57 Joey Cora cards from Just Commons

It's been almost a couple weeks since I've checked in here. Last time I showed off the two Allen & Ginter's cards from my most recent Just Commons purchase. I got 94 other cards in that order, exactly half of which were of Joey Cora. The reason I got 57 Joey Cora cards was that they only had 57 Joey Cora cards. Of those 57, there was actually one I didn't already have a copy of; it's the 1998 Topps Chrome card pictured above, to the right of his regular Topps card from that year. There are still a handful or two of Joey Cora cards I know of that I don't have even one copy of, and undoubtedly numerous other oddballs and Japanese cards to be concerned with too. Fortunately, I'll be knocking a few more off the list this week. I have a couple-hundred Coras on the way, and at least three of them are new to me.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to the Just Commons order. Here's the team-by-team breakdown of the 57 Coras:
-Padres: 4
-White Sox: 27
-Mariners: 24
-Indians: 2

I would do a card-by-card look at how many of each I got this time like the guy you should be sending all your Tim Wallach cards to does, and what that brings me up to on each, but I'll wait 'til the couple-hundred in transit show up to do a full inventory. I know at least 34 of them are his 1988 Topps card, which will double me up on those.

I'll be back when the next batch of Coras get here, so cross your fingers that the postal person comes through and I have a two-post day. Well, two posts on here. I'm already at two posts total since I did a birthday post about Woody Williams possibly having the best day at the plate by a Padres pitcher earlier this morning over at Gaslamp Ball. And in case you wondered, yes, that image I used is from his 2000 Keebler (after they bought out Mother's) card. Too bad I don't have a pitcher-at-the-plate card of him, huh?

Speaking of mini-collections that Dime Box Nick has, I'll end this with a pair of Short Term Stop cards whose photographs were taken less than a second apart.

Joey Cora 1993 Topps Variations

My quest to collect as many copies of every Joey Cora card ever would be so much easier if his career took place ten years earlier than it did. As it played out, the second half of his career was chock-full of parallels and inserts. The parallel craze took off with Topps Gold in 1992 and they brought it back for a sophomore season. Along with Topps Gold, it was also the second season of Topps Micro, although it's not considered a parallel. The Micro cards were only sold in complete sets, as were the cards stamped with the Rockies and Marlins inaugural logos in gold foil. Topps would repeat this in 1998 with sets stamped with Diamondbacks and Devil Rays logos, but that's a post for another day.

Just Coras from Just Commons

Earlier today (well, technically yesterday but you know what I mean), I got 43 cards in the mail that I ordered from Just Commons earlier this week. They got here incredibly fast- especially fast considering that it was free shipping. I'll get to some of the others in another post before too long, but first the Coras.

The last time I made an order from Just Commons, I bought all of their Joey Cora cards. Or so I thought I did. There were three copies of his '95 Topps Traded that I missed out on. I'm pretty sure what happened was that they had four copies and I accidentally didn't change the 1 to a 4 when putting them in the cart. The other card I missed was the 1994 Score The Cycle insert #TC12 pictured above. I had only searched "Joey Cora" the first time and this one was listed as "J. Cora/ S. Finley". Good thing I searched just "Cora" this last time. This is one of my favorite Joey Cora cards, due to both its relative scarcity and the inclusion of future Friar Steve Finley. Ordinarily I would take any card of Steve Finley as an Oriole, Astro, or even a Padre, and promptly send it to Marcus of All The Way To The Backstop... because he collects those specifically, but this is the one exception. Sorry, man; hope you understand.

 Here are those '95 Topps Traded cards of Joey I mentioned. Yep, still look the same. I've always like it quite a lot; it's one of his first cards with the Mariners and really seems to encapsulate him.

I'll be back later today with at least a couple of the other (non-Cora) cards I got.

Trade with 'Playing With My Cards'

I recently got an email from Ethan of Playing With My Cards, saying he had some Series 2 cards on my '93 Upper Deck set needs list. We exchanged a few emails, got the other one's mailing address, and you know the rest. In addition to the Series 1 doubles I had, I threw in a few others. He also included some extras. I'll get to those, but first the '93 UDs.

From inspiring to despicable to forgettable. One thing that Dodger lovers and I can agree on is a mutual hatred of Barry Bonds. It's not like we're alone on that but still, it's nice to find common ground wherever you can.

