Sure, these posts won’t get many views/comments since most people are busy with family stuff these days, but hell, I’m more concerned about my goal of improving on last year’s total of posts. In any case, this post ties 2023 for my lowest annual total ever (35) and I still have a few days to reach the 2024 count of 36. And yes, Christmas Day happens to be the best day to post about 12/25 cards and their subject matter this message: Rickey Henderson!
I’ve been kind of into refractor reprints lately, and one I really wanted to score was a polished Rickey rookie. This is the 2019 version (write back), and I’m still looking for the 2014 version (original back). (Surprisingly, this card was not reprinted in Topps’ big “50 Years” revue in 2001.) I have an original in my complete 1980 Topps set, but not on the PC. (And I’ve told the story of how I briefly had a Rickey rookie in bad shape in high school who got ripped off by Dustin Engel for a pocketful of change that I still hold a bit of a grudge about. [Dustin, you out there? Never too late to apologize, bro. lol.])
The refraction continues with this Hall Bound die-cut insert from 1998 Chrome. I already have the Gwynn of this, and when I came across this Rickey at auction, I put in a competitive bid and ultimately won. I just love the look of these cards, although the “ascending to heaven” vibe of the design adds a touch of melancholy to Tony and Rickey (about the Angels, that is), both of whom were taken from us sooner than we would have liked.
I have some Topps Tek cards from Rickey, and they are fun to play with, like placing them on a glow-in-the-dark surface and then looking at the “scar” they leave behind.
Not to surprise you, but there are zero cards in the photo above, just the mark of where the cards used to be.
While sneaking in some card art, I made 3 or 4 ‘full-bleed border art’ cards in 2025, a few years after I first messed around with the concept in 2023, with this ’91 Fleer Rickey (slash Tony Fernandez) being one of the better ones I’ve made.
I also ended up with a Ginter refractor mini earlier this year. Nice card.
And speaking of Rickey minis, I made some of these “logoman” silhouette cards. It changes color, glows in the dark and evenly changes color in the dark!
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A page showing the other Rickey minis I’ve made recently. These are a lot of fun to make and try out new combos to find out what looks cool together.
And some highlights of the full size card art mods I created with Sharpies and holographic layers. They are a mixed bag; some of them look pretty cool when you see them in the light. And sure, many attempts are failures that look bad or that I screw up in some way, but that’s part of creative endeavor. Ultra-junk like ’88 and ’89 Topps are good to play with because they’re pretty much worthless, but still pretty cool because they’re Rickey.
That’s enough for this post. Happy Birthday from Rickey Henderson, everyone!
#Rickey #Henderson #Christmas