Songs Stuck in My Head that Should Come with Bubblegum

The past several weekends, I have found myself doing one of two things. Either I end up watching some show my wife and I have recorded (most recently, Food Network Star and 500 Questions), or I end up sorting through my Brewers oddballs to get them put into a binder for proper storage rather than sitting in stacks on a table. 

My seemingly desired method of sorting and displaying is to put Topps parallels and non-food-issues in different binders from the true oddballs like the 1984 Ralston Purina set, which, though produced by Topps, came in boxes of Cookie Crisp and count as real oddballs. This is as opposed to the weird Topps issues such as the strange "rub-offs" that came out both in 1984 and 1985 with the exact same checklists.

Anyway, that's how I'm doing it. It's taking a while.

Thankfully, there are good folks in the Blog world who help me by breaking the sorting depression that sorting and bindering cards sometimes brings my way -- I get tired of sitting in one spot for too long and my mind wanders. One of those people who helped -- this time by sending a great PWE -- is Jeff over at Wish They Still Came with Bubblegum. 

Jeff and I have a bet going right now as to which team -- either his Atlanta Braves or my Milwaukee Brewers -- will finish with the better record. He took his Braves, amazingly enough.  While this has changed over the weekend, when the Brewers left Atlanta on Thursday of last week, the Brewers had more wins in Turner Field this year at three than the Braves did at the same point of the season -- two.  

The good news, Jeff, is that it's Not Your Fault that the Braves suck. And, may I say, I love that video -- Claymation FTW! That song has been stuck in my head for part of the day today due, I think, to hearing someone talking about "fault" in design on an NPR Ted Talks podcast I was listening to today.

So, Jeff sent me a PWE as a possible down payment on his debt that will come due at the end of the year to go shopping at his local card show for me.  Let's see the highlights:

The envelope started out well with these cigarette-card-sized Rickie Weeks and Robin Yount. Gotta love that Topps 205, except for the fact that it's one of 74 different parallels from that set. 

This song got stuck in my head today thanks to the fact that there were some storms that went through here. Some powerlines ended up coming down -- and my drive home got rerouted thanks to that -- so the song about "what we do when the power's out" came into my brain. 

Also, I'm getting depressed with the realization that the bands in both of these videos are almost certainly young enough to where I could have been their dad without having kids before graduating high school and probably college too.

Screw it. It's still good music to me.

 

Yes, as a matter of fact I am using the easy transition of, "Speaking of kids young enough for me to have been their dad without having kids before graduating from high school/college/almost law school" (Demi Orimoloye was born on January 6, 1997. I was 25 years old at that point but still a year-and-a-half from graduating law school) to bring out the prospect cards again. Two Cody Ponces -- a guy who is injured already, mind you -- means that, eventually, I might have a new PC guy down the road. Once again, I'm waiting until he gets to the majors to make any decisions.

The autograph is of Matt Clark, who played 16 games with the Brewers in 2014 and hit three homers. Clark is a baseball nomad. After being drafted out of LSU by San Diego, he started on a circuitous path in baseball. He got to Triple-A in the Padres system before going to Chunichi in the Japan Central League in 2013. He hit 25 HRs with Chunichi, so the Mets and, then, the Brewers gave him another shot. After spending all of 2015 in Colorado Springs in the Brewers organization, he was released. At the age of 29, he found himself first with Laguna in the Mexican League -- where he played four games -- before signing on May 17 with the Orix Buffaloes in the Japan Pacific League.

twenty one pilots is an interesting group to me. This song sounds like an outtake from a Ben Folds Five recording session. Other songs of theirs -- like "Stressed Out" -- are totally different and sound more like a laid back Jimmy Eat World or some kind of version of the Pixies on crack or something. Every song of theirs that I've heard, though, reminds me of some other band.

But the one thing I will say is that I used to get Ben Folds Five's "Song for the Dumped" stuck in my head all the time too.

Anyway, where was I? Hell I don't know. How about Drakes?

As a kid, I had no idea where to find Drake's. I don't think they ever got to the Midwest. And that upset me. It seemed unfair that I would be denied access to great baseball cards just because I lived in the Midwest.

That was, of course, while I ignored all the awesome police card variations.

Last one. It's a true throwback song to about 20 years ago to go with a throwback card that Jeff sent that is 37 years old.

This song by Eve 6 always got stuck in my head as "the big word song." It was always this song that got the radio play, but I tended to prefer "Open Road Song" over this one many times. Oddly enough, the lead singer of Eve 6 is just slightly older than the cards that Jeff sent. 

