Raising awareness before raising awareness was cool

In recent years, MLB has used Mother's Day to raise awareness for breast cancer by allowing players to wear pink.

Pink shoes, pink batting gloves, pink wristbands.

Pink everywhere.

Mike Laga was way ahead of the curve on this "awareness" thing.

Look at that amazing pink jersey.

Ok, I realize that jersey is an airbrush job, as is the cap. Laga was traded from Detroit to St. Louis in September of 1986 and Topps proceeded to airbrush him into his new duds. I didn't realize the Cards wore pink jerseys. I do know that until I started reading other people's blogs, I didn't pay enough attention to cards to recognize an airbrush job. The old me would have needed something like this to recognize one.

The new me isn't much more observant, but I do pay more attention to the fronts AND backs of cards.  See, you can learn something from the blogosphere. 

My favorite 2013 card so far...

Topps typically has a number of nice play at the plate cards and this year is no exception.  I don't have scans of all of them yet, but I've got a trio here, including my favorite card of the very fresh year. 

Zack Cozart is pretty clearly safe on this play.  The ball is visible just above the rim of the All-Star Rookie Cup.  It's very early in the morning as I write this so I'm not sure who the catcher is, but I can see he's wearing #9 on his shin guards.  Any ideas?  I like this card because you get the whole picture.  Catcher, runner and all.  Not all patp cards give you that much of the picture. 

Carlos Gonzalez is sliding, but all you get of the catcher is a part of the glove on the bottom left of the card.  CarGo is most likely safe since the catcher is playing back, but a wider angle would be nice.

The final scan in the trio is the emerald Mike Moustakas.  It looks like Mike ran around the catcher is will be safe sliding in ahead of the throw.  Is that Carlos Santana catching? 

I'll scan the other play at the plate cards as I run across them.  You know you want to see them here. 

Still a lot of unclaimed goodies from yesterday

Check it out if you havne't already. 

2013 Topps Trade Bait/Wants.

By the way, I couldn't leave well enough alone and bought some more yesterday.  I pulled a short print that made me laugh.  I'll try to scan it and post it on Monday.

Have a great weekend. 

2013 Topps Trade Bait/Wants

One of the things I received for Christmas was one of those Visa Gift Cards. It had $100 on it and I’ve been saving it for the release of 2013 Topps. Yesterday I stopped by the” Store with the Blue Parallels” and picked up 4 blasters. I didn’t get a chance to scan anything yet, but I wanted to post a Trade/Want list as early as I could.


The only parallels I’ll be collecting are Rangers and the ’72 minis. I’m a sucker for minis.

Here are the parallels I have for trade on a first come/you’ve got Rangers for me basis.


EMERALD Foil:

Sean Doolittle, A’s
Vernon Wells, Angels
David Robertson, Yankees
J.J. Putz, Diamondbacks---Too Many Verlanders
Josh Johnson, Marlins
N.L. Wins Leaders, Gio Gonzalez, R.A. Dickey, Johnny Cueto
Rafael Soriano, Yankees

Cut to the Chase Die-Cut:
Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies--The ToddFather

Gold parallel:
Jonathon Niese, Mets

Chasing History:
Roberto Clemente, Pirates----Nick
Cal Ripken Jr., Orioles----Superduperman

Mariano Rivera, Yankees----Superduperman

Evan Longoria, Rays----Superduperman

Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners----Superduperman

Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners
Matt Kemp, Dodgers----GCRL
Chipper Jones, Braves----Waxaholic
Ted Williams, Red Sox----Superduperman

Alex Rodriguez, Yankees----Superduperman
Chasing the Dream:
Mike Trout, Angels----Superduperman

Drew Hutchison, Blue Jays----Superduperman
Drew Smyly, Tigers----Superduperman
Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays----Superduperman

Brett Lawrie, Blue Jays

Calling Cards:
CC Sabathia, Yankees
Mark Teixeira, Yankees
Reggie Jackson, Yankees
Kevin Youkilis, White Sox----Nick
Albert Pujols, Angels

Commemorative Patches:
CP-1 Adam Jones, Orioles----Zack
CP-2 Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox

Blue Wal-Mart Parallels:

Braves:
Mike Minor----Waxaholic

Marlins:
Josh Johnson--30 Year Old Cardboard
Adam Greenberg--30 Year Old Cardboard

Mets:
Kirk Nieuwenhuis
Johan Santana
Jeurys Familia

Nationals:
Jayson Werth
Bryce Harper
Sean Burnett
Christian Garcia
Tyler Clippard
Danny Espinosa
Eury Perez

