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.

Happy Thanksgiving! Here's an Oddball Set...

I have my brother and mother in town this week for Thanksgiving, which has meant very little time for me to catch up on the cool PWE from Jeff, the massive Brewers mailing from Cynical Buddha, or the gobs of great & cheap cards I picked up at my local show on Sunday.  For that matter, I also haven't had the chance to scan much of anything from the box of random stuff that my brother brought down for me. It even included an uncut sheet of cards from the 1984 Nestle set!

When I did have a few minutes, though, I scanned most of the things that I wanted to share.  In the spirit of sharing and Thanksgiving, here's a great oddball set.

Nobis is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and for good reason.  He enjoyed an incredible three years with the Texas Longhorns. He was a two-time All-American, a three-time all-Southwest Conference player (in the years before freshman eligibility), and was a starter for Darrell Royal as both a linebacker and as a guard.  In those positions, he finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Here in Atlanta, Tommy Nobis is also a legend.  Nobis was the first player ever drafted by the Atlanta Falcons for their debut season in 1966 as the first pick overall.  In a weird reflection of the times, the 1966 Draft took place on November 27, 1965. He was also the first selection of the Houston Oilers of the AFL, leading astronaut Frank Borman to say from Gemini 7 that his message to Earth was to "tell Nobis to sign with Houston." He capped his rookie year by being named the NFL Rookie of the Year and to the Pro Bowl. He still holds the record for most NFL tackles in a season with 294 combined tackles. His number was retired by the Falcons.

After his career ended, he stayed in Atlanta and founded the Tommy Nobis Center -- a center for youths and adults with disabilities to receive job training and employment services.  

Salient to my discussion is that Nobis was also an entrepreneur. Back in 1978 and according to Frank Moiger (the person I bought this from), Nobis help organize the 1st Annual Atlanta Sports Collectors Sports Card Convention. As part of that convention, a set of 24 cards was printed for the guys who appeared and signed autographs.  That included Nobis and these guys too:

In addition to these Braves, also appearing were Gene Oliver, Fred Haney, Denny LeMaster, Ken Johnson (who just passed away this week and is still the only pitcher to lose a game in which he pitched a 9-inning no-hitter), Lee Maye, Denis Menke, Felix Millan, Felipe Alou, Frank Bolling, Tony Cloninger, Ty Cline, Johnny Sain, Pat Jarvis, and two Yankees -- Johnny Mize and Bob Turley.

I knew of this set's existence when I went about putting my Joe Adcock Checklist together. I paid $20 for this set, which is about right as best I can tell from eBay when you figure in the willingness to pay a little bit more to help support people you know who organize baseball card shows.  

Granted, Hall's Nostalgia -- a name I don't think I've heard since reading Baseball Digest in the 1970s and 1980s -- is trying to get $19.99 plus $3.99 shipping for the Nobis Card alone (and it looks like their eBay photo was taken in an asphalt parking lot), but there is a complete set available for around $15 if you're interested.

Finally, as today is a day to give thanks, I want to thank every one of you who reads my blog, who has sent me cards, who has received cards from me, or even who are still waiting to get cards from me. Without you guys and gals, I probably would have gone through my cards the first time around and decided not to fool with them. Instead, I now have a great way to spend my time with people who are as passionate (or more passionate) about a great hobby as I am.

Thank you one and all, and have a great Thanksgiving!

Fuji Sends Brewers Autographs & Relics

I went to one of my local card shows today. As usual, I found some good deals -- some of which will be spread around the blogosphere, and others of which will be finding their way into my collection.  Part of my reasoning for going to the show was to try to find cards to pay off on my contests from earlier this month.

One of the winners of the contest was old reliable blogger San Jose Fuji. I hope he likes what I got for him at the show today with the $10 I spent on him.

I call him "old reliable" because he seems to have more material to blog about -- including some great flea markets that I envy greatly -- than I do. Perhaps it's because I'm not as much of a collector. I mean, Fuji collects a lot of different things and, further, he also buys to sell sometimes.  

