Winning: Addiction as Therapy Sends a Pack My Way

Everyone has a story about how they got started in our hobby and, for many of us, we have our story about how we got back into the hobby.  My story is fairly mundane: through college and law school, I didn't have time or energy or storage space for my collection.  After law school, I lived in similarly small dwellings -- first an apartment in the close-in suburbs followed by a condo in the city.  Neither had a ton of space, so my cards stayed at my mom's house.

After I finally got married and my wife and I bought our current house, I found myself with more than enough room to have an office with my cards in my house.  Shortly after we celebrated 1 year in our house, my wife and I spent an extra day in Wisconsin that year at Thanksgiving to pull all my cards together and ship them back to Georgia.  Seven FedEx boxes weighing a total of just over 410 pounds later, my childhood baseball cards were mostly back in my possession again.  

My story pales in comparison to the story behind how Adam from a new blog on the block, Addiction as Therapy, got back into collecting.  As his first post, "First Taste is FREE", discusses, Adam has a typical blogger story -- collected as a kid, had heart surgery, and got back into collecting as part of his rehabilitation.

Wait, what?

Yes, he had surgery to replace his bicuspid aortic valve -- last year, in fact -- and is now a stay-at-home dad to two little ones under the age of 5. 

And yet, for some reason, here were are with HIM  sending ME  something.  In fairness, it was because his son wisely selected (randomly, I'll add) the Carlos Gomez Chipzzzzzzzz out of a hat. That meant Adam sent me the first pack of cards that I have opened all year (yes, seriously):

Adam taped the pack securely inside the envelope to some cardboard to protect it. That meant that these 9 cards all made it to me inside the pack in perfect condition:

Yeah.  Two Giants, Two Blue Jays, a painted Cub, a painted Brave, a team card, a Marlin, and a D-back.  No SPs, either.  To be fair, I'd have felt pretty bad if somehow this had been the all-chrome or all-printing plate hot pack of all Yankees that would be sold on eBay for thousands of dollars.

So, at least my conscience is clear.

Thankfully, Adam was also kind enough to throw in some cards from my want lists (which are updated for the mean time):

As over the top as those Studio cards from 1993 are, I totally dig them.  They are the anti-Panini, I suppose -- rather than no logos, the whole dadgum card is a logo.  And yet, I find myself drawn to these cards.  

Finally, Adam sent two Fleer Brewers stickers.  One of them had old Milwaukee County Stadium on the back.  On the left side, near the scoreboard, you can see Bernie Brewer's original home -- a beer barrel.  

That stadium still holds a warm place in my heart. Conservatively, I'd estimate that I saw at least 40 games in that stadium -- probably more -- during the 1980s.  That includes, in 1982, Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the California Angels and Game 5 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.  I also gathered somewhere close to 300 autographs -- at least -- at that stadium from both the Brewers and, as I got more confident in the mid-to-late 1980s, from the other teams that visited.  

Probably one of my least favorite but most memorable trips to the stadium also involved the Angels, but it was in 1990. My best friend in high school and I decided to go to a game.  It was a swelteringly hot day in Milwaukee that July day, and the Brewers fell behind right away -- badly.  They were down 7-0 after the Angels were done hitting in the top of the third. My friend and I were miserable, too. It was hot and we were planning on going out that night, so sticking around to watch a crappy baseball game just didn't make sense to my 18-year-old self and my 20-year-old friend.  

It was one of the first times I ever left a game early.  We left after the Brewers hit in the 3rd inning with the Brewers losing 7-1.  By the Win Probability chart on Baseball Reference, we left when the Angel had a 96% win probability.  We got in the car and drove the 35 miles back to where we lived.  By the time we got there, it was the bottom of the 4th, and the Brewers were in the midst of scoring six runs in the bottom of the 4th to tie the game off future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven.  

In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Brewers scored thirteen more times to eventually win the game by the final score of 20-7.  

And we left early.

It always seems weird to drive by the old stadium location and see Miller Park there instead. My wife and I stay in a hotel in downtown Milwaukee when we visit up there (it gives us a respite from family, if you know what I mean), and we have to drive by the stadium site multiple times.  It still looks wrong.

Adam, thank you for the great giveaway, the great extra cards, and an excuse to relive some memories of my youth.

Worlds Collide

A short post tonight to pass along an interesting factoid I heard while listening to a podcast from England.  I don't talk about it much here, but I am a big fan of soccer and of a team many folks hate: Manchester United.  I've followed United as my team for the better part of thirteen years now.  What I have found to be true is that, of American fans, all the hipster boys and girls who are too cool (for everything) love Arsenal.  The folks who want to be "true fans" and be that person who thinks they are better than you -- or, they are Cubs fans -- tend to support Liverpool.  All the trolls and the preps follow either Chelsea or Manchester City.

