30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Double Vision

Baseball has always been fun and entertaining, but it's even more fun and entertaining when your teams are playing well.

As of this morning, the San Diego Padres had the fifth best record in the National League and although they're currently looking up at the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West standingsBoth of these teams are on fire... and the Padres are struggling, but on the bright side there is still a lot of baseball left to be played.

That's why I'm closely following all three teams and it makes me cringe seeing the Giants with the best record in baseball.  The Dodgers are right behind them.  The crazy thing is they've been dealing with so many injuries.  They're going to be straight up scary when they have everyone healthy.

In the meantime guys like Steven Souza Jr. are getting the opportunity to shine.  On Wednesday the Dodgers called him up from AAA Oklahoma City and last night he launched a home run that gave his team the lead over his former team.

When I first saw his name, I recognized it... but couldn't remember where or how... so I searched my computer and found these two cards:

2019 Topps Archives Signature Series Active Player Edition (2018 Topps #612)
2019 Topps Archives Signature Series Active Player Edition (2018 Topps Opening Day #189)

I purchased these two autographs right before the pandemic as part of a huge lot of Archives Signature Series cards and remembered planning a post to showcase this gif:


It's pretty cool what Topps can do with some photo editing software.  The past year and a half have been a little insane which is why these scans were buried in a folder, but thanks to Souza's heroics in last night's game... I can finally clear out these scans.

And if Souza doesn't present enough star power for ya... here are two more scans representing the two best teams in the National League that I remove from my scan folder:

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Feel the Game Classics #NNO

2004 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Swatches #LSW-RC

Congratulations Giants and Dodgers fansBoth of your teams are as hot as the temperatures here in San Jose.  As for the Padres... they've cooled off a lot the past few weeks and according to the internet... it's about 16 degrees cooler down there.  What the heck?  I thought it was always warmer in Southern California.

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?

Okay... time to take a cold shower.  Happy Saturday and sayonara!

16 comments:

gcrl said...

Hot hot hot here. Some good baseball being played in the bay area right now. I hope the dodgers can match it.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

It was wet today.

sg488 said...

110 yesterday here in Sacramento,105 today.

night owl said...

It just got humid again today. I'm enjoying the Padres' recent dip, but don't expect it to last. Now if only the Giants could start dipping. Kevin Gausman?? Come on.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Cool gif. I don’t think it hit 70 degrees here on the coast today. A bit hotter inland for sure!

Matt said...

Weather has been too warm here lol. Very dry, we could use some rain as my gardens keep telling me

Adam Kaningher said...

Glad to see Souza's still around. That knee injury from a few years ago could have been career-ending.

CaptKirk42 said...

I remember Souza from his days with the Nationals.

gregory said...

It's been humid here in New York, but this week should be cooler and more manageable.

I wonder if the next Topps "gimmick" will be to deliberately airbrush a modern card like Souza's in the old 1980s airbrushing style...

The Diamond King said...

Hot here in the PNW, though 'hot' for us is different than in many parts of the country. Love that Campy relic!

Nick said...

We got a huge rainstorm here last night, but before that it'd been overwhelmingly humid the last week or two.

Chris said...

Very cool Souza gif, and it's great that your two teams are doing well. Both Oakland and San Diego have gone much too long without a pennant. Maybe they'll meet up in the WS!

The weather in NJ has been trash. Still feels like an extended spring. Too much rain. Temps struggled to hit 70 yesterday :/

Fuji said...

gcrl - it's been almost a week... and the giants are still rolling. i keep thinking it's a fluke, but they've played over 70 games and still have the best record in baseball.

johnnys trading spot - california could definitely use some of that rain you're getting.

sg488 - damn. that's hot. hope it cooled off a little this week. are you going to the fairfield show tomorrow?

night owl - humidity can be rough. i remember going to hawaii and feeling like i needed to shower 3 to 4 times a day. as for the giants... they play the a's and dodgers next. hopefully our teams can slow them down

sumomenkoman - so crazy to hear southern california have cooler weather than here. glad you're staying cool buddy

matt - hope you get the rain you need. california can use some too. my buddy who lives in atlanta just called me a few days ago and the first thing he brought up was california's drought

adam kaningher - yeah, the mentioned that injury in one of the highlight videos i watched.

captkirk42 - if someone offered me money to tell them one team he's played on, i couldn't tell you until now. literally knew nothing about him until that highlight last week. glad a few bloggers are familiar with him though.

gregory - hope it cooled off for you in ny. i hope topps doesn't use that "gimmick". they should focus on coming up with solid card designs and creative inserts.

the diamond king - i heard about the upcoming heat wave that's gonna hit the pnw this weekend. stay safe.

nick - i heard that chicago was hit by tornados this week. my father has friends there, so he was worried about them. hopefully it didn't hit your area

chris - thanks. i was happy they lined up so well. i hope one of them can make it... but the astros and giants stand in both of their ways. plus the dodgers and teams like the white sox, red sox, rays, etc. as for the weather... i wish it still felt like spring here.

The Snorting Bull said...

The weather in my neck of the woods is really nice. The littles and I are going to get some bike and scooter time at some point today. I am a big fan of Steven Souza, but I had never noticed the photos on those cards before reading your post. Steven Souza did end up on the Durham Bulls, but I started following and collecting him after seeing him with the Syracuse Chiefs back in 2014. It has not translated to the Majors, but the guy was literally Barry Bonds for a season in the International League. He was the unanimous league MVP and he was there for less than 100 games. Put up almost 20 home runs, more than 20 steals, a ton of doubles, and hit .350 while doing all of that.

Fuji said...

the snorting bull - glad to hear the weather is nice in your area. hope your ride went well. wow. didn't know he was such a beast in the minors. good piece of trivia. thanks.

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