Featured autograph - Jonathan Lucroy

The Angels just signed Lucroy to be the catcher who presumably gets most of the playing time next season - he had some nice years in his prime, though his production with the bat has bottomed out the past few years.

The signing is only for one year and if Lucroy can bounce back just a bit, he probably helps the Angels - though many catchers tend to run into a wall, once they are on the wrong side of 30.

I guess he was a decent signer between his time in the Arizona Fall League and maybe in spring training his first couple of years in the big leagues - I found some signed cards of his, so I can add him to my all-time autograph collection once he plays in a regular season game for the Angels.

FWIW, I remember Lucroy was going from field to field during a spring training Texas Rangers workout I went to in 2017 - presumably he was done for the day, but still wouldn't stop for just about anyone.

Collecting topics - awesome action

Even more cards from an 87-card mix I put together at a card show for $20 - I don't think I'll end up stretching out this one-time purchase, though maybe I'll be able to get at least several posts out of it.

While I'm not hunting for specific brands or sets digging through the dollar and under boxes - I'd like to believe that I'm building up a stash that makes some sort of sense, so I'd separated the cards I bought into some of the themes in my collections.  

Though not all cards are pictured, here are the cards I bought for my 'awesome action' mini-collection showing something unique - maybe a 'nice action shot' or maybe a 'personality shot' that captures the immortal qualities of mortal ballplayers.

1993 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. #WI 13 - Iooss Collection insert
1994 Donruss Nolan Ryan #1 - Special Edition parallel
1994 Upper Deck Cal Ripken Jr. #425 - Electric Diamond parallel
1996 Upper Deck Randy Johnson #VJ12 - V.J. Lovero Showcase insert
1996 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice Cal Ripken #12 of 22 - Ripken Collection
2005 Bazooka Albert Pujols #124 - mini
2006 Upper Deck Special F/X Prince Fielder #PH29 - Player Highlights insert

2009 Upper Deck Ted Williams #1344 - 20th Anniversary Retrospective
2010 Topps Derek Jeter #TOG-20 - Tales of the Game insert
2012 Topps Chrome Dustin Pedroia #21 - refractor

2014 Topps Chrome Jonathan Lucroy #184 - refractor
2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Xander Bogaerts #13

2015 Panini Prizm Miguel Cabrera #8 - Field Pass insert

2015 Panini Prizm Jose Abreu #10 - Field Pass insert

Assorted finds from a card shop

A numbered Freese parallel - hopefully Freese has a better season as an Angel this season after being pedestrian in 2014.

I find like finding the odd base card or two from a $50 pack in the quarter box - because they are a little thicker, a little shinier than most cards I'd usually find, these mean a little bit more to a cardboard scavenger I fancy myself as.

A couple of guys who got late season opportunities with the Angels in 2014 - Diaz is now with the Colorado Rockies and O'Malley is with the Seattle Mariners.

Greinke is a little awkward and the guy doesn't like to sign autographs interact unless obligated to do so - but he gets paid to be a starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the last I checked, has enjoyed a fairly successful run as one of the better starters in Major League Baseball.

Gonzalez is a pretty good player who can occasionally turn it up a notch - even though as a guy in his mid 30's now, he's really more steady than spectacular