TWiB: 60's Legends, Baseball Trivia, and a few Favorites

It's human nature to have regrets.  One of my biggest regrets is not holding onto the Apple IIe computer my dad purchased for the family back in the early 80's.  My friends and I would play all kinds of different games for hours in his office and I would even mess around with some basic programming.  That memory totally slipped my mind until two days ago.

On Thursday and Friday, my students participated in Hour of Code which essential gave them a chance to play around coding through a variety of self-guided activities.  If you want to check it out for yourself... click here.

I had a lot of fun building a simple shooter game and watching all of the cool things my students produced in a little over an hour.  It was definitely the highlight of my week... outside of the arrival of my COMC package.

But that's a post for another day.  It's Saturday... which means another This Week in Blogging:


#1:  Sayonara Salute

Dick Allen was one of the most feared hitters of his era and one of the greatest baseball players waiting to be admitted into Cooperstown.

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Autographs #NNO

On Monday I read the news about him passing away at the age of 78.  A few bloggers who took the time to write tributes for him:

Night Owl Cards

The Phillies Room

1991 MusiCards Blog

Collecting Cutch

SABR

If I missed any, please leave the link down below and I'll add them to this post.

1964 Topps #243

I personally didn't follow his career while he was playing, although there's a chance I got to see him play in his final MLB season with the Oakland A's back in 1977.

2001 Topps American Pie Timeless Classics #BBTC-41

That being said... I am happy to say that I do own a few of his cards including this trifecta.  Rest in peace Mr. Allen.

#2:  Not on your Favorite Team?  No Problem

On Monday, Chris The Collector showed off his some of the cards in his Dan Marino collection and asked his readers "Who's your favorite player that never played for your favorite team?".  I responded with Marino, Ed Reed, and Ray Lewis, but here are a few more guys from other sports:

2008 Topps Chrome Refractor #83

1975 Topps #185

I collect a few guys who have never played for the A's or Padres... but Ichiro and Steve Carlton would be my favorites. 

1998-99 Topps Chrome Preview #77

I don't really follow basketball anymore, but back in the 80's, 90's, and 2000's... I was a big Los Angeles Lakers fan.  And like many other guys who enjoyed watching NBA highlights, I was a fan of MJ.

2000-01 UD Legends Legendary Game Jersey #J-JS

There are a few hockey players from the 90's that I enjoyed rooting for... even though they never played for my beloved San Jose Sharks.  Joe Sakic is at the top of that list.

#3:  Oldest Rose

Daniel over at It's like having my own Card Shop showed off a pair of vintage Pete Rose cards on his blog earlier in the week and asked his readers about their oldest Rose card.  As I suspected... here's my response:

1968 Topps Game #68

I was actually disappointed that I didn't have any other cards of Charlie Hustle from the 60's.  I might end up doing something about that.

#4:  Baseball Trivia

Matt over at Diamond Jesters sure has a way with words.  His haikus routinely reveal interesting pieces of baseball trivia.  This week he wrote about Bob Ojeda and how he won the longest pro baseball game.

1984 Topps Traded #108T

I love this kind of stuff, so I dug a little deeper and discovered that Tom Seaver holds the honor of winning the longest (in terms of time) game in MLB history.  Back on May 8th, 1984 the Chicago White Sox hosted the Milwaukee Brewers.  The game was suspended in the top of the 18th and completed the following day when Harold Baines hit a walk-off home run.  The total time was 8 hours and 6 minutes.

1984 O-Pee-Chee #261

According to this blog, this was Seaver's first relief appearance since 1976.   The coolest part about this win was that Seaver started the next game (later that evening) and won that one too.  Two wins in one day.  Can't imagine that happens too often.

#5:  Mr. October

1994 UD Denny's Holograms #NNO

It's December... which means it's that time of the year for Thorzul (at Death Stare Cards) to show off his Card-vent Calendar.  On Wednesday, he shared a cool Reggie Jackson card that reminded me why he's called Mr. October.

Reggie won five World Series rings in seven years.  And GCRL also pointed out that he won six pennants over the course of ten years.

***Reggie missed the 1972 World Series due to injury.  Thanks for the heads up sg488.

By the way... I wrote a post on this rare Denny's hologram back in April of 2016.  Last month, I received an anonymous comment providing some new information about the card.  It's kind of cool to find out that people stumble across and read old blog posts.  It's even cooler when they leave a comment.  Thank you Mr. or Mrs. Unknown.

#6:  More Baseball Trivia

If you enjoy looking at baseball cards from the 70's and learning some interesting facts... then you should check out The Shlabotnik Report.  This week he wrote about some guys with the last name beginning with the letter "F" and included an interesting fact about Tim Foli.  He was involved in three triple plays during his career.

1968 Topps #20

Well... me being the curious being that I am... started researching to see who holds the record.  I came up short, but I did discover that Brooks Robinson holds the record for hitting into triple plays with four.

#7:  The Say Hey Kid

The Diamond King showed off five of his favorite Willie Mays cards last night and asked his readers what their favorite Mays card is.  The goal is to eventually write a post revealing my top five and answering his question.

In the meantime... I figured I'd share a pair of cool collectibles made of metal:

1987 Topps Bronze Premiums

From 1983 to 1991, Topps would give miniature (1.25" x 1.75") bronze cards to card dealers who purchased cases of their Traded sets.  In 1987, Topps used Willie's 1953 Topps card as their reward.  Interested in seeing the other eight bronze premiums?  Click here.

