Card #1: 1991 Score #568 -- Bob Welch
Acquired: Found it in my old collection
Price: Free!
I can't really explain it, but I love this card. It's so worthless that you probably couldn't give it away today, but the portrait of Bob Welch's split-fingered fastball always been one of my favorite baseball cards in my collection. I don't know enough about the hobby to know whether this kind of pitch-grip closeup is overdone, but it still seems unique to me. It probably helps that my 12-year-old self thought this was a bad-ass picture and that Welch, an otherwise unremarkable pitcher, had just come off a bad-ass season in which he won 27 games and helped lead the Bash Brothers-era Oakland A's to their third consecutive American League pennant.
Card #2: 2010 Topps #220 -- Randy Johnson
Acquired: Trade
Price: Free (sort of)
First off, this would be a cool card for no other reason than it's a fantastic shot of one of the game's greatest pitchers fielding his position like a six-foot-ten shortstop. But what makes it a really nice piece of history (and what made me seek it out in a Zistle trade) is that it's the regular issue Topps card of Johnson's career. I didn't think to scan the back, but it features the Hall of Famer's full career stats, from 1988 to 2009. There's a whole lot of red italics back there marking every time he lead the league in wins, strikeouts and walks.
Card #3: 1981 O-Pee-Chee #136 -- Expos Future Stars (Tim Raines rookie card)
Acquired: Found it in my old collection
Price: Free!
I had very little in the way of pre-1987 cards as a kid. And most of what little did I have was in fairly mangled condition. So I was pleasantly surprised to come across this Tim Raines rookie card when going through my old cards. It's in fairly decent shape all things considered. I was always more of a Toronto Blue Jays fan than a Montreal Expos fan, but I still did root for the Expos and collect their cards when I could. And Raines is one of the franchise's all-time greats. Hopefully, Hall of Fame voters will finally get around to recognizing how great he was before he falls off the ballot.
Card #4: 1994 Score #61 -- Jose Canseco
Acquired: Found it in my old collection
Price: Free!
I'm going to warn you in advance: Jose Canseco is a guy who's probably going to show up an awful lot in these posts. He was my original favorite baseball player, as I was totally suckered in by the " Bash Brothers and his incredible 40-40 season. I even had one or two Jose Canseco posters on my wall at one point. I had moved on from him by the time he was traded to Texas, but I'll never forget this particular game. The Rangers were getting blown out and had (I presume) burned through their bullpen. They needed someone to eat a few innings so they turned to Canseco, who had been a pitcher in high school. Bear in mind that, while he had clearly begun to decline as a player, he was still one of the top power hitters in the league, having hit 26 home runs in 1992 and 44 in 1991. It went even worse than the Rangers could have imagined. Canseco screwed his shoulder up so badly while throwing 33 pitches that day that he ended up having to undergo Tommy John surgery, ending his 1993 season after just 60 games. It's one of the craziest moments in Canseco's crazy, circus-like career.
Card #5: 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces #34 -- Troy Tulowitzki (Rookie card)
Acquired: Card show
Price: 25 cents
I was digging through a quarter box when I came across some Masterpieces cards. I thought they were flat-out gorgeous (so much so that I'm in the midst of hand-collating the one hockey Masterpieces set that Upper Deck produced). I couldn't grab every one I found, so I settled for a few select players, including this rookie of the guy who has arguably been the best shortstop in baseball over the last five years or so. Added bonus: Tulo was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays a few months later.
No comments:
Post a Comment