What IS That? #3

OK, a pretty simple one, not much mystery. But not something I've seen on a baseball card that I can recall.

That ring thing there on his index finger. It is of a piece with the Furcal card that I discovered back in early February, though I didn't blab about it to you fine folks until much later. Let's hope the Topps Voodoo doesn't catch up with Brandon this year too.

I don't know a thing about Brandon Crawford. He somehow helped his team destroy my team last October, but I can't recall his contributions to that. This is why I buy baseball cards...perhaps just to know which batters to pay attention to when listening to a game as much as anything else.

And for such curiosity I am rewarded with great sports photographs like this one; simply a basic personal favorite from Series One. I'm considering putting a copy of it on a binder page for "3-D" cards. Those cleats just seem to be coming straight at you, quite a photo there. For now I scrapped the idea, because the only cards I have found that make me think the same thing are other sliding player cards, such as the Brian McCann card. 3-D is of course a card concept from the 1970s Kellogg's sets and from Topps on occasion as well. And maybe 21st Century sports photogs will surprise me with other 3-D looking action that I don't expect eventually. I'm working on a set of "actual" 3-D cards, the 'Opening Day Stars' from where else but the 2013 Opening Day set. As always, I must type .... list coming soon.

Still no time for baseball cards really. I did get to briefly visit with my card collection, and I perused a shoebox (yes, I know) labelled "Various." It turned out to be mostly movie cards, with some baseball nuggets to put up on the blog some sunny but not busy day. The movie cards put me to sleep, much as I am about to experience right now.

I do look forward to pulling the box with whatever year it was that I half-heartedly tried to complete a set of Stadium Club. I think it will look sooooo good in a binder finally, and it has been great to meet y'all out there the last few months as now I know I can actually trade baseball cards and complete a set of them.

It was on a Stadium Club card where I first saw dirt flying in the air on a baseball card, and this still amazes me. I count cards like this as a Dirt Card, though there are other ways for a Dirt Card to make it onto those binder pages.

But what is up with that ring contraption? Does it magically make the catcher and the umpire disappear?

Just looking at it makes you think Brandon must have broken his finger last year. And this magic compendium of all human information ever, right at my fingertips, confirms this quickly.

At first I had this on a binder page with the Furcal card; I was thinking to label a Frankenset 'Play Through The Pain'. It would eventually need a Schilling bloody-sock card, if such a thing exists. But then I noticed I was wanting to fill the page up with cards like this one:

I still might fill up such a page, just to see how many hitters are using those braces. But I don't think they are a result of injury, like the Furcal and Crawford cards.

Injuries have always been part of the game of course. Now they are a part of the baseball cards too.