Saturday, April 18, 2009

40 percent thicker

That's what the 2008 Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards says about the 1996 Ultra cardboard stock (then the previous year).  It was released in two 300-card series, with all sorts of subsets.  The cheap dupe of the day was the 'Gold Medallion' parallel set.  You can tell if you have one because there is gold foil featuring a large emossed Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion seal at center instead of the blurry background.  One Gold Medallion card was featured in each pack.

The back of the cards are a bit busy for me.  I didn't really follow Orel while he was with Cleveland (1995-1997).  I should have because he had three of his top six years (W/L) with The Tribe.  It was nice to see him play in the 1997 World Series even though he lost both of his starts.  I wonder how many pitchers have pitched in the Series for both leagues?  (Not a contest, I just haven't looked it up.)

One thing that I've noticed this year is that it seems that anytime a ball hits the dirt, the catcher will automatically hand it to the plate umpire who will give him a new ball.  Have they been doing that for a while or is that new this seaon?

Another thing that I noticed in last night's Cincy - Houston game Friday night was the pre-delivery of pitcher Mike Lincoln.  He would place the ball in his glove and hold it out, single handed.  After about two seconds, he'd bring his right hand up to take the ball and in one motion would wind up and pitch.  Normally one sees the pitcher present the ball in his glove while handling it with his pitching hand, presumably to find the seams and finger placement.  It isn't bad, just different.  I kind of liked it.  And Mike Lincoln played for UT in the 1990's.  Go Vols.

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