Almost certainly the best thing in life for me this month is a wonderful sale down at my excellent LCS - 50% off for cards in the Dollar Box, & the 50¢ Box too!
They've got about seven of the fiddy cent boxes, and another 4-5 of what is now a good old-timey Quarter Box. Inflation is banished! Happy Times are here again!
I've only made it all the way through 3 boxes so far, but there are still 11 days left in the month, so I shall return. Let's check out some of the loot...
Why I selected it: I normally -never- Bowman. But I would like to create a nifty 9 card page of Brandon Inge cards, and that would be a little better if it is all cards that aren't from the Topps Baseball set, where Inge will be in with each team set anyway. Plus I wanted a little reminder that he started out as a Catcher - just like Kyle Schwarber - and I need to pick up a card illustrating that, one-uhh-these-days.
Only in Michigan (or maybe Lynchburg, VA) would this card land in a $ Box, but my actual net cost here is about 43¢ or so. How cool is that?
Why I selected it: Remember Aristides Aquino? Nobody else does, perhaps not even Pepperidge Farm, at this point. But back in 2020, that guy made more checklists than ... Yordan Alvarez.
This expedition to the LCS, my first in my hometown this year and only my 2nd Baseball Card shopping trip in all of the year 2026, was not long after Alvarez hit 2 Home Runs - in the 1st inning! So snagging a crisp seeming possible 2026 MVP for just 43¢ seemed a no-brainer at the time. Turns out, the tiny white corner smidgen that means value = $0 is present.
Fortunately upon further review I noticed this card will fit ab-fab perfectly in my HICKORY collection.
Why I selected it: Who doesn't love a classic mis-cut? That's where this card will be headed - a page of examples of Baseball Card production perfection.
Several other things on this card might have lead it to my little pile of treasures that morning. I can almost see what is possibly the Padres original shoulder patch there, so I will certainly need to find a better example of that.
I also tend to have a soft spot for posed cards where the player looks scared of the photographer, like he might be able to cut him from the roster or something. And I do particularly like perfect "Blue Sky" cards, which seem kind of blah-blah, until you try to deliberately find another one.
The real luck of finding this card didn't appear until I brought it home, where, yeah, I read the back - which seems to indicate Arcia was converted from a Major League Pitcher to a Major League Infielder. This surely needs investigating, and perhaps a correctly cut copy of this card, too.
Why I selected it: This should be obvious. Every Ohtani card is worth $100 now, so 43¢ to $100 seems like it would be a crime to just leave all that money in the $ Box, OR the fiddy cent Box. Plus since it is likely to be the only card ever made (we can hope) with both Shohei Ohtani AND Ken Griffey Jr. - on the same Baseball Card! - that it's probably worth $200, easy money.
Plus the goofy graphical illustration of the lighting making Shohei seemingly The Natural, or the Chosen One, or whatever the heck is going on with that, made me laugh, and also made me make a mental note to see if the other cards from this 2026 Series One insert (I think?) have the same over-the-top graphic, or does just the Ohtani card look like this? And what's up with the PROFILES typography? Did Ken pick that?
Why I selected it: OK, confession time. I never learned to skateboard. I went straight to BMX bikes instead. But I do know who Tony Hawk is and I expect I can pretty simply double my 43¢ investment here easily enough on COMC. Because I definitely did that easily enough when Tony Hawk was first on a First Pitch card, some ten years ago already. And until I get around to sending this card somewhere, I will definitely be admiring a First Pitch card where it looks the honoree really can pitch a Baseball, for a change.
Why I selected it: This card went onto the pile because I like Mookie Betts cards. I was also confused by how the letters "EO" could appear on a Dodgers card, so that seemed intriguing. And Mookie has a goofy look on his face. And and Mookie's move to Shortstop late in his career is yet another crowning achievement in that career - most players leave Shortstop near the beginning of their careers. (A large portion of MLB players started out at Short because it is the most athletically demanding position requiring the best athletes - thus the ones most likely to become Pros later). And and and that unusual olde English D on the cap - what's up with this? The last time I saw that was on the "cover" of 2024 Heritage High Numbers, though I think I did finally pull a Dodgers card with this surprising departure from classic LA. I didn't know what the card was, as it takes a bit of time to go though a box of several thousand Baseball Cards, and I'm sure I didn't expect to find mass quantities of extra cheap Dollar Box cards when I left home that morning. On the next card in the box is where I figured out what the Betts card is...
