Fifth Anniversary Giveaway: the Envelope Please

Thanks to the long list of nominees for my fifth anniversary giveaway theme, Almost, But Not Quite. They covered the gamut from famous to personal, beginning with one of my favorite games, being a big fan of LA's two World Series wins in the 1980s.

1. The Bash Brothers, 1988

1988 Fleer #624, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco

For his nomination, reader Stealing Home relived the heroics of Kirk Gibson, who set the World Series tempo by overcoming McGwire's game 1 grand slam and nigh-unhittable Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley for a 5-4 Dodgers win and eventual 5-game title win.

The Bash Brothers didn't have to wait long for a title, overcoming San Francisco just one year later, but 1988 wasn't quite it.

2. A Pitch-Out Is Werth A Thousand Words, August 23, 2010

Richard Nebe grabbed this sharp play by Phillie catcher Jose Quintero.



Michael Jordan said great players motivate themselves by using every failing, criticism, or perceived slight to push their performance forward. If this 2010 lapse made Jayson Werth what he is today, it was worth it. Because otherwise...ouch, man, ouch.

3. Angels One Strike Away, 1986

Dave Henderson's homer is the flip side of Mookie Wilson's World Series grounder through Bill Buckner's legs, as this two-strike, two-out blast sent Angels pennant dreams into extra innings and on to eventual defeat.



Thanks to MLB Classics, you can watch this entire game on YouTube and this crucial 9th-inning at-bat starts about 2:29:30. ("You're looking at one for the ages, here!" - Al Michaels calls Hendu's tying homer.)

Jeff also made this nomination for its image of 40 year-old Reggie Jackson standing on the dugout steps, Mr. October poised for one more World Series, only to be denied at the last.

4. LA's Future Stars, Eventually, Maybe

GCRL echoed Reggie's dugout step frustration as an indelible image, but kept his nomination close to home with LA's parade of mid-80s AAA "almosts."

1982 Topps #681, Dodgers Future Stars

The Dodgers farm system seemed unstoppable in the early 1980s, as Steve Howe (1980), Fernando Valenzuela (1981) and Steve Sax (1982) all took home Rookie of the Year trophies and a 1981 World Series win helped shift the New York power balance away from the Bronx (and towards Shea Stadium) for several years.

What LA's 1988 team won with smoke and mirrors, 1981's squad helped take with promising young stars. Next up, Mike Marshall! Candy Maldonado! Greg Brock! Except...not really. The hyped superstar promise never materialized as superstar performance, leaving fans with that empty feeling you get when "dessert" turns out to be a tray of burned cookies.

5. The Curse Of Todd Van Poppel, 1991-2004

1991 Studio Bust #32, Todd Van Poppel

The younger version of blog reader Fuji invested in TvP cards, a mid-90s prospect who did his best work a half-dozen years later as middle reliever for the Cubs. If your career high point is middle relief in a city far removed from your "future Nolan Ryan" expectations, you too might inspire a page like The Curse Of Todd Van Poppel.

6. I Shake My Fist At You, Alex Gordon, 2006

"...to the last, I grapple with thee; from Hell's heart, I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." - Moby Dick, Herman Melville

2006 Topps #297, Alex Gordon

Night Owl returned to purchasing cards in 2006 and cascaded dollars and enthusiasm upon pack after pack until all checklists were checked...save one. Still missing from his collection is #297, this Alex Gordon RC now valued in the four figures thanks to Topps' last-gasp decision to pull a player with no MLB experience, which should've precluded his appearance in non-minor league sets.

Did Topps make a mistake or calculated gamble that a "pulled" Gordon would generate disproportionate collector interest? Keith Olbermann added his own context (and a rare proof scan) in The Heritage of Alex Gordon, which explains without making people like Night Owl feel any better about the situation.

7. Billy Ashley, 1992-98

Given its AAA level, winning the 1994 Pacific Coast League MVP award should mean big league stardom lies ahead, not that fans and front office executives now have a measuring stick for future frustrations.

"Guess I won't be needing this..."

