A Package from a Brave Tampa Soul

Hi there. I've been gone for almost a week. The funny thing is that I had stuff I could post about that arrived during the week. But, take a holiday weekend, add two parts "hanging with my wife's family" (which, to be honest, I enjoy doing probably more than my wife does) to one part "College Football Started and I'm Watching ALL the Games!" to one part my desire to finish a project I've been working on all summer (identifying and cataloging all Robin Yount inserts and parallels that are on Beckett and putting binders together for them), and you have me not having posted since last week Wednesday.

Oops.

The great thing, as I said, is that I do have cards to talk about.  

Jeff from "Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum" was kind enough to send me a jampacked PWE last week that I received last Wednesday or so.  The cards I am highlighting are all recent cards that I needed either for team sets or for player collections, as always. 

Let's start with Astros centerfielder Carlos Gomez.  

My next project is probably going to be sorting out the cards for the three guys -- Gomez, Gallardo, and Weeks -- who left the team in the past year to put them into binders the way I sort my player collections out.  I have a very particular way of putting my collections into binders.  They are organized first by year, then alphabetically by set name.  The "main set" cards go in the front and are the ones to which I pay particular care in getting the order right.  The other cards tend to get put in whatever order I get them.  At least for now.

So, for Gomez, another part of that is going to be to cull out the Twins and Mets cards in the collection.  

Sort of like what needs to happen for the second guy whose card is getting highlighted:

Jean Segura.  I think it is very likely that the Brewers and Segura will part ways in the next year or two.  In fact, he could be a non-tender candidate if the Brewers decide that paying him for 2016 isn't worth it over running through some internal candidates who are keeping the shortstop position warm for Orlando Arcia.

I do regret jumping on the Segura bandwagon at the beginning of last year. In fact, I knew it was trouble nearly immediately after I decided to look through his stats and dig a little deeper.  

Strike one against him: He skipped Triple-A (other than 7 games in 2009 where he jumped to Triple-A from the Pioneer League).  While not determinative and while many stars skip Triple-A, for a guy with a questionable batting eye like Segura, that developmental time seeing better pitching can help the player to develop.

Strike two: His first half in 2013 looks more and more like a fluke as time passes: .325/.363/.487 during those 90 games.  Second half in 2013: .241/.268/.315.  Two years (including 2015 to date) since then: .257/.291/.332.  

Strike three (?): It is the subject of some debate as to whether Segura's glove is a benefit, a hindrance, or just average.  As the Baseball Prospectus Milwaukee site mentioned, by Baseball Reference's DRS, Segura is average.  By FanGraph's UZR, Segura is subpar. By BP's own FRAA, Segura is one of the best defensive players in baseball. By play-by-play data, Segura is a solidly above average.  

I've said it before -- we'll see what happens with the Brewers and Segura.  

Finally, Jeff sent me some awesome Ryan Braun cards:

The clear highlights here are in the second row. That 2015 Topps Heritage is one of the minis, serial numbered to 100.  That may be my first ever Heritage mini of a guy I actually collect!  The other card is a die-cut from the Bowman Platinum 2013 "Cutting Edge Stars" insert.  Let me tell you -- it will cut you up if you're not careful.

Jeff, thank you very much for the great cards you've sent to me this time and in the past. I'll keep an eye out for some good Braves stuff for you here.

Backing up the Truck

As I was envisioning this post, I thought about the sound that a truck makes when it's backing up...you know:

And, if you watch/listen to all 60 minutes of that video, well, wow.  I've got nothing in response to that.  But, in the interest of trying to find something weirder than that, I put "beep beep beep" into Google.  It then suggested, "beep beep beep beep mexican song".  No lie, this is what came up:

Apparently, that song got included in Grand Theft Auto V by Rockstar, leading the gaming boards to make El Sonidito a big hit.  And with me typing El Sonidito so much, Google Chrome is now offering to translate this page for me into English.

Thanks, Google!

All of that is just to introduce a big box of Brewers that just appeared on my doorstep late last week from Johnny's Trading Spot.

And those are just the stacks of cards.  It took me part of Sunday -- at which point I found problems in my spreadsheets and started over -- and into yesterday to finally get everything sorted.

Let's see some of the cards that John sent my way.

Now, I didn't need this 1987 Fleer Jim Gantner. But, geez, Gumby, you went from looking like a mean SOB who flick his Marlboro Reds at kids who dared come too close to your 1978 Datsun 280Z...this one, probably:

...into the guy on that 1991 Bowman -- that's just four years, for God's sake -- who looks like the next step is to buy this blue car from the old man in the driver's seat for $450 on a $50 a month payment plan:

It's sad, really.

