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Cardboard appreciation: cards 36-40

Fittingly, Bob Gibson dominated the competition in Cardboard Appreciation Vote-Off #7. Anyone who records a 1.12 ERA during one season knows something about crushing all contenders.

Here are the poll stats:

Bob Gibson, 1968 Topps: 14 votes
Rick Mahler, 1983 Fleer: 6 votes
Steve Yeager, 1975 Topps: 5 votes
Roy Campanella, 2009 Topps Turkey Red, 4 votes
Nolan Ryan, 1992 Donruss Coca-Cola, 2 votes

Gibson wins a spot in the Cardboard Appreciation finals. After going through all the CA posts again, I realized I don't have 10 spots for the finals. I'm going to have to trim it to nine. After I have nine finalists, I'll have a series of three vote-offs and then a final one to declare a grand champion. Consider this the quarterfinals, followed by the semifinals and the final.

OK, onto vote-off #8. If you think the selection of cards is bad here, wait until vote-off #9. I don't know what I was thinking.

Links go back to the original posts. Poll is up on the sidebar.

1975 Topps Rod Carew: This will be tough to beat. Classic 1970s pose, classic 1970s photo, classic all-star design. It's also the last card I needed to complete the 1975 set.

1991 Line Drive Grady Hall: Line Drive was my first experience with nationally released minor league cards. I thought they were cool. This was the coolest because of Grady's dorky uniform, pitching pose and smile.

1982 Fleer Hal McRae: An example of the worst sophomore slump in card history. Fleer's photo selection in '82 is legendary and very puzzling.

1997 Topps Stadium Club Ozzie Guillen: Two shortstops, wearing No. 13, from Venezuela, on opposite sides of the card. That's a cool photo.

2008 Topps Stadium Club Johnny Cueto autograph: I'm not sure if it was worth the wait, but I definitely got a lot of blog material out of the process.

Time to vote. Poll is on the sidebar. I promise you'll like the results better than the outcome of this year's World Series. (Yes, even after Utley's display, I'm still resigned).

Comments

I'm going with the Guillen card. The big swoosh of a name obscures part of the action, but I really like Stadium Club's photography and when you know about all the extras with this card..the players nationality and number, it separates it from the rest. This one won't be in the final three, but it wins from this group.
dayf said…
OJ Simpson:

NOT A JEW.

But guess who is, Hall of Famer Rod Carew! (not really, but I'm voting for him anyway)
dayf said…
Also: I too am resigned to the fact that Fraud and Tex will soon have a ring. I went as far as to pre-schedule my Yankee victory post for this morning. I think the Baseball Gods feed on despair.