R.I.P. and some other business

January 8, 2024

The first week of this year was a pretty intense way to kick off this new writing project of mine. Since I’m going to shoot for a post a day, all year long, this is as good a time as any to step back and clear some things up. Especially since nobody in my two boxes of 70s players was born or passed away on this date.

The number of living players from the 70s outnumbers the dead ones (at least in my collection) by a margin of almost 3 to 1. But due to a couple of untimely auto accidents on and around New Year’s Day, there were 8 players’ deaths who were described here, in just six days. That pace won’t continue for the remainder of this year.

The number of birthday announcements for living players (which I admit aren’t given the same level of detail as the players who have passed away, but are still important to include in these posts) will also pick up as the year goes along. I don’t think there will be another week this year where deaths will outnumber births, but anything is possible, I suppose.

For anyone who might be wondering, there were 7 players who were mentioned for having a birthday last week, as opposed to the 8 deaths I reported about. But the living will eventually far outnumber the dead, should I ride this through to its conclusion in late December.

And I should also point out that nobody moved from one box to the other last week. If you didn’t already know, it’s a one-way path for the players at this point. Since I started putting this project together in the middle of 2023, the average has been that one player moves every three weeks or so. I’m curious to know when (and who) the first one for 2024 will be, but it’s going to happen soon enough. Benjamin Franklin guaranteed it a long time ago. {UPDATE: Bud Harrelson passed away on January 11, three days after this post appeared. Godspeed to him.}

Yesterday I visited a card shop in the suburbs and went straight to the unwanted card boxes. They were priced at fifteen for a dollar, because they are old and worn out and depict players that nobody cares about anymore. In other words, they are exactly the kind of cards I’m looking for. I added about 20 new players to the collection, and even picked up a Mike Ditka card, because Bears. And the Tito Fuentes card even made it into a post for this week. So the collection will continue growing, and I’ll update the posts accordingly as it does.

And lastly, because there’s more to life than baseball, actress Cindy Morgan passed away sometime over the holidays. Even though Caddyshack was released in 1980, it was filmed in 1979 and will always be a cultural touchstone for men of a certain age (namely, my own). So it goes.

Until tomorrow….