I have no idea how to create pages but I'll figure it out eventually godammit

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Defending Goudey

I'm not going to do the pack rip tonight. I don't have enough time to do it properly for one. But mainly because I need to set the record straight on this set. I've read a bunch of the early reviews of this set and so far they are not what you'd call positive. I want to make something perfectly clear.

The 2009 Upper Deck Goudey set is NOT ugly.

No, I'm being serious. '09 Goudey is not ugly. Let me explain. This is the very first '09 Goudey card I got out of the pack I got today.

Curtis Granderson. Great player, the card itself is kind of... odd. The design looks almost the same as last year's set just without the Jeter/Griffey stripe and the figures in the background. The picture is sort of, well, bad, and has the fuzzed out fake painting quality on it that works ok on some cards and is horrifying on others. There's a weird outline around the photo. Overall, the whole thing looks bland. No, not just bland, flat out ugly. BUT... check out two originals from the 1933 Goudey set:

Now, what do we see here? Same exact puke green background. Same red band across the bottom just with different ad pitches. Same style of low detail painting used for the photo. Same thick black line around the picture. See what I'm getting at? Let's look at one more.

Oh my Lord, look at the mug on that guy. Now compare that to the Dave Concepcion Horror that is more or less universally hated by fellow bloggers. Both are pretty freaky unsettling. You see, this is not a bug, this is a feature. The 1933 Goudey set is supposed to look like that. In fact I'd go as far as to say that

The 1933 Goudey set is Ugly as Sin.

I'm sure there are a couple of people out there reading that whose mind just got blown. Mr. Vintage here thinks an old set is ugly?? A classic set like 1933 Goudey? Ugly??? Dayf thinks the very first modern card set is ugly??? How can this be?

The '33 Goudey set is just ugly, folks. It's not the set's fault. This was 1933, the country was in the middle of a deep depression so money was tight and printing technology was light years behind what it is now. These cards were trying to sell bubble gum. They didn't really have to look good. They just had to be somewhat recognizable and in color. That right there put them head and shoulders above most of the competition. Still, to today's eyes, they're kind of ugly.

I remember when I first had the revelation that '33 Goudey was ugly. I was looking through my vintage stuff and I came across #124 Earl Whitehill. That was one of the very first Goudey cards I ever got and I just liked it because it was old and a Goudey. Then one day I really looked at it. The card is awful. Bland picture, bland background, bland design. Just awful, especially compared to sets like T206 and 1953 Topps. But it's 1933 Goudey so who cares?

Now don't get me wrong, some of the individual cards in the set are absolute classics. No Babe Ruth card released in his lifetime can ever be considered less than fantabulously gorgeous. But take some time and look over the whole set. There's some good looking cards and a whole lotta bland. Check out Dick Bartell, Dib Williams and Joe Moore (fielding) for some real horrorshow cards.

Now, I've established that '33 Goudey is ugly. But what about 2009 Goudey? It's ugly too right? No, it's simply a very faithful retro set that happens to be based on an ugly set. It's not '09 Goudey that is ugly, but the original '33 set that it takes its design from. As far as a retro set goes, it's a pitch perfect replica of the original. But the '07 and '08 sets actually looked really good, why doesn't this set look as good as them? Because the '07 and '08 sets got their designs from the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set and the 1934 Goudey set, respectively. And both of those designs are superior to the '33 Goudey design.

So if you still think the 2009 Upper deck set looks ugly and you hate it and refuse to buy it forever, that's fine. It is pretty weak looking especially when compared to the past few Goudey and Heritage sets. Just understand that there's a reason behind the ugly, and Upper Deck actually got the ugliness right on this one.

Well that was quick

Within hours of posting my 1981 Fleer wantlist, I lined up 3 trades to complete the set. Joe offered to send the cards I needed as well. Talk about speedy service! I guess this proves that people jut want to get rid of their 1981 Fleer cards as fast as they can. I couldn't imagine why...

Thanks to Duane, Jason & Don for knocking this set out for me!

Two more items of interest before I start studying for a test and writing up my Goudey pack rip:

Thanks to Kevin and Thorzul for tipping me off to this awesome Onion article about a Chipper Jones fan. To anyone still bewildered by that young man's choice, think about it:

TWELVE YEAR OLD.

HOOTERS GIRLS.

