Darryl Strawberry: Indiana Blue Sox issue

This is one of those anonymous, minimal effort Broder-like cards that seemed to be everywhere in the late 1980s. Got these off Sportlots and I'm happy to have them, but I really kind of feel like I'll never fully understand how many of these cards actually exist(ed). Trading Card Database is helpful, but am I alone in feeling confounded with and lost about these cards?

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Bob Lemon: 1954 Bowman

This is a new addition to my new collecting area of Hall of Fame players. This is the 1954 Bob Lemon card which I got from Eric via a twitter sale. Lemon had a fifteen year career all with the Cleveland Indians and was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1976 by the BBWAA.

Compared to the card showing on TCDB, it's a little dirty looking; but it's simply glorious. And it's rounded corners are exactly right for a card that is 20 years older than I am. In fact, by the time I'm 68 I hope I too have rounded corners and am a little dirty!

I particularly love the baseball bat and name on the card back, and the baseball stitching on the card number. Also note the now sadly retired Chief Wahoo logo on Lemon's sleeve. A pure delight of a card!

Thanks Eric!

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Darryl Strawberry: 4 Card Lot

Got these four cards from a Sportlots dealer a while back.

I just can't say no to discs. I said discs. This is logo-less Darryl Strawberry 1987 Key Food Disc, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Key Food, a brand of which I have never heard before.

What's better than a disc? A sticker. This is the 1987 O-Pee-Chee sticker. Nice!

And then this is the other O-Pee-Chee sticker for 1987. Very nice, indeed.

Continuing our 1980s Strawberry cards, this is Score's Young Superstar II card. Never saw this before I don't think back in my collecting heyday; but, man do I really love both the front and back. Classic Mets uniform on the front, and a really awesome smiling portrait photo on the back.

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A New, Additional Collecting Focus

I'm not bored with Darryl Strawberry and John Kruk by any means. But I recently had a good experience buying some vintage cards, which I'll show off in a bit, and decided to add a new collecting area.

Are you wondering what it is? Have you even read this far? Shut up and tell you? It's not exciting or original, but I've decided to try to get one card from every year of Topps. One day I might expand to other makes like Fleer and Donruss, but I'm choosing Topps just for the sheer convenience and length of their production (i.e. monopoly).

The criteria doesn't concern itself so much with the condition of the card though I'd like it to be in as good of condition as possible; but I would prefer if the player was in the Hall of Fame. I think, in theory, even for the older years, it should still be possible to obtain cards that are reasonably priced?  I'm not looking for 1952 Mickey Mantle's and certainly could think of better things to spend that kind of money on. Anyway, if I find I cannot get a card of a HOF player, I will go for a player card for a team that no longer exists (Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Philadelphia A's, etc).

I already have, from when I was a kid and teenager, some cards from the vintage years so I'm happy about that. But the new cards I got from Keith at @CardsFromAttic via a Twitter sale.

The cards are:

1957 Nellie Fox;
1958 Whitey Herzog;
1968 Hoyt Wilhelm;
1970 Topps All-Star Brooks Robinson;
1973 Don Sutton;
1974 Brooks Robinson; and
1974 Harmon Killebrew.

The Fox is a bit roughed up but I love the card. I got the 1970 Brooks Robinson because this particular (Sporting News) All-Star design card is my absolute favorite of all time. And from time to time, especially for the older cards, I may branch out to non-Topps if find a HOF card that strikes my fancy.

I've started a new page for this collection but have not published it yet as I'm still trying to get it in shape. I will do a blog post when it's published and update it as new cards are acquired.

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4 Darryl Strawberry card lot

Picked up these four Darryl Strawberry cards from someone on Sportlots because I could get up to four cards for one reasonably low shipping price. They came swiftly and made my life better. They are

1989 Topps Hills Team MVPs
1990 Topps Hills Hit Men
1993 Upper Deck On Deck
1997 Pinnacle base

I'm not 100% sure what Hills was or still is. A Food? A pet thing? Who cards, the cards are really nice. What do I like? The photographs are good. I particularly like the bat in the design of the 1990 card. I like the field design on the card back; and the 1990 one with the formula for figuring out the Slugging Percentage is neat.

Normally I have disdain for anything Dodgers though I do obviously collect Darryl Strawberry cards in that uniform. This Upper Deck On Deck from 1993 is great. I like cards of player's signing autographs. And the back of this card is almost ironic? "Stay away from bad influences"?  "I like the idea of investigating"? Snark aside, I like this card a lot.

Normally I have disdain for anything Yankees though I do obviously collect Darryl Strawberry cards in that uniform. This card is massively sweet. I love the text on the bottom of the front; all poignant to that franchise.  And for whatever reason, I really like the look on Strawberry's face on the back. While he's older and looks a little tired, it's the grin on his face I find really nice. It seems reflective and humble.

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Darryl Strawberry: 1989 Topps Stickers All-Star

This card! This card is a card and a sticker. it almost looks three-dimensional. Almost? Maybe?

It's another Sportlots 18 cent purchase. It's the 1989 Topps sticker. Strawberry is his All-Star sticker. The bonus is the classic Blue Jays shortstop Tony Fernandez.

When you collected Topps and Panini stickers back in the day did you fill in the sticker books? I know I did.

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Darryl Strawberry: 1990 Star "Ad Card"

Scored this Star "ad card" the other day on eBay! The seller listed this as being from 1990; so I'll go with that for now in the absence of better and more definitive information. There is PSA graded Frank Thomas that lists the years in a range from 1988-1992.

Pretty righteous bubble-blowing card, I think, and also featuring Strawberry in a classic Mets road uniform. There is nothing wrong with this card.

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