Free Stuff Tuesdays/Fridays hauls

Jon over at A Penny Sleeve for Your Thoughts had some card giveaway posts I was able to claim cards from - besides the cards themselves, I appreciate the note written, which was a nice personal touch to tie together the pair of PWEs sent.

I also liked the careful means to ship my claims - as well as the shiny cracked ice Cal Ripken Jr. parallel he sent as an extra.

Dime Boxes 11th anniversary giveaway results

Through the end of December, I was on a posting hiatus due to traveling outside the country through Christmas - I'm acutely aware there may not be anyone hanging on when there is a new post here and honestly, I might be having some self-existential doubts about card blogging going forward.

If nothing else however, I look to end 2022 with a post featuring what I claimed from the Dime Boxes blog - where I want to go through some cards one-by-one as a way of appreciating what I received.

This Sparky Anderson Detroit Tigers oddball is a larger than a regular sized card, but was too fun to ignore - where the Hall of Fame manager is chatting up a young fan.

I was going to mention how I didn't really like odd-sized cards that are either too big or too small - but go figure I claimed one card that is a little larger and one card that is a little smaller than a regular sized card.

I'm not sure what drew me into this card, except it's vintage and it's fun to see where the batter is not wearing batting gloves - while imagining him ready to take a big whack at the ball during some early 1970s game action.

I claimed this retro card because it looks like a fun looking insert inspired by a vintage oddball issue - sometimes I want cards that are just a little different.

I couldn't imagine claiming every single card I saw, but this shiny Mike Trout was certainly a keeper - this card ends up really popping in-hand.

For all the cards posted, this oddball was kind of a no brainer as well - I don't know how many Mark McGwire cards show him trying to barrel his way past a catcher in some play at the plate collision action.

I get my Matt Duffy Angels card for my Angels all-time team register collection - this Vintage Stock parallel ends up being a little more fancy than a regular base card.

I really liked this boxed set oddball card of a Hall of Famer who'd spend the twilight of his big league career with the Angels - it's the most random, irrelevant card, but just something a little different than the usual Topps, Donruss, Fleer or Score flagship issues from the junk wax era.

Like the Anderson at the top of the post, this oddball was too fun to ignore where the vintage slugger appears with a child - this could be a centerpiece page card, where Killebrew appears on a card for a cause, rather than the countless issues where it's basically the typical baseball card.

I ended up claiming a Hunter Greene rookie parallel card for fun, just because despite an up-and-down season for the first year big leaguer - he really showed promise, striking out 164 batters in just 125 2/3 innings pitched.

I claimed this card to add some old-school flavor to my stack - maybe I like the 'lil color match action going on with the red borders and the red showing from Simmons' uniform to his cap.

I guess like this card for a number of reasons, where there is some dirt fetish going on as Rickey looks to have a moment to gather himself - it's also a hats-off card and really looking closely, Rickey has a chain of some sort hanging from his neck.

Besides the cards I claimed, there was also a small stack of Angels added - maybe featuring a couple of guys I'd rather forget [Josh Hamilton and Zack Cozart], a couple guys I haven't thought in about 10 years [Torii Hunter and Jered Weaver] and a young guy like like Reid Detmers who still looks to get better with more big league experience.

These three were added as well, which ends up a little 'no context' in my book - but there is always room to add cards of legends in my collection.

Night Owl 5,000-card repack giveaway results

I was able to jump in on Greg's post giving away cards and found a large bubble mailer in my mail box this past week - I tend to refer to him as the card blogging 'sage,' but what hasn't been said about him?

If nothing else over the years, since he has been published in Beckett publications - he has evolved into an expert, an authority figure posting about baseball cards, the Dodgers, Ron Cey, 1975 Topps, old school, vintage, oddballs and the various life issues that may occasionally take priority over cardboard.

I might not always be interested in the things he has posted about, but if he has a new post up - it's probably worth taking a moment to check it out.

I couldn't wait to just to tear into the my package and find 9 team set bags stuffed with assorted cards - N.O. also threw in a 1992 Donruss pack [15 cards] that counted as part of the 253 total cards I ended up with.

A good number of cards was Angels material, which is no surprise since obviously that is the team I collect - I like the minor league Garret Anderson, the 2002 Topps 206 Anderson, the oddball Rod Carew and the old school Don Baylor cards.

There was the occasional star power - I'm not sure if Matt Olson is on that same level as the other guys, but he has been a bonafied slugger through his big league career.

Some odds and ends to go through like parallels, oddballs, old school and vintage - the Topps Fire Victor Robles is a rookie-year shiny, though his potential has dimmed over the years.

The 1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals cards aren't something that would normally pique my interest and I'm not a card back 'enthusiast' either - but I like how the backs look compared to a regular Topps card from that era, where there is a bit of color and the stock feels textured and creamy.

To be completely random, these were thrown into my stash - I remember sitting through a KISS concert about 6 years ago, maybe the only concert I've ever attended and in the middle, the crowd was basically made to recite the pledge of allegiance.

The Angels, In Order Jim Abbotts

He shuttered his blog a while ago, but Tom, at The Angels, In Order blog made a couple of recent posts to give away cards - I was able to snag some of the unfamiliar Abbott cards, notably the Classic branded issues including the 1989 rookie year card picturing a heralded, but unproven Abbott wearing No. 60 in spring training.

I like the mid 1990s cards [1996 Circa x2 and 1996 Fleer] - even though that time really symbolized the end of Abbott's run as an viable big league pitcher.

Dime Boxes 10th anniversary give away results

It's fun checking when Nick over at Dime boxes posts his latest card hauls and poring over blog is the closest thing to making me feel like a Stan - I was able to pick out several cards from his blog anniversary celebration where he had a 10 post marathon gifting cards to those who wanted them.

I tried not to impose too much on his generosity by claiming only so many cards - my favorites are probably the Mike Schmidt, Fred Lynn oddball, Bo Jackson promo and the Topps rookie year subset feat. Shohei Ohtani / Ichiro.

As much as I've read Nick's blog over the past 5-6 years, I just have not interacted with him like other collectors who may do trades and /or send him stuff [and vice versa] - besides the cards, it was nice touch to personalize things with a short note.