Gint-A-Cuffs IV: 2012 Allen & Ginter Packs 17-20

Two more posts to go, I doubt I’m looking like the winner.  I’ve only got 126 points, with 8 packs left.

Pack 17

#176 – Babe Ruth (-1 for Yankees).

#100 – Troy Tulowitzki.  No matter how many times I type it, I don’t know if I’ll ever remember how to spell Troy’s last name.

#103 – Alexei Ogando.

#55 – Colin Montgomerie.

#165 – Alex Avila.

#92 – Craig Kimbrel. (+2 for someone else’s FP).

#263 mini – Jason Motte.  Boo.  Cardinals.

#HTP13 – Industrial Revolution (+3 for Industrial Revolution).

Pack total: 4 points

Running total: 130 points

Pack 18

#224 – Adam Jones (+2 for someone else’s FP).

#71 – Curtis Granderson (-1 for Yankees).  Man there are a lot of Yankees in this set.

#270 – Anthony Rizzo.

#15 – Joel Hanrahan.  This card is pretty cool.  No scan from me since it’s not worth points – but it’s a relief pitcher with a bat.

#261 – Michael Taylor.

#344 – Matt Dominguez (+2 for SP).

#238 mini – Austin Jackson.

#WIN31 – Andrew Stefan McCutchen (+2 for What’s in a Name).  Probably the NL MVP this year.  I think Votto would have beaten him out, but that knee injury is going to be too much to overcome with how good McCutchen has been.

Pack total: 5 points

Running total: 135 points

The Yankees are really starting to drag this box down!!!

Pack 19

#28 – Dustin Ackley.

#197 – Ty Cobb.  Man, they have a lot of retired baseball players in this year’s set.  Way more than last year.  They had Mantle last year, but I’m not sure if they had any others.  This year there have been at least 10.

#264 – Brian McCann.

#102 – Huston Street.

#99 – Sandy Koufax.  See comment above about Cobb

#216 mini – Corey Hart (+2 for AG back mini).

#BH14 – Mickey Mantle (+3 for Baseball Highlight Sketches, -1 for the sins of being a Yankee).

#342 – Colby Lewis (+2 for SP).  Ouch, he just got put on the DL for the year…

Pack total: 6 points.

Running total: 141 points.

Pack 20

#268 – Angel Pagan.

#210 – Willie Mays.

#185 – Starlin Castro.

#202 – Jaime Garcia.

#205 – Tony Gwynn.  This is a really nice card of Gwynn.  It looked really familiar, though.

Hmmm, wait a minute, I think maybe I featured this on my blog already.

#WTB4 – Willis Tower (+3 for World’s Tallest Buildings).  I’m sorry, but this thing will always be the Sears Tower to me.

#ML5 mini – Cyrus the Great (+3 for World’s Greatest Military Leaders).  The first leader to be known as “The Great”.

#334 – Adrian Beltre (+2 for SP).

Pack total: 8 points

Running total: 149 points.

New Pace – 178 points.

These packs were pretty ho-hum.  My pace has really slowed of late.  The last four will be posted (I think) tomorrow.

MVP of the post: Not much competition here.  The Industrial Revolution beats out the other two cards that were worth 3 points.  I didn’t even know who Cyrus the Great was, and I refuse to acknowledge a card that calls the Sears Tower the Willis Tower.

Gint-A-Cuffs IV: 2012 Allen & Ginter Packs 13-16

Back to Gint-A-Cuffs.  I passed the halfway point with a running total of 96 points.  That includes the box topper, though, and I’ve already gotten two hits, so I’m probably looking at lower than the current pace I’m on (187 points).  We’ll have to see.

Pack 13

#37 – James McDonald.

#27 – Ricky Nolasco.

#114 – Johan Santana.

#187 – John Axford.

#248 – Jed Lowrie.

#169 – Mark Teixeira. (-1 for being a damn Yankee).

#204 mini – Adam Dunn. (+2 for A&G back mini).  If Adam Dunn was my favorite player, I’d be doing really well in this box.  I got a regular card, a regular mini and an A&G mini.  Too bad he’s one of my least favorite players.

#WIN58 – Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson (+2 for What’s in a Name).  Aside from Griffey and maybe Eric Davis, Rickey is my favorite player of all-time.  Glad to pull him here.  Also, it was fun, because my wife opened this pack and enjoyed reading the back.  She was a trooper and went to Rickey’s Hall of Fame induction with me a few years back.

I didn’t pull his base card in this box, though – which I’ve seen on some other blogs.  If you’ve seen it – that is a really nice card.

Pack total: 3 points

Running total: 99 points

Pack 14

#274 – Derek Jeter (-1 for another Yankee).

#144 – Joe Benson.

#63 – Zach Britton.

#95 – Felix Hernandez.

#AGR-EA – Elvis Andrus (+10 for framed mini relic).  I’m on an Elvis Andrus hot streak.  I got an auto of him in the Gold Rush pack a few weeks back, and now a Ginter relic!

#30 mini – Carlos Zambrano (+2 for A&G back mini).

#WIN73 – Ryan Wallace Zimmerman (+2 for What’s in a Name).

Pack total: 13 points

Running total: 112 points.  An excellent pack.

Pack 15

#106 – Bud Norris.

#30 – Carlos Zambrano.

#204 – Adam Dunn.  There’s that 3rd Dunn card of the box.

#18 – Kevin Youkilis.

#57 – Michael Pineda (-1 for being a Yankee).  I feel like this shouldn’t count.  He hasn’t even played a single game for the Bronx Bombers.

