Man or Astro-Dome?

During my time in law school in Athens, the band Man or Astro-Man? played seemingly once a month. If you have never heard of them, they were/are a garage/surf rock band that formed in 1992 in Auburn, Alabama, and their shows are a thing to behold. Man or Astro-Man?'s music often sampled from old, long forgotten Sci Fi movies, and their stage shows would incorporate everything from a theremin to a Tesla coil along with clips from the movies running in the background.

I got to thinking about Man or Astro-Man? thanks to the fact that Bru a/k/a Marc from Remember the Astrodome sent me a package of cards in late May. Marc had to do some downsizing in his collection recently because, as you can see on his blog, Marc and his wife welcomed a new baby girl into their lives in late May.

Since I have never done a music post to accompany cards from Marc, I thought for about three seconds and MOAM? came to mind from 20 years ago almost immediately. That's how my brain works. So, let's get to the cards and the music.

In early 1996 and probably at the height of the whole 1990s Alternative music boom, an album called Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks was put out to benefit the Children's Defense Fund. The original "Schoolhouse Rocky" song was included, but thereafter a number of artists covered the great Schoolhouse Rocks! songs. For example, one of Blind Melon's last records while Shannon Hoon was alive was their cover of "Three Is a Magic Number."

On the album, Man or Astro-Man? covered "Interplanet Janet." The album really seemed to try to feature bands that were not necessarily well known at the time. Sure, you have Blind Melon and Better than Ezra and The Lemonheads, but you also had Buffalo Tom, Goodness, Pavement, Ween, and Skee-Lo.

Incidentally, I bought this CD back in 1996 and really enjoy it. If you ever watched the fantastic Schoolhouse Rocks! cartoons as a kid, you'd enjoy it too. 

Marc sent me a whole host of great Brewers cards from a number of different sets and years. These are some of the cards from the early and mid-1990s. 

I especially appreciate the Mariners Chris Bosio card because that is the kind of card I miss when putting together my want lists. Perhaps some day, when I have finished putting my want lists together completely, I'll go back and review all the photos from all the sets looking for cameos and "traded" cards like this one where the card issuer didn't try to repaint the player into his new uniform, as Topps almost always does.

Kenny Felder's Gold Topps card is in here as a reminder to everyone who watches drafts that not every player who is drafted makes it. Most don't, in fact. I feel like teams have gotten better at making first round selections count, but there are always guys who either provide high upside or who look good on paper and then don't pan out. The Brewers picked Felder 6 picks after the Yankees selected Derek Jeter and 11 picks before the Pirates selected Jason Kendall. 

Even so, Felder was not the biggest bust in the 1992 draft -- that was probably 3rd overall pick B.J. Wallace, who also never made it to the major leagues and was arrested for manufacturing methamphetamine in 2011. I can't find anything on how those charges played out, though I did find another arrest in 2013 for Amber McKenzie, the woman whom Wallace was arrested with, for drug possession. Sad things can happen when people fail spectacularly.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, MOAM? performed a cover of the "love theme" from Mystery Science Theater 3000. It would seem to be a natural crossover, after all -- MST3K's movies matched with MOAM?'s sound makes complete sense. As MOAM?'s Wikipedia entry notes, the band had MST3K's creator, Joel Hodgson, appear on stage at a show to sing the theme in 1996, and Joel's character on MST3K later claimed on show to have been a pyrotechnics roadie for the band. 

Some more recent vintage cards here. The Yount Perspectives goes right into my team collection, as does the Braun Fortune Teller. 

Mike Rivera is a guy I don't think I've ever even given a second thought about. Rivera spent 120 games over five different seasons on the Brewers bench (2006 to 2009 and again in 2011) and hit .261/.333/.421 -- not too bad, really, but he was behind Damian Miller (2006), Miller & Johnny Estrada (2007), and Jason Kendall (2008 & 2009) so he was never going to get much playing time even if (whisper it) he probably would have been a far better hitter than Kendall during those years.

Finally, the Yount Prizm gets highlighted here because Panini Prizm looks like a card idea that Panini designers came up with while eating psychedelic mushrooms and watching MST3K.

