Street trade under lights

Al used to leave the NY area in the winter, but now he sets up all year long. This time of year is good for him with all the tourists jamming up the streets. He usually packs up at dark but stays to meet me when I have cards for him, and we trade under the lights in Herald Square. For some reason even the dullest chrome cards shine brightly under streetlights.

He's had a different box for me every time. Here's what I pulled out of a box this time.

Some real refractor type cards up top, but also some Chromes and a Cy Young card that looked more refractory in the streetlights than they really were. Still all cards I needed except for the two regular '80s, and the two '72s which were both numbered in the 500s where I still have a few needs so I took 'em just in case (didn't feel like taking out my phone to check for sure). 

Al is definitely the go-to for silver pack cards. Picked up these random cards, also nice and

More shiny! Al must have bought a lot of packs in 2014. Love all these shiny red parallels. A few non-shiny colors also.

 

Wallet card with Mr. Zip

Here's a wallet card photo I'm really excited about. Mr. Zip! A brief history lesson:

Before World War II there was no uniformity around addressing an envelope. Veteran postal workers were experts in their areas and were able to figure out where each letter should go. Due to wartime shortages of postal workers, a 2-digit postal zone system was created for the 124 largest cities in the U.S., to help inexperienced workers determine where letters should go. After the war, as volumes increased, a better system was needed, so in 1963, two-digit state abbreviations were introduced, and every address in America got the code for their Zone Improvement Plan - ZIP Code!

Two publicize this new innovation, which like every such innovation was resisted by most, the US Postal Service introduced Mr. Zip to help publicize the new codes. Mr. Zip signs were everywhere in US post offices throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, but as ZIP code use normalized, there was no more need for Mr. Zip and he was phased out. Mr. Zip remnants still remain here and there, and I've seen them online from bloggers or people on social media who find Mr. Zip on, for example, an apartment building mail slot.

I'd never seen one in a place that was generally accessible, but quite accidentally ran across one yesterday, one that I had probably passed before but never noticed, in the Farley Post Office above Penn Station, a national landmark and one of the biggest post offices in the US. It's convenient location makes it an easy spot to mail off card packages before going to work. I was passing by an unused counter and a green platform caught my eye. It was attached to the counter so has probably always been there, but I hadn't noticed it before. Guess what was stuck to the platform!

The ZIP code in this case would be 10001. If you notice on top there is a date, but missing the last digit. I thought it might be tough to find it but it's right there on Mr. Zip's Wikipedia page - May 1963! Over the past 62 years there have clearly been some attempts to remove the sticker, but that jet-age adhesive is still going strong! If there are "white whales" in my Wallet Card quests, this was certainly one of them. Finding it yesterday certainly made my day!
 

Cary Hiles on baseball cards

Cary Hiles pitched in the Phillies organization from 1998 to 2004. His best season was 2000, when he went 8-3 with 20 saves and a 3.16 ERA for Clearwater. Overall in 255 minor league games, he went 23-22 with 75 saves and a 3.80 ERA. Now AVP, Environmental & Hazmat Safety for the Genesee & Wyoming Railroad, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"I wouldn’t necessarily call them “stories,” but you might notice that my 2002 and 2003 cards use the same photo. I broke camp with the Triple-A team both seasons, but I tore my shoulder early in 2003. Since the card company didn’t have any new shots of me after the injury, they reused the previous year’s picture. I did make a brief return in 2004 before re-injuring my shoulder post-surgery, and no card was produced for that year.

  

 

My favorite card, strictly for the look, is my 1999 Piedmont Boll Weevils card. It definitely has a “summer ball” vibe, but I’ve always liked the design. 

 

A close second is my 2002 Scranton Red Barons card—it shows how flexible I used to be.

I don’t collect baseball cards anymore, but a few years back I got into European soccer cards for a bit before eventually stepping away from that."

Thanks!

1986 Renata Galasso Mattingly #2

It's always hard to tell with baby photos. Does this look like Don Mattingly?

This makes it easier to tell:

That's him all right!

Speaking of baby Mattingly, Cardboredom recently linked to a great ESPN article about the birthdate controversy triggered my Mattingly's 1987 Topps card.