Random claims from an online purchase - Part two

1980s stars whose cheap cards I still like to make keepers in various ways - Sandberg was a pillar of the decade, so it was a moment for me seeing the posts on social media where he had passed, R.I.P.

Guys like Brett, Schmidt, Winfield and Ryan will be sorted according to the decades when they made their MLB debuts - but I wanted to show how their playing careers overlapped through the 1980s and the mid 1990s.

I'll probably add the 1987 Topps Clark rookie to a junk wax era themed curated set I'm trying to get off the ground - while pairing it with a newer faux version for comparison sake.

McGwire's card has been added as part of my mini-collections - where players are tipping their caps to the crowd.

1990s stars whose cheap cards I still like to make keepers in various ways - I actively collect Vladimir Guerrero [Sr.], where for other notable players, the lingering sentiment comes and goes.

I like the father and son duo card - though for now, I don't collect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cards like Vladdy Sr.

2000s stars whose cheap cards I still like to make keepers in various ways - I'll pick up the unique insert or base card, but I like the idea of letting things be, where former players from previous decades might be out sight, out of mind.

2010s-2020s stars whose cheap cards maybe worth making keepers in various ways - Jose Ramirez maybe a player I am trying to catch up on collecting in catch-all sort of way.

Maybe I'm obligated to appreciate the metronomic consistency to a non-geographic star - that has been under the radar for so long.

Six years into the current decade and I'm still trying to figure out who are the players that are going to have some lasting power on a national level - Henderson and JRod have shown flashes of stardom, so maybe they are two players to think about as long term stars.

GOATS - I'll make keepers out of the random cards of legendary and/or iconic players, even if I've never had their original vintage issues in-hand.

A pair of stragglers to finish off the portion I'll end up showing off - I don't know what I find more appealing about the Arraez card, either the throwback [Florida] Marlins uniform or the idea it's caked up with dirt.

Nootbaar is not a star by any means - but there is still novelty in the idea that he played for Team Japan in the WBC three years ago.

Random claims from an online purchase

These are some of the cards I've picked up lately - where I absorb someone else's odds and ends towards my collection, through various sales of dollar and under bulk.

Angels material - it’s like a reward to make keepers out of random Halos cards, where my focus isn’t always on them.

I probably haven’t considered picking up any Jo Adell cards in a couple of years - but through the first half of the MLB season, he looks to finally have blossomed from a bust into a serviceable MLB hitter with pop.

Maybe he ends up someone to collect all over again - where unique looking base cards and inserts end up being worth taking fliers on.

The Kikuchi card is a Houston Astros insert from 2024 Topps Japan Edition - it’s not an Angels card, but I might be looking to make keepers out some non-Angels stragglers.

I never trusted Kikuchi as a pitcher who could never avoid languishing with his control and gave up too many runs - despite the ability to tease nasty stuff.

A late 2024 run with the Astros seems to have turned his career around - where he has pitcher really well through the first half with the Angels in 2025.

I claimed the Ryan because it kind of ends up a neat card - but it looks like soft corners / wear.

I don't know about DeJesus but grabbed the card because it's a shiny first year Bowman Sapphire - where I don't really end up with hardly any cards from the countless Bowman releases during a particular year.

I already had a copy of the 2024 Topps Archives Schanuel rookie - but may squirrel away one into a themed curated set [100 cards] for the Angels.

Mix - mix - Hall of Famers Hoffman and Murray are part of my decade / binder stars collections, where I collect cards of all subjects lumped under that umbrella by default.

I'll passively make keepers out of unique looking base cards or inserts that catch my eye - where I am obligated to supplant the player collections I already have, even on a snail's pace where I kind of have to let things be sometimes.

I sometimes worry about the lasting power as far as a subject I want to keep picking up cards for under my decade stars umbrella - maybe it doesn't matter, but sometimes I feel like there should be standards as far as stars or superstars.

Valdez has been a late bloomer and who knows when he is going to falter, get exposed or decline - but the lefty starting pitcher has done enough to be a deeper cut decade stars guy for me, where I make more of his unique, cheap cards keepers.

McCutchen - ancient and past his prime, he ends up just another old guy in my book, hanging on for a decade already.

I wonder if there is no lingering sentiment left for the longtime star - where he’ll finally retire one of these years and that will be that.

Maybe my dismissive view does his significant big league career a little disrespect - where he is in the same boat as a Hoffman or a Murray and keepers shall be made out of random cards as a micro-mini tribute.

