This and That

End of the month. Busy, but fun Thanksgiving weekend. A stop at the card shop. Two new blogs I'm reading. A contest. A contest to be. Thunder and thunder stolen.

Okay, it is late Sunday night. I'm trying to increase my average monthly postings to once every two days. I'm tired. This is a mishmash, a slop filled excuse for a post.

I finished up reading A Colossal Hoax.

I did some Black Friday shopping. Some Christmas stuff, some other stuff. It wasn't too bad. The crowds at the stores I went to were very small. The staffs were nice and helpful. I didn't spend much time waiting. I got to go to a card shop.

I was able to pick up some cards for possible trades / just because they 'need' them. The proprietor was helpful, but he didn't have any Press Pass Fusion, as the manufacturer said he would. The proprietor didn't even know what the cards were. But I was able to dig through his quarter box and found some fun cards. Here's one I think is thunderous...

While researching this card, I came across a blog that is new to me, but one that I'm going to start to read on a regular basis. So, do you like...stuff? A few months ago Mike Kenny did a blog entry on this exact card. And he did it in a way that is much better than I ever could have dreamed of. Thunder stolen, but I'm okay with that.

I also stumbled across Anthony K's blog, Balk Four. He's having a contest. It is Ginormous. I've already conversed with Anthony and I'm hooking him up with some cards that he's interested in. I'm not ashamed to grease any wheels that I can when it comes to contests.

Speaking of that, Beardy is having a Ho Ho Holiday Contest. I've submitted my entry. Others are quaking in their boots and are starting to come around. Beardy's stash of cards should be going out this week. Grease, grease.

And I should be posting a contest here in the next few days.

Oh, and I went to the Fantasy of Trees that the East Tennessee Children's Hospital puts on. Tons of Christmas trees, wreaths and decorations. A friend was in a dance troupe that performed. She did a great job. And Caroline spent some time with Santa.

Happy Thanksgiving

Norman "Turkey" Stearnes played in the the Negro leagues and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.


Like many of you, I'll take a bit of time to publicly say thanks.

I'm thankful for my family. The joy that they bring me is immeasurable.

I'm thankful for friends. Some are lifelong, some are transitory. Some are virtual. All have meaning.

I'm thankful for sports card related blogs. I'm thankful that I've been accepted into this community. It keeps me off the streets.

I'm thankful for freedoms of all sorts.

I'm thankful for the men and women that serve the United States in the armed forces.

I'm thankful for God and His grace.

I'm thankful for pumpkin cheesecake and homemade cinnamon whipped cream.

I'm thankful for my lovely wife of just shy of 20 years that made it.

I'm thankful for Bob Newhart.

I'm thankful for books.

Thanks.

Rod Carew Bat Card

Here's another one of those Hall of Fame Relic cards that I collect on the cheap. I picked it in an ebay auction in July for $2.26. I also won some other auctions from the same seller so the shipping was quite low.

2003 Topps Finest Rod Carew Bat

(card # FRB-RC)

Rod Carew had a 19 season career with two American League teams, the Twins and the Angels. He started off playing second base in 1967, but eventually moved to first base in 1976. He played around the infield, touched the outfield and was occasionally a designated hitter.

He started with a Rookie of the Year award and was selected as an All-Star the first 18 years that he played. In 1977 he was the AL MVP and the MLB Player of the Year.

He had a lifetime .328 Batting Average and hit .388 in 1977.

Good player, good card.

2009 Press Pass Fusion - Hershiser

I was looking at ebay for new listings of Orel Hershiser cards. I found quite a few from the 2009 Press Pass Fusion release. From what I gather, the Fusion set is a multi sport set. B*ck*tt reviewed the set on their site.

I lifted the images from various ebay auctions and one image from the Press Pass site. The starting bids on ebay seem reasonable, but I'm not really impressed. It appears that they only have one photo of Orel and that was when he was a pitcher with the Bowling Green Falcons in the late 1970s.

Since Press Pass has not yet published a checklist for this set, I'm guessing at the actual names of the subsets. All info came from ebay, so please don't take this as totally accurate. I'm guessing that if there is a bronze and a gold card, there might be a silver one in the middle.

If I was Kirk Gibson, I'd be contacting my lawyer and asking him who let that photo out of the closet.

