2006 Fleer #277 - Rob Mackowiak

Sure this is a base card, but it shows an annoying trend in the past few years. It shows the player listed on one team while showing him in another team's uniform. This is just plain lazy. I could even appreciate the effort to airbrush the new uniform on, even if it looks bad. This card looks like there was no thought or effort put into it.

Rob deserves a better card than this. He finally lands on his boyhood team and they still show him in a Pittsburgh uniform. Not only did Rob state many times that the White Sox are the team he grew up with as a fan, I know that first hand.

Rob is from my hometown. I went to high school with the man for three years. We were in the same grade and we had a couple of conversations about the White Sox. We were both big fans of the team. He played for them and I write about them on my other blog. Such is life.

I don't claim to have been his best friend. I don't even claim to have been friends with him. He was in my gym class and we talked a few times. That's it, nothing more. The only way I remember him is from our conversations about the White Sox. One of my friends met him at a White Sox neighborhood park function and asked Rob if he remembered me. He didn't have a clue, nor did I expect him to.

I was too busy in the art room. I was busy drawing my cartoon strips on notebook paper. It's funny about who becomes famous, even if it is fringe fame. You never know who is going to be written about in the papers, good or bad. It's one of the joys in life.

One of the joyless things in the life of a team collector is cards like this one. This is one of the main reasons why I started my first blog. I was sick and tired of seeing players in a White Sox uniform being listed on a different team and vice versa. I wanted to create a place where those things are sorted out and written down for all to see.

I don't consider a team set complete unless every card that features a player in that team's uniform or a player listed as being on that team is gathered together. Yes, I'm strange about my collecting habits, but at least it's consistent. This trend makes it harder for the team collector to collect the team. I'm hoping that this is something that will slowly fade away.