Some junk wax era finds at the card show

When I go to a card show, maybe I have delusions that I'm going to come away with an important card in either value and/or sentiment - but the reality is I haven't been about that collecting life where I do any sort of homework on targeting a bigger card.

More often that not, I get sidetracked and stick digging around more bulk / value box material - where I just like picking through cards I can actually thumb through.

At a card show date, I was digging through a dollar or '6 for $5' box off one seller - I ended up grabbing about 18 cards, none probably older than 1995, but fun to take ownership of like the following cards.

1986 Utah Sports Card Co. The Wonderful World of Wally Joyner at BYU - maybe not particularly hard to find as a set on eBay, but I ended up grabbing the ones I could find from the 14-card set since they were unfamiliar to me.

I thought I had picked up a Joyner card from the set a couple of years ago - but it turned out to be from another BYU themed set put out by the same company.

1986 Sportflics cards of Rod Carew, Don Mattingly, Mike Schmidt and Reggie Jackson - besides vaguely remembering buying a box of 1989 Sportlics at a toy store at an outlet 25 years ago, I've never given Sportflics cards much thought other than dated relics from the junk wax years.

However, there might renewed interest in the loose cards I find in the wild - where the illusion of motion kind of amuse me.

Teasing some low end finds from a show

At the recent card show date I was at, I stumbled upon a seller who had quarter bins set out from a bigger card show I went to over the summer - I had to stop digging around then, since I didn’t have loose dollar bills in-hand to pay for smaller, rinky-dink purchases.

I remembering leaving a copy of a 1991 Topps Archives The Ultimate 1953 Set Eleanor Engle #332 - a card I could have instantly made a keeper for curiosity sake, where it pictured a woman who once signed a pro contract in baseball.

Go figure I did find a copy of the Engle card somewhere, so I wasn't about to look for now - though the seller had some newer, current year material this time around, thumbing through the junk wax era material time forgot ends up being an exercise in futility.

As is, finding a 1992 Allan Kaye's Sports Cards News Magazine Multi-Sport Jim Abbott #23 oddball was an excuse - to see if I could find enough cards to make at least a $5.00 purchase.

Maybe it's about trying to fill idle time while at a card show, but despite the relative quality of any particular box or price point - I'll be digging and digging, where after finding that one card, it's like a challenge to put together a 'lil keeper stack.

1990 Eclipse Stars of the Negro Leagues Oliver Marcelle #17 - it may not be a comprehensive thing that really gets off the ground, but I might be looking to build a loose card project dedicated to Negro League players.

1990 Eclipse Stars of the Negro Leagues Sammy Hughes #35 - I'll pat myself on the back for making a couple of oddball box set cards dedicated to the Negro Leagues keepers.

1995-96 Skybox Premium Dell Curry #12 - x2; Michael Jordan (in Background)

I don't know what compelled me to move over to the other sport portion of the quarter boxes put out - but it paid off when I found a copy of this card.

Regardless of value and the idea I could go into eBay or other online source to pick up one lousy copy - this became one of those scratch the itch cards in recent years.

I ended up finding one more copy and made both keepers since I could not believe I found it like I did - it's fun when a card in my memory banks somewhere as a 'want' could be found just sitting in some quarter box at a card show.

1993-94 Topps Stadium Club Frequent Flyers Dan Majerle #353 - Michael Jordan (in Background)

This find wasn't on the same level as finding the Curry - but it was also a card I was aware of where Jordan makes a cameo.

I do not not want the countless basic Michael Jordan cards printed over the decades - I just want the ones where he is making cameos on other players' cards.

1992 Allan Kaye's Sports Cards News Magazine Multi-Sport Fred McGriff #54 - I made this a keeper since this was the other star baseball player card I found from the same oddball set as the Abbott.

1988 Donruss Baseball's Best Jose Canseco #22 - as it was once intended to capitalize on collector's interests, I find myself gravitating towards cards from junk wax era releases that ended up being a little different than your flagship Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Score and eventually Upper Deck products.

1993 Cartwrights Magazine Aces Kirby Puckett #10 - if I can find them in the wild, I maybe more open to making oddballs like this one keepers, to supplant the other cards of players in my decade / binder stars collections.

Some online rummages - the deeper cuts

Maybe I have not dwelled too much on doing a round up for a bigger order of cards that comes from online purchase - but it's kind of a thought exercise and maybe I don't get the same joy if I do not pore over my assorted claims.

2007 Upper Deck 1989 Reprints Roy Campanella #89UD-RC - I'll make keepers of cards I find loose in the wild since there is lingering sentiment over the 1989 Upper Deck set design.