That panel from the 1979 Hostess box bottom that included Gary Carter is just beautiful. Why can't we have even an unlicensed set these days that includes just good, solid photos rather than the overly retouched nightmares that Panini puts out? 

Seriously, good photos -- ones where logos are not shown -- can be taken. They can be found. 

Of course, I repeat that refrain so frequently that my complaints are becoming an earworm, stuck in my head like so many catchy songs.

Jeff, many thanks to you for the great PWE. I'll have to hit you up with some cards soon.

Okay, one more earworm. I'm positive this video will get pulled eventually, but this song brings back great memories for me too.

Even this kind of upsets me...Fox is remaking Rocky Horror.

Thanks for reading and listening.

Long Weeks and Bubble Gum

We all have those weeks where, no matter what you do, work and life kicks your butt. This week has been one of those weeks. I certainly didn't mean not to post since Monday's astronaut post, but here we are.

Today, though, I have a little work to do but otherwise it's a card day. My wife has a board retreat for one of the nonprofits she works with, so I get a quiet day to flip channels for various soccer games (currently flipping between Tottenham v. Watford and Eintracht Frankfurt v. Stuttgart and throwing in Atletico Madrid v. Eibar on BeIn Sports Espanol). I am thankful for the respite, definitely.

I am also thankful for a great envelope that showed up on Wednesday at my house. Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum sent a bunch of cool stuff -- some oddballs, some Chrome, some inserts, and a program.  Let's dig in and see what he's sent...and to do so, how about I take random stuff off Jeff's Twitter timeline!

@andrewhirsh let it out pic.twitter.com/zEOvZZHUfB

— Jeff (@jonesbwp) December 13, 2015

Well, don't mind if I do for just a moment. So, Jeff used to be a Georgia Bulldogs fan. Then, he relocates to the State of Florida. Rather than remaining true to his roots and being an upstanding, moral, decent person, instead Jeff became a Florida Gators fan.

It's okay, in the end, I suppose, because that means that Jeff occasionally sends me cards like these two:

Now, other than both going to Georgia and both being Pro Bowl honorees in their respective rookie years, A.J. Green and Todd Gurley also share the distinction of both having been suspended in their final season at Georgia for profiting off their likenesses -- Green by selling his bowl jersey to a nefarious agent-wannabe for $1000 and Gurley selling his autograph to some bastard Florida fan.

By the way, Jeff, where were you during the fall of 2014? You better not have been near Athens...

Build a WALL!? Kidding me? pic.twitter.com/jtexkBkL7g

— Jeff (@jonesbwp) August 7, 2015

What could possibly go with one of the, well, dumbest ideas in the presidential campaigns -- Donald Trump's claim that he would "force" Mexico to build a border wall ([/rant]: please note: I don't like Trump, but that's also true for about everyone in the campaign currently on both sides of the aisle. What I mean is, I don't like the primaries and I'm not a big fan of politics generally...there's too much b.s. and not enough well-thought-out statements of policy based on actual evidence as to what works and what doesn't...[/endrant])

Well, how about these:



I never really understood these buttons, whether when I was a kid or now. I mean, I like them as oddballs, of course, but there is just no good way to display or store these things. Of course, since they show major league baseball players clothed as Milwaukee Brewers, I feel compelled to collect them. 

So, I guess that I am the dumb one in the end.

We're still over .500 AND we get to play Philly this weekend #tweetthepositives #Braves pic.twitter.com/vi2i2R95Pn

— Jeff (@jonesbwp) April 23, 2015

Sure, the Braves ended up trading anything that moved away by midseason and then falling into an abyss deeper than the Marianas Trench.  The worst part of the season for the Braves was a stretch starting August 17 and ending September 6. In that timeframe, the Braves sported a 1-19 record. The lone win was a 5-3 win over Colorado on August 24, which broke a 7-game losing streak and preceded a 12-game losing streak that included a 15-4 loss and a 20-6 loss to the Yankees and a 15-1 loss to the Nationals.

At least the Brewers started out last season badly so there never was much hope to begin with. Both teams are looking toward the future with their transactions now, and Jeff sent some great cards of some of the younger guys.



Former Alabama Crimson Tide pitcher Jimmy Nelson is in the majors already. Coming in to 2015, Tyrone Taylor was the Brewers second-best prospect according to John Sickels at Minor League Ball. Monte Harrison was third, and Gilbert Lara was number 14.  

Thanks to the Carlos Gomez trade, the Gerardo Parra trade, the 2015 draft, and development (either by these guys or by guys in the 2014 draft), those numbers have changed. Lara is now number 6 thanks to his decent showings in two short-season leagues at the age of 18. 

