one of these things is not like the others

one of these things just doesn't belong.  i recently received four autographed cards from ryan at the great orioles autograph project.  all four were guys i had hoped to have sign a 1978 topps card, but either hadn't been successful, hadn't yet tried, or knew they didn't sign cards through the mail.

first up is rick dempsey, 1983 world series mvp and guy who wound up as the dodgers' catcher when they won it all in 1988.

i have sent this card to dempsey twice without success.  that was after i had success with him the first time i tried as we will see later.

ray knight

before 1986, knight was known for two things - being married to golf pro nancy lopez and for being the guy the reds replaced pete rose with.  after 1986, he was known as 'here comes knight and the mets win it!'

ken singleton

i had not yet attempted a ttm with singleton, and ryan saved me the 88 cents.  of the four, this is the best in terms of signature, but i'm not complaining.

finally, there was this fred lynn card

lynn apparently does not sign cards through the mail (he might send back a signed index card, however), so i was pretty happy when ryan told me this was one of the four cards he was sending.  i was a closet fred lynn fan in 1978, and was excited when he came west to join the angels in 1981.

i mentioned up top that i had been successful with my very first rick dempsey ttm request.  that is true, although i didn't send his 1978 topps card with that request.  instead, i sent a 1990 topps

and a 1991 topps

with him in his dodger duds. 

but, back to the title of this post.  to finish the song, 'and now my song is done.'

upon closer inspection of the fred lynn card (i flipped the card over), i discovered that it wasn't 1978 topps at all.  it's a 1978 o-pee-chee interloper! oh my o-pee-chee!

sweet!

thanks ryan!