Card show pickups - mining for the miscellaneous

At the card show I went to, I was doing work digging through a seller's cheapo boxes - after tallying things up, it looks like I grabbed 108 cards that were 6 for $1, another 5-10 cards that were 3 for $1 and/or $0.50 each.

These were three Tyler Wade rookies out of the main brick of '6 for $1' cards I picked up - I wouldn't have cared about him before, though I got his autograph in-person years ago in the Arizona Fall League.

However, the Angels picked him up and while his upside is probably still a utility guy, he is relatively young and if he turns out to have some decent moments as an Angel - then I have rookies of a rank-and-file guy to root for.

These were '3 for $1' as indicated by the red Sharpie mark on the penny sleeves - is it hard to see the Kyle Tucker prospect cards and the Mookie Betts insert pictured up top?

To show off, I'm taking photos of my cards rather than scanning them - but maybe I've never learned the ideal way to do so, where my blog images look relatively decent.

I think the Topps Gypsy Queen Chrome Eloy Jimenez is a box topper - Jimenez looks like he's a fun player to watch, so maybe he's a pick to click as far as collecting on the down low if I ever see his cards out in the wild.

I thought the Anthony Rendon was just another Topps Chrome parallel but it was a challenge to figure just exactly which one was it - further research reveals it's likely a Black and White Mini-Diamond Refractor parallel from Topps Chrome Lite, a product I simply wouldn't have thought about existing.

I vaguely knew that there was a 2021 Bowman Chrome Lite box - but I didn't realize it was made for Topps Chrome as well.

I don't know if a 2021 card of Honus Wagner excites me compared to a card of a relevant baseball subject who is living and playing - but it's another look at the guy who is on that tiny card worth millions, so I guess it's a keeper.

In the bottom row there is a 1984 Fleer Ryne Sandberg and maybe old-school, pre-junk wax era 1980s star cards are keepers - notably when Donruss and Fleer started to be a little bit more high brow looking and may have been harder to find than comparable Topps issues.

Ramon Martinez was on fire for about a couple of seasons where he was the better known Martinez brother through the early 1990s - it feels odd to actually spend $0.33 on a random insert card of his in 2021, but what can I do when it shows him hitting?

Honestly, I don't know if I keep up with any sort of serious team collecting out in the wild - but it's a no brainer to grab a shiny parallel like the Topps Chrome pink Jared Walsh.

These were the $0.50 pick ups - the harder to see pair pictured up top are insert card of Vladimir Guerrero and Ichiro, who seem like they are a pair of bloggers' favorites.

Actually getting opportunities to get their autographs in-person back in the day - maybe it's even more a thing for me to make some of their cards I see keepers.

Are more comtemporary retro cards like the pair of Ted Williams keepers or are they just miscellaneous cards no one looks over twice [?] - I want cards of here and now players but want to build on the idea that certain old timers' cards are not going to get past me, notably inserts, parallels and/or base cards from more premium products.

I thought the Jon Lester was some kind of die-cut insert - I looked it up and it's only really base card from 2019 Panini Leather and Lumber and while its neat, I don't even know if the ridged surface is supposed to simulate anything.

Finally there is a 1981 Fleer Star Stickers Bruce Sutter card - he's holding a bat, so it's another add to my pitchers hitting collection.

My experiences with some junk boxes of doom - box 4.2

I think these are complete L.A.P.D. / DARE Los Angeles Dodgers sets from 1995 and 1996 - maybe at least a couple of cards from the perforated sheets have been damaged due to the natural conditions, but most cards are fairly clean and if I wanted to separate them, I don't need scissors to do so.

These oddballs are not worth anything but maybe after a certain number of years [25 years] - cards like this end up starting to be old-school curiosities, where it stirs up some sort of faux collecting nostalgia for cards I've never hand in-hand before.

More junk wax era singles in semi-rigids holders - I want say these cards wouldn't look out of place in card magazines from the era, even though the players pictured on the cards never had that lasting power in the hobby.

