John Kruk: 1994 Select Sample

Well. Sometime in the last couple of years I showed off the regular base 1994 Select (by Score) card depicted here. This one is a Sample. So it's really special and probably relatively rare in the scheme of things. I'm not trying to stay it's a $2.50 card. No, it's probably under a buck, which might be what I paid for it. But any card showing Kruk fielding, napping, and at bat is a winner. Score!

Do you collect sample cards in general? Not just for your PC, but just to have an example in your collections?

What do you think of the new Cleveland Baseball Team name? Guardians is neutral, sure, but I find meh.

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Darryl Strawberry: 2012 Gypsy Queen Gypsy Queen Back

600th Post!

This is the 2012 Gypsy Queen mini card for Darryl Strawberry. I think I'm a hypocrite because I really can't stand these sets, yet keep getting cards that are missing from my collection. Maybe hypocrite isn't the right word, but you know what I mean.

But this one is "special" because it's got the "Gypsy Queen" back. Ooooooh. Ahhhhhh. So it's the 2012 Gypsy Queen mini , er, variation Gypsy Queen back. Great!

Who's better looking? The Gypsy Queen back or the Starbucks mermaid thingy?

 

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HOF Luis Aparicio

1974 is probably the first really beautiful card set of the 1970s. Thinking about the decade as a whole, I think I'd rank them as follows: 1974, 1976, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1978, and I guess, 1970. 1971, 1972 and 1975 are ineligible for ranking because they are so awful. 

This is the final Topps card for Luis Aparicio. It's an exceedingly boring photograph, saved by the design, which is just about perfect. Aparicio was elected to the HOF in 1984 by the BBWAA in his sixth year of eligibility. I'm still not exactly sure what makes someone a HOFer six years or ten years or 50 years after he first appeared on the ballot. He got 84.6% of the vote. 

He played 18 years with Chicago, Boston, and Baltimore and was a Rookie of the Year, a 13-time All-Star and was given nine Gold Gloves. In 1966, he was on the World Series winning team from Baltimore. In 1959 he was the runner-up MVP to Nellie Fox. But if you're into revisionist history, he was 19th best in the league per "WAR". Something called Camilo Pascual had the most in 1959, at 8.6. Never heard of him. Ironically, Pascual finished 19th in the MVP voting that year. 

In his career, Aparicio had six more strikeouts (742) than walks (736) and nine more triples (92) than home runs (83).

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John Kruk: 1994 Red Foley

This is the 1994 Red Foley Team Leaders card depicting John Kruk and a no-hitting pitcher called Tommy Greene. 

I was initially surprised when I got this to see that the Red Foley back wasn't blank! John Kruk's text does not disappoint. 

How did you feel about the heinous All-Star uniforms? I guess I've stated now how I feel. If you're a team follower, rather than like me, a follower of the sport, do you see your team as buyers or sellers? 

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Darryl Strawberry: 2004 Donruss Elite Team

This card certainly did not scan very well! It's the 2004 Donruss Elite Team, SN to 1500. I scored number 530. The card features Strawberry along with Gary Carter and Dwight Gooden and has some text about them on the back. 

I'm really embarrassed by the scan. But it's the card's fault, really, not mine. Stupid shiny card.

I was a big fan of Gooden and (obvs) Strawberry but I never really was a fan of Carter. My immature adolescent petty self hated his hair. 

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HOF Willie Mays

This blog has highlighted a lot of Hall of Famers in the last week and I think this is the first no-brainer. Willie Mays. His 1973 Topps card recalls 1963 and predicts 1983. The stats on the back are something else, and this is a vast improvement over the 1972 design. 

Not really sure I should really talk about Mays at all because his career is so well-known; it's just kind of a travesty his career ended this way, rather than with the Giants with whom he had spent the previous 21 years. He went in on his first ballot earning 94.7% of the vote. Which feels low.  He did play in some 1973 games but was not issued a 1974 base Topps card. Which is sad to me since 1974 is the best set of that decade. He missed one year, 1953, for Military Service. Looking at his 1951-1952 stats and 1954 and after, you can safely say he came back a better ball player. 

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HOF Hoyt Wilhelm

Yes, I want the last Topps cards of all MLB Hall of Famers, no I'm not paying the stupid prices that some of these high number cards from 1972 go for. This is why I'm showing here the .18 cent Topps Archives reproduction of Hoyt Wilhelm's last Topps cards. See yesterday's post (and those from Tuesday and Wednesday, too) which will explain why I've probably been blocked, disowned, and VooDoo dolled by Night Owl cards. 

Wilhelm went in on the 1985 ballot in his eighth year of being eligible. An eight-time All-Star, two-time ERA winner, and 1954 World Series winner. In 21 years, Wilhelm played for the White Song, Giants, Orioles, Braves, Dodgers, Indians, Cubs, Cardinals, and Angels. Did I leave any team out? 

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