Boys sometimes have silly thoughts and perspectives, which often lead to maybe off-color or at least off-the-wall thoughts, mental connections, and jokes.
In other words, Dick Pole and Pete LaCock didn’t stand a chance of navigating their baseball careers unscathed, name-wise.
Things were a little less dire for Mike Tyson back in the 1980s when I “found” him in my 1981 cards. For me, the immediate mental connection was with a box of frozen fried chicken.
Of course, a few years later, a different Mike Tyson would usurp the name forever and always and set up the baseball Mike Tyson for a lifetime of baseball card graffiti.
Something I’ve discovered as I’ve gotten old(er) is that grown men also have silly thoughts and perspectives. At least I do.
So now, when I hear “Mike Tyson” in a baseball perspective, my mental image is something akin to boxer Mike Tyson holding a chicken wing at the ball diamond.
Anyway, baseball Mike Tyson (BMT) turns 74 today. Happy Birthday!
BMT is also an example of a guy whose baseball cards have unwittingly become more culturally recognizable than they ever thought they might (yeah, baseball cards can think).
I’ll run down a few more of those in tomorrow’s weekly Wax Pack Gods newsletter, if you’re interested.
Hilarious...you had me at "Baseball Mike Tyson"! And baseball cards DO think.
Undoubtedly!