Like several other bloggers I received a nice care package from Bob of the best bubble a couple of weeks ago.
I'm just getting to it because -- yes, life has reared its ugly head again. But also it took me a number of days to figure out exactly what I had once I spilled the contents. Lots of oddball stuff and other items I don't come across every day.
I'll separate these into "STUFF I KNOW," "STUFF I FIGURED OUT" and "STUFF I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS".
* STUFF I KNOW*
Yes, I know this is a 1996 Finest card. I have it already. But I've suckered myself into collecting both the cards with the coating intact and the ones with it removed. I need help.
A 2013 Gypsy Queen mini of former Dodgers reliever Paco Rodriguez. 2013 was the year for Paco Rodriguez cards. Rodriguez last pitched in the majors 11 years ago and he's now 35. We're all old.
Another Dover reprint card for the collection of one of my pre-war favorites, Zack Wheat. This is a reprint of his 1911 T205 gold border card. Don't ask me what year Dover reprint it is. I'll have to go back to the files.
Eric Karros in a Dukes uniform from 1991 Pro Cards. Not a favorite minor league set of mine. Also, even as a Dodger fan, I'd like to say that Eric Karros can go away now. I enjoyed his career, but him and his hair can retire from my TV.
Three autographed cards. I know all these because I have all these!
Should I go for all 6,000 copies of the Jay Kirkpatrick card??? (I've mentioned this before but signing a card 6,000 times is bound to limit your career).
I don't fully know what the Devin Mann auto is -- is it an official auto? Was it signed at the same session, both in copper ink? My files don't help me with this.
The Weiss is funny because it's a TTM/in-person but they look identical and I'm now wondering if Bob sent me the other one, too.
*STUFF I FIGURED OUT*
I couldn't tell you a single Bowman Sterling design without looking it up. This is from 2005 (the year of Justin Orenuff cards).
I'm aware of the 2003 Topps Gallery cards and the parallels. What I didn't know is that these shiny parallels are called Artist's Proofs (at least according to TCDB). I don't know why. There is no marking like that on the card. It's possible I confused it with some other parallel.
More 2003 research. This "Thunder Sticks" insert is from Fleer Showcase. Kind of an underwhelming design for such a flashy name. The wood part doesn't even feel like wood.
Here I knew this was a Bills card I didn't have, I knew it was from a Topps '60s design. That was it. All of the 1960s football sets are a jumble in my head. This is from 1967. It's very '60s and kind of weird.
Elbert Dubenion had a pretty successful career for the Bills in the 1960s. I never hear anyone talk about him.
All right now. I know Mariel Hemingway (what teen boy in the early '80s didn't?). I know the controversy of "Personal Best". I knew there is a Playboy set or two or three or 27. I tracked down the particulars. It was an interesting and somewhat dangerous journey. Let's say this is one of the tamer cards.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you I don't know a 1987 Topps Alejandro Pena card. But who is that Cub sharing the card space? That took a trip to the files.
It's Hall of Famer Lee Smith! I forgot to take a picture of the back of the Pena card but the "23" on the Smith card is visible. Lee Smith is indeed card #23.
I do put miscuts that show a majority of a Dodger card in my Dodger binders.
*STUFF I STILL DON'T KNOW*
Night playing cards. Hmmm. A sub-section of the night card binder? Someone is going to have to tell me which stadium this is. I have my guesses but I'm not going to reveal them because I don't feel like getting well-actually responses.
Stumped. I'm thinking this is from one of those baseball simulation games. It doesn't look like a Strat-O-Matic card, but I never played that so maybe there are several different varieties of cards. There is a complete bio of Koufax on the back.
This probably is a little too out there for me to consider it a card but I appreciate that it's got Koufax's name and it is interesting!
So now you know what I've been doing with my time -- other than the work, home and car crises, etc. At least this was the fun stuff taking me away from the blog.
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