Quick Walk Down the Plank

One of my fellow 2014 rookies in the blog world, Matthew Scott of Bob Walk the Plank, is much more on top of getting trade packages out to people than I am. He reached out to me recently and told me he had an incredible Jeromy Burnitz parallel to send my way, so I was immediately excited.

It took a week or so to arrive after he told me about it. Or maybe it didn't. I can't recall -- it's been 6 weeks now. I'm terrible. I know.  

At least The Murmurs put out a song about me.

That's the clean version. Be glad for that. 

At any rate, I owe everyone who has sent me cards recently that big apology -- that I suck and have slacked at posting lately. I've been enjoying my time away from daily blogging the past couple of weeks by getting my Topps inserts organized. I'm all the way up to 2010 right now. It feels good to get those finally into a book and for me to know what I am actually missing.

Back to Matt, though. I hope soon to send him some beer soon, or to have the opportunity to grab a beer in person together. 

But, until then, trading baseball cards will have to suffice. And while Matt teased Jeromy Burnitz, he actually topped himself when he sent me cards. 

How? 

Well, let's start with the least impressive of the cards I got from him:

I've written about Michael Reed before, in particular that he is has a good batting eye but not much power. Reed has had the misfortune of being in the wrong organization in 2017. In both 2015 and 2016, Reed spent a little time with the Brewers in the major leagues. This spring, however, he found himself getting optioned all the way down to Double-A Biloxi. He's been passed by a host of OFs, included Domingo Santana, Keon Broxton, Lewis Brinson, Ryan Cordell, and Brett Phillips, among others. 

Rather than plant Reed in Colorado Springs behind that last trio, he finds himself in Double-A. Since he was drafted 6 years ago this year, I would not be surprised to see Michael Reed coming soon to a waiver wire or Rule 5 draft near you -- unless Slingin' David Stearns can turn him into a pitching prospect.

Speaking of Brett Phillips...this one totally blows Reed away. The only thing that would make this card better would be if it had a multi-color patch in it.  Or maybe logos. Either one.

This has quickly become one of my favorite Panini cards, though. 

Phillips does need to show that his 2016 was a fluke and that he can make sufficient contact to be a major leaguer. He had problems with that in Double-A, but the Brewers still moved him up anyway. He slipped down the prospect list some this year due to that.

Okay, now, onto the Burnitz card Matt promised:

Okay, this one is well worth the hype. It is a 1999 Skybox Premium Rubies serial numbered 2 of 50. Seriously, to get a card of that rarity from 18 years ago is pretty damn cool -- and to be a guy that I collect just makes it better.

Matt, many thanks to you for the great cards! And everyone else -- please forgive me. I know I suck.

Binders for Brewers, Part II

Back in February, Dave the Card Junkie and I made a trade where I gave Dave binders and pages from the massive Christmas Horde in exchange for my getting cards. We did the same thing last weekend.

With Roger's one-man show in town on Dave's side of town, I convinced him to drive the twenty minutes to meet me at the hotel where Roger sets up and take more binders and pages off my hands. He then handed me a massive stack of Brewers in a paper bag. It wasn't exactly clandestine or furtive, but it was still exciting for me to get those cards!

So, to thank Dave, I scoured his Twitter feed for songs that he had posted there. After all, doesn't 44 minutes of prog rock featuring a flautist deserve as much publicity as possible?

Of course it does.

I can think of no player better suited with an introduction of a self-indulgently long prog rock song than Jeromy Burnitz. I'm not sure why that seems appropriate, but it does. Burnitz reminds me of an outfielder version of Dan Uggla -- very much a bro -- who would apparently empty out bottles of shampoo in the showers on road trips after the last game of the series and pee in them. 

Oh, you're such a funny guy, Jeromy!

Burnitz was still a very good homerun hitter in his travels around the major leagues playing with seven different teams (four in Flushing, bits of two seasons with Cleveland, a year each with Colorado, Pittsburgh, the Dodgers, and the Cubs, and six in Milwaukee). He was an All-Star once in Milwaukee and actually started the 1999 game in place of the injured Tony Gwynn. He even finished second in the Home Run Contest to Ken Griffey Jr.

