DB Bracket: 2nd Half of the Sweet 16

Welcome to the second post of our Dime Box Bracket. Today we have the other half of the bracket to think about. Again, thanks to Nick for providing the cards in this post.

Here's another view of the original bracket.

Please leave a comment with your votes below, which only needs to include the player name. Remember, each time you vote you'll gain an entry for a PWE of cards.

The Round of 16 (part II)

Match-up #5

#2 seed - 2020 Topps S1 Turkey Red, Willson Contreras, #TR-19

vs. 

#15 seed - 2019 Topps Flagship Perennial All-Stars Insert, Ernie Banks, #PAS-25

 Commentary: My phone did some weird things to border of the Turkey Red card. But, oh my goodness, the blues and yellows of that card are just too much for me. It's my early favorite for card of the year. The Perennial All-Stars insert concept is nice, but once more, I'm worn out on Topps inserts.

Match-up #6

#7 seed - 2019 Archives Topps Magazine Insert, Anthony Rizzo, #TM-12

vs. 

#10 seed - 1985 Topps Tiffany, Gary Matthews, #210

Commentary: I was just ragging on Topps and all of their inserts, but I really dug Topps Magazine and was glad they went to back to the well on this one. And how about that Topps Tiffany? The front is all glossied up and the back is a shade of lime green that one could expect from a Tiffany card. Plus, bonus points for it being a card of Sarge. I'd say that is a very solid offering for a #10 seed. Nick's PWEs really pack a punch!

Match up #7

#3 seed - 2013 Panini Cooperstown International Play Insert, Fergie Jenkins, #6

vs. 

#14 seed - 2018 Topps Pro Debut, Adbert Alzolay, #70

Commentary: Panini Cooperstown is one of my favorite sets from the last decade and this is an insert of a Hall of Famer I had never laid eyes on before. Adbert Alzolay is the latest and greatest Cubs pitching prospect. Well, we all know how that has gone lately.


Match up #8

#6 seed - 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites, Andre Dawson, #36

vs. 

#11 seed - 2017 Archives Bazooka Insert, Kris Bryant, #59B-15

 Commentary: The All-Time Fan Favorites set is chocked full of great players and this Dawson card is a beauty. The Bryant, another insert, pays tribute to the 1959 Bazooka minis. Nice, but I'm personally kind of down on Bryant right now, thus the lower seed.  Could this be an upset in the making?

Alright, get to voting in the comment section below. Voting will close when the next post goes up in two days.
Thanks again for playing along!

DB Bracket: 1st Half of the Sweet 16

Welcome to the first four match-ups of our Dime Box Bracket. Again, thanks to Nick for providing the cards in this post, which miraculously all came via one cram-packed PWE.

Here's another view of the bracket.

Please leave a comment with your votes below, which only needs to include the player name. Remember, each time you vote you'll gain an entry for a PWE of cards.

The Round of 16

Match-up #1

#1 seed - 1981 Topps Baseball Scratch-Off, Dave Kingman, #69

vs.

#16 seed - 2018 Topps Throwback Jerseys Flagship Insert, Anthony Rizzo, #S-49

Commentary: Kong may have very well hit the longest homer in Wrigley Field history. Additionally, it's a nearly 40-year-old odd ball!  The Rizzo... well, I love Rizzo, but I'm tired of all the numerous Topps inserts.


Match-up #2

#8 seed - 1970 O-Pee-Chee, Ken Holtzman, #505

vs.

#9 seed - 1981 TCMA The 1960's, Billy Williams, #402

Commentary: How about this for an #8/#9 match up? I don't want to sway the voters so I'll keep my mouth shut.


Match up #3

#4 seed - 1996 Topps Gallery, Brooks Kieschnick, #135

vs.

#13 seed - 2020 Topps Sticker Promotion from Opening Day, Javy Baez, SP-2

Commentary: I needed this one for the Kieschnick player collection, which is my 99th different card of the former #1 draft pick. I didn't know the Gallery brand ever produced non-portrait like cards, but I really dig the batting cage photo. I'm a big fan of Topps stickers, but I wish they kept to the smaller size. The sticker design this year is better than previous editions in my opinion.


Match up #4

#5 seed - 2019 Topps Holiday, Willson Contreras, #HW64

vs.

#12 seed - 2016 Topps Stickers, Kyle Schwarber (RC), #200

 Commentary: I love-love-love Willson's catcher's gear and how about that sparkly holiday parallel? The Schwarber is more of the mini/traditional sized Topps sticker and it's sporting the RC logo. Definitely better than the Baez sticker, but is it enough to take out Contreras?

Alright, leave your votes in the comment section below. Voting will close when the next post goes up in two days.
Thanks for playing along!

