Fun baseball cards link

Just turning you on to a really cool baseball cards page. It's full of fun stuff! Introducing: Heartbreaking Cards

It'll make you smile like this guy:

Favorite Sports Cards

Happy birthday Manny Mota

What a crummy-looking card for a guy who maintained a .300 career average over a twenty-year career. The card featured a quite realistic-loooking cap, jersey & undershirt. Not! Good grief, they even fired a total blank on the back of this sad speciman of a baseball card. Happy birthday to Manny, anyhow.

The card is a 1973 Topps. Shame on 'em.

Roam home

Save? Closure? Quick kick?

"Closers" are to baseball what Hungarian-born, soccer-style field goal kickers were to football. In other words, not much.

Just let one of today's bullpen guys try to explain to Old Hoss Radbourn (above) about their one-inning "heroics" and closures. Hoss would turn over in his grave and probably have a nice puke while he was at it.

And there's no need for the one-inning guy to show off his gold chain to Old Hoss, either, because Hoss would likely just pulverize it into a lipful of snuff. And don't even get me and Hoss started on these starting "pitchers" who can't even get through nine innings, due to a chipped nail or a run in their hose . . .

As for field goal kickers, why not just go ahead and punt the damn thing? Better yet, why not quick kick as old Bud Wilkinson would have ordered way down yonder at OU? Points for a field goal? Are you kidding Old Hoss? No more points for field goals. No more field goals period.

Now go and explore Old Hoss Radbourn's career figures for complete games.

My luxurious home

New York Yankees' season comes mercifully to an end

Whew. "Thank God that's over," sigh thousands of Yankee faithful. The year that wasn't. The year that often had nine misfits out there as the starting nine. Ugh.

Now these guys are clamoring for larger chunks of dough. Tell it to the men shown above. No one on the team this year would even qualify to hose out one of the guys above's jockstraps.

My luxurious home

70's Chicago Cubs Topps team pictures

What was with the 1970s Cubs team photo cards with the floating heads? Did those guys refuse to stand side by side in rows like all the other teams did? Have always wondered . . . Bet it had something to do with Leo the Lip or Joltin' Joe Pepitone.

Bunt happy in Cincy

The Cincinnati Reds are said to have gone bunt loco last night. This might lead to speculation about the best bunter of all time. (Hmm ... spell checker assuring me "bunter" is not a word.)

I submit for your approval Hall of Famer Nellie Fox. I make this selection just due to stats, because I never saw the old devil play. I got to see him while he was a coach for the Texas Rangers. He always had a serious chaw of tobacco in his jaw. Dang! he always looked about 106, but he died at the young age of 47. Don't let his deer in the headlights expression in the card above fool you; Nelson Fox could really lay one down on you. And you better stay out of the line of fire of his tobacco juice!

I leave you with one of the greatest lines from literature: "Terwilliger bunts one." (Annie Dillard?)

The card is a 1961 Topps

My luxurious home

Catcher or goalie?

I find annoying all this new catcher's gear. Good grief, this guy below looks like he's about to get out there & straddle a dang hockey puck instead of getting down to the business of catching.

Contrast that with old Edward Fitzgerald above. He kept it simple, basic. He knew you had to dress like Yogi Berra to play the role.

Card shown is 1952 Bowman.

My luxurious home

Photo at Aroundthefoghorn

Gotta love this guy!

Put me down in the Adam Rosales camp when, hitting next to nothing, he smoked a long homer & then raced around the bases like he was legging out an inside-the-parker, a big smile on his mug all the way. Not one to rest on his laurels, he later added a SAC fly. This guy will be fun to watch.

Contrast the fleet-footed Adam with lumbering, slow-footed Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi, shown at top. Old Ernie led the league grounding into double plays four times & was right in there pitching for that title in other years. The card depicted is a 1934 Goudey.

Favorite Sports Cards

Houston Astros rookie pulls HUGE boner!

Houston Astros rookie Max Stassi fell victim to one of the oldest tricks in the book: the old hidden ball trick, & this was right after collecting his first major league hit. Veteran 2nd-sacker Ian Kinsler orchestrated it all. (View it here.)

I'm just having some fun with the young man. After all, he banged out 2 base hits & could retire today with a .667 batting average. Good job, Stassi!

Pic shows 1972 Topps Texas Rangers team card, & what a sorry lot they were.

Rico Carty - "The Beeg Boy"

Rico Carty was one of the great personalities of the game. He did some time with my Texas Rangers in 1973 when I was eleven. Hopes were high because he had hit an astounding .366 to lead the league with Atlanta just a couple years previous.

I recall an interview of him, either on TV or in print, in which he was asked about his mediocre start that year for Texas. He assured the reporter that there was no need to fear because, "When the weather gets hot, the 'Beeg Boy' will get hot too," he always did . . . Hmm.

Well, the weather got hot--after all, this is Texas, but Rico, the Old Beeg Boy himself, never really did, managing only three home runs & the lowest batting average of his career up to that point, a paltry .232.

Maybe it just hadn't gotten hot enough for Rico, for he was sold to the Cubs by August 13, so there were still a couple good months of Texas heat awaiting him. Oh, well, you never know; you never know what might have been . . .

Funny what an eleven-year-old remembers. And don't get me wrong. Rico Carty is one of my all-time faves. And wouldn't you know it, the old devil went on to have some more great years . . . out of this miserable Texas heat.

Card is a 1973 Topps

Favorite Sports Cards

Hey, who was that guy?

My suggestion on how to increase interest during a baseball game is to, between pitches, have the announcers give the old base coaches a big send-up by telling a little about them.

Back when I started watching games, I always enjoyed identifying who the old coaches were, often recalling them from old baseball cards or my Dad's memories of them.

Since I watch the Texas Rangers games, color man Tom Grieve might say, for instance, how former catcher, Jocko Backstop, who is now loitering in the first base box for the opposing team, could really peg them out at second base back in the day. That would be interesting to learn instead of thinking that old guy's just standing around, counting the crowd while wishing he was thirty years younger when he sees a pretty girl in the stands.

So come on, guys, tell us a little something about those old base coaches . . .

Favorite Sports Cards

Say What?!

A kid on the Little League baseball team I help coach informed me at the first practice that he wanted to play DH because he just loved to hit but wanted to take it real easy on the bench while our team was in the field. I laughed inside and informed him there was no DH in Little League. That being the case, he sniffed a little and asked if I would just stick him out in right field then. I guaranteed he would be in right field -- the little lazybones!

My home base

Texas Rangers Easing Nolan Ryan out of the Picture?

Are the Texas Rangers Easing Nolan Ryan out of the Picture? Reporter Gil Lebreton's take on it Now please answer my Nolan question in the right-hand column . . .

Nolan 44 years ago when he was still green as a gourd

Sexy Mara Corday shrine

Let's hear it for the Boys!

Maybe it's just me, but I wish, during all televised baseball games, they would show the 1st & 3rd base coaches and introduce them. It's always fun to keep up with the old-timers in the game and learn what they have been up to.

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