The Card Chops Uggla

Living in Atlanta, I know that many, many people were quite happy to see the end of the Dan Uggla era in Atlanta.  Uggla came up with the Marlins after being selected in the Rule 5 draft in 2005 and he became an immediate All-Star in Miami.  During his 5 years there -- from ages 26 to 30 -- he averaged 31 HR and 93 RBI a season with a slash line of .263/.349/.488. 

After the 2010 season, the Braves traded two players to get Uggla and immediately handed him a five-year, $62 million contract. The move was panned by many commentators immediately and for years to come.  While some Braves fans tried talking themselves into the idea that it wasn't as bad as it seemed, Uggla's play with the Braves started as acceptable and turned into atrocious -- leading the Braves to eat the last about $18 million of the contract to release him last year.  

But, I wondered for a while what Braves fans really thought of him.  Did they view him for the good he brought his first two years in Atlanta, or did they think of him with his .179 batting average in 2013 (.179/.309/.362) and the even-worse .162/.241/.231 in 2014?

I think Steve of The Card Chop -- the Chop Keeper himself -- answered that question for me without saying a word.

When you use a guy's card as a notepad, it becomes pretty clear what your feelings for the guy are.  Maybe I need to take all my 1985 Topps Yankees, punch a hole in them, and put them on a ring to use as a carry-along notepad.  

But, to further dirty Uggla's name -- legally and honestly, of course...remember kids, in defamation cases truth is an absolute defense -- let's turn to the Google Image search for Dan Uggla's Greatest Moments in History!

1.  Uggla Strikes Out on a Pitch that Nearly Hits Him

Finding Dan Uggla gifs has been a lot of fun.  Let's lead off with this fantastic "strike out dive out of the way to avoid getting my knee hit" against the Giants.   

Leading off for the cards that Steve sent me is the Clay Stock card to which Heritage Uggla the Notepad referred:

Strangely enough, I learned only this week about this variant from 2010's update set.  The old-school Topps logo was the giveaway here -- apparently the logo along with the "clay" cardstock was a Target exclusive for 2010.  Now that I know that, I now need to find them. Thankfully, now, I have one fewer card to look for.

2.  Uggla dives away in fear from a slider that is called a strike

Just so Braves fans can laugh, Uggla did something similar already in his stint this year with the Nationals:

Such hitting prowess and acumen deserves a fantastic card to go with it:

This 2011 Allen & Ginter black bordered mini of Rickie Weeks is much cooler than an Uggla-fying taken strike.  Without a doubt.

3.  Uggla Shows Off His Gun, Gets an Assist from the Outfield

Maybe.

I mean, look at what a smart player Uggla is.  He knew that the runner wouldn't try to advance and score if he got the ball in right away. So, he "whiffed" on the throw to goad the runner into going, then lollipopped the ball to first because he felt bad.  What a sweetheart!

Just like Ryan Braun.

4.  Uggla as Giant: Hit it Here!

Uggla didn't spend long in San Francisco -- 4 games in which he went 0-for-11 with one walk, an OPS+ of -73, and two errors.  Needless to say, Uggla didn't make the post-season roster.

But this guy always did:

Of course, he only got two opportunities in the post-season, but he was the first player to ever have two four-hit games in a single World Series.

5.  Not everything Uggla Ever Did was All Bad

I mean, anything that gives us Freddie Freeman dancing like John Travolta in Staying Alive can't be all bad.  It was Uggla's second wedding -- when Uggla married current wife Janette. In between his split and divorce from his first wife Tara in around 2007 and marrying Janette in 2013, Uggla apparently hooked up with porn star and noted friend of Rob Gronkowski Bibi Jones.  Jones would have been about 18 or 19, and Uggla would still have been a decent major league player at the time.

Seems like forever ago.

But these incredible Freeman dance moves deserve a great closing item:

This is one of several 5" x 7-1/2" "cards" given out by Ohio Casualty Group to commemorate Milwaukee County Stadium's closing.

It's a terrible tragedy that the collapse of the huge Mitsubishi on July 14, 1999 -- which killed 3 construction workers -- caused the old Milwaukee County Stadium to have to remain open through 2000 instead of 1999.  

