Some newer card show recaps #3

I’m trying to make something out of what was left of my time, going around to see what may catch my eye - I ended up seeing a 1989 Donruss Baseball’s Best set I relented to pick up.

I remember being envious of a childhood friend in possession of a loose Ken Griffey Jr. rookie year card laying around loose in his room 30 years ago - I finally got a graded version of the Griffey Jr. back in 2006 and didn’t realize centering on the back of the cards were generally ‘off.’

Even though it’s a nearly worthless card of a big league pariah - maybe another highlight was an early MLB card of Sammy Sosa, his only big league card from 1989.

I thought the cards were still factory sealed, though that might not be the case with the outer packaging - the cards are still in bricks wrapped in plastic, though might have been banging around in the display box after all these years.

I don't know if I should try to keep things 'as is' and preserve the set as best as I can or if I should just break things up - so I can make sure the Sosa and Griffey Jr. cards are actually in-hand and see what they look like as far as condition goes.

I stumbled upon a table with a ‘3 for $1’ vintage box - I'm up for having real, old cardboard in-hand, but at this point just haven't been that collecting to gravitate to them.

At the table, maybe the three or four row box of cards were set-up too neat, where there isn't that lure of not knowing what I may find - when clearly it's commons separated by year [from something like 1969 Topps through some scattered early 1970s years].

For the just the rank-and-file commons, I think the 1969 Topps tends to be boring and generic, while other vintage years don’t quite inspire the right perspective in me - I grabbed a trio featuring a 1974 Topps Sonny Jackson #591 [possible TTM], a 1971 Topps John Cumberland #108 [possible TTM] and a 1973 Topps Bob Didier #574 that has a pretty definitive tools of ignorance, plays at the plate image pictured.

I have 1990 ProCards AAA cards for Jackson and Cumberland [Cumberland was a one-time Angel] but those are kind of ugly cards picturing them as coaches - I wanted actual cards from their playing days and kind of found what I was looking for.

Some vintage Angels pick-ups for TTMs

These were more 'here and now' finds off COMC when I tried to get my cards shipped last month - digging around collecting forums I browse, I've seen random autograph successes by mail with these former players and hope to get their autograph in my collection while they are still signing.

As it goes, I've already gotten back Billy Moran and Leo Burke, both signing the card I sent to each one - due to the lack of familiarity and the passage of time, I feel like I'm not really in a position to add autographs of the countless old-timers [1960s, 1970s for example] from my favorite team's history, but I need to find a way to try.

Featured autograph - Cal Ripken Jr. and Tim Salmon

Both of these guys are baseball 'heroes' and coincidentally they share the same birthday, 8 years apart - while it may sound a little corny, over the past 30 years, they were among the pros I considered larger than life.

Though Salmon was never the national baseball icon Ripken Jr. was as the latter chased The Streak - Salmon may have reason I was paying closer attention to Angels games during his first full season as a rookie in 1993.

The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 5

"A certified autograph card of one of your favorite players."

It's not a pack pulled autograph, but it is certified and slabbed by PSA/DNA, so after scratching my head to come up with a card to post - I've settled on this 1996 Score Zenith Kirby Puckett #149 signed through the mail just about 20 years ago.

Puckett was one of the larger than life baseball stars from the mid 1980s through the mid 1990s - his cards came out through the height of the junk wax era, so it was easy enough to end up with his cards, even if they were your typical Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score, Fleer Ultra, Leaf, Pinnacle, Pinnacle Select, Upper Deck, etc.

I think the fact that I occasionally ended up with his cards, in addition to helping the Minnesota Twins win a World Series championship in 1991 - made Puckett a pretty familiar national star, even if he didn't star for my hometown team.

He had a well earned reputation of a guy who did so much on the field to help his teams win and help the community off it - unfortunately his playing career ended when he was still surging strong in his 30s and post-career, his sterling reputation took a drastic hit.

Featured autograph - Terrell Owens

Owens was perhaps the biggest NFL 'personality / diva / me first' athlete in the past 20 years, but with all the drama, he forged a legendary NFL career as a wide receiver - the details are fuzzy, but I must have found this nice looking card of Owens and sent a request to him randomly TTM.

I got my card back signed, though he used a black pen and on a card that was just too dark for any autograph to really stand out - for some peace of mind, I wanted to see if the card would be authenticated and slabbed.

Autograph request through the mail received: Jacob Turner

Turner signed my cards in black ink in about three weeks c/o Miami Marlins [spring training] - including this 2011 Topps Heritage Minors for my set.

Autograph request through the mail received: Wade Boggs

I sent some cards and a donation to Boggs a few weeks ago and got my cards back in the mail today - I had anticipating on getting this request back quickly, though my SASE would have probably been soaked if it arrived during the So. Cal storms over the weekend.

Featured autograph - Brad Hawpe

I'm not sure when I'm going to round up [or feature] any of the 2013 Angels autographs I can add to my all-time collection - I haven't done anything as far as determining which ones I have already, which ones I've gotten this season and which ones I still need.

One featured autograph I can put up is a TTM autograph card of Brad Hawpe I picked up through a forum several years ago - I also remember pulling a 2008 Topps Stadium Club certified autograph of Hawpe, but I'll probably use the TTM auto for my all-time Angels collection.

I realize the situations aren't at all comparable but the Los Angeles Dodgers can call up a stud like Yasiel Puig - while the Angels end up bring up a guy like Hawpe from oblivion.

A late bloomer, Hawpe had some nice seasons with the Colorado Rockies - but for whatever reason his bat ran out of juice and he has bounced around with four different teams before the Angels signed him this season to serve as AAA depth.

I've noticed he kind of holds his bat in a peculiar way and it's kind of funny to watch him hit - he and Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs look sort of the same when they are at the plate.

I'm not counting on any sort of success but hopefully this guy will be of some use to the Angels - even if he is pretty much cooked as a MLB hitter.