Morning Joe

What you see above is the result of an artistic attempt by someone (me) without even the tiniest bit of artistic/graphic talent who is limited to the use of MSPaint and MSPublisher. 😩 If you don't catch the reference then you (inexplicably) don't read The Shlabotnik Report, one of the more fun card related blogs around. 

'Joe' does terrific customs and includes them as 'prizes' in his equally awesome custom cereal boxes. It's a unique and fun project that I really enjoy. His most recent edition came this past Sunday but there are plenty more which you can find all along his feed. You can see all his custom cards grouped together here and here. Fun stuff, no?

Anyway as I returned to blogging recently I moaned that I had very little new material. I mentioned that I might have to dig through some old boxes to find things long hidden away. I've done that before. But rather than be subjected to my posting about yellowing 1984 All Star ballots and various crappy K-Mart boxed sets Joe sent me a PWE with more interesting cards. And for that I thank him. And I'll show them off here.

First up...a 1979 O-Pee-Chee Doug DeCinces. DeCinces, the one time heir apparent to Brooks Robinson in Baltimore, had a nice career with the Orioles and Angels from 1973 thru 1987. 

I have a straight run of all the main stream Orioles cards from 1954 to 1990 (Topps, Bowman, Fleer, etc). But I love adding this type of 'variation'. I have a few OPCs from back in the day but not this '79 DeCinces. It goes in the back of my Orioles '75-'79 binder.

Next up...three Bowmans. First is a 2016 Chris Davis. Davis is one of those guys who just looks cool on a baseball card. That's weird I know but every Davis card I have is pretty sharp. Even the ones with less than stellar designs. I happen to like this Bowman design more than the '16 Topps.

This Trey Mancini Bowman is also a 2016. Must be from a differnt set though as it has a different design. I have absolutely no insight into the machinations that lie behind modern sets. It's a welcome card anyway. Mancini made a splash at the end of the 2016 season for Baltimore. He got called up in mid-September and hit a homer in his first three starts. He's only the third player in history to do that. I'm not sure he's going to have a spot on the O's opening day roster though.

Chance Sisco, seen here on another '16 Bowman, is the Orioles catcher 'of the future', or so I'm told. If, as has been whispered, Matt Wieters resigns with Baltimore and splits catching/DH duties with Wellington Castillo, then Sisco is sure to end up with another season at AAA or lower.

Joe put a few Donruss in the envelope and these two represent the 'Alpha and Omega' of modern Donruss efforts. That Manny Machado is not nearly as obviously a unlicensed card. The Ripken photo was been altered with thick black lines covering much of the orange of his uni. But it still goes into the Ripken section of my Orioles stars binder. (Manny has a slot, too)

Adam Jones Diamond King. Another card altered to exclude logos and colors but it's actually a pretty cool card overall. Diamond Kings featured artwork (then done by Dick Perez) back in the day and I guess they still do.

2002 Jerry Hairston. Hairston's tenure with the Orioles (1998-2004) fell within my self-imposed exile from baseball. He was still playing as a semi-regular with the Dodgers as late as 2013. Live and learn.

Finally, a card of Rafael de Silva from his Man U time. He's since moved on to play in France. I don't have nearly enough Manchester United cards. Kind of a weird shot. Looks like he's doing the mannequin challenge. Happy to add it to my rather slim soccer binder.

There you have it. Cards from Joe Shlabotnik that prevented, at least for a time, my dragging out some dusty 80's material. Thanks, Joe!!

Soccer...from WalMart

I make no apologies for being a soccer fan. I coached the sport and still enjoy watching it for the most part. I don't follow the MSL but I am a fan of European soccer in general and the Premier League in particular. Manchester United is my UPL club. I follow a bunch of different International teams, those that my family has roots in, Portugal, Germany, Italy, England and Mexico. 

I don't collect soccer per se but every once in awhile I'll pick up a card of a player I like. 

