You don't see much of this anymore

The writing bug is back (somewhat).  While flipping through some Blue Jays binders looking for a little inspiration, I came across a couple of early 80's cards that featured Bob Davis...

1981 Topps #221

 

1981 Fleer # 428

The one thing that struck me right away about both photos is the fact that Bob has a healthy (or unhealthy as the case may be) wad of chewing tobacco prominently featured in his right cheek.  Fast forward 35 years, and I don't even recall seeing cards of players with a mouth full of seeds or bubble gum.

I took a quick look through a few more pages of Jays cards from that area, and I found one more card that I could positively identify as having a wad of chew in the cheek.

1978 Topps # 196

Another Bob, this time Bob Bailor is featured with a nice wad in his left cheek. Not sure if this was just a Bob thing on the Blue Jays back in the early days...

I'm sure that there are plenty of other cards from back in the day that featured players with a big hunk of chew tucked delicately into their cheek, and I'm sure that you have probably seen other bloggers write about this topic (leave a link to the post in the comments if you so desire, I'd love to see what other people's take on this was).

At least in a couple of photos there was some semblance of a smile on their faces.

Someone should teach Mr. Strasburg that skill.

Thanks for reading, Robert

This guy made the right choice

I can honestly say this, I do get lucky every once in a while.   JBF's blog of the year contest at the beginning of 2014 gave everyone the opportunity to nominate who they thought was the best sports card blog.

So, I put a bunch of names on a dartboard, threw three darts up there, and when the 3rd dart finally hit the board, it landed on the Night Owl.  I know, not the most scientific way of choosing a blog, but sometimes you have to let the chips fall where they may.

Lucky me, the Night Owl won for the 3rd year running, and my nomination scored me some Blue Jay goodies from Wes. 

The most intriguing card in the envelope was this graded card of a fellow whose card you might not expect to get graded.

Danny Ainge's career with the Jays lasted a grand total of 3 seasons, and after the third season he decided to try his luck with the NBA's Boston Celtics.   14 seasons, 2 championship rings and an all star appearance later, Danny sure made the right choice.

Ainge is still hanging around the NBA, as the GM of the Celtics.  In those 12 seasons, the Celtics have made the playoffs 9 times and won the title in 2007-08.

Interesting note about the jersey numbers Danny wore during his playing career.   5 different teams, 2 different sports, 5 different jersey numbers (2 in Toronto, 44 in Boston, 7 in Sacramento, 9 in Portland, 22 in Phoenix).   Usually most players are superstitious about what number is on their jersey. 

I guess Danny was different...

More on this great package from Wes to come.   Thank you Wes!!

thanks for reading, Robert