Here’s a great example of Pinnacle photo selection dovetailing perfectly with parallel design. Ron Gant looks like he just got fooled by a sinker that broke 12-to-6 and all he can do is laugh at himself.

I recently nabbed this gem mint copy of the 1991 Upper Deck Vikings checklist card featuring a Vernon Wells painting of Herschel Walker.

Some of my earliest memories involve opening packs of 1991 Upper Deck football and leafing through my partial set in binder pages. I’ve seen many of those cards enough times that I can describe them from memory. This has always been a top-10 card for me and now I can say I have a perfect copy in my collection. Life is good.

I’ll say it for the 100th time: Don’t sleep on mid-‘90s Pinnacle card photography.

There are other ways to spend $2, but none are better.

I’ve been an overall fan of Rick Ankiel since 1999 and I appreciate his journey from pitching phenom to castaway to solid outfielder.

In 2013, which turned out to be Rick’s final Major League season, he had a blistering Spring Training with the Astros, going 19-46 with a 1.289 OPS. I attended one of the games in that session and saw him hit two dingers. When the manager replaced him late in the game and sent him back to the team training center, Rick walked up the third base sideline with his equipment bag over his shoulder and a giant smile on his face. That memory always brings me joy.