Lines of History

This is my follow-up post where I show the results of trying to trace the pedigree of my horses back to one or more of the various subjects in the 1933 Player's Derby and Grand National Winners cigarette trading card set.  Over the years we've owned 9 different horses.  Of those, only 5 were breed registered and I no longer have access to the papers for 2 of them. So, I'll only look at the remaining 3.

Jack

Jack was our first horse.  He was a registered American Quarter Horse (Flowithease). Most people think of quarter horses as bred to excel in ranch work.  But, the progenitors of the quarter horse were originally bred in colonial America, crossing English thoroughbreds to native horses, to be very fast over a quarter mile stakes race.  With the western expansion of the 19th century, these original quarter horses were eventually bred to native mustangs and developed into the ranch work savants most people are familiar with today.

We bought him on the advise of my wife's trainer shortly after she started her first job after law school.   Jack was originally bred for the racetrack and was nearly half (7/16 to be exact) thoroughbred. He never made the track and changed hands several times before he came to us.  Given his breeding, he was probably bought with the idea of being a barrel racing horse. But, he had an indifferent work ethic and probably never made it to the rodeo grounds either.

My wife does the English riding disciplines (jumping and dressage) and he was to be her show horse.   Jack was a pleasant fellow and smart as a whip, however with his lack of ambition it was a struggle for my wife to learn how to ride when she had a horse that needed to be convinced to do much of anything. Eventually we gave up on him ever being a successful show horse and he became my trail horse, a role more suited to his temperament.    We had to retire him in 2011 at the age of 25 after, first, a broken coffin bone in a front foot, followed by a particularly nasty case of EPM (Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis)  He took to retirement easily and passed away in 2016 at the ripe old age of 30. 

As quarter horses go, he had royalty on the sire side of his bloodlines with the famous racing quarter horses Easy Jet and Jet Deck, as well as the AQHA Hall of Fame stallion Three Bars (who was actually a registered thoroughbred.)  As far as his relationship to subjects of the Player's set, he goes back to Blenheim and Gainsborough on his sires side and Sunstar on his dams side.

Stormy

Even as Jack remained a solid horse into his early 20s, we were aware that his eventual retirement loomed and we were aware that I would need a mount to take his place.  As it was, we had friends who farmed 1300 acres in Pauls Valley and were pasturing a small contingent of paint horses for an acquaintance that was becoming too old to care for them.  We often observed these horses when we visited our friends and considered buying one as my next horse.  I originally focused on one mare about 10-12 years old.  I went out to into the pasture to assess her disposition. She was approachable, but when I tried to pick up one of her feet, she tried to kick me.

Changing focus, I went through the same routine with a 5 year old who happened to be the daughter of the first mare. She was much more accommodating despite having  been minimally handled (and not halter broke.)  So, we ended up buying her and naming her Stormy because her APHA registered name was Gayle's Stormy Night. After we brought her home, I spent some time working with her on her ground manners to ensure she was safe to handle.  After a few weeks, we took her to a trainer in Guthrie, a town about hour north of us.  The trainer came highly recommended and he had saddled, climbed on and rode her around a round pen within an hour of us arriving.  If you are interested, you can see a video featuring the trainer here.

I was able to ride more when I worked from home, but over the last 7 years, since I started commuting in to an office for work, I've barely ridden as what time I have in the evenings was usually consumed with various farm chores and projects.  With many of the projects complete, my intent is to send Stormy off to a trainer for a tune up and to start riding more this spring and summer.

Stormy is a registered American Paint Horse (Gayle's Stormy Night), which is basically a quarter horse with the distinctive pinto coloring. While Stormy's APHA pedigree was bred for conformation classes and roping, so she was put together than Jack, as you can see below. She has a shorter back and neck, shorter legs and was generally much more stout.

I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of APHA bloodlines, but she does go back to a number of famous Quarter Horses, including the aforementioned Three Bars, as well as King P-234.  As far as relations in the Player's set, she goes back to Blenheim and Minoru on her sires side and Sunstar and Durbar II on her dam's side.

