I've been running into some sweet Trammells lately. I dig Alan, but I've always been a bit more of a Lou fan, as far as legendary '80s/'90s Tigers go. All the same, I'm never disappointed to snag a cool Trammell, and you don't get much cooler than this:
The pictures on these Panini cards are quite goofy, but I enjoy the overall design that reminds me a bit of a basketball court. And how can you not love the relic/auto duo? This card came in a trade from Daily Dimwit.
Here's the back, and as you can see it's numbered 1 out of 10. Hey, it's one of those eBay 1 of 1s! There is something neat about the first card in the series.
The ever-wise and generous Dimwit also sent this auto of Bryan Holaday. Bryan's on the AAA team for the Tigers now, and I don't see much more than a backup catcher position in his future, but a catcher card always has a place in my collection.
What I like best about this card is the write-up on the back: "Bryan was in charge of 'disciplining' teammates who showed up late or didn't hustle. He led the crafting of the 'Ten Commandments of TCU Baseball' and sentenced violators. Among the punishments Holaday levied: cleaning the locker rooms and reading books on road trips." I kind of love how much of a douche bag he sounds like.
But what the hell is Bryan doing in this post? This post is about Mr. Trammell on cardboard.
This SP Legendary Cuts set, despite is dreary grayness, is fantastic for including tons of less represented fan favorite players. I have the Lou card from this set. While I'm not a huge fan of this design--though absolutely a fan of the player selection--they did the bat chunk well. It's big, well-featured, and this one has some cool black stains in the upper right corner. Probably burns from the saw that hacked it up, but it's still neat.
This card and the last one came from eBay, and I paid a bit under $3 shipped per card. This one has a bit snazzier of a design than the last. Donruss had a better idea of how to do drab colors in a classy way.
This Trammell rookie is not new at all. It came from Night Owl in a trade over a year ago, but I had to show it, as its inclusion earns me super-cool-happy-awesome-fun-time trifecta bonus points.
So, some cool Trammells, but all these Trammells I've been finding leads me to a quandary: Where are all the cool Lou Whitaker cards? As I said, Lou was more my guy from this duo, but there seem to be 5 cards produced of Tram for every 1 of Lou. Lou outranks Tramm in almost every batting category besides stolen bases and batting average, but really all of their stats are so damn close. They were such an amazing pair to watch growing up as a kid. So where are my Lou Whitaker cards? Any guesses on why Tramm gets all the love?
I just attended a card show last weekend, but I won't post about it here, as I am backlogged with not one, but two card shows I still haven't posted about prior to the most recent one. I can't think of a better way to jump back into a few weeks off of blogging than to do some card show posts. Who doesn't love a card show post?
So, this one was in South Haven a few months back. South Haven is a little tourist beach town on the coast of Lake Michigan, and they somehow manage three or four card shows a year. They're small shows, but the dealers are all super nice and I always find great stuff.
Some sweet dime box finds:
Sweet Lou, that is.
More from the dime boxes. I snagged a bunch of Archives from the '90s, and here are a few of my favorites. Yogi and Duke earn honorary awesome-status and get to hang with the Tigers.
I also found these reprints in the dime boxes. I have a lot of trouble turning down interesting reprints for a dime.
Some sweet Pudge cards. I'm getting close to a binder page full of 1991 Topps Traded Pudge doubles. I just can't not pick these up for a dime.
And a few Ripkens I needed.
These were just random cards I liked. I love these framed Gypsy Queen cards. Intrigue caught me with the Griffey; I didn't recognize the make of it. Mother's Cookies? And this is my first 1993 Finest card. When I was a kid, I dreamed about being able to afford a pack of '93 Finest.
Last up were some of the more impressive rookies I found in the dime boxes. Believe it or not, this is not the first time I've found a Halladay rookie in a dime box. I'd been trying to find a Oswalt rookie for a good deal for a long time, but I didn't expect to get it for a dime. It's pretty unlikely I'd pick up a Shawn Green rookie, even if it was a dime, unless it's a 1992 Topps gold parallel. In my head I still imagine these as super rare, exotic cards. I remember sending away 347 wrappers for three gold cards when I was a kid.