Greg Zakwin nominated this "sure-thing" Dodger superstar for finishing with below-average fielding (-1.5 career fWAR), slugging (91 OPS+), and on-base percentage (.302) in parts of 7 MLB seasons. Even his Baseball-Reference page sponsor laments that Billy's prodigious minor league power never clicked anywhere else. Then as now, buuuuuuummer.

8. Montreal Expos, 1994

Speaking of things from 1994, check out the solid, young lineup fielded by Montreal's Expos, where Pedro Martinez was just 2nd or 3rd-best on his team's pitching staff.

Mark Aubrey notes how far ahead of MLB competition Montreal stood at 74-40 (a full 3.5 games better than AL-best New York), only to be derailed without a post-season by the MLBPA strike. They'd never finish first again. I felt bad for them then and doubly regret it now that Les Expos have gone the way of the Seattle Pilots and St. Louis Browns.

9. Roger Clemens, Sept 18, 1996



Thanks to a friend with tickets in Detroit, Potch could've attended this Tigers game, one of the last Roger Clemens would pitch in Boston red-and-grey. If he'd made it, all would've enjoyed the Rocket's second 20-strikeout performance, a taste of history and achievement that made me feel slightly better about his 20 punch-outs against my Seattle Mariners ten years earlier.

The Real, Not-Almost Winner

With so many good choices, I had to randomize the winner or risk getting sentimental and declaring all 9 nominations a winner. Thanks to Random.org, here's who doesn't have to wonder what could've been!

Our number generator selected #4 (retired for Duke Snider), so that means Dodgers fan GCRL wins the selection of vintage cards from his favorite team. I'll go out on a limb and assume that team is the Dodgers.

Congrats to him and thanks to everyone for sharing and following along these last five years!

Fifth Anniversary Giveaway

As baseball's dog days soon breeze into harvest season, so did I miss recognizing this blog's eponymous fifth anniversary earlier this season. How could this happen! Did I forget my glove?

Always, always bring your glove

With nearly 800 posts under my belt, it might be the shrinking number of vintage (pre-1981) sets to profile that left my brain unawares. By the numbers, only a few dozen type cards remain unaddressed and several of those prove so obscure that I've yet to see even a photo to represent them, let alone put my hands on a real card.

MOAR PIX, RANDY

The good news is that even if we run low on vintage stuff, modern companies printed everything under the sun thereafter, so there's no end of potential post-1981 profiles. (Indeed, I have a plethora of potential post-vintage profiles.)

...or perhaps I'll segue into a multiplayer type collection. THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD ONES. (Including this one in part to remind you September 17th is baseball's Roberto Clemente Day!)

In belated honor of the fifth anniversary, let's give something away in the theme of giving things away. Readers might know Spike Owen's one of my favorite players from his days with Seattle, his first of several teams in a long, productive career.

The Mariners ultimately sent Spike and teammate Dave Henderson to the Red Sox in mid-1986 and that's the pair of them celebrating a near-title in Fenway Park. So close, but not quite!

Seattle received this gentleman in return, who took over Spike's position at short, and went on to frustrate both my adolescence and the Mariners and Pirates franchises.

Pitchers & Poets covered the complicated on- and off-field life of Quinones in A Hard Man To Understand. In short, Rey couldn't focus enough to play at short. What he had in skills, he lacked in consistency. Those impressed with flashes of success also felt blocked with inscrutable obstacles. So close, but not quite.

HOW TO ENTER: What's your favorite story of almost, but not quite? Add a comment with the ignominious card goof, near-perfect game you attended, or other famous (or in-famous) baseball stumble, as in "1986 Red Sox" or "Rey Quinones" or "blog that forgot its own anniversary."

WHAT YOU WIN: Selected cards from your favorite vintage team (and I'll try to include a Hall of Famer)! That's the next best thing to a prospect that delivers on his promise.

I'll take "almost, but not quite" nominations until the end of Friday (Sept 20) and pick a random winner from all entries. Good luck and thanks for reading!

