Comfort cards

Today marks the first weekend in what will be a series of long, grinding weekends that is the school sports season, which lasts all the way into June.

It's almost demoralizing to think of it in those terms. So I try to take it "one week at a time," to paraphrase that super tired expression that athletes still insist on repeating. Plus, as you get older, it's not as deflating because time speeds by and before you know it, it's summer again!

Still, I gravitate towards easy comforts during these first few September Fridays to help me get through. Favorite snacks and drinks by my keyboard help. Familiar music all day before heading into work helps, too.

And cards -- as you all well know -- can be a comfort, too.

Familiar designs work best. I know that Archives doesn't get the designs just  right and that's enough to set off some anxiety in some collectors. I've done my part in picking apart the design differences, but overall I find that when someone sends me some of the '75 tributes in this year's Archives that I'm thrilled. I'm home! Even these not-quite-right '75 Archives feel comfortable, like mashed potatoes with gravy and sugar cookies.

It's just the perfect thing for a frantic Friday, when all anyone should view are cards that they enjoy.

Like that. That certainly set off the smiles when I saw it.

These are from a recent package from Rod at Padrographs (he's sure been busy with the sending lately). With the amount of Archives '75s that I've received lately I guess I should put up that want list. I feel obligated now (but I'm still not going to try to complete the minis).

Even more. Isn't that fun? It sure is nice to see borders and colors on cards. I do miss it. It also feels good that people instantly recognize that these are up my alley and send them with no questions asked.

And speaking of borders and colors, it's time to update the border combos list to see how many of the original border colors are in Archives.

This is the full list:

Brown-orange
Green-yellow
Pink-yellow
Tan-light blue
Yellow-green
Yellow-red
Red-yellow
Orange-yellow
Brown-tan
Red-blue
Red-orange
Green-light green
Purple-pink
Light blue-green
Blue-orange
Green-purple
Yellow-light blue
Orange-brown

And this is where we last left off:

Brown-orange
Green-yellow
Pink-yellow
Tan-light blue
Yellow-green
Yellow-red
Red-yellow
Orange-yellow
Brown-tan
Red-blue
Red-orange
Green-light green
Purple-pink
Light blue-green
Blue-orange
Green-purple
Yellow-light blue
Orange-brown  

Thanks to latest batch, I can cross off three more.

Brown-orange
Green-yellow
Pink-yellow
Tan-light blue
Yellow-green
Yellow-red
Red-yellow
Orange-yellow
Brown-tan
Red-blue
Red-orange
Green-light green
Purple-pink
Light blue-green
Blue-orange
Green-purple
Yellow-light blue
Orange-brown  

That leaves three left and I have my doubts about two of them appearing.

I didn't want to obsess over design differences during this post, but I did notice just one thing.

Last post I addressed the green-yellow combo and Topps using orange instead of red for the team lettering:

Well I noticed the reverse with the green-light green combo:

Topps using red instead of orange this time (the orange in Rader's card looks pretty close to red but it's actually orange).

But anyway, enough of that on a Friday filled enough with angst.

Rod sent a couple of the other designs but only because they're Dodgers I need:

There must be some sort of legal injunction against showing Don Sutton in his post-mid-70s perm because all we get is late '60s/early '70s Sutton photos on retro cards, which is before I even knew who Sutton (or what baseball) was.

The comfort cards didn't stop with the Archives though.

Allen and Ginter minis!

Of course all of these were sent with the attempt to crack my mini frankenset binder. But it was a woeful showing by this crop. The black-border Oz I pulled already but not even Maris or Topps darling Vaynerchuk could make into the club.

These are the only ones to fit into my collection:

Feller knocked out one of the Yogi Berras, which only someone like Feller should be able to do. Pollock goes into the Dodger collection.

I'm not collecting any of the non-baseball mini sets in A&G this year, but who doesn't love doggies and flowers?

The rest of the cards in the package were mostly few modern Dodgers.

Those are the needed ones. Have you noticed that red parallels aren't a big deal in Stadium Club this year? There's about three in every blaster.

Rod is my 2019 Topps Total supplier, since I can't be bothered with online-only cards of a set that was like a buck a pack when it was first issued.

Finally, two of the ultimate comfort cards:

Ron Cey cards on vintage!

Yeah, I have these cards already, a few times over, but it's always nice to get them in the mail. After all, cards that you already own are some of the most comforting of all.

Who doesn't enjoy sitting down with a binder and just looking through all the cards of yesteryear in your collection. I do it all the time. It's peaceful.

All right, back to work. Very, very busy. Very busy.

But I'll be dreaming of those comfort cards while I'm there.