1988 Score

Time sure does fly...

2010-02-11T18:15:00.005-05:00

It's been a while.

I'm still here, not reading as much as I used to, but I'm still active in the hobby... but I haven't opened a pack of cards in about six months. I look at the barely opened box of '88 Donruss and want to keep going, but I just can't find the time.

In my time away, I've been working full time and recently upgraded my computer to Vista Ultimate after holding onto XP Pro for about ten years. Since I don't have my scanner software installed yet, this post will be sans quality pictures. I've also gotten back into my old ways of knife collecting and have been spending more time drooling over knives than baseball cards... But here I am, ready to talk cards for a bit.

I've been working on a trade with reader Robert for a few weeks and some bad weather and bad timing got in the way. His end of the trade came in today, and I'm still pulling cards for him.

Going his way are a small stack of 1988 Score and as many 1994 Topps as I can give him. Coming my way are 12 Steve Avery cards (!), a few 88 Fleer that I needed for the set and some '81 Topps that pushes me a bit closer to my ultimate goal of completing that set some day.

We'll do this the old fashioned way and use some camera pictures.

And here's the Steve Avery haul...

In other news, I'm finally on broadband internet... after two years of waiting, Verizon finally let me have DSL.

So there you have it. Thanks again to Robert and as soon as you let me know what '94 Topps you're looking for, I'll have your cards in the mail.

Getting caught up...

2009-08-10T13:42:00.000-04:00

My life, for the last nine months has been a pretty strange ride. I won't go into great detail, but after not having a job for a long time, I finally found one. Walmart. Not the best in the world, but I enjoyed it. But then I was offered a job with my former employer for pretty much what I was making before, and closer to home.

So after needing a job, now I have an extra one.

But with working, I'm exhausted. I'm still here though. I'm still reading, but my commenting has dropped to near nothing and my posting here, and at 1988 Donruss has been absent for a few days over a month now.

Well, it's time to get caught up, both here and at 88 Donruss.

We'll start here.

Three packages have come in filled with '09 Topps series 2 from Andy, GCRL and Howard.

With all the help I've gotten in these three packages, I'm only needing 13 cards to complete the set! Here's my current want list.

Just because I'm only going to post one doesn't mean that they weren't all greatly appreciated. They were.

But one card in particular jumped out at me. This has to be one of the most interesting shots in the set.

I think maybe this should have been a horizontally oriented picture just based on the cloud formations. But I don't know. Whatever it is, it's an interesting looking card.

Thanks a lot guys. It's been a while since I've written and I feel bad because I miss it. Hopefully this'll get me jumpstarted again.

Look for an update to 1988 Donruss in the next several days.

2009 Topps Series 2 Want List

2009-07-06T20:08:00.001-04:00

I think I'm finally finished buying series 2. I currently have 235 of the 330 cards and a good stack of doubles. The doubles list will be updated later tonight. For now, here's what I need.

332, 335, 337, 339, 345, 349, 350, 359, 362, 363, 364, 369, 370, 379, 382, 384, 387, 389, 401, 406, 407, 411, 412, 413, 421, 423, 424, 425, 429, 433, 436, 437, 445, 446, 447, 449, 450, 453, 460, 469, 479, 483, 487, 488, 494, 498, 500, 502, 507, 508, 510, 511, 516, 520, 521, 525, 528, 529, 537, 538, 539, 546, 556, 563, 565, 570, 572, 577, 579, 581, 584, 586, 588, 590, 591, 593, 594, 601, 606, 607, 609, 612, 614, 621, 626, 631, 632, 636, 638, 641, 643, 646, 647, 652, 659

Thanks.

Slicin' up a box for Dayf...

2009-06-30T20:55:00.001-04:00

Well, looks like Dayf wants to see me hack up my 1988 Fleer box with a machete. Well, here you go.

In three parts.

I had to switch to a smaller knife to cut out the cards because I like my fingers. The knives used are: Ontario RTAK and a Spyderco Centofante 4.

The end result wasn't as clean as possible because the RTAK is a good quarter inch thick (and seventeen inches long) and it kept hanging up in the soft cardboard, and I did manage to slice off the corner of Kirby Puckett, but that's ok. The little Spyderco slid right through the cardboard though.

I realize it's more of a slice than a hack... but I've spent too much money on guitars to risk losing a finger.

So, there you have it.

HUGE, combined 1988 Fleer mail day...

2009-06-29T13:44:00.000-04:00

I didn't get around to posting the stack of 88 Fleer that Jeff from Card Junkie sent yesterday, and maybe it's a good thing. Becuase in the mail box today were two more packages. One from Fat Rat with more 1988 Fleer.

Before going to the mail box on Saturday, I had 509 of the 660 cards of 1988 FLeer. After going through both packages from Jeff and John, I'm down to needing less than 40!

So, any extra Phillies I get are going to John and I'm looking through my '09 Series 2 extras for Card Junkie.

I really don't know where to begin on these, so I'll just highlight a few of my favorite cards from the stacks.

Let's just look at a random sampling, shall we?

A very young Matt Williams. I always liked him despite the steroid allegations.

1980's glasses goodness.

"rrrrrrrrrrrrr... Zomberto Kelly eat braaaaaaaainssss..."

Like Bob Walk, Eric Plunk is a guy that I think, based solely on last name, should have chosen another career path.

In fourteen seasons, Eric only plunked 32 batters though.

Looks like Fleer stole a page out of the Topps Big Book of Bad Baseball Card Poses. I'm pretty sure there's no ball in that glove.

I have no memory of this guy playing for the Braves... or anyone else for that matter. Looks like his big league career consisted of 31 games with an 4-11 record and an ERA of over 6.

Here's a guy I really didn't want to see leave Atlanta. I like Yunel Escobar and Kelly Johnson (when he remembers how to hit) up the middle, but I miss Blauser and the Lemmer.

When I saw the 32 on his bat knob, I thought he was holding someone else's bat because I remember Blauser wearing number 4. But it looks like he had number 32 until Gary Eave was called up in 1989, at which point Blauser switched to number 4.

Well... that's it.

I want to send a huge thanks to both Jeff and John. I'm less than 40 cards from the end thanks to their generosity.

My want list will be updated pretty soon.

And check out A Pack to be Named Later sometime this afternoon for the first pack of 1988 Donruss.

Thanks again.

Another box of Series Two Cereal...

2009-06-27T23:48:00.007-04:00

Series Two O's.

Are all the series 2 boxes Lou Gherig? This'll be the third one I've bought and all three have been Lou.

So with two cereal boxes, five packs and a blaster, I'm 51% through the set. So let's see how I do with this one. I've only pulled a handful of Braves too. Only one from the first cereal box, and I think Chipper was the only one in the second... maybe this one'll be a bit better.

Before I begin, I should preface this by adding that I am substantially drunk, so any typos, I'll try to fix in the morning.

Again, I won't list all the cards because that would be boring...

I don't like Derek Jeter. I'm sorry, but I don't. I hate the Yankees, and I really just don't like Jeter. I do like him a lot more than Alex Rodriguez, who I disliked long before he was a Yankee, but sorry Jeter fans... he's just not for me.

But this is a great looking card. I can't get over how well Topps did with their photography this year. It's not as good all the way around as 1988 Score, but it's pretty damn close.

This is a nice action shot. But what I really want to point out here is the guy talking on his cellphone at a baseball game.

I have a cellphone, and I probably couldn't live without it since I don't have a landline. But I hate being around people who can't get off the damn things no matter where they are. If you're walking around downtown or in a store you don't need to be talking on the phone. People don't want to hear your conversations and it doesn't make you look cool to strut along with a phone in your ear. It didn't look cool 15 years ago when very few people had cellphones and it sure as hell doesn't look cool now that everyone has one.

And guess what, guy on a phone at a Rockies game? Now you're going to be the jackass that everyone who collects baseball cards will remember as the guy on the phone.

Hang the fucking thing up and watch the game. He's probably one of those assholes who sits on his phone the entire game talking to someone who's watching the game on TV.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system...

I'm not sure if I like this card or not. There's a lot of great action going on, and I really like how the ball is almost in perfect focus. But it's just a strange position to find a pitcher in at any time during a game. I'm guessing he's fielding a bunt and throwing off balance to first... or jumping a hurdle as he runs across the field.

It would be a great shot if the ball was the focal point of the photo, instead of the strained look on his face.

And now, the best card in the box (assuming the refractor isn't Ripken)...

Maddux in an awesome throwback jersey. You can't ask for much better.

This wasn't a bad box at all, very few doubles. But there was one damaged card and fortunately I already had it, so I can't complain about that.

Now the refractor...

Pretty spiffy. I've got Bob Gibson, Ty Cobb and now Cy Young.

Any doubles that I got out of the box will be up on my for trade list in the morning.

Mailday from Montana

2009-06-27T14:42:00.001-04:00

In the mail box this afternoon were two small bubble mailers. One from Jeff at Card Junkie, and one from reader Mike, out in Bozeman, Montana.

I've never been to Montana, but a great deal of one of my favorite books, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, is set in Bozeman. It, along with its sequel Lila, is one that I go back and read every year or two. In fact, I'll probably have to buy a new copy after another reading.

But I digress. Let's look at some cards.

Top row:
131 Juan Nieves
273 Gerald Perry
337 Fernando Valenzuela

Bottom row:
341 Orel Hershiser
432 Joe Magrane
452 Pat Clements

Since we all know most of these players, I'm going to do a group scan and then talk a bit.

There's a good chance that this is the best combination of six cards you could possibly find in this set.

With the exception of Gerald Perry, there's not a boring shot in the group. And Perry's a Brave, so I don't mind the boring shot too much.

My favorite of the group is, as you probably guessed, Orel Hershiser. Comparing his Topps signature to the TTMs I got a few weeks ago, it doesn't look like his signature has changed much in the past 20 years.

I assume these are all spring training shots, and I noticed that only Magrane and Clements aren't wearing long sleeves under their jersey shirt. So maybe they're from early spring training.

Once again, I'd like to thank Mike, and I'm now five cards from the end. I made a little booboo on my want list and missed two cards that I actually needed, so that list is now correct.

Check in tomorrow afternoon as we go through a large (41 cards) chunk of 1988 Fleer that Jeff from Card Junkie sent over.

Thanks again to Mike and Jeff. And be sure to keep a look out early next week for 1988 Donruss to take over the old '88 Fleer blog.

Series Two Cereal anyone?

2009-06-24T17:23:00.002-04:00

I was in Wal Mart, and I said I wasn't going to buy any more retail packs, and I didn't. But I did pick two boxes of Lou Gherig O's. $10 and unsearchable, it's a good deal.

Looks tasty. Let's hope so.

I won't list every card because that would be boring.

On first glance this is a pretty cool looking card. But then you notice that Carlos is just as worried about his hat coming off as he is about catching the ball.

The ONLY Brave in the box and a sweet, sweet looking swing. I just wish he was using that sweet swing to actually hit the a little more than he's doing.

This DOES NOT look real. It looks like a screencap from a video game.

Any Rockies fans out there want this? Let me know.

So nothing spectacular, but I only got seven doubles. So I'm a lot happier than those retail packs.

So let's take a look at the EXCLUSIVE LEGENDS CHROME REFRACTOR!

Hey hey... this is nice. I'm pleased. THat smudge is from the scanner... I realy need to Windex my scanner bed.

So if anything else interesting pops up in the second box, I'll do a little post.

1989 Bowman Livin' the High Life... or

2009-06-17T19:27:00.000-04:00

Mail Day from Fat Rat

I'm a beer snob. I love beer, good beer. Keep Budweiser away from me, and bring me something dark, heavy or microbrewed. In fact, I just cracked open a bottle of Magic Hat No. 9, and fittingly, the cap says "Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?"

But I have a dirty little secret. I like Miller High Life. I don't drink it much anymore, but when money was tight in college I could always scrounge up enough change for a 40.

