Collecting topics - awesome action

Even more cards from an 87-card mix I put together at a card show for $20 - I don't think I'll end up stretching out this one-time purchase, though maybe I'll be able to get at least several posts out of it.

While I'm not hunting for specific brands or sets digging through the dollar and under boxes - I'd like to believe that I'm building up a stash that makes some sort of sense, so I'd separated the cards I bought into some of the themes in my collections.  

Though not all cards are pictured, here are the cards I bought for my 'awesome action' mini-collection showing something unique - maybe a 'nice action shot' or maybe a 'personality shot' that captures the immortal qualities of mortal ballplayers.

1993 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. #WI 13 - Iooss Collection insert
1994 Donruss Nolan Ryan #1 - Special Edition parallel
1994 Upper Deck Cal Ripken Jr. #425 - Electric Diamond parallel
1996 Upper Deck Randy Johnson #VJ12 - V.J. Lovero Showcase insert
1996 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice Cal Ripken #12 of 22 - Ripken Collection
2005 Bazooka Albert Pujols #124 - mini
2006 Upper Deck Special F/X Prince Fielder #PH29 - Player Highlights insert

2009 Upper Deck Ted Williams #1344 - 20th Anniversary Retrospective
2010 Topps Derek Jeter #TOG-20 - Tales of the Game insert
2012 Topps Chrome Dustin Pedroia #21 - refractor

2014 Topps Chrome Jonathan Lucroy #184 - refractor
2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Xander Bogaerts #13

2015 Panini Prizm Miguel Cabrera #8 - Field Pass insert

2015 Panini Prizm Jose Abreu #10 - Field Pass insert

2016 Topps Series I 36-card rack pack

Top section
#216 Logan Forsythe
#8 Michael Brantley
#336 Mark Melancon
#72 Chris Young
#187 AL Wins Leaders - feat. Keuchel, McHugh and Price
#80 Carson Smith
#BB-32 Tony Gwynn - Berger’s Best insert
#119 Sean Doolittle - Rainbow Foil parallel
#PIS-3 Jose Canseco - Pressed Into Service insert
#MLBD-26 Buster Posey - MLB Debut insert
#GS-06 Chris Sale - The Greatest Streaks insert
#106 Jordan Walden
#67 Matt Harvey
#196 Hunter Strickland
#244 Matt Carpenter
#241 Freddie Freeman
#121 Roberto Osuna
#44 David Freese

Bottom section
#85 Corey Seager
#310 David Wright
#284 Jon Gray
#268 Robinson Cano
#305 Colby Lewis
#338 NL Batting Average Leaders - feat. Gordon, Harper and Goldschmidt
#199 Jay Bruce
#24 Hollywood Production - feat. Grandal and Kershaw
#120 Alcides Escobar - World Series Highlight subset
Topps.com info card / $0.50 off coupon
#39 Mark Trumbo
#19 Delino DeShields
#293 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#92 Darren O’Day
#272 Denard Span
#257 Jake Marisnick
#240 Nick Markakis
#101 Justin Turner
#165 Adam Eaton

Collecting topics - awesome outfield action

More cards from an 87-card mix I put together at a card show for $20 - I tried to build up a 'run' of mini-collection adds perhaps with an emphasis on the assorted star cards [I was finding for the most part] as opposed to strictly commons.

1993 Leaf Stars Ken Griffey Jr. / Van Slyke #7 of 20 - Gold Leaf Stars

2001 Topps Archives Willie Mays #225

2004 Fleer Ultra Albert Pujols #71 - Gold Medallion

2012 Topps Allen and Ginter Willie Mays #BH-21 - Baseball Highlight Sketches

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Ichiro Suzuki #40 - mini / ‘B’ fielding

2013 Topps Jon Jay #224 - Gold parallel serial #’d 0586/2013

Random pick ups - a trio of Pat Burrell

These cards were a part of an 87-card mix I put together at a card show for $20 - I was kind of in a frenzy since I hadn't gone to go a card show in a long time, so I wasn’t as picky about adding and subtracting cards from the stash of cards I was building up.

