BOBOC - Pack 7 - 1997 Score

This is a set that I really like. If I had any interest in collecting cards from the 1990s, this would definitely be on the list of sets I'd put together. It has a clean, simple look that appeals to me. The only thing I would change is the whole e.e. cummings lower case text thingy. It bugs me. Why? I don't know. It just does.

No Hall of Famers in this pack. Though, I would make the case that Alan Trammell should be in Cooperstown. Belle didn't receive enough votes his first time on the ballot and was dropped. He was certainly a dynamic player, but his behaviors didn't win him many friends. Bob Costas once said of Belle "Outside of Cleveland, he may be regarded as the man Will Rogers never met." This is, of course, a reference to Will Roger's (1) famous quote "I never met a man I didn't like."

11 - Chili Davis - California


12 - Albert Belle - Cleveland


This card is the Foil front Showcase Series parallel.

48 - Mark Lewis - Detroit
74 - Ellis Burks - Colorado


106 - Alan Trammell - Detroit


152 - Wally Joyner - San Diego



219 - Todd Hundley - NY Mets
229 - Robert Perez - Toronto
267 - Justin Thompson - Detroit
322 - Wendell Magee - Philadelphia



Here is an interesting factoid. Whomever wrote Magee's Baseball Reference Bullpen page, copied from this 1997 Score card. Look at the text on the card, then compare it to the BR Bullpen write-up. The text is almost identical. Certainly, it does not match and I suppose, if we are being generous, we could believe it a concidence. Except for one thing. There is an error on the card back that is repeated on the BR page.

I refer specifically to the sentence "Wendell topped the Florida State League in '95 with a lofty .353 batting average and 177 hits, the second highest total in the minor leagues." The BR page reads "He led the Florida State League in 1995 with a .353 batting average and 177 hits." Those two sentences aren't all that similar, to be sure. So, how do I know the one was copied from the other? Simple. Take a look at Magee's B-R Minor League Statistics page. What you see there is that Wendell did hit .353 in the FSL, but only had 137 hits during his time with Clearwater. He had an additional 40 hits at Reading in the Eastern League that year. So, 177 hits was not his total in the Florida State League, but was his total for the 1995 season across two different leagues. So, there you have it. How did I spend my Christmas vacation (I wrote this on December 23)? Overanalysing the backs of baseball cards.

(1) I believe every place probably has a "You know your from....when..." jokes written about it. This one about Oklahoma pretty much hits the nail right on the head. My favorite is "It doesn't bother you to use an airport named for a man who died in an airplane crash." The main commercial airport in OKC is Will Rogers World Airport. There is a smaller airport in OKC named after Wiley Post. Rogers and Post died in the same plane crash in 1935.

My Collecting Goals for 2012

Working under the assumption that my employment situation is resolved before I add the prefix "un-" at the end of January, I am going to lay out my goals for the year. If it doesn't, I'll have to modify these goals as we go along. But for now, here it is.


Sets I am working on now that I want to finish

1971 Topps

1976 Topps

At least 1 of the 3 Heritage sets I am working on (2001, 2002, 2011)

Sets I want to start and finish

1975 Topps

2012 Heritage

Sets I want to continue working on

1956 Topps

1963 Fleer

Sets I want to start

1973 Topps

Miscellaneous Goals

Add to my Paul Blair and Johnny Antonelli player collections

Do not buy any 2012 product except Heritage

2011 Card Countdown - Number 1

A drumroll please.





My favorite card of the year:



2001 Topps Archive Reserve Willie Mays Aut

This is far and away the best card I got from the Diamond Giveaway Transmogrifier.

I don't have much else to say. I sat and did the last 9 writeups in one sitting before Christmas and ran out of what little creative juices I had. My coffee cup was empty too. As you read this I will be somewhere between Columbus, OH and Saint Louis, MO making my way back home. Here is hoping you all had a safe and joyous holiday season and your new year will be a happy one.

See ya on the flip side.

2011 Card Countdown - Number 2

I've mentioned before that my collecting has become haphazard. I do try and keep myself to a limited number of sets. I probably have 8 sets I am actively working right now. That may not seem like much, but I feel unfocused with that much in the works. Further, there is no pattern to how I start new sets. I start what interests me at the moment. But that tends to lead me to starting vintage sets in a sequence like this: 1978, 1974, 1977, 1971, and 1976. See what I mean?

So, what is the logical thing to do? Start another set, of course. And not any old set. No siree. One that is completely different than anything I've done before. Let me introduce what was an early Christmas present:


1963 Fleer Sandy Koufax

I'll probably dedicate a post to this set in the future, but for now, I have to share this cool card. It was really a toss-up between this Koufax and the Maury Wills from the same set. I ended up settling on this one since it is probably the most valuable card I own. Although, it isn't even the highest value card in this set. But, I don't want to give away to much. I'll probably do a post on the set after New Years.

Tomorrow: The Grand Finale. My favorite card of the year.

2011 Card Countdown - Number 3

This is the third, and last, appearance of Johnny Antonelli in my 2011 countdown.


1954 Bowman - Johnny Antonelli

I bought this for $16 at COMC. I cannot even begin to describe the condition of this card. It literally looks like it was just pulled from a pack. Sharp corners and sides and a real nice gloss on the surface. I had wondered if it might have been a reprint, but I could find no evidence that this card has been reprinted. The '54 Bowman Mantle, sure. But not this one. A quick exchange over at Net54Baseball led me to finally conclude that this is the real thing.

Coming tomorrow: Something completely different.

2011 Card Countdown - Number 4

I got this in a trade with Napkin Doon.



When most people think of Tobacco cards, I am sure they think of the cards from the early part of the 20th Century, like the iconic T206 set. But, apparently, there were cards associated with tobacco products for a large part of the century. Maybe you knew that, but I sure didn't. Not until these showed up over at Naps' place as he was showing off his haul from Cleve's auction night. He ended up sending me two versions of this card (he had three). Both occupy an honored place in my player collection binder now that I have an UltraPro sheet that they actually fit in.

Coming tomorrow: A card that seemed too good to be true.

2011 Card Countdown - Number 5

At one time, this was my favorite card. It has slipped now to number 4, though not because of any faded love, but rather the complete awesomeness of the top 3 cards.


1974 Topps #1 - Hank Aaron Home Run King

It seems to me that the off-and-slightly-rotated centering is the common condition of this card. At some point, I am going to have to get a really nice copy of this card that doesn't have those faults.

Tomorrow: My first tobacco card.