Certified Angus Cards

Back during my "War" with Jaybarkerfan, the final shot in the battle came from a foreign country. It wasn't quite like the shot that Bob Walk the Plank fired -- I mean, it's tough to top getting someone who is French involved in any war (sorry, Mr. Card Papoy, for the low blow). 

But I was lucky enough to enlist a volunteer from Canada named Angus to join in the battle.  Angus had sent me cards before that he is much more easily able to find -- in particular, the O-Pee-Chees that never get as far south at Atlanta -- and to JBF, he sent action figures of prime ministers.  You gotta love it.

Well, Angus finally became a blogger recently.  He's not a baseball card collector to any great extent, but rather, he's a football card collector.  Specifically, he collects the Cleveland Browns, and his blog name references the famous Dawg Pound -- it's Dawg Day Cards.  I'm proud and lucky enough to be one of six blogs currently on Angus's blog roll.  So, if you have extra Cleveland Browns cards, I'm sure you can entice Angus to take them off your hands.

Perhaps to celebrate his newly christened blog, Angus sent me a package of cards that he picked up at his local card show on the US side of the border.  I think to myself about what that must be like -- having to leave the country, clear customs, maybe even get a passport stamped -- and all just to get the mail (since Angus has a US mailing address for all of us to send him cards) and to go to a card show.

Anyway, whenever I hear the name Angus, I don't think about that movie from the 1990s with the fat Minnesota kid who is really smart and with George C. Scott ambling through it with his eye trained off screen at the check that the producer was holding in his hands to ensure that George would stay on set and not mumble, "I was Patton, dammit. And I know...I returned the Academy Award for that role, but Christ on a bike, I'm a real ACTOR!"

I think, instead, about AC/DC and Angus Young.  I'm sure that Angus of Dawg Day Cards has heard that one plenty, but tough -- it's time for AC/DC plus Brewers and Braves!

"Who Made Who"

I'm pretty old school when it comes to AC/DC.  I stopped listening when "Thunderstruck" made it big -- it was just nothing special to me...sorry to all you fans.  But I listened like crazy to the album "Who Made Who," which was actually the soundtrack to the movie "Maximum Overdrive."  So, let's start with the title track to that album:

For that song -- which is really underrated, in my opinion -- we get a group of oddballs that are underrated in my opinion too: Topps Stamps.

I dabbled in philately as a kid -- my grandmother was a notorious packrat who kept letters that she had received as a kid or that her parents had received when she was a kid...and she was born in 1909. So it made for a pretty decent collection.  But these 1961 Topps Baseball Stamps (more info here from the fantastic Net54 forum) eluded me until Angus's package arrived.

Man, I could get lost on that Net54 forum.  I love history stuff, especially history stuff about things like baseball and baseball cards that I really enjoy.

"Big Balls"

The song that every teenage guy thought was super funny due to the double entendre filling the song And, with lyrics like "I've got big balls/I've got big balls/And they're such big balls/Dirty big balls", it wasn't like it took a genius to figure out the joke.  So, I'd call it pretty juvenile, generally.

Kinda like the guy who posted the video who said, "This song is funny as hell!"  

Hello? Hell isn't funny, dude.  

Now, baseball cards on the back of a cereal box -- that's funny!

Especially when you get a card of a future manager of the Seattle Mariners (for all of 217 games, mind you).  But really, was Post hard up for players to put on the cards in 1961? Seriously, Cottier hit .227/.273/.301 in 254 plate appearances.  By the time this card came out, it was not Cottier's third season with the Braves, either -- he was traded in December of 1960 with Bill Bruton, Dick Brown, and Terry Fox to the Detroit Tigers for Frank Bolling and Neil Chrisley.  Then, two months into the 1961 season, Cottier was sent to the Washington Senators for Hal Woodeshick.  

No matter -- these cards are awesome...even if Al Spangler is trying to catch flies with his open mouth.

"T.N.T."

T.N.T. was always a favorite song of mine.  I love the introduction in particular -- great guitar riff, the chorus of "oi!" over and over, building to the first stanza of the song.  Just a fantastic song.

To go with it?  A fantastic card:

A 2005 Topps Finest Blue Refractor serial numbered out of 299, of course.  The blue refractor here is a very busy design, but it goes well with the Brewers blue jersey that Ben Sheets is wearing in this photo.  

"Chase the Ace"

A strange instrumental on the "Who Made Who" album.  It's not strange musically, to be fair, but it's just weird to have a band putting out a 3-minute-long instrumental.  Perhaps it was a song that they liked the guitar lick but couldn't come up with any lyrics for Brian Johnson to choke out for it.  Maybe it was just filler.  Who knows...

