Friday, July 31, 2009

In case you missed it - Sugar

Saw this movie a few weeks ago and forget to let you all in on it -



It's the story of a young Dominican player making his way through the minor leagues in a different world than he is used to. It's hilarious at parts and heartbreaking at others. This is definitely worth seeing if you are a baseball fan. You will not be sorry that you did.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The MVPs

The next stack of cut outs or whatever these cards were is of the MVPs - some all time greats here



Maury Wills - 1962 - Set the then record (over Ty Cobb) by stealing 104 bases beating out teammate Tommy Davis for the award. Maury hit .299 and scored 130 runs.



Stan Musial - 1943 1946 1948 - "The Man" is one of the iconic players of his era. The people of St Louis are spoiled to have had him for his career and now they get Pujols too - Musial won seven batting titles during his career.



Roy Campanella - 1951 1953 1955 - I never realized until this moment how good this dude really was - When he won his 3rd MVP in 1955 he joined Musial as only the third player ever to win 3 NL MVP awards - Lets take a look at his 3 winning seasons



1951 - .325/33/108

1953 - .312/41/142

1955 - -.318/32/107



Those are some pretty gaudy numbers - especially out of your catcher.



Roberto Clemente - 1966 - A wonderful player and better man - died in a plane crash after collecting his 3000th hit - won 4 batting titles in his career - to win the MVP he put up a line of .317/29/119 and led the league in OF assists.



Dick Groat - 1960 - His name sounds like something you try to avoid in college - hit .325 to take the award in 1960 and led the league in total chances per game at short stop. career .286 hitter.



Ernie Banks - 1958 1959 - was the first player to win back to back MVP awards in the NL. 1958 .313/47/129

1959 .304/45/143.



Ernie hit 512 career bombs.



Johnny Bench - 1970 1972 - Formerly the best hitting catcher of all time (ahem - Piazza) Johnny was a force



1970- .293/45/148

1972 - .270/40/125



Thats production you would take out of any player - let alone your catcher who doesn't play everyday.



Harmon Killebrew - 1969 - in 1969 hit 49 hrs and drove in 140 runs - hit 573 career homeruns and drove in 100 runs 9 times.









Again - want anything here? let me know

The Home Run Champs

Finally we have the Home Run kings - man would these guys make for a fun home run derby to watch

Duke Snider - 1956 - Duke hit 40 HRs 5 seasons in a row leading the league with 43 in 1956. He has 407 career dingers.

Al Rosen - 1950 1953 - hit 37 in 1950 and 43 in 1953 - almost won the triple crown in 1953 losing out on the batting average title by .001 points to Mickey Vernon.

Larry Doby - 1952 1954 - The first black player ever to appear in the American League, Doby became one of its most feared hitters. hitting 32 HR each year 952, 54) to take the homerun crowns, larry had a career total of 253 long balls and twice led the league in RBI

Ralph Kiner - 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 - yup - 7 straight years of winning the HR title - twice he hit more than 50 - in his career Ralph averaged 1 homer ever 14 at bats - incredible. Also - as a man recalled to me on the 7 train last year -

Once while doing the call for a Mets game that was really lopsided, Ralph kept commenting on a young couple making out in the stands before letting out this beauty of a quip

"I figured it out - he's kissing her on the strikes and she's kissing him on the balls"

yup - thank you Mr. Kiner for saying the dirtiest thing ever spoken during a baseball broadcast

Eddie Mathews - 1953 1959 - Part of the most potent 1-2 punch when teamed with Hank Aaron for most of his career, Eddie took the title with seasons of 47 homers in 536 and 46 homers in 59. Eddie hit 512 career blasts.

Hank Aaron - 1957 1963 1966 1967 - amazing the real record holder only led the league 4 times - from 1955-1973 Hank never hit less than 24 hrs in a season leading the leagues with 44 in 1957, 44 in 1963, 44 in 1966, and 39 in 1967.