In the mailbox today was a heavy envelop from John, aka. Fat Rat Phillies Fan. I sent a few '09 Heritage Phillies his way and a couple other things. When I opened the envelope, this fell out:

Beer! Of course, there were some baseball cards attached to the other side.

Let's see what we got, and following 1989 Bowman tradition, we'll look at the rookies...

270 Jody Davis

340 Bill Bene - First round flop?

Bene was the fifth overall pick of the 1988 draft and pitched in relative futility for nine seasons, retiring after 1997.

366 Otis Nixon
209 Scott Bradley

245 Alex Sanchez - Alex Sanchez is not to be confused with the Alex Sanchez who played for the Brewers, Tigers, Devil Rays and Giants a few years ago (that Alex Sanchez was the first player to be suspended under the new drug policy). This Alex Sanchez pitched a grand total of four games in the Majors and left with a 10.03 ERA. Here's what Andy had to say about him over at Traded Sets, and it sums up his career pretty well.

He stuck around in the minors until 1995 and had a minor league record of 59-54/4.15 ERA in 209 games.

269 Pete Smith

75 Kevin Wickander - He was a short reliever his entire career and posted a 5-1 record, but recorded only two saves in six seasons. In 150 games, he pitched 132.2 innings, walked 85 and struck out 101.

81 Jessee Orosco
191 Eric Plunk - Another name like Bob Walk... probably should have considered another career with a name like that.

I'm now 11 away with another trade in the works that should put me even closer.

Thanks a lot John! Almost time to put this one to bed, and I almost wish it was a bigger set, I really love these cards.

Mail Day - 1981 Topps from Card Junkie

2009-06-16T16:28:00.000-04:00

I sent out a few trades yesterday, and this one was in the mail box when I got home.

I've never heard of this guy, but he's got a pretty nice looking card. He does look a bit unsavory, but he's a catcher. They're supposed to look rough around the edges.

I think this officially puts me at 25% on 1981 Topps, so thanks a lot Jeff!

For anyone curious, 1988 Fleer will be back tomorrow... real life got kinda hectic and needed attention. So we'll finish up the box starting tomorrow.

Thanks again Jeff, and anyone who has a trade in the works with me, they went out yesterday so keep an eye on the mail box.

1989 Bowman from Night Owl...

2009-06-13T20:41:00.000-04:00

As promised, here's a large surprise mail day from Greg at Night Owl Cards.

Here's a small sampling of the 41 cards he sent. I'm now 19 cards away and nine more of them should be on their way to me pretty soon, so I'm nearing the end of a set that I thought would be pretty difficult to complete.

This seems like a good place to start. It's not exactly a night card, but it's an early evening card. I've mentioned before that all of the Orioles cards look the same, but they should have put them in order based on the time of day they were taken.

hmmmm...

Old school Expos uniform.

Run Ryno Run! This is about as exciting as 1989 Bowman gets.

This is the typical treatment that the Padres got in this set.

I love this card! For some reason I feel like he needs to be standing on top of the Empire State building swatting planes out of the sky.

And finally this.

I really like this card, there's a lot of nice forward motion going on and the strips on the uniform just add to it.

Once again, I'd like to thank the Night Owl for his help with this set.

Two more TTM attempts going out on Monday...

2009-06-13T00:51:00.003-04:00

These two may seems pretty off the wall, but they'll make sense in the end.

Reed and Tolleson are two of seven players who attended my alma mater, Western Carolina University. According to the back of the '87 Topps card, Jerry Reed pitched the first no-hitter in WCU history.

Looks like the Cincinnati Reds' Jared Burton is the only current player who went to WCU.

I guess we'll see if I have success.

2009 Topps Series 2... what the f***

2009-06-11T23:57:00.001-04:00

So I posted a few days ago about how I got my hands on a blaster of Series 2. Well, tonight I finally found some retail packs and bought five.

When you take out all the inserts and Topps Town cards from the blaster, I got 63 total base cards. No doubles. Over all, a pretty successful blaster, though I wish the Topps Town cards weren't one of the eight in the blaster packs.

Tonight out of five packs, which is a total of 55 possible cards (taking out the five Topps Town cards), I got sixteen doubles from five packs. SIXTEEN FUCKING DOUBLES. What the hell is up with that? I got my fair share of doubles from Series 1, but not like this. The first pack I ripped had six doubles alone.

One of the 16 I'm holding on to one for a certain Phillies fan, but the others are up on my 2009 Topps for trade list. First come first serve... I'd prefer if you email me, rather than post a comment. My email is in my profile.

I'm looking for '89 Bowman, '09 Heritage or Turkey Red Braves or '81 Topps.

All was not lost though, I got some pretty nice inserts...

I really like Turkey Red, but I just don't see myself being able to complete this set. So this one is up on the trading block too, if any Orioles fan wants it, let me know.

These Wal Mart exclusives are beautiful.

Very nice.

Very, very nice.

Ok, so yeah, I'm pissed off. Did I just get lucky with Series 1 and is this just an example of '09 collation? Or is series 2 particularly bad?

But, tomorrow or Saturday (probably Saturday) you're going to see a nice surprise package from Night Owl, so thanks a lot Greg! Just wait, it's a nice one.

Bobby Wins 2,000

2009-06-09T00:21:00.006-04:00

It took fifteen innings, but Bobby Cox won his 2,000th Atlanta Braves game tonight, 7-6 against the Pirates.

Congratulations Bobby. I hope he can make it back to the World Series one more time.

Also, I know this was his 2,000 Braves win, so why did I post a Blue Jays card? Well, I couldn't find another one of him in a Braves uniform.

2009 Topps Series 2 blaster

2009-06-05T20:35:00.000-04:00

YAY, finally found series 2. Now I know blasters aren't as economical as retail packs, but there were five packs left and every one of them had been opened and searched. So this time, I'll settle for less cards just to know they haven't been searched.

I wonder what the patch will be. With my luck it'll be fuckin' Alex Rodriguez or Manny. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Christy Mathewson, Lou Gherig, Jackie Robinson or Tony Gwynn. If it has to be one of the current players, maybe it'll be Chipper.

Let's see what we've got:

Pack 1

352 Gregor Blanco - YAY Brave.

443 Gavin Floyd
471 Kerry Wood
BCS15 Chris Denorfia
TTT30 Ryan Braun
551 Tim Redding
509 Lou Montanez
603 Jose Reyes

Pack 2
480 Prince Fielder
562 Cecil Cooper
628 Desert Power (Justin Upton, Chris Young)
351 Chris Snyder

582 Yunel Escobar - Gold Parallel 491/2009, I like the card, but the photograph is a bit blurry. And I would have chosen one where, I assume, Kelly Johnson isn't stepping on Yunel's foot.

TTT47 Carlos Beltran
625 Jim Thome
595 Vernon Wells

Pack 3
579 Adam Kennedy
618 Brandon Backe
410 Lou Piniella

LG-BR Brooks Robinson - We've all seen these, and I've posted a few of them, but I think these are beautiful cards.

TTT39 Carlos Zambrano
383 Everth Cabrea
557 Jayson Werth
513 Bronson Arroyo

Pack 4
517 Kevin Frandsen
417 Jason Marquis

431 Ramon Hernandez - Here's one that I think everyone who's written about Series 2 has posted, so I wanna get in on the action too! I think it's been a while since we've seen a truly iconic baseball card, but I think this will be on that endures the test of time. In twenty years when you think of 2009 Topps, this will probably be the card you think of first.

TTT31 Vladimir Guerrero
419 Braden Looper

479 Jose Molina - It's a Yankee and it's a bit over exposed, but I still like it.

444 Jody Gerut
344 J.R. Towels

Pack 5
464 Bobby Crosby
426 Pablo Sandoval
386 Jonathan Papelbon
430 Francisco Rodriguez

TR91 Matt Kemp - I wish Turkey Red had been a standalone set, or half the size and inserted more regularly. I only pulled three from series 1. I'd like to put together a complete set because they're really nice cards, but there's just too many of them.

TTT36 Ian Kinsler
596 Radhames Liz
541 Jason Bay

Pack 6
340 Joe Mauer

354 Mike Aviles - Oops. Everyone's shown this one too, but I just want to say one thing. I have absolutey no training in PhotoShop, but even I know how to avoid this little problem. I wonder if it'll be corrected in future printings and if it'll become a treasured error card... probably not. Hell, Topps probably meant to do it.

338 Daniel Cabrera

LGCB-LG Lou Gherig - This card is just beautiful. It's not overly shiny or refractory, it's just simple and perfect and beautiful. And any Lou Gherig card is a good one.
TTT42 Kevin Youkilis

468 Derek Lowe
457 John Maine
405 Todd Helton

Pack 7
472 Bill Hall
518 Chris Perez
542 Chris Ray
TTT26 Joe Mauer
633 David Patton
597 Randy Wolk
343 Ian Snell
380 Aramis Ramirez

Pack 8
569 Ted Lilly
617 Shaun Marcum
657 Aaron Heilman
414 Cha Seung Baek
TTT45 Alex Rios
536 Khalil Greene
428 Jamie Moyer
547 Jack Cust

Pack 9
655 Bengie Molina
512 Steve Pearce
458 Jeremy Bonderman
649 LUke Hochevar - Gold Parallel 463/2009
TTT42 Kevin Youkilis - gold
403 Trevor Cahill
602 Carlos Gomez
620 Ryan Zimmerman

Pack 10
435 Carlos Lee
466 Wilson Betemit

LG-FT Frank Thomas - The Big Hurt. The Big Hall of Famer? I think so.

TTT35 Prince Fielder
637 Donald Veal
346 Mike Cameron
654 Brian Schneider
608 Christian Guzman

Patch time. I almost thought video-ing this. But I don't want to hear everyone hear my say "fuck" a whole lot when A-Rod or Manny comes out of this package. So let's have a look...

Hey not bad. I know it's manufactured and not worth a damn, but it's very nice, and it's not a cheater!

Now I've gotta go put these cards in order and see if I got any doubles. If I did, I'll throw them up on my '09 Topps doubles list for anyone who's interested.

Orel Hershiser TTM Success!!!!!!!!

2009-05-29T12:11:00.001-04:00

Went to the mailbox this morning: satellite bill, insurance bill, junk mail, envelope with my handwriting, Barnes & Noble coupon... wait a minute. Envelope with my handwriting?

I looked at the post mark... Las Vegas. Wait, wait, don't get too excited, sometime they don't sign and just send the cards back.

Still, I was like a little kid being told not to open that christmas present that he knows is the Super Death Ray Blaster 7000 and is going to wet himself if he can't tear into it within in the next eight seconds.

So I stood in the driveway, ripped the envelope open and these fell out...

What better cards to send than from his amazing, Cy Young year of 1988?

Aside from Steve Avery, this is the one that I was really hoping to get back. Hershiser is a big reason that I became a baseball fan, and a fan of pitching.

After just over a month (I sent them out April 25), the cards are back home with the autograph of my childhood baseball hero.

Thank you very much, Mr. Hershiser.

Mailday 5/28 Part 2

2009-05-28T19:49:00.000-04:00

Here's a sampling of the second part of the package I got today from Dayf.

Let's start with the greatest uniform in the history of baseball:

In 1978, White was involved in an interested deal. The Expos sent a player to be named later to the Cubs for a player to be named later and Woodie Fryman. The deal was originally made on June 9 with White being sent on June 23. In December of the same year, White was traded back to the Expos for Sam Mejias.

The deal worked out best for Montreal in the end, as White played well enough as a part time player for the Expos until 1983, and Woodie Fryman pitched well out of the pen.

Here's a nice shot of Phil Garner.

This is going to sound strange, but when I think of Phil Garner I think of the Dodgers. I know very well that he only played half a season in LA, but I still think Dodgers when I hear his name. I'll have to look, but I can only assume that he's in a Dodger uniform on most 1988 baseball cards.

It's a Yankee, but it's a nice looking card. Mr. Jones was a two time All Star.

And finally... Who's idea was it for the White Sox to wear this?

I'm trying to figure out what it says under the bill of his cap. It doesn't look like a uniform number... he wore number 12 in 1980.

