I'm Getting Older

Earlier in the week, I reminisced about Jose Canseco's career and it opened my eyes that time is flying by faster and faster with each passing year.

But it wasn't actually Canseco who started me down the "I'm getting older" path.  It was Vladimir Guerrero.

Last week, I figured out that he's the first Major League Baseball player to get elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame that was born after me.  Chipper came very close... but he's older than me by a few months.

As soon as I realized this nugget of trivia, I started writing this post.

Brady the author of St. Louis Cardinals' Cardboard gave me a care package at last weekend's show that provided the scans for this post.  He gave me a 200ct. box filled with goodies and there were six Vladimir Guerrero cards featuring him with the Montreal Expos.  I was immediately drawn to this card: 

2016 Finest Intimidators #96FI-VG

My scanner seriously doesn't do this card justice.  It's so shiny and beautiful.  And the design is modeled after one of the 1996 Finest baseball subsets, which happens to be one of my favorite years when it comes to the Finest product line.

He also added a new memorabilia card to my Guerrero collection:

2004 Upper Deck Authentic Stars #AS-VG

If you look closely, you can see a pinstripe in the bottom lefthand corner of the "A".  I forgot to scan the back, but it does contain one of the better COA's that actually states that this swatch of jersey was worn in an official Montreal Expos MLB game.  Oh how I miss the days when card companies tried to make us feel like their swatches were actually game worn.

The remaining four Vladimirs were late 90's/early 2000's shiny Upper Deck inserts:

1998 UD Encore Pure Excitement #PI6

2000 SPx Heart of the Order #H-20

2001 SPx SPXcitement #X10

2001 SPx Foundations #F12

Can you believe that these cards are almost twenty years old?  Damn... I'm getting old.

Vladimir Guerrero was only the tip of the iceberg.  Brady hooked me up with another game used memorabilia card featuring a Montreal Expos hall of famer:

2005 Topps Pristine Leading Indicators Relics #LI-TR2

And before we stray too far off this post's topic... can you believe that it's been almost four decades since Raines battled Fernando Valenzuela for the National League Rookie of the Year Award?  Damn... I'm getting old.

Speaking of National League Rookie of the Year Award winners, Brady also included these multi-player relic cards featuring the 1995 winner:

2001 SPx Winning Materials Triple Jersey Combo #CHN

2001 SPx Winning Materials Triple Jersey Combo #SYN

Out of the four other guys featured on these two cards, Tim Hudson was the most recent guy to pitch in a MLB game.  His final game was back on October 1st, 2015.  That's fairly recent.  Seems like only yesterday I was infatuated with the 2015 Topps baseball card design.

The other guys?  Well it's been almost a decade since Nomo last pitched in the MLB.  Clemens' last MLB appearance was in 2007.  Sasaki in 2003.  And Yoshii in 2002.

Damn... I'm getting old.

In additions to the Nomos, Brady also gave me these two cards for my Japanese baseball player collection:

2003 Bowman Chrome Autograph #341

2015 Topps Career High Relics #CRH-DM

Ishikawa is a Bay Area legend who is best known for his walk-off home run against Brady's beloved Cardinals in Game 5 of the 2014 NLCS.  The event is still talked about frequently on Bay Area sports radio, which keeps it fresh and in the moment even though it was three seasons ago.

On the other hand, Daisuke Matsuzaka last pitched in the MLB for the New York Mets just three weeks before Ishikawa's heroics... yet it feels like ages ago.  Can you believe that this year marks the 10th Anniversary of Dice-K's insane 18-3 season?  Damn... I'm getting old.

Since I'm talking about getting old... I figured I'd add Fleetwood Mac's classic song "Landslide" for your enjoyment:

Stevie Nicks performed this song last year in Baltimore on her 24 Karat Gold Tour.  She sounds just as good as when Fleetwood Mac started performing this song forty-plus years ago.  And she still looks pretty good too.  Can you believe that she'll be turning 70 in May?  Damn... I'm getting old.

Damn you Brady!  Thank you for making me feel old.

Just kidding buddy.  This package was awesome!  Thank you for all of the shiny goodies and nice additions to my Oakland A's, San Diego Padres, Montreal Expos, Greg Maddux, Jose Altuve, and Japanese player PC's.  I'll try to scrape up some Cardinals for you by the time we meet up again at the TriStar Show in April.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!