On the plus side, it does appear that the cards are hard signed. No stickers here.

Renowned Rivals

Renowned Rivals - autographed (blue ink, #ed to 15)

Renowned Rivals - autographed (red ink, #ed to 25)

Bronze (#ed to 150)

Gold (#ed to 50)

Cross Training

Cross Training Autographs (#ed to 22)

Cross Training Autographs (#ed to 50)

Autograph (red ink, #ed to 15)

Other breakfast foods

The ladies over at Dinged Corners are fretting over the potential lack of waffles. I went on a hunt to find some baseball related food things to help them through their time of woe.

Tony the Tiger hittin' one deep...

Breakfast at Nettie's house (snagged from the MLB blog - The Baseball Collector)...

A 1970 Reddings Tea Card (British, lifted from ebay)...

Denny's Baseball themed pancake (snagged from Raspberry Kids)...

And I couldn't find a photo of him or one of his cards, but who can forget James Pancake, a catcher for the Elizabethton Twins?

McDonald's 1993 Gameday Collector Cards

I was at the card show last month. I had picked up my Earl Wilson cards and was wandering around, looking at the cool things that vendors had (many 1960's entertainment cards, tons of toys and games) and looking at my watch, knowing that I had to beat it home for my wife's cousin's wedding.

One dealer had boxes and boxes of sports magazines, game programs and photos. A buck each. I didn't find any magazines that I had to have, but I did find this unpunched set of McDonald's football cards.

I don't remember these cards being issued. Individual cards measure 2-1/2" x about 4-3/4". They were produced by Fleer. Looking around on the ebay it appears that there were also sets (3 sheets of 6 cards) for all 28 teams and an All-Stars set. I've got the All-Stars.

Not bad for a dollar.

Sticky Monday - RRAAAAAARRRR Edition

dayf recently posted about some stuff that Trader Crack and I had sent him.

Digging through some cards I found two more that he might like. I present them here. Why the backs? Because Eileen's is cool and because I wanted dayf to have a better idea of what the complete puzzle would be (the back of Artie).






Yeah, not so much baseball. A bit with Eileen. At least I posted.

And dayf's poll (Which is the more insanely awesome dinosaur sticker?) closed before I could reset my IP and stuff the box. Darn.

dayf, if you're nice to me, I'll send these south. What am I saying? I'll send them anyhow.

Favorite Autographs

The ladies over at Dinged Corners asked fellow bloggers to let them know what their three favorite on-card autographs are. They seemed very emphatic about there only being three. But then, after their whole diatribe about autographs actually being on the cards, they let up and would allow a sticker auto to be shown. I will take their wiggle room and show four of my auto cards. Yes, I'm being rebellious. I think that it has to do with the fact that I've been sick for the last week and haven't ventured out into the real world (or the internet) much. I'm stretching my legs. Sticker that, ladies.

So, in no particular order...

Brooks Robinson post

Ryne Sandberg post

BJ Armstrong post

Bill Virdon post

Beethoven validated

It wasn't until last evening that I realized there was something about the 2009 Allen and Ginter set that I was missing.

Caroline, my daughter, has been a bit sick and just not feeling well. As an incentive to finish bathtime I offered to pop in the DVD of A Charlie Brown Christmas. This immediately perked her up.

About 18 minutes into the show there's an exchange between Lucy and Schroeder:

Schroeder: This is the music I’ve set for the Christmas play.
[Schroeder plays Fur Elise]
Lucy Van Pelt: What kind of music is *that*?
Schroeder: Beethoven Christmas music.
Lucy Van Pelt: What’s so great about Beethoven? Everyone talks about how “great” Beethoven was. Beethoven wasn’t so great.
[Schroeder stops playing]
Schroeder: What do you mean Beethoven wasn’t so great?
Lucy Van Pelt: He never got his picture on a bubble gum card. Have you ever seen his picture on a bubble gum card? Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who’s never had his picture on a bubble gum card?
Schroeder: Good grief.

So, there you go. Beethoven is now finally great.

Caroline's getting better. Thanks for asking.

Topps and Upper Deck settle law suit

I was out perusing the web and ran across this story that explains in no great detail that Topps and Upper Deck have settled their lawsuit through mediation.

