Hugs for Votes

Congrats Freddie Freeman, 2013 NL All-Star. Hugs for everyone!

Yes, even Dodger fans. Big ol' hug for y'all.

Game one of the 2010 World Series will be played in Turner Field

THANKS TO THE 2010 ALL STAR GAME MVP

THIS TIME IT COUNTS

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC!!!

MAAAAAAAAAAAC!!!

THIS IS WHY YOU PEOPLE NEED TO VOTE HIM IN AS A STARTER

Your 2010 Braves All-Stars

Starting second baseman: 

Reserve Catcher:

Reserve Pitcher:

Reserve Everything:

Injured Starting Outfielder:

 Injured Relief Pitcher:

This is the year the National League wins it. I believe!

All is right in my world

ALL STAR:

NOT AN ALL STAR:

'72 All Star Patch and call to creditors

Ain't it purdy? I was bummed that there are no Braves in Topps' legends package but I'll settle for a Braves All-Star game patch. Yaz is pretty cool too. Did you know he was 6th all time in total hits? He's got that card with the big sideburns too. Got this from Thorzul in exchange for a Sidney Moncrief card that I'm still trying to figure out where the heck I put it. Which leads me to another question:

Who do I owe stuff to?

I owe Thorzul the Moncrief, I owe Stats on the Back a single Met card, I owe Canuck some Braves and the last cards he needs for his '90 Donruss set, among others that I know about. What I'm saying, is that in the past two weeks all baseball card stuff has been purged from my head in a panic and I'm semi-clueless at the moment. So, if I owe you cards please let me know. I can probably figure out who I owe stuff to on my own (Adam E gets some Sox, The Writer's Jounrey gets some Reds, I have a few packages here and there from people that I need to send stuff to...) any little nudge to get me moving would be helpful. I'll probably steal Mario's Trade Queue as well and post it somewhere as well. If you just want to make something up and get free cards, you could probably get away with it. Not going to promise that they will be mailed anytime soon though.

I fell asleep after the third inning

I woke up during the 11th to see Dionar Navarro - who was not pinch run for because Francona had already burned through his bench - get thrown out at home. A little while after that the camera panned to a nervous looking Scott Kazmir while the announcers said that Francona really didn't want to use him in this game but he was the last piutcher available. I turned it off and went back to sleep after that.

NL lost again, I got the 3 runs right for them at least.

McCann didn't even get in the game boxscore.

(hey, I was asleep. how the hell would I know if he was catching in the 15th freaking inning??)

So, Yeah

I pretty much have to watch it. I still think Howard should be in there despite a bad first half average wise, but there's really no choice, I gotta watch it.

I've already seen my favorite part though with the marching out of the lineups. I missed McCann (drats) but seeing the Hall of Famers was a thrill. I cheered for Knucksie, marveled at the 6 Hall of Fame third baseman that were out on the field enjoyed the warm reception for Hank and, yes, when I saw Yogi I teared up a bit. Seeing such a magnificent spiritual leader is an emotional experience.

Oh, and for the record:

AL 6 - NL 3

MVP - A-Rod

My Ass it Counts

So David Wright is in the All-Star Game, and the National League leader in Home Runs and RBIs will be sitting at home. Meh.

For once, this isn't a "Mets Suck" thing, this is a "MLB Sucks" thing. So the game determines home field advantage for the World Series, but Major League Baseball can't be bothered to get ONE OF THE BIGGEST* STARS IN THE FREAKING GAME IN THERE WHEN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE HASN'T WON AN ALL-STAR GAME SINCE STEVE GARVEY WAS A STARTER.

Bud Seilg sucks.

Clint Hurdle sucks.

The players suck.

The fans suck.

And I hate like damn to admit it, the All-Star Game sucks.

[Insert scan of Hank Sauer card here]

*(not a fat joke)

Sticky Saturday - More All Star Edition

Here's another sticker from that All-Star themed set I posted last week. At least I think it's from the same set, who knows. I don't remember what year it was from and I'm too lazy to look back at the post so you'll have to figure out on your own. This sticker is of the classic Major League Baseball logo featuring a batter who is about to watch a high fastball go by for a called strike. The bat's still on his shoulders for Pete's sake, he'll never be able to turn on that pitch.

This card is a case study in why you shouldn't use the copyright date to figure out what year it's from. The copyright date clearly says 1968 on the front of that card, but that's the copyright date of the logo, not the card. That's not even Fleer's copyright, that's MLB's copyright. Nobody sue me now, this is for educational purposes only.

