Nearly a glitch in the Matrix - feat. Kirby Puckett

I made this 2006 Fleer Greats Decade Greats Puckett a keeper out of a 25 card dollar dig at a card show where I was charged $20 - I have Puckett rubber stamped as a Hall of Fame legend to collect from the junk wax era and this retro card from the 2000s ends up a little more unique, where it goes into my stadium project.

Like my last post, I thought the same image on one card was used for another card and sure enough Puckett's 1988 Fleer card used nearly the same image - maybe it makes a little more sense where Fleer [or Upper Deck, which had bought out Fleer in 2005] would be able to dig around and look for an archive of images to use.

On first glance, the pictures on the cards are virtually the same where they could have been taken seconds from each other - the only wrinkle that makes the images slightly different are Puckett's eyes, where the retro Fleer card has him looking towards the side, while the 1988 Fleer card has his eyeballs sort of looking downward.

TTM autographs received: Charlie Hough

The former big league knuckleballer signed my cards in just about a week - I've gotten him in-person before, where he has dutifully signed my cards, but wanted to send a couple of cards [1984 Donruss and 1990 Leaf] I don't think I ever got him to sign.

1988 Fleer Dennis Rodman #43

I was searching for a few Rodman videos on YouTube and was inspired to pick up his rookie card - which is probably realistically valued, but I would have thought would be worth $50 instead of $10 or whatever.

Rodman is just an old depraved man now who likes to get DUIs while taking vacations in North Korea - but back in the mid 1990s, Rodman made collecting rebounds his thing on the court.

He also showed up at his book signings in drag, had an outsized personality with a made for TV movie about his life, was an ‘it’ guy to sign autographs at card shows - everyone kind of wanted a piece of him and he ate it all up at one point.

Baseball became my sport to watch and to collect, but when it came to looking over to other spectator sports - maybe an obvious thing was to gravitate to the personalities, the pros who made the news away from the court.

Fairfield red jumbo pack recap

Fairfield red jumbo pack of 100 cards [$4.99 each at Target] - these repacks guarantee three 'vintage' cards from the 50's, 60's and 70s, though I'm not holding my breath.

I thought I was over these things but I'm fascinated with just wanting a brick of cards to flip through - I'd probably buy four or five of these at one time if I knew there was a real good mix of cards from over the years.

However, pulling cards from the 'junk wax years' get redundant quickly - how much more 1987 Topps, 1989 Topps and 1990 K-Mart Superstar cards can I really take in without just wanting to hurl the cards against the wall?

I say this tongue firmly planted in cheek - but I just don't think it's fair that a company can prey on the hoarding aspects of this baseball card collector.

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1989 Topps Glossy Rookies Ron Gant #9

1989 Topps Steve Peters #482

1989 Topps Jeff Blauser #83 - my opinion on a 23-year old set may not matter, but these cards have no redeeming quality; the images lacked a certain sharpness, were often dark and drab.
1989 Topps Oddibe McDowell #183
1989 Topps Doyle Alexander #77

1989 Topps Steve Curry #471
1989 Topps Larry Owen #87
1989 Topps Jim Leyland #284
1989 Topps Terry Kennedy #705
1989 Topps Wayne Tolleson #714
1992 Leaf Ramon Martinez #297
1992 Leaf Jose Offerman #322

1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Joey Hamilton #701
1996 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Pete Schourek #114
1994 Upper Deck Gregg Jefferies #265
1993 Upper Deck Phil Plantier #774
1996 Upper Deck Felipe Lira #71
1989 Donruss Rick Honeycutt #328
1990 Score Bobby Rose #604
1987 Donruss Mike Moore #70
1992 Donruss Scott Sanderson #227
1991 Donruss Kevin Elster #304
1990 Topps Willie Fraser #477
1991 Upper Deck Greg Blosser #70
1991 Donruss Tim Crews #294
1999 Topps Carl Pavano #264
1990 Donruss Jack Armstrong #544
1989 Fleer Bryn Smith #394
1999 Topps John Jaha #307 x2
1999 Topps Kerry Ligtenberg
2000 Topps Chrome Francisco Cordova #171
1992 Fleer Bobby Bonilla / Will Clark #699
1987 Donruss Jimmy Key #244

