What the hell is this???

Ok, I'm wasting some time online so I do an eBay search for Allen & Ginter to see if I can take a look at some of the new cards. There's a ton of 2006 stuff, a handful of vintage stuff, a few Dice-K's, a bunch of Perez sketch cards and a 2007 Roman Emperor card of Caligula (updated link since old one died). Wait, what? I did a double take and checked the auction. Well, the card does say Allen & Ginter's 2007. So I did a search for "Allen Ginter Emperor". I found one other auction of two emperor cards from the same guy in Taiwan who was selling the first one.

Anyone know what the hell this is? An unannounced insert or something? Some guy in Taiwan with a copy of photoshop and a weird sense of humor? This thing can't possibly be real can it? PLEASE don't tell me that Topps has pulled all Michael Vick cards from their products over an indictment, BUT FREAKIN CALIGULA IS OKEY DOKEY. Excuse me, I need to go bang my head against the wall for a while.



UPDATE: I guess it's legit, eBay has a ton more Roman Emperors up for bid now. There's also a Deadly Snake insert set out there too, apparently dropping at 1 per case. It's a pretty neat tribute to all the other original A&G non-sport sets, I'd like to know how many they did. So far I only know of Flags, Emperors and Snakes.

Oh and this is rich. Michael Vick is evil and must be shunned, no longer allowed in our precious trading card sets... But JACK THE MOTHERF$CKING RIPPER is just peachy keen. You gotta be kidding me.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I want that Jack the Ripper card very, very badly. I'll even trade you a couple Michael Vicks for him...

Card of the Week 7/30

The Simpsons just raked in 75 million bucks at the box office, so what better choice then the greatest Simpson (sorry, Joe) to play in the majors for card of the week?

Born in Dalton, GA, Harry Simpson was known as 'Goody' in his hometown for his helpfulness. He later was stuck with the nickname 'Suitcase' after a character in the popular comic strip Toonerville Folks who had feet the size of suitcases. Harry started his career in 1946 in the Negro League with the Philadelphia Stars where he was a teammate of Satchel Paige and Bill Cash. He raked the ball in the minor leagues in 1949 and 1950, earning him a call up to the Cleveland Indians in '51. Harry had a great glove, but didn't produce much at the plate as a rookie. Harry showed some promise in '52 with 10 homers and a .266 average, but a regression in '53 sent him back to the minors. The Kansas City A's purchased his contract from Cleveland in 1955, and Goody went on to have a career year in '56, hitting 293 with 105 RBI's and 21 homers. Harry went to the Yankees in '57 in the Billy Martin trade and played in the World Series against the Braves. Harry just missed out on a championship when he was shipped back to the A's in '58 at the trading deadline a year to the day of his last trade. Harry ended his major league run (and earned the 'Suitcase' moniker) in 1959 as he started the year with the A's, got flipped to the White Sox for Ray Boone and finally sent to the Pirates for Ted Kluszewski.

Harry wound up his career bouncing around the minors before finishing up in the Mexican League. Despite putting up good numbers in the minors, he never got another shot in The Show. Harry was one of the first black players to be called up to the major leagues. Only a dozen had made the majors before 1951, and only 5 teams had even integrated by the time of his debut. #150 is one of the first cards I ever had from my favorite set, 1953 Topps, and it shows a great smile from Goody after his breakout season of '52.

SEXY TEXY

Assuming a physical doesn't get flunked, Mark Teixeira is an Atlanta Brave. The addition of the man who made a mockery of 'i before e, except after c' brings a hefty bat to an already stout Braves offense. The Braves receive Teixeira and lefty reliever Ron Mahay while uber-prospect Jarrod Saltalamaccia, pitching prospect Matt Harrison Nestali Feliz, phenom Elvis Andrus and another minor league pitcher go to the Rangers.

The trade makes sense for both teams. The Rangers once again are out of it and are in full dump mode. They were playing The Braves, Angels, Dodgers and maybe Diamondbacks off each other to get the biggest haul, and it appears they did so. They also managed to hold onto Eric Gagne and Joaquin Benoit, who are also in high demand and could net another prospect. Salty is an upgrade over Gerald Laird right now and should at least swipe the backup spot from Adam Melhuse just for his versatility off the bench. Matt Harrison was the Braves' #1 pitching prospect, although he's had shoulder problems this year. Elvis Andrus is an 18 year old shortstop where the sky is the limit. He's very raw but some project him as an all star.

The Braves fill two gaping needs with this trade. First base has been a disaster all year as Craig Wilson flamed out early and the Scott Thorman experiment didn't pan out. Things got so bad, that Julio Franco has been the everyday starter at first (and doing a decent job, if you listen to Bobby) since he was picked up from the Mets. Teixiera is not just a stopgap though, he's a bona-fide star who can be plugged right into the middle of the lineup to protect Chipper. Imagine this lineup:

1: 2b Kelly Johnson/ Yuniel Escobar
2: SS Edgar Renteria
3: 3B Chipper Jones
4: 1B Mark Teixiera
5: CF Andruw Jones
6: RF Jeff Francouer
7: C Brian McCann
8: LF Matt Diaz/Willie Harris

Wow. Even Kyle Davies or Jo Jo Reyes could win a few games with that kind of lineup providing some run support. The Braves also picked up another piece they desperately needed in lefty reliever Ron Mahay. Lefty specialist has been another trainwreck fot the Bravos especially since Mike Gonzalez went down with Tommy John surgery. No other lefty reliever has been very effective for Atlanta and the current owner of that slot, Wil Ledezma, just got designated for assignment.

This is also not just a 2 month rental, Mark is eligible for arbitration next year, and I don't think they will cut him loose like Marcus Giles. Andruw's contract is still up in the air so it may be some lineup insurance for next year in case he bolts. There is a possibility for a long term deal with Mark, since a lot of money comes off the books soon on the Hampton and possibly Andruw deals. The Braves still have holes. Smoltz's arm is being held on with bubble gum, duct tape and a bent paperclip and after Chuck James the rotation is extremely shaky. The bullpen is showing signs of burnout. They are still 4 games back of the Mets, who are set to get Pedro back sooner or later. The Braves may not win the division or even capture the wild card after this deal, but they sure put everyone else on notice.

