Insanity? Maybe to you.

Surely by now you've seen Robert's attempt at Serial Numbered Insanity. Maybe you don't know that he's willing to trade a serial numbered card he posts if you make it worth his while.

I've sent him a good number of cards for his project and he sent me back three great cards.




I'd love to get this Topps Chrome Heritage Rangers Danger card (644/1962) signed by Josh and Nellie. I'm really looking forward to 2012 and the Rangers winning the A.L. West again (hopefully).




Some guys will give you the shirt off their backs. Juan Gonzalez and Rafael Palmeiro gave Playoff the pants off their butts and Playoff cut the pants up and put little pieces on a card. This one is #106/400.

At this point, you're realizing something is missing from this post. You go back to the top, start reading again and discover that I said Robert sent three cards. He did. You don't get to see the third one until tomorrow.

Thanks for the great cards Robert!

I'm not a one-dimensional collector

I do prefer Rangers, but I like other players too. So long as they are catchers. Or Will Clark.

I recently picked up some nice additions to my Joe Mauer collection from a Twins guy. You might have heard of him, "e rayhahn, rayhahn". He won one of my contests not to long ago and sent along a little thank you package. It wasn't necessary, but I certainly do appreciate it.




I know what you're thinking. "Hey, that's not Joe Mauer!". No, it is not. It is a neat little oddball Nolan Ryan. It looks like it might have been cut from a 1991 Fleer box because it has a blank cardboard back. I can say with out a doubt that I did not have this in my collection.




I'm guessing this 2008 Upper Deck Joe Mauer shows the end result of a play at the plate. I can't tell anything about the game, the date or the player involved, but I'm thinking he was out considering Joe is showing the ball to the ump.




The surprise of the package was this little beauty. It's a 2008 Allen & Ginter mini Joe Mauer jersey complete with pinstripe. I never bought any A&G back in '08 and this is a really nice addition to my Mauer collection.

David, thanks so much for the generous package. I hope you and your family have a wonderful 2012.

January Contest

I've been racking my brain trying to think of some type of contest. I don't usually have too much trouble coming up with something, but this time I've been drawing a blank. The cop out is to ask about 2012 Topps, which releases just under a month from now.

So what are your plans for 2012 Topps?

**Yes, I can't wait!

**No thanks, I'm tired and apathetic towards new cards.

**Sure, why fight it, it's the only game in town.

**Other.

You don't have to use my suggestions, just leave a comment and I'll randomize the names for the winner.

I know you want to know what the prize is and I'd like to tell you it's some 2012 packs, but they aren't out yet. I'll probably give some of those away next month. This month you'll have to settle for some randomness which will include a pack or three and some cards that meet your general interests if possible. Vague enough for you?

By the way, I'm still working on the plan for picking a winner for the Year End Contest for 2011. I'm hoping to get a really nice prize for that.

You following this?

The ambitious Night Owl has two new blogs and they are both live. LIVE I TELL YOU!

1971 Topps

1985 Topps

If you weren't following his 1975 Topps blog, you really missed out. Don't miss these two. I'm sure they'll be just as fun.

GCRL kicked off another blog as well.

Timeless Teams

Apparently these Dodger bloggers have too much to say for one blog to handle. I'm glad, because I can't get enough good blogging and these three should really be fun to read.

If you're not already following these new blogs, what are you waiting for? You'll be missing out if you don't follow them and you don't want to miss out in 2012. Trust me.

Completion rocks

Just after Christmas I posted about my son's "loaded blaster". Several people generously offered to trade him the last two rings he needed to get the special edition set, but he had 43 unique rings and couldn't trade rings. He just needed two more codes. He got a few more loose packs of Update from his grandmother, but no more codes.

A generous reader using the name Zippy Zappy commented on that post and he emailed one code, quickly followed by another. He didn't ask for anything in return and I'm extremely grateful for his generosity. My son happily entered the codes when we got back from our trip.

The first code gave up some vintage, circa 1965.



Somehow getting a Giant isn't so bad when it's 47 years old. Of course, my son only cared about the ring. He got the Tampa Bay Rays which he needed. Only one more to get to 45!

The last code gave up a less than stellar card.




No one would be overly thrilled by a 1999 Johnny Damon. Honestly, the card didn't matter. What mattered was the ring, which turned out to be a Frank Robinson. That was quickly converted to an Athletics ring and the quest was over.

