Pictures Of Men

Sunday Night Awkward.

2012-01-22T21:23:00.003-05:00

I picked up a couple packs of Donruss Elite today. Here are the two MLB players I got. Yep. They're pretty strange looking...Kershaw sorta looks like Dwight Schrute's hillbilly cousin Mose in The Office. Either of these can be had if anyone wants 'em.

I just spent the past couple of hours scanning new things for Ye Olde Trade Bait section. Some blue refractors, Bowman die-cuts, short-prints...a couple new auto's...etc, etc.

I'll be adding more to that section...hopefully soon!

Q: Who has made this joke? A: Everyone

2012-01-19T19:37:00.002-05:00

Sooo, now that the name 'Fausto Carmona' is free......can I call dibs on it?

So Much Randomness.

2012-01-18T20:20:00.011-05:00

Things are getting cold in Toronto. We'd been super lucky to this point but that chill in he air? That shit is real folks. Long Johns in FULL effect.

The temperature may have dipped but I'm ready for spring training & 2012 baseball cards. I heard today that we're only two weeks away from the release of Topps Series 1 and three weeks away from pitchers & catchers reporting. Huzzah to that!

But for our blog purposes here tonight...it's a hodge podge of cards. A real mélange. Which is certainly reflected in my end of year, all-over-the-map collecting habits of late.

Poring through a binder at my local shop, I came across this card. I like it quite a bit even though it's got a bit of a crease through the middle. A real beaut. So much action!

I've been on a Tim Raines kick recently & this card was one of many I've snagged the past while.

MOAR TIM RAINES!!!2010 T-206 is slightly awkward & weird but I do like these booklet / patch things. Still trying to track down the Halladay / Lincecum one...but I grabbed this at a show this past Sunday.

This Rasmus auto came today via The 'Bay. It's the fifth Rasmus auto in my nascent Rasmus collection & my first actual A&G mini-auto. My experience in opening packs of Ginter is tainted by the slew of Red Sox jersey cards I've pulled.

"What's up with that? What's up with that?..."

It would be pretty dandy to have Prince Fielder hitting behind this guy but it's not gonna happen (sad trombone). I'll have to be content to knock this card of my Heritage needs.

And the caboose of this post? Of course. It had to be one of the Flying Molina Brothers. I saw this in a binder & did a triple take. I thought for sure I had all of the 11' flagship Blue Jays...but apparently not. I tend to take that sort of thing as a personal affront, like: "How could you possibly avoid me Jose?!?! After all we've been though..."

Those dastardly, sneaky Molina's.

The Card Whisperer.

2012-01-09T18:38:00.017-05:00

Busting all over the city this weekend, I came across a stray pack of 89' Topps Big Series Three. This pack of cards wanted to come home with me. It was cold & alone in it's tattered wax box & I know it wanted to be rescued...because I'm...The Card Whisperer. A true Pack Leader.

Let's see what Series 3 of 89' Topps Big has to offer:

Hiyo! Shaker Mo. Let's look at the back & see what's what.

Whoa. The Origin of 'The Shaker'. A great mystery is revealed. Cool beans.

Card #243 - Mike Flanagan.
Longtime Oriole great. Rest in peace Sir.

Card #274 - Jeffrey Mark Robinson.
I like that the card backs feature middle names. I'm sure that's not an uncommon thing...at all - but my brain won't tell me where I've seen it before. Eighties Donruss maybe?

Card #308 - Edward Robert Wood.
A U.S. Olympian. Teddy here was drafted in the 1st Round of the 1988 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants. He would play three seasons in The Bigs, two with San Fran & one with the Expos.

Card #296 - Michael James Boddicker.
Another pitcher that I associate more with the Orioles than the team depicted here.

Last card coming up!.....SUSPENSE!

...
.......
.................
....

Card #311 - Andy Allanson!!! (Andrew Neal Allanson)

Show's over folks. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

Your Saturday Night just got more awesome.

2012-01-07T19:16:00.006-05:00

...You're Welcome!

I snagged this card today on a particularly lengthy sojourn to a shop...far, far away. It takes an hour by transit (subway & then bus!) to get to this shop but it's always well worth it. Deals galore guy.

But yes. This card makes me happy. Being able to grab it from a dirty quarter bin is almost enough to make me want to start a Tim Raines PC. I'm not quite ready to commit to that just yet but I watched Tim Raines play a fair bit in his Expos days & he was certainly great. One day - maybe not this year, he'll get a deserved call from the HOF.

Trade Bait, Cards for Trade.....Right Here.

2012-01-07T09:46:00.022-05:00

Like you might expect in a post with the word: 'Trade Bait'...here's some trade bait!

I'm adding a 'Trade Bait' section to the right hand side of the blog that will be updated regularly to reflect new things. Cards taking up residence elsewhere will be removed naturally, so it'll be fairly fluid up in this joint.

I wanted to have pictures of the actual cards...so for now we'll go with this format. I'd much rather have some sort of thumbnail thing going on but I haven't been able to figure that out just yet.

If you see anything you're interested in, don't hesitate to drop a line. Ideally with these cards, I'd prefer to get similar cards (ie: patches/autos/variations) back of Blue Jays players or cards for my player collections or for sets I'm collecting.

Here's some stuff!

Silk:

Patches:

Autos:

Blue #'d /500

Blue Refractors:

Die Cuts:

Heritage/Chicle Chrome et...:

Shortprints:

Refractors:

Funkified. Bring on the 2012 flagship.

2011-12-30T11:14:00.013-05:00

So like a lot of people, I'm in a Funkified state when it comes to cards. There were those Christmas gifts to procure, foods to eat & all we've been hearing is Jazz Flute...everywhere. So cardboard Pictures Of Men take the backseat & are scolded: 'I don't want to hear another peep outta you until we get to your Grandmother's house!'. Yep, it's that time of year when things are a bit in limbo. We've seen pretty much everything that 2011 has to offer & The Topps Corporation is ramping up for the release of their 2012 flagship product.

Speaking of which, The Topps Corp has released some new images from 2012 Series 2. A high-wire act from an irksome Red Sock.

This pic does it for me. Really nice. A+

Clifton Phifer's snazzy 1 of 1. Good luck pulling this guy.

2011 Diamonds to 2012 Gold. Oooohhh what will it be next year! Let the frenzy commence!

Ahh, those Golden Moments. Jose Bautista hasn't played a game in those new Blue Jays uni's...but here he is.

You can't ever really go wrong with a card of Jackie Robinson. But still...something about the composition of this design is a bit awkward. Still...it's Jackie!

A Mickey Mantle card. On an 87' Topps design. I might be wrong but I heard that these 87' Topps inserts are minis? Is that right?

There are a few more images of 2012 Series 2 on Topps' Facebook page. Check it out if you're inclined.

Happy New Years everyone.

I've Been Thinking About Yu.

2011-12-17T16:54:00.002-05:00

I know. So obvious, so unnecessary...yet here we are.

Ryan Braun...say it ain't so.

2011-12-10T20:39:00.002-05:00

I really hope Ryan Braun is innocent...and in situations like this, it's best to reserve judgement until all pertinent facts & information is made available.

That said, Mr. Braun has a tough slog ahead of him if he hopes to prove his innocence. No MLB player has successfully appealed a PED test.

What's really going to drive me to drink is the sanctimonious crowing we'll hear from fans & media, pretending that their preferred sport (NFL, NHL etc) is clean...which most certainly is not true.

Here we go.

How do you do? It is I, The Count!

2011-12-07T21:32:00.013-05:00

"Greetings! I am the Count. They call me the Count because I love to count things."

ONE! ONE BRETT LAWRIE CARD - AH HA HA HA HA!

TWO! TWO BRETT LAWRIE CARDS - AH HA HA HA HA!

THREE! THREE BRETT LAWRIE CARDS - AH HA HA HA HA!

FOUR! FOUR BRETT LAWRIE CARDS - AH HA HA HA HA!

FIVE! FIVE BRETT LAWRIE CARDS - AH HA HA HA HA!

You Can Get With This Or You Can Get With That.

2011-12-04T13:14:00.010-05:00

Things have been a little quiet these past couple of weeks here at P.O.M. Headquarters. And certainly compared to the Hive Of Activity that is Deadweight. My best friend & partner in crime Sandi (Deadweight) is a Master designer & silkscreener & her creative output is truly astounding to me. She's got a nine to five job & works endlessly at her art/home business & still somehow finds time to perform with her band & put up with my shenanigans. She's a very powerful lady! Check out her blog if you're into art, design & general awesomeness.

Oh yeah, baseball cards! I got this Roberto Alomar Hall Of Fame postcard from my local shop. Alomar's rendering on his plaque is strange. I can't place what it is exactly but it strikes me as...odd.

I picked up a few Jays cards from the shop's 10 Cent bin. It was always bizarre to me that Jack Morris was a Blue Jay. I feel the same way about Rickey Henderson. Those guys were such huge foes for the team before signing on. I love the back of the Leaf card (on the right) with Morris standing among Toronto skyscrapers.

I saw Mike Flanagan pitch quite a bit around the time this card was issued. A great & longtime member of the Oriole family will be missed.

I hadn't made a Sportlots order in quite some time but I needed to fill in some Blue Jays sized holes. I got these Finest cards from Sporlots, as well as...

...this Colby Rasmus Diamond Die-Cut. I hadn't seen one of these in person until my package arrived but now I kinda get what the fuss is about. These things are slick. I've got a Halladay DDC in my portfolio (& a million terrible offers for it) that I really gotta have shipped.

Managed to knock off a couple of Heritage SP's from my Want-list. Finishing this set off is daunting. Gotta keep at it.

I don't know what happened to Doug's kid in 2011. I really hope he can figure it out because when you watch him, he does have good stuff. His control however, is the problem. I have my suspicions that the once highly touted prospect could get traded this off-season. I hope I'm wrong but I guess we'll see!

Trades Are Funner Here.

2011-12-03T10:06:00.010-05:00

I suppose if I had a National League rooting interest, it would be the Phillies. They seem intertwined with my favourite team in a lot of ways. There's the Joe Carter walk off WS home run, the Roy Halladay trade, the teams spring training facilities are 10 minutes apart & I dunno...Pat Gillick has left pretty substantial marks on both teams. I guess since the Expos are gone Major League Baseball has deemed the Phils & Blue Jays 'rivals' since they get paired up in interleague play so often. But with Roy Halladay on the roster, I end up cheering for them more often than not. And full disclosure - this week I've been sporting my 70's / 80's throwback Phillies cap. Oh, sweet burgundy!

Awhile back I contacted Julie at Things Are Funner Here. I'd accumulated enough Hunter Pence & Cliff Lee cards that something had to be done. She was kind enough to send some of her excess Blue Jays to Canada where the bird is viewed in a...more positive light.

George Bell as painted by Vernon Wells' dad...Vernon Sr. You can check out more of Vernon Sr's work HERE.

Sweet black bordered refractor of a jerk that was once our jerk. With baseball's winter meetings about ramp up, I'm reminded of the 2005 winter meetings when AJ signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays. December 7th of that year was when he signed - the very same day the Jays traded for Lyle Overbay. A few days earlier the team had signed B.J. Ryan. The moral of the story? Buyer beware!!!

Check out the uhh...child-like rendering of the Blue Jays logo on this C. Hartenstein card. Well done Topps, you nailed it!

He was only here three years but I still see plenty of Molitor jersey's around town.

Considering the impact he had, it's fairly shocking that you don't see more 'Delgado 25' jerseys. I guess the Jays uniforms from Big Carlos' era were fairly hideous.

Julie's package contained a healthy amount of early 2000's chrome, which was great because I had basically none of that stuff. The scans came out kind of bunk but these Stadium Club cards look terrific.

There were also a number of 2010 Upper Deck cards...which I had none of either. Good stuff! This card, capturing a shattering bat is awesome.

Thanks so much for the trade Julie!

Talkin' All That Swag.

2011-11-19T12:21:00.018-05:00

After work yesterday I pedalled my trusty steed over to the (Sky)Dome to take my first look at the new Blue Jays gear. Of course I couldn't leave the store without plunking down for a cap.

