Wibbly-Wobbly-Timey-Wimey Stugg Again : Here's The Other Guys

 

I’m going to talk about time travel again.

            Time travel of the mind.

            Or the way time distorts the mind.

            I know.

            It’s been a big topic for me.

            I’m still on a sci-fi jag.

            Sorry.

            But lately I’ve been trying, when work and dodging a never-ending pandemic will allow me to, to clean up the big huge mess of cards that I have sitting in boxes on this thing.

            Which I carried and pulled for almost forty blocks.

            Because I don’t have a car.

            And I’m an idiot.

            I still have a scar on my shin because of it.

            And that was back in July.

            Last week, this endeavor caused me to write about quality vs quantity. And while I’m working on the quality aspect, the quantity aspect is what needs to be dealt with in the short-term. I’m beginning to fill shoeboxes, yes, actual shoeboxes, with cards that are doubles from sets that I’ve built/am building, and all of the bells and whistles that I don’t care about that come in modern packs.

            A brief aside…I seem to always pull parallels, autos etc from teams I couldn't care less about. The number of Braves and Red Sox cards boggles my mind at times.

            Because I collect what I collect, a lot of the extraneous cards that are going into these shoeboxes are cards from the Junk Wax Era. What I’m noticing in these boxes are an abundance of players who were stars when I was collecting, but are no longer considered that. Or highly touted prospects who fizzled out or went and had solid careers. Players who, some thirty-plus years ago, were building potential Hall of Fame careers. The potential 500 home run guys who hit 250-300. The 3,000 hit guys who compiled 1500-2000 during their careers. The pitchers who were supposed to win three-hundred games and won fifty.

            Players that I’ll refer to here as The Other Guys

Not these guys.

Think more the Marquis Grissoms and Delino DeShields of the world.

            But not this guy.

            He’s an asshole.

            I know exactly what to do with his cards.

            But I don’t know what to do with the cards of The other Other Guys.

            I suppose the simple thing would be to throw them in that shoebox with the Mike Lagas of the world, and call it a day. But it doesn’t feel right to throw Juan Gonzalez in with Mike Laga and just have that be that. Juan Gonzalez, though I wasn’t a collector of his, is still JUAN GONZALEZ in the kid card collecting part of my brain. His cards got penny-sleeved and thrown into my star box with the Dave Winfields and Eddie Murrays of the world when I was a kid.

            Here he is with these other, at-one-time, potential members of the 500-club.

            And these big prospects.

            And these borderline Hall-of-Famers.

            Oh, and here’s Eddie Murray looking bad-ass again.

            It's The Other Guys like the above (minus Eddie) who I'm talking about.

            In fact, when I began collecting again, the kid part of my brain treated The Other Guys exactly as I described above. When I was ripping Junk Wax packs and pulling star cards in 2019 and beyond, the Juan Gonzalez cards were penny-sleeved along with the guys whom I collected who actually became the Hall-of-Famers I knew they would.

            I originally collected so long ago, when I stopped, Dave Winfield and Eddie Murray were still playing baseball, as opposed to being Hall of Fame guys.

            In 2019, I penny-sleeved ALL of The Other Guys that I got in packs, and put them in a massive card box with my Hall of Famers. I did this automatically, without even thinking about it. And Juan Gonzalez cards and Albert Belle cards and Dwight Evans cards stayed in my massive star card box with the Winfields, Murrays, Younts etc. for a good two years.

            Until I got on my recent quality vs quantity kick.

            And, yes, before the Juan Gone, Belle and Dewey fans come at me, I do consider those players to be quality players, and, if you collect them, quality cards…to you

            I, myself, am a big collector of one of The Other Guys.

            And a collector of a potential, ahem, SHOULD BE, Hall-of-famer.

            What I’m saying is…I understand.

            But if I’m to streamline my collection, go for quality over quantity, then it stands to reason that I don’t have room for the rookie cards of the Gregg Jefferies and Ken Caminiti cards of the world. Or Juan Gonzalez and Albert Belle. The Dwight Evans and Darrell Evans and Lou Whitaker cards need to go too. Despite what my kid brain still thinks of them. The adult collector knows that Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada cards just take up space.

            Sorry guys.

            Same goes for you Neon Deion.

            And even a rookie card I so desperately wanted as a kid.

            Or two cards that I still find to be absolutely gorgeous to this day.

            Not all, but some, are going to have to go into those shoeboxes with the Mike Laga and Vance Law cards. I’m going to have to remove those penny-sleeves that I so absent-mindedly put on my Dave Stewart and Dave Stieb cards, and put them in with the also-rans.

            But it feels so tawdry to do so.

            Dave Stewart was a 20-game winner when I was a kid.

            Dave Stieb was one of the most dominant pitchers during my childhood.

            And Ron Gant, even though he played for the Braves, was going to be HUGE for decades.

            But alas…

            More than just shoving The Other Guys into a box and putting them on the top shelf of that metal behemoth that permanently injured me; I’d like to find a good home for some of those cards. If I can stand the forty-minute trek to the post-office (I live in Brooklyn and there is no real reason my post-office should be a forty-minute walk from my apartment), maybe I’ll pack up some of those cards and send them to an organization that gives cards to kids. If you’re a collector of some of The Other Guys, feel free to DM me along with the bells and whistle folks and maybe I’ll be able to get them to you. I know I’m always open to someone sending me Bobby Bonilla cards.

            I think it would be nice to find a home some of The Other Guys.

            The Dave Justices, the Joe Carters of the world, The John Oleruds and Robin Venturas.

            Somewhere they’re appreciated.

            And loved.

            But not the Ruben and the Wally 1987 Topps cards.

            I’m keeping those.

Thanks for reading! Happy collecting!

NEXT FRIDAY: Man, I haven't gone into the sordid details of my life in a bit. Why don't we, huh? Let's talk about 1993 cards, specifically but not limited to Topps base. 1993 was the first year I stopped collecting. And I have a huge retro FOMO over 1993 Topps cards that I don't think I'll be able to satisfy because of one particular Short Stop.