I’ve had this card since I was a kid. In a collection full of 1970’s cards, it was one of the few 1960’s cards I had.
At the time, I thought of Fred Whitfield as “really old”, but it wasn’t until I grew up and looked back on it that I realized that it wasn’t so much about his age as much as how he seemed like he was from another era. The ballplayers I was familiar with were very hairy guys… Long hair, big afros, sideburns, moustache, or some combination of the above. This stern-looking guy with the close-cropped hair and the zippered vest…well, he was not of this Earth.
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This Miguel Tejada card has personal significance, but not in a good way. For sets like Heritage where I bust plenty of wax but don’t try to complete it, I had several criteria I used to make up wantlists after I was done ripping wax. This Tejada was a short print that was on my want list because even though he’s pictured with the A’s, he’d played for the Orioles. Tejada’s a relatively big name and a former Oriole, but I don’t like him and don’t think much of him, and that resulted in a huge case of buyer’s remorse as soon as I pulled this sucker out of the box from COMC. True, I only spent a couple of bucks of COMC credit for it, but it bugs me a little that I could’ve gotten something more enjoyable, even a handful of commons. It was this card that caused me to change my wantlist criteria for Heritage to “Mets, Orioles and players I like”.
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Back in the spring I bought a complete set of 1988 Big Baseball (shelled out all of $5 for it and probably paid too much). I pulled out the cards I wanted, and put the rest in a box headed out the door for parts unknown. This is one of the cards I kept, solely because I like it.
Cory Snyder trying to turn two, Kevin Seitzer trying to stop him, cavernous Cleveland Municipal Stadium as the backdrop, undoubtedly filled with hundreds of screaming fans…
whitfield – childhood cards are awesome on so many levels
tejada – i have mixed feelings about this guy. solid hitter on my favorite team for seven seasons, but he’s on way too many lists.
snyder – love those topps big sets! i just need one or two more series and i’ll have the complete collection.
I might feel differently about Tejada if I were an A’s fan, but from the perspective on an Orioles fan it didn’t seem like there was much time between “I’m here to bring a winner back to Baltimore!” and “Oh, look at that ground ball going into the outfield… I guess I should at least wave my glove at it”.
Every time I’m at a show or card shop and see a pyramid of white card boxes and a hand-written sign pleading for you to buy something, I always look for Big Baseball.