In honor of this momentous occasion, I have edited Mark's Topps card in the time honored tradition of 1970's airbrushing. Enjoy.



UPDATE: Holy crap, the Braves might also get Dotel for Kyle Davies... Hold out for Greinke, JS!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Apparently the Rangers did end up balking over Matt Harrison's shoulder. Right-hander Nestali Feliz, whom I know absolutely nothing about, goes in his place. I've edited where appropriate.

YET EVEN MORE UPDATES: Maybe Matt Harrison is back in on the deal. Plus another pitcher. Hell, I don't know what's going on. I don't really care, I saw Teixeira in a Braves uni tonight (#24!) so that's all I'm concerned with.

Swap Meet

Pennant races are heating up and the MLB non-waiver trade deadline is imminent, here's a list of my favorite places to get information on who will get the airbrush treatment in Topps Updates & Highlights.

MLB Trade Rumors

An excellent blog for everything trade related. A knowledgeable community discusses (sometimes heatedly) all the rumors of the day. If an insider hears a tip, they usually post it not long after.

Pro Sports Daily

A top-notch news aggregator with links to just about any newspaper article that might have a useful rumor. Think Ben Maller on steroids.

Ben Maller

The original, although it's been absorbed into Fox Sports. It has forums for discussion, but unfortunately no updates on the weekend.

Sports Lizard News

This thing is nifty. Sports Lizard's news reader is a customizable page of up to 10 RSS feeds of your favorite site's top headlines. Set it up to track MLB headlines and let the Lizard do all the work.

CBS Sportsline Trade Tracker and On the Block

On the Block shows a pretty good list of who is likely to be traded with analysis by Scott Miller. It's a good quick glance at who might go where, although it can't compete with the lightning fast analysis of MLB Trade Rumors. It's not always 100% accurate either, as of the time of this post, the Braves aren't even in the running for Mark Teixeira, who is labeled "Staying Put".

The trade deadline is this Tuesday, but then the fun really begins as we start to watch for who passes waivers and who doesn't for the next trade deadline at the end of August. Hey, what else do you have to do while waiting for Allen & Ginter to go live?

Bowman Heritage Lives!!! (sort of)

While scrounging around the net for info on Allen & Ginter, I stumbled across Magazine Exchange, which has a link to new product info for various gaming and sports cards. My go-to site for sell sheets has always been Georgetown Card Exchange, who offers scans of the various sell sheets offered to dealers. Recently Upper Deck had apparently not been giving them anything to scan, but I don't really care for their products so it hasn't really concerned me that much. The sell sheet link at Magazine Exchange provided an answer to what happened to their scans: UD's sell sheets are now in PowerPoint format for some ungodly reason. Seriously, it's like they are daring us to hate them. But would I dedicate an entire post to complaining about Upper Deck's annoyingly corporate ways? Well, yeah, actually I would. I'm kinda surprised I don't do it all the time to be honest. But that's not the point of this post! While looking though their list of upcoming products I found out that Bowman Heritage will return!

Now, I am an unabashed fanboy of pretty much any vintage ripoff product out there. Topps Archives, Fleer Goudey, Topps Heritage, UD Vintage, T206, T205, Cracker Jack, UD Playball, Topps Fan Favorites, Turkey Red, Bowman Heritage, Allen & Ginter, I love it all. The only vintagy type set I have not liked is Upper Deck Origins, and the best way I can explain my reaction to that set is to compare it to Tim Burton's Mars Attacks. I was so looking foward to it that when it came out and it wasn't good I was crushed by disappointment. Horrible shiny green borders, all the good cards short printed, eighty dollar pack prices... Ug. Just painful. That was the set that officially turned me sour on Upper Deck.

I loved last years Bowman Heritage, and even I have to admit that set was a bit of a trainwreck. They tried way too hard to make the set look low-tech to match the original '49 set (I really need to scan my Kenny Rogers mini card with the big green booger hanging out his nose), The skip numbered short prints smacked of an intern sending the wrong order to the printers, and the complete fiasco with the 'white' parallels is inexplicable. To my dying day I will never understand why they just didn't go with the Name on Front variation for their parallel set. Even so, I liked the set overall. The mini cards are awesome, and unlike many, I like the little forced printer errors and blotches that try to mimic printing presses from long ago. Besides, Bowman Heritage has been an excellent value product for the past few years for collectors. A (usually) nice design, a completable set, tons of rookies, three hits a box and it's dirt cheap because everyone else hates it.

Even though I liked it, I'm weird and I am pretty sure no one else liked it that much. I was convinced the awfulness of the set killed the brand and there would be no 2007 Bowman Heritage. I was wrong! (warning - pdf file) '07 Bowman Heritage returns with the 1952 design and is set up much the same as last year's set. 300 card base set with 50 short prints, 5 of which are Mickey Mantle in various Bowman designs. Sadly the mini cards are gone, but they kept the anti-pack-searching 'rainbow' parallel. The prospects insert set is back, this time using the '54 Red Heart design. A good choice, it's a clean, classic look that was previously appropriated for an Upper Deck Vintage set if I'm not mistaken. The usual relics, autos and printing plates are there and you get two box toppers this time - a two card pack of ARod Home Run continuity cards (bleargh) and an oversized card copying the 50's Red Man Chewing Tobacco design (w00t!). The sheet gives a release date of October 2007, so we can expect it to hit shelves just before Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately the sell sheet concludes with this ominous statement:

Bowman Heritage baseball retires in style by honoring the popular 1952 Bowman design and promising 1 autograph and 2 relics per box!

Retires in style? I guess that's it then, the cutback to 17 sets for 2008 means BH gets the chop. That is assuming Topps isn't taking it for granted that they will be part of UpperFleerDeckCo by this time next year. Of course this begs the question: How in the name of Cthulhu can you have a Bowman Heritage tribute series and never get around to doing a 1953 set?? Seriously, isn't that supposed to be the most beautiful set of all time or something? They greenlit the '48 design which is painfully boring, the '49 design which is quaint yet fugly, the '54 design which is kind of meh (pastels just ain't my thing), and the '56 'what coulda been' design where the rookies looked nice and the vets were just OK. Topps chose these 4 designs over 1953 Bowman. Ouch. Maybe Topps has that design stashed in their back pocket for some reason. Maybe they figured the 1989 Bowman regular set copied it already so what's the point. Maybe, just maybe, Topps decided they are sick of the Bowman 'Black borders with Red/Green/Blue accents' motif and are going to have all future Bowman sets using the '53 design. Maybe I'll assume the latter and just enjoy the final edition of Bowman Heritage.

