table.

I figured as long as this other guy [and then another collector] was still rummaging through assorted cards - I would do the same thing as long as it wasn't awkward where the seller was waiting on only me.

The seller started putting some slabs back on the table - maybe just killing time seeing if he had any more bites while people were still lingering. 

I thought something peculiar was happening behind the scenes where maybe it was a guy the seller knew buying him out of the very boxes three people at the table were going through - the seller seemed to get angry for a moment where he told the guy to “get outta here,” but was only really joking around and it looks like money exchanged hands.

I could see where the probable buyer was telling the seller to wrap things up as is - where he probably didn’t want anymore people go through the cards that he may have just bought in bulk.

"This will be it," the seller said to the other guy.

It looks like I found a photo print of Gene Autry and Nolan Ryan sized into a trading card - regardless of how I feel about unlicensed cards or cards printed out of someone's garage, maybe the 'lil photo was too odd not to make a keeper.

On my own, I dug out about 30 cards from the dollar bins and while I didn't consider all them dollar cards - I figured I didn’t have time to play around and weed out 'lesser' cards to leave behind. 

“Can’t really lose for a dollar,” one of the other guys looking through the cards said. 

I presented my cards to the seller and even picked out 12 of the $0.50 cards I was hesitant on buying - maybe I should have just grabbed a handful of the non-dollar cards, because when I tried to show them to the seller, he gestured to let me have the cards and said "I’ll make you happy and give those to you."

Pitchers hitting collection - a visual guide

I grabbed 18 'pitchers hitting' cards for my mini-collection sampler and the collecting topic subset is kind of a catch-all - for pitchers who have bats in their hands but aren't exactly hitting in a game, wearing batting helmets, bunting, practicing and finally, pitchers whose cards show them on the basepaths.

Seeing pitchers act the role of hitters or baserunners can be such a peculiar thing - so it is another neat, easter egg deal to find cards with 'action shots' of pitchers not doing the usual pitching.

Looking at the cards on the page, I realized the Nolan Ryan cards in the center are from the pre-DH days of the American League - in his lone season batting in the AL without a DH, Ryan was 13-for-96 with five doubles and one triple.

The Hall of Fame pitcher's slash line as a batter in 1972 was .135 / .153 / .208 - which is probably comparable to the career numbers opposing batters have put up against Ryan on the mound.

The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 10

"One of your favorite cards from the 1960s."

1967 Topps Nolan Ryan / Jerry Koosman #177 rookie card - I chose this card because it's the key mainstream card of a dominant strikeout pitcher who I felt peaked as a national superstar in the early 1990s.

For a period of time in the early 1990s, Ryan was everywhere and I still remember him decked out in his ranching / cowboy gear - on the front cover of this Beckett Baseball Card Monthly magazine.

Ryan's rookie card was a real big deal among collectors, whether or not it was realistic to own - it gained some notoriety when it was it accidentally sold at a card shop for $12.

I thought pulling any of Ryan's cards were worth its weight gold and even though he was in his 40s and really on his last legs of his distinguished big league career - the following highlights would have led anyone to believe the all-time strikeout king was simply ageless.

2009 Topps Updates and Highlights Nolan Ryan #UH232

I picked up this nearly seven-year old base card variation for $3 and change - the image of the Hall of Famer looks like it might have been originally black and white, then colorized on Photoshop to make it stand out on a trading card.

1974 Topps Nolan Ryan #20

This card represents my first 'big purchase' as far as my Angels frankenset goes - besides hunting down loose cards already in my collection, the fun part of building up a collection is getting picky and trying to find particular cards that seem interesting or relevant.

A caveat is admittedly not being an expert on the nuances of old school / vintage cards - it's one thing to find off-condition, well worn cards as 'cardboard relics,' but there are cards tampered with [trimmed, re-colored, et al] that I may end up picking up along the way.

2015 Topps Series II hobby jumbo pack

Over the last couple of years I've tried to bust at least one jumbo hobby pack of a Topps / Bowman product - it's comforting to open basic Topps because it is a fairly cheap rip while there are still some 'wrinkles' thrown in from time to time, particularly in the hobby configurations.

Admittedly, once the cards are all over the place, I'm not as interested - besides the lone jumbo pack, I also busted a couple of loose $2 hobby packs and will likely pick up a retail blaster at a Target before my $5 coupon expires.

#594 Jose Pirela
#553 Grady Sizemore
#634 Roenis Elias
#376 Chris Sale
#378 Daniel Duffy

#542 Yasmany Tomas

#475 Juan Perez - it's probably going to be uncorrected, but Topps put the wrong header [pitching instead of hitting] on the stat/line.
#599 Michael Brantley
#537 Carlos Martinez
#677 Ryan Goins
#561 Ken Giles
#464 Brett Cecil
#468 C.C. Sabathia
#701 Milwaukee Brewers team card - feat. Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy

#669 Tampa Bay Rays team card - feat. James Loney, Ben Zobrist [obscured], some rando [could be Matt Joyce], obscured player, Kevin Keirmaier [?] and Evan Longoria.

