As I Enter into the Trading Card Database

I've been working on entering my cards into the Trading Card Database; in one sense I'm about halfway done, since it shows I've entered about 15,000 cards, and I believe that I own about 30,000 cards.  But the majority of what I've done is low-hanging fruit, entering the complete sets that I own, such as the 1989 and 1990 Bowman factory sets, the 1990 Fleer factory set, 1988, 1990, and 1991 Donruss factory sets, a 1984 Topps hand-collated set, and a bunch more.  The longer work of going through all my boxes of cards has only just begun.  But, I have entered a few of these boxes, and I've unearthed a few cards of players that I've featured before, that I wanted to show.

(Note: this post originally published accidentally prematurely, without any text.  Sorry!)

1984 Fleer Oscar Gamble.

As you can detect from the cards I'm featuring here, I have recently entered a box of my 1980s Fleer cards into the database.  When Oscar Gamble died, I made two posts about him.  First, I showed the cards I could dig out of my collection on short notice, especially his 1979 Topps card from my complete set, but also his 1985 Fleer Update, and his Pacific Senior League card.  Then I purchased his iconic 1976 Topps Traded card, by purchasing a 1976 Topps Traded Yankees team set.  This 1984 Fleer was also in my collection but I wasn't aware; I see how having an electronic record of your cards can be helpful for putting together posts like this.  I've always liked the clean design of the 1984 Fleer set, and this is a nice shot of Gamble (and his smile) towards the end of his career.

1985 Fleer Dickie Thon.

I posted about Dickie Thon once before.  He had a promising early career, before being seriously beaned by Mike Torrez in 1984.  It was years until he played everyday again after that, but he did get a chance to be the starting shortstop for the Phillies for a few years circa 1990.  This 1985 Fleer card reflects the season in which he was beaned; the picturemust be from before the incident.

1982 Fleer Lance Parrish.

1986 Fleer Lance Parrish.

And then we have Lance Parrish.  I've featured him many, many times in the months that I've been writing this blog, although it never seems to be on purpose.  Parrish was, of course, an All-Star catcher with the Tigers before joining the Phillies.  There were very high expectations in Philly and he didn't exactly perform at the expected level, so he was routinely booed by the Philly sports fans.  Lance Parrish didn't like that, for some reason.  He moved back to the AL after two seasons with the Phillies and did better, making the All-Star team again and winning another Silver Slugger with the Angels.  These cards show him in his happier times with Detroit.  It's funny to me how you can see him grow up in the two cards, four years apart -- he looks much more younger in the 1982 card.

My posting for the past week or two has been almost nonexistent, as I've struggled to get over some small illness.  Having finally gone to the doctor, though, I am now feeling much better, and I think I can get the blog back on track.  Thanks for reading!