Sunday, July 6, 2014

#PackADailyCircus - Back, Back, Back to '91

Good evening, everyone! For those that don't know, my wife and I were married in 1991 - in May, so don't go thinking this is some kind of anniversary tie-in. In those days, collecting cardboard was far from my mind, unless you count the boxes we collected to help us combine our lives together as we moved into our first apartment.

What brings all this up today? Well, I have a pack of 1991 Topps tonight. This was the 40th Anniversary of Topps. Er, so I guess that does make this something of an anniversary post, eh. Let's talk a step back in time and see what the kids were collecting back then (for fun, I'll add comments along the way):

Ryne Sandberg - Cubs - Pedersejs (Wahoo!!)
Now, had I pulled a Sndberg in '91, I would have been pretty happy with that. He is actually one of the players I collect outside of my Indians PC.

Willie Wilson - Royals - Free Agent
At our local school district, the Dean of Students is named Willie Wilson. No relation that I know of. Bummer.

Darryl Hamilton - Brewers - Wilsons (Wahoo!!)
Excuse my ignorance (it will show a LOT tonight, I'm sure), but I really don't know or remember much about him. Had I pulled him back then, I probably would have flipped him away.

Steve Balboni - Yankees - JoshDs (Wahoo!!)
I always like his name. I thought his was the name of pizza or mafia or something along those lines.


Greg Harris - Red Sox - Free Agent
Like Hamilton, I don't remember Harris.

Tom Edens - Brewers - Free Agent
Edens only sticks out in my head because I remember hearing his name on the radio or something and thought immediately of the "Eat'N Park" drive-in restaurants I used to go to as a kid in Pittsburgh. By far the best hot dog I have ever had - slit down the middle and grilled on the flat top.

Dave Stewart - A's - Thorzuls (Wahoo!!)
In the 80's and early 90's, I loved the A's. I collected Stewart as one of my favorite players, along with Mike Norris. Stewart is one of those players that immediately takes me back to those days of walking to the local dairy store (as we called it) near the 'burbs of McKeesport and plopping down quarters for packs of cards. This particular card has gum stains on it from the nasty '91 gum still in the pack.

Shawn Abner - Padres - Jennings (Wahoo!!)
I have no idea why Abner actually triggers vague memories of collecting back in the day. I look at this card and instantly, I recognize it. Weird the way our minds work sometimes, I guess.


Mike Henneman - Tigers - Free Agent
Only through the breaks/giveaways that I have done does his name ring a bell for me.

Jeff Blauser - Braves - Free Agent
Blauser is another player I collected back in the late 80's. In those day,s my collecting was not as narrowly defined as it has become.

Chris Hoiles - Orioles - Free Agent
The name is familiar (again from my own breaks/giveaways), but I am pretty sure I used to call him "Holies" back in the day, as I often misconstrued player names, especially in my middle school years.

Luis Polonia - Angels - Free Agent
Yeah, no idea. Sorry.

Pat Tabler - Rangers - Free Agent
Huh. I thought for sure Tabler was drafted already. After thorough searching, though - nope. Well, this is Tabler AFTER his days in Cleveland. I collected him because he was an ex-Triber.

Duane Ward - Blue Jays - Kazis (Wahoo!!)
The name rings a bell, but that's about it for me.

Frank Viola - Mets - JediJeffs (Wahoo!!)
Along with A's, I also collected just about every other MLB team of the day back in the 80's, including the Mets. I don't know why, but Viola was one of the players that I had tons of - dupes and all. I may even still have a couple in my non-Tribe PC. I can't explain it, it just was.

3 comments:

  1. Greg Harris was the only switch pitcher of the modern era, doing so with the Expos. You can see the special glove he'd use on his 1992 Triple Play and 1991 Score cards.

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  2. I want to say that Abner had a '85 Topps card, that's what his name brings up in my memory. Maybe a USA Olympic card or something. I don't know if that's right or not, I could look, but I'm too tired.

    Ok, I went and looked, he had a #1 draft pick card in the set. I was close.

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  3. wasn't Blauser drafted already? if not... I'm really slipping.... and so is dayf.

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