(I ignored a card show today that I usually go to, one that I went to last year. Early September is just not a good time for shows for me, and setting it up on the first Sunday of the NFL season is weird. I'm sure some attendees who live nearby went to the show early and then left to watch football. But I am neither an earlier riser nor live close to the show. But no big loss. There's something next month. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 324th in a series):
The last couple of times I've updated my post on "The best Dodger card for every year I've collected," I've received questioning comments on this particular card.
They're mystified that I would choose this as my pick for 1981.
Well, maybe I've thrown them off by titling the post "the best" instead of "my favorite." But I do make sure to mention in those posts that these cards are my favorites of the year, not "the best," decided by some impartial committee.
I also don't revise my selections based on what I think now -- that would take the fun out of the exercise, I want to remember why I selected that card then, there had to be a reason.
And there was. If you've been paying attention, I've brought up Rudy Law and his arrival and what age I was when that happened in prior posts. The short version is, I was 14 in 1980. Law was a young, speedy sensation on the Dodgers in 1980. This was a time when the Dodgers were calling up some young exciting ballplayers -- Law, Pedro Guerrero, Fernando Valenzuela, Bob Welch, Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Howe -- to complement the established 1970s veterans on the team. Those young call-ups were my guys as a young teenager who wanted "players of his own."
I had started paying attention to who the Dodgers had in their minor league system. Guys like Mike Marshall and Greg Brock. I liked speedsters like Law. He did fairly well in 1980 and then that was it. He was traded to the White Sox after a dismal 1981. But I remember pulling the 1981 card of him staring out from the dugout -- his first solo Topps card -- and I thought it was so cool. Therefore, it was my favorite.
With the benefit of 40 years of hindsight and a greater knowledge of what makes a great baseball card, if I were to revise the list, I'd select the Steve Garvey card as the best. In fact, I did. But, again, the yearly favorite Dodger list is not about the objective best.
Same deal with the Topps Bob Welch card that is on my list as my favorite 1979 card. This card was an exciting pull after Welch's performance in the 1978 World Series.
But, yeah, according to an impartial group, they might pick this:
I don't blame them.
The late '70s/early '80s is the only time where I got caught up in who the young players were and their first cards. That was my rookie craze period. It didn't last long -- meanwhile there are ton of collectors stuck in a loop of "who's the top rookie" and replay that scene every year. It looks exhausting.
But I like to acknowledge I went through that phase, even though we barely cared about players' first cards and such then. The seeds were just forming with cards like the 1980 Rickey Henderson.
So that's why the Rudy Law was in that list. I'm no hipster -- well, maybe some of my music choices might be. I'm just being true to myself on this blog.
Comments