I Wanna Baseball All Night

Peter from Baseball Every Night has been extremely generous to me. Hopefully, my latest envelope that was sent to him -- now, for a second time...thanks USPS! -- gets to him so that he can drink in all the Strawberry cards I've sent to him. 

Of course, with the title I've used here, there can only be one theme song for the second batch of cards Peter sent my way last week:

Here's the setup: the past two years, I have come out of the gate rockin' when it comes to collecting the Brewers for the Topps flagship set. By that, I mean that both in 2015 and 2016, I bought into case breaks for Series 1 and ended up with about a dozen of each of the base cards, about a half dozen of any inserts, and even a relic or two. 

By the time Series 2 rolls around, though, I miss it. I don't even notice it. Series 2 sneaks out into the world like the stealthiest of leopards, unleashing itself on an unsuspecting collecting public.

Or, at least unleashing itself on me.

I mean, I think I still need a Jason Rogers from 2015 Series 2 at this point. Seriously. I haven't found one at my local show, and no one has sent me one either. I mean, I'll probably just end up getting it eventually if it doesn't show up, but that is pretty indicative of how Series 2 usually treats me.

Since that first song got me in the mood, how about a KISS-powered post to go with the 2016 Topps Series 2 cards that Peter sent my way?

Perhaps the most appropriate KISS song for the 2016 set -- I'll call it forevermore the "smoke" set -- this song from Animalize (which I owed and may still own on a 33-1/3 RPM record):

Let's go for the basic ones first:

That top card -- the Brewers Team card -- features Ryan Braun giving third base coach Ed Sedar a low five after hitting a homerun and passing third base. I'm now tied up in knots thinking of all of the terrible Passover puns (pass, seder/Sedar...) so I'd best move on.

Ariel Pena lasted one outing with the Brewers this year to start the season before getting sent to pitcher's hell, er, Colorado Springs. Interesting trivia tidbit: Colorado Springs is the highest elevation stadium featuring professional baseball. It's a full quarter mile higher in elevation than Coors Field. The Brewers ended up with a Triple-A team there thanks to the classless organization that is the Nashville Sounds -- which used the Brewers to get a new stadium built then promptly changed affiliations. 

Michael Blazek just returned to the bullpen from the disabled list. He's the rare player who started in St. Louis, left, and got better instead of worse!

Finally, Keon Broxton suffered one of the worst starts to a major league career that I could imagine. He went 0-for-2 last year with Pittsburgh, then went 0-for-16 to start the season this year with Milwaukee. He got sent down on April 16. He came back on May 20, and he went 0 for his next 6 before finally picking up his first major league hit in the 13th inning against the Atlanta Braves on May 25 (and giving Michael Blazek the win). Broxton's big problem so far is making contact. In 71 plate appearances, he has struck out a ridiculous 33 times. That is no way to make a major league career take off.

Okay, we need some help to get through these next cards...

How about a little Cold Gin? 

To be fair -- and I'm sure to the chagrin of at least a couple of you -- I'm not a huge KISS fan. This is probably the first time I've heard this song. It's not awful. It's okay. It's too repetitive in the guitar licks for my taste, though.

Peter sent me a couple of gold parallels as well. Topps has been doing these gold parallels for what -- fifteen or sixteen years? They are okay, I suppose. It's sort of like that guitar in Cold Gin. 

These two cards are of two guys having very different seasons. Jeremy Jeffress wasn't the experts' pick to be the closer this year -- Blazek, perhaps, might have been, or Will Smith, or maybe even Tyler Thornburg. But Jeffress ended up being the guy coming out of spring training almost by default being the only one healthy and pitching well. Lo and behold, as of June 27, Jeffress is in fifth place in the NL with 21 saves in 22 opportunities. Not too shabby.

On the other hand, Wily Peralta has been a train wreck wrapped in a volcano eruption thrown into a hurricane hit by a tornado. He looked like he might be a stud in the making in 2014 as his numbers looked pretty good -- 17-11, 3.53 ERA (4.11 FIP) 9 H/9, 1.0 HR/9, 2.8 BB/9, 7.0 K/9. He was hurt in 2015 and his numbers all went the wrong way -- 10.8 H/9, 1.2 HR/9, 4.84 FIP, 3.1 BB/9 and 5.0 K/9. 

Then, this year...UGLY: 6.68 ERA (5.60 FIP), 13.2 H/9, 1.6 HR/9, 3.7 BB/9 and 5.7 K/9. All of those numbers are terrible. Every single one of them. It has a lot of folks in the Brewers organization scratching their heads. It also is likely to end up with Wily getting non-tendered, joining the Cardinals, and winning the Cy Young in 2019.

I need a pick me up now.

  

At least it is an uptempo song. The more I listen to old KISS, the less I like it, to be honest. I know -- sacrilege, right? But the music is kind of...mediocre. Sorry guys and gals who have devoted your lives to KISS -- basically they are an average band with a great gimmick.

I'm probably wrong about that, so please -- attack me at will for that comment in the comments below. 