Hey, there's Jim Abbott again. This one is his base card. The front had a good shot of him in his motion but this picture of him batting trumps it. I've said it a million times and I'll say it a million more: '93 Upper Deck has the greatest photography of any set ever.

Next up were some Padres cards. If I'm not mistaken (I'm probably mistaken) all but one of them are ones I didn't have.

That Marty Barrett card probably deserves its own post. Note to self: Dig that one out next time you can't think of anything to write about.

I thought it was kinda neat that I got a Robbie Beckett card in the mail on Robbie Beckett's birthday. He was a first-round flop and never pitched for the Padres. He did get into seven games with Colorado in '96 and '97 but fared very poorly. Hence not getting into eight or more games.

And here are a pair of current managers who have since trashed the 'stache. But I saved the best four cards he sent for last. And I'm sure you know what that means.

Yes! Joeys! Of the four, I have the most of the '93 Topps issue, followed by the '95 Topps. I'm not positive of how many I have of each because that would require getting up and I'm pretty comfortable. I need to start doing posts for each card of his and update them with how many copies I have of each, the way Tim Wallach Cards does.

So, thanks, Ethan! I hope you liked the ones I sent your way as much as I liked these.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

"Friars on Cardboard" is no more. From now on I'll be doing all of my writing about the Padres over at Gaslamp Ball, my favorite site in the world and one I'm beyond honored to contribute to. But I still need a place to do trade posts and talk about all the Coras, Kruks, Radinskys, and so forth that I have and will continue to accrue. Hence, I just gave this place a five minute makeover and rechristened it. The name is a rather obscure reference; here's the story behind it. I should probably set up a new site and just have this one redirect there but until then, this will do.

As a side note, my most recent post over at GLB is one you, my fellow cardies, would appreciate. I dug through my collection and picked out 45 Topps cards, one from every year the Padres have existed, and created a timeline of sorts of their evolution. Hope you like it!

The Best Kind Of Duplicates

I recently got a PWE from Backstop Marcus which held seven cards, all seven of which I already have copies of. This might sound like it'd be disappointing but far from it. Four of the cards were of Joey Cora and I'd rather have a copy of a Joey Cora card that I already have several of than a new-to-me insert of anyone else.

I especially like this '93 Ultra. It seems like most of his cards show him fielding and I have no complaints with that.

Here are the backs to that Ultra and his '93 Fleer issue. Of the cards that do show him batting, most picture him hitting left-handed.

This is the note he enclosed, along with a card of long-time Padres color guy Mark "Mudcat" Grant. It's a good double to get because everybody loves Mud so it'll be sure to bring a smile to someone's face. As Grant himself would say, this card is "some kind of nice".

Lastly, Marcus included a pair of Pinnacles. I've written about the Harold Reynolds card before. Twice, actually, now that I think of it. I know exactly who wants this card, even if he doesn't know he wants it yet. That made sense, right? As for the Dave Staton card, I've accrued a few doubles of some of his cards and plan on eventually distributing them to other Gaslamp Ballers who have taken part in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Jersey project. Speaking of Staton and Gaslamp Ball, tomorrow is his 45th birthday so I'll be doing a card post about him over there tomorrow.

Thanks to Marcus for the cards and to the rest of you for reading!

Recent Arrivals, Part I

I've reached that point again where I have a few weeks of Listia arrivals forming two large, unorganized stacks on a bookshelf. That means it's time to show them off to my fellow nerds before I file them away in their rightful places. The Topps Rookie Stars card above will take its place next to my only other 1969 Padres card. Drop by drop, I will eventually carve out the Grand Canyon that is that team set.

Jerry DaVanon played 24 games of his rookie season with the inaugural Padres before being traded to St. Louis in May; he went on to play with five teams in parts of eight lackluster seasons. His son Jeff DaVanon also spent parts of eight seasons in the majors. The San Diego-born San Diego State alumnus nearly became a second-generation Padre when he was signed by the team in December of 2007 but he was cut before Opening Day.

Clay Kirby is best known for being removed by his manager from what could have been the Friars' first and only no-hitter. As for Frank Reberger, he's deserving of a post all to himself one of these days. Speaking of which, I have really gotten away from doing different types of posts here. The last few months it has been nothing but acquisition posts. There was a good reason for this at first but now it's just a rut. By the time I wrap up Part II or, God forbid, Part III of this, I'll get back to switching it up; revive some old themes and introduce some newness. Pinky swear.