Joe DiMaggio - 1937 1948 - Can you imagine the damage he would have done left handed? Joe led the league with 46 homers in 1937 and 39 in 1948. Has a career total of 361 bombs hitting more than 30 seven times.



Once again - anything you like? it's yours, just let me know.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

You knew last time - so what are these?

You can blame my lack of posting on fight Night for the PS3 - you are looking at a the new world champion - I know impressive right!

Anyway - So in that box that had a bunch of stuff I don't remember, I found these cards - they have the same TMCA copyright on the back with the year 1985. The edges are awful - some look like they are perforated, some look like they were just regular cut out cards - either way they are neat.

I have 4 groupings coming up - Rookies of the year - MVPs - Cy Youngs - Home Run Champs - Today we will take a look at the Rookies.

Herb Score - ROY 1955 - One of the greats that never were thanks to a line drive to the face - in his rookie year Herb was 16-10 and struck out 245 hitters in 227 1/3 innings. In his 2nd season he was 20-9. This guy had everything - except the luck to avoid Gil McDougald's batted ball.

Billy Williams - ROY 1961 - Made his mark right away with a rookie season line of .278, 25 HR, and 86 RBI - over the next 13 seasons he never hit lower than .276 or hit less than 20HR or knocked in less than 84 runs - A model of consistency

Luis Aparicio - ROY 1956 - Stole 21 bases while playing stellar defense to take home the ROY - led the league in steals 9 straight seasons - I'm sure there is another Steve out there who could tell you more.

Frank Howard - ROY 1960 - Frank is one big son of a bitch - 6'7 and 255 lbs. in 117 games his rookie year Frank hit 23 bombs and drove in 77 runs. He was one of the most feared sluggers in the game.

Harvey Kuenn - ROY 1953 - Won the award for getting 209 hits and hitting .308 his rookie year. Played 15 years in the bigs leading the AL in hits 4 times and winning 1 batting title.

Again - these are neat but I'm not too attached to them - anyone see anything you want - let me know.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Best album I've hear all summer

Ok - everyone there - if you are fan of singer/songwriter type stylings - or like the Pogues if their singer was a bit more of a pussy check out the stream of his new(ish) album "Love, Ire, and Song" here

http://www.punknews.org/bands/frankturner

I'm halfway through the stream here at work and am mightily impressed with this album thus far. If you played this for me when I was 15 I would have thought you were so lame - does this make me old or lame now? Not sure - but check it out if you have a few.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

1980 TMCA HOF cards - the last 4

Hopefully you all have enjoyed these cards as much as I have - I'm looking forward to digging into the 1983 set in the next week or so.

Bucky Harris - 2nd Base - Washington Senators - A slick fielder who took over managing the Senators @ the age of 27 - went on the win 3 pennants and 2 world championships - HOF 1975

Jesse Haines - Pitcher - St. Louis Cardinals - career mark of 210-158 - pitched for the Cards for 18 years and threw 1 no-hitter - HOF 1970

1927 New York Yankees - There were a couple of good players on this team

Billy Evans - Umpire - I found Billy to be the most interesting man of this entire set (of the cards that I have). Billy was regarded as the American League's best umpire from 1906-1927. After he stopped being an umpire - he went on as Manager of the Cleavland Indians for 6 years, Farm Director for the Red Sox for 5 years, and then became the GM of the Tigers. How about that - umpire to manager to front office - pretty frickin' cool - HOF 1974

That was good. Again - if any of you out there collect any of these men or teams and need these cards for your collections, let me know.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

1980 TMCA Hall of Famers Part 3

Only 8 more to go - But don't worry - I found another bunch of cards from a similar set from 1983 for next week.

