A Homemade Shadow Box Card

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 three Wilson faces on top of each other:

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!

Tony Micelli 1982 Fleer Mock Up

When I ran across this picture of actor Tony Danza, I suddenly remembered that his character on Who's The Boss was an ex-ballplayer. This is what I get for doing homework in front of the television as a child. Random pop culture facts speed to the front of my thoughts as if the synapses cannot be bothered with trivial things like pin numbers and passwords. Nope. Tiny little details from eighties sitcoms are much more important than those.

Basing this card on the timeline of the show (although the sitcom never actually specifies any date), Tony played with the St. Louis Cardinals at second base until a shoulder injury forced early retirement. The show started in the fall of 1984. September 20, 1984 to be exact. I figured two years would be a plausible enough amount of time from injury to rehab to retirement to searching for a better life for his daughter by looking in the want ads for live-in housekeeper in a more upscale environment than Brooklyn. It sounds about right to me, at least.

This photo screamed 1982 Fleer, so that became my focus. The odd angle, weird positioning and lens flare really captured the top notch photography that marred the early Fleer sets. The out of place coloring on the "uniform" seems about right for the sometimes spotty photos from these sets too.

Cross-post: White Sox...Baseball Cards???

This is a cross-post from my new blog, Chipp' 'n' Dale http://thehomeofthebraves.blogspot.com/.

It was originally posted 5/11/12. 

Signed the little brother up for the (free) Chicago White Sox Kids Club for this year. I think I sent in the request in February or sometime then. Just yestiddy, though, we received a packet in the mail from the Sox. When asked if he wanted the swag, my brother gave a conclusive "no." It had some interesting things, actually, like this Paul Konerko "Fathead" sticker thing. The Sox logo and kids club logo are also stickers.

A membership certificate "signed" by Southpaw, the White Sox mascot...

Some ticket vouchers for nosebleed seats at a White Sox home game, and a "Take a stand against Bullying" postcard....

Oh yeah, and some eyeblack stickers. Don't wear those for NCAA Football, though, kids!

A flyer for the White Sox and Bulls Summer Camps, aka "Jerry Reinsdorf Little League pro day."

But here's the real goody. A White Sox sticker page! Think 2012 Topps stickers, but a team issued set of players! (They're small in comparison to cards, too.) And check out the design!



VS.

1987 Donruss, anyone?! The design used for the stickers is actually a nice spin-off, I think. Sharp team colors, and a conspicuous absence of that 1980's look of red, white, and...navy? Cool stuff.

So that's that. Wouldn't find this in a fan pack! Definitely some cool stuff, and hey, who would've known there's a throwback team set that's not from a Topps year design?

HE'S BURNING BASEBALL CARDS!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n0lJ3LNslY

This makes me kind of sad, especially since this is one junk wax set I'm trying to collect...

From this guy's "About" page:

"To increase collector’s interest and long term value from the overproduced era these cards need to become scarcer. To reduce the number of cards in circulation, large volumes of these cards simply need to be destroyed. Starting now, I am taking action to reduce the number of 1987 Topps Baseball cards in circulation...To reduce the numbers I will be destroying 1987 Topps Baseball cards every week...in my fireplace. All 1987 Topps Baseball cards I acquire will be destroyed. This includes All Stars, Rookies, and even Graded Cards. To be clear — no 1987 Topps Baseball card is safe."

AAAAA!!!!!

I couldn't do that to innocent overproduced Topps cards...Maybe this guy is just braver than me...or more foolish!

Whoa.

Went to my (relatively) local card shop a day or two ago, Champ Sportscards in Huntsville, Alabama. The store was great, and the shop owner, Brooks, was friendly as I asked him some general questions about his shop and business.


One of the things I thought was awesome about the store was that there was a box full of 1961 Topps and 1962 Post (previously reviewed here). The 1962 Post set was really cool to me, especially. Ended up with these two cards from that box that included Orlando Cepeda and Maury Wills...

