tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-206844292024-03-19T04:06:29.231-04:00The Baseball Card Blogjosh Muellerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10212453263195870177noreply@blogger.comBlogger1147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-2329053789099116082016-11-07T22:08:00.003-05:002016-11-07T22:08:48.468-05:00Cards I Have KnownYou've caught me in a lyrical mood tonight. Maybe it's the chilled autumn air of my walk home from work tonight. Or maybe it's that we're finally able to tuck away our political differences and focus on the season of giving.<br />
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And as far as giving is concerned, I've decided to give myself more time to write. About what, you ask? Why, those cardboard rectangles that so dominate my life. Yes, many years have passed since we thrived here together, but lo, the cardboard sea calls to me still.<br />
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I saw a friend yesterday and he expressed interest in putting together a vintage set from childhood. Of course, he's not alone in this idea—like clockwork, you hit a certain age and find yourself on eBay, buying boxes of 1987 Fleer, or 1991 Topps Stadium Club, or whatever your Holy Grail set was when you were 8 years old.<br />
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The conversation got me thinking... Is that all there is? Endless pining over the card or set that got away? The one we couldn't afford on a $4-a-week allowance? Maybe so. But I've known and loved a lot of sets over the years, and, like some of you, never threw away my cards or had a parent who did. I've bought and sold sets, given away thousands upon thousands of cards to strangers and friends, and made lopsided trades just to empty my collection down to the barest of bones. (And I've documented most of it, over the years, on this blog.) So for me, the existential hole that only owning Will Clark's rookie card might
fill is not so very big. In fact, it may not be there at all. But to my friend, that hole is very real, and a couple Will Clark and Bo Jackson rookies would help fill it in quite nicely, thank you very much.<br />
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We talked about which set to collect. For him, it's the greatest hobby hits of the 1980s: 1983 Topps, 1984 Donruss, 1987 Fleer. For me, it was a bit more complicated: 1977 Topps, plus the cloth cards, the regional Burger King Yankees set and any additional O-Pee-Chee cards featuring players in different unis, photos, or teams. And I'd probably create my own customs once it was all said and done.<br />
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Talking out loud about collecting a new set got me excited, but it also got me thinking about what sort of collector I really am. My friend was excited by the idea of buying packs until he had completed a set that had eluded him as a kid. I was going on a more complicated, multi-step track: buying individual packs would probably be too cost-prohibitive. My route to a complete mini-mega-master set was going to be a series of eBay wins, Sportlots.com bulk purchases, and possibly a few cards picked up at a show or through my trading group.<br />
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I'm staring at that last sentence. Maybe to rekindle my love of collecting is just completing a set I can still buy in packs, or boxes. There are so few sets I'd want to collect from my childhood that I don't already have. I can count them on one hand: 1989 Topps, 1989 Score, 1985 Topps, 1994 Fleer. This friend and I have done Junk Wax Battles in the past, and those were a lot of fun. Maybe what I need is a true junk wax set... 1991 Fleer? The ugliest banana-yellow cards you've ever seen? Or all 10,000 cards from 1991 Score? If I'm going to do a junk wax set, it's got to have subsets, so that rules out 1990 Upper Deck and 1991 Fleer, despite the Pro Visions. Maybe 1990 Topps? I hated those cards as a kid, but 9 Nolan Ryans and a Greg Vaughn Future Stars card can't be wrong (plus all those recent Archives cards!)... <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-90472783528530150392016-02-16T12:15:00.003-05:002016-02-16T12:15:39.357-05:00Help Me Choose My Next Set: 1990s EditionThere's really nothing like collecting a new—or new to you—set. I'm just putting the finishing touches on 1988 Topps baseball (only six cards to go!) and now I'm itching to start another. I've got it narrowed down to two possibilities: 1991 Topps Stadium Club baseball or 1992-93 Topps Stadium Club basketball.<br />
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I never collected either when I was a kid; both were too expensive. Fast forward 25 years and you can still find unopened wax for under $20 a box (what an investment that turned out to be!). Here are the pros and cons of each set...<br />
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<b>1991 Topps Stadium Club baseball</b><br />
As Topps's first foray into super premium design and materials, 1991's TSC had an undeniably great design on both front and back. It was also the first Topps baseball product to be released in more than one series in 18 years (last multi-series Topps baseball set was in 1973). There was a card of Nolan Ryan wearing a tux. For no good reason. (Collection idea: Guys in tuxedoes. There are a <i>ton</i> of cards depicting players in formal wear, for some reason most of them produced in 1991.) The backs featured an inset of that player's Topps rookie card. This was especially great when that player's rookie card was his 1991 Topps Stadium Club card. My 12-year-old self really loved the crap out of this ripple in the spacetime continuum. The photography is fantastic, and with full-bleed photos without borders, getting a miscut card is a really big deal (no borders mean miscuts are obvious; an excellent prospect for miscut collectors like me).<br />
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There are few drawbacks to this set. Foremost are the head-scratching data splits on the card back. Second, because the cards are basically just 25-year-old color photos, the cards stick together. Also, there are only 600 cards in the whole set, which means the last of the scrubs won't have cards. Also, there are few rookies (Bagwell, Luis Gonzalez) and no Chipper Jones.<br />
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<b>1992-93 Topps Stadium Club basketball</b><br />
I only purchased two packs on these when I was a kid, since packs were insanely expensive. Now you can buy a jumbo box of series two for $40. The photography is exquisite. The backs feature "rookie cards," which is self-defeating, since Topps did not create basketball cards from 1983 to 1991. Conversely, the <i>actual</i> rookies in series two are great, as the 1992 draft was hobby-defining for the 1990s: Shaq, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner, Jimmy Jackson, Harold Miner, Walt Williams; even Latrell Sprewell. The checklist is robust at 400 total cards, which is especially deep for a pre-Toronto/Vancouver NBA expansion set. <br />
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And series two featured the ridiculous "Beam Team" insert, which was meant to highlight a laser-light extravaganza shown at halftimes of select NBA games and instead became the hottest insert of the early 1990s. Man, how I wanted those cards! And I don't think I ever even actually <i>saw</i> one in real life, just in <i>Beckett</i>.<br />
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The drawbacks are similar to those of the baseball set: clumped card stock, data points that make no sense to little kids, and the aforementioned non-rookie rookie cards.<br />
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So now I leave it up to you...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-59926782405084268112016-02-15T13:14:00.002-05:002016-02-15T13:14:35.114-05:00Happy Presidents' Day: 1967 Topps Who Am I?Let's celebrate Presidents' Day with one of the weirdest little sets from the Topps sixties: 1967's Who Am I? Released as a 44-card set, the first of two incarnations of the set featured its subjects under a scratch-off layer, like a lottery scratch ticket. The subject's name is printed on the card below the scratch-off question layer. (The second incarnation was 42 cards and did not feature the scratch-off layer.)<br />
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I'm not sure how I found out about this set, but I love it and have been trying to finish the set for a long time (only recently did I finally complete it). The fright wigs, the buck teeth, the cigars and clown makeup, the Hippie clothing, the sunglasses—it's all too much to pass up.<br />
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Much like Topps's earlier nonsports sets featuring famous figures from history, many of its subjects are U.S. presidents (13, to be exact), not to mention three first ladies. It also sprinkles in a few famous baseball players, including Sandy Koufax, one year after his retirement. So now, for your scrolling pleasure, sit back and enjoy the garish costumed wonder that is 1967 Topps Who Am I?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #1 - George Washington</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #2 - Andrew Jackson</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #3 - James Monroe</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #4 - Joan of Arc</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #5 - Nero</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #6 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #7 - King Henry VIII</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #8 - William Shakespeare</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #9 - Clara Barton</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #10 - Napoleon Bonaparte</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #11 - Harry Truman</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL1jiWrIBVl6KafWoLGzb4Q8lJlXuDgZm_HgDGJ07eCrHDlNSQDf1pGL0jpdamm1ulTxzPKRoWTnhWScS_gQMGoRdyx4Stube2oSynU16wp_c7aMtrzJOrchmZh_1-6kBWso2C/s1600/67TWAI_BabeRuth-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL1jiWrIBVl6KafWoLGzb4Q8lJlXuDgZm_HgDGJ07eCrHDlNSQDf1pGL0jpdamm1ulTxzPKRoWTnhWScS_gQMGoRdyx4Stube2oSynU16wp_c7aMtrzJOrchmZh_1-6kBWso2C/s640/67TWAI_BabeRuth-12.jpg" width="460" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #12 - Babe Ruth</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyPSdJdtFdn-DP9BzkS8_fkyN1tHAWuJnGLn1RLV_QbWyPSH2NG8nyi9PM4YLOOWbWZ3I2mVMD8foYX4AFUuPbRlTJcD-llhA2eLW_zON-qlDN6tsWlN3qLj-J0phUBpbUnFy/s1600/67TWAI_Jefferson-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyPSdJdtFdn-DP9BzkS8_fkyN1tHAWuJnGLn1RLV_QbWyPSH2NG8nyi9PM4YLOOWbWZ3I2mVMD8foYX4AFUuPbRlTJcD-llhA2eLW_zON-qlDN6tsWlN3qLj-J0phUBpbUnFy/s640/67TWAI_Jefferson-13.jpg" width="468" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #13 - Thomas Jefferson</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-I8lhkx3mdNRf-GgDmy0SCMBWs0cD5fVfSDxGEa7ETTw-47AewrMshWK-5oXsTadHkXQB0-HAyik1fJhJXPda4A48VQmCSAwNk8c9bIYUJ7Ta2nlXxdbp3mT1PYQiiuGc54-/s1600/67TWAI_DolleyMadison-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-I8lhkx3mdNRf-GgDmy0SCMBWs0cD5fVfSDxGEa7ETTw-47AewrMshWK-5oXsTadHkXQB0-HAyik1fJhJXPda4A48VQmCSAwNk8c9bIYUJ7Ta2nlXxdbp3mT1PYQiiuGc54-/s640/67TWAI_DolleyMadison-14.jpg" width="454" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #14 - Dollie Madison</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRvXKXRjFcVVsgHAypGl9CC0MIVV4IOhoJCUwK29xbW8SdaLefppfL2Enp418oNPQZkv36fQHNgYXZ7XHI3MK0vmWEYClbGQhz6G3BIXgf5GSUJMJOVj7mpUld4ziFP53VFRk/s1600/67TWAI_Caesar-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyRvXKXRjFcVVsgHAypGl9CC0MIVV4IOhoJCUwK29xbW8SdaLefppfL2Enp418oNPQZkv36fQHNgYXZ7XHI3MK0vmWEYClbGQhz6G3BIXgf5GSUJMJOVj7mpUld4ziFP53VFRk/s640/67TWAI_Caesar-15.jpg" width="456" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #15 - Julius Caesar</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSbyYoh2yy95nMGhcT1z8gbZjd198wS435iwY47uULL0wN4u8Q9Rn_S4N7jUpmZENNRW1imhsd1v0H6wQjA6B4COP07KmrymVOFdrSfq8xXNdyCRtqHJrXzuS6IpZTsYFCXR1P/s1600/67TWAI_RobertLouisStevenson-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSbyYoh2yy95nMGhcT1z8gbZjd198wS435iwY47uULL0wN4u8Q9Rn_S4N7jUpmZENNRW1imhsd1v0H6wQjA6B4COP07KmrymVOFdrSfq8xXNdyCRtqHJrXzuS6IpZTsYFCXR1P/s640/67TWAI_RobertLouisStevenson-16.