It's faint, but that card is autographed by Brian Lawrence in blue ballpoint pen. Not the best penmanship or a guy I'm a huge fan of, but it's a nice addition to my fairly small autograph collection. I picked up two other autographed Padres cards recently but haven't gotten around to taking pictures of either of them so they'll have to wait until Part II.

As I am wont to do, I won a few different lots of 2010 Upper Deck just to get one card from each. Of the three players, only the awesome Luke Gregerson is still around. I still collect Edgar Gonzalez, but if you collect his brother I still have some cards of him I'd like rid of. I'm not down with Dodgers, especially two-faced, lying, duplicitous turncoats who refuse to accept responsibility for their actions or statements.

I mentioned in the post before my last one that I got a handful of 2013 Topps Padres on Listia before ECDG swooped in and dropped the full team set on me. It wasn't a pointless bid, though; I did get this 'Chasing The Dream' insert of Yonder Alonso as one of the four. As for Milton Bradley, he wasn't a Padre for long but made quite an impression. It's hard to believe that it's been going on six years since I was at Petco Park for his first game as a Friar.

2004 Topps is one of those sets that I pretty much forget exists. It came out during my sabbatical from the hobby and has a fairly forgettable face. I did have a different card of Jay Payton as a Padre but it got lost in a shuffle so this is my only one for now. Same goes for Ramon Hernandez, I believe, and countless others.

Another player making his first appearance in my collection is Dave Eiland. I have absolutely no feelings one way or the other toward Mr. Eiland but he's on a baseball card pictured as a San Diego Padre and that's all it takes to get me to bid. The McGriff was a mistake since I already have a copy but I'm sure somebody will take it off my hands one of these days. The '95 Upper Deck Collector's Choice Special Edition (!) is my favorite of the three. I really like cards of players interacting with fans; I also have a soft spot for Eddie Williams because he was a Padre for three separate stints.

These are two of the strangest cards I've seen and thought "Yeah, I want that." They're checklists from a '94 Topps Black Gold redemption set. These will go into my player collections of Craig Biggio and John Kruk, respectively. At some point I'll need to add their full-sized counterparts.

Here are a few more Kruks, ones I had back in the day but are new to my current collection. It's nowhere near as many as I had of him as a kid but I'm back up to about forty or fifty-some cards of The Krukker now. I'm enjoying the process; it's a nice combination of memories. I feel like I may have said basically the same thing in a previous post but that's bound to happen now and then after a few hundred posts, especially when you're a little drowsy from cold medicine. Don't worry, it's just a sore throat and some sniffles being stifled by a capful of some blue Tylenol Cold liquid; no Li'l Wayne shenanigans here. Topical!

I got this trio of Tom Henke cards on the cheap because, hey, how many of us Tom Henke collectors are there out there? Well, I take that back; I know of a few collectors off the top of my head who collect players with big glasses or just any glasses. As for me, I've been snagging up whatever cards of him I can find since I discovered last summer that he made his major league debut on the day I was born. Curt Kaufman and Larry Ray also debuted that day but are nowhere near as easy to collect. Kaufman only got into 7 games in 1982, 4 in '83, and 29 in '84, appearing only on 1985 issues by Topps, Fleer, and Donruss. Ray's career consisted of one hit in six at-bats over five games with the Astros and he never found his way onto a major league card. A quick GIS does reveal a Tucson Toros card, though.

Well, I'm getting fairly sleepy and you're probably tired of reading this by now anyway. I guess there's time for one more card. You know what that means so I'm just going to leave a picture of my latest Joey Cora card sans commentary and leave on a high note like George Costanza.

Cards from Marcus, Volume Like 138 or Something

I recently got a PWE in the mail from Marcus from all the way to the backstop... I believe it was Monday but I wouldn't swear to it. It took me a few days to get to posting the contents since I needed to first do writeups on some Coras I got from COMC and the 2013s from ECDG. I'm starting to get caught up; after this post I have a few weeks worth of Listia pickups to do a megapost of and then I can get to that Gwynnventory I've been meaning to do or a post about '93 Upper Deck since I'm trying to build that set. But more likely I'll just get more stuff in the mail and procrastinate those even longer, so let's focus on the here and now.

Above are two 2012 Topps parallels I didn't have. I love the photography on both of them; the Blanks base is on the short list of my all-time favorite cards. I really like how the Target Red border looks on Q's card; I prefer it to the WalMart Blue; it just pops.

Next up was an awesome A&G of Tony Gwynn. Anthony Keith Gwynn, Sr. to be more precise. And, as it asks, what's in that name? Maybe the back will shed some light.