Waite Hoyt - Pitcher - New York Yankess - Lifetime record 237-182 - After playing career was over he was an announcer for the Reds - HOF 1969

Charlie Grimm - 1B - Chicago Cubs - "Jolly Cholly" was a career .290 hitter in 20 seasons who went on to be a player/manager and then manager for 19 more seasons - When he died - his wife was granted permission to spread his ashes on Wrigley Field

Branch Rickey - Manager - St. Louis Browns - Will always be remembered for bringing Jackie Robinson to Major League Baseball - HOF 1967

Judge Landis - Commisioner - Commish of baseball for 24 years until he passed away in 1944 - elected to the HOF that year.

How awesome would it be to be able to get these cards autographed? I really think they would look sharp.

Last 4 cards tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

1980 TCMA Hall of Famers part 2

Here we are with the next 4 Hall of Famers from the mystery TMCA set.

Joe Sewell - 2nd Base - Cleaveland Indians - This stat is amazing - in 7,132 career MLB at bats - Joe struck out only 114 times - un-fucking-believable - HOF 1975

Walter Johnson - Pitcher - Washington Senators - 110 career shutouts, 413 wins, 3,499 strikeouts - really - the "Big Train" needs no help from me - one of the best all time - HOF 1936

Rabbit Maranville - Shortstop - Boston Braves - 23 year career - never great with the bat, but from all accounts a great fielder - HOF 1954

Hack Wilson - OF - New York Giants - hit 56 homers in 1930 and also drove in 190 (yes, 190) runs. HOF 1979

Not a bad core there to start a team - we got the pitching, the hitting, the slick up the middle defense - I'm loving going through these cards.

Again - any players or teams here you like - let me know - They will probably mean more to a collector who may not have these cards than me.

Monday, July 20, 2009

I Don't Really Know What These Are, But I Have A Feeling They Are Pretty Awesome

Last week I was digging into a giant box of cards (probably about 3000) that I really cannot recall the origin of. Really, I don't know where they came from, if they were mine from childhood? There were cards from the late 70's to early 90's and some odd balls that I don't ever recall seeing. Here are the first group of odd balls.

According the the backs, the date is 1980 TCMA - they are made by the Renata Galasso Inc - "The World's Largest Hobby Card Dealer" out of Brooklyn. All of the cards feature players from the early 1900s to about the late 1930s - most of them Hall of Famers - A lot of them are new to me as I have never REALLY delved into the archives to learn a lot about some of these guys before today.

Tris Speaker - OF - Cleaveland Indians - "The Grey Eagle" hit over .300 18 times - HOF 1937

Harry Heilmann - OF - Detroit Tigers - "Slug" led the American League in hitting 4 times .394 in 1921, .403 in 1923, .393 in 1925, and .398 in 1927. HOF 1952

Dazzy Vance - Pitcher - Brooklyn Dodgers - Led the NL in k's 7 straight years, Victories twice, ERA 4 times and shutouts 3 teams - HOF 1955

Burleigh Grimes - Pitcher - Brooklyn Dodgers - The last legal spitball pitcher - 20 game winner 5 times, career 270-212 record - HOF 1964


I've got 12 more of this set and will be rolling them out 4 at a time the rest of the week. Let me know if you know anything else about these cards - they are sorta neat - if any of you see any players that you collect or teams you like - let me know and I'm sure they can find their way to you.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Linking Up

Wow - so I just spent 45 minutes updating links - I think I got most of you! If you are not showing up - shoot me a line and let me know - I did not update the blog roll yet due to time constraints - that will come later - maybe days or months - I don't know - I've been meaning to do this for about 3 months so -- that shows you my motivation level. don't take it that I don't like or read your blogs - because I often check em all out - I'm just a poor webmaster

Bastards of Young

Here is Against Me! covering the classic Replacements song Bastards of Young. This is hands down one of my favorite all time tunes - great to see a newer band whom I like cover and do quite a good job - sticking to the original tune and still kicking its ass all at once. Don't know who that Giusseppie Franco look a like helping them sing is though.



Thoughts?

