i didn't pay for these cards at the card show

i posted about the july card show i attended a few posts back, and i mentioned that brian from highly subjective, completely arbitrary handed over some great cards to me that day. today is the day that i share some of what he had stockpiled for me and my collection.

in a surprise move, here's a non-dodger card to kick things off!

that is a 1994 ud collector's choice chris gomez gold signature parallel card. it goes in the double play collection, although it would also fit in the tatooine collection. i now have the trifecta of this card in the dp collection - base, silver signature, and gold signature.

a couple of 2023 topps big league cards - miguel vargas uncommon foil and tony gonsolin electric orange

only the gonsolin is a parallel, however, thanks to the dumb tiers topps put on a low end product. save that nonsense for topps finest if you must do it at all.

2025 topps allen & ginter kirk gibson mini

that is an allen & ginter back parallel

how about a roki sasaki 2025 topps chrome sepia refractor parallel? 

yes please and thank you very much!

i don't pay any attention really to bowman these days, so it's nice to see these cards in a trade package

these are the first 2026 bowman inserts that i have received and it will be a while before we know if either of these players make it to the majors.

brian claims to have some good dodger mojo when opening packs, and he handed over a "hit" in this 2026 topps alex freeland relic

as well as this 2026 topps heritage dalton rushing blue chrome refractor parallel

i was reminded by seeing brian again that he had also sent cards to me back in may, cards that were languishing in my scanned and unposted folder.

i'll start that round of cards with another blue refractor parallel, although this one has 125 fewer versions than the rushing above

that's a 2023 bowman sterling diego cartaya card numbered to 25. at one point, cartaya was ahead of rushing on the catching depth chart for the dodgers. these days, cartaya is in the giant organization and just turned 25 a couple of weeks ago. maybe he will make it to the show at some point down the road.

between brian and madding, i have a number of topps holiday oversized ornament die-cut inserts, with sasaki being the latest one from brian

that's from 2025 topps holiday, as is this mookie betts variation

and this hyeseong kim parallel

from 2025 topps stadium club, brian provided this kim insert

along with a concentration insert of world series mvp yoshinobu yamamoto

brian also went into the way back machine and produced this 2005 upper deck artifacts russell martin card

that's actually a "rainbow red" parallel, numbered to 50. i don't have martin's base card from the set (it's numbered to 799) so was very pleased to see this card in the package.

brian didn't stop there, however, as he also included chrome black refractors of martin

and paco rodriguez

from 2005 topps chrome update & highlights and 2013 topps chrome, respectively. brian is collecting topps chrome black refractors and so i appreciate him passing these along. the martin is numbered to 250 and paco is at 100

note that topps, at one time, noted on the back that the black refractor was, in fact, a black refractor. by 2013, it was simply noted as a refractor. these days, topps doesn't label them at all.

i am hoping to see brian next week at one of the two shows happening in the twin cities, and i'll have some cards of my own to hand over. thanks brian!