Baseball Cards

Today is Brooks Robinson's 76th birthday, but everything else about this day made me feel like baseball is a cruel, pointless, stupid game. Yes, I was at Camden Yards for Jim Johnson and Darren O'Day's six-run ninth-inning meltdown; why do you ask?

Had a fun day at Yankee Stadium today. The Yankees made fairly easy work of the overhyped Blue Jays, 7-2. Robinson Cano was the big hero with two home runs.It was interesting to see a lot of unfamiliar players on the Yankees. Instead of Teixiera, Jeter and A-Rod, they Yankees now have Overbay, Nix, and David Adams. They're playing pretty well though. And another new guy, Travis Hafner, found himself facing a unique shift - the Blue Jays would send their third baseman to right field to overload that side of the field. In the eighth inning Hafner figured out how to beat that shift, hitting the ball into the seats for a two-run homer.

Hank Aaron 2000 Topps Commemorative Set – Card #4 – 1957 Topps Design This is the third card that I have obtained for this set since officially declaring that I wanted to build the full set as one of my 2013 collecting goals. This is the 4th card in the set, a re-print of Aaron’s 1957 Topps baseball card: Hank Aaron’s greatest individual season came in 1957.  He captured the league MVP Award in 1957 as well as his lone World Series championship. Some of Aaron’s amazing numbers from that 1957 baseball season include: 198 hits, 27 doubles, 44 home runs, 118 runs scored, 132 RBI, 369 total bases and just 58 strikeouts in 675 plate appearances. And he did all of this at the age of just 23 – WOW!!!

It has been too long since my last post. Today we have a retail blaster pack of 2013 Bowman.Key rookies in this set include Manny Machado and Jurickson Profar. That's quite a handle... Jurickson Profar. Sounds like a power tool or piece of heavy machinery.Anyhow, onto the pack.Iwakuma, Escobar, Frazier, Scutaro. Marco has aged very gracefully, particularly for an infielder. Still very productive.Ben Rowen, Brian Goodwin, and Yovani Gallardo. The gold parallels fall about 1/pack. Fun fact...Yovani, in his first 7 seasons, has 11 home runs and 28 RBIs, and he's a pitcher. For comparison, Omar Vizquel had 13 home runs in his first 7 seasons. Here is the chrome version of Brian Goodwin and Fu-Lin Kuo. I don't have any dirt on either of these guys.Woohoo! Retail auto hit. This is an orange parallel auto (1/230 packs) numbered to 250. Not much dirt on him either...he's only 21. He does have a .930 fielding percentage in the minors thus far.Thanks for looking!

Before I get to what makes me sad, let me say something that makes me happy: My youngest brother is graduating college this year - in fact, today was his graduation ceremony. I have to admit, it makes me feel super old knowing that he's graduated - but I'm proud of him. In fact, he's heading to Nebraska next fall in order to start working on his Ph.D in biology. Good for him I say! Now, on to the post at hand: This makes me sad. You are looking at my Trade Counter on the side of my blog. In 2010, I sent out 122 trade packages (an average of just over 10 per month). In 2011, I upped the total to 166 trade packages (an average of almost 14 per month). In 2012, my trade totals dropped but still crept over 100 (average of almost 9 per month). What about 2013? To date, I've mailed out 40 trade packages which is an average of only 8 per month so far this year. I'm a bit off the pace of 2012 which was a down year for trading...and I'm way off both 2010 and 2011. What's the cause? I believe the biggest culprit is my budget. I haven't bought a single 2013 product to date. Last year, I didn't buy anything other than Topps Archives and Allen & Ginter. This year is shaping up to be the same, though I may not even go all-in on Archives since I'm hosting a group break which will (hopefully) net me the full Reds set. Am I out of stuff to trade away? In a word, no. I have plenty of lists up on my blog (you can find them all at the top of the blog). However, maybe people just don't have any interest in tracking down more 2008 Topps Heritage or 2010 Topps Allen & Ginter. Am I too difficult to trade with? I certainly hope not, though I realize a lot of the stuff remaining on my want list is of the short print or insert variety. I've tried to make it a bit easier by adding a few new sets to the want list plus I'm now trading for just about any LEGO set I can get my hands on (and also LEGO minifigures that come in the little sealed packages for about $3.00 a piece). So what do you say? Want to trade? Let me know by shooting me an email, I'd love to continue to unload some of my extras (and hopefully continue to acquire stuff that I actually want)! I'm still optimistic that I can top 100 trades for the year, but I can't do it without you!

Jim Rice 1980 Topps Jim Rice’s card from the 1980 Topps set is a nice one. And as you can se, it looks like Mr. Rice is prepped to unleash a fierce swing. Check it out: By most measures, Jim Rice has a nice season in 1980.  But by the standards he had set in prior seasons, it was a down year for him in 1980.  Still, the numbers are far from poor – .294 batting average, 148 hits, 81 runs scored, 86 RBI, 18 doubles, 17 home runs, and 254 total bases in 124 games played.

Just in case.

