Mini collection confessions through my card show rummage

Maybe it's been for a couple of years, but I've been at a crossroads with my mini-collection cards - I love making them keepers out in the wild, but I've gotten overwhelmed with just thow many I've gone out and brought home.

I haven't actually listed out the past couple of year's worth of cards somewhere like a spreadsheet - where I've counted them up as a year-to-year achievement where I can see how many cards I've picked up and how many towards specific collecting topics.

Maybe the worst part is having the actual cards sitting in loose bricks or in boxes - where I can't dig them up on a whim, be able to look at them where the cards maybe displayed in a binder to flip through or have it where I only have 'so many.'

I'm not really shying away from more loose cards, it's just I need to find ways back to accounting for them - as well as finding the motivation to get back into managing bloats and backlogs with these loose cards.

Awesome action cards - I do not know whether I've ever had the card, but grabbed the 2003 Topps Jim Thome #71 with the Mountain Dew signage in the background.

Awesome action cards - I'm not sure if it's an 'odd thing,' but find the 1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess Greg Maddux #6 funny because he is pitching with sunglasses on; I assume he is pitching either live BP or an intrasquad game, rather than at an actual MLB game.

There is a lot of signage in the 1998 Upper Deck John Smoltz #32 - so it's a kind of fun to identify them.

I've tried to collect what I call 'good job, game over' cards like 1998 Upper Deck Luis Gonzalez Houston Astros #103 - where a player is shown congratulating one or more teammates at the end of a win.

I can imagine myself being a big leaguer with a sense of accomplishment and/or relief to be able to go out onto the field and celebrate a victory - even if it is only one game out a 162-game schedule.

It looks like Gonzalez is congratulating Craig Biggio here - so a HOFer cameo is pretty cool too.

Awesome outfield action and inking it up cards - because I was able to get him to sign something once in-person, I find it fun to find images of the perpetually grumpy Albert Belle doing any sort of 'fan service.'

Tools of ignorance - I always waffle on whether cards of star players or better should go into my mini-collections or my decade stars collections.

When I can pick up old loose cards of Ivan Rodriguez or Mike Piazza at the bulk level, where the cards do not matter - I maybe content to add them into my mini-collections where I can have some star power.

I'm not not sure whether I had the Russell Martin card before, but it looks like Carlos Beltran is shown walking back to the dugout - I might have tabbed it as a 'bonus baby' card where a better player is shown on a lesser player's card, but a case can be made where Martin was a low-key star at points of his big league career.

1995 Raging Color Classics Burlington Bees Jeff Poor #15

For my 'inking it up' mini-collection, I managed to sneak this obscure team set card purchase - picturing this one-time minor leaguer in the act of grabbing a ball along the railing to sign.

To get on a soapbox for a little bit, with people generally being 'weird' about getting autographs and pro teams from the majors to the minors putting up barriers around the field in the guise of protecting fans - the days of player / fan interaction will be reserved for only VIPs and maybe a simple scene like card picture shows will not be a thing, even at your Podunk ballpark [which may not even exist anymore] in the 21st century.

As far as tracking down a copy of the card, maybe I was looking up some Jesse Ibarra cards, because I wrote to the guy TTM over 20 years ago and he had some ‘goofy’ minor league feat like hitting grand slams from both sides of the plate in one game - Ibarra shows up in the set where the Poor card was from and I might have saved a listing for the Poor card on my COMC watch list.

I guess the Bees [a one time farm team of the San Francisco Giants in the mid 1990s] set can still be purchased on eBay, so the card may not be as obscure where no listings are found - still, where was I going to find a copy of the card outright being sold as a single [?]

Goofing off in the middle of the night, I relented to grab the card [for a 'hefty' price of $1.45] just because it might be a card that might be stuck on my wantlist in perpetuity - I wanted to be able to have in my port and be able to wax poetic about it because it's just too random.

