A special card experience

Last night was one of my coolest experiences ever with cards.

I got home from work at about 8pm, just as the Yankees and Astros were about to start. Anxious to get the game on, I planned to quickly kiss each kid goodnight and get to a TV.

When I got to my son’s room, he asked for a “moving card” (Sportflix) because he had a good day at school. Instead, I asked him if he wanted one of the 30-card Dollar Tree repacks my mom gave him over the weekend (she gave him two of them on Sunday). He said yes.

Instead of just flipping through, he got to the first card, a Mike Pelfrey 2010 Topps, and asked how many home runs he had. I told him that he was a pitcher, and it might be easier to find how many strike outs he had. I showed him where to find that on the back of the card. For the next 15 minutes or so, we went through each of the 30 cards. Based on the picture, I’d have him guess if he was a hitter or pitcher. If he was a hitter, he’d find the “HR” column on the back and tell me how many career home runs he had. If he was a pitcher, he’d find the “SO” on the back and tell me how many strike outs.

It's been apparent for a while that my son has been fond of numbers and has taken to math at an early age. Out of the blue he’ll tell me that ten 100s equal one thousand and things like that. Not bad for a five-year-old, right? While he’s getting frustrated sounding out letters and words lately, numbers definitely come easier to him. Therefore, I shouldn’t act surprised that he’s enjoying looking at the backs of baseball cards, just like many of us did as youngsters.

I missed the top of the first inning because I was sitting in my kid’s bed looking at the backs of baseball cards with him. That experience was definitely more important and memorable than any inning of any Playoff game I’ll ever watch.

Enjoying the NOW

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still a bit stunned from the Yankees come back from down 0-2 to take down the defending AL Champion Cleveland Indians.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year, although I don’t share the mindset that everything from here on out is gravy. I’m a believer of re-calibrating expectations. If you’re good enough to make the post-season, you’re good enough to win it all. It just takes getting hot at the right time.

Regardless, the season has been a lot of fun, especially with the emergence of so many good, young players. Aaron Judge, despite his troubles at the plate this series, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, Luis Severino. These guys have the potential to form a very competitive nucleus for the next few years.

More than that, they’re having fun while still making Yankee fans proud. From thumbs down to Didi’s post-game tweets, it’s a very likeable bunch, which seems to be annoying some non-Yankee fans. While the teams of the 90s were all business, there are different blueprints to achieving the same goal. And I’m fine if this team is less traditional than what I’m accustomed to.

I expect another very tough series versus the Astros, and I hope the Yankees can win four more and advance to the World Series. That’d really be something.

For now, I’m going to take it game by game and enjoy the ride. And speaking for ‘now’, Here are a few recent Topps NOW cards that arrived over the last couple of weeks. I haven’t been buying as many of these to give my poor wallet a break, although I may have to pick up one or two later today.

Larger than life cards

In the same box as the NASCAR autographs from my last post, I also had a similar envelope of 8x10 baseball cards. These were in a thing in the mid ‘90s, as several brands had packs that came with one 8x10, and then a few standard-sized cards.

I only remember buying one actual pack of these at a card show, hoping to get the Tino Martinez 8x10 in 1997 Studio. I ended up with Chipper Jones.

As for the Zenith cards, I have no idea where these may have come from. I don’t recall buying packs of these. Maybe I got them at a card show? The first is the base 8x10, and the remaining two are the Dufux version, which are actually pretty cool looking. Baseballcardpedia.com informs me that there were two 8x10s in each pack, a base and a Dufex. 

Again, I have no clue where these came from, but I’m glad I have them after all these years. They are very cool, and the Dufex cards would make for some very interesting wall art.

NASCAR autographs from long ago

Did you know that the NASCAR Playoffs are currently going on right now? All of our eyes are focused on MLB, and rightfully so, but NASCAR and their ever-evolving playoff format are in full swing as well.

Admittedly, I don't follow very closely in 2017. I know general storylines, but not much else. However, growing up, I was a big fan, especially of Dale Earnhardt Sr. In the mid-90s, I sent a bunch of TTM requests to NASCAR drivers, and the success rates were always very high. I don't believe I ever sent a SASE either. The teams were kind enough to handle the postage.

A few months ago, I rescued some old bins of mine from my parents attic, and basically transferred them directly to my attic. In one of the bins, I found a few old envelopes of signed photos, and was happy to find all of my NASCAR autographs preserved and in great shape.

I definitely received some of the sport's biggest stars at the time, and the Earnhardt is certainly one that I treasure.

Here are the others:

Signed by both Derrick Cope and Bobby Allison

And while not a NASCAR driver, Bryan Herta used to send signed photos via email requests.

Pretty cool to look back on these, and I'm glad I saved them from over 20 years ago.

There was once a world where...

...Cliff Floyd was the subject of his own insert set.

Interesting, eh?

This is not a knock on Cliff Floyd. He enjoyed a stellar career. 25+ WAR, .278 average, 223 homers, and an All-Star appearance. Not bad at all!

But it is a little hard to believe that he had his own 5-card insert set. It came courtesy of 1994 Signature Rookies. I'm sure I received this set as part of some mail order grab box I ordered as a kid. A lot of these types of sets came in those.

And while the print runs were high, Signature Rookies were some of the first to stamp their cards with a print run and make them feel rare or exclusive.

It was a five card set, banking on him being a can't-miss prospect. Signature Rookies often missed, as a lot of their sets included Ruben Rivera over Jeter, and other guys like Floyd, Billy Ashley, and Darin Erstad.

Here is the rest of the five-card set. I really like the card of him signing autographs in a minor league stadium.

 

It comes so Naturally

I think many of us collectors share similar traits. We can't remember what we had for breakfast or forget one of the three items we went to the grocery store for, yet we can recall exactly where we were when we got a particular baseball card.

Recently, I came across this set that I own: 1994 Pinnacle Naturals. This was a 25-card set that came in a box, as well as with a serial number showing me what a rare set I had.

I remember when I got this set. It was the summer of 1996, when I was between 6th and 7th grade.

I had traveled with a friend and his family to Rochester, NY for a few days to stay with some of his family members. I remember playing wiffle ball in their yard, and going for ice cream with my friend's dad when my buddy went to bed for the night after a teenage fight with his parents.

As we loaded up the car to leave for Rochester, his dad handed us an unopened box of 1996 Bazooka baseball cards. We split the packs in half, and I set my watch alarm to go off every 10 minutes. When it did, we opened a pack.

On our way home from Rochester, we stopped at some sort of outlet shops, and my friend and I went into some random toy store within the outlets. There, we found a few card-related items. We split a box of 1993 Upper Deck to open for the rest of the ride home, and I bought this:

A 1994 Pinnacle Naturals boxed set.

I doubt it ran me more than $5-7, but I definitely wanted it after seeing it in Beckett a few times. I remember being torn about whether or not to open it, but ultimately, I caved and opened it up.

I remember the cards feeling very cold to the touch. They still do. And while the checklist is decent, I can't help but notice no Yankee. No Mattingly or Williams or Boggs or O'Neill. I thought that was a curious choice. Undoubtedly, I would like the set even more if the Yanks were represented.

I'm glad to stay I still have the set intact, and in the box. And I still have the memories that go along with it.

Now if I could only remember to take out the recycling tonight...