181-189

I have a new poll up in the corner.  Go ahead and vote for me.

Early on in this blog's history, I decided to create an Angel Frankenset.  But I decided to only use duplicate cards to create the set.  This has led to rather slow progress on the set.  But i completed a page today.

The last card in was 186.  That's an S.S.P.C. card of Andy Hassler.  Have I mentioned that I love S.S.P.C. cards?  I've been picking up lots of them on eBay lately, so I have an extra Hassler for the set.

I think this is a rather well rounded page.  9 different years covered: 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1989, 2004, 2011, 2012, and 2013.  No 1990's, but that's the years I was out of the hobby.  4 different brands, although Gypsey Queen kinda makes a 5th.  3 pitcher, 1 catcher, 2 infielders, and 3 outfielders.  6 action shots, 1 posed shot, and 2 portraits.

There are 2 Bobby Abreus, so I would be willing to swap one of those out if another option came along.

594

Frankenset #594

I decided at some point along the way that team cards should have priority in my Angels frankenset. 

Card #594 is the Angels' team card from 2007 Topps.

2007 Topps is kinda like 1971 Topps..without the character.  Just black and dark.  What's funny to me about this card is the wall in front of the players.   The front row is just heads.  No real symmetry either.  Who was running the show here?

Vladimir Guerrero was clearly the star of the offense in 2006.  But Juan Rivera (.310/.362/.525), Mike Napoli (.228/.360/.455), and Orlando Cabrera (.282/.335/.404) had pretty good years too.  Ervin Santana led the team in wins and John Lackey was second in wins and first in ERA, but Jered Weaver came up in May and was the best pitcher on the staff. K-Rod had 47 saves out of the pen.

46

Frankenset card #46

As of right now, my frankenset is very 80's-centric.  I collected in the 80's then stopped for almost 20 years.  That's the way it goes.  But I've gotten a few newer cards, and whenever a newer card (or vintage for that matter) has a double it goes in the set.

And so it is with card #46.  2008 Upper Deck Timeline Torii Hunter.  Its actually a pretty sharp looking card.  Good team colors.  Decent (in)action shot.

I've always been ambivalent about the one line of stats cards.  I'd rather have the full set, but one year doesn't usually bother me.  But just career stats?  Nah.  Home jersey on the front, road jersey on the back.  Nice touch.

One thing that gets me about collecting cards from the period after I stopped is that there are always parallels to look for.  I had to check The Trading Card database to see if the cards I have could be different in some way.  There's a gold version, but the two I have are the same.  Are there other resources out there for figuring out what you have?

Torii Hunter is a player who I seem to appreciate more now that he's gone.  While he was an Angel I always new he was a good clubhouse guy.  I knew he was a great defender, and a decent bat.  But the Angels basically let him go so that they could pay Josh Hamilton $97 million more.  Seriously.  $123 million versus $26 million.  Sad thing is, they have about the same value.  But Torii is far less streaky.  And doesn't need a life coach following him around. (low blow?)  Its easy to overstate "intangibles" in baseball.  It happens every day.  It happens every time a .500 pitcher who "eats innings" is signed.  But when a popular, good influence player leaves a team, the clubhouse can suffer.  Especially when the player is a solid contributor on the field.

Thanks for the 5 years Torii.

147

Frankenset card #147

One of the things about having OCD is that I notice coincidences, anomalies, things that might defy the odds.   When I first decided to put together my frankenset, I haphazardly went through my doubles boxes grabbing Angels and putting them in a box in numerical order.  When I came to number 147, I noticed a coincidence (okay so anybody would have caught it.  Whatever).

My two choices for #147 in the frankenset were:

1989 Topps #147

1989 DeWayne Buice or:

1989 Upper Deck #147

1989 DeWayne Buice.

Two of the 5 major card companies gave the same player the same card number in the same year.   What are the odds of that?  Score just missed making it a trifecta:

1989 Score #153

Just 6 off.  Fleer and Donruss declined to offer up Buice cards in 1989.

Anyhoooo, only one card gets to make the frankenset.  I'll go with.......

Inital Frankenset inductee

The Upper Deck card.  After all, it was Buice who was instrumental in getting Upper Deck into the baseball card business.