Orioles Card "O" the Day

An intersection of two of my passions: baseball cards and the Baltimore Orioles. Updated daily?

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Eddie Murray, 1985 Topps #700

This past Tuesday I got a complimentary email from a reader named Robert. He has visited and enjoyed this blog for a few months now, and he requested that I post this very card. Robert supposes that this is his favorite card, and I must say that he has exquisite taste in cardboard.

This is the Mona Lisa of baseball cards, says I. Instead of a knowing smirk, Steady Eddie wears an icy-cool stare. The juxtaposition of his game face and the wide smile of the cartoon bird on his cap is pitch perfect. His afro glistens in the afternoon soon as though it were ringed with fire. His mutton chops join with his mustache to create an unbreakable wreath of hair from his skull to his face and back again. Of course I don't have to tell you that Eddie puts the soul in the soul patch, a finishing touch that he pulls off with aplomb.

If I had my way, this card would hang in the National Portrait Gallery.

3 comments:

Commishbob said...

Kevin, you are really on a hot streak when it comes to posting great cards. This is such a great one.

Rob said...

Thanks for posting it!

drew said...

I figure as a kid Eddie Murray taught me about faith and belief. That name like a ritual chant a prayer an act of devotion and hope: "Ed-die. Ed-die. Ed-die." More often than not, I guess, he didn't send the ball up into the dark night sky and out over the distant (or if in the right spot, not so distant) Memorial Stadium outfield wall ... to comeback, victory, release, dare I say salvation. But it always seemed he could, he would. in large part because so often he did. What a gift, a blessing, a joy, it was to grow up an Eddie Murray fan in Baltimore in the early 80s.