1994 UD Collector's Choice Gold Signature Eduardo Perez #228

I picked up this parallel for my Angels frankenset because of the nice action shot of the one-time Halo snatching what looks to be a hard hit line drive - despite eventually playing in parts of 13 seasons in the big leagues, Eduardo [the son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez] never did develop into an every day player with the Angels back in the mid 1990's before moving on.

2012 Playoff Prime Cuts Larry Walker

Walker was a good all-around player in the early 1990's before going to the Colorado Rockies where he put up monster numbers - Walker is a borderline Hall of Fame candidate [career .400 on-base / .565 slugging] though injuries prevented him from having overwhelming counting numbers while the Coors Field effect lingers when considering the merit of most prominent Rockies hitters past and present.

I picked up this card to put away, maybe hoping there is a strong push to get Walker to the Hall of Fame - even though Walker's autograph is not on card and there are better versions of this card as far as the swatches used, I do like how this non-MLB licensed card is put together.

Superficially Walker was one of a number the big hitting stars / fan favorites during the last 20 years - if nothing else, I have these two highlights to look back on:

Forgets the number of outs during a game

Faces the Big Unit during the 1997 All-Star game

On building a team frankenset - the Angels

I really need something to sink my teeth into as far as dealing with my cards - a collecting project I'm trying off the ground somehow is a frankenset of sorts [basically an assortment of cards from different brands sorted in numerical order to represent one set of cards].

Since I've gotten a bunch of loose cards over the last 10 years or so, I'd do a frankenset featuring the Angels - at first, I thought the idea of doing a frankenset was stupid because I was worried that for the number of cards [500] I'm going for, there might not be a particular card to represent each number.

I'm checking things up on eBay and it's been kind of fun to type in random numbers [search term - number Angels -dodgers] and seeing if any Angels cards pop up - I was pleasantly surprised to see there is at least one Angels card to represent 1-500 in one way or the other.

Doing my research, the only number I thought that did not have an Angels card was '408,' but with the help of my friend Google - it turns out there is a Vladimir Guerrero Sports Illustrated for Kids insert card from September 2004 to track down.

Things have come together fast as I've started off collecting cards in-hand as well as typing up a list of sorts - to note cards I have and cards I can possibly add.

There has to be rules of course:

1.) Cards must refer to a player on the Angels or the city name - no minor league cards, but draft pick and prospect cards of players are OK even if they picture a player who never actually played with the parent team.

2.) Cards be inserts and/or parallels - I want to showcase cards that pop.

3.) Cards can be ones I've gotten autographed TTM / in-person - if I was doing a set of cards for themselves, I think I prefer all the cards be unsigned, but it's fun to see cards autographed as long as it doesn't detract from the actual card.

4.) Duplication of players is fine - though a limit of three of the same player per page.

5.) Duplication of sets is fine - though a limit of four of the same set per page.

6.) I figure I'm not going to worry about filling holes where there is no card for that number - in general, if I can't fill certain holes, then it's going to make my head hurt.

7.) The accumulation of cards will actually be sleeved and boxed - until the time where I feel I can showcase the cards into a binder.

8.) I want to say I'm stuck with cards I already have in my collection - though in doing my 'research,' it's kind of fun to see a card somewhere and realize I suddenly 'need it,' even if it might turn out where I already have a card to represent a particular number.

9.) Manager / coaches cards OK

10.) The first 20 cards in this set - maybe to give me an idea of how random things get.

1 2014 Topps Mike Trout
2 2013 Bowman Platinum Mike Trout
3 2000 Black Diamond Rookie Edition Darin Erstad
4 2005 Donruss Studio Vladimir Guerrero S-4 - Studio Stars insert
5 1996 Mother's Cookies Jim Abbott
6 1996 Mother's Cookies Jim Edmonds
7 2003 Donruss Champions Jarrod Washburn - Sample
8 1996 Mother's Cookies J.T. Snow
9 1996 Mother's Cookies Chuck Finley
10 1990 Score Young Superstar Dante Bichette
11 1991 Fleer Update Luis Polonia U-11
12 2013 Bowman Mark Trumbo
13 1996 Mother's Cookies Troy Percival
14 1996 Mother's Cookies Randy Velarde
15 1996 Mother's Cookies Garret Anderson
16 2008 Topps Torii Hunter #WMDP 16 - Walmart Dick Perez insert
17 1984 Topps Ralston / Purina Rod Carew
18 2009 Ticket to Stardom Erick Aybar - deckle edge
19 1972 Topps Billy Cowan
20 1974 Topps Nolan Ryan - incoming

1956 Topps Harvey Haddix #77

I picked this up because Haddix is shown as a baserunner and it's a vintage addition to my pitchers hitting 'catch all' mini-collection - which include cards showing pitchers at-bat, running the bases, wearing a batting helmet, goofing around with a bat and doing things a batter is associated with.

