All-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers VII - (17-1)

I might be looking to continue towards showcasing the pages made for sequel all-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers VIII - where I have pictures lined up for probable posts, but may post some other things, before getting into teasing more pages from a personalized all-time set.

17. 1996 Score Bip Roberts #38 - an all-time classic card with the odd image of Roberts donning a sombrero; does every serious baseball card collection need a copy of this card?

16. 1992 Cal League California League All-Stars Garret Anderson #46 - I was iffy on adding regional themed cards, where I have my own Angels [themed curated set], but as a nod to my regional interests, I wanted to tease some personal favorites.

When I added this card, I did not intend for it micro-mini tribute to his life in 2026 - where he passed away at the age of 53, R.I.P. G.A.

15. 1992 Cal League California League All-Stars Jim Edmonds #6 - I didn’t want to take a couple of probable adds from an Angels [themed curated set], though the Edmonds and the Anderson are minor league cards, kind of like pre-rookies where they technically are not listed as Angels cards.

14. 2023 Topps Chrome Pink Refractor Logan O’Hoppe #188 - when I added this card, I wanted to tease a future catching star for the Angels.

He has shown some pop in his bat and occasional promise - but he hasn’t quite been able to put it together, where he might not be a frontline catcher after all.

13. 2022 Topps Stadium Club Black Foil Alex Kirilloff #215

12. 1987 Star Fernando Valenzuela Dodger Phenom #11 - I like inking it up cards and picked out a Valenzuela card as a micro-mini tribute around the time he passed away.

11. 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Jim Thome #23 - I have made up these categories as far players to collect and Thome represents the all-American ideal, a classic old-school, retro player in the mold of guys from vintage years of the 1950s, 1960s and maybe early 1970s.

10. 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars USA Future Watch Auto Patch Cory Hahn #UFWA-29 - I like the patch / auto combination with the Team USA themed; Hahn ends up being a player to look up, where an errant collision as a baserunner paralyzed him in college back in 2011.

9. 2013 Topps Archives 1972 Basketball Design Ted Williams #72B-TW - on occasion, I may have tried to save certain spots within my all-time keepers projects for the same players, like a unique Williams card at #9, that also corresponds to players’ uniform numbers as a micro-mini tribute.

8. 2000 Fleer 3000 Club Tony Gwynn #NNO - one of the great all-around guys from the early 1980s through the late 1990s, I have liked these die-cut inserts that were apparently a multi brand release.

These were a lot more common that I ever thought and while there were actually relic variations - I assumed the basic inserts were what modern collectors consider case hits [they were not].

7. 1995 BBM 1994 Leaders Ichiro #2 - one of the great all-around guys from the early 2000s through the mid 2010s, this one is a unique card from his playing days in Japan.

6. 1991 Topps Stadium Club Eric Show #138 - he looks pretty relaxed here, which may not have been the case at all, for much of his life.

5. 2023 Bowman Draft Paul Skenes #BD-14 - I wanted to add a card of baseball’s top pitching prospect a couple of years ago, where he was touted as a sure thing and at the time, his cards were still hard to come by.

4. 2015 BBM 25th Anniversary Great Records & Highlights - 2014.9.7 Shohei Ohtani #187 - I might have gotten this for $0.75 online and was able to get it in-hand; once in a while I have to check on and make sure Ohtani is pictured in front and not some other player.

I said to myself I am not collecting Ohtani where it is easy to detach myself from doing so after he left the Angels - but the player that exists now seems like a different guy that existed then, where his accomplishments are too hard to ignore post Angels years [even has his cards have gotten more expensive to collect casually].

3. 2023 Topps Stadium Club Babe Ruth #298 - as a cutesy wrinkle, I decided to pair a unique Ruth [base card] with the card of Ohtani back-to-back.

2. 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Satchel Paige #42 - towards the top of my all-time set, I went with a legendary player with almost a mythical career, where it is important and symbolic not to forget about these larger than life characters from a different time and age.

1. 2006 Topps Bazooka Josh Gibson #1 - an instance where I grouped a pair of different cards under one listing; may do so for a parallel and a base card, but [if I have my loose rules straight], usually a pair of different cards [featuring same subject] end up counted as two separate entries within my all-time set.

1. 2024 Topps Update Series Josh Gibson #US191 - I had a pair of Gibson cards lined up to headline my all-time set, where he was an all-time great I had to look up, where I want to be more familiar with his story.