Well, there you have it. I'm now 181 cards into the set, right at 25%.

Thanks again Dayf.

Mailday 5/28 - Trade with Cardboard Junkie: Part 1

2009-05-28T14:37:00.000-04:00

A package came in today from Dayf at the venerable Cardboard Junkie. Once again, the generosity of this community astounds me. I'm sending Dayf three 2000 Topps series 1 that he needs, and in return he sent 21 1981 Topps and 3 1989 Bowmans that I need.

We're gonna look at the Bowman first, and when I get a chance to look through the 81s I'll put up some of those.

Here's a relatively young Roger Clemens in a spring training shot. In 1989, Clemens was coming off a 18-11 season where he threw 14 complete games with eight shutouts. He also struck out 291, and finished sixth in Cy Young voting.

Looks like Schmidt has connected for something down the left field line. I wonder if this is a spring training shot becuase of the alternate jersey.

I am very much on the fence about all the alternate jerseys in baseball these days. What ever happened to just good old fashioned white at home and grey on the road? Some of the alternates look ok, and admittedly I do like the Braves' Sunday red uniforms, but that's about it. These days it almost seems like the regular white jersey is the alternate.

And then there's that camouflage thing at the Padres wore last year. I turned on the TV, flipped to a baseball game and said outloud to no one "what the fuck..."

Alternate hats get me too...

When I think about the Atlanta Braves, a team I've followed for 20 years now, the hat on the left comes to mind. I've had that hat for probably 15 years, it doesn't even fit anymore, but I keep it around for the memories. Now, I admit the black one is pretty spiffy (it was a freebie at Turner Field about ten years ago) but it's not a game hat. Seems like the Braves rarely wear that navy blue and red cap these days.

Aye, but this is a tangent for another post on another day.

And finally we have this. This is the final father/son card that I needed and it prooves one thing to me. Topps knew how to take good pictures of the Orioles, they just chose not to.

There you have part one. I want to thank Dayf for his help with this set. Just 60 more to go. And be sure to come back later to see some wonderful old 1981 Topps.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe... cards?

2009-05-25T16:49:00.001-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, and I thought about slapping these up on APTBNL, but this place needs some love too. So let's take a trip down memory lane...

I bought this a few years ago purely out of nostalgia and never watched anything more than the behind the scenes documentary included as a special feature.

But a few days ago I was thinking about it, got it off the shelf and started from the beginning to watch it all, and look what I found hiding in the box:

The cards, if you want to call them that, are about post card sized and seem to be from a 16 card set.

These are recent interpretations of the characters, but I have to say the Skeletor/Evil-Lynn card is pretty badass looking.

Looks like I may have to get my hands on the other three volumes.

And there you have my first foray into non-sports cards.

I HAVE THE POWER!

50,000

2009-05-13T16:55:00.000-04:00

No, not dollars, cards or hits to the site. But miles.

Tomorrow morning around 4:30am I'm hitting the road to Atlanta to take a friend to the airport for a 7:45am flight. No big deal, but I looked down this morning and saw this:

My beloved 2006 Subaru Impreza is about to 50,000 miles. I don't know if I should be a proud papa, or upset about it. Imprezas have been known to run for more than 200,000 miles, so I'm not concerned at all... but it's a bit of a milestone.

Several years ago I was driving along and just happened to look down and my '97 Ford Thunderbird was just rolling to 100,001 and I was upset that I missed that milestone.

I'm hoping I can make this trip on one tank of gas.

Unfortunately, I won't be in Atlanta long enough to do anything tomorrow, and the Braves aren't playing, so there's no point in hanging around.

EDIT: That's strange. My Hella Supertones didn't show up at all in that picture.... I looked back at it and thought "something's missing." I immediately ran out to the car to make sure someone hadn't managed to steal them...

Here's a really bad, old picture of what the front of my car really looks like...

Mail Day: 5/11/09 Pack 2

2009-05-11T20:00:00.003-04:00

Part two comes by way of Rob ~~from~~ who now reads I Heart Halos (d'oh... lack of sleep is really screwing with me). I sent him some 1991 Topps and he sent 42 of the remaining 1989 Bowman cards I needed.

First, since I'm only missing a few Orioles, I think it's safe to say that THEY ALL LOOK EXACTLY THE FREAKIN' SAME!!!

I love this set. I really do, so don't take this the wrong way. While the photography is good, certainly better quality than base Topps, it's still bland and uninspired for the most part. I realize that they were probably trying to model the set on old Bowman, but the style of photography, to me at least, seems more akin to 1960s and early 70s baseball card photography.

And for anyone who's curious, the sticker under the monitor in the background is from a Raleigh, NC based doom metal band called Soulpreacher. They're along the lines of old My Dying Bride with maybe a bit of Anathema mixed in with some prog elements. Good stuff.

Anyhoo.

I wonder what El Presidente is laughing at. I really like this card, and as we all know, I'm a sucker for the old school Expos uniform.

He had a pretty good career, bordering on great. Not Hall of Fame material, but certainly a career to be proud of.

Ozzie Smith looks very uncomfortable.

And now, that rookie that I mentioned.

Ty Griffin was drafted as the 9th over all pick in the June 1988 draft by the Cubs out of Georgia Tech. He split the 1989 season between Single-A Peoria and Double-A Charlotte, and then bounced back and forth between High-A Winston-Salem and Charlotte in 1990 and 1991. He was picked up by the Reds and spent '92 at Double-A Chattanooga.

In 1993 and '94, Ty played in the independant Northern League, first for the Thunder Bay Whiskey Jacks and then for the Sioux City Explorers.

1995 saw him back in affiliated baseball with the Arkansas Travelers (Cardinals) where he played 94 games. He then spent '96 and '97 with the Grand Forks Varmints of the independant Prairie League.

In five minor league seasons, he hit .241/39/241. His numbers in four independant seasons were somewhat better: .287 with 43 home runs.

So there you have it. With Rob's help I'm now 63 cards away. The updated want list can be found here

Thanks a lot Rob.

Mail Day: 5/11/09 Part 1

2009-05-11T16:01:00.008-04:00

Seems like it's been a while since I've posted a mail day. I haven't been trading much lately. Not sure why. Oh well. Two packages came in today from trades that went out last week.

The first is from reader Dave who I helped complete one set of '87 Topps and get close to a second set. He's also been nice enough to decide to build 1988 Score, so I'm sending him a good sized stack of doubles tomorrow. It's going to work out well for both of us, because now he's a little close to a complete set, and I finally have room for my growing stack of 1981 Topps.

Which is what he sent me in return for the '87s. So let's have a look, shall we?

I love this card! That's all I can say about it. It's wonderful! This is my first Rollie Fingers card, and his last in a Padres uniform. For now, until I see more of this set, this is officially my favorite card (although, Gorman Thomas is a pretty close second).

Here we see the 1980 Atlanta Braves with a much younger Bobby Cox, a 40 year old Bobby Cox in fact.

Aside from this, the oldest card of Bobby I have is his 1986 Topps card, his last as the Blue Jays manager. I wonder how hard it would be to put together a player/manager collection of Bobby Cox cards...

And finally, this card confuses me just a bit...

Is there a reason the Cubs team card isn't a full team photo? Is it just because they couldn't find the time to do one, or is there some historical context? Are there any other team cards in '81 Topps that are like this?

The vast majority of my collection is from the dreaded era of over production. There's not a lot I can do about it, I was seven years old in 1988 when I started buying cards. I'm certainly interested in older cards and have plans in the future to work my way back as far as I can, but I have very few cards from before the mid-80s, so these older cards are still very new to me (and I realize 1981 doesn't qualify as old, yet).

With these 15 cards from Dave, I'm now up to 22.8% of the set.

So I'd like to thank Dave for his help with this '81 Topps project (hopefully I can complete it before the set and I turn 30 years old... I've got two years to do it).

Thanks again, Dave!

Steve Avery TTM attempt: Success!!!!!!!

2009-05-07T12:22:00.007-04:00

I'm no autograph hound and I've never asked for an autograph in person. So I really didn't know what to expect when I sent out these TTM attempts. When an envelope from me showed up in the mailbox today, I got pretty excited.

Honestly, I expected the Marquis Grissom cards to come back first. But when I ripped into the envelope, these fell out:

Now there are two autographs in my player collection! I want to thank Mr. Avery for returning these in only 12 days.

This was also sitting on my front porch this morning (why don't delivery people knock on the door?).

Head on over to 1988 Fleer for daily pack breaks.

Happy day.

A Pack to be Named Later

2009-05-02T15:27:00.004-04:00

If you haven't seen A Pack to be Named Later go check it out. There's not much there yet, but soon there will be. It's an ambitious project started by Matt at Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius and I've signed on to post a few packs here and there.

When my in coming box of '88 Fleer arrives, A Pack to be Named Later will get exclusive rights to the first pack. I also plan to rip boxes of 88 Topps and 88 Donruss before the end of the summer.

So keep an eye out for it, it should be a lot of fun.

And now I'm off to have a nice evening out for my birthday.

Spring in my backyard

2009-04-27T13:30:00.002-04:00

I took the cat out for a walk and snapped a few pictures and thought I'd share (while I try to stay away from the pile of papers that need to be shredded in the living room floor).

Ok, back to cleaning.

Two more TTM tries going out...

2009-04-26T10:59:00.002-04:00

I don't know if through the mail autographs will become a hobby or not. I guess we'll see how this first round of four attempts works out. If I'm successful, I'll keep at it.

Going out tomorrow are letters to Rafael Belliard and Marquis Grissom.

I spent many afternoons and evenings hoping for Raffy to hit a second home run, and when he did I couldn't stop smiling for hours. These days he's the infield coach for the Tigers, so hopefully my letter won't get lost in the stadium mail room.

Marquis Grissom is responsible for my favorite and longest lasting baseball memory. When ever I see one of his cards, my mind replays the catch he made for the final out of the 1995 World Series. Because of that catch Marquis Grissom will be forever linked to Skip Caray, in the same way I always think of Skip when I see a Sid Bream card. I watched the game on TV, but right after it was over, I went to bed and tuned into WSB 750am to listen to Skip and Pete's post game celebration. Skip was kind enough to replay his final call several times so listeners could record it, and I did.

And as an aside, I probably won't be around too much until my box of '88 Fleer gets here. The spring cleaning bug bit me about a week ago and I'm still going at it. Unfortunately, when I clean I tend to make a bigger mess in the process, so I clean one room and then have to clean another because all the stuff from the first room piles up in the second. There's gotta be an easier way.

My first TTM attempt

2009-04-24T22:57:00.002-04:00

I want to first thank everyone who gave me advice on how to go about TTM autographing. Two envelopes are going out tomorrow morning to Steve Avery and Orel Hershiser.

The cards are: Steve Avery - 1990 Donruss Rated Rookie, 1990 Bowman; Orel Hershiser - 1988 Score, 1988 Topps.

We'll see what happens.

1988 Fleer, coming soon.

2009-04-24T19:27:00.005-04:00

I ordered a box of 1988 Fleer this afternoon, so my 1989 Bowman site will soon become 1988 Fleer. Now I need your help in deciding on a new banner. The choices are

Number 1:

Number 1b (added another little element from the front of the card):

Number 2:

Number 2b (I cleaned up some clutter):

Number 2c:

Right now, 2b is my front runner, but I wanna see what the readers think. They are still rough drafts and I'll be tinkering with them off and on until the box gets here.

I'm open to any ideas or criticisms.

Thanks.

Want lists updated...

2009-04-22T22:52:00.003-04:00

With the completion of my 1989 Bowman box, I've updated my want list. I'm 105 cards away from the completion of the set.

I realize that I'm a bit behind on some things here. I've got another part of a package from Howard to write up and I still intend to finish the '88 Score Rookie Prospects. So stay around for those.

I want to try through the mail autograph

2009-04-17T21:57:00.002-04:00

I realize my writing here has been a bit lacking of late, and I don't really know why. Like I said in today's post over at '89 Bowman, I'm just not feeling it right now.

