The (Second) Dime Box Frankenset, Page 68: Numbers 604-612

Frankenset Page #27 WINNER -- 1974 Topps #238 Fran Healy (8 votes)

As per my recent work schedule, I've decided to switch these frakenset posts from Fridays to Tuesdays, which meant that last week's page got a few bonus days of open polls.

Turns out it needed a bit of extra time: we had a three-way tie (Oliva, Healy, Rijo) going into the weekend and a two-way tie (Oliva, Healy) until this morning when a late vote for Healy broke the deadlock (winning with eight of the 36 total votes). It's easily the closest race we've had since I restarted these frankenset posts, but my personal favorite card of the lot ended up on top.

Tough to beat a vintage PATP and a Thurman Munson cameo in my book.

The Random Number Generator decided to give us our first super-high-numbered group of this frankenset with Page 68 (#s 604-612) this week.

Not a lot of my 600-level pages are complete (yet), so I thank the Generator for at least letting me show off a finished page without any gaps -- so let's meet the latest nine.

1991 Upper Deck #604 Jim Vatcher

Subliminal Nike advertising?

2011 Topps #605 Brandon Belt

It's not an official mini-collection of mine, but I've always enjoyed hoarding batting-cage shots. 

1994 Collector's Choice #606 Cal Eldred

Cal Eldred would like a better seat, thank you very much.

1984 Topps #607 Tom Hume

Little known fact: Tom Hume was also my 7th grade science teacher. 

2011 Topps #608 Casey McGehee

Throwback! 

1992 Donruss #609 Carlos Quintana

An oddly-cropped and -angled double dip.

1992 Stadium Club #610 Howard Johnson

More from the batting cage, this time of the indoor variety. 

1972 Topps #611 Rich Reese

Vintage bat barrel action.

1991 Upper Deck #612 Dennis Cook

Dennis Cook, .264 career hitter(!).

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

Happy voting!

My collecting life, as told through retail

For better or worse, I've lived in the suburbs my entire life.

Thus many of my earliest memories involve walking through the narrow, blinding aisles of retail chains. As time has passed, I like to believe I've become less retail-reliant than I once was (I mean, I no longer go to the mall for fun). But I got to thinking recently -- even if we're just talking about the baseball card part of my life, my memories are flooded by retail chains.

From what I can gauge by stories I've heard and the oddballs I've acquired, big box stores were once a supreme supplier of cardboard. I can't say I've ever stepped foot in a Rite Aid or Woolworth's, but I own baseball cards produced by both. Nowadays people are shocked when I tell them that Target sells cards at all. But still it's worth noting the impact the world of retail has had on my collecting life, whether I like it or not.

So, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to take you on a trip through the memories of my collecting life, as told through the retail chains I've frequented once or a hundred times.

Target

Target is my main source of retail purchases for many reasons -- not the least of which being that there's been one right across the street from me for much of my adult life.

For the most part, they run a pretty tight ship. They're timely with the output of new product and the cards are right by the cash registers. Get in, get out: that's the name of the game for retail in my book. Target's issued quite a few store-exclusives over the years, but my favorite have to be the red parallels they made before borderless Topps sets became a thing.

Barring something drastic, Target will be my retail home for the considerable future.

Walmart

I buy cards from Walmart maybe once or twice a year.

There's not one close to where I live and I only go if I'm desperate and/or my Target's been slacking on their stocking. Even then it's rare, because have you ever been in a Walmart? I get headaches even driving through the parking lot.

Still, I'll admit they've probably had the best retail-exclusives of my lifetime with these all-black beauties of the late-2000s and early-2010s -- but even those weren't enough to get me inside a Walmart on anywhere near a frequent basis.

K-Mart

K-Mart was my biggest source for retail cardboard for a few years there in my teens.

Their card aisle was every bit as expansive as today's Target/Walmart and there's one almost literally next door to me. And they even had the retail exclusives like the other chains: I bought many blasters of 2008 Topps for these rookie variants alone (back when JR Towles was considered a hotshot prospect, which should tell you how long it's been since K-Mart's heyday).

The K-Mart by my house is still there, but the card aisle is long gone -- there's nothing but candy and party supplies where the rack packs and blasters once stood.

Toys 'R' Us

I can't say for certain that I've ever actually bought cards from Toys 'R' Us, but for the sake of this post I'm willing to bet I did at some point in my youth.