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #16 - Robert Louis Stevenson</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNw_B_WIY1mkvAXbQdHez3WRftw642bKmEZJ2M8EF_lDg7X6W5zOWMpmRxfDG-aKXeXBMKBf3tUhFxhA-385MfQHE1UeJ7Aq19epts2zK1ZSoIqTpWfbOswLCctnJIrAehq9E_/s1600/67TWAI_Wilson-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNw_B_WIY1mkvAXbQdHez3WRftw642bKmEZJ2M8EF_lDg7X6W5zOWMpmRxfDG-aKXeXBMKBf3tUhFxhA-385MfQHE1UeJ7Aq19epts2zK1ZSoIqTpWfbOswLCctnJIrAehq9E_/s640/67TWAI_Wilson-17.jpg" width="496" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #17 - Woodrow Wilson</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64D7wLUm6AmelR2re_fmu0edTr6AnoWhp9keSFA_ko6hbNEZkcZmj8ueHxeV-v9lnRbdzRkvVd2swOp3HjJJ1WMC3rLJkWfFL2bIaXUkDsT7BuADctv8HqaVVVoGFUA4cT0Uv/s1600/67TWAI_StonewallJackson-18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj64D7wLUm6AmelR2re_fmu0edTr6AnoWhp9keSFA_ko6hbNEZkcZmj8ueHxeV-v9lnRbdzRkvVd2swOp3HjJJ1WMC3rLJkWfFL2bIaXUkDsT7BuADctv8HqaVVVoGFUA4cT0Uv/s640/67TWAI_StonewallJackson-18.jpg" width="456" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #18 - Stonewall Jackson</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGkHMdRjziBtQs_vYTqOzZg8ofx2j7ocsIslmPC36EcnTcNnKFKeqcdm6dt1rB7G29PYhVegYHwy-kYwiRfvEq0ZONuwi9z-vwedEuG_WLhZTVqT6CySOTOUujV6uyKf0dd9kX/s1600/67TWAI_Degaulle-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGkHMdRjziBtQs_vYTqOzZg8ofx2j7ocsIslmPC36EcnTcNnKFKeqcdm6dt1rB7G29PYhVegYHwy-kYwiRfvEq0ZONuwi9z-vwedEuG_WLhZTVqT6CySOTOUujV6uyKf0dd9kX/s640/67TWAI_Degaulle-19.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #19 - Charles De Gaulle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifm2ypN915bpB2m-0k-U4jZedsf2FQVooKtzdIOBvxFO2waZvWZNVIzOL6yg1McZrYgjVwWZOaDrpGSKlavu435Cl5B1Za39hu0wWgz_Vcbuss-WFEZmkBgQxx0qPSe2PnARdP/s1600/67TWAI_JQAdams-20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifm2ypN915bpB2m-0k-U4jZedsf2FQVooKtzdIOBvxFO2waZvWZNVIzOL6yg1McZrYgjVwWZOaDrpGSKlavu435Cl5B1Za39hu0wWgz_Vcbuss-WFEZmkBgQxx0qPSe2PnARdP/s640/67TWAI_JQAdams-20.jpg" width="468" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #20 - John Quincy Adams</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjkVdYluJ7gHSwMdfF3rLBzqxctBkCuuJX_o4d8B4D9a4iYjUX9AbcRKQYASYd6aaKsUGEFpGIwbtSOOIcUt5V42BD1EAuLsMfc_2kTdZnYdbef9ibk0D2QwB1eCJuRKexYK0/s1600/67TWAI_Columbus-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKjkVdYluJ7gHSwMdfF3rLBzqxctBkCuuJX_o4d8B4D9a4iYjUX9AbcRKQYASYd6aaKsUGEFpGIwbtSOOIcUt5V42BD1EAuLsMfc_2kTdZnYdbef9ibk0D2QwB1eCJuRKexYK0/s640/67TWAI_Columbus-21.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #21 - Christopher Columbus</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUh5nTAOCMoF16n-yF3afdYQAOg6Xcg1DxJ56isf0DTlXZIQgrvV2pmoFS5SmcoNiOo8bME9Cei8J_stXpKuHR_NgQ6gxiOIlL79vLmSsg1518MF4iGcjB771XwyZvGkZGHgf/s1600/67TWAI_Mantle-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUh5nTAOCMoF16n-yF3afdYQAOg6Xcg1DxJ56isf0DTlXZIQgrvV2pmoFS5SmcoNiOo8bME9Cei8J_stXpKuHR_NgQ6gxiOIlL79vLmSsg1518MF4iGcjB771XwyZvGkZGHgf/s640/67TWAI_Mantle-22.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #22 - Mickey Mantle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0HD-hN-aMoZSc9C2Kl1O3VWM-g2FaVokWF_CaHUO5Ai1uJ1NQugHGQliPhq2ZP-U4V9hsbrZj6Qj7Ws6eBZ1Ki4G-OL99phshmwHIiwlUEsjPdylD6wp7_GOJTGJI4YxpFw5/s1600/67TWAI_Einstein-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0HD-hN-aMoZSc9C2Kl1O3VWM-g2FaVokWF_CaHUO5Ai1uJ1NQugHGQliPhq2ZP-U4V9hsbrZj6Qj7Ws6eBZ1Ki4G-OL99phshmwHIiwlUEsjPdylD6wp7_GOJTGJI4YxpFw5/s640/67TWAI_Einstein-23.jpg" width="464" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #23 - Albert Einstein</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrlabJiSxTuXBQsvEZpkFydch4wf_cofF9F8fhgtLUu-gJqUnNVKvmMCRxmOP-qf6nrsjtLTztzs4JyehyXwY4uaUx7_Bw22WgE6sMH0AQa71BkPSOcWnXp7vdD2HChLmthtXv/s1600/67TWAI_Franklin-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrlabJiSxTuXBQsvEZpkFydch4wf_cofF9F8fhgtLUu-gJqUnNVKvmMCRxmOP-qf6nrsjtLTztzs4JyehyXwY4uaUx7_Bw22WgE6sMH0AQa71BkPSOcWnXp7vdD2HChLmthtXv/s640/67TWAI_Franklin-24.jpg" width="472" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #24 - Benjamin Franklin</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6yUlHtVaoz_W518nOJoir3J3PajjW5Ba8M6O99fnYgsuZHEeqLEw0jT8xq3fXHNlk02Rr0TLkq_tqQLylJot3KakdR7V84xIKFpgguCbhnW2gNgnMgj9MXu1JnQIPhxGMxtt/s1600/67TWAI_Lincoln.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs6yUlHtVaoz_W518nOJoir3J3PajjW5Ba8M6O99fnYgsuZHEeqLEw0jT8xq3fXHNlk02Rr0TLkq_tqQLylJot3KakdR7V84xIKFpgguCbhnW2gNgnMgj9MXu1JnQIPhxGMxtt/s640/67TWAI_Lincoln.jpg" width="474" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #25 - Abraham Lincoln</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMexVxf4pDYHGY7ZLaay5JT2FsEuJnnB5M6Rjs9VVLUxP-i24AwkxcjXF4StmWc5Ldi0As9z6EXdsR5Y5L3Q_DsPH02ez5Ekl_kN2Q8QJcPsohrim8ni2waGW-j_VFxpP-8_p/s1600/67TWAI_LeifEricsson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMexVxf4pDYHGY7ZLaay5JT2FsEuJnnB5M6Rjs9VVLUxP-i24AwkxcjXF4StmWc5Ldi0As9z6EXdsR5Y5L3Q_DsPH02ez5Ekl_kN2Q8QJcPsohrim8ni2waGW-j_VFxpP-8_p/s640/67TWAI_LeifEricsson.jpg" width="454" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #26 - Leif Ericsson</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWUaVwUvgaZELAfVjgQgcWddiDHMBFFwIHlWAgx7B0OMVUnpFRVVKMu_N-v6QrVz8xa69LzBvLJHayyCE7rIIpEkUbKDkfODDyFRQwcePGVeY0id3oMkCTZgPt3lK-xg6JxiSG/s1600/67TWAI_Byrd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWUaVwUvgaZELAfVjgQgcWddiDHMBFFwIHlWAgx7B0OMVUnpFRVVKMu_N-v6QrVz8xa69LzBvLJHayyCE7rIIpEkUbKDkfODDyFRQwcePGVeY0id3oMkCTZgPt3lK-xg6JxiSG/s640/67TWAI_Byrd.jpg" width="472" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #27 - Admiral Richard Byrd</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2SOccwqQHRW85Q2aBqVUiiTQTE_LGtv2ng3JBff63rAsQ2-lGUs2XvKXZYajER-yffZP6cOJBhfJTRz9L_bgsoG2rb1dkJ4E09afVbI52BReq8lhTVmLn2yOm7nmkd_07VPiB/s1600/67TWAI_Kidd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2SOccwqQHRW85Q2aBqVUiiTQTE_LGtv2ng3JBff63rAsQ2-lGUs2XvKXZYajER-yffZP6cOJBhfJTRz9L_bgsoG2rb1dkJ4E09afVbI52BReq8lhTVmLn2yOm7nmkd_07VPiB/s640/67TWAI_Kidd.jpg" width="446" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #28 - Capt. Kidd</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wPmJgrbOw9qMcBK7klMLKoYb14esNRvVIXQnBir6PtAyOu_P0sPQAQWgaPo6VH7cEP5neJaAYy7qJP5TSpmwZfiCV35PuS1r-PERNsk4en7a8GDaXfdI-0LtZY8wYbFhCNJk/s1600/67TWAI_Edison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8wPmJgrbOw9qMcBK7klMLKoYb14esNRvVIXQnBir6PtAyOu_P0sPQAQWgaPo6VH7cEP5neJaAYy7qJP5TSpmwZfiCV35PuS1r-PERNsk4en7a8GDaXfdI-0LtZY8wYbFhCNJk/s640/67TWAI_Edison.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #29 - Thomas Edison</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4s5XWZpnGqaGic2XphjKpOS2PuPpEjqA0Q0gZc6STDH_nBW36b3YusXrqyadHmgl_v_W63BpiuCE9EHfrS67cgne3xyxGktjOQCY3yRpyQzmiRFLG_gJVd38NuQBKY3mL5ks/s1600/67TWAI-Grant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4s5XWZpnGqaGic2XphjKpOS2PuPpEjqA0Q0gZc6STDH_nBW36b3YusXrqyadHmgl_v_W63BpiuCE9EHfrS67cgne3xyxGktjOQCY3yRpyQzmiRFLG_gJVd38NuQBKY3mL5ks/s640/67TWAI-Grant.jpg" width="484" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #30 - Ulysses S. Grant</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizF6qLAT1oGaUuE6GCNajGdGFVYdb71CfCMt3EshkI9lMB9efZLTLmH6tZhybzwFqnnWejmw8AU_9AsJWe8-9qzHDQzlUEHLHCK_4FfJUvPFMaT18KFkwEU6v8CN2jHQtntp8h/s1600/67TWAI_QueenElizabeth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizF6qLAT1oGaUuE6GCNajGdGFVYdb71CfCMt3EshkI9lMB9efZLTLmH6tZhybzwFqnnWejmw8AU_9AsJWe8-9qzHDQzlUEHLHCK_4FfJUvPFMaT18KFkwEU6v8CN2jHQtntp8h/s640/67TWAI_QueenElizabeth.jpg" width="456" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #31 - Queen Elizabeth II</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHHR4eqdyxkRXeaH8URgxq49Y-J0rqaE_ULEDQZZ42bE4LltI7qMRMtM0p8o35zkwlvWTQXBHdUkRz_hjQlujFetEpLayiEYTKIeQdzekhfSI04DN1Rfaa_CgCTQT14AcwCOZ/s1600/67TWAI_Bell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxHHR4eqdyxkRXeaH8URgxq49Y-J0rqaE_ULEDQZZ42bE4LltI7qMRMtM0p8o35zkwlvWTQXBHdUkRz_hjQlujFetEpLayiEYTKIeQdzekhfSI04DN1Rfaa_CgCTQT14AcwCOZ/s640/67TWAI_Bell.jpg" width="470" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #32 - Alexander Graham Bell</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODF2UOHhLT6etCsYSm4XCXzF0Tr6yc6u9pAha-oaX1rdw5xeRMjpayb1QHZoKNnbXu-UY2qg5EHpXBLOW55ojSVQW1UxfS5xfmGohxeWnM80jOvpoM5WLUVS6PLDR3_Pk0Odo/s1600/67TWAI_Mays_33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiODF2UOHhLT6etCsYSm4XCXzF0Tr6yc6u9pAha-oaX1rdw5xeRMjpayb1QHZoKNnbXu-UY2qg5EHpXBLOW55ojSVQW1UxfS5xfmGohxeWnM80jOvpoM5WLUVS6PLDR3_Pk0Odo/s640/67TWAI_Mays_33.jpg" width="470" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #33 - Willie Mays</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInQ2pZeEXo5wApHC2qLViGlu5XQ1z9WHMVf0GrkuDBQRAV9jAn_hyYxmAXD6t0MmEag5jqR45Ca5Oi4GqnmWKZrass-5zDX6m-ZDlAFHQrjsOdUqTEVerSwMlaWi2iuGdZKR8/s1600/67TWAI_TeddyRoosevelt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiInQ2pZeEXo5wApHC2qLViGlu5XQ1z9WHMVf0GrkuDBQRAV9jAn_hyYxmAXD6t0MmEag5jqR45Ca5Oi4GqnmWKZrass-5zDX6m-ZDlAFHQrjsOdUqTEVerSwMlaWi2iuGdZKR8/s640/67TWAI_TeddyRoosevelt.jpg" width="464" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #34 - Teddy Roosevelt</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8bIf_7_m7kXCvBlySiEDcAGVynvA3tKicbRa0OQHLVpWzGQbt_WqRclCUmcjt2w5VWUp5YnDRM9fcYGMCr0IQrsLbnPyEvJMN1EJE7rzRQ8PVJOJt0-xyBZghbt-kYul6gdR/s1600/67TWAI_GenghisKhan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8bIf_7_m7kXCvBlySiEDcAGVynvA3tKicbRa0OQHLVpWzGQbt_WqRclCUmcjt2w5VWUp5YnDRM9fcYGMCr0IQrsLbnPyEvJMN1EJE7rzRQ8PVJOJt0-xyBZghbt-kYul6gdR/s640/67TWAI_GenghisKhan.jpg" width="494" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #35 - Genghis Khan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkS72Mp-C-jaLLiCN15VZt38g6Rfsp9A6JD0y2vbOX0UhydiS_ZljXoaCkXzQHpJJr-n6AZY81R9oLwCBnUKTrSqKpACJGzDeYsr4BlqmGJF0xkbUykQtP1GleAyIP3d3MCtKa/s1600/67TWAI_Boone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkS72Mp-C-jaLLiCN15VZt38g6Rfsp9A6JD0y2vbOX0UhydiS_ZljXoaCkXzQHpJJr-n6AZY81R9oLwCBnUKTrSqKpACJGzDeYsr4BlqmGJF0xkbUykQtP1GleAyIP3d3MCtKa/s640/67TWAI_Boone.jpg" width="464" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #36 - Daniel Boone</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBthk0KCYQKimcn8Vk6AhJp04xVARy9TLSkHMQFrMtLPfQB6qdtXZiQWbHRLpeARGmJP5slcghUTiHacZnchGZUNdINXw-TNhnE4GcVzjBmTG4VsvOcPbwWmFzpwZtnCr5Ib8n/s1600/67TWAI_Churchill-37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBthk0KCYQKimcn8Vk6AhJp04xVARy9TLSkHMQFrMtLPfQB6qdtXZiQWbHRLpeARGmJP5slcghUTiHacZnchGZUNdINXw-TNhnE4GcVzjBmTG4VsvOcPbwWmFzpwZtnCr5Ib8n/s640/67TWAI_Churchill-37.jpg" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #37 - Winston Churchill</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahpoy_ZFdXHLm9cBucsSKq4fJ4V6b2QGSz-SFcBgJAZoc5tDRwSsVoI2B__MyBsn94sSy4HeDk-z1C9fdP2-B1hzOlfushSJj355GQ7KYxWKsgcGvSQqBzWl287y14DQV2qcN/s1600/67TWAI_Revere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahpoy_ZFdXHLm9cBucsSKq4fJ4V6b2QGSz-SFcBgJAZoc5tDRwSsVoI2B__MyBsn94sSy4HeDk-z1C9fdP2-B1hzOlfushSJj355GQ7KYxWKsgcGvSQqBzWl287y14DQV2qcN/s640/67TWAI_Revere.