He's just proud of his hero, man. And he wants to be just like his idol one day.

Finally, to Chris Harris:

I LOVE YOU, MAN.

The reason for my affection shall be posted soon. Time to study right now.

A Couple From Canuck

Captain Canuck recently sent me a package with this rainbow beaut inside:

See what a nice guy he is to send me ultra shiny serial numbered rookie photo event worn/used red and black jersey swatch mojo?

You can get your own cards direct from Canada as Canuck is having a Stanley Cup Playoff contest right now. The deadline is 5pm Mountain time tomorrow, all you need to do is pick the winners of some hockey playoff games. The prize is insanely awesome so put in those picks.

Since Captain Canuck is being nice enough to give away free swag, be nice to him back and see if you can find these two cards to complete his 2008 Allen & Ginter set. #312 Brandon Wood and #313 Harriet Beecher Stowe. Someone out there has to have doubles of these things.

Hooray for Canada!

2009 Goudey

Is live and in hobby shops.

Pack rip, comparisons to previous Goudey sets, griping about continuity sets and general obsessiveness will begin tonight and continue throughout the weekend.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

1981 Fleer Wantlist

Time to start attacking another set. The reason I picked '81 Fleer is simple. About 5 years ago I bought a big lot of junk cards at a flea market and included in the pile of mess was a binder with a near set of 1981 Fleer. I combined my cards with the set I got in the lot and am pretty close to completion now. Plus, the set is already in a binder so I don't have to fool around with putting cards into pages. You have to admit, out of the big three sets that came out that year, Fleer is probably the best looking of the bunch. I say this even while having an extremely emotional attachment to my '81 Topps cards that I bought whenever my grandparents went shopping at Matthew's Supermarket that summer. I'm just going after the set and not all the whacked out errors and variations though. I'm not dedicated enough to go chasing those things right now.

1 Pete Rose
5 Mike Schmidt
78 Joe Morgan
84 Dick Howser
86 Ron Davis
88 Ron Guidry
89 Goose Gossage
91 Gaylord Perry
93 Bob Watson
94 Bobby Murcer
96 Jim Spencer
99 Johnny Oates
100 Fred Stanley
101 Ruppert Jones
103 Joe Lefebvre
106 Doug Bird
107 Mike Griffin
184 Eddie Murray
196 Johnny Bench
200 Tom Seaver
223 Fred Lynn
488 Ozzie Smith
493 Tim Flannery
515 Paul Molitor
638 Carl Yastrzemski
640 Mike Schmidt
645 Triple Threat
654 Checklist 507-550

655 George Brett

Special limited time offer!

First person to send me a trade offer (make sure I can find your e-mail if you leave it in the comments) for some '81 Fleer gets absolutely free* the six '81 Fleer cards below. By my count, that's 5 Hall of Famers and one Hall of Awesome player in that mix.


Can ya believe Tom Sawyer came out in 1981? I can't.

Have: 659/660 - 99.9%

Thanks to: Jason F., Don S.

*whenever you see the words absolutely free, it isn't. Take this example - these cards aren't free... you have to dig up your '81 Fleer cards and compare your doubles to my want list and then type me an e-mail and send it to me all while rushing to make sure you're first so you can get the cards then wait anxiously to find out if you get the cards or not because I'll be out at a meeting pretty much all afternoon. That's a lot of work! Then you have to mail off your end of the trade which costs money to boot! There ain't no free lunch, kiddos. Remember that before you are suckered into another offer with a bunch of fine print this this.

FRUNOBULAX HAS BEEN SIGHTED IN CARLSBAD CALIFORNIA

GO TO THE SHELTER MY BABY MY BABY
GO TO THE SHELTER
GO TO THE SHELTER

Poodle Portuguese Water Dog bites...
Poodle Portuguese Water Dog chews it...



Baby I'm sorry, but that's all I wanna know, I need a little more cheepnis please...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

So Happy



Lotsa things making me happy right now.

I've been waiting for ages to see the Falcons draft like they did this year:
1 Peria Jerry Defensive Tackle
2 William Moore Safety
3 Christopher Owens Cornerback
4 Lawrence Sidbury Jr. Defensive End
5 William Middleton Cornerback
5 Garrett Reynolds Offensive Tackle
6 Spencer Adkins Outside Linebacker
7 Vance Walker Defensive Tackle
SEVEN OUT OF EIGHT PICKS ON THE DEFENSE!

