One Singular Sensation: A Card from Swing & A Pop-Up

While I have a post to write up about a filled bubble mailer, I don't have a filled bubble-mailer post in me right now. I've had serious issues with my attention span today for some reason. Usually that results from either too much sugar, not enough coffee/caffeine, or a general lack of interest and enthusiasm for whatever it is I'm working on that day. 

Today, I'll blame it on all three. I've been very good about avoiding sugary snacks overall as part of my diet, but I cheated a little bit today. I have a serious weakness for peanut brittle -- I know, random -- and -- even more randomly -- a vendor trying to get our copying business or something sent one of our paralegals a big bag of it. It was so incredibly tasty, but horrible for my diet. Add in getting only two cups of coffee -- in an effort to avoid the peanut brittle, of course -- and having to try to write a mediation statement, and my ability to move the ball forward at my office was next to nil. 

That lack of an attention span carried over to coming home too. So, I'm choosing to write up a single-card package that I received from Bert over at Swing And a Pop-Up. 

Yeah, it's a weird day. No attention span and the only inspiration I have for a post is a song from a musical I saw a friend's high school put on in the late 1980s.

Anyway, Bert was kind enough to send me a card that, as he put it, "belongs in your collection way more than it does mine." Being a generally appreciative sort, I will not disagree with a man or a woman who wishes to send me baseball cards of Brewers players.

Especially when it's a great card:

This manu-relic is from 2009 Topps, and it commemorates the fact that Robin appeared in the 1983 All-Star game that took place at the old Comiskey Park. If you're in your mid-40s, this was a very memorable game. 

It featured the first -- and still only -- grand slam in All-Star Game history. 

Yount at first, Carew at Second, Trillo at third -- and Fred Lynn steps up and hits Atlee Hammaker's pitch into the right field seats, as called by the two voices that all important 1980s games should have had calling the game, Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola. 

Just as importantly, when the teams took the field on July 6, 1983, the American League had not won an All-Star Game since before I was born. I was born in December of 1971, and the AL had last won an All-Star Game on July 13, 1971. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, you didn't need some silly "winner gets home field" crap to get the teams to play hard. Of course, the players also hadn't seen the guys from the other league already in regular games, so that made it much more special than it is now.

But, I digress. Harvey Kuenn was the winning manager for the American League in that All-Star game. It remains to this day the only All-Star Game that a Brewers manager has managed, so the team's managers are 1-0. #ToppsNow

Getting back to the grand slam, the fact was that Hammaker was absolutely annihilated in that game -- 2/3 of an inning, 7 earned runs, 2 HRs allowed (the other to Jim Rice). Of course, Hammaker faced 5 Future Hall of Famers (Rice, Brett, Winfield, Carew, and Yount) and a sixth player (Ted Simmons) that should be. 

Hammaker had an excellent 1983, as he led the NL in ERA+, ERA, FIP, WHIP, and BB9 (just 1.7 walks per 9 innings in 1983, just 1.4 in 1982). Hammaker was never again quite as good as he was in 1982 and 1983, though, as injuries -- specifically shoulder tendinitis -- in 1983 limited him to just 23 starts. Then, in 1984, he had rotator cuff surgery and bone spurs in his elbow. In 1986, he missed the whole year thanks to shoulder issues, surgery on both knees, and a viral infection. Later, he missed 1992 and 1993 with Tommy John surgery before coming back and pitching for the White Sox.

Two of his 5 daughters, Anna and Alesa, followed in their dad's footsteps in being athletes. In addition to his baseball career, Atlee played college basketball at East Tennessee State for two years. His middle daughter Alesa played basketball at Berry College here in Georgia, and youngest daughter Anna is now playing guard for the Kansas State Wildcats.

These days, though, Hammaker is now known almost as much for the fact his son-in-law is the reason that Jonathan Lucroy is playing for the Texas Rangers rather than the Cleveland Indians. That's right -- Hammaker's second oldest daughter Jenna married her fellow Tennessee Volunteer, Catcher Yan Gomes, in 2012 despite Atlee's plea to his daughter not to date a baseball player. 

Gomes had a terrible 2016 -- "hitting" .165/.198/.313 before hitting the disabled list on July 17. But, Gomes is 28 years old and is signed to a fairly team friendly contract through at least 2019 (with two team options in 2020 for $9 million and 2021 for $11 million, both with $1 million buyouts). And Gomes is nearly ready to return to the lineup -- which will force the Indians to decide if he will move to first base or stay as a catcher.