All-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers VII

Maybe a couple of years ago, I was really into making an all-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers collection - where it's chaos pages, bastardized Frankenstein pages [without the numbering obligations] and every else I might have been able to gather that was random and good in my mind.

I was able to making it through eight different personalized compilations of cards - the plan was to get everything in pages but maybe I quietly forgot about the project through the middle of 2025.

Feeling like I needed to check back on things through the current year, I was able to correct course and get the cards from sets [VII and VIII] into pages and into a binder - I was even able to make another version [IX], where I want to get back into a routine to flag certain loose cards.

Originally these home brewed sets contained exactly 100 cards within 11 pages - but since I didn't want the last card [#100] for my all-time to be stored behind another card or be the lone card in one last page, I ended up making allowances for my home brewed sets to have 108 cards to fit 12 pages exactly.

A distinction is being able to group some cards together where I might have 108 cards total per each set - but may not list out exactly 1-108, where it might be 104 cards, 106 cards, etc.

106. 2024 Topps Update Series Jesse Chavez #301 - this common represents my micro-mini tribute to the MLB career of a journeyman reliever who has been through the fire and who might finally retired for good.

105. 1992 Score Dream Team Craig Biggio #888 - I have a junk wax era themed curated set that might be a perpetual work in progress, so it might be easier to add a unique card from the [1986-1992 era] in my all-time set instead and challenge myself to find something else [or maybe even look a dupe].

104. 2016 Topps Archives 65th Anniversary Scott Hatteberg auto #A65-AH - this was a cheap auto find and I'm not above putting [autograph or relic cards] in my all-time sets; Hatteberg is shown with the Cincinnati Reds, but obviously is most known for being featured in Moneyball [I guess in the book and portrayed in the movie] with the Oakland Athletics of the early 2000s.

103. 1999 Upper Deck SP Top Prospects Ricky Williams #22 - this brings back a little bit of faux-nostalgia where Williams was one of the biggest all-time NFL draft prospects in the late 1990s and while he had a stint playing pro baseball, was included in a major company's minor league product as a gimmick.

102. 2024 Topps Update Series Blake Treinen #US196 - this common represents my micro-mini tribute to the MLB career of a longtime reliever, where at least on the field, there is something admirable about an individual who continues to pitch through his mid 30s.

101. 1988 Little Sun Black Sox Buck Weaver #5 - I may have mapped things out where the bottom part of an all-time 100 has what I consider wild cards and in this instance, have an oddball card of an early 20th century player I have to go look up.

100. 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken #616 - Black Box - through the past 30 years, I wish I had gotten a raw copy of the original FF error card, where it was easier to afford for like $20 or something.

The only copy I had was bought graded, so I do have the error - but not where I can added it to a home brewed, all-time set like this.

99. 1992 Confex The Baseball Enquirer Billy Ripken #4 - at the very least, I was able to pair up the black box version of the 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken with a parody version.

98. 1991 SmithKline Beecham MDA They're All-Stars Harmon Killebrew #19 - I probably didn't like oddballs as much as other collectors, but they end up nice fillers like this one featuring a Hall of Famer.

97. 2014 Topps Justin Maxwell #594 - a postgame Gatorade shower [or shaving cream pie to the face] always makes for a unique card, where it turns a common into a keeper.

96. 2023 Topps Series 2 1988 Topps Baseball Julio Rodriguez #2T88-32 - I like the retro design used for this insert and image shown, where player is pointing to the sky, presumably after completion of a gaame.

95. 1993 Donruss McDonald's Toronto Blue Jays Great Moments Sudden Impact Pat Borders #95 - imagine being Borders and having a juiced up Mark McGwire looking to barrel you over during a playoff game.

94. 2020 Topps Stadium Club Xander Bogaerts #21 - maybe when I started putting together this set, this card was already an 'old team' card, but it's a unique horizontal shot of Bogaerts warming up before the game.

93. 2021 Panini Prizm Rookie Autographs Isaac Paredes #RA-IP - this was a cheap auto pull of a player who has had some decent years with the bat and is still his mid 20s.

92. 2002 Upper Deck Authentics Al Leiter #144 - post 9/11, this card shows Leiter wearing an NYPD cap as his tribute, where it's a unique thing to point out.

91. 1987 T&J Madison Muskies Ozzie Canseco #3 - maybe having an all-time set is being able to flesh out my mini-collection interests and in this case, my bloodlines collection, where I have this odd card of a big league brother who considerably made less impact than his twin.

