Let's Remember Some Guys (and Gals) - '90s edition

I've been hit with a wave of nostalgia lately. Every one of my interests seems to have a callback to the 1990s. 

Is Major League Baseball on the verge of a prolonged work stoppage? 

Is a popular singer organizing a music festival showcasing female artists and supporting women's causes? 

Are we sure Kurt Cobain took his own life? 

These videos are all outside of my expected spot for such nostalgia - 60 Songs That Explain the '90s. 

On a recent episode, host Rob Harvilla explains the origins of one of my favorite sports talk subjects: remembering retired players who weren't superstars or even all-stars but just..guys. 

Those Guys played pro sports, possibly for a decade or two. Possibly for your favorite team. And they deserve to be remembered - which is what the writers at Defector (née Deadspin) set out to do.

I'm in the mood to remember some sports guys. And some sports gals. And, as a nod to Olivia Rodrigo and the Daisy Chain Festival, I'm going to remember some musical gals as well. 

Do you remember... Errict Rhett?

He was the star running back at Florida after Emmitt Smith graduated, and had a couple of really good seasons for some really bad Buccaneers teams. I'm adding this very orange card to my wantlist. 

Do you remember... Kent Bottenfield?

He was a run-of-the-mill reliever for the Expos and Rockies, then caught on with the Cardinals and had one breakout year where he led the league in wins at the All-Star break?!? I thought he actually started an All-Star Game, because I had this memory of the most random St. Louis pitcher taking the ball at the beginning of the mid-summer classic. But I guess I mis-remembered a guy. Also it was 1999, not 1996 as I'd initially thought. 

Do you remember... Joe Juneau?

I remember being so excited the first time I pulled this card out of a pack. Juneau was a rookie of the year finalist and made the All-Rookie team after a monster 1992-93 season in which he racked up over 100 points. (To be fair, a lot of guys had 100+ points that year) Boston traded him to the Capitals in 1994, and he kind of fizzled out after that. I also recall at one point his name started getting pronounced in French either by request or some inside joke I wasn't aware of. Zho-ay Zhoo-no. lol. 

Do you remember... Antonio McDyess?

"Dice" was the second overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft (ahead of Kevin Garnett) and made the All-Rookie team in 1996. I remember he was a franchise-caliber power forward with the Nuggets but I did not remember he was drafted by the Clippers and traded to Denver on draft day. He made an All-Star team and an All-NBA 3rd team before a knee injury limited him to bench duty in the 2000s.
 

Remembering non-superstar female athletes is harder; there aren't enough teams and leagues for women to fly just under the radar while still being recognized as a role player/fan favorite, and the male-dominated sports talk landscape has only recently decided to talk up specific average-ish players for very specific reasons. But I've got a couple Olympic athletes that weren't quite champions:

Do you remember... Kim Zmeskal?

My first athelte crush, Sports Illustrated For Kids hyped her up hard in 1992. Kim was the first US gymnast to win the world championship in '91, and naturally everyone expected her to win multiple gold medals. Unfortunately a stress fracture in her ankle wrecked her Olympics, and she didn't make the team in 1996 - when Bela Karolyi's other little dynamo nailed a gold-medal winning vault on one leg. 

Do you remember... Surya Bonaly? 

Surya Bonaly didn't win an Olympic medal, either. But the French figure skater did something even more exclusive - a backflip. In competition. I remember Bonaly was a bit of a rebel; she was more athletic and daring than the traditional skaters and in a sport judged largely by Eastern bloc countries, there wasn't a whole lot of grace given to a black, French woman. Her backflip - which was not even legal at the time - was almost like a middle finger to the establishment. 

Earlier this year I witnessed firsthand how much fun elite figure skaters can have when their unique talents are celebrated rather than shunned. Whenever Ilia Malinin does a backflip, he gets points and praise. Maybe a couple figure skating fans remember who opened the door to make the backflip legal. But maybe they don't realize that, not that long ago, even if you could do a backflip.. you couldn't. 

It's easier to find random 1990s Gals in the world of entertainment. Let's remember some Alternative Nation faves. Do you remember Letters to Cleo? 

How about Elastica? Republica? Belly? Veruca Salt? (you probably remember Veruca Salt)

Okay one more... this is very random but I somehow remembered a girl without even realizing it...

I've been watching 13 Reasons Why on Netflix lately. I'd read the book a long time ago, and missed the show when it initially aired. Young adult fiction was my favorite genre for many years, even after I'd aged out of the demographic. I'm much closer to the parents' age than the young stars who play teenagers in the show. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't recognize any of the younger actors but I recognized a couple of the moms. The lead character’s mom had a major role in Grey’s Anatomy. One of them played a memorable side character in Seinfeld. Another one had a supporting role in Dawson's Creek. And then there's this lady..