How do I like the new / old look? Well...as the thumbs up might indicate - I like it quite a lot! It's not that I hated the Angry Bird...I really didn't. But through the various incarnations, logo & uniform changes, it seemed that team I grew up watching was lost in the woods, searching for it's identity. With yesterday's announcement it's like they finally found the breadcrumb trail. Now it feels like there's an actual connection between Jose Bautista & George Bell. Between Yunel Escobar & Tony Fernandez. Between Ricky Romero & Jimmy Key.

Check out this ridiculously over-the-top & dramatic video about the uni's. Absurd but kinda exciting & great too!

It's good to have my team back!

So....how have you been all these years?

2011-11-17T20:43:00.007-05:00

Given the news that the Houston Astros are moving over to the American League, I should probably re-introduce & re-acquaint myself. The Astros are kind of like that friend from Junior High that I sorta drifted away from. School ended, summer was crazy, we made new friends & went our separate ways in high school. We'd nod & say: "Hey man" as we passed each other in the hallways. Cool school.

Buuut....When I was a kid the Astros were among my favourite teams. FWIW, my teenage self had a top 5 that looked like this:

Blue Jays
Mets
Cardinals
Expos
Astros

Anyways...back to the Astros. I guess there was something about their colours & that wacky dome that appealed to me. They were pretty faaaar out & I wore their Orange hunters hat with pride (what a crazy ass hat!).

A lot of my early baseball thoughts & opinions started to take shape in 1986. I was ten years old then & that's when the list above would have been from. The 1986 All-Star game was played at the eighth wonder of the world - the'Astrodome'. I taped that game on VHS & would replay the player introductions regularly when I got home from school. Watching Tony Fernandez get introduced at the Astrodome gave me goosebumps even on the hundredth viewing.

From '85 to 1989 there weren't many pitchers more dominant than 'Stros hurler Mike Scott. When I pulled one of his cards back then, the pack could be deemed a success.

I really like this card. The orange border on '88 Score Update worked perfectly with the Astros colour scheme. Outside of Griffey Jr, Craig 'babyface' Biggio was a fave of mine. He was a catcher like me & like my dad was.

August 30, 1990. The Boston Red Sox trade prospect Jeff Bagwell for pitcher Larry Andersen. Ouch.
It is scientifically proven that every pack of baseball cards from the late 80's & early nineties contains a Kevin Bass card.

Ken Caminiti - playing the field.

Nolan looks pretty fierce in this photo....hat pulled down low & about to un-cork something in the 100 mph vicinity. It was sooo strange to me when Nolan left the Astros for the Rangers. Seeing that 89' Topps Traded card for the 1st time was absolutely mystifying.

After the Killer B's - Bagwell & Biggio retired, it seemed like the 'Stros belonged to Roy Oswalt & Lance Berkman.

I didn't want the LaRussa's to win the World Series. But I was happy for Berk. The more I watched him play, the more I liked what I saw - 'Berk just Berked!' Good hitter, great beard.

See you in 2013 old pal...and don't forget to bring your DH.

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush.

2011-11-16T22:37:00.002-05:00

Admittedly, I just wanted to use that old proverb as a blog title before I forgot it.

But it does...sorta relate to the card above. It's pretty tenuous, but I'm a lowly baseball card blogger. Lower your standards damnit!

Basically, I'd been failing miserably in my pursuit of Brett Lawrie's 2011 Bowman cards & getting a little ornery about the whole thing it until I finally fluked into this 2001 Throwback one. The bird in the bush - Lawrie's Chrome Prospect card - is still remarkably elusive.

Heeerrreee birdy, birdy.

The Spectre Of The Lost Collector.

2011-11-10T20:37:00.013-05:00

I recently swapped cardboard with AJ from the The Lost Collector. I'd only very recently become acquainted with that fine blog, so it was pretty sweet to be able to work out this trade so easily. I sent along a Die Cut of Yankees prospect Gary Sanchez as well as some other Yankees prospect cards from Bowman & Heritage.

AJ was kind enough to send me this card of my all-time fave, Tony Fernandez...in a Yankees uniform. I've only got a small handful of Tony's cards in a Yankees uni, so I'm happy to have this.

AGon & JBau. Together at last or The unholy union? The Fox & The Hound of the baseball world. Err...I'm not entirely sure who is Tod (the fox) & who is Copper (the hound). But no matter. The Fox & the Hound was my favourite childhood story & this is actually the second time this week I've made a reference to it. Troubling, I know.

But yeah...
(JBau for MVP!)

My first Rasmus card as a Blue Jay! A fine & very notable addiction to the new player collection. Right now Colby is somewhere in the wilds of Alabama...hunting or fishing or something. The shiny Eric Thames card is a beaut. A+.

Those two blokes I just wrote about - Rasmus & Thames...those guys figure to be prominent players on the 2012 Blue Jays. These chaps? Not so much. Both began the year with the team & were no where to be found at seasons end. Well, Reyes latched on with the Orioles. Yet here they are, as Jays in the Topps Update set. Also FWIW, those uniforms you're looking at...will be a thing of the past very soon. Next year we'll see a new take on an old favourite & I can't wait.

Thanks so much for the trade AJ!

The Hot Stove is Piping.

2011-11-06T15:09:00.015-05:00

There are far, far too many days until the we see images of baseball players playing catch, doing stretches & preparing for the 2012 season. It's depressing as all hell!

Thankfully, Hot Stove season is in full swing & I can obsessively check twitter, read rumours & punditry via MLB Trade Rumors & scour blogs & message boards...& even chime in myself with snark, barbs & quips. I'm a jerk like that. Winter is going to be very, very long friends.

So let the speculation begin! Here are some of my thoughts & predictions about this year's free agents.

The head of the class. The Machine, Albert Pujols.
Albert will be sleeping on massive piles of money no matter where he goes. But...he's gonna re-sign with the Cardinals, right? Imagine trying to explain to your fanbase that Albert wasn't coming back. Yikes.

Prediction: Cardinals

I imagine that once Pujols signs, we'll see Prince sign with a team not too long after. Trying to predict a landing spot for the big man is tough. It's gonna take big dollars & the usual suspects (Yanks, Red Sox, Phils) all have their first basemen locked up...so who steps up? It's a tough one, but...

Prediction: Cubs. With a new front office, it's not hard to envision the Cubs making a splash. I also like the idea of the Angels or Dodgers being involved. Not sure if the Dodgers will have their ducks in order in time for Prince, but who knows.

C.J. Wilson is a good pitcher in a mostly weak year for free agent pitchers, so he'll have a number of suitors calling.

Prediction: Yankees. The Yankees have a big, big need for pitching. It's CC Sabathia & then hope for several days or rain. I think the Marlins & Rangers will put in competitive bids for C.J.

Japanese/Iranian pitcher Yu Darvish isn't really a free agent per se, but the rights to negotiate a contract with him is expected to garner much interest.

Prediction: Rangers. The Rangers might lose C.J. Wilson but have an unbelievable amount of cash to bid for Darvish. I'm hoping the Blue Jays land Yu but my ouiji board says he's doing the Texas two-step.

This is another tough one to predict. Reyes is a mercurial talent with a frustrating habit of getting hurt. It's tough to see him back with the Mets at this point & a number of teams could certainly use a player like him. I think the Nationals, Brewers & Giants all make some sense.

Prediction: Giants. Guessing the Brewers & Giants go head to head for Reyes' services with the Giants prevailing.

After several years with the Mets, the Giants acquired Carlos Beltran to help revive their flagging offense. Beltran is now set to hit the free agent market.

Prediction: Red Sox. The Giants will try to retain Beltran but the Red Sox are rumored to be interested & I think ultimately, they get him.

Rollins is one of those 'straw that stirs the drink' kinda players & though he's perhaps not the player that he was a few years ago, he's still a good player. The Reds & Brewers look to be possible landing spots for J-Roll as well as the Phils.

Prediction: Phillies. The Phils have the need & ample cash to keep Jimmy in Philly.

Paplebon hasn't been shy these past few years about his desire to get a big payday. I understand his thinking because as much as I can't stand his face, he's pretty damned good when he's going well. I don't think the Red Sox are keen to commit long term for a closer & especially so when they've got Daniel Bard waiting in the wings. It would kill me...but I could definitely see the Blue Jays poking around here.

Prediction: Red Sox. Paps was just too good for the Sox last year to let him go.

Just look at this guy. It's awfully tough to imagine him in another uniform. Certainly, he's terrorized my Blue Birds something awful these past few years.

Prediction: Blue Jays. Ortiz seems like the heart of the Red Sox in a lot of ways but I think after the season ending collapse, he's the final departee in Beantown. There have been some in the media connecting Toronto to Ortiz. Typically when the media floats a Toronto rumor it proves to be very wrong. This time I think there might be something to the speculation, with the Jays needing to capitalize on a window with Bautista.

What do you think? Should I put down the pipe? (probably).
Who's going where?

Precision Auto.

2011-10-31T18:50:00.007-04:00

One good thing about my new Colby Rasmus PC: his cards, autos & the like can be had on the cheap. No doubt recent retiree Tony LaRussa has been working behind the scenes, maniacally keeping Colby's cards down in price. Thanks for that Tony & happy retirement!

These two cards are my second & third Rasmus autos, with one more on the way. I snagged both of these #totalbeauties off the 'Bay, with the Sweet Spot auto costing a whopping $4.25 shipped & the Marquee card costing only slightly more. I gotta say that it's nice to finally collect a player whose autos don't cost an arm, a leg & a first born (Hi Roy Halladay...maybe I'll be able to afford one of your signatures some day).

...Now take a swig of Jolt Cola & listen to this:

Baby Jays.

2011-10-24T18:35:00.004-04:00

Ah yes. Familiar & oddly comforting wood grain...how I've missed ye.

I should probably slap myself with a Blog Fine for so cavalierly using Middle English like that. But let's just move on. It'll be better for all of us.

A few weeks ago I picked up a few packs of the Topps Heritage Minor League Edition. Those packs yielded some...ok cards. I still quite like the 62' design, even though I've been slacking off on my pursuit of the '11 Heritage set. Those dastardly high numbers!

I got the Blue Jays top prospect Travis d'Arnaud in one of the packs I bought & snagged the other Baby Jays at a local shop. Hopefully we'll see some of these guys up with the big team in the next couple of years. Youth will be served damnit!

Lottery Ticket...to nowhere.

2011-10-21T18:07:00.009-04:00

In my own exuberance to track down The Great Canadian Maple....known outlaw Brett Lawrie, I pedalled my bike to a local shop to pick up a few lottery tickets.

Sadly, no Brett Lawrie cards were in my packs. Bah. Tracking him down may be even trickier than I imagined.

But here's a sampling of the shiny I got anyhow:

Let's be honest. Blue Refractors can't be beat. Nelson Cruz also can't be beat. What he's doing do baseballs these days just isn't nice. I didn't get to see much of game one of the WS but last night's game two was pretty entertaining.

Bowman's Best Devin Mesoraco.

A Die Cut card of Yanks prospect Gary Sanchez.

Bowman Chrome Prospects!

...More!

And here is Buster Posey & some....grizzled 'vets'.

Bowman's releases have been mostly decent the past couple of years...these cards are nice but I won't be buying anymore packs of this product. Brett Lawrie Lottery or not. Just singles from here on out.

Everything here is available for trade if you see something you like.

WANTED.

2011-10-20T18:07:00.004-04:00

Have You Seen This Man?

We believe this Person Of Interest to be dangerous & advise anyone coming in contact to proceed with the utmost caution. He has been known to appear in packs of Bowman Chrome - often obscured & camouflaged by others of his ilk, so be wary when consuming this product. Mr. Lawrie was last seen brandishing a baseball bat and has been known to hurt baseballs for fun & profit.

If you have any information as to his whereabouts or if you've come in contact with the perpetrator, please contact this website's administrator. We don't want unsuspecting card bloggers or their families to be harmed and will offer handsome rewards for the capture and return of Mr. Lawrie to his native Canada.

Thank you.

One And Done, Two & Through.

2011-10-15T14:01:00.004-04:00

I worked out a couple of small trades recently. This sweet patch card of Doc came courtesy of Sam at The Daily Dimwit. I traded a very nifty & unique T-206 card of Paul Pfeister to get it...but I'm plenty happy to have this in the player collection.

