#54 - Eric Soderholm

Card fact: This is the second straight card of a player born in Upstate New York (1982 Topps blog will be glad to hear it). I'd like to say that I knew Soderholm was born in Cortland, N.Y., all along, since the town is a half hour from where I grew up. But until today I never knew that. He couldn't have stayed in the area for too long. I know he went to high school in Miami.

What I thought about this card then: I salvaged this card from the toy chest of my good friend, Jennifer, when I was a kid. Jennifer collected cards in 1975 because that's what a lot of kids did in 1975. But she was younger than I was and less, shall we say, committed to her cards. When I was at her house, I found this card ripped up in her toy chest. I carefully gathered the pieces, taped them together and brought the card home. It looked terrible. There were parts missing. Not good. I eventually threw the card away. And if you knew how difficult it is for me to throw a card away, then you'd know it was a hopeless case.

What I think about this card now: Soderholm has quite the intense look on his face.

Other stuff: Soderholm is mostly known for being one of the early free agents, signing with the White Sox, and being part of the Southside Hit Men in the summer of 1977. He won Comeback Player of the Year honors that year. But after his playing career, he became a successful businessman, owning his own ticket agency in Chicago, and then moving onto the healing arts business.

Back facts: "Eric Thane Soderholm" ... he sounds like a Viking. Also, that cartoon trivia answer may be correct forever.

Other blog stuff: I have stumbled upon yet another color combination. Several posts ago, I thought we had gone through all the combos, but this is the first red-orange combination in the set. So that makes 17 total combinations so far -- 18 if you include the All-Star variation. I'm not going to list them all, for fear I'll miss another one. When I'm absolutely sure, I will again.