I didn't recognize the actress who played Clay's mom. Not consciously, anyway. However, the more episodes I watched, the more I noticed her. But... why? 

Finally, after about 30 episodes I decided to let the credits run. A list of names appeared. No photo or character name to link up, just actors' names. One by one. Until... 

Wait!! That's Amy Hargreaves?!? From Brainscan?!!? No way!!

So, apparently Amy Hargreaves has been acting pretty regularly for decades. But I haven't seen her in anything since (checks notes)... 1994. 

I actually have a VHS copy of this cult horror-ish fave somewhere in my closet. I've probably watched it five times total and not once since 2000 or so. I have no idea how I remembered Amy Hargreaves. 

Then again, I remember Erik Kramer and Pokey Reddick and Curtis Pride and Gianluca Pagliuca and Jyrki Lumme and Duce Staley and Paul Sorrento and... you get the idea. 

How many of these Guys (and Gals) do you remember? Who would make your list of niche/obscure 1990s athletes/actors/musicians? 

Thanks for reading!


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Box Break part II / III

 Here's part two of the retro box break... and also part three of the Anniversary break?!?

Before opening any packs I perused the face cards to try and match the collecting preferences of my friends in the Anniversary break. So if you're collecting the base set or glossy All-Star set *cough* Fuji  don't add any new singles to your set build until you receive these 😉

These are the packs I kept:

Yup, two Mel Hall cards in the same spot. I could not inflict that horror upon any of you, so I'm stuck with 'em. 

I was too busy playing tic-tac-toe with Blue Jays to see there were two Enos Cabell cards facing front in the same spot as well. Not a single Hall of Famer base card facing front, but the Cecil Fielder RC might be the best card in the set anyhow. 

Got two Tim Wallach All-Star cards facing front, too. Wonder why they seem to choose the same cards to top off each rack pack? And why they wouldn't put bigger names to entice kids to buy them? This was a BBCE sealed box so I know it wasn't searched. I checked the backs and found three Hall of Famers: Jim Rice, Rod Carew, and Steve Carlton. So the stars are in these packs -- at least some of 'em. 

There's no way I would have completed a Glossy set even if I'd kept every pack.

x Sparky Anderson
2 Eddie Murray
x Lou Whitaker
2 George Brett
1 Cal Ripken
x Jim Rice
1 Rickey Henderson
x Dave Winfield
1 Carlton Fisk
1 Jack Morris
1 American League team
1 Dick Williams
x Steve Garvey
x Tom Herr
x Graig Nettles
1 Ozzie Smith
1 Tony Gwynn
x Dale Murphy
1 Darryl Strawberry
1 Terry Kennedy
2 LaMarr Hoyt 
x National League team

Six Padres seemed excessive until I remembered that 1) the 1986 set has 1985 All-Stars, and 2) the 1985 All-Stars were largely chosen based on their 1984 performance. San Diego won the NL pennant in '84 - but the Tigers won the World Series and they only had half as many cards in this insert set? Was the NL just totally bereft of name-brand players in '84-85?

As for the main set, I opened them pack-by-pack and sorted them on my kitchen table, just as I did with my first-ever set build which was actually 1987 Topps, but ..close enough.

I cracked these open during a rain storm, which reminded me of a similar day sometime in '86. My mom agreed to drive me to the corner store to pick up packs of Garbage Pail Kids and we got back home just as the sky darkened ominously. I remember spreading out my packs on the dining room table while thunder boomed and rain poured outside. Maybe I should rip a box of GPK for this Anniversary break? 

Don't worry, I'm not going to send you all GPK stickers lol. But while I'm on the topic, Series 4 was the set I was most familiar with, as it was the most common and current release in the summer of '86 -- just like 1986 Topps baseball. 

Series 3 packs were released in January 1986, but they may have well been released before I was born. A couple older kids on my block had Series 3 singles and I was in awe of each and every one. Similar to how I viewed my older brother's baseball card ablum and his random singles from 1982-1985. 

6 year-old me when I saw a 1 year-old card/sticker 

I knew someone who had Garbage Pail Kids stickers from Series 2. And boyyy did he let us know it. He even claimed that he had an Ashcan Andy from Series 1 (the '52 Topps of GPK lol) but he never took it out because it was "too valuable" and our goober hands would wreck it or whatever. Psssh. He sooo did not have an Ashcan Andy.