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #38 - Paul Revere</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrf9RtNMu9O5cpkslKdSI82dw7iPP2Ai1IlcuMm_TaO335lrc7ryoj1tqzRizW6x6yBq2T9h9uUUupiqRJCLTToXqrvUkE5qngA3ziJHjEcF51ICK3IheLi1bqbPSQacgFc6so/s1600/67TWAI_Nightengale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrf9RtNMu9O5cpkslKdSI82dw7iPP2Ai1IlcuMm_TaO335lrc7ryoj1tqzRizW6x6yBq2T9h9uUUupiqRJCLTToXqrvUkE5qngA3ziJHjEcF51ICK3IheLi1bqbPSQacgFc6so/s640/67TWAI_Nightengale.jpg" width="484" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #39 - Florence Nightengale</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW_FH2KVfQ9ajgNw0p8fgw5N1-WRhCUaKE8wpNCYUAdf9H_ZR96Y4hOERXW_yWgwQ1VMb7WxhiMPyp0s9mqxtjDhJIoHsylYBMeIJggYlFzqMa0MS2bjsUZ95Bsa_VhFamUXV/s1600/67TWaI_Eisenhower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicW_FH2KVfQ9ajgNw0p8fgw5N1-WRhCUaKE8wpNCYUAdf9H_ZR96Y4hOERXW_yWgwQ1VMb7WxhiMPyp0s9mqxtjDhJIoHsylYBMeIJggYlFzqMa0MS2bjsUZ95Bsa_VhFamUXV/s640/67TWaI_Eisenhower.jpg" width="492" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #40 - Dwight D. Eisenhower</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeVh3EYege_JgiMHMbFoQ4-E2Fhr_C1gGZuBt81E0WekIU2CowYwd97Iyn9iZuah2YSXM0D4IQH5i7umU1sGGPgH53Z5RuoktijLefp-ec6sa4M4GuVN-b8KMubLmD2ENjSaq3/s1600/67TWAI_Koufax_41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeVh3EYege_JgiMHMbFoQ4-E2Fhr_C1gGZuBt81E0WekIU2CowYwd97Iyn9iZuah2YSXM0D4IQH5i7umU1sGGPgH53Z5RuoktijLefp-ec6sa4M4GuVN-b8KMubLmD2ENjSaq3/s640/67TWAI_Koufax_41.jpg" width="460" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #41 - Sandy Koufax</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24zsmKPkq-r8lf0q6A1NLfFmG5LacYfh_XE7NutQ2eOrBlQN4Uovh6PqfjwfoQ9VWa66qa2gMV8cX_A7BVwyHk0isSl97mnlaXrUzapGAzxKIz_C-JrsF7yfnUM1lWn-tImBj/s1600/67TWAI_JackieO-42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24zsmKPkq-r8lf0q6A1NLfFmG5LacYfh_XE7NutQ2eOrBlQN4Uovh6PqfjwfoQ9VWa66qa2gMV8cX_A7BVwyHk0isSl97mnlaXrUzapGAzxKIz_C-JrsF7yfnUM1lWn-tImBj/s640/67TWAI_JackieO-42.jpg" width="456" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #42 - Jacqueline Kennedy</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1syrMOP5xgnaqiGLsGC6VAzeOxuyqVQqevhShyDl_wNyjgj_Zy4LSAddFH69xGAiRehClVsnDWj5swFlQ6awuJDSO6YyIH2GNpXLDoE23BPLnSBxsAv7WLmttWqsaBtF3VPBT/s1600/67TWAI_LadyBird-43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1syrMOP5xgnaqiGLsGC6VAzeOxuyqVQqevhShyDl_wNyjgj_Zy4LSAddFH69xGAiRehClVsnDWj5swFlQ6awuJDSO6YyIH2GNpXLDoE23BPLnSBxsAv7WLmttWqsaBtF3VPBT/s640/67TWAI_LadyBird-43.jpg" width="486" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #43 - Lady Bird Johnson</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1wk4KFkuJoIXKf0NWsccclc-pSo9ZPdVd7Ghg7TA7I58KxVw9h2eSWQwD8i7RpOyZVmj_OCbvM-gc72OKYDNz1OSFwqteKjD7xroI5q1a-9Y3qM-_MXK9I62pB9WLv99e6emi/s1600/67TWAI_LBJ-44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1wk4KFkuJoIXKf0NWsccclc-pSo9ZPdVd7Ghg7TA7I58KxVw9h2eSWQwD8i7RpOyZVmj_OCbvM-gc72OKYDNz1OSFwqteKjD7xroI5q1a-9Y3qM-_MXK9I62pB9WLv99e6emi/s640/67TWAI_LBJ-44.jpg" width="482" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1967 Topps Who Am I? - #44 - Lyndon B. Johnson</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-7553582797210915062016-02-11T12:50:00.000-05:002016-02-11T12:50:18.331-05:00Cards Without Borders: 2016 Topps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUK5BacM3urXhPJNjbLaxlQy8dpwhA1LuP92LgyEzZDaQSmrc0pGcBDqvldL3p5E0q3VzesqGWse2kGWBU2uRvhUzNi__Zxi0eaCC7D6hWsZosrXcB4SoHI9j67TKtAK5iqCEA/s1600/JeredWeaver16T.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUK5BacM3urXhPJNjbLaxlQy8dpwhA1LuP92LgyEzZDaQSmrc0pGcBDqvldL3p5E0q3VzesqGWse2kGWBU2uRvhUzNi__Zxi0eaCC7D6hWsZosrXcB4SoHI9j67TKtAK5iqCEA/s320/JeredWeaver16T.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
Two thousand sixteen finds Topps in a familiar position: once again playing the revolutionary card <i>and</i> the catch-up card. No white borders. Heck, no borders on the front—just a half-hidden team logo design reminiscent of the <i>2006 MLB The Show</i> cover art.<br />
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This is the first design for the flagship Topps set (not their other brands) in the company's 65-year history that doesn't feature some kind of border. Think about that for a minute. The design malaise of the white-bordered years (2008–2014) seems like a distant memory. Even last year's casual homage to the 25th anniversary of 1990 Topps seems quaint. Borders? That's so 2015!<br />
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Full-bleed photography is old hat for a lot of card brands, most notably Topps's own Stadium Club imprint (the brand debuted in 1991 with a bright, shiny, never-done-before design feature: full-bleed Kodak photography). But Stadium Club has always been seen as more of a premium than the eponymous brand. </div>
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Obviously, it's a dramatic shift for Topps. But it's also a natural next step, as the company had to find a way to marry the designs of its base tactile and digital products (Topps Bunt). It could make more Bunt designs look like traditional baseball cards. Or it could make its baseball cards look more like video game cover art. They went with the latter. </div>
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And you know what? There's absolutely nothing wrong with that decision. Though the photography <span id="goog_316455604"></span><span id="goog_316455605"></span>looks <i>heavily</i> processed, the cards are attractive. Incorporating the stock-in-trade faux watercolor look Topps has long employed in its Allen & Ginter designs doesn't hurt, either. The glossy stock doesn't feel cheap, and the photos are a nice mix of in-game action shots and paused-action close-ups.<br />
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Even some of the inserts breathe with their own life: besides the trip-down-memory-lane retread (Berger's Best), the Stadium Club–esque "Perspectives" and position players as pitchers (Pressed Into Service) are fun ideas. The celebrities insert isn't bad (First Pitch), and the Cubs insert is okay, even though its subjects skew more toward the present-day roster than I would have liked (100 Years of Wrigley Field). These are all insert sets I would collect, though the Wrigley Field set gets me thinking: Why didn't they do something like this for Fenway Park's 100th anniversary in 2012? The only insert set that had me yawning was the one-two lineup punch of "Back 2 Back." The world doesn't need any more insert cards celebrating Ryan Braun. </div>
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And don't get me started about parallels. On the whole, I think they're a waste of time, especially if they don't add anything to the design. In the packs I opened, I got a few rainbow foil parallels (not serial-numbered), a few "gold" parallels (numbered out of 2016), and an acetate "clear" parallel of Mark Melancon (numbered out of 10). The clear acetate parallel is a fun idea, and reminds me of a throwback from the mid-1990s. The other parallels, however, are not fun and remind me only that it would've been nice to receive a different card in my pack. I especially don't understand the logic of non-serial-numbered parallels. I think it would be much more enticing if the rainbow-foil cards were numbered out of 1,000,000 or whatever their print run happened to be. (Of course, the next logical step in this serial-numbering madness is for every single card to be serial-numbered. Oh, how I long for a Jered Weaver numbered 1,110,054 / 200,650,755! Every single stinkin' card would be unique...)</div>
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By elevating the look and feel of the base cards of the flagship set, Topps has done something that all 21st-century companies try to achieve: they've unified their brands. This is different from past years where all that separated Opening Day, flagship, and Topps Chrome was a logo and card stock. Base digital and tactile offerings look and feel similar, and low-end and higher-end tactile offerings incorporate similar, if not the same, design characteristics. For Topps, there's the hope that this diminishes attrition; not just losing customers to other card manufacturers, but to the company's real competition: video games, smartphones, and whatever else steals the attention and dollars of collectors.<br />
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Heavily Photoshopped cards without borders is just the beginning. Maybe the next step for the company will be an augmented reality app where you use the backgrounds of tactile cards to find "hidden" virtual packs of Topps Bunt cards in the real world. And so it may seem like a small thing, but I bet you that we won't see the return of a white—or any other color, tint, or hue—border anytime soon. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-52085133041812597442016-02-02T08:58:00.003-05:002016-02-02T08:58:53.663-05:00The History of The Baseball Card Blog<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltj7B7MbZf0KFKWtp7sg3KjkRGml7Ic24Xm1ZueXBVivWsJJEUsgR4CYFC4sFmDkPqmVFII5LH-bXhL0bp5sYJMombyqpk59Ychzdtdx_7EoR-F-16UuEiG2r_0deukyP3NIh/s1600/Puckett87F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgltj7B7MbZf0KFKWtp7sg3KjkRGml7Ic24Xm1ZueXBVivWsJJEUsgR4CYFC4sFmDkPqmVFII5LH-bXhL0bp5sYJMombyqpk59Ychzdtdx_7EoR-F-16UuEiG2r_0deukyP3NIh/s320/Puckett87F.jpg" width="242" /></a><br />
Ten years seems like a good time for a recap. Here goes nothing.<br />
<br />
The Baseball Card Blog was born in January 2006. My friends and I had been kicking around the idea of blogging about sports cards since summer 2005, but we only started posting after I bought a scanner. Even though we didn't know how long we wanted to write, or really what we wanted to write about, blogging seemed like a fun idea.<br />
<br />
I remember being amazed that a Google search only returned one sports card blog (Stale Gum) in its results, and that its writer, Chris Harris, hadn't posted in years. Here was a gigantic, generation-defining hobby with zero presence on the Internet.<br />
<br />
After I signed up for a Blogger account (pre-Google acquisition), my friends Rob and Josh helped me set up a template, as well as a commenting interface. I knew that the audience was out there, waiting for something like our blog, but I was not at all convinced that there would be enough traffic to warrant comments.<br />
<br />
After posting a few entries, I started emailing other writers to get them to link to me. Guys like Aaron Gleeman and Jay Jaffe were supportive and general sports blogs helped spread the word too. Pretty soon, the blog was receiving almost 20 visitors a week. When I wasn't writing, I was watching traffic come in on my third-party traffic counter. Visitors from all over the country, staying on the site for more than five minutes at a time. It was awesome.<br />
<br />
As January turned into February, I knew that I enjoyed blogging, and decided that I could write about pretty much anything I wanted. So I wrote some outlandish stuff with a lot of cursing, highlighted fantastic cards, cards of players with bushy facial hair, funny names and expressions, and generally lived it up for my own enjoyment. Then I emailed Bill Simmons.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjLddS6aot3PAVMPfVNlMSCTupj9iBy-tuhbz6Vdgrfl8C9EcepAy9peO4r7lgCVGO3ZVLM-XKo_Wx_fRbrQiXIYf0CQRDuS1jPBDkcwRCTfFV4snf1tWoP0aWjcVjL47knHE/s1600/Blue74T.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIjLddS6aot3PAVMPfVNlMSCTupj9iBy-tuhbz6Vdgrfl8C9EcepAy9peO4r7lgCVGO3ZVLM-XKo_Wx_fRbrQiXIYf0CQRDuS1jPBDkcwRCTfFV4snf1tWoP0aWjcVjL47knHE/s320/Blue74T.jpg" width="246" /></a>I first met Simmons in 1992, at the draft of my dad's fantasy basketball league. My dad has been in that league every year since, and Bill's ascension to noted sportswriter and media star has been a point of pride for many years. (If you want a good time, read Bill's draft diary from 1998 or so; I'm the "Fresh Fish" team. It's still out there on the Internet somewhere.)<br />
<br />
I had emailed him for advice on how to approach writing. He was a prolific writer, and I thought a few nuggets of his wisdom would at least point me in the right direction. I also assumed that he was so busy that I'd never hear from him. Wrong. Tucked into one of his ESPN.com Page 2 links posts was a little sidebar about The Baseball Card Blog.<br />
<br />
It was like someone turned on a faucet. Within minutes I had more readers than I had in the entire month of January. By the end of the week, the blog had more than 35,000 visitors. It was crazy. I knew that I would have to write more than a couple times a week, or the traffic would disappear. So I decided to blog and rank every major set produced in the 1980s. And tell more people about it. Jamie Mottram at Yahoo!, Will Leitch at Deadspin, and other sites (including something called "Whatevs") all linked, and in June <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> included The Baseball Card Blog on its "100 Websites to Bookmark Now" list. (I had been so excited that I showed the mention to my boss at the small arts marketing firm where I worked. She asked what kind of reward I got from this and I remember telling her that <i>this was</i> the reward.)<br />
<br />