Man or Astro-Man? also supplied some music for Space Ghost Coast to Coast. This alternate theme featured in the clip above is a MOAM? creation. They also provided the show's closing credits. After he left the band in 1998, guitarist/singer Brian Causey a/k/a Star Crunch composed and performed the theme song for the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron. 

Star Crunch? 

Yes. Like all good/weird concept bands, MOAM? members adopted stage personae with appropriate names. The main members of the band included Birdstuff (Brian Teasley), Star Crunch, Wizard (David Scholtz), and Coco the Electronic Monkey (Robert del Bueno). Other guitarists for the band included Dr. Deleto, Cap'n Zeno, and Dexter X. When Star Crunch left the band (he started his own album label in Athens in 1998), they plugged in other guitarists such as Trace Reading and Blazar the Probe Handler. 

The Brewers picked up Ray Durham for the 2008 stretch run, and he performed fairly well over those 41 games -- .280/.369/.477 over 122 plate appearances at second base is not bad at all. The Brewers picked him up in trade for a minor leaguer (Steve Hammond) and Darren Ford, who played in 33 games as a pinch runner/defensive replacement in 2010 and 2011 (16 plate appearances, four hits, 1 walk, 1 HBP, and 9 stolen bases in 15 attempts). I will always associate Durham with the Chicago White Sox and, to a lesser extent, the San Francisco Giants. This 2009 Topps card of his qualifies as his "sunset" card. He retired after the 2008 season.

I see the sticker of Adam Lind, and I am reminded that Adam Lind spent one season as a Brewer. When you turn over the roster in the way that the Brewers did, a lot of different players come and go in rapid succession. It can be somewhat jarring to see them in your team's uniform as the reminder of days gone by. Indeed, the Adam Lind year was only 2 years ago -- in 2015 -- but it seems like it was eons ago. 

To get a real feel for what MOAM? are really like, you need to watch a live show. I have no idea where the guy who posted this last year found this show -- it's a show from Tempe, Arizona, from 1996 -- but it is a good way to get a feel for the live stage act that MOAM? put on. Lots of strange voiceover clips, weird TV feeds, random motorcycle helmet costumes -- it's all there.

Along these lines, Man or Astro-Man?'s website at astroman.com is well worth checking out. The website has a timeline that allows people to post MOAM-related events and the like, so I could see, for example, that I might have seen them play in Athens in 1996. I know I saw them play at least once with my roommates from my first year of law school. At that time, I found them really weird.

Now, I find them really weird.

To end on an appropriately weird note, let's look at some ProCards minor league cards for three former Brewer "prospects." Okay, Doug Henry panned out probably more than he could have ever been expected to pan out -- making 582 appearances in an 11 year career that didn't start in the major leagues until he was 27 years old.

Shon Ashley was drafted in the third round of the 1985 June Draft by the Brewers out of high school in Meridian, Idaho. He made it as high as noted hitters' paradise El Paso in Double-A in the Brewers system, but he stalled out there -- spending three years (1989-1991) in El Paso. 

His stats were pretty good, so it makes me wonder why the Brewers did not at least give him a shot at Triple-A in 1990. I mean, the outfielders in Denver in 1990 were Bill Moore, Darryel Walters, Mario Monico, Jim Olander, Mark Higgins, Matias Carrillo, retread Mickey Brantley...good God what a bunch of terrible crap. It makes no sense at all now why Ashley didn't at least get a shot. None at all. It appears that Ashley moved back to Idaho after his career based on this LinkedIn bio showing he owns Ashley Glass in Boise, Idaho.

Finally, Bo Dodson was a third-round draft pick in the June draft in 1989 out of Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, California. Bo got as far as Triple-A with Milwaukee in 1995 but never made it to the major leagues. After 1995, he played in Boston's system for a couple of years, followed by one year with Rochester in the Baltimore Orioles farm system. 

He moved back home to Sacramento after that. I'm guessing that this is him on LinkedIn serving as the personnel director for All Phase Security, Inc., in Sacramento. His son Tanner plays at Cal and will be eligible for the 2018 draft. Tanner started as a pitcher as a freshman, but struggled and got moved to the outfield, where he showed himself to be a very good hitter as well.

