A Big Biggs Bubbler

...or "A Big Bubbler From (Kerry) Biggs Cards on Cards" which is a little easier to say.

Regardless, I'm here to show them all.

2018 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs RA-FA

Arcia appeared in 40 games for the Halos in 2018, his only year in the Majors, before moving on.

I believe he's currently a free agent. Not sure how well he was touted, but someone saw something there enough to warrant his own certified autograph card.

2019 Topps Stadium Club #89 Rainbow Foil Board 02/25

Quite possibly the lowest numbered card in my collection now.

Very cool.

2009 Upper Deck Goudey Heads Up #296 SP

It's not No-Neck Williams, but Vladdy's head is a little too low on his shoulders.

That's pretty close to the full set of Angels from series 1.

I can't believe Calhoun is not in the lineup anymore.

2019 Topps Update Shohei Ohtani Highlights

These are my first, so it's a nice start to this 20-card insert set. I can't say that I love the design, but I do love the idea of Ohtani having his own insert set.

2019 Topps Heritage

Another good chunk towards this team set. I am severely lacking in 2019 Angels.

And I know it's following the theme, but I'm not of fan of the staged photos on these retro cards. It just looks too cheesy.

2019 Topps Big League Gold Parallel

I missed out on these last year, but I probably would have bought a lot of them, its a nice design. Reminds me of 1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack, which I love.

2019 Topps Gallery Preview National Baseball Card Day GP-MT

So I'm assuming this was a redemption card given out by dealers on National Baseball Card Day?

2019 Topps Fire En Fuego Gold EF-9 and Lasting Legacies Blue Chip LL-15

Whoooo sweet cards. And I love cards with Nolan Ryan in the background.

2006 Bowman Heritage

These fill a few holes. The colors on these are a lot more vibrant than they scanned.

2009 Topps Vintage Stock

These Vintage Stock are great, but they seem pretty hard to come by, I don't have many Angels in my collection. Those that I do have were all given to me.

2009 Topps Black

I usually don't care for much black cards (think back to 92-93 Pinnacle - blech) but these I really like.

Turkey Red Mix

This is another of those themes I seem to be lacking in the Angels binders. Beautiful cards though, and that's one reason I recently added the 2007 complete set to my want list. That, and the fact that I have about half of the 185-card set already.

Rounding out the baseball portion with a mix of odds and ends.

And ending on Patriots!

I'm actually excited to have a season without Tom Brady.

I'm thinking it will be refreshing.

Phew, that took a lot of scanning and thinking!

Thanks so much Kerry!

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

I was sorting through a stack of cards, sorting by year so that I can put them into their appropriate Angels binder. The stack was upside down so I could see the year. The year the card was issued is usually in tiny print on the back side of the card.

I saw the photo and immediately though, "Oh cool! A new Jim Abbott card that I've never seen before. And he's at Anaheim Stadium!"

Then I turned the card over to see the front.

I probably have a dozen of these already.

Seen them a million times.

Often I get caught up in the accumulation, the collecting. Rip a pack, pull the Angels and stick them in a binder without paying attention to the beauty of these little cardboard gems.

I need to slow down sometimes and look at the backs of cards, read them, soak them in.

Do you ever catch yourself trying to accumulate what you need and not paying attention to the details?

Al Kaline

Al Kaline's career spanned 1953-1974, an amazing 22 years.

Thirteen of those years he played against the Angels, 1961-1974.

He hit them in Wrigley Field (LA), Chavez Ravine, and Anaheim Stadium.

How did this Hall of Famer fare against the Halos?

In 175 games: .274 BA, 30 HR, 94 RBI, .849 OPS.

Against Dean Chance (Angels/Twins): 105 AB, 16 SO, .284 BA 

So, yeah, he was good against the Angels.

New Goofy Wantlist Additions

I like the oddball goofy inserts like sweepstakes cards, and info cards, game cards, etc.

Here are some recent ones I've added to my "Other Want Lists" tab.

2002 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Promo Cards

1/3 Just three in the set, but they look just like the regular cards. You have to turn them over to notice they're promo cards. Need:

Mark Prior - Cubs

Adam Dunn - Reds

2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway

I have 9/30 so far.

2010 Topps Million Card Giveaway

7/30 cards. I had a few for a long time. I only recently started to appreciate them.

2004 Upper Deck Diamond Collection All-Star Lineup Game Cards

1/69 in the set. Someone sent me this one and I was hooked, even though its a larger set to chase.

2012 Topps Prime 9 Home Run Legends Exchange Cards 

1/9 I'm only looking for these numbered cards, not the player cards that they were redeemed for.

2017 Topps Rediscover Topps Promo/Info Cards

5/10 half way there, thanks to Card Buzz who sent me these a while back.

2019 Topps Home Run Challenge Code Cards

1/35 Newest addition to the list, such a cool looking card.

Those are just the recent additions, the list however is much longer.

So don't throw these out, I'll trade you for them!

One Page of Dave Garcia

This series will highlight "one page" at a time from my binder of correspondence and autographs from former Angels and Patriots players and personnel.

  Dave Garcia Manager California Angels 1977-1978

Correspondence received in May, 2004.

Whats The Big Deal About Phil Niekro?

He's the Birthday Boy!

Those Red-Checked Checklists

The other day I mentioned that when I first busted a wax box, of 1983 Fleer, I marked out the checklist cards to see what I had, and soon regretted it. I mentioned that I had never since then marked on a checklist card, and that I had kept those original red-checked cards to remind me never to do that again.

Here they are in all their glory. I shudder.

Apparently if I had kept this going, I would have been a box filler rather than an X-er or a check-marker.

I'm not sure what the big red blotch is next to #538 though.

I can't remember if these checklists were the result of one or two wax boxes, but it appears that I got close to completing the set. I have since done so, and it is one of my fondest memories buying (all by myself) ripping, and putting this set together.

An interesting note to the '83 Fleer checklists is that in addition to the player checklists they also included a team checklist, so as you completed a full team, you could check it off here.

So, do you write on checklists?

And if so, are you an X-er, a filler, or a check-marker?