Before I leave Gantner, though, I have to admit that as a kid I always liked Gantner as a person but not as a player. He seemed like an automatic out at the plate when he came up with runners on base, but man, the guy loved playing for the Brewers and he made tons of time for every kid seeking autographs.

Anyway...thought I'd say something nice about him after ragging on his fashion sense and apparent installation of contact lenses later in his career in an effort to fool fans and the front office that he really was younger than he really was.

Johnny sent me some pretty cool cards other than Gantner. I mean, look at those stacks -- there has to be some cool stuff in them!

Like this Big Ben McDonald Topps Finest from 1996. I know a lot of people buy cards for investment purposes, but how did anyone keep from ripping that film off guys like Ben McDonald's card? I mean, the guy's shoulder was put together with baling wire and bubble gum by the time this card was made -- did people really think that he'd suddenly regenerate a real arm, push his ERA below 4, and suddenly turn into a 20 game winner for 10 years in a row to push himself to 250 career wins?

Yes, that's more like it.  Actually, John sent me two of these, so the one with the film still on it will go into my duplicates box and the peeled card will be displayed proudly in my Topps 1994-2009 binder (base sets only in that binder, of course).

Now, I have to admit. John sent me so many cards that I needed for my collection -- over 100 of the cards he sent were ones that are waiting currently to be sorted into the PC binders or the manufacturer collection binders I've slowly-but-surely been putting together -- that I'm almost overwhelmed to try to select cards to highlight.  So, let me go to the oddballs, because I love oddballs:

Cecil Cooper.  The man was pure style. Smooth in the field. That pause in the middle of his last practice swing that he always made -- and which that Donruss Champions card captures perfectly -- was one of the more frequently imitated batting stances in Wisconsin in the 1980s.

I started messing around with switch hitting just so I could hit left handed and swing the bat in my warm up like him.

Or, like this guy:

Oglivie always looked incredibly agitated and impatient at the plate.  This clip doesn't do it justice, but it's such a great video I want to share it...even if the game ended badly:

Such great memories of a year now 33 years in my rearview mirror. I hope I will see another Brewers' trip to the World Series in my lifetime.

Okay, one more video that has to be shared before I get to the grand finale of John's box.  It's this great video of Pete Vuckovich and the home plate umpire before Vuke's start at home in the World Series:

Now that we're all buttoned up, on to the coolest items John sent:

Bobbleheads! On the left is the Lyle Overbay commemorative bobblehead from 2005 celebrating his team record for 53 doubles in a season.  Jonathan Lucroy broke that record last year by racking up 54 doubles.

The other one looks like John Axford, but it's 10 years before the Ax got to Milwaukee and instead is a commemorative bobblehead for the Bud-Selig-tie-game-All-Star Game in Milwaukee. I swear, sometimes I think Bud could suck the fun out of a trip to Vegas. Anyway, maybe Axford saw this bobblehead around Miller Park and thought, "Damn, that bobblehead looks dope! Imma do that!"

Or not.

Funny thing, though -- these two guys are overshadowed GREATLY by the final bobblehead and ticket stub that came my way:

Yes! The Robin Yount Bobblehead from the 25th Anniversary celebration from 2007!  He may be smaller than the Ax-wanna-be or Overbay, but I much prefer Robin.  All day, every day.

Even if he is only second in team history for home runs now.

John, thank you very much for all the great cards and especially for the bobbleheads.  Admittedly, when I got back into collecting, I never expected to have a bunch of bobbleheads around. Now, though, I'm glad I do!

Mailbag Catchup: Commish Bob, Reader Angus, Mark Hoyle, Bob Walk the Plank,...and a Mystery

With Monster 1 of 6 Monsters looming on the horizon, I need to get caught up on some cards that have come in to the card room over the past couple of weeks.  So, let's walk through some of those.

The Mystery

First things first -- an apology. The reason for the apology is that I should know who sent me these two awesome Braves:

I should know because I remember corresponding by email with the mystery sender from Oklahoma who sent me these. I remember it well, in fact.  But I'll be damned if I can find those e-mails, and I certainly want to thank the man/woman who sent me my first 1963 Fleer card and a 1956 Topps card.

I just couldn't find any notes inside the envelope to identify the sender.  Compounding matters was the fact that it was trash day, so the bubble mailer went straight into the recycle bin and to the curb -- and it was gone before I had the chance to pull any information off the envelope.