Traeh - 

Traeh is my wife's new show horse.  As her previous show horse crossed into his 20s, he was given a well deserved retirement.  Traeh is 6 years old and is an Irish Sport Horse (A Touch of Heart).  An Irish Sport Horse is normally a cross between a registered Irish Draft Horse and another breed, generally a thoroughbred.

I have always said, somewhat facetiously, that all horses are given an equal amount of attitude to spread throughout their body. Thus, large horses, like drafts or foundation quarter horses, tend to the mellow side.  But, as you traverse the spectrum of size in horses, the attitude becomes more and more concentrated in a smaller package . Thus, ponies and miniature horses have so much sass and attitude that they are virtually untrainable (unless they deign to let you train them, in which case it isn't enitrely clear who is training who.)  

Traeh is an exception. She has a pony attitude in a full size horse body. Luckily, she is people oriented so she has never tried to throw a rider off, which ponies are wont to do.  But, she can decide at timesshe knows better than her rider and has presented some training challenges. She is also quite bold.  While most horses will move away from strange things like, say, a riding lawnmower, Traeh will come over and investigate.  Because of the combination of sass and bravery, she is being brought along slowly as she cannot be trusted to understand when she is trying to do more than she is ready for or capable of and she must listen to her rider in such situations.  But, she is going to become a fine show horse in the next couple years.

What horses in the Player's set is she related to?  Cameronian and Sansovino.

Anyways, I've prattled on enough. But, I do have more tobacco issue cards to show in the days ahead, including one that can rightfully be considered a direct ancestor of the most iconic sports card ever. I also have a few sports card things to share, so as I don't lose what few readers I have. Stay tuned!

What I am listening to:  Straight Up and Down by The Brian Jonestown Massacre

Mo

My local Fox station, which was broadcasting the All-Star Game, went off the air sometime around the fourth inning.  After 45 minutes, it was still not back on line, so I went to bed. Unfortunately, I missed seeing Mariano Rivera. I think it was an awesome tribute that the position players stayed in the dugout and let Mo take his warm up pitches as the only player on the field (save the catcher.) I have seen the video and it appears to me that he was having a hard time keeping his emotions under control.

My disappointment, however, is lessened by the fact that I saw Rivera close out the Royals-Yankees game I went to in Kansas City back in May. I have been woefully behind on sorting through and posting some of the pictures I took at the game, but here is one of Rivera taking his warm ups.

Almost Opening Day

My wife and I went to the Oklahoma Redhawks game against the Memphis Redbirds last night.  It wasn't actually opening day. That was the previous night.  But, since we both work in downtown OKC, going to opening night would have meant at least one of us would have to drive the 30 miles home to take care of the horses and dogs, then drive all the way back downtown.  After a long week, that wasn't happening. So we went on Saturday, instead.

The Redhawks lost 8-7, but it started out worse than that implies.  The local boys were down 8 to 1 after three innings but clawed back to 7 runs at game end.  This included a 3 run 8th inning, which I missed since we chose to leave after the 7th inning because it was getting late.

This Redhawks starting pitcher Jose Cisnero, who got totally battered around. He had a hard time finding the strike zone and when he did the Redbirds really teed off on him.  It was ugly and his day mercifully ended with 2 out and the bases loaded in the top of the third.

This is former Yankee farm hand Brandon Laird, now banished to the Astros chain.  This was taken in the bottom of the first, and on the next pitch after this one he laced a double to left-center that scored the games first run.  Later in the game, he hit a solid home run to left to drive in the Redhawks second run of the game.

Beer.  Boulevard Single Wide IPA, to be precise.

So, I am going to go to the card show today, but not for myself.  The show includes an autograph signing by OU and NFL football great Uwe von Schamann.  He is a legend here for "The Kick," the game winning 41 yard field goal in a 1977 game in Columbus between OU and Ohio State.  My wife (an Ohio State grad) has a friend and former co-worker who is a huge (and I mean HUGE) Ohio State fan.  So, my task today is to get an appropriately autographed photo of "The Kick" for the friend.  I may take a little money and look for myself, but I will probably only use it if I can find any of the remaining cards I need for my 1971 set.


