2022 Topps Gold Brandon Marsh pick up

I picked this 2022 Topps Gold parallel up for about $10 after paying $40 another copy of the card [bundled with a couple of base cards] earlier in the year - maybe with the last purchase, I thought I was buying low where I thought Marsh had some upside for the Angels.

Go figure he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies and my pair of rookie-year centerpiece cards for Marsh probably gets lost in the shuffle within my regional collections - along with scattered cards of players who never quite delivered on their promise as one-time Angels prospects.

Entering 2022, I was wondering if Marsh's potential was more of 'good every day' player rather than an all-star type, since he's 24 already with the elite prospects breaking into the big leagues at 20, 21 or 22 years old - while Marsh's bat has cratered, maybe he could be a Jim Edmonds type where he taps into his ability to hit for average and power, though probably not to the extent where Edmonds evolved into a 25-30 home run slugger.

Marsh seemed was a pretty good defender in the outfield, always paying attention, hustling and seemingly making all the right plays where teammate Jo Adell can be a disaster on a game-by-game basis - there are Angels fans who would have preferred to give up on Adell, but in sort of a surprise, Marsh was the player sent off.

Some high and dry card show finds

I was desperate to make something of my latest card show trip and for $20, relented to pick up some cards that may not be priorities - but cards of some current stars and some retro cards of legends, notably from more 'here and now' Topps products I may not be exposed to at all.

After a pandemic related hiatus, I've attended three card shows [same promoter] between the past couple of months and go figure, they've ended up being carbon copies of each other - I see the guy with the off-brand graded cards display and I don't think he is ever going to sell anything.

I try to be inconspicuous, but I get a little aimless when I’m going around the track of the same tables multiple times - there was one random table with some retail product and the lady told me the 2021 Bowman blasters were $50 each or two for $90; there might have been 5 or 6 2021 Bowman Mega boxes at another table I wasn’t going to bother asking the price for.

I was really hoping to get inspired rummaging through tables like I’ve seen and read, where I end up with more cards than I know what to do with - but reality falls a bit short of my expectations and maybe I felt like the treasure hunt aspect just wasn't happening.

I didn’t really see what I would consider old-school, old-timey weekend warrior sellers with boxes of loose cards that can be had for a dollar or less - sellers had their heavy hitter showcase material and maybe tiers of ‘the rest,’ featuring assorted singles in boxes or set aside, most were other than baseball.

I felt a million miles away from anything happening in the room, with the hustle and bustle over tables, guys wanting to make plays - even as things at the very moment are supposedly, finally on a bit of a downturn.

I think a good sign is when I can’t be pulled away, wanting to linger and hang around a venue - that really wasn’t the case here and things were just kind of ‘meh,’ even if I did end up with cards regardless.

2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Ronald Acuña Jr. #2 - $2
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Fernando Tatis Jr. #5 - $2
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #20
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Juan Soto #6 - $2
2021 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Juan Soto #11 - $2
2021 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Ronald Acuña Jr. #18 - $2
2021 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Lost Set Joey Bart #2 - $1

2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Hank Aaron #12
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Ted Williams #14
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Willie Mays #15
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Set 2 1968 Action Stickers Ted Williams #9 - $2
2020 Topps 582 Montgomery Club Set 2 1968 Action Stickers Willie Mays #20 - $2

Card show recap #2 - more minutia, more commentary

I spent $10 for 16 quarter cards and a trio of individually priced singles digging through boxes off one guy who may have been sharing the table space with his buddy - I think of all the loose 'here and now' i.e. 2021 cards I could have picked up instead of these and for $10 total, I just hope I don't lose sleep over the choices I made.

I don't know why I picked up random Chan Ho Park and J.T. Snow cards from the mid 1990s - but the Action Packed minor league cards were unique with rounded corners and raised, embossed surfaces.

Park was a rising star who peaked in Los Angeles, went to Texas 20 years ago as coveted free agent and promptly bombed - ended up as a journeyman who was kind of decent, but never really was able to replicate the success he had pitching his home games at Dodger Stadium.