But, as the title of this post implies, I've been kicking around the idea of giving TTM a shot lately, but I really don't know where to start.

Is there a source for current addresses of players who are good TTM signers? I don't want to just send cards off into the void, but I also don't want to feel like a stalker by going to a phonebook or using a name search online (but for some reason, having someone else do that work for me feels less wrong).

I've recently acquired an extra 1990 Donruss Steve Avery Rated Rookie card and since it's my favorite card ever made, what's a better choice for an autograph? I've also got an extra 1990 Bowman Steve Avery that would look nice with an autograph. I've never read anything about him signing through the mail, so I don't know if he's a good candidate or not, but the cards are extras that I can afford to lose, so what the hell?

Does anyone have some advice on where to start? Any websites to look at? Anything at all?

Thanks.

Where Are They Now? John Davis

2009-04-13T13:00:00.003-04:00

John Davis was drafted in the seventh round of the 1981 draft and made his major league debut on July 24, 1987. He was used primarily as a middle reliever in his short career. He had a pretty good rookie season with Kansas City going 5-2 with a 2.27 ERA in 43 2/3 innings pitched. Walks were a problem for him though (26 in 1987 and 50 in 63.2 innings a year later).

He played his final Major League game on August 15, 1990, but attempted a comeback with the Nashville Sounds in 1995.

Where Are They Now? Keith Hughes

2009-04-12T13:00:00.002-04:00

Keith Hughes made his professional debut as an amateur free agent for the Bend Phillies in 1982. In 1984, he was traded to the Yankees along with Marty Bystrom for Shane Rawley. He made his major league debut May 19, 1987 for the Yankees but was traded back to the Phillies less than a month later.

On March 21, 1988 he was traded to the Orioles and played in 41 games that season, but spent the 1989 season at Triple-A Rochester before being traded to the Mets in November 1990.

He resurfaced in the Majors briefly in 1993 with the Reds. He last played professionally in 1995 with the Omaha Royals.

An update.

2009-04-11T18:55:00.000-04:00

This is from WLOS-TV in Asheville:

Deputies arrest a third suspect in yesterday's deadly home invasion in Henderson County. 17 year old Mykel Waters turned himself in early this morning. The two other suspects in the case turned themselves in last night. Waters, Steven Ramirez and Terry Landrum all face first degree murder charges in the beating death of 63 year old Oscar Corn. Corn's family members say deputies tell them the three suspects first broke into a trailer on Corn's property early Friday morning, but found nothing. That's when they broke into the home and found Oscar sitting at the table. Deputies say the men beat Oscar to death, and hit his wife, Joyce, in the back of the head with a pistol. News 13 has also learned more about the background of one of the suspects. 33 year old Steven Ramirez's criminal history in the mountains dates back to 1993, when he was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. In 1994, Ramirez was convicted of armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. He served 14 years for those crimes, and was released last September. Deputies still have not said if Oscar Corn was targeted, or if this was a random act of violence.

Another sad day in baseball...

2009-04-11T02:56:00.006-04:00

This one probably won't get any national coverage though.

Former minor leaguer, and one time West Henderson High School assistant baseball coach Oscar “Poochie” Corn was beaten to death inside his home on Howard Gap Road in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He was attacked while reading his bible in the kitchen around 1:30am on Friday morning. His wife was then pistol whipped and forced to watch as her husband was beaten to death.

Their twelve year old grandson was in the house with them and hid in a closet and called 911.

According to the Asheville Citizen-Times two suspects had been arrested late Friday. A third was still on the run.

From the Times:

Authorities arrested Terry Lee Landrum, 16, of Ida Rogers Drive, and Steven R. Ramirez, 33, of Woodcock Avenue. A third person, Mykel Waters, 17, of Cedar Bluff Apartments, was being sought late Friday.

Police charged each of the three with first-degree murder; second-degree burglary; first-degree burglary; and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

This video is from the 6:00pm news cast from WLOS-TV in Asheville, and this is from 11:00pm

What the fuck is wrong with people?

Where Are They Now? Dave Clark

2009-04-10T13:00:00.000-04:00

Think back to all the best birthday presents you've ever received. I'm sure there have been some great ones, but how many of us can say that we made our Major League Baseball debut on our birthday? Better yet, how many can say they got their first Major League hit on their birthday?

That's exactly what Dave Clark did on September 3, 1986, his 24th birthday. In the top of the 8th inning, facing Dave Stieb at old Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Clark hit a line drive to center that dropped in for a hit. The Indians went on to lose the game, but that's a memory he will never forget.

After retired in 1998, Clark worked his way up the Pirates lader as a hitting instructor, eventually spending two seasons with the big club. He has a local connection for me because he managed the Sally League's Hickory Crawdads.

After his time in Hickory he managed in the Astros system and is their current third base coach at the Major League level.

RIP Nick Adenhart

2009-04-09T16:24:00.002-04:00

This isn't breaking news anymore, but I want to echo everyone's words today. My deepest sympathies go out to the family and friends, and all of the California Angels players and staff for the loss of young Nick Adenhart.

Here's the story from Baseball America.

There are no words that can help in a time like this. Again, to everyone who knew and loved him, you're in my thoughts.

Where Are They Now? Darrel Akerfelds

2009-04-09T13:00:00.002-04:00

The information on the back of the card is sort of confusing. It leads you to believe that he pitched with the Indians in 1988, which he didn't. He pitched in 16 innings with the Indians in 1987, but spent the entire 1988 season at Triple-A Colorado Springs, where he went 3-7 with a 4.34 ERA in 49 games of relief.

On December 5, 1988 he was taken in the Rule 5 draft by the Rangers and spent most of the '89 season at Triple-A Oklahoma City. 1990 was his only full year at the Major League level when he pitched in 71 games for the Phillies. After appearing in 30 games for the Phillies in 1991, he split the remainder of his career between Double- and Triple-A with the Pirates, Rangers, Blue Jays and Angels.

These days he's the bullpen coach for the Padres.

Where Are They Now? Gary Thurman

2009-04-08T13:00:00.002-04:00

Here and here.

Mailday - In Purple I'm Stunning: Part 1

2009-04-08T12:07:00.004-04:00

After spending close to an hour driving around looking for a FedEx office, I came home annoyed to find a package from Howard at In Purple I'm Stunning. Inside were two smaller packages of cards.

We'll look at the first one today and the other one tomorrow.

Package number one contained a large chunk of the remaining cards I need for my 2008 Topps Opening Day set. I know most people in the hobby don't like Opening Day, and in particular 2008 Opening Day. But I do. 2008 was my return to the hobby after fourteen years, and while I know that the design is flawed I still like it because it helped bring me back.

For several years before getting back into the hobby it had been on my mind, but I'd never done anything about it. It was 2008 Topps that brought me back.

It could have been a successful design with just a few little tweaks. If the size of the team name was reduced by maybe a third, it would still be readable and open up a lot more space for larger photographs. The major failing of '08 Topps was the uninspired photography, not a lot we can do about that though. I wonder how this design will be received in 2047 or so when it makes its way into Topps Heritage?

I need four more to complete the set.

My thanks go to Howard and check back tomorrow for part two.

Where Are They Now? Steve Kiefer

2009-04-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

There are a lot more topless men on this card that I really want to see. I count four, and there's possibly a fifth near the top.

Steve Kiefer played for parts of six seasons with the A's, Brewers and Yankees. His brother Mark played four seasons with the Brewers between 1993 and 1996. Steve's son Cory, a pitcher, was drafted in the 43rd round of the June 2008 draft by the Kansas City Royals.

He had more at bats against Frank Tanana than any other pitcher and managed a .111 average.

He's another that I can't find any current information on, other than probably hoping his son Cory has a longer and more productive career than he had.

Where Are They Now? Rob Ducey

2009-04-06T13:00:00.002-04:00

For much of his career Rob Ducey was a part time player. He got more regular playing time in 1998, 1998 and 2000, but never played in more than 76 games any other season.

Neither his defensive or offensive numbers jump out at you, though he certainly wasn't a bad player.

What does jump out at you is his 2000 season. On July 26, 2000, the Phillies sent him to Toronto for a player to be named later. Five days later the Blue Jays sent John Sneed packing to Philly to complete the deal.

Sounds pretty normal. And it would have been if it had ended with that.

On August 5, 2000, the Blue Jays sent a player to be named later to Philadelphia for Mickey Morandini. Two days later, to complete the trade, Toronto sent Rob Ducey as that player to be named later.

Strange. Almost like he was traded for himself.

After being released by the Phillies in June 2001, he signed with Montreal making him the only Canadian player to have played for both Canadian teams.

Where is he now? Probably sitting at home trying to make sense out of that 2000 trade.

Braves win number one

2009-04-05T22:35:00.002-04:00

Pretty good game. Great pitching by new-comer Derek Lowe for his first win as a Brave. It got interesting in the ninth, but it all worked out in the end.

But, the Braves four runs came in the first two innings. I know it's just the first game of the season, but one of the problems Atlanta had last year was scoring runs late. We'll see how the next 161 go.

But... Braves win!

wow

2009-04-05T20:30:00.002-04:00

Jordan Schafer in his first Major League at bat just took Brett Myers deep. Welcome to the show, kid!

Braves up 4-0.

McCann and Frenchy have also homered.

Where Are They Now? Pete Stanicek

2009-04-05T13:00:00.001-04:00

Pete is the younger brother of Steve Stanicek. Pete made it to the bigs first, making his debut on September 1, 1987, Steve made it fifteen days later. Steve, however, managed to stay in the game for a day short of a year longer.

Of the two brothers, Pete had the better career, playing in 113 games and batting .243 for the Orioles in 1987 and 1988. Steve had little more than two cups of coffee with the Brewers (4 games, 7 at bats) in 1987 and the Pirates (9 games, 9 at bats) in 1989. Steve never even got to play in the field.

I guess the point in all of these is Pete Stanicek didn't have a very memorable career. He was an up and coming second baseman, but the Orioles were pretty well stocked there with Billy Ripken, and most of his playing time in 1988 came in left field.

Two of his four home runs came off of Frank Tanana.

Where is he now? I have no clue.

Where Are They Now? Kirt Manwaring

2009-04-04T13:00:00.002-04:00

It took some time for Kirt Manwaring to get comfortable behind the plate, but once he did, he was a very good defensive catcher who really knew how to handle a pitching staff.

He never hit much, .246/.311/.318, but his glove work more than made up for it. In 1993 he posted a .998 fielding percentage behind the plate, committing only two errors and he gunned down 51 of 111 would-be base stealers (45%, second in the league).

After his playing career, he's been a spring training catchers instructor for the Giants.

Where Are They Now? Shawn Abner

2009-04-03T13:00:00.003-04:00

The Mets had had what some would call success with some of their first round picks in the early 80s. In 1980, a kid named Darryl Strawberry was the first pick of the draft and a few years later Doc Gooden was the fifth overall pick.

When 1984 came around and the Mets were once again in control of the first pick in the draft, they took an outfielder out of Mechanicsburg Area High School named Shawn Abner ahead of Cory Snyder, Jay Bell and this guy from USC named Mark McGwire. Oops.

Abner never made it to the Majors with the Mets and was traded to the Padres, along with three Kevins (Armstrong, Brown and Mitchell), and Stan Jefferson for, you guessed it, another Kevin (McReynolds), Gene Walter and Adam Ging. I wonder if there's been another trade in baseball history where so many Kevins were moving around.

His career ended in 1992 with an above average fielding percentage but batting numbers that looked like .227/.269/.323, 65 OPS+, with 11 home runs and 71RBIs in 840 at bats.

According to Wikipedia, these days Shawn is a beer distributor in Mechanicsburg, Pennslyvania. At least he's doing something for the good of mankind with his life (hooray beer).

Where Are They Now? Jody Reed

2009-04-02T13:00:00.003-04:00

The first sentence on your baseball card souldn't says "Jody is not a spectacular player at short..." It's true, but there had to be something better to open with than bashing the guy's ability right off.