...and it does. Imagine that.

Craig Breslow may very well be the smartest man to ever play the game. The lefty was called "the smartest man in baseball" by the Wall Street Journal in 2009 and named the smartest athlete in all of pro sports by The Sporting News the following year. After graduating from Yale with degrees in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, he was accepted to the prestigious NYU School of Medicine but decided to put it on the back burner and pursue pitching. He has since pitched 358 games in the majors, including 14 with the Padres in his rookie season of 2005. From there he spent time with the Red Sox, Indians, Twins, A's, and D-Bags; now he's back with Boston.

Poor Mark Prior. His comeback attempt with the Padres didn't work out, nor did subsequent tries with the Rangers, Yankees, and Red Sox. In fact, he hasn't pitched in the majors since making nine ugly starts for the Cubs in 2006. He's in camp with the Reds, signing a minor league deal earlier this month. Like always, I'll be rooting for him to make it back successfully. As for the card itself, I already had a copy so this one will go on my recently-deplenished doubles stack.

As always, I saved the best for last. Also as always, you know what that means:

Another Joey Cora card! His 1988 Score, number 420, to be specific. Like all of his cards, it's a thing of beauty. It will have a good home here, right between some other cards just like itself. Only a couple hundred thousand more copies of this one and I'll be set. Marcus has been a major contributor to my Cora collection; he always seems to include at least one in every envelope and for that I am forever grateful.

So, thanks again to Marcus! I'll have to get some cards headed his way before too long. As it stands now, there's at least one bubble mailer hanging out at his house waiting for him to get home from vacation. I actually mailed it the day before he wrote his post about getting ready to go on vacation, so it's been there for a while. It doesn't contain cards, so if he's reading this I'll just let him twist in the wind trying to guess what it does contain. Hint: You aren't going to guess it. Ever.

COMC= Coras Of My Choosing

A couple weeks ago I hopped over to Check Out My Cards to, you know, check out some cards. Some Joey Cora cards, to be specific. But you already knew that. Shoestring budgeter that I am, I somehow managed to limit myself to only seven cheapies this time around. My favorite of the batch is the '94 Pinnacle Museum Collection parallel pictured above.

Speaking of parallels, I also snagged up these two Topps Golds from '93 and '94. I have I-don't-even-know-right-now-how-many copies of the regular issues of both but these are my first Gold versions of either. They certainly won't be my last, barring some unforeseen tragedy.

Here are two more cards of Joey produced by Topps those two years. On the left is Cora's '93 Stadium Club issue and on the right is his '94 Stadium Club Team Series card. It happens to be the only one of the group that pictures him batting. I bet he beat the throw to first. You know he did.

I reeeally like that '94 Leaf. Actually, not just Joey's but all of them. The design is among my all-time favorites and it seems very underrated. I recently decided I was going to finally try to build a set for the first time. I know, gasp, right? That just seems like one of those things every collector has done, and usually right off the bat. But anyway, this set was one of the few I was considering before I settled on '93 Upper Deck. It'll be a complete from-the-ground-up set build since I only have the Padres from that set and three other cards so far. I'll need to get duplicates of all the Padres cards too so I won't be taking the ones I have out of their comfortable nooks in player collections. So that should keep me entertained for awhile.

I also recently got envelopes full of radness from Emerald City Diamond Gems and ...all the way to the backstop so I'll try to give them a proper write-up in the next day or two...

Joey Coras for Tim Wallachs: An Informal Swap

One time after I mentioned something about my goal of collecting as many copies of every Joey Cora card as possible, somebody brought to my attention that somebody else is doing the same thing with Tim Wallach cards. I checked it out and, uh, wow. He's leaps and bounds ahead of where I am with Cora cards. I was really impressed with his dedication and dug around my old boxes of randoms looking for Tim Wallach cards. I found two and another shortly thereafter while flipping through a dime box. I popped all three in a PWE with a little note and sent them to the address on his site. He got them a few days later and mentioned that he would be sending some Coras my way. I thought that was pretty generous since I didn't ask for or expect anything in return. I didn't realize how generous until I got an envelope this past Saturday containing the eight Joey Cora cards above. He even sent one that I didn't already have a copy of! See, like I said, I have a lot of work to do before I'm anywhere near in the same league of player collectors as him.

