Old School, Y'All

Throwback Thursday? Sure, why not? 

Awhile back, I reached out to Jon from A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts to ask about some extra early '80s Topps album stickers he had acquired in the comments section on a post he did for APTBNL. I am super excited about these two stacks of stickers that I get to put, unstuck, in my Cardinals binders soon. But as often seems to be the case, it was the bonus cards that had my eyeballs bugging out.

Look at these guys! Look at these haircuts!

I spent some time this spring reading The Breaks of the Game for the first time, which is kind of strange considering my lifelong fixation on Portland's only Big 3 pro sports franchise. This definitely kickstarted my interest in working on filling in the missing parts of my Blazers collection, which is mostly from my early childhood dating back to the start of the franchise (which was before my time.)

This card was printed in 1973, but in a few short months in Media Days all across the countries, young NBA players will still be making this pose.

Dave Twardzik, forever Bill Walton's lil' buddy.

Sidney Wicks was a classic example of the star player putting up big numbers on a bad team. It's rarely fair to completely blame the player for the lack of talent around him, though.

Big thanks to Jon for all of the Cardinals and Blazers needs!

Panini Sticker Project

No, I'm not trying to do a Fleer Sticker Project, but thanks to a donation from a friend (thanks, Kevin!) I working on putting together a 1990 Panini MLB sticker album. My interest in sticker albums was piqued at an early age when I fell for the 25 cent 1986 Topps sticker packets at the neighborhood grocery/variety store. Those Topps stickers were split into two segments for most of the players, but the star players would get one dedicated sticker that was cut in an oval shape. You knew you had something special when you'd get an egg-shaped sticker.

I seem to remember Panini overtaking Topps in the sticker album racket in 1988, but I also think it came with an increased cost. With several dirt cheap options containing actual baseball cards (hello, 1988 Donruss!), I lost interest in buying packets and putting together albums that were not going to be worth anything, unlike my precious Gregg Jefferies rookie cards.

I still really like the idea of putting together sticker albums, however. Panini stickers have always looked nice, and I jumped at the chance to play with 20 year old stickers. I haven't put together a want list yet (don't tell anyone, but I am planning on buying a box), but I am at least doing well in the Royals department. As you can see by the "1989 Highlights" page, however, I still have a lot of work to do.

If anyone has any extra 1990 Panini stickers burning a hole in their closet, you know how to find me.

Congrats, Phils

Breaking News! The Phillies have won the 2008 World Series! Okay, well, you likely don't come to Cards on Cards to get all the latest news, so I don't feel like I'm slighting anyone by not posting this until more than 30 hours after the final out. Truth be told, I felt the end of the series was rather lousy and not because it wasn't the Rays who won. I wanted to see more baseball, and furthermore, I wanted to see an entire baseball game. I'm sure it was cookie cutter perfect for those who don't have the attention span for a full baseball game, but it had the opposite effect on me. I was hoping for either a ton of extra innings or for the series to be extended so that, whatever the outcome, the series could end with a normal game.

The Vet makes me think of the Eagles, their punishing defense, and descriptions of the turf, which by all accounts was like concrete and shards of broken glass with a little bit of green fuzz on top. Oh, yeah, and the fans... the same Philly fans that saw fit to boo every single Rays player that came to bat. I think I'm only on board with the rampant booing and unruly behavior when the Cowboys are in town.

I was hoping to find a Charlie Manuel card to show with this post, but it looks like my first Portland Beavers team set was from 1988 and not 1987 like I had previously thought. The Beavers were actually the Phillies AAA affiliate in the mid-80s (if you perform a vertical flip on the sticker logo above you basically get the Beavers Phils-era logo) but had just signed on with the Twins during their championship year in '87 and designated Manuel as their new manager. His players included current Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, Billy "Moneyball" Beane, and Pat Casey, the Oregon State Beavers coach who has recently won back to back NCAA titles. You can read more about that team here and here.

Random Old-School Post o' the Day

Just a quick update here from Cards on Cards central. Bob Brenly, Chicago Cubs color commentator, has many interests outside of baseball.


Who knew? This is hilarious. They may as well have written: "Bob extracts pleasure from college basketball."
"Bob has been known to enjoy a cheeseburger from time to time."
"Bob has two dozen pairs of socks."


Stickers are awesome. This is the lid (underside) of the first 3200 ct. box I ever owned, back before they came with separate lids. This lid is attached and folds over the top, with flaps that fit inside the box. You can see here what teams I was interested in back then.