Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 7

     THE BOX hadn't shown its hideous face in my house for over three months. Thinking of all the cards still being held captive by its evil clutches ignited my desire to seek out THE BOX and free some cards myself.

    The journey was long and perilous. When a cardboard box doesn't want to be found, it makes things very difficult for its seeker. Their camouflage is unmatched.

    Eventually I came across what appeared to be THE BOX's lair. I surveyed my surroundings carefully. Now I was on THE BOX's turf, and surely things would different from our previous battles. However, this doesn't change the fact that it's man versus cardboard box. Or so I thought...

    As soon as I entered the lair a swarm of boxes came at me. It took much coordination to avoid being struck by them. As I stood, ever so proud myself, I let my guard down. And that's when THE BOX struck.

    Let me tell you, being hit in the head by a box full of around 600 baseball cards doesn't feel all too good, especially when you don't want to hit it back for fear of dinging the corners of its hostages. Though disoriented and with a lump on my head, the cries of hundreds of prisoners brought me back into the moment. I leapt back into the fray.

    Through a slurry of paper cuts I was able to leap on THE BOX, and using strength gained only through adrenaline, I opened the mouth of THE BOX. I grabbed a single card before its jaws snapped shut like a mousetrap. My hand barely escaped dismemberment.

    I jumped off THE BOX and ran as fast as my legs could carry me out of its lair. I was being pursued by many of THE BOX's cronies, which were surprisingly quick considering how they lack limbs and aerodynamics.

    Maybe their poor properties were what allowed me to escape, but at any rate, here I am writing this post. After taking a second to rest, I looked into my hand and saw no other than....

    1990 Upper Deck #760 Jim Presley!

    The look on his face says it all - Mr. Presley is extremely happy to be freed from the clutches of THE BOX.

    1990 isn't one of my favorite Upper Deck designs, but I particularly like this card for a few reasons; one of which being that incredible smile on the front. 

    Another reason is the back of the card. Presley is locked in on some BP while a fan makes an incredible cameo. I hope he was able to get a copy of this card. I wonder how easy it is to get on a baseball card......

    Jim Presley played in the majors from 1984-1991 as a corner infielder, largely with the Mariners, though he also played a season with the Braves (as pictured above) and 20 games in '91 with the Padres.

    Presley had his fair share of power, hitting 28, 27, and 24 home runs in 1985-1987. He was an all-star in 1986 when he hit .265 and drove in 107 runs to go along with his 27 round-trippers. In 1986 he became the second-ever major leaguer to hit two walk-off grand slams in the same season.

    Presley was the first hitting coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks, which is pretty cool.

    I hope to free more cards from the hands of THE BOX in the near future. There are still so many who need their freedom and spotlight on the blog.

     In the meantime, thanks for checking out the blog! I haven't been able to comment on blogs the last week or so, but I'm reading y'all's posts and trying to figure it out.  Have a great week and happy collecting!

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 6

     I hadn't had an encounter with THE BOX in a month and a half. I had kinda forgotten about its existence. And then last night it reared its ugly cardboard face once again.

    I went to open a drawer and it would hardly budge. I stuck my hand in the small opening and pushed down the binder that was blocking it from opening completely. 

    When the drawer opened I was shocked to see THE BOX leap out at me. Using my lightning-fast reflexes, I ducked out of the way as THE BOX came crashing into the wall. Getting that fixed is going to be expensive.

    I think THE BOX must have sensed that the rectangular hole in the wall peeved me, because it changed its tactics, and instead of attacking me it destroyed my personal property. Not cool bud.

    I watched in horror as THE BOX jumped onto my shelves and knocked over all my autographed baseballs and bobbleheads. Thankfully none of them were damaged, but it was still pretty rude. 

    As I was pondering how it's possible that I got stuck with the evil sentient box, it made another move, knocking all my lego sets that I had since I was a child onto the floor. Growing up with numerous siblings, I was surprised they lasted that long anyway, but my years of hard work preserving them was in serious danger. 

    Once THE BOX turned to my library is when I got particularly mad (library meaning a shelf of books). I was gonna maybe possibly read some of those books some day. 

