#SuperTraders Box Break: So, What Did We Get???

I listed out the boxes that I bought to break up for the #SuperTraders group on Thursday. I titled the post "What are you THINKING Tony?" because I'm always complaining about how I hate the logoless Panini -- and then I go and get three Panini products to circulate around. 

Being an impatient sort, I literally ripped through all the unopened packs on Thursday night. Last night, I scanned the better cards and sorted most everything out. Today, I finished sorting and packaged up everything to go out in the mail. With it being 26 packages, I am leaving it to my wife's discretion as to whether all of them go out at once or whether they go out over a few weeks. 

After all, as anyone in a relationship knows, the best way to have a happy life is to make sure that your significant other is happy. Well, that, and making sure that you still indulge in those guilty pleasures like chocolate, baseball cards, and a good bottle of your favorite tipple.

That proves two things: first, that you can find a song for nearly every word imaginable and, second, there are still people paying money to hear Fiona Apple play music. 

Or, maybe that was a free show in Portland. I don't know.

Anyway, here's what the #SuperTraders got in our boxes of cards here at Off Hiatus Central:

1.  2012 Panini Cooperstown Blaster

This one did not have much to offer us. No parallels of any sort, no serial numbers, and barely any inserts. It was like a pack-searched blaster.  To be fair, this is a pretty cool set generally. If Panini didn't put out literally the same set every year with very few changes to the photos, it would be a better set.

Because I felt like I needed to scan something from the blaster, here's a card that helped me:

I mean, I own this card already, so it didn't help me *that* much.  Let's move on.

2. 2014 Donruss Baseball Factory Set

This could have been a much better set. It's been said before elsewhere, but this set is annoying. The first half -- the original release -- was pretty cool. A decent design with pretty good photos and a pretty good idea generally to bring back the Donruss name led to a more successful release than Panini expected, I'd guess. 

As a result, Panini tried to capitalize on that good feeling and released Series 2. Series 2 was a car crash in a flood caused by a tornado destroying a dam by pushing a bridge over onto the dam. Seriously, it's that bad. 

Why? Well, there are two Diamond Kings for each team. That never happened before. There are two sets of Rated Rookies, which may or may not have happened before, but it was unnecessary and not in keeping with the 1980s nostalgia part of the release. 

More to the point, Series 2 featured cards for a multiplicity of players who appeared in Series 1. If Series 1 had been, say, 800 cards, then I could see this being necessary. It was not -- it was like 150 to 200 cards. Why repeat players?  Also, there were a few random retired players thrown in -- such as two or three retired Cincinnati Reds and a couple of retired New York Yankees. But, not every team had a retired player in the set. And, what the hell are retired players doing in the set (unless they were a puzzle insert?)? 

It's just a nonsensical set generally.

There was one relic card in the factory box, just to keep up with modern collector needs:

Congratulations to Sam, the Daily Dimwit, who is the lucky recipient of a Rated Rookie Relic of George Springer serial numbered 14 of 99. It looks like this is a new addition to his Springer relic collection, so that's an awesome hit for him!

3.  2012 Topps Mini

This box promised one autograph or relic mini card. In addition, six packs had inserts and, in addition, there were five Gold parallels serial numbered to 61. Let's start with the inserts:

Yes, it's the return of Golden Moments, but in mini form. Also, my apologies go out to Jaybarkerfan, as you'll have to wait to get your Smoltz mini insert because it got buried under the Diamondbacks and I didn't find it until your envelope was sealed up. Don't worry -- you'll get it, though!

Next up: the gold parallels.

So far, so good. All but the Indians were claimed of these inserts and parallels. It's always cool to get a parallel that is numbered to less than 100 total, so hopefully these are good additions to the various collectors' collections.

Finally, this box featured one of the funkiest looking relics I have seen:

Is that relic made cooler by the writing, or is it that the Rays wrote the date and had an employee sign it -- and then Topps just cut that part up too and put it in the card?  I'd like to think it was Longoria himself writing that, but it's probably my wild-ass guess that is closer to the truth. Still, I do feel like this is a more interesting relic due to the writing.

