Oddball Set Being Oddball

The last time I went to the hotel card show (November?) I found a little unopened cello pack in one of the bins. I don't recall if it was the dollar bin or the quarter bin but either way I figured I shoud pick it up. The top card was this Barry Larkin.

I figured that the Internet's #1 Larkin collector, Chris of the Nachos Grande blog might not have it. Of course when I got home I checked his list and saw that he did indeed own a copy. But it's not a wasted purchase...I'm getting a post out of it.

I didn't pay much attention to the pack again until I decided to clean off my desk last week. From Duracell Batteries this thing just says "I'm a 90s oddball!" Unlicensed by MLB it does carry the MLBPA logo and therefore has any team logos removed. Back then non-MLB approved cards could be issued with the team nicknames.  At some point lawyers got involved and we ended up with the semi-anonymous, city-designated only Donruss/Panini sets we see today.

There were four cards in the pack plus a header card with a checklist. That checklist (it's at the bottom) told me that there were two series of these and that my pack came from Series II. The same four players travel together in each pack which Duracell called 'Sets'. This was set 5 of 6 issued as part of Series II.

A couple of sluggers came in this one. Gary Sheffield....

 ...and José Canseco. Yes, he got the accented 'e'. You don't see that very often, particularly on baseball cards from 1993.

Jack McDowell was also along for the ride.

The backs of my four cards had a portrait photo with capless players or a closely cropped pic that left the logo out of the picture. The stats go back five years.

Here is the header card. The set came free with a Duracell Saver Pack of batteries.

There was a mail-in offer on the back of the header card. I've blown it up a bit for easier reading. Each of the 'sets' is listed.

If I had a choice I'd nab that sweet Set #4. Hard to beat getting two of my PC guys (El Presidenté and Jim Abbott) plus Junior and Ryno!

BTW...I often wondered about the Young America, MN address. Seems like every coupon or redemption was headed that way. I finally checked it out and it's a real town. Wikipedia told me this (among other things):

In 1973, the Dile Corporation moved to Young America, and changed its name to Young America Corporation. They are one of the largest employers in the town, processing rebate, coupon, and other marketing programs for businesses. They receive a great deal of mail, enough that this small town has over 20 zip codes assigned to it. A main one is 55555.

And so one of life's little mysteries is solved thanks to a junk box card purchase.

BTW...if anyone wants these I'll throw them your way. Just say the word.

A Nice Package, Part Two ;-)

My family first moved to Houston in the summer of 1967, early July to be exact. I was heading into my sophomore year of high school and I was the one family member that hated the idea of pulling up our New Jersey roots and heading down here. I pretty much figured that being summer I wouldn't know anyone or even get a chance to know anyone my age until school opened. And a new school itself was not something I relished.

But Houston had baseball, and with the Orioles struggling following the great 1966 season, I decided to throw myself into following the Astros, just because. We were in a hotel for a few days before our moving van arrived and I remember cutting out Astros game stories, box scores and pictures from the Houston papers, the now-defunct Post (where I later was employed for many years) and then afternoon published Chronicle.

Those clipping turned into a scrapbook of the second half of the Astros' dreary 1967 season. I wasn't new to this. I had kept New York Ranger scrapbooks for years. Which brings me to the card at the top of the post. It was part of the Nachos Grande group break and it is why I was happy I dealt the Twins for the 'Stros as my 'second' team. I would never seen it otherwise. It's a 2004 Upper Deck Play Ball Home Run Heroics Eddie Mathews.

It's a gimmick card, sure, but it commemorates Eddie Mathews  500th homer which he hit in a Friday night game on July 14 of that season in Candlestick Park. I don't specifically remember listening to that one but I listened to just about every Astros game that year after we arrived. What I do remember (and probably still have stored somewhere) is the newspaper account of Mathews' milestone. Those were the highly competitive days when newspapers held deadlines until the West Coast games were finished before going to press.

So when this card came out of the stack from Chris I really got a kick out of it when I realized what it was. There are a couple of others in the break that are worth mentioning, for differing reasons.

This is Dave Crouthers, a 2001 3rd Round pick of the Orioles. After the 2004 season, with a 30-25 minor league record, the O's tossed him along with Mike Fontenot (who?) and Jerry Hairston, Jr. into the trade for Sammy Sosa. This may be the most obscure autograph card I own but in looking at that trade I did discover that both Crouthers and Hairston played for Southern Illinois. I also now know that Hairston played for the Orioles for seven seasons and then for two teams for two seasons and five teams for one season. So there.

This is Annette Charles. I have no idea who she is or why she has a card and I don't care either. Plus she's rather unattractive in a Pat Nixon sort of way. 

Pinnacle Press Cal Ripken. Any Ripken is a good Ripken. That stance is #845 of the 1252 different ones that Cal used in his career.

And finally a 'laundry' card of Rafael Palmeiro. In August 2005 I was driving my family from NYC to Baltimore on our monumental East Coast vacation when the news broke that he'd been suspended for steroid use. When we attended the games at Camden Yards the sign congratulating him on 3000 hits was still up. But he wasn't playing.

