Bailey Howell Swatch Card

Regular readers know I'm not a fan of basketball, and outside of the legends of the 1980s and 1990s (say, the 1992 Dream Team and LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony) and a couple of present-day players, my knowledge of those who have played it is pretty much non-existent.

Bailey Howell certainly falls into that category, despite his inclusion in the Naismith Hall Of Fame. Apparently, he was a power forward and two-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics; standing at 6'7" in the 1960s, his name is now synonymous with an award given to the best basketball player in Mississippi. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and held 12 records at Mississippi State University.

I only learned of him because I pulled this card of his back in 2010:

It's card #29 from Panini's Century Collection, from Donruss' 2010 Americana set and Sports sub-set, featuring a U.S. "Naismith" postage stamp and a red swatch from an item worn by Howell.

Pat Lafontaine Stamp And Swatch Card

I mentioned a Tony Gwynn card from the same 2010 Donruss Americana Century Collection and Souvenir Stamps sub-set by Panini a few years back, and my opinion hasn't changed. This one (#42 in the set, numbered 227/250, featuring a dark blue swatch that could have come from a shirt, a sock or a game-worn jersey from any number of teams or occasions) may well feature Pat Lafontaine - which is why I traded for it - it is still too vague in its description of what you're getting:

Unless you're clear that you're getting a stamp card, first and foremost, and one that has nothing to do with the former member of the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres, except for the fact that he's an American:

The stamp takes up more room than he does! Also, the Hall Of Famer deserves more than a four-cent flag stamp.

Andre Dawson Swatch Card

Officially, seven former members of the Montréal Expos are in Cooperstown, in the baseball Hall of Fame. Two of them, Gary Carter and Andre Dawson, are there as representatives of the defunct franchise. The others are manager Dick Williams, first baseman Tony Pérez, pitchers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez, and manager Frank Robinson (inducted as a player). Outfielder Pete Rose used to be in the Hall wearing the Cincinnati Reds' cap, but he was banned for gambling.

As an Expo, Dawson was the star center fielder, a three-time All-Star who won six straight Gold Gloves, three Silver Slugger awards in four seasons, was named Rookie Of The Year in 1977, a one-time hits leader (189, in 1983) and two-time MVP runner-up.

He signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs during the 1987 training camp, aiming to play for a team that had natural grass in their home stadium to spare his aging knees in what then-general manager Dallas Green was forced to call a dog-and-pony show, as collusion in MLB prevented the Cubs from making him a decent offer.

The Hawk ended up the second-lowest paid member of the team, on the way to earning NL MVL honours on the strength of a league-leading 49 home runs and 137 RBIs. He also won the Golden Glove that year and the next and was just the second hitter ever to hit 400 career home runs with 300 career steals, a feat equalled by three more players since. He remains one of just eight in the 300/300 club. He was an eight-time All-Star in total.

In his own inductment speech in 2005, former Cubs teammate Ryne Sandberg lobbied to get Dawson in the Hall:

No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen. I watched him win an MVP for a last-place team in 1987 [with the Cubs], and it was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way, and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday.

 This card is a tribute to him, #11 from Donruss' 2010 Americana set and Century Collection sub-set, manufactured by Panini:

It features a white game-worn swatch from a Major League baseball team - seemingly the Cubs.

Dave Parker Bat Card

It's summer, and once in a while, someone reminds me that baseball still exists. I no longer care for the ball or its teams, but the larger-than-life heroes it created at the turn of the last century, into the 1950s, then into the 80s and 90s for my time - that's different; you knew watching the never-ending games that someone, somewhere would find magic in what just happened, and would enter it in one of the sport's numerous history books.

70 games without making an error. 51 home runs in a single season. 40 homers and 40 stolen bases. Perfect games. A home run from each side of the plate. Batting for .400. The World Series, which barely qualifies as such because only one team isn't from the U.S., and the first Canadian team appeared in 1968. The Chicago Cubs never winning.

One such character was Dave Parker, the brash, outspoken man who seemed like an egomaniac and always talked about how good he looked, who played balls-out and ran into every catcher he ever played against, and whose turning baseball into a contact sport may have ended up causing his Parkinson's - the incurable disease that has him with a permanently shaking right hand, and causes the man who used to be a loud mouth to now speak slowly and more softly.

He now has a foundation that teaches kids how to play ball as well as about Parkinson's, and many other former Cincinnati Reds are part of it.

On the field, he won World Series titles with the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates and 1989 Oakland A's, a batting title in 1978, played in seven All-Star Games including being named the MVP of the 1979 edition after throwing out Jim Rice at third base and Brian Downing at home plate from the outfield, and contributing one RBI. Baseball's first million-dollar man is still waiting for his entry in the Hall Of Fame, partly because he admitted to cocaine use in 1985.

He attended Courter Tech High School, whee he was both a star right fielder and running back, and it's the running back in him that took over every time a catcher stood between Parker and the plate. Even if it meant breaking his cheekbone, like in a 1978 collision with New York Mets catcher John Stearns that probably also resulted in a concussion.

