Thursday, April 9, 2015

Measure twice; cut once

I've done my fair share of home projects. The first I can recall doing was when I was about 10 or 11 years old. My grandfather came over to our house to help remodel the basement. We added a wall and framed/insulated the outside walls to make the basement more usable. A rec room, though with 3 sloppy kids, it probably should have been spelled "wreck".

Damn near killed 'em.

I've done more work since them - bathrooms, kitchen cabinets, carpeting, tile, laminate flooring, sheds, decks, patios - too much to go through. The key in everything is to get it right the first time. I have had my share of being too much in a hurry and screwing up my numbers. It's fine when you cut it too long. But you know you can't put back on what you take off. You have to get a new board, or tile, or whatever, and start new.

Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball shot me a message via Twitter asking about some miscuts he had. Offered them up for my collection. Always a no brainer when offered collection cards. Tony sent a total of 43 cards that were miscuts, in varying levels of badness (or greatness, depending how you feel).


First, you have your subtle miscut. It's a bit too close to the edge, like Figueroa. Or too close to the top like Hanna. Maybe you still have a bit off the edge showing, but you can see the cut lines on the other side of the card, like Hernandez.


Now we move up to more noticeable problems. You start seeing parts of the card that shares the sheet with the current card. You still have a far amount to view, but someone on the line didn't spend enough time getting them lined up properly in the cutter.


Last, you have the horrible/fantastically off cut cards. Tons of bleed from the adjoining card. You are losing whole sections of the name, image or design, and with luck you can identify who was on the sheet of cards next to the player. I love that Roberts plays for the Oyals, and Maddox is a member of the Milwaukee Rangers. Here is the best two from the stack.


The '62 Groat is the 2nd oldest miscut in the binder, joining two other '62s, and the three being overshadowed by a sweet '52 Hank Edwards. The Berenyi is the pinnacle of a miscut - loss of image, bleed from the card next to it, and misshaped.

There was one final card that Tony sent.


Perfectly centered. That creepy thing would probably grade a 10. Thanks for the miscuts, and the nightmare fuel, Tony.

6 comments:

  1. NIGHTMAAAAAARRREEEESSSS

    Now I'll have that song stuck in my head for the next three days.

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  2. Is this something I need to add to your list of wants on my trade list? Miscuts and sumo cards?

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  3. I'm glad you got the cards, Jeff, and that you enjoyed them. The thing is, I still have a bunch more teams to go through for good miscuts!

    To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how the Berkman found his way into the envelope. I think it decided to liberate itself from my collection, knowing I would not appreciate it. However, I definitely appreciate the use of Milwaukee legends The Violent Femmes -- whom I think I've been listening to now for nearly 30 years -- in the post!

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  4. My favorite Berkman - period. Most unique cardboard from Tony!

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