Baseball Cards

There's still a part of my brain left over from highschool that could get back into collecting baseball cards tomorrow if I let it.

^^ cosign

i'm almost positive i had that Tom Henke one

i had many of those cards morbs linked to, oscar gamble lol

i always remember the ugly dudes
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_kynWiBKxeYU/TD3GGv_F-_I/AAAAAAAAA5k/Nm4emmvNc2k/Andy_Etchebarren_77.jpg

clemenza - I had that book!!! totally hilarious and for a teenager it was this weird direct access to the ancient past

I went downstairs to try to dig it up so I could quote one specific entry, but I couldn't find it. I remember I leant it out a couple of times, so I hope I got it back...Let me give it another try.

Found it--forgotten that I'd replaced my old paperback with a hardcover edition. The entry I was thinking of is too long to quote in full; it's the one where they look at the text on the back of a Sammy Esposito card and analyze what it really means. Sample: "'Sammy attended Indiana U. for three years'...But as long as they were at it, did they have to throw in the 'three years'? This makes it sound as if Sammy was expelled."

Here's the exact card:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/images/9/92/Sam_Esposito.jpg

Well, I guess baseballreference.com blocks their images.

one of the funniest baseball books I've ever read.

Also (as I've said before) one of the most influential books on my own writing.

This is what my copy look like (the original cover, I think?)

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/38/f7/8092024128a0bedd634e1010.L._SL500_AA300_.jpg

And I can't believe this card didn't make that Top 30 list:

https://www.gfg.com/cardimg/119/27051.jpg

Chuck: Mine's without the dust jacket, but it's gotta be the same issue. (It was actually Mike Saunders who sent it to me, at which point I gave my paperback to someone else.) The Zernial card's great; my other favourites are the Bob Cerv card where it looks like he's hitting himself in the head, and the Unitas card towards the end. One thing I never understood--the way the authors clearly hate Bouton, even though their book is so similar to Ball Four in some of its humour.

http://caimages.collectors.com/psaimages/392/02220079/1960JohnnyUnitas.jpg

Yeah mine's without the dust jacket too. Metallic red type on a dark blue fabric cover, IIRC.

I've stolen so many lines from that book over the years. I'll always remember something to the effect of "Roseboro wore this expression ever since Juan Marichal whacked him on the head with a white-ash Hillerich and Bradsby" which I assumed was a joke for years until I learned it was true!

Johnny Unitas... there's a haircut you could set your watch to!

One thing I never understood--the way the authors clearly hate Bouton, even though their book is so similar to Ball Four in some of its humour.

I've got a later edition (early 90s) w/ separate new prefaces by Boyd & Harris. One of them mentions that Bouton had been asked to provide a foreword to the original edition and he declined because he didn't want his kids to see his entry wherein he was called a rat. They replied with what about all the much worse stuff other players kids saw re:their dads in Ball Four. Bouton stopped talking to them.

http://www.checkoutmycards.com/CardImages/Cards/236/789/07F.jpg

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/images/cards/8510.jpg

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/images/cards/8510.jpg
Why did I make such a terrible post about him?

Metallic red type on a dark blue fabric cover, IIRC.

You've got a good memory--exactly.

That Bouton stuff is fascinating. Here's the entirety of what they write next to his card: "Jim Bouton is a big mouth." Yet he was approached to write a preface? I'm guessing that was the publisher's idea, not necessarily the authors'.

Yeah, they didn't want a forward. They had another story about someone else (i forget) the publisher wanted. One of the guys decided to write the person a letter by hand (to show sincerity). The guy wrote back saying he didn't like hand written letters and whatever $ figure they'd quoted was "an insult".

Joe Garagiola was also approached, but backed out because he was still embarrassed about signing exclusive deals w/both Topps and Bowman in the 50s, and didn;t like that story being retold in the text.

Of course, later Topps made Joe's business cards:

http://nowbatting19.com/sitebuilder/images/1976_Topps_Garagiola-283x473.png

i have most of a set of 1968 topps world series cartoon cards. anybody who wants to pay postage is welcome to them.

why dont you ask that question of ebay and use the money for outrageous joy!!

I am goin through all my old cards now - ebaying some.
some of the cards really amuse me

http://rayonsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/gamble.jpg

so my brother's mother-in-law gave him a box of 1990 Fleers. they're not worth anything, but we've been enjoying opening them. they have a really nice look to them, very classically designed and clean. they have stickers too but they're no longer sticky so if you put one up on the wall they slide off after a few minutes.