There were other media mentions, and more traffic, and I got to do an interview with a Chicago newspaper. I also met with one of the marketing directors at Topps. I remember going into the meeting thinking I could convince him to hire me as the official Topps blogger, then coming out defeated and angry at myself. Visiting the Topps HQ was really, really cool, and I was plied with free cards on my way out. All this attention was nice, but the best part was that I was no longer the only person actively blogging about sports cards and sports card collecting. Other blogs started popping up, and now, ten years later, there are hundreds and hundreds of blogs and social media sites and other new media platforms on which to read and talk about sports cards; it's great.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdihO9St-hzSkAQCyfDihEWEzAgYEp5M4ZzJ7SbQfCsyMhYcFmpIQs_DbRDnB_D89Z8gi5DhXOoFGEbJW_4mt7XATVpMmp_Vk1VoE_l2mBRjQOQiDOzMx35sBQfY1UzQ1IT82/s1600/Murray88RB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFdihO9St-hzSkAQCyfDihEWEzAgYEp5M4ZzJ7SbQfCsyMhYcFmpIQs_DbRDnB_D89Z8gi5DhXOoFGEbJW_4mt7XATVpMmp_Vk1VoE_l2mBRjQOQiDOzMx35sBQfY1UzQ1IT82/s400/Murray88RB.jpg" width="400" /></a>Two thousand six turned into 2007, and I started to tire of posting so often. And although I loved fielding questions and hearing from fellow collectors, I was also sick of the hate mail, the passive-aggressive missives from other writers, the pleadings of others who <i>needed </i>me to write more often, and the stalkers. (There was at least one guy who would message me every single time I checked my email account; it was super creepy and it went on for months.)<br />
<br />
To combat the doldrums, I helped launch a group blog (A Pack A Day) with many, many authors. I also did a short, unpaid stint with Beckett.com (pre-redesign) but the combination of work, blogging, and the endless, angry hate mail I received from Beckett.com readers really turned me off. (I remember getting one email from a Beckett reader who called me "As bad as Michael Vick"—then under investigation for dog fighting—because I didn't think the Canada box-loader insert in Allen & Ginter was that great.) So by the time 2008 rolled around, I was pretty much done with writing about sports cards.<br />
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By spring 2008 I had quit my job in NYC and moved back to Boston. I holed up in my bedroom at my parents' house and used my Quark XPress expertise to write and lay out <i>The Baseball Card Book</i> (never published, though I'm convinced it will be a best seller whenever it ends up being released).<br />
<br />
In the summer of 2008, I completely, deliberately alienated the bulk of the blog's readers by adding a PayPal donation button to the blog, then actively encouraging people to give me money. It was a gross misstep, and I became a pariah in the now-robust sports blogging community, with an aggressive rival at the front of the pitchfork-toting procession, beating the drum to admonish me. He was right, I deserved it. It was a great way to disappear from blogging.<br />
<br />
But then I started to get into custom cards. And after a few months away from blogging, I found I liked working with PhotoShop to create the cards I wished existed. I took a brief excerpt from A. Bartlett Giamatti's <i>Green Fields of the Mind</i> and threaded the text over a few Red Sox cards. It was fun. As a follow-up, I decided to adapt <i>Casey at the Bat</i> in the same style. It was also the perfect "last post" I had been looking for. It went up in December 2008. I was proud of it and promoted the hell out of it. Traffic had been steady at about 400 visitors a day since summer 2006, and with the promotion and links from more prominent sites like WSJ.com, FOX Sports, etc., traffic remained steady for all of 2009 without me typing a single entry.<br />
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I had entertained the idea of selling the blog in 2009, but because I never successfully monetized the site, the offer I got was embarrassingly low. And by January 2010 I was itching to write again. The year passed with many posts but not much fanfare. When 2011 arrived, I decided that The Baseball Card Blog would be a group blog. I invited Mike Kenny and Travis Peterson to join up and was ecstatic when they agreed to participate. Both are without parallel in their respective domains: Mike is insanely funny and Travis is probably one of the best custom card artists practicing today. I left Mike to do his own thing, but with Travis I collaborated on a few projects, including custom parody cards of <i>Saturday Night Live</i> cast members through the decades. As validation of our collective work, the blog was lauded as a Blog of Note by the folks at Blogger and Google in April 2011. <br />
<br />
The years rolled on. Family life and jobs took precedent and frequent posts from Travis and Mike became occasional posts from Travis and Mike. I kept going down the rabbit hole with more and more custom cards, and then it all just petered out. The Baseball Card Blog welcomed its 1,000,000th visitor and I stopped counting quickly afterwards. Facebook became more important, and I started posting exclusively to the FB page I created for the blog. I made custom sets of additional traded players in the style of 1976 Topps Traded. I made custom 1978 Topps Traded cards. And custom 1965 Topps All-Stars (which were a featured design in Topps Bunt, which I still find hilarious: Topps cribbing a design that I created as a "fix" to their original). <br />
<br />
I'm not sure where The Baseball Card Blog goes from here. I'm not going
to sell it, but I'm also not interested in posting frequently enough to
warrant steady traffic or even relevance anymore. And that's cool with
me. That said, a lot of people deserve thanks for keeping this blog alive. People like Josh Mueller, Adam Dorn, Mike Kenny, Travis Peterson, Matt Sienkiewicz, Chris Harris, David Campbell, JayBee Anama, Mario Alejandro, Scott Crawford, Rich Mueller, Mike Smeth, Ryan Cracknell, Blake Meyer, Bill Simmons, Mark Sapir, Dan Hitt, Josh Wilker, Aaron Gleeman, Will Leitch, Jamie Mottram; the list goes on and on. But most importantly, the person who deserves the most thanks is you, dear reader. Thank you for spending your time reading my inane musings about our shared obsession. It hasn't been overlooked.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-12461098906653777612015-09-25T14:21:00.000-04:002015-09-25T14:21:01.260-04:001965 Topps Combo Card: Dynamic DuoOne more custom combo card to round out the week. Perhaps a few more next week...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1IIcHlgJCacuhpC0kxWuGVJQEm7jGbYA1J2ofd2VHAdlJ2gnOykUMplotogjFjW4-o1ivhs7eVjW_0ZtLfF30-gG2JlyPsoZB-1a8vkw_wtsU9tUvVaiQ5foCrvxtE3ofLFPN/s1600/65T_Dynamic_Duo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="489" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1IIcHlgJCacuhpC0kxWuGVJQEm7jGbYA1J2ofd2VHAdlJ2gnOykUMplotogjFjW4-o1ivhs7eVjW_0ZtLfF30-gG2JlyPsoZB-1a8vkw_wtsU9tUvVaiQ5foCrvxtE3ofLFPN/s640/65T_Dynamic_Duo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-29240318796816430132015-09-24T12:15:00.001-04:002015-09-24T12:15:45.834-04:001965 Topps Combo Card: Athletic Aarons"Big League Buddies" strikes again, this time with Hank and Tommie Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8t2_g3flk7UiUpd_rauZfGzm0NIa2A2A5BJWsHPl_F3mqFsu__xDIJmEjOOYb5EZdlrDsvyR3LKwWT47vBXk-V1ZSyNNM_Me35kcFK22yxMtnIEY_-sxnEtlRaUiqsT1RkPBv/s1600/65T_Athletic_Aarons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8t2_g3flk7UiUpd_rauZfGzm0NIa2A2A5BJWsHPl_F3mqFsu__xDIJmEjOOYb5EZdlrDsvyR3LKwWT47vBXk-V1ZSyNNM_Me35kcFK22yxMtnIEY_-sxnEtlRaUiqsT1RkPBv/s400/65T_Athletic_Aarons.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-577324921687423352015-09-22T13:36:00.000-04:002015-09-22T13:36:46.369-04:001965 Topps Custom Combo CardsI love combo cards, those goofy-titled cards of more than one player. As I've moved toward downsizing my collection, combo cards have become a major focus.<br />
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I also love 1965 Topps. It's one of my favorite sets, yet it's the only Topps set from the 1960s without combo cards. Go figure.<br />
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Therefore, I've decided to remedy the situation with a few custom combo cards for 1965 Topps. Here's the first.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfZemm4JjNeS5OunXefITmZItFNc8IjJldvf16gn4navx0Dc0oSaXWZccEAoIfYnL3VuX4AzhYALUM3fS1dEFZgAXe8N24w67_yb4LW4KA_V9r1Ke6kdQj0wKrd5w9wQ8oCJt/s1600/65T_Redbirds_1stLine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdfZemm4JjNeS5OunXefITmZItFNc8IjJldvf16gn4navx0Dc0oSaXWZccEAoIfYnL3VuX4AzhYALUM3fS1dEFZgAXe8N24w67_yb4LW4KA_V9r1Ke6kdQj0wKrd5w9wQ8oCJt/s640/65T_Redbirds_1stLine.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-56739758413241686462015-09-01T10:20:00.001-04:002015-09-01T10:20:59.917-04:00The $10,000 QuestionHere's what I've been thinking about these last few weeks...<br />
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A reader sent me an e-mail last week looking for advice. He wanted to spend about $10,000 but only purchase four or five cards. Here were the other parameters: At least one of them should be a T206, all should be from earlier than 1970, and all should have solid PSA grades. Which should he buy? I told him he couldn't go wrong with popular hobby stalwarts like Clemente, Koufax, Aaron, and Rose. As for the tobacco card, I have no experience buying or selling T206's, and couldn't give him a recommendation. But this got me thinking: What cards would I have chosen for myself? Buying cards as investments goes against my outlook and reasons for collecting, but it would be nice to have that kind of dough to play with. Which cards would <i>you</i> choose?...<br />
<br />
...I've been searching for a new set to collect. I thought 2015 Allen & Ginter would be that set, but right now the price tag is steep. I might have to wait a year for things to settle. One set I've always enjoyed is the Archives line from 2001 and 2002. I had dipped into it as part of the mega master sets I've put together for 1976, 1978, 1986, 1987, and 1988 Topps, but never for its own sake as a set. A few weeks ago I purchased a group from 2001 series one and I'm digging it. This may be my new set. That said, there are a few players who seem to be missing, or maybe I've just overlooked them? Guys like <b>Jeff Burroughs, Dave Stewart, Charlie Hough</b>, and <b>Manny Trillo</b>. Burroughs was the 1974 AL MVP, Stewart won 20 games in four straight seasons, Hough was a knuckleball workhorse, and Trillo was one of the best second basemen of his generation. Additionally, all four had retired before 2001, and each had a rookie and last card issued by Topps. Granted, none was elected to the Hall of Fame, but neither was <b>Wilbur Wood, Jim Maloney, Johnny Antonelli</b>, or <b>Bucky Dent</b>, and all four of them are in Archives. Maybe I'll do some custom Archives...<br />
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...There are two questions I think about when I'm falling asleep: 1) If we projected today's salaries on players from the past, who would've been paid what? For example, someone like Bobby Shantz. Would he have been a max-contract guy? And 2), are there any players today who will make the Hall of Fame? Besides Alex Rodriguez's steroid-fueled sideshow, I can identify 10 players who are legitimate Hall of Famers: <b>Miguel Cabrera, Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Ichiro, CC Sabathia, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina,</b> and <b>Mike Trout</b>. But which of these players will be remembered by Hall of Fame voters in 10 to 20 years when they're up for election?<br />
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You may scoff at the insinuation that an otherworldly talent like Albert Pujols would be forgotten in 10 years, but look at the example of <b>Duke Snider</b>. The Duke of Flatbush was elected in his <i>11th year</i> on the Hall of Fame ballot, which means he had been retired for 17 years before election. Or how about someone like <b>Jim Bunning</b>? Over 200 wins, author of a perfect game (as well as another no-hitter), All-Star in each league. Seems like a shoo-in for the Hall. Instead he was on the ballot for 15 years, always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Twenty-five years after he retired he was elected by the Veterans Committee. A situation like that seems unthinkable today, but could it be possible for someone like Sabathia, or even <b>Roy Halladay</b>? It seems today that if a player's not elected on the first ballot, then they're not <i>true</i> Hall of Famers. I hope someone like <b>Graham Womack</b> will tackle this question...<br />
<br />