1975 Caruso Salt Lake Gulls Baseball #5, Dan Briggs

If you've never been to Salt Lake City or studied Mormon history, it's good to file away the knowledge that Utah settlers credit seagulls with a miraculous saving of their 1848 crops from insect devastation. Locals celebrated those heroic gulls with multiple monuments and other honors, including an eponymous renaming of their AAA franchise in 1975.

At the time, those Gulls farmed for California's Angels--appropriate for their miraculous reputation--but I know them better as early 1980s stewards for up-and-coming Seattle prospects. Personal favorite Spike Owen first appeared on a baseball card wearing their bright duds.

Caruso treated today's Salt Lake City issue like their other 1975 PCL team sets, with apparent exception of their hand-drawn logo next to Dan's name. That's no disrespect, as I enjoy its primary school charm: we could all use 15 minutes of recess Wiffle-ball at one time or another. Compare it to Phoenix, though, and you assume SLC didn't provide an "official" version in time for card publication.

1980 Topps #352, Dan Briggs

Dan Briggs started playing pro ball in 1970 at age 17 (!), so owned significantly more experience than your typical 22 year-old by 1975. His ensuing 7-year tour of duty in the majors included a 104-game effort for San Diego in 1979 that stands out as underpowered for someone who played nothing but 1B and OF, with 77 OPS+ and just 8 homers (career stats). He reputedly played through injuries throughout that season and hopefully found it worth the pain. (Most pros choose that path at some point during their careers, a lingering fact of the sporting life.)

Caruso printed 20 cards for this team, including manager (and former Dodger backstop) Norm Sherry. Those with MLB experience are in bold.

1. Rusty Torres
2. Dave Collins
3. John Balaz
4. Ron Jackson
5. Dan Briggs
6. John Doherty
7. Frankie George
8. Mike Miley
9. Darrell Darrow
10. Rocky Jordan
11. Ike Hampton
12. Gary Wheelock
13. Charlie Hockenberry
14. Gary Ryerson
15. Barry Raziano
16. Luis Quintana
17. Sid Monge
18. Charlie Hudson
19. Steve Blateric
20. Norm Sherry, Manager

Value: This #5 cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com and team sets run $10-20. 1970s & 80s collectors will recognize some of the roster names, but none achieved enough MLB success to drive up its overall price.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

1976 Caruso Spokane Indians Baseball #5, Ron Jacobs

The first time I bought today's #5, it seemed like one of those minor league type cards that turns out to be unnumbered and gets filed in the trade box. Ron looks like a nice 1970s guy, but my type collection does adhere to one standard. It needs the number.

Card front (blank back)

Sometime later, I (accidentally) bought a second, lighter-inked Jacobs card.

Oh, there it is. Subtle.

Ron Jacobs might have the #5, but probably confused young collectors by never appearing for Spokane. My hunch is that Milwaukee thought about sending Ron to AAA after the 1976 collegiate draft and ultimately farmed him to single-A Newark and AA Berkshire for the summer. He reached AAA by 1979 with Vancouver without quite making the final step to the bigs (career stats).

Caruso created numbered team sets for most of the Pacific Coast League in 1975 and I assume they covered the league again in 1976, but this is the first set I've seen in person. The bunting around Ron's picture is a nod to America's bicentennial, much like Hostess went red, white, and blue.

1976 Hostess #5, Bob Watson

Caruso's Spokane set covered 21 players, many who reached the majors and several well-known to 70s-80s Topps card collectors (in bold).

1. Bobby Sheldon
2. Jimmy Rosario
3. Sam Ceci
4. Tom Widmar
5. Ron Jacobs
6. Bob Ellis
7. Juan Lopez
8. Kevin Kobel
9. Bob Strampe
10. Moose Haas
11. Perry Danforth
12. Art Kusnyer
13. Frank Howard, Manager
14. Gary Beare
15. Kurt Bevacqua
16. Tommie Reynolds
17. Bob Hansen
18. Steve Bowling
19. Len Sakata
20. Toby Bianco
21. Rick Austin

That's the same Kurt Bevacqua Topps immortalized for his off-field skills.