90. 1986 Donn Jennings Southern League All-Stars Jose Canseco #14 - I want to make it a thing where I can pair up cards of subjects, like two brothers who played in the big leagues and have cards.

89. 2022 Topps Chrome Heart of the City Jose Ramirez #HOC-7 - Ramirez has turned into a franchise great for the Cleveland Guardians, so it doesn't hurt for me to add a shiny card that emphasize the idea that he is an all-timer.

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.

My all-time Top 100 cheap azz keepers collection - 81-73

81. 1996 Upper Deck Roger Clemens #VJ13 - he had that unhinged personality on the mound that was unsavory as it was fascinating when he was at his peak powers.

80. 2001 Topps Stadium Club Adrian Beltre #87 - this might have just been another awesome action collection card of the 2024 Hall of Fame inductee, but it sneaks into my Top 100, because it's a great image of Beltre going all out in foul territory, trying to catch a ball.

79. 2021 Topps Allen and Ginter Andrew McCutchen #207 - the plan was to have a pair of Uncle Larry themed cards in my Top 100, but maybe one was enough for now.

78. 1978 Topps Reggie Jackson #413 - a playing era subset card of the legend that would be known as Mr. October, I snuck it into my Top 100 as an acknowledgement of greatness.

77. 1987 Topps Kevin Mitchell #653 - I wasn't thinking much about this card, but with the awesome play at the plate action, is this the greatest actions shot pictured on a Topps card in the 1980s?

76. 1973 O-Pee-Chee Pat Corrales #542 - the granddaddy of all play at the plate cards, I picked up the Canadian version because I wanted something different. Now I might be looking for the original Topps version.

75. 1991 Score The Griffeys #841 - this single subset card from a junk wax era set gives off a classy black and white vibe, picturing a big league father-son duo that would end up teammates, playing in the same game and hitting back-to-back home runs.

74. 1999 Fleer SI Greats of the Game Ed Kranepool #55 - because I like seafood, this card is more interesting where Kranepool is shelling a lobster and enjoying a meal on table prepared for him right at second base.

73. 1992 Donruss Triple Play The Famous Chicken #138 - I like how the GOAT of mascots is shown faking to make a baseball play.

My all-time Top 100 cheap azz keepers collection - 90-82

I ended up buying a binder of cards for about $6 at a card shop - I was probably looking to remove the cards and throw away the sheets and the binder, but it might be easier to leave things intact where I do not want more loose cards to worry about.

As is, even though the sheets are probably 25-30 years old and kind of a flimsy, non-Ultra Pro brand - on first glance, they still seem fairly clean and have held up.

Maybe part of the problem of putting a home brewed card project together was not having a vision to put things together to see how things would look displayed in pages - what I did for my all-time Top 100 cheap-azz keepers, was set aside enough of 'used' pages to have something to display a collection in.

I used a fresh penny sleeve for every card going into my Top 100 and put them in the appopriate pocket from #1 through #100 - there is a sense of accomplisment seeing the cards come together in pages as opposed to merely another pile, another brick destined to be squirreled away in a box somewhere.

90. 1996 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice Dante Bichette #135 - to sneak one more card to my all-time Top 100, I may consider pairing this with the parallel listed at #91.

I am not a collector who tries to worry about having the base card with a parallel - but when a card falls into my lap, it's nice having the base card to complement the more special card [even if there are more than one parallel type].

90. 1988 Fleer Exciting Stars Orel Hershiser #20 - taking the place of the Bichette is a card showing an unconventional image, where the seemingly easy going Hershiser is just chilling out, waiting for his turn to take BP.

89. 1995 Topps Stadium Club Jeff Montgomery #286 - closers were called firemen because they stopped rallies and helped put fires out in ballgames.

88. 1999 Multi-Ad Sports Tampa Yankees Dennis Twombley #25 - looks like he has choice of all the fresh fruit.

87. 2019 Topps Update Cole Tucker #US197 - too bad has hasn't been a better big leaguer, but married to actress Vanessa Hudgens, he has been blessed regardless.

86. 1994 Upper Deck Curtis Pride #250 - Pride was a good human interest story for my beyond the glory collection as a deaf player who was great athlete and played professional baseball.

I figured the one time Angel needed some Top 100 love - where I can tease his rookie card.

