Don Drysdale - fictitious card

This was a quick slap job for a card to commemorate one of the greatest performances by an athlete on an early 1970s ABC Friday night sitcom.

When I say "slap job" I only mean "no more than 10 minutes and that includes looking for all the elements".  I might do this again at a better resolution.

I guess that I'll also need to do the following cards: 

• 1970 Wes Parker
• 1971 Deacon Jones
• 1973 Joe Namath

Thanks to Spike for the basic template and pointer on the script font.

Smokies beat the Mudcats

Last night our family went to Smokies Park.  Our church got some group tickets.

Here's our youth pastor, Nick, his daughter Elia and wife Tessa, with their friends, Braden and Braden's mom.  I've forgotten her name already.  We'll get back to Braden.

The game was sponsored by Halls Salvage.  So, of course, big headed foam people must be there.

Not only big headed people, but Clucky the Chicken.

Yes, there's some wicked sun glare, but I like this shot.  My family was sitting in section 117.  That's the silver section of the seats, just behind the umpire.

The skipper and his minions.

The Smokies Press Booth.  A bit more on this later.

This is Brooks Raley pitching.  It was his 23rd birthday.  He got the win.

Caroline lost a tooth this week.  She enjoyed the game, even though it went way past her bedtime.  I guess that is what summer is for.

Yours truly, sporting the Kaught Looking hat, just as I said I would.

Last pitch of the night.  The visiting team's bullpen was right in front of us.  James Skelton, 13, was catching the pitchers.  Caroline was waving at him the whole night long.

After the game he gave her a ball.  That really made her night.  Thanks, James.

As the field cleared, one of the Mudcat players came from the dugout to where we were seated.  Eric Campbell, 34, sauntered over to see his son, Braden, and wife.  They drove over for the series.  One of the best moments for me was seeing Eric and Braden having a catch.

Eric was kind enough to sign my ticket.  Thanks, Eric.

Leaving the park, we get another toothless grin.

Wait, what about the Press Booth?  Oh, yeah.  I finally got a Press Pass.  I guess they call it a Media Pass now.  The Director of Media Relations, Adam Kline, hooked me up, explained a few dos and don'ts, showed me the secret tunnel to get to the visitor's dugout and was super helpful the whole evening.  I'm planning to return to the park without the family so I can blog a game or two.

Thanks, Adam, Eric, family and friends.  It was a great evening.

Katching Up

There have been a myriad of things happening and I can't bring myself to do a proper card post.

I did receive a nice package in the mail late last week.  I was expecting it, but I didn't know when it would arrive.

Kaught Looking is a sportswear brand and blog that is inspired by the sport of baseball.  The man behind Kaught Looking is John Southee.  Like any good entrepreneur he is trying to get the word out.  He'd like to get his tee shirts and caps into every state in the nation.  I came across his site as he is a fellow member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Well, he's a member, I'm a friend.

He didn't have any product in Tennessee so I contacted him and he sent me a hat.  Gratis.

I have to be careful where I wear it, as it looks very similar to the Chattanooga Lookouts logo.

Around here they would get them confused.

I already mentioned that John is an entrepreneur.  He's offering a discount for my readers.  By entering MARKS15 you can receive 15% off when checking out.  This offer is good until Kaught Looking is in every state.

So, thank you, John.  I wore it yesterday to a state park and will be wearing it on Wednesday when I go see the Tennessee Smokies host the Carolina Mudcats.

More Than A Game

This Sunday starts a five week sermon series at the church I attend, Seymour Heights Christian Church.  The main text is from Paul's letter to the Colossians.

Colossians 1:27-29 (The Message)

This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it's out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.

The pastor is using a baseball theme to emphasize the points that Paul wrote.  I'm not quite sure how he's going to do that, but I could imagine some ways.  Actually, since my wife is the worship leader and I sat in on a planning meeting, I do know some of the things in store, from songs to videos.  It will be fun.  Next week we'll be attending a Smokies game.

I was asked to create some cards of the staff and I wanted to share them here.

1974 Topps
Oscar Gamble
(card # 152)

1973 Topps
Enzo Hernandez
(card # 438)

1971 Topps
George Scott
(card # 9)

1964 Topps
Larry Jackson
(card # 444)

1955 Bowman
Randy Jackson
(card # 87)

1970 Topps
Wes Parker
(card # 5)

Baseball at Clinton Park

Monday evening, July 11th at 7pm, Richard Leyden will be giving at talk about Clinton Park and the First Northern League 1901-1906. This is sponsored by the Clinton County Historical Association.  Clinton county is where I was born and raised.  I have a fondness for that area of the North Country.

I searched through some papers at the Northern New York Library Network and found notice of a game to be played at Clinton Park.  The local team would be playing the traveling Cuban X Giants.

Plattsburgh Daily Press - July 28, 1904

Plattsburgh Daily Press - July 29, 1904

Another day of summer in 1904.

Some cards with Orel wearing a Dodger uniform

Yes, another of the never ending show and tell posts from the my trade with the Night Owl.  In a recent comment Greg mentioned that he did, indeed, send some Hershiser cards with Orel wearing a Dodgers uniform.  Here are two of them.

The first is the last year of Donruss's Triple Play cards.  First appearing in 1992, they only lasted three season.  Orel has a card in each year of production (1992: 212, 1993: 121, 1994: 84).

1994 Triple Play
Orel Hershiser (card # 84)

The next card we have is the 1995 UD Collector's Choice, Special Edition, Gold Signature.  These parallel cards were inserted 1 in every 36 packs.  There are 265 cards in the base set, so it would stand to reason that every 9,540 packs would have one Gold Orel in it.  I only had to wait 16 years to get it.  Sweet.

