Two Pieces of Candy . . . and a Fish

Still being new at card collecting, I am still in the process of really finding my collecting niche. I know I will probably be a set collector, as I like having the completeness of things. I will collect Cardinal's and Royals as they were the teams I grew up watching.

And, I want to collect cards with food on them. I am a chef by profession, so it seems natural I should build an over-whelming, feast inducing collection of cards. Any help acquiring such random treats would be appreciated.

Sifting through a $30 dollar box of random cards I bought on ebay, I came across three new food cards. Now these stretch the definition of food on the card, but I like it. It will provide access to a whole new, quirky collection to be built. So, with out further adieu:

The Food:

Bream is a fish. This is a fresh water fish found in Europe, nor of the alps and as far east as the Black Sea. Often prepared and served whole, the fish is delicate and declicious. A simple salting, and roasting in the oven, served with olives and olive oil, will serve this fish well.


The Player:

Sid Bream played 11 seasons in the bigs. Not an exceptionally productive hitter, he did have strong gap power, which resulted in him getting a large number of doubles. As you can see from his card back between 1986 and 1988 he belted 99 doubles. Not bad.

This excerpt from his wikipedia page describes Bream's moment in the spotlight.

The most famous moment of Bream's career came in Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Series. Bream was the Atlanta first baseman, and the Braves were playing his old team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the NLCS.

The Pirates carried a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning under the pitching of their ace, Doug Drabek, needing just three outs to make the World Series. However, Drabek gave up a leadoff double to Terry Pendleton, then allowed another runner (David Justice) on an infield error by second baseman José Lind. After Drabek walked Bream to load the bases, Pirates manager Jim Leyland pulled him out of the game. Reliever Stan Belinda replaced him on the mound, and managed to get two outs, despite giving up a run on a sacrifice fly by Ron Gant. Then, Braves third-string catcher Francisco Cabrera belted a single to left field, and Justice scored easily to tie the game.

Pirates left fielder and eventual National League MVP Barry Bonds fielded the ball as Bream (known as a slow runner, possibly one of the slowest in baseball) plodded around the bases toward home plate. Bonds' throw arrived first, but it was slightly offline towards the first-base line. As soon as catcher Mike LaValliere received the ball, he desperately lunged toward the plate to tag Bream out, but Bream was able to slide just underneath the tag to score the winning run and send the Braves to the World Series for the second consecutive year.

Noted baseball announcer Sean McDonough uttered arguably the most famous call of his career while he was relaying what came to be known as "The Slide" to North American television viewers on CBS:

“

Line drive and a base hit! Justice has scored the tying run, Bream to the plate, and he is... SAFE! Safe at the plate! The Braves go to the World Series!

”

 
McDonough got so caught up in the moment that his voice cracked when Bream arrived safely home ahead of the throw from Bonds.

Braves announcer Skip Caray delivered his defining call on the play as well:

"Swung, line drive left field! One run is in! Here comes Bream! Here's the throw to the plate! He is . . . safe! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win! Braves win!"

The Card:

The Upperdeck design from 1990 is not offensive at all. I like the large photo field, the action shot, the logo and name location. A sharp card design.
The back is not as nice. Confusion results due to the vertical orientation of the 2nd photo (kudo's for the second photo) and the orientation of the stats.


The second food card of the day is sweet sweet Candy!!!

The Food:

Candy, sweet candy! Who doesn't know what candy is? It's delicious, sweet, sometimes hard, sometimes chewy, angels gift to kids, candy is awesome!

The Player:

Candy Sierra, the player, unfortunately is not as good as the foodstuff.  The Puerto Rican only played 16 games in the bigs. And incredibly, according to his stats, played 15 for Pittsburgh, and only one for Cincinatti. How in the world did he end up in a Reds uniform on the card? Did he happen to show up for picture day by chance? Is he sitting in a cell? Do you think he knows the picture is taken on his last game?

The Card:

The design is awful. I can't stand the gray pinstripes, they make the card look dirty. The diagonal cut photo frame with the top of the head being outside of it, is atrocious. Turning the card over, you see the horrible gray pinstripes carried around the edges. And then the highlighter yellow, horrible color. The only thing I like is the cartoon denoting the allstar break at the bottom. And poor poor Candy, notice the N/A after the break.


What's This?!?

That's right, Two Pieces of Candy!!!

Send me your Candy! I like the Candy!