    I lunged at THE BOX. It wasn't ready for my attack; I suppose boxes think they can destroy personal property without any consequence. Ain't no way.

    Being a human being, superior to a box, and especially since I had caught it by surprise, it wasn't much of a fight. 

    When the cops showed up to take THE BOX away, I was able to grab a single card from its disgustingly unbrushed maw. 

    As the police lights faded into the distance, I looked down at the card I rescued. I was surprised to see the face of....

    ...Ali Kazemaini?

    Let me be perfectly honest here. I've never heard of this guy in my life before. But this is why I enjoy freeing cards from THE BOX so much. Let's learn about Mr. Kazemaini, shall we?

    This card, from the 1987-88 design of the Pacific Trading Card Company, is a 'premier issue.' From looking at the front of this card, I would have guessed it was from the early 2000s. I guess I'm not very smart when it comes to soccer.

    

    Looking at his Wikipedia article, I found that Kazemaini was drafted in two soccer leagues, but ended up going with the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League (so that's where the MISL on the set's TCDB page comes from). He won the rookie of the year in the 1984-1985 season. Unfortunately for Kazemaini, his team folded after the 1987-88 season, so he went to play with the Tacoma Stars. Interesting, this card is from the last year the Force had a team. It's a shame to see teams fold like that. As a matter of fact, there were two professional teams I've been to games for that have folded within the last seven years.

    After his playing career, Kazemaini was the head soccer coach at John Carroll University in Ohio, a position he held for 14 years. He was extremely successful there, posting a record of 177-61-13 and winning seven Ohio Athletic Conference regular season titles and four postseason titles. 

    You know something? I still don't really know the rules of soccer. 

    Nonetheless, it was cool to discover Ali Kazemaini's card and rescue it from THE BOX's evil clutches. Other than the occasional hockey post I don't really talk about many sports other than baseball on the blog, so thanks for that Mr. Kazemaini. 

    As I close out this post, I realize that with THE BOX rotting in prison I will be unable to free any more cards. I'd best get on over to the police station and see if I can work something out. While I'm away, make sure to enjoy the rest of your week, and happy collecting! Thanks for checking out the blog.

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 5

     THE BOX had been quiet for some time now. I was beginning to fear that the rest of the cards it held captive would never be feared. But THE BOX proved me wrong when it showed its ugly face again.

    By the looks of that Dean Palmer card THE BOX had trapped in a prison of packaging tape, I knew something needed to be done.

    I sprung into action. Being a human, my body is much more capable of taking hits than a cardboard box. I'm surprised THE BOX hasn't figured this out yet. Every time we have a showdown, it puts up less and less of a fight. I escaped this one with little more than a few scratches.

    Unfortunately for Dean Palmer, I was unable to free him from THE BOX's evil clutches. However, I was able to liberate one of his friends in......

    2004 Fleer Platinum Jose Vidro!

    I kinda like this card design. It's nice and simple, and the colors go well with Vidro's Expos. This is quite possibly the newest set that THE BOX contained. Interestingly, this was the last year of the Montreal Expos; they became the Washington Nationals for the 2005 season.

    By the looks of the picture, Jose Vidro is about to do something pretty cool on the field. The second baseman had a very successful playing career which spanned from 1997-2008. During that time he acquired 1524 hits, 128 home runs, and 720 runs while batting .298 in 1418 games. Vidro was a three-time all star in 2000, 2002 and 2003. 

    After his retirement, Vidro has not been publicly active in the sport of baseball. In fact, I couldn't find much else about him aside from his playing career. If anybody knows anything about him, feel free to share.

    Though I don't know too much about Jose Vidro, I enjoyed freeing his card from THE BOX. It was cool to learn about his playing career; I had never heard of him before finding this card, and he was quite a talented player. It just goes to show what you can find out when you free some cards you haven't seen in a long time.

    Thanks for checking out the blog today, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 4

     *channels British accent*

    'Welcome back to the next installment of Rescued from THE BOX, where a half-insane card collector acts as though cardboard boxes and baseball cards are alive and sentient, and hallucinates action-packed battle scenes with said cardboard box.'

