football is in the air (and the mail)

right after i posted about the cards that fuji sent me from his summer sort, he let me know that another envelope was on the way with some cards that failed to make it into the initial mailing. he noted that these included cards from my "nefarious 9" list of my most wanted cards. one of them that showed up a few days later was this 2021 score mark brunell card

it was one of my most wanted non-dodger cards, a "bonus" 9 cards in addition to the top 9 that are all dodger centric. not to be outdone, i also got an email from jon at a pennysleeve for your thoughts asking (as he does from time to time) if i need a certain card or two. most of the time (all of the time?) the answer is yes! this time, the ask involved a couple of brunell cards - a 1997 pacific crown royale

and a 1998 skybox premium d'stroyers insert

i don't mention it often, and i don't have it loaded into tcdb or have a want list, but i have a pretty solid mark brunell collection. 

now, through the interaction with jon, i took a look at jon's "yours for the taking" page and asked for a few others to accompany the brunells through the mail

here's a double play card i didn't have - 2003 bowman bret boone

and four topps archives reserve cards - two from 2001

and two from 2002

the 1952 topps jackie robinson looks especially nice all refractored up! thanks jon!

as for the remainder of fuji's envelope, he was able to hit the top three cards from my "nefarious 9" list, including a 1987 drake's fernando valenzuela card

that isn't cut too badly. the other two cards were kevin brown's 2002 upper deck sweet spot

and marquis grissom's 2001 topps stars

cards. all three of those completed team sets for me (in brown's case, the non-sp team set) and i was quite happy to take them off the list. thanks fuji!

if you are interested in helping a blogger out, i have since refreshed my "nefarious 9" linked above with some new most wanted cards. in the meantime, i think a decent goal for the football season is to get my brunell collection cataloged. more fun than watching the vikings, that's for sure. stay tuned!

sliding in the rain

i came across orlando cabrera's 2003 bowman card

recently, and was intrigued by it enough to develop a post about it.

cabrera has some great airborne cards that live in my collection, but i hadn't seen this one before. it's not a double play turn like the others, but at one time i collected play at the plate cards, too, and this would have fit right in there.

what struck me at first about the photo was the fact that cabrera seemed so far away from phillies catcher mike lieberthal. lieberthal looks to be right behind the plate while awaiting the throw, so cabrera must be aiming for the right-hand batter's box to swipe home with his hand. next, the fact that cabrera is airborne with both legs tucked underneath him looks odd. i would think that at this point, one of the legs would be at least partially extended to prepare for the slide. and then there is the background. there are a number of umbrellas deployed which makes things interesting.

it's been awhile since i've tried to identify the game based on a card, so let's have a go with this one. we can assume it's from 2002 because it's a 2003 card, and there is some "2002" text on the banner behind cabrera. we know it's in philly because cabrera is wearing the away grays and lieberthal has the home pinstripes on. it's a night game based on the lighting of the play and seating. on to baseball reference!

the expos visited philadelphia three times during the season, and cabrera was involved in plays at the plate (and, in fact, scored on each of the plays) where lieberthal was catching on june 1, july 5, july 7, and august 28. all were night games, and baseball reference notes the weather as "cloudy", "sunny", and "cloudy" for the first three contests. the fourth, however, includes record of a "drizzle". i think we have the winnner! on the play in question, cabrera scored on a brad wilkerson single, with wilkerson advancing to second on the throw home. i found some espn highlights from the game, but this play wasn't included. still, i think it's a match to the cardboard!

it snowed and sleeted here earlier in the week but should be all gone by the time the twins open at home next thursday. i hope, anyway.