My Kind Of Town

The neighborhood mailwoman delivered a big white envelope last week. It was from Jedi Jeff of 2x3 Heroes. Jeff is almost as sporatic as I am when it comes to posting lately but at least he's had an excuse...he's a grandfather again!. (I'm jealous..my kids and their spouses only add pets to their households). 

Jeff's gift was Chicaco and Baltimore-centric. It led off this this gem:

That 8x10 beauty immediately earned a place above my desk. I had a signed Billy Pierce photo there already but this is an upgrade. The old one wasn't nearly as clear or bright a photo. This one made and inmmediate improvement to my Wall of Fame....

Before:

After:
 

 

Better, right? I think so. 

Jeff included a couple of nine-pocket shhets filled with Orioles, some shiny, some special, most I've not seen before. Here are the two sheets but I hadn't realized until I scanned them that most of the pockets had two cards so double this goodness.

BTW...here's Earl's quote from the front of that Upper Deck card:

I bet he never admitted that theory to Jim Palmer.

That Ben McDonald is the legit version of his rookie card. The logoless ::cough:: 'error' ::cough:: is the card that made me give up on cards back then. The Schoop and Jones cards are unique enough to have bumped cards from my fantasy baseball binder.

Jeff included some signed 4x5s of White Sox guys, two that have a connection in the 1960 set. Gary Peters and J.C. Martin have their photos swapped on their '60 Topps cards.
 

That's the old Comiskey. I really regret that I never got to a game there.

 There also signed photos of guys with Sox-Orioles histories, like Greg Walker

Good stuff all the way around. And doubly appreciated in these times when adding new stuff without card shows is a challenge. To say nothing of our cancelled trip to visit our daughter in Chicagoland.

Thanks, again Jeff. Enjoy that new granddaughter. She's a cutie.

Pierce-related GQ Minis

Before we made our trip to Chicago Jedi Jeff of 2x3 Heroes sent me a handful of cards. Three of them were 2016 Gypsy Queen minis of White Sox players and they will make it into my Billy Pierce collection. Or at least into the 'Pierce-related' pages I keep in the back of my Pierce binder.

All three display the player in a way that shows off the #19 memorial patch they wore following Pierce's death last July. The Minnie Minoso patch (#9) is visible as well. They re a little hard to see in the scans so I blew up a part of the Rondon card above. Take a look:

I've been trying to find one of those patches since they were used last year. I see plenty of team uni patches for sale on the net but not this one. I poked around every kiosk and team store I could find in Comiskey but they don't seem to be available. I'll keep looking though because sometimes I'm surprised by what turns up on eBay.

Jeff also tossed in a couple of Orioles. This is a 2005 Topps something or other of Boog Powell. Any card with a Topps Rookie trophy is worth having. I'm not sure why the back scanned so poorly though.

Speaking of Boog Powell....here is a headline from ESPN a few weeks back that gave me pause:

Mariners minor leaguer Boog Powell gets 80-game suspension for PEDs

I had no idea there was another Boog Powell in baseball. But there is. And he's in trouble.

Finally here's an SP card of one of those Orioles whose career was totally eclipsed by my 'baseball boycott' of the late 90s. It's Curtis Goodwin and this shiny chromified die-cut beauty just screams '1990s hobby cards'. 

Goodwin stole 22 bases for the '95 Orioles and repeated that number for the '97 Reds but never was able to grab himself a full time job as he bounced around to a handful of other clubs. I learn a lot from these cards of guys I never knew existed.

Thanks again Jeff. I'm on the lookout for a '19' patch for BOTH of us.

Rangers from Jedi Jeff

The other half of 2x3 Heroes' Jedi Jeff's envelope contained New York Rangers. Their "effort" in this year's playoffs reminded me of some teachers I know at this time of the year....'Let's get this over with so we can go do summer stuff'. Golf does have it's charms I guess.

Anyway these cards from Jeff remind me of better times. Mike Richter up there is a Stanley Cup winning goalie. I like typing that. And Mark Messier...well when he was on the ice you knew there was one guy out there who would do whatever it took to win.

Remember when hockey players didn't wear helmets? I do. Heck I remember playing without a helmet. Crazy.

When I think 'Wayne Gretzky' I never think 'Rangers'. And that puzzles me because he was with NYR for three seasons. You know what else I never think...'St. Louis Blues'. He played 18 games with them.

More foil that doesn't scan well. Trust me, these are nice looking cards.

I loved Pat Verbeek, he could score. But if you believe in the +/- thing his numbers don't look that good.

I was sick when the Rangers dealt Carl Hagelin. One of those salary cap kind of things. And I was sicker still when I watched him the other night skating for the Pens. I kind of hope he gets his mane on the Cup...then again, maybe not.