I have quite a few singles from the boxed sets Toys 'R' Us put out in the early '90s, and though you had to overpay to get 'em, these purple parallels from more recent years of Flagship are terrific. (Trouble is, they're impossible to find: I own maybe a half-dozen.)

Toys 'R' Us is now defunct, of course: a sad end for the overall aura of my childhood, but not necessarily a great tragedy for my card collection.

Jewel-Osco

The only card memory I have of Jewel-Osco is a small plastic spinner of packs they had near the cash register for a brief time long ago.

The packs were woefully overpriced and you had to get a worker to open the case for you -- quite possibly every sign I could ever want not to buy any. But there were at least a couple times I succumbed to the temptation, tracking down some poor retail associate who probably hated me for interrupting their work so I could get my too-expensive pack of 2003 Upper Deck or something.

If I were to create a pie chart of my retail collecting life, Jewel-Osco would occupy that tiny, barely discernible slice -- but it's still there nonetheless.

Walgreens

The only other retail outlet in my memory is none other than Walgreens -- my prime repack supplier.

True, I don't buy nearly as many of those 100-card Fairfield repacks as I once did, but they're always tempting should I find myself in a Walgreens for a cheap soda or candy bar or something. And the percentage of cards I need versus the ones that go in an extras box isn't great. But repacks have long been a source of cheap pleasure whenever I need that pack-busting itch.

I don't go to Walgreens hoping to pull anything mind-boggling or even very much I want at all, but every once in a while, they do surprise me with cards like this Yoenis Cespedes rookie variation I got from a repack earlier this year (also a hit to my "42" mini-collection!).

So that's my baseball card retail life in a nutshell: some chains still standing, some hanging by a thread, others gone all together -- but the memories live on.

Innovations and gimmicks

There's a fine line between innovation and pure gimmickry in this hobby.

I was forced to consider that difference when one Joe Shlabotnik of "The Shlabotnik Report" reached out to me saying he'd pulled a relic that he thought I might be interested in. As you can see above, that relic was of Clark..the Chicago Cubs mascot. I'd known mascot relics existed but had never actually seen any in the wild before this, and within the blink of an eye I actually owned one.

And now that I have one, the question remains: innovation or gimmick? I'm not sure. I mean, I did tell Joe I wanted it, so at least a small part of me as to believe there's some innovation there. Relics have gotten painfully dull over the last decade or so, which makes anything even a little out of the norm worth noting.

Still, I wouldn't recommend a free-for-all on cutting up "game-used" gear (whatever that means) off our mascots' backs.

Are photo variations gimmicks?

I'm on the fence -- but in the meantime I'll certainly take a Darvish SP to go along with that sweet Schwarber insert.

No gimmicks here: Galasso Greats rule!

A couple vital needs here: the Fernando was a Dime Box Dozen need and the Didi slides right into my new player collection of his.

These were a pleasure to see because the well of 2017 Topps Fire has all but dried up around here.

I will always always always always take these Laughlin World Series cartoons, because awesome sketches like these are definitely not gimmicky.

Joe sent me a second PWE shortly after that first one, an envelope which included these two adds to my throwbacks mini-collection.

While I collect the cards, I will admit retro unis have gotten a bit out of hand lately -- do we really need to remember those dull '90s Astros jerseys?

More miscellaneous 2018s from Joe, including an Archives Harmon Killebrew, a man who I firmly believe has never had a bad baseball card.

Opinions on the Sandlot inserts from this year's Archives seem to be mixed, but you know where I stand: GIMME ALL OF 'EM!

Alan "Yeah-Yeah" McClennan -- the bungee jumper himself -- brings me to just about halfway done with the set (Footlong! Dodger Dog! A weenie!). I admit, I wasn't a huge fan of the Bull Durham inserts from a couple years ago (nor do I like the movie all that much) and I considered them somewhat gimmicky at the time. But without them I doubt we'd have these Sandlot cards here today. For that, I'm forever indebted to Nuke LaLoosh and the like.

Sometimes a little gimmickry paves the way for big innovation, I guess.

The (Second) Dime Box Frankenset, Page 27: Numbers 235-243

Frankenset Page #34 WINNER -- 1995 Collector's Choice #299 Chuck Carr (12 votes)

This was a closer race than the last couple pages, but it still ended up being a pretty comfortable victory for Chuck Carr after all was said and done.