Maybe I'll set a number of these cards aside in a collecting time capsule of sorts - where I'm reminded that many of these cards were coveted as 'here and now' material from the years I really started collecting.

Finally there are these Topps stickers from 1986 - they are odd sized, flimsy and not something I'm familiar with at all.

I'll try and sort them out just to see if there is any more star power - but this might be it with Robin Yount, half and half combo of Goose Gossage / Jack Morris, half of Pete Rose, Wade Boggs and Jim Rice.

I don't know if I'll bother looking up who's who on these random stickers - like one showing a pair of longtime, shortstops who won Rookie of the Year awards [Alfredo Griffin and Ozzie Guillen] or another picturing Dan Gladden and Dwight Evans.

My experiences with some junk boxes of doom - box 4.1

This was the last of the 4 boxes I bought for $3 each off a bargain table at a card show.

This maybe dumpster diving at its finest - not everything is going to be salvageable, but I'll see what I can rummage through for the curiosity factor.

To this day I love digging through cards and sorting them out, though with these boxes - it was more about hoping I wouldn't have to toss certain cards that are too dingy to make keepers otherwise.

In this box, the oddball panels of cards are definitely what caught my eye - I'm not really an oddball collector, though perhaps I want to see if I can pick up types of overlooked, non-mainstream issues I still don't really see as 'real cards.'

Because I don't trust my hand cutting skills and may just give up trying to separate these cards individually - I'm probably going to leave these cards 'as is.'

Just a couple of the cards are damaged [too bad one is the Wally Joyner], but rather than cut things up where the suspect cards will mostly likely end up in the circular file - I'm keeping the panels together where the cards in their entirety are still presentable.

Stragglers from the dollar boxes of doom

I was at a new card show earlier this past month, trying to traverse the circuit of tables, but didn't feel like I had the patience where maybe I get a little self-conscious about what I collected - besides the showcase tables, heavy concentration on more NBA, NFL, soccer and nonsport cards, what I'd consider the baseball first, weekend warrior, swap meet, tables I can really get into were just about non-existent.

Go figure, I was just kind of idle digging through the dollar boxes from the table I've always bought from at the monthly show - maybe the value boxes were relatively thinned out, where I was going to impose a hard limit on what I may pick up.

When it comes to that loose card hunt however, the fun is having no real plan because YMMV with each row of a value box - where it's kind of like going down a rabbit hole hunting for odds and ends.

Maybe I'd settle on 10 cards, then the numbers crept up to a little more and then I found other cards - if I'd put all the cards back and just walked away, then no harm, no foul, but go figure, I was really loitering around and for better or for worse, ended up with 20 keepers.

These cards may not be dollar material, but even if I'd only pay $0.50 or less for each of them - I feel like having them in hand for basically $0.50 more probably justifies cards that end up being mini-collection adds.

1997 Denny's 3-D Holograms Jackie Robinson #29 - awesome action; baserunning; plays at the plate; 'H'
1991 Star Nolan Ryan Promo Red - blank back; awesome action; unique perspectives; interviews
1996 Pinnacle Summit Foil Barry Bonds #107 - inking it up; there is another card I picked up previously featuring an image shot at the same time, but is cropped where it may not be obvious Bonds was signing anything.
2002 Upper Deck National Convention Sammy Sosa #N-2 - inking it up; I thought this was regular Sosa card and didn't think much of it but came around on making it a keeper because he is signing autographs and it's a little odder issue.

I'm not sure about picking up blank back cards I'm unfamiliar with where I worry it's not a 'real' card - but I'll take my chances with the Ryan.

