Frankenset Page #45

Along with October, March is undoubtedly one of the most exciting months for sports year after year.

In addition to MLB Opening Day being just 8 days from now, the NCAA college Basketball tournament officially kicks off tomorrow with the first half of the round of 64 games. As always, I've created a couple of brackets, but I've never had too much success with my predictions.

Still, one of the highlights of this month is going from game to game and watching the tournament unfold. It's called March Madness for a reason because there never fails to be a surplus of upsets and thrilling moments across the entire tournament. 

At the same time, NFL free agency is in full swing with numerous trades and signings occurring daily. I may not follow Football as attentively as I once did, but it still adds to the excitement of this sports-filled month.

Finally, the NBA and NHL playoff races are happening as well, and the over-spoiled Boston sports fans can expect both the Celtics and the Bruins to return to their respective postseasons. The NBA playoffs are especially interesting for me since Basketball is my 2nd favorite sport behind, obviously, Baseball.

There was even a Baseball game played earlier today in Tokyo, but I was unable to watch any of it due to time constraints. Ichiro, of course, received a mega ovation from the fans, and the Mariners beat the Athletics in a 9-7 slugfest in Japan. 

Although it was technically the first game of the 2019 MLB season, I'm anticipating next Thursday's Opening Day even more. With all 30 teams set to play, it's bound to be epic.

For now, I'm taking a quick break from my 2019 predictions by division posts to do the 45th page of my frankenset. Today, we'll be crossing the card #400 mark as this page features cards #397-405.

#397 1982 Donruss Broderick Perkins

My favorite San Diego Padres uniforms will always be the brown jerseys with the gold text shown here, but these gold-colored shirts sure are a close 2nd. Almost identically matching the yellow bat in the 1982 Donruss set, this card, and all its colorfulness makes it a definite standout. 

Unfortunately for Padres fans, I recently read an article stating that they won't bring back the brown uniforms until 2020 at the earliest. 

#398 1984 Topps Lou Whitaker

I've had a couple of unsuccessful TTM autograph experiences, but none quite as bad as when I sent away for Lou Whitaker's signature. After I found his address, I sent out an envelope with the card and a return letter inside.

Flash forward a month or so and I get the envelope back, but my card wasn't there. In its place, there was a printed photo, the size of a standard card. He signed the photo, but both that and the autograph were extremely faded. At least the card I sent away was a duplicate, but I still never got it back.

#399 2003 Fleer Tradition Austin Kearns

The 2 Cincinnati Reds cards on this page, although only 9 years apart feature drastically different uniforms. Austin Kearns is seen wearing an early-2000s Reds jersey with pinstripes and black sleeves. On the other hand, card #400, Jay Bruce, represents the modern Reds uniforms very well.

#400 2012 Topps Heritage Jay Bruce

An underrated player during his prime seasons, Bruce was a key member of the Cincinnati Reds for many seasons on a team that included MVP award winner Joey Votto. It's hard to believe that the guy who earned MVP votes in 2012 and 2013 is the same player who has struggled to find his place over the last few seasons, bouncing back and forth between the Mets and the Indians.

#401 1976 Topps Ken Brett

It's hard for me to find faults with the 1976 Topps set, but one of the few issues that I have is the choice of a yellow and green color combination for the Pittsburgh Pirates cards. Pairing yellow with pink or green with orange would've been a better fit, in my opinion. 

Teams like the Angels and Orioles used those color combos, and their cards look fantastic. I'm just not certain if the yellow and green is doing players like Willie Stargell justice. 

#402 1992 Topps Joe Carter All-Star

1992 marked the end of an era for the cardstock that Topps used for their Flagship sets. After this year, the company switched to a different material for their cards, yet I'm not sure about the specifics regarding the new cardstock. Ever since then, Topps has stayed away from the cardstock of the past except for products like Heritage and Archives.

#403 2005 Topps Total Alex Gonzalez

The background of this card definitely reminds me of a Spring Training field, especially since the old Marlins stadium was so easily-identifiable. 2005, to my knowledge, was the final year of the Topps Total set. A more expanded version of the typical Topps Flagship set, Topps Total featured a much wider variety of different players,

#404 1992 Fleer Ultra Greg Cadaret

A set like 1992 Fleer Ultra forces you to pay attention to the photograph and the background and not much else. In this case, the subject is wearing the classic New York Yankees pinstripes and is shown on the pitcher's mound. Other than that, there's not much else to say about this card.

#405 1971 Topps Leo Cardenas

The oldest card on this page, the classic black-bordered 1971 Topps set is represented with card #405, Leo Cardenas. Also shown are the pinstriped Twins uniforms, some of my favorite classic jerseys from the early 1970s. Sadly, the Twins organization announced that they wouldn't bring them back in 2019 which is disappointing considering how often the "creams" were worn.