A Bracket, Sponsored by Dime Boxes

I've been sitting on this PWE of awesomeness for about five days now and I've finally reached an idea on how to post the 18 cards, which hopefully will do them justice.

Nick, he of Dime Boxes lore, authors one of my favorite blogs. In fact, I've started my own "Folder of Fun" which is a knock-off version of his wonderful Frankensets. Maybe someday I'll get around to posting the pages, but that's another blog post for another month. In the meantime, I think creating a bracket, in a vein similar to Nick's, is the best way to go.

You might be thinking, "How does one fit eighteen of anything into a bracket?"  Well, if you're a nerdy math teacher who is hung up on symmetry, then you don't.

These two cards, which would be the only duplicate additions to my collect, will not be entered in the bracket.

 These will go out as part of a prize package at the end of the tournament, along with some other cards in a PWE. Once the contest starts, post a comment with your winners for that round. Each participant will be given one entry per post. Feel free to expound on your ballot if you choose! Only one entry, per person, per each of the five posts.

Here's a quick screenshot of the contestants in our 16-card bracket. The details of the cards have been removed to keep the intrigue intact.

Each of the quadrants represents a "division" the Cubs have played in over the years. At first it was just the AL and NL, but then the NL East came to be with the expansion in 1969. You remember those times when Atlanta was in the NL West?  Weird. Then the Cubs were part of the newly formed NL Central in 1994 when the wildcard was added. I needed a fourth and because it feels like we're still stuck in Spring Training the "Cactus" bracket made sense.

This should be a fun little exercise. The seeding is based upon my favorite cards in the PWE. Dave Kingman gets the highest seed because it's one of the oldest "cards" and simply stated it is the bee's knees. Ernie Banks and Anthony Rizzo are bringing up the rear? Crazy, I know.

Look for a post tomorrow which will spotlight the four match-ups on the left side of the bracket. Leave a comment with your four winners in the comment section. I think two days between posts should be plenty and then we'll knock out the right side of the bracket. Two more days down the road and I'll post the Elite Eight, then the Final Four, and then somewhere around the latter half of next week we'll have a champion.

I hope you enjoy this mini-series. Thanks for stopping by!

Realignment and Stickers

This week Major League Baseball has been throwing ideas at the wall and trying to see what sticks.

Their latest and greatest proposal involves a Grapefruit League, a Cactus League and the universal DH. 

Honestly, it's exciting to think about.

• It's set up so the Cubs could play the Cardinals in the World Series! 
• Which NL team has a roster best suited to add a ninth bat to the lineup? 
• How will the baseball play in Arizona and Florida? The air is so dry and hot in Arizona, yet so muggy in Florida. 
• With teams playing seven or eight games a week (doubleheaders) in the heat, does this give advantage to teams with a younger overall roster?  

So many questions!

Oh, and those divisions, which are based on their geographic location in each league, are crazy!

How about the Nationals and Astros in the same division?

Is the weakest division the Northwest? I was picking the Brew Crew to finish 3rd in the NL Central and they might be the best of the lot.

I thought the Reds and White Sox both could have challenged for division crowns in the NL and AL Central, because they both made some impressive acquisitions over the winter. Now they have to contend with the Indians (still a contender in my book), the Angels (don't count out a team with Trout and Rendon in a shortened season) and the DODGERS.  Good grief!

Radical realignment, no fans, the DH and all the baseball games coming from two states. Wow!

Here's a question: Would MLB.tv still black out your local team's games in 2020? Surely not. Right?

Again, it's all just a proposal, and supposedly it's one of many the MLB brain trust is considering.

Time for a card sticker!

Sticker #86, from the 2020 Topps Sticker set, is of the Vogelmonster! 

The backside is of some dude who is a fourth of Vogelbach's size. The 2019 MVP doesn't even know how to properly fill out a uniform. So, nope, I'm not showing off the back. Dodger fans, you'll have to deal.

Stay safe everyone and cross your fingers that we'll have some form of baseball in 2020.

Adding a Ryno RC to the PC

Rod, of Padrographs lore, and I have both been blogging for quite sometime. Yet, this is our first trade. I'm not sure why it took so long, but here we are.

I sent off a couple of cards for his Autograph Frankenset and in exchange he sent a new Ryne Sandberg my way.

 This is one thick card! The manurelic-RC logo medallion is pretty cool though.

This card puts me one more closer to the 1,000 mark, 958 unique Rynos to be more specific.

Thanks for the quick and easy trade, Rod!

I've got one picture I'd like to share of my stay-at-home work station.

Cats. So very helpful. (Is there a sarcasm font I don't know about?)

Stay safe, everyone!