Ervin Santana is a great player on a new team, and the card looks amazing. Yeah, yeah. But the man on the card isn't the main inspiration for this post.
Today is my dad's birthday. I'm not gonna disclose his age, except to say that he was born somewhere south of the first appearance of Elvis Presley, and somewhere north of the first appearance of Elvis Costello.
Like me, my father was into cards as a kid, and as a teen. He's one of the reasons I got into the hobby to begin with; his old stacks of 70's and 80's cards made me want to see the new stuff. And ever since we got a decent sized stack from his mother's place, I, as a kid, sorted them out, by year, by team, hell one time by position.
He started collecting sometime in the 70's, but the first set I remember having a decent amount of is the 1975 Topps set. Later on I found out that the 75 set is one of my dad's favorites, and I can see why. The varied colors, the great shots, the overall fun aspect. It was a cool set, and a great one to be introduced to Topps with. Now while my introduction to Topps cards wasn't as awe-inspiring (2007 Topps), I sorta envied that the 75 one was one of the first glimpses he got at cards. And I can see why he was hooked on them.
One of the things I noticed when I looked back at my dad's old cards was his own Update set. This is a bit embarrassing, but as a young kid I don't blame him. What he would do is take cards of people who had been traded, and draw on them with a crayon "TRADED TO:" and he'd put the new team. I own a particular version of a 1975 Jim Hunter of him on the A's. The 'A's' had been crossed out, and replaced with 'Yanks', and he even drew a Yankee emblem on his cap. These little variations were fun, and nice gems when looking over cards. Heck, I wish cards were still cardboard. I'd scribble 'YANKEES' on my Kevin Youkilis cards anyday.
Still, for his day I wanted to make a decent enough custom, one that would potentially belong in one of his favorite sets, and a gift that would make more of an impact than a bag of M&Ms that will be gone in a week, or a t-shirt that'll have a hole in it in five years. If I had more time to prepare, I would have made a Yankee, but I already have made enough of those in 1975.
Happy Birthday, Dad. You're one of my inspirations, in collecting, in writing, and in almost everything I do. Thanks for being there, and I hope you see 1,000 more birthdays after this one.
Coming Tomorrow- How do you follow one of the more heartfelt posts I've written? With a gigantic beard.
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