A New Obak Adventure

As I have admitted before, I really like the quirkiness of the Tristar Obak cards. Having decided to forgo collecting the T4 cabinet cards, I am within striking distance of finishing the 2010 set, needing only 8 short prints to complete it. So, as I wound down my post-job acceptance orgy of card buying, I picked up a box of 2009 Obak. I know I should probably complete sets before starting a new one, but I decided to go forward with 2009 with the idea that, in June, I am going to make finishing 2010 a priority.

With my daily schedule still not settled after a week of commuting, I am going to make this a quick post. No recounting of the contents of each pack. I will show a few cards from the set and my box autograph hits, and call it good.

The 2009 set is a bit different than 2010 in that it is on thinner, but nicer card stock. It is still actual cardboard, but 2010 was printed on recycled stock and the back has the feel of drag grayness that you expect from recycled stock. I have no preference for one versus the. They are just different. The Obak standard of superimposing a picture of the card subject over a random background is present in both sets, though executed differently. In the 2009 set, the background is various sunset sky images over the top of a solid green bar on the lower half. 2010 uses a full image in the background, none of which seem to have much to do with baseball (seeing a ballplayer standing in front of a ramshackle barn and windmill is part of the sets lovable oddness.

Steve Dalkowski is something of a tragic story. He was considered the fastest pitcher of his era, if not of all time, but he was as wild as a march hare and never made the majors. His post baseball life was characterized by alcohol abuse so bad that he suffers from early onset dementia related to his drinking. More info on him can be found here.
 

Emmitt Ashford, the first African American umpire in  Major League Baseball.

I have probably mentioned before that I saw Neftali Feliz' AAA debut a few years back. He really excited the crowd by throwing pitches in excess of 100 MPH.

Satch!

Another OKC favorite.  At the time Sandberg played here, they were known as the 89ers (in homage to the land run of 1889) and played in a ramshackle stadium at the State Fairground.

And here are my two box autographs:

Daniel McCutchen grew up here in Norman and went to two different local colleges before being drafted by the Yankees in 2006. He has been a solid performer in both the Yankees and Pirates chains since then. He got cups of coffee with Pittsburgh in both 2009 and 2010, and was a solid reliever with them last year, going 5-3 with a 3.72 ERA in 73 relief appearances.  For some reason he has started this season in AAA and, despite getting a brief call up last week, didn't make any appearances for the big club before being put on the 15 day disabled list.

Vincent Van Go, who is still number 6 on the all time list of stolen bases.

I'll try to update my Obak want list this weekend to include 2009, although I plan to focus on completing 2010 first.