The amusing monster screwdown case

That is only slightly larger than actual size.

One of the more amusing aspects of the baseball card boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s was the lengths collectors would go to Protect Their Investment.

One of those tributes to that era of paranoia is the monster screwdown case. I don't even know if it has a proper name. Maybe this is the half-inch screwdown? I do know that it measures 3 3/4-by-5 3/4 inches, which is far too much acreage for a baseball card.

A very fine signed 1993 Stadium Club Team Eric Karros card arrived encased in the amusing monster screwdown case (AMSC) from Paul at Scribbled Ink.

I've never understood the extra space devoted to these AMSCs. They don't feature a stand on the back so it's not easily displayed on a desk, etc. I'm not sure why it's so big, perhaps to double as a weapon?

I have very few cards in screwdown cases and almost all of them are in the much smaller ones that I prefer.

This is the perfect size for a screwdown, just slightly bigger than the card itself. It's easy to store and transport and it's just as protected as some screwdown whopper that you can use to hammer roofing nails.

I have just one card in one of those larger screwdowns, I believe its the quarter-inch kind.

I can see the point for a card like that. And I appreciate the reassurance that the holder provides. I don't have to worry about what's going to happen to it.

As you can see, though, the AMSC Karros dwarfs the Ripken rookie. Crazy.

I hope nobody minds, but I can't have cards sitting in screwdown cases that monstrous. So I found the Phillips and removed autographed Karros from his protective home (no doubt a five-bedroom, four-bathroom version).

As you might have noticed, removing the card caused a bit of surface damage on the top and bottom edges. The card, which apparently had been in there for awhile, was not in a penny sleeve and a little bit stuck to the plastic.

(Right now there is a screwdown fan stomping around in disgust saying, "SEE???? This is why you DON'T take it out of the SCREWdown!!!!")

But absolutely no worries. I like it so much more when it's accessible. It will go into a page in a binder of all my Dodgers autographs, where I can take it out and look at it whenever I like, without having to get out the tools.

Even though I totally associate the AMSC with the '90s, they are still readily available for purchase. It still seems like a lot of wasted space to me. I don't know what I'll do with the Karros screwdown remnants. Maybe I'll give it to my wife so she can kill bugs.

Paul also sent a couple of cards in your perfectly reasonable regular penny sleeves/toploaders.

It's a couple of the 2017 Topps Holiday Dodgers, but these are the metallic snowflake parallels (I hate it when it snows metal).

Thanks, Paul for reaching out. Hope you've found some 2018 Topps.