Congratulations to the Junior Junkie!

I think anyone who knows of T.J. -- the Junior Junkie -- knows that he and his wife recently had a child. 

Brand new #Griffey fan! #walletcard @UpperDeckSports pic.twitter.com/gMzLjjogRM

— The Junior Junkie (@Teejnola) March 23, 2016

To celebrate and in recognition of the fact that time will not be easy to find over the next few months, T.J. sent out a bunch of packages around the blogosphere -- including one to me. Now, I'm a little disappointed that I did not receive one of his badass personal blogger cards on the 1987 Topps design. You know, this one:

For a while in the 1980s, I thought about trying to collect the entire 1987 Topps set in autographed form -- mainly because I like the woodgrain a lot.  I know many disagree, but tough luck -- it's what I liked. 

You know, like this O-Pee-Chee version of Robin Yount that T.J. sent my way.

I have since thought better of that, mainly because there are way too many cards to try to get signed.  So, I would have loved to have gotten one of these. Maybe next time.

Still, it was pretty awesome to get one of those packages from T.J. So, let me help him out a little bit with some ideas for making his child a true Griffey fan.

1.  Nike Air Griffey Max 1 Preschool Shoes from Kids Foot Locker

Sweet looking kicks that keep your child looking stylish and, at the same time, giving props to the first Seattle Mariner in the Hall of Fame.



To go with those badass Nikes, let's go with some Bowman Chrome parallels. We have a Green Axford, a Blue Khrush Davis, and a straight refractor of Johnny Hellweg. None of these guys are with the Brewers any more, as Axford and Davis both are now members of the Oakland Athletics and Hellweg -- who came to Milwaukee as part of the Greinke trade to the Angels -- was released last fall and signed with the Padres.

2. The Requisite Seattle Mariners Onesie

Every baby needs onesies. They are low maintenance, generally, and they are much easier for parents than regular clothes when it comes to changing diapers and getting the little one dressed. Now, I don't have any children, but I was 11 years old when my younger brother was born. So, I have changed my share of diapers and helped little ones get dressed -- and onesies are so much easier than anything else around for the "up to age 2" crowd.





I view these cards as a collecting equivalent of the onesie. They look good in the card sheets, though they don't blow anyone away as being the height of fashion. But a Brewers collector has to have them, just as any parent really has to have the onesie for their kids.

3. Griffey Money?



No, really. A "Junior" dollar that you can buy on Amazon from "Kev's Toys" in Florida for the low price of $11.99 plus $4.49 shipping. I mean, sure, your overall transaction has you paying $16.48 for $1 of value, but you can use the Griffey money to teach kids how to save money. 

"See, son, this is what we call 'a money grab'."



Topps is guilty of engaging in conduct that can charitably be called a money grab. Whether it is endless parallels in every dadgum product that gets put out these days -- like these two Gypsy Queen parallels of Yovani Gallardo from last year -- or their affixing foil stamps to old cards, all of this really does feel like a money grab.

But, yes, I need them and yes, I'll take them and yes, actually, I appreciate these greatly -- especially the silver mini parallel numbered to 199!

4. Moby MLB Edition Wrap Baby Carrier

T.J. will be missing a great opportunity to have his wife represent the Mariners if he doesn't buy this awesome Seattle Mariners teal baby carrier from Bed Bath & Beyond. Only $50!



Every one of these cards is sort of like that baby carrier to me. You won't know you need them till someone points them out to you. Granted, I feel like that baby carrier might be a bit overpriced at $50, so that's why the Prince Fielder Topps Tribute card shows up here -- I have yet to feel like the high-end sets are anything but overpriced hype. 

Sure, some like Tribute, Triple Threads, and Museum Collection -- the ones with base cards included -- tend to be pretty nice cards generally. But, in those products, the base cards always seem like letdowns or afterthoughts to someone trying to buy cards for "value" rather than for "collecting."

5.  Salvino's Baby Bammers Griffey Bear

Another item available from Amazon, but this one is available for just $10.95 with free shipping if you have Amazon Prime! It even comes with an Edgar Martinez bear!

Now, this is something for the real hardcore Mariners fan. It's from 17 years ago, and even then it was really only a knockoff of the real Beanie Babies. I'm not even sure what a Baby Bammer is. I always thought that that term would describe this:

Anyway, the best card to put with this hardcore item for a Mariners fan is to have an item only a hardcore Brewer fan could really appreciate.

An autographed 1974 Topps card of Brewers all-time wins leader, Jim Slaton. As I have mentioned in the past, the Brewers' history with pitchers is not exactly a good one. Slaton has the most wins in franchise history with 117, and he is the only pitcher in club history to throw more than 2000 innings in a Brewers' uniform with 2025-1/3 innings. 