2003 Topps Postseason Highlights Gold Troy Glaus #721 - Serial #’d 1128/2003 - Angels Top 100 fuel; now I might need the regular card to pair this with.

1998 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr's Hot List Roger Clemens #17 - I wanted this card at some point, actually picked up a copy but that might be MIA or counted in my cheat sheet leaderboards for my decade / binder stars collections.

1998 Topps Jeff Montgomery #184 - not as showy as his 1995 Topps Stadium Club card #266, where he is posed in front of a fire truck, the one-time closer from the 1990s is posed with a fire extinguisher.

1998 Topps Jim Edmonds #75 - I have the Minted in Cooperstown version in my Angels all-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers collection, so I figured I'd pair it with the base card, even though the Minted in Cooperstown is really separate set and not a parallel.

1989 Score Paul Gibson (Hand on Crotch in Background) #595 - x2 - I made claims on a couple of copies posted and I actually got both cards; I found the MIA copy I once lost years ago and put in one of my all-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers collection, but the copy I got from a last year [from the same seller go figure] might still be bundled with an MIA purchase I have not sorted further.

1998 Fleer Tradition Golden Memories Hideki Irabu #316 - this was a freebie claim, but ends up being subset rather than a real insert; it's hard to think not to dwell on the idea that Irabu was a sore disappointment, but he was a human interest story as well, where he might not have gotten resolution in his life.

2023 Topps Finest Flashbacks Finest Phenoms Masataka Yoshida #55 - I grabbed this rookie year card, where it teases a retro design.

1996 Upper Deck Juan Guzman #474 - I don't know whether I had a copy of this card, but claimed it because it's a big glove card.

1998 Fleer Tradition '63 Vintage '63 Jay Buhner #54 - a game face Buhner with a wad in his cheeks looks a little dejected as he throws his batting gloves to someone; maybe he just ended an inning like he struck out.

1998 Upper Deck Jamey Wright #82 - Pitchers hitting

1998 Upper Deck Armando Reynoso #167 - I'm not sure whether this goes into my men at work collection, where the pitcher working on laying down a bunt or in my pitchers hitting collection; this would not count as a bunt card since it's not a game action card.

2003 Topps Chrome Scott Spiezio #407 - I might be looking to make the random Angels card keepers, where maybe I want to come up with enough cards for certain guys to make a page for or to use as needed for a regional loose card project.

2005 Topps Total Adrian Gonzalez #249 - Stadium card

2023 Choice Portland Sea Dogs Niko Kavadas Card #14 - he made his MLB debut a day after I claimed this minor league team set card.

1998 Upper Deck Todd Worrell #113 - I'm not sure what to do with a card like this where Lee Smith makes a cameo; the two may have been junk wax era contemporaries, they might have been teammates at one point.

Smith is the one eventually inducted in the Hall of Fame so maybe it's a bonus baby card - even if it could be a star-on-star cameo card.

1988 Mother's Cookies Oakland Athletics Stadium Giveaway Matt Young #21 of 28 - he is a lefty, but he is having fun with a righthander's glove, posted in a fielding position.

1996 Fleer Jim Edmonds #46 - the random Angels bulk card for my player collection.

2003 Topps Bazooka Bobby Kielty #137 - Hats-off; National anthem

2003 Upper Deck MVP Mike Lieberthal #304 - Retro uniform

2003 Upper Deck Victory Bobby Abreu #68 - Retro uniform

2012 Topps Adron Chambers RC #90 - this has a cut on the surface

1998 Fleer Tradition Jay Bell #121 - a fun card where it looks like he is pictured with presumably his son.

1998 Fleer Tradition Kevin Brown #27 - the same image was used for his 1998 Fleer Tradition '63 Vintage '63 insert; this looks like the uncropped, horizontal image of Brown sliding headfirst into a base.

1998 Fleer Tradition Jay Buhner #68 - the same image was used for his 1998 Fleer Tradition '63 Vintage '63 insert.

1999 Pacific Crown Collection Orlando Palmeiro #8 - a dependable, fourth outfielder type from the mid 1990s through the early 2000s, I want to be able to add a card of his to an Angels all-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers collection.

1998 Fleer Tradition Alan Benes #141 - Pitchers hitting

1999 Pacific Crown Collection Norberto Martin #6 - needed a card of Martin for my Angels Opening Day starters collection.

1998 Fleer Tradition '63 Vintage '63 Jason Dickson #1 - Pitchers hitting

1976 SSPC Brian Downing #141 - this is an 'old school '70s cool' card of a player who would eventually be a consistent bat for the Angels through the 1980s.