Here we have a cartoon depicting the 1972 All Star Game in Atlanta. Yes, that's Hank Aaron, and no, he didn't go 7 for 7 in the game. He did hit a home run off Gaylord Perry in the game, and Joe Morgan came up with the game winning single in the 10th inning, making the National league a perfect 7 for 7 in extra inning games up till that time. Gotta love Hank hitting a homer in front of the home crowd. I have the program and a pennant from this game in the archives somewhere, I'll have to show 'em off some day.

I Have No Dog In This Hunt

Chipper was voted in the starting lineup and Mac was named a reserve so I'm happy. The Braves don't really have a deserving pitcher except maybe Jair Jurrjens, and to be honest I'd rather he got the rest. However, there are interested parties in the blogosphere like these guys, so click on their blogs and go vote for the last two spots in the All Star Game.

I'd ordinarily post the MLB voting widget or at least a link to the page, but that flash thingy they are using is obnoxious and makes the pages that display it load slow as Christmas so no thanks.

Sticky Saturday - All Star Edition

Here's a couple of Braves stickers for you this week. The All Star starting lineups are being announced Sunday so why not do an All Star theme this week. The sticker on the right I had already, the one on the left I received from FleerFan. They both have a team logo and a cartoony looking cap on them. They're both basically the same except for one little detail.

The one on the right has "Puzzle on Back" on it. That's because there's a puzzle on the back. That makes sense, doesn't it? Here's the puzzle:

Looks like the puzzle is of the All Star game in Cleveland Ohio to me. That game was played in 1981 once the strike was over. So this sticker is probably from 1982. I'm not sure if they were inserted in packs of Fleer baseball cards or were their own set. Here's the other card back:

Another All Star game, this time the 1975 contest illustrated by R.G Laughlin. The NL won that game on a Bill Madlock two-run single in the 9th off Catfish Hunter. Pete Rose tacked on the third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly. Yaz, Jim Wynn and Steve Garvey all had homers in Milwaukee. I really like these cards illustrated by Laughlin, I just wish they were a little easier to find. Unless there were two sets of these stickers in 1982 this card has to be from 1981, as it's the first year the Braves started wearing the blue hat with the script A again. The first year I really collected Fleer cards was 1982, so these are the most recent stickers that I can still concider to be strange and exotic. Someone bring back the stickers in packs! I'm getting all nostalgic here for stickers and puzzles and 'toons now.

Don't Forget to Vote

MLB All-Star Game voting ends tomorrow night at midnight. I voted often but not early, because I'm a slack procrastinator. Kinda like you if you haven't stuffed the ballot for your favorite team yet. I'll show off my ballot later today, in the mean time you get a clickin' and vote Vote VOTE! for Chipper

When You're Too Busy To Write, Steal!

Busy week all around for me (although I've got Valentine's day covered at least, whee!) so here's some good stuff from other sites you can read while I catch up.

There's a new blog in town, Dinged Corners. Any blog that features smiling players prominantly is great, but this blog hits must-read territory Just for this:


This is the best baseball card book of all time and it's prominently featured on the site. they even have the Sad Sam Jones card from the book posted, brilliant! I'm a big book fan and there is a great list on the site as well of books you really need to read. One of these days I'm going to do a "books you have to read" series on this blog, and they have most of my choices covered. Put this blog in your RSS reader! Big ups to Wax Heaven to turning me on to this site.

Topps is out, people are ripping and there's lots of blogging about them going on. Gem Mint Genius ripped a couple of Jumbos and graciously posted some galleries of the two best insert sets. The 50th Anniversary All-Star Team set is gorgeous and it's one of those sets everyone is going to be collecting now. Fred pulled the Chipper and Andruw cards and they look fantastic. Even better is the 17 card gallery of the Trading Card History set. Sorry Fred, I had to swipe your image of the Teixeira & Francoeur card until I get my own. It looks too good not to.

Even if you hate the circles and the logo indentation on the base cards, these two sets will sway many people from that other set, which shall remain nameless since I'm still mad at them.

Finally Uzi Mania is sweeping the blog community. Who the hell is this guy?? Is he for real or Topps' tribute to Sidd Finch? My take: if it's not just a way for Topps to sneakily promote their new make your own trading card program, then I think some Japanese billionaire businessman put in an order for 100,000 cards of his kid and requested that they be inserted into packs. It's my crackpot theory and I stand behind it. You may be seeing the Uzi card on this site very soon (hint, hint).

That's all for today, I'm not going to even see a computer most likely until about 10pm tonight. Scheduled for the rest of the week however will be the next four packs of my box break (which are a real doozy, folks, stay tuned), another edition of The 792, an Allen & Ginter card you haven't seen yet in honor of me getting THREE more for the set this weekend, and maybe even a surprise!

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?