Autographed Cards...that Aren't

It has been a few days since the mail box brought me any joy. Yesterday I got a little package of 2010 Heritage from Zach over at Autographed Cards. Zach has the most amazing collection of autographed cards I've ever seen. You really should be checking out is collection on a daily basis.

Zach was kind enough to find a few cards from my 2010 Heritage wantlist and send them along. I don't really want to bore you with more Heritage cards, but I noticed something on a few of the cards.

Carlos Quentin and Mark Buehrle are each standing in front of the same wall.

Jon Niese and Josh Thole are standing in front of the same backstop and treeline.

Do the photographers just line the teams up and run them through the photo process like cattle? How about a little variety? I guess the theme for Heritage is "Let's be Boring" so this sure follows the theme.

I need some input from someone who has sold player photographs to a card company! Troll, what gives with these pics? Are the photographers that lazy or are they on a deadline and can't take the time to get decent shots? Maybe that was the mandate from Topps..."We want boring pictures or ELSE!!"

The more of these I see, the less inclined I feel to complete the set. Of course there isn't a lot of other stuff to do right now, so why not?

Zach, thanks for getting me a few steps closer to completing another set.

Rangers Sweep? Rangers Sweep!!

I know the Rangers history as well as anyone, so I don't want to get ahead of myself. However, when you root for a team that is one game over .500 AND in first place, a position it doesn't occupy nearly enough, you celebrate when you can.

With deep apologies to Bud from First Day Issue, I have to be excited about the Rangers sweep of Seattle over the weekend. The pitching in games 1 and 3 was phenomenal and game two was a little shocking.

Friday's game was a classic pitcher's dual. Check out these lines by Colby Lewis and Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee--7 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 8 Ks. And he wasn't the best pitcher of the day.
Colby Lewis--9 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 10 Ks.

The Rangers won 2-0 in 12 innings and got out of bases loaded jams twice late in the game. At one point, with the bases loaded and Ichiro on third, Eric Byrnes made a complete fool of himself on a suicide squeeze. The only video I could find was this slow motion partial clip on Youtube. Byrnes showed bunt, pulled back and then lunged at the ball almost a second after it passed. The amazing thing was Ranger's catcher Matt Treanor dropped the ball, picked it up and blocked the plate to tag Ichiro out. The umpire called it a ball and threw out Ron Washington for arguing that it should be a strike since it was a suicide squeeze. It was a weird play.

Saturday's game was a shocker because the Rangers knocked King Felix Hernandez out early, tagging him for 5 runs. Rangers win game 2 by a score of 6-3.

Sunday's game was another pitcher's dual. C.J. Wilson pitched another good game for Texas and Doug Fister (who?) was masterful through 8. Unfortunately (for Mariners fans) the Rangers scratched out a run off Aardsma to tie it in the 9th and won it in the 11th by a score of 3-1.

The Rangers outscored the M's 11-4 in the three game series and got the sweep. More importantly, they are in 1st place in the A.L. West....even if it is by a half game. I'll take what I can get, when I can get it. We'll see how the series in Oakland goes and how long the Rangers can occupy first place.

A little housekeeping and a contest reminder

I've updated the numbers for the two contests on the sidebar...10 Win Pitchers and First Manager Fired.

Also, feel free to enter the contest if you haven't already. You can do that right here.

The MCG poll finished up with 35 votes.

42.9% said they had redeemed 1-5 codes.

I thought that number would be smaller.

20% redeemed between 5-10 cards.

I thought this number would lead the pack.

17.1% redeemed 10-20 cards.

11.4% redeemed 20+ cards. I fell into this category.

8.4% didn't care/hadn't redeemed any codes.
You 3 are missing out!

Thanks to everyone who voted in the poll and entered the contests!

Topps MCG Giveaway Contest Brings Many Trade Offers plus my new favorite Jeter card

Last night, the second contest on the Topps MCG site ended. The contest will award a Johnny Bench auto'ed baseball to the person who has the most catchers in their portfolio.

I started trading for catchers on the Topps site as soon as I had unlocked cards to trade. I was looking to add Senators or vintage catchers to my portfolio and eventually my collection. I ended up with a number of beauties like this one:

As a matter of fact, I have 21 catchers in my portfolio. So far. That is nowhere near enough to win the contest, but that was never my goal. I want to turn every card I have on the site into one of three things. A Ranger. A Senator. Or a vintage catcher (preferably in the catching position).