Harrison is now number 9 after a poor Midwest League showing and an injury (though Sickels says Harrison is a high-risk, high-reward guy with an Andrew McCutchen-like physical ceiling...I'd take that). 

Taylor dropped all the way down to 18. Sickels says he is the low guy on Taylor, not seeing him as much more than a fourth outfielder at this point. Taylor slashed at .260/.312/.337 in Double-A as a 21-year-old in 454 at-bats with 10 steals, 31 walks, and 55 strikeouts. He's still young, certainly, but the outfield situation in Milwaukee has gotten much deeper.  

And Sickels's ratings were done on December 2 -- before Adam Lind was traded (for 3 minor leaguers), before Garin Cecchini joined the organization, before Jason Rogers was traded (to add Keon Broxton and Trey Supak), before Rymer Liriano was acquired, and before Tyler Wagner joined Jean Segura in the Arizona trade which brought Isan Diaz to the Brewers.

So, yeah, the organization has changed a lot in that two-month period.

Classic JUp "@MLBGIFs: Wall ball. pic.twitter.com/TCBAncYn1s"

— Jeff (@jonesbwp) April 17, 2015

 A fun Gif of Justin Upton seeing the dead leaves and the dirty ground in Wrigley Field eating up a baseball.  It has literally nothing to do with the highlight of Jeff's envelope to me, but I liked the gif. 

That highlight?

Just a Brewers Program from 1990 featuring Robin Yount alongside fellow Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg and Stan Musial. At the time, I believe that these three were the only three players in baseball history to have won the MVP at two different positions. For Musial and Greenberg, it was first base and outfield. For Yount, it was shortstop and outfield.

It's hard to believe that 1990 was 26 years ago now. But, it is.

Jeff, thank you very much for the great cards and the program -- even the ones I didn't highlight here. And, be careful what you Tweet...I might just use it against you!

A PWE That Should Have Come with Bubblegum

Recently, Jeff from "Wish They Still Came with Bubblegum" peppered the blogging world with PWEs, and I was one of the lucky recipients.  On this Black Friday, how about we recap the cards he sent with music? To be in the spirit of Black Friday, I've got a theme that'll be pretty obvious pretty quickly.

Of course, that's The Beatles "Can't Buy Me Love" off their album, "A Hard Day's Night." That early Beatles stuff is so upbeat and light and airy and poppy. Literally every rock band borrows from The Beatles -- I mean, if you have both Kurt Cobain and Noel Gallagher on the same page, you know that there is something pretty incredible going on.

Speaking of pretty incredible, here's the Stadium Club Members Only Insert commemorating Robin Yount's 3000th hit. The Brewers lost the game in which Yount got his 3000th hit thanks to a Darren Holmes and Doug Henry combined blown save. Henry put two guys on, and Holmes finished it out when he threw away a bunt by Kenny Lofton and allowed two runs to score.  Not so good, Darren.

Here's a catchy country song that's out now that gets stuck in my head every time I hear it. It's called "Buy Me A Boat" and it's by Chris Janson. The refrain goes, "Yeah, and I know what they say, Money can't buy everything. Well, maybe so, but it could buy me a boat." I'm telling you -- if you're prone to getting songs stuck in your head, you might not want to listen to this.

Jeff sent a couple of great oddballs of Robin Yount to go with the Stadium Club card. On the left, that's the 1993 Post cereal card for the 3000th hit, and on the right that's a Baseball Cards Magazine special. 

See, money can't buy everything -- and maybe so, but it could buy me an oddball.

Now here's something you don't see everyday -- T-Pain singing without his autotune. Dude can actually sing...including the first song called "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')."

Mascot cards are okay. I'm not as enamored with them as some people are. I think it goes back to my freshman year of college. I was involved for a year with Vanderbilt's intercollegiate debate team, and we had a tournament at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. My partner and I did okay but we didn't break to the elimination rounds. 

More to the point, nearly all the teams in the tournament were staying in the same hotel. On the Saturday night after the final regulation rounds, SIU's debate team bought some kegs and hired a DJ to come to the hotel. It was a great party. Oddly, though, SIU's Saluki mascot was at the party. She was actually pretty cute under the oversized head. Still, it is seared in my memory how weird it was to have been flirting with someone with a big dog head and mascot outfit on. 

Twenty years ago, Everclear was pretty big -- especially with their song "Santa Monica." Personally, my favorite Everclear song is "Volvo Driving Soccer Mom" but that song doesn't fit this theme -- "I Will Buy You a New Life" does.

