My conversation with Davy Jones

University of Georgia, early '90s, autograph session after a Real Live Brady Bunch performance.

Me: Hi.
Davy: Hello.
Me: I thought you were really cool in Head.
Davy: Thanks, that was a fun movie to make.
Yokel behind me in line: HEY LOOK THIS GUY JUST MET DAVY JONES
Me: thanks
Davy: Thanks for coming to the show!



Thanks Davy.

I am completely incapable of writing about baseball cards right now

Salvador Dali and Man Ray are shocked and dismayed to hear this news.

Don't worry, this happens a couple times a year. I wish it wasn't happening when I have so much to do, but them's the breaks. Maybe I'll get my mojo back after the Fluttershy episode this weekend.

1965 Topps More Twins Rookie Stars

Oh wait, this blog is about baseball cards, right? (and the occasional pony I guess). Guess I better post one, eh? Card, not pony.

Joe Nossek, Dick Reese and John Sevcik. Of these people, I know nothing. To the Googles!

Joe bounced around the league for 6 years, then coached in the bigs for twenty more years after that. His nickname was "Coffee and Juice". Remember that the next time you complain that there are no more good nicknames in baseball anymore.

Dick apparently goes by Rich which is why I didn't find his B-R page until his fifth page of Google results. Rich is obviously not a Dead Milkmen fan. Rick was originally signed by the tiger, then drafted by the Twins in the expansion draft, he then played 9 years with he Twins, the Tigers purchased his contract for the 1973 season and the Twins snatched him back up after Detroit released him in August. Dich's best season was in 1969 when he hit 16 dingers and batted .322.

John Sevcik played 12 games for the Twins in 1965. He went on to be an executive at the Jim Beam company, which is almost as good as being a professional baseball player. While his picture looks more like a painting than a photograph, there is another John Sevcik that actually does paintings. I don't think he did a painting for this card though. Also, ever since The Googles became self-aware and realized I was doing art now my ads and searches have been chock full of art and artists. Thus, John Sevcik the Artist was results #1 and #2 on my search while John Sevcik the Catcher was #3 and #4. I love Big Brother.

Also the Great 1965 Topps Project has done all these posts way better than me, so you should go check it out.

I never knew Spiderman was a Yuengling fan

I gave up trying to write about baseball card or draw ponies or do anything constructive whatsoever today and just drank bourbon and coke and watched the Angry Video Game Nerd all day long. If this doesn't recharge my batteries, I'm utterly screwed.

Actually this post is slightly relevant to 2011 Allen & Ginter. 

He'd rather have a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in his ear than solve the Ginter code!
(Has anyone solved that damn thing yet?)

Ryan Braun's Wayward Sample

Someone has to have made this joke already.

Hey Bud, You seen that Ryan Braun sample anywhere?

Moral of the story: poorly managed kneejerk drug testing policies leave a bad taste in your mouth. As does Milwaukee's Best.

Great article on all this boolsheet over at Grantland.

1965 Topps AL Rookie Stars

By the time they got to the high series, Topps had so many rookie stars they couldn't fit 'em all on the team rookie cards. Here's a AL rookie Stars card featuring Darold Knowles, lefty reliever who pitched 16 years for 6 different teams. Seven if you choose to differentiate the Washington Senators and Texas Rangers.

Richie Scheinblum had almost as many uniform numbers as Darold as he bounced around to six different teams in his eight-year career.

Don Buschhorn pitched in 12 games for the Athletics as a 19 year old and never pitched in the majors again. The year before he was in A-ball. The year after he was in Double-A, and would not advance higher. A team would never EVER bring up a 19 year old kid from A-ball to the bigs in one year nowadays, would they? They'd at least make a token effort to rush him through at least Double-A first. I've seen a couple of kids in the '60s brought up for a cup of coffee when they were a teenager never to be seen in the majors again while looking up these players. I really want to know what the deal with these cases was now. Was it a bonus thing? Did the kid catch the GM in a bar with some floozy? Did they not really know about/care about prospect development back then? Have baseball talent evaluators turned into a bunch of over analytical stat-obsessed weenies who demand that prospects are just so before they can play in the bigs due to complicated roster rules and arbitration time clocks? Of course the average age on my favorite team if you drop Huddy, Chipper and Uggla is about 22 and a half, so maybe at least in my neck of the woods the kids are getting to play like in the '60s.

