November Dallas Show

It has been almost a month since my last post.  Much has happened since then. I led that post off with the story of my sweet senior dog, Missy.  Unfortunately, we lost Missy two weeks later. It was mercifully quick.  On a Thursday night, she was her normal self.  Friday morning, it was clear she was in some distress.  She fought hard, but it was quickly clear it was time to let her go.  I miss her terribly, but she lived a long life (16 to 18 years), was happy until the end, and didn't leave anything on the table. You can't ask for more than that, can you?  I posted a tribute to her on Twitter (borrowing heavily from Robert Burns):

She'll be impossible to replace, but God help me, I'm already watching the adoption page at the Norman Animal Shelter and expect it is only a brief matter of time before the pack is back up to its full staffing level.

I finally managed to get down to Dallas for one of the shows down there after threatening to do so since the beginning of the year. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive, but it was very easy, with all but the first 10 miles, and the last 200 yards, of the drive on I-35.  It was worth the drive with the show being at least 3 to 4 times the size of the every-other-month OKC show.  Overall, it was a good experience.  I found several vintage sellers who were pricing in the same range as I have come to expect locally. For later reference, I normally expect to pay between 30% and 50% of Beckett high book for cards in the range of EX+ to EX/NM condition.  My checklists always have book value so that I can track my expected cost and keep me in line with my show budget.

I had only one bad experience.  My main goal was to make progress on my 1968 and 1970 sets, which were within striking distance of completion.  At one seller, I found 3 cards I needed:two 1968 commons and a 1968 Hank Aaron All-Star card. They had a total book value of $38, so my expected price was in the range of $12 to $15.  Oh, was I mistaken.  There were a couple of warning signs I should have heeded:

1. The seller had 4 prices shown on each top loader. When I asked, he said that they were the book value of cards in 7/8/9/10 graded condition.  
2. When I handed him the cards and asked how much he wanted for them, he spent around 5 minute examining the cards before telling me what he wanted. 

He asked for $75, nearly twice high book and over five times what I would normally expect to pay for those cards. I was shocked nearly speechless. I told him "I think I'll pass" and walked away.  There is no way I was about to pay graded prices on raw cards, particularly since they were, at best, EX condition and not even NM-MT.  I probably should have told him why I was walking away, but there was a huge room to explore and I suspect that a guy who's that out of touch with the market wouldn't really appreciate the feedback.

Luckily, other sellers were more reasonable and I ended up buying at five different tables, including Roger Neufeldt, who is based right here in Norman, but hasn't done local shows since a new promoter would only give him a less-than-acceptable table locations off the actual show floor.  So, I travelled over 100 miles to buy from a guy that is just down the road.

Anyways, I ended up bring home just over 100 cards. Here is a sneak peak:

It was a productive show where I managed to finish one set and get myself into the home stretch on two more.  Stay tuned.

What I am listening to: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Darius Rucker

PS: Be aware, my Twitter account posted above has little to no hobby content.  It is mainly contemporary politics, so I'd advise to only follow at your own risk.

Revisiting a Recent Pickup

I decided to go back and give you an update on a recent pickup of mine:

I know it isn't baseball cards, but it just tickles me to death.  I have 17 acres and my neighbor to the north has 40. I can let two of my dogs run, as they will go off exploring but come back after a while.  I have one dog, a Great Pyrenees-Anatolian Shepherd mix that I cannot let run, as he doesn't come back.  But, he has the Great Pyrenees desire for a territory to patrol.  So, I try to take him for walks on my, and my neighbors, property.  Today, Daisy the barn cat came with us.  Buddy wasn't happy since I wasn't going to take anything other than the shortest loop with a cat in tow, but he'll get over it.

Every Dog Has His Day - Gene Alley

Gene Alley's career day came on September 8, 1967 when his 0.618 Win Percentage Added led the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 4-3 win over the visiting St Louis Cardinals.  His game started off poorly, fouling out to the Cards first baseman Orlando Cepeda leading off the bottom of the second. He came to the plate again in the fourth and popped out, again to Cepeda.  Things got only marginally better in the bottom of the sixth, when he singled but was caught stealing to end the frame.

So, how did he get such a high WPA? In the eighth, with the Bucs behind 3-2, he doubled in Roberto Clemente with two outs to tie the game.  After regulation ended with the score knotted at 3, Alley led of the tenth with a triple off Ron Willis.  After St Louis intentionally walked both Bill Mazeroski and Jerry May, and struck out pinch hitter Al Luplow, Gene scored the winning run on a walk off single by Maury Wills.

While it is off lesser import, Alley had 4 putouts and 5 assists in the field, including initiating two double plays.


What I am listening to:  Copenhagen by Lucinda Williams




Yeah, it is melancholy but, holy hell, is it a beautiful song.  Lucinda Williams is an absolute gem.  The video is a bit odd, given that the song was about her hearing of the sudden death of her long time manager and friend while she was on tour in Copenhagen, but I think it works anyways.