    

    Last time I saw THE BOX I freed Rafael Montalvo's 1991 Bowman card. The mission of freeing every card from a life of mediocrity is a slow one, but one worth undertaking.

    THE BOX contented itself with making a mess of the room I keep all my cards in. That definitely has nothing to do with me. In fact, when I walked into the room my eyes disintegrated and fell in two small powdered piles on the floor. THE BOX's first attack was successful.

    Thankfully, eyeballs grow back, and I was able to see THE BOX as it lunged at me. Since it has no means of propulsion, it was an awkward fall. 

    My laugh may have sounded too confident as I tried in vain to humiliate my foe. THE BOX has no emotions, as I found out. We rumbled the way comic book superheroes do with their arch-nemeses. Whenever a hit was landed giant words magically popped up, such as 'BANG!' and 'POW!'

    Eventually, human limbs triumphed over cardboard edges and I wrenched open THE BOX's black hole-like maw and pulled a card out before it clamped upon my arm. The paper cut was so deep I had to make a tourniquet with a shirt that was lying on the floor. Who knew cardboard could be so deadly?

    After I had taken care of my battle wounds, I saw the card that had been rescued.

    Another '91 Bowman card, this time of Floyd Bannister!

   The expression on Bannister's face as he delivers this pitch would intimidate any batter of the era. 

    

    Floyd Bannister played 15 seasons in the majors from 1977-1992 (he pitched in Japan in 1990). In 431 career games (363 starts), Bannister pitched to a 134-143 record and a 4.06 ERA in 2388 innings. He was an all-star with the Mariners in 1982 when he went 12-13 with a 3.43 ERA and led the league with 209 strikeouts.

    

    Bannister made one postseason appearance, with the White Sox in 1983. He threw six innings and allowed three runs as Chicago fell to the Orioles, 3-1.

    Floyd has three children, all of whom followed in their daddy's footsteps. His son Brian pitched for the Mets and Royals for five seasons, where in 117 games (114 starts), he went 37-50 with an ERA of 5.08. Floyd's other two sons, Brett and Cory, both pitched in college. Brett played one season in the minors in the Mariners organization.

    I'm glad to have freed Floyd Bannister's 1991 Bowman card from the clutches of THE BOX and to have learned a little bit more about him.  

    Thanks for checking out the blog today, have a wonderful rest of the week, and happy collecting!

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 3

    Usually when people speak of action, you think of buff criminals with giant biceps speeding up the sides of tall buildings in motorcycles with a katana in one hand and a coke in the other. 

    Not stealing baseball cards out of boxes. 

    Last time I had a run-in with THE BOX I was able to rescue Greg Olson's 1992 Fleer card. THE BOX hadn't shown his face around the house until this morning.

    It seemed to sense that I was approaching. And it was angry. It's difficult to describe what it's like to have an inanimate object angry at you, because it's not possible. 

    Clearly THE BOX wanted to have a rematch with me. The deal was simple; if I win, I get another card. If it wins, sorry Greg Olson. 

    Fortunately for me, humans have fancy things like arms and legs, and brains. Boxes are just awkwardly shaped rectangular prisms that imprison baseball cards. But hey, I won't turn THE BOX down, especially if it means saving another card from it's evil clutches.

    THE BOX lunged at me. Typical first move. I channeled my inner buff motorcycle guy and dodged it before pinning THE BOX against the wall. Then, prying it's mouth open I was able to save one card before it slammed shut on my hand.

    Getting bitten by a cardboard box is more painful than you'd think. Mostly emotional pain though, because you wonder how on earth an inanimate object without teeth can bite you.

    Anyway, after this ordeal THE BOX snuck back into the closet it came from to nurse its battle wounds and defeat me when we meet again. Pfft. Like that'll happen.

    I looked in my hand to see which of THE BOX'S captives I had saved from a life of mediocrity. And it was none other than....

    1991 Bowman Rafael Montalvo!

    The card has a simple picture framesque design. Nothing too spectacular. Montalvo has a great smile on his face as he poses for this picture. 

    Montalvo threw one career game in the majors, well before this card was made, in 1986. He threw one inning, giving up a hit and walking two while allowing one earned run, pitching the Houston Astros. He made two of the inning's outs on comebackers.