Still, he also has accumulated a lot of great cards over the years. I recently received a bubble mailer from him unexpectedly with some great Brewers autographs, relics, and serial numbered cards.  Let's get to them!

This Leaf 2013 "Memories Buyback" is serial numbered 1 of 5. Leaf does something right here that I wish Topps's buybacks did -- they tell us how many of this card there are available in buyback form.  On the other hand, I find this buyback weird for a couple of reasons. 

First, this card is from the height of the junk wax era -- 1991. Why are there only 5 of these? Second, what is so memorable about a card that is twenty-two years old? Not 50, or 40, or 30, or 25, or 10, or even 5 -- but 22?  That's just kind of weird. 

Maybe they just wanted to dump 5 sets they found in a storage bin in their offices.

Still, this is not to disparage the fact that I have one of the five gold-foiled Jim Gantner cards stamped in 2013. That fact is pretty awesome.

This card is great. No, actually, it's better than great -- it's Magnifico!

Enough with the puns, though. With the Brewers in full rebuild mode and having hired a GM who was born when I was in middle school and who was just starting kindergarten when I graduated from college, I am going to have to turn a little bit into Zippy Zappy and get excited about the Brewers farm system and prospects. 

One of the guys who emerged some this year was Damien Magnifico. Magnifico was a 5th round draft pick in 2012 out of the University of Oklahoma. He was a starter through 2014 with varying levels of success. He transitioned to relief at Biloxi this past season and looked impressive -- 4-1, 20 saves, 1.17 ERA. He impressed enough as a bullpen arm throwing BBs to pitch in the Arizona Fall League this fall -- probably based on his 100 MPH fastball. And, he impressed enough to be added to the Brewers 40-man roster last week to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

From a guy who may never make it to a guy who's made it, missed a year, and was named the AL Comeback Player of the Year.  I'm happy for Fielder that he's healthy again. Missing a year might be detrimental to his career numbers, but here's hoping he stays healthy for many years to come.

On to a guy who was great when healthy but whose health failed him. It would be nice for the Brewers to develop a pitcher out of the minor league system like Sheets or Yovani Gallardo -- if only to avoid mistakes like 4 years of Jeff Suppan or Matt Garza.

With recent trades and roster moves, it's pretty likely that Jean Segura will become an ex-Brewer sooner rather than later.  It's possible, though, that Scooter Gennett will be jettisoned before Segura. At that point, Segura might switch to second base. Or, Segura may be on the way out with the addition last week of Jonathan Villar from the Astros.

In any case, we're just waiting for Orlando Arcia to be ready -- which is pretty likely to come at some point next year after his .307/.347/.453 slash at the age of 20 (he turned 21 on August 4) in the Double-A Southern League.

Robin Yount wants to know what is taking Arcia so long. Yount turned 21 in September of 1976 -- his third year in the majors.

Will Ryan Braun be traded this offseason? If the Brewers can find a taker and get a decent return, the answer is yes. That "return" part is the issue. I mean, Braun is older than his general manager and is rehabbing after back surgery. This is after Braun has had to undergo regular cryotherapy sessions on his right thumb to address a nerve problem.  Also, another major issue is whether Milwaukee will pay some of his remaining contract. I'm okay if he stays, and I'm okay if he goes.

The last cards in the package from Fuji are a part of baseball card history. The 1996 Leaf Signature Series was the first set to offer an autographed card in every pack of the cards.  I bet there were some unhappy collectors when their autograph was Ricky Bones rather than Jim Thome, Carlos Delgado, Alex Rodriguez, Greg Maddux, or Mariano Rivera.

Still, I'd love to find a box of this to open today...though at $400 for 48 cards (12 autographs), it's a bit pricy.

Fuji, thank you very much for this package. I hope you enjoy the rewards from the $10 I spent today at my card show...that package should go out tomorrow!

