Just as quickly as it began, it is ending.  After almost a full month, I have decided to end this blog.  I have many things to attend to in my personal life that do not allow me to produce the quality blog I feel everyone deserves.  My time not at work is spent getting ready for a baby and remodeling the house, things that I prioritize above writing a blog.  My short time writing has taught me a lot , and perhaps it is something I will return to in the future.  In the meantime, I look forward to reading what everyone else has to say, and keeping in touch with the kind people I’ve met along the way.

Thanks for everything.

Chad

Thanks to The Great Bearded One over at Beardy’s Baseball Blog, I now own this Guidry Sweet Spot Classic Jersey card.  I love jersey card trades, and former players are my favorites.  The only thing not going for this card is the fact that Guidry was a Yankee.

Nonetheless, its a great card.  Thanks to Beardy for initiating the trade!

“Those Mounties are faster than they look!”

As a part of my new “Cards of my Youth” series, I anticipate coming across some funny looking cards and cards that have no reason to be blogged about.  To enhance the feature, I have decided to challenge you all to come up with your best caption for the player featured on the card.  I will throw my caption as part of the post, and you can follow suit in the comments section, if you would be so inclined.  Let’s try it out!

1981 Fleer Brian Kingman #579

My caption is: “It’s hard to smile when I threw a 3.83 and still lost 20 last year.”

So, I know you can do better.  Whatcha got??

My wife was kind enough to add to my World Series Baseball Collection for my birthday this year.  Her kindness included the rarest World Series Baseball, the 2001 Pre 9/11 ball.  Rawlings had began production on these balls.  Then 9/11 hit and MLB decided to use a more patriotic theme for the World Series logo.  Production was stopped immediately, and this has become the rarest of all World Series Baseballs.  My wife was able to track one down for me, and I have added it to my collection.

Also, she got me the ceremonial first pitch ball, which is the ball on the left.  It has the US flag on it, and is the ball used in this infamous photo:

Both are beautiful additions to my collection, and I have only the post 9/11 ball to go to complete the 2001 year for World Series balls.   I also have one more ball to post in the coming days.  Watch for it!

I”m going to try something new to keep the spending down and the memories rolling.  Each day (assuming I can post each day) I will randomly pick one card out from my childhood collection (the same collection from my banner image) and scan it onto the site for everyone to enjoy.  It will be called “Cards of my Youth” and should bring back some memories of the past, as well as some laughs today.  So, without further ado, I unveil the first edition of “Cards of my Youth”!

Here we have the 1991 Score #706 Terry Mulholland “No Hit Club” card.

I have to be honest.  Even as a Phillies fan, I don’t remember this no hitter.  The card back shows a box score with a Phillies lineup I distinctly remember, and I remember Mulholland, but not his no hitter.  Weird.  The no hitter was thrown August 15, 1990, which puts me at 10 years old.  Its funny, it seems any major league pitcher on the right day can throw a no hitter.  Mulholland was certainly not dominant, posting a career 4.41 ERA with a losing 124-142 record.  In 1990, he was 9-10 with a 3.34 ERA.

You gotta love the triple “action” photo of his left arm, though.

While perusing eBay the other day, I happened upon a nice Eddie Mathews 2006 Upper Deck Epic Materials Game Used Jersey.  It is serial numbered 29/75.  I threw my high bid of $5.50 and to my surprise, won it!  I got it in the mail today.  Here it is, via my new scanner.

The odd thing about this card, which I love most about it, is the beautiful blue swatch of jersey in the middle.  Obviously this is from those awesome 70’s Braves jerseys, so I am led to believe that this is a jersey from his managing days.  (If you can find playing photos of Eddie wearing the blue, please let me know.). Nevertheless, I love color swatches.  They are way more fun to collect than the gray and white that you find so commonly all over the place.  This is a beautiful card, and I am proud to add it to my collection.

I just got a new scanner today, so I hope you all enjoy these box breaks a little more now that I have legit scans of the cards I got.

I picked up a blaster of 09 Goudey today from Target.  You know the drill.  8 packs of 8 cards.  Here we go!

Pack 1. Clayton Kershaw, Johan Santana Heads Up, Lance Berkman, Mark Teixeira, Magglio Ordonez mini, Carlos Zambrano, Carlos Beltran, Denard Span.

Pack 2. Carlos Guillen, James Parr, Nick Markakis, Dan Haren, Ian Kennedy mini, Greg Smith, Alcides Escobar, Greg Golson.

Pack 3. Chase Utley (YES!), 4-1 Cubs, 4-1 Stolen Base Leaders, Carlos Lee, Garret Anderson, Ryan Ludwick, Francisco Liriano, Ian Kennedy.

Pack 4. Ken Griffey Jr, Curt Schilling, Dave Concepcion, AJ Burnett, Sport Royalty Patrick Roy, Nick Blackburn, Mike Aviles, Troy Glaus.

Pack 5. Dexter Fowler, Dan Uggla, David Ortiz, Jed Lowrie, World History “South African Election”, Jake Peavy, Trevor Hoffman, Prince Fielder.

Pack 6. 4-1 Homeruns, John Lackey mini, Kerry Wood, Troy Tulowitzki, Rich Harden, Ian Kinsler, Marlon Byrd, Frank Thomas.

Pack 7. Brian Roberts, Brandon Webb, Howie Kendrick, David Ortiz Heads Up, Jimmy Rollins, Johnny Damon, Chris Young, Mat Gamel.

Pack 8. Albert Pujols, Vlad Guerrero, Jonathan Papelbon, Melvin Mora, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Bill Hall, Michael Young, Justin Morneau.

I’m impressed with the concept of the cards, but not really on the implementation.  I think the Utley card could have been done a lot better, as with many of the other players.  The cards look too simple.  I don’t know, maybe some more time could have been spent.  I give it a B-.

As always, these cards are up for trade.  I like relic cards of all players, especially Red Sox and Phillies.

While perusing eBay for jersey cards (new cards will be posted soon, I assure you) I came across this 06 SP Legendary Cuts card of Dennis Eckersley.  The reasons I appreciate Eck most recently culminated in a live broadcast of the Red Sox.  In it, he dropped a one word sentence, and it was no mistake.  ”Shit.”  Him and Orsillo giggle about it for a minute, then Eck proceeds to call Justin Masterson “Masturbate”.

Well, Eck was being awesome way before working for NESN, but this was  in Oakland, circa 1992.  Check out this card.

Notice anything…wrong?  No? Well then check out these cards…

That’s right…Eck was a righty, not a southpaw.  But he posed as a southie for that photo, and either Upper Deck has a great sense of humor, too, or they completely missed it.  Either way, I love it.

I know there have been many instances of this happening on baseball cards.  If you can think of any others, leave a comment and let me know!

Up for trade is the 2009 Goodwin Champions Preview Cal Ripken Jr SP card I pulled from the 09 UD Blaster Box.  

All trades from all sports will be considered, but I am focusing on jersey cards (prefer retired players).  

Send me an email at RedSox8945@yahoo.com.  The first reasonable offer will be the one I trade with.