My thanks go out to Bru for the great cards and for making my brain remind me of the existence of Man or Astro-Man?!

Trick or Treating with Cardboard Clubhouse

After a sports weekend which featured: (1) my favorite English Premier League team, Manchester United, shooting 37 times without scoring a goal; (2) my favorite college football team, the Georgia Bulldogs, failing to supply any significant offensive output against Florida; and (3) my favorite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers, coming to Atlanta and losing to the Falcons, I started to wonder why I bother with sports. There are just weekends where it would definitely be less frustrating, more entertaining, and more peaceful if I just didn't give a damn about sports at all.

I wondered that for about 5 minutes or so, and then I dismissed that notion quickly. I've been a sports fan my whole life without questioning how or why, and my life would feel emptier -- less complete -- without having the ability to come online, lob a few comments/jokes, and watch the carnage. 

A lot of folks have other things in their life that they like just as completely. For instance, Adam from Cardboard Clubhouse is a huge Halloween fan. I mean huge. As in, "devoting his blog to Halloween since the beginning of September" huge. That is devotion. 

Also as impressive was his "Trick Or Treat" mailer that he sent out to the "SuperCollectors". Let's look at some of the offerings and see what tricks and treats came my way.

First off the top are two minor league cards. Cody Ponce is younger than the Bert Heffernan card by about 5 years -- the Heffernan is from 1989, and Ponce is from 1994. Ponce, of course, is pictured on the Topps Pro Debut set from this year. 

Bert Heffernan was a ninth round pick for Milwaukee from Clemson in 1988. He was already 23 years old when he was drafted, so he really had to be pushed up the chain quickly. He made it to Beloit in 1989 at the age of 24 -- 2 years older than the average Midwest Leaguer -- and slashed .296/.398/.376. He never hit for any power at all. He also never suited up for the big league Brewers. They traded him to the Dodgers for Darren Holmes. The Dodgers were unimpressed enough to allow him to be drafted away in the minor league Rule V draft by the Seattle Mariners after the 1991 season. It was with the Mariners that Heffernan tallied his single major league hit -- a double off Scott Sanderson -- in 11 plate appearances. He was removed from that game for a pinch hitter -- Edgar Martinez.

So, these two qualify as a TREAT for me because (a) I'm really digging the Brewers minor league cards a lot more these days, and, (b) I needed both of them.



Depending on how you look at it, it sure seems like Jonathan Lucroy's 2016 season is like this scene...

His choosing not to join the Indians because of his concern about playing time next year definitely cost Lucroy a trip to the World Series (assuming, of course, that we don't play out a counterfactual which leads to the Indians falling out of the playoffs early) and it may have cost him a championship. 

Of course, Luc doesn't look at it like that. His wife is from Louisiana, and Dallas was his desired location above all -- that or Houston -- when it came to moving on from the Brewers. I'm happy for him that it worked out to get there, though I'm sure he might ask himself "what if" in 10 years or so if the Rangers don't get to the World Series.

Rickie Weeks Jr. is 34 and finished his season with Arizona. But, let's talk about Rickie Sr. instead. Rickie Sr. is the CEO of The Orlando Monarchs Youth Leadership Baseball Program in Florida. That program has its primary focus of reviving baseball in economically deprived areas in the US -- places, as the website says, that do not have "fields, community sponsorships, and baseball leadership support to effectively render the fundamentals of the game in a safe supervised environment." As best I can tell, though, this might be a for-profit enterprise -- none of the usual notations about the enterprise being a 501(3)(c) charitable entity where donations are tax-deductible are present on the website. Hmmm.

Not to cast aspersions on Mr. Weeks Sr., but these two cards are definitely tricks. The giveaway should be the fact that they are logoless Panini. Also, is there a worse set in the history of baseball cards than the Panini Triple Play cartoon set from a few years ago? Seriously, is there?

Score. Geez, remember Score? Pinnacle Brands issued its first set in 1988. Audible gasps came when (1) the cards came in a plastic baggie more akin to opening some candy than getting baseball cards, and (2) there were full color mug shots of the players on the back of each card. Pinnacle also is credited with being the first company to insert printing plates into packs. 

