Batting Out of Order

Friday, August 21, 2026

The Collector's Anniversary Package

I was one of the lucky recipients of The Collector's 40 Years of Collecting/10th Blogging Anniversary prize packages.

It was certainly fun following along while Chris was ripping stuff the last several weeks in preparation of the main event.

Along with rack packs of 1986 (with an Angel on the front!) and 1991 Topps, I got an unopened pack of 1990 Upper Deck. Not sure if I'll open all these or not. You can also see a pack of penny sleeves...always needed, and some other cards tailor-made to my interests.

I was really surprised when Chris pulled the Caden Dana certified autograph.

I'm not sure where he got the signed Fleury from, but I'm glad to have it.

Did pretty well on pulling Angels parallels.

That Jared Walsh should be in with the Parallels as its numbered 184/199.

Chris knew I was a Theoren Fleury collector and included all these great cards.

My number for the draw was 7 for Mickey Mantle.

Unfortunately, no Mantle's were pulled, but I'm sure pleased and thankful to be a part of Chris' celebration.

Happy 40/10 Chris, and here's to many more.

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Junk Mall Junk Wax Wednesday

Ripping a pack of junk wax found recently at my local junk mall.

1992 Upper Deck Football Series II.

Pack of 15 cards with the chance to pull a Game Breakers Hologram, a Dan Marino Football Heroes, a Coach's Report insert, or an SP.

You can't judge a pack by its quarterback content, but three QBs in a pack is pretty good.

And at 1:30 I pulled a Game Breakers Hologram!

Saturday, August 15, 2026

Angels in the Background

1992 Upper Deck #156 Sandy Alomar Jr.

The Angels Luis Sojo makes an appearance on Alomar's card. Seems Alomar is about to make a play at the plate and maybe Sojo is in the on-deck circle yelling at the runner to "get down (on it)...get down (on it)".

Song stuck in your head now?

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Surprise, Surprise (Packages)

Surprise, Surprise I can see it in your eyes.

I've been getting some unexpected mail recently.

I received a PWE from Johnny which included the nice Silver Surfer above. I might have commented on a post he did on magazine card sheets maybe?

He included 2 of the magazine cards featuring Angels. I'm assuming he had cut up the sheets for the Braves cards and doled out the rest. Happy to have them.

A little padded envelope arrived from Stuart full of Angels parallels:

2026 Heritage and Heritage Chrome.

My top two favorite Angels right now, Trout and Neto, look dazzling.

Then a PWE came in from Wax Pack Wonders:

Jeff wanted to send some return fire for picking out some cards in my recent giveaway.

Very thoughtful Jeff. Especially glad to have a couple more towards the Baseball Immortals set.

A PWE also came in from Night Owl:

Random wantlist stuff, always welcome.

The '87 OPC box bottom card is especially cool.

It's good to see, and partake, in PWEs and padded envelopes still flying around the community through trades, return fire or just because. I think the community has always been good at that.

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Trout Tracker - 20

Number 20 was a solo shot in the 1st of a 1-4 loss to the Rangers on August 10th.

#1 solo shot in the 7th in a 3-0 win against the Astros on March 26th

#2 solo shot in the 5th in a 6-2 win over the Astros on March 27th

#3 three-run shot in the 6th

and

#4 two-run shot in the 8th in a 10-11 loss to the Yankees on April 13th

#5 solo shot in the 1st in a 7-1 win over the Yankees on April 14th

#6 two-run shot in the 5th in a 4-5 loss to the Yankees on April 15th

#7 solo shot in the 7th in an 11-4 win against the Yankees on April 16th

#8 solo shot in the 5th in an 7-3 win against the Blue Jays on April 22nd

#9 two-run shot in the 1st in a 9-11, 10th inning loss to the Royals on April 26th

#10 solo shot in the 4th in a 2-3, 10th inning loss to the White Sox on April 29th
#11 solo shot in the 1st in a 4-3 win over the White Sox on May 5th

#12 solo shot in the 3rd in a 6-14 shellacking by the Athletics on May 19th

#13 two-run shot in the 1st in a 5-2 win against the Rangers on May 23rd

#14 solo shot in the 5th in a 14-3 win against the Rays on May 30th.

#15 solo in the 1st in a 3-2 walk-off win in the 10th against the Astros on June 10th

#16 solo shot in the 5th in a 3-4 loss to the Diamondbacks on June 15th

#17 2-run shot in the 5th in a 7-0 win against the Diamondbacks on June 16th

#18 2-run shot in the 8th in a 13-1 win against the Rangers on July 8th, the 15th anniversary of his Major League debut.
#19 solo shot in the 1st in a 4-3 win against the Marlins on his birthday August 7th

Sunday, August 9, 2026

Thrift Shop Junk Wax - Final

Getting back to the thrift shop find my daughter got for a buck, the last of the cards, the loose binder pages.

About 50 pages full. Again, I knew that it was probably going to be full of mostly 90's stuff.

Here are some sample pages before I break it all down:

I spotted some interesting stuff flipping through the pages.

After breaking them down, the majority of the cards are 1990 Donruss, 1990 Fleer, 1992 Topps and 2012 Topps. The range of cards went from 1980 to 2014 and included baseball, football and basketball.

Some of the more interesting:

Inserts, oddballs, PC guys. Local hero Jason Garrett on World League card. A nice flag card for my Flag Day post.

Complete 2014 Topps Rangers Team Blister set.

And 32 different 1992 Topps Gold Winner cards.

Pretty fun stuff to go through.

Saturday, August 8, 2026

Trout Tracker - 19

Number 19 was a solo shot in the 1st in a 4-3 win against the Marlins on his birthday August 7th.