1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heros #8 - Luke Appling

While this particular card didn't introduce me to Dick Perez, the fact that Luke Appling's card comes first in my blog will allow me to introduce some of my favorite cards around. These are the Donruss Diamond King style cards that are card versions of Dick Perez's oil paintings. Perez is a painter for both Donruss and the Baseball Hall of Fame and probably my upbringing in the Junk-Wax era makes me love these style cards in a similar manner my mom's suburban yuppie upbringing brought about her love for Norman Rockwell collectible plates. These cards and the plates are similar in that they're probably poo-pooed by art aficionados as kitsch and in the fact that only a few of them actually carry massive amounts of value outside of certain circles. But, nonetheless this is the blog's introduction to the beautiful kitsch that is Perez's contribution to my collection: a 1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heros Luke Appling.

Aparicio Collection So Far

Luis Aparicio is another of those hall of famers that I'm collecting without a real emotional attachment to as of yet. Obviously pulling the right card or finding one that is incredible can change my emotional involvement with a player, but as of yet he's a lot like Walt Alston in my collection - important because of his place in Baseball History and essential to a Hall of Fame collection, but not a primary focus.

Here is what I've got so far: a 2001 UD Hall of Famers and doubles of the 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen set.

1969-70 Bazooka All-Time Greats: Cap Anson

Cap Anson is one of those Hall of Famers that I know solely through two sources of my nerdy childhood - Ken Burns' documentary and a Gigantic Baseball Encyclopedia I pored through to no end as that baseball mad kid. There wasn't even a chance for Topps to do one of my favorite things, the turn back the clock feature. Topps couldn't turn back the clock on Cap, because Cap existed before the Topps clock was wound up. But, this Anson card comes from the Topps era: 1969-70 Bazooka All-Time Greats.

The card on the left is my card. But, when I purchased this card I bought it as the 1963 Bazooka card and later found out that I had not in fact purchased the 1963 Bazooka card as I thought (pictured right). For awhile I figured I had just picked up a forgery. The card is on thick cardboard and looked like it was hand cut, so I chalked it up to my not following the caveat emptor rule of eBay shopping. But, in doing this blog I decided to do a little more research and found out that it was part of the 1969-70 Bazooka set.

Originally, the cards were attached to a box and looked like this (on left). But, since some kid in the late sixties or early seventies wanted the card, not the box he cut it off and kept it separately. I can't blame the kid because that's what I would have done as a kid. At least when he cut it, he cut it in such a way that I can get it in to one of the Tobacco Card Ultra-Pro sleeves for keeping sake. Besides that, strip cards were often cut in the 20s and 30s so it's not uncommon. Unfortunately though it cuts some of the value out of the card, but it's a nice piece of history nonetheless.
 

Sparky

My Dad went to Arizona State for his masters and has drilled into my head the love of Sparky. While his Sparky is a Disney style devil, the Sparky I'm collecting is a manager that won the Series 3 times: twice before I was born, but once since I've existed and one since I was at least alive. Even though his last world series win was captured when I was one year old I still had an affinity for him when I was younger. Honestly, I don't have a natural connection to Sparky Anderson as a manager, but some of his cards are fantastic. Right now I don't have any of the ones that I loved as a kid, but my collection does have a couple that I like. First, the 1981 Donruss card is great because I like that set. Second, the 1987 Topps card is awesome because I love that set. Beyond the beauty of the faux wood grain, that Friendly's connection to the 1987 Topps set runs really deep in my veins. The 1991 Topps card is a good one because 1991 runs smack dab in the middle of my 1987-1993 collecting hoarding era. If you've read my blog at all you'll know that 1987 was the first taste of collecting that I got and that 1994's strike broke my heart. Hence, I consider 1987-1993 my childhood collection. All others aside from those six years I consider my more mature collecting. That is a completely arbitrary line of demarcation, but it's how I break up my collecting strategy. Here are the three Sparky Andreson cards I have so far:

The Walt Alston Collection...

Walt Alston is one of those Hall Of Famers that I really don't know. He was a manager for some World Series Winning teams that featured some people I'm more familiar with. However, since Walt is a Hall of Fame member I'm collecting him and I'll learn more as I go along. So far though I've got 3 Alston cards: (2) 1969 Topps and (1) 1971 Topps. One of the 1969 Topps is in worse shape than the other; but, for the moment these are the three Alston cards I have:

Roberto Alomar Collection Thus Far...

1989 Bowman

Roberto Alomar has an interesting place in my heart. First of all, he went into the Hall of Fame as a Blue Jay playing under one of the people I detest the most in baseball - Cito Gaston. A) Cito Gaston didn't pitch Mike Mussina in the All-Star Game at Camden Yards in 1993 and B) he coached Carlos Delgado. Now, from an honest perspective Carlos Delgado isn't a half-bad guy. However, in the 1995 season he went up to rob a home run in an Orioles-Blue Jays game during batting practice and popped me in the face with his glove. The whole crowd booed him but that offered no solace to the fat lip I received in BP. Besides that, there was the whole spitting instance in Baltimore. But, nonetheless, Alomar is a deserved Hall of Famer and so, I collect him. Here is my collection so far: 1989 Bowman, 1990 Topps Stickers, with Wade Boggs on the back, 1992 Donruss Triple Play, 2005 Fleer Tradition and 2012 Panini Cooperstown.

1985 Woolworth Topps Grover Alexander

The sole Grover Cleveland Alexander card I have is this 1985 Woolworth Topps #2. Was 1985 the dawn of the Junk Wax Era? It might've been too early to legitimately call it a junk-wax card but when stores like K-Mart and Woolworth started to produce cards (through Topps) the mechanisms of the Junk Wax Era were at least being installed. While Woolworth was beginning to take steps toward its decades long slow death march in the mid 1980's it managed to put out a card set that isn't half bad. The card has nice coloring and while rather basic is a descent way of getting ahold of a player's card at an affordable price. Some of the strip cards from the 20's are affordable when they're in bad shape I guess, but this isn't a bad starter piece to get started on collecting Grover Cleveland Alexander.