That led to Beckett naming Jerry Meyer -- Pinnacle's CEO -- as Sports Card Executive of the Year in early 1998. That didn't go too well for Beckett or Pinnacle -- Pinnacle declared bankruptcy less than a year later, so Beckett retired the award. 

The upside on these two cards is that I needed both of them. The downside is that the Surhoff was "just" for the set and the Bell is the "Gold Rush" Parallel that I haven't even tried to chase as of yet. Also, Bell passed away due to kidney issues in the Dominican Republic in August at the age of just 48.

Still, needing both of these cards makes this a Treat.

Two checklists from 1970s Topps usually would not make it into any blog post for me because I have these cards already. But wait -- don't call these "trick" yet. While both are a bit off center, both are in wonderfully sharp condition, and both are completely clean on the back. It's not often you find a 40-year-old card in nearly perfect condition (though that will happen with exceptional regularity in about 5 years time, I'd guess).

Both of these ended up being upgrades to existing cards in my collection, so call this a Treat!

Oh Ricky. If only you'd stayed with Lucy and little Ricky, you could have been something -- maybe even a "90's Impact Player" like Doug Henry. 

He's not this Doug Henry, though:

Luckily, that is. I don't think that the baseball player is paralyzed from the waist down, nor did he allegedly expose himself to two female construction workers last year. Nope, this Doug Henry is still hanging around baseball. 

He is the current bullpen coach for the Kansas City Royals. Henry came into the AL like a house of fire; in his rookie season in 1991, he appeared in 32 games (36 IP) and finished with 2 wins and 15 saves -- good enough for just 8th place in the Rookie of the Year voting, however, behind Chuck Knoblauch, Juan Guzman, Milt Cuyler, Ivan Rodriguez, Rich DeLucia, Mike Timlin, and Mark Whiten. Henry's problem -- like Heffernan -- was being old by time he hit the majors at the age of 27. It just took that long for him to arrive, it seems.

All in all, these two cards are a trick. I have both of them already, I believe. Even if I didn't, Bones reminds me of Sheffield (always bad) and Doug Henry reminds me how poor talent evaluation got in the Brewers organization in the late 1980s.

Blindingly colorful PC guys! That's usually worth a treat. But, I have both of these. The Molitor card, in particular, is painful to look at. It's so "1990" that it's painful. What else is "1990"?

Your 1990s SNL cast, featuring the late Phil Hartman and the late Chris Farley. Chris Rock, Tim Meadows, David Spade, Farley, Rob Schneider, and Julia Sweeney all debuted in 1990 officially, and Adam Sandler made his uncredited debut on December 8, 1990, marking one heck of a good new group of cast members. 

That's the upside. The downside is clearly how ugly those Classic Pink cards were. This was too:

Before Colin Kaepernick took his much more principled stand, Roseanne Barr just destroyed the National Anthem before a game in San Diego on July 25, 1990. This is how ugly those Classic cards are. No question.

Plesac's 1986 Donruss Rookie pales in comparison, but that, too, is not a pleasantly colored baseball card. The Green version of those cards is tough to look at, and the photo itself is bleached out.  

This is such a trick that it's like candy corn level of trick -- so terrible and obviously disgusting that it should surprise no one that candy corn is made entirely of corn syrup, honey, and table sugar with food color, gelatin, and just a little bit of salt. Candy Corn is lethal too -- if you are 180 pounds and eat a little over 1,600 pieces of candy corn in one sitting, you'll die.

I think the same would happen if all cards looked like that Classic Molitor.

Adam, many thanks for the great cards, and Happy Halloween!

Circadian Rhythms

A CBS News story a few months highlighted a study by the University of Barcelona in Catalunya/Spain (depending on whether you support an independent Catalonia/Catalunya in Spain) which focused on the differences between what they called "early risers" and "evening people." 