O Pee Chee Suckfest

When O Pee Chee was getting ready to launch I was pretty excited - a nice base set w/ big checklist and no gloss - a modern old school? I dunno - whatever. Once the details were released - 600 cards - 100 not really short printed short prints and 6 cards a pack - I was a bit frustrated - it would take too much chasing - 125 perfect packs actually, to get this set complete - too rich for my bones and this point in time.

So I thought, hey - I will just live vicariously through all my blogging brethren (much like I have been A & G less 2 packs). Looking at all the scans - thought you know this set is kinda nice - I don't love it, but I could see myself trying to score a complete set off the 'Bay. Well last night in target for light bulbs and dish detergent, I said "what the shit - I'll grab 2 packs".

I shoulda got some douche bags.

Robinson Cano and Ben Francisco

boring

Rich Aurilia and Ryan Theriot

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Team checklists - Rays and D Bags
Dreaming by now...

Maybe pack 2 is better?
Derosa Posada Anderson
Nope



Johan Santana and Carlos Zambrano Highlights
At least Johan can go into my Mets collection


Finally - a David Eckstein black border
who cares


I know that these would have been back packs of a great set - but even in UD Series 2 the royals cards were really sweet - the pictures were nice - I just don't think this set is really any good. It took having them in my hands to get who sucky they really are into my head. Sorry O Pee Chee - we are breaking up. Anyone want any of this? I'm only keeping Johan.




Thursday, July 16, 2009

Sweet Mail Day

A while back, reader Greg let me know he was interested in a 09 Ud Chase Utley that was numbered to 99 - although I do like Chase Utley (I like Victorino too - I know what kind of Mets fan am I?), I was willing to let him go when Greg let me know he had an Eddie Kunz Auto he wasn't too in love with. So I sent him some Phillies base cards and inserts along with the Chutley, and here are the highlights of what I received.

Here is the first card I own of the 09 O Pee Chee set - a New York New York insert of Jeremy Reed. I like it - this is my first Reed card as a Met that I can think of - anyone else think its weird that they dont have the pic of Citi Field behind him? He never played in Shea. Oh well - I'm diggin' it anyway.

Next is what looks like a 1999 Fleer Brilliants Shining Stars card of Mike Piazza - Man - I missed a lot not collecting this era of cards - I don't know if I think this card is awesome, or awful - at least there isn't a rap on the back.

A couple of chrome Jose Reyes cards - which poses the question - if you really love chrome cards are you a Chromo? I don't know if I am there yet - just chrome curious for now -

Here is the big gun of the trade - the Kunz career best auto with all minor league stats - what a lame idea to include him in this subset - but I am very glad to have the card - I met Eddie a few times last season while he was in Binghamton and was always very nice and very approachable.
A Topps Star of David Wright and a couple goldies!


Next up is a Gary Carter Hall of Fame Heroes card from 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings - anytime I come across these old Diamond Kings sets I want more more more... but I am too poor poor poor.

Finally - there were 2 complete minor league team sets - first up are the 1983 Lynchburg Mets - Here are some funny looking dudes - some stoned, some kid toucher-esque - some jolly

And the 1984 Jackson Mets! Now in color!

So all in all a really cool package of stuff I did not have before - lots of great stuff for the Mets collection too! Thank you very much my friend for a wicked rad and generous package! Make sure to go help him out in his search for Pat Burrell cards (god knows why) http://insearchofpatthebat.wordpress.com/

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

My Last Pack of 09 A & G (unless I come into money which is very unlikely)

2nd verse, worse than the first

So here are the results of the 2nd and from the title, last pack of 09 A & G I will be buying. Again, not quite sure if these are trade bait or not yet - I could always pursue them in the winter before the base sets for 2010 come out - we'll see.

James McDonald
James Loney
Manny Parra

I have McDonald in a long term keeper league - but I think he is going to lose his minor league eligibility so I don't know what do really do with him.