Today we requested shipping on the set and 24 cards (all free shipping!) and he's very excited.

Thanks Zippy Zappy! You really made his day and that's saying something this time of year.

Stay tuned for the January Contest later today.

In Memoriam---2011

My apologies for the lateness of this post. I was working on it before I went on vacation last week and couldn't finish in time to schedule it. I have to recognize baseball-almanac.com as I got the list from their site and used them to look up the information about the players. Amy omission of pertinent career information is my mistake and not intentional. I just wanted to briefly recap those former major leaguers who passed in 2011.


Major League Baseball Players Who Died in 2011

Player Position, Date of Death (Debut Year-Final Year)




Ryne Duren P, 01-06-2011 (1954-1965)

"(Ryne Duren) quickly became the most feared reliever in the league. 'Blind Ryne,' who had uncorrected vision of 20/70 and 20/200, would frighten hitters when he entered the game, squinting toward home through bottle-thick glasses. He enhanced the effect by intentionally throwing his first warm-up pitch back to the screen. Initially, it may not have always been planned; while in the minors his control was so erratic that he once hit the on-deck batter." - Author George D. Wolf on BaseballLibrary.com

Played in 311 games with the Orioles, Athletics, Yankees, Angels, Phillies, Reds and Senators. Duren posted a record of 27-44 with 57 saves.

Francisco de la Rosa P, 01-06-2011 (1991)

Played in 2 games for the 1991 Orioles.

Red Borom 2b,SS, 3b, 01-07-2011 (1944-1945)

Played in 62 games for the Tigers.

Jose Vidal OF, 01-07-2011 (1966-1969)

Played in 88 games for the Indians and Pilots




Dave Sisler P, 01-09-2011 (1956-1962)

Played in 247 games with the Red Sox, Tigers, Senators and Reds. Sisler posted record of 38-44 with 29 saves in 656.1 IP.

Roy Hartsfield 2b, 01-15-2011 (1950-1952)

Played in 265 games for the Braves.

Perry Currin SS, 01-17-2011 (1947)

Played in 3 games with the St. Louis Browns.

Al Grunwald P, 01-18-2011 (1955,1959)

Played in 9 games for the Pirates and Athletics





George Crowe 1B, 01-18-2011 (1952-1961)

Played in 702 games with the Braves, Reds and Cardinals. Hit .270 with 467 hits and 81 homers in his career.

Jose Ortiz OF, 01-20-2011 (1969-1971)

Played in 67 games for the White Sox and Cubs.




Gus Zernial OF, 01-20-2011 (1949-1959)

Played in 1,234 games for the White Sox, Athletics and Tigers. Hit .265 with 1,093 hits and 237 homers in his career.

Ron Piche P, 02-03-2011 (1960-1966)

Played in 134 games for the Braves, Angels and Cardinals.

Woodie Fryman P, 02-04-2011 (1966-1983)

Played in 625 games for the Pirates, Phillies, Tigers, Expos, Reds, Cubs and Expos. Fryman posted a record of 141-155 with 58 saves in 2,411.1 IP. He had 1,587 strikeouts.

Cliff Dapper C, 02-08-2011 (1942)

Played in 8 games for the Dodgers.

Tony Malinosky 3b, SS, 02-08-2011 (1937)

Played in 35 games for the Dodgers.





Chuck Tanner OF, Manager 02-11-2011 (1955-1962) (1970-1988)

Played 396 games with the Braves, Cubs, Indians and Angels. Managed for the White Sox, Athletics, Pirates and Braves. His managerial record was 1,352-1,381 and he won the World Series with the Pirates in 1979.

Gino Cimoli OF, 02-12-2011 (1956-1965)

Played in 969 games with the Dodgers, Cardinals, Pirates, Braves, Athletics, Orioles and Angels. He hit .265 with 808 hits and 44 homeruns in his career.

Joe Frazier OF, 02-15-2011 (1947-1956)

Played in 217 games for the Indians, Cardinals, Reds and Orioles.

Len Gilmore P, 02-18-2011 (1944)

Played in 1 game for the Pirates.

Forrest “Spook” Jacobs 2b, 02-18-2011 (1954-1956)

Played in 188 games for the Athletics and Pirates.