1991 Topps Larry Andersen #761
1992 Pinnacle Gregg Olson #61
1991 Topps Juan Agosto #703
1994 Upper Deck Ryan Klesko #64
1990 Donruss Jeff Reardon #119
1992 Upper Deck Kirk McCaskill #128
1987 Donruss Glenn Braggs #337
1989 Topps Terry Blocker #76
1990 Topps Jeff Reed #772
1992 Upper Deck Kurt Stillwell #705
1991 Leaf Pat Borders #23
1990 Fleer Luis De Los Santos #105
1991 Fleer Ultra Jerome Walton #70
1992 Score Jerome Walton #457
1997 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Chris Snopek #77
1988 Topps Benito Santiago #7
1987 Topps All-Stars Wade Boggs #18

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2001 Upper Deck David Ortiz #129

1969 Topps Bill Stoneman #67 - this card is the 'vintage one,' though I have it already and I got it signed through the mail.

1977 Topps Carl Morton #24

1977 Topps Jerry Koosman #300
1981 Topps Ron Reed #376
1985 Topps Greg Minton #45
1990 K-Mart Superstars Wade Boggs #19
1990 K-Mart Superstars Mickey Tettleton #24
1990 K-Mart Superstars Dennis Eckersley #29
1990 K-Mart Superstars Tony Gwynn #5
1987 Hygrade Baseball's All-Time Greats Bob Feller NNO

2005 Upper Deck ESPN Mike Piazza #56
1991 Donruss Dave Righetti #275
1991 Donruss Geno Petralli #137
1993 Donruss Jeff Brantley #100

2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Chris Chambliss #13
2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Ivan Rodriguez #49
2003 Leaf Certified Materials Richard Hidalgo #74
1991 Donruss Ivan Calderon #203
1993 Leaf Jose Mesa #374
1980 Topps Bill Stein #226
1994 Fleer Ultra Randy Myers #462
1993 Topps Daryl Boston #399
1993 Topps Terry Pendleton #650
1995 Donruss Tom Gordon #494

1993 Topps Stadium Club Jeff Bagwell #384
1989 Donruss John Dopson #392
1989 Donruss Rick Aguilera #526
1993 Topps Albert Belle #635
1993 Topps Stadium Club Brian Harper #95
1988 Fleer Bill Long #404
1988 Fleer Shawon Dunston #419
1988 Fleer Mike Campbell #372
1988 Fleer Dan Gladden #12
1988 Fleer Bruce Ruffin #313
1988 Fleer Mike LaCoss #86
1988 Fleer Wally Joyner #493
1988 Fleer Rob Mallicoat #452
1988 Fleer Mario Diaz / Clay Parker #649
1988 Fleer Keith Hernandez #136
1987 Topps Bill Swift #67
1987 Topps Dan Schatzeder #789
1987 Topps Astros Leaders #531
1987 Topps Chuck Tanner #593
1987 Topps Ronn Reynolds #471
1987 Topps Ted Simmons #516
1987 Topps Dave Gumpert #487
1987 Topps Scott Bankhead #508
1987 Topps Scott Sanderson #534
2004 Upper Deck Morgan Ensberg #136

Featured autographs - Mike Fitzgerald

"He looks All-American, mom and apple pie."

Former Major League catcher Mike Fitzgerald spent one lone season with the Angels in 1992 and threw out the first pitch before Wednesday's game against the Washington Nationals - while waiting for Fitzgerald to show up to sign autographs around the third inning, I gave a extra card to the mother / son standing behind me.

However, the gesture seemed pointless since Fitzgerald he had a stack of his cards to hand out -I thought they would be personal testimony cards, but they seemed to be regular issue Topps, Donruss, Fleer, etc from over the years.

I guess he was a semi-regular catcher who played in the junk wax era, so he's got to have a lot of cards out - whether collectors wanted them or not.

Fitzgerald signed the two cards I did have for him as he pointed to the 1984 Donruss and said, "oh, that is my rookie card."

The Angels handler who sits with and chats up the former Angels signers kind of nodded her her head to say, 'I see.'

"At least that is what the collectors say," Fitzgerald said.