...I feel like a dolt. A few weeks ago I purchased a large stack of exclusive Target Topps coupons on eBay for a couple bucks. Now my local Target has stopped carrying Topps products. Not sure what to do with these coupons...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-35775290454916663632015-08-14T14:48:00.002-04:002015-08-14T14:48:39.722-04:00Fuzzy for the Wrong Reasons<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9zIgms7vCQwWopGUTXoQZ2m-RNLCGmOExMlPDxRtg85vSiz-NNLHNnWQJQB9jBlqfWd8C0IbxwwftuNtdqVaKzs-wDgKnsYSR2YFaOtovh04Fs6LBx-VuFu_m2ZrRHJ8oO9_/s1600/Parsons.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP9zIgms7vCQwWopGUTXoQZ2m-RNLCGmOExMlPDxRtg85vSiz-NNLHNnWQJQB9jBlqfWd8C0IbxwwftuNtdqVaKzs-wDgKnsYSR2YFaOtovh04Fs6LBx-VuFu_m2ZrRHJ8oO9_/s400/Parsons.png" width="317" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice that Panini used a piece of Scotch tape<br />to keep the card in the top loader. Not cool.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I'm new to this whole "redemption" game. Actually, that's not true. I've mailed away for cards in the past, it's just that the last time I did it was 1994 and I received the 1993-94 Upper Deck NBA Lottery Picks set in return. Never have I waited for an autographed card from a manufacturer. (<i>Actually,</i> <i>that's not true, either. Back when I was doing TTM autographs, I sent a 1987 Topps checklist to Topps CEO Arthur Shorin to sign at Topps HQ. And he did. And I got it back and then promptly lost it in a stack of commons...</i>) What I'm getting at here is that I had no idea what to expect from Panini after submitting a code on their website last fall for an autographed Chandler Parsons Past & Present draft pick card.<br />
<br />
I went in with zero expectations. For one thing, I was surprised that Panini even accepted the code I inputted, if simply because the set came out in 2012 and I had missed the redemption deadline by at least a few months, if not a few years. I know how important the redemption game is to manufacturers: it's another way to differentiate from the competition. Saying that, I expected a "Sorry, you're too late" message. I guess though that if your redemptions are "always on," so to speak, your customers will take notice. And while I profess a certain level of innocence, I'm no slouch. I've read blogs and articles about waiting for redemption cards, and the trials and tribulations of receiving the wrong cards, or poorly signed cards, or whatever.<br />
<br />
Which leads me to the card I received a few days ago. It's signed by someone whose first names starts with a "C," that much is for certain. I can even make our a "25," and Parsons is shown in his #25 Rockets uniform, so I would suppose that the signature is that of the card's subject, Chandler Parsons. But the signature looks like it went through the wash, or was signed in a sauna. It's blurred on the edges, which is too bad. I mean, I did send away for the card <i>after</i> the purported redemption period had ended, and it <i>would</i> stand to reason that most, if not all of the signed cards for this promotion had been redeemed already, so all that was left was the dregs, the sloppies, and the cards signed with a pen about to run out of ink.<br />
<br />
So I can't really complain. Besides, it got me thinking: What if manufacturers paid MLB, or the NBA, or NFL, or whichever league, to have its players sign cards <i>during a game</i>? It could be during halftime, or while their team is at bat. Since every game is televised, showing players busily signing sports cards would be whimsical cutaways for broadcasters. <i>"Well, Bob, there's Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and their Thunder teammates signing cards for Panini's 2016-17 NBA Hoops,"</i> or "<i>It looks like Clayton Kershaw has found a way to stay loose between starts, Joe: He's down in the dugout signing cards for 2016 Topps baseball cards!... That's right, Harold. Fans, look for autographed cards of your favorite stars randomly inserted into packs of 2016 Topps Baseball..."</i> If teams can sell out their coaches and managers for telecast interviews during a game, there's no reason players' downtime should be off-limits. <br />
<br />
Much like <a href="http://baseballcardblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-make-relics-mean-something-again.html" target="_blank">my plan for turning broken bats into game-used memorabilia cards,</a> complete with game date–stamping, I expect this idea will also be ignored. But what makes these ideas unique is that they solve the problem of poor quality: there would already be so much documentation of the materials that went into making the cards that the quality of the bat shaving itself—or in this case, signature—would be of less importance than the act of its creation. As I understand it, the actual "game-used memorabilia" that go into relic cards are rarely, if ever, actually used in a live game. Similarly, autographed cards are signed in marathon sessions done in the off-season by players sitting at a conference table with bottles of water nearby. These things, which should be overflowing with the implied "love of the game," are in fact created in sterile environments with sterile materials by men who are late for their tee times.<br />
<br />
What I'm saying is, it all could be so much more. That Chandler Parsons autograph <i>should</i> be fuzzy—not because the pen was running out of ink or the Panini intern set his bottle of water down on it, but because a sweaty Parsons should've signed it in the Rockets' locker room during halftime of a nationally televised game. You want us to be excited about your products? Make your cards <i>mean </i>something. <br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-63749593209390549522015-08-10T11:48:00.000-04:002015-08-10T11:48:15.515-04:00The Numbers Don't Add UpAfter writing last night's post I did a quick calculation and realized I have <i>waaaaay</i> more than my professed 10,000-card ceiling. Here's how it breaks down:<br />
<br />
1956 Topps set (342)<br />
1965 Topps set (598) + Embossed set (72) + other random '65-inspired cards (25)<br />
1969 Topps near set (664) + errors/variations + Deckle set (35)<br />
1976 Topps set (660) + Traded & Missing Cards (88) + extras (30)<br />
1978 Topps set (726) + extras (10)<br />
1986 Topps set (792) + Traded (132) + extras (100)<br />
1987 Topps set (792) + Traded (132) + extras (100)<br />
1988 Topps set (792) + Traded (132) + extras (50)<br />
2003 Topps Heritage master set (500) + extras (10)<br />
2014 Topps Heritage master set (554) + Minis (60)<br />
Red Sox collection of at least 1,500 cards<br />
Player collections of at least 200 cards<br />
Basketball collection (1,200)<br />
T218 (60 cards)<br />
1967 Topps Who Am I? (40 cards)<br />
2013 Topps Heritage Minors (200 cards)<br />
Other random cards (1,000)<br />
1955 Topps (50 cards)<br />
Miscuts/misprints (50 cards)<br />
<br />
And all that adds up to 11,747 cards. I forgot to add the single vintage rookie and star cards I have, and the new A&G cards I bought last week. Plus the random Archives and Topps cards I gotta find a home for. Sounds like I will be a busy seller and trader in the coming weeks to bring that number down.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-14196316611203778922015-08-09T21:28:00.001-04:002015-08-09T21:28:26.317-04:00The Magic NumberTen thousand is a big number. And 10,000 of something is quite a lot. Unless, of course, we're talking about sports cards. Then it doesn't seem like so many.<br />
<br />
It's here that I find myself these days, butting up against the 10,000-card ceiling, the amount my non-collector wife and I have decided should be the maximum number of cards in our apartment. For a while it was easy—10,000 cards is <i>a lot</i> of sports cards, after all. I had a few sets, a few small player collections of Ichiro, Kirby Puckett, Eddie Murray, Fred McGriff, Dwight Evans. But then I decided I wanted to collect a vintage set, so 1969 Topps became a focus. And as 2014 became 2015, I found I wanted to complete an Allen & Ginter set. And what about my vintage basketball card collection? Or those multiplayer combo cards I had a ton of?<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6CflcMHzGEahIlEStsJJf8Pjycgfkm6RIdvFHpaDrM-WR6V9VjI4Ng96Nyg6a8Gp4cUxe8m36MhP2531MAjxg76k-OAWEaclKS7DUc9gSosZsZx-Xm4IN6CLmN1I5qB3RiKyW/s1600/Murray85T.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6CflcMHzGEahIlEStsJJf8Pjycgfkm6RIdvFHpaDrM-WR6V9VjI4Ng96Nyg6a8Gp4cUxe8m36MhP2531MAjxg76k-OAWEaclKS7DUc9gSosZsZx-Xm4IN6CLmN1I5qB3RiKyW/s320/Murray85T.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Don't worry, Eddie. With hair like that,<br />you'll always be a keeper.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I've always been a little jealous of those guys who take selfies with their patchwork quilts of top-loaded memorabilia cards, and those who are surrounded by binders of every set ever made. I was once like them. I once had hundreds of thousands of cards, an entire closet's worth of boxes, bags, and binders. Then I met my future wife and my priorities shifted. And now, after a few moves, I find myself with less cabinet space than in previous apartments and hard choices ahead. What do I save? What do I trade away? What do I try to sell? Why 10,000?<br />
<br />
When we agreed on the number, 10,000 meant I could keep all the sets I already had, plus the Red Sox collection I was working on and my small player collections. But like all things, this number has taken on new meanings as time progresses.<br />
<br />
Now 10,000 means no doubles. Ten thousand means if you bring in something new, something old is shown the door. Which is fine, in theory. But now "something old" is my 2003 Topps Heritage master set. And I'm not so sure I want to part with that just yet. <br />
<br />
I have very little wiggle room these days, and sometimes I kick myself for setting the ceiling so low. So while I find that baseball cards consume my idle thoughts these days, it's complicated. It's not just about what to add to my collection next, but what I'll have to remove.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-47122537486064431662015-07-21T11:37:00.001-04:002015-07-21T11:38:41.528-04:00The Butterfly Effect<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4XcCcf_IYa7V0NixtpkqLrszkmg_OLZwWJI3NhoBfzh_neK1Dx30ArZlcQmN7UA3HMmGYdSdMUA9wZEkQplzf0V35vX6OeB33iUx1643OzRKtY8F8qRVhK9RPZmcFRU-QEX-O/s1600/IMG_1585+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4XcCcf_IYa7V0NixtpkqLrszkmg_OLZwWJI3NhoBfzh_neK1Dx30ArZlcQmN7UA3HMmGYdSdMUA9wZEkQplzf0V35vX6OeB33iUx1643OzRKtY8F8qRVhK9RPZmcFRU-QEX-O/s320/IMG_1585+%25281%2529.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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I’ll give you three guesses as to what’s on the back of
this Felix Hernandez card that I (and by “I” I mean my 5-year-old daughter from
whom I hijacked this card to write about it on a blog) received while at Safeco
Field during a Mariners game.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Go ahead.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Are you good?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Do you have three guesses?<o:p></o:p></div>
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OK cool. I don’t want to hear about your guesses because
they are all wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3HL8X_UZX_Rfz8IyCfUqNgrWNN-OxzzrwQt6fO7yH8SsxdN9PjO21hqdjtKHTaAeSEVIeJ-PrUN-brKT-sbFTXGCWhYfL-NljrRaoc_fTkuNeL9-qoIyc8xDJP_q0WKUYu3tG/s1600/IMG_1586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3HL8X_UZX_Rfz8IyCfUqNgrWNN-OxzzrwQt6fO7yH8SsxdN9PjO21hqdjtKHTaAeSEVIeJ-PrUN-brKT-sbFTXGCWhYfL-NljrRaoc_fTkuNeL9-qoIyc8xDJP_q0WKUYu3tG/s320/IMG_1586.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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For real this is the back of the card. It’s a baby who is
maybe morphing into a butterfly, or vice versa … I’m not certain of the science
behind that process. Or maybe it’s a baby who has butterfly wings because it’s
a hybrid butterfly-baby formed in a BASF lab. Who knows. The point is:
baseball.<o:p></o:p></div>
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This card also asks the timeless question:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>How can you make tomorrow love today?</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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which, ??????????????????????????????????????????????? <o:p></o:p></div>
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Seriously though, how CAN you make tomorrow love today?