4. 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee

So, I blew it on this one too -- I didn't cut up the box and insert the cards I was supposed to insert into the various envelopes. Sorry guys. Next package, I promise.

Anyway, I hate myself for my reaction to this box. I really like these cards -- they are attractive cards that are intentionally styled after the 1976 Topps set. My ugly reaction, though, was of disappointment for not getting any autographs or relics in the box. 

I've become a modern collector. Dammit.

What did we get?

Well, I got a Corey Hart black mini:

There were six of the "20th Anniversary" cards:

There were two "New York, New York" inserts that were thicker than the average card:

Looks about right. The Yankees get Jeter, the Mets get...Mike Pelfrey.

And, there were a few other random insert-type things:

So, it wasn't a bad box overall...well, other than the fact that I received only TWO base Milwaukee Brewers cards in the whole box. Maybe that's what's coloring my view.

5.  2015 Panini Contenders

As with all things Panini, I was ready to hate this product. There are some things that are not great about it. It's basically about three main sets thrown together with a bunch of random inserts. Set one is the "Season Ticket" set of current players -- some minor leaguers, some drafted last year, some current major leaguers, and some retired players -- in color photos from their college days.  Let's have John Elway (yeah, really) model this card:

The second set is the "School Colors" set. It's pretty similar to the Season Ticket set with the color photography and all, but it has no backgrounds other than the player's college colors. Here's Brewers' 2nd round draft pick (out for 2016 after TJS) Nathan Kirby from the university whose students refer to their school humbly as "The University":

So, I hate Kirby already for two reasons -- that he's out with a ligament transplant, and because he was the pitcher who closed out Vanderbilt in the 2015 College World Series. If I need a third, it's that his middle name is "Winston." Seriously. The guy should talk like Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island.

Finally, the third set within a set is the "Old School Colors" set. This is where it gets annoying, because I can't explain what the hell this set is about except being "School Colors" with black & white photos.

At least I can add that one to my player collection.

The upside to this box were the six autographs. 

Again, because of the random way that some of these cards are named, a few guys are shown with college logos and four are shown with their major league city. 

Probably the highlight -- at least for Mark Hoyle -- is the fact that the Red Sox's top prospect, Yoan Moncada, was one of our autographs. I wish the autograph were better, but I'm guessing Yoan signed this sticker in the middle of signing several thousand for Panini. Still, this autograph was going on eBay for somewhere around $50, so it doesn't suck!

The best autograph, of course, is the one going to Brett Cooper of Blake Perkins -- you have to appreciate a guy who actually took his time and signed the sticker well.

I hope y'all enjoy the cards you get from this break!

Meet the Brewers #12: George Lauzerique

After John Gelnar failed to get an out in four batters, leaving a runner on first, 3 runs in, and a 6-0 score in the top of the fourth inning, Dave Bristol went back to his bullpen and called on a young righty, George Lauzerique.  

Though Lauzerique was just 22 years old at the beginning of the 1970 season, it was the fourth year in a row that he saw action in the major leagues. It would also be his last season in the majors.

1970 McDonald's Milwaukee Brewers

George Lauzerique was born in Havana, Cuba, on July 22, 1947. I can only guess as to the reason (*cough* Castro *cough*), but Lauzerique attended George Washington High School -- a school famous for producing notable people such as Rod Carew, Harry Belafonte, Alan Greenspan, Henry Kissinger, and Moshe Arens, among others.  In fact, Carew would have been at GWHS at the same time as Lauzerique since Carew was born in 1945.

Lauzerique was selected in the 10th Round of the 1965 Draft by the Kansas City Athletics. His major league career is nothing to speak of, frankly -- 113-1/3 innings, a 5.00 ERA (5.28 FIP), 1.8 HR/9, a 1.52 K/BB ratio. But when the name George Lauzerique is raised to hardcore baseball fans from the 1960s, what comes to mind for them is the incredible farm system that the Athletics had and, in particular, the 1967 Birmingham Athletics team.