Anyway, I digress.  

I was listening to the most recent episode of the excellent podcast "Football Weekly" featuring the ever interesting James Richardson.  In the discussion regarding stats, Richardson brought up Billy Beane.  In particular, he mentioned that, as many people know, Billy Beane has become a big football/soccer fan.  He's now getting involved at Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in an advisory role.

He's getting involved at AZ Alkmaar because of this guy:

Robert Eenhoorn played a grand total of 37 games in the major leagues -- 20 with the Yankees and 17 with the Angels.  Eenhoorn joined Alkmaar in October as a director, and his relationships in baseball led Beane to join up as an advisor for Alkmaar.

So, at least I found that interesting.

A Grab Bag of and from Peoria

P-Town Tom -- named for his hometown of Peoria and proprietor of the Cubs blog Waiting 'til Next Year -- has become a regular trading partner of mine over the past few months. Recently, an envelope arrived from Tom with the following note inside:

With such hospitality coming from Peoria, I felt like the best way to showcase the cards that Tom sent to me would be to highlight some of Peoria's main attractions and things to do according to TripAdvisor (and others).

#10: Jukebox Comedy Club

Comedy legend Richard Pryor was born in Peoria in what can only be described as dire circumstances -- growing up in his grandmother's brothel where his mother was a prostitute.  Wow -- it's already edgier than I thought in Peoria.

At any rate, with that comedic background, it seemed appropriate to highlight Peoria's comedy club where, on April 2 through April 4, Saturday Night Live legend Tim Meadows will be playing. 

Now, what does this have to do with any cards?  

Bernie Brewer makes me smile, even if I think it's an atrocity that he no longer slides into a foaming-over mug of beer to release balloons when a home run is hit.  Remember kids: beer makes people happy.

And, this Topps Heritage Minor Leagues card of Orlando Arcia should put a smile on anyone's face.  Just a 19-year-old kid having fun playing a game and getting paid well to do it.  He even had a pretty good season at Brevard County last year -- for a kid over 3-1/2 years younger than the average Florida State League player, he slashed at .289/.346/.392. He's got a better glove at second than at short (in limited playing time, mind you), but he's got some development time to go.

#9: Riverfront Museum
The Riverfront Museum is basically the history museum for Peoria.  People mentioned Beanie Babies and Pez dispensers being on display as well as a room dedicated to the IHSA -- the Illinois High School Association -- which coordinates and regulates high school competitions in the state.

Were there cards appropriate for a museum? Of course:

These Panini Classics certainly would like someday to be considered as museum-worthy.  I needed these for either player collections or my team collections, so they went into my own version of the museum -- my Brewers binders (still a work in progress).

#8 Luthy Botanical Garden

The first TripAdvisor comment is that this is a beautiful place -- a "beautiful oasis of beautiful plants and flowers in the middle of a not so beautiful urban area and park."

Some people just can't be pleased.

But, to be fair, Tom sent just the cards that fit that description:

These wrapper redemption blue slate cards are just awesome looking cards.  Considering the mundane design they arose from, I consider them the collecting equivalent of that can't-be-pleased-completely commentator.

#5 Forest Park

One reviewer called this the "Best Kept Secret in Peoria." Be careful, though -- no dogs allowed!

For many years in the 1980s and early 1990s, Paul Molitor was among the best kept secrets in baseball. Other than playing in the World Series with the Blue Jays in 1993 and winning the World Series MVP, Molitor was known probably only for his 39-game hitting streak in 1987.  Injured often with Milwaukee, he blossomed later in his career once teams recognized his best position was hitting four times a game and watching the rest of the proceedings from the bench. 

I wonder if he'll bring up the end of that 39-game hitting streak when Boston plays Minnesota this year.  After all, Red Sox manager John Farrell was the pitcher who shut down Molitor in the 40th game.

#4: O'Brien Field -- a/k/a Dozer Park
The home of minor league baseball in Peoria, Dozer Park -- thank you corporate sponsor Caterpillar -- is the home of both the Bradley Braves and the Peoria Chiefs.  The Chiefs are the Cardinals Single-A affiliate in the Midwest League.  

Of course, now's the time to highlight the other "prospect" cards in the package:

David Goforth played against Peoria in 2012 as a member of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

Clint Coulter played in the Midwest League for 33 games at the age of 19 in 2013, then played the whole season there last year, slashing .287/.410/.520.  His biggest problem to development is that he will not stay as a catcher -- he played right field in the instructional league, there's talk of him moving to third base as well, and he actually spent half a year as a DH in 2014.  His bat can support the moves, so the hope is that his glove won't hold him back.  Indeed, he might push Ryan Braun to first base in a year or two.

Now, for two guys who may play in Peoria this year or next:

Diaz has played in short-season ball the past two years.  He doesn't have much pop, but he does walk a reasonable amount. He almost certainly will find himself in Appleton for the summer with the Timber Rattlers, and, as a result and health willing, he'll see if he can hit at the Dozer.

Here's a guy that got a lot of people excited last year.  The Brewers handed Lara a $3.2 million signing bonus -- at the age of sixteen -- last year.  In his favor, he's 6'3" tall and 180 pounds -- so he'll grow up some.  He played shortstop in the Dominican, but he'll almost certainly end up at a corner (whether infield or outfield).  Lara probably won't see Peoria and the Midwest League for another couple of years.

#3  Spirit of Peoria Boat Tours

When I travel, I am a sucker for getting on a boat tour.  I've done boat tours and ferries in London, Paris, Chicago, Dubai, Newport (in Rhode Island, where we went sailing on America's Cup-class yachts), Milwaukee, Tarifa/Tangier, and Naples, Florida (and maybe other places that I'm forgetting right now). 

I'm also something of a sucker for 1990s inserts.  The Brewers sucked so badly in the 1990s that the number of inserts to chase is low. Getting some, though, was really cool.

#1 Caterpillar Visitors Center

I have to admit -- I was a little surprised by this selection, but only just a little.  Caterpillar is headquartered in Peoria, and as Caterpillar goes, so goes the city.  So, the city's big dog company has a great visitors center that highlights the company's history and the people who worked there.  

What better #1 than this surprise:

Unlicensed? Yes. I didn't even know that this card existed before it popped up in the cards Tom sent.  But the Carlos Gomez Black Friday card is undeniably the big dog here.

Tom, thanks again for the package, and I hope you enjoy the cards that I sent out to you earlier this week.

Trading with The "Enemy": All Cardinals All The Time

In 1991, Julia Roberts starred in a psychological thriller called Sleeping with the Enemy (see, even Wikipedia calls it that, and I wrote my line before looking there!). That movie dramatized the terrors felt by a battered wife who went to the extreme of faking her own death just to get out of her abusive marriage.  It's been at least 20 years since I've watched that movie, but I will always associate that movie with Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and, in particular, the fifth movement of that symphony, called "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath."

In fact, it's even more specific than that.  Within that movement, Berlioz used a several different songs as "motifs" for the action being represented by the music. One of them, embedded in this Fifth Movement, is based of an old Latin hymn called Dies Irae.  Okay, enough talking about it -- take 9-1/2 minutes and listen to this masterpiece of world symphonic music:

The Dies Irae is introduced at about 3:15 into the piece and repeats at various points.

All of that is a whole lot of buildup for a trade I completed recently with a fairly new blogger who is a major Cardinals fan -- see his blog: 

All Cardinals All The Time

Yes, I put that in big letters, because the Cardinal fan behind the blog is worthy of those big letters.  He's only posted a few times so far, but he was kind enough to reach out to me and offer up a pretty good sized bunch of cards from my want lists.  I sent him some cards recently in return -- they were among the packages that went out Monday -- so it's more than time for me to highlight the trade.

Let's start with The Kid -- the non-Robin Yount version

It's truly frightening how many junk wax cards from the late 1980s I still need.  The number dwindles regularly, but I needed all three of these cards...including the Yellow Screamer known and 1991 Fleer.

Were those yellow cards a leftover from the late 1980s, when we were all wearing way too much fluorescent clothing?

The Kid, Milwaukee Version

Another junk-wax-era card that I needed.  As I got later in high school -- and in particular, the summer of 1989 before my senior year of high school -- life got incredibly busy for me.  I spent the equivalent of one solid month (four full weeks) at three different summer camps -- including a two-week camp that I drove back and forth in rush hour traffic in Milwaukee at the age of 17 for thirty miles each way.  Pretty crazy stuff. 

But being that busy and that into all my activities meant that baseball cards like this 1989 Topps Mini Leader snuck right by me without me even knowing it was issued.  In fact, I'd say I probably didn't know about the card above for 25 years after it was issued.  

And a few people would probably consider me lucky for saying that.

The Network Talking Head

It almost seems weird not to hear him talking when I see these cards.  He's a funny guy, but I have to take him in small doses sometimes.

Reborn in Christ

The third Google hit for Bill Wegman -- right behind Wikipedia and Baseball Reference -- is a site called TheGoal.com.  On that site, Wegman shares his story of how he became a Christian and how he was honorable mention in all-state voting in Ohio for third base and shortstop behind Barry Larkin.  

To get six Wegman cards in one package that I needed, well, I had to highlight him!

The Rest of the PCs

All of these great cards are much appreciated. And, while the blog is still in its nascent stages, the man behind the blog -- the Ray Lankford Supercollector -- is a great person to trade with.

Thanks again.