Julie: A Trade Post

Definition of Julie:

Sweet and downy haired girl, changeable, and often misunderstood and complex. A fearful creature as well as highly loyal. She will rule your affection and once you have hers it will be forever.

-- The Urban Dictionary (written by "Julie Renee")

If you have heard of the Urban Dictionary, you know that it is the frequently Not Safe For Work reference for those slang terms that, perhaps, should not be shared in polite company. Now, the definition for Julie -- not coincidentally written by a woman named Julie -- is quite tame and complimentary compared to other terms.

Thankfully for everyone, I am not turning to the Urban Dictionary for a theme post. But, to honor our blogging, baseball-card-collecting friend Julie of A Cracked Bat and to highlight the cards she sent me, I decided to go with the Google theme.  In other words, what does Google give me when I simply input "Julie"?

Hit 1: Call JULIE before you dig for safe digging in Illinios [sic]

Yes, the Diggers Hotline in Illinois is (1) called Julie and (2) misspells "Illinois" in its headline.  Julie here is an acronym, standing for "Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators."

Julie the collector likes to dig too -- through dime boxes, that is.  One card in the huge package she sent to me came in a penny loader with a little sticky note attached:

Behind the note was this card:

Which is one heck of a great find in a dime box.

Hit 2: Julie, The American Girl Doll

I don't know how you folks with daughters do it. These American Girl dolls are ridiculous. My niece has one -- not a Julie doll, mind you -- and the amount of money that these American Girl stores require is unbelievable.  

Here's the Julie doll:

The sentiment behind the doll is great -- standing up and fighting for what's right and all -- but the sentiment is merely an entrée into an entire world of books, clothing ("outfits authentic to her era and stories"), furniture (also period-specific to 1973, including an "Egg Chair" set [for the doll? for the kid?] for $100), and clothing for the human to wear that matches the doll.

Wait.  Where was I? Baseball cards.  Right.  

That little digression into the world of #FirstWorldProblems sort of reminds me of unlicensed cards generally.  I know some folks like/don't mind cards with guys without logos.  I don't mind them that much, to be fair, because I want these companies to stay in business creating cards long enough to get licensed and provide competition for Topps.  So, here are the unlicensed/non-logo-bearing cards that Julie sent to me.

   

 

I like the look of the Donruss Elite of Lucroy. Catcher cards are the best cards to get away with being logoless.  

Maybe the folks at Panini should put together a huge, multi-year set called "The History of Catchers".  Start with the first photos we have, or get an artist to draw Goudey-style art (and I'm talking 1930s Goudey, not the stylized versions we got in 2008 and 2009) and do a set entirely of catchers.  Or Catchers who played more than 50 games in a season.  That way, we can get great photos/art with cards that are inventive and Panini wouldn't have to spend so much time on making Gorman Thomas look like he is hitting as a member of the Chicago Cubs circa 1978.

Here's the thing, though -- just because a card is logo-less does not mean it has to be ugly or discolored.  

Right, Church's Fried Chicken card?

Hit 4 (after skipping Wikipedia): Julie: The 1956 movie starring Doris Day

In Glorious Black & White.  The plot: Doris Day plays widow Julie Benton, who is terrorized by her second husband.  Here's another movie poster to give you an idea of what this film might be like:

Run Julie, Run! Run for your life!

To what could I possibly compare this movie? How about cards from the mid-1990s:

So many sets from the 1990s feel like horror shows.  These duplicate action shots on 1994 Flair, the shiny-faced B.J. Surhoff Diamond King (it's limited in release, kids -- just 10,000 made and serial numbered too!) -- after putting my checklists together for these 1990s sets and looking at the cards online, I'm pretty glad I didn't collect during that decade.  I might never have returned, except for the love of the game of baseball itself.

Hit 5: Julie Bee's Creates The 12-Hour Shoe For The Fabulously Chic Woman

By that, they mean this:

or this:

So, this is our fashion plate Google hit for Julie.  What could possibly qualify here?

Our swatches of fabric and manufactured commemorative patches, of course.  Don't you want something in white with blue pinstripes? Of course you do.  Or maybe you'd rather be blandly attired in something white like Lyle Overbay?  The best choice is something bespoke -- made personally for you just like a manufactured patch made just for Jean Segura.

Hit 6: Julie & Julia

I watched this movie with my wife a few years ago, when it first appeared on DVD. My wife and I like to cook together from time to time, and, to be honest, I find Amy Adams to be incredibly attractive.

The problem with the Julie & Julia movie is...well, there are a couple of problems.  First, Julia Child was no fan of Julie Powell, the blogger who worked her way through Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking -- but mainly because Child thought that Powell was just not taking the art of cooking very seriously and thought it was a stunt.

The other part -- which was not mentioned, referenced, or touched on in any way in the movie -- was the fact that Powell was cheating on her husband for two years after she wrote the book that became the movie.  The movie portrayed their relationship as this supportive love fest, but the reality was less enticing.  

What cards could possibly go along with this random dissertation?

They look like cards.  They have backs like cards. But they aren't cards.  They are stickers. It's all a big lie.

Other Hits:

Julie (1975 Hindi Movie)

This Bollywood movie featured at its core an Anglo-Indian family dealing with difficult issues related to that crossroads between being Indian and being Christians with an Anglo background.  It's so random I had to include it for something completely random:

A "Molten Metal" Geoff Jenkins.  A metal card with (thankfully) rounded corners is about as random as it gets in my book.  

Julie, thank you for the great cards.  I hope that my weird, strange post highlighting your first name won't drive you away from sending me cards!