Oh! Speaking of round metal things.. I saw the Stanley Cup! It was so random and unexpected. Yesterday I decided to take my bike out for a ride in downtown Cranford(town next to me) because Saturday was a washout, and I was on my way to get a burger when I turned the corner and saw three guys getting out of a car. They all looked to be about my age (i.e. not pro athletes) and one of them was carrying The Stanley Cup!!!? 

In New Jersey. 

Like..huh? 

I had actually not watched much of the playoffs and it took me a second to figure out who had won when I got semi-close to the guys and shouted "You got the Cup?!?! That's awesome!" across a side street. 

They did not reply to me because of course they didn't. They're friggin Carolina Hurricanes 😡

If I were a few years younger, if my wife were still around, or if it were a member of a team I haven't hated for three decades.. I might have followed them and asked for a picture with it or something. 

Instead I went on my way, grabbed my burger, and immediately started searching "Day With the Cup" online. All the internet would tell me was that little-used spare forward Nic Deslauriers had it in another part of the state on Friday. It's Day with the Cup, not weekend. 

This wasn't Nic though. Even though he's at the end of his career he's still noticeably younger than the guy I saw. 

I had never heard of this guy (I'm not exactly current on Carolina's front office staff) but apparently he's the third  member of the organization to bring the Cup to New Jersey. I'm still not happy they won it though. 

New Jersey hockey fans got a chance to see the Stanley Cup up close this week, more than 20 years after the Devils last won the championship.

Carolina Hurricanes forward Nick Deslauriers brought the trophy to North Wildwood, where fans posed for photos on the pier. Deslauriers, a former Philadelphia Flyer, said he grew to love the Jersey Shore during his time in the area.

The day before, Hurricanes assistant coach and Wood-Ridge native Bill Burniston brought the Stanley Cup to his hometown firehouse, Ridgewood High School, W’s Village Grill in Oakland and Parkwood Deli in Ridgewood, giving fans another chance to celebrate hockey’s biggest prize.

Before I left for that surprise Stanley Cup viewing... I recorded the third and final installment of the Chrome Anniversary Box Break trilogy. Ugh I am never filiming myself ever again ever...

We're still a month out from my actual blogging anniversary but I want to get the rest of the prize haul posted this week and mail out the gifts next week. You'll see why soon enough.

Thanks for reading!

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Here Is The House

Tomorrow is my mom's 78th birthday. Today she moved out of the place she called home for half that time. I was 18 months old when she moved in, and 25 years old when I moved out. Here are some photos and memories from my final walkthrough ten days ago. And here's a song to set the mood:

The house I grew up in is at the end of a dead-end street.

If you were to walk past the house from left to right you could continue down a ramp that leads to the motel I mentioned in this post. There was a metal barrier blocking the path but it's been gone for quite a while.

Across the street and beyond the shiny white fence is a parking lot. I guess it's for the shopping plaza a block ahead but it seems superfluous and too far from the stores. The pavement covers what used to be a dirt lot that hosted our Wiffle Ball games. The big tree is blocking the outfield fence and the brick wall of the house that we used to call the "warehouse" as a nod to Baltimore's Camden Yards. (Sorry for the screen, I took this pic from my mom's bedroom.)

 
The enclosed porch was always a fun place for chatting and having coffee. My aunt lived on the right side of the house until she died; one or both of us would often meet her on the porch for a visit. One time a hurricane-force storm blew in and I stayed inside watching the weather report while my mom and aunt watched the action outside from their rocking chairs.

The living room was still being lived in when I was there. 

Let's head to the dining room, where my mom would host holiday dinners and serve her super thick sausage lasagna (and other things I suppose.. the lasagna was always my fave.)

Aaah too bright! That lantern at the top left is probably older than I am. It's one of those things that has been in the house for as long as I can remember. 

On the far right of the dining room is a doorway that leads to the kitchen. Take a hard right and you'll see a door that leads to..

.. the basement. I was tasked with cleaning this up last weekend while my mom separated the contents (mostly Christmas decorations) into 'keep' and 'donate' piles. 

Let's go back upstairs.

On the way to the kitchen there was a unique feature that I've never seen in any other house:

No, it's not the sign (which my mom bought, btw.) It's that little door that slides open on either side of the house.

This allowed my mom and aunt (and later my mom and nephew) to leave each other letters, envelopes, misdelivered mail, or anything else that would fit in the "hole."

