I bought a custom card

 

There's sometimes this attitude that custom cards aren't worth buying.

 

I'm guilty of feeling this way. Sometimes I'll run a search through ebay and automatically turn my nose up at some of the homemade cards that find their way into the results. Did someone just make that? There's no way anyone's paying for that!

 

I've been conditioned to buy cards created only by professionals. So I have certain standards. But if you have the custom-card-making skills, sure, I'll think about buying one.

There's one custom card maker who's made me think long and hard about this.

The Nine Pockets blog is not shy about giving away the custom cards he makes. I've jumped on the opportunities plenty of times. The quality is definitely there, and often the subject matter speaks to me.

So I've accumulated a small collection of Gregory's Nine Pockets creations.

Terrific work.

Each one addresses a particular favorite pop culture moment of mine with a past, familiar card design as the backdrop. The cards have the look and feel of cards you'd pull out of a pack (although without that soul-less slickness). And, of course, they have backs. They wouldn't be cards without backs.

I've liked these cards so much that I started to feel guilty about claiming all the free goodies. I'm not a prize hound. I don't like swooping up cards nonstop just because people are giving them out. I feel like I'm taking advantage.

So I've been aware of the Nine Pockets store where Gregory sells his cards. I've looked over there for something to purchase, as a way of saying thanks for the free-ness. I haven't been able to find anything, though, that fit into my collection -- that called out to me -- until one of his most recent posts.

That's when I knew: I NEED TO BUY THAT. I NEED TO BUY THAT CUSTOM CARD.

There it is.

I've said many times that the Mets' television broadcasting booth is the best in the game, significantly.

Most of today's MLB broadcasters fall into the homer category or the former big-leaguer who can only talk as if he's still on the field. That "inside baseball" talk gets very tired and it's all over baseball now because the booths are nothing but former ballplayers. The Vin Scullys and Joe Garagiolas -- the broadcasters who also knew how to entertain, whether they played the game or not -- are going going gone.

Except in the Mets' booth (and a smattering of others). Gary Cohen is the finest play-by-play man there is. He's knowledgeable, warm and loves the game. Keith Hernandez is the opposite of a lot of former big league color broadcasters in that he'll stray far from the game sometimes but still entertain. Sure, he's a curmudgeon, but it's not irritating, it's amusing. Ron Darling is the weakest of the three, but with his partners, he adds the balance that's needed and the other two take him out of his between-the-lines shell. 

 

Even though there are two former baseball players in the booth, the jockularity that plagues other booths is not there. The chemistry among the three is something I've never witnessed. So much baseball broadcasting banter is manufactured.

If I'm going to have people talk at me during a baseball game, I want to be entertained. The Mets broadcasters know how to do that. They are especially good at it because -- here's the thing -- usually I'm rooting for the Mets to lose! Often that colors my opinion of the team's broadcasters, but not in this case.

So that's why I wanted to shell out $4 for this card.

There is the back -- continuing the 1972 Topps theme.

There are variations of this card, which is something somewhat new in the custom card world, but I'm happy with just the one -- this is the Mets after all. No need to go nuts.

I actually don't get to listen to Cohen, Hernandez and Darling as much as I used to. I've cut back on my cable costs and no longer get SNY. I do miss them. Especially every time I'm forced to watch a Yankees game on Amazon.

Anyway, that's another custom card for the custom card binder and now my guilt is a little bit less ... until Nine Pockets holds another giveaway.