The (Second) Dime Box Frankenset, Page 66: Numbers 586-594

Frankenset Page #60 WINNER -- 1975 Topps #533 Rudy Meoli (17 votes)

Last week's frankenset page went about as expected.

The classic '75 Rudy Meoli drubbed the competition -- and he seemed to bring a bunch of new voters to the poll along with him. The 45 total votes were the most I've received on a single page yet, more than a dozen more than I'd received the week prior -- Meoli's 17 ran away without much of a fight. Honestly I'm a bit surprised it wasn't even more of a blowout.

Even apart from Meoli, I thought last week's page was rather well-rounded, and apparently a lot of people did too judging from the voting turnout.

This week's page probably isn't as exciting, but it sure gives a good look at a bunch of different minutiae I collect.

The Random Number Generator seems to be on a high-number kick lately -- as governed by its powers, we'll be taking a look at Page 66 (#s 586-594) of the frankenset tonight, so let's meet the nominees.

1987 Topps #586 Ben Oglivie

I feel like something exciting is happening just out of the frame of this card. 

1991 Upper Deck #587 Kurt Stillwell

A gem from Upper Deck's early years. 

2017 Topps #588 Kirk Nieuwenhuis

Throwback!

1996 Collector's Choice #589 Ricky Bones

Ricky Bones, one of those mediocre mid '90s dudes who seemed to consistently receive fantastic baseball cards. 

1993 Donruss #591 Lenny Harris

Donruss testing my OCD by listing Lenny Harris as a third baseman, yet showing him turning two(?).

1994 Topps #592 Doug Strange

A very Strange double dip. 

1995 Donruss #592 Brady Anderson

Broken bats on baseball cards are rare, but beautiful. 

1992 Topps #593 Steve Decker

I think I subliminally collect cards with bunting on them.

1992 Topps #594 Brian Barber

Brian Barber made history in 1992 by being drafted when he was just 11 years old.

That's it for this week's page. The polls are now on the sidebar.

Happy voting!

A life without card shows is still worth living

So I have not one, but TWO card shows on the horizon next week: the monthly Village Hall gathering this coming Sunday (which my car sabotaged me of last month), and the big convention hall extravaganza the following Saturday.

Needless to say, I've been counting down the days to this seemingly mundane week in mid-March for a while now. My card table is cleared in anticipation, my mind's already in get-these-next-few-days-over-with mode. It's in times like these that I start to reflect on just how different my collecting life would be without card shows.

I don't remember how old I was when I went to my first show -- probably around 10 or 11. There's no true replacement for that big mark-your-calendar excitement a show brings. I'd miss that for sure. But if we're talking about the cards themselves, I'm honestly not sure how different it'd be, because having a blog has become an outlet for people to send me stuff that's often just as good as (if not better than) what I find at shows.

Every once in a while, a reader stumbles upon my blog and proceeds to shovel a whole bunch of cardboard onto me -- that happened recently with a reader/collector named Bob, a generous soul who's sent me four different packages I'll be covering in this post (and a man who I'll definitely be shopping for at next week's shows!).

The '94 Collector's Choice Brett at the top of this post was a former Dime Box Dozen suspect since erased by Bob, which will become a running theme here tonight.

Aside from being a gaping hole in my sunset collection, the Brett was an even more pressing need given that I'd somehow owned the Silver Signature parallel without the standard base issue. Headache no longer.

Bob also sent along these fantastic Cubs which likely would've been overpriced at the local shows, highlighted by the terrific Donruss Ryno box-bottom and the Conlon Charley Root (seriously, I can count the Charley Root cards I own on one hand).

MJ and Jimmy Carter together in the same scan for no apparent reason.

From what he tells me, Bob collects cards of dudes blowing bubbles -- while it's not an official mini-collection of mine, I'm always up for getting new ones.

I'm especially thrilled to finally have that Ken Reitz, which has been proven to be the first time a dude ever blew a bubble on a baseball card.

Here's a gaggle of themes I do collect from Bob -- proof that it's just as exciting to receive new mini-collection hits via trade than it is to discover them in dime boxes.

Whoa.

The second package from Bob brought along some new double dips...

...as well as a couple prime ivy cards -- including the Dawson, another former Dime Box Dozen need that somehow flew under the radar for all of my adult life.

Do oddballs get any better than a Mr. Turkey Jim Abbott?

