Hornets

My alma Mater, Sac State made the Division-II College World Series in 1986 and 1988, finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively.  The school moved up to Division I in 1990, and made the NCAA playoffs for the first time this season.  Today they beat Arizona State in an elimination game to record their first Division I Tournament win in school history.

Here then are some Hornets on Cards.

1961-1963 Cubs

1966 A's, 1969-1972 Phillies

1977-1980 Astros, 1981-1985 Indians, 1986 Yankees, 1987 Braves

1988-1992 Reds

1995 Pirates

1994-2005 minor leagues.  Keith's brother

2008-present minor leagues.  Currently 27 in AA.

BuckStoreAngels

I recently sent off an SP from 2014 Heritage to Douglas of Sportscards From the Dollar Store.  I wish I was better at tailoring trade packages, but I'm pretty much a "read the want list, send the cards" type.  There's an art to filling up trade packages and some bloggers out there are artists.  Me?  Left-brained.

At any rate, I was interested in some dupes he had mentioned in one of his posts.

I don't remember knowing about Leaf as a kid collecting in the 80's.  I knew about O-Pee Chee, but Leaf?  not so much.  So these are pretty cool.  It's almost the 80's version of parallels, no?  Johnny Ray seems to be pulling away from Mark McLemore, but what do you expect?  McLemore was out for his job.

I would have been happy with that in trade.  But as the blogging community has shown over and over, there was more.

 

Two needs from my 2012 inserts.  Its funny that I like this set so much.  I hand collated the 1987 set back in 1987 and I want to scream whenever I've pulled the 18th 1987 Topps out of a repack, but I liked this set immediately. (I wonder how Night Owl is doing in getting pages for these produced?)

And of course there was a good stack of about 15 Angels too.

Some Donruss from my time away from the hobby.   I think this set is pretty sharp.  Understated.

Player collections!  Love getting Tim Salmons.  And Mr. Trout is still the best player in the game.  Although, I'm kinda bipping myself with that TFIN insert this year.

Thanx Douglas.

1 Rockstar = 2 Baseball Players

I'm in my first week of the new job and I have a totally different schedule, so I'm getting used to that.  Not that I need an excuse to post infrequently, I do that anyway.

Last month I posted about a repack that I pulled an auto out of.  Greg, who I believe is a member of trading forum(s) was interested in the card.  He offered some Angel cardboard, and I was like "Sure, I'll take a Troy Glaus"

And Greg, was like "Hey, take two"  Okay.

A couple of classy Angel relics for a Ratt auto?  Sounds good to me.

Thanks Greg

Change

Phil Nevin was a standout College Baseball player.  He won the 1992 Golden Spikes Award, signifying the best amateur player in the country.

He appeared in the 1992 Olympics for Team USA.  And he did all of this as an infielder.

He was slected first overall by the Houston Astros, and when he made the majors, he was still a 3rd baseman. 

But the Detroit Tigers started playing him a little bit behind the plate.

And when the Angels acquired him, they made him a catcher.  Which is a huge change.  To go left on the defensive spectrum is pretty rare.  To be converted to catcher in the majors is somewhat unheard of.  (I'm sure there are others. But very few and/or 100 years ago).

I am starting a new position tomorrow.  It's technically a lateral move, but it has much more potential for advancement.  I've spent a long time in my current department, and I'm very good at what I do (I don't say that out of ego, it just happens to be true).   There are a variety of reasons I've stayed so long, mostly my daughters and the stability my schedule has afforded me.  But my little one is going into high school next year.  And they don't need me around quite so much.  So its time to make a move and start moving up again.  I'm sure at some point Nevin realized his ticket to staying in the majors was a drastic change.  Likewise, if I plan to keep advancing it's time to make a move.  I'm going to a department I have worked in in the past.  But there's still some trepidation.  Time to go out and prove myself in a new area.  I've proven myself in my old department.  My schedule will change alot.  And I won't write my own.  But I'll have more opportunities to get to the post office in the mornings to mail out packages, instead of having to wait until Fridays. 

Here's to you Phil.

Swing and A Home Run

I recently sent Bert over Swing and a Pop-Up a couple Red Sox oddballs.  Mostly because, a) Red Sox vs. Angels in the postseason <shudder> and b) I wasn't gonna complete those sets so I didn't have a particular attachment.  But mostly a.  I just wanted to exorcise some Red Sox demons....

Well, Bert decided send some set needs back.

He got me down to only 3 2014 Series 1 cards (I have no sparkle variations.... I think).  I'm sure he especially delighted in this card:

Yup.   That's former Angel and now World Champion Red Sox (Red Sock?) Mike Napoli.

And he also sent along

The corrected Al Leiter card (speaking of variations).  This brings me down to one measly 1988 Topps card to complete my set. (note: I actually have the card, but its in a PC at the moment.  Maybe I should move it?).

Thanks again Bert.

I like baseball cards

I know what you're thinking.  "Yeah.  And?" 

I can't help but wander the card aisle if I'm the bullseye store, or WallyWorld.  Even if I'm there for legitimate shopping purposes, I want to buy cards.  I think I do a pretty good job of limiting myself to reasonable card buying.

The other day I popped on a rack pack of Heritage.  I know I've said I only collect base and Angels, but what can I say?  I like this year's Heritage.

This is the fourth pack I've gotten I think.  This is the first pack without a SP, but I did get this:

I'm typically not a big fan of inserts, but this one goes into my Nolan PC.  So that works for me.

Here's the lowlight for me:

Thanks for pointing out Angel futility Topps.  For what it's worth, the two runners were a Howie Kendrick single and a Chris Iannetta double. 

5 walks in 255 batters?  Wow.

Boshers was 25 and Shoemaker was 26 last year.  But I think Topps has put 30 year olds on these cards back in the 1980ish period.   So I guess that's not bad.  At any rate, I still dig Angels on cardboard.

Purple

When I saw a potential addition to my Mike Trout rainbow, I popped:

I can't think of any other Geoffrey parallels in my collection.  I even went and bought cards there one time, but didn't get any purple parallels.  Are these more rare than Bullseye red or WallyWorld blue parallels?

Happy Anthony Keith Day!

And Happy Birthday Tony Gwynn!!

#16

In case anybody hasn't seen ESPN lately, today is the first round of the NFL Draft.

My Cowboys hold the #16 pick in the draft.  This is only the second the Cowboys have had the #16 pick. 

No, don't have this card

The Cowboys took a Linebacker in the 1961 draft.  He never played for the Cowboys, having signed with the Dallas Texans of the rival AFL.

But there's hope at 16.

G.O.A.T.

The Cowboys held the #17 pick in the 1985 draft and were all set to take this guy.  Then the 49ers traded up to 16 and stole him.  The Cowboys took a defensive lineman that registered 12.5 sacks in 4 years with the team. 

Luis Sharpe was a starter for 13 years for the Cardinals, making 3 Pro-Bowls.  The Cowboys took a defensive back at #25 in 1982 that lasted 2 years with the team.

Clayborn was a starting corner for 14 years, also making 3 Pro-Bowls.  The Cowboys took a HOF Running Back at #2 in 1977. 

So there should be good NFL players available to the Cowboys at #16.  I just hope Jerry doesn't screw it up and go for fanfare. 

Because I asked...

At the end of a previous post, I pondered what sheet after sheet of the slayer parallels would look like.

Well, I decided to find out.

And now I have an idea.