Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Cal Ripken, Jr. and Brady Anderson, 1993 Upper Deck #44

As you might imagine, there are tons of multi-player cards featuring Cal Ripken, Jr. Just in my collection, I have Cal sharing cards with Eddie Murray, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Lou Gehrig, Alan Trammell and Tony Fernandez, Jeff Blauser, Bobby Bonner and Jeff Schneider, Brady and Rafael Palmeiro and Roberto Alomar, Cal, Sr. and Billy, the entire 2000 Orioles starting lineup (I may just get to that one later this week)...the list goes on.

I've chosen this card as my favorite Cal combo. First of all, it's from the beautiful 1993 Upper Deck set, and is part of the great Teammates/Team Stars subset. Each team had a card featuring two to six of its stars, with some kind of theme and accompanying fun nickname and logo. While some cards featured flashes in the pan like Pat Listach or Geronimo Pena, the Orioles are represented by Cal and Brady, who were teammates and good friends for a whopping fourteen seasons (1988-2001), a rare feat in the big-spending free agency era. Brady spent practically his entire major league career in Baltimore, excepting 41 games in Boston as a rookie and an ill-fated 34 games in Cleveland in 2002. #9 played alongside #8 longer than any other Oriole: longer than Eddie Murray (1981-1988, 1996), even longer than Mike Mussina (1991-2000).

Cal's tireless work ethic rubbed off on the speedy outfielder, as Anderson attempted to play through setbacks ranging from broken ribs to appendicitis. He even famously played a game in the late 1990s after being hit by a bus while rollerblading to the stadium! I think it's pretty fitting that Brady and Cal both played their last game in Baltimore on October 6, 2001. It wasn't a storybook finish, with Anderson striking out to end a 5-1 loss to the Red Sox, leaving Cal waiting in the on-deck circle for a final at-bat that would never come.

But this card preserves them in happier times, both in the primes of their careers playing for a contending team in a revolutionary new ballpark. They're posed in front of the trademark of Camden Yards, the towering B & O Warehouse. Everything is as it should be.
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9 comments:

  1. CommishbobFebruary 11, 2009 at 9:49 PM

    I wonder if this card is Photoshopped. They are wearing two different versions of the BP jersey. Hard to tell but it looks like they were not actually posing together.

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  2. night owlFebruary 11, 2009 at 10:25 PM

    When I took a tour of Camden Yards, I stood in the exact same spot that Ripken and Anderson are standing in (or possibly not standing in, according to the Commish).

    I had the same view that is on that baseball card (except there were no fans there at the time). Pretty cool.

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  3. Rounding Thirty 3rdFebruary 11, 2009 at 11:02 PM

    Sadly, I have to agree this was Photoshopped. The scoreboard is showing the games and scores from June 7th, 1992 - a Sunday day game for the O's. Given that Boston, Pittsburg, and Montreal are all at home in the fifth inning, and NY is at home in the middle of a 4-run third inning, the Oriole game (scheduled for a 1:35 start) must be in progress.

    However, it is a really great card!! And as a bonus, the Orioles beat Toronto 7-1!!

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  4. WilliamFebruary 12, 2009 at 7:17 AM

    This card just made my day. I remember I pulled doubles of it in a pack way back in 1993 [I was 7 at the time] and I was a HUGE O's fan so I went bananas.

    But this photo may very well be photoshopped...thanks to the Commish, Rounding Thirty 3rd, and Alex Rodriguez, I'm learning day by day that my childhood was a sham.

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  5. dealFebruary 12, 2009 at 8:45 AM

    I just picked this card out of a dime box over the weekend. cool to see it on line now.

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  6. CommishbobFebruary 12, 2009 at 9:27 AM

    And the shadows on the guys faces are on opposite sides. Your honor, I rest my case against Upper Deck.

    Not that it matters, still a cool card. I enjoyed those combo cards back in the 60's. Here is one of my favorites.

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  7. StaceyFebruary 12, 2009 at 10:15 AM

    I love this card. I never really collected cards much, but I'd get a few here and there if they were pretty, and this one is.

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  8. jacobmrleyFebruary 12, 2009 at 10:57 AM

    card = totally photoshopped. look at the shadow on ripken's shoulder.

    plus, look at brady's arms, they are quite skinny. this is obviously before he discovered the wonders of modern chemistry.

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  9. KevinFebruary 13, 2009 at 2:51 PM

    You guys are on the ball as usual! It crossed my mind that the card was probably spliced together, but it still looks cool and features a classic O's duo, which is what really matters.

    Tim - great scoreboard sleuthing!

    Bob - I've got that 1960 card you linked. Another card from that set that I love is the Roy Face/Hoyt Wilhelm one.

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