A Hoyling featuring a literal odd ball and a 73 milestone

Mark Hoyle dropped a nice package of cards (and non-cards) on me the other day.

Let's start with this curious piece. Yes, this is literally an oddball, since it's odd and also ball-shaped. I had never seen one of these tiny spheres with a baseball player's floating head in it before. It's similar to a small marble. Turns out it's from a game called Baseball Marbles put out by a company called Creative Creations back in 1968. Very cool addition to my Dick Allen collection. Here's the back:

Mark also sent some less-literal oddballs, a sweet McCovey 1976 Hostess card and a Tony Oliva stamp.

Mark has also been spreading around some 1990 Classic (Yellow) cards lately, and I was the recipient of 3 Padres, my favorite being the Fred Lynn, whom I've had on my mind lately thanks to an upcoming post I'm working on.

And of course no mailing from Mark would be complete without some 73s!

Among the highlights here are RCs of Bill North, Lee Lacy, and Jack McKeon. This generous stack helped me reach the two-thirds complete point with the set!

468/699
66.95% complete
as of 7/15/14

Wow, just a third left to go. Unfortunately for me, Mark says he's getting near the end of his 73 dupes. Maybe one more mailing and then his well will be dry. So my progress will likely slow down on that front. But it's cool; I'm not in a huge rush. Plus I've recently started casually trying to put together a poor-condition 1971 set as well, so I've got a backup option for my vintage set-build fix.

Thanks as always, Mark! I've got a stack of Red Sox just about ready to send your way in return shortly.