Images courtesy of COMC.com

Inking it up collection - a visual guide

Collecting autographs in-person or the idea of getting something signed is one of my last links to what I was doing when I was in my late teens - I would never, ever consider myself too old to get something signed by any person I could get an autograph from, though reality tells me otherwise.

Maybe the opportunities are not there and/or are too commercialized to be as pure as getting a card or a ball signed at a spot like a ball game - but maybe as a nod to years I've spent literally chasing after signatures, I collect the cards picturing players 'inking it up' for fans.

It maybe a random factoid, but I was able to get in-person autographs from 22 of the 27 players pictured on these group of cards, spanning about 30 years - I may have stories from the 22 guys I got autographs from, though I missed out on five guys as far as getting their autograph in-person.

1. Babe Ruth - obviously, though I was going for Lou Gehrig and neither one signed when the New York Yankees came into town one year.

2. Roberto Alomar - I've always seen him as a prima donna of sorts and the only time I'd ever remember him signing was when he was playing for the Cleveland Indians and on a night when I wasn't around.

As the story retold to me goes, someone was heckling him after a game for perhaps ignoring fans on his way out of the ballpark - to shut the heckler up, Alomar proceeds to sign for everyone, but the individual who gave him a hard time.

3. Kirby Puckett - maybe forced to retire the year before I was graphing at my local big league park and my only apparent successes with are TTM.

4. John Smiley - mostly pitched in the National League, before Interleague play was a thing and I was really only getting my autographs at an American League ballpark when I first started.

5. Kim Batiste - I was more into cards when this junk wax era utility man was playing.

Featured autograph - Kevin Mitchell

I picked up the 1994 Topps Gold for my 'inking it up' mini-collection and go figure, ended up getting the card signed at the 2016 MLB All-Star Fan Fest - the focus of my 'image based' mini-collections is on the cards and I like the keep the cards unsigned because when a card is autographed, it usually obscures the image on the card.

On the other hand, an autograph signed in a controlled, organized situation - can make a 5-cent card with a unique picture stand out a little more than a similar, unsigned card.

More collecting topics odds and ends

Hats-off - players wear caps on the field and batting helmets at the plate, so it maybe nice to see an occasional baseball card image of these players captured without headgear.

1996 Topps Stadium Club Cal Ripken #1 - Virtual Reality

2010 Upper Deck Ichiro Suzuki #SB-172 - Biography insert

Inking it up

1997 Pinnacle Denny’s Frank Thomas #4 of 29

1997 Upper Deck SP Albert Belle #15 of 25 - Inside Info insert; this card has a pull tab feature with player bio / stats; on the reverse image is of Belle signing something.

2001 Upper Deck Legends of New York Babe Ruth #128

2002 Upper Deck Vintage Ichiro Suzuki #DP1 - Day at the Park insert

2006 Upper Deck Prince Fielder #976

2004 Fleer Sweet Sigs Mike Piazza #8 of 25 BH - Ballpark Heroes insert

Players smiling - though different, I count both players with some sort of smile on their cards and players laughing on their cards as part of this mini-collection.

1993 Upper Deck Barry Bonds #HR6 - Home Run Heroes insert

2000 Upper Deck Yankees Legends Mickey Mantle #55

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.

Trying to do something with my commons

When I can, I'm pulling cards out of my three 3,200 boxes representing my 'A-Z archive' of cards - I hope I'm not making more of a mess but I'm trying to see if there applicable cards to extract from the 'rank and file' cards I've hoarded over the years.

Inking it up - chasing for autographs at a baseball game is my other hobby besides collecting baseball cards, so it's nice to see moments where players signing for fans are captured.

PEDs - a backup, 'scrub' catcher in the mid 1990's found himself using steroids and years after his professional playing career was done, found himself in the Mitchell report.

Tools of ignorance - I've collected cards with catchers or other players [goofing off] pictured in catching equipment, though cards with catchers in game-action shots i.e. plays at the plate adds a little bit more exciting element to the collection.