Diving Into the Box: The Beginning (Sparky, Gibson, Score Select, and a Radioactive Angel)

This past Sunday, I wrote a bit of a teaser post where I showed off a gigantic box of cards courtesy of my younger brother.

The box holds all sorts of goodies - but since I'm in the middle of reorganizing my cards right now I figured I'd start with that multicolored section towards the front of the photo - you know, the bunch of cards that are clearly from different years, sets, etc.

I ended up grabbing a pile of 40 cards...and going through those I decided to take my favorite six to discuss for today.  Over the next week (weeks?) I'll be doing plenty more out of the box - and I know there is a great variety of stuff in there so it should be interesting throughout (plus unopened packs)!

Tonight though, it's time to look at the six cards that caught my eye out of the first small stack that I grabbed.  Since I love countdowns, I'll do a Least to Most Exciting countdown

#6:  Lloyd Moseby

I never saw much of the 1987 Donruss brand when I was a kid - and I really didn't see any of the Donruss Opening Day set (which is what Moseby belongs to).  I do have the Barry Larkin card from this set (the only one I really want) so that's good!

#5:  Dan Pasqua

Sticking with the late 80s theme, this is a 1988 Score card - a set that didn't get nearly the amount of love that it should have.  In fact, when I think of the set that first had color photos on the back, I usually think of 1989 Upper Deck.  However, I should think of the 1988 Score set - it too had color photos on the back (along with color team logos on the back) and a nice, clean design for the front.  The set is 660 cards in size which probably means I won't try and put it together...but at this point I'm not prepared to say that I definitely won't - it probably will depend on just how many 1988 Score cards I have lying around currently!

#4:  Sparky Anderson

Sparky's a Tiger here so that's not as cool as if he'd been pictured as a Red, but still, it's Sparky Anderson.  How can you not like this?  The card also has a lovely outline of a stick of bubblegum on the back - something that is both annoying and iconic about late 80s Topps cards!

#3:  Gary DiSarcina

You might have thought that this stack was all late 80s "junk wax" but you'd be wrong....  There were some more modern gems in there such as this Circa '97 card of a radioactive DiSarcina.  The best part of the Circa cards is the quote on the front about the player (taken from another player or manager generally).

#2:  Kirk Gibson

Another Tiger - but this one is from 1982, the year of my birth!  I think I already have the 1982 Fleer set complete but I'll definitely have to verify that.  It's always nice to get cards from the year of your birth though...even if I happen to like both the 1981 and 1983 Topps sets much better than the 1982 edition.

#1:  Glenn Davis

Why this card #1?  Because it's my list, that's why.  Seriously though, this 1993 Score Select card takes top billing today because it is the one card that most reminds me of my brother!  Back in 1993, we each received an Easter basket which contained some packs of 1993 Score Select...and I distinctly remember us tearing into those packs in the wee hours of the morning, way before we were supposed to (our family had a rule of waiting to open stuff until everyone was awake and up)!  I loved the Select set then, and that love has continued through today - this is a definite possibility for an older set that I might try and track down!

There will be plenty more where these six cards came from - some modern, some older, and even some that aren't baseball at all!  Stay tuned is all I can say about that - and for those that are interested, here's a sneak peak at some of the other cards that didn't quite make the Top 6 for today's post:

See you next time!