If Slaton had pitched only for Milwaukee, that total would be good enough to put him 427th all-time in innings pitched, 1/3 of an inning behind Johan Santana and Vern Kennedy. Slaton pitched another 658-1/3 innings with other teams, so he's actually 197th all time. That should tell you that the Brewers either don't keep pitchers around generally, or they don't keep the ones they do keep around healthy (see Ted Higuera, for example, or Ben Sheets).

Still, to add a clearly authentic autograph of a guy who is a player collection for me is just awesome.

Thanks, T.J., for the cards and congratulations again on the addition to your family!

Junkie Man, Tell Me What Your Story Is

I've been going with a lot of theme posts lately.  They are more fun for me to write than the usual "thanks for the cards" posts, and I hope they haven't been too over the top. Of course, I'm an obnoxious lawyer from Milwaukee, so "over the top" is part of my DNA.  It is part I've suppressed being in the South for the better part of 25 years between college, law school, and life, but it's still there.

My post title, though can only mean one thing: the Junior Junkie bestowed a bubble mailer on me. 

Well, I suppose it could just mean I'm a big fan of the band Rancid too.  There was a time back in law school where I listened to the album ....And Out Come the Wolves on a very regular basis, so that is part of it too.  With the title being "Junkie Man", how about a link to that song:

I do love me some mid-1990s ska/punk/grunge music. But, I don't think I have a theme post in me today -- sorry TJ -- so a simple review of the great cards that came my way from Louisiana will have to suffice.

STICKERS!

I remember buying some of these packs of Fleer team stickers back in about 1980 or 1981. The gum tasted funny -- almost that fake sweet that sugarless gum had back then -- and it was disappointing then not to see pictures of real baseball players.  It was also disappointing that Fleer stickers believed that the centerfield fence was 480 feet from home plate.  Who wants to see that?

These stickers, though, now make me feel nostalgic for a far simpler time.  

LOGOLESS ELITE EXTRA EDITION MINOR LEAGUERS!

I talked about Lara in a post fairly recently as the kid who might move quickly up in the system because of his talent -- but he is incredibly young.  DeMuth was a 4-year player at Indiana University who was pushed upwards fairly rapidly in the Brewers system. He struggled in the Midwest League last year, but at age 23, he'll need to keep progressing quickly.  Kole was drafted in the 8th round last year out of Villanova.  He got knocked around pretty good in rookie ball last year -- a 7.64 ERA and 48 hits in 35-1/3 innings, which isn't good even if the league ERA was 4.72 -- so, well, good luck JB.  Sneed wasn't much better -- a 5.92 ERA in 38 innings -- so, once again, work on that stuff, Cy.    Stokes spent last summer in the Arizona rookie league and showed good speed and OBP but no power at all.  We'll see about these guys.

SHINY SEGURA!

You can't tell it, but I think this Segura was one of those Foil parallels.  Add it to the PC!

1973 Originals!

As a team collector, I like different cards like this. But, I can't treat this as anything other than an oddball. I don't know what to chase here, because Topps doesn't tell us how many of each card exist, which cards have the "original" stamp, etc.  So, it's stick it with the cereal box cards from the 1980s and add it to the Brewers database, but otherwise, I view these with some disinterest.  If I get them, fantastic -- I love them when I have them.  But, without a set list, I don't know what I'm missing.  

GLOSSY Gallardos!

A Chrome Refractor and a Topps Tribute card for a pitcher whose time in Milwaukee put him 6th all-time in WAR for pitchers, 5th in ERA, 5th in wins, 3rd in Win-Loss Percentage, 7th in fewest hits per nine innings, 1st in strikeouts per nine innings, 7th in innings pitched, 1st in strikeouts, and 6th in games started in his career.  In other words, he's all over the leaderboard.  That's why he's a PC for me, and these both go right into the PC.

THE ONES WHO NEVER MADE IT

I remember Barker.  He came in with all kinds of promise, but his career with Milwaukee consisted of 78 games in 1999 and 2000 with very little power but decent OBP skills.  That didn't cut it for a first baseman.  

Bausher?  His biggest claim to fame was that the Brewers signed him in 2003 out of an Independent league after seeing him pitch in just one game.  Bausher got all the way to Triple-A -- in 2005 with Boston and in 2006 with Boston and then Cincinnati.  Then the trip back down happened.

Then, there was this one:

What in the heck is this? Some weird cross-promotion between Topps and some card graders, I guess?  Belcher got as far as Double-A for Milwaukee and Montreal in 2004 and then 2005 (with Washington, the erstwhile Montreal, of course), but then found himself in the Independent leagues from 2006 on.  He was an OF and C whose bat couldn't carry him past Double-A.  

Too bad, because this strange looking presentation actually is kind of cool and includes his certified autograph!

Thanks, TJ, for these great cards -- especially the Gallardos and the Segura!