Early risers are people who are, according to the study:

• More persistent
• More resistant to fatigue, frustration, and difficulties
• Likely to have lower levels of anxiety and depression
• Likely to have higher life satisfaction
• Less likely to have substance abuse issues

On the other hand, the "evening persons" tend to have more creative traits, such as:

• Being more extravagant, temperamental, and impulsive
• Seeking novelty
• Having a higher tendency to want to explore the unknown
• More likely to suffer from insomnia and ADHD
• More likely to develop addictive behaviors, mental disorders, and antisocial tendencies

That's what the folks in Barcelona said. 

Psychology Today has the other side of the coin, however. Rather than focus on all those bad traits that are pushed onto our nocturnal brethren, their blog focuses on intelligence. There, the psychologists have pointed out that children who are "very bright" and have the highest IQs tend to be evening people. And, further, those who stay up later tend to be more creative people as well.

And, of course, like everything on the Internet, Huffington Post made a list in true Bleacher Report form of 7 reasons to be proud of being a night owl. Lists = click bait, after all. 

If you put all that together, you can see why many baseball card collectors are, in fact, evening people. We are collectors -- an addictive behavior. We like shiny things and new cards and want to open new packs all the time -- seeking novelty, exploring the unknown. We shop on eBay and make purchases that we might regret the next day -- extravagance and impulsiveness. 

And many of us aren't satisfied unless we complete that "next" set.

This is a long introduction to a trade post, but when the trade post is about cards from our resident Night Owl himself, long introductions do not do him justice. 

The Night Owl is the man who inspired many of us to start blogging about our cards. I often find myself reading his posts and thinking, "damn, I wish I had thought of that as an angle on those cards."

Recently, I sent the Night Owl minis!! from the 2014 Topps mini box that I opened a few weeks ago. In return, I received a package from him full of cards that hit player collections and holes in my team sets.

Like this Juan Castillo 1987 Fleer Update card. Fleer Update sets hit my radar in the 1980s infrequently.

These two are more recent cards of a couple of my favorite players from the 1980s. Ben Oglivie for Jim Slaton was one of Harry Dalton's best trades other than that big 1980 trade to get Fingers, Vuckovich, and Simmons.

Both these guys were Brewers draft picks. To be fair, most guys that become at least minor stars as Brewers were draft picks. I can't recall a big free agent signing for Milwaukee that worked out (maybe Kyle Lohse?), and frankly there just aren't that many big free agent signings in their history.

See what I mean? Fielder and Hart were draft picks. Sabathia was a 4-month rental. The Brewers made CC an offer to stay in Milwaukee, but the restaurants of New York were too much of a draw for the large former Cy Young Winner. Coming into next year at the age of 34, Sabathia might be a Hall of Famer already. Here's hoping for his sake that he can add to his resume.

Ryan Braun: another draft pick. The A&G blue swatch was a fantastic addition to my Braun collection, as I really don't have all that many relic cards of his. To be fair, though, that O-Pee-Chee box-bottom card blows the A&G away in my book. I miss getting cards on the bottoms of boxes.

Another draft pick. Surprisingly, I had shiny Lineage and Diamond Collection Lineage but not base set Lineage before this package.

Doug Henry did not make it to the majors until he was 27 years old. In his rookie year, he put up a microscopic 1.00 ERA in 36 innings (15 saves, 2-1 record). He built that ERA on an unsustainably low home run rate -- just 0.3 per nine innings -- and an even more unsustainable hit rate of just 4.0 hits per nine innings. When his hit rate got back to more normal levels, his ERA soared. The Brewers then traded him to the New York Mets in November of 1994 and got back two PTBNL, including Fernando Vina, in return.

Another blind-squirrel paean to hit rates. Austin came up at the same age and in the same year as Henry -- 1991 at the age of 27. He got shelled in 1991 in only 8-2/3 innings. But, in 1992, all the balls in play found gloves, it seems, and he gave up just 5.9 hits per nine innings. That led to an artificially low 1.85 ERA (FIP: 3.95) despite the fact that he walked more batters than he struck out (32 walks, 30 Ks in 58-1/3 innings). In other words, he was never going to be a long-time major leaguer like that. His major-league career was done after 1993.


Night Owl, thank you for the creativity, the inspiration, and even the occasionally anxious post. The blogging world -- and the real world, if there is any real difference -- needs your creativity and insight.

And I need your Brewers cards.