The mostess Hostess

 

I made it through the entire All-Star Game as usual. It was fun, I enjoyed the play on the field very much. It's one of the few games of the entire season where you don't see relief pitchers who can't throw strikes. That in itself is worth staying until the end.

I despised the uniforms and MLB groveling at Nike's feet. I really hated the in-game interviews, which are now a plague on the game. The players don't like them, Joe Buck doesn't like them (pretty obvious), it's uncomfortable to listen to and what tone-deaf idiot is insisting this continues?

 

In short, I liked the baseball, hated everything else.

 

I'm not nearly as demanding with my hobby. Sure, I like baseball above everything else. But I dabble in other sports and even nonsports (but don't you dare showcase your lame Fox TV show on my baseball broadcast). I even want terrible relievers who repeatedly blow leads in my baseball card collection under the excuse of having every player represented.

 

And, unlike collectors who only collect stars or only Topps or only the highest-end sets, I like run-of-the-mill players, Donruss and Fleer, and oddballs. Oh, yes ... give me your oddballs. I WANT ALL OF YOUR ODDBALLS. GIVE THEM TO MEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, like that.

Bob is an excellent listener.

 

I received an extra-mile package recently from the best bubble and, wow, I was so excited to receive all of the '70s Hostess cards.

I've gone on and on about Hostess cards the last few months but they're really the most useful oddball. Not only do they showcase the players I knew as a kid with the best uniforms, but unless you flunked scissors class in elementary school or squeezed Hostess cake grease all over the card, I'm immune to the usual condition issues that haunt old cards.

Creases and wrinkles are fine -- at least these kind of creases and wrinkles. Sure, I try to pick up the most well-trimmed examples when I'm shopping for them, but I'm not particularly picky. I'm certainly not when someone lands the mostess Hostess on me.

The mostess Hostess in the package were from 1979. The second-mostest Hostess were from 1977, the first Hostess I ever hosted in my collection (thank you, grandma and Davey Lopes).

 

Bob also sent a couple of '78 Hostess cards. Love that Frank Tanana. I don't see the '78s as much as the others. I don't know if there's a reason for that.

 

Here is my most pressing Hostess need. Bob saved me from spending hard-earned cash on the Dave Parker card, it's been in my ebay cart at least a couple of times already. Bob didn't get here in time to keep me from buying the Luzinski but the extra will come in handy.

After receiving only the random Hostess card or two in trade packages over the years, I've now received two large-sized Hostess-themed packages in the last few months. I NEED MORE! Because they're the mostess fun.

 

Bob also branched out and sent other '70s goodies that aren't your average found-in-a-pack-down-the-street card. All of these I have already but all are useful. The Lacy mini is so much nicer than the one in my Dodgers collection, and, of course I'm collecting all the '70s Kellogg's sets (where my condition requirements are much pickier).

 

 

More excellent oddball needs. I don't see '69 Milton Bradley cards in packages at my house very often. (I'm not even going to address the dreaded "first annual" phrase).

The rest of the card needs in the package were a lot more modern and fancier. I guess those are more of the All-Star kind of cards. Lots of parallels and shiny stuff.

Plenty of Stadium Club greatness there. Nobody's blowing any leads with that stuff.

A black-and-white postcard of Dusty Baker (I've only seen color Dodger postcards), a mish-mash of things known and unknown (I wonder if Fernando ever wanted to punch Lasorda?), and this:

 

Stuff like this is very entertaining. Apparently everyone was making their own price guide in the mid-1980s.

Prices listed inside are what you imagine. All the vintage goes for cash that makes you want to invent that time machine. Meanwhile some of the most expensive cards are early 1980s "errors".

So that was one of the most variety-filled packages I've received in awhile.

 

I admit I'm tough to figure out. I like all kinds of extras when it comes to my hobby, the more varied the better, because that's what's interesting to me.

But when it comes to viewing the best-of-the-best on the baseball field, I just want that. I'm not into extras. No celebrity interviews, no painful "what pitch are you looking for" questions in the middle of the game, no blatant corporate sponsorship, no pomp&circumstance, no NBA-izing or Hollywood-izing (yes, I know, they're the same thing) of my baseball game.

I'm not one of those fans who refused to watch the game because of the uniforms. I like my mid-summer tradition and what players are wearing isn't going to change that. However, there is a line that MLB shouldn't cross and it is currently testing itself against its most dedicated fans by moving closer and closer to it. 

Will they lose me forever?

It's too bad that's even a question. Stay tuned.