A little morning Black Sabbath is a great way to wake up. Geezer Butler on bass really runs every Sabbath song. Yeah, Tony Iommi's lead guitar is really distinctive, but when you hear that underside of each song -- the thumping bass -- you know who is really in charge.

These three guys tended to be the understudies for the Brewers' stars of the time during which they played with the team. Of the three, the only one who ever led any Brewers team in WAR was, perhaps surprisingly, Corey Hart in 2007. Augustine really had only two decent seasons -- his first two in the major leagues -- while Nilsson was always behind Jeff Cirillo, or John Jaha, or Ricky Bones, or Greg Vaughn, or B.J. Surhoff, or all of the above in his years in Milwaukee.

Watching the MLB Draft's first couple of rounds on Thursday night was like watching NBA Draft coverage from about 15 years ago or so. I say that because the random assortment of "experts" that MLB Network compiled engaged in the most obvious of lazy comparisons when talking about players. The tall, African-American centerfielder from Atlanta had to be a Jason Heyward comparison. The good-hitting catcher with questions about his fielding was, of course, Kyle Schwarber's younger twin. If a player was white, he would only be compared to white players. If the player was black, then only black players would be comparable.

If MLB is going to be that way, then I will post Rickie Weeks cards with Robert Johnson's music. To be fair, posting old blues songs and then putting up cards of Ryan Braun just doesn't feel right.

Here's a new one on me. Well, okay, to be fair, I'd never listened to that Jethro Tull song before, but at least I'd heard of the band. I've never heard of the The Avalanches before. This video is just incredibly weird. Perhaps, to appreciate the song, it might be better to read something else and not pay attention to the video at all. 



Sort of like how I pay no attention any more to any of the Ryan Braun haters out there. I could get all worked up and point to the fact that Braun just took steroids rather than beating up his girlfriend or wife, or being a swimmer-rapist with a Stanford scholarship, or being a racist presidential candidate or a lying dissembling presidential candidate, or being any number of far scarier, more morally reprehensible people. 

I'm really excited for when Mets fans have to hold their nose and cheer for him when the Brewers trade Braun and Lucroy to New York for Zack Wheeler, Travis d'Arnaud, Dominic Smith, and a lottery ticket like Jhoan Urena or Andres Gimenez (who are both so far away from the majors at this point that they can be nothing more than a lottery ticket)...or, when the Yankees trade Aaron Judge, Luis Severino, Domingo Acevedo, and Gary Sanchez for the two and turn Lucroy into a first-baseman to replace Teixeira.

Hahahahahahahaha!

WARNING: 

If you have epilepsy, you shouldn't watch this next video. It consists of 3:39 of the photo above repeatedly illuminated by strobe lights.

Les Claypool is another notable bass player, having come to prominence in the 1990s with the band Primus. This song is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, as it features a lot of overdubbed vocals, a fair amount of repetition, lots of self-sampling, and it isn't exactly melodic.

Not exactly melodic describes Milwaukee Brewers baseball perfectly in the time that Ben Sheets was in his pomp. The team did well in 2008 with him -- and that was his last season of making a regular rotation turn. Indeed, that season almost certainly was the death knell of Sheets's career. He threw 198-1/3 innings and got the team to the playoffs, yet he did not get to enjoy pitching in the playoffs due to a torn elbow muscle. After that injury, he threw just 168-2/3 innings over the rest of his career in 29 starts -- 20 in Oakland in 2010 and 9 in Atlanta in 2011.

A little Radiohead to close things out here. This is from Radiohead's newest album, "A Moon Shaped Pool." In typical Radiohead-fashion, it's a bit abstract. The video looks like the old Rudolph shows with stop-motion animation going on, though this is probably done with computers, if I had to guess. 

When Dave handed me the bag of Brewers, he said, "I hope that you like Geoff Jenkins." Now having 170 Geoff Jenkins cards in my PC for him, that answer is "yes, I do indeed." I have to admit, though, that my favorite card amongst these Jenkins cards is that minor league card of Jenkins with the Tucson Toros. 

For whatever reason, I'm starting to get drawn more and more to the minor league cards. It's probably the rebuild that's ongoing in Milwaukee currently that has me scouring the minor leagues. But, even as a kid, I loved reading the old Baseball Digest prospect wrap-ups each year. I'm not a rookie-card chaser, to be fair, but I love reading about and finding out about prospects.

