Bloodlines collection - a visual guide

The logistics in displaying sampler pages for my bloodlines collection was still up in the air - the main collection consists of miscellaneous cards of professional athletes [primarily baseball] who maybe have brothers, fathers, grandfathers, cousins, nephews play professionally as well.

There are some ‘completed’ bloodlines connections within this sampler lot - but I feel like I'm lagging when I don’t have a card of an applicable card of a family member handy.

A subject not represented among these sampler pages just means I have to go out and get the card - in my main collection, it isn’t a big deal to be missing a card that makes up part of a family chain, though for the more notable bloodlines, I need to get those missing cards in-hand.

I wanted to make it where in most cases the cards for applicable bloodlines ties were shown side-by-side [for the most part] and used up 7 pages to display the cards I had in-hand - I tried to grab cards from various pro athlete families, though these sampler pages are not comprehensive.

Acunas x2 - father Ronald Sr. and son Ronald Jr.
Alomars x2 - brothers Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr.; missing a card for father Sandy Sr.
Bichettes x3 - father Dante and son Bo; missing a card for Dante Jr., who was once a prospect for the New York Yankees.
Bonds x2 - father Bobby and son Barry; missing a card for Bobby Jr., who was a career minor leaguer.
Canos x2 - father Jose and son Robinson [on the back of his father's card].

Alou / Rojas x2 - Moises Alou and Mel Rojas [on the back of his cousin Moises' card]; if I understand it correctly, Rojas is the paternal name, but Alou ended up the most commonly used surname for the distinguished baseball family; missing cards of Moises’ father Felipe along with uncles Jesus and Matty.
Boones x4 - grandfather Gus, father Bob, Bob’s sons Bret, Aaron and Matt [who didn't make it to the major leagues, but has a mainstream Bowman card from 2000].
Brantleys x2 - father Mickey and son Michael [on the back of his father's card]
Bretts x1 - George Brett; missing a card for brother Ken.
Cansecos x2 - brothers Jose and Ozzie [on the back of his brother's card].

Cruz x3 - father Jose Sr., son Jose Jr. and Jose Sr.’s brother Hector; missing a Tommy Cruz card.
DiMaggios x2 - brothers Dom and Joe, missing a card for their other brother Vince
Fielders x2 - father Cecil and son Prince
Gonzalez x2 - brothers Adrian and Edgar

Gooden / Sheffield x2 - uncle Dwight and nephew Gary
Gordons x3 - father Tom and half brothers Dee and Nick
Griffey x3 - father Ken Sr. and sons Ken Jr. and one-time minor leaguer Craig.
Hoffman x2 - brothers Trevor and Glenn [on the back of his brother's card].

Guerreros x4 - father Vladimir., son Vlad Jr,. Vladimir's brother Wilton, Vladimir's cousin Cristian [longtime minor leaguer] and Vlad Jr.'s cousin Gabby [who made his MLB debut in 2018].
Mahomes x2 - father Pat [MLB] and son Patrick [NFL]
Martinez x2 - father Carlos and son Jose

Martinez x1 - brothers Ramon and Pedro
McCaffreys x2 - father Ed and son Christian
Millers x2 - brothers Darrell [MLB] and Reggie [NBA], missing a card for sister Cheryl [basketball] and Darrell Jr. [Topps put him on a 2018 Topps Heritage Minors leaders subset card].
Molinas x3 - brothers Bengie, Jose and Yadier.
Rodriguez x1 - father Ivan and son Dereck [shown on dual sided insert card he shares with father].

Ripkens x4 - grandfather Cal Sr., sons Cal Jr. and Billy; Cal Jr’s son Ryan.
Uptons x2 - brothers B.J. and Justin
Smiths x2 [not pictured - 10/29 add] - father Dwight and son Dwight Jr.
Van Slykes x2 - father Andy and son Scott

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.

Multi-sport athletes collection - a visual guide

I wanted continue seeing if I could display certain collecting subset cards in nine-pocket pages - as featured in previous posts on this blog over the summer, I started to make sampler pages of my favorite mini collections to see if I could put together a binder to flip through.

With a new box of Ultra Pro pages, I wanted to add cards of my bloodlines, inking it up and multi-sport athletes collections as priorities - I put together 17 cards using one page as a snapshot of prominent pro athletes in one sport, yet might have been good enough to dabble in at least one other sport [high school / college / pros] at one point in their playing careers.

These cards were originally referred to as 'two-sport stars' collection, though in my collection, there are cards of players who simply forgettable - guys who may not have developed professionally in a sport they tried to play, like a baseball player who spends four or five years in the minors, but ends up going back to college to play football in anonymity.