As the catcher contest went along, I started getting trade offers by the dozens. I had the same people trying to trade for my catchers over and over. I came in to work tonight and had 28 trade offers. All those came in over the course of one hour, the time since I had last checked. I don't normally check in that often, especially since I don't have any codes to redeem, but with all the trade offers rolling in I've been checking more frequently. Most of the trade offers have been ridiculous....a 1987 Robin Yount for the Paul Casanova above. That sort of deal. One trade offer out of the 100+ I received over the weekend was too good to pass up.

Someone out there was so desperate to add another catcher to his collection that he wanted this:

and was willing to give up this:

Nothing personal against Barry Foote, but I'll give up one '79 for three '73s anyday. That's three cards closer to completing the '73 set.

On a side note, I just happened to be checking the site the other night and saw a Jeter card I'd never seen.

Ol' Johnny Jeter is rockin' that batting helmet and looks ready to hit one out. This is my new favorite Jeter card. You didn't think I had a favorite DEREK Jeter card did you?

Shame on you. You know me better than that.

Play at the Plate 15: Tony Pena vs. Jose Canseco

Today's play at the play card requires a trip in the way-back machine. We head back to 1991 for a matchup between the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's.

1992 Leaf Tony Pena

June 9, 1991 Boston Red Sox vs. Oakland A's

Boston is trying to complete a three game sweep of the A's. It's the bottom of the first with the score 0-0. Rickey Henderson popped out to second. Dave Henderson hits a single and that brings Jose Canseco to the plate. He lines a single to left, moving Henderson up to second base. Harold Baines takes his place in the batters box and hits a double to left. Henderson scores. Canseco rounds third as he heads for home and this is what happens:

Left fielder Mike Greenwell fires the ball in from left and the throw is HIGH! Canseco is safe, Baines moves to third on the throw and would later score on a wild pitch. The A's go on to win 8-0, salvaging one game from the series.

It's May 1st and that makes it Contest Time

Earlier today I posted the 16th card in the Cards from the Old Man Series. If you've been reading those (and I'm really not sure anyone IS reading those) then you know they've been getting chronologically older as time goes by. Last week's card was from 1970 and today's card was from 1967. Next week's card will be older than a '67.

I have 5 of those cards left. All you need to do is leave a comment guessing the year of the LAST, thus OLDEST, card in the series. All people that guess the correct year will be entered on Random.org to name a winner. In the highly unlikely event that nobody guesses the correct year, ALL people who enter will be entered in the randomization. The winner will win some packs and some cards from their favorite team/player.

Remember, the winner will be eligible for the monthly winner contest at the end of the year.


BONUS Contest: If anyone is able to guess the name of the last player, I will send a prize to them as well. Players may only be chosen ONCE regardless of the year you choose. For example, if someone chose 1952 and Mickey Mantle (that's not it...just trust me) then someone else could pick 1952, but no one else could pick Mickey Mantle.

Cards from the Old Man Part 16: Frank Robinson

This is the sixteenth in a series of posts about cards I received from the old collector in our town who had library catalogs full of cards from the 1950's-1970's. You can see those original posts here and here if you missed them.

This is Frank Robinson's second appearance in this series. You can see the write up about the 1972 Topps card and his career recap here. I won't rehash his career highlights since I did that once already.

Beardy posted a nice Frank Robinson auto along with the info that ARod is about to tie Frank for #7 on the All-Time homerun list. That makes me a little sad. Of all the cards I received, this one was in the worst condition. There is a crease that runs all the way across the top, just below the label on the bat and through the cap. The top 1/4 of the right edge is really chipped and the corners are soft...buttery soft. All that and I have to say the front side is gem mint compared to the back.

Some type of paper got stuck to the back of this card many, many years ago. This card was in such poor condition that the old man just threw it in with some other cards, basically giving it to me for nothing. I was more than happy to take it at the time and I've grown accustomed to the "growth" on the back.

Even though the majority of the stats are covered, you can see the "big three" that matter. This was the first card issued after Frank won the 1966 Triple Crown and you can just see those stats on the bottom right. 49 homers, 122 RBIs and a .316 batting average.