One Man In

My Eight Men Out list has been working while I sleep. Blog reader Brent stumbled across it, and spotted the only card missing from my 1993 Leaf Series 2 set. As luck would have it, he had an unopened box of that exact product that he was about to open, and promised to send one my way if there was an extra in the box.

Fortunately, unopened product from the overproduction era is easy as pie to come by, so thanks to Brent, I can now cross off another card.

1993 Leaf #380 Randy Johnson

The Big Unit has eluded me all this time, and while my own box of 1993 Leaf Series 2 yielded a near-complete set, there were a few missing. Julie from A Cracked Bat helped out around Christmastime with well-known Rockies slayer Eric Karros, and now Randy Johnson, card #380, finishes up Series 2.

This arrived in a simple PWE, well-protected with a penny sleeve and top loader. Its entombment in that Leaf pack for close to twenty-five years protected it well, and there don't seem to be any signs of damage to the surface, as sometimes occurs when these older, glossy cards are pressed together all that time then abruptly peeled apart.

No horizontal cards exist in 1993 Leaf, which is just as well, since Johnson, a towering 6'10", deserves the vertical treatment. There are plenty of tall pitchers out there, like Chris Young of the Royals, along with now-retired Jon Rauch, who stood an inch taller than both Johnson and Young at 6'11".

Though basketball is more synonymous with tall athletes, flip over your baseball cards once in a while and check the vital stats (especially the pitchers). You might be surprised at some of the names you'll find.

Thanks to Brent for finishing this set off, and if you don't have a short wantlist like this on your blog, I strongly encourage you to make one.