Digging through an MIA card show pile

This might be a 'I'm still here' post for whoever is reading - where I want to churn out blog posts on the regular and think about cards on a day-to-day basis, but maybe content to let things be, where collecting has become really a personal and solitary deal.

I've let this $30 card show pile sit around loose for the past four years and maybe my intent was to list the cards out in a Google Docs file - where I would have listed my purchases over the course of a couple of months at a time.

I am trying to be a little bit more proactive in picking up for myself, so these cards have to be sorted further - I took some photo ops in order to tie certain cards to a this stack purchase.

Maybe one of the hot cards then was a 2023 Topps Chrome Shohei Ohtani #17 - he was the presumptive MVP and Topps was buying base cards [and corresponding parallels] back from participating card shops, where you could get $20 store credit for the base card.

I wasn't clued into any of that buypack business, but may have wanted Ohtani's card anyway - now the card might be just another $5 and a whatever reminder of a guy that was once an Angel.

I also found what I assume is a 2018 Topps Opening Day Stadium Signatures Mike Trout Angels SS-MT - on social media, I occasionally see collector accounts who post a value box find, with the tag line / cliche, “this is why you dig.”

I’m pretty sure this Trout find falls under that category - but I thought it was just a cool Trout card with him signing autographs.

Sadly, as far as durability and production goes, the Trout of the mid 2010s is long gone - I didn't think he would have ever had a decline, but each year he gets hurt again is a reminder of the fragility of a playing career, notably for an all-timer.

Maybe the idea of trying to round up bulk cards of star players [like a Mookie Betts] ends up silly past a certain collection age - but maybe tied to idea I'm obligated to be on the perpetual bandwagon of anyone remotely good and hoard their cards for cheap.

Through 2026, maybe Betts isn't the same superstar player four or five years ago - but he's had an excellent [probable Hall of Fame] career and instrumental in World Series winning teams, notably with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Maybe the idea of trying to round up bulk cards of star players [like a Bobby Witt Jr.] at some point ends up being a way to cover my bases - where I want to be aware of the good young players, even if it just means grabbing their random cards to have them.

Through 2026, maybe Witt Jr. has just been a very good player at shortstop, not quite that step above superstar - now it looks like he got hurt and is going to miss some time.

I didn’t realize there was a 2021 Topps NPB Roki Sasaki #112 in the pile - I know I once bought a copy for $20 online at some point when he was really hyped up, but with his share of MLB cards out, and batting some growing pains, the card might be a $5 curiosity.

The Topps Silver Pack cards like the Mike Piazza end up pretty common coming out of bonus packs in Topps hobby and jumbo boxes - but I've made it a mission to make any 'decent' ones in the wild keepers if they end up being like a dollar or less.

When I was building up a pile at the card show, I didn't know how much it might cost per card - I usually stay away from unmarked boxes or bins, but I literally get lured in by the cheap stuff I assume isn't going to cost me much to start with.

Most of the time, the cards are not going to mean much - but they are more cards I make keepers, to sort them towards my hierarchy of interests, whether it's for my mini-collections, decade / binder stars material or for miscellaneous themes.