Musings on Allen & Ginter

My friend Josh never got bitten by the card collecting bug, but he has witnessed my insanity and understands. He is as cynical as I am, and is able to appreciate the ridiculousness of the industry. One long-running inside joke between us is goes something like this:

Me: "Baseball cards have gone crazy!"

Josh: (in his best Match Game style response) "How crazy are they?"

Me "Baseball cards are soooo crazy that..."

I would go on to account the latest gimmicky weirdness manufacturers were using to push product out the door. The first such exchange was probably about that wacky upstart Upper Deck charging a whole dollar for a pack of cards, and they didn't even have fancy moving pictures like SportFlics. Much of the things we deemed ridiculous at the time are now industry staples. Insert cards in every pack! They're putting serial numbers on the cards! There are whole sets of autographed cards! They took some dude's jersey, cut it up into little squares and glued the pieces onto cards! They're charging a hundred bucks! For a box? For a Pack!! MADNESS!!!

One thing we always agreed on, was that at some point a company was going to put out an official DNA card. The debate was only in what form the DNA would take. A stray nose hair or toenail clipping seemed too obvious to me. There are probably already jersey swatches with blood, sweat or Lord knows what on them, so a little schmear of some fluid didn't seem innovative enough. I always thought Dr. James Andrews could have made some extra cash selling used elbow tendons for use in cards. You could probably find some Julio Franco or Roger Clemens DNA in a mosquito encased in amber somewhere, it would make for a pretty card at least. My greatest idea was to have redemption card for some useable DNA, available for pickup at your local fertility clinic. What would be a better chase card than the chance to have your own little Bonds or Griffey Jr. running around? The only thing we knew is that the idea of hawking a human being's genetic code to sell baseball cards was so perverse that it really had to happen at some point. This is where 2007 Allen & Ginter comes in.

Topps has had plenty of strangeness in their recent sets. This is not really surprising to anyone who is familiar with their test sets of the 60's and 70's, Topps has done some odd things in an effort to move those cards off the shelves. Just in just the past five years or so, we've seen cards encapsulating little crumbled bits from the Berlin Wall (which invariably migrate out of the window and wedge themselves between the layers inside the card itself), cards with chopped up shreds of clothes worn by Elvis, a cut signature card from Che Guevara, cards with swatches of old Army uniforms from stars of the 50's, cards with coins and subway tokens stuck in them and 90+ year old vintage cards entombed inside little plastic holders the size of standard cards.

Allen & Ginter has had its fair share of gimmicks as well. Mini cards, press plates, Rip cards (not really anything new, but whatever), historical and non baseball subjects, along with the standard fare of parallels, autographs and relics. Even though the 2006 version evaporated off the shelves faster than a bottle of Dasani on Mercury, Topps decided to go all out with their 2007 version and add what we have all been waiting for: a DNA RELIC CARD.


George Washington goes from Father of our Country to the provider of the first deoxyribonucleic acid strand to be whored out on a baseball card. Part of me is disappointed they went with the nose hair, but at least my (lack of) Faith in Humanity is confirmed. I'm interested in how eBay is going to handle the eventual auction of this card considering their long time ban on body parts. This might be a golden opportunity for BidVille. Part of me has to wonder though, if Topps is resourceful enough to procure a 250 year old strand of hair from the most famous American to ever live, how come they are having problems managing to not get gobbled up by Upper Deck? You would think something like this would be enough to assure that 2007 A&G would not go unbought like so many boxes of '91 Donruss Series 1, but no... Topps decided to up the ante with an innovation that is sure to rock the foundations of the entire industry:

Dog Autographs.

THIS I DID NOT EXPECT.

Let us say hypothetically that you traveled back in time a decade or so and asked me what sort of innovations the baseball card industry would spawn by the year 2007. If the words "I believe a major card manufacturer will put a card featuring the paw print from the winner of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in their most eagerly anticipated product of the year" had left my lips, I would have immediately blown my head off with a shotgun for fear I had contracted Mad Cow disease from a cheap gas station burrito and it had taken my sanity. I actually want to be there when the first person to plunk down a C-note for a box of A&G pulls Diamond Jim's John Hancock just to note their expression. Of course when I think about it, it can't be any worse than tearing open a Mantle Rip card only to get a Derrek Lee extended mini card I suppose. At least it is technically an autograph card, plus it's also a great excuse to call my buddy Josh and say,

"Baseball cards have gone crazy!"

Card of the Week 7/23

This week's Card of the Week illustrates exactly why I haven't posted much this week. Or commented on any of the other card blogs. Or finished my article for Cardboard News (sorry Andrew). Or pretty much been online at all. Yes, I've been reading Harry Potter for the past week. I know, I know. What am I doing reading that kid stuff? Here's my story.

I used to travel cross country pretty much every week for work. In Chicago one week, off to Salt Lake the next, then hop on a plane to Newark. I got in the habit of reading on the plane. Well, at least when I didn't get upgraded to first class. It's hard to read after your 8th complimentary scotch on the rocks. I mostly read sci-fi/fantasy stuff like Vonnegut, Pratchett and Asimov, with the occasional baseball book mixed in for good measure. One day I was running late for my flight to Denver and left my book on the passenger seat of my car. It was either Childhood's End by Clarke or one of the Foundation trilogy, I can't remember which. I was already in the terminal with only a couple of minutes before the plane boarded when I remembered where my entertainment for the next four hours was located. I had no time to go back and get it and even going one terminal over to the good bookstore would probably make me late for my flight. The only option I had if I wanted a book to read was a dinky little newsstand kiosk whose only options were - and I am not kidding - Harry Potter and Danielle Steel.