If I had the time, I’d go through the cards several times just to see which ones I’d weed out for now - as far as the Burrells, I want to say that cards caught my eye, not exactly the player pictured on them.

1999 E-X Century Pat Burrell #3 of 15 - E-X Quisite insert; the player image is die-cut and there might be a faux shadow box effect going on; according to the information found on BaseballCardPedia.com, the inserts are ‘printed on cards with an unique interior die-cut design.’ The background on my card is cracked.

1999 Fleer Brilliants Pat Burrell #140B - RC

1999 Topps Finest Pat Burrell #PR20 - Peel and Reveal insert; there is a subtle sparkle effect within the acetate card stock that enhances the pedestrian image, though the fingerprints left through handling the card randomly seems more prominent.

TTM autograph received: Ed Sprague Sr.

After not bothering with TTM requests, I really want to start sending off random cards again bit-by-bit so once in a while, I start getting something back in the mail - I sent a request to Ed Sprague Sr. and got my card signed in black ballpoint in nine days.

Sprague Sr. is 70 years old and I wanted my loose 1972 Topps card inked up before I put it away in my 'bloodlines' mini-collection - his son [Ed Sprague Jr.] was an 11-year MLB veteran who was a 'junk wax guy' back in 1990s.

Featured autograph - Craig Biggio

I'm primarily an autograph collector with roots in collecting baseball cards - if I wanted a player's autograph, I look to get it on a card first since I see where a guy whose autograph might not have been easy to get in-person or TTM has signed their share of pack pulled autographs from recent years.

The card itself is pretty nice with the card stock sturdy and thick - it's kind of a random pick up, but it features an blue ink, on-card scribble of the Hall of Famer and 3,000 hit club member.

I may stick to picking up certified autograph cards of retired MLB players since I don't have the means to constantly pay up for various guys - maybe I still think at the right place and time, I still have an opportunity to get most guys for free, even if the random opportunities do not really come often.

Maybe certified autograph cards are the cheapest way to secure a number of autographs and while it still costs money - maybe it's too much of a business to go through private signings or through a card shop or card show signing.

R.I.P. Jenrry Mejia's MLB career

I've seen him a few random times in-person and I felt like he is a guy who would always come over to sign an autograph - so I feel like this third suspension for PEDs screws him over when he's kind of a 'bit player' taking the fall, being made an example of when there maybe guys with much more sophisticated means of taking their vitamins.

Maybe a lifetime ban would be easier to swallow if Mejia had been a long time veteran who did stick around too long - but the now former New York Met is still in his late 20s and while I care about the idea of having clean players, I feel like maybe Mejia is sick like the way fans want some of their fallen pro athletes to be, rather than simply be malicious in breaking the apparent law of their leagues.

I hope there is a loophole to allow him Mejia to pitch again because for his apparent mistakes - I don't want to see a guy in his prime losing means to make a better life for himself.

Featured autographs - Brandon Laird

At various points last year I had three of Laird's American cards just lying around and I'm thinking what am I going to do with his cards - I didn't even know he ended up in Japan.

After brief stints with the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros, Laird was probably typecast as a 4A player - looking at his stats, the ability to hit for some pop probably attracted some scouts from Japanese teams and given an opportunity to play with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Laird hit 34 home runs in 2015.

I was probably looking to dump my loose Laird cards in one of my mini-collections - maybe a card for the bloodlines collection, a card for the local [Orange County] collection and maybe a card for the infamous / police blotter collection [since he got into a fight while attending an NBA game with family back in 2009].

However, my friend gave me an opportunity to tag along with him for three days to actually see Laird's Japanese team practice in Arizona - in addition to getting my Laird cards signed, my buddy gave me other cards here and there, so I could make the most out of the trip.

