Saturday, January 23, 2010

My first contest for all you card designers

I have long admired the creations that people have come up with on the various baseball card sites for cards or card sets of their own. Whether they are fictional cards like Cardboard Junkie's Collect Like a Pirate Day, something like Stale Gum's National Chicle Parody cards, or just filling a need or desire to have a different set like Goose Joak, I've been impressed by the creations and imaginations of the folk who develop them.

As you know (or can find by looking at the sidebar of my page), books are a passion of mine. I was thinking today about Robert Coover's excellent book The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. about a man obsessed with the players in his tabletop baseball game and thought how neat it would be to see a card of Waugh's favorite player, Damon Rutherford.

So there's the contest. Create a Damon Rutherford card. Rutherford is a fictional character so there are no photos of him. You don't even really need to read the book for the contest but if you've ever played Strat-o-Matic or Diamond Mind or APBA or any other baseball simulation game, you'll really enjoy it.

Deadline for the contest is tentatively February 4th, which will be Robert Coover's 78th birthday.

If you would like to read the book, here are some links for you:
To find a nearby library that has it, go here and enter your zipcode. You may want to double check with your local library if you don't find a nearby copy on this site.

You can pick up a copy from eBay.

Or help support this website financially and buy it through Amazon:



The winner of the contest will receive a selection of baseball fiction and cards.

If you have questions, feel free to post them.

4 comments:

Mark Aubrey said...

MG - for those of us who haven't yet read the book, what position does Damon play?

Mad Guru said...

He is a pitcher.

Matthew Glidden said...

The dynamic between Damon and his dad screams for a 1970s Topps "Father & Son" card.

Matthew Glidden said...

I ran with the father & son idea and came up with this:

http://number5typecollection.blogspot.com/2010/01/damon-rutherford-card-contest-entry.html

Interesting contest idea!