CardBoredom: February 2024 Update

It's February, and that means I changed out my ridiculous trio of wallet cards. A group of Ken Griffey, Jr. cards headlined by a now creased 1989 Upper Deck rookie took a trip to Seattle and other points distinctly far from Griffey's former home (he now lives on the East Coast and has a car dealership here in Virginia).  The cards were in a car accident, raced a submarine, flew in some planes, and more in an active year. Things are getting dialed back a bit with 2024's Wallet Cards, though I'm still sticking to the idea that multiple cards can be carried simultaneously as long as they carry a common theme.

I added 11 new cards to the collection in February, as well as upgraded one of the lower grade constituents. A Pudge Rodriguez autographed card that had found its way into the tertiary portion of my collection was sold to a collector trying to complete a signed set, helping pay for some of the new additions. 

Next month I have a few days scheduled away from work and plan to make use of the time to dive into some research projects. I already have a space set aside in a university library and have been preparing a list of resources to be examined. Hopefully I can gather additional details on the baseball card litigation of the 1940s and 1950s, as well as some firsthand accounts of certain baseball-related events from the same period

Anyway, here's what was posted to CardBoredom during February:

1952 Topps:

• An obscure and surprisingly well-designed card of a backup catcher helped send six fans to the 1953 Yankees-Dodgers World Series.
• One of the '52 Topps pitchers is shown with a very prominent patch on his shoulder. Its presence indicates a very recent picture.
• More than half the '52 Topps checklist served in the military. After returning to the major leagues they left behind a plethora of vintage ballfields. I've spent time shuffling back and forth between a few of these and one card in particular serves as a reminder. 
• An errant throw from a temporary third baseman once killed a spectator at a Washington Senators game.
  
• The Pittsburgh Pirates of the early '50s were terrible, largely due to an abundance of all-bat, no-glove players. Bill Howerton was one of the most pronounced examples of these athletes.
• A walk-off triple play is about the most exciting way a game can end. It's even better when the guy batting is a singer in the pitcher's barbershop quartet.
  

1993 Finest: 

• The pitcher who ranks 65th out of 65 hurlers in the '93 Finest checklist once recorded a save without throwing a single pitch.
• '93 Finest is often described as a set with few rookies, despite a checklist containing both winners of the Rookie of the Year Award. A shift two years earlier in how the hobby views rookie cards prevented the 1993 edition from laying claim to some absolute monster rookie cards.
• Barry Bonds and the Hall of Fame are often portrayed as having a complicated relationship. What if we set aside the whole Steroid Era controversy and just imagined Bonds only facing the pitchers who made it into Cooperstown? Do his numbers turn out any different?
• The 40/40 Club wasn't a thing until 1988 and only just welcomed its fifth member in 2023. If not for the arbitrary timing of the baseball season we would be talking about a different outfielder and his sole occupancy of the 50/100 Club.