88 Topps Contest

One of Andy's latest contests over at 88 Topps was pretty easy to win. All you had to do was link to him, which I already had done prior to the contest. All you had to do was provide proof that the link was on your site. Then, pick out five cards from the O-Pee-Chee set. The only stipulation was that you could only pick one card from a certain list of star players. I could do that.

After much thought and debate, I decided to go with Harold Baines, Ivan Calderon, Dan Pasqua's Yankee card proclaiming him "now with White Sox", Greg Walker and Ozzie Guillen. Then a terrible thought entered my mind. What if one of those cards is already taken? That would be a tragedy if I were to end up with say a Royals card of Bo Jackson in place of Harold Baines.

I included an elaborate alternative list that I sent along. If Baines was gone, send Fisk. If one of the others were gone, send in Richard Dotson or Ken Williams. Basically, I included all the White Sox cards in my alternate list. I had the foolish thought that the 1988 White Sox O-Pee-Chee cards were a hot commodity. Yes, I am delusional.

Andy's envelope arrived in the mail today. It looked huge. The first thought I had were that these five cards were well protected. I opened the bubble envelope to find two taped envelopes inside. Huh? I was curious, to say the least.

I opened the first envelope to find my first five choices. Behind those cards were the rest of my alternate list. Like I said, I was delusional in thinking there would be a big call for 1988 White Sox Canadian baseball cards. They arrived on the perfect day. My Canadian relatives are flying into O'Hare today. I can show them a complete set of White Sox Canadian cards.

I was puzzled as to the contents of the second envelope. I tore it open carefully and saw a 1985 Topps card of Roy Smalley. I was going through the stack of cards and card after card of a different 1985 Topps White Sox player was appearing before my eyes. It seemed like a wonderful dream. Then, like a nightmare, the trap card of Cubs infielder Rich Hebner popped up somewhere in the middle. It even had TRAP CARD! written on the front.

I wonder if Andy is a fan of Sox Or No Sox? Hmmm. I got a smile and a chuckle out of that. But wait, there's even more! A 1981 Fleer Harold Baines rookie! A 2007 Turkey Red Jim Thome! A 2007 Goudey Green Joe Crede! I think I just went into Sox card overload.

Thank you, Andy, for the bountiful White Sox card stash! I was certainly not expecting anything like this. It was a welcome sight in the mailbox. After cleaning all morning, this was a nice reward for finishing. Thank you for brightening my day!