The ticklish outfielder took 12 of the 33 total votes last week, five more than the next closest competitor (Hubie Brooks). It should also be noted that each of the nine cards received at least one vote, which I always like to see.

Once again, my tastes pretty much aligned with the masses: the Carr is one of my all-time favorite Collector's Choice cards, which is saying something considering how much I love that brand.

As selected by the Random Number Generator, we're looking at Page 27 (#s 235-243) this week.

On the whole, I think it's another rather well-rounded group of nine, so let's meet them.

 1993 Fleer Excel #235 Jose Oliva

If there's ever been a better logo placement on a baseball card, I've never seen it.

1999 Fleer Tradition #236 Andy Fox

An acrobatic double dip.

2011 Topps Update #US237 Ryan Roberts

This card pretty much aligns with the all-out memories I have of Ryan Roberts. 

1974 Topps #238 Fran Healy

Release all the adjectives: Vintage! Horizontal! Night card! Play at the plate! Thurman Munson cameo! (Especially cool since Healy would end up serving as Munson's backup a few years later.)

1994 Collector's Choice #239 Jose Rijo

Jose Rijo, King of Shades.

1992 Upper Deck #240 Bill Pecota

FAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL ON MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE 

2008 Upper Deck #241 Jeff Francis

Pitcher at the plate! 

1998 Collector's Choice #242 Jay Buhner

Jay Buhner is cooler than you are. 

1993 Upper Deck #243 Charles Nagy

A high-quality throwback closes out this week's page.

The polls are now on the sidebar.

Happy voting!

The Oddball Squad: What is an oddball, anyway?

I've been toying with new theme ideas in the months since my "Short Term Stops" posts came to an end.

I enjoyed the mechanics of the STS theme: it aligned closely with my team-centric organizational methods, which made the posts themselves fun to write. For that reason, I've wanted my new theme to be another team-based series, and my dad actually suggested something recently that got me thinking: how about putting together an all-oddball roster for each team?

I liked this idea for obvious reasons. I'm an oddball nut: slews of them are scattered amongst my team binders, and it'd be nice to have an opportunity (like "Short Term Stops") to collect the best of the best under a single virtual umbrella. So while I may tinker with the roster setup a bit, I'm planning on officially kicking off the Oddball Squads soon.

But still one kinda major question lingers in the interim: what the heck IS an oddball, anyway?

1970 Kellogg's #74 Tommy Harper 

Food issues

This is a question I've tried to answer a million times over throughout my life, and we might as well start with some easy ones (courtesy of my defunct- and/or multi-team collections).

For starters: food issues (Kellogg's, Hostess, Post, etc.) = oddballs about 99.99 percent of the time.

1991 Baseball Card Magazine #65 Fielder/Canseco/McGwire 

Magazine issues/samples

(Mostly) gone are the days where one could receive cards with other baseball-related purchases -- namely, periodicals -- but the oddballs live on forever.

1977-84 TCMA Renata Galasso #22 Satchel Paige

Boxed/complete sets 

Most cards not issued in pack form (TCMA, SSPC, Fleer League Leaders, etc.) qualify as oddballs to me since they weren't as widely distributed as store-bought Flagship sets.

1987 Pepsi Indianapolis Indians #2 "It Was Magic"

Minor league cards

While it can get confusing at times, I usually mix minor league cards into my big-league binders, but to me all minor league issues are oddballs (and some of them are even sponsored by food companies!). 

1973 Laughlin Famous Feats #40 Wee Willie Keeler

Oversized cards (post-1956 Topps)

The dimensions of 1952-56 Topps and most early Bowman are considered oversized to us now, but those obviously aren't oddballs.

Pretty much anything oversized issued after '56, however, is an oddity to me -- even if they're often troublesome since I'm forced to store them outside of my standard nine-pocket pages.  

1970 Topps Booklets #12 Mike Epstein

Vintage Topps inserts 

Inserts have become almost as common as base cards nowadays, but it wasn't always that way.

It's almost hard to believe that there was once a time when inserts were something few people knew about, and for that reason, most vintage Topps inserts ('70 booklets, '77 cloth stickers, etc.) qualify as oddballs in my book.

