Somebody at Topps Screwed Up!

I got my 36-pack box of the new Topps set (details next post!), and as I was collating the cards I noticed Topps did a little something special this year to start the set.  After card #1 (Bryce Harper) the cards have matching jersey numbers and card numbers.  For example, here's card #2:

 And card #8:

 And #19:

 This goes on for quite a while. Take a gander at cards #45, 59 and 74:

 But in the middle of this is card #23, with Jemile Weeks very conspicuously NOT being jersey #23....

I guess somebody at Topps didn't think too hard when told to "put Weeks on card #23."  :)

KHAAAAAAAAAAAN~!

My awesome wife surprised me the other day with a card I've been drooling over ever since I saw it in the display case at my LCS:

Alas, the patches aren't from clothes actually used in the movie, but awesome nonetheless.

A Trio of NFL HoFer Patches

I actually collected quite a bit of Goodwin Champions this past year.  I really liked the black bordered base cards, though admittedly far too many came out of the packs with edges already scuffed, but I digress. The jersey patch cards looked really sharp this year, and I had some good luck in the football category:



Does Elway ever NOT look like a total dork? I actually pulled TWO of these if someone is interested in one of them.



I love "Diamond Jim" Kelly here in the Hawaiian shirt!



Easily my favorite of the bunch.  Jerry was my favorite football player as a little kid.

That's all for today.  Can't wait to bust some packs of the new Topps Baseball! (even if it does look like the exact same stuff we've been getting for 3 years.....)

Hoping for a Big Day in Houston

Hi everybody, long time no post!

The voting results for this year's Baseball Hall of Fame class are about to be announced, and I just thought I would throw my quick 2 cents in. Many have written at length about the agonizing decisions they faced over whether or not to vote for various PED-linked players this year, but in my mind there are 2 players who absolutely should go in who have never (to my knowledge) had any serious accusations leveled against them - Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.  It seems like Bagwell has some vague "guilt by association" cloud hanging around him, but I don't believe anyone has ever directly accused him of wrongdoing.

Without question, their career numbers speak for themselves:

Craig Biggio:
3,060 hits
.281 avg / .363 obp / .796 ops
668 doubles
291 HRs
1,175 RBIs
1,844 Runs
414 SBs

Jeff Bagwell:
2,317 hits
.297 avg. / .408 obp / .948 ops
488 doubles
449 HRs
1,529 RBIs
1,517 Runs
202 SBs

Keep in mind, they both played significant portions of their careers on the hard turf of the cavernous Astrodome.  Certainly their HR numbers would have been higher playing in a more hitter friendly park.

Beyond just their stats, I always admired both guys for always playing hard.  They were a lot of fun to watch, even though I had to watch them beat up on my team far too often!

And how can anyone NOT love Bagwell's intimidating batting stance?



My gut tells me that Bagwell may have to wait a few years to get in, but here's hoping I'm wrong and they go in together!