It's no laughing matter.  

But Dan Uggla is.  

Right, Dan?

Many thanks to The Chop Keeper for these great cards, especially the Torre!

Milwaukee Braves from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 90s, and 10s

Card shows can be hit or miss. Sometimes, the show contains rich veins of oddballs, lesser-known sets, and good condition commons from 50 years ago at a reasonable price. Other times, it feels like everyone decided to bring their  1988 Fleer and 1989 Topps to the show. Each of those has its positives and negatives, of course (if all I could find were those '88 Fleer and '89 Topps, I'd pick up the cards I still need from both of those sets and leave after spending $2...that can be a positive, I suppose). 

My most recent card show visit was more like the first than the second, and, to be fair, that is usually the case. At the first table at which I stopped on getting to the show, the prices were a bit higher than I might otherwise pay -- a lot of 25 cent cards, which doesn't break the bank but add up pretty quickly as well as some vintage cards that ran higher and even into the hundreds of dollars.  

I stayed away from that high-end stuff. I will have to go there eventually, when I'm further down the road on my Braves collections and am looking for that Hank Aaron 1954 Topps to complete a team set. Hopefully, at that point, I can still find a good deal.

Anyway, the first group of cards that I sat down to flip through was a set called The 1960s that TCMA put out in two series -- one in 1978 and one in 1981. All of the cards here -- and the ones I put up in my trade bait -- were from Series I in 1978.

Joe Torre

Let's start with a 36-year-old card of a Hall of Famer in gem mint condition that cost a quarter. Joe Torre is pictured in his Milwaukee Braves hat but was listed on the back of the card as an Atlanta Brave. That makes little sense -- Torre played in parts of 6 seasons in Milwaukee (yes, it was only 2 games in 1960 as a 19-year-old catcher) and was an all-star three times for the Brewtown Braves before the team was purchased and squirreled away to the city where I reside. 

But, Torre played just three seasons with Atlanta before the Braves sent him to the Cardinals for fellow Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda.  Bad trade.  Cepeda was 4 years older than Torre and played just 401 games in 4 season for the Braves, while Torre -- at the age of 28 -- was just getting to his best years (including his MVP year in 1971).

Anyway, I count him as a Milwaukee Brave for my purposes in this set.

Ty Cline

Ty Cline played three seasons as a CF, 1B, and PH with Milwaukee before the move in 1965 brought him back to his Southern roots -- he attended Clemson University before signing with the Indians in 1960.

Ken Johnson

Ken Johnson as a Milwaukee Brave is as nonsensical as Joe Torre being an Atlanta Brave. Johnson, who was an original Houston Colt .45, pitched 172-2/3 innings in the 1965 season in Milwaukee. He remained with Atlanta for 3-1/2 more seasons. He's more "Atlanta" than "Milwaukee" despite being included with Milwaukee for this set.

Mack Jones

Mack Jones played parts of 4 seasons in Milwaukee and two full seasons in Atlanta. He's pictured as an Atlanta Brave, but the back of the card lists him with Milwaukee. This TCMA set is a weird one.

Gary Kolb

Gary Kolb was an outfielder and catcher. He played a total of 60 games with the Milwaukee Braves, 103 games with the Pirates, 90 games with the Cardinals, and 40 games with the Mets. I guess TCMA just had a photo of him as a Brave.

Frank Lary

This one is even weirder. Frank "Mule" Lary spent 11 seasons with the Tigers before bouncing around the leagues after leaving Detroit in 1964. He pitched a grand total of 12-1/3 innings for the Milwaukee Braves in 5 appearances in 1964. 

Jesse Gonder

Gonder was another short-time Brave, this time as a backup catcher. He spent 31 games (57 plate appearances) with the Braves in 1965, hitting .151/.211/.245. 

Ed Bailey

And finally, here's another one-year Brave: Ed Bailey. At least Bailey spent all of 1964 with the Braves -- 95 games, 309 plate appearances, hitting near the league average in OPS. He spent the majority of his career in Cincinnati.

As you can see, that was a weird find to me. So many one-year wonders -- many of whom probably don't have many or any other cards as Braves. Thankfully, this same seller also had some "true" vintage.