Another package from Bob saw another Dime Box Dozen need fall by the wayside with this '82 Fleer Brad Mills, an excellent image of early-Fleer zaniness that I'd long admired from afar.

Given Bob's affinity for bubble-blowing cards, it makes sense that he'd be the one to send it to me -- I don't think it lasted more than a week on my DBD list.

More new double dips -- though I'm never sure what to do with Topps Big stuff since they don't fit in standard pages (and I don't really wanna buy 8-pocket pages just for those).

And right as I was starting to get the scans for this post together, yet another package from Bob arrived on my doorstep just yesterday -- nothing beats surprise cards after a long day of work!

Especially when those surprise cards include more mini-collection hits (note to self: I really need the base version of that Baerga now).

Throwbacks, anyone?

And finally here's, yes, another Dime Box Dozen need, one that'd been sitting on my list for the better part of last year.

For all the pomp and circumstance of his career, new Phillie Bryce Harper really hasn't received a lot of spectacular cards yet -- this Stadium Club shot is one of the lone exceptions, showing him holding Olympian Katie Ledecky's five gold medals as she delivered a first pitch at Nats Park a few years back.

I've scoured dime, quarter, fifty-cent, even dollar boxes in search of this card since 2017 Stadium Club came out, all to no avail. But then a reader like Bob comes along and, just like that, one-ups the card show gods (though with my luck I'll probably see this Harper in the first dime box I go through on Sunday).

Card shows still rule, but with people like Bob around, they ain't the be-all, end-all of my collecting life.

The (Second) Dime Box Frankenset, Page 60: Numbers 532-540

Frankenset Page #35 WINNER -- 1995 Upper Deck #312 Steve Buechele (15 votes)

Well that was a rout.

Steve Buechele & Son massacred the competition last week, taking 15 of the 31 total tallies to cruise to an easy frankenset win. No other nominee received more than three votes -- I don't know whether it was the Buechele being a great card or nothing else on the page standing out much (perhaps a little of both), but the competition ended up being a laugher on all fronts.

Welcome to the gallery, Buechele family.

I have a feeling we might be in for another blowout this week, but I've certainly been wrong before.

As per the almighty Random Number Generator, we'll be looking at Page 60 (#s 532-540) in the frankenset here tonight -- let's meet the hopefuls.

2017 Topps #532 Eduardo Nunez

Diving at Dodger Stadium. 

1975 Topps #533 Rudy Meoli

To the heavens. 

1988 Topps #534 John Wathan

Kind of an oddity, in that you don't often see managers wearing batting helmets. 

1985 Fleer #535 Tom Foley

Double dip! 

1993 Upper Deck #536 Kevin Young

Scampering in the mud. 

1992 Score #537 Andy Allanson

I just love how the baseball's floating on the Score logo. 

2014 Topps #538 Jon Jay

Primetime high-five.

1996 Collector's Choice #539 Steve Reed

The sidewinder sleeps tonite. 

2013 Topps #540 Michael Bourn

I like when cards honoring fielding feats actually, you know, show the dude fielding.

That's it for this week's page. The polls are now on the sidebar.

Happy voting!

Personality crisis

In baseball -- and often life in general -- I find myself nostalgic for a time I never saw.

I very much wish I could've seen the baseball of my father's generation, or my grandfather's, or my great-grandfather's, and so on. I enjoy the game with all my heart now, but there are parts of its past I never got to witness, parts that could've made me love it even more.

One of the main knocks that comes to mind against today's baseball is the sheer fact that there's not a whole lot of personality in the league anymore. I remember one analyst (I can't recall who) saying that there's just not enough "weird" in baseball anymore, and I think that's apt. Many guys are brick walls as far as personality goes. Sometimes it makes me wonder if they're even that fond of baseball at all aside from the big bucks it pays.

Maybe it's the rose-colored glasses phenomenon, but the days when guys like Dizzy Dean prowled the field seems like centuries ago -- which makes scoring unexpected SPs like this one of Ol' Diz from Greg's fantabulous 10th anniversary giveaway over at "Night Owl Cards" quite a treat.

It's gotten to the point where any shred of personality almost immediately endears me to a guy, just because it's such a novelty.

I've been following Sean Doolittle on Twitter for a while -- he's a fun, right-thinking dude who seems to be conscious of the world he lives in (which isn't always common among athletes). I remember him mentioning he met his wife on the internet and for some reason I thought that was cool too since I don't often equate that with professional ballplayers. For all these reasons and more, I decided to start collecting Mr. Doolittle recently.

