Cool cards, # 5 & 6

Good evening to you all, I thought I'd share some thoughts on a couple more cards that I found while perusing my collection that I thought were cool.

Cool card # 5:  1978 Topps 544, Len Randle, New York Mets.

It appears that Len may have a big smile on his face for one of two reasons:

1.  He made it back to first base on a potential pick off attempt by the pitcher.
2.  He may be enjoying the quick pat on his back side that Gene Richards of the San Diego Padres is applying.

Either way, this is a great shot of baseball in action.  You can still see a small cloud of dirt in the air from the slide back into first base.  Also, if Gene Richards actually does have the ball in his glove, someone should have reminded him that he could have applied the tag with his glove hand, rather than the bare one.


Cool card # 6:  2001 Upper Deck # 83, John Halama, Seattle Mariners.

Great shot of John Halama here in mid pitch.  I'm thinking however it is doubtful that this was taken during game action, because this is outdoors (so not from the roof of the Kingdome), and there really isn't the opportunity to get this kind of shot from overhead in say...a plane... thus the photo was likely taken from behind during a bullpen session.

Hopefully you were able to look at these and think they were cool as well.

thanks for reading, Robert

I guess Upper Deck wasn't the only manufacturer to break the rules

Good Thursday to you all, hope that your week is going well.

This will be a brief post, but it's something that grabbed my attention.  While perusing through the giant stack of cards that Ted from Crinkly Wrappers sent me, I came across one colorful shiny card that had some writing on the back that caught my eye.

Great looking card, 1998 Pacific Aurora  Jose Cruz Jr., card # 23

Here's the back:

Check out the writing on the bottom of the card "Pacific baseball player cards are not manufactured, sponsored or authorized by any team or league."  Logos appear on both front and back though.  I know that Pacific produced cards for a few years afterwards, I wonder if it would have been different for Upper Deck if they had labelled their cards this way as well.

Probably not, but I found the parallel kind of interesting.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Memories pt. 1

Good Tuesday evening to you all, hope that you have made it through the first part of the week. 

A while back, you may remember for my first contest I asked you fine readers to provide me with your favorite sports memory. 

I chose this one first, because for me, it may be one of the best sports stories of all time, period.

This moment was submitted by the Night Owl;  this is one of those memories that even on my death bed I will not have a problem remembering.  Back in the late 80's/early 90's, I HATED the A's, with a passion.  At that time, my Jays were in the thick of the AL race each year, and the A's were the dominant team in the league.  The deepest lineup, the best pitching staff, and they had Dennis Eckersley, the most dominant closer of that time.

I love these two quotes, by the best baseball game play by play men that the game may ever know.

"In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened" - Vin Scully

"I don't believe, what I just saw" -  Jack Buck


Game 1, 1988 World Series, Oakland A's @ Los Angeles Dodgers


Take a look at the Video. 

Look at Gibson, barely able to walk to the plate.  The first swing he took, you could tell he was in unbelievable pain.  Gibson works the count to 3-2, and the rest is history.

This card says it all, 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces #6. 

Night Owl, thank you for the inspiration.



















Thank you for reading, Robert