1981 TCMA The 1960's Billy Martin (Black Back; No MLB logo) #1981-364 - just an old-timey looking card from a retro, tribute set from the early 1980s.

1999 Topps Stadium Club Bruce Smith #89 - this might be UV era bulk fodder from a long time ago, but I grabbed this NFL card because of the great action shot of Smith taking quarterback Steve Young to the ground.

2021 Super Products Pieces of the Past George Washington #3 - I may bite on cards of no-context non-sport subjects on a whim.

Credit where credit is due - Hideo Nomo

I am thinking what little blurb I could whip up for this pick up and how did I even come up to thinking about looking for such a card - maybe it was about 'out odding the odd,' where I want to see if I can top what I might have seen posted on a blog or social media.

The truth is that I saw this card on someone else's post on Twitter / X and went on eBay to see if there was a copy I could snag - there are screenshots on my camera roll of the collector's post on Twitter, where he received this a copy card as part of a mail day, so there you go I guess.

I associate Nomo's big league career with the Los Angeles Dodgers through the late 1990s and the Boston Red Sox and then back to the Dodgers through the early 2000s, before he really was kind of done - there are parts of Nomo's pro career in America, where he was lost in the wilderness.

From looking at his Baseball Reference register, this card was apparently from when Nomo pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers AAA team back in 1999 - it's real odd seeing Nomo immortalized in a stint for a minor league team.

Random card buys - Ivan Rodriguez

I claimed these Pudge Rodriguez cards from an online seller for $0.50 each because they tease some play at the plate action - these cards might end up as star power for my tools of ignorance collection or possibly highlights on a binder page I may make for the HOF catcher.

As is, only when I gave these cards a second look, did I realize the images might be taken from the same play - where a baserunner slides into home plate in the 2000 Fleer Ultra card, while Rodriguez gestures to the umpire he made the tag on the 2000 Topps Stadium Club card.

I really want to know who the Oakland baserunner is on the card - presuming the image used was from the year before the cards were made, my best guess would be Tony Phillips, who came back to play for the A's in his final MLB season in 1999.

A random card buy - Kyren Williams

I saw this 2022 Score Rookies #332 card earlier in the year and squirreled an image of it away - that protective head gear made me do a double take.

It may not be such a big deal, but for a moment I thought it was the goofiest card - I wanted a copy for an oddities collection I have or maybe even for a collection of all-time Top 100 cheap 'zz' keepers project that never quite got off the ground.

I think I saw an expired auction listing from a seller on social media who runs these low end card auctions - I asked about the card since no one bid on it, but I don't think the seller understood or cared I wanted the card outright.

I started claiming 'quarters' off another social media seller just because he teased this card in a sales post - I probably would not have bought the 200 odds and ends if not for the copy of the card.

Go figure it wasn't actually tallied up in the final order and while I wasn't charged - I had to make it a micro mini mission to secure a copy, where it was still on my mind.

I went looking for the card on eBay and while it's probably a dollar card shipped on eBay all day long - I bought it off a listing for about twice as much but the card is now secured in-hand.

FWIW I did not know who the player on the card was and for all I cared, he might have been a practice squad guy - however, it looks like the second year NFL pro has had a breakout season as a running back, rushing for over 1,000 yards.

COMC mail #3 FIN - the rest of the mess

Mini-collection cards #1 - I'm sure there are other cards that look like Mike Jackson does on his 1975-76 Topps card, but I've wanted it for the past 2 or 3 years just because the giant afro he sports is symbolic a different era of pro sports, where it was big hair, facial hair for baseball guys, afros for many of the pro basketball players through the 1970s.

At some point last year, I was hunting for more oddball mini-collection adds and I found some Venezuelan Winter League cards - the card pictured shows a manager arguing with an umpire, so that added 'awesome action' is a nice touch on a type of card that wouldn't register in my mind.

I grabbed the 2020 Topps SP Photo Variation of Xander Bogaerts because I'd passed up another copy of the same card in-person and while not worth much - it's a nice picture where Bogaerts in a tux looks like he's at a party somewhere looking classy.

I grabbed the 2020 Topps SP Photo Variation of Rhys Hoskins because gum card images are harder to find - I always make them keepers regardless of player.

2007 Topps Chrome Mickey Mantle Story - I'm ambivalent over Mantle retro cards where they fairly plentiful and not that hard to find, but this particular insert has him playing the violin, so that's a fun card to add to my oddities collection.