Last week I ventured into WalMart, a place I usually avoid. The two in my vicinity rarely have any cards worth looking at. That's why I'll drive over a toll bridge to get to Target. But when it's 11 p.m., you are facing an early wake-up call and you are fresh out of coffee creamer its any port in a storm!

WalMart surprised me by having not only a nice supply of 2016 Football, new Topps Heritage High Number packs and two(!) 2016 Soccer releases, Topps and Donruss.

I bought a hanger package of each of the soccer products. Both came with two packs and what they advertised as bonus cards. I both cases I got an extra bonus card so that's a plus. That never happens to me with baseball of football cards. The bonus cards are shiny chrome things that a) don't scan well and b) otherwise look like the regular cards. The two cards above are both bonus cards.

The Topps cards are very 'busy'. The cards are of players from teams involved in the European Champions League. They are designed to be used as part of some sort of digital game. Who the heck has time for that nonsense?

There are no stats on the back. There isn't much of anything on the back for that matter. 

The Donruss cards I liked a lot more. They resemble their other 2016 products. Like the Topps package I received an extra 'bonus' shiny card. They promised two but I got three (one of which I didn't bother to scan). 

Also like Topps the regular cards are, at least to me, more attractive than the chrome ones.

And with Donruss I got the best card on the night, Messi. He can be a putz but there is no denying his amazing talent. 

The backs lack traditional stats but had a bunch more info than the Topps cards.

I won't buy more of these, at least not any more packs. But I may pick up a player here and there for my slim soccer binder.

I'll scan and post a few cards from the baseball and football packs I also bought that night very soon.

Combat!

If we traveled back in time to 1964 and you asked the 12-year-old me what my favorite TV show was the answer would be, without hesitation, Combat!. And yes, the exclamation point always follows the name of the show. 

I had no idea that there were Combat! cards produced back during the show's run. I used to find all kinds of non-sports cards for sale at my uncle's pharmacy but I don't think I ever saw these. But a few weeks back I found these at my local hotel show in a bargain bin. 

Combat! ran for five seasons on ABC and it was a must watch in my house and among my friends. My buddies and I would argue about which of the two main characters, Lt. Hanley (played by Rick Jason) or Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow) was 'cooler'. My choice was Morrow who is featured in both of the cards above.

Combat! was the story of one platoon as they moved across France after D-Day. A couple of years ago I found a DVD copy of several Season One episodes at a used book store and picked it up. Unlike the original Star Trek shows I've been checking out via my new TV set-up the Combat! episodes hold up well.

This next card shows Rick Jason in his role as the Lieutenant. He was usually the calm 'voice of reason' who frequently clashed with the volatile Morrow.

The list of guest stars who appeared through the five year run is impressive and includes Ted Knight and Frank Gorshin made appearances. Other notable guest stars included Lee Marvin, Robert Duvall, James Coburn, Bill Bixby, Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson, James Caan, Leonard Nimoy, Roddy McDowell, Mickey Rooney, and Jack Lord.

The set was produced by Donruss but their name wasn't on the cards. With really good eyes you can see their name on this wrapper (image found on the 'net):

When 'read' in numerical order the set told a story of one campaign by the platoon. The narrative on the backs more or less correspond to the photos on the front. Here is the front and back of #51.

#55 and #56 are an example of the way the cards are sequenced.

The 132 card set was issued in two series of 66 cards in 1963 and 1964. And finally here is an interesting fact from the set's blurb on Dean's Cards:

One problem faced in production of the 1964 Donruss Combat cards was that Donruss only had a license to use images of the regular cast members. Thus if an “extra” was in the photo, his face had to be removed from the card and drawn on by hand. Therefore, many of the cards have a cartoonish look to them.

I don't plan to chase any more of these, I have enough projects going on as it is. But they were a fun and nostalgic find and grabbing these 10 or so for a couple of dollars was kind of cool.

EDIT: I just found this page with some more details about the set.

Another EDIT: I found this picture online on MeTV's page. There is plenty of Cobat! trivia and info on that page as well. Access it here.

