Cardboard Jones Sends Out Dairy Cards and Autographs

One of the first guys I ever interacted with and traded with is Steve a/k/a Cardboard Jones f/k/a The Chop Keeper. I especially appreciate his interaction on Twitter, where he frequently feels like a voice of reason amidst a sea of greedy giveaway hawks, overzealous sales pitches, and strange bracket competitions.

It's been a couple of months since he sent me the four cards I'm going to blog about today. So in penance for that failure to post these cards with any kind of haste at all, I'm posting music of Steve's liking to go with the cards. Hopefully Steve still likes Taylor Swift.

via GIPHY

That's a joke, y'all. A joke.

At least I think so.

Anyway, here come the cards and the music courtesy of my pal from Idaho.

The first three cards are all from the 1960 Lake to Lake Milwaukee Braves set. I will note first that I do not believe that that is Johnny Logan's autograph on this card, as I have an exemplar that it does not match at all.

That out of the way, let's talk first about Lake to Lake Dairy. According to this article from a few days ago in the Wisconsin State Farmer newspaper, Lake to Lake was a dairy cooperative formed in 1946. The cooperative was formed because the dairy farmers wanted to be able to negotiate dairy prices more collectively and get better returns for their milk products. The cooperative formed in the  Manitowoc County area and included the surrounding counties such as Kewaunee and Calumet -- the same area that produced the "Making a Murder" series on Netflix. Lake to Lake Dairy was bought out by Land O'Lakes, Inc. in 1981.

The first band that I'll highlight is Black Country Communion. Members of this supergroup include Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian. Hughes was the vocalist for a few iterations of Deep Purple and, for a short time in the mid-1980s, for Black Sabbath. Bonamassa, of course, is a legend in blues rock and was a child prodigy who opened about 20 shows for B.B. King at the age of 22. Bonham may be the best known of the group thanks to his famous father John Bonham being Led Zeppelin's drummer and thanks to Jason playing the drums for Zeppelin fairly regularly. Finally, Sherinian is a keyboardist who played in Dream Theater and has toured and recorded with Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Yngwie Malmsteen, among many many others. 

For whatever reason, this is the first time I've heard this band and this song, "Collide." It reminded me a little of Soundgarden/Chris Cornell. That's what came to mind without watching the video. Call me crazy.

You may have noticed that these cards are in pretty rough shape -- missing big parts and all. That should come as no surprise, as these Lake to Lake cards were originally stapled to milk cartons distributed by the dairy around Wisconsin. As the Standard Catalog notes, these cards were also redeemable for prizes ranging from pen and pencil sets to Braves tickets. When redeemed, the cards were punched with hole punches.

It is an understatement to say, as the Standard Catalog does, that these cards "offer a special challenge for the condition-conscious collector." Also, as a further aside, the Ray Boone and Bill Bruton cards are very difficult to find -- Boone's because he was traded and the card was withdrawn, and Bruton's for no discernible reason (other than, perhaps, his card was a grand-prize type giveaway).

Steve is a pretty big fan of the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I have no idea if this song was in the "Tiny Desk Concert" that I posted in February last year (as recommended by Mark Hoyle, who also recommended Joe Bonamassa). Susan Tedeschi is a Bostonian by birth who attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. Her husband Derek Trucks is 9 years younger than her and is a Jacksonville, Florida, native who got his start at the age of about 9 playing with the Gregg Allman Band. Good stuff here.

The last of the three Lake to Lake Dairy cards was Del Crandall. If you can find any of these in Near Mint condition, you'll pay a pretty penny. Even in 2011, the price for a NM Red Schoendienst was estimated at $75 and a Hank Aaron NM was estimated to cost $500. 

If you're interested in getting me an early Christmas gift, a complete set of the 28 cards is available on eBay for $1,499.99, plus $2.99 shipping. You know, that kind of pisses me off that someone would charge $3 shipping for a $1500 set. You mean you can't spring for it? You mean you're just going to toss them into a bubble mailer and ship them that way? Come on.

This next song is actually one I remember well from the 1980s, though I could have never told you that the band that sang the song was called Saga. I also could have never told you that Saga was from Oakville, Ontario, Canada (though I'm quite positive that Canadians would probably hang me, draw me, and quarter me for that admission). 

For what it's worth, you will never be able to see Saga live again, if they are to be believed. They performed a farewell tour in 2017 and 2018 and held their last show in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre on February 24. It was a good run, I suppose.