So, I'm going to continue keeping my eyes peeled for Tim Wallach cards for his sake and I hope you do the same. It felt good to make a contribution, however slight, to such a cool project. It felt extra-good when he turned around and graciously returned the favor 267%.

Listia Lately

It's been a while since I've done a post of Listia finds and I have a stack here from the past few weeks that have yet to be organized so you see where this is going. Tony seems like a good starting point because, honestly, who doesn't like Tony Gwynn? I generally like Pacific cards but that Aurora issue is not one of their finest efforts. As for the one on the right, it's for some dice game I'll never play. But if I did play it, I'm sure I'd single my opponent to death with this card.

This 1975 Topps of Chris Cannizzaro is the most recent to show up. I "paid" 400 credits, which equates to about $1.33, but it was worth it to me to get a slab of vintage I didn't have yet. I'm nowhere near completing the '75 team set but, hey, baby steps.

The Tim Stauffer card was grouped with four other Bazooka cards which were of no interest to me but at 100 credits it was worthwhile just to get the Stauff. I'm glad he signed a minor league deal this offseason to stay with the organization. Stauffer is by far the longest tenured Padre and it would be strange to see him as anything else.

I think that gold sparkle parallel is the third version I have of that particular Logan Forsythe card but I'd have to double check to be sure and I'm comfortable right now. Cameron Maybin's poorly photoshopped 2011 Topps was part of a four card lot featuring the next two cards and a double of Cedric Hunter I've already passed along.

Matt Buschmann didn't pan out for the Padres but at least he's not Matt Bush, man.

Bip! It's really hard to come up with something to say about Bip Roberts that I haven't said before. Between five annual Bip Roberts Days and assorted other posts, I feel like I'm all Bipped out wordwise until next February 10. That 1990 Fleer was one of a ton from that set that particular user was getting rid of. I got this and two others for twenty-some credits apiece.

The Alex Cole card on the right was another of the aforementioned three 1990 Fleer cards I got for dirt cheap. I'm not an Alex Cole fan but I've always remembered his funky MC Hammer glasses. The reason I got this card was to send it to Dime Box Nick because it's a zero-year card. Not only is there this card of Cole as a Cardinal, I've since come to find out (or been reminded; it's hard to tell sometimes) there also exists a card of him as a member of the Padres despite the fact that he never played a regular season game for them either. That's getting in Canseco territory. Sadly, I don't have it. So, if you come across 1990 Upper Deck #751 I'd be glad to take it off your hands. In the meantime, I'll try to remember to mail this one to Nick.

I got that Finley with Backstop in mind but then I double checked his Finley list and there it was. So now I have another card of Steve Finley as an Astro that I don't really care about. Ehh, I'm sure I'll find somebody who will like it. For that matter, they might want the bunch of other cards of Finley with other teams which are just hanging out in what I just decided to call an apathy box.

It's odd that I don't collect cards of Steve Finley as an Astro but I do collect an Astro with no ties to the Padres. I don't try to understand the things I do. Anyway, if you read my last post you know I'm referring to Craig Biggio. If you didn't read it, sorry for ruining the surprise.

I forgot about Topps MBossed existing until I snagged this one up. I also forgot that they were, you know, embossed until it got here.

I generally don't collect much non-card stuff but sometimes you see such a good deal you can't say no.

Starting Lineup figurines aren't something I have ever collected but I was able to snap this Caminiti up for just over 1000 credits. That's only a little more than $3.00 in real world money so it wasn't much of a decision. The sweatbands should come in handy if I play softball again this summer. If I don't, having a pair of unused wristbands won't be the end of the world.

But what could be cooler than that?

Okay, I'm not even going to bother pretending to build suspense where there is none. By now you know if it's a long acquisition post there will be Joey Coras at the end.

And, sure as the sun dost shine, there's Little Joey. I have a few of each of these but nowhere near enough. I don't know that I'll ever approach a certain somebody's Tim Wallach collection but I am determined to accumulate the world's largest Joey Cora collection eventually. I have a loooooooong way to go before I even approach being in the discussion as such but these drops in the bucket help out. As always, if you have any copies of these or any other Joey Cora cards I'll trade you pretty much just about anything for them.

33 Card Pickup: A Little Bit Of Everything

I got the cards in this post about a week and a half ago but never got around to writing them up until now. I got that awesome trade package the next day and that took precedent. You don't care about all of that; you just want to see the cards. Fair enough.

Ben Davis isn't a guy I go out of my way to collect but I've wound up with quite a few of his cards. This one had the right combination of cool elements to merit getting it on purpose.