Let’s ask Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Me</b>: Hi, King
Felix. I was wondering, how can you make tomorrow love today?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Felix Hernandez</b>:
I don’t know for sure, papi. Maybe, like … if we channel our hopes and dreams
into our current state of consciousness, we can marry anticipation with the
present and experience a slice of heaven on earth. Like this … <i>(blows on passing butterfly, which turns
into a baby and lands in my lap)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<b>Me</b>: Uh, what am I
supposed to do with this?<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Felix Hernandez</b>:
I don’t know … raise it? Listen, are we done? I have to pitch a baseball game
now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Me</b>: <i>(raise child as my own, grow to love it, it eventually
teaches me how to make tomorrow love today)</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<b>Child</b>: Welp,
looks like my work here is done. (<i>sprouts
butterfly wings and flies toward the sky)</i></div>
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<b>Me</b>: wtf<o:p></o:p></div>
mkenny59http://www.blogger.com/profile/05234341530938587397noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-9977805458911840882015-07-11T16:59:00.000-04:002015-07-11T16:59:46.303-04:00When an All-Star is not an All-Star: NL edition If you were like me, you blindly accepted the Topps All-Star team subsets as factual representations of real life. In the Topps universe, Shane Rawley and Dwight Gooden were All Stars in 1987, since they were included in its 1988 All-Star subset. And yet, neither of them was an All Star in 1987.<br />
<br />
Rawley was an All Star in 1986, and he did have a great 1987 season, posting a career-best 17 wins for the mediocre Phillies. But that's not the point. The point is that Topps unilaterally decided that the voters got it wrong when they put pitchers not named Rawley or Gooden on the team. Or maybe Topps didn't want to make an All-Star card of Sid Fernandez? It's all unclear, but it got me thinking.<br />
<br />
Just how many of Topps's 1988 All Stars were actually on the 1987 teams? Let's look at the starting lineups.<br />
<br />
<pre style="background-color: white; line-height: 13px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">1. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/daviser01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Eric Davis</a> LF 1. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/henderi01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Rickey Henderson</a> CF
2. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/sandbry01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Ryne Sandberg</a> 2B 2. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mattido01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Don Mattingly</a> 1B
3. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dawsoan01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Andre Dawson</a> CF 3. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/boggswa01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Wade Boggs</a> 3B
4. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/schmimi01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Mike Schmidt</a> 3B 4. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bellge02.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">George Bell</a> LF
5. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clarkja01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Jack Clark</a> 1B 5. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/winfida01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Dave Winfield</a> RF
6. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/strawda01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Darryl Strawberry</a> RF 6. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ripkeca01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Cal Ripken</a> SS
7. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cartega01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Gary Carter</a> C 7. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kennete02.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Terry Kennedy</a> C
8. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/smithoz01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Ozzie Smith</a> SS 8. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/randowi01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Willie Randolph</a> 2B
9. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/scottmi03.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Mike Scott</a> P 9. <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/saberbr01.shtml" style="color: #551a8b;">Bret Saberhagen</a> P</pre>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
For the National League, Dawson, Smith, Clark, and Steve Bedrosian got Topps All-Star cards, and over in the American League, Randolph, Bell, Winfield, Mattingly, Boggs, and Tom Henke got cards. Tony Gwynn, Juan Samuel, Tim Raines, and Tim Wallach, represented in the Topps All-Star lineup, were NL reserves, and Kirby Puckett, Matt Nokes, and Alan Trammell, all three Topps All Stars, were reserves for the American League. But Benny Santiago? Not an All Star. Roger Clemens? Not an All Star. Jimmy Key? Dwight Gooden? Nope and nope. And no Shane Rawley, either.<br />
<br />
The other side of that meant that Eric Davis, Ryne Sandberg, Mike Schmidt, Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter, Mike Scott, Sid Fernandez, Mark Langston, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken, Terry Kennedy, and Bret Saberhagen weren't in the regular Topps All Star subset. (They were included in the Glossy All-Star mail-away set and the glossy All Stars found in rack packs, but so what? Not everybody had the cash to send away for the larger All Star set, and it wasn't a guarantee that your drugstore carried rack packs (which were also more expensive than wax packs).)<br />
<br />
One of Topps's "things" would be to include an All-Star right-handed starting pitcher and an All-Star left-handed starting pitcher in their All Star subset. So for the NL, these should have been Mike Scott (RHP) and Sid Fernandez (LHP). And for the AL, Bret Saberhagen (RHP) and Mark Langston (LHP). So, because they should exist, here are your 1988 Topps National League All Stars.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-27155686177506709532015-06-23T09:50:00.000-04:002015-06-23T09:50:51.798-04:00Interview with "Kaiju Baseball" artist Chet Phillips<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>We here at </i>The Baseball Card Blog<i> appreciate fine art and its place within the hobby. From the bubbly, Topps-approved artwork of David Coulson to the punk aesthetic of Pat Riot (and everyone in between), the baseball card is the perfect pocket-sized canvas. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>Continuing our occasional interview series, today we're talking to Chet Phillips, who has just completed "Kaiju Baseball," an homage to Japanese Menko cards of the 1960s and the kaiju monster demons from the worlds of </i>Godzilla<i> and </i>Ultraman<i>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>Chet Phillips: </i></b>With a BFA in painting and drawing, I worked as a commercial illustration with traditional tools for a decade. Clients included ad agencies, design firms, publishers and corporations. In 1992 I purchased my first Mac and switched to digital art, using the natural media software program Painter (I still use it to this day). </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A highlight for my commercial work came in 2000 when I was hired by Warner Brothers to illustrate 100+ pieces for the Harry Potter merchandising style guide.</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the late 90s, I began a new chapter in my career, creating my own merchandise to sell online. It started with a handful of cigarette card–inspired sets of monkeys as WWI generals, steampunk monkeys and dogs and cats as famous authors, artist and musicians. I also have produced a number of limited-edition books, hand-bound by my wife (she's a professional bookbinder). I still do occasional commercial jobs, but spend the bulk of my time creating my own work for online sales, conventions and art galleries.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>BBC Blog:</i></b> Did you collect baseball cards as a kid? Or do you still collect?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>CP:</i> </b>I did a little baseball card collecting when I was young, but gravitated more towards collecting comic book type cards. I was a big fan of Norman Saunders and collected his Batman series. I was never able to collect the entire original <i>Mars Attacks!</i> set, but did a trade with a schoolmate once for a dozen or so that I still treasure to this day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>BBC Blog: </i></b></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What led you to kaiju, baseball, and Menko?</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i>CP: </i></b>I've always loved the look and feel of Japanese printmaking. Over the last two to three years I've explored creating my own version of artwork with a similar feel. This series includes an alphabet book of kaiju monsters of my own design titled "Land of Kaiju," and a series that placed pop culture characters engaging in childhood activities, each with their own hiaju poem (</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Childhood")</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. "Kaiju Baseball" was inspired by the look and feel of vintage Menko baseball cards with a parody mashup of kaiju monsters from the <i>Godzilla</i> and <i>Ultraman</i> universes.</span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>BBC Blog:</b></i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It's interesting that you chose to create a stand-alone baseball card set as part of this project. Did you have the intention to create a card set all along? Or was it borne out of the process of creating the art?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>CP: </i></b>This was intended to be a card set from the outset. Unlike past sets that I've created, I decided to take the idea further and produce an 18 x 24 poster of the group and also produce a cloisonné enamel pin. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The set is divided into four teams that I devised, each with nine players. The set also includes four team cards for a total of 40 cards. Each card includes the team name, character name, team number and field position on the front in Japanese with the portrait. On the reverse I've included the same info in english along with a few basis stats. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The card backs include a symbols for rock, paper and scissors as well as a fighting number system (for use like the children's card game War). Cards were professionally printed on sturdy 100-lb premium uncoated card stock. Each set comes in a green handcrafted Japanese-styled paper portfolio. The </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Japanese characters for the </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">words "kaiju baseball" are stamped in gold foil on each label.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>BBC Blog:</i></b> What's your next project? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><i>CP: </i></b>With our 6th year of exhibiting at San Diego's International Comic Con coming up next month, I'm putting the finishing touches on a book of characters and stories of my own invention that will be in the tradition of American tall tales. This, along with the new card sets, posters and pins will be available at my Small Press table (O-01, across from Oni Press.)</span></div>
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<i>Check out <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/chetart" target="_blank">Chet's Etsy shop</a> if you're interested in purchasing the set or viewing more of his great stuff.</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-8648790399427390022015-03-30T15:46:00.001-04:002015-03-30T15:46:23.380-04:00A Collection of Two-Sport AthletesBo Jackson. Deion Sanders. Gene Conley. Danny Ainge. Eric Lindros. Charlie Ward. And did I forget to mention Michael Jordan? The list goes on and on. Jim Brown, Jim Thorpe, Dave DeBusschere, Brian Jordan, Chuck Connors. Heisman Trophy winners. Hall-of-Fame, immortal athletes. What I'm getting at here is that gifted ballplayers, no matter their sport, think that they can compete with equal success in another sport. And it turns out they're usually right—if you can be creative with your definition of "success"—which begs the question: Who chose the wrong sport?<br />
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I can think of two immediate candidates: <b>Bo Jackson</b> and <b>Jim Brown</b>. What's funny here is that football was the wrong sport for both of them. Jackson was a superhuman on the baseball diamond, and had he not suffered a debilitating hip injury as a member of the NFL's LA Raiders, he would've patrolled the Kansas City Royals outfield for at least a decade. I say this because baseball is a sport where you rarely run into anything with such force that you dislocate your hip. It's not unlikely that the hard-charging Jackson would have suffered a more pedestrian injury to a hamstring, wrist, elbow, or knee, but he seemed otherworldly enough to be able to make a meaningful contribution on the field. Instead, I remember him from two of 1991 cards: his 1991 Fleer Pro-vision "Bionic Bo," and his 1991 Topps Traded card where he coolly takes in the scene on the bench as a hobbled member of the Chicago White Sox.<br />
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Before he put together a Hall of Fame football career, Jim Brown was a hulk with a lacrosse stick. And according to the <a href="http://apps.uslacrosse.org/museum/halloffame/view_profile.php?prof_id=35" target="_blank">National Lacrosse Hall of Fame</a>, he was quite possibly the greatest lacrosse player <i>ever</i>. So while it may be unfair to say Brown chose the wrong sport—he's clearly one of the greatest to find gridiron glory—it's not because he wasn't talented. It's because there was no professional lacrosse league at the time he left Syracuse.<br />
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As for other players, it's clear that <b>Michael Jordan</b> didn't choose the wrong sport. He wasn't a good baseball player. And speaking of Hall of Fame players, <b>Dave DeBusschere</b> wasn't very good at playing baseball, either. I may be forgetting others, but it seems like only <b>Deion Sanders</b> managed to put together full, rewarding careers in both of his sports (Hall of Fame in pro football; nine seasons of Major League Baseball).<br />
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But not everybody can make a hall of fame. For all-star-caliber players, <b>Ron Reed</b> was up and down in his two-season stint with the NBA's Detroit Pistons in the mid 1960s before excelling with the Phillies, Braves, and other Major League teams over his 19-year baseball career, so it's tough to make the case that Reed should've stuck with basketball.<br />