Keep the Larry Walkers, and maybe the Sosas, too, just in case; the Belles and Juan-Gones are for the bike.

apologies if this has already been posted in this thread, but this is my favorite blog entry ever!

http://cardboardgods.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/2008_422_0001_steve_carlton_81_360.jpg?w=252&h=360

Aw man, I used to love Albert Belle.

clemenza, do u buy new baseball cards? i so enjoy opening packs of cards that i was thinking about buying a box of something new, but i don't know what to get

A truly fascinating player; I just meant he's not going into the HOF, which for a baseball card = worthless. I liked him too.

I was badly hooked in the mid-'90s (just after the strike; like investing all your money in Studebaker stock...), but I haven't bought anything for a few years.

Mordy: I think the boxes that tend to be cheap and easily available are, in terms of rookie cards, whatever falls into the steroids window--from about '87 to '93 or so. All those sets with rookies for Sosa, Palmeiro, Bagwell, I-Rod, etc., or burnouts like Belle and Gonzalez.

I collected from about '84-'92, so I got to watch my collection go way up in value and then crash down to earth, becoming nearly worthless. Really wish I'd gotten rid of them sooner.

that makes me feel a little better, jon. i collected in the early eighties and my brother at one point sold the lot on ebay w/o asking me for permission. i mean, i don't necessarily begrudge him for doing so, i owe him a lot in some respects, but axing someone never hurts

Yeah, my mom kept hinting around '90 that I should sell my collection to get $$$ for college, but at the time I was madly flipping through Beckett's, watching the prices climb and climb, and was all, "no way mom, this is going to be worth SO MUCH MONEY if I wait ten more years!". Stupid me.

My parents sold off all of my comic books and Star Wars toys at a garage sale without telling me, still hold a grudge to this day over that one.

oh shit, haha

why did the card prices end up going down? i don't know anything about that world

From what I understand it was just the inevitable collapse of artificially high prices. Like there was a period 2 years into his career when Gary Sheffield's rookie card was worth like $75 or something. It was like all of the sudden card values were based on hype and buzz instead of a HOF career or storied past (see also the ridiculous craze for Todd Van Poppel rookie cards). I'm sure someone else could explain it in more detail or with better back-up though.

it was pretty much a bubble. too many cards at inflated prices.

xpost

Mordy: a coworker and i buy a few packs every year when a new set comes out (ostensibly for graphic design reasons)... Topps now has an exclusive deal with MLB, so for now they're the only game in town. i like what they've done this year tho - they're applying an occasional classic card design to current players, so I got a 1987-style Andrew Mccutchen card in my last pack!

Oooh I loved the '87 Topps set when I was a kid.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/dawson-87-topps.jpg

do they do a couple different sets? i remember when i bought cards in high school there were all kinds of different sets. ones with real bats, ones with pieces of jersey, ones that are all rookies, etc.

iirc they have a 2nd 2012 collectors set, but i cannot recall what its deal was.

also: how do you fit a baseball bat inside a pack of cards?!

xposts ah how funny

yeah, i've never been savvy enough to convert my trash into cash as it were

like i know i have some books and records lying around that would fetch a decent price, but for whatever reason it's never been in my makeup to suss that out. i would rather give those things to someone who would appreciate it. otherwise i would just spend that money on dinner or a v-necked sweater

not a "humblebrag", prob more of an enduring character flaw and illustrative of my attempts to evade full-fledged adulthood

baseball bat splinters!

Yeah, that was a huge trend among all sports card companies at one point, really thin slices of backetballs, footballs, jersy pieces, bat splinters, even tiny pieces of basketball floors iirc.

i have tiny basketball floor cards! also bat splinters, jerseys...

Man this thread is taking me back. Remember when the '89 Upper Deck set dropped and it was like the most exciting, revolutionary thing that had ever happened to baseball card?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0wSWUUEE2sE/TelpLmlCiMI/AAAAAAAAHJo/YQQBGzfjVuI/s1600/1989%2BUpper%2BDeck%2BF.jpg

Yeah, that was a huge trend among all sports card companies at one point, really thin slices of backetballs, footballs, jersy pieces, bat splinters, even tiny pieces of basketball floors iirc.

wait what you are fucking kidding me

Another thing that hurt the card industry (as alluded to by clem) was the strike, which conveniently lined up with when Comic Books becoming ultra-hot collectibles (the heyday of Image, Valient, X-Men cartoon show etc.).

(xpost)

They even did Nascar cards that had parts of race-used TIRES.

Speaking of '89 Upper Deck, this card was such hot shit in my neck of the woods back in the day:

http://www.vintagecardprices.com/pics/1988/109494.jpg

At least all you guys had the excuse of being in grade school and high school when you got hooked; I was 33.

Always figured one of the companies would start sticking bits of Ted Williams' brain into chase packs, but I guess they had to draw the line somewhere.

well, we could split hairs about "ethics" all day, but is that really so beyond the pale? i think not