1965 Topps Astros Rookies

ROOKIES, ROOKIES EVERYWHERE

WITH STARS ON THEIR HATS

A British artist, a go-cart drag racer, and a kid who struck out 4 times in 4 at bats, was traded to the Braves and never heard from again.

(note - links for Coombs and McClure may not be a 100% accurate summary of their baseball careers)

1965 Topps Cubs Rookies

This picture of Glenn Beckert looks like it could be the first known photograph of Slenderman. Just slap a black suit and some tentacles on him and you're set.

Doesn't help that Roberto Pena's nickname was 'baby'.

Yes, I automatically associate Cubs with nightmarish terrors. Doesn't everyone?

1965 Topps White Sox Rookies

I know nothing about Greg Bollo or Bob Locker, although it looks like Bob had a pretty darn good career as a reliever.

I do know that due to my infatuation with Dr. Demento every time I see a name that rhymes with Dan Blocker I get this song stuck in my head for 47 days.

So I'm good 'till April thanks to Bob Locker, Dan Blocker, Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Pernell Roberts.

(seriously, don't click on that video)
(that way lies madness)
(probably should have put this bit first)

1965 Topps More Angels Rookies

You can tell it's the end of the season and Topps just wants to get the set over and done with when they start cramming in extra rookies on their Rookie Stars cards.

This one has three rooks instead of two and is set up like their League Leader cards. Marcelino Lopez is the Angels' rookie leader. He gets a yellow background instead of a blue sky!

Marcelino actually was a Rookie Star as he won 14 games for the Halos in 1965 and won a spot on the Topps Rookie Cup team. Sadly, he fell off the map after that and only won 16 more games the rest of his career. Rudy May is actually the star of the card, going on to win 152 games with the Angels, Yankees Orioles and Expos.

Phil Roof doesn't even belong on the list as he already had a rookie card in the 1963 set. I know because he played two games for the Milwaukee Braves to start his career and I need that dang card for my team set.

1965 Topps Yankees Team

"But I have to charge $50 for it, that's an original Mickey Mantle card!"

"It's a team card."

"But look! HE'S RIGHT THERE"

(yes i have had this conversation before)

1965 Topps Indians Rookies

Ever notice that vintage Topps cards seem to have an awful lot of airbrushed logos on hats? Ever wanted to know how artists were able to transform almost any hat into any other hat? Or why they were never able to pull this off with the uniforms? Ever wanted to know if there was a special photography trick they used to facilitate such transmogrifications? Check out Ralph Gagliano's headgear for a look behind the scenes:

The baseball cap version of a green screen. Or possibly the original prototype of a trucker's hat. Topps didn't worry about their trade secrets getting out with this card since it was a high number and no one ever bought those things anyway. Not like they had any competition to steal their secrets anyway...

Now ya know. And knowing is half the battle.

1965 Topps Angels Rookies

So is is Los Angeles Angels... or California Angels... or Anaheim Angels... Ana Ng Angels maybe?

The world may never know...

So what did these guys ever do? Tom caught Nolan's 3rd no-hitter. Pat may or may not be related to Joe.

(ok, so I got nothin') 
(I've made it abundantly clear I'm in a blogger funk right now)

1965 Topps Elston Howard

You know what ya dumb Veteran's Committee? DON'T put Elston Howard in the Hall of Fame.

It's nice to have one superstar vintage Yankee player to collect that DOESN'T cost an arm and a leg to acquire.

