Green day
Late, late tonight, I promise I'll be back with my first Red Sox column since - well, I think since Papelbon whiffed Seth Smith and the Sox rejoiced in the Rockies. (That's my way of saying it's been way too long.) But the basketball has been put away for the summer, the wimpy Lakers appropriately vanquished, and from here on out we'll be all about baseball until the leaves turn. I'm looking forward to it.
In the meantime, I filled in as the DH today at one of my longtime favorite sites, Rich Lederer's BaseballAnalysts, and my guest column concerns a topic that is central to TATB's existence. Jenna Fischer? Lovely guess, but nope. Today, we're talking about . . . baseball cards. Do check it out for a nostalgic dose of dorkiness, and also to learn why that Steve Stroughter card always made the 12-year-old me laugh. And still does.



Dang. Now you're gonna talk baseball, just when I was geared up for your mock NBA draft!
85 Topps was... ahem... the "tops" in my baseball card collecting career. But for god sake. How many Mark Clear's or Bruce Kison's did one child need?
I collected baseball cards from the late 70's to mid 80's without getting much of note (except for a Wade Boggs rookie card which surprsingly doesn't reveal his love for horses!).
Oh, but I collected hockey cards for ONE season--Topps 1979-80. I only collected a few hundred of them, but three of them just so happened to describe a certain rookie by the name of Mr. Wayne Gretzky. I didn't even know I had them until 1992, when I went through them with buddies who had pooled their collections to start selling them at trade shows. Sort of took the wind out of their sails when they realized my long-lost Gretzky cards were worth more than their combined collection!
Ahh, great memories--thanks for restoring them, CF!
Loved the article Chad.I agree 100% on the shift in the card biz.I'm 29 yrs old and collected from '86 until about '92-93 when it just became too much.Over the last year I've started buying a pack of cards here and there,but it'll never be the same. On the '89 UD Griffey... I was born,raised and still live in Burlington,Vt.When he was here with the Vt.Mariners (Double A),my dad and I were at every game. Believe it or not,I have one of the two home run balls he hit with that team. It's autographed also.To this day,even though I'm a rabid Sox fan,he is my all-time fave MLBer.I spent so much time and money trying to acquire that card and never got it. Just a couple of weeks ago I was browsing the Web and decided it was time and I bought the card online.After all these years,it was still calling me. By the way... I've got about 75 Ricky Jordan 1989 cards and 40-50 Gregg Jefferies rookies to trade you for the Thomas/Campusano cards.Let me know if we've got a deal.
-Also...loved the Newell link.Made me think of the great minor league teams/players that I grew up watching here in Vt.The Vt. Reds of the early 80's and the aforementioned Vt. M's of the late 80's were terrific teams that brought a lot of future stars to my town and making my childhood.Barry Larkin,Chris Sabo (another one whose rookie cards screwed me), Paul O'Neill,Griff,Vizquel just to name a few. You have this terrific ability to call up and recapure all these wonderful memories/feelings and I thank you immensely.I didn't discover TATB until about a year and a half ago and now you're my first online stop everyday. Sorry it took me so long to find you and don't ever change a thing.
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