Card numbers for commons: 97

 

We've all had a couple of days to digest that the MLB has returned to us and that we will have a baseball season this year. But was there really a risk of no season?

 

This is the trouble with social media in that it creates anxiety where there used to be none. The over-exposure of information creates a panic culture and I admit I get lost in it a bit, too. How can you not when various members of the media -- all battling to be the inside inside guy -- are posting negotiation updates 50 times a day?

 

Back when the offseason was first starting, I figured we might see baseball in May. That made sense to me with the dialogue I had heard and I'd be fine with that. Then the updates began, the panic started to rise, people freaked out every time there was an impasse and "OMG, will there be a season???? It's so bad, things are going so, so bad!" We got to see exactly how poorly owners behaved and how rude the negotiating was. I don't know if we needed to see any of it.

 

Here we are with a season that will start April 7 accompanied by a few thousand hallelujahs like baseball had been dead for a couple 100 years.

 

Yes, I really do miss when all we had were newspapers.

 

But I'm happy to see baseball in 2022 without any breaks or abbreviations, just like I'm happy every year. I like the April 7 date much better than the March 31 date -- the season should always start in April -- and I'm happy the usual traditions around here will be in place through October.

 

The 7th of April is the 97th day on the calendar and to celebrate, I thought another "card number for commons" post was in order. I haven't done one of these since last March. It's when I find several interesting cards with a number that was once considered a common. In other words, under that old Topps practice, the card doesn't end in a 0 or a 5.

 

I dig out 10 cards with that number from my collection and then I find five that I don't own that would be nice to have.

 

So let's see what I came up with for No. 97:

 

10. 1984 Topps: LaMarr Hoyt

The late, great LaMarr Hoyt, rocking the mid-1980s unis with the boxy SOX logo. I do hold nostalgia for these uniforms, but I will never say they were great, like a recent ESPN ranking that included them with the best baseball uniforms ever. These uniforms were awful, embarrassing and I don't know why players didn't revolt.

 

9. 1990 Bowman: Kirk Gibson

This card cracks me up every time. I remember when I first saw it, arriving in one of the first trades I made through this blog -- or perhaps it came in one of the first giveaways. I instantly knew I was in the right place if I was going to get such amusing cards.

8. 1962 Topps: Tito Francona

Dugout shots are always fun. Fathers of familiar managers who look like their sons when their sons were young is the trippiest trip of all.

7. 2013 Topps: Danny Espinosa

I am conflicted by this card as I wonder whether it should appear in my Dodgers collection. I am not opposed to doing this and I do have cards, in which a Dodger is not the subject of the card, in my Dodgers binders. But I have no defining rules about this and that causes me to want to make some rules and then I think how long that will take and Danny Espinosa stays where he is, in a box.

 

 

6. 2008 Stadium Club: Nolan Ryan

There was time when Mets cards of Nolan Ryan were difficult to find. That's not the case anymore and isn't that wonderful? But in 2008 it was still a little unusual and that's why I like this Mets card of The Express a lot.

5. 1993 Upper Deck BAT All-Time Heroes

I often complain about how lousy a job baseball cards do with publishing famous moments in baseball history. Cards have gotten a lot better at this in the last 20, 30 years but with MLB giving Topps marching orders, we'll never see some famous moments on cards ever never ever. That's why this oddball card of Rick Monday rescuing the American flag at Dodger Stadium (while he was a Cub) is treasured. You can see this moment on news clips or youtube all day, but on a card, it is special.

4. 1984 Donruss: Andre Dawson

Andre Dawson looks plenty mean on several of his card but there is no meaner Dawson than a Dawson peering from under his helmet while holding a bat at home plate.

 

3. 1998 Fleer Tradition: Dennis Reyes

One of the greatest "MLB Debut" cards ever. This will sucker in any Dodgers fan.

 

 

2. 1973 Topps: Willie Montanez

One of the many great 1973 Topps cards provided before we demanded perfection from our baseball card photos. There is a pitcher's butt prominent in the picture and that's what makes it awesome. (The comments in this post settle on the fact that the butt belongs to Giants hurler Jim Barr).

 

1. 1955 Bowman: Johnny Podres

Maybe I'm a bit biased but seeing the 1955 World Series hero inside a television screen is absolute perfection.

OK, now for five #97 cards that I don't have.

 

1. 1987 Donruss: Jose Canseco

A second-year Canseco card that almost never gets mentioned.

2. 1994 Stadium Club: Doug Strange

Unlike Danny Espinosa earlier, Doug Strange strangely wanted to take a ride.

3. 1966 Topps: Jim Merritt

This card interests me because the crop is so tight. Perhaps everyone wanted to make sure collectors saw that Merritt actually does have the ball in his glove, because that wasn't always the case in such shots.

 

4. 1995 Upper Deck: Manny Ramirez

1995 Upper Deck is such a great set. While other companies and sets were jumping full on into gimmicky designs, UD presented one of the cleanest designs of all-time and took advantage of it, too. Sets like '96 Pinnacle and '96 Donruss wish they were 1995 UD.

 

 

5. 1957 Topps: Yankees team

 

The '57 Topps team cards are notoriously unclear. Try picking someone out. But you just know there is so much firepower somewhere in there.

 

And that's what I found -- which wasn't easy because typing #97 into COMC yields a billion 1997 cards you need to weed through.

 

One last thing:

 

 

 

Jerry Lynch was card No. 97 in the 1956, 1959 and 1961 sets. Did he specifically request the number?

So, anyway, hopefully that whetted your appetite for the upcoming baseball season. That's what I'm here for.

The MLB isn't the way it was when I was following the game in the 1970s through the '90s. We have a universal DH now -- which caters to the "I need immediate action all the time" crowd, who will grow bored with it anyway because they bore easily -- and more teams in the postseason.

 

I'm not happy with MLB either. The negotiations exposed just how little both sides (especially the owners) care about the fans and I canceled -- and will not renew -- my MLB.com subscription.

On the other side, I'm relieved my extra innings are back and so are my doubleheaders. I can even get past advertisements on uniforms (But I will not like it).

Being a fan of modern sports is about knowing too much and deciding whether it will spoil what you love. Even though I think "the old way was better" in several ways with baseball, I want to enjoy my sport, not grouse about it when I'm watching it. And I certainly don't want to give it up.

So, yeah, baseball is back.

Technically, though, it never left.