Basketball
1996/97 Upper Deck UD3 Hardwood Prospects Ray Allen #5 - even though the card maybe only worth what I paid, what I believe is a rookie of a certified all-time great should be a keeper, right?
2019-20 Panini Chronicles Donruss Rated Rookie Nicolo Melli RC #197 - I would have skipped passed this card but my eagle eye spotted LeBron making a cameo along the side, so I had to make this a reluctant keeper.
2021 NBA Panini Hoops Lebron James #146 - an actual card of 'Bron, I'm not sure if I really have any of his cards, so I'll grab it.

Football
2020 Panini Donruss Optic Tom Brady #92
2020 Panini Select Concourse Patrick Mahomes #2

Baseball
2021 Donruss Diamond Kings Blue Holo Fernando Tatis #27
2021 Donruss Blue Holo Fernando Tatis #71
2021 Donruss Rated Rookie Blue Holo Dylan Carlson #37 - maybe 'Mr. Irrelevant' here where this might have been the last card I grabbed to make my little stash an even $20.
1969 Topps Dick Allen #350 - Allen doesn't register much for me like it would for others perhaps, but I maybe thirsty for the occasional old-school and/or vintage card when I see them for a buck in the wild.
2019 Topps Heritage High Numbers Hot Box Purple Andrew McCutchen #THC-702
2020 Topps Gallery Heritage Freddie Freeman #HT-3

More baseball
2010 Yankees Topps 27 World Championships Mickey Mantle 1951 Topps #YC14
2010 Yankees Topps 27 World Championships Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps #YC15 - the '52 Mantle is such an iconic card, so even if it's to be reprinted in perpetuity [who knows what happens when Fanatics steps in], any Topps branded replications are keepers.
2010 Yankees Topps 27 World Championships Mickey Mantle 1953 Topps #YC16
1986 Donruss Fred McGriff RC #28
1999 Revolution Tripleheader Craig Biggio #24 - it's not that I've intentionally sought them out, but Pacific branded inserts and parallels maybe low-key keepers if and when I find them.

Card show pickups - the odds and ends

Through the dog days, I don't really know if my 'card show summer' is coming to an end, where in reality it will just roll over into 'card show fall' and so forth - but maybe I need some time to recap and organize all the cards I've picked up over the past couple of months, where I need a little bit of time I can justify being able to rummage for more random cards.

I'm trying to break down a 125 card purchase to make multiple posts in a more managable way - where I don't get overwhelmed about trying to cram everything into one post that will come and go.

My 'oddball mall' material pick ups were made to see if I can get into these types of cards - maybe I can consider them cutesy or unique pick ups on the down low like the Jimmy Dean's Ken Griffey Jr., but there is something missing with the cards with no logos.

These cards [there's only five of them], were mostly from the junk wax, so it's not like these are hard to find test issues or something of that ilk -the Don Larsen is actually from a 45-year old card set, but I have a tendency to disassociate any retro cards not issued during a player's career as something lesser, regardless of age.

The Pete Rose is from 1986 Leaf set - cards from reprinted Canadian versions of Donruss or Topps [O-Pee-Chee] can be considered oddballs, right?

The Kirby Puckett and Ryne Sandberg was from a boxed set - which may have been selling for $2 at the neighboring table where the card shop's [the host of the card show] bargain material was displayed.

These are my shiny card hauls and while the players are not necessarily outright favorites [maybe except Ichiro] - the cards maybe squirreled away in various loose card projects just because they 'pop.'

As much as possible, I'm never going to catch myself picking up any Panini Donruss cards [unopened packs or boxes] - but I'll pick up any loose parallels, where any Pink Fireworks parallel cards [they might not be apparent but like the Eugenio Suarez and Gerrit Cole shown] are simply keepers.

These are prospect / rookie material - for a moment I thought the Nate Lowe rookie was of Brandon Lowe, so I grabbed it.

The others have had Bowman cards before, so these aren't they first-year 'paper' cards and/or parallels - but Alek Manoah looks to be a probable decade stars / binder guy once I have enough cards of the big league pitching rookie, while the Grayson Rodriguez and Josh Jung are still working their way up the minor league ladder.