I have a handful of these Topps Finest. I can't say I have any memory of buying them, but I have them. Back in the good old days when card shops were plentiful, I used to buy a lot of cards of sets I never intended to complete. Twelve years later, I find them in a box, a pack of Topps Finest, still in the their clear protective wrappers.
I looked carefully at it, at that plastic skin on it that reads "Peel and Remove Coating".
And I did. I peeled it and I removed it! Damn, now this $0.50 card is worth $0.45. Oh well.
Thinking back, the short period of time Mo spent with the Angels is a blur. It was a quick couple years, he hit really well, beat the crap out of the ball. But I think I most remember him for hurting himself. In fact, it's because of him, that every time we get some new player for the Angels, I have this little voice in the back of my head saying, "he's gonna fall, he's gonna fall." If you don't know, on Mo's first game as an Angel, he tripped down dugout stairs and sprained his ankle. Eventually that injury forced him to sit out the entire 2001 season, with the Angels eventually dumping him to the Mets for Kevin Appier.
I remember after the trade, and Mo was no longer an Angel, that was when the trash talk started up. Troy Percival made some statement about "Mo's bat will be missed, but not his leadership. Erstad is our leader now". To which Mo replied, "[Expletive Deleted] Angels haven't done [Expletive Deleted] in this game! They ain't got no flags hanging at [Expletive Deleted] Edison Field, so the [Expletive Deleted] with them."
That fall, the Angels indeed added their first and only flag to hang at [Expletive Deleted] Edison Field! And where was I? In the Philippines, a 16 hour flight, a 12 hour boat ride and a 4 hour bus ride away from Anaheim Stadium... I missed every single game of the playoffs that year. Oh well. Maybe this year.
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