Buddy Lewis 3b, OF, 02-18-2011 (1935-1949)

Played in 1,349 games for the Senators. Hit .297 with 1,563 hits and 607 RBIs in his career.

Greg Goossen C, 1b, 02-26-2011 (1965-1970)

Played in 193 games for the Mets, Pilots, Brewers and Senators.





Duke Snider OF, 02-27-2011 (1947-1964)

Played in 2,143 games for the Dodgers, Mets and Giants. Snider hit .295 with 2,116 hits, 407 homers and 1,333 RBIs in his career. He was the Player of the Year in 1955 and played in 6 World Series with the Dodgers. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1980.

Scott Cary P, 02-28-2011 (1947)

Played in 23 games with the Senators.

Bob McNamara IF, 03-09-2011 (1939)

Played in 9 games with the Athletics.




Mitchell Page OF, 03-12-2011 (1977-1984)

Played in 673 games for the Athletics and Pirates. Page hit .266 with 560 hits and 72 homers in his career.

Fred Sanford P, 03-15-2011 (1943-1951)

Played in 164 games for the Browns, Yankees and Senators.

Marty Marion SS, 03-15-2011 (1940-1953)

Played in 1,572 games for the Cardinals and Browns. Marion hit .263 with 1,448 hits and 624 RBIs in his career.

Tommy Dunbar OF, 03-16-2011 (1983-1985)

Played in 91 games for the Rangers.

Charlie Metro OF, Manager 03-18-2011 (1943-1945)

Played in 171 games for the Tigers and Athletics. Managed the 1962 Cubs to a 43-69 record and the 1970 Royals to a 19-33 record.





Bob Rush P, 03-19-2011 (1948-1960)

Played in 417 games for the Cubs, Braves and White Sox. Rush posted a 127-152 record in 2,410.2 IP. He had 1,244 strikeouts.

Tom McAvoy P, 03-19-2011 (1959)

Played in 1 game for the Senators.

Normie Roy P, 03-22-2011 (1950)

Played in 19 games for the Braves.

Tom Silverio OF, 04-02-2011 (1970-1972)

Played in 31 games for the Angels.

Eddie Joost IF, 04-12-2011 (1936-1955)

Played in 1,574 games for the Reds, Braves, Athletics and Red Sox. Joost hit .239 with 1,339 hits, 134 homers and 601 RBIs.

Reno Bertoia IF, 04-15-2011 (1953-1962)

Played in 612 games for the Tigers, Senators, Twins and Athletics. Bertoia hit .244 for his career.

Bobo Osborne 1b, 3b, OF, 04-15-2011 (1957-1963)

Played in 359 games for the Tigers and Senators.

Jim Heise P, 04-21-2011 (1957)

Played in 8 games for the Senators.

Bobby Thompson OF, 04-25-2011 (1978)

Played in 64 games for the Rangers.

Mike Krsnich LF, 1b,3b 04-30-2011 (1960-1962)

Played in 15 games for the Braves.

Duane Pillette P, 05-06-2011 (1949-1956)

Played in 188 games for the Yankees, Browns, Orioles and Phillies.

Carlos Pascual P, 05-12-2011 (1950)

Played in 2 games for the Senators.

Mel Queen OF, P, 05-13-2011 (1964-1972)

Played in 140 games as a pitcher for the Reds and Angels. Played in 53 games as an OF for the Reds.




Harmon Killebrew 1b,3b, LF, 05-17-2011 (1954-1975)

Played in 2,435 games (22 years) for the Senators, Twins and Royals. Killebrew hit .256 with 2,086 hits, 573 homeruns and 1,584 RBIs. He won the A.L. MVP in 1969.

Jim Pyburn 3b, OF, 05-21-2011 (1955-1957)

Played 158 games for the Orioles.




Paul Splittorff P, 05-25-2011 (1970-1984)

Played in 429 games for the Royals. He posted a record of 166-143 in 2,554.2 IP and struck out 1,057.

Bill Harris P, 05-28-2011 (1957, 1959)

Played in 2 games for the Dodgers.

Jose Pagan IF,OF 06-07-2011 (1959-1973)

Played in 1,326 games for the Giants, Pirates and Phillies. Pagan hit .250 with 922 hits in his career.




