One day after getting that box of old cards from Spencer, I recently got a couple of sacks of mostly newer cards, including some base cards from 2015 to 2017 Topps.

I don’t have much newer cards after 2007, but anything after that which comes my way are those I either buy annually at Casey’s, or I simply stumble upon.

Speaking of simply stumble upon …

In a collection of newer cards, the 1971 Topps Rod Carew was quite a surprise. Yes, the card is off-centered with a bad chip on the side, and, like most other ’71s very hard to find in good condition, it is still my 1st original Carew card as a Twin.

Minor league card of Ray Lankford, a mainstay of the 1990s Cardinals

This stack of about 600 cards is about 3/4 new and 1/4 junk wax, a mix of new commons and “rookie cards” and older stars. The yearly Beckett book I have is the 2014 version, so I have no idea which of these “rookies” are worth something. However, as time goes on you’ll find that only 10% of those “rookies” live up to their initial price. (That 2000 Rick Asadoorian Bowman rookie that came out at $20? Now $0.30 as of 2014.)

2014 Bowman Chrome Josh Hart, I believe a blue-border refractor #ed to 399.

Some of these are chromes, refractors, and alternate version cards that have a multiplier on their base cards ($0.30 x 4 = $1.25 in the rounding sense). What used to be “gold cards” and gold-or-silver signature cards (like the Collector’s Choice) are now different-colored borders and the like. I don’t watch a whole lot of baseball anymore, and 40 home runs is the new 20, but I guess I can save on to who I recognize. Perhaps the tee-ball kids will stumble upon a gold mine of a rookie.

It’s crazy how “baseball cards” now include a lot of non-baseball athletes. I don’t quite understand the point in most of those. Here is a Thurgood Marshall “baseball card” explaining his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1967 – I only get it because the base card Heritage set is designed like the ’67 Topps set, and cards such as these are meant to teach news and happenings from 1967. Recent Topps base card sets now include celebrities who threw out first pitches. Why?

I thought it was okay to include one card of someone non-baseball-related in a set at times: the 1991 Bowman Colin Powell is one I own, as well as the 1993 Triple Play Bill Clinton (the card I received this time is in better condition than the one I already own). That Clinton card booked for $1 during the Lewinsky Scandal, and I’ve seen it book for as high as $3 at one point. Since my Beckett doesn’t list Triple Play, I’m clueless now.

Here is a card I’m disappointed with.

It’s Cliff Floyd’s 1992 Topps rookie card. Except it’s not. Someone stamped something on it. I don’t care of it was Topps itself. Any time you make an original card appear to be unoriginal, I feel you take away from the card. I don’t know when this promotion happened, but it was a bad idea. In 1991, Topps celebrated its 40th anniversary by randomly inserting prior edition cards in wax packs. No alterations, no additions.

Either way, got some more cards to add to the collections, and most will head toward the kids.