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In Memoriam

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  • In Memoriam

    The end of life is such a melancholy and somber topic (for me)... that I usually don't talk or think about it unless I have to. I'm not saying that I won't talk about it... I just prefer to talk and write about happier things like bacon, Game of Thrones, and baseball cards.

    However last weekend I was surrounded by it. My parents were in town to attend the memorial services for a family friend. And with it being the 15th Anniversary of the September 11thattacks, I couldn't help but think about the thousands of lives lost on that tragic day.

    Plus there's the stress of me destroying my work laptop and quite possibly losing nine years worth of lesson plans, presentations, activities, and handouts with the understanding that all of this could have been prevented had I just backed up my computer.

    In short... the weekend was pretty depressing and frustrating.

    Thankfully I made time to sit down and catch up on a week's worth of card blog reading... which helped take my mind off of things. I wrapped up the weekend by opening two care packages on Sundayevening. One of them inspired today's post. The other I'll share another day.

    There's the saying "good things come in small packages" and that's exactly what I received from Angus over at Dawg Day Cards. He built me a super generous birthday care package that included a card from my Top 10 Most Wanted List... but before we look at that, let's check out the other items he sent:


    1993 Humpty Dumpty #14 Rickey Henderson

    Always excited to add a new Rickey Hendersonoddball issue to the collection. Food issues rule... especially when they're miniature.


    2016 Topps National Trading Card Day #34 and #43


    Another oddball issue! Angus is on a roll! I saw these over on Beckettlast month and thought they looked pretty cool. They kind of remind me of a Upper Deckset from a few years ago.


    1983 Post Cereal Team Card


    Okay... it's time to show off my favorite card of the package:



    1985/86 O-Pee-Chee #110

    As a teacher, I feel bad choosing favorites... especially since I appreciate all of the cardsAngus sent.


    But I've wanted this card for as long as I can remember. I've seen plenty of copies over the years, but I held out hoping that one day I'd find one sitting in a dime box or something.

    If you're not familiar with Pelle Lindbergh... he was a star goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers and Team Sweden in the mid 80's who tragically passed away at the age of twenty-five after crashing his Porsche into a school late one evening while intoxicated. To be honest... I didn't follow hockey until the Sharks arrived in the early 90's... but I remember guys talking about the card when I worked at a card shop back in college.

    I always thought it was cool that O-Pee-Chee took the time to add the tiny black strip at the bottom of the card to honor him. I'm not sure how many times card companies have taken the time to do this, but I remember Topps honored Bart Giamatti back in 1990:


    1990 Topps #396

    Donruss and Score also produced tribute cards for Giamatti... but I'm not exactly sure if I own them or not. However... thanks to COMC... here's what they look like:



    COMC Images

    I do own a Larry Fritsch "In Memoriam" trading card:



    There are two other Fritsch tribute cards, which I think I have laying around somewhere.



    COMC Image


    His family obviously tried to mimic the 1964 Topps Ken Hubbscard, which has replaced the Lindbergh on my Top 10 Wantlist.



    COMC Image


    A quick Googlesearch led me to this Jim Umbrictcard from the same set. At the bottom of the card it mentions his passing earlier in the year.


    There's also a subset of "In Memoriam" cards in the 1994 Conlonbaseball card set, but since they honored the players decades after their playing years, I left them out of this post.


    In 2008... Topps honored Sean Taylor with a card posthumously in their Topps Progressionset:



    COMC Image

    Finally there's the 1970-71 O-Pee-Cheehockey card of Terry Sawchuk:



    COMC Image

    I'm sure there are other "In Memoriam" trading cards floating around out there. If you happen to know of any, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.

    Thank youAngus for this awesome birthday care package!

    Happy Friday and sayonara!

    More...
    Collecting autographs, game-used cards, & certain inserts/parallels of the following players/teams: Tony Gwynn/Padres, Kurt Suzuki/A's, Greg Maddux, Brett Favre/Packers, Steve Largent/Seahawks, Kobe Bryant/Lakers, & Devin Setoguchi/Sharks.

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