Snow was a fan favorite as Angel for a little bit when he might have formed a 1-2 punch with Tim Salmon as rookies in 1993 - he was a bit inconsistent with the bat during his time as an Angel and while he broke out past his early struggles, I want to say he was eventually exiled to the San Francisco Giants, where he generally became a more dependable all-around player.

I grabbed a Bronson Arroyo rookie card to squirrel away somewhere - while he was more of a rank-and-file guy in my book, I'll give him his due as a Boston Red Sox cult favorite back in the day and a pitcher who continued to be a solid innings eater for the Cincinnati Reds until all the mileage took its toll on his right arm.

A random pack pulled minor league card of Ryan Klesko takes me back just a bit - where I remember him being hyped as a prospect all the way back in 1991.

I grabbed the Matt Stairs just to have a random card of a fan favorite - who had a significant 19-year playing career.

I guess I'll look it up but I didn't know what the Todd Helton card was so I grabbed it - since I collect him on the down low.

The Walker is a rookie card reprint and while it looks better in hand - the 'registration' on the back is really bad quality.

I don't like grabbing cards of players labeled as part of a rookie subset, when the actual card is not - however the image of a young Scott Rolen juggling makes the 1997 Collector's Choice #15 a keeper for my 'fun' collection.

I figured to grab another copy of Hugh Quattlebaum's rookie card after the other I've had for the past 20 years is loose somewhere I cannot recall - I guess the dual player card is more notable for one-time Texas Rangers prospect Edwin Encarnacion, but Quattlebaum was hired just 3 weeks ago as the New York Mets' hitting coach after Chili Davis was fired.

I'm at a blank as to why I picked up a Skal Labissière card - looking closer, I think this is the Prizm cougar parallel.

I don't know if I consider these unique finds, but I grabbed them anyway - a 1988 Topps Mark McGwire Record Breakers subset #3 stamped buyback, a pack pulled minor league card of Austin Romine serial #'d / 25 and a Billy Hamilton refractor for my awesome outfield collection.

Some more cards I found that may not mean much, but may serve their purpose somewhere - a David Fletcher prospect card and a pair of 2019 Bowman Platinum cards of Corbin Burnes, who has turned into a dominant starting pitcher.

Even though it isn't the rookie card, I like the Burnes insert better - it pops a bit more that just the base card.

I don't know if this Randy Johnson is considered a true oddball, but maybe it is classified as such - I grabbed it for $2 because I think rookie year cards from junk wax era boxed sets may have a little novelty compared to the actual rookie cards that were released the same year or rookie year cards that were released in traded / extended sets.

I grabbed these poverty Jordans cards for the prices listed in the back - maybe I paid too much but the hologram caught my eye and I can make believe these are a little different because they are international versions of their U.S. counterparts.

The text on the back of the hologram card is translated in German and the text on the back of the base card is translated in Spanish - I wonder if these were distributed by language / country.

Card show recap #1 - mission incomplete

I want to normalize being able to go to card shows and inspired by some other bloggers, I was hoping to make a card show stop and end up with glut of cards that was both overwhelming and intriguing to eventually break down - I'd even set things up where I brought at least a 330-count box to store my goodies and some other bags in case there was an opportunities to buy up miscellaneous cards in quantity for cheap.

I was kind of ‘gung-ho’ about jumping into things, but maybe I needed a Snickers as I hadn’t eaten through the morning - it actually made me less patient, where I didn’t really want to nickel and dime myself picking out scrap cards at random tables.

At this card show, the tables start to get redundant after going meandering through the rows a few times without seeing an obvious spot to camp out at - this was the same show, where I discovered the seller with the 'vintage treasures’ guy, but it looked like he didn’t have as much stuff like last time, certainly nothing scattered and loose to rummage through.

To lead off, I spent $5 for 22 cards at the table of a father and his teenage son - the boxes that had baseball were nice and neat, one box loosely organized by set, but sharing space with other sports and the other box, strictly baseball separated by with player labeled tabs / dividers; however, maybe it was only a couple of 3,200 count boxes hanging off to the side of the table.