THE ONLY OFFENSIVE PLAYER THEY SELECTED IS A BIG OL' LINEMAN!

LINEMEN WERE HALF THE DRAFT CLASS!

Then this article described Peria Jerry as "a rolling bucket of butcher knives" and I got happier.

I also found out that the Braves are giving everyone a free ticket for their birthday! Woo! Free tickets! Me likey free tickets. I'm so happy.

I got confirmation that this site will not go gently into that good night and will be hosted elsewhere soon. If anyone knows of good GeoCities Baseball cards sites, post a link so we can work on saving them somehow. Not letting good info get flushed down the drain makes me happy.

Also: I have made my peace with 2008 Heritage High Series. Considering Heritage is pretty much the only brand I'll even think about buying right now, that's a good thing. Letting go needless frustration makes me happy.

Finally, I've also gotten packages from Dinged Corners, Madding and Captain Canuck over the past few days and that made me happy. Unfortunately I don't have time to post them at the moment, because I'm swamped with real life stuff. That makes me happy too as I'm finally making some headway after the past couple of months. I'll post 'em ASAP and send a few packages out myself this week. Gotta share the happy.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Card of the Week 04/27/09

When I was a kid first noticing the Braves, the manager was Bobby Cox. I wasn't too familiar with major league baseball but I was familiar with Peanuts so I knew what a manager of a ball team was. Bobby Cox was The Guy In Charge. He was freaking Charlie Brown! And he didn't pitch so he didn't stink like Charlie Brown. That was always Chuck's problem, he did too much. Then one day for no apparent reason Ted Turner fired Bobby. To this day no one has a clue why that happened, not even Ted. But no matter, Joe Torre was hired to be the new Charlie Brown and he immediately got the Braves a division championship. Then two years later Ted inexplicably fired Joe as well. The Baseball Gods got sick of Ted trying to act like Steinbrenner South and smote the poor Braves right into the cellar, cursing them with two managers who were most definitely not Bobby Cox or Joe Torre. Then in 1986 this guy showed up.

Man, was it exciting to get Chuck Tanner as our manager. Chuck won a World Series with Pops just a few years earlier! Heck Chuck brought Willie Stargell with him as a coach! (Willie Stargell will always be a Pirate, but I still claim him as a Brave) Plus as an eternal optimist Chuck was actually predicting championship parades down Peachtree for the Braves once he got here. Well as we all know the parade didn't quite happen under Chuck's watch, but the first seeds of that parade were sown under his tenure. Plus Chuck just looked like a manager, ya know? I've always had this soft spot for Chuck and I see Tanner belonging in the group with Cox and Torre as one of the Braves 'good' managers. Ok, so the Braves stunk while he was manager. How badly would they have stunk without him there? That '88 team that got him fired was going to be horrible no matter who was manager.

Another reason I like Chuckles can be seen on the back of the card. Tanner was not only a prospect for the Milwaukee Braves, he played for the Atlanta Crackers, their minor league club. He was quite a hitter as you can see from the fat guy singing and swinging. Chuck also won a championship with Atlanta in 1954 before getting called up to Milwaukee in '55. So the guy played for the Atlanta Crackers, got called up to the Milwaukee Braves and finally ended his career as the Atlanta Braves' manager. What's not to like about Chuck? Just look at that smilin' face and tell me you don't like Chuck.

Information flush

Yahoo has announced that they are shutting down GeoCities later this year. I'll bet a lot of you out there don't have any clue what GeoCities even is, and the internet veterans out there usually think of animated gifs and home pages like this when they hear the name. Now don't get me wrong, the interwebs has pretty much passed GeoCities by. Everybody's out tweeting now, who has time to update that old web page with the under construction gif blinking away on it? Still, for someone sho has been online over a decade, Yahoo flushing GeoCities is kind of like your mom throwing out your old card collection. Sure, most of it was beat up commons from the mid '80s, but what about the 1965 Willie Mays card you paid 30 bucks for at the card show in the early '90s? What about that stack of 1956 Topps cards that were in the box too? Oh my God, I had a couple of 1933 Goudeys in there and a mangled T206 of Ed Walsh! What the hell, mom?!!?!

