sfBirdie (Sarah)

oldtimefamilybaseball:

The year was 1993. Jurassic Park had just come out, forever making Disneyworld less than perfect, Drew Bledsoe was the #1 pick in the NFL draft, and Bobby Brown was arrested in Georgia for a sex act on stage.

Oh yeah, and Western Civilization would be upended when Milk Bone released a series of baseball cards featuring out of uniform players posing with their dogs. This was new, this was different, and nothing would ever be the same. Said Bill Clinton about the event (probably): “Whoa. This flippin’ rules. I love dogs and baseball.”

Here for you now are the best of these wonderfully unlicensed by Major League Baseball but heartily endorsed by the Players Association trading cards: 

(tradingcarddb)

Molitor’s dog’s name is Boomer. Sadly, not for Boomer Esiason, though they both have the same facial bone structure. 

(tradingcarddb)

Tom Glavine was creative with his pitch sequencing, leaving him with limited energy for naming things. Hence, his dog Golden and his children He, She, and Second She, Double He, and Third Girl. 

Also of note, Steve Avery and Tom Glavine both bought golden retrievers at the same time. Oh, to be a pitcher for Atlanta in the early 90s.

(eBay) 

Notice, both Ripken and Champagne have that same look of determination, of steely grit and fiery passion, in their eyes. For Ripken, it was to play in 2,632 straight games, for Champagne, an Akita that was gifted to Ripken’s wife, it was for the bag of Beggin’ Bits the photographer had hidden in his camera bag. 

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