Latest The Angels, In Order goodies

I got a PWE in the mail from The Angels, In Order's latest trade giveaway post - after claiming free cards from the last two occasions, I need to dig around to send something back for Tom.

I collect primarily baseball, but just to be on these no-context side missions, I might free myself to pick up odder non-sport cards that end up falling into my lap - while this card didn't catch my eye immediately, it is a topical card every January when Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday comes around.

This card was unfamiliar enough to put a claim on despite the subject pictured - Vizquel was probably headed to Cooperstown as an already polarizing candidate, whose reputation as a fan favorite and defensive whiz at shortstop far exceeded any objective fielding or hitting numbers.

However, Vizquel's personal problems and other mishaps of his own doing - have likely torpedoed any serious opportunities to sneak into the Hall of Fame.

Like the King claim, this kind of represents a card that is something a little different besides the pictures of ballplayers I collect - Bieber is millenial pop star from the past 15 years that ends up being an unwilling paparazzi magnet.

An odd-size [mini], I claimed this to remind myself how much Torii Hunter was a personal fan favorite as an Angel - I don't think he gets any sort of serious Hall of Fame consideration, but maybe I can see where I end up favoring his career over Andruw Jones [who might not end up a Hall of Famer in reality, but has gotten support for the way he played center field in his prime].

I may have been scrolling from the last sheet on the bottom to the top and might have not claimed this Reggie card - if I hadn't punted on a couple of other cards I'd picked out at first.

I claimed this card thinking it was another broken bat shot I can add to my mini-collections - however it turns out I have the card, so it could be a centerpiece card to a random Murray page if I get enough other cards together.

Unfortunately, this rookie year card of Mike Mussina didn't make it through transit for some reason - the same could be said for the cards below, but while the two others [Fred McGriff and Tom Seaver] end up 'bent,' the Mussina got bent and got creased.

For now, I've placed the McGriff and the Seaver in a semi-rigid plastic holder - to see if I straighten the cards out [or not].

This Seaver is a little odd where it looks like he is trying to hit some fungos - it's close enough where I'll add it to my pitchers hitting mini-collection.

More, The Angels, In Order goodies

I really didn't pay attention but wanted this 1990s UV-era insert - at first glance, I thought this Jose Canseco was an Ivan Rodriguez card.

This was a card from the same insert set as the Canseco - in my book, Belle and Canseco fall into the 'iffy' guys pile, but they were 'fun' players I was aware of and squirrel their loose cards like I would prominent stars from the eras they played in.

Maybe Randle was strictly rank-and-file as a big leaguer, but was considered a personality - who marched to the beat of his own drummer.

Ramirez was a superstar big league talent - who like Randle, marched to the beat of his own drummer.

This Fred McGriff insert card came from when Upper Deck was high brow and modern - after 30 years later, maybe inserts like this still feel kind of classy.

I like the dirt showing on this common parallel of a player who I thought was going to be a star for years - but through the 1990s, never really ended up being more than a rank-and-file guy.

This maybe my favorite out of the cards I received just because it's not something I'm looking for, but had to make a keeper - where it's a broken bat shot of a longtime star, who might originally known for as a Seattle Mariner or in his slugging prime, a New York Yankee.

I don't want to say I want to collect Angels card-per-card, but it's kind of a reward to find them out in the wild - especially if look odder than your normal base cards.

I like the dirt showing on this common from a set I never, ever had exposure to in the first place - for the decades I've collected, I don't think I've ever busted a single pack of Topps Finest.

Knoblauch had won a World Series ring a couple of years before this card was printed and starred for the Minnesota Twins through the mid 1990s - maybe he would have been a one-team legend if he'd stayed with the Twins, but chose to move on to the New York Yankees and was never quite the same player.

The Angels, In Order giveaway mail

I like being able to jump in on card blog posts basically offering freebies, like the one Tom had recently - for the price of a comment left, it allows me to claim some miscellaneous cards I might not consider picking up outright.

When I really don't do much trading back and forth, it feels like I am doing something - where I end up looking to send something back to the sender.

I cross my fingers hoping the cards from my end, get to where they need to be and can be material - that can be of use on the recipient's end, especially if it's more of a blind trade.

Maybe I feel obligated to feel a certain way about at least 10-15 'decade stars' from their respective eras - from the 1980s, a collector might be a Donnie Baseball guy, a Wade Boggs guy, a Rickey Henderson guy or a Mike Schmidt guy, but making keepers out of Gwynn's cards [even ones printed to this day] ends up being the priority before the rest.

A 1981 Donruss maybe the last card I'd expect to claim, but it's not that serious - where I probably need a card to possibly send out for TTM.

This 1992 Leaf Gold ends up being a nice parallel to tease Clark's sweet swing.

Hunter was a fun player to watch with the Minnesota Twins even before his time with the Angels - I don't know if I would have grabbed this card outright, knowing he was an Angel for 5-6 years, but the shine is mighty fine.

I was never really too big on Mussina pitching for the New York Yankees - but another shiny card like the Hunter ends up being a keeper, where it looks like Mussina is about to throw a knuckle curve.

I didn't expect to claim a Danny Tartabull card, but it teases a 'hats-off' player I can add to that mini-collection - maybe it works as TTM, if I am inclined to send it off.

Was this my favorite card out of this pile [?] - where there might be a curiosity over cards from the 1980s that came out during the years preceding the junk wax era.

I grabbed this Todd Worrell TTM/IP autograph because the visible parts of the blue ink autograph goes well with the 1994 Fleer - which may just be another forgotten baseball card set in history, but still ends up quite appealing for me.