2016 Topps Series I 72-card hanger box

#327 Anthony Rizzo

#190 Jeurys Familia

#328 Anthony DeSclafani

#163 Joaquin Benoit

#115 Aaron Harang

#269 Giancarlo Stanton

#77 Clay Buchholz

#158 Henry Urrutia

#15 Ryan Howard

#26 AL Home Run Leaders - feat. Davis, Cruz and Trout

#289 Nick Hundley

#126 Papi and the Prince - feat. Ortiz and Pujols

#181 Minnesota Twins team card

#185 AL ERA Leaders - feat. Price, Keuchel and Gray

#315 San Diego Padres team card

#108 Ben Paulsen

#BB-10 Bill Mazeroski - Berger’s Best insert

#350 Kris Bryant - Rainbow Foil parallel

#FP-5 Evelyn Jones - First Pitch insert

#WRIG-22 Rafael Palmeiro - 100 Years at Wrigley Field insert

#P-4 Bryce Harper - Perspectives insert

#MLBD-9 Yu Darvish - MLB Debut insert

#AM-5 Nolan Ryan - Amazing Milestones insert

#62 Trayce Thompson

#64 Corey Kluber

#35 Luke Hochevar

#118 Jose Fernandez

#218 Andrew Miller

#228 Matt Garza

#304 Charlie Furbush

#208 Kurt Suzuki

#68 Odubel Herrera

#239 Huston Street

#82 Michael Bourn

#296 Yordano Ventura

#258 Devon Travis

#145 Jon Niese

#74 Troy Tulowitzki

#133 Aaron Nola

#201 Adam Jones

#194 Chase Headley

#17 Billy Butler

#300 Buster Posey

#113 Aaron Sanchez

#9 Eric Hosmer

#267 Chris Heston

#298 Ryan Braun

#230 Ryan Vogelsong

#234 David Robertson

#276 Francisco Cervelli

#349 Ben Revere

#58 NL ERA Leaders - feat. Greinke, Arrieta and Kershaw

#139 Yasiel Puig

#53 George Springer

#221 Ryan LaMarre

#MLBW-4 Los Angeles Dodgers - Wacky Packages sticker insert

#259 Paul Goldschmidt

#232 Michael Conforto

#138 Francisco Liriano

#19 Delino DeShields Jr.

#293 Hyun-Jin Ryu

#92 Darren O’Day

#196 Hunter Strickland

#244 Matt Carpenter

#86 Wilmer Flores

#271 Kevin Kiermaier

#213 Matt Shoemaker

#319 Adam Wainwright

#134 Yadier Molina

#55 Jesus Montero

#116 Brett Gardner

#38 Jed Lowrie

#264 Jake Arrieta

2015 Topps Allen and Ginter X set

I've typically picked up a hand collated set of the regular Allen and Ginter as my personal 'flagship brand' to get random in-person / TTM autographs on - there might have been a point where picking up a 2015 set was something I wasn't going to do anymore since I maybe burnt out on trying to attempt to do particular sets.

I did end up picking up a regular A&G set to continue the tradition perhaps, though it's like I'm getting further away on actually working knocking out set cards for the Ginter lines [2006-2015] - Topps produced an 'X' version of the Ginter product last year as an online exclusive, with the black stock for the card surface being the only difference.

I don't think the 'X' was a success by any means and it may have taken a few sales promotions on Topps.com to sell many of the boxes - I picked up a hand collated X set, probably because the black stock for the card surface is a wrinkle that makes the 'X' set a little more attractive than the usual 'dull' white card stock.

Maybe my 'X' set purchase loses it's importance if I break the cards down to try and get autographs on - I think the plan for my 'X' set is to put them into plastic sheets to display in a binder somewhere, so I can look at them once in a while without worrying about getting them inked up.

2016 Topps Series I 36-card jumbo pack

I picked up a retail jumbo and a 72-card hanger box of this year's flagship product - as seen on other card blogs and eBay, I like how Topps has incorporated many unique images in a card design that feels a bit different than in past years.

