The Food Isn't Good, But The Baseball Cards.....

There are several chain restaurants that I will not eat at for various reasons.  Usually there is just something really unappealing about their food.  Places like Jack In The Box, Hardees, and Denny's all make my list of places I will absolutely not touch.  Although my wife likes to point out that I will eat at White Castle.

Point taken.  

There is one thing that distinguishes one of those three restaurants on my list above: baseball cards.  

At Jack In Box there is the possibility of E. Coli, or perhaps getting really mediocre food off of a really overcrowded menu.  They are like the Cheesecake Factory of fast food, not really good at anything, but you can order all kinds of food.  No baseball cards though.  

Hardees.  Gross.  No baseball cards either.  

Which brings me to Denny's.  

I can't tell you the last time I ate at a Denny's.  I am going to say that it is a minimum of 20 years.  There was one where I went to college, but it was rather shady.  One of those places in town that you do not go near.  There were a bunch in St. Louis, I don't even remember a specific location of one though.  I am sure at some point I have been to one.  At least I think have been to one.  What's really important is that they have baseball cards.  

I posted one Denny's card a week ago that came in a random package.  

I was pretty excited to see this Jackie Robinson card.  I did not have it in my collection, but I knew I had a bunch of these Denny's cards from 1997.  Obviously I did not get these by eating at a Denny's, but after going through my collection, it appears that I am missing one card from the set.  Several of the cards are in my collection a few times. 

How did all of these cards end up in my house?  Great question.  A look at one 1997 Denny's card close up.....

There are some other quality Denny's sets out there from the 1990s, but this one is my favorite.  I like to think of it as a combination of two different classic baseball card products.  The fronts of the cards are very similar to the SportsFlix cards.  Right down to the texture.  

The backs of the card.....

have a hologram picture.  While the picture does not take up the whole card, this part of the card reminds me a bit of the mid to late 1990s SPx cards from Upper Deck.

There are a grand total of 29 cards in the set, but I am technically missing one of the cards from the set even though I have all 29 of the cards from the checklist.

A look at the cards in the set.

These are the first two numerical cards in the set that I was able to assemble by digging through my card boxes.  The Tim Salmon card on the right is actually card number 1.  However, Denny's made a Larry Doby card that was also card number 1, but it was only available at restaurants in the Cleveland area.  I will go find one at some point.

More of the set.

Two pretty good first baseman here.  Always forget how good Mo Vaughn was before he left the Red Sox for the Angels.  Never quite the same after that point.  Still good numbers though.  

A small checklist of 30 cards should allow for a really strong checklist of players who were active during the 1996 and 1997 seasons, but for some reason there is a Travis Fryman card in here.  He was on several All-Star teams and was considered the best player on some bad Tigers teams.  Tony Clark was a lot better though.  

Love seeing John Jaha in here.  Not a long career, but he had some great years in the mid 1990s for the Brewers.  Had a nice year or two with the A's too.  Johnny Damon on the Royals too.  Meh.

Shall we pick up the pace?

McGwire with a mullet.  The base runner in the picture is distracting and blurry.  I think it's Rey Sanchez, so Spring Training game?

ARod was in middle school when this picture was taken.  

I am pretty sure that someone at Pinnacle added that baseball to the Roger Clemens card.  

For no reason, here's Jose Hernandez.  It looks like they airbrushed him on the card next to Sammy Sosa.

The Rockies player in the set was not Larry Walker or Andres Galarraga.  I could have also lived with Ellis Burks, maybe Vinny Castilla.  Bichette.  Terrible.  

Always a positive when you can post an Expos card.  

Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame because the numbers on the back of this card are that good.  Plus, he was not on steroids yet.  

Jackie Robinson a second time and Scott Rolen with the Phillies bat boy.

Overall, a great set.  They do not make these sets anymore, which is probably a good thing in terms of the quality of food consumed by baseball card collectors.  However, these were really good card sets.  

30 year Top 50: 1987 Topps

#25-The sledding is all downhill from this point forward on my countdown.  I sat down this morning before typing this post, looked over the sets that will be popping up on my countdown during the next few weeks, and have some more really cool cards to share in my blog space.  Very excited about some of the sets coming up.  I am glad that so many of you have enjoyed reliving some of these sets and have taken time to comment or email.  Thank you.

1987 Topps Barry Larkin 

One of the iconic card designs of the past 30 years belongs to the 1987 Topps set.  As a kid, I really thought that these cards were ugly.  The wood grain wasn't at all appealing to the ten year old version of me, but this set grew on me as I grew older.  I love the fact that Topps copied the design and used it for a miniature insert in the 2012 Topps set.  I made sure that I ended up with a complete set across the three series of cards in the Topps base set this year.

The design of the 1987 Topps set is really the closest that Topps has come to replicating some of it's design magic of the 50s, 60s, and 70s since I've been collecting.  Sure, the early eighties cards sets all have their unique designs, but this set is the most recognizable 80s Topps set.  The sets since haven't all been bad or anything, but the more modern designs can be uninspired and drab.  They change little from year to year at times and I that in another 30 years I will have a difficult time telling the difference between the 2004 and 2005 Topps cards.  

1987 Topps Rafael Palmeiro

A lot of people think of the rookie cards in the 1987 Topps set before they think of the wood background.  The rookie cards were one of the big original draws of this set before the steroids era took care of most of their reputations.  Barry Larkin is of course already a Hall of Famer, but there were also rookie cards of Barry Bonds and Rafael Palmeiro.  I love the cool Future Stars logo on some the rookie cards in this set.  That graphic screams 80s Topps.  

1987 Topps Mike Laga

My favorite card in this set is this awesome Mike Laga card.  I complain about the airbrushing on cards often, but this card should be in the airbrushing Hall of Fame for many reasons.  First, I'd love to know how a pink jersey got past the editors office at Topps.  Second, Laga was originally on the Tigers and was traded to the Cardinals.  Over Laga's right should there is a Tigers player wearing a grey Tigers road uniform.  The Cardinals wear grey road uniforms.  How is that a blue Tigers hat can turn red, but a grey uniform being airbrushed over for another grey uniform turns pink?  Hmmm.  Mike Laga is also famous for being the only player to ever hit a ball out of Busch Stadium II.  It was foul, but quite a feat at one of the big 70s concrete cookie cutter stadiums.  

Like the 1987 Topps set?  Not in my Top 50 countdown is the 1986 Topps set.  While the design isn't quite as cool, and the set lacks an important rookie card,  the 1986 Topps set can be condition sensitive.  I am not saying it's the 1971 Topps set, but anything before the advent of the Upper Deck sets with a black border can be tricky to find centered with good edges and corners.  

1986 Topps Darryl Strawberry 

While there aren't many great rookie cards in this set, apologies to all Darren Daulton and Lenny Dykstra fans, there are some good looking cards of many of the great players of the 1980s.  Cal Ripken wearing the cartoon bird uniform, Nolan Ryan in an Astros jersey, and Tony Gwynn in a brown Padres uniform are some of my highlights.  

1986 Topps Glenn Brummer 

The set also has some great photography with a good mix of portrait style cards and action shots.  One of my favorite action shots is this Glenn Brummer card with him holding up the ball and the running, Bobby Meacham ?, sliding into home.  Really cool card.