Dime card smorgasboard (+ rant about death of free minor leagues)

After my first order from baseballcardstore.ca, or the online dime-box, I made frequent small purchases by taking advantage of combined shipping. 400 cards later, in December, I finally got my cards shipped, hoping it would arrive by Christmas. And then I waited, and waited, and waited .It turned out that they were low on card supplies for shipping, which is okay, but I wish they had said something. I finally got my cards the same day of the card show, in late January, and when I heard it was delivered I ran out to the mailbox. I was not disappointed. It took a while, but it was worth it. Digging through 400 cards was pure joy!

I got a nice mix of Yankees, player collections, and just random cards. I am proud to say that I now have Yankees cards of 510 different Yankees players, and 1704 different Yankees cards overall. 

I compete in speech, and last year I did a speech on baseball players who overcame great odds, featuring Rick Ankiel, Jim Abbott, and Mordecai Brown. All three are favorites of mine. It was a fun speech, as I love being able to tie in baseball to speech topics whenever I can. 

 Dan Quisenberry has become my second favorite player ever, behind only Mariano Rivera, and that 1983 Fleer card is my favorite card of his. It sums up his warm, quirky personality perfectly. The 1990 Fleer card on the right, by the way, is not your everyday run of the mill 1990 Fleer card. It is a Fleer Canadian card.

I now have 25 cards of Quiz, or a little over 10% of all his cards. Just 205 to go!

This order was very helpful in filling in holes in my "One card for every Yankee" quest. The Jack McDowell was especially satisfying, as I'd been looking for one for a while.

It's always cool getting cards of favorites in unfamiliar uniforms. 

Isiah Kiner-Falefa might be second favorite current player, behind only Aaron Judge. He spent two years for the Frisco Rough Riders a while back, and two years playing for one team is forever in the minors nowadays. Gone are the days when Jigger Statz got 3,356 hits with one minor league team, the Los Angeles Angels. It seemed like every time I went to see the Rough Riders, Isiah would be playing. He was a constant, an oasis in an ever-changing roster. I have very fond memories of the P.A saying " Isiah Kiiineerrr FALEFAAAAAA!!!!!!" And then the Rangers called him up, and ever since I've rooted for him from afar. I mean, not very far, but I almost never go to Rangers games. 

Which reminds me of angry angry angry I am at MLB for renaming the minor leagues. The Texas League is now "AA Central"? The Pacific Coast League is now "AAA West"? What in the world? First they took away the minor leagues' independence, and now they've taken the last thing they had, their individuality. To me it's just the last straw. It shows just how little they care about the minor leagues. The minor leagues now exist only to funnel players into the major leagues. They are the vassals, the slaves of the major leagues. 

MLB is bent upon destroying the true, the free minor leagues, and something has got to be done. If the Frisco Rough Riders were an independent team, if they were free to try to win, I would be a Rough Riders fan first and a Yankees fan second. But they exist only to school players for the majors.

Rant over. Ahem. 

Shiny cards will help to distract my mind from the wretched way MLB is treating the minor leagues, from the dastardly, evil, Sauron-like the way MLB is..... 

Deep breath, John. Focus on the cards.

Of course, no trip to the online dime box would be complete without O-Pee-Chee.

It was a nice surprise to get some just-barely-vintage cards for just a dime, especially cards as awesome as that Bake McBride. Jesus Alou is nothing to sneeze at, either.

Four iconic cards, finally mine for the paltry sum of 40 cents.

Though Mickey Hatcher is another one that has gotten its deserved attention already, the other three above I hadn't seen before, and I've never seen a card that's anything like the Kirk Gibson.

Vintage for 10 cents! Generally when I find vintage in a real life dime box, they're creased, taped, trimmed, or something, but the Leron Lee is in nice condition, and the Watson is okay.

I always feel bad about leaving cards out of posts, so I'll probably do a second post for these cards. 

Thanks for reading!