It Came From the Card Closet~! - Milwaukee Brewers All 70s Team, Part I

I found a still shrink-wrapped pack of cards in my card closet that was a giveaway at a Brewers game a while back.  It was the first of 3 giveaways that would feature the Brewers' all-decade teams for the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  The cards actually look pretty nice - they feature old-school photos with a nice gold foil stamp with the player's name and position (it looks black in the scans, for some reason the gold foil just didn't scan well).  The backs of the cards give a nice synopsis of their time with the Brewers, highlighting team records and great moments.  Since there are a lot of pictures I'm splitting this post into 2 parts - today we'll start with the skipper and infield:

Manager: George Bamberger. "Bambi" led the Crew in the late 70s when they first rose to prominence as a force in the American League 

Catcher: Charlie Moore.  A fan favorite that spent nearly his entire career with the team.  He later moved to right field.

First Base: Cecil Cooper.  Coop was one of the most underrated players of his generation.  Check out these totals from a career that spanned from 1971-1987: .298 lifetime average, 2192 hits, 415 doubles, 241 HRs, 1012 runs, 1125 RBIs.  He also won a pair of Gold Gloves!

Second Base: Tommy Harper. 

Shortstop: Robin Yount.  No surprise here.  The Kid made his big league debut April 5, 1974 at just 18 years and 6 months old.

Third Base: Don Money.  "Brooks" was best known for his defense, but he was a very capable offensive player who anchored the hot corner for the Brewers for a full decade.

Previous Trivia Question:

What feat do Lou Gehrig, Gil Hodges, Rocky Colavito, Mark Whiten, and Mike Cameron all have in common?

 

A:  They are 5 of the 15 players to have hit 4 home runs in one game.  There have actually been more perfect games than players with 4 homers in one game!

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

What was Jerry Dior's big contribution to Major League Baseball?

Need a Good Book? - "Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession"

My girlfriend got me an awesome present last Christmas - a Nook Color from Barnes & Noble.  She also got me a couple gift cards to download some books right away, and she helpfully put together a short list of baseball related books she thought I might enjoy.  One of those books was "Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession" by Dave Jamieson.  I finally got around to reading that one over the past month, and it was really a fun read!



The book begins with Mr. Jamieson telling the story of how he discovered that his childhood baseball card collection (from the junk wax era) was not worth as much as he thought.  He then discovers with horror that baseball cards are no longer anywhere near as prevelant as they used to be when he was a kid (one of my favorite lines in the book came from when he went to a drug store and asked where the baseball cards were, and he gets such an odd look that he "might as well have asked where the gun aisle was."  Sad, but so true....)  This starts him out on an investigation to find out what happened to the baseball card industry, and ultimately he ends up telling the entire story of how baseball cards came to be in the first place.

And as it turns out, the history of the baseball card is actually quite interesting!  Jamieson takes the reader from the card's humble (and slightly unsavory) beginnings involving scantily clad women and pushing cigarettes, all the way through the very early days of Topps and Bowman, the rise and fall of the Topps monopoly, the beginnings of Upper Deck, the crash of baseball cards as "investments," and finally the card grading industry and the ultra high-end collectors of today.  Along the way we are introduced to several people that many of us have probably never heard of, but who played absolutely key roles in shaping the history of the hobby.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think anyone who loves the hobby will too.  At a time when "vintage" style cards are the rage, this book gives insight into where names such as Allen & Ginter, Goudey, and Turkey Red really came from.  I recommend it to anyone looking for a fun summer read! 

A Fond Memory of the Macho Man

No baseball cards today, just the sad news of the passing of one of my favorites, Randy "Macho Man" Savage.  One of my favorite things he ever did was this episode of Space Ghost: Coast 2 Coast, where he did the voice of Space Ghost's grandpa.  I still remember laughing so hard the first time I saw this.  :)

Ok, one card:

R.I.P. Macho Man.

A Couple New Griffeys

Just a quickie post today - I added a couple Griffeys to the collection out of the quarter bin.  Something old and something new!:

2010 Bowman Chrome - This card simply would NOT scan well...

1990 Post Cereal card from Post's first ever (I think) set

Like in my previous post, I also nabbed another card that I just thought was cool.  I loves me my holograms!..

And a former Brewer to boot!

...and once again, finding this card led me straight to eBay and another card that MUST be added to the list one day:

Chrome version, so there must be a basic one out there somewhere!



Previous Trivia Question:

 

What team owns the worst won-loss record in baseball history? (Hint: this goes waaaaay back!)

 

Answer:  The 1899 Cleveland Spiders produced an abysmal 20-134 (.130)  record.  Good work Dan!  And I actually wasn't aware of the dual-ownership of the St. Louis Perfectos being the cause, so I learned something new too!

 

Today's Trivia Quesiton:

 

What feat do Lou Gehrig, Gil Hodges, Rocky Colavito, Mark Whiten, and Mike Cameron all have in common?