Thanks, Dave, for the great cards. I hope you enjoy those binders.

Je suis un collectionneur

It's a sad truth that the French people have a reputation among tourists of being rude. Whether it's this story from Scotland's National Newspaper, The Scotsman, proclaiming, "The French admit they're too rude to tourists" or this story explaining five reasons why Americans might think this is the case, it's easy to find complaints on the internet about the "rude French."

The major problems with this generalization? Well, the first is simple: when people say that they think French people are rude, they are referring to Paris. Big city people tend to be more cautious around strangers generally -- it's how you survive in a city, after all -- and that caution and reservation can be seen as rudeness.

Second, I think there is a perception that Paris is supposed to be like what people see in the movies for Paris. It's supposed to be all high fashion, the Moulin Rouge, and baguette-carrying, mustachioed, guys giving the okay sign.

The reality is, though, that French people are just people like you and me. They are courteous -- especially when treated with courtesy themselves. They are cautious in unfamiliar situations -- especially when someone they've never met comes up to them demanding that they speak in an unfamiliar language and tell them how to get somewhere.  

And, they are collectors. Like Kevin a/k/a the Card Papoy. During the week before Christmas, a package from France appeared in my mailbox. I'm pretty sure that it's my turn to send some cards Kevin's way at this point, so it was a welcome surprise. Thankfully, with the massive Christmas gift I got producing some interesting cards, I'll be able to send some cool stuff out in the next few months.

But, that's in the future. For now, let's get through the cards Kevin sent, starting by getting Lucky Pierre (caution: that link goes to the Urban Dictionary) out of the way.

Canadian buzzkillers out of the way, how about some late 1990s Upper Deck cards?

Now, other than Trevor Hoffman -- who may or may not make the Hall of Fame this year in his first year on the ballot -- these three cards are like baseball card representations of a Green Day song.

Todd Dunn and Brian Banks...yeah. 

Dunn was a sandwich round compensation pick in the 1993 draft for the Brewers (35th pick overall). The best thing I can say about him is that he attended Bishop Kenney High School in Florida, which is the same school that the daughter of two good friends of mine attends. 

Banks was the second round pick in that same 1993 draft out of BYU. The fact that he got 249 plate appearances for the 1999 Brewers (.242/.317/.352) says more about the Brewers than anything I can say.



Four more Upper Deck cards from 1997. 

Eldred, of course, is a PC. As his card caption mentions and as I've said before, Eldred got put through the Phil Garner meat grinder in 1993, facing a league high 1087 batters that season. That number is the fourth-highest total from 1993 to the present and sixth-highest in the past 25 years. For comparison's sake, only three pitchers in the past ten seasons (2006 to 2015) have topped 1000 -- CC Sabathia had 1023 in 2008 when the Brewers pitched him about every second day because they knew they didn't have to worry about his future health, Felix Hernandez's 1001 in 2010, and David Price's 1009 in 2014. (I think I mention that meat grinder every time I write about Eldred...apologies!)

Okay, on to the shiny cards with autographs and wood chips and leather embedded!



So, Jean Segura. These are great cards -- a blue chrome parallel and a Topps Tribute serial numbered 24 out of just 50. As for the player, though...I mean, I've put a fair amount of time, money, and energy into collecting Segura's cards. The only reason I haven't abandoned his PC at this point is, well, I keep getting these good cards of him. I'm thinking, though, that it might be time to cut bait. 

I'm pretty sure that Segura is going to get traded or designated for assignment or non-tendered within the next year or so. The Brewers have stocked up on replacements for him already -- with Orlando Arcia getting to Double A in 2015 and adding former Astro Jonathan Villar in trade for minor leaguer Cy Sneed -- so it's just a matter of time. At that point -- if not sooner -- I'll relegate Segura back to the Brewer boxes, I'm guessing.  Maybe. 

And, when I do, perhaps I'll replace him with Demi Orimoloye. I mean, after all, who wouldn't want a PC of the first African-born major leaguer (assuming that he makes the long trip to the majors)? Especially one trained to play baseball in Canada....

Next up -- a game used "ball" card. I'm surprised that Topps hasn't revived this type of relic card, considering how cheaply one can purchase game used balls.