I got this Topps Lineage Mini of RR Cool J(ay) from Chris at Fan Of Reds. These '75 style mini's are awesome to the tenth power (at least). I traded a couple of this years Topps Diamond parallels for Mr. Romero. This is the only Blue Jay I have from this subset...and I'd be happy to trade for any of the others if you've got 'em.

Beep Beep.

Not one of you, A Tarnished Angel.

2011-10-09T15:37:00.009-04:00

I recently completed a tidy little trade with Tom from one of my favourite new blogs The Angels, In Order. Tom was kind enough to send me the two Tony Fernandez cards above (two I'd never actually seen before!) aaaaannnddd...

...this very handsome David Cooper X-Fractor. Thanks Tom! My Tony Fernandez collection is now up to a moderately robust 116 unique cards. Huzzah. Hopefully the Mark Trumbo card & the wack of Halos I sent have arrived...or will very soon.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving folks. Now for no good reason, listen to this mid-nineties indie caterwauling, courtesy of the Rock Band Silkworm.

1 Jumbo Pack of '11 Update.

2011-10-05T18:34:00.014-04:00

I've been a little short on cashish the past while, so there hasn't been much happening in this corner of cardboarding. I did however, find enough pennies between the couch cushions to pick up a jumbo pack of Topps Update. Otherwise known as: 'All Your Crappy Middle Relievers Are Belong To Us'. Plus of course the usual assortment of all-star cards, inserts & traded players.

What I really was hoping for were Halladay, Rasmus & ~~crappy~~ happy Blue Jays middle reliever cards.

Here's what my pack produced:

Shawn Camp. Camp has actually been a very good middle innings guy these past few seasons. Sadly, this year he was mostly terrible & his Blue Jays career is likely done. Too bad. Seems like a good guy.

Very nice! The guy on the left would be the AL MVP if his team weren't in fourth place. The guy on the right started the year off like gangbusters before turning into a pumpkin.

A couple of Checklists / Highlight cards. Remember when Ethier went crazy back in April? That was cool. If I had a 'favourite current Yankee', Rivera would be it.

When I would play catch with my dad as a kid, dad would often warn me when he was gonna blaze one in at me: 'Get ready for a Nolan Ryan fastball' he'd say.

Tom was no slouch himself.

Shiny Yankee.

The Seattles have some pretty good young players. Both these guys are badass. If Justin Smoak's bat comes around, they'll be formidable.

Not the Phillies pitcher I was hoping to see...but Clifton Phifer is alright. As I type this, the Cardinals just pulled ahead of the Phils. Blah. Tony Larussa, I don't like you.

All-Stars Galore!

Steve Pearce is happy. Or he's angry & is headed your way...fist clenched.

Here are a few Cognac Diamond Parallel cards. The Babe!!! These are pretty spiffy looking...I dig 'em.

I'll probably keep the Jays, Ackley & Babe Ruth cards...all others are available.

New Blue Jays Logo?

2011-09-21T21:45:00.004-04:00

Well, here it is! ....Or, Here I think it is!

This image popped up on the interwebs today & from what I can tell, this re-vamped / slightly modernized Blue Bird is what you'll see on the caps of Blue Jays players & fans in 2012. More accurately, the bird portion of this will adorn caps & the text you see - will not. This, like the just leaked Marlins logo, is a template for a 2012 T-shirt. Internet warblings suggest that the cap will also include a baseball (as was the case for the '77-96 logo) and possibly the team name arched over & under the baseball.

An (ahem)....anonymous but seemingly well connected internet poster claims that there is another...'primary logo', that should see the light of day by mid-November barring another leak. We'll see about that. But if all of this is true, than I'll breathe a major sigh of relief.

For comparison sake, here's the '77-96 logo. Which to these eyes, is still pretty great. You see so many more people rocking the old school caps than the new Angry Birds version (which I also like), so I suspect people will be pleased by the return of the ol'/new bird.

Who's ready for 2012!?
(This guy right here!)

Not Great, Not Terrific...but Wonderful.

2011-09-17T16:56:00.005-04:00

I feel like I may have heard the name Wonderful Monds recently. Maybe it was from one of the fine card blogs in this Sphere Of Blogs...maybe it was somewhere else...or maybe this is my very first encounter with Wonderful Monds, I'm not sure. But what a ~~tremendous~~ Wonderful name.

Actually, let's get this straight. His full name is Wonderful Terrific Monds III. According to Baseball Reference dot com, the name was originally given to his grandfather because after a number of girls had been born, his father was elated at the birth of his first son. Alrighty then!

Sadly, Wonderful Monds never made it to The Show. He toiled for a number of years in the Braves minor league system & also rode the buses in the Rockies & Reds systems.

Recent Roys & Panning For Prospects.

2011-09-11T18:32:00.019-04:00

I woke up at 5:45 am to hit up a cardshow...that was starting at 10. I certainly hadn't planned on waking up at the ludicrous hour that I did...but my stomach was churning something fierce & I just couldn't drift back to sleep. My eyelids could seize up at any time....but lets try to cram in a post.

The scan above is horrible, I know. The card is in one of those snazzy hard case thing-y's & in my current state, I can't be bothered to pry it out. So as you'd imagine the scan results are 1000% bunk. But it's a Recent Roy & as a #'d card of 35...well, there it is!

I picked up a few more Halladay cards as I meandered the aisles at the show & snagged a mitt full of Blue Jays prospects, so let's take a look.

These two mini's were my first purchases at the show. I don't have very many Halladay mini's, so that may be my next area to concentrate on. Love that black bordered beaut!

I'd seen these Donruss Polo Ground cards online before & thought they were pretty sharp...so I was happy to see a merchant with this card #'d 1/55

I also snagged Roy's 2011 Topps Chrome card & his 2009 UD First Edition card, which brings me to a grand total of 340 unique Halladay cards. Progress. You can check out what I have HERE & of course I'd be happy to trade for any cards not listed.

I'd also be happy to trade for any Colby Rasmus cards I don't have too. Sadly, I only managed to pick up one card for that PC today.

Lots of Lawrie's at the show. I picked up these two, which gives me five different cards of Jerkface McGee. Looking forward to that 1st Real Deal Topps RC.

Travis D'Arnaud was one of the three prospects in the Halladay trade. Many (fools!) had him pegged as the lesser of the three Philly prospects...but Travis was recently named MVP of the AA Eastern League, starring for Toronto's New Hampshire Fisher Cats affiliate. D'Arnaud is currently the Jays #1 prospect.

Dickie Thon's son!.....Dickie! And Outfielder Jake Marisnick, who was recently called the best prospect of the Midwest League by Baseball Prospectus' Kevin Goldstein.

A couple years ago the Jays outbid the Yankess to sign Cuban shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria. Beside him is Eric Thames, who currently patrols left field for the Big League team.

To say that Kyle Drabek had a tough year would be putting it nicely. It was a miserable go for Doug's kid but I still think the young man will figure it out. He's just gotta keep his emotions in check & pound the strike zone. Henderson Alvarez signed as an International Free Agent at the tender age of sixteen (!)...and now at age twenty-one, Henderson has aquitted himself admirably in his first few big league starts.

Go Jays!

"A loaf of bread, a stick of butter, and a gallon of milk."

2011-09-10T16:28:00.013-04:00

I set out this afternoon in search of some very specific & mundane household items: Coffee, toothpaste, dish soap & shampoo (or if you prefer: "a loaf of bread, a stick of butter, and a gallon of milk."). I came back with all those items &...of course baseball cards. Sometimes these rectangular Pictures Of Men find me when I least expect to see them.

The main drag where I live was closed down for some sort of street festival. Tents, foodstuffs, merchants & a stage set up for musicians, where I was greeted by a hip-hop group busting out their (questionable) rendition of A Tribe Called Quest's 'Scenario'. Interesting.

Anyways, there was a merchant with boatloads of Hockey cards. Annnnd 50 cent packs of 88' Sportflics. No way you walk away from that empty handed.

Each pack comes with one of these team logo cards + a trivia card.

The trivia cards aren't as interesting...so here's more logos!

The Lone Blue Jay I got. This card is cool because if you remember Mark Eichorn than you remember his ridiculous side-winding delivery, which is on display here. Every kid on my little league team did an Eichorn impression.

President John Farrell looking very Presidential delivering this pitch for the Tribe. Thankfully John has recovered from his recent bout of pneumonia.

A couple of Yankees: Dave Winfield & aTri-Card featuring Benito Santiago, Steve Bedrosian & Don Mattingly. Only Donnie Baseball makes an appearance in this scan. Which is ok but Bedrosian's Beard is always a delight.

A Po-faced Barry Bonds & Bo Jackson...who I like to imagine either crushed the pitch he's swinging at, or whiffed mightily...resulting in a bat losing it's life over Bo's unbelievably large thigh. I always enjoy seeing Bo Jackson's cards but they also make me just a bit sad for 'What Could Have Been!....'

The Kid & The Madman - Ozzie Guillen. Get well Gary. Stay crazy Ozzie.

Dear Brett Lawrie.

2011-09-05T18:28:00.004-04:00

Dear Brett,

You are quite good at baseball...maybe even excellent. But damn son, be careful when launching yourself at home plate. We've already lost one ballplayer due to walk off shenanigans.

PS: I've got a few of your minor league cards but hurry up and get yourself a Big League card so I can go bankrupt.

Colby Rasmus Collection

2011-09-02T14:00:00.017-04:00

So many new faces in the Bird House. Brett Lawrie, Kelly Johnson, Henderson Alvarez, Colby Rasmus...wait, Colby Rasmus!?? He of...The Swag?? Whoa. The roster turnover of the Local Nine has made my head spin but the trade for Rasmus really took the cake for me. I'd contemplated starting a PC prior to his acquisition but with him firmly in the fold, it just makes sense to get this rolling.

Hat Tip to Jordan at Mint Condition for his most excellent Rasmus '78 custom. Jordan makes some really sweet customs that you should definitely check out.

If you have any Colby Rasmus cards not listed here, please get in touch. I'd be happy to work out a trade.

2005
Bowman Chrome Draft AUTO #175
Topps Update #320

2006
Tristar Prospects Plus #66

2007
Bowman Chrome Draft Future's Game Prospects #BDPP109
Bowman Chrome Draft Future's Game Prospects #BDPP109 - Refractor
Bowman Draft Future's Game Prospects #BDPP109
Tristar Autothentics #70
Tristar Prospects Plus #80

2008
Tristar Projections Reflectives #57

2009
Allen & Ginter #248
Bowman Chrome #212
Bowman Sterling #CR
O-Pee-Chee #587
Topps Chrome #196
Topps Ticket To Stardom #TTS-3
Tristar Projections base #87
Topps T-206 #274a
Upper Deck Sweet Spot AUTO #104
Upper Deck X #97

2010
Allen & Ginter #58
Allen & Ginter Mini Framed AUTO #AGA-CR
Topps #207
Topps Heritage #91
Topps National Chicle #142
Topps 'Peak Performance' #PP-109
Topps T-206 #31
Topps T-206 Bronze #31

2011
Allen & Ginter #132
Allen & Ginter 'Hometown Heroes' #HH2
Gypsy Queen #197
Gypsy Queen Mini #197
Topps 'Cognac' version #448
Topps Chrome #71
Topps Chrome Refractor #71
Topps Diamond Die Cut #DDC-74
Topps Heritage #412
Topps Cardinals w/ Rasmus #334
Topps Marquee 'Acclaimed Impressons' AUTO/JSY/BAT #AID-29, #'d /150
Topps Marquee 'Monumental Markings' AUTO #MM-CR
Topps Update & Highlights #US72
Topps Update & Highlights 'Cognac' version #US72
Topps Update & Highlights 'Gold' version #US72 #'d 1953/2011
Topps Update & Highlights 'Diamond Duos' w/ M. Holliday #DD-12

Set Completion!

2011-09-01T19:27:00.003-04:00

It took awhile, but at long last I can read 2009 Topps 206 a bedtime story & put it to bed! The final card of the lengthy quest was Mr. Gordon Beckham #174. Naturally, I had this card in my possession back in those halcyon days '09 - but saw fit to trade it away to Chris at Budget Baseball Cardboarding. That trade incidentally, was the very first trade of my blogging career...a Rookie Milestone of sorts.

So g'night 2009 Topps 206. It's been a slice!

Good Day.

