Masks, Merceds and More

Patience is a virtue.   I've learned that as I've grown older.  There are some bloggers out there that have been very patient with me.   One of those virtuous souls is a new kid on the block, Ray from the All Cardinals All the Time blog.  Ray sent me a box of Blue Jays goodies just before I went on vacation, containing some great stuff including the Charlie O'Brien card above.

I really do wish that more catchers would adopt the goalie style mask and jazz it up with some great artwork.  Recently retired catcher John Buck's Blue Jays mask is one of my all time favorites, as you can see here.

Orlando Merced spent just one season in Toronto...1997.  You wouldn't expect to see too many cards featuring him in a Blue Jays uniform.   I guess you could say that this is 1.5 cards that show Merced, since the Leaf on the right has him in a Pirates uniform.   I didn't know that Merced finished 2nd in ROY balloting in 1991 to 1/2 of the Killer B's, Jeff Bagwell.

Another example of "he was a Blue Jay?", Mike Stanley played in 98 games for the Jays in '98 before being traded to the Red Sox for a couple of guys that I never heard of.   Moving on...

I never realized that 2000 Pacific Private Stock only featured Jays players in red hats with bats over their shoulders.   You learn something new every day. 

For some really weird reason, when I see this card of Roger Clemens, I think of this...

For those of you old enough to remember the Indian head test patterns that would be on the screen before the Agricultural report on Saturday mornings, before the cartoons finally came on.

I had never seen a '99 Fleer Brilliants card before this box arrived.   It's a nice, shiny card, with absolutely no design whatsoever! 

These scanned a lot brighter than they look in hand.  Another parallel that I hadn't seen or owned before, the Upper Deck Encore cards are a welcome addition.

Last but not least, a Donruss '91 card of Luis Sojo.  Why am I showing this to you?  Because Luis finishes off the team set for '91 Donruss, 24 years too late.   Please don't send me anymore.   Please.

Ray, your patience is incredible, and really appreciated.   The cards are fantastic, and the card show this weekend will be partly devoted to finding some more cards to send your way.   Thank you!!

thanks for reading, Robert