THE TWELVE DAYS OF CARDMAS: LAUNDRY EDITION - DAY 5

FIIIIIIVE GOOOOOOLDEN RIIIIIINGS

JIM ONLY WON ONE RING BUT WHOS' COUNTING

THIS IS THE FIRST CARD IN THE LAUNDRY LIST THAT I DIDN'T ACTUALLY PULL FROM A PACK. I AM NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHERE I GOT IT, BUT I KNOW IT WASN'T FROM A PACK OF SWEET SPOT. I PICKED UP A COPY OF BALL FOUR AS AN IMPRESSIONABLE TEEN AT THE GOODWILL BOOK SALE AT NORTHLAKE MALL IN THE 80S AND REACHED ENLIGHTENMENT VERY SOON AFTER. I'VE READ IT MANY TIMES SINCE THEN AND I GET A LITTLE SAD WHEN JIM GETS TRADED TO HOUSTON EVERY TIME. BOUTON HAS A TON OF AUTOGRAPH CARDS BUT AS FAR AS I CAN TELL THIS IS HIS ONLY JERSEY CARD. I'M HAVING A HARD TIME EVEN FINDING THIS ONE ONLINE HOW SCARCE ARE THESE THINGS

WHY IN THE HECK IS PINKIE PIE IN THE TOPLOADER WITH BOUTON? THIS IS NOT A BIT, I PULLED THE CARD OUT OF MY RELIC BOX AND GOT HORSIED. I OFTEN SLIP AN EXTRA CARD INTO SUPER THICK RELIC TOPLOADERS TO KEEP THE CARD FROM SLIDING OUT BUT THIS IS AN ODD CHOICE EVEN FOR ME

THE NAME OF THIS RELIC SET IS PINSTRIPES, TO GO ALONG WITH A SHORT PRINTED YANKEES SUBSET. THE VAST MAJORITY OF JIM'S TRADING CARDS HAVE IN IN A YANKEES UNI, BUT THERE ARE A HANDFUL OF PILOTS CARDS. HOW COOL WOULD IT BE IF JIM HAD A PILOTS RELIC CARD? I'VE WISHED FOR A LICENSED BOUTON CARD IN A BRAVES UNIFORM FOR A VERY LONG TIME NOW, BUT IT HAS ALSO OCCURRED TO ME THAT THERE DOESN'T APPEAR TO BE A HOUSTON ASTROS BOUTON CARD EITHER. THIS IS THE ONLY THING THAT'S EVEN CLOSE. IT SHOULD BE A LAW THAT EVERY TEAM A PLAYER IS WITH GETS AT LEAST ONE CARD WHERE THEY ARE WEARING THAT UNIFORM. BILLIONS OF DIFFERENT CARDS ARE PRINTED EVERY YEAR, WE CAN GET ONE JIM BOUTON CARD IN A 'STROS UNI. GET ON IT, FANATICS

THE CROWD IS STARTING TO FILL IN, IT'S REALLY GETTING FESTIVE UP IN HERE

May Vintage Show Top 10 - Honorable Mention

I promised I'd finish up the January show top 20 this week, but..... I've been up since 6:30am and have done nothing but work and chase ungrateful kids all day. I've got about 10 minutes to breathe now, which is not long enough to do a decent post, but is enough to whip up something real quick. Here's a card that didn't quite make it into the top 10 from last weekend's show (mainly because I couldn't think of a good angle for a post when I was making the list) but is still quite nice.

So when I got to the card show I had a game plan ready to go. Then I fumbled, and balked, and stuff I was expecting to be there wasn't, and I panicked a bit, and then I sucked it up, and got it together, and made some bold moves and came out of the show with a big win. A lot of the stuff I thought I'd focus on (1954-56, 1960 and 1972 especially) didn't work out at ALL so I improvised. One way I improvised was by deciding to collect three new things that I wasn't focusing on before. That's right! If you can't find something you want at a show, decide you want something different! This card right here is the first official pickup of a new player collection.

'64 Topps Pitching Leader card. No I'm not collecting Whitey Ford. I also remember the 1991 World Series so I ain't collecting no Twin. That's right! I'm hoarding Jim Bouton cards now. I have already accumulated a small stack of Boutons more or less by chance, but now it's Official. So far I've got a small pile of vintage cards, some recent cards from Legends sets, a relic card and 3 of his books. Not looking forward to the '62 High number rookie but a League Leader card is well in my budget. Jim seems a little miffed to be listed after Camilo even though they tied with 21 victories apiece, but it would look kind of odd if he was just staring out into space on the left side of the card. The Chairman of the Board gets the top all to himself. that's what you get with 24 wins, folks.