I probably should have stuck here because I probably could have found 50 cards for $10, even if it was less 'quirky' and mostly basic star cards and strictly commons from the early 1990s - the goal was to find a table that was more comprehensive but that never quite came to fruition and what I was looking at may have been as good as it got.

I ended up with a quartet of Shohei Ohtani cards, that probably made me stick around the table - I found some Panini branded Mookie Betts cards from a few years ago, which has him listed as a Boston [Red Sox] player, but I'll relent to picking up any non-MLB licensed Panini stuff of superstars as misfit cards out of the 'cheapo' bins.

Gary Carter really starred through a time when baseball wasn't even a thing for me - but I acknowledge the Hall of Famer as a legend in his position and two late career keepers in my book is a 1993 Score Select #55 and a 1992 Bowman #385.

I like the Select because it captures him blocking the plate against an incoming baserunner [Mike Scioscia] - with the reputation for being a tough minded catcher who was involved in his fair share of collisions.

I like the Bowman because it shows him in a photo op moment, signing autographs - from what I've read and assumed, he was always a guy who was concerned about his image.

The 1995 Score Jose Canseco #4 is a fun card, showing on the mound - the write up on the back is more like a eulogy however, talking about how his career might have come to an end because he hurt his arm while trying to pitch and needed surgery.

The 1997 Topps Stadium Club Stadium Sluggers Chipper Jones #376 - is apparently a short printed subset card.

2016 Topps Now Highlights & Happy Holidays promo features Kris Bryant, Gary Sanchez, Ichiro and David Ortiz - I was hoping it was a 'real' Topps Now card, but I assume these were mailed out as a bonus for people who bought Topps Now cards that year.

Don Mattingly may have symbolized 1980s baseball and a guy who I heard about when I was getting into collecting - even though he isn't a Hall of Famer, his cards will always be considered keepers in my book.

I've seen his 1989 Upper Deck #200 for the longest time and I wanted ownership of the card. - maybe it's just another base star card, but it came from a premium set that ushered in a new era of trading cards.

I was going through other loose Mattingly cards and found the 1994 Upper Deck #90 - the front shows a horizontal image of Mattingly diving to field a ball, which may be a unique enough action on its own merit.

However, the back really made the card a keeper, where the Yankees great is pictured as batting righty - maybe playing in a game of pepper with his teammates.

I'm the most casual fan of the NBA and I don't really bother collecting the cards, notably when 'here and now' unopened hard to find out in the wild - however I might be open to seeing if I can grab a few loose cards of notable players when I can, probably to add some diversity to some mini-collections topics as needed.

I don't know why I picked up the Richmond card - he was a pretty good player, but not a 'here and now' guy.

Newest Angels pick up - Cameron Maybin

The Angels traded minor leaguer Victor Alcantara for the veteran outfielder who has played in the big leagues for parts of 10 seasons - I still have a couple of certified autograph cards squirreled away from when Maybin was regarded as a top prospect with the Detroit Tigers.

However, Maybin never lived up to the hype and has only put together a modest big league career - the best case scenario for Maybin is to play in 130-140 games, while showing enough good things [with the bat, as a base runner and defender] to get some long-term contract offers somewhere else.

Featured autograph - Danny Goodwin

For a guy who was selected No. 1 overall in the nation twice, Goodwin was a bust - he's been pretty much obscured by history, but the one-time Angel was named to the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.

I picked up a certified autograph of his and then ended up with this stamped Topps buyback - I find it funny that Goodwin is posing with a glove when the position listed on the card is 'DH.'

Awkwardness

I found myself at an Seattle Mariners / Angels game last Tuesday night since there was another Mike Trout bobblehead giveaway - I wanted to get Andy Van Slyke's autograph, who is one of the new Mariners coaches this season.

Before the game, I actually saw him down the first base line, signing for some kids [they probably didn't know who he was, but that's beside the point] - however when I showed him my cards, he mumbled he didn't have time and walked away.

I felt kind of stupid, since he then went over by the expensive box seats next to the field to sign for a few more kids and one of the seemingly rare female collectors - it bummed me out since I was looking to get a card or two signed.