Speaking of new, here are two Update cards that I needed that Jeff sent. I finally got around to updating my Topps need list for 2015, so take a look and check it out. There are a few cards that I am surprised I needed, but hey -- that should make for some good trade fodder.

Let's finish on a weird note. As I do sometimes when I do these musically themed posts, I put the word "buy" into Spotify to remind myself of some songs, find new ones that are popular but which I haven't listened to, and then perhaps find something off the wall.  This is the off the wall.  

The band is called Electric Six, and they are from Detroit. Despite this American origin, the only place they have had any singles hit the charts is the United Kingdom.  The always-reliable Wikipedia says their rock is "infused with elements of 'garage, disco, punk rock, new wave, and metal.'" To me, it sounds like Meat Loaf met Stone Temple Pilots or something similarly horrifying.

By the way, the song is called "I Buy the Drugs."

I'm pretty sure Jeff sent me this. Sometimes, when I get a bunch of envelopes in at once, things get mixed together. I hope that isn't the case here.  This card is the most appropriate for that Electric Six song. O'Leary became a short-lived minor star for the Boston Red Sox in the late 1990s, totaling 117 HR in a little less than 1000 games as a league average hitter (OPS+: 100; .276/.331/.459 slash for Boston).  

The Red Sox got the benefit of those 1000 games because Sal Bando, in his infinite lack of wisdom as a GM, decided instead to keep a 27-year-old Matt Mieske (OPS+ for Milwaukee: 90; .260/.317/.436 slash for Milwaukee) instead of the 25-year-old O'Leary. Those two years of development matter at that age. Mieske was never going to be more than he was already, but O'Leary could develop a bit more power and hit slightly better -- and did in 1999 with 28 HR, 103 RBI, and a .280/.343/.495 slash line over 661 plate appearances.

Perhaps the Electric Six were buying Sal Bando his drugs.

Jeff, thank you very much for the cards. I sent you some Braves back your way -- I hope you like them and can use a few of them.

A Package from a Brave Tampa Soul

Hi there. I've been gone for almost a week. The funny thing is that I had stuff I could post about that arrived during the week. But, take a holiday weekend, add two parts "hanging with my wife's family" (which, to be honest, I enjoy doing probably more than my wife does) to one part "College Football Started and I'm Watching ALL the Games!" to one part my desire to finish a project I've been working on all summer (identifying and cataloging all Robin Yount inserts and parallels that are on Beckett and putting binders together for them), and you have me not having posted since last week Wednesday.

Oops.

The great thing, as I said, is that I do have cards to talk about.  

Jeff from "Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum" was kind enough to send me a jampacked PWE last week that I received last Wednesday or so.  The cards I am highlighting are all recent cards that I needed either for team sets or for player collections, as always. 

Let's start with Astros centerfielder Carlos Gomez.  

My next project is probably going to be sorting out the cards for the three guys -- Gomez, Gallardo, and Weeks -- who left the team in the past year to put them into binders the way I sort my player collections out.  I have a very particular way of putting my collections into binders.  They are organized first by year, then alphabetically by set name.  The "main set" cards go in the front and are the ones to which I pay particular care in getting the order right.  The other cards tend to get put in whatever order I get them.  At least for now.

So, for Gomez, another part of that is going to be to cull out the Twins and Mets cards in the collection.  

Sort of like what needs to happen for the second guy whose card is getting highlighted:

Jean Segura.  I think it is very likely that the Brewers and Segura will part ways in the next year or two.  In fact, he could be a non-tender candidate if the Brewers decide that paying him for 2016 isn't worth it over running through some internal candidates who are keeping the shortstop position warm for Orlando Arcia.

I do regret jumping on the Segura bandwagon at the beginning of last year. In fact, I knew it was trouble nearly immediately after I decided to look through his stats and dig a little deeper.  

Strike one against him: He skipped Triple-A (other than 7 games in 2009 where he jumped to Triple-A from the Pioneer League).  While not determinative and while many stars skip Triple-A, for a guy with a questionable batting eye like Segura, that developmental time seeing better pitching can help the player to develop.

Strike two: His first half in 2013 looks more and more like a fluke as time passes: .325/.363/.487 during those 90 games.  Second half in 2013: .241/.268/.315.  Two years (including 2015 to date) since then: .257/.291/.332.  

Strike three (?): It is the subject of some debate as to whether Segura's glove is a benefit, a hindrance, or just average.  As the Baseball Prospectus Milwaukee site mentioned, by Baseball Reference's DRS, Segura is average.  By FanGraph's UZR, Segura is subpar. By BP's own FRAA, Segura is one of the best defensive players in baseball. By play-by-play data, Segura is a solidly above average.  

