Scan Dump 1

I've been accumulating stray cards here and there over the last couple of months. Sometimes I'll add cards to an eBay order to take advantage of reduced shipping or a multi-card discount. Sometimes I just pull cards I don't really need from discount boxes at card shows or buy stuff from Net54 guys on an impulse.

I've scanned a bunch and figure that now is as good a time as ever to post them, with or without comment.

This signed Bobby Thomson is from the 1982 G. S. Gallery set about which I have very little knowledge. I've seen references to Gallery being a dealer and that may be the case. The set had 24 cards of some of the bigger names from the 50s and 60s on its checklist.

Looking at the reverse side I was reminded that Thomson spent about three weeks with the Orioles in July of 1960. They were his last couple of appearances in the majors. Here he is with O's catcher Clint Courtney.

This early 60s Dutch Gum card of Bob Dylan came from a Net54 purchase. Seeing him in concert last fall was a kick.

This signed Billy Pierce phone card is the second in my collection. It was a Sox giveaway item.

The other Pierce phone card is from 1996 and I posted about it back in 2014.

And finally here is a rarity in my collection...a Topps Now card. I bought it from a reseller which is the only way to go with these things.

LOL...my man Crush Davis. I'm not really sure what prompted me to grab this other than my giddiness at him ending that sad hitless streak. As I think I posted (or tweeted back then) he is too good a guy to have had to endure the foolishness that came along with his futility.


I've got more scans but that will have to do for tonight. I need to go pick out my attire for this weekend's Orioles visit to Houston. 

Oh, and here is Bob Dylan along with the late, great Tom Petty doing Knocking on Heavan's Door live in 1986.  One of my very favorite songs.

Billy Pierce Phone Card

Remember phone cards? For awhile these things were part of the memorabilia landscape. I had a couple of Oriole phone cards. You could usually find them at shows on the same tables where you found Broder cards and Bammers. I still see them for sale from time to time, mostly in ethnic grocer stores and aimed at those wishing to phone folks back in the old country. In my neck of the woods that means Mexico and Central America. I think they work by keying in a number found of the back which equates to the way one would pump coins into a pay phone. You kids may need to ask someone what the hell all that means. Pay phones? WTH?

My fiend Mike McKay recently tipped me to this Billy Pierce phone card. As you can see below on the packaging this was a New Comiskey Park giveaway in 1996. The card was placed into the middle of a foldout with some of that gummy glue.

These two scans are the front and back of the folder:

Minnie Minoso and Nellie Fox were the two other Sox old-timers that were honored with a $5 card. Here is the complete center of the foldout with the phone card attached:

I picked this one up on eBay and it came in the original sealed plastic packaging. It's another in my ever growing collection of oddball Pierce items. A big thanks to Mike for bringing this to my attention. I'm not sure how it managed to evade on of my numerous 'saved searches' revolving around Billy Pierce.

Guys On The Phone

Over the past few weeks Bob Lemke has been featuring cards from niche collections he created from the huge cache of mostly 1990's cards he acquired through his work at Krause Publications. I made a comment on one of his posts and mentioned that I had collected a few off beat collections as well. One of those was cards featuring athletes 'on the phone'... players using sideline and dugout phones and headsets.

Bob replied that he had a very similar collection scheduled for a post on September 2 so I thought it would be fun to dig my 'phone guys' out and present them here on the same day. And here we are.

Most of the 40 or so cards in this little collection of mine are of NFL players shown on 1990 era Pro Set and Topps cards. But there are quite a few more off-the-wall cards included. I'd forgotten about some of them.

Some of the cards show Hall-of-Famers possibly talking to their brokers. Cal Ripken for example, on a big ass early cell phone. I remember being amazed at these contraptions. They were (to me) the second generation cell phones as they followed the 'phone in a bag' things that I remember a buddy carrying around the golf course.

A few more HOF guys using electronic stuff during games.  Brett was still years away from sexting pix of his well, junk to female reporters. He quite possibly was engaged in an intimate conversation with Phyllis George.

More football players including Dan Pastorini likely scrounging up a date with a runway model. He was cool that way.

And a couple more 49ers. Maybe communication was the key to their glory days.

The NBA Hoops set featured all the draft picks on the phone. They were either taking 'the call' from the team that drafted them of dialing mom with the good news.

And I somehow had added a few oddball cards along the way. I have no idea where I came across this card of boxer Bill Castillo. But I would be willing to bet he didn't 'dial' that call!

And finally we have Michaelangelo calling in a pizza order. I know this card was originally in my kids' binder. They loved the TMNTs.

Also in their binder was this card. No phone but .......

... I never minded watching that show with them!!