Finally, the last card was not a 1960 Lake to Lake but, instead, a 1989 Swell Baseball Greats Del Crandall card autographed by the man himself. Do these "Swell Baseball Greats" cards qualify as being 1980s oddballs? I think they probably do, so I will have to add this set to the queue to be written up. As I've mentioned on Twitter, I take requests, after all.

So, I cheated a bit here. Steve was singing the praises of a Michael Schenker Group album awhile back, but I was sort of jonesing for this old McAuley Schenker Group song from 1987 called "Gimme Your Love." It's great to see how often rock bands in the 1980s tried to help down-and-out club dancers by giving them roles in rock videos.

This song and band were much better than many of their contemporaries who got more famous, such as Slaughter, Winger, and Poison. Those guys couldn't sing or play in the same state at MSG, to be fair. This song still rocks.

As does Steve -- he's one of the best guys out there to trade with or just talk with on Twitter.  Thanks, Steve.

Commish Bob, Meet Zippy Zappy's Music

Sometimes, it's fun to juxtapose two rather disparate concepts or items or people. You know, like putting together something sweet with something salty -- which works nearly all the time. Or, like putting together old with new. That's kind of the concept for today. I'm putting music that (other than one song) is new to me from Zippy Zappy alongside some vintage cards sent to me by everyone's favorite Houston Cougars fan, Commishbob, The Five Tool Collector.

Let's jump right into the music!

Nipsey Hussle a/k/a Ermias Asghedom is a West Coast rapper who first came to prominence about 2008 or so, when he released two mixtapes that got him a collaboration with Drake and, later, with Snoop Dogg and Problem. The big news about Nipsey Hussle here in April of 2017 is that LeBron James shared an unreleased track of Nipsey's on Instagram, and it led to all the music magazines having a collective freakout.

This song is decent and has a catchy hook. Since it's my first time listening to Nipsey Hussle (do I call him Mr. Hussle?), I might just listen to more based on this.

Of course, I hear this rapper's name and the only person who comes to mind is the great Nipsey Russell -- an Atlanta native who passed away in 2005 in New York. Russell was one of the gang of celebrities who made appearing on panel game shows like Hollywood Squares and Match Game into a career.

If you paid close attention to yesterday's post of cards from Shane, you'll note that he also sent me a Denver Lemaster 1963 Topps card. I went from having zero to two in the space of three days. Can't complain about that, though. Lemaster signed with the Braves organization out of high school, and he started his pitching career in beautiful Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

He made his major league debut in 1962 by pitching a complete game in the second game of a doubleheader against Johnny Klippstein, who gave way to noted baseball author Jim Brosnan after 7 innings. Brosnan picked up the win thanks to the fact that the game featured the 16th home runs of both Vada Pinson and Frank Robinson off Lemaster, with Pinson's homer tying the game in the ninth. Lemaster went with the team to Atlanta before being traded after the 1967 season to Houston with Denis Menke in exchange for Chuck Harrison and Sonny Jackson. He spent his final major league season with the Montreal Expos in 1972, and he was released mid-season that year.

Peter Garrett, the lead singer for Midnight Oil, is the reason I had ever heard of the term alopecia. Well, he and former UConn star and Milwaukee Buck Charlie Villanueva.

Of course, "Beds Are Burning" is not a light song. It's about the plight of Australian aboriginal people whose land had been stolen from them. In typical white European style -- as was the norm in the 18th Century -- the British people who settled Australia shunted the aborigines aside, took their land (or at least any land that was worth having) and set into motion literally centuries of mistreatment and disenfranchisement.

When I visited Australia in 2009, I visited an aboriginal cultural center called Muru Mittigar. The speaker for the presentation was excellent, even if he couldn't teach me how to throw a boomerang properly -- too much baseball in my background.

Anyway, enough about me and Australia.

Bob Shaw from 1962 Topps is next. Shaw was a bit of a journeyman. He started with Detroit, then was traded to the White Sox with Ray Boone for, among others, Tito Francona in 1958. Then, in 1961, the White Sox sent him and future Brave Wes Covington (along with two others) to the Kansas City Athletics for, among others, Don Larsen. Shaw ended up in Milwaukee for the 1962 season thanks to being traded after the 1961 season with Lou Klimchock to Milwaukee for Joe Azcue, Ed Charles, and Manny Jimenez. After spending two years in Milwaukee, the Braves flipped him to the San Francisco Giants with Del Crandall and Bob Hendley in exchange for Felipe Alou, Ed Bailey, Billy Hoeft, and Ernie Bowman in December of 1963.

Don't get unpacked yet, Mr. Shaw.