Greg was nice enough to include this Doolittle A&G mini in a package I received not long after his big 10th anniversary party -- the player collection is officially underway!

More guys who've shown enough personality to inspire me to hoard their cards -- and I really need more of those Topps Fire "Nickname" inserts in my life.

A couple Dodger oddball dupes from Greg here, including a Fernando box-bottom I've been scoping out for a long time.

It's not that I don't appreciate the "gritty" Kirk Gibsons of the baseball world -- I just think an entire universe made up of nothing else can get mighty boring.

I don't know much about the personalities of Reggie Walton or Alex Arias, but these are prime frankenset fodder here (dig the Fenway shot on the Walton!).

I'm a fan of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, and all the other current Cubs -- but none of them will ever match the wonder that was Ernie Banks.

You wanna talk nostalgia: I wish I was around to see a time where records came on the backs of baseball cards, like they did on the wonderful "Baseball Talk" series of the late '80s.

But nope, records haven't come with baseball cards in my lifetime, nor do I own the coveted '62 Lou Brock rookie featured on the front of this awesome oddball from Greg. Hopefully one day, sometime in the future, when the stars align, a '62 Brock will fall into my hands at something near a price I can afford. The cheapest one I've seen at a show was going for $90...might have to wait a little while there.

For now, I'll try my best to enjoy all the cards I already own, and the baseball on my TV all spring and summer -- the present might not be perfect, but it's all I have.

Welcome to the '70s

This card, on its own, pretty much sums up everything I love about Topps Heritage.

It's a throwback to a generation past that somehow also manages to stay firmly enmeshed in the present. This year's Heritage, of course, moves into a new decade by paying tribute to the 1970 design. But the Diamondbacks didn't exist then, and massive beards like Archie Bradley's weren't a glimmer in anyone's eye. To some, maybe that makes it fail as a true "throwback."

But to me, it's a brilliant collision of past and present, and a great reminder of why I remain such a fan of current players on retro designs.

Granted, I'm not a huge fan of the '70 design -- it's in constant competition with '68 Topps as my least-favorite vintage Topps look.

I don't like gray borders and I don't like cursive, neither of which bodes well for 1970 Topps. But I don't necessarily judge Heritage on my feelings toward the vintage design in question since that's kinda out of Topps's hands by now. For me it's more about how true it stays to the original, and I think 2018 Heritage succeeds there.

When looking at them side by side, I find few quibbles with the reproduction -- maybe some slight text oversights but nothing that has me up in arms.

Backs? Check-plus.

Even though I told myself I wouldn't go as crazy for retail this year, I still found myself on a Heritage manhunt at local Targets and Walmarts these last few days -- they finally showed up at the Target by my house today.

I bought a blaster, a hanger box, and a rack pack, and they made those days of waiting worth it. Though it's been around since 2001, Heritage is one of the few longtime brands that has ceased to feel like old hat. It's still relevant as ever -- I honestly can't imagine collecting nowadays without Heritage in there somewhere.

Better yet, 2019 Heritage seems to try to reproduce the quirks and oddities of the real set better than some efforts of years past -- I pulled a few Matz-like extreme closeups from my packs, which are quite reminiscent of those weird crop jobs on some of the 1970 originals.

One of the knocks on Heritage is that Topps has taken to backloading the SP checklist with big names, which is akin to a cardboard slap in the face.

Still, I did pull a couple I needed here, including Paul Goldschmidt's first card as a Cardinal -- doesn't look right to me yet.

The subsets remain a constant thrill in Heritage -- as does the old-time wordplay on the playoff cards.

I don't usually pay much attention to the inserts in Heritage, but these properly grooved-up New Age Performers made me take notice.

The News Flashbacks single sends me off on my yearly quest to complete that insert set, which I'm looking forward to.

That Rizzo is just plain fantastic -- it even folds out like the original '70 Topps Scratchoffs and everything.

And hey, I even pulled something that might net me a few bucks.

According to the stated odds, these Nickname SPs come 1:2,301 packs(!!!). This Acuna (aka "Sabanero Soy") fell out of the very first pack of the blaster I opened. It's a fantastic card, and I was briefly tempted to keep it, but I can't justify that when it'll likely go a long way in funding the two card shows I have coming up this month.

So there's a first peek into the new decade of Topps Heritage we've stepped into here in 2019 -- here's hoping it'll be a groovy ride.