The Psycho Eyebrows of Sam McDowell

Gimme cards of guys lookin' mean. Not living legends who didn't get the memo to maybe not wear the blue workshirt and blazer to the photoshoot because the photographer couldn't find his lasers backdrop. Is it just me or does anyone out there wish Larry Bird would grow out the shag mullet again? I felt like it all went downhill when he got the close-cropped cut back in 1989 or so. Seriously... why would you settle on a photo this boring for a subset called Heroes of Sport?


Gimme cards of guys who've been shot at.
 None of this J.-Edgar-Hoover-and-Clyde-Tolson-making-the-rounds-at-a-Bureau-bbq charade.
 

Gimme cards of guys chewing tobacco together––
[Nellie Fox: Now (spits) you see here, Harv'? (Spits.) See how I've drawn her in here? Well, watch this. Harvey Kuenn: Gosh Nellie! (Spits.) Fox: Thass right Harv. Old Nellie's makin' her dance! (They spit together, triumphantly.)]––not guys scratching their butts with their eyes closed.

Gimme cards of guys with photo-stat heads who would gladly kick your ass if you asked them nicely.

Or cool, calm Pitching Partners by day, hepcat cardsharps by night.

Or you know what? Just gimme any card starring psycho eyebrows.

· Ben Henry, Deron Johnson, Don Zimmer, Eddie Waitkus, Harvey Kuenn, Larry Bird, Nellie Fox, Pedro Ramos, Sam McDowell, The Natural, Warren Giles, William Harridge

Miscuts: Hall of Fame Edition

Today I baked alive at Brimfield Flea Market in Brimfield, Massachusetts. If you've never been there, it's 17 open fields strung along Route 20, which for three weeks of each year are crammed full of leathery-skinned antiques dealers, junk collectors, hoboes, drug addicts, and certified weirdos. And a good time is had by all.

This year I went twice (July and September), each time filling up on weird stuff. July's big score was an uncut sheet of Wacky Packages from 1979. This time around I brought home a safe deposit box from an old bank, which coincidentally is the perfect size for holding baseball cards.

I also scored on miscut cards. On top of the major haul from Scott in New Jersey (more on Scott's Haul in a later post), these cards are helping make miscuts my next big 'thing.' And just my luck, all three of the miscuts I found today feature Hall of Famers.





Truthfully, the Reggie miscut is kind of lame, as it's almost impossible to determine the identity of the player on the other card. It's obvious that Jeff Newman is the other player on the Jenkins card simply because the back is cut so that his name is on there. The other player on the Carlton card (really the best card I found today) is Sudden Sam McDowell (#720). It's interesting to note that McDowell is not in the Hall of Fame, though he was 11 strikeouts away in 1967 from leading the AL in K's for six consecutive seasons (1965-1970), and he was traded practically straight-up for Gaylord Perry in 1971.

· Brimfield, Fergie Jenkins, Jeff Newman, miscuts, Reggie Jackson, Sam McDowell, Steve Carlton

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