Martin St. Louis' tenure with NYR was short but sweet. And buying his jersey taught me to never again buy a player specific piece of clothing, especially one as pricey as a hockey sweater.

Brian Leetch...good times.

Rick Nash....poof..a disappearing act. But SP has some really nice cards, no?

Zoook! He's like Messier, always doing all he can.

These are really sweet hockey cards. I really appreciate them Jeff. Wish I had a team I could root for because I miss watching Cup playoff games.

Cards from Jedi Jeff...ok, I don't have a meme-like title for this

OK, I haven't completely abandoned the ship but I've certainly been neglecting the helm lately. I've been involved in a non-sport project lately that's kind of taken over my collecting focus and I'll post some of that next. Today I want to show off some cards that Jeff of 2x3 Heroes sent my way awhile back but I haven't acknowledged until now. Sorry about that, Jeff.

I'll break these into two posts as Jeff sent cards for fill two needs. Today I'll post Orioles cards he sent and in my next post I'll feature NY Rangers. I still need some time to get past the pain of the Rangers' lame, gutless and pathetic and whimpering exit from this year's NHL Playoffs. 

Anyway here are the Birds!

Frank Robinson shows off some hardware in a Topps History of the Game card. never seen this picture of FRobby. He was the 1966 MVP. Heady days indeed.

This is a sticker from a Wacky Pack-sort of insert set.

I really miss having Nick Markakis in B'more. Last I checked he's back to wearing the 'scruffy' look. But he was clean and classy in this Upper Deck card.

Gregg Zaun was 38 years old when this card hit the market. He looks 60.

A Panini Brooks. Not a bad no-logo card. Oh, btw....Happy 79th Birthday to my baseball idol. Brooks stands for everything right about sports.

JJ Hardy fills an open slot in my 2015 Stadium Club binder.

Big Lee Smith. His only year with the Orioles was 1994, the strike/walkout/lockout year. That was the last year I followed baseball prior to my own 'walkout' that lasted about 15 years. '94 was a really good season for Smith as he led the league in saves and made the All Star team.

Arthur Rhodes, another larger than life Orioles pitcher. He was better in other places.

Assorted 90s era Birds and other things. I must have been asleep when Vlad Guerrero was an Oriole. EDIT: I just looked him up and see it was 20111 and his last season. He hit .290 so there ya go. the other three had some memorable moments in Charm City, both good and bad.

Kevin Gausman reminds me of NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte in this one.

And finally a couple of guys who had interesting tenures with the O's. Mora's days with Baltimore were winding down when I started to pay attention again. He and Brian Roberts were established and popular and the attention they got made me feel like I had missed something.

Thanks again, Jeff. I really do have some stuff for you. It's just taken me some time to get it together.

Three Rules for joining my Hockey Collection

Rule One... Be a Rangers card.

And this one of Ranger Defenseman Ryan McDonagh fits the bill. It is a 2013/'14 Score and came from Jeff at 2x3 Heroes and was part of his 'Tis the Season giveaway. He had cards up for grabs and all you needed to do to claim them was ask. I asked for his hockey stack and I got it, with a bonus.

McDonagh's card is a good one, too. He's wearing the Rangers' beautiful blue sweater, the card colors match the team colors and there is a team logo. Ipso facto, I like it.

Rule Two... be a card of an Original Six player. No curmudgeonly rant but I just like those old school unis the best. Lot's of memories of a time I knew all six goalies in the league, hell I knew every player in the league. 

And Jeff's mailing contained Original Six guys:

Growing up there were a few 'givens' among me and my friends. First, school sucked; second, Barbara C., who none of us had the guts to talk to, was hotter than Annette Funicello any day; and finally, the BlackHawks wore the best uniforms in the history of forever.

You couldn't go to your computer and order you one up like you can today obviously. The only place that you could see (and touch!!) a Hawks' sweater that wasn't on a players' back was at Gerry Cosby's Sporting Goods outside on the ground floor of the Madison Square Garden building. And to a couple of kids making $10 a week throwing the Newark Evening News, a real NHL jersey was a pipe dream at best.

The Habs', Leafs', Bruins' and Wings' gear isn't too shabby either, is it? 

Rule Three..... be a goalie's card. I'm partial towards goalies and always have been because that was my spot. And there were plenty in Jeff's stack.

Here are a few.

And there was also a nice card of the guy Ranger fans love to hate... MAAAAAARTY!  MAAAAARTY!

Jeff thought the hockey stack was inadequate (it wasn't, I loved it) so he added in a pile of Orioles cards. I'll make another post out of those. 

Thank's Jeff, You are one of blogging's 'good guys'!