So, to borrow from quickly-forgotten alt-rock band Geggy Tah:

eBay

The next item I received recently that I want to highlight was a bit of an impulse buy on eBay. Perhaps the worst thing that I could have ever done in my life was install the eBay app on my iPad.  I say that because I wake up during the night and have trouble getting back to sleep with some regularity.  The iPad can help my brain shut off or at least wear me out enough to get back to sleep, so that's often what I do -- pick it up and waste time.  One night, though, I spotted this card:

Then, I saw the serial numbering:

With the hope that the Brewers hold on to Lucroy as they are suggesting they will, I slapped a bid on the card.  Then I forgot about it until I got that "your auction is ending soon" email from eBay.  No one bid after me on it, so I got a card numbered 3 out of 5 for the starting NL All-Star catcher last year for a total of $6.25 including shipping. Yeah, it's Bowman-parallel hell and all, but it's nice to have a low serial-numbered card for a reasonable price.

As it stands, this card is also my only Bowman card to date.

Commishbob

Commish Bob of the always excellent Five Tool Collector also hooked me up recently without even a note of warning.  Bob did sent me a note, saying that he believed the cards he sent hit my want lists and, then, this...

...with the note saying, "The Burdette Exhibit card is cool, no?"

Oh, yes.  Yes it is! But I do have a question for you: it looks like the stat-back Exhibit version, but the back is blank.  Perhaps I'm not looking at the right websites/resources, but was there a blank-bank and stat-back variation with the same photo on it?
Bob also fed the Burdette PC a little bit more -- and the Adcock one too -- with these completely incredible 1954 Bowman cards:

And he threw in Wisconsin boy Andy Pafko to boot:

Add in some 1961 Topps, and you continue to make me wonder how I can ever repay you, Bob!

THANK YOU BOB!

Reader Angus

I don't know how to thank Angus enough for his largesse. This was the third time he sent me cards (here's the first and here is the second) in the space of about a month or so.  The other envelopes were excellent -- don't get me wrong -- but I feel like this envelope was by far the best.

Why?

It's not these cards, though they are great and go into player collections:

No, that's not the reason.

The reason is O-Pee-Chee!

Sorry, Hall of Fame O-Pee-Chee.  36-Year-Old O-Pee-Chee.  Just incredible.  

And, then, just when it doesn't seem like it could get any better, he goes and out oddballs me:

I mean, seriously, an oddly sized popup of Paul Molitor from the 1991 All-Star game at SkyDome n/k/a Rogers Centre?  And, Angus was cognizant of my PCs enough to send me two of these -- one for the team collection too!  Just awesome.  THANK YOU, ANGUS!

Mark Hoyle
Mark is the original reader-trader, at least for me. I feel 100% sure that he is the first non-blogger who sent me cards.  And, usually, when Mark is the one sending cards it means that you are in for a vintage treat.  

Not this time, though!

This is nearly as close to vintage as it got this time around -- a 1983 Donruss Action All-Star of Robin Yount, a 1986 Donruss Action All-Star of Paul Molitor, a 1988 Fleer card of Mark Kiefer, and a 1993 Pinnacle Dave Nilsson. Otherwise, it was new new new!

But then, something popped out of the envelope that looked to be vintage...but it's not really...

This made me do a double take.  I didn't think Stormin' Gorman had a 1973 Topps card...and indeed he does not!  I flipped the card over, and it was a blank white back.  I know what it is now, though -- a Bob's Lemke custom card without the back on it. printed on photo paper.  Seeing how gorgeous this photo and color looks in hand, I may just breakdown and buy a couple Brewers customs from Bob yet!

THANK YOU MARK!

Matt from Bob Walk the Plank
Finally, a package from Matt at Bob Walk the Plank arrived.  Matt is still trying to dig out from the war that he had with Jaybarkerfan -- and trust me, I have fear in my heart already with the onslaught that is on its way.  I viewed Matt's war with JBF in the same way I viewed all the snow in the Northeast -- it was great to watch from afar, but I wasn't sure how I would react in the same situation.  

Matt handled himself well and valiantly tried to survive the avalanche.  He did it, but just barely.  Thankfully, he immediately started thinking about others -- as he always does, it seems -- and lo and behold, a package showed up from him.

Let's start with the two cards for my PCs -- one for Rickie Weeks and the other for Ryan Braun:

The Weeks is a Donruss Diamond Kings Materials Bronze Parallel serial numbered to 100, and the Braun is the Gold Refractor Parallel from 2011 Topps Chrome serial numbered to 50.  An odd thing to me is that I don't own the base Chrome card from 2011, but now I have a card of which only 50 were made!

The remainder of the cards are excellent as always -- Matt seems to bust more wax and have more inserts, serial numbered cards, jersey/bat cards, and autographs than nearly anyone else I've encountered.

What more can be said about Matt and his generosity?  He's just a great person to deal with.  Thankfully, by the time I had received this package from him, there was already another one on its way to him.  

THANKS MATT!

And thank you all for reading.  With the monsters on the way, I have one post of Brewers from the card show from almost two weeks ago now and then....it's all Barker all the Time!

He's coming....and he's got his (second) wife with him: