Zero-Year Cards, Part 11

1993 Donruss #773 Brad Ausmus (Yankees)

Brad Ausmus was a 48th round pick by the Yankees in 1987. A 48th round pick.

Although he wasn't a great hitter (.251 career average and a .325 career OBP), Ausmus made up for it with his defense. He won three Gold Gloves in his 18-year career and finished in the top five in caught stealing eight different times, leading the league in '95.

This is one of the more interesting zero-year cards in my collection. Not only is Ausmus pictured with the Yankees, a team he never played for, but the card also states that he was selected by the Rockies in the expansion draft. He'd never play for the Rockies either. He'd be traded to San Diego in July of '93, where he'd make his debut, appearing in 49 games for the Padres in 1993. 

From there, he'd go on to play for the Tigers and Astros before closing out his career in 2010 with the Dodgers.

I've often heard his name brought up when future big-league managers are discussed. It makes sense. Great defensive catchers often seem to make great managers (see: Mike Scioscia). So why not Brad Ausmus?

It took me a year to notice

During the course of 2011, I'd seen thousands of cards from the three main Topps issues (flagship, Series 2, and Update). I'd probably opened around a hundred packs or so of the product. I'd seen numerous amounts of scans from trade sites and other blogs.

Yet I managed to miss something.

Here's the back of the Adam LaRoche card I featured at the top of the post. You've got the basics for Topps card backs: team name, position, stats, short bio. But what's that at the far right of the card?

I can't believe I never noticed these little tidbits before. I'd flipped over many, many cards from 2011 Topps and failed to notice this on any of them.

But can you blame me? Look at how scrunched in this is in the full scan of the back. They're barely readable. From what I can gather, Nolan Ryan was #513 in the 1971 Topps set. Fascinating.

Was I the only one who didn't notice this?

I know I'll be scouring the backs of 2012 Topps a lot more thoroughly now. Hopefully I don't miss anything this time.

The Gems of Junk Wax, Pt. 8: 1991 Topps #170 Carlton Fisk

I've seen each episode of "Seinfeld" at least ten times a piece. I've got it on right now. ("My wallet's gone! My wallet's gone!") I'll never get sick of it. I know that for a fact.

I feel the same way about this card. I've looked at this card hundreds of times while going through my White Sox binder. I've had it forever and it's one of my favorites. And it always will be.

This is one of the finest action shots ever featured on a bubble gum card. You've got Fisk impatiently waiting for a throw from one of his teammates. Not only that, but you've got the hefty Cecil Fielder barreling towards home plate with one of his teammates screaming for him to slide. 

I know I'm not the first blogger to show off this card, and I won't be the last. And for good reason! It's even the banner for Play at the Plate's blog and is also in Night Owl's "Cardboard Appreciation" Hall of Fame.

Nothing about this card suggests that it was produced in the junk wax era. It's horizontal. It's got a great action shot. Even the design of the card isn't bad. None of that is normal for junk wax.

I've asked it before and I'll ask it again. Why couldn't all junk wax cards be as great as this one?

We're living in a parallel universe

How many versions of one card does a guy need? I'm telling you, it's truly a parallel universe.

Although those cards do look nice next to each other in my binder. From left to right, that's the 2008 Upper Deck Heroes Ryan Theriot base, black parallel, emerald parallel (/499), charcoal parallel (/399), beige parallel (/299), red parallel (/249), navy blue parallel (/199), brown parallel (/149), and sea green parallel (/99).

I'm out of breath.

Believe it or not, there's still a few more '08 Heroes parallels of Theriot that I don't own. Seriously, a brown parallel? A sea green parallel? And that beige one looks EXACTLY like the base card!

In small quantities, parallels are great. I've always liked the Gold parallels in the Topps base set each year.

But on the other hand, card companies always seem to go overboard with them. Case in point: the 2011 Topps Cognac diamond parallels (or "liquorfractors"). If only they would've just stayed with the regular diamond parallels. But the Cognacs introduced 990 new parallels to the 2011 Topps set. A true nightmare for team or set collectors, I'm sure.

I wasn't collecting yet in the late-'90s, but it seems like the executives at Topps were hopped up on a little too much caffeine from what the "survivors" of that era have said. Parallels, parallels, must have more parallels!! Gold, silver, whatever you can make, just get me more parallels!

Although card companies have settled down a little since the 1990's parallel extravaganza, it's still a mad, mad, mad, mad world for the everyday player or team collector. With canary diamond, sepia, and double rainbow parallels or whatever the heck else is around nowadays, you can forget trying to own every single issue of a player. Not going to happen.

Simple, but brilliant. I'm not 100 percent sure about this, but I'd guess that the '75 Topps minis were the first parallels to ever be issued.

No extremely rare 1/1 parallels or anything else you can't find anywhere. Just a simple mini version of the base card. Simplicity. I stress this.

Back in '75, I'm not sure how accessible the minis were as I believe they were only locally distributed. But today, they're not overly hard to find and they're not expensive at all (save for the Brett and Yount rookies). Heck, this Dusty Baker one only set me back a quarter.

Whatever happened to simplicity?

Team collectors? Player collectors? American Pie traders? Anyone up for some trades?

Just thought I'd make a quick post to see if anyone's interested in drumming up some trades. I'm slowly getting into my annual post-holiday trading mood.

I've got a big box full of base cards from 1998 to the present for player or team collectors. The complete year-by-year lists of what I've got can be found here. If you're interested in any specific player or team, just let me know and I'll take a look. I've also got a bunch of other inserts for trade listed here.

