I ended up at a Lids and seeing their promotion with Topps, where you can get a bonus pack of special Topps Chrome cards with a purchase of themed Mitchell and Ness hat - figured I had the money that partially covered a purchase of a fitted cap without feeling as self-conscious because I don't wear hats, especially ones that cost $50.
I was able to find a couple of cards of Reid Detmers - I think I sent similar copies and got them back signed TTM during the pandemic season.
Even though I ended up grabbing at least a few guys who might not be in the big leagues yet or may not get there - I found cards of Anthony Volpe, Bryson Stott, Riley Greene and Corbin Carroll.
Depending on what I may find at the bulk level, I might be compelled to pick up two or three cards of the HOFers whose cards from the junk wax era I'll usually skip over - if the cards end up being a little different like oddballs or cards with a unique image used that stand out.
Through his rookie year, maybe his development as a young big leaguer had stalled with the Angels - he gets traded to the Philadelphia Phillies finish out the 2022 season, but after a solid year in 2023, there might be some potential left for Marsh to be an even better player that he could have ever have been with the Angels.
He has become a fan favorite, where he is fun to watch with all his fair flying around - in the highlights I've seen of him with the Phillies, he's always fired up, gesturing to his dugout after hits and seems like a real 'rah-rah' guy.
I pass on most Gerrit Cole cards just because he seems too 'corporate,' even for MLB players who get millions to play a game - however I want to make it where most Panini Donruss Pink Fireworks parallels are keepers.
I could never get into the junk wax era Conlon card sets because the images were black and white and pictured old timers before my time - but made a keeper out of a card of Johnny Vander Meer, who threw two consecutive no-hitters as a big league pitcher.
I made this Mark Gubicza card a keeper after not claiming a copy I'd seen in a sale online recently - I classify his cards as mostly junk wax commons, but he's had ties with the Angels as a broadcaster for at least the past 15 years, so maybe his oddballs are worth a second look.
Another Brady Anderson card makes the pile and it is a 1988 Topps Traded 'XRC,' so it is more unique card - I remember him as a junk wax guy who barely had any pop and was a fringe big leaguer through his mid 20s.
At the age of 28 however, he broke out as a late bloomer for the Baltimore Orioles - where he became a solid top of the lineup presence for the bulk of his career through the 1990s, with a peculiar 1996 season where hit 50 home runs.
I ended up at a seller's table with a three row, 3000 count box - but only a couple of partially filled rows of $10 cards / three for $25 or $5 cards / five for $20.
I started to rummage through the one lousy box, while the Big Boss Man at the table [and a worker] looked like they were doing some bigger wheeling and dealing with other collectors trying to buy or flip some cards - his value boxes were the least of his concern, where here I am trying to rummage and see what I can stack for $25 or less.
I grabbed a 1962 Topps Eddie Mathews #30 because it was a relatively clean card of a Hall of Fame slugger who blasted 512 home runs - I think my friend is still wondering where the baseball he sent Eddie Mathews went back when Mathews was still alive and signed TTM for a fee, 25 years ago.
I added this 2022 Topps 1-of-1 printing plate card of Greg Holland, because I like cards with players sharing a 'good game, game over' moment - I like the printing plates where the image of the player is still visible, even when nearly ghosted out. 
Maybe it was a bigger deal to chase LaMelo's cards a few years ago where even his low end stuff was worth a little something - while he and his brother Lonzo has lived up to the scrutiny they had as part of the Ball brothers trio from high school to the pros, LaMelo only played 36 games last year.
Lonzo hasn't even gotten on the court the past couple of years - where his pro basketball career has been in limbo, despite being only 25.
I tend to think of Dontrelle Willis as a guy who had some early big league success and hype, but flamed out too early - it seemed like he was trying out for half the big leagues and then some, but was never able to stick around to revive what was promising big league career.
He's not a guy whose playing career I would be overtly nostalgic about - but may deserve a second look.
I think the other card I found was a 2022 Panini Zenith Pacific Metal Prizm Matt Stafford - it might be a base card or a more common insert, but looks more like a printing plate card that feels unique to have in-hand.
I grabbed the Yordan Alvarez because it's actually from the UK version of 2022 Topps' flagship set - a little bit of an oddball, even if not particularly hard to find.
The Minnesota Twins have since been eliminated, but the oft-injured Royce Lewis - showed why he was the No. 1 overall pick back in 2017.
In-hand, there is a little 'stained glass' effect going on - but maybe it's a little bit more subdued where the cards don't pop as much.
There were a handful of Fernando Tatis Jr. cards to thumb through - I still look to occasionally make the random card a keeper if it's unique enough like this dual-sided card he shares with Manny Machado [on the reverse].
Maybe Ryan Mountcastle ends up being the forgotten 'young veteran' in the Baltimore Orioles rise to prominence this past year - I thought he would be a franchise star for years to come, but has to take a backseat to guys like like Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, et al.
The 1989 Bowman inspired cards are like the originals where they are larger than normal - so maybe it's fun they are tangibly odd [sized], it might be tricky to find an ideal place to put the cards away.
Skenes was the No. 1 overall pick in this past year's Major League Baseball draft - he is currently the boyfriend of social media star Olivia Dunne, a college gymnast making $3 million a year in NIL endorsments.
Wilson was the No. 6 overall pick in this past year's Major League Baseball draft - he is the son of former big leaguer Jack Wilson, who was also his head coach in college.
The following cards are from a seller's individually priced bins - I guess I'm comfortable for making keepers out of these cards, where they are still kind of random, but not quite 'dollar and under' value fodder [in my card show experience].
The Bowman Drat Chrome is neither a rookie card [released a couple of years after his 2000 Topps Traded] - nor a big league era card [Cabrera had not gotten to the big leagues at this point, even if he was certaintly on his way].
