Hidden Grace

Still going through that box of 5000 cards I bought online. Fun. Weird. Filled with commons and strange runs of consecutive cards every now and then. And, being honest about it, the cataloging and filing is a process that I enjoy. Organizing the random large pile, into decade sorted piles, and then those into yearly, then set, etc. On down to many smaller piles sorted by card number. Then in the computer they go. Fun!

Our hobbies binomial nomenclature . . . the old Order, Kingdom, Phylum, Class. I've always liked that.

I like the Dewey Decimal as well. That's good decimal.

In executing this battle against entropy and disorder you begin to see things. They come in groups.

Like these guys:

This is absolutely one of my favorite photos of the set. For all of its "junk-waxey"-ness, I do think Score used some really quality pictures occasionally. And this is one of my current faves.

Look at the smile on Kirt Manwaring's face.

Look at the first picture again. He seems to be laughing at the player, holding the ball out as if to say nanny-nanny-boo-boo. I got the ball. I got you.

Good ol' fun time Kirt. Who's he got? Who is this plodding baserunner?

Well, I looked it up.

And it's this guy. Who's card just happened to be in the small pile in front of me. And let me tell you, around these parts, he's a hero.

Look how young he is. What great uniforms the cubs had then. Stirrups need to make a come back.

Mark Grace could not best Kirt Manwaring this day my friend.

It must make the guy that has this website sad. (for the record, this website is awesome! And I stand in awe of the collection)

http://www.markgrace.com/maingallery.html

That's a virtual Mark Grace baseball card museum people. Science.

After digging around a little while online, I have discovered the time, the place and the off screen teammate that began this smiling moment.

July 9th, home game Wrigley field, 1990. Sheffield ave. alive with the peanut hawkers, and ticket scalpers. All of the bars in Wrigleyville ready to serve the masses after the last out.

Kevin Mitchell was ready. Kevin Mitchell gunned Mark Grace down for his second put-out of the day.

Kevin Mitchell always makes Kirt smile.