Irregulars

I've been showing cards that Dave sent all week, what with the Hostess cards and Stadium Club cards and night cards, but I really haven't shown everything that he sent.

So that's what this post is for -- everything else.

This selection of cards was all over the place, most of the cards weren't even on my want list. I guess you could call them "irregulars," as they're not cards that I'd normally pursue, but I certainly want.

But let's build up to that by first showing some "regulars," namely Dodgers.

These, of course, are exactly what I collect. The Gott card finishes the Dodgers team set for '94 Pinnacle. The Nomo is a diecut, which explains why I thought I had it but really didn't.

I love these Dodgers even more. Send me all the Baseball Immortals cards that you want, what a terrific set. The Valenzuela is one of the many unlicensed food cards featuring his likeness in the '80s. I guess they thought Fernando liked food. Not sure where they got that idea.

Now we're venturing off the want list. I think these are those Baseball Aces cards. But they're from 1993 and I didn't know that the Aces cards extended to '93. Good thing Dave is looking out for me.

Another Piazza card from the present day of unlicensed cards. I don't pay attention to Leaf cards, which is why I didn't know they issued a 2015 set called Heroes of Baseball. Not bad-looking for a present-day unlicensed set.

OK, here's something you won't find on any want list. Isn't that a great card? Some sort of Evansville Otters tribute to Gil Hodges.

Ha, tricked ya! It's not a card at all.

It's a four-panel foldout issued on Gil Hodges Night.

Don't worry if you were fooled, so was I.

I'm a little disappointed it isn't a card, but I'll fold it back up, put it in a page and no one will ever know.

More irregulars. Dave sent both Dodgers from the 1987 Donruss 3-by-5 All-Stars set. I've had the Fernando Valenzuela for quite awhile. But I saw the Steve Sax for the first time when I pulled it out of the package. Odd looking shot. I don't know how he can play second with one arm.

During the Will Ferrell card-hype of several months ago, I thought it'd be nice to have the Dodgers Ferrell card, but there was just too much of a crowd around it then.

Waiting things out is so much the way to go. Now, Will is mine. (I've been wondering why the Dodgers got the 2015 design in the Ferrell set).

Back to the want list, but only briefly. These two cards trim my 1981 Donruss wants to just three cards. I'm sure those left can be had for 13 cents.

Now we're venturing into periodicals. This is the yearbook/program for the Evansville Otters, an independent league team in Indiana.

I think Dave sent this to me to show another minor league team that has forgone glossy programs for newsprint-style programs. Like I said then, I don't really like it. But if it's helping to keep a newspaper afloat, because of a deal reached to print the programs, then I'll go without a little glossy.

You saw a football card at the top of this post. I'd say there were more football cards than anything else in this package, and most of those were Buffalo Bills. This stack here is all Buffalo Bills.

These are straight out of the glory years of the Bills. Most of these guys I've talked to back when I was covering the team.

Bruce Smith looks really cold. Just the way we like it in Buffalo.

I think with these cards, I'm pretty much good on the Bills collection. I've got just about every player that I want.

But if you still want to send football cards, there are always these:

Dave sent a healthy batch of 1977 Topps football, my favorite football set of all-time.

This jump-starts my quest to collect this set as I search out another set that I first collected as a kid. You'll be seeing a want list for this one day.

One more thing: I really think they were making up names of football players back in the '70s.

Dave didn't stop with the Buffalo cards with the Bills. There was a Sabre mixed in and a couple cards of the departed Buffalo Braves.

The 1978-79 set is actually the only NBA set I collected when I was a kid (and by "collect" I mean buying two packs). It's the NBA set that I know best (and by "know best" I mean I don't know it at all).

Dave even ventured into my interest in tennis babes with the queen of tennis queens, Maria Sharapova. This is my first Sharapova card. It's a good one.


Finally, one last card, and one that wasn't ever on my radar in my 40-plus years of collecting:

With a little bit of research, I discovered that this is an American Caramel card from the E124 Actors and Actresses set, issued in 1923!

I have some interest in collecting cards from TV shows and movies, and the current Panini set has been floating my boat a little, too. But I don't know how Dave could have known that. This is a pretty awesome bit of history.

Dave sent many more cards. I don't have the time or the patience to show all of them. Rest assured, you'll see some of them in future posts.

It's good to know I can still be surprised by card packages. Sure, everyone knows that Night Owl collects Dodgers and cards from the '70s and pictures taken at night. But he's not against collecting TV cards or tennis stars either, the irregular part of the collection.

I'm glad there are collectors who know that.