Of course that's Braves' star lefty Warren Spahn with Combat lead actors Rick Jason and Vic Morrow.

More Things On My Desk

We were in Atlanta for the better part of a week for our Peach Bowl trip and had time to take in some of what there is to see in the area. The day we arrived we took advantage of the nice weather and visited the Jimmy Carter Center/Presidential Library. There are lots of interactive displays and several films are featured and a lot of emphasis is placed on President Carter's Georgia roots. This was my sixth visit to a Presidential library and as always I was fascinated by the story of what makes someone want to take on that burden.

I dug out a couple of Carter cards from the box of Presidential cards I've been accumulating. At the top is a 1992 Starline Americana card and below is Topps 2015 Presidential Chronicles card from 2015.

Next up is a Fleer sticker card that came my way in a PWE a few months back. Back in the mid-80s when these were distributed in packs I had a file cabinet next to my work table and I covered it with team stickers.

Hack Wilson's 190 RBI season of 1930 is featured on the reverse.

In the same stack was a generic Donruss Mike Piazza card. I always think of him a a member of the Los Angeles Baseball Club Dodgers but apparently he's going to be wearing a Mets' cap on his H-O-F plaque.

Last card to be scanned for today is a 2015 Topps Hoyt Wilhelm from some sort of Highlight subset. This came in a PWE as well and it's now part of my Hoyt Wilhelm page in my Orioles stars binder. It's kind of weird that my scanner cut off the bottom of this one. It usually saves that trick for 'late model' Topps white border cards.

I've been very slow to post things here lately. Lot's of things have been getting in my way, not the least of which has been a lack of new material for my collection. My trip to yesterday's monthly card show (first visit in months) will go a long way to rectify that.

Hey, I'm posting baseball!!

I've been concentrating on football lately and hadn't picked up any new baseball items in awhile. That changed with a PWE from mark Hoyle yesterday. He saved me from having to dig into my closet for something baseball-ish to post by sending me some Orioles items and here are the highlights.

First up, Leaf-Donruss All Star Stand-ups, a Murray and a Ripken. These are 'tall boy' sized and amazingly they are an Orioles related 80's item I didn't have before. I didn't scan the back of the Ripken and it's not in front of me now but it's obviously from the set commemorating the 1986 All Star Game in the Astrodome. Cal went 0-4 in that game. From a previous post on that game:

I went with a friend of mine after I had entered a ticket lottery and was able to snag two seats in the right field pavilion. We spent the lead up to the game hanging out at the headquarters hotel, the Houston Hyatt Regency in downtown. We picked up some autographs, crashed a couple of dinners and talked to relief pitcher Don Aase of the Orioles. I had a premonition that he'd get the save and told him so. He laughed and shook my hand. Turns out I was right. He finished the game by getting a dp grounder out of Chris Brown of the Giants.

The Murray come from a season earlier and the AGS in the Metrodome. He went 0-3.

Oversized cards were a big deal in the 80s. Donruss produced a bunch of them including this '86 Murray. This is one of the better designs, too. Or maybe that's just my eye for Eddie Murray badass coolness talking.

Watching Murray play sure was fun. I miss those days. Thanks, Mark. Thanks for kick starting a baseball post in the middle of the dreary Houston January. Spring training isn't all that far away for all you baseball folks.

Monday Morning Quarterback #36 Matthew Stafford 2009 Donruss/Score Hot Rookies

In this ongoing series of posts I am going to feature cards from my fantasy football player collection, specifically the 117 quarterbacks I've had on my team's roster since 1980. I have one selected card for each player in my All-Time Flyers binder. Through the years I've tried to use as many different card varieties as possible while holding on to my preference which is: a card issued in a year I owned the player showing him in the proper team uni in a vertical format. Card availability and my whims have had a big impact on that standard as we will see. 

