1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown Dufex -- Card #2,000!!!

As you probably noticed in the title, my Rickey collection reached a significant milestone lately, when I acquired my 2,000th different Rickey card! I've come along way from categorizing my cards on stapled pieces of binder paper, and I really can't believe I've made it this far.

Due to the vast increases in his cards during the end of his playing career, I still don't even have half of the almost 5,000 total cards of his that were produced. But, if you focus on anything released from 1977-1995, I have over 97% of the recognized cards, which drops only slightly to 92% if you extend the time period out to 1998.



In 1993 Pinnacle released a 30-card "Cooperstown" collection factory set. When I first came upon this card at a card show, it was actually still fairly rare (it's a common card now), as the factory sets could not be found everywhere. But, up until the advent of eBay, I had no idea that a parallel version of this card even existed!



The 1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown Dufex card above, along with the release of 1993 Select, was Pinnacle's first foray into the use of Dufex (they call it "FX" on the box) technology. I first saw this card on eBay about 10-years ago, and due to the crazy prices with which it was selling, I had kind of written off ever acquiring one. But, thanks to being very patient, and getting a very good deal, I can now call it my own. 1993 was a rather important year in terms of sports card innovation , as Topps also released the first ever "refractor" card in 1993 Finest (another card that I'd LOVE to add to my collection).



The card above is not the back of the Rickey card, but is a card that was inserted into the 30-card dufex set. There has always been a bit of mystery surrounding the Cooperstown Dufex cards, as no one was exactly sure where they came from. There was a total of 1,000 sets produced, but it's not clear how many of these actually made it into circulation.

Whenever I have a question regarding the background of a specific oddball release, the first place I look is BAMCards online eBay store, and once again they didn't let me down. (Note: BAMCards is not a sponsor of this blog -- although I wouldn't mind if they were -- but just a seller who knows a lot about 1980's and 1990's oddball releases). The quoted text below, as well as the letter from Pinnacle, are both thanks to the vast knowledge of BAMCards.



"The Dufex version was a non-commercial set that was actually a 'Full Attendance Prize.' These were given to the members of the SCAI, a now defunct dealer association, who attended each and every meeting of the SCAI November 1993 Conference in Dallas Tx. Contrary to some reports, the cards were not really handed out at the conference but were a commemorative gift mailed to the 'Full House participants' by Pinnacle in late February 1994."



"The SCAI President, who complied the attendance winner list, has indicated that the total fell far short of that originally anticipated by Pinnacle. As the Conference attendance was light, and as each meeting, generally card company promotions drew fewer and fewer dealers, the number that attended all was embarrassingly small."



"Before each meeting encouragement was given to the members to attend as Pinnacle, Topps, Pro Set and others promised gifts. But many of the actual attendees were the employees of the manufacturers. So it is likely that some of the sets sent several months later to those on the Full House list ended up in the hands of people who were not active hobbyists. Some other sets may have also been given out on Pinnacle factory tours or through a radio show."


So, there you have it, the story behind a rather interesting oddball release. In 1994 Pinnacle first included a "Museum Collection" parallel in their base set, and the rest, as they say, is history.

30 Years of Rickey Henderson

I had actually forgotten about the significance of today, as it relates to the career of Rickey Henderson, until I saw a post by 30-Year Old Cardboard. It was on June 24, 1979, exactly 30 years ago today, that Rickey made his Major League debut with the Oakalnd A's.

While watching the A's game last year, they played footage of this game, and I was able to take some screenshots and include them in a post. They definitely aren't the best quality, but you'll get the general idea.

Not long after seeing the post by 30-Year-Old Cardboard, the Hall of Fame's weekly online newsletter, the Inside Pitch, arrived in my in-box, featuring an article on the anniversary. The article can be found online here, but I've also included the complete text below.

June 24, 1979: Rickey Henderson makes big league debut
By Craig Muder / National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

The signs were there right from the start, though few of the fans at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum that Sunday afternoon figured they were witnessing history.

Rickey Henderson was penciled into the lineup for his first Major League game that day. And by the end of the third inning, A's fans had seen just a glimpse of the talent and drive that took Henderson all the way to Cooperstown.

In that first game of a doubleheader against the Rangers, A's manager Jim Marshall installed the 20-year-old Henderson as his new leadoff hitter and left fielder. In his first at-bat against Texas left-hander John Henry Johnson, Henderson doubled to right. After advancing to third, Henderson was thrown out at the plate while trying to tag up on a fly ball by Jeff Newman.

But Henderson was far from finished. In the third inning, Henderson singled, then stole second off Rangers catcher Jim Sundberg, who won the fourth of his six straight Gold Gloves at the end of the 1979 season. For Henderson, it was the first of a Major League-record 1,406 stolen bases.

Henderson posted a .274 batting average with 33 steals and 49 runs scored in just 89 games in 1979 for an A's team that went 54-108. The next year, Henderson became just the third player in modern history to steal at least 100 bases in one year, joining Maury Wills and Lou Brock.

In his first 12 full big league seasons, Henderson led the American League in stolen bases 11 times -- falling short only in 1987 when injuries limited him to 95 games with the New York Yankees. He scored at least 100 runs in 10 of those seasons and in the 11th, 1981, he paced the AL in runs scored with 89 during that strike-shortened campaign.

Henderson ended his career in 2003 as the all-time leader in runs (2,295), walks (2,190) and stolen bases (1,406) -- and also leads all players with 2,129 unintentional free passes.