Abrams - he was staying out at casinos till the crack of dawn last year, but may have turned a corner where he is a top flight offensive shortstop who has taken things to a new level.

Other sports - even if these more recent cards from four or five years ago tend to be considered junkier base, it’s hard not to pass up cards featuring legends / icons.

Shiny Panini Donruss - it’s hard not to pass up unique parallels and/or inserts for cheap such as the Klein and Wynn, even if those Hall of Famer subjects are a little no context in my collection at large.

The Molitor ends up a little jazzier than a regular base card since it is Carolina Blue parallel - it’s primarily a stadium card for me, where I’ve tried to gather visiting players cards from different eras shown at my one-time home MLB team ballpark.

The Walker isn’t quite a color match - but the colors goes well with the Hall of Famer identified as a Colorado [Rockies] player.

The Wilhelm ends up a Pink Fireworks parallel - I randomly picked one seemingly more common parallel I liked from Panini Donruss products years ago and Pink Fireworks cards pop nice when in hand.

I don’t know if Panini still makes them in current year products - but I’ll make keepers out of most cards I spot in the wild.

Google Sheets glitches

I can fake working on spreadsheets and Google Sheets files in particular to account for the cards in my various collections - it makes me feel good to feel like I'm curating and cataloging all sort of cards in the files I've created, but maybe I'm doing something wrong.

As I'm trying to list out my last 'runs' of awesome action collecting topics subset adds for the year - I've discovered numerous instances where either Google Sheets or 'user error' is causing the information I've added to cells [to further classify cards in my Google Sheets file] to be displaced or disappear entirely.

There maybe instances where information is added in the right place where my 'batting' cards are grouped as such - but why do I find instances where the 'batting' tag is under subsets, when they should be grouping tags.

Bear with me, but everything listed under the subset column should be under the grouping column - I don't know if I'm putting the information in the wrong place all this time, but I feel like there are gremlins messing around with my Google Sheets file.

It maybe a case where the file is bloated with all sorts of entries from at least 15 years ago- so when I try to load the file, it lags and somehow jumbles things up.

What I've resorted to doing is seeing if I can copy over the main file and see if the apparent mess ups show there - I'd really like to see if I can just work on adding to a previous version where I feel like things are intact [through a certain point].

The nuclear option was to create new related files for a fresh start - even if it means breaking up the bulk of the listings of different mini-collections under my 'awesome action' umbrella.

I hope using separate files will be easier to look at and add listings of cards into without the worry about mushrooming file size - but it maybe a case where the transition will begin some time in 2022.

collecting topics - AA - pitching - 12-6-21

collecting topics - AA - fun - game - personality - 12-6-21

collecting topics - AA - unique perspectives - 12-6-21

collecting topics - AA - fielding - 12-6-21

collecting topics - AA - batting and baserunning - 12-6-21

collecting topics - AA - celebrations - confrontations - curtain calls - 12-7-21

collecting topics - AA - strictly other sports - 12-7-21

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.

Another screen shot of a Google Sheets file

As far as I know, I've mostly gotten specific cards from my awesome action collection jammed together - it may have been the only thing I've thought about as far as collecting cards go.

I added a column to the Google Sheets file where I could 'tag' listed cards I had in-hand according to a sport - I'm always a 'baseball first' guy, but I want to account for cards from basketball, football, hockey, etc.

As far as cards from other sports, I'll have cards I'll physically add to the end of specific classifications / groupings that were made for my baseball collection - but there will also be a stand alone collection of cards for each sport.

Basketball - actual on court action - in the air; stick this with my baseball ‘in the air’ collection

Football - skill players - quarterbacks, receivers, running backs, tight ends

Football - special teams - running backs, defensive backs

Football - offense - kickers, linemen

Football - defense - cornerbacks, linebackers, linemen, safeties

Football - unique perspectives - celebrations

Hockey - actual on ice game action

Hockey - unique perspectives - celebrations, photo ops

Classifications / groupings for my stand alone cards may be just a little different from my baseball ones - I was trying to think of some unique themes for the football cards, but stuck with trying to arrange them by position.

Awesome action - a visual guide #5

Other sports - I keep at least a few as I find them, but if I was to focus on other sports besides baseball, the number of baseball subjects in my awesome action collection maybe dwarfed.

My awesome action collection is kept up to find baseball cards with images that are a little 'extra,' but unlike other sports - the action that are shown on many baseball cards, can be reduced to players hitting, pitching, catching or standing around in one form or the other.