FRENCH'S - Mustard to My Hot Dog

Here I am talking about hot dogs again. Surely it has nothing to do with the diet I began last month.  I don't recall when I last ate a tasty all-beefer on a bun. Summer time perhaps. The bright yellow mustard is fine enough but my preference leans toward spicy brown.

French conjures many images. Eiffel Tower. Notre-Dame. Napoleon. Bull Dogs. Brigette Bardot. Wait. What?

Oui, Oui, Brigette?

This past October, the other  French icon and hero Kevin Papoy, sent a mailer as a reminder he still thinks of me. Kevin has been blog-absent for sometime now, leading a busy life across the ocean.  With all he has going on, Kevin still felt sorry for these homeless cards. I'm a great foster parent.



Here's something new! My first 1986 True Value cards. Still sealed. With a 30 card checklist, the possibilities aren't endless but could include Nolan Ryan, Ripken and Sandberg. Each plays a large part in my collection. There are several HOFers in this set. I like the design well enough. They would look nice, side by side in a binder. This one will remain with my Whitakers. Now were I to rip it up, the contents would look something like this:

Yes, I do not own this photo. 

More oddities include these Fielders, both new to me. One from the Shanks Collection, the other Metz Baking. I wonder if they make hot dog buns?

How about these great additions to my build-a-bat collection? My best guess is that I'm still short 809,027 pieces - and one bat knob.

2001 FLEER SHOWCASE - STICK IT

2001 UD GAME-USED PP

Holy Hall of Fame, Batman! I have a real dilemma here! Both of these fine gentlemen are PCs. Perhaps it's better to add this to the catcher binder, after I take the wood chips off of course.  You can't imagine the splinters these things give me.


Here's a nice card to remind me Nick is no longer a Tiger or a Cub. It also serves as a reminder to scan cards in the future. There was a good  reason for taking pictures at the time.  Perhaps I was feeling a bit paresseuse. Look that up, if you're not too lazy.

Psst. Nick. NICHOLAS! Behind you...

How did I find myself thrown into 90's nostalgia? When I began collecting in 93, I was a full-bleed snob. White borders were banished from my collection.  How I miss the borders I never took time to appreciate.  There aren't many late 80s and early 90s bordered cards I feel a need to own. There are exceptions:1995 Topps Cyberstats. I have a crazy notion to pull this set together. All were added to my wantlist on TCDB.  Go there now and make my every wish come true. I find the foiled fronts appealing, with photos ripped from pages of history.  Dramatic?  Indeed.  It's the lack of sugar in my diet. 

[While composing this brilliant piece of literature, I found the font size fluctuating between eye-sore large and squinter's type. Blogger finds me intimidating.  I've increased the font size which appears normal in the preview. Please know if it's overly large, I am not yelling.]  I will however, yell THANK YOU to Kevin. 

France has given us many memorable gifts. Lady Liberty comes to mind immediately. But there was one other woman...