One for the list

I've mentioned on more than one occasion in the past that I'm not one for making lists, at least not as an adult. I used to make lists all the time as a kid, and would try to get my friends to make lists for various things as well; which didn't usually go over very well by the way. At some point, I'm assuming during my teenage years, things changed, and I went from making lists all the time, to never making them at all. About the only time I make lists these days is for the grocery store or the occasional book/card want list. 

If I were a better blogger, more organized, and got any enjoyment from making lists, I'd probably be doing a bunch of them at the end of each year; if only for the filler that they'd provide for this ever decreasing little space of mine. One such list would have to be for best cards received throughout the year. The biggest hurdle keeping me from ever doing one of those lists though is simply that I just can't remember the bulk of what I've gotten by the time the end of the year rolls around. Even in a year like this one, where I've purchased less than any year since returning to card collecting (13 or 14 years ago), I could probably only recall 5-6 cards off the top of my head, and those wouldn't even make that list. All that being said, and despite it not quite being the end of the year, one card has stood out this year and would easily make it onto a list of my top 10 favorite purchases from this year...

I like this card for many reasons, but the main one is that it feels like a perfect blend of the 80's and 90's, or at least the early 90's. Were you to remove the title of the card, Dan Marino, and all of the other football references, this image would be right at home as a poster up on some kid's wall circa 1987 (It's very Miami Vice-ish). Add Dan, and all of his accoutrements, back to the image, and you've got yourself a folder for your Trapper Keeper anywhere from 1990-94 (or in my case, your knock-off Trapper Keeper -- not complaining though). Some might say that the presence of Dan's Zubaz make this more of an 80's image, and while I do believe that they came out in '88 or '89, I think of them more as product of the 90's.

Despite this card being from 1992, I didn't see it for the first time until late last year when I came across it while just randomly looking at things on COMC. I think I stopped collecting football cards in 1992, but I don't recall ever opening any packs of Skybox Prime Time; nor do I recall ever hearing of the set since. This must be a popular card because even though it's just a base card (from a subset to boot) from the early 90's, the online prices are mostly a dollar and up. I got mine (and a bunch of other things) from a seller on Sportlots earlier this year for fifty cents -- which did seem like a lot, but it was better than all of the alternatives at the time. In a perfect world, I could see myself getting at least 8 more copies of this card to fill a page, but I suspect that I'm just gonna have to be content with owning this one. There's also a metal (?) version of this card that I'm assuming was either an insert or some sort of promo. Either way, it's kind of expensive and I don't see myself getting one of those.

By the by, Warren Moon has a really nifty card in this subset as well. I don't own one yet, but I could see myself getting a whole page of those too; and that one might actually be doable!

COMC Shuffle #27

Another week, another ten randomly selected cards from last year's COMC hoard!


1995 Collector's Edge - EdgeTech Quantum #1

I don't think that I'll ever fully grasp all of the different Collector's Edge inserts/parallels, but since I only buy the cheap stuff, I don't think I really need to know all of the in's and out's, as a lot of it will forever be out of my price range anyway. Also, is it just me, or does Dan not bear a striking resemblance (in the face) to John Madden on this card? I only just now noticed it, and it's kind of weirdin' me out.


2013-14 Panini Prizm Red, White, & Blue Mosaic Prizms #186

I've heard/read plenty of Blazers fans say that the team is better off without LaMarcus, I'm sorry, but those fans don't know what they're talking about. Perfect example: last season's playoffs, they would've been a lot different (i.e. successful) if L.A. had still been around.

2013-14 Panini Prizm Red, White, & Blue Mosaic Prizms #102

Poor T-Rob, finally found a home in Portland, became a fan favorite, then was traded (along with Will Barton) for a guy (Aaron Afflalo) who spent 25 games doing diddly squat... and it's been all downhill for Thomas ever since!

1971 Milk Duds

If one were to look at Jim Hickman's career as a whole, his inclusion into the Milk Duds set might have seemed like an odd one, but if you look at his numbers from the previous season, it's not hard to see why he would've been added to the checklist. Jim had a career year in 1970, .315 BA, 162 hits, 115 RBIs, 32 HRs, all done in 514 at-bats. He also made his only All-Star appearance that year, also finished 8th in MVP voting. Nowadays if somebody had such an anomalous season like that, some sort of monkey business would be suspected, but I don't think people care enough about the past to go around lobbing accusations at a guy who had one really good season almost fifty years ago.

1996-97 Topps Stadium Club Matrix #18

This may look like a run of the mill Matrix, but it's actually one of the uber-rare Dome'z (yes, with a z) parallels. What, you've never heard of Dome'z before? You need to go look 'em up then, because they were totally a real thing, and most weren't just made up three seconds ago by me :)

1933 Goudey #75

One of the best third basemen of his era (THE best according to Chief Bender), Willie Kamm accomplished much during his thirteen year career, certainly more than I could do justice -- I also happen to be putting this post together at the very last moment, so I'll just take lazy way out, and refer you to his SABR page. On the plus side though, I think that his bio on there, written by a fellow called Joseph Wancho, might be one of the better one's that I've seen. As a quick aside, being from Oregon, I'm always interested in learning about any athletes/celebrities who have ties to the state. So I thought it was kind of neat to see that in 1918, a then 18 year-old Willie, briefly worked at, and played for a shipyard league in St. Helens, Oregon. When I have some more time, I'll have to go back and try and find some more info about this brief time in his life.

2015 Panini National Convention VIP Cracked Ice #10

I kind of liked this set back when I got the card, but that like has since worn off, so if anyone's genuinely interested in a #'d to /25 Trey Burke, don't be shy about saying so.

1998-99 Upper Deck Ionix Reciprocal #R17

I just recently opened my ever pack of Ionix (future blog post), and even though I didn't pull any SICCCCCCCCK HITZ, it sure was fun to finally open one after all of these years. If I had some lottery money, I might actually consider buying a box -- but until then, I'm quite content with just picking up the occasional cheap Reciprocal every now and then.

2013-14 Panini Prizm Red, White, & Blue Mosaic Prizms #224

It's really great that DJ has made it into some modern sets, and while I certainly don't mind him being shown as a Celtic, I'd be lying if I said that part of me didn't want to see him as a Sonic. So, what about it, Panini? Next year's Prizm, DJ in his old Sonics gear?

2012 Topps Black #174

I've already professed my love for Nick Barnett's 2012 Topps card in the past, knowing that nobody else feels the same way, I won't go into it again -- but I will say that this black bordered (#'d to /57)version is boss, and I got it for practically nothing, so, yay me!

Oh, and one more thing that I wanted to mention real quick, looks like yesterday was this blog's anniversary -- apparently I've been doing this for four years now! As per usual, thank you to everyone who's ever taken time out of their day to stop by, and a special thanks to everyone who's ever been motivated to leave a comment, without those, I wouldn't be doing this. I'm not gonna make any promises about me doing this for another four years, but I can say that I've got at least another year in me, so...


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.