After all these years, it might be a novelty to have some cards of a future Hall of Famer in his formative years in pro baseball - even if not talking about rookie cards here, each card may be worth keeping.
Guzman shares the dual rookie card with 2001 Seattle Mariners rookie Ichiro Suzuki.
The 1994 Donruss Editors Choice Tim Salmon #6 ends up being my favorite because it's a little different looking - designed to look like the image was from a roll of film.
The Troy Percival, Darin Erstad and Rod Carew are sort of nondescript inserts from the era they printed in - but they are serial #'d numbered parallels, so either I was a fool to be lured to add them to my stack or they are cards that should be instant keepers if they show guys from my home team.
I picked up the Ozzie Smith parallel because it's kind of subdued and classy looking - I like it's also serial #'d on the back, so that makes it a couple of dollars special rather than $0.50 special.
I haven't actually listed out the past couple of year's worth of cards somewhere like a spreadsheet - where I've counted them up as a year-to-year achievement where I can see how many cards I've picked up and how many towards specific collecting topics.
Maybe the worst part is having the actual cards sitting in loose bricks or in boxes - where I can't dig them up on a whim, be able to look at them where the cards maybe displayed in a binder to flip through or have it where I only have 'so many.'
I'm not really shying away from more loose cards, it's just I need to find ways back to accounting for them - as well as finding the motivation to get back into managing bloats and backlogs with these loose cards.
There is a lot of signage in the 1998 Upper Deck John Smoltz #32 - so it's a kind of fun to identify them.
I've tried to collect what I call 'good job, game over' cards like 1998 Upper Deck Luis Gonzalez Houston Astros #103 - where a player is shown congratulating one or more teammates at the end of a win.
I can imagine myself being a big leaguer with a sense of accomplishment and/or relief to be able to go out onto the field and celebrate a victory - even if it is only one game out a 162-game schedule.
It looks like Gonzalez is congratulating Craig Biggio here - so a HOFer cameo is pretty cool too.
When I can pick up old loose cards of Ivan Rodriguez or Mike Piazza at the bulk level, where the cards do not matter - I maybe content to add them into my mini-collections where I can have some star power.
I'm not not sure whether I had the Russell Martin card before, but it looks like Carlos Beltran is shown walking back to the dugout - I might have tabbed it as a 'bonus baby' card where a better player is shown on a lesser player's card, but a case can be made where Martin was a low-key star at points of his big league career.
I was worried that the celebrity cards would end up dupes since I picked up some at another bulk card rummage earlier in the year - though I apparently only had the Evan Mendes [actress] and Kristen Stewart [actress].
My favorite is probably the 1987 Topps Danny Tartabull #476 - I've always thought it was good looking card of a guy who was a star slugger for a little bit through the junk wax era, though I never really thought I needed it.
The 2007 Upper Deck Jim Thome #80 teases a nice horizontal image of the Hall of Fame slugger about to take a whack at the ball - you can see the red in the background and the fan in the dugout seats wearing an Angels jersey.
I was iffy on grabbing a copy of the 1990 Score Young Superstars Series 1 Omar Vizquel #28 online - but it made it easier for to stash it in my keeper pile as just another card, rather than make a deliberate decision to pick it up.
Because I assume it's a fairly common card, I was iffy on grabbing a copy 1989 Upper Deck Fred McGriff #572 when I'd see it posted online - I probably didn't have it however and I assume it's a stadium card, so it went into my keeper pile.
The 2009 Topps Update Gold Jeff Weaver #UH115 - teases signage promoting Las Vegas and the rock pile at Angel Stadium, so it's kind of a nice parallel with some identifiers to where the image was taken.
Maybe the 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Baseball Alex Rios #96 and 1987 Fleer Glossy Card Dennis Eckersley #U-30 end up being close enough to stadium cards - where there might not be obvious 'tells' at first glance whether or not they do count, but I'll assume they are anyway.
These are 10 random Angels cards I flagged and despite how the current team is going - it's always fun to find keepers of my 'ride or die' home team.
Maybe the most interesting cards are the Bob Boone and Johnny Ray - I could have gone without adding them onto my pile, because as much as I am a 'team guy,' I'm not really attached to junk wax era Angels whose cards I get bored of seeing.
The unique thing was that the cards had orange backs and I think they had glossier fronts - where they were from the Topps Tiffany set from 1988, which are harder to find versions, mirroring the flagship set.
I think I found a little handful of the Tiffany cards - if I was a little savvier I would have added them in my pile, but they were just about commons I would not know what to do with after the fact.
I think there are expectations to try and come up with some big splash purchases - especially when paying a $25 each day [at the venue] that actually takes away from what I can spend on cards.
What maybe painfully obvious is what I end up bringing ends up being play money for others - reality sets in where I maybe content to do what I've done, which is to rummage around, but maybe in a bigger setting where there is potential to see new sellers to buy odds and ends from.
On the other hand, I'm here and it was a welcome challenge to have some 'freedom' to see if I can come up with a brick of 100 cards - and most likely double that number, depending onf what I found.
I do not know if I was finding anything great but I guess it's all fun stuff to take home, go through and dwell on - I've made a habit of making claims through sales on social media and/or clicking around to buy cards online, but there is nothing like making the rummages come to life when I am at a show.
I think another collector asked me if I found any gems in what I was dug up - maybe the guy is just trying to make small talk, but I asked myself, 'is he really talking to me?'
I do not know what to say, how to describe the cards I end up with - when they are not the higher brow material like I might assume the collector has in his carrying case he goes through for a moment.
I keep thinking he is one of the experts they kept showing in Ken Burns' Baseball miniseries from the 1990s - the authority figures that look to be at least in their late 70s or older that share an anecdote about an old-timey player and/or talk about the good old days.
