2008 TOPPS SILK CARLOS DELGADO
The first baseball-player silks were distributed by tobacco companies in the early part of the 20th century.
Those early issues (catalogued as S74 and S81, for those of you scoring at home) were actually satin, not silk, and were intended to be sewn into pillow covers and the like. So after a long day of child-laboring and dodging cholera, little Jenny could rest her weary head on the face of Fred Snodgrass, and get a good 4 hours of sleep…
Topps reintroduced silks in their 2007 Turkey Red set, and brought them back again in 2008, creating mini reproductions of cards from the regular set in fabric form. They dropped these into sturdy plastic frames for safe keeping, and serial numbered them out of 50.
There’s a small rectangular window cut out on the front, so that you can touch the “silk” itself.
I’ve run my pointer finger over Carlos Delgado numerous times now, and all I can tell you for sure is that he’s smooth. Silky smooth…
Oh, Carlos – if only your hip was made of finer stuff this all would have turned out differently…