A One of a Kind Topps Card

I love unique cards that come with an interesting story, and the latest addition to my collection fits that bill.  Spot anything unusual about this card?:





This is the 1975 Topps Herb Washington, and it is the only Topps card to ever feature "Pinch Runner" as the player's position.

Herb had a strange and brief career in baseball in the mid-70s.  Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley, best known for his legendary stinginess when it came to player salaries, became enamored with Washington's world-class sprinter speed.  In fact, he was so impressed that he decided to sign Herb to be the team's designated runner, despite the fact that he hadn't played baseball since high school.

In 1974 he appeared in 92 games, all as a Pinch Runner.  His Topps card claims that he was "personally responsible" for 9 A's wins in 1974, a stat that sounds dubious at best seeing as how he only managed to score 29 runs while stealing 29 bases in 45 attempts.

In his 105-game career (he only lasted about a month into the 1975 season), Washington never once went to the plate or played the field.  He stole a grand total of 31 bases in 48 attempts and scored 33 runs.  But he also got a World Series ring, as the A's won it all in 1974.  I'd take that career in a heartbeat!

Previous  Trivia Question:

The Common Card Man wishes Derek Jeter belated congratulations on his 3000th hit. He was the second man to hit a home run for his 3000th (Wade Boggs is the other). Who is the only player to hit a triple for his 3000th hit?

 

A: Former Brewer great Paul Molitor is the only person to smack a triple for his milestone hit.

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

Pretty much any baseball fan can tell you that the Yankees have the most World Series titles (27).  What team has the second-most?

 

A Double Diamond Post

So I'm finally back here at the blog after a 3-week hiatus!  I've been so ridiculously busy that I just haven't had time to do any updates (well, that and I haven't had much money to spend on cards the past few weeks either).  I expect to get back in the swing of things now, so let's get to it!
As the title would suggest, this post involves two different types of diamonds.  First, the non-cardboard variety - one of the things that has kept me so occupied the last few weeks is that I got engaged to my lovely girlfriend Jo.  How she puts up with me I don't know, but I'm glad she said yes. :) Thankfully she shares in my baseball card and Rock Band addictions, so that makes life a lot easier!

Now on to those other diamonds - the Platinum Diamond set that has so captured my card collecting attention this year.  I managed to pick up 2 more lots off of eBay at a good price.  As I mentioned in my last post, I was worried that it would be hard to buy lots of any size without having to take on a lot of duplicates, but I managed to get these with only a handful of doubles.  The other pleasant surprise was which players were included in these lots.  Most of the lots of 20 or more cards contain mostly the very common players.  That's fine enough as I'm building the whole set, but I was afraid that I would end up with 90% of the set completed and the remaining 10% being all the star players, and that I would end up paying a few bucks each for them.  But as you'll see, these 2 lots brought some nice star power:

Not bad at all!  In addition, I managed to add doubles of Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Corey Hart, Alcides Escobar and Jonathan Lucroy for my Brewer collection.  A very nice haul for what I paid!  That brings me to 310 out of 660 for my Platinum Diamond set.

Previous Trivia Question:

On August 25, 1922, the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies set a record for most combined runs in a single game. How many did they score?

A: They combined for 49 runs as the Cubs bested the Phils, 26-23.

Today's Trivia Question:

The Common Card Man wishes Derek Jeter belated congratulations on his 3000th hit.  He was the second man to hit a home run for his 3000th (Wade Boggs is the other).  Who is the only player to hit a triple for his 3000th hit? 

The Platinum Diamond Quest Continues

My past experience in building sets has led me to the conclusion that if I'm going to be successful in building a complete 990-card set of Platinum Diamonds I'm going to have to shell out for some big lots now while they are still readily available.  If I wait too long the big lots will no doubt become few and far between as collectors move on to Football cards or other Baseball sets.

With that in mind, I managed to score a nice 76-card lot of Diamonds off of eBay for $45.  It was mainly lesser players, but there were a few stars, including a nice Ichiro checklist:



The big lots are something of a double-edged sword though, because now that I kickstarted my Series 2 collection with 76 cards it will probably be hard to find another big lot that won't include a lot of doubles of ones I already have...

As always, I welcome any trade proposals to add to my collection. I may be buying a box of Series 2 soon, and I know a lot of you out there will be looking for the Kimball Champions cards.

Previous  Trivia Question:

Who threw baseball's only (known) LSD-assisted no-hitter?

 

Answer:  On June 12, 1970, Pittsburgh's Dock Ellis no-hit the San Diego Padres.  Years later he admitted to being high as a kite on LSD for that game.  Here's a funny animated video of Ellis recounting the game:

 

 

To steal a line from a book I'm currently reading, it was a fitting accomplishment for a man whose name can be written as "Ellis, D."  :)

 

Today's Trivia Question:

 

On August 25, 1922, the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies set a record for most combined runs in a single game.  How many did they score?