Here's a look at the kitchen, with the back door at the far right. The backsplash and countertop had some awful sunflower-colored wallpaper when I was a kid. My mom painted over it.

The kitchen table is flanked by a padded bench. I always thought that closet on the right was in an odd place, but it came in handy for storing garden tools, shopping bags, and the bottles/cans we used to accumulate. One of my few fond memories of my father was when we'd cash in our collection at the supermarket. I'd go in with bags of empty soda bottles and I'd come out with packs of baseball cards (or stickers.)

When I was very little I used to bite the edge of the cushion by the window. My teeth marks are still there, but they're hard to see even in person.

My lifelong best friend stopped by Saturday night for one last visit (and a banana.)

The backyard was not always so overgrown. My mom isn't physically able to tend to it anymore. See the clothesline at the top left? I used to have a basketball hoop at that pole. Before that there was a garage at the back, where the table is in this picture. The garage was made of wood, which was damaged in Hurricane Gloria and further deteriorated until my brother pulled it down with a crane attached to his truck. 

Let's go back inside, and take a tour of the upstairs.

There used to be some ratty shag carpets on each step nailed (poorly, I might add) by my father. I learned to tie my shoe laces at the bottom of these stairs. Also the wood paneling was brown but my mom painted it white, which is the next best thing to removing the panels altogether.

I took this photo at the intersection of my childhood bedroom (behind me) and my teenage/young adult bedroom (to my left). Since this is ostensibly a baseball card blog I made sure to include the '48 Bowman Augie Galan here.

This greyish-blue room was the latter. And it used to be red. Whenever someone would ask me why I painted my room red I would reply "because I couldn't paint it black." I really wanted a black room.

My bed was in various places but mainly up against the white wall where I'm kneeling. The view outside my window isn't nearly as nice as Matt's but I liked it. Everyone in the neighborhood has a pool.

This is the guest room, where I would stay whenever I visited. It was originally my bedroom (and it wasn't always that color.)

When I was 5 or 6 someone gave me a balloon for my birthday and I made the mistake of bringing it into this room. The popcorn ceiling popped it, scaring the shit out of me. I probably cried. I hated loud noises as a kid. Fire drills were a source of serious anxiety. Perhaps that trauma can be traced back to this damn ceiling popping my birthday balloon. 

Among the more positive memories in this room are the origins of my card collection. I had Gremlins and Wacky Packages stuck to my dresser - and Garbage Pail Kids stuck to my closet door.

Some remnants of GPK stickers are still there. My oldest nephew Michael was born the year I really started accumulating these. He was fascinated with these from the time he was 4 and often asked me to show him this door. We tried peeling off what we could, which is why there are so many fragments.

This room might have been the birthplace of my collection but its home was in the 3rd floor attic.

My mom used to let me (and my friends) draw on the walls. There are still some badly-drawn Bart Simpson sketches and some anti-NKOTB statements left uncovered when we ran out of blue paint.

This peg board at the top of the stairs was installed by my (former) brother-in-law, so that I could hang my Starting Lineup figures on hooks like a store display. I once had a gray card table up against that blue wall on the right where I would display some of my most valuable cards. Many of them were stolen right from under me when my parents left me alone in the house with a pair of punk-ass kids pretending to be my friends. 

That incident shaped me as a collector. I thought about quitting forever and selling off whatever I had left. Instead I rebuilt my collection bigger and better than ever, and kept on going.

The original Collector HQ. I apologize again for the bright glare. There wasn't a bed there until after I moved out and other family members moved in from time to time. The crawl space door is at the far left. I still have some items from that find to discuss, which I will get to soon. 

The window above the crawl space has seen better days. Somewhere on that roof is a 1988 Tony Gwynn Starting Lineup figure that my eight year-old self decided to a) paint the base with whiteout and b) toss it out the window. I have no idea why I would do such a thing, but I have always wondered if it's still stuck on the roof, or in the gutter. It couldn't have come down - someone would have found it.

That wraps up the tour. Thank you for joining me on this final trip through my old West Haven home.

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I'm building a Christmas care package list, and if you're doing the same you should know that COMC is so far behind that orders placed today will not be guaranteed to arrive until 2021 unless you pay $9.99 $11.49 for "rushed" delivery. Which makes me mad because I have a card in my inventory that was meant to be a gift for a generous blogger. Guess I'll have to do my holiday sports card shopping elsewhere this year. I am so done with COMC.

Anywho... I added a much shorter post to my 1993 Blog today. I'm not saying that I'll add you to my Christmas gift list if you follow The 1993 but I'm not not saying that 😜

Thanks for reading!



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