Meet The Brewers #17: Marty Pattin

I'll be the first to admit that, when I decided to start introducing Brewers players in the order that they debuted, I did not think it would take me over four months to finish with the players from Opening Day 1970!  But, finally, I get to move on to game two.

Marty Pattin started the second game of the season for the Brewers. He went seven innings, allowing seven hits, two earned runs, and a walk and notching just one strikeout but still was hung with the loss in a game the Brewers lost 6-1 thanks to relievers John O'Donoghue and Bob Locker allowing 4 runs.  Pattin pitched in front of 7,575 fans who took advantage of the beautiful spring weather (high of 69 degrees) to watch a game.

1970 McDonald's Milwaukee Brewers

I can say without reservation that Marty Pattin was the best pitcher on the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970, and he was the second-best starter in 1971.  He was an All-Star for the 1971 Milwaukee team -- yes, that is like being the tallest midget -- but he did not appear in the game in which only Vida Blue, Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, and Mickey Lolich appeared for the AL All-Stars on the mound against Dock Ellis, Juan Marichal, Fergie Jenkins, and Don Wilson for the NL.  

Pattin was truly a rags-to-riches story.  Well, rather, he overcame a ton of adversity in his life to get where he did.  As Jim Bouton wrote about Pattin in Ball Four (and quoted here):

I had a long talk with Marty Pattin on the bus. He's had a tough, interesting life. He's from Charleston, Illinois, and his mother and father were separated when he was a baby and he was shipped off to live with his mother's folks. He was still a junior in high school when his grandfather died, so he moved into a rooming house and tried to work his way through the rest of high school. It was there that he met a man named Walt Warmouth who helped him get through school -- not only high school but college. Warmouth owned a restaurant, and Marty worked there and got his meals there, and every once in a while he'd get a call from the clothing store in town and be told he could pick up a suit and a bunch of other stuff and it was all paid for. They never would tell him who had paid, but Marty knew anyway.  "The guy was like a father to me," Marty said. "And not only to me. He must have sent dozens of kids through school just the way he did me." Marty has a degree in industrial arts, and when he can he likes to help kids. That's why he signed up for the clinic.

What a terribly lonely life Marty must have had. Hell, it was a traumatic experience for me just going away to college and living in a dorm with a bunch of other kids. And here's Marty, still in high school, living in a rooming house. Not only that, but he goes on to become an All-American boy, complete with all the good conventional values. Like he was telling the kids at the clinic that sure it was difficult to throw a ball well or be a good basketball player. It was difficult to do a lot of things, but that they were all capable of doing a lot of difficult things if they were willing to work hard and practice. I guess he ought to know. 

Normally, I wouldn't quote such a long passage, but man -- that just sums up Pattin's childhood well.  

1971 Topps

Pattin earned his college degrees -- undergrad and master's -- both from his hometown school of Eastern Illinois University.  The Angels drafted him in the seventh round of the 1965 Draft. The team assigned him to El Paso, and after his drive there with his wife, he was upset. As he said in 1971, "[m]y wife and I pulled a trailer all the way from Charleston, Ill., to Texas, and by the time I got there, I was more than a little upset. I thought seriously about quitting the whole thing. Luckily, Rollie Hemond, then the Angels' farm director, talked me out of it."

He made the majors at the age of 25 in 1968 and pitched mainly in relief over 52 games that year, but he walked 4.0 per 9 innings. Perhaps because of his wildness, the Angels left him available in the expansion draft and the Pilots scooped him up.  

He repeated his wildness in 1969 but then suddenly in 1970, the light went on. Or, perhaps, he stopped trying to strike everyone out. Or, more to the point, he made a change in his delivery. Again, from the 1971 newspaper article, "I'd been fighting myself all of my career, and I kicked over more than my share of water buckets. But I finally controlled [my] emotions and turned myself around by shucking my no-windup delivery for a regular windup. I was able to drive at the hitters more, my slider came around -- and most important, I gained confidence."