Jody Reed was drafted three times before he signed with the Red Sox in 1984 and was then drafted again by the Rockies in the 1992 expansion draft.

While Jody didn't have a great career, he certainly didn't have a bad career. He was a solid defensive player (though apparently not spectacular) with an above average fielding percentage at second base where he played most of his games.

He was fairly dangerous with the bat as well and led the American League with 45 doubles in 1990. According to the card, he was a good bunter and the stats back that up. Between 1988 and 1990 he was in the top ten in the AL in sacrifice hits (which includes bunts) and was number two in the NL in 1993.

In 1990 he even picked up a few points in the MVP voting, more points than Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr and Nolan Ryan in fact (not that that means much at all).

These days Jody's running a baseball training website, at Jody Reed Baseball.com. Isn't it amazing what they can do with the internet. I guess the time had to come where coaches would be replaced by computers.

An early birthday present.

2009-04-01T13:37:00.004-04:00

It's not a baseball card, but it's just as cool.

My birthday isn't for another month (5/2), but a friend is in the process of moving and sent my present early (as opposed to losing it in the move).

I've always loved Matchbox cars, but have never let myself buy any. Because I know that I'd be hooked. But this one is special, since it's exactly like my car (except my spoiler is differet... less like a park bench).

I've been looking for one of these for a long time and I'm not sure where she found this. Oh well, I'm a happy boy.

But I'm not sure of the proper way to store these things as an adult. I assume I'm not supposed to take it out of the package and run around the house going VROOOM VROOOM. BUT I'm almost 28 years old and I'm excited about a toy car, so there's no telling what I may end up doing with it.

She also sent me some nice shot glasses and a toy for my cat, but the cat seems more interested in (and is currently sleeping in) the box that it all came in.

VROOOM VROOOM!!!

Where Are They Now? Kevin Elster

2009-04-01T13:00:00.003-04:00

I'm going to let this card speak for itself, since we just saw him here, and I wrote about him here as well.

The newest Hall of Famers...

2009-03-31T15:00:00.004-04:00

Not Rice or Henderson.

This weekend, April 4, Metallica is being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I've been a hardcore Metallica fan since i was ten years old.

I began to lose my faith in them when St. Anger came out (the absolute worst record I've ever heard by any band), but Death Magnetic reaffirmed that faith.

My congratulations go to Metallica for everything they've accomplished and my eternal thanks for keeping me sane for seventeen years.

Where Are They Now? Randy Milligan

2009-03-31T13:00:00.003-04:00

Randy Milligan was drafted in the first round of the 1981 amateur draft by the New York Mets. The three games played listed in the stats on the back are the only games he played as a Met.

His Major League debut came in the 7th inning of a 8-1 loss against the Cardinals at the old Busch Stadium on September 12, 1987. He went hitless in his one at bat pinch hitting for pitcher Bob Ojeda.

In that game, Doc Gooden lasted only two innings and Greg Mathews got the complete game victory.

He had a short career, but not a bad career. He knew how to take a walk and walked more than he struck out and his .391 on base percentage isn't too terrible (127 OPS). And in the field he was right at league average.

These days he's a scout in the Baltimore Orioles system.

What's next?

2009-03-30T13:15:00.003-04:00

Now the both Series 1 and 2 of 1988 Score Young Superstars are behind me, what should I do now?

I mentioned a long time ago that when my 88 Score set was finished I'd do a run down and of the '88 Score Rookie Prospects. But I was worried that there would be too much overlap with the Young Superstars. Well, there wasn't much overlap.

Since I really enjoyed having a daily feature (and I hope all you readers enjoyed it too), starting tomorrow, we're going to have a high school reunion of sorts. Where are They Now? How did these top prospects fare in their major league career? While there were a few flops in the Young Superstars sets, those were for the most part prooven players who had one or two good years under their belts. Get ready for a lot of "I've never heard of this guy," with the Rookie Prospects.

These will be cards number 623 through 647 of the 88 Score base release.

Check back tomorrow for the first rookie.

1988 Score Young Superstars Series 2 recap

2009-03-30T09:00:00.002-04:00

Well, here we are, at the end of the second series. Once again, we're going to go through the series by division and see who had cards and who didn't.

In series 2 more teams were left out. In the American League, the Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins and Oakland A's were without cards. If you'll remember, the first series was pretty A's heavy, so it's not too surprising that there are none featured in Series 2.

In the National League, the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are without cards. Again, Series 1 was Giants heavy (with five cards).

AL East:
Baltimore Orioles - 1
Boston Red Sox - 1
Cleveland Indians - 2
Detroit Tigers - 0
Milwaukee Brewers - 3
New York Yankees - 1
Toronto Blue Jays - 3

AL West:
California Angels - 1
Chicago White Sox - 1
Kansas City Royals - 3
Minnesota Twins - 0
Oakland Athletics - 0
Seattle Mariners - 2
Texas Rangers - 3

NL East:
Chicago Cubs - 1
Montreal Expos - 2
New York Mets - 5
Philadelphia Phillies - 0
Pittsburgh Pirates - 3
St. Louis Cardinals - 2

NL West:
Atlanta Braves - 1
Cincinnati Reds - 3
Houston Astros - 1
Los Angeles Dodgers - 0
San Diego Padres - 1
San Francisco Giants - 0

In 80 Young Superstars, there were no Dodgers or Twins. Looking back a few years though, both teams were very mature. The Twins won it all in '87, so they weren't lacking in talent, they just didn't have a lot of young players coming up. Kirby Puckett is just about the only player that could conceivably be included here, but he'd already been around for a while.

The Dodgers were in the same situation. And though they were a good team in '88, there really weren't any young guys tearing up the league.

Well. That was fun. Be sure to stay tuned here for more of my rambling, and keep visiting 1989 Bowman for my pack by pack break of '89 Bowman.

Young Superstars II #40 - Kevin Elster

2009-03-29T17:00:00.004-04:00

Every one seemed to be really high on Kevin Elster in 1988. Both Topps and Score gave him a Future Star and Rookie Prospect card, and here he is as a Young Superstar.

This isn't a good way to end the series, the photograph isn't very good. I think Kevin's tracking a fly ball.

Read the scouting report. Right there is a good example of how much the game has changed over the past 20 years. These days shortstops are expected to produce offensively; but back in the late 80s a power hitting shortstop was a rare thing.

Elster's main problem was staying healthy and in the line up. He had a good year in 1996 with Texas, going .252/24/99 in 157 games.

He briefly attempted a comeback in 2000 with Los Angeles, hitting .227/14/32 in 80 games.

Kevin Elster's career statistics

2009 Topps Series 1: The end.

2009-03-29T14:58:00.004-04:00

Yesterday the final three cards I needed to complete '09 Topps Series 1 came in. The cards came from Kris of Free Fantasy Baseball Magazine. I didn't realize that the cards were coming from Canada, and there was another nice surprise included. We've all seen the cards, so I'll show the other thing.

It's a nifty program/schedule/brochure/thingy from the '09 World Baseball Classic that Kris picked up at one of the games. I watched a lot of the '09 Classic and really enjoyed it, so this is a nice little treat.

I didn't get to see much of the '06 Classic because I never could catch the games on TV. I've been interested in international baseball since going to a game at the '96 Olympics in Atlanta (where I got to see a very young Kosuke Fukudome play for Japan).

There's the schedule for round one. On the other side is the schedule for the rest of the tournament and on the inside is a seating chart for the Rogers Center... SkyDome.

So I'd like to thank Kris for finishing my set and for the WBC schedule thingy. Now I can concentrate on '89 Bowman and maybe '09 Heritage while I wait for Series 2.

Young Superstars II #39 - Greg Swindell

2009-03-29T09:00:00.003-04:00

This is a pretty good picture of Swindell starting his delivery. You don't usually get to see the entire back of the player's uniform. Like Andy mentioned several times when going through the 88 Score traded set, Score could easily get away with shots like this because of the headshot on the back of the card.

Swindell spent the first half of his career as a started and then transitioned into a middle relief pitcher. He was an All Star in 1989 and put a World Series ring on his finger in 2001 as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Greg Swindell's career statistics

Young Superstars II #38 - Eric Bell

2009-03-28T17:00:00.004-04:00

That's future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr in the background.

According to the scouting report, Eric had yet to find himself, and he never really did. Of his 152 strikeouts, Bill Schroeder was the victim five times (most of any hitter Bell struck out).

Eric Bell's career statistics

Young Superstars II #37 - Scott Bankhead

2009-03-28T09:00:00.003-04:00

If it wasn't for the position of the Red Sox first base coach, this card is identical to the base release. Scott is throwing the same pitch, at the same point in his delivery.

For the first three seasons, Bankhead was just an average pitcher (24-26), but he had a good year in 1989. After only pitching in four games in 1990, he was used as a reliever for the rest of his career.

Scott Bankhead's career statistics

Young Superstars II #36 - Shane Mack

2009-03-27T17:00:00.003-04:00

Another Wrigley shot. Look to the right of the knob of Shane's bat. It looks like a fan wearing a pith helmet. Maybe he's going on safari after the game.

Mack had a pretty good nine year career and won a World Series ring in 1991. He didn't perform particularly well at the plate in the World Series, but did well in the ALCS against the Blue Jays.

The base card was taken at the same time, but the guy in the pith helmet isn't as visible.

Shane Mack's career statistics

Young Superstars II #35 - Greg Mathews

2009-03-27T09:00:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure what the smear on the card is. It's ink of some sort because it's not raised above the finish of the card and wouldn't come off with a bit of wiping.

An 11-11 record in 1987 was good enough to put him sixth in voting for the Rookie of the Year. Aside from posting an 11-8 record in '86 (~~he didn't pitch enough innings and was still considered a rookie in '87~~ because something wierd was going on) he never posted a winning record.

He pitched reasonably well in the 1987 postseason.

Greg Mathews' career statistics

EDIT

There's something interesting going on here. Mathews shouldn't have been considered a rookie in 1987 because the qualifications for rookie status are (from Baseball Reference's Bullpen Wiki):

Currently a player is considered to be a rookie, and thus eligible for the award, if the player has accumulated in prior major league seasons:
Fewer than 130 at bats or
Fewer than 50 innings pitched
Fewer than 45 days on the active roster, excluding time on the disabled list, in military service, or time when the rosters are expanded (currently after September 1)

BloggerDK from 1987 Topps provided these two links to stories about Mathews and the Rookie of the Year voting. Thanks to him for that.

So what's happening here? A mistake by, presumably, one voter? He only got .01% of the voting share and no first place votes, so if a voter wrote him in on the ballot that could explain all of this. But it doesn't explain why that vote was allowed to stand for a player whose rookie status had long expired.

Strange all the way around.

Young Superstars II #34 - Barry Larkin

2009-03-26T17:00:00.003-04:00

Most likely, we're looking at a future Hall of Famer. And on top of that, our third MLB Network analyst in the last four cards.

Again we see the 50's sci-fi spacesuit Reds uniform. Since they're all wearing away jerseys, I'll say there's a pretty good chance that all the Reds cars we've seen were taken at the same game. This one shows us the third base dugout and a view of some cameramen.

Not sure where they were taken. Turf field with a blue wall. It's not Montreal because you can see the sun reflecting on his helmet.

Larkin has an impressive resume: 12 time All Star, 3 Gold Gloves, 9 Silver Sluggers, NL MVP in 1995 and a World Series ring from 1990. To top it all off, he spent his entire career in Cincinnati.

Hall of Fame? I think so.

Barry Larkin's career statistics

Young Superstars II #33 - Juan Nieves

2009-03-26T09:00:00.002-04:00

Our second Brewer in a row.

Nieves only stuck around for two years and posted a 32-25 record.

The crowning achievement of his brief career came on April 15, 1987. The Brewers were off to an 8-0 start when Nieves took the ball on the 15th. That day, against the Orioles, Nieves threw to date the only no hitter in Brewers history. His line for the day reads: 0 hits, 7 strikeouts, 5 walks. Not too bad.

