The Gems of Junk Wax, Pt. 32: 1990 Score Rookie/Traded #100T Eric Lindros (RC?)

I've never been much of a "prospector".

My lone attempt at it failed miserably, and I made a vow to myself to never try it again. It's a vow that I'll never break, as prospecting is pretty much the polar opposite of what my collection represents at this point in my life.

However, baseball cards aside, it's always a treat to see a new face pop up in the bigs, not all of whom are Bryce Harper-type players. I was glad to see that the Cubs gave Adrian Cardenas a start in this afternoon's game against the Braves. And look at the start that Bryan LaHair is off to. (I've got to get a few LaHair cards for my collection.)

My guess is that I'll be seeing a lot of that with the Cubs in 2012.

And now for the obligatory Bryce Harper paragraph. I'm a big fan of his. Every time I see him play, the first thing that comes to my mind is, "I'm eight months older than this guy, and he's playing in the freaking major leagues." It's the first time that I've been older than a guy in the bigs.

I guess I better get used to it in the coming years.

Harper plays the game the way it's meant to be played. The fact that he's been overhyped isn't his fault, after all. Normally, I love watching "Intentional Talk" on the MLB Network each weekday. But about half the show yesterday was dedicated to the whole Hamels-Harper fiasco. The worst part about it was the fact that you could tell that neither Chris Rose nor Kevin Millar really wanted to be talking about it.

Can we just let the guy be? Sure, he's a bit cocky at times. But that's not all that uncommon among people my age. He's still got some growing up to do, but what 19 year-old doesn't? He's a great player, and he's already got a steal of home on his major league resume.

But "overhyping" isn't limited to just baseball, after all.

As I've mentioned before, I went on a year-long hockey card binge in my grammar school graduate/high school freshman time of my life. I picked up a bunch of tidbits about the game that I still retain to this day.

One is the sad story of Eric Lindros.

This card tells the story of just how much hype the kid had. Imagine if Bryce Harper had a football card issued or something.

Score released this card before Lindros was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the '91 entry draft. (A big fiasco would lead to him being dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers soon after.)

Even though he had all the talent in the world, injuries derailed his career. Repeated concussions were the main culprit.

Lindros was just 17 when this card was released. As a publicity stunt, he was given a "tryout" by the Blue Jays at some point in 1990. According to the back of this card, he hit over .400 in high school. A scout even says, "He has all the tools to make it big." (I have to say, he's got a pretty good cut judging from the shot on the front of the card.)

This is easily one of the quirkiest cards in my collection. I guess it should be considered a rookie card, as it's his only one. But I like it.

You can't help but laugh at how crazy this hobby gets sometimes.