The cards of Micah.

 

We are resurfacing from our organizing frenzy (more people will
receive packages soon) and thought we'd start with something
we learned about one of our favorite players, Micah Owings. It
turns out that there are indeed Micah fans out there and this
week we got a wonderfully informative email from one Ann C.
about him.

MO often appends the following Bible verse to his autograph:
Phillipians 4:13, which reads in the NIV as"I can do everything
through him who gives me strength."

It turns out that she too was crestfallen when Micah was traded
to the Reds...not that there's anything wrong with the Reds, but
MO played for Tulane, joined the Tucson Sidewinders, and
worked hard to become a Dback. It was satisfying to watch him
actually BE a Diamondback, and the elements of continuity,
loyalty, and longstanding determination all played out in his
story. In fact, he became an important member of that team,
and seeing him traded away was disappointing.

Thanks to Ann, Dinged Corners now knows a great deal more
about MO, including that our certainty about his goodness as a
person as well as a ballplayer is well-founded. And here's a very
basic fact that we feel comfortable sharing:

we had no idea that a player who is not a big star and hasn't
been around for that long would have so many baseball cards
manufactured with his likeness.

Here is the list that Ann sent me of "the ridiculous amount
of cards" she has thus far collected featuring Micah Owings. Clearly,
we have a bit of work to do:

2003Upper Deck

USA Baseball #USA2 2003 National Team

USA Baseball National Pride # USA2

USA Baseball National Pride #

USA2 G-U Jerseys, gray and white

USA Baseball National Pride #USA22 G-U Jersey, white

USA Baseball Team USA Signatures #S-2, red; and blue

USA Baseball Team USA Signed jersey # USA-J2

USA Baseball Finite Stars and Stripes #USA-J2, game-used blue jersey

USA Baseball Finite Stars and Stripes #USA-2

2004 Upper Deck

USA Baseball Greatest Moments 2003 National Team #USA 191

2005 Topps Bowman

First Year #BDP108 Black, White; Gold (autographed);

First Year Chrome #BDP108, Black refractor; Blue refr. ;Xfractor

Topps

First Year Chrome Autograph #UH235 White; Black

2006 Grandstand

Tennessee Smokies Baseball

Southern League Top Prospect (pictured above)

Topps Bowman

Signs of the Future #SOF-MO

Sterling Prospect Refractor, #BSP-MO

Just

Just Rookies Preview 2006 # JRPr-12; Black

Justifiable #JF30; White Autograph; Black; Silver Autograph; Silver

Multi-Ad Sports

Sidewinders team card

2007 Upper Deck

By the Letter Rookie Signatures #152, "I"; "S", letters cut from his name on his jersey

Elements #227 Acetate

Elements #185

Elements #143

Exquisite Endorsements #EE-MO

Exquisite Imagery #EI-MO

Exquisite Imagery # EI-MO2

Exquisite Rookie Biography #ERB-MO

Exquisite Rookie All Rookie Team #ART-MO

Exquisite Rookie Signatures #187 gold; silver

Exquisite Rookie Signatures Dual Sigs #EDS-OC

Future Stars Cy Young Prospect # CY-MO

Future Stars Two for the Bigs # TS-OL

Future Stars Two for the Bigs #TS-OM

Future Stars All Star Prospects #AS-MO

Game Dated Debut, #GDD-OW

Rookie Dated Debuts # RD-MO

Rookie of the Year Predictors # ROY21

Season Highlights Signatures #SHS-MO

Series 1 Baseball Star Rookie #SR41

Series 2 Baseball Star Rookie #89-MO (autographed)

Series 2 Baseball #524

SP Rookie Edition #132

SP Rookie Edition #174

SP Rookie Edition #273

SP Rookie Edition #223

Sweet Beginnings Signatures Sweet Spot Baseball #132

Ticket To Stardom Major League Debut # TS-MO

Ultimate Collection Rookie Signatures # 127

UD Masterpieces Stroke of Genius #SG-MO

Fleer

Rookie Card #402

Ultra Rookies #235

Topps

Chrome #283 Black, Blue refractors; Red refr.; White refr, Black
Xfractor

Chrome Update refractor rookie card # TRC21

Chrome Update #UH169; Copper; Gold; First Edition

Diamondbacks Team Card # 598 Gold Parallel;

eTopps Refractor #38

Rookie 110 red back; black back;

Rookie TRCR90 (1952) Silver refractor; White chrome

Rookie TRCR90 (1952) Gold refractor

Turkey Red #39; #39 Chrome; and #39 Refractor, Black Refrac.

Topps Bowman

Bowman's Best #80, Gold; green; blue

Bowman Sterling #BS-MO; refractor; black refractor

Heritage #236: foil no autograph; plain no auto; foil with auto;
plain with auto; black border plain with auto (67 varieties
before 2008)

2008 Upper Deck

First Edition #76

Series 1, #92

Series 1, All Rookie Team #ART-MO

Series 2, Diamond Collection #DC-14

SPX Young Stars Signatures #YSS-MO

Topps

D-Backs Series card ARI7

D-Backs series card 382 silver foil; gold foil; gold

Topps Heritage

#466

Upper Deck

Exquisite Rookie autograph 1/1 (2007)

Ann has not bothered with multiple-player autograph cards--and
we can see why. The logic behind pairings (and
triplings/quadruplings) on those cards often is a mystery to us.
She also doesn't have all the By the Letter auto cards--a
category that intrigues us, but that's an expensive six-card
commitment! O W I N G S.

Our naive question of the day: if Micah Owings has this many
cards, how many cards are made for someone like Alex
Rodriquez or for that matter Evan Longoria or Tim Lincecum?
Holy paper pulp, Batman.

Dinged Corners CSI: where cut up jerseys go to die.

Yes, Bailey, there are much worse ways to spend money
than buying a blaster with nothing good inside.

For example. There's a whole new shipment of these sealed
cardboard envelopes at Kmart. Inside are exciting things like a
pack of 2007 Turkey Red stuck with industrial strength glue onto
white cardboard, perhaps leftover shirt cardboard from Macy's.



Also included are pre-searched-and-felt 2007 Topps and Upper
Deck packs!



This photo is what we call foreshadowing:



Peering down into the envelopean abyss, there's this:



Maybe we'll get a Mickey Mantle jersey bit! We are never naive
or hopeful!

Reality check: it is a bit of a Jeff Kent jersey.

Well, at least in the picture he's wearing a Mets uniform. But
what uniform is that jersey from?

Don't despair, though. In case there aren't enough tchotchkes
in the world, we can proudly display Jeff Kent's authentic jersey
bit on our desk using the EASEL.

We are intrigued by the text back here. The language says, "The
enclosed piece of jersey was cut from..." [ouch?] an Authentic
[capital A!] Jersey [capital J, unlike the previous mention] from
the player picture on the front. [The wording makes us
concerned, as we picture Jeff fighting off the cutters.] This
Authentic Jersey was obtained from the Upper Deck Company."
FROM the Upper Deck company.

So Upper Deck sells jersey tatters to redistributor Vintage in
Conroe, Texas.

Oddest thing of all: the jersey is not attached to anything the
size of a baseball card. So even if it was a Mickey jersey (um,
that is, Jersey), what would collectors do with this?

You know, if we bought enough of these, we could build our own
patchwork Jersey!