"He was the most dangerous player of our generation," said Tony La Russa, a former manager of Henderson's who now manages the St. Louis Cardinals. "That includes all the great sluggers and Hall of Famers. He was the most dangerous."

Henderson was elected to the Hall of Fame in January 2009 after receiving 94.8 percent of the votes on his first try on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot. He will be enshrined into the Hall of Fame on July 26 in Cooperstown along with fellow Class of 2009 members Joe Gordon and Jim Rice.

Rickey Breaks Brock's Stolen Base Record

On this date in 1991, 18 years ago, Rickey Henderson stole base number 939, passing Lou Brock on the all-time stolen base record list.

I did a fairly photo extensive post on this last year, which you can access via this link.



Unfortunately, I don't have much time to create anything new, but I couldn't let the day go by unnoticed. Plus, if you weren't around last year, it's new to you!

Rickey and Nolan Ryan's 5,000th Strikeout

Nineteen years ago today, on August 22, 1989, Rickey Henderson was the victim of Nolan Ryan's historic 5,000th strikeout. This may not have been Rickey's finest hour, but it will definitely not be the last time that these two legends path will cross. As I've mentioned before, Nolan Ryan threw his th no-hitter on the same day in 1991 that Rickey broke Lou Brock's all-time stolen base record.



The 8"x10" photo above depicts Nolan Ryan pitching to Rickey during that fateful at bat. It's one of the few items in my collection where Rickey isn't actually the focal point.


Photo copyright Dallas Morning News

In the 5th inning of the game, Rickey struck out swinging at a 96 mph fastball. Ryan struck out a total of 13 batters that game, but the A's still managed to beat the Rangers 2-0. Rickey later responded to questions about the event by saying, "If you haven't been struck out by Nolan Ryan, you're nobody." Exactly what you'd expect from someone like Rickey.


Photo copyright Houston Chronicle

The excerpts below appeared in the August 23, 1989 edition of the Dallas Morning News.

[Nolan Ryan] hurled a 96 mph fastball – the trademark of his career – past a swinging Rickey Henderson on a 3-2 pitch to open the fifth inning of the Rangers' game against the Oakland Athletics. At 8:51 p.m., on his 73rd pitch of the game, Ryan became the first pitcher in history to strike out 5,000 batters.

"If somebody had asked me how I'd have liked to get it, I would have said with a fastball swinging," said Ryan, whose milestone pitch equaled his top velocity of the game. "That's my bread-and-butter pitch."

Ryan's feat prompted a one-minute, 25-second standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 42,869, the second-largest in the Rangers' 18 years in Texas. The adulation ended only because Ryan stepped back on the mound and resumed pitching.

Although the A's tried to play down their part and point to their interest in a pennant race, even they couldn't ignore what was about to happen.

As Henderson walked to the plate, en route to becoming No. 5,000, he chatted with home plate umpire Larry Young.

"He said, 'If I'm the 5,000th strikeout, can I get the ball to give to my little boy?' " Young said. "I told him I didn't think either one of us could get out of here with that ball."



Although not the 5,000 strikeout ball, someone can now buy a ball with slightly less historical significance. American Memorabilia is currently selling a ball singed by Nolan Ryan that was supposedly used during this exact game. It's definitely not the ball he struck out Rickey with (I really hope it's in the Hall of Fame somewhere, and we know Rickey didn't get it), but if authentic, is a pretty cool piece of history. The $714 price tag, however, does put it out of most collectors' price range.

Trading Rickey for Rickey

I received a package in the mail today which was somewhat of a personal milestone for me. It was the first baseball card trade I'd made since entering the world of blogging! I'd always had intentions of trading in the past, but things never quite worked out, and now they finally had.

Through this blog I was contacted by a member of The Bench, an awesome trading website that I knew nothing about. It turns out that there are quite a few big Rickey Henderson collectors over there, all of them willing to trade to increase their collections.

I was able to add 13 new cards to my collection (6 from my 1980-1995 want list) and traded away a similar number of cards in return. What a deal. In an even bigger milestone, these cards increase my total Rickey collection to over 1,500 different cards, I feat I'm quite proud of!



The top cards are the first three cards from the 1990 Star set. Not particularly rare, but I made the mistake of only buying cards #4-11 when I first got them about 15 years ago, and I refused to buy a complete set just to get the remaining three. But, I now found someone that would trade them to me as singles. As an added bonus, he even through in an unopened complete set! The rest of the cards are a few base cards and inserts that I missed out on while away from collecting.



The first card above may be my favorite of the lot, a 1987 Topps Tiffany Team Leaders. I always enjoy getting early Rickey cards that I'm missing, especially those from my favorite set of all time! The card on the right, a seemingly normal 1990 Topps Sticker, is actually a blank back, which are always fun to add to my oddball collection.



This last picture includes two more items off of my priority want list. I had a copy of the Pepsi disc on the left, but mine was missing the entire back portion, and I was finally able to find another one. I remember running around during a Little League All-Star game collecting these from the snack bar, but I never was able to find a complete set.

The Seven-Eleven disc on the right has actually been pretty elusive. In 1991 there were many different regional sets produced, and I always seem to come across only the Northern California version (identified with an "HG" for some unknown reason), which has a blue background. This disc is from the Northwest set (identified "SM"), and has an orange border. There are still three more out there that I'm missing, and I know I'll come across them eventually.