Incoherent

If I've brought one thing to the blogosphere, I hope it's the idea that not having a true center to one's collection is by no means a bad thing.

For all you team and/or player enthusiasts, I commend you for having a more firm grasp on your collection than I ever could. But don't be afraid to branch out a bit into other things if it's something you feel like you want to do.

Granted, I've branched out so much that those branches aren't necessarily connected to anything. I wouldn't have it any other way. Some might call what I have a Dime Box Collection or a Random Collection, but perhaps a better term for it would be an Incoherent Collection.

I think a recent package I received from my buddy Marcus of the spectacular blog "All The Way To The Backstop..." is a fantastic example of that. He has a terrific handle on what I collect, which means that he sent cards of just about everything you can imagine.

The first thing that caught my eye was this error-rific Dick Green. Only '73 Topps would print a card of a guy booting a ground ball.

Now, see if you can draw a line between that and the rest of what Marcus put together.

I doubt it's possible.

I have a feeling Marcus sent over that Jackson because of the prime bubble action. But the fact that it's a new card of Bo as an Angel actually meant more to me.

Given his horrific late-season beaning, it's unfortunate that Panini included Mr. Stanton in an insert set entitled "Fearless".

My best goes out to Giancarlo in 2015.

I know the Round Rock Express are Marcus's local minor league squad.

I'm guessing he picked up a team set and some point and graciously decided to send these two my way. Both are fantastic new oddities for my Profar and Olt collections.

Although I still don't know how I feel about a name like the Express.

Yes, that's a card of a dog.

Marcus sent me a card of a dog.

A card of a drug-detecting dog.

With stats on the back and everything.

Tia here had apparently seized over $48 million worth of the hard stuff by the time this one hit the streets.

I must say that this is the first time I've ever seen the word "cocaine" printed on a card.

Always makes me think of Dewey Cox. (Warning: Kind of NSFW.)

Marcus branched out from the canines and hit a rather spooky need from last year's "Curious Cases" A&G insert series.

From what the back says, UVB-76 is an unknown radio station that has been broadcasting monotonous tones that are broken up by random voices in Russian every once in a while.

Freaky.

Let's get away from the chills by diving into a couple more conventional A&G subjects.

I know I've seen that image of the Duke before, but I have to say that Carew shot is completely new to me.

Proof that Topps can actually put some effort into photo selection.

Marcus hopped on the mini bandwagon with these two.

My collection might be incoherent, but my love for minis will always stand the test of time.

A couple annoyingly short-printed needs from good ol' Heritage.

The Rizzo is my first of the colored parallels, and, although Topps certainly wasn't doing anything like that in '65, the red borders really do pop.

Staying true to the original can be overrated sometimes.

What you see on my "Dime Box Dozen" list is merely a handful of concrete wants from a list of literally thousands and thousands.

Marcus broke what was becoming a bit of a dry streak for my DBD with this '92 UD Minors Trevor Hoffman.

Though Hoffman only has one official issue as a Red, there are few minor league cards that depict his time in the Cincinnati organization. This is one of them.

I vividly remember seeing this card in a random box at a now-defunct LCS, but, for some stupid reason, I didn't buy it. I've had to live with that decision for a good six or seven years now.

Marcus finally allowed me to cope with that awful mistake by sending a copy of the long-lost Trevor my way.

Errors, dogs, minis, Dime Box Dozens. Any coherence at all? Don't think so.

Just how I like it.