2011-08-20T16:16:00.007-04:00

As I biked home from the card shop today I was a little excited. The guy I get along with best at the shop told me he was taking over the entire operation (it's a huge space in a high falutin part of town). He has all these grandiose plans & the idea of him running The Show made me happy & optimistic about the future of the shop. Maybe I'd go home & put up that overdue post about the Colby Rasmus PC I'm starting.

...I'd pretty much forgotten about the 2 packs of Bowman Platinum I'd bought.

HUZZAH!

So much worry. BLUE Jays edition.

2011-08-19T20:03:00.009-04:00

Back in April when the season was in it's most nascent stages, I was listening to our local sports station when the gruff radio voice caught my attention:

"If you like the current Jays uniforms, go out and get one now, because they won't be around in 2012."

Say Whaaaaaa?!??

Since that day in April, those words have been ruminating around in the ol' bean...clanking around among other half-cooked thoughts. Would the Blue Jays do their fans a solid & go back to the early-nineties uni's that have been yearned for & that have spawned numerous internet blogs entries, message board threads & facebook groups? From where I sit - that would be One Thousand Percent Amazing.

I mean, just look at Ricky up there. I love that uniform. It's Glorious! And it's Blue! You walk around Toronto or go to a game at the Dome & you see far more folks sporting the old garb than you do the current 'Angry Bird(s)'tm. And not that I even mind the most recent bird logo. The use of Black in the colour scheme is wack but I think the Jays uni's of the 00's is mostly decent & is vastly better than the awkward, cartoon bird of the late 90's. And what an eye-sore that was....so much...RED?.

Here, lets take another look at a recent Jay in the classic uni.

Approve!

So imagine my horror a couple of weeks ago when a Newspaper wrote:

"It’s expected the Blue Jays uniforms will have a new look for the 2012 season, one that will reflect a Canadian theme more than ever."

Please, please, please NO! No red! I'm a big fan of my country. I like it here just fine. But let's not get all Nationalistic & emblazon red Maple Leafs on every damn thing, ok? Everyone knows the Blue Jays play in Canada. No one needs a reminder by infusing red into the BLUE JAYS uniforms.

The smart play & easy way to make the fanbase happy & energized would be to bring back the old uni's. It's really quite simple. Hell, you could even tweak that uniform a bit to modernize it & that would be acceptable. But red? Oh man.

Owners - Do The Right Thing.

It's troubling enough that the new Vancouver affilitate is named the 'Vancouver Canadians'. I take some solace in seeing the old school patch on their jersey...so maybe it's a sign that at least the logo is coming back. But still... too much red!

...So Much Worry!

You Can Always Go Home.

2011-08-13T17:35:00.019-04:00

For the last week the lady & I have been on the East Coast to visit my family. I hadn't been home (New Brunswick!) since 2008, so it was pretty tremendous to be back there to see everyone. It's such an unbelivably slow & relaxed pace compared to Toronto - but smelling the fresh country air did a lot for my constitution. And hearing those trains bustling through town every night? Amazing.

One of the things I was looking forward to was poring over the billion or so boxes of cards in the family basement. Like a lot of you fine folks, I was a cardboard fiend back in the day. But the best thing about my experience was that my dad got hooked & we shared the hobby together. So many times he'd come home with packs for us to bust open...or he'd have stopped off at the card shop on the way home to pick me up a card he knew I'd been eyeing.

I brought a few items back to Toronto with me. Some of which I'd forgotten about & some...I had no idea we even had!

This is the one & only hockey card I brought back. My dad was a little more into hockey cards than I was...but I wanted this one because the lady pictured was someone I went to school with & played little league against. My dad also played baseball with her dad. Rebecca was my town's Star Athlete & I'm certain is the only person from Sackville, NB to have their own sportscard.

The first at bat of my little league career was against Rebecca. I remember being warned that she threw really hard. Somehow I managed to get a hit in that 1st at bat but wouldn't get many more off her. I think she's a police officer now.

I had no idea we had this card....and obviously I was thrilled to see it! It's in pretty great shape too.

...And would ya look at that. It's the O-Pee-Chee version. Good stuff.

Here's another OPC card & another that I didn't know we had. I saw another OPC version of this at a Toronto shop a few months ago & considered picking it up. Glad I held off.

I'm guessing my dad picked this up because...well, Mr. Harris is Canadian. Gotta love that Maple. There's even a nifty cartoon Mountie on the back throwing a baseball with the caption: 'Bill is a Native of Canada'. Yep.

These remind me that I've gotta get back on the hunt for those elusive 2011 Heritage Short-Prints that I need.

The Kid...and friends. I thought I'd heard that there had been some positive developments in Gary's battle with Cancer. I really hope I heard that correctly.

Mr. October...IN ACTION.

Ryne Sandberg - Troisieme-But!

Didn't know we had this Jeter card either. Though I shouldn't have been surprised. My dad doesn't watch baseball anymore but he was a huge Yankees fan for many, many years & when we were collecting, he hoarded any Yankee rookie that came down the pipe. I only saw about a zillion Brien Taylor cards in the boxes I looked through.

Anyways....I loved being out East...but it's pretty good to be back home too.

Tomorrow I'll Be Perfect.

2011-08-01T12:48:00.003-04:00

Yesterday the Blue Jays retired their first uniform number. Of course that would be #12 for Roberto Alomar. The Dome was packed, the weather was great, there were bobbleheads aplenty & the local nine sent everyone home happy with a triumphant 7-3 win over the mighty Texas Rangers.

I wasn't at the game but enjoyed the proceedings from my couch. I will say that I really enjoy number retirement ceremonies. It's a pretty tremendous honour & it was cool to see my team take a number out of circulation for such a deserving player.

Of course this topic leads to further debate. Are there other deserving players from the past? Who will be the next one? Etc...etc.

I think the only past Blue Jay that might merit the honour would be Dave Stieb. He pitched for fifteen seasons with Toronto & still holds most of the teams pitching records.

He went 175-137 with a 3.42 ERA (ERA+ of 123) & a 1.242WHIP. He was a five time all-star & received CY votes in five years. So yeah. Dave was a pretty damn good pitcher & for whatever reason his career seems under appreciated. That Stieb slider was unreal.

All that said, I'm on the fence as to whether I'd retire his #37. I like that the HOF is super exclusive & I'd kinda like my favourite ball club to have similarly high standards. Maybe the team doesn't have to be quite as stingy as the HOF...but still, high standards are good right?

I've been drunk all day.

2011-07-27T22:34:00.002-04:00

Well...not really. But kinda, sort of.....if refreshing MLBTR, Twitter & having 8 tabs open all day counts as being drunk.

I've been a Colby Rasmus fan for awhile now & with every: 'Tony LaRussa doesn't like Rasmus', I wished there was a way the Jays could acquire him. I just never thought there would be a scenario where it might actually happen.

Even as recently as last week I'd contemplated starting a Rasmus collection & had even set his cards aside while thumbing through my Red Birds cards.

It's entirely possible I'm clairvoyant.

I should say that it's sad to see bullpen stalwarts Jason Frasor & Mark Rzepczynski go. Frasor in particular. Last weekend he became the Jays all-time leader in games played - eclipsing Duane Ward's long-standing team record. He was here for eight years, married a local lady & by all accounts was a great person & teammate.

Best of luck to Jay Fray & Mark 'Scrabble' Rzepczynski.
...I'm gonna have an actual beer now.

Welcome to Toronto Colby.

Bad Fan Makes Good.

2011-07-12T18:37:00.011-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post (dating back to the Paleolithic Era), I've been a bad fan this year. When the PA announcer does roll call - I'm seldom there.

But last weekend my crew & I went to a pair of games versus the Phillies. I'd been looking forward to this series since last year & even in defeat (jeez! both games!?!?), we had a great time.

Here's some photographic evidence!

The first game was June 1st...or Canada Day up here. Bud Selig - I'm sure lovingly, has denied the Jays a Canada Day home date the past few seasons. So this pic was taken from our high up perch on said holiday. It was piping hot & we had The Absolute Worst assholes sitting behind us, which sorta soured an otherwise splendid day.

Our Canada Day pitcher was even named 'Canada'! In fact, the Blue Jays employed 25 players that afternoon named 'Canada'. Weird huh?

Thanks to a friend, we had tremendous seats for Game 2 - Doc's Return. Prior to the game, I proclaimed that the home team would beat Roy. I had it all worked out...but only... I was wrong. Though, we were treated to another great game. Halladay was dealing & we got to see plenty of fireworks in the way of a Monster HR by Bautista & another Monster (Jon Rauch) gone mad.

This pitch was surely a strike.

...This one too.

Joey Bats!...in the field!

At any rate, we're heading to another game next week vs those irksome Mariners. It'll be fun to see Dustin Ackley & Justin Smoak as well as the beloved locals. And hopefully we'll make it to that Roberto Alomar bobblehead game in a few weeks.

Going Yard.

2011-06-26T10:07:00.008-04:00

I've been a bad fan this year. I've been to three maybe four Blue Jays games. For shame! It feels like things in general are just busier but I don't know. We sorta got off on the wrong foot in that our crew didn't make it to the Home Opener (for the 1st time in years) & it's spiraled out of control since. We're also not making our annual out of town trip to see the team. Bah!

This week - things change.
It looks like we're taking in two games. Quite possibly, two games versus the Phightin' Phillies. Halladay is set to make his return to our town & it looks like he'll pitch either on June 1st (Canada Day!) or June 2nd. Either way...whatever day he's on the bump, I'll be there & it's gonna be completely awesome.

I suspect President Farrell & Ace will be at those games too. I picked up these cards at the local shop yesterday. They appear to have been produced in conjunction with the Fire Marshal's Public Fire Safety Council. The backs of the cards encourage people to do sensible things like replace smoke alarms - "Don't force extra innings: Replace your smoke alarms every 10 years!"

These were the only four cards my shop had of the team set. I imagine the rest can be had on the cheap somewhere.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

...And in Right Field....

2011-06-10T17:43:00.005-04:00

Photo by John Lott

Shawn Green & Jose Bautista. Taken today prior to the Red Sox / Jays tilt.
Shawn is in town to promote his new book.

Silence Kid.

2011-06-09T19:59:00.011-04:00

It seems as though I've completely neglected this blog. Again. If I don't play...my cards right, blogger is going to commandeer this blog...annex it from my control & proceed to run it even further into the ground while I sit by & watch in horror.

It could happen right?...No?

Well, the past couple of weeks, I've busied myself with mostly mundane, administrative things. Binders? Purchased. Sheets? I got 'em. Storage boxes? I'm the King Of Box Mountain. All this stuff I now have in spades. But do I have a proper shelving unit for all these things? Hell no & stop busting my chops here. I'm doing my best!

All that said, there has been some actual cardboarding as well. I've plugged away at a few things but mostly tried to concentrate on my Halladay collection. Ebay purchases here, Sportlot acquisitions there. I did a quick count today & I now have 280 different Roy Halladay cards. Progress!

Roy is off to another fine start to the year & I still get foolishly nervous & anxious on the days he's pitching. Oh ridiculous fandom.

Here's a Gypsy Queen short-print mini I plucked off The 'Bay. One area I need to work on with this PC is mini's. I just don't have very many...and they are so very awesome.

Here's a mini I got the other day. A mini of another incredible pitcher...found inside a pack of Series 2 Topps - which I was happy to see at one of my local shops.

Here's a couple of catcher / pitcher moments captured in Series 2. Pudge & Stephen Strasburg & Ryan Madson with CHOOOOOOOCHHHH! Gotta love Chooch.

Awhile ago I took part in a Gypsy Queen break over at The Daily Dimwit. I sorta lucked out & got two Brett Cecil auto's. Last week I took one of the auto's into a shop & came out with this Brandon Belt Chrome RC.

I don't know if that was necessarily a great trade on my end...but I'm happy regardless. Check out Belt's wacky / awesome signature. Dude looks like he'll be a pretty good one once he gets healthy & back in the lineup.

Pop, pop.

Unexpected, Free Cards.

2011-05-29T11:48:00.016-04:00

This past week a pal of mine made a trek to his old stomping grounds...in the Wilds Of Ontario & upon his return, was kind & generous enough to surprise me with a binder of cards from his youth.

Free cards?
That will be a resounding: "Yes, thank you very much" every time.