Of the cards that I received as part of Chris' 'trade stack', this is my favorite:

It's a 2005 Upper Deck Classics Lyman Bostock. He was a talented young outfielder for the Twins and Angels who was shot an killed in 1978 in a case that was the result of Bostock being in that too familiar 'wrong place, wrong time'. He'd only played four seasons in the bigs when he died. If you are a fan of the powder blue double knit era, this is a card for you.

Here are a few others with quick observations:

I liked Frank Viola with the Twins. But wearing that terrible Met road uni with the shoulder stripes? Ugh. Still kind of a neat card. Looks like he's charging a bunt.

There is no way this guy hit 50 homers in one season. He's the bat boy. I don't believe he was juiced but I'm totally convinced the ball was. It was part of baseball's attempt to pull fans back into the game.

EDIT: The more I look at this card the more I'm convinced it actually IS the bat boy.

I don't know Kevin Foster but that's a screamin' Cubbie throwback, isn't it? 

Chris Sabo, without his goggles. He just looks weird like that.

 btw....THIS is Chris Sabo.

Cliff Floyd pulling a hammy, again. He does Sirius fantasy baseball radio shows. He's pretty good at it. Funny and insightful. Better than he was at staying healthy.

A Nice Package, Part One ;-)

I had planned on going to the big Tristar memorabilia show last Saturday. But I was sick as a dog and didn't make it. Since I'm not really looking for anything in particular, don't have a want list or anything, I was OK with missing it. I figured it was money that would be better used on our vacation trips anyway. So, unlike in the old days, I blew it off. No big deal.

That is until Monday morning when good ol' Night Owl started chirping about his weekend card show experience. He picked up some really cool stuff. Grabbed a couple of nice Koufax Leader cards, some '77 Topps he needed and a bunch of stuff from bargain boxes. Even a recent shiny Topps Frank Robinson card that I'd never seen, Very cool. And so I felt that twinge of regret. Now I was wishing that I HAD gone to the show on Sunday when I was feeling better and not worried about being 'a good husband' and taking care of what was needed to be done at home. I was kind of kicking myself all day at work. That lasted until I got home and a big thick yellow mailer was in the box. It was my goodies from Chris of the Nachos Grande blog! I had bought in to his group break a couple of weeks back AND claimed his 'trade stack' by sending some cards off his want list.

So I was feeling instantly better. I was getting some new-to-me card stuff after all. Cool. I opened the package and then spent the better part of ten minutes getting to the cards themselves. Chris' mailouts are pretty much secure from any possible natural or man-made disaster. When the Zombie Apocalypse occurs only Twinkies, roaches and Chris' card packages will survive. But with the help if a box cutter and some elbow grease I was able at last to spread out the goodies across my desk. The group break cards consisted of Orioles which I claimed as my team, and Astros for which I had traded my randomly assigned 2nd team, the Twins. That trade, by the way, was one I regretted for awhile when early packs opened by Chris contained no Astros and at least one Twins 'hit' and some other neat cards I could no longer claim. But in the end the Astros represented themselves pretty well.

The Brooks Robinson Upper Deck card at the top was one of the Orioles. I like it because it features a picture I don't recall seeing on a card. I got the Ripken out of that set as well.

This is a Topps Chrome Ripken from a year I can't read off the back because the printing is too small for my old eyes. If you have some of these you can appreciate the live and in-person over-the-top look of them. Did they all have a hologram baseball and tie dye design. I'm getting facial tics from staring at it right now. Let's move on.

These three cards are of Orioles players who played most of their careers while I was not paying attention much. There is a big gap in my baseball fandom history from the '94 strike to about 2010 or so. Other than a very casual knowledge of the Astros' doings during that time and a couple of games in Camden Yards and  Yankee Stadiums II & III I was oblivious to the game. Anyway, there were several cards from each of the sets you see. And Astros from those sets, too. These included local players I DO know.

It's Shiny Holographic-ish Lima Time! I think you had to live in Houston back in his prime to appreciate just what a squirrel he was. He was on TV all the time with one stupid commercial or another. What a character. He had a sizzling wife, though. I once told my wife that Lima's wife was the only woman I'd leave her for. My wife rolled her eyes and gave me 'that look'. She's heard me say that about Giada, too.

Craig Biggio will make the Hall of Fame one of these days, maybe next year. My kids loved him. They went to see him get his 3060th and last hit in his last game from field box tickets courtesy of dear old Dad. 

Here's a rare Jeff Bagwell card that does not feature him swinging like he wants to hit one to another dimension.

And a couple of cards of my favorite Astro, Lance Berkman. I first saw him play at Rice University. And he seems like a real gem of a guy. I'm really happy he got his World Series ring, even though it was as a Cardinal. Could have been worse, he could have won it as a Yankee. That Cardinal-Rangers Series, by the way, is pretty much what won me back as a baseball fan.

And now for my two favorite group break Oriole cards:

I just love the Upper Deck Past Time Pennants set. Just terrific photography and a sweet design. I got four from this set, two I had that I've shown before, the Eddie Murray and the Brooks Robinson. Of course the best one I own is the gorgeous Rocky Colavito. The Ripken and Palmer make it a nice foursome of Oriole cards from this set. I have a nice four card display frame waiting to be filled.

That's enough for now. I'll post a couple more, including the card a wasn't expecting that turned out to be my favorite of the break, when I get the chance. I'll also show off the cards I got in the 'trade stack' group.