In June of 1966, the New York Mets bought his contract, and he stayed there a year before the Mets sold him to the Cubs organization. In all, Shaw spent 11 seasons in the major leagues but spent no more than four years in any one city -- including his 86 games as a Milwaukee Brave (22-20, 2.74 ERA in 384 innings and an ERA+ of 130...not bad).

Belgian singer Stromae's song "Tous Les Mêmes" is next up. I don't speak French, so I had to rely on Wikipedia and Google Translate to find out that this song's title means "All the Same." The video is supposed to convey how annoyed he is with the attitude of men towards women and how they treat women.

It probably says a lot about me that my first thought on seeing Stromae and his odd haircut was, "he kind of looks like Paul Pogba." That's probably influenced by the fact that the Commish and I both support Manchester United.

And, to be fair, they really don't look all that much alike other than the affinity for really screwed-up haircuts.

No really screwed-up haircuts in the Braves cards that Bob sent, so let's go with Tony Cloninger. If you know anything about Tony Cloninger or have heard the name at all, you know that he was the first National League player -- not pitcher, player --  to hit two grand slams in the same game. The Braves won that game against the Giants by the score of 17-3, and Cloninger went 3-for-5 with nine RBI. Of course, Cloninger did it in 1966 as a member of the Atlanta Braves, so for my purposes it really doesn't count.

Nothing like a good Bollywood dance scene featuring guys dressed in harem pants á la MC Hammer. Then I hear the name of the song is "Sing Raja" and all that comes to my head is former Boston Celtic Dino Radja. Don't ask me why. I don't know.

The song itself isn't bad, but it suffers from the whole not knowing the language thing for me. I like my lyrics -- what can I say?

Red Schoendienst from 1959 Topps is next. I'll note that it's a good day when you get a Hall of Famer's card in the mail for free. Schoendienst is still alive -- aged 94 years old. He went to the Cardinals spring training camp last year, and he made it to St. Louis this year for Opening Day.

Arukara is Japanese. Kenny says their songs are "very weird" and he "can't keep with the plot of their songs at all."

That makes two of us.

This song reminds me, though, of the types of songs that would find their way onto the soundtrack for EA Sports's FIFA games ten years ago or so, when I had time to play video games. It's got a good guitar riff going for it. I was concerned initially that it might turn into Nickelback Japan, but that thankfully didn't happen.

Perhaps appropriately, Arukara's song "Chao Han Music" is the new ending theme for Dragon Ball Super anime. Anime is something else I never got into either.

Chuck Tanner is much more known as a manager than he is as a baseball player -- which is what happens when your playing career includes just 396 games played over 8 seasons. He does hold the distinction of having hit a homerun off the very first pitch he ever saw as a major leaguer -- off Gerry Staley as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth inning on April 12, 1955. His homer spurred a comeback from 2 runs down to turn the game into a 4-3 win for the Braves and Warren Spahn.

Skambankt sounds a bit like old school Dio, but only if Dio sang only in Norwegian. 

Norwegians really like metal. Like, at an inordinate level of love. In fact, in trying to find an article to summarize that love, I found this article which talks about how Norway actually spawned incredibly violent, rightwing metalheads who literally killed other people and end up in Norwegian jails that the article says that is like "getting comped at a Comfort Inn." That article is worth reading for the sheer weirdness of it all.

To close, let's go to something far more upbeat than Norwegian death metal. Lou [sic] Burdette's 1960 Topps Card! Burdette being a PC for me is based almost entirely on his winning 3 of the 4 games the Braves needed to win the one, and only, World Series title in Milwaukee's history. The fact that Burdette was a big time jokester does not hurt either. 

My thanks go out to Kenny for providing the soundtrack and definitely out to Bob for the fantastic cards. Thanks guys!

Card Chopping Broccoli

Nearly all of my memories of Saturday Night Live sketches come from the period between 1985 and 1990. Once I was old enough to stay up on a Saturday to watch SNL -- or at least old enough to tape the show on our fancy Curtis Mathes VCR...

...which looked a lot like that, as best I can recall -- I watched the show until I graduated high school or at least until it still was funny to me. As a result, I tend to remember guys like Phil Hartman, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, and Dana Carvey and women like Nora Dunn and Victoria Jackson as "SNL." 

In that way, I feel like SNL is kind of like baseball in some respects. We remember our first exposure to the game -- the first superstars that we cheered for, or the our favorite team's best season -- as being better than that which followed. I haven't watched SNL pretty much at all since about 1996 or so, when sometimes after a night out in law school when I lived in walking distance of downtown Athens, I'd come home to SNL on TV (when I came home early).

