To finally be able to send out a fee request to Luzinski, I needed to send a copy of the 1984 Donruss - so I ended up picking another copy from an online card outlet, look for the card to arrive in the mail and eventually send it back out, with at least another card I picked up in-person.
On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me to see the Philadelphia Phillies bludgeon their way into a World Series title - I couldn't even watch most of the games because my streaming service didn't have FS1, but Rhys Hoskins was on fire and NLCS MVP Bryce Harper delivered on cue.
With their 'band box' of a ballpark, no lead was ever safe - in their National League Championship Series against the San Diego Padres.
If Harper had continued to put up numbers and the Phillies continued to flounder, maybe that would be ideal where I didn't always like the player [who may be cocky, arrogant, and gave people reasons to hate on him] - but perhaps it's time for Harper to come full circle, from his Sports Illustrated cover in high school to all the years he has starred in the major leagues, with some great years and kind of up-and-down seasons.
If he wins the World Series, maybe he vaults up to just a higher sentiment than certain other guys who haven't won it yet - it's the case already I guess, but Harper wouldn't have anything more to prove in his MLB career if he ends up hoisting the WS trophy above his head.
On the other hand, this World Series could be another close, but no cigar set-ups for the long respected professional baseball lifer - where things happen [during in game situations, in these postseason matchups] and his 2022 Astros ends up being another great Baker led team that doesn't take the final step to a World Series championship.
I think I expect another glum, post series interview with some national baseball writer at the end of this - but cautiously optimistic, where Baker's Astros play well enough and follow through with a championship celebration instead.
I was browsing for a certified autograph of Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt on the eBay app and saw one listed by COMC's account - I wondered if the same card [2021 Topps Finest Finest Moments Autographs] would be available on their Web site and made the decision to commit to pick up what I assumed was the same card.
While I've had the card for at least five or six years, I never thought about getting it signed until this year - I don't have many, if any vintage cards to round up, but it may be a novelty to send out a 60-year old card to someone still alive to sign.
Even though the cards weren't randomly inserted in packs, due to a little FOMO - I picked up a copy of each for my micro-mini Harper personal collection.
I wouldn't say pulling one is common, but I’ve seen the 'screaming variation' found enough times through $5 repack boxes that I wanted one outright - so at the very least, I don’t go fiending out trying to find my own copy of the card.
The screaming Harper is 1 of 5 factory rookie variation cards inserted as a bonus - the card to the right ['front leg up'] is the factory set variation of Harper’s super short print rookie card from 2012 Topps Series 2.
Presumably the factory set variation was issued because Topps wanted traditional set collectors to have a Harper card with 2012 sets - even though it just isn't the flagship SSP Harper card coveted by serious collectors / speculators.
Getting the card eventually inked up justified the $0.25 purchase - regardless of how it ultimately looked.
Since he worked for ESPN for 12 years, I've had Kruk's cards in my 'media guys' box for seemingly the longest time - then moved the cards over to my Philadelphia Phillies box when he was hired as part of the broadcast team.
Because I was never able to get the chance to get Kruk in-person, he became a 'scratch the itch' guy for me - especially when I saw some TTM successes posted this past season.
When Kruk was on ESPN, particularly on the Sunday Night Baseball crew, I may have seen him in-person a grand total of one time and he didn't feel like signing - the same time, I think I did end up getting former teammate Curt Schilling, so regardless of everything else, the former MLB ace was a slightly better get than the slick hitting, portly fan favorite.
I've probably settled into looking for very good-excellent vintage rookie cards - so this copy isn't one of those high-end examples serious collectors or auction houses may showcase.
Still I'd like to think there is more value in any particular purchase involving sometimes notable old cards - regardless of apparent quality.
Carlton was one of the greatest MLB pitchers of all time - yet it's more interesting to me to discover he may be some sort of kook with some unique, if radical views about the world.
I guess I knew of him as a rank-and-file guy who pitched through the junk wax era - so he was someone whose cards seemed to always kind of 'just there' through the masses of random baseball cards produced from 1986-1992.
As a more substantial long-term project, I've tried to focus into finding PC cards that I hope will make my overall collections a bit more well-rounded - even if the cards feature more of the old-timers, rather than the latest and greatest players from the past five years.
The idea of owning the particular card was probably kind of foreign and strange to me - I assumed a raw, ungraded card was worth at least $200 at one point and it just wasn't realistic to grab one.
Obviously a Schmidt rookie card would be much more significant if he was the only one pictured on a 'stand alone' card - as is, maybe I just don't appreciate the quaintness of the centerpiece player [John David Hilton], who played in a full season of MLB games [161] spread over parts of 4 years and hit .213 with an OPS of .564.
I want to say I mainly remember Cey roughly 25 years ago because he was pictured on ads posted in the sports page of my local paper - touting / endorsing some kind of get rich quick investment scheme with baseball cards.
Schmidt is probably considered the best third baseman of all time though Cey was a fine player to be sharing this card with John David Hilton and Schmidt - I'm not sure if he was ever considered a national star back in his day, but Cey was a Dodgers slugging third baseman who finished his 17-year career with 316 home runs.
As is, Howard has probably been considered one of the worst MLB players relative to the contract he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010 - while he still had occasional pop in his bat, his ability to hit otherwise has disappeared [primarily dealing with defensive shifts and his inability to hit lefties].
At first base, Howard seemed to be more of a big oaf with no defensive value - if advanced metrics are to be believed for all the counting numbers he has put up, has only been worth 14.9 WAR [according to Baseball Reference] over the course of his career.
The random certified autograph card features a sticker - I’ll flip a coin to see if I put this in my Rookie of the Year [2004 National League] collection or my MVP [2006 National League] collection.
Though Thon bounced back to enjoy a solid playing career - the beaning derailed his ascent and literally changed his perspective as a professional ballplayer.
I got Thon's certified autograph [$4] to add to my all-time Angels autograph collection - at SCN, there isn't much to go on with zero successes reported out of 23 requests.
Presumably Thon isn’t really a tough autograph, just a retired player who might not typically be accessible because he lives in Puerto Rico - and may not be focused in coaching or doing something stateside.
There doesn't seem much to Nola's autograph, though I'm glad I got my request back sooner than later - the 22-year old looks to be the ace of a rebuilding Phillies team.
If I had the time, I’d go through the cards several times just to see which ones I’d weed out for now - as far as the Burrells, I want to say that cards caught my eye, not exactly the player pictured on them.
1999 E-X Century Pat Burrell #3 of 15 - E-X Quisite insert; the player image is die-cut and there might be a faux shadow box effect going on; according to the information found on BaseballCardPedia.com, the inserts are ‘printed on cards with an unique interior die-cut design.’ The background on my card is cracked.