A minor quibble would be over the Perspectives inserts - I guess people like them for the strong image selections, though the 'Perspectives' banner is distracting to me and perhaps I would have liked a more 'traditional' way to label these inserts.

#350 Kris Bryant

#37 C.J. Cron

#84 Mookie Betts

#184 Travis Jankowski

#112 Matt Kemp

#209 Max Scherzer

#290 Zack Godley

#47 Gio Gonzalez

#127 Zach Lee

#237 Carlos Ruiz

#155 New York Yankees team card

#162 2015 AL RBI Leaders - feat. Donaldson, Davis and Bautista

#170 New Order - feat. Gomez, Correa and Altuve

#21 Mike Moustakas - World Series Highlight subset

#318 Washington Nationals team card

#66 Kyle Schwarber - Gold parallel serial #’d 1365/2016

#WRIG-5 Jake Arrieta - 100 Years at Wrigley Field insert

#P-24 Nolan Ryan - Perspectives insert

#MLBD-24 Satchel Paige - MLB Debut insert

#WOW-10 Jose Abreu - Walk Off Wins insert

#70 Kendrys Morales

#97 Ender Inciarte

#88 Ubaldo Jimenez

#45 Ryan Zimmerman

#150 Clayton Kershaw

#146 Stephen Piscotty

#141 Colin Rea

#52 Julio Teheran

#160 Chris Sale

#344 Jonathan Lucroy

#193 Trevor Bauer

#28 Brian McCann

#215 Adrian Gonzalez

#6 Jimmy Paredes

#107 Kevin Siegrist

#320 Jake Peavy

Sorting my cards - finding Elian Herrera

Spring training is around the corner and perhaps I'm looking into updating my stash of cards I'm trying to get autographs on otherwise - Herrera’s name came up as a guy who maybe in camp with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but in case I wanted to send him a TTM request or something, it became a joke I had no idea where to find his cards,

I wondered if the cards were buried in a rubble of loose cards somewhere never to be unearthed - the misplaced cards maybe about a dime each, but I don’t want to feel incomplete and distressed about my collections not being in order to the point where I can't find the most obscure cards.

I may have squirreled the cards away in one of my ‘silly’ loose card projects like perhaps my off-season transactions mini-collection - maybe in a random group cards I've pulled to list as part of one of my mini-collections.

The Herrera cards were just not in the obvious places, but I ended up flipping through random cards I stuffed in a 3200 count box of cards - when I actually spotted Herrera’s cards in a small, miscellaneous grouping of loose cards and found the following, one 2012 Topps Update Series #US38, the two 2012 Bowman Draft #51 cards I was originally whining about and a 2014 Topps Update #US-30.

Loose card projects - 500 home run club

'Loose card projects' is my catch-all term for the mini-collections I'm trying to put together [collecting topics, Angels frankenset, Topps year-to-year run, etc] from the assorted cards I've hoarded - these various projects is what I end up tending to as far as playing with cardboard is concerned.

One of these projects is a collection of 500 home run club members - I thought about collecting autographs of the exclusive statistical mark, but the idea of needing to secure Babe Ruth's autograph [714 home runs] is just not possible.

I've probably got assorted autographs of the non-vintage players - though nothing like signed baseballs for each guy.

I thought about picking up a 'premium card' for each player - though at this point I want to make this initial set of cards a starter set to upgrade and build on if I wanted.

Featured autograph - Manny Ramirez

The hype surrounding 'Manny Being Manny' and 'Mannywood' has been long over - though I still remember the flaky but ferocious slugger from his early years with the Cleveland Indians through his prime years with the Boston Red Sox.

In recent years, Ramirez has tried to hang on as a player, even spending time playing in Taiwan in 2013 - as is, he is a ‘has been’ whose Hall of Fame caliber hitting stats clash with PED allegations / suspensions.

The guy was moody about signing and the way he signed his autograph is all over the place - I was 'browsing around' for random subjects and picked up a certified autograph card with a scribble that is cleaner than the chicken scratch he has inked up.

