[BklynJace]

Re Baldwin, the actual slide wasn't important to me -- it was the only way to get the image.

I love both the Mets and vintage baseball cards, and a while back I started making custom cards for the cup-of-coffee guys who never got their own Mets cards, only shared a card with other rookies, etc. I don't sell or share these -- I have no wish to anger Topps. it's a weirdo personal hobby that satisfies my OCD impulses. I can create something that didn't exist but my heart insists should have, and filling that weird little void makes me happy.

Baldwin's one of the tougher missing Mets -- I was surprised to see Topps had even shot him -- and the actual slide would have let me make a great card. This will sound goofy, but to me there's something quite distinctive -- magical, even -- about a real Topps image. I don't have the photographic vocabulary to explain why, but you can spot one at a glance.

I have seen TV images reappear a few months later as 8x10s signed by players (I've even bought a few), but I hope the Baldwin slide went to a collector who loves obscure Mets, Topps photography, Billy Baldwin, whatever -- someone like Buccos.com's friend who loves Jerry May. (BTW, Jerry May is another awfully tough obscure Met.)

That said, when I bought a TV image of Don Rowe I got this with it. Which, as a lover of baseball-card history, was an awfully cool bonus.