More Frankenset and Lots of Mail

Four more Frankenset pages are posted. Do you agree with my favorite from each page?

Page 6: Cards 46-54 - Favorite: Pat Kelly error

Page 7: Cards 55-63 - Favorite: Rickey Henderson brushback

Page 8: Cards 64-72 - Favorite: Fun at the Ballpark

Page 9: Cards 73-81 - Favorite: Roger McDowell with the umpires

I've been working on getting signed baseball cards and index cards for players who played in Fargo. I've gotten some cards, and the index cards, on eBay and through trades on SportCollectors.net. Others I've gotten through some requests through the mail. For these, I always ask if they have any memories of their time playing in Fargo. I've gotten a few that have responded to the question, which has been fun. Someday I might get some of that posted here, but as you can see above, I have a few more pages of my Frankenset to post first. But here's a sampling:

I found an old Fargo-Moorhead Twins program image online and printed it on cardstock. I've sent and received five replies from former players: Womack, Hal Stowe, Bill Dailey, Bud Zipfel, and Jim Perry. All of these guys made the majors. I've sent out five more to players who never made the majors, but since they are all in their mid-80s, I'm not sure if I'll get any replies. I'm already working on sending to players who played in Grand Forks (about an hour north of Fargo). We'll see how that goes. 

The Reliable Brett Buntler

I'm well acquainted with the cards of the Overproduction Era, simply because I've seen them so many times. So when I think in terms of patterns or themes in cards, my familiarity with the 1988-1993 or so crowd comes to the forefront. Some patterns I've noticed:

Kirt Manwaring seems to always be the catcher in a play at the plate.

Jose Rijo and Roger McDowell are oftentimes doing something goofy. 

Ken Griffey Jr. is often playfully smiling with his hat on backwards.

And Brett Butler always seems to be bunting, so much so that I have now dubbed him:

Brett BUNT-ler!

The pun is just too easy. 

So I took my Brett Butler cards out and decided to see if my recollection was right. How often is he shown bunting? Surely it couldn't be on every card, but it happened often enough for me to notice a pattern. Here are my findings:

I have 43 different Brett Butler cards ranging from 1983 through 1996. 11 of those cards show him somewhere in the process of bunting.

Here's the lineup:

The 1995 Collectors' Choice Special Edition is my favorite of the bunch. Great shot of the ball hitting the bat. 

Here's the final card, showcasing Butler giving advice on bunting! This was part of a six card subset from 1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack. 

1993 Upper Deck Fun Pack #210 - Brett Butler

That's just over 25% of my cards showing Butler bunting. Pretty healthy incidence of bunting I would say. I always enjoy a good bunting card. 

Are there any players that you picture doing the same thing on many different card issues? 

Thanks for reading!

My Favorite Frankenset Card by Page; Page 8 (Cards 73 - 81)

It's time for another installment of my favorite Frankenset card (by page), where I show off my Frankenset by giving you my top three favorite cards from each page of the set. Let's jump right in.

3) 1993 Donruss #78, Damon Berryhill

I have what I suppose is a perverse love of cards showing failure and pain. This is one of them. My guess is this photo captures a moment right after a strikeout. 

2) 1992 Donruss Triple Play #80, Roger McDowell

Legendary jokester Roger McDowell has several unique cards, and this is one of them. Here, McDowell is shown bringing the lineup card out to the umpires while wearing a tool belt and a conspicuously large piece of sandpaper in his back pocket. Also note the sandpaper wrapped around his socks. By all accounts, the guy kept things interesting.

1) 2001 Fleer Futures #81, Tom Glavine

There are at least a few cards featuring Tom Glavine batting, which shouldn't be too surprising considering he played 22 seasons in the major leagues. I really like this one, courtesy of a nice set called Fleer Futures. Any guesses on Tom Glavine's career batting average? (Answer below.) 

With page eight now in the books, I thought I would start a standings section at the end of these posts tracking the Frankenset categories these cards fit into. For this post, we have an "Field Action Fail" with the Berryhill, a "Field Action - Awkward" with the McDowell, and a pitcher hitting with the Glavine. If a card happens to fit more than one category, I take the top two categories that made it qualify for the Frankenset, then split it into half points. I went back and calculated the previous seven pages, so after eight pages, here's what we've seen:

Category	Points
Lesser Known:	3.5
Glasses:	3
Mustache:	3
Odd Team:	3
Pitcher Hitting:	3
Field Action - Awkward:	2
Equipment Oddity:	1
Facial Expression - In Action:	1
Field Action Fail:	1
Pitcher Running Bases:	1
Position Player Pitching:	1
Why is he bunting?:	0.5
Chew:	0.5
Funny Name/Nickname:	0.5

Tom Glavine's career batting line:

• 1323 at-bats
• .186 BA
• 1 HR
• 90 RBI
• .454 OPS

What was your favorite card from page 8? The Berryhill fail? The McDowell shenanigans? Or the Glavine follow-through?