Luckily, there is enough warning so that users can move their site to another host and some enterprising individuals are trying to save it all. At any rate, If you have a GeoCities site or know of a particularly useful one, it's time to save it or lose it. One site I have gotten a lot of good information out of in the past is Chris Stufflestreet's Vintage Baseball Cards site. There are a ton of checklists and card history on there along with an archive of newsletters that read much like an excellent card blog. I'm really hoping that the site gets moved to a new host or gets turned into a blog. Most of the stuff on the web is extremely impermanent so if you know of any great GeoCities sites (or have one of your own) that could be lost it's time to make a copy of it while you can.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Warped Priorities

The Braves are getting pounded by the Reds...

But Jay Bruce has gotten me two desperately needed home runs for my fantasy team.

(I'm still probably going to lose this week)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Mocking the Draft

Why the hell does the NFL wait until 4:00 to start the draft? the second round won't be over until 3AM Eastern now. I swear it used to start at noon. And don't give me the excuse that it's so the west coast people can watch the draft, I'd like nothing better than to wake up, turn on ESPN and have Chris Berman screaming at me about the Lions' next draft flop.

No, wait, that's not good, that's an inhuman nightmare. Even Cthulhu would be terrified into madness waking up from his long slumber to ESPN coverage. Forget I ever said that. 4:00 it is.

It's cutting it a bit close, but here's my Official Cardboard Junkie Mock Draft. You can bank it, boys...

1. Detroit Lions
Matt Stafford, QB, Georgia

2. St. Louis Rams

Who the hell cares

3. Kansas City Chiefs
Who the hell cares

4. Seattle Seahawks
Who the hell cares

5. Cleveland Browns
Who the hell cares

6. Cincinnati Bengals
Who the hell cares

7. Oakland Raiders
Who the hell cares

8. Jacksonville Jaguars
Who the hell cares

9. Green Bay Packers
Who the hell cares

10. San Fransisco 49ers
Who the hell cares

11. Buffalo Bills

Who the hell cares

12. Denver Broncos
Who the hell cares

13. Washington Redskins
Who the hell cares

14. New Orleans Saints
Who the hell cares

15. Houston Texans
Who the hell cares

16. San Diego Chargers

Who the hell cares

17. New York Jets
Who the hell cares

18. Denver Broncos (CHI)
Who the hell cares

19. Tampa Bay Bucs
Who the hell cares

20. Detroit Lions (DAL)
Some poor, poor, doomed bastard

21. Philadelphia Eagles
Who the hell cares

22. Minnesota Vikings
Who the hell cares

23. New England Patriots
Who the hell cares

24. Atlanta Falcons

Ziggy Hood, DT Missouri

25. Miami Dolphins
Who the hell cares

26. Baltimore Ravens
Who the hell cares

27. Indianapolis Colts
Who the hell cares

28. Buffalo Bills

Who the hell cares

29. New York Giants

Who the hell cares

30. Tennessee Titans

Who the hell cares

31. Arizona Cardinals
Who the hell cares

32. Pittsburgh Steelers
Who the hell cares

I'll admit, I just want the Birds to draft a guy named Ziggy.

One great thing may come out of this draft. I have been literally screaming at my TV/radio for the past decade for the Falcons to just take ALL defensive players the entire draft, preferalbly all linemen. Just load the hell up on defense and let the O work itself out. Thanks to the Gonzalez trade, my wish may finally come true.

Naaaaah, they'll pick a wide receiver, tight end and another quarterback with their first three picks. Dimitroff, shmimitroff, when it comes to the draft these are still the Atlanta Fuckups here until they prove otherwise.

Grand Gesture

Grand Cards pointed out a goof up to Topps and they sent him a World Baseball Classic box set in return. Now he's sharing the love and offering some free cards from the set just for asking. So go out and claim some WBC cards and maybe check out his wantlist as well. Pay it forward, doncha know. I'll definitely be looking for some loose Tigers lying around to send him just for putting his wantlist on Google Docs, something that never occurred to me before. Looks like I'll be playing with spreadsheets in the near future.

tl;dr version:

FREE CARDS GO GETS EM

Friday, April 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Chippah!!!

Chipper is looking forward to a win over the Redlegs for his birthday present. Larry and I were born in the same year so I hope he has a happy day. It's not every day you turn twenty-three.

