Derrek Lee, 2011 Topps Stickers #7

See? This is what happens when my Monday off is interrupted because of my own absent-mindedness. Tuesdays are trash days, which means that I change the cat litter on Monday nights. Naturally, I didn't think about this all weekend, so I had to run out at 8:00 tonight to pick up a fresh box of litter from Target. While I was there, I scoped out the card aisle at Target and didn't see anything I particularly felt like buying. But I've seen other collectors grabbing up Topps' spanking new sticker books, so I figured it was a harmless use of $6 ($2 for the book, $4 for 4 packs of 8 stickers). I had hoped to pull a J. J. Hardy or even a Mark Reynolds sticker, but the already-departed D-Lee was the only Oriole I found. Oh well. I like this product more than most of the dross that Topps is foisting upon us these days. It's cheap, uncomplicated, and free of inserts and gimmickry. The design even borrows from 1993 Donruss, one of the nicest-looking sets of that fallen brand. I'd say that it's been nearly 20 years since I last had a sticker book, and in a way it's reassuring to know that I've still got about a 95% chance of affixing the stickers to their pages incorrectly. It's hard to fit them precisely in those little boxes, you know?