I was digging through a box of assorted Bowman and Topps cards from the 1950's - the card shop owner had to dig through a price guide before setting a price of $3 for this card, which gave me a bit of pause, since the card was an impulsive find.

Going through other 1956 Topps cards in the box, I may go to town on hunting down other cards for my mini-collections - though the larger card size and the relative cost per off-condition card may limit my enthusiasm in chasing down more cards.

1994 Fleer Update Alex Rodriguez #U86

A-Rod has always been a player to universally collect and I've found myself morbidly fascinated about how he did even when the luster has long since faded - I picked up his 1994 Fleer Update rookie card because it's a nice, clean looking card picturing a young A-Rod swinging through in presumably a spring training at-bat.

After being suspended by Major League Baseball in 2014, A-Rod has come back and actually put up some fine hitting numbers as a designated hitter - who knows if A-Rod will continue to put up the numbers, but he's had his share of hitting highlights, including passing Willie Mays on the all-time home run list, getting his 3,000th hit and hitting three home runs in one game.

A-Rod is a flawed, tained player who has stumbled in more ways than one - but by being able to play well again, his road to irrelevance has taken a little detour.

1955 Bowman Eddie Waitkus #4

I've wanted a copy of this card after I saw it on a random Funny Baseball Cards post and finally found one at my LCS for $2 - the story of Waitkus was the apparent inspiration for the book, The Natural, which was eventually made into a movie starring Robert Redford.

2015 Topps Archives Will Ferrell #WF-3

I picked up the Angels themed insert card of a comedian who can probably buy an island or two because he makes a living acting like an imbecil plenty of times over - I'm not completely oblivious about his career as an entertainer, but maybe Ferrell is just one of those 'fan favorites' whose fandom may seem inexplicable at times.

What's in my LCS stash - 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen

For my mini-collections, cards like this one present a problem of sorts - do I save it for my 'awesome action' mini-collection or do I add it to my 'hats off' mini-collection.

Maybe the common sense solution is to go with the dominant quality on any particular card - in the case of Perez's card, it's about getting a Gatorade shower, so it goes into my 'awesome action' mini-collection.

Or maybe I'll just flip a coin to decide where a particular goes and hope to nail down a dupe for the mini-collection that doesn't have it - maybe a card like Werth's would really stand out in my 'hats off' mini-collection because it's not an image of a player lounging around, but a guy about to jump into home plate with the whole team waiting to give him his props.

I picked this up for no reason except the image of Bartolo Colon visible on the video screen in the background makes the card a little goofy - it's like the Goodyear Blimp making a cameo.

While Doby has been on countless retro cards, he's a baseball pioneer who may not have gotten as much credit for breaking the color barrier - since he was the second person to do it in Major League Baseball after Jackie Robinson in 1947.

Featured autograph - Conor Gillaspie

For the Angels, Gillaspie is nothing but a warm body to fill in for the injured David Freese at third base - if Gillaspie does anything with the bat, then perhaps he sticks around as a utility guy who can fill in at a few spots.

2015 Topps Allen and Ginter pack

#144 Brandon Belt
#1 Madison Bumgarner
#13 Koji Uehara
#MM-19 Sphinx - Menagerie of the Mind insert
#305 Chris Carter - mini
#346 Shin-Soo Choo
#260 Hunter Pence
#250 Jimmy Rollins

1989 Score Paul Gibson #595 find

I never thought I'd drop some serious coin actually a few bucks and change for a junk wax era common of a bespectacled lefthanded relief pitcher in 2015 - however this is the error version of the card where the player in the background maybe in the middle of adjusting his cup.

If nothing else, I want to pick up more funny, quirky baseball cards that are highlighted on various blogs / galleries online - to have a mini collection in-hand.

2015 Topps Stadium Club blaster recap III

I relented to pick my third blaster of 2015 TSC even though I still have not picked up one 2015 Topps Series II blaster - I've thought about building the 300-card base set but I don't want to be huffing and puffing to focus my energy on one trading card product.

Because I like the cards, I am going to be hunting down the base cards in bits and pieces [for my mini collections] - I printed out a generic trading card checklist to mark off cards I end up with, so when I'm looking for loose cards, I don't end up with dupes.