85. 1991 Donruss Studio Steve Lake #216 - a junk wax era common from what a baseball set trying to be a little classier, I was looking for a copy of this card in recent years and grabbed a couple of copies for $0.50 each.

84. 1992-93 Fleer Ultra Harold Miner #293 - Fleer manages to immortalize the one-time NBA player from the 1990s, dubbed Baby Jordan facing up against the man himself.

For my Top 100, I will include the occasional cards from other sports besides baseball, where there might be a cap of 10-15 at the most - though I expect to create a Top 100 for NBA, NFL, hockey and other sports, where future Top 100s will end up with less non-baseball subjects.

83. 2000 Bowman Jim Morris #164- I don't know where it ended up, but I do remember getting to sign something like an index card, when he made it all the way to the Major Leagues in 1999.

82. 1988 Fleer Sammy Stewart #616 - this was not a card I had intentions of adding to my Top 100, but it's a quirky card of a guy giving thumbs up with a dumb smirk on his face, R.I.P.

My all-time Top 100 cheap azz keepers collection

Maybe a home brewed card project like this was a long time coming, but basically not something I've thought much about - as I've picked up all sorts of cards through the past five years, I was inspired by posts on Twitter / X and through other card blogs to finally put together a Top 100 that ends up a teasing a collection of cult favorite cards, some cult favorite subjects and unique mini-collection cards.

I wanted cards that fell reflected sentimental favorites [cards and players] and personal touches - but also cards that was sheer randomness.

Following a curated set blueprint of sorts, there will be cards within my all-time and future versions of my Top 100 cheap-azz keepers - that are a reflection of what I like and have tried to collect.

As far as rules go, I think I'll end up spelling them out as I go along - but want to get things started, where I have these posts made up as part of a routine.

100. 2010 Topps Update More Tales of the Game Joel Youngblood #MTOG-1 - it’s not the greatest feat in baseball history, but the logistics of Youngblood playing for two MLB teams in one day fascinates me.

99. 2022 Topps X Lauren Taylor Wave 2 Lauren Taylor Aaron Judge #33 - I was not familiar with the card at first, but with the number 99 prominent, I thought it would be cutesy to have it as my 99th card within this Top 100.

98. 1963 Topps Jim O’Toole #70 - I learned about the art on the back of this card, where it looks like the player depicted has something going on as he kissing his wife.

Vintage cards [pre-1973] might be teased in future Top 100s, but since collecting them has never been a big emphasis - it's harder to round up any number of cards to start choosing from, other than the occasional wrinkle.

97. 1986 Donruss Scott Bradley #396 - this card is literally worth a penny, where it's not even in 'minty' condition, but I like the picture where the player poses with multiple gloves to say he can player several positions.

96. 2022 Topps Stadium Club Nolan Ryan #23 - a nice shot Ryan in cowboy attire posing with his dog, this seemed like a familiar image as maybe seen on the next card.

95. 1992 Donruss Coca Cola Nolan Ryan Career Series Nolan Ryan #26 of 26 - presumably moments within the same shoot as the previous card, so I decided to pair them up.

As far as player duplication goes, there might be subjects with three or four cards within my Top 100, though I've tried to keep it between one or two - sometimes it's nice to pair up cards, but at other times, I'm good with spreading them out.

94. 1994 Score Kevin Brown #99 - Brown never seemed to be a warm and fuzzy guy as a player, but he is having fun wearing a faux throwback uniform and goes all out with 'painted' facial hair.

93. 1991 Classic Update Blue Travel Edition Todd Van Poppel #177 - I was thumbing through some miscellaneous pick ups and figured I'll add this card to my all-time Top 100 as a nod to the junk wax era.

Headlined by Van Poppel, I could imagine Classic thinking they were doing a thing here putting four pitching prospects / draft picks on one card - where you might have the rotation for a World Series contender for the mid 1990s or even through the early 2000s.

Doing some quick research, it looks like it was Baseball America who first printed the picture and started the hype - this story on The Athletic goes all out, looking back at that infamous pitching foursome that never really made it happen.

93. 1991 Classic Update Blue Travel Edition Kirk Dressendorfer #177

93. 1991 Classic Update Blue Travel Edition Don Peters #177

93. 1991 Classic Update Blue Travel Edition Dave Zancanaro #177

92. 1992 Upper Deck Mark Gubicza #459 - added this one [also signed TTM] because the subject of Gubicza's hockey hair [think Jaromir Jagr] might be occasionally brought up on Angels broadcasts and this is the card referenced.

