Someones "junk" is someone elses treasure

Several months ago a most generous blogger John of Pursuit of 80's offered up a set he "did not like as much as he thought" and I because my thoughts are far less deep or poignant I asked and received this most unexpected treasure.

John had acquired the 1995 CardToons set of cards (copy written date of 1993 though not released until 1995).

For those not familiar with this set, it was a parody,simple as that. The base set of 95 cards spotlighted almost every star of the day in a caricature rendition with humor and sarcasm flowing freely. There were also several subsets printed including one aptly named Big Bang Bucks (showcasing the 20 highest salaried players on card currency) and Politics in Baseball ( an eleven card set focusing on the problems of baseball at the time).

My personal favorite subset is the Field of Greed (a nine card set) which describes the history of baseball (at the time) labor problems. The most interesting thing about this subset is that when completed and aligned (or put in a nine-pocket page) they make a complete Field of Greed picture.

The complete set has a comical approach to our national pastime and its players; fronts and back are very cleverly stated (or at least in my opinion) and gives me a chuckle every time I look at these cards.

A couple of my favorites are naturally the "Scrubs" (ie Chicago Cubs) cards:

Shawon (Tungsten Steel) Dunston

Ernie (Mr. Club) Banks

and if some remember this superstars' brief stint in baseball, Michael (Just Air) Jordan (sorry if the timing is perfect as he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame (yesterday) as the GOAT (greatest of all-time) for a sport I rarely follow.

This 1995 Cardtoon set is fun, simple as that. Collecting baseball cards should be fun, simple as that. This set is now my "treasure". Thank you John !

I broke down

if you are a horse racing fan I do not mean what you are thinking . . . for the rest of you . . . I made a set purchase I vowed not to do since I re-entered this hobby several months ago.

Some of you may remember that several months ago at a local card show I grabbed a bunch of Cubs cards from a bargain bin (20 cards for $ 1.00) and two cards (the 1995 Flair Mark Grace #332 and Sammy Sosa #334) made a unique impression on me. Being a vintage kind of guy, this set intrigued me for some odd reason. I was able to pick up a few other cards a month later in another bargain bin find (12 to be exact) and that just fueled my fire.

For the last few months I have been looking at ebay, craigslist, sportlots and checkoutmycards trying to decide how and where I could find or put together the complete set. I sometimes even asked myself "why".

Last week I broke down and found the complete set (432 cards) for sale on ebay, went ahead and put in a bid. After a few days of increasing in $ .50 increments the set was mine for under $ 12.00 (not including shipping). I am not sure if that s a good price or fair price - I dont really care . . . I like this set and am glad I "won".

Now a bit about this set: the 1995 Flair has 432 cards in the basic set; series I and series II with seven subsets (now my real hunt begins). The fronts feature a horizontal border less design with a dual photograph and the backs are the traditional vertical alignment and showcase a third mostly full body, though cropped at the knees, photo.

The stats on the back only show five or six years of play though do highlight some players minor league performances, if only in the bigs for a couple of years. That to me is the only down side from this set, because I do like looking at a whole career worth of numbers but I do like the photography. Every card, as much as I can tell, are single player photos - no one lurking, no one sharing space, no other player on any ones card except for the player themselves.

The Cubs have fifteen (15) cards, part in series I and part in series II. For those who remember, 1995 was the year Ryne Sandberg "retired" and is not included in this set. A disappointment for this Cubs fan but . . .

I will be putting this complete set in nine pocket page protectors sheets and start looking for those subsets. If any of you are interested in my "doubles" let me know (I only have 12 but they are fair game to anyone) . . . I have Garrett Anderson, Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Larkin, Alex Gonzalez, Ron Gant, Ryan Klesko, J T Snow, Javier Lopez, Randy Johnson, Bobby Jones, Dante Bichette and Jim Edmonds - my doubles of Grace and Sosa are going to a special young Cubs fan I know.

I dont breakdown very often and am still not sure why I have taken a liking to this "modern" set but . . . I did . . . break down that is.