I've said it before -- we'll see what happens with the Brewers and Segura.  

Finally, Jeff sent me some awesome Ryan Braun cards:

The clear highlights here are in the second row. That 2015 Topps Heritage is one of the minis, serial numbered to 100.  That may be my first ever Heritage mini of a guy I actually collect!  The other card is a die-cut from the Bowman Platinum 2013 "Cutting Edge Stars" insert.  Let me tell you -- it will cut you up if you're not careful.

Jeff, thank you very much for the great cards you've sent to me this time and in the past. I'll keep an eye out for some good Braves stuff for you here.

Forever Blowing Bubbles

No, readers from England. I will not be doing a paean to a trade that highlights West Ham players.  

Well, maybe I should, but I lost enough readers going off about Manchester United's Dutch contingent that I dare not risk it. 

Instead, I'm highlighting an envelope full of cards that I received from Jeff over at the excellently named Wish They Still Came with Bubblegum. I still owe Jeff a package back in return -- stuff like this happens when war is declared....my trading has slackened off to next to nothing in putting together items to send to Hazel Green -- but I will be getting back on that soon.  

Jeff was kind enough to grab a bunch of cards at a local show he attends in Tampa as well as sending some other cards my way that I needed.

Now, of course, I need a theme, and maybe you've worked it out already.  I love the random songs that various clubs in England have adopted for their team theme songs or as theme songs for a particular player.  For me, I'll pick the songs and the players to go with them.

Manchester United: Giggs Will Tear You Apart, Again

Yes, music fans, Manchester's own Joy Division provide the theme music for Ryan Giggs, the long-time United player who was the interim manager in the 2013-2014 season after the club sacked David Moyes (thank God).  It's a good thing that Bernard Sumner of Joy Division/New Order is a Manchester United fan -- not like that lot from Oasis, who support Manchester City.

Here's the original song by Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart:

Appropriately for a player who spent his entire playing career with Manchester United is his Milwaukee Brewer version -- Robin Yount, of course -- as Jeff sent me the Donruss Cracker Jack card from 1992, pictured with its normal-sized big brother:

Liverpool F.C.: You'll Never Walk Alone

Liverpool adopted this song as its anthem soon after local boys and band Gerry and the Pacemakers released a version of the song used first in the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel.  Gerry Marsden, the lead singer, was a big Liverpool fan and presented a copy of the single to legendary manager Bill Shankly.  Shankly loved the song and soon it was adopted as the club's anthem thereafter.

Because the song as sung in the stadium does not differ from the original, there's no need to link to it.  

For me, the Brewer cards that best match up with this song are these 2015 Bowman cards:

How does that work? Well, as much as I am not a Liverpool fan and as much as I frankly love to laugh at their foibles -- they are starting to turn into the English version of the Brooklyn Dodgers from the 1940s with their "next year will be our year" stuff -- there is no denying that hearing the huge Anfield crowd singing that mournful song in full voice is just cool.  And, as much as I tend to dislike the Bowman product line for its prospect chasing and bad photoshopping of big-league uniforms on minor league guys, this year's product is a sharp looking card.

Glory, Glory: Used by Leeds United, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur...

In that order, of course.  Why would I cite to this? Because it is a song dear to my heart:

Yes, it's one of the fight songs for my Georgia Bulldogs.  I'll use it to highlight cards dear to me:

I chose Molitor and Higuera because these two were players when I was still in my younger, being-in-awe-of-major-leaguers days.  As much as I like the guys I have as player collections, the guys that are PCs from my earlier days as a fan -- back in the 1980s -- probably do mean more to me than the guys like Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy. 

Manchester City, Blue Moon

The noisy neighbors apparently envied teams with real anthemic traditions and, in the mid-1990s, "borrowed" the song from Crewe Alexandria and claimed it as their own.

It's the kind of "history" that goes with Topps's reissue of Bowman back in the early 1990s.

I'm curious about one more thing in this cards -- why does Bo Dodson have "49" written in the ball on the Brewers' logo on his hat.  Did he steal Ted Higuera's hat or something?

Take Me Home United Road, Manchester United

Yeah, I know United's songs -- and the songs of its rivals -- much better than most other songs.  Sue me.  

Here's John Denver's original song:

For no reason I can really describe, these "Hometown" parallels really resonate with me as appropriate for this song:

Jeff, thank you very much for these cards and all the others that you sent my way. Any time I get a package that puts me in a musical mood, it's a good one.

And I promise -- I still have some Braves left to trade!