The nice thing about these '64 Leader cards is that the backs list so many players you have stats for practically half the league on one card. This back is a little disappointing because there's a large blank space on the card that could have been filled if it weren't for the copyright line. There's still plenty of names to gawk over on the back. The card's a little water damaged but still in presentable shape. I think my 'I'm officially snagging every card I can of this player' list now stands at Chipper Jones, Jason Heyward, Yogi Berra, Mark Lemke, Jim Bouton and... well, that's another post.

Foul Ball

Lookie what I found at the dollar store...

I read the introduction (28 pages!) and that pre-chapter by itself is more interesting than a lot of other books I've read. If anyone wants a copy and can't find it at your local Dollar Tree let me know and I'll see if I can pick you up a copy. Or just go to Jim's website and get your own personalized copy.

Knucksie goes back in time to offer some helpful advice

One good thing about my new found love of sketching is that when things go awry and I can't get a decent post up I can just post a drawing. Here's one I did a few weeks ago about my two favorite knuckleball pitchers. How Phil wearing a late '70s era Braves uniform is giving this advice to a 1968-version Jim Bouton I don't really know. Let's just go with time travel. Phil Niekro is the twelfth Doctor.

Jim:  Oh God, I'm gonna get released. Seriously, what the fuck happened to my fastball?!?
Phil: Dude, try this - trust me

Based on Jim's 1968 Topps card

And Phil's ubiquitous Upper Deck pose

These were done a few weeks ago, so compare with the Mantle to see if I've made any progress. I played it kinda fast and loose with these drawings also. Overall I was happy with them. On the Knucksie I managed to pull off two things that confuse the hell out of me: hands and foreshortening. I'm not as happy with Jim. I really wanted to capture the despair in Bouton's eyes on that '68 card and my eyes lean more toward panic. I compensated by adding some cartoony flop sweat to Jim to get the point across. That '68 card just struck me when I saw it in my Archives binder. I wish Jim had gotten a '69 Pilots card to replace that as his final Topps card. One thing I still can't draw worth a flip is stupid hats. I'm so sick of drawing baseball caps I'm ready to exclusively draw cards from 2010 Topps205.

I just noticed this today

I have no idea how I missed this before, the guy is only one of my favorite players of all time...

2010 Obak Jim Bouton Autograph

Nice, eh? Now check this out:

1990 Pacific Legends Jim Bouton

Is this photo in the public domain or something? I've seen a lot of photos recycled on many different products, but I'm not sure if I've seen one in two completely different sets 20 years apart before. The background finagilization is kind of neat though. I'm not really complaining I guess, I just wish someone had the presence of mind to take more photographs of one of the greatest 20th century American writers of non-fiction. Besides, Obak did market their '10 product as using recycled materials...

Monkeying around in MSPaint again

Did you know Jim Bouton ended his career as an Atlanta Brave? Yep, Bulldog pitched five whole games with them in 1978. Topps totally dropped the ball and didn't make a card of Jim in the 1979 set. I have corrected that error with my own custom creation:

You might recognize the photo from Beardy's 2010 Masterpieces set:

I requested that card because up until that point I had been too lazy to create my own card. I unlazied myself and got to working. It may seem tacky to reuse the same image on two cards like that, but this is only the second picture of Jim in a Braves uniform I've ever seen. The other is on the Ball Four plus Ball Five cover that was published in 1980. There's got to be some more pics of him out there somewhere, right?

Bonus quiz: Can anyone guess which '79 Topps card I used as the base for my custom?

Another Public Service Announcement from Cardboard Junkie

If you were planning to read each chapter of Jim Bouton's Ball Four on the corresponding day in the book starting at the point where he signed his contract with the Seattle Pilots, today is the day to start reading.


If you don't have a copy of the book it should be available at your local bookstore, provided the shop is not run by godless communist terrorists who hate America and gleefully kick puppies with malice aforethought. If your book merchant is in fact unpatriotic (or simply sold out of copies due to the incredible demand) you'll just have to order it online and try to catch up.

That is all.

