My Five Favorite Pink Cards

Collecting Cutch is running a contest to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Here is his intro post with the details. I can't keep up with the parameters due to some projects but I figured I'd contribute one post at least. Hey, I LOVE pink cards, always have. That, and the fact that my sister is just getting over fighting this battle, is why I'm trying to help in some small way.

The list is restricted to cards I own. I've seen a few nice ones on other blogs over the last few days but I'll just show mine. In no order (except the last one) here they are.

'65 Topps Clemente. He had some really nice cards in his time. Who doesn't like the '65 set and it's Clemente, shown with a nice closeup in a pink frame. I've always liked how the team colors were reflected via the pennant on the Pittsburgh cards (and some of the others).

Yaz at Yankee Stadium and happy to be a ballplayer. I can't recall a Yaz card that was issued before this great '66 issue that had him smiling. It's a good look for one of the greats.

 

Bobby Layne was kind of like Stan Musial and Ted Williams. They were winding up great careers when I was just beginning to appreciate greatness in athletes I watched. My father had some stories of watching Layne play against his Giants, but like Williams, I can't remember having seen him although I'm sure i must have. Full disclosure...that's not my scan. Mine seemed out of focus for some reason and I don't want to dig the card out of the whatever random box I have my aborted '58 Topps build hiding in.

'58 Ryne Duren. Another guy my Dad loved. He never failed to tell me about Duran squinting in to see the signs and throwing warm-up pitches into the screen, all in an attempt to intimidate hitters. I'm not sure how it escaped me until now that Duren is wearing an Athletics uni on this card. Seems like airbrushing out the piping would have been even easier that adding a NY logo to the cap. 

This last card is my favorite pink card. I just showed it here last week. Hey there, Gibby!

Heeeeey...Get your Pink Thing.....Get your Pink Thing here!!

I used to make it up to the old Arlington Stadium a couple of times a year to catch the Orioles as they rolled through North Texas to play the Rangers. Those were fun trips. I had college friends who lived up there so I always had a place to stay if I wanted it and sometimes I scored free tickets (great seats, too). But usually I'd head up with John, a fellow Orioles fan/collector who I met at Houston card shops and became great friends with over the years. He had a black Pontiac Firebird and drove like a madman but somehow always avoided getting a ticket. Considering how many radar units would hang out on I-45 between Houston and Dallas that's nothing short of a miracle.

Games up there were always fun. I saw some of the most ominous storm clouds I can remember rolling across the skies over Arlington Stadium. I only recall a couple of rain-outs though. Behind home plate the screen extended straight up and it lacked the usual section that angles back over the top of the seats behind home plate. Foul balls hit straight back would frequently hit the wall behind those seats and ricochet down into them with tremendous velocity. Seasoned Arlington Stadium goers who sat behind the plate knew they had to instantly 'duck and cover' when a batter nicked one back over the screen. You knew the rookies. They were the ones who turned to see where the ball was going. Ouch!

You could take your own beer into the stadium in those round thermos jugs like this one:

A stop at 7-11 on the way to the ballpark for a couple of quarts of Miller High Life or Coors was always on the to-do list. One of the many unique things about Arlington Stadium was a frozen ice cream novelty that vendors sold in the seats which was called a 'Pink Thing'. I never got one but they were pretty popular. Turns out they were unique to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and mainly associated with the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park. That makes sense since Six Flags was literally next to the stadium.

We liked to get to the park early and hang out in the lot between the stadium and the nearby hotel which was where the Orioles (and other visiting clubs I suppose) stayed. Players would walk through the lot and were easy pickings for autograph hunters (of which John was one for sure). That's also the lot in which I heard Eddie Murray speak for the first time. Up until the moment he answered John's request for a signature with an "OK, but just one" I had been nearly convinced that he was a mute.

All of this is a long roundabout way of getting to the card I posted up top. That's a pink Jared Crick chromey, shiny-type Topps card. I collect pink cards, I'm a Texans season ticket holder and Nebraska is my son's school so the card was a nice pick-up.

