Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius: August 2012

August 31, 2012

Seen At The Minnesota State Fair

Saw these at the Minnesota State Fair at a steep discount which made me feel a little wistful. Francisco is 2-0 over six starts since being traded to the White Sox and [believe it or not] Francisco's career record is still 52-52 after having some difficult seasons these past few years.

August 30, 2012

To The Moon

Let's all take a second and honor Neil Armstrong with a meme from reddit:

These next few astronauts aren't Neil Armstrong but that's okay with me. This first card is the opposite half of the Alan Bean card that I highlighted back in March which gives me the entire stamp set.

2010 Panini Century Collection #13 Alan Bean Stamp/Clothing Relic #023/100

One does not not simply buy one astronaut card. Al Worden served as the command module pilot on Apollo 15 which as the stamp demonstrates was the first to use the lunar roving vehicle. I love these cards but what was Panini thinking with Al's photograph.

2010 Panini Century Collection #4 Al Worden Stamp/Clothing Relic #081/100

The 2010 Panini Century Collection set, which these astronaut cards come from, didn't have any Neil Armstrong cards unfortunately and overall you are pretty limited in finding any Neil Armstrong cards out there.

August 29, 2012

Help Identify Marcel The Shell's Card

For those unfamiliar please take a few minutes and watch the two Marcel The Shell videos.

Part 1:

Part 2:

During Part 2 we get to see a close up of Marcel's home and amongst his belongs and piece of bread bed is what looks to me to be a yellow-bordered Jamie Moyer card. To me it looks like him pitching during his Chicago Cubs days which would put it between 1986 and 1988.

Here's a closer look at the card in question:

So is that Jamie Moyer? Any ideas of which card this is? On Parks and Recreation last season they flashed a baseball card held by Ron Swanson that turned out to be it's own original creation so there is a chance that the card in question might not actually exist at all.

August 28, 2012

A Homemade Shadow Box Card

This post is also co-posted on Things Done To Cards which I post on every once in a blue moon.

I was flipping through the card boxes at Uncommon Sportscards and some of the cards are in those unbelievably huge screw down cases that would often hold 1990's junk wax. As I flipped it over I was a little confused but the plot thickened.

I didn't remember Wilson Alverez having one of those cards like Rickey Henderson's 1991 Upper Deck card which showed Rickey in motion on a single non-3D card.

Instead upon closer inspection it turns out someone had three copies of the Alverez card and decided to make their very own shadow box cards. Each version of Wilson seems to be delicately cut out and glued on top of one another.

Here's a close up on Wilson's face:

And here's the card's reverse side which was unaltered.

In the end, I delicately placed this masterpiece back into the box after photographing it and so you can sort through the many boxes at Uncommon Sportscards in the Twin Cities it can be yours!

August 27, 2012

Earlier This Summer I Got To Meet Cecil Cooper

Earlier in the summer I asked readers to help me pick which Cecil Cooper card I should have autographed at a card show in Marshfield, WI. The overwhelming winner was his 1978 Topps card and I had that tucked into my shirt pocket as I made my way to the show.

There was quite a good turn out I thought for the middle of Wisconsin but I was in the middle of Brewer country and this was one of Harvey's Wallbangers. I was about 25th in line and the line stretched out the door.

The line conveniently stretched in front of the autograph table so everyone got to get some nice photos of Cooper from about 10 feet away.

As you made your way to the signing table I found that I would upgrade my autograph that came with my admission ticket to an autographed baseball for $10 plus the cost of the ball. So in the end I get my 1978 Topps in my shirt pocket and went another direction. But as you may notice from my earlier photo of the crowd waiting for the signing, the lady directly ahead of me in line had two copies of the Cecil's 1978 Topps card that she was getting signed.

So in the end I walked away with this beauty.

August 19, 2012

The "New" Cards In 2001 Topps Archives

I recently received a large group of 2001 Topps Archives from The Cardboard Junkie in exchange for some Allen and Ginter mad money and I've been enjoying sorting through the cards and mystified by some of the choices that Topps made in picking cards to include in the set.

While most of the cards in this memorable set are just reprinted versions with a nice gold foil stamp on the front, when it came to many of the rookie cards of the stars of yesteryear Topps created basically a whole new card. They eliminated the "riff-raff" from the multiple player cards that were so common in the 60's and 70's and so, for example, Rod Carew's rookie card originally included Hank Allen:

1967 Topps #569

In 2001 Archives we get a photo shopped version of just Rod as if Hank didn't exist.

2001 Topps Archives #49

Although I don't really like the white washing of baseball card history but it gives us a new variation on those classic cards. So here is a collection of the original cards and the updated 2001 Archives variation.

Fred Lynn