1976 Topps #564, Bubble Gum Blowing Champ

And lest you think Bevacqua shies away from his 1975 celebrity moment, check out Cardboard Gods' Books, Bubbles, and Bevacqua.

Value: This #5 cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com, typical for non-star type cards. Team sets remain affordable at $15-30, given Spokane's lack of big names. (Manager Frank Howard's arguably the best-known player.)

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

Strike Four: Mariners vs. Orioles, June 12, 1981

My dad found this vintage ticket in a discarded Seattle library book, looking OK for 30+ years on the lam. Just $5.50 for first level loge seating! Those were the cheap ol' days.

I tweeted the ticket and Phungo noticed right away that this (and all) June 12 tickets remained intact because MLB players went on strike after June 11, a work stoppage that lasted for two months. Players wanted to resolve lingering issues around free agency, first and foremost when owners sought compensation for "losing" players to higher-value contracts elsewhere (summarized at Wikipedia).

This mid-season strike also led to an unusual "first half winner vs. second half winner" playoff compromise, with some teams knowing they already qualified, letting them play lesser talent in August and September games. Cincy claimed MLB's best overall record without leading at either end, so their only consolation was this banner.

1981 Reds: "When being the best wasn't enough"

As a young fan, I enjoyed MLB's second half "reset" for a chance Seattle would play meaningful games in September. They improved from .368 first half ball to .442, a notable change, but still several games off the pace. It'd be another 14 years before 1995's squad achieved their amazing mid-season turnaround and playoff run. Back then, InI enjoyed being in their "Pepsi Jr. Mariner" fan club, which cost ~$15 and came with kids tickets to several games, plus an on-field photo day with Seattle players.

Seattle chose a young lefty in a striped polo shirt for their model, about as close to me as you could get in 1981. Does it go without saying All-Star first baseman Bruce Bochte immediately became my favorite player? Bruce was the man.

Me and Bruce and my favorite Bruce shirt

1946-47 Almanaque Deportivo Cuban Baseball #5, Salvador Hernandez

Over the years, I've come to enjoy baseball's anachronisms, especially as shown on vintage cards. Every modern batter wears a helmet. Fewer today choke up on the bat. Pitchers almost never leg kick like Warren Spahn. And are there any catchers left who dare to don a yellow chest protector?

Salvador Hernandez isn't your typical MLB catcher, though, he's a Cuban Beisbol Hall of Famer (elected 1997) who played and coached for Cuban, American, and Mexican teams, including 1947-48 outlaw league champions Leones de la Habana (Havana Lions), uniform below. The above picture's hand-tinted from a black-and-white photo, but I assume his protector is real-life yellow, as sun-soaked colors abound throughout the region.

1947-48 Havana Lions jersey

Salvador also played two WWII-era seasons with the Cubs, hit an even .250 over 90 games, and paired with pitcher Hi Bithorn to form the majors leagues' first all-Latino battery (more at B-R). Unfortunately, the war also consumed most of America's paper, so no domestic-made sets meant no collectible cards of Hernandez in MLB uniform.

"H-5" means Havana #5, because the checklist keeps each team separate. As with other 1940s Caribbean issues, this card's printed on thin paper and its publisher (Cuba's Sports Almanac) expected collectors to mount all 160 players in a provided album like stamps. Salvador's uneven edges betray these came from larger, 4-card sheets, several of which auctioned for $950 in July 2013.

UPDATE: The AP wrote about Salvador's first game with the Cubs, with details of the injuries that pushed him from Chicago's #3 backstop to #1.

Click through that excerpt for an account of the game itself!

Value: I bought Salvador for $15 from CubaCollectibles.com. Negro League collectors drive up prices for Hall of Famers like Martin Dihigo, but type singles remain affordable.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

1975 Caruso Phoenix Giants Baseball #5, Skip James

Why the long face, Skip James? Haven't you heard Vin Scully's returning for 2014? Even Phoenix loves Vin Scully.

