Mailday: In Purple I'm Stunning

Today a package showed up from Howard from In Purple I'm Stunning with a stack of '09 Topps and one of the few '87s I'm still missing.  At the rate I'm going, I'll be finished with 2009 Topps before 1987.

I want to thank Howard, and go check out his site, it's pretty interesting and a fun read.

Now to look at some cards.

We'll start with this 1987 Frank Tanana.


Here we see Tanana as a member of the Detroit Tigers, his last lengthy stop in the Majors (he split the final year of his career between the two New York teams).  The background isn't what it could be, but I think this is one of the better posed shots in the set.  There's not a hint of airbrushing and we see one of the better uniforms of the era.  I'm actually a bit surprised that with all the crazy uniforms of the 70s and 80s that the Tigers didn't break down and wear orange and black striped uniforms.

For whatever reason, I don't have much luck scanning 87 Topps cards on my new scanner. I guess I still haven't learned the finer points of modern scanner technology.

Up next is the last Braves card I need from '09 Series 1, Bobby Cox.


I'll be a sad day when Bobby retires and I can't really think of another manager out there who is as well respected by everyone. Players have had disagreements and have said bad things about Torre and LaRussa, but I've never heard a bad word from a player about Bobby Cox.

Hopefully the Braves can give him at least one more winning season before the end.

Cox is, of course, currently the longest serving manager with one team (since 1990, but had spent time in Atlanta before). Behind him is LaRussa who's been in St. Louis since 1996. What I didn't realize is that after LaRussa, the longest tenured manager currently serving is Mike Scioscia of the California Angels, who will be beginning his tenth season at the helm in April.

It seems like a lot of teams have a new manager every several seasons. So are guys like Cox and LaRussa a dying breed? I hope not, because to win a team needs stability at the top and a new manager every three seasons doesn't lend itself well to stability.

And while I'm thinking about it, aside from the foil and specks of dust, see how much better the 09 scanned than the 87. Probably the glossy finish.

I guess that's about it for now. I'd like to thank Howard again for the great help in completing '09 Topps. With these and four more that should be on their way to me soon, I'll be down to six.