Why I selected it: Hey, those are stars on these inserts. I like stars on Baseball Cards, and I don't mean the players. It's a natural, winning combo.
The team color being used for the stars made a certain duhh-huhh idea click: turn the card over, dummy.
These are the 2026 Stars of MLB inserts, which only appear in retail packaging formats - something I missed out on for 2026 Topps Baseball Series One. This still quite astounds me - it's early summer and I already can't purchase the first portion of the Topps Baseball set. Was it like that in olden times? Maybe it was. New Series! and all that.
Be that as it may, that Witt card would also look great on a page of Powder Blue inserts - can't recall KC sporting the Powder on the batting helmets too. Maybe I will need another copy of this card for that page. I know I will definitely be collecting 9, or 18, or maybe 27 of these snazzy inserts. Unless they get too loaded up with failed Rookies in the further series of 26 Topps, which is of course quite likely. But there are more $ Boxes left to pillage, so
Why I selected it: Sometimes, while I am scrounging around in the spare change box, I buy cards I don't even like. I'm fine with Tarik Skubal's 2026 Topps Baseball card, and already have a normal copy of this card.
But I had to figure out just W T F here with the "FL" pattern on the card, making it a parallel. It is not numbered on the back. Are we now going to just print random letter combinations on the cards in the never-ending quest for MOAR parallels?
It would almost appear so. The "FL" pattern makes this a "Spring Training" parallel, referring to the state of Florida. 15 teams of course then instead have an "AZ" pattern on their "Spring Training" parallel. Dance, junkies, dance.
Why I selected it: Hope springs eternal in Baseball, and Tigers fans have high hopes for this young Pitcher. I thought I did pull a copy in my small LCS purchase of 26 Series One back in February, but for Tigers Rookies I always want a 2nd copy of the RC or the more rare Tigers Rookie Debut card.
Plus, those socks! Best Olde English D socks card since a Matt Boyd card a few years back, and he's a Cub now. So with Team Socks right square in the exact center of the Baseball Card, this card will certainly hold down Detroit's spot in the Team Socks collection. You don't have a Team Socks collection, too? Why not?
Those socks will certainly help me remember Troy Melton 4 years now, after his career is over. Hope I'm wrong on that, but the game of Baseball today just seems every day like it is all just an "IL" lottery rather than a game of skill; Melton has barely pitched this year and was a late scratch the day he was due to return from the IL. He is supposed to pitch tomorrow, as I type. We'll see.
Why I selected it: Need it. I knew I hadn't pulled a copy of this one.
Has there ever been a Rookie-of-the-Year Cy Young Award winner MVP? I know there hasn't. Few things get fans riled up like making a Pitcher an MVP instead of that year's Home Run King (boring). And Misiorowski is pitching in the GOAT's League, so there is no way he is winning MVP. But the other hardware is certainly in "the chat" for this exciting young player.
I quite like his Rookie Card there. Nice sunlit card, really shows off his beanpole frame, maybe even foreshadows something with the eye being drawn to his elbow, even if not his actual Pitching elbow. Well done, Topps.
A day after I purchased this top-notch RC, "The Miz" pitched a one Hit Shutout. So that worked out well.
I follow the Brewers almost as closely as the Tigers, though usually not until later in the summer, when I start working over in Wisco. I sure do miss my Uecker broadcasts. This seems like it will be a great year to put together a Brewers Team Set. Don't get me started on how hard it is to just purchase one, down at the Baseball Card store - where these days Fanatics sends all the 30 teams to stores in the middle of nowhere, so I can only pick from Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Mariners Team Sets and the store never has Tigers or Brewers Team Sets. So, so stupid.
Anyhow, this Rookie Card will be a great memento to memorialize Misiorowski's exciting career four years from now, afterwards. I just hope he makes it to October, 2026. Please?
Bonus Round
Why I selected it: OK, another confession: I already own a copy of this card. Although I haven't finished placing the beautiful (on the front) 2024 Heritage sets into beautiful binder pages, I know I don't need this one.
So what gives? More confession: I expect this card is worth a bit more than 43¢, so...maybe that will help me leverage a couple of the infernal Heritage Short Prints or something, somehow.
Two days after I inve$ted in that Yamamoto RC, he pitched a One Hit Shutout, just missing a Perfect Game.
So, if you'd like me to juice the career of your favorite young Pitcher with a 2020s RC, send me a couple quarters and I'll see what I can find, down at the Dollar Box.
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