Somewhere out there

We card bloggers are a tight-knit bunch. We like that we've found people who both collect cards and can write about them at length. That's a talent. Not just anybody can do both. A quick glance at Twitter will show you that.

We don't like it when one of our tight-knit bunch decides to leave us. That's one less person to continue the tradition, to put our love for cards in concrete, virtual writing, to confirm to all of those who don't understand that we're really not insane.

When one card blogger exits, it's as if they disappear from our world and we wonder what became of them. The days become weeks, become months, and suddenly we're explaining to new bloggers "there used to be this really great card blog and everybody knew about it and everyone read it" and getting annoyed because they've never heard of this blog.

I hope that's not what happens to Dime Boxes. Sure, I understand life and how it pulls you away from blogging, and that the pull is more insistent at some stages of life than others. Breaks are necessary. They're healthy. And they probably explain why I'm so screwed up because I rarely take breaks. But you hate to see a blog like that collect cobwebs. Because I'm still checking out Dinged Corners once a month just to make sure I haven't missed a return.

A good way to stay in rotation, even if you've stepped away from blogging, is to continue to comment and continue to trade. Nick is doing both, which is why I'm not humming the "Somewhere Out There" theme to him, which I know nobody wants, particularly me, and particularly Nick. I know exactly where he is based on the cards he just sent me recently.

He's at one of his many card shows or many flea markets or hitting the local Target because they always get Heritage on the day it releases.

OK, there was no Heritage in this package, but there were definitely a lot of oddballs, no doubt dug out of the mythical dime boxes.

I'll show the non-oddballs first, because there weren't as many of those that I needed.

Love the Piazza 1993 SP. My favorite card of the bunch.

However, the Back-To-Back insert is an utter failure and should have never been made. The fronts are weird and the back for this particular card addresses the fact that Joc Pederson and Adrian Gonzalez have never hit back-to-back home runs. I'd write something clever about this but I'm overwhelmed by dumbness.

The 2014 Panini Classics cards are much too drab for me. I placed the Burleigh Grimes card and Don Zimmer card together to show how to properly make a retro card. Sure, Fleer had the advantage of logos, but it's a much better design.

The Cubs-Dodgers combos I know have been saved up for me. Nick also sent the depressing Ron Cey Cub-Dodger OPC 1983 card, which I already own and weep over daily.

All right, let's move on to happier topics, and I don't think anything's better equipped for that than ODDBALLS!

Ho-HO, Pedro has brightened my mood in a Jiffy! Apparently Jiffy Pop popcorn still exists. And I'm sure there are people who insist it's the best-tasting popcorn ever. I'm not that fired up over popcorn, so I'll go with whatever method doesn't burn down the kitchen.

I now own several of these Zipz lids. I'm not really collecting them, but it solidifies my reputation as the go-to guy for '70s card product and that's the overall goal here.

Gary Alexander's 1979 Hostess card is overwhelmed by Twinkie grease. Stains are almost always a deal-breaker for me and cards. But Hostess is so prone to that, I might have to backdoor some of these into my collection. Come on, look how carefully this was cut on the dotted line!

Nick is one of the biggest fans of O-Pee-Chee that I know and these are all needs. I'm especially appreciative of the 1989 OPCs, which have been allergic to my collection for whatever reason.

But my favorite OPC in the package -- my favorite card in the package period -- is this one:

Half Dodger-half Yankee, which is so great already. But the best part is it is the middle card in a three-card metamorphosis.

Let's watch the transformation together:

Fascinating. That needs its own theme music.

No, not that theme music.

Nick sent a couple of cards from the 1991 Pro Set MusiCards because I enjoy music cards so. The best cards are the ones from the Historic Concerts subset. In fact, I just got a bunch more of those cards in the mail today from Jason of The Writer's Journey. Very cool.

I also received a few potential cards for my '70s TV/movie page/binder (still trying to keep it to a page, but you know how that goes).

I had no idea there were Gong Show cards. This is very interesting, and, yes, I had to go right to our friendly neighborhood internet and find out the story behind these. I used to watch this show as a kid with my dad. It actually seemed quite normal to me at the time.

All right, some of you are only about the baseball. Let's get back to the baseball oddballs and a 1981 Topps Scratch-Off card of Steve Garvey. It's been an elusive one.

UltraPro and the '90s, man. It's a good thing UltraPro sent me that free box of mini-pages. Because I can't believe I'm trying to complete a set of a guy in a tux.

My new Fleer Sports Illustrated mini-poster refused to sit straight on the scanner. So a slightly crooked Piazza (and Hideo Nomo) is all you get.

I should have put this with the regular cards because it's not an oddball, it's an insert. But it's too special to be a regular card. One day I'll have my priorities straightened out and stage a full-out assault on this World Series programs set. One of the best things that Topps did in the previous decade.

I'm ending this with some TCMA cards because they're the oddballs (well, that and Kellogg's) that are closest to my heart. This card from the 1982 Baseball's Greatest set borrows the Medwick photo from an earlier TCMA set.

This blue-background Medwick was produced in 1978 for the 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers set.

A few more. I don't have the time to look it up, but there is a difference between this Hodges Sluggers card and the one I own, which is perforated. Fine by me. I don't like putting cards like this in the dupes box.

And finally, a single card from my dear Baseball Immortals set, a complete version of which I will own someday. I've never associated Manush with the Dodgers, but there's no mistaking that cap.

Thanks for all of those cards, Nick, especially the glorious oddballs.

And thanks for staying in touch with us card bloggers continuing the fight. Join us again when you're ready.