1985 Topps, Joel Skinner

#488 Joel Skinner

A few posts ago, I posted a card of Oddibe McDowell from this set. In that post, I talked about how I upgraded the McDowell card that I had because the original one was opened out of a pack by a six year old in 1985. This just happens to be one of those such cards. I normally don't try to get those cards signed, but I happened to come across this card before heading to Arizona this past spring. I got Joel to sign for me once or twice when he was a coach for the Indians, so I wasn't too concerned about finding cards of him for the trip. But, when I was looking for a card of Gary Ward, I found this one and said "what the heck, I probably won't get him anyway".

So, I took the card and, sure enough, I got him to sign my first morning out 'graphing. Joel is the manager for the White Sox AAA team in Charlotte and I was able to get him to sign after the minor leaguers scrimmaged.

This card shows obvious signs of being over-handled by a six year old. The corners are well rounded, there are some (surprisingly) light wrinkles, and some surface wear from me showing my cards off on the concrete front porch.

1985 Topps were the first cards I ever saw and I love the set because of that. Since most of my cards look like this card, I ended up buying some unopened cello packs five or six years ago (about the time I bough a box of '81 Donruss). Thanks to those random ebay pack pick-ups, I now have some cards from that set that are in good shape and those are the ones I usually try to get signed.