As Bill James mentioned in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, A's owner Charlie O. Finley grew up in Birmingham, so he put all of the talented players in the farm system there to put on a show. The team included two future Hall of Fame players in Reggie Jackson and Rollie Fingers, a future Hall of Fame manager in second baseman Tony LaRussa, and other notables such as Joe Rudi, Marcel Lachemann, Dave Duncan, and even, in a 2-game cameo, future A's, Padres, Reds, Angels, Red Sox, Indians, and Angels (for a second go-round) manager John McNamara (who was the manager in Birmingham).

James's book notes that, despite all those luminaries, George Lauzerique was "the star of the show."  The numbers speak for themselves: 13-4 record, 2.30 ERA, 168 innings, 120 hits allowed, 54 walks, 125 strikeouts, and, on July 6, 1967, a seven-inning perfect game against Evansville in which he threw just eighty-five pitches. 

The eighty-five pitches is notable and was mentioned in the news story about the game because the Athletics apparently were ahead of their time in protecting young arms somewhat.  The A's put Lauzerique on a pitch count of 100 to 115 pitches in an effort to force him to be more economical with his pitches and to improve his control.  In his autobiography, Don Zimmer noted that playing against Lauzerique was the first time that Zim had ever seen a pitch count come into play: 

My first experience with pitch counts was when I was managing the Knoxville club in the Southern League in 1967. We were playing Birmingham, a Kansas City A's farm team managed by John McNamara . . . . McNamara's pitcher that day was a Cuban right-handed curveballer named George Lauzerique, who was nineteen years old at the time. Well, the game is going along and we're into the seventh inning and Lauzerique is pitching a no-hitter.  All of a sudden, I look up and Johnny Mac is walking to the mound to take him out! It turned out Lauzerique had reached his quota of 100 pitches, set down by the A's front office, and Johnny Mac had no choice but to follow orders. They put pitch counts on these pitchers to supposedly save their arms.

As Zimmer mentions in his book in concluding his thoughts about Lauzerique and pitch counts, the fact was that the lowered pitch counts did not, in the end, save Lauzerique from injuries. Whether that was because the pitch count limits did not apply long enough through his career to get him through what Nate Silver and Will Carroll called "The Injury Nexus" in 2003, Lauzerique fought shoulder problems during his big-league career.  When the Brewers sent Lauzerique down to Triple-A Portland at the end of May in 1970 to make way for Dave Baldwin, it was the last time Lauzerique would get a big-league per diem.

1994 Miller Milwaukee Brewers Commemorative Set

Lauzerique attempted a comeback in the Houston system in the mid-1970s, but, despite relatively good surface statistics, he never got higher than Double-A. 

Once he gave up on being a pitcher, Lauzerique became a scout. I know this because of a couple of references.  The first came in 1983 when Jim Henneman of the Baltimore Evening Sun asked Lauzerique to provide a baseball scouting report for a football player.  You may recall that, in 1983, the Colts were still in Baltimore and owed the first-overall pick in the NFL draft. They selected Stanford QB John Elway. Elway didn't want to play for the Colts and told the Colts that. This was, according to the Mile High Report, because Colts coach Frank Kush was known to abuse his players badly during practices in college.  Elway used his baseball ability as leverage to get traded to Denver and the rest, as they say, was history.

The other notable reference to Lauzerique as a scout was due to his time as the Cleveland Indians' East Coast Scout. Lauzerique lobbied against the Indians selecting an outfielder out of his own high school alma mater, George Washington High School, due to Lauzerique's concerns about the kid's workrate and the effect that a big draft bonus would have on the boy.  The outfielder in question?  Manny Ramirez.

These days, Lauzerique lives in Palm Beach County. He went through some terrible times in the past ten years, largely due to the death of his son Anthony due to an overdose of narcotics prescribed by a "pain clinic doctor" in Royal Palm Beach named John Christensen. That doctor got charged with two counts of murder, later reduced to manslaughter, based on his activities.  According to a recent South Florida Sun-Sentinel story about another "pill mill" doctor, charges are still pending against Christensen and the trial has not yet been scheduled.

For George Lauzerique's sake, I hope that Christensen is held accountable for his actions.

Lauzerique has a total of 9 cards from his baseball career (though Trading Card Database does not list the 1970 McDonald's set.  Of those, three cards show him with the Brewers. I need that elusive Mike Andersen postcard, but otherwise have the other two cards, shown above.