EverydayCommentary: Anso of Denmark Aros Review

I remember when I was little and Ken Griffey Jr. made his debut. I was very serious about baseball cards and for years it had been just Topps, Donruss, and Fleer. Then Upper Deck came out with its premium look and feel and they had Ken Griffey Jr.’s rookie card. In 1989 he was decent, for a rookie. He finished 3rd in ROY voting and I thought that was a rip off. Looking back, though, he was only okay. 1990-1992 he was similarly okay. He was getting better but still not what I had hoped he would be when I tore open a pack of 1989 Upper Deck at Xenia’s Old Fashioned Days Parade to find my baseball hero staring back at me. In 1994 he was very good, but not quite as great. It was the same in 1995. Then came one of the best three year stretches in all of baseball history—Ken Griffey Jr’s 1996-1998 seasons. It took 8 years, but he finally delivered on being a generational talent. That picture-perfect swing finally resulted in true success. After that, there was no doubt—the Kid was an all time great.

It was similar when I got into knives (serial hobbyist? Yes). Jens Anso was quite young and he already had a Spyderco collaboration—the weird and unique Rock Lobster. It was big and bulky, not my thing, but I loved its lines (I think I could be persuaded to buy a mini version if Spyderco was so inclined). Similarly, I loved his customs. Their rock pattern texturing, which literally everyone on earth copied, locked the hand in without being overly proscriptive. Then came the Zulu. It was, again, bulbous and weird, but it was an EDC sized knife and from Taichung, Taiwan, birthplace of many great Spydercos. It was nice but probably too weird. Eventually I traded it. There were a few other Anso designs that caught my eye, I even bought a custom that had a weird detent issue and was returned. These knives were the 1990-1995 years from Griffey—good but not mindblowing.

Griffey is still one of the best players I ever got to watch in person. The greatest was Greg Maddux.

Oh, and I am a fan of Jens Anso as well.

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