Saturday, May 4, 2024

The Destroyer and Snips


What do Tom Hume and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope have in common?  The both premiered on May 25, 1977.

1982 Topps Coca-Cola #9

Since most of you could care less about Star Wars, I had to lure you in with this oddball issue of former Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher.  Here's another baseball card for you:

1978 Topps #202

What's the significance of this card?  Well on the day Hume made his MLB debut, he got lit up by the San Francisco Giants and was forced out of the game after giving up four hits, walking one batter, and allowing five earned runs in one-third inning pitched.  He earned the loss and left the game with a 135.00 ERA.


On the bright side, the Reds fought back, but still lost the game by one runGeorge Foster had a huge game... as he hit two home runs while driving in three.  That was the season he hit hit a staggering 52 home runs.

It was the first time someone cracked the 50 home run mark since Willie Mays hit 52 in 1965. And it wouldn't happen again until Cecil Fielder returned from Japan to hit 51 in 1990.  This might not seem that special, since twenty guys (three in the past five seasons) have done it since.  But from 1966 to 1989 (a span of twenty-four seasons), Foster was the only guy to accomplish this feat.  That's pretty special.

And in the spirit of May the Fourth, here are a few things for the Star Wars fans out there.

Let's start off with this Lego set I built this morning:


Meet Ahsoka Tano.  She was Anakin Skywalker's padawan during the Clone Wars.

Lego Brick Headz #150 (Set #40539)

I have a bunch of Lego sets waiting to be built, but I chose this one specifically because it's small.  At one hundred sixty-four pieces, this set took me less than thirty minutes to build.  Here's a look at the Brick Head next to a mini figure and standard size card:


Although I'm not the biggest fan of the Brick Headz line... I picked this set up because Ahsoka is one of my favorite characters.   This build motivated me to dust off and update my Lego shelf in the office:


I'll wrap things up with a few Star Wars cards that John over at Johnny's Trading Spot added to my collection:

1996 Decipher Star Wars A New Hope Expansion CCG #NNO
1999 Decipher Star Wars Young Jedi CCG #58

First up are a pair of CCG cards from the 90's that show off two of the franchise's finest femalesWho do you favor?  A New Hope's Princess Leia Organa or The Phantom Menace's Queen Amidala?

The next pair are two of my favorite characters from the original trilogy:

2022 Topps Chrome Star Wars Galaxy #7
2022 Topps Chrome Star Wars Galaxy #10

Who is your favorite Star Wars character?

Thanks John for giving me more blog post materialBy the way... any chance you have an extra 1995 Bowman Fernando Lunar card laying around?  He was an Atlanta Braves prospect in the mid to late 90's... and is the only MLB player to be born on the day Star Wars: A New Hope premiered back in 1977.

Happy Saturday and May the 4th be with you!

12 comments:

Elliptical Man said...

Voting for Princess Leia Organa.

I don't really have a favorite Star Wars character. I liked Leia in the original trilogy but not as much in the newer movies. I liked Lando. Boba Fett and Darth Maul should have been better than they were. The writers didn't maximize their potential.

Big Tone said...

I've always been a fan of Darth Vader. The guy couldn't catch a break.

May the 4th Be With You, Fuji ✌️

Nick Vossbrink said...

I've always preferred the brickheadz to funkos. Really wish they still had the "turn yourself into a brickheadz" product though.

John Bateman said...

50 ain't what it used to be

Ginko-5 said...

Ugh, a whole day late!

When I was a little kid, General Grievous scared the heck out of me. He's definitely my favorite villain.

Bo said...

I've been enjoying the new Star Wars content over the last few years, but I grew up with the Original Trilogy so that's where my heart is. If I had to pick a favorite character I'd have to go with C-3PO.

John Sharp said...

I'm a huge fan of Rey, and I'll watch Episodes 7-8-9 anytime they're on TV.

GCA said...

I was always a Vader fan too, but hated Hayden Christensen in the later movies.

So many of Lucas' characters are copies of older ones.

Still have my original Wonder Bread set from the 70s and almost all the regular Topps issue.

Uncle Charlie's Shoebox said...

Was born 6 months before A New Hope came out so was more of a Return of the Jedi fan. We certainly watched the trilogy a lot as a kid. Always liked Wicket as a kid...

SumoMenkoMan said...

I just found out May Sixth is “Revenge of the Sixth” Day. We went to the Lego store here near our house and I was definitely tempted to buy the huge Millennium Falcon Lego set.

Matt said...

Those topps chrome cards are pretty neat!

Fuji said...

elliptical man - maul ended up playing a decent role in the clone wars animated series, but you're right all three of those guys were given secondary character roles in the movies

big tone - i didn't like vader as a kid, but after watching the prequels, i did.

nick vossbrink - i'm kind of surprised that they haven't come out with a customized brickheadz. i feel like the closest thing was design your own bride and groom.

john bateman - i know. i actually created a list (but didn't put it into this post) will all of the guys who hit 50. i think there are three different guys from the past 5 years alone

ginko-5 - yeah... grievous is really cool. i'm really bummed that i didn't buy his buildable fig a few years ago. it looks really cool... but it's super expensive these days.

bo - i really like a lot of the new stuff released... especially the animated stuff. never been a big fan of c-3po, but i love his buddy r2

john sharp - my nieces love rey too. i'm rewatching that trilogy in hopes of liking it. it's not like i thought it was terrible, but it wasn't as good as the prequels or original trilogy (in my eyes)

gca - i was happy they showed where vader came from in the prequels. that's where i learned to appreciate his character. if only hayden was a little less cheesy in those love scenes. i wish i owned that wonder bread set. i own the battlestar galactica one though

uncle charlie's shoebox - wicket is awesome! i was about to turn five when star wars came out in 77. feel like it was the perfect age to groom me into a lifelong star wars fan. the next five to seven years i loved owning all of the toys and cards

sumomenkoman - had no idea. i really like revenge of the sith. great movie. if i had more room for legos, i'd definitely buy that ucs falcon. i'd love the ucs at-at too. did you buy any legos that day? they had a really cool gift with purchase this year

matt - yeah, i'm tempted to track down some of the refractors of my favorite characters.