2007 BOWMAN HERITAGE JOE SMITH A couple of years back, I shared my top 20 favorite Mets player names. Well every coin has a flip side, so here's a list of my top 10 least-favorite Mets player names of all time. 10. Bill Almon. Bill was no doubt good friends with Jeff Peanu, Jimmy Cashe, [...]
Ah, spring training, when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of a great season to come. The team has provided you with new dress whites, a fresh stiff-brimmed cap, sharp blue spats-- the works. Maybe you'll hold on to your grungy nondenominational batting glove, which saw you through the previous season in good stead... [...]
1994 COLLECTOR'S CHOICE KIRK PRESLEY 1994: The Year in Presley News Lisa Marie Presley married Michael Jackson on May 26, 1994. Which was just exactly as random and weird as it sounds. Lisa Marie and Michael appeared on a December 15 TV special titled “Elvis: The Tribute.” On this long-forgotten/misbegotten show, songs from the [...]
2013 TOPPS SET Bought a box of the new 2013 Topps baseball cards, and I thought I'd share some of the highlights. Forgive me in advance if this week's entry is less Mets-centric than the average post. (I fear that this happy recap might even take a brief detour or two into the Bronx.) COLLATION [...]
1973 TOPPS ALL TIME HOME RUN LEADERS Topps started off the 1973 set emphatically, with this all-time home run leaders card. Here at #1 on the checklist was the pyramid of power: Ruth, Aaron, and Mays. Sure, the capstone would shift a year later, when Aaron's home run 715 landed in the waiting hands of [...]
Welcome to the first installment of Card of the Week's Mystery Met contest. Here's a quick rundown of the rules: The first commenter to name the Mets player pictured here wins this selfsame card, plus a Ya-Gotta-Believicious bonus: a professionally graded 1972 Topps Tug McGraw In Action, in PSA 7 near mint condition. The contest [...]
1990 DONRUSS AQUEOUS TEST BOB OJEDA The 1990 Donruss set committed the dual sins of being both ugly and overproduced. Truth be told, Donruss had been on the road to this set for years. After reaching the Platonic ideal of Donrussness with their 1984 set, the company began cranking up the printing presses each year [...]
2012 TOPPS CHROME CYAN PRINTING PLATE LUCAS DUDA The concept of serial numbering cards gained mainstream hobby acceptance in the early '90s, thanks in large part to the Donruss Elite inserts discussed here. As the decade progressed in a haze of flannel and Seinfeld, the legion of extant card companies kept lowering the limbo stick. [...]
1971 TOPPS COINS TEAM SET From 1961 through 1971, Topps issued at least a single one-per-pack insert each year. Here's a complete list, for those of you keeping score at home: 1961 Magic Rub-Offs 1961 Stamps 1962 Stamps 1963 Peel-Offs 1964 Coins 1965 Embossed 1965 Transfers 1966 Rub-Offs 1967 Pin-Ups 1968 Game 1969 Decals 1969 [...]
1963 FLEER ROGER CRAIG No triskaidekaphobe, our Roger Craig. He started the 1962 season wearing number 38, and ended up with a 10-24 record. By August of 1963, Craig was sporting a 2-20 mark. At that point, I suppose he figured that he could break all the mirrors, walk under all the ladders, and cross [...]
2000 PACIFIC ORNAMENTS MIKE PIAZZA For your holiday pleasure, Card of the Week offers you a Piazza in a pear tree. OK, actually it's a Piazza in a 7 ft. pre-lit artificial tree, but that doesn't scan quite as well. Here's wishing you and yours a holly jolly one!
1989 TOPPS/LJN RANDY MYERS On this date in 1989, “We Didn't Start the Fire” by Billy Joel was in its second week at the top of the Billboard charts, having supplanted Milli Vanilli's “Blame It on the Rain” at the number one spot. Christmas 1989 was to see “Another Day in Paradise” become Phil Collins' [...]