Mini-collection cards #2 - I saw the 2019 Topps X Vlad Jr. “The Legend” Vladimir Guerrero Sr. off another card blogger's post and was inspired to grab one for inking it up collection; off the same set came the Lourdes Gurriel Sr. card, which ended up being a keeper for my bloodlines collection because he was a Cuban baseball legend who is the father of two big leaguers in Yuli and Lourdes.

More Venezuelan Winter League cards, featuring guys inking it up this time around - it's always nice to have a little change of pace, when my collections consist of mainstream branded MLB cards.

The last oddball card was a 1984 7-Up Chicago Cubs team issue of Tim Stoddard - it may have been a misfit purchase, but I've had on my mind as a 'bonus baby' card since Ryne Sandberg is supposedly the player lurking in the background.

Go figure, I end up finding a complete set, with Stoddard and all at a card show and paid $4 for the entire set - I might have grabbed the Stoddard for about $0.65.

Pitchers hitting photo variations - for potential mini-collection additions, it's a mini challenge for myself to grab cards off COMC featuring players I'm not really emotionally attached to.

I don't know if Noah Syndergaard will hit any home runs in 2022, whether there will be a normal MLB season or if the universal DH will come to play - I'm hoping his arm is sound to pitch in at least 150 odd innings for the Angels.

Maybe needlessly, I actually spend time wondering whether I should pick up these misc cards - where it gets especially harder when I only have so much left in my account [at one time] where I really play around whether I can still grab something at the dollar and under mark.

The 1973 Luis Alvarado seems like a card blogger cult favorite - though I actually grabbed the O-Pee-Chee version, so it's a little odder than his actual Topps card.

The 2017 Topps Museum Collection Roger Maris may not be a type of card that hard to find - but I wanted to find a keeper of an eternal fan favorite and a retro card from a higher end set might just hit the spot.

2019 Bowman Heritage Chrome Prospects Joey Bart - I'd grabbed this cheap chromed up parallel of a top prospect since I thought it might have been a nice find on the down low.

2020 Topps Home Run Challenge Mookie Betts - Betts seems like a type of player I wouldn't go out of my way to collect, but he's that nice, all-around player where I would pick up random cards if I saw them out in the wild.

I don't think the winner cards end up being worth much, but they might be nice oddballs - for the 2021 version of the challenge, I had some fun playing and guessing correctly some winning dates where players would homer.

My experiences with some junk boxes of doom - box 3.2

Maybe I find the pair of random cards unique in an odd sort of way - something I can goof on, whether there is really something to make fun of or perhaps not.

Maybe my first exposure to NBA cards was in the early 1990s and while I've never collected basketball seriously to this day - maybe the late 1980s Fleer stragglers are interesting to look at from an 'old school cool' point of view.

I remember the craze with these 1992 Topps Gold scratch off cards - a childhood friend's father bought at least a case of 1992 Topps boxes, to pull the contest cards and take advantage of using a pen light to see which areas would lead to 'winners.'

Through collecting sports cards, maybe I imagine myself as a historian - so while there is the tired caveat [these cards aren't worth anything], each are keepers for my 'beyond the glory' collection.

Finally, maybe a couple more 1994 Upper Deck SP wrong backs - I thought these kinds of errors where a Topps, junk wax era thing, not something that carried on through the early UV era.

Messing around with retro player interests

Continued from a card show, where I ended up grabbing a bunch of cards and maybe there was some buyer's remorse just as far as quantity goes - it's all fun and games digging for one, two, five or 10 more cards to add to my stack until I had to weed things out and realize the number of cards haven't been actually whittled down to a more saner number for what I'm willing to pay.

I overheard the seller's mantra, where basically if someone bought around 1,500 cards from him - that person would be made to pay $1,500, no discounts.

I'm not getting close to over a thousand cards but perhaps a 1/10th of that number and I realize you either pay the piper or walk away - go figure I've gravitated towards this seller's table just because he seems like he has the most accessible stuff.

He has countless monster boxes of baseball cards [in addition to most of the other sports and non sport like comic cards] to dwell on - where it's just not a lonely straggler box of bargain bin cards off a 'here and now' table that tend to focus on other than baseball.

I haven't prioritized chasing cards of retired legends and icons from the 1970s and before - but I'll take the more unique ones [either retro or actual playing days cards] as I find them to build up cards for a number of old school players whose cards I want to display in a binder.

The back of the Roberto Clemente oddball, Lou Brock oddball contest card and Johnny Bench OPC - besides any major manufacturer cards [at least at the time the cards were printed], maybe I'm trying to be more liberal in looking for cards that I may not have considered just 10-15 years ago.

