Recent Acquisition: 1974 Ken Griffey Sr. Rookie Card

I have mentioned that as I fill out my main binder, one of my goals is to de-emphasize Hall-of-Famers, and add in more great players who weren't necessarily Cooperstown-bound.  One of those journeyman players for whom I have an appreciation is Ken Griffey, Sr., and I posted once about the only cards I seemed to have of him (although I should note that when I look for cards of someone, I only look at my 1986-and-earlier material -- I'm not generally wading through my tens of thousands of 1987-and later cards).

So, I recently acquired this 1974 Topps Rookie Outfielders card:

Ken Griffey, and others.

It's not the best possible specimen, as you see all these yellow spots; I guess you would call those print defects.  Anyway, Griffey's quarter of the card is mainly fine, and this card is good enough for my purposes.

While I was looking through a box of cards for something to post about Bobby Doerr, I found this 1989 Bowman:

Ken Griffey, Jr. and Ken Griffey, Sr., more or less inside a TV set.

This is a very strange card.  Is the TV there to recall the classic 1955 Bowman set?  Is it to suggest that Junior and Senior can watch each other on TV?  Why is Junior fully inside the area of the TV screen, but Senior is popping out of the top?  It doesn't make much sense.  I love cards pairing two different players, like all of the Fleer Super Star Specials over the years.  But they're not usually absurd like this.  Another thing is those Fleer special cards aren't the individual card of either player -- they would each have their own card, and then they would be on a card together with some kind of narrative about why they're paired up.  But this Bowman is actually Ken Griffey, Sr.'s individual card, as can be seen from the card back:

1989 Bowman Ken Griffey, Sr. card back.

There is a little text on the back about them appearing in the majors simultaneously, and there's a notation as to which card number is Griffey, Jr.'s, but this really is Griffey, Sr.'s card.  Anyway, now that I've scanned this Bowman Griffey, it's back in its box.  And the 1974 is in its proper place in my binder.

On a personal note, today would have been Dad's 72nd birthday.  Perhaps the father-son theme is appropriate today.