An abundant amount of cards have been sneaking into Illinois (probably through Wisconsin) from Canada. Another outstanding package of cards arrived in my mailbox from Geoffrey of Chewing Liquorice fame.Inside were assorted cards from the eighties and nineties, plus a couple of autographed cards. Autographed cards usually throw me for a loop. I'm always amazed that the card that I am holding in my hand was, at some point, in the hands of the player pictured on the card. It's still thrilling after all these years.
There's a reason why I usually avoid asking athletes or celebrities of any kind for their autograph. I do tend to get starstruck and I do sometimes get tongue-tied, when it's an autograph of someone I like. Just ask John "Bermuda" Schwartz and "Weird Al" Yankovic. I couldn't even say Bermuda without screwing it up in front of John and I blathered like an idiot to Weird Al about how one of my friends could be a doppelganger. Not my finest moment. To top it off, I was informed that I could have brought a camera to document everything, despite what the rules stated.
Before I start babbling incoherently, let's dig into this package.
1981 Donruss #160 - LaMarr Hoyt
Donruss cards are awesome! How else, as a kid, was I going to learn that LaMarr's actual first name is Dewey?
1982 Topps #720 - Greg Luzinski
One of these days, I'm going to have to take in a Phillies game in Philadelphia, just to experience Bull's Barbecue.
1987 Topps #61 - Bobby Thigpen
How can I not love a Thiggy rookie?
1991 Bowman #347 - Johnny Ruffin
1991 Bowman #362 - Rock Raines
1991 Bowman #366 - Frank Thomas
A trio of '91 Bowman. Early revamped Bowman cards can make me smile.
1991 Conlon #98 - Rip Radcliff
Have I mentioned how much I love these cards? Not in the past 24 hours? That's too long not to declare my feelings for this set.
1991 Upper Deck #641 - Phil Bradley
I remember expecting great things from Bradley when the Sox traded Kitty for him.
1992 Fleer Smoke 'n Heat #2 - Jack McDowell
An insert card of a Cy Young winner? Awesome.
1992 Manning 1919 Black Sox Color Advertising Card - Joe Jackson
A curiosity that tops off the 25 card set very nicely.
1992 Score #635 - Tim Raines
Raines running is a thing of beauty.
1992 Studio #156 - Tim Raines
One of the sweetest smiles in baseball.
1993 Fleer Diamond Tribute #4 - Carlton Fisk
A great card of Pudge commemorating his 2,226th game caught.
1993 Stadium Club Murphy #127 - Tim Moore
Nothing against Tim, who did put up decent numbers in the low minors, but this shows just how bad the Sox draft process was in the nineties.
1994 Pinnacle #57 - Jack McDowell
A card proclaiming his Cy Young dominance.
1994 Topps 1954 Archives #27 - Ferris Fain
They don't make cards like this anymore.
1995 Stadium Club #367 - Robin Ventura
Robin to Frank's Batman. Those were the days.
1995 Stadium Club Ring Leaders Phone Card Regular - 1983 All-Star Game
I had to look this one up in SCD. Apparently there are silver and gold editions of this contest card. Cool!
1998 Collector's Choice #338 - James Baldwin
The Sox ace for a few years.
1998 Collector's Choice StarQuest #SQ41 - Frank Thomas
Nice insert!
Autographed cards.....
1991 Upper Deck #283 - Ken Patterson
I was sad to see Ken go to the Cubs.
1993-94 Fleer Excel #36 - Ron Coomer
I honestly forgot that Ron was in the White Sox system before he made the majors.
Thanks, Geoffrey! These cards were awesome, as usual!
Glad you like 'em!
ReplyDeleteCoomer's I got in 94, he was having a giant year for the old Albuquerque Dukes.
He also spent some time with Vancouver in 1992, but didn't hit nearly as well.
Patterson was from 94 as well, when he was with the C's in Vancouver. He only made 3 appearances for us that year. Sometimes timing is everything with getting autos!
I know what you mean about getting goofy while talking to a famous person. I used to try and do even a tiny bit of research, so that if I knew there was a good chance of seeing a player, I had something I could ask them. And if all else failed, if it was at a game you could always use the standards like "hey, nice catch in the 5th" or "nice double last night".
I do remember once running into a Vancouver Canuck hockey player, Tom Fergus, in a McDonald's on the way to a game. He was in and out of the lineup, and even though it should have been obvious to me that he wasn't playing because it was less than an hour to game time and he was in a freaking McDonald's, I still had to ask him if he was playing that night. That was pretty dumb.