Speaking of repetitive and mediocre, I sure am glad that we have our 948th version of Robin Yount's rookie card making an appearance in the Berger's Best/Cards your Mom Threw Out/whatever the excuse is this year insert set. I think the real reason this is in the Series 2 inserts is to make up for the typo in Series 1 which said this card was from 1974. 

Of course, it also said that the mini 1974 version was highly sought after. And that is so true. I am still looking for it.

Peter -- thank you again for the great cards, and I hope that KISS isn't one of your favorite bands since all I've done here is call them average, mediocre, repetitive, and gimmicky.

Then again, I'm a baseball card blogger. What do I know about gimmicky or being repetitive?  

Andy Makes Time to Send Me Cardboard

Hobbies take time. Whether your hobby is flying an airplane, reading, building models, racing cars, or collecting baseball cards, one must have some leisure time to engage in the hobby. After all, the very definition of a hobby is "a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time."

Driving that point home is the new blog from Andy, a gentleman I have interacted with on Twitter, who named his blog "Ain't Nobody Got Time For Cardboard." Andy collected at the height of the junk wax era -- 1988 to 1992 -- so dumping Cubs on him from times other than that should be a thrill for folks like, well, me. So many Cubs collectors who blog are pretty well full up on 1980s cardboard, so putting a package together for Andy this past weekend was a true joy for me.

Anyway, Andy beat me to the punch in getting enough time to send out cards. I will highlight the ones that caught my eye.

Minor League Madness

Sid Roberson pitched at the University of North Florida. He spent 26 games, including 13 starts, with the Brewers in 1995 and then never pitched in the major leagues again. Sid had a 5.76 ERA and a 6.22 FIP, walking 37 and striking out 40 in 84-1/3 innings. Being a small man -- only 5'9" tall and 170 pounds -- apparently took a toll on him, as he had to have two rotator cuff surgeries. He's now working at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida in Jacksonville (where UNF is located) as the Director of Major and National Accounts -- a position he's had since 2011.

Archer never made it to the Majors, topping out in Triple-A in 1995 and 1996. Bo Rosny at Baseball Cards Come to Life said that Archer was, in 2012, a sales rep for Western State Design.

Boze also reached the big leagues in just one season -- 1996 -- at the age of 25. He got knocked around to the tune of 7.79 ERA/6.88 FIP and a WHIP of 2.227 thanks to 47 hits and 25 walks (against 19 strikeouts) in just 32-1/3 innings. In 2001, he actually pitched in the Alaska Summer League in one game while spending the summer working as a pipefitter for VECO near Anchorage. It appears that he also has the distinction of being the first Alaska-raised player to make the major leagues; while he was born in Arizona, he was raised in Kenai, Alaska.

Stickers!

Yes, stickers. One of PC member Carlos Gomez, and then three of the sort-of Wacky Package stickers. I am guessing that those Wacky-Package-wannabes probably had to be scaled back dramatically to make sure that they weren't offensive or disgusting. After all, Topps probably would like to renew its exclusive license with MLB, and having a Brewers logo with some dude puking from drinking too much Milwaukee's Best or getting food poisoning from a bad oyster being shucked probably wouldn't help that process.

Heritage

It's the second day in a row that Scooter Gennett's half-smile, half-sneer stares out at everybody. Of the rest of the guys on these cards, Ariel Pena pitched on opening day, faced 11 hitters, and allowed 5 runs (including 3 homers) and was promptly designated for assignment. He cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Colorado Springs. 

Nevin Ashley got 12 games in last year in September, but he's not a prospect. He turns 32 this year, and he's actually in the New York Mets system now. So, it appears that card appearance for him is really meant to troll me and my continued pointing out of the fact that Topps forgets that there are teams other than the New York teams. 

Segura obviously was traded. 

Will Smith is on the disabled list after spraining his lateral collateral ligament taking off his shoes in spring training. No kidding. He's rehabbing right now to determine if he can avoid surgery. Before that happened, he was slated to share closing duties with Jeremy Jeffress.

Great Player Collection Cards

What a great group of cards to go into my various PCs!

It was great to add that Yount card in particular, because it allows me to vent for just a moment about what Panini does incredibly wrong with Donruss. I don't think Panini gets it. 

If they want Donruss to be their version of Heritage or Archives, then they need to work more at getting the design correct. The 1982 set did not have that massive "D" in the corner. In fact, I don't think any Donruss product did.  The year is way too large too -- so large as to be obnoxious and intrusive. Further, does Panini have to destroy the uniform colors now in an effort to avoid being sued for trademark infringement? Frankly, that Brewers uniform looks more like the 1978 Cubs:

Than it does any version of the Milwaukee uniforms:

Does Panini have to turn all the yellow to blue? Really? If so, then just stop making the cards that have guys in full jerseys. Get head shots, get home jerseys, but don't destroy the away blues the way that that 1982 wannabe card does.

Okay. Back to happiness. How about a song that I hear in my head every time I see Andy's blog's name?

Andy, thank you for the great cards you sent my way -- and especially for the opportunity to get that whole dissertation about Panini's unwarranted destruction of the Brewers' uniforms of my youth off my chest!