In any case, his strikeouts per nine went down by 1, but he walked 1.3 fewer batter per nine innings as well, leading to a 14-12 record with a 3.39 ERA over 233-1/3 innings with 161 strikeouts. In 1971, he did similarly well -- 14-14, 3.13 ERA over 264-2/3 innings with 169 strikeouts.  

Those two years made Pattin a man in demand. The Brewers took the opportunity to flip Pattin in the blockbuster trade in which Tommy Harper and Lew Krausse (Brewers 3 and 1, respectively) were sent to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Ken Brett, Billy Conigliaro, Joe Lahoud, Jim Lonborg, Don Pavletich, and George Scott.  

After just two years and a 32-28 record (3.73 ERA, 3.60 FIP), the Red Sox decided to trade him. The Sox were trying to get Marichal or Gaylord Perry, but settled instead for Dick Drago and traded Pattin to the team he is probably best remembered for today -- Kansas City Royals. He became entrenched in Kansas -- probably because it isn't that much different from his Illinois upbringing.

1994 Miller Brewing Milwaukee Brewers

Pattin's post-career life has been filled with baseball as well. He called it quits after the 1980 season because no one was offering him a major league contract. But then, the next August, the University of Kansas came calling and named him the head baseball coach for the Jayhawks. He left KU after the 1987 season and became a pitching instructor in the Blue Jays system. Then, in 1991, he spent ten months coaching pitchers in Korea.  

He came back to Lawrence, Kansas, after that stint, where he still resided as of 2011.

You can see the three Pattin cards with the Brewers that I have above.  I'm missing the Mike Andersen Postcard from 1970, the Dell Today's Team Stamp from 1971, the 1971 Milwaukee Brewers Picture Pack, and the 1971 O-Pee-Chee.

Meet the Brewers #16: John Morris

The final player that Dave Bristol used on the first Milwaukee Brewers Opening Day in 1970 was John Morris. Morris came into the game in the top of the 8th inning with the score standing at 11-0.  He promptly allowed a double to Jim Fregosi, who then took third on an error by rightfielder Steve Hovley. Shortly after that, Morris uncorked a wild pitch to allow Fregosi to score.

Morris settled down after that initial double (and the walk to the next batter, Bill Voss). He induced Jay Johnstone to ground into a double play and struck out Jim Spencer to close out the 8th.  Morris then cruised through a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

1970 McDonald's Milwaukee Brewers

Same card, just autographed. It was autographed when I bought it.

Like a few of his fellow 1970 Brewers, Morris appeared with the Seattle Pilots for a few games in 1969. He was signed initially by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960 out of high school. He kicked around Philadelphia's minor league system -- appearing everywhere from low-D Johnson City in the Appalachian League to Elmira, Des Moines, Magic Valley, Chattanooga, Arkansas, and San Diego before finally making the major leagues in 1966 for 13 games.  The Phillies were not impressed, apparently, as they did not pitch him in the majors in 1967 and then sent him to the Baltimore Orioles as the PTBNL for Dick Hall.

The Orioles gave Morris a 19-game shot in 1968, and he put up surface stats that looked good -- 2-0, 2.56 ERA, 6.3 K/9 -- but...it was only in 31-2/3 innings and, more worryingly, he walked 4.8 per nine innings.  The Orioles deemed him surplus to requirements and left him unprotected in the 1969 expansion draft, where he was not selected until pick 52 (out of 60 total) by the Pilots. Morris was not exactly a major part of that team either -- he gets mentioned in Ball Four only for when he gets sent down at the end of spring training and, then, immediately called back up when Bill Henry retired a couple of days later.

1971 Topps #721

Morris's time in Milwaukee -- including the 6 games in 1969 with the Pilots -- comprised over half of his time in the major leagues. Still, it was a time of unfulfilled promise. Only 27 at the start of the 1970 season, he pitched out of the bullpen for the first month. He was not happy as a relief pitcher because, as he said after his second start, "it called for too much concentration. A relief pitcher has to always have pinpoint control to be effective, and I knew I didn't always have it."