Here's a picture of the Pink Thing ice cream 'treat' from the link above. And yes, that's exactly how I remember it. Looks pretty nasty.

It's a Pink Card in 2013!

Yes, as I have mentioned I like cards that feature the color pink. And I'm secure enough in my manhood to admit it.

So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and pick up a card that 1) featured a guy I needed for my fantasy baseball collection and 2) was pink. I went online and the cheapest one I could find was this Jeff Keppinger from this year's Topps set.

A couple of questions I've asked myself....

...why did I have Jeff Keppinger on my team? It must have been during my middle infielder crisis last season.

...why has Keppinger played for 7 different clubs in 9 years? I mean he has a .286 lifetime average which isn't bad for a shortstop, right?

...why did I spend $5 plus shipping for a stupid card that just happens to be pink? This one I can't answer I'm afraid.

Oh, and if you read any of my posts from last year in which I state that I would never ever get involved with fantasy baseball again, well, I was strong armed into giving it one more shot. Sadly it's a 'big money' league. Next year I'm going to just go downtown and pass out the $$$ to the needy. It'll be much more satisfying.

I Dig Pink Cards!!!

I somehow stumbled across what is called (I think) a 'sell sheet' for the upcoming 2013 Topps set. I wasn't really interested (I don't have many current cards) until I saw the PINK Marlins guy card! That got my attention. The 1959 Topps pink framed cards are some of my favorites among the ones I've posted on my other blog. They are pretty cool in a weird way. I'm particularly fond of one, the only '59 Topps that is part of my set that survived from my youth. That card is the centerpiece of the set for me even though it's the worst one in terms of condition.

I don't know much (OK, I don't know ANYTHING) about the 'parallel' cards that I see everywhere. Blue parallels, shiny chrome parallels, parallels that only show up at one store chain. I don't see how anyone, even the Topps people can keep it all straight. And how does anyone make a complete set? Does anyone even try?

Be that as it may, I was excited to see that there will be pink colored cards in the '13 Topps. I may try to find one or two if they are not too expensive. I gathered up some of the pink cards in my collection. Most come from the '59 Topps set obviously but I found many that I'd forgotten.

Some are 'more pink' than others. Most have at least a fair sized 'name box' in that color. I know some mid- to late 60's cards had pinkish accents like circles for the team name (I'm thinking Red Sox?). There are tons of others that I either can't think of or don't have handy. I don't have any other sports represented by a pink card in my collection. I'd bet there were some hockey and basketball ones.

edit: I found out that Topps already has put out some pink cards in the current football set. Sure enough there is one on this page. And a search turns up a bunch more.

1959 Bill Virdon

1959 Ron Kline

 1965 Roberto Clemente (the fabulous Mantle card is also this same dark pink but I don't have it. Maybe some day)

1966 Yaztrzemski. This is a pic I found on the net, mine hasn't been broken out of the grading slab yet and scanning slabbed cards makes me frustrated. But it's about as nice as this one.

1959 Kaline/Maxwell

1959 Junior Gilliam

1960 Topps Roy Face

 1958 Ryne Duren. For some reason the scanned color background looks 'off' to me. 

 1960 Russ Snyder

T206 Hal Chase. It looks orange or sort of 'peach' but it's pink (or it was a long time ago). As always my scanner erps out the t206s without some of the border. 

1959 Oisk

1958 Topps Jim Bunning

1959 Jim Brosnan

1958 Art F'ing Ditmar

Even football cards got the 'pink treatment' now and then. 

1966 Philly Gum Bob Hayes. The whole team set of Philly Gum Cowboys cards were pink for a couple of years. I'd like to get a '67 Don Meredith. 

1965 Topps Tom Day  

1958 Topps Bobby Layne 

1959 Gene Snyder

1959 Tony Taylor

and the King of all my pink cards.....

....my 1959 Bob Gibson. Probably the only original 'one owner' Topps '59 in my set.