His career stat line isn't that bad.

Juan Nieves' career statistics

Young Superstars II #32 - Dan Plesac

2009-03-25T17:00:00.005-04:00

Here's our second MLB Network analyst in a row.

I haven't said this lately, but I really like the old Brewers logo.

Not sure where this one was taken, but the photo from the base set was taken during the '87 All Star game.

Plesac was used as a closer for the first five seasons of his career with the Brewers, but was used as a spot starter in 1991 (ten starts) and recorded only eight saves. Doug Henry was the primary closer for the Brew Crew in '91 but he saved only 15 games. Plesac made four starts the following year.

After leaving Milwaukee, Dan was used as a setup man for the remainder of his career.

Dan Plesac's career statistics

Young Superstars II #31 - Mitch Williams

2009-03-25T09:00:00.003-04:00

Here's Mitch finishing up his... wacky delivery. As wacky as this one is, have a look at his base card:

They were taken at the same time, in Oakland. A lot of the Rangers cards in both the base release and the Young Superstars seem to have been taken at the same time in Oakland.

Mitch was fun to watch as long as you weren't a fan of the team he pitched for. You could never guess where the next pitch was going to end up. But despite his strange delivery and well known wildness, he only threw 44 wild pitches in his career. He did hit a lot of batters though.

Wild Thing was involved in the trade that sent Rafael Palmeiro and Jamie Moyer to Texas.

These days he's an analyst on the new MLB Network. He does a fair job

Mitch Williams' career statistics

I got another box of targets, ie '09 Heritage

2009-03-24T22:23:00.012-04:00

I can never seem to go to Wal Mart for anything normal. Last time it was envelopes. I found myself there this evening because I needed roach traps. After living here for three and a half years and never seeing a roach, my cat as chased at least ten of them around this past week. My house is spotless, I don't know where they're coming from.

But I decided to grab one more blaster of Heritage while I was there. This one will be the deciding factor in whether or not I pursue the set or not. If I do decide to go after the set, I'm going to wait until packs are readily available, or I'm gonna save some cash and buy a hobby box online.

You can hear the gum inside the box shaking with fear because they know what I did to their friends this afternoon. heh heh heh

Actually, I'm glad I picked this up because it was the last one they had. When I bought the first one there was a shelf full. I'm hopefull that this will show who ever does the order that it sells pretty well and they'll order some boxes of loose packs. Again, I don't want to be spending $20 at a time and there were no jumbo packs that others have reported finding.

The first blaster netter three short prints, one chrome and two inserts. This one provided two more short prints, one chrome and no inserts, which is good since all but the chrome will add to the base set.

We'll get the shiney out of the way first. I kinda like these chrome cards.

Sorry, I'm still new to today's baseball card world and this is only the second chrome card I've ever touched.

Unless disaster strikes, I think Randy will be the last pitcher to win 300 games for a very long time.

Aside from set building, the other joy in collecting baseball cards for me is getting cards of your favorite team. I was happy when I completed the Braves team set from Series 1, and I think I'll be looking forward to also completing the team set from Heritage. And it's always nice to pull your favorite player too (Chipper). My only complaint with the Chipper card is that they used that goofy shot from '08 A&G for the little black and white picture. Oh well, at least it makes me laugh.

And finally, here's a kid that I've been rooting for for a long time. Well before his Marlins days, well before his Tigers days, well before he was on the national map as a top prospect.

Maybin is from Asheville, NC, about 45 minutes from where I live. All the local papers gave him a lot of attention when he was in high school and after he was drafted. He's a very talented player and I hope he goes on to have a great career.

I think I'll be building this set. No more blasters though, so I don't know how long it'll take, but I'm in no hurry.

Young Superstars II #30 - Jeff Musselman

2009-03-24T17:00:00.005-04:00

Back in the '80s I remember buying these little rubber people in a plastic cup. Most of them were pink, but I think there were some other colors. I think they were called mussle men, but I can't find a damn thing online about them. They came from Dollar General or some such place.

Not a lot going on in the photo, and not a lot happened in Jeff's career. In ~~1876~~ (woops) 1987 he led AL relievers with 12 wins, but that's about it in the highlight department. He only stuck around until 1990.

According to Wikipedia, he currently works for Scott Boras.

Jeff Musselman's career statistics

Gum vs Gun

2009-03-24T16:15:00.000-04:00

A battle for the ages!

Ladies and gentlement, welcome to Tuesday Afternoon at the Fights!

First we had dinosaur verses penguin, then shark verses lion, then man verses robot, and then a rematch between dinosaur and penguin. But today, all of these pale in comparison. Today the world will witness gum verses gun.

Yes that's right. If you thought the battle between shark and lion was intense, just watch as two brave sticks of gum go head to head against a gun. Who will come out on top? 1989 Bowman gum? 2009 Heritage gum? Or the underdog, the .177 caliber round?

In our first match, filmed in black and white, we have the twenty year veteran, 1989 Bowman Gum. He's spent the last two decades stuck to the back of John Dopson and hasn't seen the light of day in 20 years. The seclusion has left him tough as kevlar and hard as a ballistic trauma plate. This is his moment in the sun.

What an upset! The hardened veteran will never be the same again.

In our second and final match, this one filmed in dazzling color for your viewing pleasure, we have the fresh faced rookie, just two months into his career. Will his overwhelming freshness and flexibility be enough to help him dodge the round coming towards him at close to 500 feet per second from a scant eight yards away? Watch and find out.

Another upset! He tried to get out of the way and took the first shot off the edge. But after our ill-prepared gun man had a chance to reload and gather himself, the second shot prooved fatal.

The clear winner here is the gun. But in this announcer's opinion, 2009 Heritage Gum didn't perform up to expectations.

Join us next time there's something to be shot for another episode of Tuesday Afternoon at the Fights.

Young Superstars II #29 - Mark McLemore

2009-03-24T09:00:00.003-04:00

Nice shot with the ball coming into the frame on the right side. McLemore has a goofy look on his face though.

The headshot is another good one for Dinged Corners, it seems like there's a lot more smiles in this series than the first.

I honestly didn't realize that McLemore played as long as he did. In Seattle's magic 2001 season, McLemore, at the age of 36, stole 39 bases. Good for fourth in the league.

Mark McLemore's career statistics

Young Superstars II #28 - Fred McGriff

2009-03-23T17:00:00.004-04:00

That looks like either a spring training or pre game shot on McGriff based on the alternate jersey. The headshot on the reverse with the empty stands makes me think pre-game and the ammount and color of the seats makes me think SkyDome.

One of my best friends growing up was named Fred, but he looked exactly like another one-time Brave, Marquis Grissom.

McGriff put up some great numbers and hit over 30 home runs seven straight years. When I think of the Crime Dog, my first thought is of the fire at Fulton County Stadium the day of McGriff's arrival in Atlanta. My second thought were those silly Tom Emanski baseball training videos that you still see on ESPN from time to time very late at night.

Hall of Fame? The numbers are good, but I think he flew just a bit under the radar and wasn't a very outspoken player. In 19 seasons he hit .284/493/1550. As a first baseman, he sat right at league average.

He hit very well in his postseason appearances and has a World Series ring from 1995 with the Braves.

Fred McGriff's career statistics

Finally got my hands on Heritage.

2009-03-23T14:29:00.008-04:00

I went to Wal Mart this morning because I needed envelopes. I had no intentions of going anywhere near the cards because I was just sure there was nothing new, and if there was something new it was probably from 2007. But I had to park on one side of the store and envelopes are on the other, so I had to pass right by the card section.

At first glance nothing looked new. There was the typical '07-'08 basketball cards, the full tray of '09 Topps cereal boxes, still no '09 Upper Deck. But on the second shelf where the blasters are I saw red with a big white dot on it.

I went closer, and there they were, finally, blasters of Heritage. I grabbed one and checked out.

I'd thought about opening the box one pack a day, but I've waited so long for these damn things that I opened all eight.

I like them. A lot. I'm not sure if I'll be collecting the set or not though. If Wal Mart gets packs, then maybe, but I don't want to have to spend $20 at a time for a blaster. Or I may just wait until the end of the year when they're on closeout or hobby boxes are cheap online. I don't know. I really want to make this set, I really ike these cards.

The gum on the other hand is an atrocity. It made me want to cry. I think the gum in my '89 Bowman box probably tastes better.

I only got one Brave (Kelly Johnson), and one very shiney card. The only thing I don't like is that the cards feel very awkward and upside down to me, especially the vertical cards...

For example. If this is the correct orientation for the backs of the card...

Then when you flip them over to put them into binder pages, this happens...

Since I assume that the news flashback is an insert set, it doesn't really matter, but it irks me a bit.

I really need to clean my scanner...

***UPDATE***

Well, thanks to Nachos Grande's comment, I had a look and it is the manager cards that are upside down, not the inserts. That's infinitely more irritating because now I'm really lost as to how to store these cards if I choose to build a set. I'd prefer to have them in a binder, but don't need the managers pointing the wrong direction. And what happens if I want to read the back of the cards? Maybe I'll mount the binder on a Lazy Susan.

Young Superstars II #27 - Oddibe McDowell

2009-03-23T09:00:00.003-04:00

The highlights second on the back mentions his stolen base percentage. Interesting because due to their vertical orientation, Score had to sacrifice a few stat categories that horizontally set cards usually include. One of those categories sacrificed was stolen bases. So good for Score for at least telling us how many steal he had and how many times he was caught.

I'm not sure where this photo was taken, but the base release was taken in Oakland like so many other Rangers cards in the two Young Superstars series.

Oddibe was just an average player at the plate, but was above average with the glove.

He played for Texas, Cleveland and Atlanta over the course of six seasons. In 1994 he attempted a comeback with Texas and batted .262/1/15 in 183 at bats.

Oddibe McDowell's career statistics

Young Superstars II #26 - Jeff Treadway

2009-03-22T17:21:00.000-04:00

Here's another shot of the old sci-fi looking Reds uniforms.

Treadway's career isn't very remarkable, but one Saturday at Veterans Stadium, Jeff had game to remember.

In the top of the third inning on May 26, 1990, with runners on first and second, Jeff hit a Pat Combs pitch over the right field wall. The Braves went on to score five runs that inning.

But Treadway wasn't finished yet. In the top of the fifth, this time facing Don Carman with the bases empty, Treadway sent another ball over the right field wall. Then again in the top of the seventh facing Darrel Akerfelds with a runner on first, he did it a third time.

Three of his 11 home runs in 1990 came in that one game. His six RBIs were half of the Braves' 12 runs as they defeated the Phillies for their 16th win of the season (but by that point, they were already 13.5 games out of first).

After his playing days were over, he coached at the Stratford Academy in Macon, Georgia.

Jeff Treadway's career statistics

Young Superstars II #25 - Gary Thurman

2009-03-22T09:00:00.003-04:00

Well, well, well. Look who's here. I don't think there's a chance in the world I could compete with Andy in a post about Gary Thurman. If you haven't seen it, have a look and see what happened at the old 1988 Topps blog when Mr. Thurman came up.

Since I don't have a whole lot to add, let's look at the card. It's another card with good pictures on both front and back. The photo on the reverse is nearly identical to the base release, but the photo on the front of the base card shows Gary taking a lead off first.

Gary Thurman's career statistics

Young Superstars II #24 - Vince Coleman

2009-03-21T17:00:00.005-04:00

The photo on the reverse looks like it was taken just seconds before or after the headshot from the base issue.

hmmmmm... I wonder. The photo on the front was probably taken during the same game as well. Actually, all three Coleman cards from 88 Score look to have been taken at the same time. See what you think:

Coleman had blazing speed his entire career. For three straight years, starting his rookie year in 1985, he stole 100+ bases. His stolen base output dropped considerably after 1990, though he did steal 50 in 1994.

Despite relatively low offensive output, Coleman's speed led to a lot of runs. If you want to put a lot of stock in sabermetrics, he is estimated to have created 688 runs, or 4.3 per game.

