Mixing baseball cards and cleavage

I have to be honest. When I first saw Mario Alejandro’s baseball card video prominently featuring close-ups of his wife’s cleavage, there was a disconnect for me.

I knew baseball cards were in trouble with the kids market — with all those Yu-Gee-Go and Magic cards taking the place of Yazzes and Reggies (am I dating myself?) — but were breasts really necessary to recruit collectors?

If you’re curious about Mario’s artistic motivation, check out today’s “Working Stiff” column in the Boston Herald — and the exclusive Blogger Burnout Survey in the Working Stiff blog.

But before you judge Tatiana, a.k.a. Mrs. Wax Heaven, for flashing some skin, admit she’s no different than the women staffing 90 percent of the booths at any corporate trade show.

Let’s move beyond the busty imagery and get serious. Mario, who zealously aims to become the most influential baseball card blogger of all time, has captured what’s wonderful and despicable about the hobby I once loved as a kid.

The wonderful: It’s still a blast to experience the suspense of opening a baseball card pack and musing about the random combination of players, their statistics and possible meaning to your hometown team.

While the “headless” Tatiana (Mario chooses only to focus from chin down) was on Vanna White duty, here are some bits of trivia and commentary fired off by the man behind “Wax Heaven.”

*** WAX HEAVEN TRUTHS ***
1. Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith once got sucked into a Black Hole in a Simpsons episode.
2. “Reggie Jackson is the 1970s version of Jose Canseco.” Reggie will love that one!
3. Cubs/Cardinals bullpen legend Bruce Sutter has “a porn star mustache.”
4. Bill Clinton has his own baseball card. He’s wearing a Cleveland Indians uniform throwing out the first pitch. No Hillary cards, though.
5. The Mets’ David Wright is “overrated.”
6. Red Sox icon David Ortiz looks a lot like washed-up Sox icon Mo Vaughn. (Other than their skin color and stomachs, I heartily disagree).
7. The Red Sox broke the Curse in 2004 “due to a Drew Barrymore movie.” (Again, I heartily disagree. It was because of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck).

And the despicable part of the hobby? Baseball cards today are like lottery tickets. Instead of getting excited about landing their favorite player, kids and adult-kids are just focused on how much they can get on eBay for rare limited edition inserts.

At $3 to $10 pack, they’re lucky to break even.