Randon Friars on a random Sunday

What better day than a Sunday to post some Padres I've had scanned for awhile with no purpose in mind. I like the 1980 Ozzie Smith because he's got his eyes closed while following through on a huge cut. Random facts about the Wizard I didn't realize till now:

• He finished second to Bob Horner in the 1978 ROY balloting but Horner played in about half as many games.
• He's from Mobile, Alabama. I drove through the hardest rain I've ever experienced in Mobile one night in the early 70s. I was on my way to Florida with a girlfriend and when we got out of the tunnel that goes under Mobile Bay and the rain was coming down so hard I thought my Malibu had landed in the damn Bay. I literally drove blind for awhile. I'll never forget that and I think about it every time someone mentions Mobile. 
• He only played four seasons in San Diego. I thought he was there longer. And he hit .231 over those four seasons.

1981 Topps Dave Winfield card on which Winfield just plain looks like a badass who I wouldn't want to pitch to. Winfield and Ozzie played together for Smith's first three seasons. Winfield finished up his playing career with the Indians. I'd have lost a bet on that for sure! The Indians?

This is some kind of jersey swatch Tony Gwynn card from Donruss in 2001. Gwynn led the NL in hits seven times and made the NL All Star squad fourteen times over a 15 year span from 1984 through 1999. In 1989, his rookie year, he hit .289 and never hit below .300 again, even in his last year at the age of 41. When it comes to just pure hitting ability who's better in the last 40 years? Rod Carew? Wade Boggs? Ichiro Suzuki? ::::shrug::::

Random 80's Crap from my Hobby Closet, Pt.6 (Final installment, I think)

Recently I pulled a random box out of my 'hobby closet' and opened it just for the hell of it. I have about a dozen of these boxes, most are the document storage-type things and I haven't looked at them in years. Inside the one I chose I found all sorts of junk I had picked up in the 80's. There is no logic to any of it. I bought whatever struck my fancy back in those days and I saved everything. I found small boxed sets that I had pulled the Orioles out of, commercially produced and team issued postcards, odd ball TCMA trash, unlicensed photo cards, pocket schedules, ticket stubs and much more. While I'm off visiting the Big Apple I thought I'd put up a few posts showing the 'stuff' I once valued so highly. 

Yes, I've gotten down to the bottom of the box of 80's crap and even I'm sick of it. But I had put aside the few 'legit' cards that were contained in it and saved them for this final post.

So, here we go:

1981 Topps Tito Landrum Rookie card. Yes, a couple of other guys share this card but they don't count. Landrum, with one swing of the bat, became a Baltimore folk hero.

A 1963 Topps Rookie Stars card featuring floating heads of, well, Pete Ward I guess. Or maybe Vic Davalillo. Phil Roof played a long time and then was a minor league manager. George Williams dropping in for coffee with the Phils and Colt 45s.

I found this 1982 Fleer Johnny Oates and it was in a hard sleeve for some unknown reason. He was long gone from the Orioles when this card came out.

 OK, now we're talking, a 1977 Kellogg's 3-D Bill Madlock. Interestingly this set doesn't mention Kellogg's anywhere. Never noticed that before.

A 1983 Kellogg's Ozzie Smith. I didn't know his given name is "Osborne Earl Smith". I do now. Pretty poor crop job on the photo, it makes it look like his hat is four sizes too big.

1980 Topps Kiko Garcia card. I saw one of his infrequent homers up in Arlington. He hit it off Fergie Jenkins and the O's squeaked out a 5-4 win. They won it on a single in the top of the ninth by Al Bumbry that scored Garcia. Don 'Full Pack' Stanhouse got the save. In typical fashion he walked the tying run on before ending it with a strikeout.

1971 Orioles World Series Celebration card. Easy to spot Andy Etchebarren, Merv Rettunmund, Mike Cuellar, Boog Powell and Bobby Grich. Don't know who the guy on the left in the straw hat is. Probably a party crasher.

And finally, a Sandy Koufax Baseball Card News advertising card. Yes, it may not be a 'legit' card but it IS Sandy Koufax. And a Brooklyn Dodger era Koufax, to boot.