I had Loney in the same league but dealt him away in this deal

I get: Ryan Zimmerman, Lance Berkman
I Give up - James Loney, Phil Hughes, Matt LaPorta, Jake Fox, Scott Downs

I'm going for the win this year

Ervin Santana
The modern game of baseball inventor Cartwright
BJ Upton

Black border Mini of Cantu

National Pride El Caballo - Carlos Lee

I got a pretty sweet package in the mail yesterday too that will be coming up in the next few days.



Monday, July 13, 2009

The first of 2 Packs of 09 A& G

I Think that I mentioned it here before that I really don't have the money to collect any more than 1 more set this year (excluding Topps U & H). It was a toss up between A & G and the UD Goodwin's Champions set out in September. Since it's something new and the price point is more my speed, I am going to go with the Goodwin's, but that doesn't mean I can't pick up a few backs of the Ginter's to see what the fuss is all about.

Joe Saunders
Joakim Soria
Victor Martinez

So far, I like these better than the past few years. Bigger picture, more color - more .... better? Yes, more better

Prince Albert Pujols
Mark Teixeira

2 horizontal cards of 2 dudes who can really club it.

They are good hitters too, not just good dancers.

Randy Johnson who's age allowed Jonathan Sanchez to become a part of baseball history and the National Pride card of Yunel Escobar.

I scanned the mini bigger than any of the regular cards - not sure why, but here is the riot.


Ginter back!

Another pack should find its way on here tomorrow.
I'm not sure if I will be pursuing this set or not yet... I do really like it - but I am poor. I think I will just stash these for the time being before throwing them out in trade bait.




Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Pack Battle! 2007 Topps Series 2

Going back into the repack box I bring you 2 packs of 2007 Topps Series 2 - 6 cards in each pack - let's see who is less crappy out of this awful looking set.

Jeremy Brown V. Jamie Moyer

While Jeremy Brown is a fat catcher who can take a walk and was featured in the Moneyball book, Jamie Moyer is an ageless warlock who makes the mets look like a bunch of children.... well who knows, he's old enough that some of the Mets could BE his children.

Edge: Moyer

Pack 1 - 0
Pack 2 - 1

Edgar Gonzalez V. Jared Burton

wow -don't know anything about these dudes really - gotta flip the cards over and do some research.

Ok - The both aren't really that remarkable - the D-Bags are a way lamer team so Burton gets the nod.

Pack 1 - 0
Pack 2 - 2

Jason Marquis Trading Places V. Placido Polanco
A battle between an insert of a good player. Reliable inning eater if not remarkable. Polanco is a career 300 hitter who spends his time at the most important infield position.
Edge - Polanco
Pack 1 - 1
Pack 2 - 2

Opening Day Nationals Park V. Hit Parade Manny Ramirez
At least the Nationals don't cheat - and if they do they are awful at it because they never win.
Edge - Nationals
Pack 1-2
Pack 2 -2
all even now.
Jeff Suppan V. Paris Hilton
oh wait - thats not Paris Hilton - you say its Khalil Greene? Well he looks like a giant douche.
Edge Suppan
Pack 1-3
Pack2-2
Taylor Tankersley V. Chase Utley
I hate both teams and this is still really no contest - utley is the best 2nd baseman in the game - he wins this one easily
Pack 1 - 3
Pack 2 - 3

Uh oh - we have end up with a tie - so I guess its a push?
Which pack would you have preferred? Let me know - and if you can give me a compelling reason why and send me your address - both packs are yours.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

2007 Topps Opening Day Pack Rip

Reaching deep into the repack box to give you something other than youtube videos - I bring you a fresh hot pack of 2007 Topps Opening Day. Now is there anyone else out there who really prefers the white design to the black that was the base set from this year? Really, when I look at baseball cards in the winter - I want sunny, bright - a reminder of whats to come and not whats happening (remember I am in upstate NY here). I really feel this set would have been better received all around if they had swapped the Opening Day color for the Base color. The design still isn't great, but the white just looks better I think. What do you think?