Hey, Chipper has more hits!



Hit #10:
Fourth inning
Triple to right off of Jordan Zimmerman
Chipper scored on Matt Diaz's homer



Hit #11:
Third inning
Single to center off of Shairon Martis




Hit #12:
Eighth inning
Single to right off of Michael Hinckley

2009 Batting average .316
2009 OPS - .895

About Two Months Worth of Overdue Links part 2

Let's start this off with an announcement. Crackin Wax (who has a brand new title image that is very cool) is having another Box Buster Bingo contest featuring a box of 2009 Finest. Now to the blogs.

Once again, if you want a link on the side or to be featured in a post like this, just pester me.


I found out about this one from a comment left on my Sam Jethroe post. I should have known earlier just by virtue of all his Lebowski cards. Oh well, better late than never.

Offy's Sports Site

This is another attempt by Red Sox Nation to try to keep up with all the Royals fan blogs out there. It's a good addition to the Blogocube and I like to see a blog that posts cards of all sorts of sports. I also feel good that I'm not the only one out there who calculates the cost of their cards. Don't worry there's good ol' fashioned pack rips on there too.

Extra Innings

I have but one thing to say about this fine blog.
OH. MAH. GAWD.

Old School Pack Buster

Mariners fan who likes to bust all kinds of stuff. This post here attracted my attention not only for the Falcons auto, but because I hadn't seen the Ichiro Heritage card yet. I C H I R O makes a lot more sense than A R A M I S.

Autograph Alert

Everything you could possibly ever want to know about shady autographs. Check out the most recent breaking story about facsimile Abraham Lincoln autographs cut off of original Civil War Service Certificates and sold as real. That way both a replica autograph is pawned off as real AND an actual historically significant artifact is destroyed. Actually, don't read it if you ever want to enjoy the latest "epic hit" cut auto out of a new product. I wish there was an RSS feed to link to to keep me updated.

Hot-Prospects.net

This is a great reference to find out who all those guys are that you pulled out of your cases of Bowman Chrome and Elite Extra. Check out a profile of Future National League MVP Jason Heyward.

Long Fly Ball To Because....

Hockey and books? Sign me up! Also - who caught the reference in the title?

Time for the randomness:

Not a blog, but here's an insanely detailed Don Mattingly checklist.

Joe Collector broke a case of '08 Upper Deck Football Masterpieces. It was filled with equal parts EPIC and FAIL.

Awesome story about the Niekro Brothers from Night Owl.

Why yes, yes it is.

Can't. Stop. Laughing. At this.

I was a tabletop sports game nerd as a kid and this ad for a baseball game caught my eye. You can download the game with two teams worth of cards to try out, so if you have some time it might be worth checking out.

Speaking of free, free Robert Edwards catalog!

Lookit da cute widdle puppy! Who's a cute widdle puppy? YOU ARE! Yes you are a cute widdle puppy!

Octopus!

And finally, for all fans of bad comics: The awful, unfunny and utterly depressing Crankshaft is in the middle of a baseball themed storyline. Crankshaft is trying to discourage a young player from using steroids by arguing that cheating in baseball is actually a communist plot. No fooling. I think we need to haul Gaylord Perry up in front of the House Un-American Activity Committee.

NFL Mock Drafts

I think I have more of a baseball audience here, but if anyone out there is geeked up about the NFL Draft this weekend I have some mock drafts for you. 


I'm not much of a Redskins fan, but I have to admit their followers are really on the ball. I apologize in advance for any draft junkie out there who really needed to get stuff done today. 

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Tony Gonzalez

I'll admit, when I first heard that the Falcons were looking into trading for Tony Gonzalez my initial reaction was "So they finally realized a young QB could use an impact tight end to throw to in the red zone? Woulda been nice if they figured that out last year before they kicked Alge Crumpler to the curb."

Then this morning I heard a rumor on the radio that it might be a big blockbuster sending off our first round pick in this weekend's draft to KC for Tony and Glenn Dorsey of all people. I had a freaking existential crisis last year because we picked Matt Ryan over Dorsey, and after being proven totally utterly wrong about Ryan they are going to go and trade for the guy I wanted in the first place?? As irrational is it sounds, I was ready to just give up football completely if my stupidity was rubbed in my face like that. I listened to my MP3 player the rest of the trip*. 

