Random claims from an online purchase

These are some of the cards I've picked up lately - where I absorb someone else's odds and ends towards my collection, through various sales of dollar and under bulk.

Angels material - it’s like a reward to make keepers out of random Halos cards, where my focus isn’t always on them.

I probably haven’t considered picking up any Jo Adell cards in a couple of years - but through the first half of the MLB season, he looks to finally have blossomed from a bust into a serviceable MLB hitter with pop.

Maybe he ends up someone to collect all over again - where unique looking base cards and inserts end up being worth taking fliers on.

The Kikuchi card is a Houston Astros insert from 2024 Topps Japan Edition - it’s not an Angels card, but I might be looking to make keepers out some non-Angels stragglers.

I never trusted Kikuchi as a pitcher who could never avoid languishing with his control and gave up too many runs - despite the ability to tease nasty stuff.

A late 2024 run with the Astros seems to have turned his career around - where he has pitcher really well through the first half with the Angels in 2025.

I claimed the Ryan because it kind of ends up a neat card - but it looks like soft corners / wear.

I don't know about DeJesus but grabbed the card because it's a shiny first year Bowman Sapphire - where I don't really end up with hardly any cards from the countless Bowman releases during a particular year.

I already had a copy of the 2024 Topps Archives Schanuel rookie - but may squirrel away one into a themed curated set [100 cards] for the Angels.

Mix - mix - Hall of Famers Hoffman and Murray are part of my decade / binder stars collections, where I collect cards of all subjects lumped under that umbrella by default.

I'll passively make keepers out of unique looking base cards or inserts that catch my eye - where I am obligated to supplant the player collections I already have, even on a snail's pace where I kind of have to let things be sometimes.

I sometimes worry about the lasting power as far as a subject I want to keep picking up cards for under my decade stars umbrella - maybe it doesn't matter, but sometimes I feel like there should be standards as far as stars or superstars.

Valdez has been a late bloomer and who knows when he is going to falter, get exposed or decline - but the lefty starting pitcher has done enough to be a deeper cut decade stars guy for me, where I make more of his unique, cheap cards keepers.

McCutchen - ancient and past his prime, he ends up just another old guy in my book, hanging on for a decade already.

I wonder if there is no lingering sentiment left for the longtime star - where he’ll finally retire one of these years and that will be that.

Maybe my dismissive view does his significant big league career a little disrespect - where he is in the same boat as a Hoffman or a Murray and keepers shall be made out of random cards as a micro-mini tribute.

Abrams - he was staying out at casinos till the crack of dawn last year, but may have turned a corner where he is a top flight offensive shortstop who has taken things to a new level.

Other sports - even if these more recent cards from four or five years ago tend to be considered junkier base, it’s hard not to pass up cards featuring legends / icons.

Shiny Panini Donruss - it’s hard not to pass up unique parallels and/or inserts for cheap such as the Klein and Wynn, even if those Hall of Famer subjects are a little no context in my collection at large.

The Molitor ends up a little jazzier than a regular base card since it is Carolina Blue parallel - it’s primarily a stadium card for me, where I’ve tried to gather visiting players cards from different eras shown at my one-time home MLB team ballpark.

The Walker isn’t quite a color match - but the colors goes well with the Hall of Famer identified as a Colorado [Rockies] player.

The Wilhelm ends up a Pink Fireworks parallel - I randomly picked one seemingly more common parallel I liked from Panini Donruss products years ago and Pink Fireworks cards pop nice when in hand.

I don’t know if Panini still makes them in current year products - but I’ll make keepers out of most cards I spot in the wild.

Card show singles rummage

The previous post maybe the last of my dime box rummage stuff - unless I can muster up the enthusiasm to dig up some other cards from that stash.

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].

Early Miguel Cabrera cards - I have never liked cards part of a 'rookies' subset like this 2004 Upper Deck if they are not considered actual rookie cards or a 'prospect era' card like this 2002 Bowman Draft Chrome.

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.

Miscellaneous Angels cards - I just had to pay $10 for a Elpidio Guzman rookie card even though he was a couple of years older than listed on this card and he never reached the big leagues.

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've made it a mission to make keepers out of scattered Topps Silver pack cards out in the wild like this Ken Griffey Jr. - I do not want to pay too much for one particular card, but they irresistibly pop so much, I'll make keepers out the stars and HOFers featured in the sets over the years.

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 ended up grabbing a 1996 Pinnacle Team Tomorrow Derek Jeter #9 - since Jeter was a national superstar of 'recent vintage,' he is probably a guy I'll blindly collect where I'm more apt to make keepers out of a card like this rookie era Dufex style insert that pops in-hand.

Angels I found through my rummage at the card show

I might decide to show some of the themes that came together out of the loose cards I made keepers - from my 'big' haul teased in the previous post.

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.