The majority of stuff was from that special period of time - 1989 to 92' but there were some nice odds & sods throughout & a number of things that while very familiar, were nice to see. "Hello Nolan Ryan, good to see you again Bo Jackson".

When I was young & out playing catch with my dad, he used to tell me: "Ok, get ready for a Nolan Ryan fastball" & he'd wind up & uncork a throw with just a little more mustard. I was always pretty impressed with Dad's velocity.

Is there a player even remotely like Kirby Puckett today? I'd have to think about that...but what a fun player.

Some distressing news about Gary Carter. Yesterday I heard that the small tumors on Mr. Carter's brain were malignant and may be inoperable. It sounds like a difficult fight lies ahead for The Kid & certainly our thoughts are with him.

There were some early to mid-eighties O-Pee-Chee baseball & hockey cards in the binder as well.

Some of them - like this Bill Barber, were a little dinged up but still some nice stuff...and there was a Wendel Clark rookie card in there too...which here in the heart of Leaf Land, is GOLD.

A great player who would go on to grow an even greater mullet.

I think this is one of those things you'd find in your box of Honey Combs cereal.

More fun Jays stuff. In the 80's the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs issued Blue Jays team sets & they pretty much always looked the same. I hadn't seen these in quite some time & the binder of goodies had three complete sets. Good stuff.

There were a couple of pages of these, which appear to have been produced by The Sporting News in 1991.

I was a big New York Knicks guy & I hated the Bulls. Though I did like playing Nintendo's 'Jordan Vs Bird'. Also: Scottie Pippen? Pssssh. Clam it dude.

And finally, there was this. The Killer Bees! This was the only wrestling card in the binder...but no matter. It's The Killer Bees! In my youth I used to get up early every Saturday morning & either my mom or dad would take me to the rink for hockey...& after the game, I'd hustle to get the equipment off so I could be home in time to watch wrestling at noon.

At any rate...unexpected, free cards!
Thanks to Rob.

All I need.

2011-05-19T17:35:00.003-04:00

Just got home from work & from buying 2 packs of Bowman. With these two cards in hand I don't really need to buy anymore - aside from picking up singles of the Jays cards. I'm glad I plucked these two right away because I spent far too much on Bowman last year...trying (and completely failing) to win the Strasburg Lottery.

I like rookie cards quite a bit. I love following all the various MLB mock drafts & all that sort of goodness...and Bowman does a nice job with the actual rookie cards. But those base cards? Yeesh. They leave me cold.

See ya in another year or so Harper.
Roy looks forward to striking your ass out!

Wow.

2011-05-15T17:09:00.001-04:00

This guy is a madman. I don't know what else to say.

Jays n' Gypsies.

2011-05-13T13:59:00.017-04:00

I recently took part in a group break hosted by Sam at The Daily Dimwit. The break consisted of two boxes of Gypsy Queen, a box of 2002 UD MVP, a box of 2006 Ovation and a box of 2006 Artifacts Pretty enticing stuff for a very reasonable cost.

I got my loot the other day & here's a wee sampling.

Here are two of the 02' UD MVP cards I got. Carp obviously went on to star with the Cardinals & Reed Johnson...well, Reed Johnson was a good player who wore his socks high & was gritty. And thus a fan fave.

I like these Ovation cards. Pretty nifty design without being crowded or over-done. One of my local haunts has a box for super cheap...so...who knows.

An Ovation insert. With the departure of Vernon Wells, Jason Frasor is now the most tenured Blue Jay, having been here since 2004. I like Frasor well enough - but when he takes 'Center Stage' there's a whole lot of deep breaths, walks around the mound, exhales & umpteen meetings with whomever is catching that day. If I were stage manger, I'd have an over-sized cane on standby when Frasor trots into a game.

Before tearing into the Gypsy Queen portion of the break, Sam produced what he called a: 'Dimwit Value Pack' for good measure. Every team got one bonus card & mine was this Fleer 'Year In Review' of Roy Halladay. Love it.

Doug's kid. I also got the mini version of the 'Future Stars' card. If Kyle could just cut down on the walks we'd have something...cuz right now he leads the modern world in unintentional passes. Locate the fastball my son!

Is it safe to say Bautista is for real? Dude is having tremendous at bats so far this season. I was howling the other night at the deal that made him a Jay. He was traded for This Guy.

Aaron Hill on the other hand continues to have miserable at bats. Give me the 2009 version of this guy please & thank you.

The front end of the rotation. I really like the Morrow card. Which after close inspection appears to be a short print.

Hiyo! Prior to this Cecil card I only had one on-card Blue Jays auto - so naturally I was happy to get this for the collection. I hadn't had much luck in recent group breaks so it was definitely nice to get a Gypsy Queen hit.

Thanks to Sam for organizing the break. I enjoyed it & am very pleased with the haul.

Blogger - BEHAVE!

Happy Mother's Day. Happy Blog Day.

2011-05-08T10:19:00.006-04:00

First, I'd like to say Happy Mothers Day to my mom & to all the great mom's out there. This weekend is definitely all about my mom, who also had a birthday on Friday. I called her that evening after work & we had a super nice conversation. Such an incredible woman! Unfortunately my mom & my entire family live very far away, so I'm not able to be there today...hopefully we'll make it out for a visit this summer.

Who else had a birthday? This very blog! Yesterday the blog celebrated (ok, as much as a blog can actually celebrate) 2 years of being a blog. I'd hoped to make some sort of post yesterday but y'know...time constraints being what they are.

...And hey! Did you see the Jays get no-hit yesterday? I did. A little frustrating to see your team shut down like that but with a guy like Verlander it's not so bad. He's obviously got some monster stuff. Hats off to him.

Let's look at some cards.

I picked up these two Green Refractors the other day. Still lots of work to do to finish this years Heritage. If anyone can help...give me a shout.

I saw this card for the 1st time while visiting the Night Owl and snagged it for myself at a local shop. I agree with Greg's assessment - Candidate for Card of the Year.

Of the two packs of Gypsy Queen that I've bought - this is probably my favourite. The Hawk, looking every bit as badass as he was. Love it.

Hope everyone's having a good one.
...Now go call your mom!

Trade with Community Gum. We all win.

2011-05-01T11:09:00.011-04:00

I think just about everyone loves getting on-card autos...Amiright? Especially when the subject is a favourite player or on a favourite team. Andy over at the great Community Gum has been amassing an impressive collection of on-card autos for his team - the exciting, youthful &...surging(!) Royals. When I first noticed his 'Recent Royals' posts, I wanted to help out & send him the framed T-206 mini auto I had of Kila Ka'aihue.

In exchange, Andy was kind enough to send me an assortment of Blue Jays and a card of some guy who threw another complete game yesterday. Let's take a look.

In the expansion draft of 1976 Doug Ault became a Blue Jay. On a snowy April 7th day the following year he was a hero. In the teams first ever Opening day, Ault clubbed two homeruns in a 9-5 victory & cemented his place in team history.

There was a truly impressive assortment of early to mid-eighties Jays in Andy's package. I only had only a couple of 81' Fleer cards before & now I'm loaded up! Love the Bobby Mattick & Roy Howell cards.

I'm always an advocate for beards & moustaches. I like to imagine myself in one of those 'Just For Men' ads with Walt Frazier & Keith Hernandez...rightfully taking a beleaguered Emmitt Smith to task. McLaughlin & Petralli do it right on their 83' Fleer cards.

The slew of 85' Fleer cards in the package got me a lot closer to finishing off the the Jays team set. A resounding 'huzzah' to that.

Rookie card of Prince's dad. Also large and also a hitter of mammoth home runs. Holy smokes.

Joe hit a home run or two in his time. Including that one off a guy in my previous post. I've always liked the D. Perez Diamond Kings & this is one I didn't have.

Ok. Last card:

Whoa. This is so great! Wow. Andy's package made me very happy but seeing this Halladay was a little overwhelming. An All-Star relic of my favourite player. Thanks so much Andy!

Just a tremendous and generous package of cards. Best of luck with the on-card Royals autos. I'll certainly keep you in mind if I come across any others.

Bike Spoke Fodder.

2011-04-28T19:35:00.018-04:00

This morning I found something curious at my work desk. A single pack of 1991 Upper Deck. Hmm. What could this be about? I set it aside waiting to hear an explanation. Soon enough a co-worker came by & sheepishly confessed that the lone pack was an apology of sorts. You see, there's been a contentious & hotly contested battle raging at my workplace. More specifically - a hockey pool. After a full seasons worth of trash talk & embarrassing workplace bravado, I came out on top. I am the best at meaningless contests!

The pack of 91' Upper Deck? Yeah, I guess my work pal felt he'd maybe taken the trash talk too far. Part apology, part congrats on winning. I'll take it.

Card one. Mitch Williams. As a Jays fan... thanks.

In 1991 a friend of mine liked the A's. He liked Rickey Henderson & the Bash Brothers & that was ok even though I hated the A's. Not long after that, the Braves emerged & my friend became a fan of that team. Ron Gant, Deion Sanders & Tom Glavine. Now...apparently my pal is a Cubs fan. So weird. I don't get it.

Woulda been a lot cooler if you'd been a Chris Sabo card.

This is more like it. Absolutely tremendous pitcher. And bunting!

Gotta like the Cal Ripken Sr cameo.

I still have nightmares from pulling waaaay too many Gerald Perry, Kevin Bass and Garry Templeton cards in my youth.
I sense this pack has taken a regrettable turn.

To the Twins: Dave West, Rick Aguilera, Tim Drummond & Kevin Tapani.
To the Mets: Frank Viola
......Hard to believe there's still five more cards left.

I can't ride my bike right now because the back spokes are in the realm of the....destroyed. That's a good thing for you Mr. Reimer. Eric Show sez: "Don't be creepin' up on me like that".

There's something very awkward about this.

This is better. Mr. Bell appears to be a good sport & is just going with it.

With this P. Bradley card we can put this pack & post to a merciful end. After scanning the first four or five cards I very nearly pulled the plug. So incredibly tedious, so my heartfelt apologies! I swear I'll never win another hockey pool if this is the price to pay!

Heritage Needs.

2011-04-23T19:11:00.031-04:00

So here it is. My first go at completing a Heritage set. With all the short prints it's bound to be a somewhat long & arduous process...but I'm ready! And as always, I'm more than happy to trade for any of the cards listed below.

Cards in Blue are cards that are pending in a trade.

428, 429, 431, 433, 435, 441, 443, 446, 447, 450, 454, 455, 456, 458, 460, 461, 462, 463, 467, 469, 471, 474, 479, 481, 482, 484, 488, 490, 493, 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 500

Need Checklists:
5

Duplicates available for trade (#'s in blue are spoken for):

6(x2), 12, 33, 47, 51, 56, 59, 61, 69, 94, 101, 125, 127(x2), 154, 174, 189, 199(x2), 233, 269, 276, 279, 291, 296, 307, 311, 334(x2) 341, 346, 381(x2), 395, 404, 410,
Checklists: 2 & 3

That time you hit 4 homeruns in a game....that was pretty cool.

2011-04-14T20:18:00.007-04:00

That's a big, big smile & an absolutely HUGE...HUGE bat.

Carlos was a Blue Jay for twelve of his seventeen major league seasons & has retired after a prolonged rehabilitation of...well, what seemed like a million different ailments. He retires with some mighty offensive numbers: 473 HR / .280 BA / 1512 RBI's / 2038 hits / .383 OBP / .929 OPS. He's the All-Time leader in many offensive categories for the Blue Jays - leading in runs scored (889), doubles (343), home runs (336), RBIs (1,058), walks (827) and strikeouts (1,242). Pretty gaudy stuff.

While I have a hard time imagining any sort of HOF call for Delgado, Carlos is sure to be honoured on the Level Of Excellence at the Dome, where his name & #25 will be alongside the likes of Stieb, Alomar & Carter.

Best of luck with your retirement Carlos! You were pretty awesome.

Box o' Heritage (Wood Panelled Basements & Other Assorted Tales).

2011-04-09T17:44:00.016-04:00

I've been humming and hawing about whether or not to commit to this years Heritage. I've been picking up packs here & there but today I decided to take the plunge...we're all in! Part of my reasoning is that I'm a measly one card short of finishing another set - the 09' T-206 set. Given how ridiculously close I am to wrapping that up, I feel good about taking this on. Put me in coach!

