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).