Also, I've got a blaster-full of 2011 Topps American Pie base cards available if anyone's planning on doing the set. I still need a bunch of the foil parallels and various inserts from the set if anyone's got any available.

Thanks!

I'm a sucker for vintage, Pt. 2: Athletics

Picking out my five favorite vintage A's cards was 10 times tougher than picking out my favorite Angels cards. The A's had a lot of guys I like on their '60s and '70s teams. To my surprise, Rollie Fingers does not have a card in the top five.

Plus, I could've put 25 different A's cards on this list just for their flashy '70s uniforms.

It took some time, but I've condensed the list down to my favorite five A's vintage cards. The best of the best.

Honorable mentions:

1974 Topps #474 Bert Campaneris WS

1976 Topps #405 Rollie Fingers

1976 Topps #525 Billy Williams

The Countdown:

#5

1972 Topps #111 Jim Grant

No "fun fact" on the back of this card, unfortunately.

Mutton chop alert! Mutton chop alert! 

Grant looks like he's wearing one of those stupid animal hats I see everyone walking around with nowadays. But he's not. Those are authentic 1970's sideburns right there.

Jim "Mudcat" Grant played for a lot of teams later in his career. A 20-game winner in 1965, Grant played for six teams in his last five years in the majors (including the A's twice). He'd pitch the last 15 games of his career for the A's in '71. 

"Mudcat" appears to have saved his "best" for last for his 1972 Topps card. 

#4

1973 Topps #255 Reggie Jackson

Fun Fact: "Reggie is a real estate developer."

Isn't it funny that a star like Reggie Jackson had to develop real estate to supplement his income? The '70s seem so close, yet so far away.

I came across this one at the flea market. Some weeks, there's baseball card sellers apart from the small cluster that are there every week. I came across one of these sellers last summer. I was about ready to walk away from the table when I saw junk wax cards priced at one or two bucks a piece. I came across a small box at the table, everything inside priced at $1.50. I was really surprised to find this '73 Jackson in that box judging from everything else at the table. Honestly, I don't think this one was supposed to be there. But they sold it to me anyway.

Other than his 1969 rookie card, this may be the most famous Reggie Jackson Topps issue. It captures the very beginning of the yellow and gold "Swingin' A's" uniforms of the '70s. This is probably Jackson's final issue without facial hair.

#3

1973 Topps #430 Vida Blue

Fun Fact: "Vida is the vice-president of a plumbing supply company."

That might be the single most unflattering "fun fact" on the back of any baseball card. A plumbing company?

The man with one of the best names in baseball history, Vida Blue had one of the best pitching seasons in recent history in 1971. He went 24 and 8 with an outstanding 1.82 ERA and 301 strikeouts. He'd win the Cy Young and MVP awards that year.

Although 1972 was a down year for him, Blue had one of the greatest cards of the '70s with this 1973 Topps issue. A perfect in-action shot. One of the many that defines the nostalgia of 1970's Topps baseball cards.

#2

1966 Topps #36 Jim Hunter

Fun Fact: "Jim pitched five no-hitters in school."

Baseball cards can be educational. For example, I never knew that "Catfish" Hunter missed his first professional season in 1964 because of "an operation for the removal of buckshot in his leg". Hunter apparently had a "hunting" injury. In '65, he became one of the few to skip the minors all together and go straight to the major leagues.

This card is yet another flea market find. A guy at the flea market usually puts out a small box of 1960's and '70s for a quarter a piece. He brings a different box each week, so I never know what to expect from week to week. I couldn't believe it when I found this Hunter card one fateful Sunday. 

This is just Hunter's second Topps card, and his first solo issue. I don't believe that a quarter was ever spent much better than the one that netted me this card.

#1

1975 Topps #407 Herb Washington RC

Fun Fact: "He's holder of world indoor records for 50-yard dash (5 seconds flat) and 60-yard dash (5.8 seconds)."

Just goes to show you that you need more than just pure speed to steal a base in the major leagues.

This card is #1 for a variety of reasons. The listed "position" on the front, the stats on the back, just the oddity of Herb Washington himself.

For those who don't know his story, track star Herb Washington was signed by A's owner Charlie Finley to strictly pinch-run and steal bases in 1974. He did steal 29 bases and score 29 runs in '74, but he was also caught 16 times. A 64 percent success rate isn't spectacular for any base stealer, much less for one who was brought in for specifically that purpose. Washington was caught stealing twice in the '74 World Series (one was a pickoff) without a single SB. He played in 13 more games in '75 before the experiment was discontinued.

This is the only card to date to have a player's position listed as "pinch runner". Washington's stats on the back include only games, runs, stolen bases, and caught stealing. He never took a single at-bat in the majors.

This is one of the iconic cards of the 1970's. Anyone who grew up collecting in that decade could recognize this card in their sleep.

2012 card season is upon us!

Well, my 2012 card season is underway.

I forgot to get the mail before leaving for my family new years' party. I haven't made too many trades lately so I wasn't really expecting much. I completely forgot I was expecting this one in the mail.

I opened the letter when I got back home after midnight. So congratulations, Mr. Renteria, you're my first new card of 2012!

I've already got the "new card season" feeling going. After all, we're only a month away from the release of 2012 Topps!

Few things in the card season beat walking into Target, Wal-Mart, your local card store, or wherever, and seeing the first cards of the new year on the shelves. I can't describe the feeling. The fact that 2012 Topps is looking like a very nice set is just adding to my excitement.

Hopefully January goes by fast!