Saturday, June 3, 2017

Frankenset Redux, Page 2: Numbers 10-18


Page #2 (Numbers 10-18):

Completion Status: 9/9

Numbers Needed: None



The Players

1994 Collector's Choice #10 Butch Huskey

Signing for the Mets faithful. 



1987 Fleer Limited Edition #11 Glenn Davis

A cameo-laden oddball featuring a shot taken during the 1986 All-Star Game festivities, presumably.



2000 Topps Gallery #12 Ray Lankford

Ray Lankford doing his best Spiderman impression.



1991 Topps #13 Mariano Duncan

Turning two over The Wizard. 



2015 Topps Opening Day #14 Michael Taylor

The real question is: did he make the catch? 



1994 Topps #15 Jay Bell

Double dipping in San Diego.



2007 Upper Deck First Edition #16 Alvin Colina

Alvin Colina -- a catcher who appeared in exactly two major-league games -- featured on perhaps the most distinguished rookie card ever.



2016 Stadium Club #17 Raul Mondesi

The greatest trophy of them all. 



2013 Topps Opening Day #18 Jemile Weeks

Celebrating with Cespedes.



Stats

Cards by Decade:

1980's -- 1 (Running total: 1)
1990's -- 3 (Running total: 8)
2000's -- 2 (Running total: 3)
2010's -- 3 (Running total: 6)

Mini-collection Hits:

Double Dips -- 2 (Running total: 4)
At the Wall -- 2 (Running total: 3)
Autographs -- 1 (Running total: 1)
Award Show -- 1 (Running total: 1)



Best Cameo(s)


Glenn Davis was a fine player in his day, but the cameos from Keith Hernandez and Ryne Sandberg upstage the poor guy on his own baseball card.



This Magic Moment


Dating this particular card turned out to be a tougher task than I thought, because it turns out that former Padre catcher Dan Walters was never the lead runner in any Pirates-Padres double plays in 1993.

It took some digging, but I think I found it: I'm guessing this shot was taken during the bottom of the 7th inning of a contest at old Jack Murphy Stadium on April 15, 1993. Walters was forced out at second by Jay Bell on a ground ball from Phil Plantier, a play in which Bell (presumably) tried and failed to turn two.

The Pirates would go on to win in a 13-inning thriller that afternoon, 5-4.



Funniest Card


What's he got against Mike Scioscia, anyways?



Lessons in Card Backs


I already knew that Raul Mondesi Jr. became the first player to ever make his MLB debut in a World Series, but what I didn't know was that his father had starred in more than 1,500 games over the course of 13 seasons without ever making it to the Fall Classic.

Lucky kid.



Best of the Rest

2010 Bowman Prospects #BP-12 Bo Bowman

I'm still giddy over the fact that Bo Bowman actually made an appearance in a Bowman set, but even such an awesome moment of serendipity wasn't enough to knock Ray Lankford out of this page.



Toughest Draw


1995 Topps #17 Dave Nilsson

You'd think it wouldn't get much better than the Commissioner's Trophy and Stadium Club all rolled into one...until you see the LSD trip that is Dave Nilsson's 1995 Topps card.



Second Guessing


1997 Upper Deck #13 Mark Lemke

I'm still waffling over the choice of Lemke over Duncan in my inaugural frankenset.

I love the Lemke because, unlike a lot of my other "interview" mini-collection hits, it features not just a single headset or microphone, but the entire media circus. Still, is it better than a double dip featuring Ozzie Smith himself?

I'm still not sure.



Favorite Card


For now, however, Mariano Duncan earns the distinction of having my favorite card from this particular frankenset page.

Not only do we have a double dip with an awesome cameo, but it also sparks a fair bit of confusion when you consider the fact that both Duncan and Smith are wearing road-red jerseys. I'm led to believe, then, that this shot was taken during a Spring Training game, because I don't think MLB lets teams wear same-colored uniforms during regulation play, do they?

And there's another frankenset page in the books.

Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

Brett Alan said...

Yes, teams do once in a while wear the same color in a game that counts. I remember one night years ago when I watched a Marlins-Mets game with both teams in black...and on a really hot night, too. But, yeah, the card really looks like they're teammates.

Just pulled that Mondesi recently from a marked-down Wal-Mart pack.

shoeboxlegends said...

Another solid nine there Nick! I can see why you struggled with the Nilsson and Lemke cards.