See those stats? See his MVP season in 1963? Oh yeah, Elston was an MVP. He was also a great defensive catcher. He also integrated the Yankees. Oh, but he doesn't really have the stats to go into the Hall of Fame. Maybe because he had to play in the Negro Leagues for three years. And didn't make his MLB debut until he was 26. And was stuck behind Yogi once he hit the bigs. AND served two years in Korea.

OoooOOOOooooohhhh... but he don't have the StaaaAAAAaaaats....

BECAUSE THE HALL OF FAME IS ABOUT NOTHING BUT STATS

HE ALSO INVENTED THE BATTING DONUT FOR PETE'S SAKE

PUT HIM IN THA HALL OF FAME YOU LOUSY VOTING BASTARDS

(sorry the Pinkie Pie episode got me feeling all joyful and smiling this morning so I had to go on a crazed rant real quick to balance out the force)

Best episode ever?

1965 Topps Twins Rookie Stars

Jay Ward, of course, is the man who created Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Don't believe me, look it up!

(ok, maybe they were related)

1965 Topps John Roseboro

Have I made a joking reference to the time when Juan Marichal beat the crap out of poor Johnny Roseboro  with a baseball bat yet?

I have? Forty-seven times?

Well ok then.

1965 Topps Tigers Rookie Stars

Ray Oyler rookie card reminds me it's about time to pull out my copy of Ball Four again.

1965 Topps Jim Katt

It's KAAT, Topps, KAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!

Much better.

Gary Carter

Full discosure: Gary played for some of my least favorite teams when I was a kid and was just generally Not A Brave, so I wasn't a fan for a long time. From what I've learned of him after his playing days were over he seems like he was a pretty good guy. Fuck Cancer. Here's Gary with a Chicken.

This image came from The Straw That Stirs the Drink which is already one of my favorite Tumblrs. Check it out if you like that sort of thing.

Sakes Alive, Sixty-Five

AAAAH. Now I have Blogger's Block! To go along with all the other blocks I have. Time to lean on the trade posts. I got a small pile of '65 Topps from reader James. They were inside a small snap case with a Red Sox Nation logo on it. Also: Duct Tape "Vintage Cards" label. I like James already. These '65s are basically in exchange for a '56 Jackie Jenson and a Tony Conigliaro sketch card. One that I haven't started yet because I'm allergic to Acrylic Paint right now. Every time I get near them I look at ponies online for 7 hours straight. I am not entirely unhappy with this malady. I really need to get the ol' easel out again though so I'm going to post '65s non-stop until I finish up some paintings. Or until I run out of '65s and feel shame. Wait, I have Pinkie Pie at the top of my blog. I have no shame. Here's card #1 from the 1965 Topps set courtesy James for you to look at while I figure out how I'm supposed to feel.

Should be a Hall of Famer, Is a Hall of Famer, and I'd put him in the Hall of Fame. Elston integrated the Yankees for Pete's sake. In fact put everyone who integrated a team in the Hall!  Yes, this means I am officially pushing for Pumpsie Green's candidacy. No more ridiculous than having Bowie Kuhn in and Marvin Miller out... Pumpsie in the Hall!!!

Another good thing about Elston, if it weren't for him Mickey Mantle would be on this card and it would cost $50 in this condition. My favorite thing about these old League Leader cards is that they fo fifty players deep! Yeah, there's some Hall of Famers in there (HOWARD!) but you also see the Boog Powells and Tony Conigliaros and Moose Skowrons and Jim Fregosis and Rocky Colavitos and Vic Davalillos and Zoillo Versalles and Don Werts and Norm Cashes and Doogie Howsers and Jerry Lumpes and Joe Pepitomes and Jim Gentiles and Tom Treshes. If Topps did leader cards like this today (Which they might, I haven't really looked at one from this year yet) #50 on the list would be Brett Gardner at .259 which is one point over the league average. Hmmmm... Baseball-Reference.com is our baseball cards now isn't it? Needs more creases.

Ha Ha! No one guessed!