#240 Josh Beckett
#40 Josh Hamilton

#243 Salvador Perez
#272 Alexander Guerrero

Pack two
#229 Dayan Viciedo
#28 Dallas Kuechel

#233 Felix Hernandez
#268 Carlos Baerga
#194 Carlos Gomez

Pack three

#217 Yu Darvish
#101 Mookie Betts

#53 Chipper Jones
#T-5B Giancarlo Stanton - Luminous Triumvirate insert
#297 Wade Davis

Pack four

#16 Robinson Cano - I like the way the image captures the dirt on Cano's batting gloves as he swings away; when cards have images of players hitting a ball, I always wonder if the guy actually got a hit or merely made an out.
#15 Adrian Beltre
#193 David Wright
#185 Josh Harrison - Gold foil parallel
#220 Jake Peavy

Pack five
#205 Jose Altuve
#57 Marcus Stroman

#264 Alex Rodriguez
#CS-2 Andrew McCutchen - Contact Sheet insert
#19 Scott Kazmir

Pack six
#263 Anthony Rizzo

#91 Dusty Baker
#123 Lenny Harris - he had a fine career, holds the career record for pinch hits and played until he was 40, but why is he in a 2015 trading card product?
#TCA-AP Albert Pujols - True Colors insert
#207 Doug Fister

Pack seven
#139 Andrew McCutchen
#148 Kevin Gausman

#288 David Peralta

#210 George Brett - Black foil parallel; I've wanted this card since the image used was supposedly the inspiration for 30-year old singer Lorde's Royals song that got popular a few years back; it's a nice bonus that it's a parallel version of the base card.
#29 Trevor Rosenthal

Pack eight
#118 Yasiel Puig
#253 Hisashi Iwakuma
#245 Edgar Martinez

#78 Juan Gonzalez - Foil board parallel serial #'d 20/25; Gonzalez is a 'has been,' with at least couple of bad raps in his MLB career, but 'Igor' was simply legit in his prime and may still have some die-hard collectors.
#219 C.J. Cron

Three random Angels cards

2012 Topps Alberto Callaspo #189 - Golden moments parallel

I'll pick up whatever Angels inserts that catch my eye - though I'm not one to maintain wantlists for specific base / insert cards.

2012 Bowman Jered Weaver #200 - X-Fractor parallel

2013 Bowman Platinum Jered Weaver #3 - Ruby parallel

Random card finds to gnaw at

2015 Topps Finest Charlie Blackmon #95 - I like the hitting image of Blackmon wearing shades, with his beard displayed while there is some visible dirt on his uniform.

2014 Panini Prizm Coco Crisp #13 - Top of the Order insert; I just picked the card up because it's sort of shiny and not because of the player pictured; while Crisp actually played in 126 games in 2014, it's seems like it's been a long time since he's actually been on a MLB baseball field.

2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Kendry Flores #BSB-KF - Scout Breakouts insert; the only time I might have had an opportunity to get Flores' autograph in-person was early 2014 and I didn't know who he was and realized he had this card.

Flores was traded to the Florida Marlins with another minor leaguer for Casey McGehee - who was released by the San Francisco Giants and finds himself back with the Marlins.

2015 Topps Nate McLouth #676 - I don't think I'll ever get through a year's worth of Topps cards to find gems like this, so I'll try to pick up ones that really stand out.

Matt Shoemaker 2015 TSC B&W

I've been on a self-imposed sabbatical from doing anything with baseball cards, but I picked up this Shoemaker card - while it's not a card of Mike Trout or Albert Pujols, the card itself is supposedly limited to only 17 copies, so it's a nice little find.

In 2014, Shoemaker was the 27-year old Angels rookie sensation when he won 16 games - even though he's a guy who has battled on the mound, his overall results in 2015 have been uneven at best, so he may find himself bumped into the bullpen once Jered Weaver comes back.

2015 Topps Stadium Club blaster recap II

Pack one

#118 Yasiel Puig
#253 Hisashi Iwakuma
#200 Mike Morse

#25 Juan Lagares

#152 Jose Abreu

Pack two
#169 Brock Holt

#274 Tim Hudson

#56 Hunter Pence
#102 Cliff Lee
#201 Rafael Montero

Pack three 

#22 Ivan Rodriguez
#257 Paul Molitor
#296 Max Scherzer
#289 Danny Santana - Gold parallel
#35 Ryne Sandberg

Pack four
#211 Justin Verlander
#32 Nolan Arenado
#275 Freddie Freeman
#242 Troy Tulowitzki
#226 Dennis Eckersley

Pack five
#122 Mike Minor
#71 Curtis Granderson
#111 Whitey Ford
#222 Tanner Roark
#43 Jose Bautista

Pack six

#117 Lenny Dykstra - with all the shady things he's gotten involved with in the past 10 years, I just wonder why he is in a 2015 baseball card product.

#54 Bip Roberts
#90 Justin Morneau

#TCA-AP Albert Pujols - True Colors insert
#234 Brandon Guyer

Pack seven
#249 Daniel Murphy
#42 Jordan Zimmerman
#138 Ben Zobrist

#34 Mariano Rivera - Gold parallel

#58 Jason Giambi

Pack eight
#232 Corey Dickerson
#31 Albert Belle
#46 Yonder Alonso
#T-7C Gregory Polanco - Luminous Triumvirate insert
#273 Mike Piazza