Cubs:
Anthony Rizzo----Nick

Reds:
Johnny Cueto
Joey Votto

Pirates:
Brock Holt

Cardinals:
Matt Holliday, Wild Card----Superduperman

Yadier Molina----Superduperman

Adam Wainwright----Superduperman

Jon Jay----Superduperman


Diamondbacks: Ian Kennedy
Daniel Hudson

Rockies:
Rob Scahill

Dodgers:
Ted Lilly----GCRL
Dee Gordon----GCRL
Josh Beckett----GCRL
Adrian Gonzalez----GCRL
Chad Billingsley----GCRL

Giants:
NLDS Game 5
NLCS Game 7
World Series Game 3
Brian Wilson
Buster Posey

National League Leaders:
Wins, Gonzalez, Dickey, Cueto
RBIs, Headley, Braun, Soriano

Orioles:
Tommy Hunter
Luis Ayala
Jim Johnson

Red Sox:
Will Middlebrooks----Nick
Alfredo Aceves
Jacoby Ellsbury

Yankees:
Andruw Jones----Nick
Rafael Soriano
Mark Teixeira
CC Sabathia ALDS

Rays:
Jeremy Hellickson
J.P. Howell

Blue Jays:
Rajai Davis
Adeiny Hechavarria
Kyle Drabek

White Sox:
Chris Sale----Nick
Alex Rios----Jeff
Paul Konerko----Jeff
John Danks----Jeff

Indians:
Justin Masterson----Masterson

Tigers:
Delmon Young

Royals:
Eric Hosmer
Jake Odorizzi

Angels:
Kendrys Morales
Jason Isringhausen
Maicer Izturzis
Albert Pujols

A’s:
Sean Doolittle
Ryan Cook

Mariners:
Brendan Ryan
Carter Capps
Dustin Ackley

Here’s what I have and I want any Rangers that aren’t listed. I also want the Will Clark Commemorative Patch. What I have is very thin after 4 blasters. Very, very thin.

Commemorative Patch:
Nolan Ryan

Wal-Mart blue parallels:
Neftali Feliz

Die Cuts:
Nelson Cruz----pending

1972 Minis:
List pending

That’s it.  If you have anything I don't, let me know. 

I want your 2013 Topps Rangers!

Ok, I just busted a blaster (4 of them) and I've lots of trade bait for your Rangers parallels and what not.  I'll have a comprehensive list posted in the morning of what I have and what I want. 

Capiche?

Throw the book at 'em

The latest PED story that broke yesterday didn't surprise me.  The fact that Alex Rodriguez was linked, yet again, to PEDs didn't surprise me.  He's been the #1 most hated former Ranger since he left the team.  What surprised me was seeing Nelson Cruz's name in the story.

I like Nelson Cruz.
 

I have a special place in my collector's heart for Nelson Cruz because my son had a personal encounter with him. 

I don't want to believe that Nelson Cruz would be stupid enough to take PEDs.

That said, if it's true, I say throw the book at him and the others.  No more kid gloves.  I know it would never get by the player's union, but if these morons are stupid enough to take PEDs in any form, I would fully support a lifetime ban.  Make the ban Pete Rose got look like a slap on the wrist.  Wipe their stats from all official MLB records.  Make like the CIA and get rid of any records that show they ever existed in baseball at all. 

At some point, MLB needs to legalize all of it and let the players sentence themselves to a life of inflated heads, shrunken balls and early deaths or make the penalty a career killing death sentence. I'm not proposing the lifetime ban for people like Bonds and Clemens because they played in the era of PED acceptance in locker rooms and front offices (even if team execs claim they didn't know what was happening), but I think you need to tell these kids in adult bodies that it won't be tolerated anymore.

Of course, I may be wrong.  It could be that I'm just extremely disappointed to see one of my guys implicated.  Again. 

Care for a drink?

I'm not a drinker, but I could go for a little snifter of Cognac. 

Mmmm, that is smooth. 

One of the things I really respect about catchers is their desire to keep the runner from crossing the plate.  Wearing very little protective equipment and trying to stop a guy the size of Frank Thomas...well, that's a job I don't think I could do.  Sure, I played catcher in Little League, but I was bigger than every other kid and relished the thought of someone trying to run me over. 

As intimidating as the Big Hurt must have been, I can only imagine seeing this guy barreling down on you.

Man, I love a good play at the plate card.