Pride of New York

Spring Break has arrived.  I've been looking forward to this day for weeks.  I'm looking forward to resting my body, driving my car, cleaning my office, and maybe even catching up on some card related stuff.

Not sure how many people have noticed that my blog has been placed on the back burner the past year or so.  I've even taken some extended breaks here and there.  In fact the majority of the posts published here are prewritten and scheduled several days and sometimes several weeks in advance.  The days of writing a post and publishing it on the same day are rarer than spotting blasters of Bowman at Target.

I wish I could promise the people who take the time to read my posts that things are going to go back to pre-pandemic times, but I just don't foresee it anytime soon.  That being said... today's post was written today, but the contents have been bouncing around in my head for several weeks now.

Now that the designated hitter is being used in all of baseball, I wanted to write about this card...

2003 UD Yankees Signature Series Pride of New York Autograph #PN-RB

This card has been sitting in an 800ct. box for a few years now.  It was part of a collection I purchased from my buddy that included a bunch of signatures, memorabilia cards, and manufactured relics.

The collection was part of a larger collection my friend had purchased.  I originally wrote about the purchase here if you want to check out a few of the nicer cards.

There are three more cards from this box that I want to share, but before I do, here's a card of Orlando Cepeda from my vintage binder:

1974 Topps #83

While Blomberg gets credit for being the first designated hitter in MLB history... Cepeda was the designated hitter sitting in the opposing dugout that day.

Cepeda's Red Sox destroyed the Yankees that day, but Blomberg had a better day at the plate.  He went 1 for 3 with a walk, while Cepeda was hitless with two strikeouts in his six at-bats.

Getting back to the 800ct. box collection, here are a pair of jersey cards featuring Elston Howard:

2000 UD Yankee Legends Legendary Pinstripes #EH-LP

On April 14th, 1955... Howard became the first African American to play for the New York Yankees.  That took place eight years after Jackie Robinson made his debut.

Here's the latest addition to my Robinson collection:

2019 Topps Stickers #110

This card was NOT part of the collection I purchased.  It was part of the care package Reader X sent me back in February.

And since this post has a New York theme to it, here's one more card from his care package...

He actually sent me a stack of these Seinfeld playing cards, but this was hands down my favorite.  I love me some George Costanza.

And rounding out the post is one more New York related card that was part of that 800ct. box collection:

2014 Topps Update World Series Champions Ring #WSR-MR

Today every MLB player is wearing #42 on the back of their jersey... but Rivera was the last guy to wear that number on a daily basis.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day and sayonara!

Sentimental Stieb

What's better than adding a gem mint, pack pulled Dave Stieb rookie card to my hometown collection?  How about a Dave Stieb rookie card pulled back in 1980 by the legendary Night Owl:

1980 Topps #77

A few weeks ago, Greg opened up a pack of 1980 Topps and pulled a really clean copy of this card... which ended up being an upgrade for his set.

He generously sent me the one he pulled back in 1980... which in my opinion is way cooler.  It's like owning a piece of card collecting history.

Kind of like owning one of those PSA cards from Dmitri Young's collection:

PSA Photo

I've always been jealous of Greg's memory.  His ability to remember cards he pulled forty-plus years ago is very, very impressive.  I'm even more jealous that Greg kept so many cards from his childhood.  Most of the cards from my youth were sold in 2001 when I sold off my collection to buy my place.  I kept a handful of cards, but there's only one that I distinctively remember pulling myself and it's buried in a box somewhere.

Anyways... getting back to Stieb... he went to the same high school as me.  And according to The Baseball Cube, he's one of only two players from OGHS who went on to play in The Show.  Mike Brown is the other guy...

COMC Photo

Anyone have an extra 1981 TCMA Holyoke Millers card of Mike Brown laying around?

Greg also sent me another San Jose related card:

1993-94 Parkhurst #183

Pat Falloon wasn't born in San Jose, but he was the first player drafted in San Jose Sharks franchise history.  Although he didn't become the superstar many Sharks fans had hoped for, he did have a solid NHL career.

Before we get to the rest of the cards Greg sent, I wanted to show off one more San Jose related item:

A long time ago... I had a student who would do this really funny impersonation of a nail salon worker.  Eventually I found out she was actually impersonating Anjelah Johnson:

A few weeks ago, one of my friends mentioned that Johnson was born and raised in San Jose.  So I hit the internet, found her website, and purchased a signed 8x10 for $10 (+ shipping).

Okay... back to the rest of the cards in Night Owl's care package...

2013 Panini Hometown Heroes Zip Code #16

2013 Panini Heroes State #16

Out of all of the Panini baseball card sets produced over the past decade, Hometown Heroes is my favorite.  When I saw this Zip Code parallel, I got a little excited.  I figured it featured the player's hometown zip code... which meant that if I picked up the Dave Stieb from this set, it would feature a San Jose zip code...