Vince Coleman's career statistics

Young Superstars II #23 - Roger Clemens

2009-03-21T09:00:00.000-04:00

What do you think? Is this our first potential Hall of Famer? His reactions and attitudes after the steroid allegations are suspicious, at best. But he had a remarkable career.

Is that a Mariners away jersey standing on first base? The number looks like 38, but Jerry Narron wore 38 for four games with the Mariners in 1987, and that's not him on base. It could be the first base coach. Any ideas?

By the time this picture was taken, Clemens was already a highly decorated veteran. By 1988, he'd already won two Cy Young awards (on his way to winning six), an MVP award and made the first of his eleven trips to the All Star game in 1986 where he won the All Star MVP.

His two World Series rings came as a member of the Yankees and in 2004 while pitching for Houston, he picked up a National League Cy Young award.

The numbers are really astounding. 354 wins against 184 losses, 4672 strikeouts in 4916+ innings and a 3.12 career ERA. His numbers are comparable to Maddux, though Clemens walked over 500 more men than Maddux (but also picked up 1300 more Ks). Clemens' ERA was just a hair lower than Maddux's, though his WHIP was just a bit higher.

I think he's a Hall of Famer. I don't particularly like him, but I think he'll be in.

Roger Clemens' career statistics

Mail Day: '09 Topps down to three, and two unexpected cards.

2009-03-20T17:31:00.005-04:00

Three of the final six '09 Topps I needed came today by way of Jeff at Card Junkie. I'm thinking this is at least the fifth trade we've made and they've all been wonderful. As I'm sure you all know, he's another one of the good guys to trade with.

Here's three of the final six. Now I only need 41, 100, 330.

My parents also came up for a visit today and my mom brought a tin of cards that she found in my closet. In side was an unexpected find.

1990 Upper Deck #65 - The Steve Avery collection is now upto 14 cards. I'd forgotten all about this card. It was still in a top loader and I'm not sure why it wasn't with the rest of my cards when I dug them all up last summer. But I won't complain.

Also in the little box was a card that I need to complete my '88 Revco League Leaders set. Yes, I'm still chasing down a 20 year old drug store odd ball set. But it's a nice little set. I only need the McGwire to finish it. I'll probably tack that onto my next SportLots order.

My thanks to Jeff for the '09 Topps and to my mom for finding a stack of cards that I put in a strange out of the way place fifteen years ago.

Young Superstars II #22 - Ivan Calderon

2009-03-20T17:00:00.002-04:00

Is that old Comiskey in the background?

He's another guy that had already spent time with more than one team before 1988, and the first in Series Two who is no longer with us. He was murdered in 2003, shot multiple times in the back and head in a bar in Puerto Rico.

For a big guy Calderon was fairly speedy. In 1990 and 1991 when he was healthy and played regularly, he stole 32 and 31 bases, being caught 16 times both seasons.

His best season came in 1991 where he went .300/19/75 and made the All Star team.

Injuries shortened his career and he was finished by 1993 at the age of 31.

Ivan Calderon's career statistics

Young Superstars II #21 - Rick Aguilera

2009-03-20T09:00:00.007-04:00

Here's our third Met in a row.

It's likely that this photo was taken on the same pitch as the base release. The photo was taken at Candlestick and judging by the blurs in the crowd, it was taken at the same game as the Rick Reuschel card that appeared just two cards before Aguilera in the base release.

Aguilera made only two starts against the Giants in 1987, and only once he went up against Reuschel.

On August 30, 1987, Aguilera carried a 5-1 lead through eight innings. The bottom of the ninth started with a strikeout of Joel Youngblood, then Matt Williams and Bob Brenly both homered making the score 5-3. Jose Uribe then flew out to center, after which Eddie Milner walked. Thus ending Aguilera's night. Roger McDowell came in and induced a ground ball from Chris Speier to end the game.

Reuschel didn't fare nearly as well, lasting only a third of an inning, giving up all five Mets runs. It was his shortest outing of the season and only his second start after being traded to the Giants from the Pirates.

Aguilera will be remembered by history as a very good closer. As of the end of the 2008 season, his 318 saves are good for 15th all time. But before becoming a closer, Aguilera was a good starter, going 31-17 in his first three seasons.

He was used as a starter again in 1996 during his second stint with the Twins, going 8-6.

In 1991, Rick saved 42 games and pitched very well against the Braves in the World Series. In four appearances he went 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA and two saves.

Rick Aguilera's career statistics

Young Superstars II #20 - Darryl Strawberry

2009-03-19T17:00:00.004-04:00

This is a great shot on Strawberry concentrating on the pitch. He had one of the nicest swings in baseball.

Who's that on deck behind him? It's most likely Kevin McReynolds.

We all know the tragedy of Darryl Strawberry, so I won't get into it. He was a great player who gave up a lot.

He's one of only three players who have played for all four original New York teams (Yankees, Mets, Dodgers and Giants).

Darryl Strawberry's career statistics

Young Superstars II #19 - Lenny Dykstra

2009-03-19T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to figure out what's going on in the background. There's a person on the left side shielding their face from something. There's also a white spot and I can't tell if it's a ball or lense flare.

I kinda doubt that it's a ball, considering Lenny's getting ready to hit and there shouldn't be any other baseballs flying around. There seems to be a lot of non-players in that area back there. Press pit?

Lenny was a hardnosed player: he played hard, drank hard and partied hard. He was part of that blue collar Phillies team of the early 90s with John Kruk and Darren Daulton.

He'll probably best be remember for the car accident he and Daulton were involved in after leaving John Kruk's bachelor party on May 7, 1991. He wouldn't play again until July 15. Daulton fared a bit better and was back in the line up on May 25 (but for only two games and was then out until June 18).

In December 2007, Nails was named in the Mitchell Report and by Jason Grimsley.

Lenny Dykstra's career statistics

Young Superstars II #18 - Shawon Dunston

2009-03-18T17:00:00.003-04:00

Our first Cub.

Looks like Shawon has swung and missed in this picture. Striking out is something he was pretty good at. He liked it so much in fact that he did it one thousand times in 5927 at bats. He didn't like to walk, only doing that 203 times in 18 seasons. His distaste for the walk led him to one of the worst career on base percentages around, .296, despite a batting average of .269.

He was still a lot of fun to watch and never seemed to grow up as a player. He made the same mistakes at 33 that he did at 23.

He did manage to make two All Star teams, and always seemed like he was having a lot of fun playing the game. It's hard not to like Shawon Dunston.

Shawon Dunston's career statistics

Mailday: 1987 Topps, the end.

2009-03-18T14:18:00.001-04:00

First a clerical note. It looks like Blogger fixed whatever problem they were having with pre-scheduled posting, and I think I've sorted out my email issues. So all is right with the world for now.

I got home this afternoon and there was a box sitting on my front porch, but more on that later. In the mail box was an envelope from Howard from In Purple I'm Stunning with five cards.

We've traded a few times and he's a great guy to trade with. Go check out his site if you haven't and in his latest email, he told me to have anyone who's needing '09 Topps drop him a line and see if you can work something out.

Anyhoo, on to the cards. The three that I was missing were Gary Carter, Barry Bonds and Scott Bradley. It's always nice to get new old cards that you've never seen before. We've all seen pictures of the Bonds rookie online, but the other two are completely new to me. And I have to say, I think I have a new favorite '87 Topps card.

Look at it! Just look at it. In an era where Topps gave us things like this, this card is a breath of fresh air.

Ok, so it's not up to the standards of modern photography and the players in the background are kinda blurry, but Carter's about to try and gun down a runner at second. In the background we see Luis Aguayo at the plate, Rick Schu on deck and I can't figure out who that is in the dugout. The uniform number looks like 38, but that's clearly not Dave Stewart. So it could be a blurry 33, in which case there are two possibilities on the '86 Phillies, but only one of those possibilities was white. So I'm going to assume that that's pitcher Tom Gorman standing in the dugout.

It may be a Met, but that doesn't matter, catchers in full gear look badass no matter what team they play for.

The Scott Bradley card is more typical of Topps photography from the late '80s.

Also in the envelope were two little oddball releases.

The first is an odd, ball shaped (hehehe, see what I did with words) Chipper Jones from 2003 Fleer Hardball. I've never seen these before since 2003 was nearly ten years after my first round of collecting. What's interesting about this card is that it lists Chipper as an outfielder. In 2002 and 2003, the Braves brought Vinny Castilla back at third and stuck Chipper in the outfield. He did reasonably well out there, but I was so much happier with him at third and a platoon in left. But you gotta hand it to Bobby for trying something new with a superstar player.

Next is something that I've heard of before, but have never actually seen in person. Topps released a small set of mini cards in the UK to explain baseball to the Brits.

ugh... now I may have to collect the rest of the set so I can find out what the other strike factors are.

So once again I want to thank Howard for helping me finish, after 21 years, my 1987 Topps set. I'm looking forward to sliding these last three cards into the binder and then taking a stroll down memory lane and looking through the set now that there are no gaps.

I also look forward to more dealings and trades with Howard in the future. Again, go check out his site.

Now... that box that I mentioned...

Check out 1989 Bowman later this afternoon for pack one.

Young Superstars II #17 - Bret Saberhagen

2009-03-18T09:00:00.004-04:00

What a horrible picture. Looks like it was taken in Oakland, probably at the All Star Game. The base card was taken at Yankee Stadium.

At the time this card was printed, Saberhagen was 24 years old and had already won his first Cy Young award, a World Series ring and a World Series MVP trophy.

Though he wasn't nearly in the years after 1994, he still managed to put up respectable numbers. Had he been able to keep the pace he set between 1984 and 1989, he could have been a 250+ game winner. As it stands though, his 167 wins aren't too shabby.

In 1989 he led the American league in wins (23), ERA (2.16), WHIP (.961), innings pitched (262.3) and he also threw 12 complete games.

Bret Saberhagen's career statistics

Young Superstars II #16 - Floyd Youmans

2009-03-17T17:00:00.003-04:00

Here's another great shot of the old Expos uniform. And there's Andres Galarraga in the background. Both Youmans and Galarraga were photographed at the same place, Pittsburg?

Youmans is our second in a row who didn't have a very long career. Youmans' career was hindered by injuries and drugs.

On July 8, 16 and 26, 1987, Youmans threw complete game shutouts. That's pretty damn impressive.

He was suspended in 1988 for failing a drug test, and then traded to the Phillies in December '88 for Kevin Gross.

Injuries continued to plague him and after shoulder surgery in August 1989 ended his major league career at the age of 25.

Years later he attempted a comeback in the Canadian league in 2003 but pitched in only five games. In 2008 he was hired as the pitching coach for the Joliet Jackhammers of the Northern League.

Floyd Youmans career statistics

Young Superstars II #15 - Mickey Brantley

2009-03-17T11:15:00.000-04:00

Autoposting still isn't working...

Here's our first Mariner.

Any idea where this picture was taken? Wherever it was, it's the same place as the base card, which is one of the best looking in the set as far as color goes.

Look at it! Blue jersey, blue batting gloves, blue border. When the border color matched the uniform colors, these cards are beautiful.

On the reverse of the Young Superstars card, the cap looks airbrushed. It's probably just really dirty, but something about it doesn't look right.

Brantley didn't have a very long career in the majors, though he batted .302 as a rookie in '87 and fared pretty well as a regular player in 1988. He spent time between 1990 and 1993 in the minor leagues, before finishing '93 in Japan.

After his playing days, he coached in the Mets and Giants systems before spending some time as the Blue Jays hitting coach.

Mickey Brantley's career statistics

Young Superstars II #14 - Jeff Blauser

2009-03-16T21:00:00.000-04:00

The picture on the reverse looks like it was taken after a rain delay (or an off day) because that looks like a tarp over the infield. The grey overcast sky in the background is another indication of rain.

