Rick Burleson, 1987 Donruss Opening Day #134

Professional wrestler and sometimes author Mick Foley is one of my favorite people in this world. I own both of his novels and all four of his memoirs. I've gotten autographs and awkward photos with him at two public appearances, and I went on a bus trip to Philadelphia a few years back to see him win the TNA World Title in a steel cage match. So when he announced recently that he was auctioning off his childhood baseball cards to raise money for RAINN (a national anti-sexual violence organization), I was helpless to resist. Rarely do my interests dovetail so beautifully. I won an auction for a lot of 160 1976 Topps cards, all formerly the property of an 11-year-old Mickey Foley. The cards arrived today, and thumbing through them, I got a glimpse into the world of the future Hardcore Legend:

-Every kid has that one card that keeps turning up in pack after pack, seeming to mock him. Judging from the four Rick Burlesons in this lot, "The Rooster" was that guy for Mick.

-Most of the cards were in a "well-loved" condition. I would expect no less from a bunch of 35-year-old cards that were owned by a kid back before cards were thought of as investments. Plenty of dings and creases, but very few mutilations.

-Larry Dierker wasn't so lucky. His photo had several gouges. I guess Foley wasn't a fan.

-There were two Duffy Dyer card backs fused together, back-to-back...actually, I guess they were stuck front-to-front. Couldn't pry them apart. Not sure that I'd want to.

-A Rick Manning card had "Denise" written on the back in pen. Who is Denise? I've asked Mick via Twitter. I'll let you know if I get a response. (UPDATE: Direct from the source: "No idea. Really." So, give me your guesses.)

-The lot included about 20 of those so-awful-they're-great 1976 Topps Traded, complete with shoddily airbrushed caps and fake newspaper headlines.

-Mick grew up on Long Island, and I believe he was a Mets fan. There weren't many Mets in this collection, though - well-worn Bud Harrelson and Traded Mickey Lolich cards, and a better-kept Del Unser. There was a four-player rookie card featuring Ron Guidry that was in surprisingly good shape.

-A few Orioles to be found, though of course I already had the team set: Dave Duncan, Al Bumbry, Lee May, Ken Singleton, Tony Muser. Among ex-Orioles, there was the sight of Boog Powell in a tomato-red Indians jersey.

So, there you have it. I got to donate to a good cause, add to my vintage card collection, and talk tangentially about rasslin'. It's a win-win-win...for me, anyway. I'm not sure what was in it for you.

Eddie Murray, 1987 Donruss Opening Day #136

For several years I've labored under the delusion that the first Orioles game I ever attended was a 1987 day game against the Brewers. But there was another game that year that apparently escaped my memory. I've been holding on to ticket stubs for practically every game I've attended in the last 18 years, and in going through those tickets, I found the following:

A phone call to my father was inconclusive, but he assumes that we went to both games. What he knows for sure is that any games we attended just shy of my fifth birthday resulted in an early exit. I had no interest in baseball as a tyke, and once I'd gotten my fill of yummy stadium wares, I was ready to go.

Considering the way this game played out, my dad was more amenable to leaving than he might have been otherwise. Mike Flanagan got the start for the O's, and he just didn't have it. Carlton Fisk doubled in two runs in the first, and a Ron Karkovice RBI grounder and a Gary Redus homer an inning later put the home team in a 4-0 hole. Things got exciting for a minute in the third, as Larry Sheets and Rene Gonzales hit back-to-back solo home runs off of Chicago starter Jose DeLeon. Flanny seemed to settle down until the White Sox chased him with a walk and a double to lead off the sixth. Reliever Mark Williamson allowed the fifth Sox run to score on an Ozzie Guillen single but escaped the inning without further damage.

An Eddie Murray home run in the bottom of the inning (the 277th of his career, if you're keeping count) brought the Birds within 5-3, but that's as close as they would get. Chicago tacked on insurance runs via an Ivan Calderon homer in the eighth and a Williamson wild pitch in the ninth. 7-3 White Sox, drive safely folks. Aside from their three solo home runs, the Orioles scraped up only three other hits - a pair of singles by DH Alan Wiggins and a single by John Shelby. The O's failed to capitalize on six walks by Pale Hose pitchers. I guess it's no wonder that I haven't retained any impressions from that game, though it would be cool to be able to say that my first baseball memory was an Eddie Murray homer.