Danielle Steel wasn't gonna happen so I reluctantly bought the overhyped kids book. Ya know what? It was good. DAMN good. So I bought the second book. It was better. So I bought the third. I got hooked. Addicted to literary crack. And believe me, I know of what I speak. I finally went cold turkey on Stephen King after reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and I was hopelessly addicted to King. Have you ever read It cover to cover in less than 48 hours? I have. TWICE. So ever since I left that book on the passenger seat in a rush, I've been buying the books opening night and going to the book release parties and such. Don't worry, I don't go dressed as Hagrid or anything, although I kind of look like him if I go a few months without a haircut.

So I avoided the internet for three days fearing spoilers, remained offline for two more while I read the book and took one more day to catch up on my sleep. Let me tell you it was worth it. Anyone worried that JK would screw this up need no longer worry. It's a fine ending to a fine series and anyone who likes fantasy novels won't be disappointed with this one. Plus as an added bonus, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is probably the best Cliffs Notes (SparkNotes for you whippersnappers) version of Lord of the Rings I've ever seen. So to commemorate the end of the series (holy crap, does this mean I have to read Danielle Steel now??) The Card of the Week is the Gryffindor Quiddich Team from an old Sorcerer's Stone movie card set I don't know the name or manufacturer of. I wonder where they would have placed on Ben's team card tournament?


The other reason I haven't been paying much attention to sports lately is that I'm a Falcon fan and quite frankly, this has been a REALLY lousy week. A certain subset of Atlanta sports fans have been generally *ahem* less than kind toward ol' #7 in the best of times and the only way the mood can get much more hostile around here is if there's a 'pep rally' on top of Stone Mountain if you catch my drift. Things are getting even worse if you can believe it; a Falcons d-back just got caught with the wacky weed. Hey dummies! Look up above at this blog's motto. Getting stopped with a few cases of Sweet Spot Classic in the Escalade will not get you a meeting in the commissioner's office. You're cashing an NFL paycheck so you can actually afford the stuff. Oh well, there's nothing left to be done about it, at least until Michael Vick can

Heh. I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. Ok, I've got the Deathly Hallows out of my system now, back to sports cards, I promise. Well, almost. I'll leave you with just one spoiler if I may. Just look down in the comments section if you want a tidbit from the new book.

DON'T CLICK ON THE COMMENTS IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER!!!

Julio!

Looks like Rowland's Office called it. It's not every day your team signs a player whose rookie card is from 1983.

Julio is not a bad bat off the bench, especially since the Mets are on the hook for most of his salary. I just hope he is here to mentor Jarrod Saltalamaccia instead of taking away playing time from him.

Cards of the Week 7/16

299: 1887 Allen & Ginter Joseph Mulvey (Dover reprint)

1805: 1909 T206 Mickey Doolan

3842: 1933 DeLong Chuck Klein (Dover reprint)

4641: 1941 Play Ball "Joe" Marty

5660: 1953 Topps Ken Heintzelman

6508: 1963 Topps Clay Dalrymple

6895: 1968 Topps Cookie Rojas

7447: 1974 Topps Bill Robinson

7645: 1977 Topps Bob Boone

7914: 1981 Topps Coca Cola Greg Luzinski

8302: 1986 Topps Don Carman

8836: 1992 Topps Gold Winner Joe Boever

9037: 1995 Fleer Flair Darren Daulton

9495: 2000 Fleer Tradition Bobby Abreu

10000: 2007 Topps Heritage Aaron Rowand

Ten thousand losses cannot be commemorated with just one card. The Card of the Week award goes to a collection of players who all helped contribute to the Philadelphia's Phillies' achievement. And yes, this is an achievement, it's difficult to do ten thousand of anything and they've been doing it since 1883. Besides, the Braves and the Cubs will be joining them in the very near future. Congratulations Phillies, here's to ten thousand more.

1939 Play Ball team checklist

Here's the 1939 Play Ball set divided up into team checklists. This is not a great set to collect if you are a fan of Chicago baseball, The Cubs have no cards in the set and the Sox only have two. Cleveland and St. Louis are not well represented either. Tons of New York and Boston players though. Most of the lower series cards have a variation, a list of which can be found here. None of the variations are especially scarce. Decent examples of these cards can be found fairly cheaply for team set or type set collectors.

Boston Red Sox
4 Elden Auker
7 Bobby Doerr
14 Jim Tabor
16 Johnny Peacock
17 Emerson Dickman
20 Joe Heving
27 Fritz Ostermueller
29 Jack Wilson
40 Jim Bagby
62 Tom Carey
92 Ted Williams
101 Doc Cramer
103 Moe Berg
107 Joe Vosmik
116 Gene Desautels*

Chicago White Sox
91 Jack Knott
105 Eric McNair

Cleveland Indians
5 Luke Sewell
78 Moose Solters
143 Earl Averill*
152 Roy Weatherly*

Detroit Tigers
50 Charlie Gehringer
56 Hank Greenberg
60 Schoolboy Rowe
80 Pete Fox
104 Tommy Bridges
115 Red Kress
136 Beau Bell*
147 Slick Coffman*
150 Jim Walkup*
153 Dizzy Trout*
158 Bud Thomas*

New York Yankees
1 Jake Powell
3 Red Ruffing
25 George Selkirk
26 Joe DiMaggio
30 Bill Dickey
42 Art Jorgens
48 Lefty Gomez
52 Tommy Henrich
71 Monte Pearson
81 Babe Dahlgren
88 Charlie Keller

Philadelphia Athletics
8 Cotton Pippen
64 Wally Moses
84 Skeeter Newsome
97 Bob Johnson
108 Frankie Hayes
117 Wayne Ambler*
118 Lynn Nelson*

St Louis Browns (Orioles)
43 Mel Almada
44 Don Heffner
109 Myril Hoag
122 George McQuinn*
148 Bill Trotter*

Washington Senators (Twins)
10 Jimmy DeShong
21 Dutch Leonard
31 Sam West
39 Rick Ferrell
47 Buddy Lewis
59 Ken Chase
93 Charlie Gelbert
100 Buddy Myer
114 Cecil Travis
137 Pete Appleton*
138 George Case*

Boston Bees (Braves)
49 Eddie Miller
57 Buddy Hassett
61 Tony Cuccinello
69 Elbie Fletcher
70 Fred Frankhouse
72 Debs Garms
85 Johnny Cooney
87 Milt Shoffner
120 Rabbit Warstler*
121 Bill Posedel*
149 Max West*
155 Jimmy Outlaw*