91. 1996 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice Silver Signature Dante Bichette #135 - I like this because it's such an in your face, punny card.

Out of the depths of the dollar boxes - odds and ends

This $10 purchase was far from the worst purchase I made at the last card show I went to [I don't know if I'll leave things hanging with just that tease] - but I stumbled upon a random dollar box [or '6 for $5'] and while mostly idle, going through dated cards no one wants, my brain is thinking about putting together a small stack of cards anyway.

I fished out some rookie material, including a 1986 Sportsflics Jose Canseco rookie year subset card that features six other players, an oddball rookie year Gary Sheffield, a Curtis Granderson rookie and Cliff Lee rookie - the seller went through my stack just to see what I'd actually gotten out of junk box and didn't know who Nick Markakis [draft pick, factory set insert] was.

That was peculiar, but I can see where despite having a substantial big league career - a Markakis type ends up being quite random and/or forgotten.

I relented to make these two sample / promo cards inserts because of the oddball factor - Albert Belle might be a guy I'll collect in an ironic sort of way as a guy who was universally disliked, but put up monster numbers through the decade of the 1990s.

Presumably the image used for the Nolan Ryan was from the same timeframe as his 1991 Topps Stadium Club picture - but I think the card company [Bleachers] took an image from that photo shoot and then slapped on their 'logo' when the card was being put together.

Through the junk wax era, I can see a 1987 Fleer Kirby Puckett as being a little bit better looking than the usual 1987 Topps - even if the distinctions doesn't end mattering, where one 'star card' was valued over the other.

A trio of 1990s era hitting stars, I'm not sure if I've ever had the 1990 Leaf John Olerud RC signed, so I grabbed it for TTM - maybe the Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell inserts [Circa '97 Boss] have no real value anymore, but the embossed surfaces make them fun keepers at just under a dollar.

The 1996 Pinnacle Summit Ballparks Bagwell card is serial #'d to 8,000 - which ends up still being a lot of cards and doesn't make them seem all that rare.

Rummaging through the trenches

At the monthly show I go to, I've made a couple of tables the only ones I really go to - one has their dollar boxes of doom and the other has a lone 3,200 count dime box of mixed sports

I really tried to make a beeline for the dollar bins of doom the moment I hit the floor - but there was 6 people going through assorted stuff at the table and I just kind of had to wait around.

I got to working through a box off to the side, but it was mostly football and/or basketball - there is definitely a set of regulars as I've seen where one of the ladies chats them up and even offers to take down their handles for her [?] Instagram account. 

I'm just another guy who basically tries to keep his head down as I go through all these cards - but that's OK for now. 

Go figure, another seller I've bought from at another show was there digging around as well - while don't know him well enough to greet him even informally, it's quaint where I see this guy buying [maybe $20 worth] of cards for himself. 

Honestly, I don't know if I was really finding fresh material where it was more of a chore to look at a row of cards - same bloat of Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Frank Thomas, Cal Ripken Jr., other baseball, football, basketball cards that may have gotten to be redundant.

I still spent about a couple of hours just digging around at the table, adding more to the pool of cards I might pick up - being holed up in a packed room with people but no A/C, maybe it was getting to be really stuffy, especially wearing a mask.

I don't know if I could take a moment to breathe fresh air - as I'm literally going through cards, maybe I'm really getting spacey where the physiological is messing with the psychological. 

As the case has been lately, I just have to move on - whether I want to or not.  

Next time, I might need to give myself time to get some air as well bring a water bottle - something handy that I can drink from on a whim without going out of my way looking for something to cool me down.   

Mini-collections

1993 Topps 1994 Pre-Production Sample Kenny Lofton #331 - awesome outfield action

1996 Score Gold Stars Greg Maddux #17 of 30 - pitchers hitting; on the reverse image 

1998 Bowman Chrome Refractor Larry Walker #23 - inking it up; on the reverse image

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Retrospection Roger Maris #10

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Retrospection Thurman Munson #8 - facial hair

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Retrospection Yogi Berra #12 - tools of ignorance 

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Retrospection Johnny Bench #15 - tools of ignorance 

I like collecting regionally but may place less emphasis actually hunting cards for my team where I question my sanity if I'm not chasing after the latest and greatest - on the other hand, maybe an 'unofficial' mission is to come up with at least one 'lousy' Angels card, where I don't even see myself as a team collector outright, but the occasional parallel and or insert brings me some satisfaction [even if the players and cards are simply dated].

