A new dime box mission

As I've mentioned a couple times before, I'll be hitting the huge bi-annual local card show tomorrow afternoon.

I'm excited, to say the least.

I'm excited to see if the dealer with the $2 vintage cards is there again, where I found this beauty last time.

I'm excited to see if the guy with the big bin of random vintage cards is back. It's so fun to just grab a handful of scattered cards from a bin, sift through them, and grab another stack.

I'm excited to see the autograph selection. Even though I've never gotten an autograph at one of these shows (except for the time my dad and I met Mark Fidrych), it's fun peeking over the huge lines and actually seeing these legends of baseball. I think we saw Reggie Jackson last year from a distance.

I'm excited to see if the vendor with all the uber high-end vintage is still there. Card shows are always good for a little eye candy.

But most of all, of course, I'm excited to dig through the usual assortment of dime boxes tomorrow.

I don't take much for granted in life, but one thing I come to expect year-in and year-out is that this show will have some awesome dime boxes. And it always has.

However, I have a new collection theme to search for this year that I didn't have the last time I attended this show.

Cards with epic pictures on them, or "Cardboard Masterpieces". (I'm still trying to come up with a better label for this collection, so that one will have to do for now.)

By the time I attended this show last month, I was already looking for these cards, and I did find a few great ones. But tomorrow's show is about ten times bigger than that one, so who knows how many more I'll find this time?

Before, I just used to acknowledge to myself that a picture was cool if I happened to come across one in a dime box. If I didn't collect the guy, I just put the card back without another thought. But I've since realized that something should be said for great photography on a baseball card, even if it's not a guy I'm a huge fan of.

It doesn't matter if it's a pose or an action shot. As long as I find the card pleasing, I'll buy it.

Perhaps no greater pose has ever graced the front of a baseball card than this '93 Upper Deck Tim Salmon card. It's fitting that it's card #1 in perhaps the greatest overproduction era set.

This was one of my dime box finds from last month's card show.

I love landscape shots like this one. The fact that it looks to have been taken on one of the cold, blustery days that are commonplace at Wrigley Field makes it even better.

I'm pretty sure Night Owl doesn't much enjoy this one, even if it is a night card.

I'm not sure if Tim Worrell is signifying that the Giants are "Number One", or if he's pointing to the sky as if to say, "It's a pop-up!"

Either way, it's a great shot, and one of my personal favorites.

Who knew such a great card could come out of a typically bland base set like Bowman?

It's a great "play at the plate" card, featuring then-Expo Orlando Cabrera leaping in mid-air, trying to beat the throw that then-Phillies catcher Mike Liebrathal is about to receive.

What makes this card for me is the couple umbrellas we see in the background. Apparently, this shot was taken on a rainy day.

I can't say I've ever seen an umbrella on any baseball card I can remember, not counting this one.

I'm not sure photography gets any better than this.

I've never seen a better shot of a guy leaping into a crowd to make a catch. From the looks of it, Brandon Inge made the "Web Gems" segment that day. (Check out the surprised look on the guy who Inge is about to lunge into.)

And it all happens right in front of the Major League Baseball logo.

How fitting.

I can't wait to enter those doors of the card show, a feeling that most of us know all too well.

I don't know that I'll be able to find any cards as great as this Brandon Inge, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for great dime box photography tomorrow. (Wish me luck!)

After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then it at least warrants a dime.