It's the way I feel about this card too:

The whole "Sample" card fad that Donruss in particular engaged in during the 1980s and 1990s -- ostensibly to promote their new releases to card shops but more likely just an excuse to get collectors thinking that there were really rare cards to chase.  This one, for instance, says "Promo/5000" on the back.  It's cool and all -- I'm glad to add it to my Molitor collection.  

It's just makes me scratch my head a little bit.  Then again, Angus warned me that he likes oddballs like I do, so I should have expected this, right?

"Back in Black"

If you're going to listen to AC/DC, you are going to hear "Back in Black." It's what they do, and it's the album that made them even more famous than before.  It also let the world know that all Aussie singers pretty much can scream equally as well when Brian Johnson replaced the deceased Bon Scott after Scott died from acute alcohol poisoning.  Mutt Lange produced the album, so there are plenty of hooks and catchy sounding songs.

If you're getting cards from Angus -- well, if I am getting cards from Angus -- I get a lot of O-Pee-Chee.  It's what I need.

I do love these O-Pee-Chees, even O-Pee-Chees might have been the second showing of Topps parallels (the Venezuelan cards are the first, I guess).  It's strange -- I don't mind the O-Pee-Chees (or the 1984 Nestle, even), but the rash of parallels in nearly every product these days can get a bit annoying to me.  It might be the serial numbered stuff -- I like to feel like I have a chance to get the cards, I suppose.

Still, who would turn away an O-Pee-Chee?

"You Shook Me All Night Long"

I am a total sucker for this song. Always have been.  From the first time I recall hearing it, I was hooked.  It's a Mutt Lange special -- catchy, plenty of guitar riffs and hooks that stick in your head, and generally a fun song.  

What cards am I a total sucker for?

Well, to be fair, I'm pretty much a total sucker for anything that pictures a Milwaukee Brewers player, but to be more specific, I love the Archives stuff.  Whether it's the "Fan Favorites" version of Paul Molitor here, or the more recent incarnations of Archives (about which my main beef is "Too many Yankees. Not enough Brewers."), I love the reuse of 1970s and 1980s (and early 1990s) designs.  That's because that is when I collected initially, of course -- it's the love of the familiar.  

Not unlike listening to AC/DC's songs from the early 1980s.  It makes me feel like a 16-year-old high school kid just a little bit.  And as I trudge loudly into my mid-40s, I rather enjoy that little bit of the Fountain of Youth.

Thanks, Angus!  

Johnny's Trading Spot is No Hideaway

If you have ever lived in Atlanta, chances are you have heard of Johnny's Hideaway. When I was a younger man, I heard stories about Johnny's. In particular, Johnny's was always known as a Cougar den. Indeed, if you Google "Johnny's Hideaway" using Google's suggestions, the second item on the list after "Johnny's Hideaway Atlanta GA" is "Johnny's Hideaway Cougar."

Now that I'm a bit older -- as in, 15 years older -- I have now been to Johnny's and can say that the stories were true. The place is full of 40-somethings and 50-somethings and 60-somethings and even 70-somethings, all dancing and having fun. Here's a photo I found in a Google search to show you:

I think ol' Wallet Card should make a run there.

Anyway, Johnny's Hideaway should not be confused with Johnny's Trading Spot. No matter how appropriate some of the activity at Johnny's Hideaway might be if it were characterized as being a trading spot -- even if Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich are not involved -- Johnny's Trading Spot is about the cards.

John sent me a ton of Brewers cards in a package just before Christmas. Using the music of the Hideaway as inspiration, here are some of the highlights.

"It's Now or Never"
One of the features at Johnny's Hideaway is The King's Corner, which is all about Elvis Presley. I always liked Elvis's take on "O Sole mio," so "It's Now or Never" gets to represent two guys who always seemed to be close to taking that next step but always got in their own ways -- whether through injury (Eldred) or the distinct inability to make contact (Deer).

"Down Under"

Okay, I admit it. I've been to Johnny's Hideaway a couple of times. As the people who like the Elvis Presley stuff fade off into the sunset, they have adapted. Now that the children of the 80s -- like myself -- are now in their 40s, the DJ at Johnny's had added more and more music from the 1980s. 

There's only one song appropriate for David Nilsson cards -- Men At Work's classic from 1981. This was one of my favorite songs at age 9. In fact, I know that it was the very first 45 RPM single that I ever bought myself. And I have heard them play the song at Johnny's Hideaway.

I may even have been the one to request it.

"Little Old Lady from Pasadena"
It's a little mean to associate this song with Jeff Cirillo since he's not a little old lady. But, he is from Pasadena, and the Beach Boys are right in the Hideaway wheelhouse.

"You Make Me Feel So Young"
While Elvis Presley gets a corner in his honor at Johnny's Hideaway, Frank Sinatra has an entire room dedicated to him. One of Ol' Blue Eyes' songs really applies to these cards, because guys like Moose Haas, Don Money, Mike Caldwell, and Jerry Augustine make me feel like a pre-teen kid chasing autographs again.