The Shineeeeee Marteeeeeeeen was from Matt of Heartbreaking cards of Staggering Genius. No one guessed so he, um, wins? I suppose. He also sent these cards:

DESTROY THEM WITH LASERS

And a Frenchy jersey swatch.

Thing is I already have these, so they are going to Captain Canuck unless he specifically refuses them. Then they'll probably go to some other Braves fan. Maybe McCann Can Triple. I haven't sent her anything in a while. If she don't want 'em I suppose someone will take 'em.

Speaking of Matt, I still need to package up the card I'm sending him in return, so I'mma gonna get on that now.

SHINEEEEE MARTEEEEEEEN

OH GOD I HAVE NO TIME TO TYPE THIS MORNING

(thanks, Matt)
((you figure out which Matt))

I will always post this card on Valentine's Day

Because I love Jack Davis.

(be thankful there's no ponies - they just did an entire V-Day episode)

Trade Posts - The Last Refuge of a Desperate Man

Not gonna lie, I have writer's block. I have about 30 posts in the draft folder with images already uploaded, but when I open one up my fingers clench up and I end up typing like thi,.x;.lvzcx/..s fdju. I also have artist's block. I have enough ideas floating around in my brain to keep me busy for months but when I look at a canvas or a sketch card or a sketch book I get The Fear. All of a sudden when I pick up a paintbrush I turn into Dr. Gonzo in Bazooko Circus. Reading? Ha! I've been stuck on chapter two of "The Catcher Was A Spy" for two weeks. I can't write OR read. That's not all, I have cooking block. I let half a package of chicken rot in the fridge while the only food I was able to prepare was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now we're out of peanut butter. And jelly. I need to lose weight anyway. But that's not happening because I haven't been exercising either. Walker's block? I have a pile of piles of cards that need to be packaged and mailed too so I'm also having trader's block. I don't know who is getting most of the cards because I'm not organized. I wouldn't say I have organizer's block because I've never been organized ever even for five minutes. That's not a block, that's a pathology. Tomorrow's Valentine's Day. I don't wanna even know what kinda block I'll end up getting for that. I am a total blockhead. What to do?

TRADE POSTS!!!

You can always fall back on a good trade post. And I have a bunch of packages I haven't posted yet. Mainly because I haven't posted many trade packages in the past year. This one is from reader Edgar, who sent this package a few months ago and who recently won my Supa Bowel contest and whose football cards are still sitting on my desk. I received a whole slopton of shiny cards from Edgar including these three:

Diamond Shiny Michael Bourn. The package was mostly Diamond Shinies, and luckily Bourn was one of them. I have high hopes that Michael will not be the second coming of Kenny Lofton this season. It would be nice if he was still around in 2013 too, but with Boras as his agent I don't have high hopes.

OrangeRedFractor Brian McCann. Retail Chromy Rack Packagery. These suckers remind me so much of the old Kelloggs 3D cards when they're scanned what with the hyper-focused front image and the fuzzy blurry background. Just without the spiffy lenticular technology. Blogger seems to think 'lenticular' is not a word and suggests 'testicular' instead. That's right, Kellogg's 3D cards have balls.*

Finally, here's a shiny rookie card of Captain Marvel Jr. Or is it Fab Five Freddie? Is it even a rookie card since it's a parallel? Is that even a rookie card rule anymore? Would you really want the non-refactor version over the shiny one? Yeah, I know, you want the autographed version. THAT'S NOT AN OPTION. Will Freddie avoid the sophomore slump this season or will I be drinking really heavily** this summer? Can't it be both? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Good stuff from Edgar, time to get that package mailed...

*You know truly understand the depraved depths of my writer's block. Hoo boy.
**No drinker's block yet, thank goodness.

Nine Innings

INNING 1

INNING 2

INNING 3

INNING 4

INNING 5

INNING 6

INNING 7

INNING 8 

INNING 9

If you're wondering what this is, check out Thorzul's Card War.