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In Bill James's updated <i>Abstract</i> from 2010, he suggests that the baseline goal of the professional ballplayer—in this case, baseball—is to be average. So it's when we get a little creative in our definition of success, the two-sport (or even <i>three</i>-sport) athlete shines: average on-field performance and great box office.<br />
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Danny Ainge was average but had the Toronto Blue Jays drooling. Russell Wilson toiled in the minors for the Rockies. Their exploits in other sports sold newspapers and generated mounds of publicity. How did the 1995-96 New York Knicks sell tickets? Well, they were so great that they had Heisman Trophy Winner Charlie Ward coming off the bench (even if he was just an average NBA pro). And Jim Thorpe—probably the greatest athlete in the U.S. in the 20th century—went pro or excelled in almost every sport he played, including baseball. And guess what? To say that he was average at the pro level would be kind (he was not very good). But Thorpe—like Ward, Sanders, Bo Jackson, and the other multi-sporters, even the most terrible (ahem, Michael Jordan)—was great box office. And if that's not the true measure of success in pro sports, well...<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-7825940189462180802015-02-16T13:41:00.002-05:002015-02-16T13:41:59.542-05:00Snowbound and Stir CrazyIn case you missed it, Boston has received so much snow in the last few weeks that everything and everyone—including me—is at a breaking point. The MBTA doesn't work, the government is encouraging people to stay indoors and off the roads, and there are no signs that the cold and the snow will let up anytime soon. Which has given me plenty of time to stew in my thoughts...<br />
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I would really like to see colleges offer an intercollegiate stock car racing circuit, if only to see cars and fire suits covered in logos and emblems of universities and names of individual departments. Maybe the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chair in Automotive Engineering?<br />
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I haven't bought any <b>2015 Topps Series One</b> yet, but I'm digging the acetate parallel. It reminds me of the Slideshow insert set from 1995 Leaf. An idea's an automatic winner in my book if you need a functioning lightbox in order to enjoy the cards.<br />
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And while we're on Series One, the sheer volume of opened cards listed on eBay right now is staggering. Massive lots of hand-collated sets, "unsearched" (yeah right) lots of base cards, parallels, inserts, autographed cards, game-used swatches, and more. Didn't it just release a few weeks ago? It gets me thinking about collecting in <i>Bachelor</i> terms—here for "the right reasons" versus the wrong reasons. While all this stuff on eBay is great for cheapskate collectors like me who just want to see the cards, it's also off-putting. Why would someone buy so many cards in the first place if they're just going to try to flip them for pennies on the dollar? Is it really all about finding the case hits? <br />
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I finally put my 1969 Topps set in pages. Got me thinking, did <b>Ultra Pro</b> decrease the quality of its nine-pocket pages? The ones I bought seem flimsy.<br />
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Also put my <b>Heritage High Numbers</b> set in pages (with the rest of the Heritage set). Looks good. Wish I had disposable income enough to assemble Heritage every year. <br />
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<a href="http://www.scottcrawfordoncards.com/" target="_blank">Scott Crawford on Cards</a> has a great idea about collecting over the course of a year: only focus on certain sets and interests during certain months. That way your individual collections each receive attention and your interest doesn't flag. For me, it would be<br />
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Jan/July: 1970s Topps basketball <br />
Feb/Aug: Adding new players to my Red Soxlopedia<br />
March/Sept: 2014 Topps Heritage Minis<br />April/Oct: 1969 Topps variations<br />
May/Nov: Mega master set additions for 1978, 1986, and 1987 <br />
June/Dec: 2015 Topps Archives (only cards of players depicted in the 1976 style, and only those players who also had a card in the original 1976 set) <br />
<br />The much-discussed <b>decline of blogging</b> in the sports-card-collecting hobby is sad to me. There are literally scores of YouTube users who post box breaks but don't seem all that interested in the cards they find—unless those cards are serially numbered or autographed—or have anything to say about the cards. Blogging about cards allows for more than just posting images of the cards. It allows you to say what you like about the cards, about <i>why you collect</i>. It's important that this outlet doesn't disappear. <br />
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Lastly, with all these <b>stamped buybacks</b>, Topps has finally released the<a href="http://baseballcardblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/topps-archives-commons.html" target="_blank"> Archives: Commons</a> set I predicted back in 2007. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-39409179674362453642015-02-13T09:00:00.000-05:002015-02-13T09:00:08.683-05:00The Man Who Came to Dinner<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<i>John Barfield, 1991 Score </i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhAMJ9AFdvBnFW485SBF0CE0jSdY2KGYAOvxl5L3XMR10q4mUQUdXZiKODPLQR2zUgoUNp996BAiXWoY7CnsMMct-65Mbu-mgRZyOKE0SB-n2wzLm8Ok7rekpB71sikjv6Hil/s1600/barfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhAMJ9AFdvBnFW485SBF0CE0jSdY2KGYAOvxl5L3XMR10q4mUQUdXZiKODPLQR2zUgoUNp996BAiXWoY7CnsMMct-65Mbu-mgRZyOKE0SB-n2wzLm8Ok7rekpB71sikjv6Hil/s1600/barfield.jpg" height="400" width="283" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Cool mechanics, John Barfield.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">"Your mom liked 'em, Internet weirdo." - John Barfield</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Touché, John Barfield. Let's move on.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5DyRvR0SZ7Px75vGgHL8F6ZonUWVwMvuFfERZgWS2Mq6EXzhwxzGjtkB6Efs-i5lAwD0aKRcjV8STczlAFOOyf7xWKJudmBLnrJLyaKiin2hkr4qSaf4y_2C8OSjGB6mx72PM/s1600/barfield+back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5DyRvR0SZ7Px75vGgHL8F6ZonUWVwMvuFfERZgWS2Mq6EXzhwxzGjtkB6Efs-i5lAwD0aKRcjV8STczlAFOOyf7xWKJudmBLnrJLyaKiin2hkr4qSaf4y_2C8OSjGB6mx72PM/s1600/barfield+back.jpg" height="286" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">John was brought up from Triple-A Oklahoma
City in late May ’90 as a temporary replacement for
Gary Mielke</i></b></div>
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That is the SEXIEST story about opportunity knocking I have
ever heard. It’s also, coincidentally, exactly how I started blogging.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But, like the man who came to dinner, John pitched so well in middle
and long relief, he just stayed and stayed and stayed.</i></b></div>
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What</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Texas</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Rangers equipment manager Dizzy Flapperton</b>:
STILL HERE, EH BARFIELD? YOU’RE LIKE THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Barfield</b>:
Ha, ha, yeah … what?</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flapperton</b>: THE
MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER, YOU KNOW—THE FAMOUS MOVIE.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Barfield</b>: Uh, I’m
not black.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flapperton</b>: NOT
THAT DINNER MOVIE YA’ BIG DUMMY! THE 1942 COMEDY STARRING MONTY WOOLLEY, DUH.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Barfield</b>: I don’t
… I just … I am 25.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flapperton</b>: YOU
DANG KIDS DON’T KNOW NOTHIN’ ABOUT CULTURE. YA’ JUST PITCH YOUR BALLS AND HIT
YOUR BALLS AND I’M THE ONE WHO’S GOTTA CLEAN UP THE MESS.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Barfield</b>: That
sounds gross.</div>
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<b>Flapperton</b>: BUT AT LEAST YER HERE. OL' MIELKE IS BACK THERE ON THE TRAINER'S TABLE AGAIN, AND GETTIN' PAID FOR IT TOO, NO LESS. I SWEAR THAT GUY IS LIKE THE THIEF OF BAGDAD ...</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Barfield</b>: ...</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Flapperton</b>: THE THIEF OF BAGDAD.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Barfield</b>: ...</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Flapperton</b>: FER CRYIN' OUT LOUD! THE
POINT IS, JUST KEEP PITCHING WELL IN MIDDLE AND LONG RELIEF, AND YA' CAN STAY
FOR DINNER AND EAT AS MUCH LASAGNA AS YA’ LIKE, OKAY GARFIELD?</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Barfield</b>: It’s
“Barfield.” Why are you yelling?</div>
mkenny59http://www.blogger.com/profile/05234341530938587397noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-79686120791442034412015-01-20T07:47:00.001-05:002015-01-20T07:47:12.338-05:00Junk Wax Battle 2.0 - Players Needed!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fTanSlwES_BmnJSkEwI9F0jrNZhodlJMzi29lq1v0vxt84nwLDVmHjZBy-vIXd7JzFFJapLYpBw3HoBWeTLcTbAgbHozzyn7iBrDQYT0hCqEx5nzDrTmPNYU7ywcJlqth89v/s1600/blogger+header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6fTanSlwES_BmnJSkEwI9F0jrNZhodlJMzi29lq1v0vxt84nwLDVmHjZBy-vIXd7JzFFJapLYpBw3HoBWeTLcTbAgbHozzyn7iBrDQYT0hCqEx5nzDrTmPNYU7ywcJlqth89v/s1600/blogger+header.jpg" height="146" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know that I'm all about innovation in this wonderful hobby of ours. Not so much innovating the cards themselves, but how we as collectors approach and make sense of them, and their meaning and use within our lives.<br />
<br />
Back in October, my friend Matt and I hosted a game—we called it <a href="http://junkwaxbattle.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Junk Wax Battle</a>—at our local board game cafe in Brookline, Mass. The goal was to put together a complete set of 1988 Donruss by ripping packs, trading with other players, and winning in-game auctions. We had five players and one judge.<br />
<br />
And while it was fun, it was too chaotic, frenetic, and crazy to keep track of everything at once. That was problem number one. By going for a complete set, players had to keep the cards face-down in order to view each card's checklist number, so they couldn't appreciate the ugly, futuristic blue design and photos on the fronts of the cards (problem number two). And after two-and-a-half hours, none of the players had completed the set. So there was problem number three.<br />
<br />
Our post mortem with the players revealed other problems: there were too many moving parts in the game-play structure and the set itself was too big to complete in the time we allotted. While the players' different checklisting styles wasn't an issue, the time it took each of them to sort and then physically cross names and numbers off the checklist was.<br />
<br />
Armed with this constructive criticism and firsthand experience, it was back to the drawing board. And now, after much tinkering, Junk Wax Battle 2.0 is ready to be put to the test.<br />
<br />
We've incorporated smaller checklists—within the larger set—that can change from game to game (or even round to round). We've made the scoring system easier to manage for the players and for the judge. We have a game board (like a baccarat mat), and a less convoluted game structure than before. And we have a real prize, supplied by <a href="http://www.kenmorecollectibles.com/" target="_blank">a generous local card shop</a>. All we need now are players.<br />
<br />
Would you pay $10 for a chance to win <b>an autographed David Ortiz baseball card</b>? We're looking for 3 to 5 players available for Sunday, February 15th. If you're in the Boston, Massachusetts area and are interested in competing in Junk Wax Battle 2.0 for a chance to win this great prize, <a href="mailto:thebbcblog@gmail.com" target="_blank">drop me a line</a>.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-33589980382596343412015-01-13T07:30:00.000-05:002015-01-13T07:30:01.675-05:00The Equation: Joe Oliver EditionHere's today's equation. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Back in the early 1970s, Jim Henson and the Muppets adapted a few fairy tales, including <i>The Frog Prince</i>. In the Henson retelling, there is a character called Taminella Grinderfall. I think you can still find these TV specials on VHS, if not DVD.</div>
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Taminella Grinderfall </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqEnwBiA3ad9OtTsNii7yrI7iCRa9zTvk7LGgTELWyeY_jNsUX3pYcTL_WNq7QNxNFPK32ScklGVHBX3ge5P-XpzfFWVY-o_k_Hh2jUtT8tFqXcZL1BY_ZPmmDMdEGltCkMgJ/s1600/FPTaminellaGrinderfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQqEnwBiA3ad9OtTsNii7yrI7iCRa9zTvk7LGgTELWyeY_jNsUX3pYcTL_WNq7QNxNFPK32ScklGVHBX3ge5P-XpzfFWVY-o_k_Hh2jUtT8tFqXcZL1BY_ZPmmDMdEGltCkMgJ/s1600/FPTaminellaGrinderfall.jpg" height="640" width="594" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">+</span></div>
