Old school, vintage and other dollar gets

At the monthly card show I've gone to, there was a seller with a old school / vintage box - the old basic Topps cards [commons, rank-and-file players] doesn't really interest me, but as a card collector, I like to make believe it's not a bad thing to rummage for some loose cards on the cheap [3 for $1], besides focusing on the here and now stuff.

Out of the tables, this particular one was as anonymous as it gets, but before stepping onto the card show floor - I wanted to seek out the seller and see what I could find.

I guess these are the 'notables' in my book - on the top, a 1971 Topps Cesar Cedeno rookie card, a pair of Phil Niekros [I had another copy of the 1982 Donruss signed by both Niekro brothers TTM years ago, though when I finally got Phil to sign TTM, he personalized my card] and a 1974 Topps manager card of Sparky Anderson.

On the bottom is a 1971 Topps Cookie Rojas, which maybe a a cult favorite among card bloggers - the 1971 Topps Chris Short card is a curiosity because of the Pete Rose cameo [looking past Rose and towards the outfield fence, I can make out an image of a dog, because of the Alpo dog food signage], a well loved 1964 Topps Tommy John dual rookie and a 1981 Topps Don Baylor for my Angels Opening Day starters collection.

These cards add some old-school / vintage depth to my mini-collections - some 'decent for the time' action cards with Ron Reed, Lee May and Art Shamsky, maybe a random catcher card of Bob Didier, though the 1971 Topps Donn Clendenon was just in the picture here or could be an addition in my 'what's in a name' collection.

On the bottom, a definite addition to that 'what's in a name' collection would be a Pete La Cock card - a random card of Jim Breazeale makes onto my fun cards; oddities roster; two random 1970 Topps commons are 'hats-off' adds and a 1977 Topps Tom Walker to add to my bloodlines collection [father of Neil Walker] and possibly count as a beyond the glory add.

I guess mid 1970s Topps cards are ripe for facial hair adds - maybe it gets a little overwhelming where I don't know which cards I should grab featuring random players, but it seems like the old-school Topps cards that stood out during a particular era, no matter if the players were notables or just rank-and-file.

The seller also had dollar boxes and while I'm kind of iffy about the relative quality in any one seller's poverty boxes - I might never know what maybe lurking as possible keepers, if I don't even bother to give things a look over.

The top row features a 2001 Donruss '2000 Retro' Craig Biggio Stat Line parallel, which may not mean much - but a numbered parallel [of a HOFer] from a major brand set when it was released should be a keeper.

Biggio was a longtime star but he wasn't considered a Derek Jeter star, so even if it's only worth what I paid - I'd like to make believe there is actually novelty in finding a card like this out in the wild.

The last thing on my mind was picking up a 1999 Bowman Chrome Josh Hamilton rookie card - but to scratch the itch, I wanted to replace the copy I lost 12 years ago.

Maybe the first card I actually made me dig around for more dollar box cards was the 1994 Topps Stadium Club Bo Jackson where he is popping a bubble - I would be surprised if I had this card, but was probably not a true dollar card find in my book.

Maybe it was worth a quarter or 50 Cent, but I would never want to leave a probable mini-collection add behind - I might as well grab it for the instant gratification of having it in my grubby hands and not worry about tracking it down.

The bottom row features a 2021 Topps Heritage Nate Pearson In Action subset card with a Mike Trout puzzle piece on the back - I think I still need Bryce Harper IA and Kyle Lewis IA to complete the puzzle that makes up an image of Trout.

When I find them, there might be cards of certain '1990s era old school' inserts I want to make keepers and that applies to the 1996 Upper Deck V.J. Lovero set - it's not a high value, but it's an aesthetically pleasing set focusing on the images a photographer was able to create featuring his subjects.

I don't really think about picking up Fernando Valuenzuela cards, but because he is 'inking it up,' the 1983 Topps All-Star Set #10 is a keeper - maybe a case like the Jackson, where it's probably not a dollar card, but all bets are off in the wild.