05 January 2016

I Got it at Sportlots 11: Some Old Junk Inspired by the Reds Card Collector



I was digging through the blogs a few days ago when I came upon the Reds Card Collector's Album of Amazing, a collection he describes as: 
The cards shown below are part of my "Album of Amazing" collection. These 90 cards are not your "standard" baseball cards. They're cards that show the flip side of the sport. Cards that just don't show your standard pitching and batting poses. These are more centered around jaw dropping fun.
The card I keyed in on was that 1989 ProCards Keith Comstock, where Keith seems to have had a bit of trouble tracking the ball into his glove. The consensus on the internet seems to be that the photo is staged, but how can you resist adding such a gem to your collection? I went out and found the card in a seller's inventory on Sportlots.

I saw that the seller offered his flat shipping cost on up to four cards, so I searched a few of my favorite players and grabbed a few other cards to add to the order. I may already have a copy of that 2005 Fleer Tradition R.A. Dickey card, but I added it just in case. The other two cards feature my favorite football player, Shannon Sharpe. One is a 2000 Topps Chrome card that unfortunately highlights Sharpe's move to the disgusting Baltimore Ravens. For some reason that helmet he's wearing seems unnaturally small. It bothers me a little bit, like, "Where's the rest of his head?" The other card is one of those sports-themed phone cards that were popular in the 90's. This one was listed as a 1996 Sportscall issue and features an airbrushed image of Sharpe in action.


Here are the backs of the cards. I haven't used that code on the phone card, so good luck if you can find a pay phone, get the code to work, and deliver a message to someone in whatever airtime $2 will get you. There's not much else to say about these cards, so let's revisit the most important package in this package.



If this photo is staged, maybe Keith Comstock was in line for a successful second career as an actor, as that grimace is pure comedy gold.

12 comments:

  1. That Comstock should have been Pete LaCock. Pete really blew it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unless it was stuck on, I wonder how many "takes" it took. George Carlin noted this many years ago but apparently you still can't say, "Oh my, that must have hit him in the balls" on TV. You could probably say "testicles" but can you imagine Vin Scully making that call?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, usually the broadcasters dance around that sort of impact.

      "Oh, that got him right on the inner groin area."

      "Yup, right there in that tender spot on the inner leg there. He'll need to walk that off for a bit."

      Delete
  3. Love the phone card - nice antique!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! We used phone cards in basic training and on deployments (another way for AAFES to bleed service members dry, but I guess that's another conversation for another day) but I can't remember the last time I used a phone card in a non-military setting.

      Delete
  4. That is why Keith is still in the minor leagues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. His Wikipedia entry says that "in 1983 he was sold from the Oakland A's to the Detroit Tigers for $100 and a bag of baseballs, which he had to deliver himself from one minor league spring training camp to the other." Kind of a funny tidbit.

      Delete
  5. That Comstock is still one of my favorite non-Reds in my collection. Great card. Thanks for the plug Raz!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the inspiration! I love discovering cards like that to add to my collection.

      Delete
  6. That Comstock card is pretty awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad the Reds Card Collector shared it with the world so I could go out and track down a copy!

      Delete