Hi. this is Matt F. Long time reader, first time blogger...I'll let my video speak for itself but if you are interested in the back story read this.
This was a lot of fun to try to do and I'm glad I was able to rescue the card without destroying it. Until next time.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Look! I'm Ozzie Smith! 1990 MLB Punch-out masks
In 1990, a company called "Gallery Books" published a 16-mask set of baseball players. The set was broken up into four books, each with four punchout masks. The masks (Ozzie seen above) are made up of the player's face with team hat, a brim for the ballcap, and two earpieces. I do not own these, but wonder how on earth I managed to miss these wonderful oddball items. I noticed several pages (maybe all the pages for all I know) have instructions for assembling the masks. Really? I am pretty sure that if I had been 8 or 9 in 1990, I could have figured out how these things work. Then again, as a child I had the entire collection of Whitman 'Tiny Town' books, so maybe I'm just special that way....
The books include the Rookies: Chicago Cubs' Jerome Walton; NY Mets' Gregg Jefferies; Angels' Jim Abbott; Seattle Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr:
The Power Pitchers book includes: Texas Rangers' Nolan Ryan; LA Dodgers' Orel Hershiser; NY Mets' Doc Gooden; Boston Red Sox's Roger Clemens:
The Power Hitters book features: NY Yankees' Mattingly; NY Mets' Darryl Strawberry; SF Giants' Will Clark; Oakland A's Jose Canseco:
And, finally, the Golden Gloves book: Cardinals' Ozzie Smith, Cubs' Mark Grace, Cubs' Ryne Sandberg, Braves' Wally Joyner:
Thursday, January 15, 2009
A Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Equivalent
Over the holidays, I received a huge stack of cards from dayf that were unfortunately damaged during transit. About the only card that wasn't damaged during the trip from Georgia to Illinois was this 1954 Topps card of Fred Marsh. It had the pleasure of already being damaged goods!Seeing cards like this one make me want to invent a time machine, just to see what happens to these cards during the course of their lives. This 1954 Fred Marsh must have one great story to tell.
The corners are worn away. There are pinholes in the cardboard. Nicks, chips and creases abound! There are even two holes in Fred's neck! This card has seen a lot of history.
There is a card wide crease right under Fred's eyes that seem to prop up the crow feet around the eyes. There are scuff marks along the edges that suggest this card may have been part of some baseball card war. Perhaps even thrown into a pile of bicycle spoked tragedies.
It's dirty looking. Scruffy looking. A poor man's near Picasso. Despite it's flaws (or maybe because of them) it is now one of my favorite cards.
Friday, January 9, 2009
1996 Pinnacle
Pinnacle was always in love with gold foil. The 1996 edition was no different. The Pinnacle logo is just gold colored, but the bottom of the card is a mass of gold foil.At least the shape of the foil makes sense. The cards are called Pinnacle. Pinnacle means a high, pointed piece of rock. It has also come to mean, the top, the best, which is probably what Pinnacle Brands meant by their name. But going to the original meeting, a sharp, pointed slab of gold foil fits the name.
But take a close look at the foil. You may have to click on the card to see the larger image. There is some texture to the foil. Why, it looks like a spider web! And what's that stuck in the spider web? Oh my God, there's a baseball player stuck in the web! He's trying to bash his way out with his bat!
I've had these cards for years (will, since 1996) and I never noticed that poor batter there until I scanned this card. What was Pinnacle trying to tell us?
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