First row: John Elway [NFL / MiLB], Bill Spiers [MLB / NCAA football], Todd Helton [MLB / NCAA football]
Second row: Bo Jackson [MLB / NFL], Jim Thorpe, Dave Winfield
Third row: Brian Jordan [NFL / MLB], Dick Ricketts [NBA/MLB], Ron Reed x2 [NBA/MLB]

First row: Nyjer Morgan [MLB / hockey], Zack Von Rosenberg [MiLB / NCAA football], Tony Gonzalez [NFL / NCAA basketball]
Second row: Frank Thomas [MLB / NCAA football], Deion Sanders [MLB / NFL], Tony Gwynn
Third row: Ron Reed [second card] and Michael Jordan [NBA / MiLB]

In my collecting life, it was Bo Jackson and Deion Sanders who made the idea of two-sport players a real attraction during the junk wax era - Jackson had all-world potential as a baseball player and maybe I saw Sanders as an ersatz version of Bo, maybe more flash than substance on a big league field.

Looking at his stats, Sanders was actually decent MLB player, though the NFL was always the priority - as it goes, Neon Deion was the one who didn't get hurt [insert of some of tired tackling joke here] and ended up in the Pro Football HOF while Jackson's NFL career was cut short by injury.

Tools of ignorance collection - a visual guide

For the final sampler page I put together for my mini-collections, I grabbed 18 tools of ignorance cards - catching maybe the least glamorous position on a baseball field, but unlike other position players, catchers are the most unique type of baseball player.

Because catchers take a beating during a game, catchers stand out as the only guys to wear the tools of ignorance - including shin guards, chest protector a face mask, etc.

My collection features any card that has a catcher in it, including play at the plate cards - I think I've counted cards of non-catchers featuring play at the plate images, though if it isn't the catcher's, I'll lean towards classifying the card to go into my awesome action collection.

Pitchers hitting collection - a visual guide

I grabbed 18 'pitchers hitting' cards for my mini-collection sampler and the collecting topic subset is kind of a catch-all - for pitchers who have bats in their hands but aren't exactly hitting in a game, wearing batting helmets, bunting, practicing and finally, pitchers whose cards show them on the basepaths.

Seeing pitchers act the role of hitters or baserunners can be such a peculiar thing - so it is another neat, easter egg deal to find cards with 'action shots' of pitchers not doing the usual pitching.

Looking at the cards on the page, I realized the Nolan Ryan cards in the center are from the pre-DH days of the American League - in his lone season batting in the AL without a DH, Ryan was 13-for-96 with five doubles and one triple.

The Hall of Fame pitcher's slash line as a batter in 1972 was .135 / .153 / .208 - which is probably comparable to the career numbers opposing batters have put up against Ryan on the mound.

Bonus babies collection - a visual guide

I grabbed 18 'bonus babies' cards for my mini-collection sampler - bonus babies which are probably referred to as 'cameo' cards, pictures a star player on a common player's card.

I like stumbling upon them because it's like an easter egg most collectors wouldn't pay attention to while flipping through loose cardboard - for a player to count as a 'star' cameo, an all-star appearance is considered as well as whether a player has had some name recognition through points of his MLB career.

Probably the most difficult aspect collecting these cards besides finding them in the first place are the inconclusive images - who is exactly pictured on the background of certain players' cards when the focus is on the player who is listed on the card?

Most of the time the obscured player in the background is who I assume it is - but when the image is blurred, there is some doubt at times.

Local players collection - a visual guide

To keep up with a little trivia since I live in Orange County, California, I've built up a collection of cards featuring professional ballplayers local to the county [even if only up a certain point for some guys] - born, raised, has lived or lives in the county, went to high school and/or college.

For my 17-card sampler lot, I went with in-person autograph cards since they stood out a little bit more - the only card that isn't autographed is one featuring Hall of Famer Walter Johnson, who pitched in the early 20th century.

First row: Paul Abbott - Sunny Hills High, Hank Conger [2009 O-Pee-Chee Los Angeles Angels team card] - Huntington Beach High, Alex Burnett - Ocean View High
Second row: Ben Francisco - Servite High, Freddie Freeman - El Modena High, Johnson - Fullerton Union High
Third row: Michael Lorenzen - Fullerton Union High, Ian Kennedy - La Quinta High, Jeff Robinson - Troy High School

First row: Steve Buechele - Servite High, Marty Cordova - Orange Coast College,* David Bacani - Los Alamitos
Second row: Charlie Hough [lives in Brea, which is in the county], Greg Harris - Los Alamitos High, Travis Denker - Brea Olinda High
Third row: Austin Romine - El Toro High, Brandon Maurer - Orange Lutheran

*I count guys who went to an OC high school or college but actually from out of state or even from a different nation - since I assume they had to make a commitment to play / live / study within the county for a period of time.

Facial hair collection - a visual guide

For my mini-collections sampler, I grabbed 18 cards from my facial hair collection to display on a plastic page - hoarding cards featuring images of baseball players showing some sort of facial hair maybe quite peculiar, because the collection forces myself to consciously look at players' faces in an aesthetic sense.

