Overwhelmed at the card shop

I just started digging through quarter boxes from past years and I couldn't stop picking out cards - even when I had to cut down the number of cards I wanted to pick up, there were a few others that replaced the ones I'd put away.

Awesome outfield action

1999 Fleer Ultra Willie McGee #58 - he was a very good ballplayer for a long time and it looks like he stuck it out as a fourth outfielder / semi-regular type in his last four MLB seasons.

1999 Fleer Tradition Rickey Henderson #133 - in his late 30's, he was still as spry as he was in his prime.

2003 Upper Deck Dave Roberts #189

2002 Fleer Ultra Chris Singleton #160

1999 Fleer Ultra Andruw Jones #25 - he was an athlete in his prime, too bad he got fat in his 30's.

1999 Fleer Ultra Carl Everett #22

1999 Topps Stadium Club Vladimir Guerrero #80 - the ball is actually by his feet.

1999 Topps Stadium Club Jose Canseco #32 - by this point, his athleticism was gone and all he had were his bat and his roids.

1998 Topps Orlando Merced #119

1999 Fleer Ultra Tony Gwynn #59

Awesome action - these were the silly cards

1992 Upper Deck Minors Adam Hyzdu #244 - juggling

1992 Upper Deck Minors Jimmy Haynes #168 - has some odd frisbee thing

1999 Topps Stadium Club Chan Ho Park #112 - I love this card

Awesome action and misc

1999 Upper Deck Encore Jeff Cirillo #50 - I wonder what he is putting into his water cup.

1992 Upper Deck Minors Juan De La Rosa #73 - losing his bat

1999 Fleer Ultra Mike Lansing #8 - looks like a play where he grabs the ball and gestures to the umpire to perhaps record the force out at second base.

1999 Fleer Ultra Otis Nixon #44 - love the face guard

2002 Fleer Ultra Ryan Klesko #148 - on a knee

1992 Upper Deck Minors Tarrik Brock #189 - x2

Bonus babies - cards where a star player appears on a more common player's card,

1999 Upper Deck Choice Damion Easley #86 - Rickey Henderson

1999 Upper Deck Ray Durham #66 - Rickey Henderson

1998 Topps Kevin Polcovich #79 - Larry Walker

1999 Topps Vinny Castilla #199 - shares the card with Dante Bichette and Todd Helton

2002 Fleer Ultra Bret Boone #120 - Ivan Rodriguez

1999 Fleer Ultra John Wetteland #3 - Ivan Rodriguez

Star on star cameos - a new collecting topic?

1999 Fleer Ultra Albert Belle #78 - I want to make a distinction whenever I find a card of a star player [like Frank Thomas does on Belle's card] popping up on another star's card.

Inking it up - seeing pro ballplayers sign autographs affirms the belief that it is still a thing, even if reality dictates it's harder to have a moment with any number of them.

2003 Upper Deck Mike Cameron #313

2003 Upper Deck Sean Burroughs #466

2003 Fleer Ultra Jeffrey Hammonds #187

1999 Upper Deck Encore Eric Davis #75

Pitchers hitting

2003 Upper Deck Vicente Padilla #237

2002 Fleer Ultra Mike Hampton #69 - I count cards showing pitchers running bases, having bats in their hands and basically pitchers doing 'hittery' things in this collection.

2003 Fleer Ultra Mike Hampton #26

1999 Topps Stadium Club Rick Reed #31

2003 Fleer Tradition Update Glendon Rusch #U136

1999 Topps Stadium Club Kevin Tapani #101

1999 Topps Stadium Club Andy Ashby #133

Tools of ignorance and misc

2002 Fleer Ultra Brandon Inge #75 - maybe symbolic of the early 2000's Detroit Tigers teams

1999 Topps Stadium Club Brady Anderson #127 - looks like a play at plate where the catcher has to apply a hard tag on a incoming runner [Anderson] who doesn't slide.

2003 Fleer Ultra Ivan Rodriguez #152

2003 Fleer Tradition Update Jason Simontacchi #U11 - x2

1992 Upper Deck Minors Skeets Thomas #95 - broken bat shot

2013 Topps Prime football Jimmy Graham #74 - I think because he was doing it so much, dunking a football over the goal posts now result in a penalty.

Card show finds Part III - rank-and-file cards

Rank and file cards - nothing to get too excited about, but cards I hope to get autographed through the mail or most likely in-person.

2005 Bowman's Best Craig Tatum #45
2005 Bowman's Best Brendan Ryan #94
2005 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Chris Denorfia #113
2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition School Colors insert A.J. Pollock #9
2009 Donruss Elite Extra Edition School Colors insert Tony Sanchez #10
2010 Topps Henry Rodriguez #307
2010 Upper Deck Esmil Rogers #14
2010 Upper Deck Justin Turner #39

Featured pick-ups
1.) I think the card companies left on the block gouge the consumer - you have these boxes for $75 or more and you know the only thing in them are token hits i.e. maybe common GU cards and common AU cards [featuring no-name rookies]. I'm not going to say what anyone wants to bust, but busting boxes to pull single-swatch jersey cards, maybe a couple of autographs and a patch card of a lousy player isn't my centerpiece 'activity' in my collecting life.

2.) At a card show I was at over the weekend, I dug through some commons bins in order to look for unique cards - it dawned on me that a lot of brands of really nice looking cards were conceived and printed through the late 1990s. I was enamored by the featured premium quality technology [glossy, foil stamping], graphics, full-bleed images that told the story.

3.) You probably would have never seen these cards if you weren't standing there at that moment, flipping through them - you end up realizing however, since these cards are so 'old' [i.e. from years like 1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1997 Topps Stadium Club, 1998 Fleer Tradition, 1998 Fleer Ultra, 1998 Upper Deck, 1999 Fleer Tradition, 1999 Fleer Ultra, 2000 Fleer Ultra and 2001 Fleer Ultra] and years have gone by so fast already.

I'm sure someone busted them for something back in the day - but I got the sense these cards are about as worthless to collectors as those printed during what seemed to be the the golden years[1986-1991] of overproduction.


4.) I ended up picking up an initial 75 cards for $3 - was bored and eventually got around to picking up another 75 cards [maybe two extra] for $2 [looks like the guy at the table shaved off a buck from the total].


5.) For some collecting topics, the cards and/or players fitting the criteria don't always appear to be obvious - you have to scrutinize every card, because you don't want to miss one you can add. You have fun, you scan them, you put them in a database and there is your hobby. These days, we all want hits, but sometimes it is nice to be a little low-end, a little retro, get something good and plenty.