Brooklyn Dodgers
6 Leo Durocher
13 Luke Hamlin
68 Fred Singleton
74 Cookie Lavagetto
76 Goody Rosen
86 Dolph Camilli
95 Whit Wyatt
96 Babe Phelps
110 Freddie Fitzsimmons
111 Van Mungo
134 Tot Pressnell*
139 Vito Tamulis*
140 Ray Hayworth*
141 Pete Coscarart*
142 Ira Hutchinson*
151 Hugh Casey*
154 Johnny Hudson*
159 Red Evans*
160 Gene Moore*

Chicago Cubs
none

Cincinnatti Reds
2 Lee Grissom
15 Paul Derringer
22 Bucky Walters
36 Frank McCormick
38 Billy Myers
65 Harry Craft
67 Eddie Joost
75 Frenchy Bordagaray
77 Lew Riggs
99 Wally Berger
119 Willard Hershberger*
123 Ray Davis*
161 Lonny Frey*
162 Whitey Moore*

New York Giants
18 Harry Danning
23 Burgess Whitehead
24 Dick Coffman
32 Bob Seeds
34 Frank Demaree
35 Billy Jurges
51 Mel Ott
53 Carl Hubbell
54 Harry Gumbert
58 Lou Chiozza
66 Jimmy Ripple
73 Hal Schumacher
79 Jo-Jo Moore
124 Jumbo Brown*
125 Cliff Melton*
144 Zeke Bonura*

Philadelphia Phillies
12 Hersh Martin
28 Syl Johnson
33 Del Young
37 Spud Davis
45 Pinky May
46 Morrie Arnovich
63 Heinie Mueller
98 Pinky Whitney
127 Gibby Brack*
145 Hugh Mulcahy*

Pittsburgh Pirates
9 Jim Tobin
11 Johnny Rizzo
55 Arky Vaughan
82 Chuck Klein
83 Gus Suhr
89 Lloyd Waner
90 Bob Klinger
94 Heinie Manush
102 Pep Young
112 Paul Waner
128 Joe Bowman*
129 Bill Swift*
130 Bill Brubaker*
156 Ray Berres*

St. Louis Cardinals
19 Paul Dean
41 Lon Warneke
131 Mort Cooper*
132 Jimmy Brown*
133 Lynn Myers*
135 Mickey Owen*
146 Tom Sunkel*
157 Don Padgett*

Miscellaneous
106 Dolly Stark
113 Al Schacht
126 Card Never Issued

* High series

OCD is occasionally useful

Anyone who has read more than two posts on this blog has figured out by now that I am a Braves fan. A natural consequence of having a devoted following to a team and an incurable card addiction is that you tend to collect a ton of that team's cards. Needless to say, I have put together a few Braves team sets. I'm starting to get to the point where the number of affordable cards I need for my Topps team sets from the 50's and 60's are beginning to dwindle. The holes in my collection are mostly Aarons, Spahns and Mathews with few Buhls, Menkes and Alous left for me to find. So obviously since I don't have enough expensive cards to chase I decided to go through my collection of cards from the 30's and 40s and add those team sets to my Braves binder.

The good thing about the Braves teams from the 30's and 40's is that they were all terrible and there are not many stars that have to be chased. The only truly impossible Braves card from that era is the '35 Goudey Babe Ruth, but reprints of that card are available pretty cheap. Even the Hall of Famers Rabbit Maranville from '33 Goudey and '35 Diamond Stars and Al Lopez from '38 Goudey are affordable as long as I'm willing to scrounge around for ones in a Tipton grade. With this in mind, I got them all together, found a team set checklist and started putting the Goudeys, Diamond Stars and Play Balls together in pages. My cunning plan hit a snag however, I couldn't find a 1939 Play Ball team set list anywhere to save my life.


This guy didn't have a list for 1939 Play Ball. The usually reliable reprint sellers on eBay didn't have a Bees* set up for sale. Yahoo Auctions died, so that wasn't an option any more. My eyes! The Googles do nothing! Not one 1939 Play Ball checklist with team designation to be found.

Now you think this was going to stop me? Oh hell no. I would not rest until I figured out which cards from that set were Bees. God forbid I just put the ones I had in order and rearrange them later once a reprint set went on sale. Utilizing the resources of eBay PowerSellers (thank goodness for Mike Wheat) and advanced Google-fu I finally figured it out. For anyone who wants to know, here is the 1939 Play Ball Boston Bees team set checklist:

49 Eddie Miller
57 Buddy Hassett
61 Tony Cuccinello
69 Elbie Fletcher
70 Fred Frankhouse
72 Debs Garms
85 Johnny Cooney
87 Milt Shoffner
120 Rabbit Warstler
121 Bill Posedel
149 Max West
155 Jimmy Outlaw

As a service to my fellow collector, once I get it together I'll post the complete team checklist separately. so the next poor schmuck looking for a team checklist from this set will be able to find it in a search.


*Yes, Bees. The 1935 team was so ungodly awful it ran Babe Ruth out of the league and prompted the team owners to change the name from Braves to Bees. An ahead of its time PC name change, a switch to blue and yellow team colors and more uniform design changes than the Diamondbacks didn't improve the team's play so they went back to the Braves in 1941.

Oscar Gamble

I don't need a reason to post one of the greatest cards of the modern era.

Thoughts on the All Star Game

As an NL fan, I'm starting to get the same feeling of dread watching each year's All Star game as I do when I watch an Atlanta Hawks draft, Presidential election results, or a Hollywood movie based on a comic book. Something terrible is about to happen, the only question is exactly how things are going to get all screwed up.

The exact moment I realized things would not be going well was when Chris Young walked Roberts the inning after the NL wasted Reyes' squib double. A goofy bounce on Ichiro's homer gave the AL the lead, and I had a feeling they wouldn't give it up after that. Poor Ken Griffey. He was in the running for MVP one moment, and then watches helplessly as the game careens away the next. I'm happy for Ichiro though, inside the parkers are always fun.