1995 Topps Legends of the 60's Medallions #1

In 1995, Topps offered their Stadium Club members the opportunity to purchase these heavy bronze medallions for $39.95.  Each month a new card was offered and Willie was the first card in the series.  Interested in seeing the other eleven cards in the set?  Click here.

Well that's it for today.  Another This Week in Blogging post... and another week closer to my two week vacation.

Oh and in case you were curious about how long it takes me to write a post like this... this one came in right under the three hour mark.  Yikes.  I spend way too much time writing.

Here are a few questions for you to ponder while I count down the minutes to Christmas Break:

Is there anything from your childhood you regret giving away or throwing out?

Have you ever played around with coding?

Do you have a favorite Dick Allen memory?

Do you have a favorite Reggie Jackson memory?

I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.  Until then... happy Saturday and sayonara!

Change of Heart

Brand names have played a pretty big role in my life since around the time I entered elementary school.  When it came to bikes, I didn't want a Huffy for Christmas.  I wanted a Schwinn or a GT.  Shoes?  I was a Nike guy.  Toys?  Transformers, please.  Save the Go-Bots for another kid.  I can remember being embarrassed to be seen shopping with my mom at K-Mart.

Things got progressively worse until I started working in high school and received enough paychecks to understand that money didn't grow on trees.

Reality really kicked in after my parents moved to Las Vegas and I was left to fend for myself as a first year teacher living in one of the most expensive areas in the state.  I started scouring the newspapers every Sunday for this week's bargains and sales.

Twenty years later, I still consider myself a bargain hunter.  That term especially applies to sports cards.

However just like certain brand names turned me off as a kid, there are certain things that turn me off about sports cards.  One of the first things that pops into my head is logo-less cards.

Now before I offend anyone, let me preface things by stating that I firmly believe everyone should collect whatever sports cards their hearts desire.  It's your money.  Buy whatever brings you happiness.

With that being said, I tend to spend my hard earned money on MLB licensed products.  But about a year ago, I discovered this autographed card on eBay and had change of heart:

2012 Sport Kings Series E #217
$14.99 (+ $3.50 Shipping)

The 1933 Goudey Sport Kings are one of my favorite pre-WWII sports card designs, so when I returned to the hobby back in 2008, it was a pleasant surprise to see that Dr. Brian Price had resurrected the product a year earlier.  From 2007 to 2013, In the Game produced a "living set" that honored some of the biggest names in sports.

In 2014, Brian Gray announced that Leaf had acquired the rights to Sport Kings and produced a set in 2015.  The Winfield above is a buyback autograph pulled from that product.

After that purchase, I immediately started picking up any reasonable priced 2015 Leaf Sport Kings buyback autograph from this collection I could get my hands on...

2007 Sport Kings Series A #4

$28 (+ $2.67 Shipping)

I was a huge Los Angeles Lakers fan during the 80's and 90's, so Larry Bird was one of those guys I couldn't stand.  But even Lakers fans have to admire the impact he had on the sport.  The guy is truly a legend.

2009 Sport Kings Series C #109

$13.30 (+ $3 Shipping)

Another 80's legend... Lendl held the ATP #1 ranking for 270 weeks during the decade.  I don't normally buy tennis cards, but if it's part of this set I'll make an exception.

2009 Sport Kings Series C #158

$23 (Free Shipping)

We could dwell on all of the negative press LT has received over the years, but there's only one more day left before the weekend... so let's focus on the positive.  Taylor is one of the greatest linebackers to play the game.  The guy was straight up scary.  Don't believe me?  Go search up his highlights on YouTube.

2010 Sport Kings Series D #178

$27.99 (+ $2.66 Shipping)

Finally moving out of the 80's legends and getting into the 90's.  Sakic is one of my favorite hockey players to never wear a San Jose Sharks jersey.  Not only is he the greatest player in Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche history... the guy was also a class act.

Although I don't think I've announced it, I started collecting Sakic a while back.  And this particular card is special, because it's numbered to Sakic's jersey number, so it fits into my Prime Number PC as well.

2012 Sport Kings Series E #216

$22.07 (+ $2.79 Shipping)

Carew is another guy I collect, so this when I saw this card, it was a no-brainer.  Much like the Winfield, I like how In The Game shows off part of the team logo, so it's not completely logo-less.

2013 Sport Kings Series F #277

$20 (Free Shipping)

Jack Ham was a little before my time... but I remember my father mentioning his name a lot when people talked about those great Pittsburgh Steelers teams of the 70's.  The guy was a first ballot hall of famer and was included in this set, so I'll assume he's a legend.

2013 Sport Kings Series F #300

$24.25 (Free Shipping)

Another guy I collect.  Another first ballot hall of famer.  Another partial logo.  Another happy addition to my collection.

So there you have it.  Eight autographs of eight legends featuring logo-less (or almost logo-less) cards that I was more than happy to add to my collection.  Even collectors who have very specific card collecting pet peeves can have a change of heart from time to time.

Who knows?  Maybe there's a "sticker autograph" purchase just around the corner for me.  Well... probably not.  Then again... I never thought I'd drop almost $200 on logo-less trading cards.

What about you...

Do you have any personal trading card turnoffs?

Happy Thursday and sayonara!