Dime Boxes 11th anniversary giveaway results

Through the end of December, I was on a posting hiatus due to traveling outside the country through Christmas - I'm acutely aware there may not be anyone hanging on when there is a new post here and honestly, I might be having some self-existential doubts about card blogging going forward.

If nothing else however, I look to end 2022 with a post featuring what I claimed from the Dime Boxes blog - where I want to go through some cards one-by-one as a way of appreciating what I received.

This Sparky Anderson Detroit Tigers oddball is a larger than a regular sized card, but was too fun to ignore - where the Hall of Fame manager is chatting up a young fan.

I was going to mention how I didn't really like odd-sized cards that are either too big or too small - but go figure I claimed one card that is a little larger and one card that is a little smaller than a regular sized card.

I'm not sure what drew me into this card, except it's vintage and it's fun to see where the batter is not wearing batting gloves - while imagining him ready to take a big whack at the ball during some early 1970s game action.

I claimed this retro card because it looks like a fun looking insert inspired by a vintage oddball issue - sometimes I want cards that are just a little different.

I couldn't imagine claiming every single card I saw, but this shiny Mike Trout was certainly a keeper - this card ends up really popping in-hand.

For all the cards posted, this oddball was kind of a no brainer as well - I don't know how many Mark McGwire cards show him trying to barrel his way past a catcher in some play at the plate collision action.

I get my Matt Duffy Angels card for my Angels all-time team register collection - this Vintage Stock parallel ends up being a little more fancy than a regular base card.

I really liked this boxed set oddball card of a Hall of Famer who'd spend the twilight of his big league career with the Angels - it's the most random, irrelevant card, but just something a little different than the usual Topps, Donruss, Fleer or Score flagship issues from the junk wax era.

Like the Anderson at the top of the post, this oddball was too fun to ignore where the vintage slugger appears with a child - this could be a centerpiece page card, where Killebrew appears on a card for a cause, rather than the countless issues where it's basically the typical baseball card.

I ended up claiming a Hunter Greene rookie parallel card for fun, just because despite an up-and-down season for the first year big leaguer - he really showed promise, striking out 164 batters in just 125 2/3 innings pitched.

I claimed this card to add some old-school flavor to my stack - maybe I like the 'lil color match action going on with the red borders and the red showing from Simmons' uniform to his cap.

I guess like this card for a number of reasons, where there is some dirt fetish going on as Rickey looks to have a moment to gather himself - it's also a hats-off card and really looking closely, Rickey has a chain of some sort hanging from his neck.

Besides the cards I claimed, there was also a small stack of Angels added - maybe featuring a couple of guys I'd rather forget [Josh Hamilton and Zack Cozart], a couple guys I haven't thought in about 10 years [Torii Hunter and Jered Weaver] and a young guy like like Reid Detmers who still looks to get better with more big league experience.

These three were added as well, which ends up a little 'no context' in my book - but there is always room to add cards of legends in my collection.

Some low level value box style digging

At card shows, I like the idea of cobbling cards together that make sense to me - my take home stash may not be worth much all together [charged $10 in this instance], but depending on what I find, I can exercise a certain nuance in picking out my keepers off a particular table.

Angels material - 3 for $1  - the Angels are my team to collect them through rain, sleet or snow, but I can't help but feel there is a janky quality that lingers from the top of the organization down to the product on the field. 

2021 Topps Chrome Shohei Ohtani #159 - he really hasn't had that all-world season with the bat and on the mound, has had some uneven performances in recent starts.

2021 Topps Finest Shohei Ohtani #54

2021 Topps Finest Mike Trout #57 - was in an 0-for-26 hole, may have busted out off that until his groin gave out.

2021 Topps Finest Finest Legacies Mike Trout, Vladimir Guerrero #FL-MT

2021 Topps Gallery Shohei Ohtani #96 

$1 each

2016 Topps Chrome Mike Trout #1 

2021 Topps Archives Snapshots Jo Adell #19 - he's had to step in where it seems like he's as bad as some Angels fans want him to be, where the 23-year old's abilities just doesn't translate into skills that make him a legitimate big leaguer.

$1 each

1960 Fleer Baseball Greats Zack Wheat #12 

1960 Fleer Baseball Greats Dazzy Vance #51 

1961 Fleer Baseball Greats Chuck Klein #51

1962 Post Cereal Richie Ashburn #186

$0.50 each

1961 Topps Don Mossi #14

 

I was able to scrounge up some vintage cards and while they came from the depths of some cheap-o boxes and not showcase material - maybe having some 60 year old pieces of cardboard in hand should be some sort of accomplishment. 

$2 each 

2021 Bowman's Best Refractor Marco Luciano #20 [x2] - whoever knows with some of these top prospects, but looks like this shortstop prospect is having a good year in Single-A. 