Speaking of which, on this Century Collection card (#69 in the set, numbered 94/100) from the 2010 Donruss Americana set by Panini, he is shown wearing his high school uniform although the piece of game-used bat is ''guaranteed'' to have been used in a ''professional'' game:

The picture is obviously a crop from a team photo.

Lou Brock Swatch Card

Why yes, that's two days in a row with baseball posts. Perhaps something is wrong with me...

Although I've been waiting for an excuse to feature this card (and a few others) for a while now; it features Hall Of Famer Lou Brock, the one-time record holder for stolen bases, on this Century Collection card (#10 in the series) from the 2010 Donruss Americana (numbered 19/250) set by Panini, with a black swatch from ''an item'' worn during a ''professional'' game:

Brock spent his entire Major League career in the National League, playing his first four seasons with the Chicago Cubs, and sixteen years with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he would have the most success. He won two World Series with the Cards (1964 and 1967) and was a six-time All-Star (1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 and 979) as well.

He did have some power, having knocked the ball out of the park at New York's Polo Grounds, but Cards manager Johnny Keane wanted to have a speedy team, and asked him to concentrate on stealing bases rather than hit homers; he ended his career with 149 homers, but 938 stolen bases (and 900 RBIs, and over 3000 hits).

He was a first-ballot Hall Of Famer.

Upon retiring, he held various positions on the Cardinals, either as coach or advisor. He is also an accomplished businessman and ordained minister.

Samuel Dalembert Swatch Card

I bought a few multi-sport, guaranteed-hit repacks a few months ago, and unfortunately (for me), it was filled with more baseball and basketball than hockey and football. And I'm pretty sure this ''hit'' would have been a ''miss'' for a bunch of other people, but as a Quebecer, getting a fellow Montrealer is a heck of a consolation prize.

And that's where Samuel Dalembert comes in. A native Haitian, he moved (with his family) to Montréal at age 14, and promptly entered and starred in local basketball programs, eventually landing at Seton Hall University on route to the NBA.

Known for his defensive skills (particularly his shot-blocking abilities), he spent the biggest part of his pro career with the Philadelphia 76ers (8 seasons) before first getting traded, which led to his playing for 3 different teams in the next 3 years, first the Sacramento Kings, then the Houston Rockets, and the Milwaukee Bucks this year.

This card is from his days with the Kings: from Panini's 2010-11 Panini Threads (card #8 of the Century Collection Materials sub-set):

It is numbered 359/399 and contains a white jersey swatch.

Henry Fonda Swatch Card

Sometimes a story and an actor are a perfect match, and for terrific actors, it can happen more than once. In Henry Fonda's case, there may have been more than a half dozen such cases, the most renowned possibly being The Grapes Of Wrath, 12 Angry Men and Once Upon A Time In The West.

The Grapes Of Wrath is probably the one that struck me the most, seeing as John Steinbeck's book is a classic in itself, with a ton of amazing quotes that still ring true today:

Seems like the government's got more interest in a dead man than a live one.

That's why when I saw this card on Ebay going for just about the same amount as the stamp that's on it (ok, fine, a dollar), I just had to take it. It's from Panini's 2010 Century Collection (card #6, Hollywood Materials sub-set, numbered 57/250) in Donruss Americana packs. It contains a swatch of what could be a jacket, pants, or maybe a couch, I'm really not sure - but it's thick, hard, and rough.

In addition to acting up a storm on the screen and on Broadway, he also upped the gene pool by fathering Peter Fonda and Jane Fonda, also film legends.

Tony Gwynn Jersey And Stamp Card

I'm typically not a fan of the Americana-series cards, because I can do without getting a bunch of dinosaur cards. And the ''celebrities'' you can possibly get are either deceased, are shown in an awful picture, or are just plain nobodies.

And when you get an athlete, he is never shown wearing his major league team's colours, because the card company didn't purchase the rights to show it. Such is the case with this still-fine Tony Gwynn card from Panini's 2010 Donruss Americana Century Collection (card #45, numbered 69/250, part of the Souvenir Stamps sub-set).It contains a piece of jersey ''worn by Gwynn in an official game'', so probably as a member of the San Diego Padres - the only team he played for in his Hall Of Fame 20-year career; it also contains an official U.S. stamp commemorating the sport of baseball. But the picture shows him wearing his hometown Long Beach Polytechnic High School uniform...

As a Montréal Expos fan, I can say Gwynn was one of the few players from opposing teams I truly respected: he never hit below .309 (!!), won 8 batting titles (almost every other year!), struck out only 434 times in his career (!!!) and had an inside-the-park grand slam (!!!!).

His mother was born on August 6th, a day on which he hit his 2000th hit (1993) and - one I saw on TV - his 3000th, in 1999, against the Expos' Dan Smith. He also hit his 1500th against Montréal, off pitcher Steve Frey.