Jim Northrup OF, 06-08-2011 (1964-1975)

Played in 1,392 games for the Tigers, Expos and Orioles. He hit .267 with 1,254 hits, 153 homeruns and 610 RBIs.

Ted Gray P, Florida 06-15-2011 (1946-1955)

"He's (Ted Gray) tough. He's real quick and he has the moxie to throw the ball in there. He throws it and dares you to hit it. I like that in a pitcher. He's one of the toughest for me to hit." - Ted Williams in Baseball Magazine (October 1950)

Played in 222 games for the Tigers, White Sox, Indians, Yankees and Orioles.

Richie Myers PH,PR, 06-24-2011 (1956)

Played in 4 games for the Cubs. He only got one AB in his career, appearing once as a pinch hitter and 3 times as a pinch runner.

Elmer Sexauer P, 06-27-2011 (1948)

Played in 2 games for the Dodgers.

Billy Baldwin OF, 06-28-2011 (1975-1976)

Played in 39 games for the Tigers and Mets.




Don Buddin SS, 06-30-2011 (1956-1962)

Played 711 games for the Red Sox, Colt .45s and Tigers. Buddin hit .241 with 551 hits and 41 homers in his career.




Wes Covington OF, 07-04-2011 (1956-1966)

Played in 1,075 games for the Braves, White Sox, Athletics, Phillies, Cubs and Dodgers. Covington hit .279 with 832 hits, 131 homers and 499 RBIs in his career.





Dick Williams IF,OF, 07-07-2011 (1951-1964)

Played 1,023 games for the Dodgers, Orioles, Indians, Athletics and Red Sox. Williams hit .260 with 768 hits in his career. Managed from 1967-1988, including the Red Sox, Athletics, Angels, Expos, Padres and Mariners. Won two World Series with the A’s (1972 and 1973) Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.

Howard Hilton P, 07-12-2011 (1990)

Played in 2 games for the Cardinals.

Tex Nelson OF, 07-22-2011 (1955-1957)

Played in 79 games with the Orioles. This quote is pretty interesting, "Son (Tex Nelson), I ain't NEVER seen a baseball hit that hard or that far!" - Hall of Fame Pitcher Dizzy Dean (The Dallas Morning News, 07/27/2011) It’s interesting because he never hit a homer in the big leagues.

Mike Palm P, 07-24-2011 (1948)

Played in 3 games for the Red Sox.

Hideki Irabu P, 07-27-2011 (1997-2002)

Played in 126 games for the Yankees, Expos and Rangers.

Alex Pitko OF, 08-01-2011 (1938-1939)

Played in 11 games for the Phillies and Senators.

Joe Caffie OF 08-01-2011 (1956-1957)

Played in 44 games for the Indians.

Al Federoff 2b, SS 08-02-2011 (1951-1952)

Played in 76 games for the Tigers.

Joe Trimble P, 08-11-2011 (1955-1957)

Played in 7 games for the Red Sox and Pirates.

Bob Will OF, 08-11-2011 (1957-1963)

Played 410 games with the Cubs.

Ernie Johnson P, 08-12-2011 (1950-1959)

Played in 273 games with the Braves and Orioles.




Mike Flanagan P, 08-24-2011 (1975-1992)

"I could never play in New York. The first time I ever came into a game there, I got in the bullpen car and they told me to lock the doors." - Mike Flanagan in Baseball Digest .

Played in 526 games with the Orioles and Blue Jays. Flanagan posted a record of 167-143 in 2,770 IP and struck out 1,491. He won the Cy Young Award in 1979.

Frank Fanovich P, 08-27-2011 (1949, 1953)

Played in 55 games with the Reds and Athletics.

Jesse Jefferson P, 09-08-2011 (1973-1981)

Played in 237 games for the Orioles, White Sox, Blue Jays, Pirates and Angels.

Bill Taylor OF, 09-15-2011 (1954-1958)

Played in 149 games for the Giants and Tigers.

Danny Litwhiler OF, 09-23-2011 (1940-1951)

Played in 1,057 games for the Phillies, Cardinals, Braves and Reds. Litwhiler hit .281 with 982 hits and 107 homers in his career.

Eddie Bockman IF, 09-29-2011 (1946-1949)

Played in 199 games for the Yankees, Indians and Pirates.