I took my first big cut today in the form of a full box. Here's how it all went down.

First up, we have King Felix...and his Dirty Money.

50th Anniversary Buy-Back card of L.A. Angels shortstop Joe Koppe. I watched the Halos / Jays game last night. I kinda wish the Halos would stick with the 80's throwback uni's they were wearing. So nice.

I got two Baseball Flash Back cards.
#BF-4 Robin Roberts & #BF-Frank Robinson

Two News Flash Backs.
#NF-2 Glenn Orbiting Earth
#NF-7 Mariner 2 Encountering Venus

Holy Outer Space!!!

Here comes the Chrome. I got...the four chrome cards you see (two Metropolitans!) - the Lucas Duda being a refractor.

1 New Age Performer card. One big man...one large pair of pants.

Then And Now Bob Gibson & Jered Weaver # TN-7.

The box had seven of the Babe Ruth Special cards. Yankee or not, I don't ever mind getting cards of The Babe.

Now for those dastardly Short Prints. The box I got had eight SP's.

#426 Brent Morel
#436 Jose Reyes
#442 Kevin Gregg
#445 Prince Fielder
#475 Felix Hernandez (Sporting News AS)

# 487 Drew Stubbs.

I like the look on Drew's face here. I also am a big fan of Mr. Red there on the jersey sleeve. Wait, is that the mascots name? Mr. Red? Either way, easily one of the best looking mascots.

#489 Brandon "The Hot Jay" Morrow.

Sandi's likes this guy. A lot. Hopefully Brandon's second rehab start goes better than his first. Still love the trade that made Morrow a Jay.

#499 Rookie Parade Infielders feat. Viciedo / Donald / Tolleson / Moreland

And here comes The Hit:

Boom! Two young guys that I genuinely like & that are certain to be battling one another head to head for a long time. Nice card.

All in all I'm fairly pleased with the box. It was actually a little better than I expected - in part because of the stamp card but overall, I felt like I got good value. I've always liked the 1962 design so this years Heritage was always going to have an appeal.

Sometime this week I'm going to figure out exactly what I need for the set & post my needs. It's going to be a long slog to finish this...but...I'M READY TO FIGHT!

Kids All Right

2011-04-02T18:42:00.005-04:00

"It was a cutter, I think, I don't know. That's how nasty [Drabek] was today. I just saw the ball and reacted. Thank God we didn't get no-hit today."
-Denard Span

Congrats to Young Drabek on career victory #1 today. 7 innings pitched, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts. All & all a pretty solid line.

"Impressive. Most Impressive. But you are not a Jedi yet."
-Darth Vader

Kind of amusing graphic from today's game. Kyle's a chip off the ol' block...or something. I hope there are many more victories in the kid's arm!

Quick One Card Post

2011-03-21T19:18:00.005-04:00

I'd never really bothered with buying cards on eBay until just recently. Not sure why I'd avoided the 'bay but no matter...I caved / got sucked in, whatever. I tried to win this card a couple of times but failed in my valiant attempts. The card appeared again & I threw up another bid expecting a bloody fight to the finish. No battle ensued & I got the card for a lot cheaper than the others I'd seen. Patience pays! The card arrived today & it's a real beaut'. Life is generally good.

Quick One Pack Post.

2011-03-18T22:38:00.014-04:00

Seeing all the posts & images of Heritage with no clue as to when they'd magically appear at my local shop had me feeling a little jittery. Like three cups of coffee jittery. Two cups & I'm right where I need to be...but you don't wanna see me on cup three.

I swung by one of the shops today & left with a few packs of wood grain goodness. Here's the 1st pack I opened.

One of Sandi's faves. One of mine too. Did anyone else catch the crazy ass video of the cab driver Lincecum lookalike? It's HERE.

The California / Anaheims of Angels. Angels fans probably hate when people riff on that. Or maybe not. Either way, team cards are cool.

Former Brewers prospect sent to KC in the Greinke trade. This guy might get along with that Lincecum fellow. If Jeffress gets caught once more for marijuana - he's in serious trouble. Like, out of baseball trouble. Keep it clean Jeremy!

Local boy makes good. I like the way the relics look in this set. Good job Topps.

Whaaaaat happened to you????

This would be a pretty sweet pack if I were a Reds fan. It'll be interesting to see what Chapman does this year. One of the things I remember most about last years playoffs (besides Doc's no-no of course) was Chapman coming into a game against the Phils with the lead. Aroldis looked unhittable for the 1st couple of batters - blazing fastballs & leaving hitters hapless. But then it all went haywire. A couple of costly fielding errors, a bloop hit & the Reds lost with Chapman taking the loss. Weird.

Is this the year the O's finally climb out of the cellar? I've predicted it the last couple of years & was wrong the last couple of years. So many good young players.

Success! Toronto's own mohawk sporting, big game hunting, hockey loving lefty. I like that Brett is rocking the actual Blue Jay hat & not that dreadful 'T' hat.

I like this years Heritage. I was pretty sure I would. I'm still into retro sets...though admittedly, last years Heritage did nothing for me. So....yeah! I'm sure I'll snap up some more of these soon.

Never Rub Another Man's Rhubarb.

2011-03-16T21:55:00.016-04:00

Back in 1989, The Joker imparted those words in the Batman movie & that summer, when I was thirteen - it might have been the funniest thing I'd heard.

We're still relatively early out of the gates in 2011 but thus far it's been 'The Year Of The Trade' at P.O.M. A couple of months ago I was contacted by David (AKA Rhubarb Runner) at the excellent Twins Blog é rayhahn, rayhahn. Prior to our correspondence, I didn't know of any Twins bloggers - so I was more than happy to trade my excess Twins for some irksome Blue Birds that had over stayed their welcome (& stopped paying rent) with David.

Here's a sampling of the many Blue Jays that headed North.

Doug's kid. So much purple goodness here. I love it. I've got the regular version of this, the gold version & now this fancy purple one. Next, I'm gonna try to round up the Blue & Green. It's just the right thing to do.

John Jr's old man. Original John played five seasons with the Jays & was one of the few sluggers the Blue Jays had in early days. This cartoon pretty much rules.

There is a real dearth of Jays relics & autos in my collection, so this is a very welcome addition. And: Pssst! Aaron - you better have a better year this year!

David filled another void in my collection - 2002 Topps. I had...I think two Jays cards from 02' Topps prior to the trade but David was kind enough to send me the whole team. Awesome! Not awesome = Buck Martinez managed the team you see pictured. What was that all about?!?!

The Big Hurt was a Blue Jay. What was that all about!?!? Thankfully Upper Deck Documented it cuz otherwise...I dunno.

I really dig the photo Fleer used here. Fullmer looks like a fairly strong human being.

Another fine shot by Fleer of a player following through on his swing.

Another Jays relic. Whoa. Thanks so much for the trade David, really loved all the stuff you sent!

Future Men/Man.

2011-03-13T19:26:00.009-04:00

This is the man/child The Blue Jays traded Shaun Marcum for. Being somewhat of a prospect hound, I knew a little about Lawrie prior to his acquisition. In his draft year I'd hoped the Jays would select him with the #17 pick, but those irksome Brewers nabbed him at #16. Knaves! At the World Baseball Classic in 2009, Lawrie came in to pitch run for Joey Votto in the ninth inning VS the USA. A game played in Toronto and a game I happened to be at. While it was sad to see Shaun traded, I'm happy the team finally got the guy they coveted.

Brett has opened some eyes this spring. He's accorded himself very well with the bat (not entirely a surprise) but has also gotten good reviews at his new position, third base. New manager John Farrell has let his feelings be known:

"“He’s been doing everything we hoped for and possibly more. He’s a good-looking kid. You look at his actions, the explosiveness, the quick-twitch type of body. Just watching him in conditioning, the way he moves, the way he runs, it’s no secret why he put up the numbers he did last year in Double-A.”

As a fan, that's exciting stuff to hear. A little over a year ago the Blue Jays farm system was in shambles, rated somewhere around #25-27 by Baseball America. This year most talent evalulators see Toronto's system in the #4-6 range. Of course, the attrition rate for prospects is high - but it's encouraging nontheless.

Lazy, rainy Saturday post.

2011-03-05T16:34:00.009-05:00

We're getting blasted with cold, wet weather today & my grandiose plans to hit the card shop are all wet. It's been raining since I woke up at 9am. Unreal. My never ending war with Mother Nature continues.

Instead of carousing outside I've been tidying up & poring over cards. Specifically, 08' Goudey. I have a fair bit more than I'd thought & I'm kicking around the notion of trying to complete the set. I'm finally about to wrap up the 09' T-206 set & may need a new challenge. I was hoping that this years Ginter or Heritage would get me fired up but the images I've seen aren't really doing it for me. Maybe that impression will change when I see them in person...but I'm kinda doubting it. Bah!

Wow, I thought I was unimpressed by this years Allen & Ginter. Corey Hart is furious! Not only does he have the indignity of sharing the same name as an 80's Canadian Pop Singer....but now A&G has soiled the bed. He's so angry right now.

I really like the mix of old & new ballplayers in this set. Solid checklist.

For some reason Al Kaline is 'One of those guys' for me. As in, his career was before my time but I'm always drawn to his cards. Kaline, Killebrew, Musial, Banks. Those guys....are The Guys.

I think This Guy is going to be a force of nature this season. Just a hunch.

I like the uni's the Phils were sporting in the 70's. The baby blue ones, not so much - but these red pinstripes were great.

I have an uncle that would play catch with me every Sunday afternoon when I was a kid. He was (& still is!) a great person. He told me that he believed I would play in the big leagues if I worked hard enough at it (I didn't!). He gave me drum lessons, hired me for summer jobs & he wore a Phillies cap just like Steve Carleton here. So...yep. I'm partial to the stylings of those 70's Phils.

Rain, rain...

5 Roy's.

2011-03-02T19:55:00.008-05:00

What's this!?? A rare mid-week post!?
Whaddya know.

I've started to slip into my old ways...posting almost exclusively on weekends. Well, we're posting today because at loooonnngggg last I received my 2nd ever purchase from COMC. I can't recall the exact date that I submitted my order - but I know it was a fair while ago & that it was actually starting to try my patience. And I'm a pretty patient guy...ask anyone!

Basically I saw few fancy Roy Halladay relics that I took a shine to. I don't normally go bonkers for relic cards but with Roy, I admit...I get a little doe eyed.

08' SP Legendary Cuts Generations w/ Gaylord Perry. A curious pairing...'here are two good pitchers from different eras!' Well, alrighty then. Of course, I still dig the card.

08' SP Legendary Cuts 'Destined For History'. Nice blue swatch. Too bad the Blue Jays sport so little blue these days. I will never understand that - bring back the early 90's uniforms damnit.

One of my absolute favourite Halladay cards is the 2009 Goodwin Champions card. It's a real beaut in my eyes & this card, along with the Gaylord Perry dual was the impetus for placing the order. I've seen this relic a million times in a million different places but it was time to actually ACQUIRE it. I don't know that I have any one 'White Whale' card - but if I had to name one it might be the on-card auto version of this.

2010 Topps Blue Back. Another card I've seen everywhere but in my binder. Welcome to the collection.

99' Bowman Scouts Choice. It's always slighty bizarre seeing Roy without that super powerful red beard of his. I feel the same way when I see pre-2005 pictures of me...sans beard. What a trip.

So yeah...there you have it. I got a few other nifty things with the order - some Shiny Kyle Drabek cards, a few 71' Topps cards I need...but like I said - Roy was The Reason. As always, if you have any cards you don't see listed in my Saint Halladay PC, please drop a line.

Happy Wednesday.

Two For Eleven.

2011-02-26T15:07:00.005-05:00

Got these two dudes in the mail yesterday from Sooz at A Cardboard Problem. Thanks Sooz! The Bautista photo is great - perfectly capturing Jose's 50th HR off Felix Hernandez.

These two players should figure prominently for the Blue Jays this season. I don't doubt Jose's 2010 but am leery of the commitment the team made to him. If he hits 25-35 Hr's this year & in subsequent years, no one will complain because that's good value. If he falls back to earth? Well, that's troubling & is what has me a bit nervous.

With Kyle, I have tempered expectations as well. He was ok in his three starts last year, looking confident & making guys flail at the curveball we'd heard so much about. The key for Kyle is going to be (surprise!) throwing strikes. Too often he pitched from behind in the count & that's when he got hurt.