COMC Photo

However it's actually the zip code for the stadium the player played in.  Oh well... wishful thinking.

One of these days I'm going to add my Kurt Suzuki collection to TCDB.  The current leaderboard looks like this:

I'm confident I'll be able to crack the Top 5, but in order to take over the top spot I'm going to need all the help I can get.  That's why I was very happy to add this card to the collection:

2021 Topps Factory Set Foilboard #571 (#'d 036/790)

According to Baseballcardpedia, Topps inserted a five card pack of foilboard parallels into each of the Walmart factory set.  When you take into consideration that there are 660 cards in the 2021 Topps factory set, collectors have a 1:132 chance of pulling any particular card from these special packs.  The fact that there are 790 copies of each card means that Topps produced a ton of factory sets last year.

The final two cards in Night Owl's care package were a Christmas Kershaw and Wacky Jackson:

2020 Topps Holiday #82

Clayton Kershaw is one of my favorite pitchers... and I was very happy to see him resign with the Dodgers.  Hopefully he'll end up being one of those rare "one franchise" hall of famers.

2007 Wacky Packages Series 6 #64

As for the Michael Jackson zombie card, I'm guessing Greg knows I appreciate the wax pack parodies from Wacky Packages.  On the other hand, maybe he know's I'm a fan of The King of Pop.

Thank you Greg for the generous PWE.  The Stieb has been added to the card blogger section in my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder right next to this card:

1989 Bill Pucko Niagara Falls Rapids #29

As for the rest of you...

Do you still have a bunch of the cards from your childhood?

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

The Lazy Susan of Baseball

It's not always easy being an Oakland A's fan.  As soon as their young talent begin to bloom, we know it's only a matter of time before they ship them off to teams willing to actually pay them their worth.  That's why I refuse to buy an A's jersey with any player's name on the back.  It's truly sad.

2021 Topps Factory Set Gold Stars #392

I have no idea why any A's fan would be willing to invest in any current player's jersey.  Whether it's the A's trading away their talent or refusing to resign free agents, there's a good chance any given player will be gone within a season or two.  Today... I figured I'd use the 2021 Topps Gold Stars Oakland A's team set to legitimize my claim that my favorite team should be nicknamed: The Lazy Susan of Baseball.

Let's start off with two of the biggest fan favorites on last year's A's roster:

2021 Topps Factory Set Gold Stars #3

2021 Topps Factory Set Gold Stars #218

This Gold Glove Award winning duo are entering their primes... and three years ago... I was crossing my fingers that they'd lead Oakland back to the World Series one day.  Silly me.  Everyone else knew it was only a matter of time before they were spun around the lazy Susan and offered up to the highest bidder.

Here are the next six players in the team set:

The only guy from this six pack that is still with the A's is James Kaprielian... who is currently injured and probably won't pitch until May.

The next six isn't much better.  Four out of six are no longer with the team.  It hurt to watch the A's let Semien walk.  It hurt even more to see him have an MVP caliber season with the Blue Jays last year.  On the bright side, Gold Glove Award winning Sean Murphy is still with the team (for now).  He's entering his prime too... so I wouldn't be surprised to see him claimed off the lazy Susan by the end of the season.

The final six is the biggest argument against my lazy Susan theory.  Chris Bassitt was the only player shipped out during the off season.  Piscotty, Puk, Andrus, and Jefferies are all currently on the active roster.  As for Laureano, he's wrapping up the 80 game suspension for PED use.

Along with Murphy, he's one of the lone bright spots remaining on the roster.  He's been my favorite player on the team the past few seasons.  But there's no way I'll pony up and buy his jersey.  Not his.  Not anyone on the current roster.  Not until the owner (John J. Fisher) stops the lazy Susan and starts caring about the team's future and the fans.

And just in case you weren't keeping track... twelve of the twenty guys in this team set are gone.  I know that every team set features players no longer with the team, but I can't imagine there are many teams with as much movement as the A's.

Okay... enough negativity.  Let's wrap things up on a positive note.  This team set was generously donated to my collection by Reader X.  It was part of a large care package sent to me back in February that also contained this very cool rookie card of Sean Murphy:

2020 Topps Clearly Authentic Autographs #CCA-SM (#'d 48/75)

I'm a big fan of acetate trading cards... and an even bigger fan of on-card autographs.  It'd be cool to see Murphy continue developing into a solid MLB player.  It would be even cooler to see him do it as an Oakland Athletic.  Unfortunately... I know he's on the lazy Susan and it's only a matter of time before he's shipped off to another team.

Thanks Xavier for this awesome team set and autograph!  This post might have come off as a little "sour", but I assure you that lazy Susan or not... I'm a devoted fan of the Green & Gold... who will continue collecting Oakland A's cards for the rest of my life.  I appreciate each and every one you sent my way.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!