Frankenset Redux, Page 6: Numbers 46-54

Page #6 (Numbers 46-54):

Completion Status: 9/9

Numbers Needed: None.

The Players

1993 SP #46 Pat Borders

You don't often see blood on a baseball card.

2012 Bowman Chrome #47 Andrelton Simmons

Turning two over Bryce Harper. 

1987 Topps #48 Wally Backman

A classic play at the plate from '87 Topps. 

1994 Score Rookie/Traded #RT49 Jody Reed

The double play cameos keep on coming. 

1981 Fleer #50 Jamie Quirk

A batting cage social.

1999 Stadium Club #51 FP Santangelo

Rising action at Wrigley. 

1999 Fleer SI Greats of the Game #52 Joe Rudi

Joe Rudi doing his best to get on Letterman. 

1998 Collector's Choice #53 Kevin Orie

One of the first throwbacks I ever added to my collection as a kid, and still one of the best. 

2015 Stadium Club #54 Bip Roberts

The return of Sombrero Bip.

Stats

Cards By Decade:

1980's -- 2 (Running total: 6)

1990's -- 5 (Running total: 26)

2010's -- 2 (Running total: 13)

Mini-collection Hits:

Double Dips -- 2 (Running total: 9)

Throwbacks -- 1 (Running total: 5)

At the Wall -- 1 (Running total: 5)

Plays at the Plate -- 1 (Running total: 3)

Best Cameo

The Kid steals any page he appears on, even if the card in question isn't actually his.

This Magic Moment

Andrelton Simmons made his big-league debut in 2012, yet he only appeared in two of the nine games the Braves played in Washington that year, which makes dating this card a whole lot easier.

The Braves didn't turn any double plays in the first of those two games, which makes me confident in tracing this shot to the bottom of the 8th inning in a June 3rd, 2012 contest between Atlanta and the Nats. 

Ryan Zimmerman hit into a rally-killing double play -- one that saw then-prospect Bryce Harper forced at second -- and the Braves would win that afternoon, 3-2.

Kick Out the Jams

Just a loudmouthed yankee / I went down to Mexico

Lessons in Card Backs

I didn't know Simmons was from Curacao, a small island in the Caribbean which has somehow produced scores of ballplayers including Andruw Jones and Kenley Jansen.

Best of the Rest

1995 Pinnacle #53 Rick Wilkins

Pinnacle challenged my baseball card instincts with this one, because I automatically assumed the featured player was the Cardinals' hitter (actually a pitcher, Vincente Palacios).

Nope: this is actually Rick Wilkins's card, despite what my years of collecting experience try to tell me.

Toughest Draw

1996 Stadium Club #53 Jim Bullinger

Slot #53 pits two Cubs against one another, and while I've long adored the sweet throwbacks on the Orie, I have to give Jim Bullinger's unique rooftop view of Wrigley the nod for my Inaugural Frankenset.

Second Guessing

1981 Fleer #46 John Wathan

I've second-guessed this one from the moment I decided to build a frankenset.

I can't say I own another baseball card quite like the Borders, which is a bloody strange (see what I did there?) photo choice on the part of SP. It'd be a no-brainer inclusion over about 95 percent of the cards in the first frankenset...but as luck would have it, the gods paired him up against another legendary #46, the '81 Fleer John Wathan you see above.

The Wathan may well be my single favorite card from Fleer's debut set, and the moment-of-impact shot (with a Bert Campaneris cameo) makes it one of the better plays at the plate the hobby has ever seen.

It's a tough decision, but my heart always leads me to John Wathan even though it pains me to leave Pat Borders out of the Inaugural Frankenset.

Favorite Card

For now, Borders will have to live with being my favorite card from this Frankenset Redux page, which is still a high -- though, in his case, painful -- honor.

That's another frankenset page in the books.

Thanks for reading!