Only they were produced by a company called O-Pee-Chee, which for a time produced licensed versions of the Topps cards, looking similar except for their own logo and some different info on the reverse.  I found some 1977 cards, the first year that I collected, in pretty good condition, grabbing a Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, Ed Figueroa and some others.

Whenever I come across one of these setups, I hope they are at least organized by year, so I can take a quick look to see if there’s a Miguel Jimenez or Pete Harnisch, the two Fordham entries from my era.  Luckily, I found one of each, including a ‘94 Upper Deck Miguel card.  A quarter well spent, indeed.

If you haven’t seen this site by Josh Wilker, be careful… you might get lost in it.  Josh has a new book out, Cardboard Gods, which will go on my list as soon as the pile of 20 or so unread volumes taunting me on my bedroom shelf is reduced some.

For a well-done piece on baseball cards and how they can help illuminate a life, check out this piece by Jason Fry on his excellent Mets blog Faith and Fear in Flushing.

• 20 years ago this week (April 3, 1989 to be exact), Ken Griffey, Jr. made his MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners. Over at Hardball Times, Richard Barbieri takes a peek at a few other players who are of the best at their positions, but hold no World Series ring.
• At the NYT’s Bats Blog, Justin Sablich shares part 2 of a series rounding up how some Yankees bloggers are looking at the 2010 season. (Part 1 is here)
• Glam Gal’s Heather Zeller says that the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Mauer is “Who’s Haute”
• Baseball Crank’s talking about JD Drew being clutch. Or unclutch. You decide.
• The AP reports that Andrew Thomas Gallo, charged with the death of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, wants to move the trial away from Orange County, CA.
• Former Major League OF Doug Glanville is joining ESPN as a baseball analyst.
• Yep, that’s apparently Thurman Munson’s pilot’s license on eBay. Mike at SteadyBurn calls it “atrocious” as a find. [via BallHype]

The other is a quick news piece on the Thurman Munson Awards dinner on Feb. 2, which I will be working and covering for B:B.  I’ll try to get a pic with Sweet Lou at least.  Piniella was my first favorite player — I remember my dad taking me to a game in 1977, when we lived in upstate N.Y. and going to a game was a rare treat and an all-day commitment.  We spend the morning with a roll of some kind of cardboard paper and brown paint, printing out LOOOOOOOOOOOOOU, which I dutifully held up each time he came to bat.  I liked how he hit, but I think I liked more how Frank Messer or Phil Rizzuto would always have to say, “They’re not saying BOOOO, they’re saying LOOOO” every time the crowd would serenade him.