     The Kick

Trade with Napkin Doon - Plus an Outtake

I just completed a trade with the oddly named Napkin Doon (you never can tell about them Arkansans. But, at least he only has one first name and isn't known as Napkin Ray Bob Doon or some such nonsense.) Anyhoo, as I have mentioned earlier I didn't have any luck turning a Topps Diamond Die Cut Tom Seaver into anything I actually wanted, so I ended up trading it for a die-cut Adrian Beltre that Nap needed. In exchange, I got a dozen 2001 Heritage cards I needed. I am pretty stoked about getting another good size chunk of that set knocked off.

Most of the cards were of guys who didn't have any noteworthy MLB experience like this guy:


Aah, the joys of set collecting! But there were some good players mixed in, too.



Although he was forgettable in the off-season, Lohse pitched solidly in 2011 for the World Champion Cardinals.




I'm glad the Yankees resigned Freddy for 2012. He, along with Bartolo Colon, really filled in the rotation beyond expectations with Phil Hughes being on the disabled list and A.J. Burnett being very inconsistent.

I want to stop for a moment and let another piece of my life intrude here. As some of you may know, I enjoy doing some amateur photography. I'll never make my living at it, but I have taken some pictures I am proud of. One of the things I like is looking at other people's photographs and trying to understand both their vision and technique. This has given me the chance to meet other photographers that I might never come across in my life. One guy was actually did some work for the Anaheim Angels once upon a time. I had the great experience of seeing some of the outtakes from the studio sessions. In an amazing coinky-dink one of those "lost photos" was of a player who's card was among those Nap sent me. Check it out:

My Week in Review, Part 2

As I had mentioned, I had to fly out of Dallas Sunday evening for a business trip. What I may not have mentioned is that my meeting was in the town of Eu, in the Upper Normandy region of France. Because Eu is small (population less than 8000), I stayed in a hotel in Dieppe, a short distance east along the Channel Coast. As an amateur photographer, I was looking forward to getting out and shooting. I took my backup camera with a basic 18-55mm lens (a decision I regret.) Alas, my plans didn't work out so well.

For one thing, I was travelling with my boss, who is something of a workaholic while on the road. We would get to the office at around 8 AM and work through to 7 or 7:30 PM. So, I only got out one evening when I took a short walk down to the harbor in Dieppe. Even then, the photography was challenging since I was at the port in the evening and half the port was in shadow and half in sun. Coupled with the limited range of the lens that made it almost impossible to not be in a high contrast situation, I wasn't real happy with much of the pictures I took. But here are a few:



The Chateau de Dieppe



The chalk cliffs at Dieppe, subject of a famous Monet painting.



St. Jacques Cathedral




St. Laurence O'Toole Church in Eu overlooking the parking lot of the facility I was at.













Various shots from the Harbor.

To tie this to the general theme of this blog, I would note that baseball is played in France although it doesn't rise much above the level of a club sport. Several years ago, the LA Times published a great article about baseball in France. Money quote:

It's still not a game children play in the garden or during a barbecue. As is regularly noted, if you hand a French child a baseball, he'll immediately drop and try to kick it. (Of course, that's how the 1962 Mets played, and they won a World Series a few years later.)

Coming tomorrow: Back home to surprise and routine.

My Week in Review

Sunday, May 8
This was only the second major league baseball game I have been to. The first was in 1991.


The view from our seats.


CC Sabathia pitching in the bottom of the first. CC was not sharp against the Rangers, but he battled through to get the win.


Brett Gardner stealing second.


Alex Rodriguez about to be hit by a pitch.


Alex Rodriguez having just been hit by a pitch.



Derek Jeter hitting his first home run of the 2011 season and the first of two in the game, both into the Rangers bullpen in right-center.


The Yankees had a 6 run eighth inning built around a grand slam by catcher Francisco Cervelli. I missed the eighth and ninth innings, so this is a picture of Cervelli batting earlier in the game.


Why I left the game after the seventh inning.