Anyways, I'm listening to the Jays 1st Spring Training game on the radio now & am getting fired up for the season! Let's go Blue Jays!

The Loot.

2011-02-20T16:37:00.015-05:00

I got back a couple of hours ago from a card show. It was slightly odd. Odd because there were far more baseball cards than I'd ever seen at one of these particular shows. Hockey, hockey, hockey still rules the day but I was taken aback by not only the amount of baseball cards but by the volume of vintage stuff. I saw about a million different Mickey Mantle cards - including the vaunted 52' Topps card, a big mitt full of T-206 cards...and a bunch of other stuff that I was kinda blown away by.

At any rate, I circled the tables many times over & felt completley unable to make any decisions.

Well, this wasn't a particularly difficult decision.

And you can't really go wrong with Al Kaline or 75' Topps.

These 'Buc Belters' look thoroughly unimpressed. I imagine there's some tedium involved in posing for shots like this. Stargell is definitely giving the photographer dead-eye.

Don Mossi cards always look kind of awesome. Those ears of his are something to behold.

71' Topps Coins checklist!

Flava Flaaaavvv! More dastardly checklists. How...completely administrative & unexciting. It might take me an entire lifetime to complete the 71' set - but with these being in fairly good shape & being on the cheap, well....here they are.

And here's another to feed the 71' Beast.

As I was winding my way past the tables one last time I felt that I needed something or someone fun, so I grabbed this Timmeh. He's all about the good times & I can get behind that.

More fun. I bought a pack of Alf cards. The Alien Life Form has been somewhat of a theme in my house this week. Alf was pretty much the only thing I could draw somewhat well in my youth. I'll still occasionally draw one (or fifty) for Sandi's amusement...like I did here:

85 Donruss Action All-Stars.

2011-02-17T21:29:00.011-05:00

It's been a quiet week here at P.O.M. HQ. Lots going on but very little cardboarding. That should change fairly soon because there's a cardshow happening on Sunday & for once I'm gonna be able to make it. Annndd I might have a few more bucks than usual to my name. Huzzah! I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the show isn't 99.4% hockey cards.

I did drop by the card shop today after work. I didn't get much but did manage to pick up a pack of 85' Donruss Action All-Stars. 85' Donruss is one of my favourite Donruss sets...even though there's something really...tech about it. The Action All-Stars set isn't wildly different despite it's postcard size.

Here are the five cards from the pack:

First card - Kent Hrbek.

Jim Rice. I had a soft spot for the Red Sox when I was a kid. Every summer my family & I would make the agonizing ten hour drive from our New Brunswick home to Boston to visit my aunt & uncle. We'd start the drive in the middle of the night when mom & dad would carry my sister & I out to the car around 4 AM...bleary eyed & still in our pajamas. In 1986 I remember my aunt taking me to a store to buy packs of 86' Topps. I got a Pete Rose card in one of the packs & couldn't stop blathering about it for the entire trip. I mean, Pete Rose!!! In 1987 they took us to see a Sox game at Fenway, which was my very first baseball game. Here's the boxscore from that game. Oil Can Boyd had a pretty miserable game & Mr. Rice went 4 for 5.

The Goose was a guy my dad liked a lot. Well, I should say he liked the nickname. He's a Yankees fan & any Yank with a nickname & moustache seemed to fit the bill - Catfish Hunter, Goose Gossage & Donnie Baseball. Those were his guys. Cool nicknames, cool moustaches.

This guy had nickname too. I wonder what that was about. I hope Raines makes the HOF though. When the Jays weren't on TV, watching the Expos in French had to suffice. Raines was a helluva player.

The 85' Donruss Action All-Stars is a 60 card set. Jody Davis made the cut.

Diamond Gems In The Mail.

2011-02-11T20:33:00.014-05:00

Here's a Bit Of Truth for your Friday night. My favourite part of the United States is The Pacific Northwest. I've travelled all over the States but I love Washington State & surrounding environs. Such a beautiful part of the country. Oddly enough, while I really like the area - I have a completely unfair & irrational dislike for Vancouver, Canada. So...there's that.

I wrote to Larry of Emerald City Diamond Gems awhile back & offered to send him some Mariners cards. He was kind enough to send a flock of Blue Jays cards in return. Hey, the M's & Jays were expansion siblings - so we gotta get along, right?

Here's some of what Larry sent.

I'm not exactly sure when Topps stopped having two & three rookies share a card. I think they had shared RC's in the 2001 set...but my mind is drawing a blank if that was the last time.

More 79' madness. Larry really hooked me up with 79' Blue Jays. Whoa. I think he sent about twenty cards from the team set - meaning I might only need one or two more. Holy awesome!

About twenty minutes ago this guy was on my television. As I clack these keys he's at a Raptors basketball game.

Love this. I only have a handful of Jays minor league cards but Larry sent along a few of these Knoxville Blue Jays cards. Mr. Hentgen here has been hired as a bullpen instructor for the team, so he'll be in the city a lot more this season.

A Paul Molitor credit card. Accepted...everywhere.

This is one of the best Fernandez cards. When I was young and a huge fan & collector of Tony's, his cards always underwhelmed me. In fact, I was pretty sure there was a conspiracy. 87' Topps? Groan. 89' Upper Deck? Blech. 90' Topps? Terrible. This one...86' Topps? I like.

Another gem from 86'. There may have been other 'Terminator's' out there but none had goggles as fierce as Terminator Tom's. I heard Henke on the radio last week. Apparently the big Texan is being inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall Of Fame this summer.

Here is an actual, real life Canuck ballplayer(!). He is not in the Canadian Baseball HOF.

I had never seen a 98' Score card until Larry sent this.

This card is what I would call Razzle Dazzle. I worry that if I look at it too long, I might go into convulsions. I wondered what it would look like scanned & it didn't disappoint. Razzle, Dazzle!

Thanks so much for the trade Larry!

Night-time's The Right Time (to make a trade post!)

2011-02-09T20:06:00.018-05:00

I was once a Night Owl. I worked the 'Grave Yard' (11 pm to 7 am) shift many years ago at a business in my hometown. I did that shift for a couple of years & it very nearly drove me mad. Well, not really mad...but it was an interesting time to say the least & spending so much time by myself in the dead of night lead to some....ideas.

Reading the Night Owl's blog sometimes makes me think back to that slightly bizarre time when I struggled mightily with sleep patterns.

I wrote to the Night Owl near the end of 2010 & offered to send him some Dodgers cards that I thought he might like. I got a package from him the other day, chalk full of Blue Birds, so let's take a look.

Mr. Bailor has the distinction of being the very first Blue Jay. I wrote about that here. I have a couple of Bailor's cards & this one is my favourite. Something about his expression here reminds me of a crazy uncle.

Some cards, while totally great on their own, could be enhanced with a thought bubble. This card is one such card. This card is also one that I needed for the 78' team set. Yesssssss.

Again, so much love for early Diamond Kings. Donruss did a lot of wacky things in their early years but I was almost always happy to pull a DK out of a Donruss pack. This 83' design, with it's name banners & flowing, stage curtains - gives the impression that Jim Clancy was The Greatest Ballplayer Of All-Time.

My favourite ex-player. And a card I didn't have! Well, I'm pretty sure I had this when I was a kid...but it would have been the O-Pee-Chee version, where Fernandez would have been an 'arrêts-court' instead of a shortstop.

Here we have 'Buck & Tabby' - aka the Blue Jays broadcast team. These guys drive me bonkers with their Olde-School approach to the game...but man, it feels like forty below outside & I would do just about anything to hear them call a game right now. Give me baseball!

The Night Owl was kind enough to send along a slew of Shawn Green cards. I have a gaping, mid-nineties sized hole in my Jays collection - devoid of Shawn Greens, Homer Bushes & Darrin Fletchers. Mr. Green was of course a fair bit better than those other guys. Too bad he was traded to The Owl's Dodgers.

Another favourite of mine. The scan doesn't do it justice but I think this card has every colour of the rainbow on it. Why the Blue Jays ever traded John Olerud, I'll never know. I suppose it may have had something to do with The Manager at the time, who didn't much care for John's patient approach at the plate.

A pitcher with a bat! Rather, a Cy Young winning pitcher with a bat!

And here's another! Too bad this Cy Young winner is...well, y'know. He has his problems.

Lastly, here we have Joe Carter...still busting a gut over that World Series winning Home Run. Shine on you crazy diamond.

And shine on Night Owl. Thanks so much for the trade & all the excellence you sent to Canadia! So many great cards!

Trade with SewingMachineGuy - Super Bowl ED.

2011-02-06T11:07:00.019-05:00

The genesis of how I came to find this world of baseball card blogs...is hazy at best. I mean, I can barely remember ten minutes ago...but I think it might have been as pedestrian as a simple google search. I do know for certain that one of the very first blogs I tapped into was Larry's Sewing Machine Guy blog. So nearly two years later it was pretty cool to make a trade with SMG.

This trade goes back...I suppose a couple months ago (there we are again w/ that stellar memory!). Larry inquired about a Ryan Perry auto & eventually I got back to him & was happy to send it his way along with some assorted Detroit Tigers.

Well, on Friday I received his package & whoa. So great!

Let's look at some of the awesome football cards included on this Super Bowl Sunday.

Dan Marino is the reason I'm a fish fan. Well, that & a much younger version of me thought they had the coolest colours. When I was a kid I used to rank my favourite sports teams & a key component to the rankings were team colours. I liked the Dophins because of the aqua theme but also because I'd read a book about Marino & Joe Montana. It was one of those books from a catalogue you'd try to get your parents or relatives to buy from. I can't remember exactly why middle school children were asked to sell books from these catalog's but somehow I ended up with a book about Dan Marino & Joe Montana. Guessing that was in 1985. Anyways, Marino sounded like a brash, cocky kid...so...there was that.

A Michigan guy with 21 seasons in the NFL & one of the best back-up quarterbacks ever. For the longest time, he held the record as the oldest QB to win an NFL game. This card is awesome for a few reasons but ...that haircut is just so sharp you could set a watch to it.

79' Topps Bob Griese. A Hall Of Famer and longtime TV analyst who just announced his retirement from Broadcasting a few days ago. I love this era of Football cards.

A couple of Larry's from Larry. Now we just need a few Darryl's. Ok...that was bad. No more 80's television references. I promise.

This is just awesome. Thanks so much Larry! Very generous. And another Michigan connection. After progressing nicely in 2009, Henne had a disappointing year in 2010 - but things will be better next year. I mean, they have to be right??

Ok...now let's look at some of the sweet Blue Jays cards Larry sent.

Big John Mayberry. There is just so much good about those early Diamond Kings cards. When showing the package contents to Sandi, she really liked this one. Good taste!

Yep, this is a 1990 card alright. Those borders just scream Chip & Pepper to me. I remember when these came out my friends & I loved them & I can't believe I have so very few of them...& I didn't have this one.

This card is just...wow. This is the first card I have of Canseco as a Blue Jay. Looking at this monstrosity, I'm glad I wasn't watching baseball or the Jays during Canseco's time here. So freakishly vile! And he's attempting a comeback?!??? Okay guy!

An 88' Score Cecil Fielder. Love it. A couple of years ago when I started collecting again, one of the 1st things I bought was an 88' Score set for $5. This card will fit nicely into my Blue Jays binder.

Thanks so much Larry. Very generous of you & I certainly appreciate all the great cards you sent!

2011 Topps box.

2011-02-02T21:26:00.009-05:00

When I saw that one of my local shops was advertising the Triumphant Arrival of 2011 Topps, I knew what I had to do. When the clock struck noon, signifying lunch - I blazed a trail to get myself a box.

So here are...just a few things!1st pack, 1st card. A Red Sox (sock?) BOOOOOO!Second pack - my first Blue Jay & one of the dearly departed. Good luck in Pittsburgh Lyle.

So here's one of those diamond SP things. It would have been cooler to pull the Halladay version I've seen out there - but this Local Boy ain't too shabby either. I don't know what to do with this card. Maybe I'll check ebay to see if these things are actually selling.

This is more like it. What I wanted more than anything from the box was whatever Halladay & Blue Jay cards I could get.