I thought he was an affable 'fan favorite' who might not have been one of the best players in his time, but was a slick defensive center fielder and a good quote - the way he blew me off makes me thinks twice about my preconceived notions about professional athletes, active and retired.

Admittedly, I did get Van Slyke's autograph at least once at some golf tournament years ago - however, whenever his name was randomly mentioned, I haven't heard good stories about him signing, so perhaps over the years, he just doesn't like seeing collectors.

Another post about this guy

One of my favorite base cards of A-Roid early in his MLB career was his 1997 Upper Deck - part of me still likes the idea that this guy put up the numbers and was the best baseball player in the planet at one point, but then the other stuff is just too much.

Maybe a part of me wished he was A-Rod at some time in his life, but he's exposed himself as a sham and a bum - it's hard to consider anything positive without thinking about the supposedly unsavory things he's been involved with like performance enhancing drugs.

The sad thing is I'm probably looking forward to see if he has any juice left - see if he can prolong his career and past all the drama, can step up to the plate in an actual MLB game in 2015.

Collecting A-Fraud

I sort of miss the mid 2000's when this guy was the best player in the game and trying to flag him down to get something signed meant all the world - even if he'd be rather oblivious when walking through the crowd of fans like he was some kind of deity, there was a few opportunities where he would sign at the ballpark.

Of course, A-Rod is still a big deal these days but for all the wrong reasons - I don't think anyone is shedding a tear because he might be on the brink on being suspended through his age 40 season.

I will give A-Rod all the credit in the world if he can play a full MLB season in 2014 or after when he serves an apparent suspension, how ever long that will be - I still want to see what he can still do as a player and see this latest mess he's put himself through as just one hurdle he has to get through with the world against him.

Over the last decade, I've picked up assorted base and cheap insert cards over the years featuring A-Rod - I've also got a couple of signed baseballs [one he signed in-person and one bought from eBay], his 1994 Upper Deck SP rookie card and a couple of certified autograph cards I paid some good money for.

I'm not going to go out and burn what I've picked up, though I have long stopped caring about actively collecting anything of his - since in a superficial way, it's all relatively worthless now.

A-Rod's road to irrelevance

With his latest hip surgery, I thought Alex Rodriguez's career was probably over - in a sense where he's not going to have anymore full seasons as a dominant player [this has probably been the case for the last three or four years] and even if he came back some time in 2013, it's going to take a long, painful process to get things going again just to have him playing well.

Then a new set of PED allegations came out this past week and it's ugly to read about and think A-Rod's career has been a sham - as an admitted frontrunner who 'rooted' for A-Rod since he was the best MLB player at points of his playing career, I don't know if he is someone to still believe in as a ballplayer.

Other players have been suspected of being PED cheats and others have failed tests but with his career winding down - it seems like A-Rod is more like Jose Canseco than an active or former player with PED baggage you can still judge on some sort of merit like a Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens.

Edit [2/1/13] - and the details keep getting ickier and ickier.

Why we care about performance enhancing drugs

I got around to seeing A-Rod's press conference later in the day - apparently there is a 'phantom' cousin who introduced him to some stuff. Only they knew about it and conspired to experiment on their own, for a prolonged period of time [2001-2003].

I don't think anybody missed much if they didn't see A-Rod's press conference on Tuesday - I honestly think he is telling us to read between the lines and make up our own minds. That maybe even more dangerous to the perception of his damaged legacy, but the fact it has come to this point should be something of a revelation. People want him to be implicate others, name substances he took and say he shot himself with all sorts of cringe-worthy stuff.

He has told us what he taken, but we are resigned to the fact he is not going to get himself into more hot water and he can only go so far - he shouldn't be so naive to think, 'I'm young and I was stupid' is going to cut it with those who have an interest as fans of the game or someone who looked at him to endorse a product.

With all this fuss about A-Rod, I've come to the realization baseball may get tedious and boring as far as the day-to-day things going on in a game played in 30 cities, 162 games a year - but it is still the pasttime of guys who can identify with strong, valiant icons of the past.

Baseball fans can rattle off the legends/icons associated with history of the game - whether they saw them play or not.