Angels

1996 Score Reflextions J.T. Snow / Don Mattingly #5 of 20

1997 Leaf Gold Leaf Stars 22 Karat Eddie Murray #34 of 36 - serial #’d 2051/2500

2004 Donruss Studio Heroes of The Hall Rod Carew #HH-8 - serial #’d 292/500

Old school binder material

1977 Topps Big League Brothers George / Ken Brett #631

1981 Donruss Pete Rose #131

1981 Donruss George Brett #491

1980s binder material - Ken Griffey Jr.

1990 Star Ken Griffey Jr. 1990 Season #6 of 11

1993 Fax Pax World Of Sport Ken Griffey Jr #2 

1995 Fleer Lumber Company Ken Griffey Jr #6 

1999 Crown Royale Pivotal Players Ken Griffey Jr. #22 

1990s binder material - Mike Piazza

1994 Leaf Statistical Standouts Mike Piazza #4-10

1995 Fleer Ultra Rising Star Mike Piazza #8 

1996 Donruss Hit List Mike Piazza #4 of 16 - serial #’d 08390/10,000

Miscellaneous 

1990 Score McDonald’s John Olerud #17

1991 Topps Stadium Club Nolan Ryan #200

2000 Fleer Showcase Consummate Prose Derek Jeter #4-CP

2003 Upper Deck Magazine Ichiro Suzuki #UD4

Rookie stuff

1982 Topps Montreal Expos Future Stars Terry Francona / Brad Mills / Bryn Smith RC #118

1990 Leaf Larry Walker RC #325

1995 Bowman’s Best Bobby Abreu RC #B3

Minor league curiosities

1986 ProCards Las Vegas Stars Benito Santiago #NNO - his potential to be a catching star with a lasting legacy faded when he started to bounce around in the early 1990s, but Santiago still had a significant playing career regardless and his 35-year old minor league issue maybe just too odd to pass up in the wild.

2005 Choice Wichita Wranglers Zack Greinke #NNO - though there seem to be obvious identifiers at first glance, I'm not quite sure which set this card is really from; by 2005, Greinke was in his second big league season and I wonder if the card came from an actual team set or maybe part of a commemorative tribute set that are sometimes issued.

I paired up the Greinke minor league issue with the newest card of his I pulled - for a little 'then and now' showcase of cards printed 17 years apart.

Numbered

2000 Pacific Omega Copper Carlos Delgado #147 - serial #’d 30/45

2003 Donruss Team Heroes Statline Robin Roberts #393 - serial #’d 17/28

2004 Donruss Studio Studio Proof Silver C.C. Sabathia #64 - serial #’d 88/100

Random ink

1996 Leaf Signature Series Bronze Mel Rojas auto 

2019 Topps Gypsy Queen Jose Martinez auto #GWA-JM

These are cards I probably left the last time I was digging around - where I made it my duty to see if I can salvage them if I saw them again.

2001 Donruss Diamond Kings Reprints Steve Carlton DKR-6 - serial #’d 0476/1983

2001 Donruss Diamond Kings Reprints Joe Morgan DKR-8 - serial #’d 0467/1983

I'm not as big into retro cards of legends just to have them in hand - but the Diamond Kings reprints [which are actually 20 years old] added modern touches [glossy and serial #'d] to the original issued cards and might be nice to squirrel away.

1986 Sportsflics Rookies Bo Jackson #40

1987 Classic Yellow Bo Jackson #109

I'm not sure I fall in line with the other old heads who get nostalgic over 'Bo' because I'd seen him as mostly a big leaguer whose baseball career was prematurely derailed - but maybe I'm just not about my junk wax era roots if I don't pick up a pair of rookie era Jacksons.

In addition to the Bo Jackson action, I ended up with a couple more cards of multi sport guys - in the early 1990s I may have wanted a 1989 Score Deion Sanders rookie card, though honestly it was mainly due to being more of a personality than it was being a football player or baseball player.

1989 Topps Traded football Deion Sanders RC #30T - this isn't quite that 1989 Score but it will have to do.

2018 Bowman Chrome Russell Wilson #BCP151 - his legacy has been cemented as one of the best quarterbacks of his era, though there has been some uncertainty for his team the past couple of years and he looks to be out at least a month after injuring his finger.