I was able to add a pair of autographs to my Mets collection last night at the Newark Bears home opener. Newark’s new manager for 2013 is Garry Templeton, who finished his major league playing career with the 1991 New York Mets. He was much better known as a St. Louis Cardinal (where he was a two-time All-Star) and a San Diego Padre (where he played  for 10 seasons and made his final All-Star appearance in 1985.) The Rockland Boulders’ new pitching coach is Bobby M. Jones, the left-handed reliever who played for the New York Mets in 2000 and 2002. Jones also appeared in three early-season games for the 2004 Boston Red Sox, but spent most of his major league playing career with the Colorado Rockies. (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall) The Bears lost the game 3-1, with their batters striking out 16 times. It seemed like the team was practicing the same hitting batting philosophy as the Mets do these days – run up the opponents’ pitch count in expectation of it leading to better scoring chances. It doesn’t work very well if the hitters on your team don’t have good enough pitch recognition skills to figure out which ones they can do something with and which pitches they should take.  It’s a really bad idea in the Can-Am League when you can’t even count on the umpires to have a consistent strike zone from pitch to pitch. (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall) There was a nice crowd for the game – announced at 1,559 – but there were problems with lines at the concession stands that were bad enough that the team handed out free tickets to the June 3rd game to fans who requested them as they were leaving the stadium. One note for those who enjoy participating in on-field contests between innings- my friends did the sumo wrestling one, only to find out that there are no prizes this year. In the past, contest winners got vouchers for tickets to a future Bears game. Newark Bears catcher Elvin Millan (28) shakes hands with former Negro League player Bob Scott after Scott threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day. (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall) Newark Bears manager Garry Templeton (left) high fives player J.J. Sherrill as pitching coach Ralph Citarella (right) looks on. (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall) Filed under: Autographs, Baseball, new york mets, Newark Bears Tagged: Autographs, Baseball, Bobby M. Jones, Can-Am League, Garry Templeton, Mets, new york mets, Newark Bears, Rockland Boulders

Today is Reggie Jackson's 67th birthday. He is one of the few major leaguers whose birthday I can rattle off instantly, mostly because he shares it with my brother.It may seem like I mention Jackson too much on this blog for someone who was such a sworn enemy of Mr. October during my early rooting days. But as I've discussed before, for me, Jackson WAS the '70s. More than peace signs or Saturday Night Fever or Shake Your Groove Thing or gas lines or the Electric Company or Star Wars or Ziggy Stardust.Reggie Jackson = the '70s.Jackson represents a time when you could be your own man in a public forum. Sure, he said a lot of stupid stuff and he was an egomaniac whiner. But I admire that he said what was on his mind. In a current athletic atmosphere where every player has his own PR rep, everyone is trained not to say anything, and the few people who do speak candidly get fined or ridiculed until they shut up, Jackson is my hero in this area.Jackson stirred the drink and thank goodness. In many ways, he did it first, and I am very happy I was there to experience it, even if I was one of the ones berating him for saying something at the time.I also think that the fact that he also failed in such a public way -- Game 2 of the 1978 World Series, all of those many, many strikeouts -- drew my admiration. Jackson was/is very human. Everyone knew that. He was a good story. I love a good story.Over the years, I've shown a lot of Jackson cards on this blog. I wanted to show some other random ones from my collection in honor of his birthday. But I didn't want to show a bunch that have been talked about by me or others already.So, yes, isn't the 1976 Topps Jackson bad-ass? Isn't the 1988 Score Orioles Jackson crazy? Isn't the 1971 Topps Jackson so unmustachioed? But let's travel some slightly new territory.A few other very common, but less featured Reggies:1972 Topps In Action: Not the greatest quality photo, but you have to wonder where Jackson is looking in the stands. Who has drawn the attention of the man who draws all the attention?Also, I love that this card rhymes. Reggie Jackson. In Action. It's practically the cover of a comic book.1981 Fleer Mr. Baseball: Mr. Baseball? Mr. Baseball? Who called Reggie Jackson Mr. Baseball?This was our thought when we pulled this card out of those red Fleer packs in 1981. This was several years before Tom Selleck became Mr. Baseball, and I believe that Johnny Carson called Bob Uecker Mr. Baseball when Uecker appeared on the Tonight Show. But Reggie? Never.Nice try, Fleer. But it's "Mr. October."1983 Topps Super Veteran: Back in '83, I wasn't a fan of the Super Veteran cards. As a teenager, I didn't really care what the players looked like in their younger days. Black and white? Who wanted old crap like that?Now, of course, I appreciate cards like this immensely. I study the two photos, presented wonderfully side-by-side, and examine the batting poses. Older Reggie bringing the bat back more than younger Reggie, etc. Good stuff.1974 Topps All-Star Right Fielders: Out of the nine All-Star cards in the '74 set, this is the only one in which both players own a mustache. Right on.Reggie tormented the Dodgers in the World Series both here ...And here.1974 Topps '73 World Series Game 6: So it helps to be reminded that he tormented other teams in the World Series as well. In this game in 1973 against the Mets, Jackson doubled twice, singled and played a part in all three Oakland runs.1988 Score and 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites: I didn't follow Jackson's career until 1976. I only knew him as a bearded, mustachioed, shades-wearing slugger. To see him like he's presented on these two cards was very bizarre to me for a long time.I've grown accustomed to it, but that's not Reggie to me.1983 Topps All-Star: As you might know, I'm not super fond of the separate card for the All-Stars, but I liked these cards quite a bit with the monstrous STAR. Oh, and Reggie is telling you he has balls.1984 Topps: Reggie Nig