Sunday, April 25, 2021

Fan Of Game-Used Dirt

Twenty years ago relic cards were pretty popular.  Half-inch swatches of swatches of bats and jerseys that may or may not have been worn or used by a player during a game.  At some point there was a huge scandal with these cards, which I am not going to rehash in this space, and they have slowly disappeared over the last few years. 


I have boxes full of these bat and jersey cards.  I am not sure what to do with the relic cards at this point, other than to pull them out and look through them.  I don't think they are worth anything and I do not know anyone who collects them at this point. 

Still, there are some of these relic cards that are still really fun and unique. 


One of my favorite all-time relic sets was the Stadium Club game-used dirt inserts, which were in the 2000 set.  Still pretty popular cards, so I understand why Topps has recreated these cards and put them into Opening Day the past two or three years.  

I don't do much with Opening Day, but I really like the dirt relics.  

The player choice was a no doubter, although Jack Flaherty also has a game-used dirt card.  That might be a card that I had to my watch list.  


I am 100% that this game-used dirt was likely never touched by Blake Snell or even his cleats.  I am basing that statement on the disclaimer on the back of the card.  


I am just going to ignore that statement.  I am a fan of the game-used dirt.  

8 comments:

  1. I have one of those game-used dirt cards from Stadium Club that was sent to me by a fellow blogger. It's awesome! And easily the coolest Vladimir relic sitting in my collection. I've always been a fan of memorabilia cards... and still am. But they've definitely been overshadowed by the rookie card hype.

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    1. That's really cool! If the Stadium Club dirt cards weren't all $30+, I might try to put together a set of them. Wish I had jumped on these awhile back.

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  2. I still collect relic cards...as long as I'm not paying more than about $3 a card. Actually just bought a relic of Dillon Gee off the Bay this afternoon.

    Just want to know precisely when they hold all these non-specific games, events, and seasons.

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    1. Dillon Gee. There is a name I have not heard in a long time. I saw him in Triple A when he was coming up through the Minors. Nice pitcher at that level. I like the idea of knowing the details behind the game-used whatever too. I thought that the early 2000s Playoff brand products did a good job of this with the pictures of the items. I didn't guarantee they were used, but some clearly were from the pictures on the back. Topps has done better with some products by putting stickers on jersey swatches. I found a couple cool cards out of Strata a few years back that were game used and the player did something cool during the game. Home run, multi-hit, good start, etc.

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  3. I like dirt cards as well. I haven't picked one up, but I appreciate more and more anything that isn't a plain swatch.

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    1. Definitely. Swatches got boring, which is another reason I think they dried up. The more unique or creative, the better.

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  4. Geez, Topps might as well have just said "Here's some random dirt to go along with a player of our choosing".

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    1. I really have little interest in knowing much about the production of baseball cards, but I would love to know the back stories on these cards. Just a guess, but I bet Topps did not send a representative to each stadium featured on a card in this set to pick-up a pile of dirt. Could easily see some team employee take some soil out of the flower bed in front of their house and mail it in.

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106.

Blake Snell number 106 is just a red herring to make two other announcements.      Announcement #1- I have not written very often in this sp...