Coming Tomorrow: A week without baseball.

Home Opener

Last night was the Oklahoma Redhawks 2011 home opener. It was also their first home game as the Houston Astros AAA franchise and their first under the ownership of Mandalay Baseball Properties, which was obvious by the number of suits walking around the stadium concourse (SRLSY). With temperatures dropping into the low 50s and a high winds, it was a chilly night and my wife prevailed on me to leave after 5 innings. But, it was an enjoyable game nonetheless with a Redhawks win over the visiting Albuquerque Isotopes.


OKC starter Fernando Nieve got off to a rough start, tagged for three runs in the top of the first. The first run was scored by hot Dodger prospect Dee Gordon, who looks to me, at 5'11" and a scant 150 pounds, to have made the jump to AAA right from the high school junior varsity. But, you can't argue with his hitting (.298 through the start of his now fourth minor league season) and speed. The top of the first also featured invocation of the infield fly rule. It was so windy (gusting up to 40 mph) that pop ups were extremely difficult to judge. When the wind took a Isotopes pop up and it dropped in, the runner on first ended up being forced out at second. The umpires gave him the bag and sent the hitter, now at first, back to the bench.


The Redhawks came back in the bottom of the frame, scoring three runs capped by the Koby Clemens home run seen above.

Things settled in after that, with Nieve keeping the Isotopes off the board and mostly off base in the remainder of his 5 1/3 inning outing. Isotopes starter John Ely, down on a rehab stint from the Dodgers also shut down the Redhawks until the fifth inning when a J.B Shuck double, a Brian Bogusevic triple, and a Clemens double brought the score to 5-3 and gave the home team the lead for good. At that point, we baled out in search of warmth and missed the rest of the 7-4 Redhawks win.

The next game in our 7 game mini-season tickets package will by the Friday, May 13 contest against the Round Rock Express. That game will be something of a homecoming, as Round Rock replaced the Redhawks as the top Rangers farm club this season. The Express coaches, and some of the players, were here last year. It will also be somewhat interesting for me, as well. The previous Sunday (May 8) I have tickets for the Rangers-Yankees game down in Arlington. After the game, my wife will need to drop me off at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, so I can fly out for a 3 day business meeting being held at a company facility in France. My return flight from Paris leaves Friday morning local time and I get back to OKC at 7:50 PM, in time to go right from the airport to the ballpark and catch the last few innings. Can't think of a better way to sandwich a trip to a furrin land than with two baseball games.

Note added later: Koby Clemens is the son of the now-disgraced pitching great, Roger Clemens.

Any of the pictures can be clicked for larger versions

It's Not Easy Being Green

As I mentioned earlier, I am an amateur photographer (with emphasis on amateur) and it brings a new dimension to baseball cards for me. Sometimes I find myself looking at the pictures and wonder what the photographer was trying to do. Sometimes I find myself looking at the pictures and what what the photographer was thinking. Case in point:



My first thought was that this was a printing problem. However, when I searched on this card on Ebay, it seems they all suffer from the same muted, green tint. So, I have to wonder if it was a problem with the photography. What follows is my best guess as to what happened. I may be right or I may be way off base. YMMV.

My first thought (because I am always overthinking things) was that the white balance was wrong. White balance is the process of removing unrealistic color casts in the photograph. It is accomplished by making sure white photographs as white regardless of the ambient light conditions. For example, if your camera is set for daylight, any picture taken under flourescent light will have a yellow cast. If you camera is set for flourescent, pictures taken in sunlight will have a blue cast. In digital camera, white balance is a simple setting. Before digital, it meant matching the film to the lighting. So, I opened it up in Photoshop Camera Raw and played around with the temperature adjustment. No dice.

To make a long story not nearly so long, I played around with a number of different settings, still without much luck. Sitting back and looking at it again, it struck me that his pants were pretty much blown out and there was a lack of detail on the stands in the background. So, I finally did what I should have done from the beginning: I made exposure adjustments. The result:



Still not perfect, but looking better. In the end, my guess is that the photographer just screwed up and took an over-exposed shot.