Two New Cards For the Collection

Last week I mentioned that I didn’t see any personal cards on e-bay that I felt like bidding on. Well that might have been a little white lie, a minor distortion of the truth if you will. I actually had just won a bid, but didn’t have the card in hand.

The card in question is my first relic for the Eddie Murray collection. Here it is:




A 2006 Upper Deck Epic Materials Jersey.

Orioles Uniform – check
Shiny – check
Numbered – check (88/145)
Uniform matches card - err no.

As any Oriole fan knows they’ve never sported pin stripes in their history (orange pin stripes, hmmm, maybe that will bring the winning). If I had to hazard a guess I would say it was from his days as a New York Met. He played two seasons in the Big Apple and hitting 43 home runs and drove in 193 runs. Not too shabby.

Despite the Mets association I still like the card. It was the right price and hey – he rocks the O’s uniform in Cooperstown and that’s the most important!


Card number two was an impulse buy. I was looking for more “Steady Eddie” cards and stumbled across one of his teammates from the good ol’ days (you know when the O’s were the pride of the American League?)




A 2003 Topps Fan Favorite Jim Palmer (1975 Topps design).

I really like the Fan Favorites concept. Topps took alternative photos of iconic players and put them on their most recognizable sets. Let’s compare it to the original card:




The original is definitely from the 70’s, I mean look at those side burns! I’m not sure how the card collecting public would receive this card, what with the dark shadows covering 90% of his face. Jim is also showcasing the best hat in the history of the franchise. Now that they finally put Baltimore back on the road uniforms let us start a campaign to bring back the bird logo!

I didn’t notice it when I bought the card, but the photo used for the Fan Favorite is definitely not from the70’s. Palmer is lacking the side burns and his face is a little bit weathered. He kind of reminds me of Sam Malone in this photo.

Upon further review I’m pretty sure this is from his aborted comeback in 1991. After being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990, “Cakes” showed up for Spring Training the next year. His comeback lasted two innings in which he gave up two runs and five hits (which would probably get him a spot in the bullpen this season).

So two more cards for the ol’ personal collection!

Merry Christmas! It's Card Of The Year TIme!

Guest blogging from my sister's house in Baltimore. It's quarter after nine on Christmas Eve and my shopping is done. Alas, hours of wrapping lay ahead, but that's what beer and A Christmas Story are for. In the meantime, I thought I would slip in one more post. It's that time of year. Once again, the world sits and waits for the announcement.

THE 2010 HOPEFUL CHASE CARD OF THE YEAR


The award was originally established in 2008 when I pulled a beautiful Masterpiece oncard auto of Melvin Emmanuel Upton. 2009 featured a card that I picked up due to my tough negotiating at the local flea market . Now it's back and out of control.

Let us not waste anymore cyberink. Here it is in all of its glory:



The 2010 Topps Eddie Murray Shortprint Variation.

Revel in its glory. First of all it's a night card, which increases the coolness of any card by a factor of 10. It's horizontal (factor of 3). Murray is sporting old school stirrups (factor of 2), the mustache-to-sideburns facial hair (factor of 8) and is settling into his stance with the subtle bad-assness that made him my favorite player as a kid (factor of 15). All in all this card's coolness has been increased by a factor of 38, making it 38 times cooler than any other card I saw this year.

And I say saw, because as of right now I don't own this card. Yup I didn't take that picture, stole it from eBay (that's what he gets for having a $19.95 BIN price). I want this card, I've bid on this card and so far it's eluded me at all turns. As of right now it is established as my white whale, that card which renders my collection incomplete until I own it. It will be mine, oh yes it will be mine.

So how was 2010 as a collector for me? Not too bad, but not too great either. I stopped buying any random box of cards I stumbled across and focused on player collecting only to drop one of my players by the end of the year. I busted some products I liked (Chicle and Score Hockey), some that left me blah (Allen and Ginter Leaf Certified), but nothing that I hated. So that's good.

I subsidized a portion of my purchasing with some ebay sales, which was nice, but it also led me to buy some cards I probably wouldn't have in the past. Then again, in the past I've bought boxes of cards that I didn't need, so I guess even that was better.

Trading was down, which I blame on being 1000 miles away from 90% of my collection. Hopefully, that will pick up next year as I bring some of the cards up to Chicago.

If I had to grade the year I would give it a solid C+. Other events conspired to push cards to a back burner, but I still enjoyed 99% of my association with cards and haven't lost the joy I get out of busting a new pack or getting a padded envelope in the mail.

2011 will bring more fun and collecting as well as a new player to collect. I'm officially on board as an Eddie Murray collector. Shocking seeing as how the last two card related posts were about him. I even have my membership card... not really....no really I made one up....actually no I didn't...well I thought about it.

Due to my prodigious collecting during the late 80's and 90's I should have the bulk of his base cards. Now it's a matter of getting some of the fun cards that have come out in the last few years. I think I might start picking a particular set and tackling it one at a time. For instance of his cards in 2010 Chicle, then all of his cards in 2010 Topps base, etc.

Here's hoping that Santa brings you all of the cards that you wish for this year. Good luck in collecting next year!