Every Dog Has His Day - Ken Sanders

Ken Sanders career day (WPA of 0.775) was an April 18, 1971 contest in Milwaukee between the home town Brewers and the Kansas City Royals.  His day started in the top of the 8th inning with one out and two on and the teams locked in a tie with 2 runs apiece. It should be noted that Ken's entrance was as part of a double switch, in which he actually replaced catcher Ellie Rodriquez and Phil Roof entered in replacement of pitcher Marcelino Lopez, who had previously relieved starter Lew Krausse in the sixth,  and took up station behind the plate.

Lopez had started the inning off well enough, getting Amos Otis to fly out to right.  However,  after a walk to Jerry May and a single to Bob Oliver, Lopez's day was done.  Sanders entered and promptly gave up a single to Cookie Rojas, but the batted ball hit lead runner May for the second out. Ken induced Lou Piniella to ground out to end the frame.  He retired the side 1-2-3 in the ninth, allowed a lead off single to Dennis Paepke in the 10th, but retired the next three batters to escape unharmed.

Similarly, he gave a leadoff single to Cookie Rojas to start the 11th, but Cookie was caught stealing.  Two ground outs( the second a 1-3 putout,) surrounded a single by Royal third baseman Paul Schaal, and the 11th ended without any runs.  Sanders again allowed single baserunners in the 12th and 13th innings, but closed out the frames without allowing any runs.  After 5 2/3 innings pitching, Sanders was due to be the second batter in the bottom of the 13th.  Brewers manager Dave Bristol sent Ted Savage up in his stead.  Savage drew a walk, moved to second when Roberto Pena also walked, stole third, and scored the game winning run on a single by Tommy Harper.

Sanders final line:  5.2 innings, 5 hits, 1 BB, 6 SO, and no runs for the win. The win was his first of the season. Over the whole season, Sanders went 7-12 with 31 saves in 83 appearances as the Brewers main closer. He had a 1.91 ERA, 1.064 WHIP and finished 16th in the voting for AL MVP (though he garnered no votes for that season's Cy Young.)

Every Dog Has His Day - Ed Brinkman

Though I am skeptical of my ability to sustain any regular feature here, given my "real life" obligations, I need give it a try.  I've basically slipped into a mode where any posts are half-assed and, consequently, I have limited readership.  Not that I am looking to challenge for the Blog of the Year or anything, but I feel like I've taken more from the community than I have given and need to work on what I contribute.

So, here is how it is going to work. I will periodically grab a random card from my collection and find the best single game performance in that player's career, as measured by Baseball Reference's Win Probability Added statistic.

I'll start with Ed Brinkman.

This card is from the very first sheet of my 1973 set.  I won't be proceeding through this linearly, in case you are wondering. I mainly chose this card because Ed is striking the pose of a particularly ineffective hitter, what with choking up and crouching in that odd way. And, indeed Brinkman had a .228/.280/.300 slash line over a 15 year career.  He was mainly known as a good glove man.  Over his career, he notched up a dWAR of 20.3 versus an oWAR of 5.3 and managed the mind boggling feat of three seasons with dWARs higher than 3.0

Ed's career day was May 23, 1970 when his then team, the Washington Senators, squared off against the Tigers in Detroit.  Overall, Ed went 4 for 5 with 1 run scored and 3 RBIs in a 6-5 Washington victory.  His contributions were as follows:

• Leading off the game against Tiger hurler Mike Kilkenny, he flew out to right fielder Jim Northrup. 
• He closed out the bottom of the first, by throwing out Al Kaline at first.
• He also ended the bottom of the second, by forcing out Mike Kilkenny at second on a Mickey Stanley groundball. However, Detroit managed to put three on the board by virtue of an Ike Brown homerun.
• Coming to bat with in the top of the third with with one out and Tim Cullen on second, Brinkman put Washington on the board wen he laced a double to right field, scoring Cullen.  Ed was stranded there two batters later.
• He ended his third consecutive inning with another forceout at second, this time Willie Horton.
• He didn't factor in the game again until the top of the sixth, by which time Detroit had opened up a 5-1 lead, when he opened the frame with a double to left field;later scoring on a Frank Howard homerun.  That tater by the Capital Punisher brought the score to 5-3 in favor of the Tigers.
• He came to bat again in the seventh with two on and two out.  A single to left field scored Ed Stroud to close the Senators to within one. An inning later, Washington tied the score on a solo shot by Rick Reichardt.
• Ed came to bat again in the top of the ninth with John Roseboro on second and two outs.  He singled to center, scoring Roseboro and putting Washington up 6-5.
• He threw out Ike Brown for the first out in the bottom of the ninth and then almost blew the game, one out later, when he committed an error, allowing Micky Stanley to reach base and keep Detroit alive. Luckily, the next batter, Cesar Guitierrez flew out to end the game.

I enjoyed researching this post, although I struggled with writing it.  Hopefully, I'll find my voice if I keep at this.

Coming up next: an unexpected addition to a PC.

What I am listening to: Baby Please Don't Go by Lightnin Hopkins