Trevor, on the other hand, is a guy I go out of my way to collect.

This is the second copy of that Gwynn/ Ripken UD Masterpiece I've gotten. I believe I sent the last one I had to Backstop Marcus.

Somehow I didn't have Craig Shipley's '94 Fleer. Gotta love a good horizontally oriented card.

Here's Tony, always the positive role model, demonstrating to the kids to always use two hands. Well, maybe not always a great influence, as evidenced by a glance at his bottom lip, but still...

I'm not a big Steve Garvey fan so my favorite part of this card is the cameo by John Kruk. Speaking of whom...

Kruk is one of the few guys whose non-Padres cards I collect. Well, just him and Joey Cora, I guess, although I'd hang on to cards of Hoffy as a Red, Marlin or Brewer; I just haven't sought them out. I'm pretty sure I already had the first two of these but you never can be too sure or have too many, for that matter.

'94 Fleer Ultra was actually fairly, dare I say, classy. I had pretty much forgotten about it until I happened upon a big patch of them in the middle of a dime box.

'91 Studio: The concept was great but the execution would be much better in years to come.

Stadium Club Member's Choice seems vaguely familiar to me but not that interesting of a topic to bother looking up. I do know that they aren't just a parallel because his regular SC card that year looked different.

I added a couple of cards from 1983. My Gene Richards collection was lacking this one and I got the Show just in case I didn't already have it. I'm getting close to having the full '83 Topps team set; I know I'm at least one notable card away.

Billy Hall never made it to the Padres but he had quite a career- one that deserves a post of its own, so look for that some time in 2014. I'm a procrastinator, I admit it. Of course, as would be expected, it took me way longer than it should have to get around to accepting it.

*crickets*

Anyway, Julio Bruno. He also never made it to the Padres or the majors at all. I think cards like these are the ones I get the most stoked about. "Whoa, I've never heard of that guy!" Okay, maybe second-most stoked about. You already know what's number one and probably also suspect that there's at least one at the end of this post.

There's something to be said about predictability. Exactly what that is, I'm not sure.

I showed Bob Scanlan the picture above and had the following conversation with him on Twitter last night:
Scan: "Wow! Those Scanlan cards must have set you back at least $0.12 each!!!!! Nice find!"
Me: "They were worth every cent. But you, Scott Radinsky, and Joey Cora are going to dime me to death."
Him: "I tried to corner the market and raise my value by hoarding all my cards...but you can see it didn't work."

Very cool of the Scan-Man but not out of character at all. He's one of the friendliest and most accessible guys in broadcasting and baseball in general. He has even been known to FanPost and comment over at Gaslamp Ball from time to time.

That's my first card of Randy Jones as a Met and it will never look right.

I don't think I've ever shown any cards on this blog not related to the Padres in some way or another. I'm going to stray from that on this instance just because these ones are part of the total "haul" and they deserve their share of attention too.

Scott Radinsky is the most amazing man alive. Here's a brief overview of why, If you don't know. I already had the '93 Topps but, like Kruk and to a much greater extent, Cora, it never hurts to have some extras. I really like his '93 Upper Deck. I had to do a double-take to see what was happening. It seemed that an industrious fan lowered a ball to him in a plastic cup at the end of a string. Nice work by both the fan and the photographer.

More Scott Rad raditude. That Score Gold Rush was one of a bunch grouped together; I found one of a certain one of his teammates that will appear, yes, at the end of this post.

Along with Radinsky, Jay Buhner is among the select handful of players I actively collect who has never been affiliated with the Padres. Tom Henke is another and Craig Biggio- well, we'll get to him.

I became a fan of Buhner when Joey Cora went to Seattle and I started paying attention to the Mariners. From the ages of around 9 through 13 I shaved my head every morning before school (don't worry, I wasn't some sort of racist skinhead; I just liked the way it looked) and thought it was cool that he had the same, uh, "hairstyle" as me. The Griffey cameo is just bonus.

See, I told you I'd get to Craig Biggio. I'd say something about these two cards but, nah, I'm too excited to get to the next one. After all, I've alluded to it about three times already.

Another Joey Cora card! Not only that but it's one I didn't already have.

That's one of the biggest beauties of collecting to me: That some basically monetarily worthless card like this that 999 out of 1000 people would pass right over can make somebody's day more than a relic or signature of some superstar would.

Or maybe I'm just weird. Probably a combination of the two.