Facial hair is about a manly 'style thing' though, so there maybe a fascination with seeing a beard or mustaches on individual baseball players - because it becomes part of a player's personality [or brand] at times [see one time big leaguer Brian Wilson].

In a conservative sport, players growing a little 'something something' on their faces can be something refreshing to look at - baseball would even be more boring if the other 29 MLB teams adapted the New York Yankees' appearance policy.

Nations mini-collection - a visual guide

With leftover plastic pages, I wanted to display some of my favorite and/or priority mini-collections in a sampler of sorts - I want to have a binder to flip through featuring my mini-collections.

When I get the urge to get a new box of plastic pages - maybe the plan is to have at least one sampler page for just about all my mini-collections.

For my nations collection, I grabbed one card [in some cases the only card I currently have] from each nation represented - for me this collecting topic subset is about celebrating the relative diversity of professional baseball.

I’m not sure if this sampler display captures the spirit of my collection - but it’s kind of a look to show one of my interests.

There are mini-collections where the image isn't the dominant quality for inclusion in the mini-collection - so I have to be more specific in noting a player's card and its relevance.

First row: Albert Cartwright - Bahamas, Tony Solaita - American Samoa, Jason Bay - Canada
Second row: Tao Bu - China, Tony Batista - Dominican Republic, Steve Jeltz - France
Third row: John Hattig - Guam, Dinesh Patel - India, Luca Panerati - Italy

I prefer cards of players who played professionally with an affiliated MLB team, particularly in the major leagues - but if I end up with a mainstream card of someone who ended up doing neither [Tao Bu], they are added to the collection as a novelty of sorts.

I don't think I can ever account for everyone, especially the countless foreign born minor leaguers who may never make it past a certain level - when presumably the only card (s) they may have is a minor league team set issue, I won't seek them out unless I stumble upon them somewhere.

First row: Jose Pett - Brazil, Chito Martinez - Belize, Graeme Lloyd - Australia
Second row: Donald Lutz - Germany, Orlando Cabrera - Colombia, Jose Canseco - Cuba
Third row: Gerald Young - Honduras, Manuel Hernandez - Guatemala, Danny Cox - England

First row: Rod Carew - Panama, Ichiro - Japan, Robin Jennings - Singapore
Second row: Chen Chin-Feng - Taiwan, Vinny Castilla - Mexico, Scott Campbell - New Zealand
Third row: Danny Graves - Vietnam, Wladimir Balentien - Netherlands / Curacao, Ivan Calderon - Puerto Rico

First row: Marvin Benard - Nicaragua, Chili Davis - Jamaica
Second row: Hee-seop Choi - South Korea, Jose Abreu - Venezuela
Third row: Jerry Browne - U.S. Virgin Islands

For what it's worth, I'm not really sure how to classify a territory of another country in a factual way - but certain players' cards are represented within the collection 'as is,' even if the territory may not be considered a stand-alone nation.

Awesome outfield action - a visual guide

Awesome outfield - this mini-collection was tied into my 'awesome action' collection, but consists of the cards strictly of players pictured in the outfield, including guys leaping against the wall, diving to attempt to make a catch, throwing the ball.

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.

Awesome action - a visual guide #4

Fun cards - primarily cards with images of players who ham it up for the camera and/or are captured doing something that looks kind of odd [maybe with the 'action' staged at times].

If nothing else, a key to many of these quirky cards - is the use of a prop that adds a bit of goofiness.

Personality shots - primarily cards picturing some emotion, some life.

I think there is definitely some overlap between 'fun cards' and 'personality shots,' though a distinction that could possibly be made - is that the latter is a little more organic, a little less choreographed for bits and giggles.

Awesome action - a visual guide #3

Game face cards - maybe a little subjective with primarily cards that might have less 'in your face' action, but with images of players captured 'in their element.'

Unique perspectives - primarily cards with a not so typical baseball card image, maybe a unique artsy-fartsy shot that could be a little poignant, a little jubilant or ‘unconventional.'

Awesome action - a visual guide #2

Dirt fetish - if there is any visible dirt on a guy's uniform, I'm keeping the card regardless of how incidental.

Awesome action - a visual guide #1

I was on a plastic pages 'kick' and purchased a box of 100 to display base cards and basic inserts for a number of star players that could make up at least a page of nine - I wanted to do something different with the remaining [around 15] plastic pages, so I went ahead and made an ‘awesome action / awesome outfield’ sampler.

The plan is to have at least one mini-collection displayed in sheets in a binder but boxes are still where most cards go - I pulled 18 cards for the different types of loosely defined themes I have in my mind to see what the cards would look like in pages.

Besides showing off the cards, I wanted to see if my personal distinctions generally hold up - the actual cards are still jumbled up under my awesome action umbrella, but I want it where I can 'label' why I have or need a card for this collection, particularly when the 'awesomeness' might not be obvious.

Actual on field game action - the 'pure' awesome action cards.