Tony LaRussa ruined a really good All Star game for me. In what bizarro world does the statement "Aaron Rowand is a better option than Albert Pujols" have any basis in reality? I can see why he didn't pinch hit for Orlando Hudson. No matter what Tony said about Pujols playing anywhere on the field, no one wants to see Albert playing second base. But Aaron Rowand? I know damn well Albert plays outfield and Aaron Rowand isn't even the best player on his own team. The move made no sense and Tony's weak argument afterwards rehashing the same crap he said during the game about Sanchez moving from utility player to backup third baseman due to Cabrera's injury is BS. Hudson got on base so that wasn't even an issue. There is no excuse for keeping the best hitter in the National league on the bench then the game is on the line. Update: Ken Tremendous perfectly encapsulated my feelings toward this.

Any chance the Cardinals could salvage their season is gone. All Star MVP is one of those lines on the resume that is still remembered decades later, and LaRussa denied his star player even the chance to get one. If Pujols gets that at-bat and even pulls off a bloop single, that blooper would have become baseball lore. I will have to respectfully disagree with anyone who tries to convince me that Albert will let this slide and that there will be peace in the Cardinal dugout.

Hey Bud, you know how you want to market this game as "This one Counts"? Well if you really want it to count, ditch the tradition of having the managers from last year's World Series (a certain one of whom has a losing record right now, by the way) manage the game and give the honor to the managers of the two teams with the best records in the game at the break. Give the bench coach spots to the managers of the other two division leaders. Then we'll see if the game is managed like an exhibition game or not. You think Bud Black or Willie Randolph would have left Albert on the bench?

ESPN has replayed the Home Run derby and the celebrity softball challenge 47 times each, but I've only seen maybe a 30 second blurb on the Futures game on SportsCenter. C'mon people, replay it once at 3am or something. How else am I going to know who the hell these people in the Bowman Draft Picks set are?

Card of the Week 7/10

Vlad Guerrero edged out Alex Rios in the final round of the Home Run Derby last night at Pac Bell 3COM SBC AT&T Candlestick oh screw it The Polo Grounds in San Francisco last night. Vlad overcame a slow start, a pitcher's park, my mother the car in left field, Rafael Belliard lobbing meatballs to Rios and crazy people rubbing Dominican flags in his face to take the title. Ah, but WHO gave Vladdy the bat that hit all those homers? The subject of this week's card of the week, Big Papi, the official Lumber Company of this year's home run derby.

Quick Fix 7/9

Braves - Padres Thoughts:

Kyle Davies saved his job last night.

I don't like seeing Greg Maddux lose nearly as much as I like seeing Tom Glavine lose.

Bob Wickman gave me a splitting headache last night. It took four ibuprofen to get rid of it. At least he's not giving me Danny Kolb flashbacks. Yet.

Considering the injuries, the number of players who have completely flopped and another bad June, I'm pretty happy that the Braves are only 2 games back of the Mets going into the All Star Break. However, the thought that Chipper and Smoltz are being held together with bubble gum and duct tape while the Mets will be getting Pedro back soon has killed my good mood.

More Milestones:

Yesterday A-Rod passed Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff on the all-time home run list, and Gary Sheffield did the same to Stan Musial and Willie Stargell. Does this sort of thing happen all the time and it's just not noted, or is this one of those once in a lifetime things? I understand we're in the golden age of home run hitting (or the dark days of the steroid crisis, depending on your point of view) but it really seems like all the planets are aligning right now.

Tony Graziani Hates Me:

Tony Graziani is the worst quarterback I've ever seen play, and being a Falcon fan that's really saying something. But if he's really as bad as I think he is, how does he keep getting paid to do it? I'm starting to think I'm actually cursing Tony every time I watch him play. He was atrocious as a Falcon, the one time I saw him in a NFL Europe game he got massacred and last night as I flipped back and forth between the Braves and the Georgia Force playoff game against the Philadelphia Soul the poor guy was getting horribly abused again. ESPN even had a montage of all the crushing hits he took at the end of the 3rd quarter. For Tony's sake, I better not watch any more football games he's a part of. I don't want to be responsible for such pain to a fellow human being.

All Star Ballot part 4a

Less than two days before the All-Star Game, and I'm just now voting for the outfielders for my All Star Baseball card team. And I only have half of them done at that! Oh well, I still haven't posted the results of my pack tournament so I guess I'm ahead of my usual schedule. With no further ado, here are the first three outfielders (and they are some gooood ones):

AL Right Fielder: Reggie Jackson

Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! I don't care if people do think he is a jerk, he's a damned interesting jerk and I like him. Because of him I'm actually looking forward to an ESPN production, and they usually end up making an Ed Wood flick look like Citizen Kane. The guy who is playing him looks a little more like Gabe Kaplan than Reg in the commercials I've seen, but John Turturro as Billy Martin more than makes up for it. Joe Grifasi better not screw up Yogi though... He played Rizzuto in 61* so I'm not too worried. Back to Reggie - dude is just the textbook definition of Star. Three titles in Oakland. Two more in the Bronx. Three home runs in a World Series game! Mister Freaking October. Then for an encore, he goes to California and tries to shoot the Queen of England! Plus he started the chase autograph card craze with his signed UD Heroes card, but we won't hold that against him. Plus his cardmate Billy Williams certainly is no slouch himself.

NL Center Fielder: Hank Aaron


Why does Aaron get the nod as my starting center fielder? You'll find out... Hank actually started in center in the 1967 All Star game in Anaheim, so it's legit. Stole a base off Bill Freehan too, which is not an easy task. There's a lot of brouhaha going on over the impending 756 thing that's about to happen in the next few weeks. Everyone in America hates Barry, he's a cheater, he's desecrating the most important record in sports, blah, blah, blah. Listen folks, I love Hank as much as anyone else out there. I used to go outside with my bat and some tennis balls and break his record at least 5 times a day when I was a kid whether I needed to or not. If I didn't go outside, I could just spontaneously stop what I was doing, take a mighty cut and send that ball over the left field fence right in the middle of my room. I'm not a big Barry fan either, I've spent some time in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium's left field bleachers chanting "Baaaaarrryyy", and I still laugh whenever I think how the Great Gold Glover couldn't even throw out crippled Sid Bream at the plate. The fact is sometime in the next month or so, Barry will forever have at least one more home run than Hank. And that is OK. Steroids or no, hitting home runs after your 40th birthday is incredibly difficult and the reality that he is still doing it with regularity means he really has earned the record. My son will grow up in a world where Barry Bonds has more career home runs than any other player. He can look back at Barry's achievements, maybe learn something about the players Barry passed along the way and watch as the next generation takes their shot at the record. Still, for me there will always only be one Home Run King.