1995 UD Collector's Choice
Special Edition - Gold Signature
Orel Hershiser (card # 89)

Another card that Greg couldn't wait to get out of his collection, a 1998 Upper Deck with Orel wearing that dreaded shade of orange.  Fortunately Orel went to the Indians before heading to San Francisco.  Took a bit of the sting away for Dodger's fans.  I think.

Why it took me 13 years to get this base card still baffles me.

1998 Upper Deck
Orel Hershiser (card # 720)

So, not that many cards left in the pack that Greg sent my way.  Soon you'll be done having to endure this Night Owl love fest.  Then I'll turn my attention to the TribeCards.net buck-a-box dog and pony show.  Hang on to your hats.

1963 Post - Earl Wilson

1963 Post
Earl Wilson (card # 83)

Here's a card from my Elusive Eight list.  I purchased this on ebay for a dollar, two dollars shipping, a total of three.  Maybe a bit on the high side for a card in this condition.  But as several bloggers have pointed out there's a certain appeal for non-pristine cards.  Sure, when collecting, the adage is, "Buy the best condition you can afford."  I agree with this, but I'd rather have some extra coin in my pocket to pick up some more cards.

I had $2.26 in an ebay gift card left over from last year that I had forgotten about.  This one cost me 74 cents, then.  I like to look at it that way.

I collect Earl Wilson cards because he played for the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings of the in 1953 Arizona-Texas League, a class C organization.  The connection is that I graduated from a high school in that same county.  There were scores of other players that played on teams in that county, but John, from The Pursuit of 80's(ness) blog sent me my first Earl Wilson card in a trade.  Earl doesn't have that many cards so I figured it is much easier (and cheaper) to collect him than a major star.

The day after I made this purchase I received an anonymous tip that my Elusive Eight list would be severely shortened. Through some investigative techniques I was able to determine that this Earl Wilson card would be coming my way shortly.  Doh!

I guess I'll have two, perhaps the seed of a contest prize.  But I'll wait until it is in my hands.

Hoot! Hoot!

So that any of my readers don't think that this is really turning into a love-fest for Mr. Night Owl, I have a restraining order with my name on it and I'm following it to the letter.

Here's some more cards that Greg sent my way.  Oh, look, they all depict Orel in an Indians uniform.  I'm not surprised.

The first one is a parallel of the ever popular 1995 Topps Stadium Club.  Here's what the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards says:

Persons who redeemed a 1994 Stadium Club Atlanta Braves Super Team insert following the Tribe’s 1995 World Series victory received a set of 1995 Stadium Club cards, each of which bears a gold-foil World’s Series logo on front. The cards are otherwise identical to the regular-issue SC cards. The prize “set” contains only 585 cards, a note sent with the set explains 45 of the TSC cards - #496-523 (the Extreme Corps subset) and cards #614-630 (the Trans-Action subset) were not printed in the parallel version.

1995 Stadium Club - World Series Winners
Orel Hershiser (card # 562)

The 1996 Pinnacle Starburst is not a true parallel, but a sampling of cards from the main set.  Let's turn to the SCBC's entry:

For 1996 Pinnacle abbreviated its parallel insert set to just half of the cards from the base issue. Only 200 select players are included in the Starburst Dufex-printed parallel set found on average of once per seven hobby packs and once per 10 retail packs.

Got to love when you can use the word "Dufex" with authority.

1996 Pinnacle Starburst
Orel Hershiser (card # 148)

And a set that had plenty of inserts but no parallels, 1995 Flair.  Since I'm liberally lifting from the SCBC, let me toss another entry here:

There’s no mistaking that 1995 Flair is Fleer’s super-premium brand. Cards are printed on double-thick cardboard with a background of etched metallic foil: Gold for National Leaguers, silver for American.  A portrait and an action photo are featured on the horizontal front design. Backs are vertically formatted with a borderless action photo, several years worth of stats and foil trim. The basic set was issued in two series of 216 basic cards each, along with several insert sets exclusive to each series. Cards were sold in a hard pack of nine with a suggested retail price of $5.

1995 Flair
Orel Hershiser (card # 250)

And because the restraining order says nothing about images of owls, let me point you to two sites:

• Owl Tattoos
• Owl Macrame

Oh, there are more posts coming.  Bevare.  Bevare!  BEVARE!

Elusive Seven

In the never ending series of blog posts that some might interpret as a love fest for Mr. Night Owl but really isn't, I present yet another card that Greg sent me.

2001 Fleer Boston Red Sox 100th Anniversary
Earl Wilson (card # 50)

This is one of my Elusive Eight cards.  Well, now that list is down to seven. I'll have to find another Earl Wilson card to take the place of this one.

I think I put that page up because everyone else was doing it.  Nefarious Nine.  Sought-after Six.  Flappable Five.  Okay, now I'm making them up.  But it worked.  I can only assume that Greg found my narrow wantlist and helped me knock it down.

You know what else works?  Zistle's new Customized Collections feature.  Here are the Earl Wilson cards I own. Try it, you'll like it.

Thanks, Greg, for the Earl Wilson.  Just a few more of these posts and you'll be released from me splashing your name all willy-nilly.

1995 Score variations

Because Mr. Night Owl likes long trade posts and I don't have the patience to put one together, I'm stringing his recent trade with me out over a few weeks.

Greg sent me one of these cards.  Can you guess which one it was?  I had the other two already.

1995 Score
Orel Hershiser (card # 238)

1995 Score Gold Rush
Orel Hershiser (card # 238)

1995 Score Platinum Redemption Team Sets
Orel Hershiser (card # 238)

The Gold Rush parallel set was inserted at about a rate of 1 per pack.

The Platinum Redemption Team sets were available by sending in a complete team set of Gold Rush cards.