The Easter Bunny Was Good To Me

The Easter Bunny visited my house.  Chocolate.  More chocolate.  And baseball cards.  Three packs of Topps 2012 Baseball.  From Target.

Let's see what I pulled.  Lily Tomlin sliding in on Stephen Drew.  This one's going to my dad.

2012 Topps
Stephen Drew (card # 246)

The Bearded Trio.  One of the last cards with Pujols as a Card.

2012 Topps
2011 NL Home Run Leaders (card # 77)

And we know that it came from Target because there's a red border.

2012 Topps
Target Red Bordered Parallel
Tim Federowicz (card # 253)

You'd think Brandon would have his hand further into his glove.  It looks like it is getting ready to fall off.

2012 Topps
Gold Futures
Brandon Belt (card # GF-3)

Ah, a Golden Moment.  That I want to share with a Yankee.

2012 Topps
Golden Moments
Robinson Cano (card # GM-39)

A pair of small, wood bordered Joshes.

2012 Topps
1987 Topps Mini
Josh Johnson (card # TM-34)

2012 Topps
1987 Topps Mini
Josh Hamilton (card # TM-42)

Look, they both have some tongue thing going on.  I don't want to speculate.

2012 Topps
Timeless Talents
Barry Larkin / Asdrubal Cabrera (card # TT-13)

This one came out of the first pack I opened.  I've never pulled an auto from a pack.  Never.  I was rather excited.  I don't know a thing about Chris Coghlan.  I don't like the new Marlins' logo. I think that Ted Williams had something to do with it.

2012 Topps
Golden Moments Autograph
Chris Coghlan (card # GMA-CC)

A great worship service at church. Lunch with family and friends. And some cards. A very nice Easter.

Happy Easter

The San Francisco Call - April 10, 1898

May you all have a blessed Easter day.

It about more than bunnies and eggs and candy.

It is about the Risen Lord.

Happy Easter.

Jeer and Cheers

At the end of March Boston pitcher John Lackey made some headlines.

Here's a portion of the March 27th Boston Globe article:

“Guys having a beer after their start has been going on for the last 100 years,’’ Lackey said. “This is retarded. It’s not like we were sitting up there doing it every night. It’s not even close to what people think.’’

That didn't sit well with me.  So I went to the Red Sox Fan Feedback page and sent them my thoughts:.

Greetings,

The recent comments by John Lackey about "chicken and beer in the clubhouse thing" being "retarded" has me a bit upset and disappointed.

I'm sure that Mr. Lackey could have used a better word to describe the "clubhouse thing" and I would encourage him to visit http://r-word.org and pledge to eliminate the demeaning use of the R-word.

My daughter has Down syndrome and is clinically mentally retarded. She is anything but that. She is bright, playful, humorous, intelligent, and likes to watch baseball, either on television or at the local AA stadium.

She's too young to know that Mr. Lackey's comment is hurtful, but I'm old enough to know. I would hope that Mr. Lackey is, as well.

The Boston Red Sox have a great history and tradition. I don't want to see it crumble, even in the slightest, over Mr. Lackey's comment.

I wish the Red Sox the best in the upcoming season.

Regards,
Mark Aubrey
father and defender of Caroline

Later that day the Boston Globe reported:

The team's media relations department issued the following statement from Lackey: "I apologize for my thoughtless choice of words that appeared in print earlier today. I meant no harm, and I am sorry to all I offended."

This afternoon I received an email from the Red Sox:

Thanks for writing to the Red Sox and I apologize for the delayed response. We make it our goal to personally respond to every piece of mail that we receive.

There were a number of calls and emails from Red Sox Nation fans who were disappointed with John Lackey’s choice of words during a recent interview. Please know that your voice is being heard and that the Red Sox do not condone the use of words that discriminate or put down any one or group of people – especially those who are in most need of our support.

John Lackey realized his error and issued a statement. In that statement, he apologized for his ”thoughtless choice of words” saying he meant no harm, and apologized to all he may have offended.

Again, thanks for writing, and sharing your feelings. Your thoughts and views remain important to us. We will share your sentiments with the leaders of our organization, as well as with John. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this 100th Anniversary Season of the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Sincerely,

Phil Derick
Fenway Ambassador
Boston Red Sox

That day, almost two weeks ago, wasn't great, but it turned out well. I accepted Lackey's apology at face value. I don't really think that he meant harm and hopefully he'll pause and take thought before he speaks.

image lifted from Sports of Boston

A new game in town

At the bank inside my local grocery store had these new schedules out. I grabbed a small handful.

There has been arena football in Knoxville off and on for many years.  We had the Tennessee ThunderCats in 2001 and 2002.  They changed their name to the Tennessee Riverhawks for the 2003 season.  We've even had professional women's football here.  The Knoxville Tornadoes of the NWFA.

The NightHawks are off to a rough start this season, going 0-3.

Weekly Roundup, or what I've been doing lately

New-York Daily Tribune - April 15, 1899

Ah, the sweetness that is Opening Day.  A time for beginnings. A time for things to stay the same.  A time for change.  Baseball is like that.

I thought that this year Tony Campana would be starting for the Cubs.  Nope.  They optioned him to AAA Iowa.  He stole 24 out of 26 attempts last year in 95 games for the Cubs.  I really imagined he'd have a spot.  I guess Theo knows more about baseball than I do.

I purchased MLB's At Bat 12 for my Kindle Fire.  I moved an access point at work into my building so that I got better coverage.  The other guy that was using it took a sick day.  You snooze, you lose.  Hey, that's one of the benefits of being a system administrator.

I applied for media credentials for the Tennessee Smokies.  Hope to hear back from them soon.

While tooling around MLB.com I stumbled on the Early Baseball Memory site. Much to my surprise and delight I found that I'm mentioned there a few times.  A few years back I was an active part of SABR's 19th Century discussion group. I must have added some things that were worthwhile.

As I type this I've got the Dodgers/Padres game on TV.  Nice to hear Vin Scully. I love the cadence of the good announcers.  Telling a story, coming back to the pitch count, resuming the story.  Seamless.

I came across a tweet from @jimmyleiderman about his new blog, The New York Clipper.  If you like great research on old baseball (and some cricket), visit and follow.

New-York Daily Tribune - April 13, 1899

To the disappointment of some I've switched the team that I root for. I've always had a liking for the Nationals. More accurately I've been a fan of the Expos. Then Selig & Co. tried to destroy them. Somehow they survived and morphed into the Nats. I've stuck with them, but now I'm switching teams. I'm now rooting for the Cubs. It makes sense to me. The Smokies are the AA team for them. The players that I've watched at Smokies Stadium over the last few years are now coming of age. Many of them are with the Cubs. This doesn't mean that I'm going to start collecting Cubs cards, just that I'll be following them a bit closer than I have before.

Oh, and a big shout out to Topher over at Crackin Wax and to Matthew over at the Number 5 Type Collection.  I was involved with some card giveaways.  I selected cards from the Diamondbacks to be delivered to my father.  He received the packages and is greatly pleased.  Thanks, guys.

Now, on to the season.

Portlandia: Baseball Tryouts

Had I won the Mega Lottery this last week I probably would have purchased a baseball team. A minor league team. You know, a short season rookie team. This is probably how the tryouts would have looked. Thanks to Edison for sharing this with me.

Law Professor Trading Cards?

Stumbling around the internet lead me to this article: Law Professor Trading Cards - Has Anyone Got a Monaghan for a Tribe.

I found an extra Monaghan.  I'm looking for someone that has an extra Tribe.