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.
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