All of this from the 1983 All-Star Game. Who would have thought it?

A Pop-up Home Run & Another eBay Win

I've got two shorter posts combined today. But, as we all know if we lived through the 1980s, it takes two to make a thing go right.

You sure you wanna hear this man? You sure?

Bert from Swing and a Popup sent me a single card PWE a couple of weeks ago with a note saying only, "This definitely belongs in your collection."

He was right. This card does:

That is a 2005 Donruss Zenith "Z-Jersey" card, complete with the sparkling rays background. This is an incredible card, and many thanks go out to Bert for being so kind to send it my way! 

As the title of this post says, this card is definitely a home run.

2005 is a year that would have driven me nuts as a collector -- it was the height of Donruss's over-the-top parallelization of its sets. According to Beckett, Donruss baseball sets had 2077 total "main" set cards and 12,567 parallels to go along with 3,469 insert cards and 5,544 parallels of inserts.

Of course, that seems like a lot. Then, I check out what Topps did in baseball in 2014: 6,773 main set cards and 52,387 parallels. Add in 11,535 inserts and 19,479 parallel inserts -- and remember, we are talking about individual cards here, not total press runs -- and you see why people complain about Topps and its money grabs.

Okay, I complain about Topps and its money grabs. Just so you know, of those cards, there were a total of 706 Miguel Cabreras, 684 Paul Goldschmidts, 624 Mike Trouts, 582 Freddie Freemans, and 544 Clayton Kershaws.  Those were your top 5 players in terms of number of individual cards in the Beckett database for 2014. 

Talk about overproduction era...Let's move on, before I start overanalyzing those numbers.

I dunno. That Crapital One card ad at the beginning of that video was kind of funny. Tim Fite was profiled in Billboard for his album called iBeenHACKED. It's kind of a neat concept album.

So, talking about being hacked and all that, how about an interesting reprint set that I picked up on eBay?

Larry Fritsch Cards out of Stevens Point, Wisconsin -- from whom I bought this -- claims that this set was originally "[i]ssued in 1970 as a statewide milk promotion in Wisconsin."

I disagree with this, because Bob Lemke and the "Big Book" disagree. As Mr. Lemke puts it: "While purporting to be a dairy issue, this is actually a collectors' set produced by Illinois hobbyist Bob Solon." Lemke's paragraph closes by saying, "Ironically, this set was later reissued in a marked reprint."

I have the reprint, obviously, as the back of the card above shows. I bought the reprint because I have yet to see an original set from 1970 for sale anywhere. The Lemke book from 2011 puts the estimated near-mint price on an original set at $25. I'd probably pay that tomorrow if I saw it.

But, it was never a statewide milk promotion in Wisconsin. Wouldn't that be sort of like a statewide ice promotion in Alaska? Or a statewide peach promotion in Georgia? Or a statewide "drive like an idiot" promotion in Massachusetts?

Some things don't need promotion. 

Fritsch did throw in a nice promo card for another of their sets. Does anyone collect the Kansas City Monarchs?

Or Jackie Robinson? The back carries an offer that if you return the card to Larry Fritsch Cards, the company will give you $2 off the complete 119-card set of Negro League Baseball Stars. That set normally runs $19.95 -- marked down now to $14.95 so buy now! -- so maybe the $2 pays part of the shipping cost?

It's tempting.

Monster Packages, Round #1: Swing & A Pop-Up

I've been back into collecting for about 8 months now, and I've been blogging about it for a little over 6 months. At first, I was reticent to trade, in part because I had the normal hesitations about whether trades were "fair," whether I had any cards anyone would want, and whether I could trust people I had never met and who did not know me.

Once I got past those concerns, I started taking a far more laissez-faire approach to trading. All I care about now is getting cards I needed for my Brewers team and player collections. In many respects, though, I really have not been "trading" with people lately. Really, it's been people sending me cards without me having sent anything to them and vice versa.

Today's post -- and the next several -- are packages from fellow bloggers. For a couple of them, I'm 100% sure that I have not sent anything to them. For others, I don't know if the package I received was in return for something I sent or not.

I guess another improvement I need is better record keeping.

At any rate, while watching a very disappointing start to the Premier League season for Manchester United, I thought I had better start getting some posts put up to catch up on all these large packages I've received lately.

This first one came from Bert from Swing & Pop Up Boston.  The package was accompanied by a note saying that Bert had gone through my want lists (and, yes, there's another thing I need to keep plowing through...I mean, I'm only about 27 years away from getting to the present date at this point) and found a number of cards from the late 1970s and early 1980s that I needed and he had.