Okay, last three cards, none of which are related to one another. First, let's look at some player collection inserts I needed:



The Braun Starquest is a "Starquest Rare." I haven't looked much at this, but I don't have a clue as to how much rarer a Starquest Rare" was over a "Starquest Common."

The Molitor Kimball Champions mini card is pretty cool. I do wonder how much further the "using old card designs" thing can go, though. I'd like to see revived use of oddball designs, for what it's worth. Use some of those cool "Topps Cereal Series" card designs from 1984 instead of yet another cigarette company card. Just my $0.02.

And finally, it's shiny happy Overbay:

From 2004, it's Lyle Overbay on a Leaf Certified Materials Red Mirror bat relic card. 2004 and 2005 pretty much destroyed any joy that parallels, inserts, and relic cards might otherwise have brought. Anyone who has tried to put together their own "comprehensive" checklists for their favorite team or player hates 2004 and 2005 for the ridiculous numbers of parallels, insert parallels, and base sets. Donruss/Leaf -- then owned by Playoff -- likely was largely responsible for massive glut of cards that led to the limitations on licenses in 2006. That, and financial viability for the card companies, of course.  

Still, all that just doesn't matter. What matters is that these cards and the unquestioned kindness Kevin displays to all of us in the Blogger world.  Thanks, Kevin!

He's Alive! He's Alive! a/k/a GCRL Sends Me Cards

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I had a lot to be thankful for. My family made a safe drive to my house from Wisconsin and back. My wife let me work in my card room/office for much of the time I was away from work. We even had a fun excursion to the local international market that was featured a couple of years ago in an Anthony Bourdain trip to Atlanta.

Even better, I had a couple of packed envelopes show up in my mailbox. One of them was from now-retired(?) blogger Jim from Garvey Cey Russell Lopes.  Jim's blog used to be one of the blogs I read regularly in the morning each day. I hardly ever commented -- not sure why, to be fair...I could have just said, "Interesting post" or "I didn't know that" about literally every post. 

At any rate, Jim e-mailed me about two weeks ago and told me he had some cards for me. I have put together a return envelope already, though it hasn't made its way to the post office quite yet.  

What did Jim send me?

Lots and lots of Jeromy. 

That's a ton of Burnitz right there.  This big batch of Burnitz brings my burgeoning bundle of Burnitz baseball billets to 131. 

I do enjoy alliteration.

Anyway, being at 131 cards for Burnitz is especially excellent considering that, when I started two years ago back in collecting, I think I had 1. Or 2. But I think it was 1.  And it definitely was not more than two.

Jim also sent some other cards for a few other collections:

I haven't the foggiest idea who those guys are. In fact, I haven't even listened to The Ryan Song.

Maybe I should to honor my first Ryan Braun update card. I've made a lot of additions to the Braun collection this year and not just from 2015 cards.  Yes, there are 55 cards from 2015 that I have of Braun, but total I am now at 517 -- second only to Yount in terms of number of cards/items.

Jim also sent me a lot of cards I needed for my team collection.  

Hey! Wait 'til you're announced! (song reference...)

Man, there is a ton of good stuff in there -- especially the JJ Hardy Relic, the Brad Nelson 2009 Finest Blue Refractor, and the two Leaf Authentic Signature cards. I never realized Mike Fetters had such good penmanship.

Okay, a couple more cards for the player collections:

Jeff Cirillo

This embossed thing on the SPx card was wholly unnecessary, but it is still kinda cool. I will note one thing -- it appears like the late 1990s (when everyone was going out of business) was the end of the time where the card companies sent photographers to get photos individual to the card companies. We start seeing the stock "in action" photos for everyone. If the photo isn't an action shot, it's a posed photo taken one day during spring training. 

Call me old school, but I kind of miss the batting cage shots that predominated in the 1970s and 1980s.

Geoff Jenkins

This card is a platinum parallel serial numbered to just 201!

And finally...the highlight of the package for the oddball Brewer collector that I am...

If you have a box full of letters, you'll probably have some stamps in there too. I doubt you'll have this one though:

That may be the sweetest 30c stamp in my collection. Also the only one, but it's pretty damn cool!

Jim, thank you very much for the great cards. Hopefully you'll need some of the cards I'm sending your way soon.