Diamonds are Forever

I managed to give my Platinum Diamond collection a big boost last week, snaring 62 more cards for about $21 off of eBay:

This lot brings me just short of the halfway mark for Series 1, I have 156 out of 330.  It's clearly going to be quite a challenge to pull together a whole set of 990 cards (I assume there will be an Update Series again this year), but I'm still in it for the long haul.

I also came across this neat card while flipping through the $0.25 bin at my LCS:

Ivan Rodriguez "License to Skill" from 2000 Fleer Showcase

I'm a huge fan of James Bond (I own all of the movies), so when I saw this card I couldn't pass it up.  Of course, I immediately had to go online to see if a certain other player was represented in this insert set....

You better believe this one will be showing up in my collection very soon!!

Previous Trivia Question:

Robin Yount is one of 4 players to win an MVP award playing 2 different positions (in 1982 as a shortstop and 1989 as a centerfielder).  Who are the other 3?

 

Answer:  Hank Greenberg (1935 at 1B, 1940 at LF), Stan Musial (1943 at RF, 1946 at 1B), and Alex Rodriguez (2003 at SS, 2005 & 2007 at 3B)

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

What team owns the worst won-loss record in baseball history? (Hint: this goes waaaaay back!)

Trade with Potch Wheeler and The Cardboard Heroes

Today we have a loooooooong overdue post of my trade with DW over at Potch Wheeler and The Cardboard Heroes.  I actually finished this deal weeks ago, but just now finally got around to scanning the cards for a post!

I sent him the 3 cards he was missing for his 2011 Topps Series 1 base set and a few from 2010 Topps (sorry I couldn't finish it off for ya!), along with a few inserts from 2011 Topps and a small stack of Heritage cards.  In return he sent over an assortment of 2010 and 2011 Topps inserts I needed, and perhaps most importantly, he added one more to my Platinum Diamond set!

Thanks DW!  Sorry again that it took so long.

Previous Trivia Question:

Who was the last National Leaguer to win the Triple Crown?

A: Joe "Ducky" Medwick of the "Gashouse Gang" St. Louis Cardinals was the last National Leaguer to capture the Triple Crown, hitting .374 with 31 HRs and 154 RBIs in 1937 (Good work hiflew!)

Today's Trivia Question:

Robin Yount is one of 4 players to win an MVP award playing 2 different positions (in 1982 as a shortstop and 1989 as a centerfielder).  Who are the other 3?

Hitting a Heritage Double at Target

I have been slowly but surely building my Topps Heritage set a few packs at a time - I'm right at the halfway mark now.  A couple weeks ago I finally nailed a couple hits, and shockingly enough they both came from retail packs I bought at Target!

First, I decided to get a single jumbo pack one day, and pulled this snazzy card:

And then a few days later when I got paid I decided to treat myself to a blaster pack, which held this surprise:

I'm pretty sure these are the first good hits I've ever gotten out of non-hobby packs.  Not too shabby for a week's work!

Previous Trivia Question:

 

Who is the youngest player to ever play in the major leagues, making his first appearance at the ripe old age of 15?

 

Answer:  Pitcher Joe Nuxhall appeared for the Cincinnati Reds at age 15 in 1944, thanks to a shortage of players during World War II.  He disappeared from the big leagues shortly thereafter, but would reappear 8 years later and go on to a solid major league career.

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

Who was the last National Leaguer to win the Triple Crown?

Feeling Underserved

I must say, after taking another look at the new Gypsy Queen set those sure are some sharp looking cards.  I'll probably have to go after this set, though perhaps not right away.  But it did bring into focus a real issue I have with the current state of the card market.....

We now have Gypsy Queen on top of Heritage, National Chicle, Allen & Ginter, and T206 - all old-style, throwback sets.  Now I appreciate the vintage look as much as the next guy, but do we really need this many sets in the same category??

Meanwhile, there is a whole other category of cards that is completely missing from the market - I guess I'll call this the "futuristic/hi-tech" group, as what I'm really looking for is something that is pretty much the opposite of the vintage series.  I've always been a fan of the ultra-flashy cards, and right now I have nowhere to turn!!  I mean, where are the SPx's?....



...or the Ex-2000's??....



...or the Topps Tek's??



You get the idea.  I want something shiny and foily, with holograms and strange die-cut borders!  I'm only asking for ONE set like this.  It doesn't even have to be a big set!  And you can still have at least 3 throwback sets at the same time.  I would think this would be especially welcome for player collectors.  One of my favorite things about my Griffey collection is the huge variety of card styles it covers.  If I started the same collection today, pretty much all I would have are base set cards, vintage-style cards, and patch/relic cards.  Where's the fun in that???

Now that I'm off my soapbox, it's time for the trivia question! (I forgot these in my last few posts, whoops!)

Previous Trivia Question:

 

What is the official score recorded in the record books for a forfeited baseball game?

 

Answer: 9-0

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

Who is the youngest player to ever play in the major leagues, making his first appearance at the ripe old age of 15?