2021 Bowman's Best Refractor Andrew Vaughn #21 - he had an unspectacular rookie season in 2021, but has shown better production with the bat so far. 

Night Owl 5,000-card repack giveaway results

I was able to jump in on Greg's post giving away cards and found a large bubble mailer in my mail box this past week - I tend to refer to him as the card blogging 'sage,' but what hasn't been said about him?

If nothing else over the years, since he has been published in Beckett publications - he has evolved into an expert, an authority figure posting about baseball cards, the Dodgers, Ron Cey, 1975 Topps, old school, vintage, oddballs and the various life issues that may occasionally take priority over cardboard.

I might not always be interested in the things he has posted about, but if he has a new post up - it's probably worth taking a moment to check it out.

I couldn't wait to just to tear into the my package and find 9 team set bags stuffed with assorted cards - N.O. also threw in a 1992 Donruss pack [15 cards] that counted as part of the 253 total cards I ended up with.

A good number of cards was Angels material, which is no surprise since obviously that is the team I collect - I like the minor league Garret Anderson, the 2002 Topps 206 Anderson, the oddball Rod Carew and the old school Don Baylor cards.

There was the occasional star power - I'm not sure if Matt Olson is on that same level as the other guys, but he has been a bonafied slugger through his big league career.

Some odds and ends to go through like parallels, oddballs, old school and vintage - the Topps Fire Victor Robles is a rookie-year shiny, though his potential has dimmed over the years.

The 1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals cards aren't something that would normally pique my interest and I'm not a card back 'enthusiast' either - but I like how the backs look compared to a regular Topps card from that era, where there is a bit of color and the stock feels textured and creamy.

To be completely random, these were thrown into my stash - I remember sitting through a KISS concert about 6 years ago, maybe the only concert I've ever attended and in the middle, the crowd was basically made to recite the pledge of allegiance.

Dime Boxes 10th anniversary give away results

It's fun checking when Nick over at Dime boxes posts his latest card hauls and poring over blog is the closest thing to making me feel like a Stan - I was able to pick out several cards from his blog anniversary celebration where he had a 10 post marathon gifting cards to those who wanted them.

I tried not to impose too much on his generosity by claiming only so many cards - my favorites are probably the Mike Schmidt, Fred Lynn oddball, Bo Jackson promo and the Topps rookie year subset feat. Shohei Ohtani / Ichiro.

As much as I've read Nick's blog over the past 5-6 years, I just have not interacted with him like other collectors who may do trades and /or send him stuff [and vice versa] - besides the cards, it was nice touch to personalize things with a short note.

Some more card show stuff

Some older Angels cards from 'my era,' which was probably 1990s early 2000s - I probably have a number of these cards but they were cheap enough, where I added them into my take home stash.

Mini-collection cards - some batting cards, a home run trot card and baserunning cards.

Mini-collection cards - some fielding cards, a throwing card, a double play throwing card and a pair of 'dirt fetish' cards no matter how incidental.

Mini-collection cards - some 'fun cards' up top including a gum card, a player having some fun and an oddity where Randy Johnson is pictured with a camera.

Bottom row features - a Kris Bryant 'game face, focused' card, a Curt Schilling 'men at work' card and Javy Baez and Kevin Pillar 'personality shots, fired up' cards.

Mini-collection cards - some unique perspective cards in my book, including some 'event captured' cards, some cards with what I consider 'panoramic / majestic' images and a Sean Casey 'signage' card where 'Bud' can be made out in the background.

1990 Palm Springs Angels set pick up

I picked up a minor league team set featuring Angels all-time great Tim Salmon - besides any harder to find inserts / parallels from the late 1990s that may command a premium regardless of player type, there are more common 25-30 year old 'scratch the itch' cards of Salmon I want to pick up.

For nostalgia I still cling onto parts of the 1990s and where there might have been uncertainty as far finding some future stars to build on early in the decade - Salmon was that first Angels prospect to break out as a big league star

A one post 2017 recap - my regional PCs

I have a yearly set of collecting goals I've kept offline since I think it gets too long winded to fully go through on a blog - one of the goals I wanted to focus on was this reboot of my Angels collection.

A.) Put together a list of Top 31-50 PC cards of my Angels collection in my Top 50 common PC - I wanted to see if things could come together as far as having a group of PC cards that I could add to in various ways.

#32 Group Mike Trout 
#33 Group Tim Salmon 
#34 Group Garret Anderson 
#35 Group Torii Hunter
#36 Group Vladimir Guerrero

#37 Group Angels PSA sampler run [1961-1980] 
#40 Group Troy Glaus group
#41 Group Jered Weaver 
#42 Group Garrett Richards 
#43 Group Kole Calhoun 
#48 Group graded rookie cards 

FYI, a group collection is basically a way to put together cards [of one player and/or one card type] as one ranking in my personal collection - I was able to put together a bunch of PC cards together, now I can kind of build on what I’ve listed, tweak rankings, etc.