Another one for the PC. I didn't end up getting Roy's base card...which was a bit of a bummer. It appears there are still a few Halladay's I'll have to chase. I also didn't get the Kyle Drabek card. BAH!!! Curses!

Aannnnd the box hit. Yep, That guy.

On the whole, despite not getting a couple of Halladays or the Drabek - I'm mostly pleased. I'll try to offer more analysis & critique later when I've got more time...but mostly Topps 2011 is looking good. While opening the packs, I had to stop quite a few times to really gawk at a photo. The photography seems especially strong...which, well - you'd hope for! Sadly, there are waaaaay too many inserts. I guess that's sorta par for the course these days, but really there's just a filthy amount of the things. Some, like the 'Topps 60' are kinda sweet. Others, fairly abysmal.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing more of these...and if you've got any Roy Halladay or Kyle Drabek cards - let a man know!

I saw you on the interwebs...

2011-01-27T19:18:00.003-05:00

And now, through the Miracle that is the Pony Express - you are mine.
My first Hank Aaron card.
Huzzah!

Bye Vern.

2011-01-26T19:46:00.013-05:00

Well, we've had to bid adieu & make our peace with the departure of a other tenured, franchise player.

Vernon was a 1st round Draft Pick of the team (5th overall) in 1997. At that time I was a po-faced music geek, getting high to the latest indie-rock records of the day (with a particularly unhealthy obsession with The Sea & Cake's 'Fawn'). By this time I'd long abandoned baseball & it would be quite some time before I'd know who the hell Vernon Wells was.

Fast forward to 2003 when I found myself very casually watching baseball (boy that Steve Bartman stuff was messed up!) Vernon Wells was now a big star on my childhood team & he seemed hard not to like. He mashed home runs, stole bases & could flag down any ball with ease & grace. What a player.

After another huge year in 2006 & with free agency looming, the trade winds began to blow. I remember playing a punk show 5 hours north of Toronto & hearing that the Mets might be a suitor. 'The Mets!??! Eff that! Don't let Vernon go!!!'. With the sting of Carlos Delgado's departure still fresh, ownership wanted to show fans that it could retain it's marquee players. Buuuuutt...126 million dollars??! 'Ouch...that seems like a lot ...but hey, if that's what Soriano & Zito are getting - so be it!'

What followed was a series of production sapping injuries & an increasingly sour fanbase. Vernon got hurt laying out for a ball in Cleveland in 2008 but managed to play well enough when on the field. 2009 was a nightmare. Vernon played through the entire season hurt - a fact that wasn't known until after the season. Fans rained abuse on him with every strikeout, ground out or pop out. It was ugly. Really, really ugly. At a 'Dog Day' promotion at the ballpark, a few knuckleheads saw fit to boo Vernon as he & his wife walked their dog on the field. While his woes were difficult & incredibly frustrating at times, I never understood the vitriol. Booing the local nine ain't my style.

Vernon rejuvenated his career last year, in what we dubbed the 'Year Of Wells'. He made the all-star team & his relationship with fans was on the mend. Our guy was back.

But, it was not to be. Having struck out on the Carl Crawfords & Adrian Beltre's of the world, the Halos came calling. I very nearly spat out my dinner on Friday when it was learned that it was Wells who was heading to Anaheim. I refreshed Twitter...incessantly. If you had asked me what would have been the most unlikely occurance of the Blue Jays off season - without question, a Vernon Wells trade would have topped the list.

So with some sadness we say goodbye Vernon. You were a truly great Blue Jay with so many memorable moments on the baseball field & so many lives touched with your tireless charity work in the community. Good luck to you (and Scott Downs!) in Anaheim. We'll be at the ballpark to cheer you in your return later this year.

Roy Hartsfield.

2011-01-19T18:51:00.004-05:00

Roy Hartsfield, the very first Manager for the Toronto Blue Jays - passed away on Saturday. He was Eighty-Five years old.

While any job at the highest level of your profession is an incredible & truly great accomplishment...what a crazy, insane / near impossible challenge it would be to guide an expansion franchise - comprised of...shall we say lesser talents, to respectability. Chances are pretty darned good that by the time the team gets decent, you'll have lost your job. After three difficult seasons at the helm of the expansion Jays, that's what happened.

Hartsfield was a 'baseball lifer' as they say & played second base for three seasons with the Boston Braves from 1950 through 1952. In over a thousand at-bats, Roy hit a very respectable .273 with 13 big flies & 59 runs batted in.

Here is Mr. Hartsfield's 1978 Topps card, depicting him as a player with the Braves & as a Manager with the nascent Blue Jays. I think it was a real nice touch for Topps to show the manager's cards in this way.

Roy Hartsfield, by all accounts that I've read, was a kindly & charming southern gentlemen, who loved to tell stories and make people laugh. He will be missed.

Catastrophy averted.

2011-01-17T21:48:00.007-05:00

Sometimes, things....things go wrong.

Such was the case at my house today. First - I love our new East Side digs. Of course there are good & bad things about it, but on the whole, I'm a fan. Were there a 'like' button to click, I would. The biggest negative however, is the temperature of our bathroom & bedroom downstairs. We've mentioned the chilly climes a couple of times to our landlord & it seemed that it was finally going to be addressed tomorrow...once & for all. Too bad today had to happen first! We woke up & had no water coming out of the bathroom taps. Had the pipes frozen?? We trundled off to work & emailed our landlord to let him know. Well, when we got home from work our downstairs had flooded!! Water everywhere & continuing to gush in - seemingly through the walls.

Expletive! Expletive! Panic! Expletive! Panic!

Anyways, things are calmer now. There's work to be done for the handyman & a discussion with our landlord, but all things considered, we're actually really really lucky. Sandi had a number of boxes of her band's records on the floor in our closet & I had a box of cards on the floor on my side of the bed, which also...THANKFULLY went untouched by water.

This card was in that box:

I love this card. I've actually been thinking about this card the past couple of days - so I'm very happy I still have it & all the other cards in that box. Never again will a box of cards be on the floor! Lesson Learned.

I had no idea.

2011-01-14T21:46:00.010-05:00

After some awkward warblings about all things 70's, Vida Blue & the like...I got my hands on an actual Blue card from one of the wackiest offerings of the decade - 1975 Topps.

I'd always thought of 75' Topps as being just a little too far out there for my tastes. I've been toiling with the 71' set...trying to piece that Classy As All Hell beastie together - & I'm committed to that...but I've also taken a shine to the Every Colour Of The Rainbow set.

All of the cards shown here were plucked from a binder at Ye Olde Shoppe.

Leslie doesn't ever strike me as a very tough name...but Leslie Charles Spikes doesn't give a rats you know what about that. He could probably still whip all our asses.

The beloved Ron Cey. An All-Star then & always.

#490 Reggie Smith

Pretty good collection of arms. Catfish Hunter still laying waste to opponents with that cast of lunatics from Oakland. I found out this week that Fergie Jenkins will once again be on hand in May to open up the Intercounty Baseball League season (along with Eddie Murray & Tony Oliva!). Hopefully I'll be able to meet those gentlemen.

I'll have to pick up some more of these beauts next time I'm at the shop. Most everything in the binder was in good shape & in blinding COLOUR!

Going Through Changes.

2011-01-08T10:52:00.004-05:00

'Buck, if ya wanna run with the In-Crowd you gotta change it up a little...step outside the box & all that. The whole pensive catcher with a moustache bit is getting old'.

'...Look at Roy. Now there's a guy not afraid to apply multiple squirrel's to his face'.

Bert & Robbie.

2011-01-05T22:28:00.015-05:00

Congratulations to Bert Blyleven & Roberto Alomar on their induction into the Hall Of Fame today. Two incredible players, both wildly deserving of having the highest honour in the sport bestowed upon them. About Bert...man, I'm so glad he got in. Not just for the fact that it was a long overdue acknowledgement of his greatness - but also because I might have gotten an ulcer with another round of gnashing of teeth & ten thousand word essays on his candidacy. Don't get me wrong, debate, conversation & all that are very good - but the prospect of another Year Of War between the 'SABR NERDZZZ!!!' and the 'DINOSAURZZZ'...well, how unappealing is that!?!? Regardless, at least we can all look forward to the Next Great Debate: Tim Raines! (oorrrrr...somebody else!)

As for Roberto, I'm elated he got in with such a resounding percentage. He'll be the 1st player to go in as a Blue Jay & admittedly, I've been looking forward to the day this would happen. I mean, it seems as though it won't happen again for another good, long while.

My relationship with Robbie was a begrudging one initially. The Jays gave up my two favourite players in the blockbuster & that was an awfully tough pill to swallow. At the time I was a fifteen year old baseball fanatic & I seriously contemplated switching allegiances to the Padres. I had a brand new Padres hat, stayed up late to watch Pads games on our sattellite dish & I even started a binder of Padres cards...which was sort of The Ultimate thing at the time. But my fandom of the Friars never truly took hold. I WAS a Jays fan through & through & I came to accept Alomar & Carter.

Let's look at a few more of Robbie's cards.

Hero? I dunno about that...but this is a pretty nice card of Robbie doing his thing in the field.

This *might* be my favourite Alomar card.

More fielding! I think I'd just stopped collecting by this time...so I missed out on Score's 92' offering. Colour!

I remember my dad having a fairly sizeable amount of these...but of the hockey card variety. Here we see Roberto & his shattered bat. Good action shot. It really was the Turning Point. A card depiction of Roberto's ALCS home run versus the hated Eckersley. I've written numerous times about how much I loathed the rival A's. Henderson, McGwire, Canseco & of course The fuggin' Eck. Having faced the derision of my best friend - an A's fan...this moment was just too sweet. As great as Joe Carter's homerun was, the Eckersley HR might have eclipsed it. The team had long suffered the 'choker' tag, dating back to the 85' ALCS vs the Royals (when Toronto held a 3-1 series lead before losing out), the epic collapse to the Tigers in 87' & of course the team's numerous failings to the Mighty A's in the late eighties/early nineties. So yeah...Robbie's late inning heroics in the 92' ALCS felt pretty huge.

Congrats again to Bert & Robbie!

P.O.M. PLATINUM.

2011-01-03T22:39:00.009-05:00

Welcome to P.O.M. PLATINUM!
If you aren't a Platinum Member, please turn off your computer for this posting.
Platinum Members are welcome to continue reading.
..
...
.....

Ok...are the non-Platinum Members gone?
Good.

Anyways, that was my completely lame hat-tip to The Colbert Report's: 'Colbert Platinum' segment. I suppose I'm a little excited that the show is returning tonight - well, it better be returning tonight cuz It's been far too long since I've gotten a fix of my late-night punditry.

Anyways, 1 pack of Bowman Platinum coming up.

Card #1 - Nick Markakis

Card #2 - Andrew Cashner

Card #3 - Austin Jackson

Card #4 - Shelby Miller

Card #5 - Sean Gilmartin

There we have it. One pack, five cards. I don't need to bust anymore of this stuff. I was hoping to pull a Kyle Drabek or Roy Halladay card...or any Blue Jay would've made this a success. Ah well. I'll have to get those another way, another time.

1977 - I Am Star Wars.

2010-12-30T23:14:00.006-05:00

Behold The Supreme Power of Chuck Hartenstein's 77' O-Pee-Chee card. I've been meaning to throw this card on here for awhile.

Let's take a closer look at those sweet specs Mr. Hartenstein's sporting.

Here's the Topps version of Hartenstein's 77' card. That is quite an air brush job on the cap. I haven't looked for other variations with the OPC & Topps photos but I'd guess there are quite a few more.

Yep, the more I look at this photo the more I think of my dad and photos of him from this time period. He was defintely rocking those Big ol' honkin' shades & had similar Big ol' honkin' chops.

Just looking at Baseball Reference dot com and it appears that Hartenstein was out of the Major Leagues from 1971 until 1977. In 1970 he started the year with the mighty Pirates who sent him to the Cardinals...who promptly shipped him to Boston. Hartenstein's career was pretty far from stellar to that point but was still only twenty-eight years old when he finished 1970 with the Sox. After his dalliance with The Bostons I imagine he was toiling on Minor League buses - but he didn't pitch again in The Bigs until age thirty-five when the expansion Blue Jays purchased his contract from the Padres. He pitched twenty-seven unspectacular innings for the Blue Jays & that was it for him.

And that's it for me. This beer isn't gonna drink itself.