My mind works in ways sometimes that are weird, in that it will attach a certain song/TV show/movie line to a certain word. I hear the word "smile" and Pearl Jam's "Smile" starts going in my head. I hear the word "profits" and Franz Ferdinand's song "The Dark of the Matinee" (specifically, the line "Who gives a damn about the profits at Tesco?") gets in my head. And, when I hear the word "chop," Dana Carvey gets in my head:



So, yeah, it's funny how memory works. That seemed a lot funnier back in the 1980s. Or, maybe, it wasn't but it was catchy enough to stick anyway.

All that is a long, long, long way of explaining that Steve, the Chop Keeper at The Card Chop sent me a great envelope of cards. Steve is always good for a few great Brewers cards, and I'm always sure to get some awesome Milwaukee Braves from him also. This package was no different.

There were a couple of Brewers that I needed:



I mentioned in my post about the case break I was in that I did not get any Gold parallels and only a couple of other parallels, so Steve was kind enough to send me a Gold Matt Garza parallel. If only the Brewers could find a place to send Matt Garza, but I don't think anyone wants to take on his salary for the next two years based off how done he looked last year. It's tough to pitch when you have to fight off your infielders trying to stick forks in you.

The other card is an MLB Debut retail insert of Nelson Cruz. Cruz was originally a Mets signee as an 18-year-old out of the Dominican Republic in 1998. The Mets sent him to Oakland for Jorge Velandia (I haven't heard of him either). He spent four years in Oakland's system and showed real hitting ability in 2004 in Modesto (at age 23 in high-A, about right for the league) and at Midland in the Texas league.

The Brewers stole him from Oakland with pitcher Justin Lehr in exchange for Keith Ginter. He went to Huntsville and hit at age 24 in 2005 (.306/.388/.577) in Double A for half the season, and then hit .269/.382/.490 in Triple-A before getting a 7-plate-appearance cup of coffee in 2005. 

He hit again in 2006 in Nashville -- .302/.378/.528 -- before the Brewers thought, "wow, this guy might really be a hitter...let's trade him with Carlos Lee for Kevin Mench, Laynce Nix, Francisco Cordero, and a minor leaguer." In 2008, he was designated for assignment by the Rangers, cleared waivers at the end of spring training, and went to Triple-A and mashed. In 2009, the lights went on for Cruz. He was an all-star and, in the seven seasons since then, he has hit 219 HRs and slashed at a .277/.338/.522 pace. 

So, who knows -- maybe he doesn't become the player he's become if he's in Milwaukee. Cruz is certainly a natural DH, and the Brewers didn't exactly have a plethora of positions at which to hide him in that 2006-2012 timeframe with Fielder anchoring first, Braun in left, and Hart in right.

Okay, time for more chopping!




After that relaxing musical interlude, it's time to show some Milwaukee Braves!


I appreciate these Upper Deck cards more than I originally did. I did not realize that they were inspired by the T-202 Hassan Triple Folder cards until I saw a Dover reprint of one or two of the originals. Probably because my collecting never has focused on what I view as sort of prehistoric cards -- history began when Bowman did in 1948 to me...what can I say? -- these 1993 take-offs didn't make sense.  Now they do, and I like them a ton more.

And finally:



I tend to be pretty agnostic about the manu-relics. They would be about 8000 times cooler if they were real patches from real uniforms, but I recognize that those might be difficult both to find and to authenticate at this point. Plus, if they could be found in reasonably large numbers, I'm sure that Topps, Donruss, Upper Deck, and Fleer would have used literally all of them up in the 2001 to 2005 timeframe.

Still, that Red Schoendienst patch is pretty awesome. Growing up, I used to think that Red played a lot more for Milwaukee than he did (only 4 years and 1140 plate appearances) or that he was a Milwaukee native of some sort (nope -- he grew up about 40 miles from St. Louis in Germantown, Illinois). My grandpa loved Red Schoendienst. It was probably because Red had one of his best seasons in the major leagues in 1957 (a year split between the Giants and Braves), tallying 200 hits and hitting .309/.344/.451 overall (.310/.348/.434 for Milwaukee). No matter -- whenever I see one of his cards, I think of my grandpa.

The other three cards fit quite nicely into my Spahn and Mathews player collections. I'm up to 115 in the Spahn collection and a fantastic 172 in the Mathews collection.

Let's chop something up one more time:



Holy crap. I'm tired just listening to that dude rapping!

Steve, thank you once again for an excellent cards from The Card Chop!