Onto the cards...

There were 7 cards in the pack, I've broken them up a bit. First up are the 2 rookies.

Drew Anderson
Fred Lewis

Now any pack with 2 rookies is pretty good. Drew Anderson hasn't done all too much at the big league level, but Fred Lewis has made himself into a nice major league ball player - I bet he would be a bigger name if he wasn't stuck making his name out in SF. Even if they are a playoff contender this year, I still don't think too many outside of California are paying attention.

Next up in the pack were 4 starting pitchers and this is how I would run them out there if they were my 4 man rotation.

1) CC Sabathia
2) Chad Billingsley
3) Francisco Liriano
4) Freddy Garcia

Honestly, I think Chad is the best of the bunch here, I think the Night Owl would be happy to know I do have a severe man crush on that dudes abilities. I would trade almost anyone in the Mets organization to get him. Captain Cheeseburger is a nice player, but I'm afraid that he just won't live up to the contract (who really could). Liriano needs to get and stay healthy and I bet he can regain a bit of his 2006 form. Finally Freddy Garcia sucks on choads.

Finally, scanned big for the Dayfs and Canucks of the world is Bian McCann. I want to hate him - I really do, but alas I don't. Here is is large and in charge.

All of these cards can be had, just let me know

Monday, July 6, 2009

RoboCop in minutes - Rapped

This blew my mind.

Anyone who watches this will hate me for a while

because now you too will have this stuck in your head

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Steve Summer 2k - Drunk Baseball

So back from 1999-2005 every Sunday afternoon me and my friends would get together and play a game of pickup baseball - we usually had about 25 people show up - so we had 5 outfielders and such, but we just wanted to play and have fun - one day a conversation about Micky Mantle got us thinking about how hard it would be to hit a baseball drunk.

My friend Andrew just found these photos of me that day - Just wanted to share. I'm looking pretty good to say the least.

It all starts innocently enough

This is probably many beers in - the shirt is off, the shorts are off, the cooler is... on?


Keeping my weight back - thats some good form


And just a sexy shot here. I wonder what happened to that hat?


Remember kids - Don't drink and (line) drive


A Much better Pack of 91 Donruss Series 2

So I made the decision this morning to allow 91 Donruss to redeem itself and reached back in the pile of repack packs and pulled out this pack, that really, was awesome. This is just about as good as you can hope to get with getting 10 (give or take) players that could have been considered stars in their time. Lets take a look

David Wells
Francisco Oliveras
Pete Incaviglia

Already we have a 239 game winner (and 3x AS), and a guy with 200 career homeruns. Sorry Frankie - You didn't really do all that much. But thanks for playing.

Dennis Rasmussen
Ken Griffy Sr
Terry Pendleton

Dennis stuck around for 12 seasons, Ken has some of the best sperm in baseball history, and Terry Pendleton might have won an MVP for one of those crappy Braves teams in the 90s.

Now it starts to get real good (if we don't count off the field issues)
Mel Hall
Barry Bonds
Kirby Puckett
Mel had a nice career, but also molests children. Barry had a great career but is a world class asshole and a cheater. Kirby once sawd through a door to hit his wife - but he is HOF anyway

And the hits keep coming
Dale Murphy
Greg Vaughn
Ron Darling
A Border Line HOF and NL MVP, a slugger who once belted 50 Jacks in a season, and a Met hurler who had a very nice career and is far more tolerable than Mex when calling games on SNY.

And the good mojo doesnt stop
Fred McGriff MVP
Danny Tartabull
Tim Raines
2 borderline HOF and Danny Tartabull? Great way to end the pack - I really dont think (w/o looking at the checklist anyway) that this pack cuold have gone much better.

So there we go - a redemption song if there ever was one