Card front (blank back)

Caruso used a different color for each PCL team in 1975 and maybe Skip's put off by their choice of lime green. Remember, it could be worse! You could be the 1980 Tucson Toros.

James himself didn't disappoint in AAA Phoenix, playing everyday for 5 seasons and earning a pair of San Francisco call-ups (career stats).

"Skip" is just one of many nouns and verbs in Caruso's Phoenix team set. See also: Hypes, Speed, Pepper, Mull, Rose, etc. And that's not even counting Johnny "The Master." (Players with MLB experience in bold.)

1. Leon Brown
2. Jim Williams
3. Horace Speed
4. Tony Pepper
5. Skip James
6. Jack Mull
7. Rick Bradley
8. Glenn Redmon
9. Larry Herndon
10. Bruce Christensen
11. Mike Edan
12. John LeMaster
13. Tom Heintzelman
14. Rob Dressler
15. Greg Minton
16. Bob Knepper
17. Tommy Toms
18. Ed Sukla
19. Tony Gonzalez
20. Kyle Hypes
21. Don Rose

If "Greg Minton" sounds familiar, it might be because his 1978 card sprang fully-formed from the tip of a Topps airbrush.

1978 Topps #312, Greg Minton

Greg's like a baseball pitcher from the Dutch Realist period.

Value: This #5 cost $2 at MinorLeagueSingles.com and eBay sellers ask $20-40 for team sets.

Fakes / reprints: Haven't seen any in the marketplace.

1962 Pittsburgh "Exhibits" Baseball 5 of Hearts, Ken Boyer & Harmon Killebrew

Some details of this oddball set remain a mystery outside of its Exhibits-like print style. It's 3"x5", blank-backed, and printed on thick stock, so not practical for actual hands of bridge. The 82-card checklist's officially tagged as "1962 Pittsburgh," with expert opinion placing distribution about there and then. (Keyman Collectibles keeps a checklist and more set info.)

Card front (blank back)

5 of Hearts isn't a proper #5 for my type set, but offers a fun excuse to mention excellent third-sacker Ken Boyer. One of the best offensive and defensive players of the late 50s and 60s, our guest's #14 deservedly hangs on the Busch Stadium wall. (#17 is none other than recent comparative Dizzy Dean.)

Over the years, I've heard a lot of dramatic Key Boyer stories from Midwestern friends. (A major highlight is Ken's take-the-lead grand slam against New York in 1964's World Series.) St. Louis residents remembered him in print as recently as June 21, 2009.

Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew also shows up as five of hearts, one example of the set's multiple players per number and suit.

These Exhibits made me think of other "baseball playing card" designs from over the years. Here's a shotgun profile of the genre.

• 1888 Base Ball Playing Cards, catalogued as WG1, the designation used for "game" sets. You can't use them for poker, but it's an interesting look nonetheless!
• 1927 strip cards, catalogued as W560. Much smaller than modern clubs and spades, so more decorative than playful.
• 1951 Topps Red Backs (and companion Blue Backs) contained 52 cards and a built-in baseball game.
  
• 1962 Exhibit of Dem Bums, a rare issue with size and style reminiscent of today's Boyer card.
• Baseball Heroes cards, the modern, "build to suit" version of putting team stars into play.

Those barely scratch the surface, as you could build a sizeable collection just from playing card sets or playable ones like 1968 Topps Game.

Value: Boyer cost me $10 a few years ago. eBay sellers of other Pittsburgh Exhibits ask from $20-50, depending on the player.

Fakes / reprints: Some Exhibits releases stretched across decades (40s-60s) and went through reprints in the 1980s. It's not clear if this 1962 issue did the same, but it's possible.

Favorite Variations and World Wide Winner

Thanks for nominating great variations and permutations in my final 2013 National Wrap-Up! I'll run down each choice, add my own favorite to the end, and pick a winner for 1934 World Wide Gum #5.

1. Gil Hodges Passes Away

Sean Langon started with a card of significance to many, the 1972 Topps & O-Pee-Chee Gil Hodges.

