Upon my "Triumphant" Return....I give you...The Box O' Buccos!

 

Hey.

            Hi.

            It’s been a bit, hasn’t it?

            Sorry, I had to galivanting across the ocean, in my attempt to have an adventure like the ones I had before The Plague struck in 2019. I went to London, Stratford-Upon Avon to visit one bard, and then to Liverpool to visit a few other bards of the musical variety.  And it was pretty fun.

            I saw some cool stuff.

            Maybe crossed a favorite street ten or even times

    

            Like these lads did once.

               Drank in some cool pubs.

            Was here for this...so basically I had no news from the outside world until I returned to the States.

            Even brought him a souvenir or two.

            Aaaaaannnnnddd…I bought home this.

            Sigh.

            Twenty-nine months of dodging and Covid-19 bullet and my delusions of travel grandeur had to bring me right into the belly of the beast. And by belly, I mean a Virgin/Atlantic flight that sat on the tarmac for a good forty minutes before take off with no ventilation, no air conditioning and no one (save me, my wife, and a couple others I counted) wearing a mask. Such is the nature of our times. I’m still a pretty dedicated mask wearer, but no mask can withstand seven hours on a flight with bad ventilation.

            My wife went down three days after we returned.

            I went down two days after her.

            So home has been…fun? Since we returned. We’re both on the mend but Covid, if you haven’t had the “joy” of experiencing it, is quite the virus. At times it felt like I had different colds going at once. Oh, this is like having a chest cold. Oh, this is like having a stomach virus. Oh, a sinus infection, I know what that feels like. Wait, I can’t remember the conversation I just had. Sure, I’ll spend 8 hours in bed…that seems normal. Oh…now the sense of smell is gone and the coffee has tasted like burnt water for three days and every meal I’m eating has soy sauce on it because I want to taste SOMETHING.

            But I digress.

            It wasn’t all visiting Beatles homes and dead playwright’s graves while I was in England, still healthy. As I strolled around, I gave some thoughts to where I wanted to head collecting-wise this fall.  I know I missed some hoopla while I was gone…some BS with Topps Chrome that I still don’t fully understand. I shouldn’t say I gave some thoughts, so much as continued to dedicate myself to the idea of collecting all things Steel City (i.e. Pittsburgh team) related, as opposed to chasing every bit of cardboard in every release. While playing tourist in England and running from a plague that would eventually come for me, I came up with creating this.

            I give you the Box O’ Buccos.

            Needs some decoration...I know.

            The Box O’ Buccos is my attempt at getting a PC going on Pittsburgh Pirates players whom I was already in legendary awe of, or was in actual awe of when I saw them play as a kid, and some more current players, while not in awe of (hard to be in awe of 20-year-olds when you’re hitting 50), I think could have their place in team lore. It’s all about history, folks. When I was in London I was inundated with HISTORY. And history is a big reason why I collect cards.

            That said, creating a PC box for your favorite baseball team (despite their putrid record) can be a daunting task. First, why? If you’re already collecting team sets, why even have a box for player cards…wouldn’t you want ALL of the players to be included. I know. I know. But I did start with some of the more obvious Pittsburgh Pirates. No self-respecting Box O’ Buccos should be without Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski, and Honus Wagner (trust me, there’s no T-206 in that box). Of course, I had to add the Bonds, Bonilla and Van Slyke’s of the world. A little bit of The Cobra, Some Johnny Ray. Some Otter.

            Some…but here’s where it gets tricky.

            Those players I mentioned first. Clemente. Stargell. Now those guys were Buccos for life. It was a different time, sure; and I’m not fooling myself thinking that if Roberto Clemente played during the same era as Barry Bonds or Bobby Bonilla, that he wouldn’t have ultimately ended up in a Yankees uniform. Same with Stargell. But with all of that considered, Clemente and Stargell cards are a parade of Black and Gold. The same cannot be said for most of the other players I want in this Box O’ Bucs.

            I love Dave Parker.

            But here’s the reality of Dave Parker.

            Of Barry Bonds.

            Of Bobby Bonilla.

            My Andy Van Slyke rookie cards are not of him decked out in Pittsburgh Pirates gear.

            Even some of the smaller Buccos I want to include got their start somewhere else.

            Or ended somewhere else.

            Yeah, Mike Easler made the cut.

            With the Darwinian economic landscape of major league baseball, its an inevitability that small market teams (unless you’re the Reds with Joey Votto) are not going to keep a player on their roster for the bulk/all of their career. I’ve accepted that fact. I don’t like it. But I’ve accepted it. So, the question becomes: what to do with players like that that I want to included in the Box O’ Buccos. Do I just keep their Pirates cards in the box? Keep it Black and Gold pure? I guess that works. But I want my Andy Van Slyke rookie cards with the rest of his cards. Same with my Bonds and Bonillas.

            Should I true Box O’ Buccos be only the players who played their career with the Pirates. Well, we’ve already discussed the complexities of that. How about a time limit? You appear on five or more cards as a Pirate, and if I deem you worthy, you make the cut. That would certainly cover the Bonds/Bonilla/Van Slyke issue. But then is it just their Pirates cards, or are we doing this career retrospective thing again.

            Sigh.

            Ultimately, I decided that if I want you in the Box O’ Buccos, I take you warts and all…or on a card with a different team and all.

            Hey, it’s history, right.

            Speaking of history, the first Black player in Pittsburgh Pirates history, Curt Roberts, he made the cut.

            Or does Carlos Bernier (who also made the cut) have something to say about that.

            You can read about that controversy HERE and in many other places.

            I have my own controversy brewing: To Jason Thompson or not to Jason Thompson, that is the question!

            (We're probably gonna Jason Thompson)

            All in all, the box is shaping up, despite feeling like death while assembling it.

            I actually envision a five-row massive Box O’ Buccos at some point in the future. Probably when I buy all of those Jason Thompson baseball cards. And I do plan on decorating the thing…maybe see if some of the old Fleer stickers still have what it takes.

What is great about it, is that the Box O’ Buccos feels like a fun project to be taking on in collecting right now. And I need fun in The Hobby. I think this year, more than the others so far, I’ve begun to question why I came back. I know if I go back and read what I’ve written, a return to collecting was meant to quell some anxiety. And collecting still does…when I don’t get anxious over the money I spend. But a lot of the players going into the Box O’ Buccos; they’re so-called common cards. So it’s also a cheap and fun way to build and comb through my own history with the Pittsburgh Pirates by putting together a giant box full of players who were special to me as a fan.

Isn’t that what this should be all about?

And bring on the Steve Nicosia cards while we're at it!

Thanks for reading! Happy collecting!

NEXT FRIDAY: I am TRULY, for real this time, ranking 1980s Topps football cards.