The game has its faults, but its foundation isn't strife with 'thugs' and 'black eyes' but stoic pioneers [like Jackie Robinson] who played the game right and with integrity - baseball is built upon its history and people are always looking to size up any modern marvel and judge whether an iconic modern player of today passes muster with the likes Babe Ruth or Ted Williams.

If someone like Barry Bonds or A-Rod comes along - there is a self-fulfilling prophecy to tear down and dissect their numbers because it just doesn't add up, when there can be no player as great as Ruth or Williams.

There probably is a sentiment of 'I told ya' running around - in a way the icons of the past are validated for their accomplishments once again as the true torch bearers of the game.

Collecting personal favorites: Alex Rodriguez

You make up a list and follow your favorite players by collecting their cards because you like watching them play - or they present a particular image you can identify with in some way. However why chase after someone's cards when you feel like if they appear unreasonable or merely unaccessible?

I was on the Alex Rodriguez bandwagon because he is either the best and most identifiable baseball player in Major League Baseball or at least he is 1A to a guy in St. Louis named Albert Pujols - I found it disappointing for A-Rod to become the most prominent face of the Steroid Era in baseball when he was outed with his positive steroids test.

I was eager to see if he would react by admitting fault or taking the road to denial - he ended up taking the initiative and apologized during an interview with Peter Gammons of ESPN.

During the interview on Monday, it wasn't a surprise A-Rod didn't really answer the pointed questions about the 'who, what, where,' of his PED use specifically - Gammons would ask a question and A-Rod would take a bird walk and call himself out as 'stupid or naive.' Sometimes he'd cite the culture of the era. It seemed like he was more clear about lying about his use [with an interview with Katie Couric in 60 Minutes in 2007]

However, what was surprising is he established a definite time period of his use [2001-03] and if he really couldn't be any more clear about what he took for whatever reason - he did admit to taking PEDS.

Come to think of it, as a guy on the A-Rod bandwagon, I didn't know what to make of his Texas Rangers' years after signing a $252 million contract - he was supposed to be the man down there, but even as he juiced up and put up monster numbers, his teams went nowhere. It was kind of a joke as far as being the best baseball player in the world playing on some garbage teams that weren't able to win. If we are to believe A-Rod's word, his PED use in 2001-03 really is the nail in the coffin to invalidate whatever he did as a Texas Rangers' player.

In the end, some guy named Jose Canseco was again proven right - I snickered when snippets of Canseco's book were starting to come out and he was accusing A-Rod of:

*Being a scumbag for ogling and showing an unhealthy obsession for Canseco's wife.

*A-Rod not being the guy who we thought he is and he may have partaken in some steroid delights.

I can just laugh now because it is all true - and also kind of disappointing.

All the controversy swelling up with tabloid pictures of him with strippers on the road, cheating on his wife, getting a divorce and hooking up with Madonna pissed me off because he was the face of the game - if for nothing else, at least show some class, though he was no different than a Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, who were no saints, but at least have bounced back from their personal problems.

I thought about being petty and in my mind, leaping off the bandwagon - in recent months, things were relatively quiet and I thought it was the end of it. Maybe A-Rod's ability to hit 40 home runs and stink it up when it counts in October was something to watch again as far as drama playing out in Major League Baseball was concerned. I kind of enjoyed the drama of a guy making so much money making the game so simple, yet struggling in the key moments during the postseason.

We thought Joe Torre's [with Tom Verducci] book was the start of a new controversy, but with I don't know what to say - I think people are more disappointed than angry. As much as people don't like A-Rod, he was a golden child compared to Barry Bonds.

Now there will always be doubt and silent critics - no matter what A-Rod does.

Here are my personal favorites - who knows if any of these guys are 'pure,' but certainly there hasn't been anyone outed for PEDs except for A-Rod, right?

Vladimir Guerrero
Tim Salmon
Jim Edmonds
Cal Ripken Jr.
Alex Rodriguez ?
Derek Jeter
Ken Griffey Jr.
Rotating interests [non player specific] - maybe Manny Ramirez, Ichiro, Albert Pujols