I picked up a run of Hank Aaron cards and I like the Topps branded cards the best like the 1994 Topps Archives 1954, 2000 Topps Chrome reprints and 2002 Topps 206 mini - because the cards have been licensed and can use retro designs and/or images while the others feel like shabby oddballs from an unknown origin.

I thought the card on top left hand corner of the quartet was a 1984 Renata Galasso issue and this nearly confirms it - but the little copyright info on the bottom left corner is just a little different.

A modern rendition on an old time card can be weird at times, but while it's never going to ever have the history of the original - the Topps Chrome reprint of Aaron's 1956 Topps card is something real nice in hand.

Presumably the other Aaron was an unlicensed issue created for a card show event - it doesn't mean it's more collectible, but I'd prefer random cards that have a little bit of notable information rather than just something made up as a true 'fantasy' issue.

I thought I'd found some nice Pete Rose cards though the old-timey looking one from the left is a 1983 Starliner Stickers - it's nearly 40 year old, but it's unlicensed and not the 1960s.

I think the middle 'card' is a 1971 Dell MLM All-Star Stamps issue, though I'm not sure how it came to be where it was laminated - makes the odd size 'card' feel more sturdy, but how did it come to be?

The last Rose card looks to be a 1976 Wiffle Ball disc issue - I've always thought these cards without the big league logos from the 1970s and through the 1980s were rogue issues, though they are authorized by the players association, just not licensed by Major League Baseball.

You can find all sorts of odder stuff

At a monthly card show, I ended up grabbing a bunch of cards and maybe there was some buyer's remorse just as far as quantity goes - maybe I was glad I wasn't actually able to go to another show for the past couple of weekends just to take a break.

These weren't the centerpiece finds I built my keepers on - but the more the mini-collection stragglers and other and and ends to add into my collections somewhere.

1974 Topps Carlton Fisk #105 - is there something I'm missing here? I grabbed it because it's an old-school Hall of Fame catcher card with a play at the plate immediately looming.

However the vibrant colors​ looks just about 'washed out' where the card may have been 'bleached' out - maybe it's just the wonkiness of the printing process, but it doesn't quite look right to me.

The back of card looks OK where it still feels like a normal Topps card - maybe I'll see if I can pick up a copy with nicer colors on the front.

As far as mini-collections go, it's a game to occasionally hunt for images on the back of the card - I wouldn't be doing my doing my due dilligence if I ignored anything but that primary image.

Though he probably has a case for the Hall of Fame, Kevin Brown never was one of those warm and fuzzy guys where you build a fan favorite narrative around past what he did on the mound - still I stumbled upon a serial #'d card with Brown wearing a batting helmet, presumably where he was involved in a hitting situation as a pitcher, so I had make it a keeper.

I like the pop around the borders on the serial #'d 1998 Donruss Studio parallel of Shawn Estes - he's obviously not hitting, but it looks like is running the bases, so I count those as well with their own sub - subset within my pitchers hitting collection.

I grabbed a pair of cards featuring a couple of nondescript minor leaguers - I might as well spend a couple of dollars to make their novelty cards mine.

Because it's a Dufex finish insert, I thought the 1993 Score Select Roberto Alomar card with the George Brett 'star on star' cameo would pop - but the card I picked up may have been subject of the natural conditions, so the 'shiny' effect isn't as pronounced compared to something 'pack fresh.'

I grabbed a certified autograph card of Blake Taylor just because he is a So. Cal local guy - I may have at least a couple of his cards years ago as a Pittsburgh Pirates draft pick, but anything inked up is nice.

Even if he is more of a rank-and-file lefty reliever currently with the Houston Astros - he has made good on his promise to get to the big leagues and have some success.

I didn't know what to do when I stumbled upon a couple of minor league team issues of Jim Fregosi and his son - the elder Fregosi [R.I.P.] was probably the Angels first team star but was pictured here after his run as the Angels manager for 4 seasons through the late 1970s.

Considering more of an oddball, I figured to pick up the card as a building block - to see if I can add more mainstream, playing days cards of Fregosi as an Angel.

I guess I had to grab the card of the son as well and while there is an immediate 'bloodines' tie - I'll add the card of Jim Fregosi Jr. to count towards my local players collection instead.

I grabbed a card of Mel Allen, a notable broadcasting great who I remember mostly as the host of This Week in Baseball - a show I remember groaning about whenever I'd see it on Saturday mornings during the late 1980s, likely because I wasn't into baseball yet and it marked the end of Saturday-morning cartoon programming.