Free Cards from Night Owl

A short time back, the Dean of Baseball Card Blogging, Night Owl, asked for help naming some card sets. My contribution was to suggest that the 1959 Topps set (seen below), should be called the Knothole set.



Obviously, the suggestion started with the circular photo inset on the card. I remember growing up that the Rochester Red Wings had a kid's club, called the Knothole Gang and that is what the card design reminded me of. Unrelated question: will Night Owl get out his red pen and mark my post up for ending that last sentence with a preposition? This Wikipedia article has some history of the Knothole Gang. Apparently, Night Owl (also an Upstate NY boy) liked my suggestion and so it came to pass. 1959 Topps is now, and forever more, The Knothole Set.

Now, the royalty checks would have been sufficient compensation for my stroke of brilliance. However, Mr. Owl was also nice enough to send along some cards. Not expected, but definitely appreciated.


My first 2012 Flagship card. Phil Hughes is bouncing off a horrendous 2011 and has looked sharp so far in Spring Training. It will be nice to have him back in form this year as the Yankees have really put together a stellar rotation.


My first 2012 Opening Day card. Robbie is a steady, quiet presence in the Yankees lineup. One of these days, he is going to get that MVP award.


My second 2012 Opening Day card, but I hate, hate, HATE this card because of what Topps did. Now I understand Photoshopping cards to put recently traded players into the uniform of their new team. I can also understand Photoshopping cards to remove advertising logos. But, this I don't get. Why, why, WHY did Topps have to Photoshop this card to make CC look fat? That is just unnecessarily cruel.



This is an odd little card. It has a landscape image associated with a portrait orientation. I love the card (what is not to love about Mo, other than having to bat against him), but it is a little jarring to look at.


The look on CC's face here seems to be saying "You ain't pulling that Shooping shit on me again. No more full body shots or I'll sit on you and squish you into jelly.

And finally, the stars of the cards he sent. Two 1977 Topps Yankees:




Now, I had previously completed the 1977 set last year but, by golly, these cards are actually upgrades over what I had before. The Oscar Gamble card was in better condition than the one I had and the Dock Ellis card was about the same quality, but had better centering. So, these two cards are now living happily in my 1977 binder.

Thanks, Night Owl!

Cards from The Junkie, Part 3

So, if knocking cards of my 1976 Topps and 2001/2 Heritage want list wasn't enough (it was enough. More than enough), dayf also sent along a sampler of 10 cards from each Topps Heritage set that I haven't started. Since I haven't started 2003 through 2010 yet, that means he sent along 80 cars. 80. Eighty. Eight-zero. 1010000. I am a little embarrassed to get such a return for my amateurish Pony card.

Since what little creative ability I have has been sucked out of me by waiting to hear if I got the job I interviewed for (and replaying the interview in my head pretty much continuously,) I decided to pull one card out of each year's sampler that I like and show it. Yeah, I know. Boooooooring. So sue me.



2003 Heritage Bartolo Colon - I love Bartolo. He was a godsend to the Yankees last year. I was disappointed that they didn't resign him, but I am glad that he caught on with the A's. I didn't see any of the A's - Mariners games from Japan, but I understand he pitched 8 innings of three-hit ball (86 total pitches, which implies his control was pretty good) in his first start of the regular season. He is one of the few non-Yankees I want to see do well this year.


2004 Heritage Eric Chavez - Eric is starting his second year as a utility infielder for the Yankees.


2005 Heritage Carl Pavano - Being a Yankees fan, I read a lot of Yankees blogs. And they cannot stop talking about what a bad free agent signing Carl Pavano was, both in terms of productivity and as a team member. 2012 will be the fourth Pavano-free season in the Bronx. Let it go, guys, let it go.


2006 Heritage Tanyon Sturtze - Only being back into baseball for a couple years now, I had never heard of Tanyon Sturtze. Having looked at his career stats over at Baseball Reference I can see why. He is the epitome of the journeyman middle reliever(2 years of starting for Tampa Bay notwithstanding.)


2007 Heritage Chien Ming Wang / Mike Mussina - Yankee Aces. Of course this is the card I would show, even if neither are Yankees anymore.


2008 Heritage Jack Cust - The Yankees just signed Cust to a minor league deal. The thought is that they brought him on board as left handed DH insurance, since Raul Ibanez was sucking so bad in Spring Training. Ibanez has finally found his swing over the last week and has been tearing it up with 3 taters so far (and would have had a fourth except he was robbed by a highlight reel-worthy catch by Jason Heyward.)


2009 Heritage Mike Aviles - No idea why I chose this one.


2010 Heritage The Winners Celebrate - More beautiful than an Ansel Adams print, amirite?

Cards from The Junkie, Part 2

So, my job interview is over. It seemed to go okay, although I am not particularly optimistic about my chances. My friend on the inside, who was part of the interview team, mentioned afterward that some of the other candidates had industry experience, which I don't. He said they those candidates had their own weaknesses, and indicated that I am still in the running. So, now I have a two week wait to actually hear the outcome. As I said, I am not optimistic, so it is back to the long, slow, humiliating grind of looking for jobs. I have to remind myself that I made a deliberate choice not to look for another job with my previous employer, and in the long run, I am better off leaving a company that is slowly dying, but it is small consolation.

What has been big consolation, though, has been the pack of cards I got in the mail the other day from dayf over at Cardboard Junkie (and another surprise package I got yesterday from Night Owl. But more on that later.) I am breaking my Junkie package into three posts, in order better milk what limited posting material I have available. Previously, I showed the sweet sketch card he sent me. Today, I am going to show the cards he sent that I needed for sets I am building. He was under no obligation to send me any cards, so I am quite appreciative that he took the time to scour through my want lists.

