30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Damaged Card HOF #5: Whittled Down Winfield

Love them or not, damaged cards are part of our hobby.  You can either choose to toss them out or embrace them.  Depending on the damaged card, I prefer to choose the latter.

A few years ago, I decide to dedicate a binder on my shelf for damaged cards that I had sitting within my collection.  Some were acquired through purchases.  Others were pulled in packs.  And some were part of trades.

Unfortunately if I decided to keep every damaged card I stumbled across, I'd need a 5,000ct. box.  That's why I'm pretty picky about which cards I keep in the Damaged Card PC.  I'm even pickier when it comes to my Damaged Card Hall of Fame.

Up until a few weeks ago, there were only four members of the exclusive club.  But today, I'm here to show off the newest member of the club, which was donated to me by Dennis over at Too Many Verlanders:

1974 Topps #456

I'm not sure what the story is behind this Dave Winfield rookie card, but it's safe to say that this card was trimmed.  The best part about the card is it looks like a four year old performed the trimming.  I love it!


A quick glance at the back and you'll receive a deeper appreciation for this beautifully damaged card. You can see that the person tried hard too keep the upper-left and bottom-right corners rounded.  In addition to the damage, the card back itself contains a plethora of interesting facts.  I'm sure most of us knew that Winfield was a three-sport stud.  But did you know that he was born the same day that Bobby Thompson hit the Shot Heard 'Round the World?  Or that he was a star pitcher at the University of Minnesota?  Did you know that he was the MVP of the 1973 College World Series?

It's pretty amazing the stuff you can learn from the back of a baseball card.

In addition to the Winfield, Dennis also sent me this Byron Leftwich jersey card:

2004 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror White #52

If you look right under the Jaguars' logo, you'll notice a nice, solid crease running through the card.  Yup!  Another addition to my Damaged Card PC.

The rest of the package was filled with mint condition cards that fit other collections.

First up is this 2009 Topps WBC set that includes seven different cards for my Japanese Player PC:


He also sent me this mint condition Hideo Nomo card:

2002 Fleer Box Score World Piece #NNO

Plus this random assortment of awesomeness...


And rounding out the package were some Raiders and 49er cards for my students:


Thanks Dennis!  I already owed you for the January package.  Now I really, really owe you.  I grabbed some stuff for you on COMC a few weeks ago.  I'll send them your way after I start building my care packages (sometime in June).  

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

10 comments:

  1. Nice niche. I have a thing for miscut cards.

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  2. I have a few cards that my cats stepped on when I was younger if you want those. Also a binder that their claws dug into, if that would be a good home for all of your disfigured treasures.

    All joking aside (and I promise I was joking above), I feel like this is one of those wonderful side collections that allows this hobby to survive. If we have someone to care for the wounded cards, then we have a place for all cards.

    One other note: I need to check your wantlists and get you a care package someday! You're a blog-o-sphere stalwart that I haven't yet mailed some cards to!

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  3. Sorry for sending you those damaged cards before reading your disclaimer that you didn't want any more! I just found that Winfield in a dime or quarter box and had to grab it!

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  4. Damaged cards have allowed me to own some cards I never thought I would!

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  5. On that Winfield I can think of 2 things they might have been trying. 1) Making it look like a playing card with the rounded corners. 2) and this is what I think is more likely. They didn't like the white border and decided to cut it off. I tolerate some damage, but home made trimming I try to avoid. As a child I did plenty of that for scrapbooking back in the 70s when it wasn't called "scrapbooking". Keeping scrapbooks used to be just a thing you did not a huge hobby/craft thing that it is now days. Some people have scrapbooking clubs where they get together and work on their scrapbooks together and exchange page designs and the various materials they use.

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  6. The Angels In Order - Me too. That Winfield is my favorite miscut card of all-time!

    jasongerman9 - cat clawed cards? i bet each of those could be advertised as eBay 1 of 1's. appreciate you thinking about me in regards to a care package. i do enjoy receiving them. just know that reciprocation often takes 3 to 6 months ;)

    dennis - you're joking right? i loved both of those cards! both made it into the damaged card binder. i just said that i don't collect every single damaged card. last thing i need is someone sending me a 800ct box filled with water damaged 1990 fleer baseball cards. thanks again for the awesome care package!

    the lost collector - me too. although when it comes to vintage... i don't consider them damaged...i consider them well loved.

    captkirk42 - i have a friend who has an entire office dedicated to her scrapbooking stuff. i'm super jealous. i wish i had an entire office dedicated to baseball cards.

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  7. That is a very nice haul, and congrats on the Winfield card. I wish baseball players these days put as much time and attention into signatures as he did/does on his on the back of the card.

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  8. Nice haul. I just toss damaged ones in a pile and mix them in with my yard sale giveaways . I have too much ocd to keep. Vintage on the other hand I would

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  9. sumomenkoman - based on my two winfield autographs, he still writes winfield exactly the same. but he only writes "d" for his first name, instead of spelling out "david".

    sport card collectors - i understand. damaged 2¢ base cards don't go into my damaged card pc. just noteworthy cards like the winfield and leftwich

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  10. i really do have a few cat-chewed cardboard commons. My cat loves paper. She doesn't actually eat it, just chews the heck out of it. When I'm through working in the hobby room, all cards must be covered or put away. It's her favorite bird watching room.

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