#361 Matt Holliday
#471 Pat Neshek

#610 David Freese

#453 Elian Herrera

#674 Desmond Jennings
#660 Roberto Osuna
#427 Raisel Iglesias
#558 Patrick Corbin
#564 Jose Quintana
#529 Ryan Flaherty

#SU-11 Madison Bumgarner - Stepping Up insert
#H-39 Bobby Doerr - Highlight of the Year insert

#HDR-8 Gary Carter - Heart of the Order insert
#CPP-09 Nolan Ryan - Commemorative Patch Pin insert serial #'d 105/199
#399 Yosmil Pinto
#469 James Shields
#680 Nick Hundley
#517 Yusmeiro Petit
#673 Brett Oberholtzer
#591 Josh Collmenter
#392 Brandon Guyer
#589 Jeff Locke
#574 Mitch Moreland
#566 Chris Davis
#430 Jarred Cosart
#369 Aaron Loup
#463 Justin Verlander
#584 Danny Farquhar
#681 Zoilo Almonte
#394 Marco Scutaro

2015 Donruss pack breaks #2 of 3

Pack five
#119 Brian Dozier
#112 Henderson Alvarez
#124 Matt Harvey
#117 Francisco Rodriguez
#159 Kolten Wong
#155 Mike Zunino

#4 Nolan Ryan - Donruss Preferred insert

#13 Christian Walker - The Rookies insert

Pack six
#119 Brian Dozier
#112 Henderson Alvarez
#131 Josh Donaldson
#126 Ichiro
#192 Pete Rose
#189 George Brett
#6 Javier Baez - Donruss Preferred insert
#43 Christian Walker

Pack seven
#60 Dustin Pedroia
#72 Todd Frazier
#66 Jake Arrieta
#193 Tony Gwynn
#191 Ryne Sandberg
#28 Eric Hosmer - Donruss Preferred insert / VIP Reserved serial #'d 52/99
#2 George Brett - Donruss Preferred insert

#4 Dustin Pedroia - Diamond Kings insert Press Proof parallel serial #'d 006/199

Pack eight
#71 Joey Votto
#65 Starlin Castro
#87 Miguel Cabrera
#79 Carlos Santana
#165 Kevin Kiermaier
#160 Yadier Molina
#28 Leonys Martin - Elite Series insert

#6 Jose Abreu - Diamond Kings insert

2010 World Series preview - Texas Rangers

I have no rooting interest in this World Series, though I'll say what has been said countless times recently - I'm glad the Philadelphia Phillies and/or the New York Yankees are not one of the representatives to chase after a World Series title.

The New York Yankees can spend $125 million on Cliff Lee this upcoming off-season and might as well be in the World Series again in 2011 - while the Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to steam roll the San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship Series.

However the Phillies were outhustled by the upstarts from the Bay Area - perhaps there is less luster associated with a team that was supposed to be a juggernaut.

It will take a big effort from mashers like Nelson Cruz, Vladimir Guerrero and Josh Hamilton to lead the Rangers to a World Series title - the most important qualities to their team is the ability to pitch, play defense and run the bases.

I think the narrative fits, where it took Nolan Ryan's vision to make pitching more of a priority with the Rangers - however the pitching was only part of the equation, where Ron Washington's vision was to make sure the Rangers played 'small ball' the right way.

The man-love for Hamilton would elevate him to iconic status if the Texas Rangers won the World Series - if he has a monster series [think Barry Bonds circa 2002], then he can do whatever, wherever he wants with everyone on their knees to service him.

It seems like the Rangers have the perfect mix of talent - that they should walk over the Giants regardless of any obstacles and win their first World Series in franchise history.

Featured autograph - Nolan Ryan

One of the lures in collecting in-person autographs is what I consider - going after the 'big game.'

You can only put in so much time collecting the rank-and-file guys and even some of the stars - sometimes you need something to keep you motivated besides seeing and getting certain players/team personnel.

Depending on access and number of people who want the same thing as you do, trying to get anyone in particular can be nearly impossible - however, you are always hoping you get lucky.

During my 2009 spring training trip, I was hoping to get this living legend to sign for me at a Texas Rangers/Kansas City Royals game in Surprise - I didn't even focus on the players leaving the game in-between innings, since I was so focused on Nolan Ryan.

"I'll forget everyone else for Nolan," I heard one guy say to his buddy who was at the same game I was - it is too bad they didn't wait for him, since the buddy thought it wasn't Ryan whom he saw. I only told the buddy where Ryan sat, behind the Rangers' coaches.

When Ryan signed after the game - I was pretty excited at the opportunity to be able to approach him for an autograph. The ushers at the game made sure a certain number of people were to approach. I bought the 8x10 photo either on Ebay or at a card show four years ago, hoping to get it signed by mailing it to Ryan's foundation.

It was a Steiner Capture the Moment 8x10 matte photo - which shows Ryan pitching in his first no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals on May 15, 1973.

It is safe to say - the 8x10 became the crown jewel of my 2009 Cactus League spring training trip.