Birds, poetry and cards. Really.

I might be the last participant from All Tribe Baseball's Old School OPC Break to post the loot I received. But that's just the way things work around here. Everyone is blogging about the latest and greatest in the hobby, and I can't even get around to some cards from 1992 that I received. That's OK. That's my personality. I'm OK with it.

But before I show the cards, I wanted to mention that I always wondered where the name "O-Pee-Chee" originated. So I did a lazy internet search and it turns out the Canadian candy company was named after the robin in "The Song of Hiawatha," the famous poem from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Here are the words: "'Do not shoot us, Hiawatha!' Sang the robin, the Opechee ..."

"Opechee" somehow became "O-Pee-Chee" and now when we hear the name, all we think of is hockey and baseball, not a bird in a poem about an Indian tribe. But I guess you could say what we have in OPC are cards that are for the birds! Or from the birds.

So there's your history lesson. (All you Canadians, I apologize, I'm assuming you know this already). Hey, you're never going to see American Heritage cards on here, so I've got to feed your brain somehow.

Now, on with the mindless sports card pictures and commentary, because that's what you came for anyway:

I received Dodgers from 1992 O-Pee-Chee, 1993 O-Pee-Chee and 1993 O-Pee-Chee Premiere. Since everyone's seen all these cards from others participating in the break, I'll just feature the stats for each set.

1992 O-Pee Chee: 7 Dodgers (Butler, Hamilton, Hershiser, Lasorda, Martinez, McDowell, Ojeda).

1993 O-Pee-Chee: 12 Dodgers (Astacio, Butler, Hershiser, Karros, Martinez, Offerman, Piazza, Strawberry, Sharperson, Snyder, Wallach, Worrell)

1993 O-Pee-Chee Premier (5 Dodgers): Karros (star performer), Piazza, Reed, Wallach, Worrell.

I didn't include duplicates, as I received several. Also, I put in for the Red Sox and have already sent some of them off to a lucky blogger. I might have a few left over, too.

But Baseball Dad didn't stop with the OPC. He insisted on showering me with more Dodgers. I tell you, Indians bloggers are the most generous out there. I don't know why. If I was an Indians fan, I'd probably be moaning in a dark corner of my closet, unable to deal with yet another crushing losing season by my team, let alone cheerily distribute cards. How do you guys do it?

Anyway, here are some MORE Dodgers from Jack. Please enjoy, as the Dodgers just put up a four-spot in the eighth-inning against the Snakes. Sweet!

I enjoy the funhouse mirror effect of this card. What it has to do with the "Swing Men" title, I have no idea. So, I'm just going to empty my brain and go with it.

1997 Upper Deck, Ramon Martinez, Capture the Flag subset. I will never figure out the late '90s. I don't know what this is. Did they have a "Kick the Can" subset, too?

1992 Score Ramon Martinez, All-Star subset. Finally! I don't know why this card was so difficult to get. I must have a half-dozen each of the Brett Butler and Mike Scioscia All-Star cards.

1999 Fleer Tradition Dave Mlicki. But this is is some sort of "Warning Track Collection." Sheesh. Everyone was so weird in the late 1990s. Is that what happens when you watch "The Matrix" too many times?

1995 Topps Rafael Bournigal, cyber stats variation. This is one of those cards where they extrapolated the 1994 stats as if there wasn't a strike. I think that is an exceedingly cruel thing to do to a backup infielder like Bournigal.

2000 Metal Orel Hershiser. He's wearing Metropolitans duds, but listed as a Dodger. On a side note, do you think Hershiser has ever listened to metal music?

2001 Topps Archive Orel Hershiser. I'm only showing this card to point out the ridiculousness of issuing an archive card of a card that was just issued the previous year. Yeah, I realize this has been pointed out before. It's still worth putting in italics.

1998 Metal Ismael Valdes. It's hard to make out the curvy mountain roadway behind Valdes, but it's the reason why I'm showing this card. It reminds me of playing Moonview Highway on the Special Cup in Mario Kart on the Wii. I love Mario Kart, and Moonview Highway is one of my favorites. But I suck at the Special Cup. Rainbow Road slaughters me.

Hey, more OPC! It's not "real OPC," but it's good enough. And it's black-bordered. And you know how much I like that. The Dodgers now have six starting pitchers. Wow. I'm still trying to figure it out.

This card is disappointing. It is a 1993 Hostess card. And a big part of the reason why I like oddballs so much is that the company logo is often on the front. But you don't get that here. Just a bunch of tightly packed diagonal lines.

I wish I was collecting when the American Pie set came out. I know it gets blamed for a lot of the current inserting of non-ballplayers into sets. But it's all in the execution folks. You can pull it off if you do it right. Without seeing all the AP cards, I'm guessing they did it right.

I like ending these posts with a Jackie card if I can. So thanks, Jack for the Jackie! And thanks for the break. It was loads of fun.