Then this afternoon, I got back in the car, turned on the radio and heard that Gonzalez was a Falcon. No salt in my wounds package deal, just Tony by himself for a second round pick in 2010. Now that it's real, now that the best tight end in the league is going to be wearing black next year, now that Matt Ryan is going to have White and Turner and Gonzalez to get the ball to, my reaction has changed a bit. 


yyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!11

Now go out and get a big side of beef for that defense Dimitroff. I'll quit second guessing you now. Probably.

* For anyone interested the first five random tracks on the player were:
Existential Blues by T-Bone Stankus
Tequila by The Champs
Blister in the Sun by Violent Femmes
Boom by Bloodhound Gang
Paranoid by Black Sabbath

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

John Kennedy

Apr 22 1957

On this day 52 years ago, John Irvin Kennedy pinch ran for Solly Hemus of the Phillies to complete the integration of the National League. John ended up stranded on base. He would only play in five games for the Phils, would get no hits and scored one run. The Negro League star was stuck without a position as the Phillies had traded for Brooklyn shortstop Chico Fernandez right before the season started. I've seen some sources say Kennedy integrated the Phillies while others credit Chico who actually made his Phillie debut on April 16th, opening day. It doesn't really matter as the fact remains that both African American and Cuban players would have never been given a shot at playing in the majors just a decade earlier. Chico had a decent career in the majors and got a handful of cards to show for it. John Kennedy however is not featured on a single trading card as far as I'm aware. It's possible he has been featured in a recent oddball or regional set like Helmar, but if a card of him exists I haven't found it.

Can't some manufacturer step up to the plate and give John a card? Just one?

2009 Topps Murad pack

The Hawks are up 1-0 on the Heat and game two is tonight at Philips. Time to open another pack of basketball cards to keep the good luck going. Let's do a pack of Murad, one of very, very few I've found out there. I've only seen Murad at exactly one Target in the entire Atlanta area and those packs were just sitting loose on the counter. I haven't seen a blaster or box of it anywhere else other than the local hobby shop. Of course, I don't have the cash to be opening cases of the stuff anyway, but still. It would have been nice to get one lonely blaster of the stuff. If anyone has some extra commons lying around you don't need, I'd be happy to trade ya something for them.


31 Gerald Wallace


I love the way these cards look. The horizontally oriented cards especially so. The backs are a little plain, but who cares. I think it's cool that everyone in this set is playing ball out in the middle of a field as well.

16 Josh Smith


YYYYYEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Josh Smith shall dunk all over the Heat tonight and then block everything in sight on the other end of the floor. So... Happy...


135 James Worthy mini


This pack is getting quite awesome. I love pulling the retro stars and the mini makes it that much better. Worthy got overshadowed by Kareem and Magic, but James was a hell of a power forward.
Checklist 23 of 30


Ooooooooh saaaaaay caaaan yooooouuuuu SSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Enrico Palazzo's singing the National Anthem here.

85 Martell Webster


Blazer! More Madding bait. I'm sure he knows who this guy is.

186 Roy Hibbert RC


Yay! a rookie. I don't know who he is, but rookies are good right? Heck it might even be an SP! Maybe. I still don't know what the SP list is.

Good pack! Now, on to Victory! Go Hawks! HOOPLA!

About Two Months Worth of Overdue Links

Note - this post quickly got out of hand so part 2 will be published tomorrow or Friday. If you want a link or a wantlist on there you have till tomorrow morning to let me know.

First things first.

Congrats to Stale Gum. Good luck buddy.

Here are a few want lists that I had purposely put aside to look through, but haven't had time to do so yet. If anyone else out here can help fill their needs please do so.

Voice of the Collector needs some 2009 Upper Deck.

Paul's Random Stuff wants Mets.

Treasure Never Buried needs stuff too.

I wish I was as organized as sruchris.

Thorzul wants to finish up 2009 Topps. Whoops, too late. Nevermind. Send him some Heritage instead, he'll love that.

Ok, now for the bloggy links. As always, if you want a link on the side and a mention in a post, you gotta pester me until I do it. And I'm slow as molasses on Pluto, just ask anyone.

Blue Jays Cards

This is pretty self explanatory, a blog about cards with Blue Jays on them. No, no, no. You know what I mean. Oddly enough I've seen basketball cards on the blog, but no hockey cards. Someone's going to have their Canadian passport revoked.

