July 4th

Happy Fourth, everybody!  May you all enjoy your cookouts, baseball games, and Twilight Zone television marathons.  And, also remember to take a second to thank God for blessing the globe with this great nation of ours.

So, apparently Panini put out this USA Baseball Champions set a few weeks ago.  I pay very little attention to Panini, honestly, and only just learned about this neat product late last week...

...which was just in time for me to put it on my radar for last Sunday's card show.  I found a vendor with a whole mess of these things, with singles at a quarter each.  I slapped down two bucks and went to work on plucking eight deserving representatives to bring home.

I was saving these uber-patriotic cards for my Fourth of July post.  And, well, Independence Day is here...

I like seeing the progression of the Team USA uniform throughout the years.  Blue jerseys, red jerseys, multi-paneled caps, block letters, script, etc. and so on.  You name it, USA Baseball gave it a whirl.  In my opinion, it's tough to mess up red, white and blue.  I'm biased like that.

I happen to favor the red tops with the blue caps, just like the Big Hurt is fashioning.  Lots of block lettering and bold colors.  In other words, lots to like.  And having big muscles and a photogenic smile helps make the whole get-up look even more attractive.  No offense, Robin.

These really are beautiful cards.  I love the golden borders with the rippling American flag as the backdrop behind each photo.  The use of both color and black-and-white photos makes for a nice potpourri.  Does anyone else sense the whole Chuck Norris vibe surrounding this Schmidt card?

I guess I should mention that this set also showcases all the present-day talent representing USA Baseball, but I wasn't so much interested in those guys.  I'm all about the old reliables.

Oh, speaking of which, I've saved the best for last...

Just perfect.  Killer patch on the left sleeve, too, I might add.  A great addition to the Will Clark collection.

Have an awesome holiday weekend, folks!  And God Bless America!

MK