"Vogue"

Poor Bill Wegman. Apparently, no one wanted to get close enough to him to take any photos other than of him on the mound still holding the ball. These pictures are similar enough in their look that they brought Madonna's "Vogue" to mind -- it looks almost intentional that they are so similar.

That, or Wegman was super consistent in his pitching motion. 

I like my conspiracy theory better. It's more interesting.

"Hip Hop Hooray"
Let me be honest. The last time I went to Johnny's Hideaway, the one thing I noticed was that it was not a very diverse crowd. I mean, even in that photo above, I see only two African-American faces. That said, the DJ does play some white-person-friendly rap stuff from the early 1990s. At least the last time I was there, you did not hear any Lil Jon, but you might hear Naughty by Nature.  And Rickie Weeks deserves a little hooray anyway.

"Rags to Riches"
An old school Tony Bennett song for an old-school player, Jim Gantner, and his pal Ted Simmons. Yeah, Simmons is probably more Rachmaninov than Tony Bennett, but I have never heard classical music at a nightclub. Not even Johnny's Hideaway.

Intermission
Sorry Chuck, I've got nothing for you.

"Living La Vida Loca"
Just as you don't see many black folks in Johnny's Hideaway, you also do not run into too many Hispanic people there.  So, there also isn't much Latino-influenced music that gets played there.  So, Jose Valentin, you get stuck with a Ricky Martin earworm.  

If I had my choice, I'd give you some Juanes "La Camisa Negra"...I mean, that's pretty old school too being ten years old and all, but it's probably too recent for Johnny's Hideaway.

Then again, after reading that the fascists in Italy adopted the song because the fascists like wearing and being called the Black Shirts, I think I'll stick with the ex-Menudo guy's song.

"Dazed and Confused"
The problem with finding any kind of dance club song for Gorman Thomas is that, well, there isn't one that is at all appropriate. I have heard Led Zeppelin in Johnny's Hideaway before, though I've never heard "Dazed and Confused" there. But with Gorman's drug and alcohol issues after his career (and during it), it makes sense to be his song.

"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"
It's random, but it fits. 1985 was the year that Wham! took over the pop music airwaves with the infectious energy of this song about going out to dance. 1985 was the year that B.J. Surhoff was the number one overall draft pick. 

I'd have picked the number one overall song from 1985 -- another Wham! song called "Careless Whisper" -- but it's a boring ballad.  Johnny's Hideaway plays those about as regularly as any other 8th grade dance, and watching the action on and off the floor is about as painful and awkward. So, it's the uptempo song that finished the year #3 on the Billboard chart.

"You Dropped A Bomb On Me"
For some reason, this last gasp for disco in 1982 from The Gap Band seemed like the right song for Greg Vaughn. Vaughn loved to hit the bombs.  Thankfully, I never saw Greg Vaughn dressed in any way close to the way that the lead singer of The Gap Band is dressed in that video though...rhinestones on a vest with a camouflage t-shirt and cargo pants along with a green fedora...I don't think Vaughn could have pulled that one off.

Then again, with that hightop fade on that Studio card, maybe I should have dropped a Kid 'N Play video in here.

"You Shook Me All Night Long"
The one AC/DC song that got played at literally every middle school and high school dance I ever attended -- and every time I've ever been at Johnny's Hideaway -- just seems to fit for Jeromy Burnitz. Part of me always will associate this song with our high school weight room too, and that's probably why it fits for Burnitz.  

He kind of reminds me of meathead Rob Lowe from the DirecTV commercial.

"You're the One that I Want"

Ben Sheets was born in 1978. This song that panders to every woman in the bar who pictured themselves as playing the Olivia Newton-John character in Grease hit number one midway through 1978. And trust me, those women in Johnny's Hideaway eat this song up.

"Yeah!"
Okay, sometimes Johnny's Hideaway realizes that it has to update its playlist. Often, that's based entirely on some person -- usually a woman -- requesting a song.  When they do, they often look to some of the local boys. I've heard Outkast's "Hey Ya" there, and I've heard another local artist there too -- Usher's "Yeah!" in particular.

Funny thing: back in 2004, Geoff Jenkins's at-bat music was....yup, you guessed it. "Yeah!" by Usher.

Personally, I gained more respect for Lyle Overbay when I saw that "Why Go" by Pearl Jam was his at-bat music. 

That's a whole lot of cards -- and those guys were only the player collection additions. Johnny's Trading Spot hit me with a ton more cards from non-PCs as well. To include all of those here, though, would force me into more creative musical gymnastics!

John, thank you VERY much for the huge Priority Mail box you sent. I'm sorry to see that your Atlanta Braves are trying to trade away anything that isn't nailed down to the floor at this point -- it would be nice to have a decent team here in town, but it appears that John Hart is trying to build on young pitching. 

Or something like that.