5 Valentine's Cards to Warm Your February Cockles

And remember, love is waiting to hear "pitchers and catchers report"

Today is Lincoln’s birthday.

Tomorrow marks an important family birthday.

Tuesday is Valentine’s Day.

All of which puts me in a mood to celebrate the February holidays, which, let’s face it, is about all this month has to offer outside of “pitchers and catchers report” and drear.

Along these lines, and awhile back, I proffered an All-Valentine lineup, and that’s still a fun read, if I do say so myself. Check it out here.

For today, I’ll use that piece as inspiration to whip up a batch of Valentine cards that only collectors can really appreciate.

1973 Topps Don Rose (#178)

Everybody knows I’m something of a Charlie Hustle homer, but a Rose by any other name still fits the bill for this holiday season.

And when that Rose is Don as he appears on his 1973 Topps card, we also get:

• An old-school Angels halo, probably airbrushed, which we can use as a proxy for Cupid.

• A very fascinating personal antecdote:

1973 Topps Jim Ray Hart (#538)

Sure, Jim Hart was past his prime in 1973.

And, yes, this is another 1973 Topps card.

You can’t really see the former All-Star’s face, either.

But this is a *sweet* baseball shot showing an oft-forgotten Giants star, right at the end of his tenure in the Bay.

You pretty much have to be Hart-less to not love this card.

1981 Topps Ellis Valentine (#445)

This card was pretty confusing to me when it came out in 1981.

Back then, I followed football and “collected” both baseball and football cards, but only as toys to be played with: bent, flipped, drawn on, paper-wadded.

So, was Ellis Valentine a baseball player or a football player?

I wasn’t sure, but I thought it was pretty cool that a guy named “Valentine” walked around with bones sticking out the side of his head.

1984 Donruss Candy Maldonado (#93)

By 1984, I was waist-deep in the hobby and sinking fast.

And, like most collectors, I fell in love with the new, revamped, cleaned-up, 1957-Topps-esque 1984 Donruss cards the moment I laid eyes on them.

Meanwhile, I was growing an appreciation for guys like Maldonado, who not only showed some pop even in cavernous Chavez Ravine, but who also brought some nomenclature flair to the game.

Plus, you can’t have a proper Valentine’s Day without a little Candy.

1989 Fleer Vance Lovelace (#651)

Baseball can be a loveless game, like when you’re standing out there in the outfield after gaffing a ball to put the other team ahead.

Or when you’re a fan of a losing team heading into November with the news that your favorite player just retired.

But baseball can also be a Lovelace game, at least if you’ve followed Vance’s career, first through a decade-and-a-half in pro ball, then for another decade or so as a Dodgers personnel dude.

And, like old Don Rose up there, Lovelace gives us a Valentine’s halo, courtesy of his 1989 Fleer rookie card.

—

Of course, the sweetest Valentine’s gift of all is the crack of horsehide on leather as MLB batteries start working out their creaks over the next week or so.

But, hey, at least these cards give us a chance to exercise our own pun muscles.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

—Adam