And finally, one more rookie:
This may be the best thing I ever found in the dime boxes. A for-realsie Topps Derek Jeter rookie. The bottom isn't cut off. It was just my scanner. But you can see why this was in a dime box. There's some paper loss at the bottom. Still, what a deal, right? I can't help liking Jeter, since he's from Kalamazoo, and he's just a fun player to watch.
I actually got into an argument with a colleague of mine at the bar during the playoffs. She heard me saying I respected Jeter, and she had a little blow up. I hadn't heard this, but apparently Jeter gives the girls he sleeps with gift baskets on their way out in the morning that include signed baseballs and, I don't know, Yankee-brand bubble baths. She pointed out how insulting that is. But, hell, that's better than most of the world gets (both men and women) after a one night stand. My wife and I agree--you could do worse than getting a signed Jeter baseball after sleeping with a celebrity.
This wraps up my dime box card show post. I have one more post to do from this show, and then I'll get to the others...eventually.
William over at Foul Bunt scored a beautiful Lou Whitaker signed ball through the mail, and William graciously shared it with us (check out the awesomeness). Well, I commented, we got to talking, and he sent me Lou's TTM address. I had no idea how to go about the process, and William gave me a good run-down on the process. I've never done a TTM auto before, and Lou was a perfect first. Less than a week after I sent it out, I found my SASE in my mailbox.
I don't know how all of you go about picking cards for TTM, but '88 Fleer seemed like a good choice. All the brightness of this set lends itself well to ink. It gave Lou plenty of room to include his highlights: '78 ROY and '84 World Series Champion. Hey, Lou, you earned it, and I'm glad to see you showing it off on my baseball card. And, you have to love Lou's half-smirk on this card.
Maybe I'm a little greedy, but I thought I'd go for a double. I sent another card in the same envelope, which Lou also signed:
Another awesome TTM. I should also mention what a nice signature Lou has. I love the "L," how it loops and swoops to the "W." All very legible. Very cool stuff.
I doubt the likes of Lou actually read our blogs, but just in case: Thanks a bunch, Lou. You were one of the greatest heroes of my youth, and you're very generous with your time and ink. It's always so gratifying to find out your heroes are also stand-up guys.
But I shouldn't forget about Coot, right? I don't know if I can completely say Lou is my first TTM. Long ago, the son of Coot contacted me and very generously offered to get his dad to sign a card for me. You can read about that more here. Those Veals and Whitakers are some amazing families.
The Vealtones will now play this post out with my XRC TTM auto:
My best find at the card show was a card I'd been after for a long time. I bought it from the dealer who runs the show, and after a little haggling it was mine.
I've been working on getting a Sweet Lou Whitaker GU card, but eBay prices are outrageous if there are ever even any of his GU cards for sale. He's just one of those underrated legends for Tigers fans, who the card companies have kind of brushed over, but there seems to be a huge demand. I love Gibson and Trammell, but the beloved Whitaker just doesn't get the same kind of production as them, and that's a shame. Do you have a local underrated legend that you rarely find on modern cards and when they do show up the prices are crazy?
Here's the back of the card:
Despite how much I love this card, the design of this set is a bit drab. Just so much gray. I do like the career stat line on the back, and the write-up of his notable achievements. I'm not thrilled about him being compared to Joe Morgan, but, meh, whatever.
That does it for the card show recap. I did pick up some trade bait that I'll be posting soon with some other stuff. Gotta keep those trades going.
I woke up today to gray skies and a mild hangover, and that's all fitting. The Tigers are out, in an embarrassing blow-out loss. And Harpukkah's done. It was really fun working on that series. Nice to have a direction for posting. (If you didn't check out the 8 days of Harpukkah, scroll down, man!)
Now, I'm wandering aimlessly. I have stuff to post, but the anticlimactic conclusion of the holidays and the Tigers loss have put in a posting funk.
What can cheer me up?
Loooouuuu! Thanks, Lou. I needed that. This card was a top need on my want lists for a long time. I picked this up off of eBay a few months ago. Lord knows I'd never want to try to pick this card up at a Michigan card shop or show, where it would sell for more than book price. Michigan still has the hots for Lou.
Lou needs a friend, though.
The duo is complete. Tram and Lou reuniting makes me feel a bit better about not seeing the Tigers again until spring.
I was saving this scan for when the Tigers made it to the WS, but I guess now is as good a time as any. Here's comes awesome:
