The Rated Rabbi Sports Card Podcast David Spinrad

I don't worship the player. I don't worship the card. But, I'll admit that my ardor and enthusiasm for card collecting has the potential to distract me from what matters most. Still, I'm a long way from idolatry. I want no part of an aniconistic world view where visual representations of figures are a punishable offense, but if this episode should be my last, you'll know why. We also look at a few lesser lights from the 1984 US Olympic Baseball team: Oddibe McDowell, Cory Snyder, and Billy Swift. Buddy Bell was the greatest American League third baseman of his generation not named George Brett, and Bell provides the portal for a gratuitous highlight of the "life swap" between Yankees' pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich (full story here: https://www.pablo.show/p/the-yankee-wife-swap-scandal). A's reliever Bill Caudill strikes out the side, and we end with the time when Tommy Lasorda and Giants manager Charlie Fox got into a fistfight while exchanging lineup cards at home plate.

You think you know the origin story of the Donruss Rated Rookie. I thought I did, too. In this episode, we uncover the Rated Rookies before the Rated Rookies, talk 80s fashion, popped collars, and Lisa Birnbach's "Official Preppy Handbook." We also dive into the 1984 Cubs, who rode exciting comebacks, Gary Mathews' leadership, and NL Cy Young Award winner Rick Sutcliffe's 16-1 record after coming over from Cleveland in June to their first postseason appearance was since 1945. Although Joe Carter was Cleveland's prize for trading away Sutcliffe, we focus on another player acquired from the Cubs in the same trade: former outfielder and current inmate at the H.H. Coffield Penitentary in Texas, sex offender Mel Hall. Hall's story is so disturbing, that it's too much even for me. To read it for yourself: https://www.sbnation.com/2014/7/15/5883593/the-many-crimes-of-mel-hall.

Dave Schwartz's podcast "The Shallow End" often explores the inner journey of the collector. In the final segment of our conversation, he takes us inside what he calls a potentially "scary, riveting, and fun" approach to building his personal collection. Dave is considering selling off or using his current collection to trade into one of the greatest cards in the history of the hobby: The 1948-49 Leaf Jackie Robinson rookie card. He is mulling taking his entire PC and starting over, using the Leaf Jackie as the seed of a new future collection. To this end and as a part of the exercise, we both share personal cards that would be either emotionally difficult to let go of or difficult to replace. We end with what else? We open some packs.

It's the 1985 World Series. Game 6. Cardinals are three outs away. Slow bouncer to Clark. Worrell clearly beats Orta to the bag. But Denkinger blows the call. And then it all falls apart. Who better to than Iowa Dave Schwartz (@Iowa_Dave_SportsCards on IG) to relive that fateful night?! While the Cardinals fell just short, they more than lived up to the team motto for 1985: The Heat is On. Taken from from Beverley Hills Cop, we springboard into an epic year in movies that also included Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rocky IV, Fletch, Breakfast Club, and two from Michael J. Fox: 1985s #1 movie Back to the Future and Teen Wolf. Plus, we're less than 90 days from the National and we share our collecting plans as we approach Cleveland and our early strategies for the show itself. Finally, get ready for an epic on-air auction win. A major Debra Winger Mail Day awaits.

It's the 1985 World Series. Game 6. Cardinals are three outs away. Slow bouncer to Clark. Worrell clearly beats Orta to the bag. But Denkinger blows the call. And then it all falls apart. Who better to than Iowa Dave Schwartz (@Iowa_Dave_SportsCards on IG) to relive that fateful night?! While the Cardinals fell just short, they more than lived up to the team motto for 1985: The Heat is On. Taken from from Beverley Hills Cop, we springboard into an epic year in movies that also included Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rocky IV, Fletch, Breakfast Club, and two from Michael J. Fox: 1985s #1 movie Back to the Future and Teen Wolf. Plus, we're less than 90 days from the National and we share our collecting plans as we approach Cleveland and our early strategies for the show itself. Finally, get ready for an epic on-air auction win. A major Debra Winger Mail Day awaits.

Dreams do come true.