Disappointment on a baseball card

Look at this card. It's a disgrace. It's an affront to any self-respecting Dodger fan on the planet. I can't look at it without getting a dull pang in my stomach.

Gooden rounding third? Dwight GOODEN rounding THIRD? Look at the scoreboard. The Mets are leading the Dodgers 7-3. In the third inning. And the pitcher is rounding third. I'm sure if I was watching this game, I changed it to "Bowling for Dollars" at this point.

I looked the game up. It took place on July 21, 1991 at Shea Stadium. The Mets won 9-4 on the strength of their six-run third inning. Gooden went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored. Dodgers pitcher Bob Ojeda gave up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings. And I've got to relive it every time I look at this card.

You know what Stadium Club did to me by issuing this card don't you? They peed on my rug. They peed on my f-ing rug.

Yeah, this is one of the cards that I pulled from the many packs of early '90s wonderfulness that Mike, a.k.a, motherscratcher sent me. I love the Achiever Card Blog. Basing your card blog around a classic movie is a classic in itself. I wish I thought of it. Hell, I wish I thought about half the things he writes about. And I also wish I could join in on "The Big Lebowski" card fest going on right now. But I lack the necessities. Frankly, I have no frame of reference. I'm like a child that wanders into the middle of a movie. I'm an f-ing amateur.

Anyway, I'm going to show a few of the other cards I pulled from the packs. Motherscratcher sent two packs of 1992 Fleer, 4 packs of '92 Stadium Club, 3 of '91 OPC Premier, 2 of '93 Leaf, as well as some UD Looney Toons and Mega Metal cards. The nonsports ones I'll probably feature some other time. I'll stick with the non-animated baseball for now.

I pulled three Dodgers from the Stadium Club packs. Two of them I had already. Here's the one I didn't have.

Yeah, Bob Ojeda. The same dude (or el duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing) that gave up the eight runs against the Mets. Well-played Stadium Club. See if I buy your product this year.

Here's a classic shot of Jose Canseco, before the whole downward spiral fiasco. But he's starting to look like a wise, old sage now. Sort of. In a brawny, steroid-fueled sort of way.

Jim Eisenreich, putting maximum effort into his swing. Geez, dial it down, Jim.

More maximum effort from current broadcaster Mitch Williams. Always in position to field a comebacker.

And here's Lenny, who has used the word "dude" a few times. I pulled quite a few Phillies in these packs.

On to some overproduced 1992 Fleer. I love showing Yankees from this era. I miss the days when the Yankees thought that putting someone like Pascual Perez on the mound was a good decision.

I never knew Denny Neagle played for the Twins. I knew he was drafted by Minnesota, but always thought he came up with the Pirates. If you play the word association game with Neagle's name, "prostitute" is going to come up pretty quickly. That's unfortunate.

Here's a Fleer All-Star of Glavine. I thought these cards were cool back in '92, but was confused by them because they looked nothing like the rest of the set. To which I'm sure Fleer would respond (if they still existed) with "yeah, well, that's just, uh, like your opinion, man."

To me, this was the pull of the entire box. It's a strange-looking shot. Like it shouldn't have been a horizontal photo. Butler was probably the best bunter I ever saw, after Rod Carew. He got it right just about every time.

On to 1993 Leaf. Wow, did I hate Albert Belle back in the day. What a maniac. He was pissed off at everyone. I couldn't wait until he went away for good. As the dude would say, "this aggression will not stand, man."

Nolan Ryan, Heading for the Hall. I get the impression that this was a key card to pull. I don't know. There were no Leaf cards in my neighborhood.

The best part of the '93 Leaf cards were the backs. That is pretty awesome.

And as some sort of tribute to the dancing girls in The Big Lebowski, we have three cards of Eric Anthony working on his moves. Two packs of '93 Leaf and I pulled three Eric Anthonys. And if my math is correct, that means I received two in one pack. Collation like that must have endeared collectors to '93 Leaf.

The OPC Premier cards worked out a little better. I'm guessing because the cards were called Premier that they featured only the "premier" players in the game (I'm quick, aren't I?). To illustrate, I pulled the Brett card ...

... and the Ripken card. And in one pack, sandwiched between Darren Lewis and Hubie Brooks, were the following five players: Carlton Fisk, Mo Vaughn, Tony Gwynn, Frank Thomas and Fred McGriff. That's one amazing pack.

Finally, there are two cards that motherscratcher put loose in the box. The first has me confused, or amused, I'm not sure which.

I mentioned on an earlier post that I sometimes receive cards of Royals players because their uniforms are similar to the Dodgers, and because of that people confuse the Royals with the Dodgers. I know motherscratcher read the post because he commented on it. So I'm wondering if he sent this card as joke, which would be well-appreciated, or just because he confused a Royal with a Dodger, which would be more my speed.

And here is a card that ties the whole room together. An autographed Blake DeWitt card from 2008 Stadium Club. Motherscratcher knows I wanted this card as I subtly hinted about it when he featured it on his blog. It is so awesome that he sent it over, especially since he seemed proud of the fact that he pulled it (from a blaster he had just sitting around the house, I might add).

It's a great gesture. Hell, the whole box was. And I'll be sending some Tribers off when the card pile is right proper.

And that's the end of the post. Which means I have several favorite Lebowski lines that I didn't get to squeeze in. So here they are. Enjoy.

"I was talking about my rug."

"'China man' is not the preferred nomenclature."

"Everything's a f-ing travesty with you, man!"

"Sometimes you eat the bar, and, well, sometimes the bar eats you."

"You mark that frame an 8 and you're entering a world of pain."

"8-year-olds, dude."

Oh, and that thing about what happens when, you know, you do something unpleasant to a stranger.

Oh, and another thing. I like The Eagles. If you don't, you can just get out of my cab right now.