For instance, how about these two 1957 Topps cards, mine for $1 each?

Gene Conley is one of the few people in history (only?) who can say that he won a World Series title and an NBA title. Conley was on the World Series winning Braves team in 1957, and then, in his spare time, he won three NBA Titles in 1959, 1960, and 1961 with the Boston Celtics. This amazing 6'8" athlete is 84 years old and still is with us.

Frank Torre, unfortunately, is no longer alive. Frank being a Brave almost certainly led the team to sign his younger brother Joe and probably led Joe to signing.

This was the most expensive card of the day at $6. It's from 1958 and shows the World Series winning Milwaukee Braves. Part of me thinks that I could have done a little better on the price, but that was down already from $10, so at least I did get that much knocked off.

These two cards are both from 1960 Topps. Other than the 14-year-old girl style of coloring every other letter, I could have been convinced easily that the Chuck Dressen card came from 1965 Topps with that pennant and logo and all. 

As for Charlie Lau, anyone who could be credited by George Brett as being the man who taught him to hit is a good addition to anyone's collection.

Speaking of 1965 Topps, these three cards together cost me $2. Klimchock played a total of 318 games in the major leagues spread over 12 seasons. He spent all or a part of 4 seasons in Milwaukee and made a total of 76 appearances. 

I've mentioned Fischer before, I believe.  I think he may still be alive in the mountains in North Georgia in Hiawassee.

Oliver was a Midwestern boy whom the Cardinals signed first before trading him to the Braves with Bob Sadowski in return for one of my player collection guys, Lew Burdette, in 1963. He had the ignominious distinction of being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies by the Atlanta Braves so that the Braves could get baseball immortal Bob Uecker.

Three more modern cards also made their way into my Milwaukee Braves collection. There's the 2012 Hank Aaron Allen & Ginter card along with a 2001 reprint of the 1965 Topps Aaron and a 1999 reprint of the 1957 Topps Aaron, showing him with the reversed negative.

So, not that you asked, but I do have reasons why I do not include Aaron as a player collection. First off, his cards are more expensive, for the most part, than anything of Spahn or Mathews. 

Granted, the 1952 Topps Mathews -- which was both his rookie card and was the last card of the 1952 set (making it susceptible to damage from rubber-banding in a fashion that has inflated the prices for the #1 card, Wisconsin native Andy Pafko) -- is pretty damn expensive (check this one out: PSA "Authentic" as altered [I think trimmed] is listed on Amazon by Dean's Cards for the low, low price of $1,380!). So I'll have enough super-expensive cards to chase for my team set without adding the need to get TWO of every Aaron.

The other reason is more personal and simpler: Hank Aaron in my mind is an Atlanta Brave. Yes, he spent more years in MIlwaukee as a Brave than in Atlanta, but Hank is an Atlanta guy. He lives here. He has a BMW dealership here. He's been a part of the Atlanta front office for many, many years. He's active in the community here in Atlanta. Both Mathews and Spahn are guys who are "Milwaukee" Braves, and Burdette and Adcock similarly are guys I associate with those Milwaukee teams of the late 1950s. But when I think of Hank, I think of the homer off Al Downing. I think of Turner Field being located on Hank Aaron Drive. I think of Atlanta. I guess that's a bias of living in the Atlanta area for over 19 years now, but that's the way it is.

I did get one more card for my Braves team set. It's my buddy, the bad-hitting Bob Buhl, and it's a wood-grain TV set of him:

I have always liked the 1955 Bowman for the "Color TV" design. Maybe I just have a thing for wood-grained paneling, since that was all the rage in the 1970s as a cheap way to cover up a crappy drywall job. I mean, I am partial to both the 1963 and 1987 Topps sets too. Hmm.

Anyway, this Buhl card -- which looks like he is wearing lipstick, rouge, but that he forgot to manscape his unibrow -- set me back $2. I couldn't just leave it on the table at that price.

I'm starting to find that I like the vintage cards and photos of those players from the 1960s since it gives me a reason to find out who these guys were. I hope you've enjoyed this walk through as well.