Weekly Box Break

Bay Reds North Joe rips open a box 'o cards every week. AND POSTS EVERY SINGLE CARD. Even the Cubs, as much as it pains him to do so.

Cardaholics Anonymous

Jawdy and JoeSamBob join forces to fight the forces of evil for great justice and the American Way. Oh, and also to post awesome cards and group breaks and stuff. They also apparently read some of the same comics I do...

Lake Effect Baseball Cards

A blog by a Royals fan (there sure are a lot of those) that is heavy on the Heritage with a big side of Alex Gordon. Sometimes both!

In The Game

Hasn't updated in a while, but has some cool basketball stuff on there. Hey, I told you I was way behind. Go give it some hits to try to coax out some new posts.

Baseball Blogga

A side project of the guy who does Poor Old Baseball Cards and Red Heart Cards (or are all three side projects of each other?) focusing on news and some more esoteric collectibles.

Ok, now for a few items of interest I've stumbled across in the past few days:

At this rate, The Big Lebowski Set is going to rival Yankee Stadium Legacy soon.

How can you tell when it's Playoff Time? This is how.

Yankee Stadium provides a real world example of the stuff you learned in Economics 101. H/t Shysterball.

Four episodes of a derailed project from the makers of MST3K and RiffTracks are up on YouTube to serve all your time wasting needs.


And finally, why the internets are awesome: Sexy People and Dork Yearbook. Not surprisingly, I have photos of me that would fit nicely on both sites.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Beat the Junkman

StLToday has a cool quiz up on their site today that allows you to pick out the real Stan Musial Cards from the fan-created fakes.Since many of my readers and fellow bloggers are well acquainted with the art of creating homebrew cards I figured this would be relevant to your interests. I took the quiz myself and got this:

Yeah, I actually missed two of them. There's absolutely no excuse for it either. One I really should have known better and the other was just plain stupidity since I actually have a copy of the card. Or a reprint of it, at any rate. Still, I'll never pass up a seat behind home plate. Can you beat my score? If you do, you will win a prize: the knowledge that at that very moment you knew more about Stan Musial baseball cards than I did about an hour ago (I have since committed his entire collection to memory in a fit of anger). No one can ever take that away from you.

Double hat tip to T.S. O'Connell for providing the link and the images of the originals.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Cards Of the Week 04/20/09

American Heritage Holiday edition!!!

Bye bye Boyer

Hello Barton.

The Braves traded reliever Blaine Boyer to the Cardinals for last year's Rule 5 pick Brian Barton. Boyer got designated for assignment when JoJo Reyes was called up to take Glavine's spot in the rotation last Saturday. Boyer had been getting hammered recently and apparently ended up in Bobby's doghouse. Bobby's doghouse is also known as Grand Central Station, because once you're there, you'll be traveling soon...

The Cardinals' bullpen is as big a mess as the Braves' and Atlanta needs a right handed outfielder so the trade helps patch a couple of minor holes on each team. Some comments on the trade are a bit panicky for some reason even though it's essentially two teams swapping surplus depth. Both Brian and Blaine have a lot of talent that they haven't quite taken advantage of yet, so there's a potential for one or both players in the trade to break out and have a solid season in the right circumstances. I really like the trade for one reason:

Brian Barton wants to be an astronaut!



Maybe Brian will be called up in time for the Houston series!

Chipper Hit Watch - Game 12

When Chipper Jones is in the lineup, the Braves are 6-1 (and should have won the one game they lost). When he's out, they are 0-5. Now do you understand why I won't mind if he only plays 120 games?



Hit #9:
Third inning
Single to right off of Zach Duke
Chipper scored twice after he got on base due to a fielder's choice in the first and was hit by pitch in the seventh

2009 Batting average .333
2009 OPS - .938

Card provided by Dinged Corners

Sunday, April 19, 2009

PLAYOFF BASKETBALL


The Hawks have home court in the playoffs for the first time since Nixon was president! No wait, that other guy... the one who did the crooked stuff. THE OTHER ONE. They have home court for the first time in a long time anyway. To celebrate I bought a single lone pack of 2009 Upper Deck Lineage basketball cards in the hopes of pulling some Hawks. Unfortunately Madding stoled my pack. No matter, I've got a pack to open anyway. This stuff appeared to be Timelines for basketball, but it was more like a poorly done Heritage. It only cost $2.11 anyway. 