I wrote about it a few months back. I'm glad to see the big boys can now play nice.

The Horror from Arkansas

A package arrived late last week. From Arkansas. I grabbed my biggest butcher knife and slashed it open to find the following...

--David, from Tribecards (and some other words and things, including some sort of Michael Jackson fetish) sent these.

Nuclear Assault. Can't say as I've heard of them. Apparently they were spawned from the band Anthrax.

A Fun Stuff card of Mr. Big Moustache.

Nobody kills Apollo Creed and doesn't have to answer to Rocky. I couldn't decide if this was Rocky 4 or Rocky IV (Intravenous).

Skid Row. Always good when glam-metal reaches for the acoustic guitar.

Mr. Calhoun reminded me that South Carolina would be playing the University of Tennessee in football on Halloween. They were ranked 22, I think. I don't think that they held onto that position.

Iron Maiden. Heavy Metal. No, wait. Jethro Tull is Heavy Metal. Just ask the 1989 Grammy voters.

Towasaurus Wrex. Monster Truck. Halloween. Monsters. I get it.

A Fun Stuff card of No Hair guy. He should be benched.

A Cindy Lauper sticker card. I loved her on Mad About You. She won an Emmy, you know. She's so unusual.

That's the recap. Thanks --David. I'm scared.

On This Date

In 1946, Chuck Connors became the first player in NBA history to shatter a backboard. From the NBA's This Date in History page...

November 5, 1946
Chuck Connors of the Boston Celtics shattered the first backboard in NBA history during the warm-up before a Celtics game. Connors went on to shatter desperadoes in the television show “The Rifleman.”

But he also played baseball...

And he was an actor...

I wouldn't mess with him whatever his profession.

Tickets, we got tickets

So, while watching game 6 of the World Series, my son asked, "How much would it cost to sit right behind home plate?" So, off the computer I went.

StubHub is selling tickets to game 7. Below is a partial screen capture from that page.

The short answer is $6,500 to $7,395 for Legends section 20. Per seat. Hurry, there's only 12 of them left as I write this. If you have more money to burn, you can find some $50,000 seats. Who says that the economy is down?

A new quest is upon me

Our local NBC affiliate, WBIR, has aired a four minute program for the last 25 years or so. The Heartland Series came on after the news. It featured interesting people and stories from the eastern Tennessee region. There have been about 1,900 episodes filmed and shown. It recently ended active production, but they still show them. Tonight's episode was one that I hadn't seen before. It dealt with three members of the Knoxville Giants.


So, my new quest. Find out more about the Knoxville Giants. I'm too tired to start the search now, but I hope to soon.

I've become interested in Negro League baseball lately. I don't know much and I'm interested in learning more. For me, one of the best ways to learn is by reading. I know that there are a few books out there, including:

• Robert Peterson's Only the Ball was White
• Lawrence Hogan's Shades of Glory
• Neil Lanctot's Negro League Baseball

but I don't quite know where to start. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Richie Ashburn Bat Card

When I hear the name Ritchie Ashburn I don't immediately think of Cooperstown. Actually, I don't really think of anything. I'm being honest here. I'm not familiar with him or his career.

2005 Donruss Greats, Ritchie Ashburn (card # HOFS-24)

His playing career started in 1948 with the Phillies as an outfielder. He made it to the All-Star game that year and lead the league in Stolen Bases with 32. He had a .308 Batting Average over his fifteen seasons. He ended up playing for the Cubs in 1960 and 1961 and finished his career as a Met.

He was the first Mets player to make it to an All-Star game.

From Richie Ashburn's wikipedia entry...

During an August 17, 1957 game, Ashburn hit a foul ball into the stands that struck spectator Alice Roth, wife of Philadelphia Bulletin sports editor Earl Roth, breaking her nose. When play resumed, Ashburn fouled off another ball that struck Roth while she was being carried off in a stretcher. Ashburn and Roth would maintain a friendship for many years and her son later served as a Phillies batboy.

After his playing days Ashburn worked as an announcer for the Phillies until his death in 1997.

The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall in 1995.

I purchased this card on ebay about two months ago. I paid $5.00 for it, with free shipping. I do wish that Donruss could have used a photo of Ritchie as a Phillie, but I'm not complaining. Maybe a bit.