Pictures on the front from Stats on the Back

It occurred to me as I was preparing to post some cards that I received out of the blue from Mark of Stats on the Back that a proper tribute to his generosity would be to show the "stats on the back" of the cards that he sent.

But I didn't think of it in time. All of the card fronts had been scanned already. So I quickly selected the Hollandsworth card and scanned the back of that to put at the top of the post. You may think that it is an odd card to choose, since the Action Packed cards didn't have many stats to show on the back.

Well, that's the front of the card. And the matinee idol look to this card bothers me. I've been a dude all my life and the appeal to this card is lost on me. Some critics of card collectors say, "all you're doing is collecting pictures of men," and I don't agree with that insinuation or line of thinking. But if all the cards looked like this, then they would have a point.

So, I scanned the back, so the front of the card wouldn't pop up on everyone's blog roll. And now I can happily move on to the other cards that Mark sent.

If you've been reading Mark's blog, you know he has been dealing with a major homeowner's nightmare, so I don't know how he found the time to look at want lists and gather cards, but I certainly appreciate it.

A key card that he sent was one of the last 2009 Goudey cards I needed. All four of these Dodgers will be back next year. The two on the right need to figure out what happened this past season.

Here is a Swell card of a swell pitcher. Sadly, nobody says "swell" anymore. Except for: "if that starts to swell, you better see a doctor."

Bowman has been making shiny cards of players going absolutely nowhere for almost two decades now. They obviously don't plan to stop. I suckered myself into buying two packs of Bowman Chrome yesterday. I did get the Clayton Kershaw card, but as usual I also got shiny cards of guys I know will never make the majors.

Mark hit my 1996 Score needs and one of those was Hideo Nomo, for the player collection. Good stuff.

I need to look, but I think I might have a half dozen cards of Mondesi with a towel on his head.

The Dodger scoreboard in the background makes this card. The package Mark sent had a bit of an Eric Karros theme. Here are a couple of others:

How did he get a helmet over all that hair?

Here Karros flees from some psychotic monster along a stormy seaside coast, all in his Dodger uniform. Only in a Metal Universe would this happen.

I received a nice selection of 1998 Topps Chrome Dodgers, including Pedro's often overlooked brother.

And a chrome version of that odd 1998 Mondesi card. You'll note that they didn't slap chrome on the roll of tape in the Mondesi card. The reason I mention that is because ...

They chromed-up Jose Vizcaino's wristbands! That is weird and awesome all at the same time.

Thanks again for the cards, Mark. And congrats on your Tito Fuentes page sponsorship.

And while I'm talking about 1970s players, I'll get back to the Dave Parker question from the previous post.

Does he belong in the "I'm Badass and You're Not" Club? Well, your comments convinced me. The answer is yes. But it was a very close decision. Fortunately, most of his badassery happened in the '70s, and that's what got him in the doors.

Welcome, Dave! Now, try not to start any trouble.