Blame it on The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book. There are thousands of unusual cards. We've all seen them. For years, whenever I came across an out of the ordinary card, I would put it in an album I labeled "interesting cards." At first it was just great names - Moose Skowron, Choo Choo Coleman, Oil Can Boyd, Fair Hooker. Then I just started including anything unusual - Oscar Gamble's awesome hair, the '52 Topps Gus Zernial and Clyde King cards, '64T Ray Sadecki (hilarious to us 9-year old's back in the day), dual sport guys (Conley, Debusschere, Jordan - Brian or Michael, Deion, Bo), Herb Washington as a pinch runner only, memorable physical specimens (Walt No Neck Williams, Don Mossi), at least six players holding their own card on a card, Eddie Waitkus (the Natural), Jim Morris (the Rookie), lots of cards with bats breaking, players clowning, props. I filled an entire binder and also two 800-count boxes. It's amazing how many cards, especially once the "stop and pose" practice ended, are "interesting." It sure beats the hatless head shots that seemed to dominate the 60's sets. I also have a binder dedicated to great action shots - power hitters connecting, leaping catches, diving catches, flying double play turns, home plate collisions. I'm a set collector at heart but these diversions from my primary collecting focus give me (and my grandkids) a lot of enjoyment.
|