1972 O-Pee-Chee #465 Gil Hodges (with note)

GCRL compared the Topps/OPC versions on his blog, but the short story is OPC must've edited their set later, so added a tag to let young collectors know why Hodges wasn't on the field anymore.

My dad's a big fan of the Dodgers and loved Hodges and Brooklyn's other Boys of Summer. Gil passed away the day before I was born, making it easy to link childhood stories to baseball and vice-versa.

2. Upper Deck Flips Dale Murphy

Classon of Adventures in 1952 Topps picked an infamous early Upper Deck chase card, the reversed Dale Murphy.

1989 Upper Deck #357, Dale Murphy (correct & reversed)

Radicards discussed the collecting environment that led people to buy pack after pack, hoping to score a well-known error that might've been intentional. The chase for errors and rookies eventually pushed companies to create parallels and other subsets for every issue, rather than depend on collectors themselves to find and hype company "mistakes." However Murphy's card happened, it's a stepping stone to today's collecting environment.

3. Billy Ripken

Some cards grow to outshine a player's own career, even guys with Hall of Fame last names. Greg Zakwin of Plaschke, Thy Sweater is Argyle nominated the infamous half of the only brother team to play for their manager father, Cal, Sr: Billy Ripken.

1989 Fleer #616, Bill Ripken (original)

Wikipedia quotes Fleer as creating "at least ten variations" to deal with Billy's batting practice bat expletive. See the "Versions" link at BillRipken.com for a full rundown of far more than I expected to see. At one point, obscure versions booked $100+ and all permutations continue to sell for well above Cal's own card from the same set.

4. Player I have Player I want!

Fellow OBC vintage collector Jason Chistopherson nominated his take on the "Minnie Minoso to Manny Mota" card I recently upgraded to a plain old Minoso. Let's say you have a 1953 George Crowe, but he leaves after a few years and now Felix Mantilla plays for the Braves. There's an easy solution!

1953 Topps #3, George Crowe Felix Mantilla

Sure am glad I finally found that Felix Mantilla card, yessir.

5. Wait, isn't that...?

Hackenbush of Can't Have Too Many Cards noted how Topps created accidental variations by putting the wrong photo on the right card.

1963 Topps #113, Ron Santo / Don Landrum

That's Santo's large photo, Landrum on the inset, and I bet Cubs collectors dream of finding a double-autograph version. (Landrum passed away in 2003 and Santo in 2010, so there's a good shot of at least one kicking around.)

Ron's normal card #252 is Santo through and through.

6. Cards that go Bump in Toronto Texas

Night Owl (of the eponymous card blog) called out the first variation I remember as a young collector, Topps' errant forecast of an off-season trade from Texas to Toronto.

1979 Topps #368, Bump Wills

Bronx Banter delved into the insider rumors that fed Topps' mistake, complete with recollection from the seminal Sy Berger. This card doubly stood out to me when Bump's father Maury Wills took over my Mariners for the 1980 season. Despite Maury's "unmitigated disaster" as the man in charge, having both father and son active in the same AL division gave games against Texas some extra sizzle.

7. Two Ted Williams, two Jackie Robinsons, two Mickey Mantles...

At one point, I sought to build a "master version" of my favorite set, 1956 Topps, an issue rife with multiple backs, dated-or-undated team cards, and minor print layout variations. The primary focus is on card stock for #1-180, which came in white or grey. Buying both backs for the type collection meant paying twice for this guy.

1956 Topps #5, Ted Williams

Here're the other HOF and star variations from that series that you need (at least) two of.

• #10 Warren Spahn
• #15 Ernie Banks
• #20 Al Kaline
• #30 Jackie Robinson
• #31 Hank Aaron
• #33 Roberto Clemente
• #79 Sandy Koufax
• #101 Roy Campanella
• #107 Eddie Mathews
• #110 Yogi Berra
• #113 Phil Rizzuto
• #118 Nellie Fox
• #120 Richie Ashburn
• #130 Willie Mays
• #135 Mickey Mantle
• #145 Gil Hodges
• #150 Duke Snider
• #164 Harmon Killebrew
• #165 Red Shoendienst
• #166 Dodgers team
• #180 Robin Roberts

I eventually ditched the master set goal because DAMN that's a lot of card spending. It's an admirable long-term goal to pursue and includes terrific variations along the way, but remains an expensive road to travel.

