What's Your Favorite Series?

I just finished up writing the 35th installment of Hall of Fame Binder series for this Wednesday. This project has been way more fun than any adult should probably have. First there was building a checklist of players, which involved a spreadsheet . . . and I love spreadsheets. Then there was hunt. Who doesn't love tracking down cards of Hall of fame players? I spent a couple of years building my binder before I finally decided to start crafting posts. The posts, themselves, have been fun to write and quite educational.

Then I started thinking . . . what is my favorite series to read? There are some very creative and talented bloggers out there. What series do you consistently look forward to reading?

I think one of my favorites is ARPSmith's "Just for the "F" of it" series. He doesn't add to the series all that often, but he's featured some interesting cards of Joey Chestnut, Lyle Alzado, Chris Mullin and most recently Rick Dempsey. I always like to see what other cool cards bloggers add to their collections even though they may not fit a specific collection.

Speaking of ARPSmith, Adam showed off a Javy Baez on his blog awhile back and I reached out to check on it's availability. 

As you can probably surmise, it was a available!  I now have two copies of this card: one for the Cubs box and one for my Baez binder. Woo-Hoo!

 Adam also included a three-fifths of the 1992 Topps Kids Cubs team set.

I'll have to check my collection and see if I have the Grace and Dunston. 

Warren G throwing out a first pitch is cool, but a sparkly Dexter Fowler from Topps Chrome takes the cake!

Here's a couple of early 90s Ryno cards to help bolster my Cubs boxes.

Here's my favorite card from the batch.

 Cole Roederer was the Cubs' second round pick in 2018. He struggled a bit this past year in Low-A with South Bend, but I like his skill set and I look forward to seeing him take a step forward next year.

Thanks for the Baez and the extra Cubs, Adam!

Ogle that Vogel: 30-Homer Edition

Daniel Vogelbach has walloped thirty home runs. Click here to watch the video courtesy of MLB. When I started seeking out his cards shortly after he was drafted in 2011 I dreamed of this day.

I'm pretty giddy right now.

To celebrate, let's show off another one of my most recent Vogey purchases.

When I initially heard about Topps Total making a comeback I was just as jazzed as most collectors, especially the set builders. It's unfortunate the way Topps has packed this out. Regardless, Total has given me a couple more Vogelbach cards this year, including this low-numbered, red parallel.

I also find it odd Topps photo-shopped out the sparks of fire, smoke, and the residual baseball shrapnel you see when The Vogelmonster's bat makes contact with a baseball. Odd.

Congratulations to my favorite baseball player!

HOF Binder: Page 34

Only six cards this week as the markers for the election years take up a third of the page. I, for one, really like how the markers make it super easy to track down players and HOF induction classes. Thanks again to Wrigley Wax for making such a great contribution to my project.

1992 Fleer, #711 -- Cal Ripken, Jr.

 I figure most of you are familiar enough with Cal Ripken, Jr.  After the strike shortened season in 1994, Ripken's consecutive games played streak put baseball back on the map. Ripken debuted in 1981, won the Rookie of the Year award in 1982, and then was an All-Star for the next nineteen seasons until her retired. Sprinkle in two MVP awards, to All-Star MVPS, two Gold Gloves, eight Silver Sluggers, 3,000+ hits, 400+ homers and a World Series title in 1983 and you've got a player who did it all.


2018 Gavin's Neglected Hall of Famer Custom Set, #3 -- Barney Dreyfuss

 Hmmm... I don't think I meant include Barney Dreyfuss in my HOF (Players) Binder. There are a number of executives and other contributors enshrined in Cooperstown, and I guess if I had to accidentally include one of them, then Dreyfuss would certainly be worth the pick. He's credited as one of the "Founding Fathers" of the World Series and installing the first upper deck, at Forbes Field.

1985 Topps, #90 -- Rich "Goose" Gossage

 Goose Gossage was one of the great early closers in our game. He was a Rolaids Relief Man and he lead the league in saves twice on the way to earning 301 saves overall. Gossage played twenty-two years and pitched for nine different franchises. He was a nine time All-Star and helped the Yankees to a World Series title in 1978. If you think Gossage enjoyed life as a closer, then you should compare his 1976 stat line as a starter with the White Sox and to how effective he was a closer with the Pirates the very next year. Night and Day difference!

2000 Upper Deck - Yankees Legends, #22 -- Joe Gordon

 Joe Gordon won five World Series with the Yankees during his eleven year career. He missed two years in the middle of his prime playing days due to military service during World War II. Gordon was a power hitting second baseman (253 home runs) who was an All-Star selection nine times and the AL MVP in 1942.

1982 Donruss, #113 -- Rickey Henderson

 Has there ever been more of an explosive runner than Rickey Henderson? He is to stolen bases (1,406 career steals) as Nolan Ryan is to strikeouts. Both will own those records forever. Henderson was a career 0.279 hitter, and he offered pop (297 homers) and plenty of patience (0.401 OBP) to be perhaps the greatest lead-off hitter of all-time. He won a pair of World Series titles, an MVP in 1990 with the A's, a Gold Glove, three Silver Sluggers, and he was elected to ten All-Star games. Plus, he had oodles of personality!

1978 Topps, #670 -- Jim Rice

Jim Rice played all sixteen years of his career patrolling Fenway Park for the Red Sox. He was an All-Star in half of his seasons, led the league in home runs three time, and he won two Silver Sluggers and the MVP award in 1978. Rice hit 382 homers and batted 0.298 during his career.