AL Left Fielder: Carl Yastrzemski

When I was a kid, one of my favorite players was Bob Horner. I eventually accumulated a bunch of his cards, and I realized I had somehow ended up with 3 of his 1979 rookie cards. Two was enough for me (one for the set, one for my Braves collection) so I decided to go to the local card shop and trade the extra for another card. This was back when a Bob Horner rookie was actually somewhat of a big deal, so I needed to make damn sure I got something good for it. I wanted a future Hall of Famer for my Horner Rookie. I settled on this 1978 Yaz. I made a good choice. #8 spent all 23 years of his career with the Sox, finishing up with over 3400 hits, over 450 home runs, and over 1800 runs and RBIs. Oh yeah, he's also the last player to win the Triple Crown. Yet Drew Barrymore can't even pronounce his name. Yaz-Trem-Ski!

Honorable mentions:
1981 Fred Lynn
1975 Jim Wynn
1979 Richie Zisk

Up next: The rest of the outfielders, and they're every bit as good as these three.

Qick Fix 7/07

Jojo Reyes Debut

Braves lefty prospect Jojo Reyes makes his major league debut today, a call up due to John Smoltz' trip to the DL. Jojo wasn't really on the radar this spring training, but he's been lights out in the minors this year. Reyes will probably get at least two starts while he's up with the bigs, and the way Bobby likes to stick with his players, could get a lot more if he produces (see: Willie Harris, Yuniel Escobar, Jarrod Saltalamaccia, Buddy Carlyle). Kyle Davies has been awful lately, so there's an opening if he wants to take it. Better grab his 2003 Bowman and UD prospects cards while you can. I will wait for his officially sanctioned Topps '53 Rookie card with MLB rookie card logo. YA HEAR ME TOPPS! I WANT MY '53 TOPPS ROOKIE SET!!!

Griffey = Robinson

Ken Griffey Jr tied Frank Robison with his 583rd home run last night against the D-Backs. Ho-hum, just another slugging milestone. Call me when he hits 700, say, early 2009. Oh wait, that's A-Rod. Griffey's late '09.

Venus wins Wimbledon

I had my money on the blancmange, but the elder Williams sister took the crown. I was really rooting for Serena, I get those damn leg cramps all the time and I was hoping to have a Wimbledon Champ to look up to the next time I end up hobbling around with a limp.

Seven Number Sevens for 7/7/07

Woohoo! A nifty date! To honor this convergence of sevens, here are 7 cards of greats with a connection to lucky number 7.


We'll start off with the obvious. No matter what Sports Illustrated says, Mickey IS #7. Period. Anyone remember this card from Pacific? I was at a card show in the late 80's where these cards were being hawked and the Mick's card was being sold for 25 dollars. 25! For a brand new card from a retro set! And it wasn't just one dealer either, anyone who had one of these was selling it for 25 bucks. I made the right decision and opted to buy a box of 88-89 Fleer Basketball cards instead. Of course I became stupid real quick and sold off all the Scottie Pippen Rookies because I hated the Bulls. Whoops. I still managed to pick up the 25 dollar Mantle later on in a Yankees oddball eBay lot so it turned out all right in the long run.


What, you thought a Falcon fan was going to choose John Elway? Really? Really? Nope, not gonna happen. Denver would still be a football town even if they never had Elway. Without the trade for Vick, the Los Angeles Falcons could have easily been a reality. I don't care what anyone thinks of him as a QB, I've witnessed him win (sometimes singlehandedly) a hell of a lot more games then he's lost. I still pull out my tape of the playoff game versus the Rams to pick me up when I'm feeling down. Go ahead, post your best Ron Mexico/water bottle/dog fighting jokes in the comment section, I'm used to it by now.


Joe Mauer can flat out hit. Jake, not so much. Still, the card is cool and Joe by himself is probably better then both O'Brien brothers.


The Atlanta Hawks are the poster child for bad General Managers. The Dominique for Danny Manning trade completely derailed the entire franchise. Billy Knight's 'take a forward every year' draft strategy has kept them in mediocrity. But the moment the team began its tradition of horrific front office decisions was with the trade of Pistol Pete. The Hawks moved up in the 1970 draft specifically to take the LSU star, but got disillisioned with his flashy play and shipped him off to the the expansion New Orleans Jazz after only four seasons. In exchange for a superstar off his best season, the Hawks got Dean Meminger, Bob Kauffman, and four draft picks. Blech. To add insult to injury, one of the draft picks was used on David Thompson, who immediately bolted to the ABA rather than play for Atlanta. Can you blame him?


Yoda! Y-O-D-A Yoda. You guys thought I was just a baseball card geek, but I am actually a well-rounded geek quite familiar with Star Wars lore. This card from an oddball Return of the Jedi card game has a big green 7 on it, so it works for my purposes. I lost the game instructions so I have no clue what the 7 actually means though. Maybe the game is actually a sabacc deck? At any rate, Yoda is much more interesting than Elyhek Rue, pilot of Red 7 at the Battle of Yavin so the Jedi master makes the list. Hey, I told you I was a geek...


Love him or hate him, #7 for the Chicago Blackhawks is a hell of a defenseman. And if you play me in EA NHL '94, be prepared to have Cheli absolutely kick your ass.


Samuel Huntington?? Jeez, I'm resorting to some extreme measures to keep Elway off this list aren't I? Au contraire, mon frere... Samuel was the 7th President of the Continental Congress of the United States. He may not have the Q-rating of John Hancock, but the Connecticut statesman was one of the most respected delegates and helped lead the nation through some dark days of the Revolutionary War. This is serious business folks, one crucial defeat on the battlefied for the patriots at this time and ol' Sammy's ass could have ended up in front of a Tory firing squad. Things worked out though and now he has his own trading card. So why did I choose the 7th president of the Continental Congress and not just opt for the 7th President of the United States? Well, I'm part Cherokee, so let's just say that I'm a bigger fan of Elway than I am of Andrew.