GIVEAWAY WINNER: I should probably send an obscure 1930s Canadian card to everyone as reward for reading this far. But since I have just one spare Flint Rhem, let's roll a virtual six-sided die.

RANDOM.ORG GENERATED 5 AS THE NUMBER, NOT A JOKE.

Congrats to Hackenbush, who nets the Flint Rhem with that 1963 Santo/Landrum nomination! Will contact him for a current address and thanks to everyone else for entering, I enjoyed poking around the history of those variations.

2013 National Wrap-Up Part 3 (and Vintage Giveaway): Type Cards

Part of the magic of big card shows like this year's National Sports Collectors Convention is knowing that unexpected treasures abound. Despite becoming a quite difficult wantlist to hit, friends and dealers added three cards to the type collection and I only had to pay $1 for all of 'em!

It's been too long since we've done a giveaway, so look for your chance to win a rare vintage #5 after the roll call.

1969 Topps Baseball #5: AL Home Run Leaders

I recently sold my 1969 baseball set (*cough* eBay ID late_innings *cough*), which meant the #5 needed replacing. This EX version starring three fan favorites (because who doesn't dig the long ball?) popped up in a $1 box and fit the bill nicely.

Wow, there was a big drop from the top 3! Even 4th place Reggie's 29 homers trailed Frank Howard by 15, a huge gap in the pitching-dominant 1960s.

Jim Northrup's grand slams include two in one game (June 24 box score), when he also became the second player to hit them in consecutive at-bats. Jim hit another in game 6 of the World Series, making 5 for 1968, regular and post-season combined.

1976 Twinkie Panel #5, Bob Watson

The uniform, the sunglasses, the Astroturf. Bob Watson is still cooler than school.

Hostess put together a nice run of 1970s sets attached to snack boxes, including this red-white-blue design on America's bicentennial. This single-player panel supported a pair of Twinkie cakes that left telltale staining and still emits a faint chemical scent. Mmm, preservatives!

Some collectors try to build both Hostess (printed on snack boxes) and Twinkie (one per panel) sets. If you find them trimmed down to card size, those vertical black bars delineate Twinkies from "regular" Hostess cards.

My longtime collecting friend Steve (fellow member of OBC) gave me both this and the next #5, so it cost $0, my favorite price!

1933 World Wide Gum #5, Babe Herman

Slugger Babe Herman played the key role in Brooklyn's infamous "three men on third," as a head-down runner too committed to advancing to let something like a base coach tell him what to do.

While a great card to have, this #5 is special for what's on the back.

Prior to this year, I'd owned several Canadian-made World Wide Gum cards, but all with bilingual English-French back text. Steve gave me this rare permutation on an already scarce set, the "English-only" back that fills a previously-unknown slot in the type collection, which now includes both back variations. A+!

VINTAGE GIVEAWAY: 1934 World Wide Gum #5, Flint Rhem

Drunk with the possibilities of capturing both World Wide Gum back variations at this year's National, I also bought this 1934 #5 of Flint Rhem, gambling it was the one I didn't already own. Wrong for me, as it's a duplicate of the English-French back text, but good for you as it's now free to give away.

Even in low-grade, these World Wide Gum cards don't pop up often, and you'll learn a little French on the side. (I enjoy that "has plenty of smoke" translates to "est très agressif.")

HOW TO ENTER: Add a comment naming your favorite baseball card variation from any player, team, or year. To collectors, that usually means an error that the card company later corrected, but surprise me if "variation" says something else to you. (OBC members, for example, might call a crossed-out player--see my National upgrades post for examples--a "new name variation." :-)

I'll leave entries open through Sunday night and pick a winner early next week!