    After his extremely brief 1986 season, Rafael played in the minors through 1991 with the Angles, and then again in 1995, playing for the Dodgers organization. He is depicted on Baseball Reference with the Angels, though he never played in the major leagues with the club.

    In 537 minor league contests (12 seasons), Montalvo pitched to a 47-33 record in 537 recorded games. His ERA in the minors is not known. 

    In 2007 he was a pitching coach in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays system.

    I'm glad to have freed Rafael Montalvo's card from the imaginary hands of THE BOX. Freeing a card is always a good chance to learn both about the set it's from and the player on the card.

    Until next time, have a great week, thanks for reading, and happy collecting!

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 2

     I walked into a room to grab something, minding my own business, when I found THE BOX staring back at me. I knew what it held imprisoned, and the faint sound of baseball cards crying out for help batted my eardrums. I had but one choice.

    I sprung into action, grabbing THE BOX by the maw and pulling it open. THE BOX put up quite the fight - it was clear he wanted to keep his captives. A struggle led to me pulling one card free before THE BOX escaped back into the closet from whence it came.

    Battered and bruised on the floor I sat, with the card I rescued next to me. Then I realized I didn't even know who it was I had saved! I looked to my side to see none other than...

...1992 Fleer Greg Olson!

    The expression on Olson's face is golden. It looks as though he just hit the ball, startling Homer the Brave (their mascot in '92), knocking him off the top of the dugout and into the nachos of an unsuspecting opposing fan.

    As for 1992 Fleer, I think it's a decent design as far as Fleer goes. It holds a respectable score of 6.2/10 on TCDB. The names, though sideways, are nice and easy to read, though under bad lighting the player's first name can get a little bit iffy.

    Greg Olson played five seasons and 414 games in the majors, all but three of which coming with the Braves. He accumulated 309 hits and a .242/.317/.342 slash line. Greg was an all-star in 1990, when in 100 games he batted .262/.332/.379 with 7 home runs. He holds a .798 career OPS in the postseason (16 games).

    

    I'm glad to save Greg Olson's 1992 Fleer card from the clutches of THE BOX. Don't worry Greg, I shall free the rest of your friends.

    Thanks for checking out the blog, have a great rest of the weekend, and happy collecting!

Rescued from THE BOX - Ep. 1

     THE BOX may sound intimidating - and if you're a little baseball card in this big world, it certainly is. You can get lost in a prison of cardboard, surrounded on all sides by fellow cards similar to yourself, doomed to an existence of lying sideways and never being appreciated.

    I've started to sympathize with my little cardboard buddies. Too long have I left them forlorn in the wasteland of a box, burdened with the fate of being ignored for years to come and eventually given to future generations, who will probably place them in the spokes of their hoverboards or whatever they'll be riding then.

    

    Okay, okay hold up. Perhaps that's slightly dramatic. Nevertheless, I thought it would be a fun undertaking if the cards residing in one of my boxes that usually doesn't see much light could be 'rescued' and then featured on a post dedicated to that specific card and the player depicted on it.

    I've found some pretty cool cards while sifting through these boxes, and while many of the cards being rescued likely won't be too special, at least I'll remember that I own them.

    Every other week (or whenever I feel like it lol) one lucky card will be saved from THE BOX and featured on Don Cardwell. This is the chance of a lifetime if you're a Topps card from the 1980s or a '90s Upper Deck or Fleer card.

    Now let us behold the torturous prison our little heroes have been trapped in as they await their salvation. It has many names: The Void, The Depository of Dejection, The Black Hole - but I have twice already called it by its name most relatable to card collectors: THE BOX

    As you can see, Dean Palmer is a victim of the perilous Packaging Tape of Terrors Untold. Don't worry Dean, we shall free you soon!

    Clearly I have a lot of work to do in order to save all these cards from a life of mediocrity and insignificance. 

    I can tell I'm going to have a lot of fun writing this series on the blog. And I hope y'all have fun reading it. Tune in soon for the freeing of the first card. Until then, have a great week, stay safe out in the crazy weather, and happy collecting!