For whatever reason I don't remember Jeff not being on the 1995 World Series roster. 1995 was not a good year for Jeff, in 115 games he batted only .211. In the division series and NLCS he went 0-10 with two walks and five strikeouts. Ouch. I guess that's why he wasn't on the World Series roster.

Blauser was just an average player who showed some streaks of brilliance from time to time. He was a two time All Star (he started at short in 1997) and won the Silver Slugger in 1997. But I'll always remember him as a much better player than he really was. I still miss Blauser and Lemke up the middle in Atlanta.

He had a great year in 1997, and though he cooled off considerably in early August, he was still batting over .350 as late as June 28.

Jeff Blauser's career statistics

Young Superstars II #13 - Jerry Browne

2009-03-16T12:54:00.000-04:00

Ok. I'll admit it. I have never heard of Jerry Browne before. And it doesn't look like there's a lot of information out there about him.

Judging from his stats, he looks to have been a pretty good hitter and an about average fielder. According to Baseball Reference, in 1992 he led the American League with 16 sacrifice hits.

He was also involved in the trade that sent Julio Franco to the Rangers.

Jerry Browne's career statistics

Young Superstars II #12 - Barry Bonds

2009-03-15T18:21:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned a few days ago, right here is one of the reasons the Pirates put together a few good seasons in the early 90s. A skinnier version of Bonds won the first two of his seven MVP awards as a member of the Pirates. After Bonds' departure from the Pirates after the 1992 season, the team went south and hasn't had a winning record since.

Judging by the camera man in blue, the photo looks to have been taken at the same game as the base release card. I'm not sure what's going on with the closeup on the reverse though. I think it's the only non-head shot in the set. Maybe Barry wouldn't let them get any closer. It's not a bad looking photo though.

Since I don't really want to talk much about Bonds, I'll just copy and paste what I said when I came across his card in the base release, it still fits.

It's a good looking card of a promising young player. A player who had the potential to be one of the very best the game has ever seen, but a player who let success get the better of him, a player who lost touch with the fans and a player who in my opinion didn't show a whole hell of a lot of respect to the great thing he accomplished. And in my opinion a player who should never be in the Hall of Fame, but I'm not a baseball writer so what I think as a fan doesn't really matter.

Barry Bonds' career statistics

Young Superstars II #11 - Gerald Young

2009-03-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

Auto post still isn't auto posting...

I can't tell if the white streak is the ball or something hanging in front of the dugout. If it is the ball, Mr. Young is going the right way for a broken finger.

I'm not sure if you could really consider Gerald Young's career a flop or not. He always hit well at the minor league level, but never transitioned into a good major league player. He was an exceptional centerfielder, and in 568 career games he made only 12 errors.

He also possessed better than average speed and finished second in the league with 65 swipes in 1988. But he also had a penchant fot getting thrown out and in both 1988 and 1989 topped the league in times caught.

But his lack of offensive support and injuries had him bouncing between Triple-A and the major leagues for the last five years of his career. He was finished with baseball in 1994 at the age of 29.

Gerald Young's cereer statistics

A myriad of technical issues...

2009-03-15T14:02:00.003-04:00

well, just two.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on with the auto posting, but from what I can tell, it's not just me. So that's frustrating.

But my big problem right now is my email is an absolute disaster. All of my new mail is going right into the spam folder. So if you email me and I don't respond in my usual timely manner, leave a comment on whatever the latest post here is and let mr know that I need to check.

I'm going to be spending the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out my email, so hopefully that'll be resolved, but we'll see.

1989 Bowman

2009-03-14T17:45:00.004-04:00

Well, I broke down and bought a box of '89 Bowman on Amazon for less than $20 shipped. I've nearly given up on Heritage and I want something to open.

So stay tuned for 1989 Bowman, the soon to be sister site of 1988 Score, with a pack by pack break of the box and whatever other goodies happen to show up. Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have the box in my hands and we can get started.

This will still be my main place of business though.

EDIT: The site is now active and readable.

Young Superstars II #10 - Eric Davis

2009-03-14T17:00:00.003-04:00

Here's another card with really good color combinations on the front, and a nice swing by Davis with the ball coming into the frame. It's also another Wrigley shot.

Davis was touted as a five tool player, and he was exceptionally good at all aspects of the game. However, he was also exceptionally good at getting hurt and never managed to play in more than 135 games in any of his 17 seasons.

In 1997 Davis was diagnosed with colon cancer but said he'd return before the end of the season. During that year's AL Division Series, Davis did come back, hitting a game winning home run as a member of the Orioles.

A year after coming back from cancer, Davis put together his best season, batting .327 with 28 home runs and 89 RBIs. However, after 1998 his career quickly went down hill with three injury shortened seasons before retiring in 2001.

Eric Davis' career statistics

Young Superstars II #9 - Bobby Bonilla

2009-03-14T16:05:00.000-04:00

Since it didn't auto post like a good little post... here it is, only five hours late...

I like that you can see Bonilla's number 25 written in Sharpie on the underside of his cap bill.

With guys like Bobby Bo, Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke and a pretty good pitching staff, things looked very promising for the Pirates in the late 80s. They won their division three straight years starting in 1990, but haven't posted a winning record since the 1992 season.

Bonilla is another guy who had already been traded before being called a Young Superstar.

In 1998, Bonilla was involved in the trade that took Mike Piazza to Florida for five games in May.

I think I've said this before, but I can't really remember much about Bonilla's season in Atlanta.

Bobby Bonilla's career statistics

Testing... 1... 2...

2009-03-14T16:03:00.001-04:00

I wonder why my 9am auto post didn't auto post...

Young Superstars II #8 - Andres Galarraga

2009-03-13T17:00:00.003-04:00

Here's a great shot of the old Expos blue away jersey and their beautiful cap. I've said it before, but I really miss the Expos. Sure they didn't draw more than sixteen fans per game, they played in a dump and never won. But they always fielded a good team, but never could afford to keep their young players as they progressed.

I realize that the Expos just weren't going to last in Montreal, but in Washington they just don't seem to have an identity yet, they don't really seem to have a place. They're stuck in the middle of a lot of Phillies and Orioles fans.

Maybe in a few more years at the new stadium they'll develop a following, but they better put up a good season soon.

Expos talk aside, I really like Galarraga. It's certainly true that he benefitted from the thin air at Coors' in its early days, but after leaving Colorado he still put up good numbers.

The smile on his face on the back of the card never left. He was a joy to watch in Atlanta and of all the players that have come and gone, I was saddest of all to see the Big Cat leave.

He's no Hall of Famer, but he was a very good, very popular player. His ability with the glove was right at league average and he won two Gold Gloves.

He was a five time All Star and won two Silver Sluggers. He also had six top ten MVP finishes.

Andres Galarraga's career statistics

I just realized that this is the second Friday the 13th in a row...

Nine.

2009-03-13T15:04:00.002-04:00

In the past two days, three envelopes have come in the mail bearing cards. One from Capewood with some 87 Topps, and 2009 Topps from Doug at Topps Baseball Cards and GarveyCeyRussellLopes. Not a big haul, all together there were six cards. But I realized that with these six, at this moment in history, there are only nine baseball cards that I need.

Sure, there are plenty that I want. My 1981 Topps collection is growing, there are plenty of Steve Averys out there, but there are only nine cards needed to complete to two sets I'm currently focusing on. Three '87 Topps and six '09s.

When I got back into the hobby last summer, I never expected there to be such a strong trading community online. I figured I'd be spending time and money on ebay looking to complete sets, but I haven't.

The final fifteen cards I needed for my 88 Score set came from Sportslots but most came through trades and generosity. The same is true with my '87 Topps set. Not too long ago, Christmas maybe, I was still in need of close to 100 cards, now I need three.

I stopped buying '09 Topps when two jumbo packs resulted in 17 new cards. At that point I needed close to 100 cards, and that was less than a month ago. I now need six.

I've been part of online communities in the past. Ten years ago I made a lot of friends playing Diablo on Blizzard's Battle.net. It was great fun but everyone moved on. For a time I was active in music communities, but the classical music world is so fractured arguments get started easily and then the fun is gone.

When I bought my car back in September 2007 I discovered an active and passionate community of Subaru Impreza owners.

But none of them have been as rewarding as this baseball card community. And I don't really know if my interest would have stayed as strong if there weren't all these blogs to read and people to trade with.

So thanks to everyone that's sent cards my way and I hope this community stays as strong.

Now I'm finished.

Young Superstars II #7 - Julio Franco

2009-03-13T09:00:00.003-04:00

The words "Young" and "Julio Franco" together in one place do not make sense.

Actually, Julio Franco is one of my all time favorite players. He just never seemed to stop, he never seemed old. When he played in Atlanta in 2007, he was in better shape than players half his age. I think he is a Hall of Famer, I could be wrong and he didn't reach a lot of those milestone numbers, but he was consistently good for nearly 25 years. I think the biggest plus for him is his .298 batting average over 25 seasons, and he was still hitting well until his last season (.222).

In 1999, at the age of 40, Julio batted .423 in the Mexican league. If that wasn't enough, a year later he hit .437. Then in 2001 he was back in the Major Leagues.

This is also another card that the ladies at Dinged Corners are sure to like.

The photo on the reverse looks to be taken at the same time as his base release.

Julio Franco's career statistics

Young Superstars II #6 - Tony Fernandez

2009-03-12T17:00:00.002-04:00

This card has a lot going for it. Great combination of colors on the front, bat about to make contact with the ball, and, best of all, the old school Blue Jays uniform.

The photo on the reverse is almost identical to his base release head shot.

I hadn't realized until I looked at his Baseball Reference page how good Tony Fernandez really was. He was really a complete package, a great defensive shortstop and a threat at the plate. He didn't possess great power, but a .288 lifetime batting average was more than respectable for a shortstop in that era.

On December 5, 1990, Fernandez was involved in the deal that sent Joe Carter and Robbie Alomar to Toronto. Three years later, Joe Carter would become forever remembered as a much better hitter than he really was for hitting the walk off home run that won the World Series. Sorry, just thought I'd mention that.

Fernandez played his final games in Toronto in 2001, making it his fourth stint with the Blue Jays and his name is on their Level of Excellence.

In his career, Fernandez was five times an All Star, the winner of four Gold Gloves and in 1993 he put a World Series ring on his finger.

Tony Fernandez's career statistics

Young Superstars II #5 - Danny Tartabull

2009-03-12T09:00:00.004-04:00

Here's another one the girls at Dinged Corners should like. It looks like someone off camera told a good joke and Danny's giving it a hearty laugh.

I'll have to look to be sure, but I think this is the first card we've run into in either series where the player had already been traded once in his career. On December 10, 1986, Danny along with Rick Luecken were traded to the Royals for Scott Bankhead, Steve Shields, and Mike Kingery.

Kansas City got the better end of the deal, as Bankhead put up only one good season in Seattle.

Rick Luecken didn't play at the major league level until 1989 for the Royals and didn't pitch very effectly in his only season in KC. But Tartabull was a better than average player in all but one injury shortened season in Kansas City.

After five seasons in Kansas City, Tartabull signed as a free agent with the Yankees and made several guest appearances on Seinfeld before leaving for Oakland with some nasty words about his time in New York.

Danny Tartabull's career statistics

Young Superstars II #4 - Jose Lind

2009-03-11T17:00:00.006-04:00

Here's a pretty boring photograph of a very good defensive second baseman. While this photo is boring, the photo from the base release is one of the best in the set. It would be pretty interesting if these were taken just seconds apart, but chances are they weren't.

The base card shows Lind off the ground throwing out a runner at first. That's future Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg sliding in trying to break up the play.

Despite being an excellent defensive player, Lind's batting ability was just average and he possessed very little power (9HR, 324RBI in 3677 at bats, good for a .254 average).

He won his only Gold Glove in 1992.

After his playing career, Lind spent some time in prison (for leaving the scene of an accident, while not wearing pants with cocaine in the car). After getting out of prison and going through drug rehab, Lind spent several seasons as the manager of the independant Bridgeport Bluefish.

In 2007 he was named on the Mitchell Report.

Jose Lind's career statistics