Cardboard Masterpieces, Pt. 16

1998 Pinnacle #77 Ray Durham

I'm not sure I have to write too much about this card.

The sheer awesomeness of it pretty much speaks for itself.

Still, there's a few things that come to mind any time I come across this card in my White Sox binder. It should come as no surprise that this isn't the first time I've featured it.

It's only been in my collection for a few months, as it made its blog debut just a day after I snagged it from a dime box.

Just another of those "hidden treasures" that I love so much.

Had I not joined the blogosphere, I'm not so sure I would've bought this card. Before I started this blog, dime boxes were almost solely my means of building my many, many different player collections.

While that's still a large part of my love for them, I've learned to look past simply the name on the fronts of cards. Sometimes, that's not the most important thing.

That's pretty much the basis for this entire theme.

Although he spent a large part of his career with the hometown White Sox, I don't collect Ray Durham. But once I saw it in that dime box, I knew I couldn't pass it up.

Plays at the plate make for some of the best action shots in existence. Of course, another blogger figured that out way before I ever did.

The fact that Pinnacle got a shot during the brief moment where both player's helmets were still in the frame should say something. It's reasons like these why I recently rated Pinnacle as the most underrated card manufacturer in history.

Plus, this card fits right in with the recent "throwback" kick I've been on these days. During their first-ever interleague series in 1997, the Cubs and Sox both wore throwback uniforms to commemorate the last time they faced each other, way back in the 1906 World Series.

In my first attempt at successfully "dating" a card, I'm fairly certain that this great shot is from the first game of the initial Cubs-Sox interleague series on June 16, 1997. 

In the bottom of the third inning, White Sox center fielder Dave Martinez lofted a bases-loaded bloop single that scored third baseman Chris Snopek. Cubs left fielder Brant Brown fired to home, upon which Durham crashed into catcher Scott Servais, who would hold on to the ball to record the out.

The Cubs went on to win, 8-3.

As I said, I largely have the blogosphere to thank for compelling me to buy cards like this. They really are terrific pieces of cardboard. Perhaps the best part is that they can fit into almost anyone's budget.

Most of all, they keep the hobby fun.