Now if you'll excuse me, I only have 1 year, one month and one day to buy up as many Yogi cards as I can, so I better get busy.

Quick Fix 7/06

I'm online way too much to have any excuse for only updating this blog once or twice a week. Problem is, I get these ideas for posts that involve scrounging through boxes of cards looking for just the right one for the article. This takes freaking forever, thus the lag.

Quick Fix is an attempt to post some links or thoughts or just plain crap to fill out my post count and hopefully entertain anyone reading this thing. Expect a post per weekday at least for the time being, and if you don't get it be sure to pester me to keep me at it. There are people reading this, right? Hello??

Smoltz Out

Well the Braves finally put Smoltzie on the DL to rest his balky shoulder. It doesn't look that serious though, and Bobby only expects John to miss one start thanks to the All Star break. Still, this is a prime example of why you never call out your teammates for not playing hurt. Chipper Jones reportedly added John Lennon's 'Instant Karma' onto his Ipod playlist...

All Star Additions

The two guys I voted for on the "last man in" All Star Balloting both made it, Roy Oswalt as Smoltz's replacement and Hideki Okajima through the fan voting. I actually had planned to push my selections on this blog, but well, like I said, I'm lazy. Not too lazy to scan their cards though, so here ya go.



FIFA U-20 World Cup

There's another soccer World Cup going on? Who knew? I sure didn't, I flipped on ESPN this evening and found myself watching the US-Brazil match from Ottawa. I'm glad I did, team USA upset the Brazillians in a great match. Apparently the win puts us in the round of 16. Maybe ESPN will, you know, actually advertise the game next time.

All Star Ballot part 3

Balloting is over for the real All Star game, but the All Star Baseball Card All Star game is completely made up so I can drag this out as long as I want. Which is good, 'cause I'm lazy. A Moose, a Bull, a slugger and a gold glover get the nod in the third installment of my All Star Ballot.

NL Third Baseman: Mike Schmidt

What, you say? The Braves homer isn't voting for Eddie Mathews?? What devilry is this? Well, if he was up against Ken Boyer or Ron Cey then yeah, he'd get the vote. The best third baseman of all time is a little tougher competition. Besides, I checked off 3 Braves (and 3 others who played for them at some point in their career) on my ballot, so I don't really need to go overboard. Poking around the archives will also show a few more reasons why Mike gets my vote. Oh go ahead, I don't even have 50 posts yet. it won't kill ya.

AL Third Baseman: Brooks Robinson

American League third baseman wasn't any easier of a decision for me. Brooks or Brett? How do you choose? I suppose I could have went with Frank Malzone, but that would have been a cop out. Seriously though, how do you choose between the best fielding third baseman and the best hitting third baseman? The Pride of Baltimore or the King of Kansas City? They both have a bushel off All Star appearances and an MVP. Brooks has the truckload of Gold Gloves, but George has one too, plus 3 Silver Sluggers. Thankfully 1974 Topps bails me out with their dual All Star cards. One thing George does not have is a card with Ron Santo! Santo should be in the Hall with George, Brooks, Mike and Eddie, but missed out by five stinking votes in the Veterans committee voting this year. Of course the fact he wasn't voted in long before now is inexplicable considering he was easily one of the top 5 third basemen of all time when he retired. Of course playing out his career for a lousy Cubs team doesn't do much to garner votes. Playing in the shadow of Ernie Banks also probably didn't help. Having your playing days overlap with Eddie and Brooks' careers wasn't the best of timing either. Then coming up on the ballot while Schmidt and Brett were tearing up their respective leagues, well, that's just not fair. Hopefully whatever permutation of the Veterans' committee gets trotted out next gets their heads out of their collective asses and votes the guy in next go-around, whenever that is. Of course we will probably see Brooks post on his blog long before that ever happens.

NL First Baseman: Orlando Cepeda


Baby Bull gets the 1st base vote on my ballot. I don't give a crap about the drug charges, I don't care that he only went 1-27 batting in the All Star Game (he's due!!!) and all the nitwits who consider him a member of the Hall of Very Good can take some advice from President Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain for all I care. Cha-Cha could knock the cover off the ball and deserves a much better legacy than he's gotten. If 30 months in prison is excessive for obstruction of justice, then so is 10 months for possession of a goddamn plant. [editor's note - political comment deleted, post it on DU you hippie and get back to the card snark] . Did you know Jack Davis did the cartoon on the back of this card? Oh wait, I did that shtick already. I'm sorry folks, I'm just not myself today since Smoltz got bombed at Chavez Ravine last night. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled silliness before too long.

AL First Baseman: Moose Skowron


Mooooooooooooose! The Yankees' stout 1st basemen was actually named after Benito, not Bullwinkle. Moose was clutch in the postseason. After recording the last out in the 1957 World Series, Skowron returned the following year to pwn the Braves with the winning hit in game 6 and a three run bomb in game 7 to help the Yanks to victory. Then in 1962, Moose scored the only run in the classic game 7 between the Yankees and Giants. As a reward, he was shipped off to the Dodgers and promptly hit .385 in the Series to help beat his former team. Moose is one of those players that makes the need for a Hall of Damn Good Blue Collar Players and Not Elitist Pricks Like What They Got in That Other Place so very obvious. A Hall of Fame for players like Santo. And Al Rosen. And Hank Bauer and Elroy Face. Alan Trammell, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso. Dale Murphy, Bill Freehan, Rocky Colavito. I'll even invite Orlando and all the other players the Hall snobs want purged. Hell, if I had my way Joe Morgan and the rest of the obstructionist Veterans committee members could sit all alone in that other place giving each other the stink-eye, each certain that he is the better player while Ty Cobb chases the members of the BBWAA around the joint, spiking the crap out of anyone who ever sent in a blank ballot. In the meantime all the worthy players can party in the Blue Collar HOF.

Honorable Mentions:
1982 Pete Rose
1975 Dick Allen
1960 Eddie Mathews
1982 George Brett

Next up: Dayf enters his Happy Place and lists Outfielders without excessive whining and griping