Card of the page? That's an easy one for me . . . how about that 1978 Topps card of a laughing Jim Rice? Most excellent!  Although, the Ripken card is a close second.

Overall, it's a solid page, but I'm leaning toward taking Dreyfuss out, which would move The Hawk to the final card slot of this page. I wanted to keep the binder player focused, because they are what makes the game go. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by and reading along!

Dyersville Card Show Team of Dreams Event

Maybe you recognize the town of Dyersville and maybe you don't. For the uninitiated, Dyersville is home to the Field of Dreams movie site. I believe this was the 4th annual "Team of Dreams" event and the local card collecting community has jumped on board by scheduling a show the morning of the main event.

This year the event was able to secure a few notable baseball names plus some cast members from A League of Their Own and The Sandlot to speak, sign autographs (very pricey!) and play in a celebrity softball game.

About two weeks ago I asked my buddy Jim (far left) if he'd like to go on a baseball themed road trip on the first day of September. He responded with an enthusiastic, "Yes!"

Oddly enough, when we arrived we parked right next to another one of our friends, Craig (center), who was enjoying a similar trip with his girlfriend. We had no idea he was going to be there, but it was really great to hang with him for a bit!  If you look above the cars in the picture you'll see the farm house from the movie.

Here's a better shot of it:

The field was in top form. I was afraid the grass would be brown, because of the dry weather we've had most of the summer. The corn was at optimal height, which was also a concern because of the really wet spring we experienced. 

Bleachers were brought in, but many people brought their own lawn chair. All kinds of people were enjoying a "catch" on the field before the festivities began.

At 4:30 a Q&A session was held with Mike Boddicker (an Iowa native) and David Ross. I ponied up for the good seats near one of the dugouts so we would have a good view of the interview and the celebrity softball game. Ross talked quite a bit about the 2016 team, the World Series, his role as an announcer for Sunday Night Baseball and his time on Dancing with the Stars. Boddicker did a nice job, too, although I was pretty unfamiliar with him until this time.

 Earlier in the day there were autograph opportunities, a silent auction, and couple of sports vendors selling their wares. I picked up this Josh Gibson bobblehead from the same dealer Henry visited at The National.

The vendor was very friendly and was impressed how Jim knew about how Hank Aaron used to bat with his right hand below his left. For what it's worth, Jim purchased the Hank Aaron bobblehead featuring this awkward bat grip.

After the Q&A session the grounds crew got the field ready for a game of slow-pitch softball. There were quite a few local players, sponsored by local businesses, who filled the last innings of the game after the celebrities exited.

But, here were the main attractions for each team.

Vladimir Guerrero and Andre Dawson were no-shows. Bummer.

I almost rubbed shoulders with Rickey Henderson!

 Here's a quick picture of David Ross getting ready to bat. This was before he and Boddicker were mic'd up to add further entertainment to the evening.

I think my favorite part was after a couple of the actors from The Sandlot combined for three errors in the same inning and David Ross questioned, "How did you guys ever beat that other team in The Sandlot!?!" That got a huge laugh out of the crowd.

 Here's a picture of the event from a drone that was flying overhead. Very cool!

The gap in CF was so the players could enter the field by coming out of the corn during introductions!

Earlier that morning Jim and I spent a couple of hours at the card show. I bought eighteen cards in all, but only seven were for myself. The other eleven are eventually going out in trade packages. There weren't any dime boxes, but there was plenty of discounted vintage and oddballs to look through, which accounted for much of what I purchased.

My mom gave me one of these Cubs glasses on Saturday. It was given to her by her cousin and had been sitting in a cabinet for many years. I found it's mate on Sunday (the very next day) for three bucks and couldn't pass it up! How 'bout that!

On to the pictures of grown men on little pieces of cardboard!

Deckle-edge vintage! Very nice!

 I found this Bryant die-cut to be too good of a deal to pass up.

I am now ONE card away from completing the master set of 2018 Topps Big League.

Has anyone seen the Bryce Harper from the Caricatures insert set?

How about some discounted vintage to upgrade my Hall of Fame binder?  The Rabbit Maranville is from 1961 Fleer and the Larry Doby is NOT from 2019 Topps Archives.

 Here's another card design from 2019 Archives... the All-Star card of Ernie Banks from 1958.

 I don't usually buy vintage Cubs unless I find a great deal, and this one could be called just that. Plus, that design!  Oh, my!

Jim and I spent about six hours in the car, but the time flew as we talked baseball most of the way to Dyersville and back. The card show was the best one I have been to this year, but that's only because I haven't made it up to Orland Park yet this year. The event at the movie site was very unique, and the weather was near perfect, but I don't know that I'll ever make the trip again. It was well done, but kind of one of those things you do once to check off your bucket list.

I hope you had a fun Labor Day weekend, too!

Night Gives Me Day

I was coaching junior high girls softball most of day on National Baseball Card Day. As a result, I missed out on a chance to hit up my local card shop and participate in the merriment.

Peter, of Baseball Every Night, bailed me out though and sent me the lone Cub from the set.

I thought the photo selection for this year's NBCD set was really well executed. From what I have seen on the blogs many of the photos fit the cards well. For example, Baez is making a play to his left and it's framed perfectly the design, but if he was making the same play the other direction it would interfere with the logos.

Thanks for the card, Peter!  I look forward to our PWE exchanges in the future!