NFL Info: Matthew Stafford was a high school star from North Texas who had a standout career at Georgia. He was the first pick of the 2009 NFL draft and has put up some impressive numbers since walking into the starting line-up on Day One. He was hurt for a couple of months in 2010 but otherwise has been able to hook up with Calvin Johnson to keep the Lions' offense rolling.

Fantasy Impact: I took Matthew Stafford in the 14th round of my leagues' 2009 draft. He was a rookie that season and I didn't use him.

The Card: If I were to pick the worst 'modern' card in my fantasy binder this might be it. Random colors done in large swatches and oversize fonts. Ugh. As bad as the front is...the back is worse. Different random colors and a black-and-white crop of the same photo. I'm not sure why I replaced this with a better card of Stafford. I usually won't replace a card in my fantasy football binder unless it involves taking out a 'homebrew' and inserting a legit card or finding a vertical card to replace a horizontal one (I dislike horizontal cards in my binder). At least this card falls into the 'unique to my binder' and 'from the correct year' conventions that I loosely stick to.

I don't keep up with the 'politics' of card companies so I was thrown a bit by the fact that this card has a 'Score' designation on the front, a Donruss logo on the back and a Panini America copyright line.

Bonus Unrelated Story: The Billy Sims reference on the back reminded me of the fact that many years ago I had a dentist who had Billy Sims as a patient. The dentist said Sims was the biggest 'chicken' he'd ever had in his chair. He said Sims was so nervous that he broke the footrest of the chair by becoming stiff as a board.

Junk Wax Jim Palmer cards, and a few others

I'm heading up to the Dallas area today for a teachers convention. I may or may not make it over to Arlington for today's game there but just thinking about Arlington brought back memories of seeing the Orioles play the Rangers there.

I usually traveled up there from Houston with a guy named John who I met through the hobby. We both were devoted to the Orioles and we both spent most of our free time at two of the LCSs in southwest Houston. The wonderful mother of one of the store owners called us 'Bob Oriole' and 'John Oriole'. I sometimes thought that she actually believed those were our names. We became good friends, went to all the card shows we could get to and helped each other out with our hobby wantlists. John passed away two years ago and although I hadn't seen much of him in the last several years, I miss going to card shows and talking trash about the dealers. John was quite a character.

Anyway we had a running joke between us that was based on the fact that whenever we made a trip to Arlington we almost always missed Jim Palmer's turn in the rotation. It was uncanny. If we were going up on a Saturday for a weekend series Palmer would have pitched on Friday and we'd miss him. Heading up for a Tuesday night? Palmer was scheduled on Wednesday. We eventually got to see him pitch once in the early 80s and I remember that he pitched on a dreadfully hot weekend afternoon and the Orioles rolled.

In honor of Big John Oriole I'm going to post some junk wax era Palmer cards, and maybe some nicer vintage ones. The two at the top are probably the epitome of 'junk wax'. In 1981 Donruss decided that two cards of Jim Palmer were better than one. But rather than use two different photos they just used the same one twice but cropped it differently. They did have two different backs. The #353 contained personal data, career highlights and the two lines of stats that Donruss used for '81, the prior season and career totals. The #473 card (the closer cropped one) could be viewed as a 'special' as it has a write-up on Palmer's work in the 1970s and a three column comparison of him, Tom Seaver and Jim Hunter.

Donruss' 1981 set was laughable. Terrible color, thin cardboard, and lots of errors... but maybe that's what holds it's charm. When the 'Card Wars' broke out and Topps faced competition from Fleer and Donruss the game changed for collectors.

Here is the '82 Donruss. The back, which I didn't scan, is easier to read and has more extensive stats although the veteran players didn't have complete career numbers listed. Palmer for example, has stats from 1977 on.

Now the 1981 and 1982 Fleer Palmers.

And finishing up here are some random Topps Jim Palmer cards from my Oriole star binder:

1970 #449

The classy and fun 1972 #270

The 1978 and 1979 Jim Palmer All Star cards:

And finally the 1982 Palmer In Action and his regular card, a sweaty face portrait. I like the In Action card a lot more.