Carlton Fisk 1992 Upper Deck

On July 27, 2017 I received this card from the Baseball Card Bandit (BCB):

On Facebook, I wrote: The BCB struck again last week. He (I think the BCB is a he, maybe it's a she?) sent a rerun this time: Carlton Fisk. We've already spoken about Fisk, at length, the last time we posted the card. 

I believe this is Fisk's last card and is one of the few times that he's pictured in the Sox' new (for the time) uniforms. Prior to this Fisk was stuck playing in floppy collars or shirts that look like blankets. At least he was able to leave MLB with some dignity. 

2019 Notes: Back in the day, uniform unveiling in sports wasn't a huge deal. Sometimes they'd do these goofy fashion shows during the winter where players would come out, walk around and then writers would write about the new togs. Other times, teams would show up the next season and they were dressed differently. And other times, it was just random. 

At the end of the 1990 season, the Red Sox played the White Sox and Chicago decided that they were going to preview their new uniforms for the 1991 season*. They were black, silver and white (the hot colors of the time, thank you Los Angeles Raiders and N.W.A.). I was instantly intrigued by these new uniforms. Especially the away ones, it said Chicago in black and white on the front and there was a patch of a white sock on a black diamond on the left sleeve. Look at the back of the card in the image above, the whole uniform looked awesome. 

Add to the fact that this was the series where Tom Brunansky made his famous catch in right field off Ozzie Guillen to win the 1990 AL East and there were already a lot of feelings tied up in these threads. When I was a kid, I didn't care about the White Sox at all. To me, they were an anonymous team who shared the Windy City with the Cubs. Ron Kittle? Ivan Calderon? Britt Burns? Who cared. 

But all of a sudden, I couldn't stop thinking about the White Sox. Their entire look changed and it did it's job, I was now thinking about the White Sox. They weren't so anonymous any more. 

So much so, they were the first official jersey that I ever bought. The following fall, I went to the mall with my birthday money and bought that official Chicago White Sox away jersey and wore it to school a lot. 

The thing is, the White Sox have had a million uniforms over their first 90 years of existence. It seemed like they changed jersey every other year, but they really haven't touched their uniform since 1991. They add a throw back (they were the first to do that, BTW) or they may take a patch off here, add one there, but for the most part their looks has been consistent -- even if the team isn't. 

* BTW, their old uniforms weren't bad. They got a new set of uniforms in 1987 (along with the Braves, A's, Mariners, Twins and others) that got rid of their gaudy early 80s style beach blanket bingo jerseys and replaced them with a more conservative appearance. They were red, white and blue and spelled out "White Sox" on their home unis and "Chicago" on their roads. The hat even had a "C" on it instead of saying "SOX" for the first time in like 50 years. The problem was, they went completely the other way and were boring as hell. 

Also, look at Carlton, he's playing first base against the Angels. What a good baseball boy. 

BTW the letter was cancelled in North Carolina. Maybe the BCB is Michael Jordan? No one can know for certain!

2019: Some times people need to take away my keyboard. Ugh.