Yankees from the Dollar Box

I still have some neet stuff left over from the Atlanta Sports Cards run to show off. They have a pretty cool row of dollar boxes there with a good mix of new and old, base and inserts. I've even found autographs in the dollar box before! I like scrounging through for oldies, which means poring though the "original 16" teams. Red Sox are good for oldies. So are the Phillies. I guess the Cubs are too, but I'll try the Cards or Dodgers or Indians first, thankyouverymuch. However, there is no dollar box oldies team like the New York Mickyficking Yankees.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I HATE the New York Yankees. A-Fraud, Cap'n Cheezburger and Tei$eira can all take a flying leap into the Hudson wearing cement bathing suits for all I care and I'm glad the Halos finally took one in the series yesterday. However, the Old York Yankees I love. The cut off point is somewhere around Mattingly but I can't pinpoint it exactly. '20s? '30's? Hells yes! '60s? '70s? Alllll Riiiiiight! '50s? NIRVANA! So I scrounged the dollar Yankee box looking for one old card and found three.

1964 Topps Young Aces

This is the Holy Grail of Infamous Pitcher cards. Al Downing? He gave up a certain home run that is somewhat well known. Jim Bouton? Well, if a baseball fan don't know Jim Bouton, then Dayf's gonna do some shoutin'. This also a pretty good demarcation line between the great Yankee Teams of the '50s and early '60s and the Bllleeeaaaargghhh Yankee teams of the late '60s and early '70s.

1969 Topps Mickey Mantle Checkist

If you have a chance... to get a vintage Mickey Mantle card... ANY vintage Mickey Mantle card... for a BUCK... YOU FREAKING DO IT.

Anyone else who wants to "just do it" ASC had two or three more of these in various stages of mouse nibblings in that box as well. Get to 'em!

1950 Bowman

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET A 1950 BOWMAN CARD FOR A BUCK?? Ok, so the corners are rounder than a mint 1951 Topps card and it's got a double cross crease going right through the dude's face, but 1950! Bowman! So who is this guy?

Fred Sanford

The "G" stands for "Gamer". Or "goat" perhaps, as the Yankee pitcher was mercilessly booed by Yankee fans who expected more from the righty after that $100,000 trade mentioned on the card back. Did you know Redd Foxx's real last name was Sanford? Did you also know that both Fred and Redd's first name was also John? Now ya do!

1965 Topps Jim Bouton

Gotta post something today, why not this fine card? Fresh off Bulldog's masterful performance in the '64 World Series.

Bouton shot the wittle birtdies! Oh nooooooo

One of these days I'll finally get that Ball four project off the ground. Not today though. Too much stuff to do. This card is nice to look at until that day comes.

A Public Service Announcement from Cardboard Junkie

If you were planning to read each chapter of Jim Bouton's Ball Four on the corresponding day in the book starting at the point where he reports to Pilots Spring Training in Tempe, today is the day to start reading.


If you don't have a copy of the book it should be available at your local bookstore, provided the shop is not run by godless communist terrorists who hate America and gleefully kick puppies with malice aforethought. If your book merchant is in fact unpatriotic (or simply sold out of copies due to the incredible demand) you'll just have to order it online and try to catch up.

That is all.

It's that time of year

Every Spring Training (or at least every spring training the past few years) I've picked up this book and started reading.

Now, I don't necessarily read the entire thing each year. Sometimes I blow through the book quickly, sometimes I get about halfway through and get distracted. One time I remembered it was time to read it, looked for the book and gave up when I could only find my copy of the sequel. I thought about reading it though, and I laughed when I recalled the boner on the bus joke, so it technically counts.

I picked up this copy at the Cobb Countly Library sale last fall for a quarter. My old paperback copy was starting to molt pages so it was time to upgrade. One of these days I'm going to find a hardback copy of the edition of with Jim in the Braves uniform on the cover. I've seen 'em on eBay, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I think subconsciously I'm waiting to find an autographed copy in some dusty old bookstore. You never know what treasures await in old bookstores...

This is one of my absolute favorite books, it combines my love of baseball, humor and my cynical take on the world. It's a pretty fascinating read and a neat look into the major leagues before free agency. It's too bad a book like this couldn't be written today, nowadays we get the Mitchell Report. If I had pulled out the book just a week earlier I would be compelled to get a card for each chapter and post it on the date of the chapter with a quote and such, but that's not gonna happen. Thankfully I'm too OCD to be able to start that a few days after the first date in the book. Maybe next year. You still might see a few related posts popping up here and there though.

(seriously, read this book)