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Terry Gilliam in this cast photo of <i>Monty Python's Flying Circus </i>(far right)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> </i> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcP7ziVM6HhvQfuFtGbLZupQ1ulavX9Zza33V-rrYYn0a_79CahsXVzw7cZvfzwP4alEbLnl_CA7c6366aQKJVLWJy3qIJFQQr5OzedkKBSZdOsG55M8peLKDI7SuwsJW0VFH1/s1600/gilliam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcP7ziVM6HhvQfuFtGbLZupQ1ulavX9Zza33V-rrYYn0a_79CahsXVzw7cZvfzwP4alEbLnl_CA7c6366aQKJVLWJy3qIJFQQr5OzedkKBSZdOsG55M8peLKDI7SuwsJW0VFH1/s1600/gilliam.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">=</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB4gWFJNMPzWvHTil3GZP8a188v00FWqyyK42WW4Zu3FMBTgJ-6FePR76dk5VN3hlyWqZQ6ngq9dpGP9XnvkAvakbMevOXMrGLgm_ICKeM7b6i_lKbG27Ear-RMmY_DVrpVwN/s1600/92oliver.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfB4gWFJNMPzWvHTil3GZP8a188v00FWqyyK42WW4Zu3FMBTgJ-6FePR76dk5VN3hlyWqZQ6ngq9dpGP9XnvkAvakbMevOXMrGLgm_ICKeM7b6i_lKbG27Ear-RMmY_DVrpVwN/s1600/92oliver.jpeg" height="640" width="486" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Crazy Joe Oliver, circa 1992</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"You want home plate? <i>Come and take it!</i>" </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-39734059075945041552015-01-12T07:00:00.000-05:002015-01-12T07:00:05.958-05:00Custom 1966 Leaders CardsPulled a card at random—1967 NL Home Run Leaders—and made a couple of customs. Nineteen sixty-six was a big year for John Lennon!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjox-DPdXk-tHGrepIEhjU0cBci_-fRoqxJyR4fZC8fHVOLs37Q0u6QRrhZQdfi_z2LYJej3bgShbgP6Zc23Ocyncuu6nqyJZAsBAIc3hUnIElWnhPYt2JFDruBt_bm3ObNhCL6/s1600/66PopLeaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjox-DPdXk-tHGrepIEhjU0cBci_-fRoqxJyR4fZC8fHVOLs37Q0u6QRrhZQdfi_z2LYJej3bgShbgP6Zc23Ocyncuu6nqyJZAsBAIc3hUnIElWnhPYt2JFDruBt_bm3ObNhCL6/s1600/66PopLeaders.jpg" height="440" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjak57UblmGGctS7bHZ4xJjqSHqt9i-ieOA5Q1GqHrmdexEQXY4lvkl50pF6oF-UuDJV2c6ue2g-lU0cNWtlosvvGatyRALR2EOkpjUKeFMJErUPPSSSo-DOqm0eMMObQaZ7UY3/s1600/66Songwriters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjak57UblmGGctS7bHZ4xJjqSHqt9i-ieOA5Q1GqHrmdexEQXY4lvkl50pF6oF-UuDJV2c6ue2g-lU0cNWtlosvvGatyRALR2EOkpjUKeFMJErUPPSSSo-DOqm0eMMObQaZ7UY3/s1600/66Songwriters.jpg" height="440" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-53592797815409493262015-01-11T19:27:00.001-05:002015-01-11T19:27:28.135-05:001986 Topps Master Set HighlightsAs I mentioned in yesterday's post, I collect <a href="http://baseballcardblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-mega-master-set.html" target="_blank">mega master sets</a>. Today I want to highlight a few oddities from the 1986 Topps mega master set. Nineteen-eighty-six Topps may be my absolute favorite set from my childhood. It's the first set I collected, and while it doesn't boast the greatest checklist or really any standout rookies, it holds a special place in my heart. (I ranked it as the <a href="http://baseballcardblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/best-set-countdown-12-11.html" target="_blank">11th-best set of the 1980s</a>.)<br />
<br />
What I've enjoyed as a collector over the last few years is that Topps has recognized 1986's base-card design as one of its most adaptable—it's been used in a number of recent sets, and not all of them baseball, or even sports, related (like 2009's American Heritage Heroes set).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BnMVEw30JFciTqeJYDMK8rKqb8TYg_dhhyphenhyphenZpTgHonv6TQgf_dNmVa5sslZ3bPLTFTpKKboEwbwvaTEVGhPOLr_-FYlaDxBTIrRclncBdgFEybXNZJqe3oKg6dwGj17yBlgi3/s1600/86mms.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4BnMVEw30JFciTqeJYDMK8rKqb8TYg_dhhyphenhyphenZpTgHonv6TQgf_dNmVa5sslZ3bPLTFTpKKboEwbwvaTEVGhPOLr_-FYlaDxBTIrRclncBdgFEybXNZJqe3oKg6dwGj17yBlgi3/s1600/86mms.jpeg" height="640" width="466" /></a></div>
<br />
The Ripken, Murray, and Mookie cards are from last year's Topps Archives set. I've included these cards in my mega master set because these three are all included in the original 1986 set. The Fernando Valenzuela card is from the box-bottom subset found on the bottom of wax boxes in 1986. If you're unfamiliar with this subset, it featured 16 of the game's biggest stars (including Dwight Gooden, Reggie Jackson, and Wade Boggs), using alternate photography and a red upper border. Attractive cards, in my opinion.<br />
<br />
The Joe Carter is from one of the All-Time Fan Favorites set from the early 2000s. The Larry Bird is from the "Larry Bird Missing Years" insert set from 2006-07 Topps Basketball. The Paul Revere is from the 2009 American Heritage Heroes set, and the Al Nipper/Mike TV card is a Pat Riot original from his "Discarded" series. If you don't know anything about Pat Riot and his artistry, <a href="http://popularvulture.com/" target="_blank">start here</a>.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-16849353808813948502015-01-10T23:20:00.002-05:002015-01-10T23:20:37.280-05:001978 Topps Master Set HighlightsI've gone on and on about collecting mega master sets. As of today, I'm actively collecting mega master sets for 1965, 1976, 1986, 1987, and 1988 Topps. But instead of writing another thousand words on the beauty of collecting a card design rather than a player or team, here's an image gallery of a few of the highlights of the 1978 Topps mega master set.<br />
<br />
In addition to the basic 726-card set, Topps also produced four regional team sets in 1978 using the same design, issued as a Burger King promotion. Those teams were the Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, and New York Yankees. But instead of just repackaging cards from the basic checklist, each regional team set was on its own checklist and also included a few cards that had not been produced for the regular set. I don't have all of them yet, but here are a few I do have...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzJP1huFiqjYmA_SXTKIR6xlVTZxFhHbhNke5qRGKPCq-oCJFkNr6VM1bni87BTaiRLEii66T6XtBXX7ek9bvJdBZppexR5cotDXEjWBLR6KUA3GUnu3zld4JHMv7zfe5QdLg/s1600/78bkt.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXzJP1huFiqjYmA_SXTKIR6xlVTZxFhHbhNke5qRGKPCq-oCJFkNr6VM1bni87BTaiRLEii66T6XtBXX7ek9bvJdBZppexR5cotDXEjWBLR6KUA3GUnu3zld4JHMv7zfe5QdLg/s1600/78bkt.jpeg" height="640" width="464" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wj-ddgCAwrfoPpePmqYjERvWJvULzGTW5QiRusY99IfRgLL9POtGM2rm7tGL7u7oEA9n8341lS_9cka8el-PQed3JJvZH9SXLVhpImhtkp3jfjbaFakUe7ln55MJSOier3Cp/s1600/78bkt-1+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wj-ddgCAwrfoPpePmqYjERvWJvULzGTW5QiRusY99IfRgLL9POtGM2rm7tGL7u7oEA9n8341lS_9cka8el-PQed3JJvZH9SXLVhpImhtkp3jfjbaFakUe7ln55MJSOier3Cp/s1600/78bkt-1+1.jpeg" height="302" width="640" /> </a></div>
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How these cards are different from the regular 1978 Topps set:</div>
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<i><b>Dave Bergman, Astros:</b></i> Appears on four-headed "Rookie Outfielders" card #705. </div>
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<i><b>Reggie Cleveland, Rangers:</b></i> Appears as a member of the Red Sox.</div>
<i><b>Al Oliver, Rangers:</b></i> Appears as a member of the Pirates.<i><b> </b></i><br />
<i><b>Rich Gossage, Yankees:</b></i> Though Goose is shown as a member of the Yankees on his regular card, a different photo is used. <br />
<i><b>Rawly Eastwick, Yankees:</b></i> Appears as a member of the Cardinals.<br />
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<i><b>Fergie Jenkins, Rangers:</b></i> Appears as a member of the Red Sox.</div>
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<i><b>John Lowenstein, Rangers:</b></i> Appears as a member of the Indians. </div>
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<i><b>Jesus Alou, Astros:</b></i> Does not appear in the regular set.</div>
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<i><b>Bobby Thompson, Rangers:</b></i> Does not appear in the regular set.</div>
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<i><b>Jack Billingham, Tigers:</b></i> Appears as a member of the Reds.</div>
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<i><b>Alan Trammell, Tigers:</b></i> Appears on four-headed "Rookie Shortstops" card #707.</div>
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<i><b>Jim Spencer, Yankees:</b></i> Appears as a member of the White Sox.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmarYGpdPA2F8Hvb8deSAneywBsK8FOh2dcb9fo1sjN4CgssR_vNdDP5hHGz1dJ7coMoeqoRDvOwEfNlj1YyfjA20PolfUObXEL2zy0TsGkTccib_2UgmBdCU2IvvXXfGjKtjz/s1600/78bkt-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmarYGpdPA2F8Hvb8deSAneywBsK8FOh2dcb9fo1sjN4CgssR_vNdDP5hHGz1dJ7coMoeqoRDvOwEfNlj1YyfjA20PolfUObXEL2zy0TsGkTccib_2UgmBdCU2IvvXXfGjKtjz/s1600/78bkt-1.jpeg" height="467" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Santa Claus card above is from the Topps Christmas holiday novelty set from 2007. The Eric Gregg card is from the 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.</div>
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Of course, you should also check out my <a href="http://baseballcardblog.blogspot.com/p/1978-topps-traded.html" target="_blank">1978 Topps Traded custom card artwork</a>. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-58638363960634829542015-01-08T20:39:00.002-05:002015-01-08T20:39:41.737-05:00NBA History, Sans Michael Jordan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV3CyBXrqeoKzIc-h9yKtCRELRMWIkbdJqDUTOI2EE2uaJL0Ejk0n7RvCy2t8_JrDegwC5xG4S3_Zq6xNUUMwQnfq3atFCeZE2UMQqQa1YnWTDecFQLgqoX3TO0NwtrnFo_C-f/s1600/ppp-1213.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV3CyBXrqeoKzIc-h9yKtCRELRMWIkbdJqDUTOI2EE2uaJL0Ejk0n7RvCy2t8_JrDegwC5xG4S3_Zq6xNUUMwQnfq3atFCeZE2UMQqQa1YnWTDecFQLgqoX3TO0NwtrnFo_C-f/s1600/ppp-1213.jpeg" height="320" width="241" /></a></div>
What if you had to present the history of the NBA without mentioning Michael Jordan? Fans of basketball know that to even suggest something so ludicrous is, well, ludicrous. And yet, if you're Panini, you have an exclusive license to produce official NBA cards and the sport's number-one-all-time star is under contract with a competitor.<br />
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It's unfortunate, to say the least. For the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, Panini produced a very cool throwback set called Past & Present, featuring stars and rookies of today with Hall of Famers and stars from the past. Yes, there were other big—really big, in a few cases—stars missing from the checklists, but none bigger than Michael Jordan. </div>
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Yes, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, all are represented. Even a few nice rookies, including the unibrowed rebound monster Anthony Davis. But it's not like you don't notice. It's obvious Jordan's not on the checklist.</div>
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Despite his absence, Past & Present is the kind of set I would create if I worked at a card company. Vintage look and feel to the base set, a nice mix of designs and a diverse checklist (of course I would've found a way to include cards of Dan Issel, Dave Cowens, Earl Monroe, Rudy Tomjanovich, Shawn Kemp, Kevin Johnson, Gus Williams, Kevin McHale, and, oh, I don't know, <i>Charles Barkley</i>). </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKkfCCjoRzaAUhlw-GVAqYAkegQHITDo_neW5E9OAyWpsAE5IrxqlGPhvxQ_QwT3lNdXe8w73b6n-W8tYiQJD4ZT7n8OR40ub1Vwkeagw5Mn3tkHnrX-UDN3_yEhZwwifpPUI/s1600/ppp-1213+2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKkfCCjoRzaAUhlw-GVAqYAkegQHITDo_neW5E9OAyWpsAE5IrxqlGPhvxQ_QwT3lNdXe8w73b6n-W8tYiQJD4ZT7n8OR40ub1Vwkeagw5Mn3tkHnrX-UDN3_yEhZwwifpPUI/s1600/ppp-1213+2.jpeg" height="320" width="234" /></a></div>
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Another highlight is that, much like Topps's football and baseball Archives products, both years of Past & Present are relatively inexpensive to collect. Packs and boxes are still available on discount wholesale websites, and hand-collated sets can be found on eBay (if you search long enough). Another similarity to Topps Archives? One of the 2012-13 chase sets is comprised of autographs of obscure, retired players as well as current stars. Guys like Rick Fox, J.R. Rider, and even a recently deceased former player (Ray Williams).<br />
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All in all, nice cards—great designs and an excellent mix of old and new stars. And if you can get past the fact that Jordan isn't walking through that door, you've got yourself a winner.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20684429.post-86327255210821112412014-12-29T07:30:00.000-05:002014-12-29T07:30:00.757-05:005 Things I Want to See in 2015As we wrap up 2014, instead of reflecting on this year's hobby highlights, I'm looking ahead to what I want to see in 2015. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9cVwXqRhzrZGg9wQHwPOKPYlRBmDVQVL_aJssEQ1c3bmNwwWp9GeRPhr8PjXHJYqRbsRQBIf153koZ2uHi5zwBlSf5mgoQbxEkG_czmslTBQXH1NSvNIVsKou7Am7ocAYes5/s1600/LakeStudio91.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9cVwXqRhzrZGg9wQHwPOKPYlRBmDVQVL_aJssEQ1c3bmNwwWp9GeRPhr8PjXHJYqRbsRQBIf153koZ2uHi5zwBlSf5mgoQbxEkG_czmslTBQXH1NSvNIVsKou7Am7ocAYes5/s1600/LakeStudio91.jpg" height="400" width="285" /></a></div>
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<b>1. More old brands resurrected from the mid-1990s junk wax heap.</b> Did you collect Upper Deck's Fleer Retro basketball set? Or what about Topps Archives baseball or football? Or Pinnacle baseball? As long as the hobby's hurtling down mid-1990s memory lane, let's go all out. I've already advocated for a <a href="http://baseballcardblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-world-needs-retro-donruss-studio-set.html" target="_blank">throwback Studio set (complete with mullet wigs)</a>. But what about 1992's Topps Kids? It could work as a short standalone set, large insert set for a set like Topps Opening Day, or part of a tongue-in-cheek Topps Archives offering.<br />
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<b>2. No more relic cards.</b> Dear Card Companies, Nobody cares about these. Relic cards don't hold value. Stop including them in your products. Or if that's too radical, make relic cards better. What about stamping them with the game date when they were used? Or better yet, make them memorable. Nobody in their right mind should be excited about receiving a tiny square of David Freese's away jersey. But what if you compressed a jersey or autographed t-shirt into the size of a jumbo pack? I will definitely be excited about pulling an autographed David Freese Angels t-shirt out of my blaster box from Target.<br />
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<b>3. Fewer parallels. </b>Do collectors <i>really</i> want endless parallels of the same card? Red, green, blue, camo, pink, black, printing plates, red backs, green backs—the list goes on and on. I'm convinced that if we continue down this path, there will be more serial-numbered cards manufactured than non-serial-numbered cards. Yes, there may be less of each produced, but so what? There are so <i>many</i> different sets produced each year, each with their own parallels, that there aren't enough collectors in the world for these cards to retain their "value." This is already a slippery slope. Let's not slide all the way into the abyss.<br />
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<b>4. A food set.</b> I'd like to see the MLBPA, NBAPA, NFLPA, NHLPA, or heck, even MLS strike a deal with a consumer goods company to put cards on food products like cereal, granola bars, yogurt-cup six-packs, whatever. It would be good for sports, and good for collecting. I don't expect a gigantic 200-card set like the old Post Cereal baseball sets from the early 1960s, but a 40 to 60–card set would do the trick. I know I'm not alone in wanting to see this.<br />
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<b>5. More videos from the card manufacturers—and not of box breaks.</b> Topps, if you're reading this, you should create a series of videos of no more than five minutes in length, each showcasing a milestone in the company's history (like the revolutionary printing process that created Topps Finest in 1993), but without compromising the company's trade secrets. Have you ever read the story of how the Apple designers created the prototype iPod? I've read it many times, and it never gets boring. The same would be true of how the wizards at Topps created Topps Finest. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15499964504931886246noreply@blogger.com5