But, just as he started pitching in the rotation and looking like he might provide a good lefty option, he started to struggle with his stamina and his health. Next thing you know, he's being treated for a kidney ailment at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He spent a month there as the doctors figured out what the problem was and treated it, but he did not make his return to the mound in Milwaukee until after the September roster expansion. 

1971 was not much better for Morris healthwise. He was penciled in to be the only lefty in the starting rotation, but elbow pain shut him down in spring training -- a bone spur.  The newspaper story about his elbow mentions that he was going to see a "specialist in Los Angeles" -- wonder if that was Dr. Frank Jobe? At any rate, that was 3 years before Tommy John underwent the ligament transplant surgery that now bears his name (and I'm guessing that Morris may have had the early stages of the type of elbow trouble that leads to UCL tears), so Morris rehabbed and came back in mid-May as a reliever, starting just one game and even saving a game.

1994 Miller Brewing Milwaukee Brewers

At the end of 1971, Morris was traded to the San Francisco Giants. The trade made big news in Milwaukee for a trivial reason that says a lot about the early days of the Brewers. When he was traded on October 20, 1971, Morris was the final remaining member of the Brewers 1970 Opening Day team and one of just two men from the Seattle Pilots expansion draft still in the organization at that point -- Skip Lockwood, who was in the minors at the start of the 1970 season, was the other.  

Despite a career that featured 132 appearances over 8 different seasons, Morris only has 8 entries at the Trading Card Database (and one of those -- the Miller Brewing set -- was added this morning after I asked for it to be added!).  I have the four shown here (I count autographs as separate items), and I am missing only his 1970 Mike Andersen Postcard, his 1971 Dell Today's Team Stamp, and his 1971 O-Pee-Chee card.

Browns QBs Have Lots of Kids

Work has been kicking my ass lately. By that, I mean that I get into the office around 6:30 AM and I leave around 6:15 to 6:30 PM.  It's made it difficult for me to find the inspiration or the time to write about cards or put any packages together to send out.

I'm hopeful that next weekend will be better, because tomorrow I'll be going into the office pretty early again and probably staying most of the day. Yup, that means I'll be missing my monthly card show at one location, but I have to do the work to be ready for what I have going on Monday and Tuesday.  I should be able to get to the other location of the card show next week, though.

Still, I've been sitting here without writing about the great pack of cards that I received from my Canadian pal Angus in Ottawa.  Angus is a Cleveland Browns fan.  To celebrate that, let's talk about some of the quarterbacks that Cleveland has had play for them in the time since they came back into the NFL in 1999.  

1.  Tim Couch

Tim Couch was the first overall draft pick in 1999. He played in the Air Raid offense run by Hal Mumme when Mumme came to Kentucky from Valdosta State University.  Mumme won fewer games at Kentucky than he had recruiting violations, and people in the NFL learned quickly that Couch was more Andre Ware (a system quarterback) than he was Peyton Manning.  Of course, Couch ended up a backup to Brett Favre for a year in Green Bay, so I can't hate on him too much.

On the other hand, Couch is married to former Playboy Playmate of the Year Heather Kozar. Quarterbacks always get the girls.

Relating to nothing I've just talked about, here are a couple of O-Pee-Chee cards that Angus sent my way:

The 1978 Sixto Lezcano is just awesome.  Sixto was always a favorite, but he declined pretty quickly when he was traded away in that big trade after 1980 in which Milwaukee picked up the next two American League Cy Young winners -- Rollie Fingers and the Cardinal-clad Pete Vuckovich.
Let's not forget the gingerbeard man, Roy Howell.  The man had hands of stone at third base and a bat made of licorice.  What a great free agent acquisition that was.

