2011 TOPPS DIAMOND DILLON GEE After my previous Mets misadventures with the new Topps set, I resolved to give it another go. And my luck improved-- I pulled this sparkly, shiny, spangly card of Dillon Gee. It was so shiny, sparkly, and spangly that I could only say one thing upon pulling it: “Gee.” You [...]
2005 TOPPS ALL-TIME FAN FAVORITES ED KRANEPOOL This card is like one of those off-kilter dreams where you're falling in love with your spouse, but it's not really your spouse. Maybe your dream spouse is shorter than she is in waking life. Or maybe he has more charm and humor. Invariably, you wake up feeling [...]
2001 FLEER E-X BRIAN COLE ROOKIE AUTO Last week, I heard someone make an offhand comment on DC talk radio to the effect that the Mets are a “cursed franchise.” The hosts then moved on to a discussion of why the Wizards can’t win on the road or why the Caps can’t score, or some [...]
2011 TOPPS Lucas Duda Leap with me, if you will, into the present. The kids were looking at the pegs of Pokemon cards in Target over the weekend, and the 2011 Topps cards caught my eye. “The new cards are out! The new cards are out!” I yelled. Well, actually I didn't. But I did [...]
This is all about the gum. It could be about a lot of different things, I suppose. The vibrant Laughlin artwork. The earlier iterations of the set (1967 and 1970), or the subsequent update (1978). Maybe the trajectory of the Topps monopoly… Or perhaps the 1969 World Series itself. Which I suspect you all know [...]
1970 Mets Chemtoys My memories of these are tactile. I don't see them in my mind's eye. I roll them over in my mind's hand. They were sold in league-specific vending boxes, 144 of them packed together. And after a few days on the shelf, the Woodwards and Ferraras greatly outnumbered the Roses and Clementes. [...]
1978 TOPPS BRUCE BOISCLAIR #277 Deadline was approaching, and I was looking for a Zen route out of a writer's rut. I resolved to do a Google image search on “Topps Mets cards” and write a piece on the first hit. And the internet being the magnificent animal that it is, the initial image this [...]
1970 TOPPS NL BATTING LEADERS #61 Mets’ fans of the ‘60s must have thought that Topps league-leader cards were designed to be cruel. These cards just rubbed it in the face of the orange and blue. “Where are your Koufaxes and Mantles and Gibsons?” they shouted mockingly from multi-paned windows. And out in the street, [...]
1979 TOPPS SERGIO FERRER #397 Someone had to stand as a symbol of the colorless ineptitude of the late '70s Mets. Sure, the practical avenue would have been to focus on ownership and/or management. But I was a kid. I needed a more visceral symbol. I needed Sergio Ferrer. In 1979, I heaped all my [...]
1971 TOPPS KEN BOSWELL #492 I have a thing about bridges. An armchair analyst would probably trace it back to my childhood trips across the Throgs Neck (or Frog’s Neck, as I called it), on the road to Uncle Buddy’s house in New Jersey. My older brother would work hard to convince me that we [...]
1974 TOPPS TOM SEAVER #80 It was all too rare during the Golden Age of Topps (1952-1980) for star players to get cards that matched their luster. I think of cards like the 1967 Mickey Mantle. I’ve seen more flattering photos on DWI mug shots. The 1973 Willie Mays did its best to make a [...]