Harvey Haddix card. If you're a real baseball fan, you know his story. (I actually managed to squeeze this card into a penny sleeve, not so with this next card.)As soon as I saw this one, I had to have it, forgoing the one with a Giants player with a rip across his face. The (hopefully) kid that did this back in 1962 gave Ron Hansen a ski-mask-looking thing over his face, and a "beany." Ron is exhorting us to look at his "cop." I assume that by "BALLS" the kid was referring to Hansen's eyeballs. That's just a guess, though. [the middle bubble reads, "Tweet," referring to Hansen's status as an Oriole] The corners are horrendously worn, making my efforts to put this in a penny sleeve hopeless. The card is also heavily creased, as you may be able to tell.

However, this was a terrific card, and the Haddix balanced out the eccentricity of my purchase. The total price for both these?

Three dollars. (By the way, I also snagged a Curt Schilling Donruss RC, Brandon Hicks 2010 Chrome RC, a Glavine, and a Cardinal-jerseyed Smoltz for $2. Total.)

I love this hobby.

1990 Upper Deck Baseball stickers

May it first be noted that this, being the fifth post of 2012 on TDTC, marks the passage of lasts year's post mark of four! Progress! Here, now is Upper Deck's 22 year old foray into team stickers. Shiinneee...These actually scanned surprisingly well, considering how hard it is to see them. Best I can tell, these were inserted one per pack of 1990 Upper Deck.

A Pirates sticker here-Each sticker is a little bit like "A history of MLB logos". Pirates fans, did that particular scalawag have any sort of nickname/existence as a team mascot? Jess wonderin'...

St. Louis Cardinals sticker. The back of the sticker is a blank white back. Yawn...I actually have a nice stack of these hologram stickers-maybe I could use them as trade package throw-ins. Unfortunately I do not have the Braves version of this sticker-anyone care to help me out there?

This card is sorta creepy. Apparently Chief Wahoo has gone...3-D! Considering this was 1990, this is like, bangin', cutting-edge technology! Amazing! (Looking back, Mr. Cardinal seems to have this 3-D form too. Cool, I guess. (Picture 1990 kid pulling Mr. Wahoo here: "Buzz Hype, yo! Man, that is clean!!!")

Last, I post a Cubs card. I posted this mostly because I have like 5 of them I don't really care for. (Picture afore-mentioned 1990 kid: "I have like, five of these Cubs hologrammies. Buzz kill, man!)Any diehard Cubs fans want these? (I know you're out there.)

So there you have it. 1990 Upper Deck hologram stickers! I frankly have no idea what a kid in 1990 would have done with these. They're not by any means something you stick on your car bumper (though that would look awesome to have the entire back of your car a giant hologram, ...right?) They're just...shiny. Huh. Well, anyway, 1990 UD holograms, everybody! (Let's bounce on outta heah, ya'll!)

Spring Training Is Here!

Quite a few baseball cards depict players in spring training. This is for two reasons: First,

it is easier for photographers to get close to the players when they are playing meaningless games than when they are, and also to get shots of players in new uniforms (See 2008 Tampa Bay Rays Upper Deck cards) or posed shots for various sets. The alternative for this second reason is airbrushing, which is a whole 'nother story.

Along with this rather random Trot Nixon card, here is an interesting poem I came across that seemed appropriate for today.

William Carlos Williams, "At the Ball Game" (from Spring and All)

At the Ball Game

The crowd at the ball game

is moved uniformly

by a spirit of uselessness

which delights them--

all the exciting detail

of the chase

and the escape, the error

the flash of genius--

all to no end save beauty

the eternal--

So in detail they, the crowd,

are beautiful

for this

to be warned against

saluted and defied--

It is alive, venomous

it smiles grimly

its words cut--

The flashy female with her

mother, gets it--

The Jew gets it straight--it

is deadly, terrifying--

It is the Inquisition, the

Revolution

It is beauty itself

that lives

day by day in them

idly--

This is

the power of their faces

It is summer, it is the solstice

the crowd is

cheering, the crowd is laughing

in detail

permanently, seriously

without thought

We're underway with the 2012 baseball season everyone! Go Braves!