2.  The Ex-Packers: Doug Pederson & Ty Detmer

Tim Couch was hurt frequently and ineffectively even more frequently during his time in Cleveland. Backing him up were two former Green Bay Packers.  Couch's first year in Cleveland, it was Ty Detmer. Detmer started two games in 1999.  The next year, Doug Pederson. 

Since we're talking about wives and families and all, here's Ty Detmer with his family.

Not to be left out, while dad Doug is the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, son Drew is a quarterback at Samford University in Alabama.  

Yeah, I don't know what's going on there on his upper lip either.

Once again, in the realm of nonsequiturs, this is one.  Here are a few more O-Pee-Chee gems from Angus.

And these four cards go right into their respective player collections.  I just wish that O-Pee-Chee would have translated the word "Brewers" into French as well -- like the recent "Cerveceros" uniforms for the Latino.  Plus, the word is brasseurs, which sounds a bit like a porn website.

But don't click that link. Or ask why I know that.

Er...

Let's move on.

3.  Spergon Wynn

Nah.

4.  Kelly Holcomb

Kelly Holcomb -- like Doug Pederson -- is the product of a non-SEC southern football program (Holcomb is an MTSU Blue Raider, Pederson was a Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. Apparently, being the quarterback for the Cleveland Browns leads to large families as well. You see Ty Detmer's four daughters in the photo above; he's an underachiever compared to Kelly Holcomb and his wife's six children -- including twins born in 2009.  Holcomb is now a volunteer high school football coach back in Murfreesboro, TN, at the high school his daughter cheers at -- Riverdale.

Which O-Pee-Chees go with Kelly Holcomb? Well, there is a such thing as a sort of mediocre but still acceptable OPC.

Mediocre but acceptable O-Pee-Chee would describe these from 1991.  O-Pee-Chee got lazy on us, or, perhaps, Topps got more difficult to deal with and required OPC to use the Topps logo on the front. The only thing differentiating these from Topps is the cardstock used (white) and the bilingual backs.

5.  Luke McCown & Josh McCown

O Brother Where Art Thou?  If you're a McCown brother, the answer is probably Cleveland. In the tradition of Browns QBs, the McCown brothers are prolific in having many children. Josh and his wife Natalie have four children -- two boys & two girls -- while Luke and his wife Katy have six children -- four boys and two girls:

So, if you're keeping track, that's what -- twenty kids from four Browns QBs? Must be the Cleveland weather.

To go with this, how about a few more O-Pee-Chee?

Rob Deer goes right into the player collection.  Rollie Fingers -- well, actually, that might be an extra one of this card.  And Tiny Felder.  He was cool.  I mean, look at his wristbands with his number prominently displayed.  I actually asked Michael Felder a/k/a "In The Bleachers" one time if he was any relation to Tiny -- since they share a name and Tiny did play for the Astros for a little while.  They aren't related as far as Michael knows.

6.  Johnny Manziel

You would have thought that Cleveland learned its lesson in drafting SEC Quarterbacks with Tim Couch...or signing former Auburn Tiger Jason Campbell...or playing former South Carolina Gamecock Connor Shaw.  But, no. They went out and drafted Johnny "Football" Manziel.

Even better for this blog, Manziel is a party animal who has successfully parlayed his quarterbacking ability into getting women far hotter than any weasel-looking guy should get. 

Like Lauren Hanley.

Or Colleen Crowley:

Or Sarah Savage:

I mean, really. I get that the guy has money and is reasonably famous and loves to party, but he is not a good looking guy.

Anyway, for Browns fans like Angus, I hope Manziel can turn it around. For every other reason, I really hope Manziel fails in the ways that he has failed already on many occasions.

What's left to show off?  How about more O-Pee-Chee? No? You're tired of it?  Okay.

Topps Tribute of two PC Guys in Warren Spahn and Paul Molitor will do just fine!  

Angus, as always, you have blown me away with your generosity. I hope your Cleveland Browns collection multiplies in ways reserved usually for Cleveland Browns QBs!