Johnny Schmitz P, 10-01-2011 (1941-1956)

Played in 366 games for the Cubs, Dodgers, Reds, Yankees, Senators, Red Sox and Orioles. He posted a record of 93-114 with 21 saves and 86 complete games in 1,812.12 IP.

John Romonosky P, 10-02-2011 (1953-1959)

Played 32 games with the Cardinals and Senators.

Ralph Hodgin IF, OF 10-04-2011 (1939-1948)

Played 530 games for the Bees and White Sox.

Paul Martin P, 10-11-2011 (1955)

Played in 7 games for the Pirates.

Cy Buker P, 10-11-2011 (1945)

Played in 42 games for the Dodgers.

Don Williams P, 10-16-2011 (1958-1962)

Played in 11 games for the Pirates and Athletics.

Merritt Ranew C, 10-18-2011 (1962-1969)

Played in 269 games for the Colt .45s, Cubs, Braves, Angels and Pilots.





Roy Smalley SS, 10-22-2011 (1948-1958)

Played in 872 games for the Cubs, Braves and Phillies. Smalley hit .227 with 607 hits in his career.

Bert Cueto P, 10-25-2011 (1961)

Played in 7 games for the Twins.

Dave Cole P, 10-26-2011 (1950-1955)

Played in 85 games for the Braves, Cubs and Phillies.

"That's too bad (being sold to the Philadelphia Phillies). They're the only team I can beat." - Dave Cole in Baseball Digest (September 1955)

Ricky Adams IF, 10-28-2011 (1982-1985)

Played in 120 games for the Angels and Giants.

Mickey Scott P, 10-30-2011 (1972-1977)

Played in 135 games for the Orioles, Expos and Angels.





Bob Forsch P, 11-03-2011 (1974-1989)

Played in 509 games for the Cardinals and Astros. Forsch posted a 168-136 record in 2,794.2 IP with 1,133 strikeouts.

"They've been playing baseball one-hundred years and we're the first brothers to get no-hitters. We're proud of that fact. A no-hitter isn't easy. Two in one family is extremely rare." - Bob Forsch





Matty Alou OF, 11-03-2011 (1960-1974)

Played in 1,667 games for the Giants, Pirates, Cardinals, A’s, Yankees, Cardinals and Padres. Alou hit .302 with 1,777 hits and 427 RBIs in his career.

Benny McCoy 2b, 11-09-2011 (1938-1941)

Played in 337 games for the Tigers and Athletics.

Charlie Lea P, 11-11-2011 (1980-1988)

Played in 152 games for the Expos and Twins.

Nick Strincevich P, 11-11-2011 (1940-1948)

Played in 203 games for the Bees, Braves, Pirates and Phillies.

Sonny Dixon P, 11-19-2011 (1953-1956)

Played in 102 games for the Senators, Athletics, and Yankees.

Greg Halman OF, 11-21-2011 (2010-2011)

Played in 44 games for the Mariners.

Joe Lonnett C, 12-05-2011 (1956-1959)

Played in 143 games for the Phillies.

Bud Bloomfield IF, 12-21-2011 (1963-1964)

Played in 8 games for the Cardinals and Twins.


Each of these men played a role in making baseball the game we all love. Whether it was a one game stint or a Hall of Fame career, they are all Major Leaguers.

Rest in peace gentleman, we baseball fans thank you for your contributions to the Great Game.

Catching up is fun...and exhausting

I'm back from vacation and I needed to do some serious catching up on the blogosphere. I checked the old blogger dashboard and scrolled down to the last post I commented on before vacation started and it just so happened to be a 5 year anniversary post by the king of ponies and Cookies.

It took a while, but I worked my way through about 5 days of posts and left at least 60 comments (if I missed you, I'm sorry, I was really tearing through them by the end).

I was going to set some goals for 2012, but the way I see it, if I don't set any goals then I can't fail. Makes sense to me. Oh I guess I do have some goals, but they are just loosely floating around in the ether that is my brain. If I can get some of those thoughts collected, I may actually try to put them down on "paper".

I need to get the 2011 Year End Contest set up for all of last year's winners PLUS I need to set up a contest for this month, but I've been debating that and now it's too late to do it today.

I hope you're all doing well on the 2nd day of 2012 and please check out my post that will go up later today. It's not a contest, but I think it's worth at least a cursory glance.