For my 2001 Topps Heritage set:


For me 2002 Topps Heritage set:



For my 1976 Topps set:







There was actually a number of other 1976 cards he sent, but I have put them in the binder already, and I forgot to get a count. Suffice it to say that these above were the stars of the show. Cards of star players that are in great condition. While Randy Jones isn't a huge name anymore, he did have two outstanding years with the Padres in 1975 and 1976, winning 20 and 22 games respectively and finishing second and first in the NL Cy Young race (also respectively.) That this card came between those two stellar seasons makes it extra special, even if Beckett doesn't agree. I don't give a rat's ass what Beckett says. I love this card. And, by the way, that isn't a crease up at the top, the right of Randy. That is a dog hair. I really need to clean around here.

These cards were awesome and would have made me very happy all by themselves. But, dayf wasn't done. More tomorrow.

Ponies!

A while back, dayf over at Cardboard Junkie asked his readers for pony artwork. So, as I described in this post, I made him a custom card front based on the 1976 Topps Big League Brothers card, using a picture of two of my horses. He asked what I wanted in return, and I suggested a few Heritage cards.

Well, his package came in today. And there was more than a few Heritage cards, as well as a selection of 1976 Topps (the set I was working on when I got laid off). All I can say is, again, I am overwhelmed by card bloggers generosity.

I don't have time to do a more comprehensive post on what he sent because I am trying to get myself prepared for a job interview on Friday. I will hopefully get something up over the weekend. I will, however, show the star card in the package.



I am guessing Applejack and Applebloom are two characters in My Little Pony. I like how this card riffs off my custom creation. Well, "riff" probably isn't the right term. This card has too much awesomeness to be considered derivative. Let's say, dayf took my germ of an idea and made it his own. This card is going to go into my super vintage/relic/general awesomeness card binder because this card belongs there. I am putting it next to my Hector Noesi auto card:



If I read the expression on Hector's face correctly, he seems to be saying "Sweeeeet!!!! I like ponies!" So, everybody is happy.

Quick Thoughts on the Pettite Signing

Over the last few days, the Yankees blogoverse has lost it's collective shit over the signing of Andy Pettite to a contract. I suppose, since I have just gotten back into following baseball over the last couple years, I don't have the long history with Pettite that others do. And, I suppose that is the point. I will grant that he had a pretty nice, if abbreviated, year in 2010. But you have to go back to 2005 to find the previous year that he pitched really well.

From my perspective, the reaction to the signing is nothing more than an irrational outpouring of sentimentality for the years of 1998 to 2000 when the Yankees were last a dynastic team. Pettite is 39 years old, has been out of the game for over a year, and was effectively done with his 2010 season by mid-July. I suppose I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I don't see much good coming from this.

The Yankees came into Spring Training with a pretty solid starting rotation. C.C. Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Michael Pineda, and Ivan Nova are all solid. Phil Hughes and Freddy Garcia were expected to fight it out for the fifth spot. Hughes is coming off a horrid 2011, but still is a talented young arm. Plus, he should be pretty cheap through 2013. Garcia is the odd man out. I would expect him to be a steady, if unspectacular, pitcher this year. But, the Pettite signing makes him expendable.

My best guess is Andy will be handed a rotation spot sometime in mid to late May and will hold it down all season despite putting up A.J. Burnett-like numbers. In the mean time, Hughes or Nova will be reduced to being the long man and Garcia will be traded to some other team, where he will continue to do a workmanlike job all season. In the end, Yankees fans will be able to wallow in nostalgia for the heady days of the late 20th century while handing away games down the stretch to the always competitive Red Sox and Rays.

Again, I hope I am wrong, but I think this will end poorly.

GEICO.....

So easy, even Jayson Werth can do it.

Multiple Trade Post

Has it really been over two weeks since my last post?

*checks front page*

*whistles*

Yep, it has. Luckily I do have something to post. I am still swore off buying any cards until I find another job, but it is getting harder now that Heritage is on the shelf. When last we talked, I had been expecting an offer on a job. However, I know now that it fell through. The company had a down fourth quarter and since the position hadn't been budgeted for, it was put on hold until later in the year. Luckily, there is a different position in the same organization that has been budgeted for and they are moving forward with the staffing process. Since the hiring manager for that position was part of the team I interviewed with previously, I got a free pass on the initial, by-phone screening interview and am moving right on to the face to face interview on March 30. So, I have a bit over two weeks to get myself prepared.

But, let's not waste time on such trivialities. There are more important things to deal with. Like a trade post!

As you may have surmised, I am a huge Heritage fan. I've decided to put all the Heritage sets together. You can look at my want lists over there.

*jerks head towards right sidebar*

If it wasn't enough to work on the regular 2011 Heritage set, I have also taken on the 2011 Heritage Minor League set. I've complete the 200 card, non-short printed part of the MILB set and now have to complete the 50 card, short print subset. Luckily, Ted over at Crinkly Wrappers had a duplicate of one of the short prints I needed:


Montgomery is a KC Royals pitching prospect. He has had nice statistics all the way up through AA ball, but seems to have gotten roughed up a bit while pitching for AAA Omaha last year. I would guess he'll be back at Omaha this year to polish his game.

My next trade was with Anthony at Get The Bat Off Your Shoulder. Anthony had shared that he keeps track of his cards with an MS Access database. Since I have used Access extensively at work, I asked if he would share it with me, since I am in desperate need of a way to get organized. He was generous enough to send it to me, but wouldn't take any cards in exchange for it. So, I proposed a trade. I helped him with 2011 Update and Lineage, and I got more help with 2011 Heritage.







Four inserts and a short print. Shhhhhhweeeeet! I am really psyched about these. I am getting a lot closer on 2011 Heritage. I might just have to make it a priority once I get back in the game. So, until next time, whenever that is, take 'er easy.