1989 Topps Traded Ken Griffey Jr. #41T

Basically Junior Griffey was probably at the top of the MLB world just behind Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa back in the late 1990s - the way I remember it, I was in my first year of figuring out this auction Web site called eBay and was looking to secure a copy of Junior's first Topps card in the 1989 Topps Traded set.

There was a 'bunch of them' listed in a dutch auction [?] and there were multiple bids on each one, though no picture - I figure I'd get in on the action, so I was going to bid on one to win it.

For about $15, I was going to get a Junior card and unlike in 2016, card prices were still a bit inflated just because Junior was in his prime and not everyone knew to get online to try to sell cards - I think the card was shipped in a plain white envelope, but the kick in the groin came when I saw the card shipped to me was a common card [#40T] of Ken Griffey Sr.

I was pissed off and disappointed at the fact I probably had no recourse - I did not even think it was possible that there would be a 'Sr.' in the 1989 Topps Traded set and my trigger finger got the best of me.

1994 UD Fun Pack Mike Piazza #231

I probably thought any Piazza cards I could find back in through the mid 1990s were cardboard gold - with his Hall of Fame election this week, I can't help but think this card is my favorite random Piazza card from the last 20 years.

When heat is applied to the card surface, it reveals a silly cartoon image - I probably didn't care about the obscured image, though I had fun marveling over the lowbrow 'interactivity.'

Just for old time's sake, I'll probably dig the card out though I don't know if the card is still in 'functioning' condition - because of the warm So. Cal weather, there are times where the card has looked like this without being touched.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza to the Hall

Knowing the Baseball Hall of Fame announcement was coming up, I picked up a nicer version of Griffey Jr.'s iconic rookie card - I was worried the card would get a little ‘artificial’ bump and wanted to upgrade the ‘raw’ copy I must have picked up 10-15 years ago.

My favorite Griffey Jr. rookie card would probably be my first, which is his 1989 Donruss, but the Upper Deck was the one to have - I've read random blurbs posted on card forums about UD running the presses to make this card to order, so I had reservations about putting a premium on the card as a legit pick-up for the personal collection I’m trying to build up.

Regardless of apparent overproduction however, the 1989 UD itself has had a legacy on its own among collectors and now that he's been elected with the highest vote percentage - it would probably make the card even much more of a hassle to pick up, just to have one that is a bit cleaner than the one I've had.

As far as Piazza goes, I've got to dig up the 1992 Fleer Update card I picked up at some point when either towards the end of his career or several years after he retired - unlike Griffey Jr., who had a graceful swing and was a great athlete, there was no subtleties in Piazza's game as he was a slugging beast who put up monster numbers as a catcher.

Regardless of the era Piazza played in and the innuendo [Murray Chass and bacne] and actual drugs [Vioxx, Andro, greenies among others] he took to be a dominant player or just to be able to play through a MLB season - I think his election to the Hall of Fame validates Piazza's accomplishments as a major leaguer.

Setting up assorted files on Google

For the card related projects I’m working on, I’ve gotten a little crazy trying to create and/or update Google Sheets and/or Google Docs files - I think it gets the ball rolling as far as getting organized and seeing what I have / need.

• Angels autograph wantlist [Google Docs] - trying to list out players I still need...will create a Google Sheets file to account for the autographs I already have.  
• 2016 collecting topics worksheet [Google Docs] - place where I list out the cards I can pull from my collection and also ‘new’ cards I can seek out.
• To do list [Google Sheets] - I’ve probably sought to create various incarnations of a ‘to do’ list, but I want to look at something like a concise ‘set of plays’ to run through.
• Regional collections [Google Sheets] - consists of my team A-Z singles and my PC cards.
• A-Z singles [Google Sheets] - I want this file to use as a spot to list out applicable cards.
• Angels Opening Day starters [Google Sheets] - I’ve gathered some assorted cards and intend to list them out.