B.) Build up an A-Z singles collection for the majority of my cards - listed in a database, sleeved and stored in a box.

• My main A-Z singles collection will consist of miscellaneous team related cards I end up with - while a separate A-Z singles collection will be for selected players and notable cards.
• In a given year, I'd like to pick up 10-15 first-year Angel certified autographs, corresponding parallels or other parallel cards to put in my A-Z singles collection - I need to look at upcoming product checklists and consider players that are listed as Angels.

This is a work in progress, where no tangible set-up is put together as I try to figure out what exactly goes into my A-Z singles collections - the distinction between having an A-Z collection that is more of an archive, a catch all for irrelevant and cumbersome slabbed cards of one-time Angels prospects and an A-Z collection that is more refined for selected notable players and notable cards.

Building up the A-Z singles collection with first-year certified autographs, corresponding parallels or others parallel cards - is something I've 'dabbled in' at best and always a work in progress.

C.) Account for loose Angels cards - my goal is to have binders of random Angels cards as 'jukeboxes' of sorts; cards that go into this collection should be listed in a database [except for my binder stars cards].

• Maintain a collection of ‘binder stars,’ featuring selected players like - Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Nolan Ryan, Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Vladimir Guerrero, Tim Salmon, Torii Hunter, Garret Anderson, Jered Weaver, Jim Edmonds, Garrett Richards, Kole Calhoun, etc. 
• Continue to work on my frankenset, maybe a frankenset update [finding cards #'d 500 and up], an Opening Day lineup set - any displays in binders will have to wait depending on whether I’m close or have completed a particular project.
• Timeline - 2015 - Frankenset, 2016 - Frankenset update [500+; pull cards aside, officially start when finished with original Frankenset], Angels Opening Day lineups and 'shoebox collection,' which should be the odds and ends left over, 2017 - PC, A-Z collection ‘revamp,’ binder stars and inserts. 

What does my goal to have binders of random Angels cards as 'jukeboxes' of sorts mean [?] - I think it means my frankenset / Opening Day lineup as opposed to just loose cards from my team boxes.

Binder stars are a work in progress - I don’t know how to account for guys who’ve been bigger stars for other teams - maybe leave them as is as binder stars or perhaps only have their Angels cards displayed; guys who were primarily [home grown] Angels who starred for a significant number of years for the team maybe whose cards I’d include.

It's kind of sad, but after starting it several years ago, my frankenset seems pretty much in mothballs [the cards are still intact, sleeved and boxes, but I haven't added to it] - a frankenset update is still floating out there [though more as an unofficial thing] and an Opening Day lineup collection is a work in progress.

D.) All-time Angels autograph collection - see if I can count out about 200 different autographs and list them in a Google Sheets file. 

• Scrounge around for random autographs I might have - account for non-card autographs.
• Use a wantlist to list any names I need - not the collection of random cards for guys who played for the team at one point; the ‘physical collection’ is just a snapshot of players I still need.
• Add new ones as I can [certified, maybe uncertified and occasional in-person] - trading cards are the easiest to store in any sort of quantity so for most of the ‘rank and file’ names, that what the autographs are on.
• I’m not going to get them all so maybe settle on a number goal [200] - focus on picking up team Hall of Famers, actual Hall of Famers, stat leaders, award winners, postseason teams, starting lineups, etc.

I think I’ve been able to count out about 200 different autographs - but the work listing out those 200 different is something I haven’t fully committed at different times of the year.

Regional collecting

My team is the Angels and while I may say I'm interested in a number of non-Angels players like everyone else - I'm a one-team guy when it comes to collecting.

As is, I'm probably stuck to loose Angels inserts and base I may end up with like this Garrett Richards card I found - I can't get into high end cards, because it's all about Mike Trout, I kind of missed the boat on him, but now everyone is into him as the hot, young superstar.

I don't like the idea of trying to complete team sets [too tedious, especially when it comes to junk wax years], but want a collection of different, Angels cards - I think I do have to de-emphasize my interests somewhat because while I covet Angels cards, but I don't want it so I'm held hostage by the need to have all Angels related cards [even if the player pictured aren't really favorites].

An idea would be to scour for cards of prospects, so I have some better cards of guys who maybe future Angel stars - though guys anointed as top prospects turn into busts, guys who seem like future stars are disappointments and guys get traded or even find themselves cut prematurely.

Matt Lindstrom

I just put away a couple of his loose cards last night and while he may have signed a card or two for me before - he is one of those journeymen still playing, I have at least five or six cards of that I don't know what to do with.

Now, it looks like he'll get a spring training try out after signing a minor league deal with the Angels - chances are he will not make the big league roster and might be stuck in AAA until another opportunity opens up, but who knows.