1961 Golden Press #13 George Sisler

Non-Topps vintage

Topps obviously dominated the vintage market after Bowman's demise in 1955, but quite a few lesser-name sets managed to sneak out during their long hold on the monopoly.

Legend-exclusive checklists like Golden Press and Fleer Greats are among my favorite oddities, and even one-off current player releases of the time like 1960 Leaf are still oddballs to me.

??????????????????

Broders/other cards of unknown origin

The overproduction era was home to scores of unlicensed (and often homemade) oddballs, most of which almost nothing is known about today.

Most are generally called "Broders" (which I think I remember reading was the last name of the guy who made a lot of them), and quite a few of them populate my oddball collection today.

2011 Konami Baseball Heroes #144 Jonathan Albaladejo

Foreign cards

Anything issued outside the USA (OPC, BBM, etc.) is an oddball to me because they had to cross country borders (and sometimes oceans!) to get into my collection.

1999(?) Fritsch '69 Senators Reunion #16 Frank Howard

The unclassifiable

The famous I-know-it-when-I-see-it theory definitely applies to the world of oddballs: in fact, only a handful of the ones I own snugly fit into any of the categories I just mentioned.

The rest are just one big undefined cornucopia of insanity. I know almost nothing about this Frank Howard card, for instance (I can't even remember where I got it), but I know it's an oddball. Of course it is. To me, oddballs are simply cards that exist on the outskirts of the cardboard universe, those weird interplanetary objects you need a telescope to see.

Maybe I'll add to this list at some point: but in the meantime, look for the Oddball Squads to begin soon -- I look forward to sharing my world of oddness with you.

I love the '90s

I think everyone, to a certain extent, feels a certain attachment to the decade in which they're born.

Mine is the 1990s: not the most popular ten-year span in many circles, especially in the baseball card world. The buzzwords you hear are all true -- indulgence, overproduction, chaos, etc. -- but that doesn't stop me from saying that I love the '90s. It's the decade I started collecting baseball cards. No matter what rational reasons you have for disliking the '90s, I'll always be there to defend it. 

If nothing else, the '90s introduced us to the world of throwback uniforms (and the cards that came with them), like this retro Ripken I recently received from John of "Johnny's Trading Spot" fame.

The Ripken came in a Big Fun Game lot I won on John's blog, a prize composed of a hearty stack of (mostly) '90s stars which was nice to snag since I recently started collecting a lot of these guys.

I guess it's hard to be sentimental about ballplayers as you watch their careers unfold in the present, which is probably the reason I've only now started seriously hoarding cards of dudes like Derek Jeter and Frank Thomas who've been retired for a while now.

Mo Vaughn's another one of those guys who somehow slipped out of my player collection canon until recently.

Also: a Roy Firestone-themed insert set from Pacific -- does it get any more '90s than that?

I received another somewhat '90s themed package from another perennial trade partner of mine, none other than gcrl of "cards as i see them."

Another aspect of the '90s that muddles the borders of love and hate is that fact that the overindulgence of the decade was so great that there will literally always be something new to discover from it. It's a world of infinite wonder (or a bottomless pit, depending on how you choose to look at it).

Case in point: I didn't know about these stamped expansion parallels from '93 Upper Deck until very recently (and this one's a new mini-collection hit!), one of the many '90s innovations that's just constantly floating out there in the universe.

Some player collection hits from gcrl, including Rickey as a Padre which has never quite looked right to me (despite the fact that he played for them two different times).

One reason to love the '90s: Jim Abbott.

Of course other decades have their high points, like '80s Mother's Cookies cards which are a rare and exciting treat.

I'm guessing these were dupes from gcrl's Davey Lopes collection, and I'm certainly glad he passed them down to me: coach cards really need to make a comeback.

Trainer cards, not so much (though I'll always take them for the sheer oddity of it all).

Perhaps a couple decades from now, people will be looking back at 2010s pop culture with a sort of wistful eye (and I'll probably be one of those people deriding it).

Heck, I'm already a bit nostalgic for A&G's Dude inserts, and those just came out last year. I think Barber Dude here from gcrl brings me up to a dozen Dudes, which means I still have a long way to go to complete the 50-card set.

At this pace, I'll probably have it completed by around 2030 or so, and by then I'll be one of those middle-aged coots waxing nostalgic about the good old days of the 1990s.