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!