So, here's what Bert sent:

Mike Caldwell

Don Money

Cecil Cooper

Gorman Thomas

Jim Gantner

Jim Slaton

Charlie Moore

Ted Simmons

Moose Haas

Bob McClure

Ben Oglivie

Robin Yount

Gary Carter

Non-player-collection Brewers

As I broke down the cards into the various player collections I have, I came to the realization that I collect a bunch of players.  I mean, nearly half of the members of the 1982 Brewers are "player collections" -- and I don't even include the two Cy Young Award winners and one MVP in Pete Vuckovich and Rollie Fingers as player collections.  

But, those guys -- Thomas, Cooper, Oglivie, Simmons, Yount, Molitor -- were my favorite players. Okay, maybe Jerry Augustine wasn't a favorite player but he made some many appearances and spent so many years with his hometown team that I really felt like I wanted to "honor" that.

Thanks again to Bert for the great package of early 1980s cards. It surprised me how many cards from the 1980s I actually need -- and this package put a nice dent in that hole.

Post #100, Part III: To the Victors Go the Spoils

Everyone has let me know what they wanted out of the Treasure Chest.  So, to milk one more post out of this contest, let me entertain you with announcing what each person has selected. With the NFL draft coming up, I decided to liven this post up by using videos of draft picks where possible.

With the first selection in the Off Hiatus giveaway draft, the Boston Celtics select:

The Celtics selected Lucas Nogueira and his Coco-Crispy afro last year in the first round of the NBA draft, and promptly traded Nogueira away to the Atlanta Hawks.  In the Treasure Chest draft, the New England-based Swing and a Popup selected:

Here's hoping that this 2014 Topps Museum Collection Signature Swatches of Felix Doubront fares better in the Northeast than Nogueira did.

With the Second Selection in the Off Hiatus giveaway draft, the Los Angeles Lakers select:

The Lakers have not picked a player in the first round since 2009, and they traded that guy away immediately after the draft for a second round pick the next season.  So, we're stuck with a second round pick from Duke, Ryan Kelly, for this selection...because I am not going near the Clippers situation right now. Or ever, for that matter.

The real upside here is that Oscar from All Trade Bait, All the Time selected a real gem of a card:

This 1978 Topps Andre Dawson card will be making its way out to California.

With the Third Selection in the Off Hiatus Giveaway, the St. Louis Rams select Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia:

While the Rams have nothing to do with the Big Apple, Keith is a big West Virginia football fan, so he gets Tavon Austin as his introduction.  And, hopefully he likes the card he selected as much as he likes Austin:

Apologies for the crappy scan, as I am in my office at work and not next to my cards to scan in the actual card Keith will be getting.

With the Fourth Selection, the Los Angeles Kings select:

What is it with Los Angeles teams getting rid of their first round picks?  I guess it's that they have to win now, so they mortgage the future for the present.  Anyway, the LA Kings did not have a first round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft last year, so they selected LW Valentin Zykov, an 18-year-old Russian who is currently playing in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

I guess it's appropriate that the person who is probably the youngest one to win something would be feted with a guy who had just turned 18 when he was drafted, so tell us, Alex from Chavez Ravining, who are you selecting?

In the end, this pick was probably easier for Alex than it was for the Kings.

With the Fifth Pick in the Off Hiatus Giveaway Draft, the New England Patriots select:

Another team that usually does not have first-round picks is the New England Patriots, but this fact is usually because they have traded down 7 times to get half the fourth round selections and two first round picks in 2021.  

New reader Mark Hoyle got his second pick as well, since he wanted that Felix Doubront relic.  So, instead, he gets:

The Xander Bogaerts 2014 Topps Turkey Red. Again, apologies for the scan, but it's what I could find online right now.

With the sixth and final selection of the Off Hiatus Giveaway Draft, Baseball Card Breakdown selects:

Gavin gets the strangest video of all -- William Perry singing something -- because he has a Perry ProSet card on his Desperate Dozen list.  

As was the case with the previous pick, Gavin did not get his first pick-- the Bogaerts Turkey Red -- but he does get his second selection:

The Paul Goldschmidt Topps Heritage logo variation short-print.  

Thanks to all of you who participated.  I'm updating the Trade Bait list now to show those cards that have been claimed, but please contact me about a trade.  I am much more interested in trying to get cards I need than in getting "fair value," so let me know if you see something in the Trade Bait that tickles your fancy.