Author: Carl Aridas

Shoebox Memories – 1986 Topps Tom Paciorek

We all have Aunts down in Florida.  Okay, maybe not everyone, but I do.  And recently she sent some “vintage” mid-80s Mets cards up to me in NY from a neighbor who wanted to get rid of them after her spouse passed on.  In looking through them, I came across the 1986 Mets card shown below:             Several things about this card. Firstly 1986 is not “vintage”.  In 1986...

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Out of Left Field: How About a Forfeit For the Betterment of the Game?

Remember when you were a kid playing whiffle ball or stick ball on the street? You would bring your bat, ball, and glove and play for hours with friends until either mom called dinner, or an argument would break out. Generally the argument would be over where a ball had landed, or if  the pitched ball was a strike or not. Being a mature 8, 9, 10, or 35-year-old, the argument would often escalate...

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Lockout Over? Wake Me When It’s Time to Care

Since rooting for the Mets in the mid ’70s, often being babysat by the color TV watching daytime Mets games broadcast by Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner, and Lindsey Nelson, I’m become more jaded about baseball. Some might even say a curmudgeon. Some would be right. So the “millionaires fighting billionaires” offseason is over. We can now look forward to the Chico’s Bail...

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Out of Left Field: Let’s Have Umpires Specialize

Some workers work well with spreadsheets and numbers.  They tend to be used as accountants.  Some workers are good with science and analyzing illness. They tend to be employed as doctors or nurses. Some workers are really good selling items or services they represent.  Those workers tend to be in sales.  Finally, some people are really good do nothing productive while lying.  We call those...

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Shoebox Mysteries: How Will Kids Afford Cards?

Last week baseball card collecting fans, as well as Topps executives, were stunned when in a significant baseball card deal was announced by MLB and the MLBPA that, surprise, was full of conflict of interests. The deal, leaked to the press, was that Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association had announced Fanatics would become the exclusive licensee to produce baseball cards when...

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