I, for one, was fooled by this Christmas-themed rack pack—it was created by a third party in the late 1970s, not Topps, and not in 1956. Good thing I didn't shell out the $400 it's going for on eBay.

The real reason I'm posting this is because the third party unwittingly seeded the  Warren Giles/Rin-Tin-Tin variation, to commemorate the seven weeks the animal filmstar ran the National League—appointed by the owners so Giles could take a vacation—in the summer of 1955. It's a great card, and hard to find in decent shape.

(Click on the image to get the full effect.)

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.

From the cluttered desk of The Baseball Card Blog

Five years ago I started writing this little blog. What began as a fun idea quickly became a large obsession for me as I wrote, collected, and generally did my part to cultivate the presence of baseball cards and baseball card collecting on the Internet. Lucky for me, lots of others felt the same way I did about these little pieces of cardboard, and soon the Web was buzzing with collectors in conversation.

The past five years have flown by on this blog, and what I love most about the Internet is the archive nature of it. I love that content generated years ago is still available with a few clicks of the mouse. I also find it fun that for all the high-tech mathematics and old fashioned jockeying for position within search engines, typing "1987 Topps" into Google, Yahoo! or Bing will still return a post I wrote in June 2006 within the first few results.

So what will the next five years bring at The Baseball Card Blog? Well, hopefully more fine writing about baseball cards. New co-writer Mike Kenny has contributed more than his share of that, providing us with some of the funniest insights into the topic anywhere; this blog is more than lucky to have him.

What else? Well, this year there will be more involvement from me. I'm going to start writing more often, contrasting Mike's insane bombast with more tempered reviews of baseball books and posts about my current obsession: the 1956 Topps baseball set.

It's a different, better, more amazing baseball card landscape on the Internet now than it was in 2006. And though there are literally hundreds of card blogs out there, I hope you'll continue to read ours.

Regards,
Ben

Every now and again I like to slip on my smoking jacket, my fuzzy slippers, and my oil-free archival gloves, pad into my study, take down my oversized oil painting of forgotten uncle Griggs Wigwam Henry, spin open the combination lock on my in-no-way-over-the-top super-secret safe, and go through my collection of cardboard rarities. I'm surprised I've even shared this much with you. Oh well. Behold! Here are a few of my most prized treasures...

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: damn, Ben, where'd you get the cheddar for all these fine sports cards? And how can I emulate your devil-may-care attitude?

Well, my friend, you're in luck. As little as 15 years ago, without reliable access to card shows and a slobbering, rag-tag band of sweaty-armpitted, mouth-breathing sports-card shop owners to take your hard-earned cash, you were poop out of luck of ever amassing even a fraction of the collection I've laid before you here today. But thanks to the cornucopia of benevolence found on the Internet, untold treasures are only a click away!

Want to be knee-deep in the fool's gold of 1991 Fleer baseball? Poof! You're wading through stack upon stack of that horrid set. You want to spend your next paycheck on an unopened case of 1985 Donruss? Poof! It's yours... And when life gives you 49 Frank Tanana Diamond Kings, you'll be happy to make Diamond King Tanana-ade...