The 81 Donruss Enigma

Since I began inventorying all of my cards, I’ve started to pay attention to what is in the background on each card. Like my last post on Mario Ramirez and the incredibly shrinking Sid Monge, I noticed that 1981 Donruss has an interesting quirk.

Either Donruss was headquartered in Chicago, or they had zero budget to send their apparently sole photographer to games other than those played at Comiskey and Wrigley. Let’s do a little statistical case study…

I grabbed a random stack of 81 Donruss, and it turned out to be 56 cards. Thirty-three of the cards are of National League players and 23 are of American Leaguers. Of all 56 players, there are three White Sox and zero Cubs. Also, of those 56, all but 3 are in their road uniforms. Those not in their road unis? White Sox.

So, judging by backgrounds, 30 of the 33 NLers are at Wrigley, with the remaining three in non-descript dugouts. Of the 23 ALers, all 23 are at Comiskey.

I’m sure there has to be some card photography in this set that was not taken at Wrigley or Comiskey, but so far, I haven’t found any!

Bizarre.

Wrigley

Wrigley

Comiskey

Seeing Doubles

I have been strangely silent the last few weeks, as I have fallen victim to responsibility! Alas, I have a few spare moments to share an odd card I recently inventoried. Yes, inventoried.

Of late, I have been using my spare time to record every dang card I have. Is it for posterity? No. Is it for insurance reasons? Hmm, where are those matches? Is it for the fun of it? It was, but now it is a chore, a laborious chore. Is it for trades? Ding, ding, we have a wiener.

Having sent some cards to Night Owl a week or so ago, got me thinking about what I have and what I may be able to trade/give to others who are trying to complete their collections. After one box, and about 5,000 cards later, I am convinced I have too many cards. I should just keep the complete sets, pick out the HOFers and burn the rest. But, but, but, I just can’t do that. If I know another collector needs something, I must give my cards to them for their collection, rather than releasing toxic Sportsflic gasses into the atmosphere.

So, as I said, I’ve made it through 1 random box, and have about 39 more to go. One day I will have my collection inventoried for all of you to sift through and call dibs on. But, in the meantime, I found a rather peculiar card during my cataloging process.

1984 Fleer – Mario Ramirez #309

This card just popped out to me and had me doing several double takes. Forgive the cell phone image, I no longer have a scanner…

1. Crooked cap.
2. The ‘Fro is bulging out the said crooked cap.
3. Tom Selleck mustache is in full effect.
4. Grey undershirt and the obvious lack of gold jewelry in the v-neck region.
5. Batting glove poking out of his rear pocket.
6. If the image was clearer, you’d notice his stirrups are REAL and hang about 1-inch off the sock. Awesome.
7. Folded tongue protecting the laces!
8. His shadow in a 3-point stance.

Now, the weirder stuff.
1. Not sure of the stadium, maybe Three Rivers or the Astrodome, but not the Murph because thar’be plastic turf on ye ground.
2. I love the huge team logos on the outfield fence that was prevalent during the 70s to late 80s.
3. You may have to use a clearer image (http://www.checkoutmycards.com/Cards/Baseball/1984/Fleer/309/Mario_Ramirez), but why is the outfield fence numbering on the field?
4. And check out the player to Ramirez’s left (card right). He’s about the size of an ant. For some reason, the background on this card must have been altered, but why?

I can’t believe I just noticed the miniature player on the card in the background. Only took 25 years to find this gem. Plus, I also just saw that almost all of the 84 Cardinal cards are from a day game at The Murph!