94 Carlos Boozer

Boozer... heh heh... As you can see Upper Deck recylcled their 1991-1992 set design for this product. The back of the cards only have 4 years of stats and I was surprised that there was no line for Cleveland on there. Was it really that long ago that whole free agent brouhaha happened? Jeez I'm getting old.

37 Tim Duncan

Tim Duncan's a Hall of Famer. Plus he stayed all four years at Wake. Any Duncan card is a good one. 

229 Sean Singletary RC

The box advertised a certain number of Jordan and rookie cards per box, so these may or may not be short printed. I don't care about the set enough to to the math. I don't really remember the ratio either, it was something like 2 Jordans and 4 rookies a box or something. They took the Rookie card design from the 1992-93 Upper Deck set, which in my opinion is the best looking set Upper Deck ever put out. The card looks good, but I don't know who this guy is and I don't really care. 
Here's the back. Wooo. 

152 Marvin Williams

YEAH! A Hawk! Marvin has improved greatly over the past few years. Hawks fans have almost forgotten that we passed up Chris Paul. Almost. 

Lookit those stats. Steady improvement every year. Who needs a two time all star and face of the franchise. 

105 Kyle Korver

This guy shows up in all my packs. 

200 Greg Oden

Ha! A Blazer! Now I have something to tempt Madding with for all those Hawks he pulled. Hopefully he doesn't mind that I dropped the pack on the way to the checkout counter and there's a big ding on the top right corner. Hmmm... I could just neglect to tell him... And claim the post office did it... It's the perfect crime....

UPDATE: But that would be wrong.

So there's my one and only pack of Upper Deck Lineage ever. I wish they would have used the 1992-93 set design instead, 'cause they sure won't have a chance to use it next year. Oh well, I can probably find a box of the original stuff for the price of two hobby packs anyway. I got my Hawk, so that's a good omen that Atlanta's going all the way. Bring on the Heat!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sam Jethroe

Apr 18 1950 

Fifty-nine years ago today, Sam "The Jet" Jethroe made his debut as the first black player on the Boston Braves. Jet had power and speed and hit a home run in his first game with the Braves. Jethroe was a star with the Cleveland Buckeyes in the Negro Leagues. He led the league in batting twice, was a prolific base stealer and still had the ability to hit towering home runs. Jethroe won a World Series with the Buckeyes and played in the East-West All Star game while a Negro league player. Jethroe was one of the stars of the league and was very much qualified to play in the majors.   

He, along with Marvin Williams and Jackie Robinson,  was one of the three players involved in the infamous tryout for the Boston Red Sox in 1945. After Jackie's signing ended segregation in baseball, Jethroe signed with the Dodgers' farm club and played in Montreal in1948. Jet hit .326 with 17 homers, 89 stolen bases and 154 runs in his first full season with the Royals in 1949. Obviously Jet was more than ready for the majors, but the Dodgers simply didn't have a spot for him. They traded him to the Braves where he had a fantastic rookie year in 1950. He hit .273 with 18 homers and 100 runs scored while playing the outfield in Boston. He also led the league in stolen bases and won the Rookie of the Year award by a large margin over pitcher Bob Miller. 


His 1951 stats were even better than his rookie totals but in 1952 his production dipped sharply. He was sent down to the Braves' minor league team in Toledo where he had another solid season and blasted a monster homer over the 472 foot left field wall at the Toledo stadium. He was traded to the Pirates for the 1954 season, but only got one at bat with the big league club before being sent down for good. He spent 5 years playing quality baseball for Toronto of the International League before retiring in 1958 at the age of 40. 


The fact that there were players like Jethroe who were major league quality but were not allowed the opportunity to play in the majors during their prime frustrates me to no end. I like going over the stats of players from past eras and I always wonder what could Jet have done if he played in the 40's? I doubt he would hit .340 with 90 something stolen bases like he did in the Negro Leagues, but with those skills, I bet he could have put up some pretty nice numbers during his prime. I'm glad that Jet, unlike so many others, was at least given an opportunity to play in the bigs at least for a short time and that the Braves were willing to give him that shot.