#WTB6 – Empire State Building (+3 for World’s Tallest Buildings).

#75 mini – Erin Andrews (+3 for Black Bordered mini).  I may try to complete the Erin Andrews rainbow!

#311 – Bob Gibson (+2 for SP).

Pack total: 7 points.

Running total: 119 points.  Another nice pack.

Pack 16

#20 – Miguel Montero.

#160 – Shane Victorino.

#21 – Matt Moore.  I like this card.  Not enough to scan it despite no Gint-a-Cuffs points.  But I like this points.

#296 – Mark Trumbo.  This dude hits the ball FAR.

#196 – Lou Gehrig (-1 for Yankee).

#BH6 – Frank Thomas (+3 for Baseball Highlight Sketch).

#MBF20 mini – Shetland Sheepdog. (+3 for Man’s Best Friend mini).  I can’t wait to get the dachshund one of these.

#301 – Adron Chambers (+2 for SP).

Pack total: 7 points

Running total: 126 points.

New Pace: 185 points.

Hopefully the last 8 packs will get me into a good place!!!  Unlikely – I was over 200 points last year, and with all the hits gone, it’s not likely this year.  It still makes opening the box a lot of fun, though!

MVP of the post: Elvis Andrus.  Can’t beat a relic.

That catch was fantastic!

I recently completed two more trades. The first was a trade with Clark from the blog Fantastic Catch.  I had just recently found his blog, which may be due to all the Cardinals stuff in the background :).  Fan of the evil Redbirds or not, Clark has a good blog and we made a great trade.  Here’s some of the swag I got – a bunch of Topps inserts from the last three of years:

This was my 28th trade of the year – 2 away from my goal of 30, and we’re not even two-thirds of the way through the year!  Thanks for the trade Clark!

My 29th trade completed was a 2011 Lineage trade with a reader Jerry (who must be a big George Brett fan based on his email address).  Anyways, Jerry is going after the Master of all Master sets of the 2011 Lineage product – and I had a canary version (#/10) of the Jay Bruce 75 mini relic.  I bought it on eBay almost a year ago, and I was thinking I wanted to have the regular relic version and the canary.  Well, I kind of decided it wasn’t what I wanted – I’m going after some different autos / relics.  One of them is a Monte Irvin ’52 auto, which I bought on eBay.  The other is a card I got from Jerry below.  But first – mini’s!!!!  Jerry sent me about 20 of the ’75 mini parallels that I needed.

He also sent over a few more Lineage inserts – which gets me closer and closer to finishing my (less complicated) master set for this product!

I had a Votto relic on my wantlist, but that was a mistake – I was supposed to take that off when I re-focused the collection.  But I may rethink that – Jerry threw this in one anyways!

And, last but certainly not least – the card I referenced above.

This was the one relic I definitely wanted – the Reggie.  Why?  It’s the one relic that has a different picture than the base card.  I love a good old school relic, and the assortment of old school A’s uniforms are some of the coolest out there.

Thanks for the trade Jerry!

Saturday Suds special – Budweiser & The Olympics

My fourth “Saturday Suds” is a little different due to the times.  In other posts I’ve tied a beer to baseball in some fashion.  But today, I wanted to do an Olympic post because my (still pregnant and still overdue wife) watched the opening ceremony last night.  But I’ve had Saturdays generally slated for beer posts this summer – so I figured, let’s do both.

First – I’m really excited for the Olympics.  With a kid on the way any day now, I will probably be spending a good portion of August at home, and if I’ve got to be up at 3 AM to try to get the baby back to sleep, I might as well be able to watch some random Summer Olympic sports.

It won’t be quite as exciting for me as in 2008.  In 2008, a kid from my high school (David Payne) qualified in the 110m hurdles and actually got a silver medal.  That’s right – an OLYMPIC SILVER MEDAL.  This wasn’t just a kid from my high school – he was actually 2 years younger than me.  I was captain of the track team my senior year, and he actually didn’t run track as a sophomore.  The coaches knew his mom, and we got him to come out and compete just at the CHL (our league in Cincinnati) championship, and he ended up winning the hurdles in the league meet – on a week of training.  I’ll never forget it, because a) the points helped us win the league for the 8th straight year when we weren’t given much of a chance, and b) it was the most impressive thing I’d seen in my short 17 years at that point.  David was an athlete – everyone knew that.  A basketball or football player just stepping out and winning a 100m or 200m sprint, while impressive, is certainly within the realm of possibility.  But hurdles are an acquired taste for track athletes – it takes a lot of work to get your steps down.  For someone to be able to have that down without any practice (he ran something like a 15.1 or so) was incredible.  Did 17-year old me think someday he’d win a silver medal at the Olympics?  Heck no, but it certainly seemed like he could be a D1 college runner.

David is still a professional hurdler, but he unfortunately didn’t qualify to the Olympics this year (he made the semifinals at the trials in Eugene, OR).  So I won’t have the local guy to root for this year, but we will still enjoy watching the Olympics – as a former track & field athlete, those events in particular!

On to the Beer!

Brewery:  Anheuser Busch Companies, Inc. in St, Louis, Mo (plus ~30 other breweries worldwide)

Currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, NV (Belgium).

Beer:  Budweiser

Description:  An American style lager introduced by Adolphus Busch in 1876.  He developed it to become America’s first national beer brand.  Since then, it’s had the same recipe through 5 generations of the Busch family. From the company website, Budweiser has: “Fresh and subtle fruit notes, a delicate malt sweetness and  balanced bitterness for a clean, snappy finish. Budweiser is a medium-bodied, flavorful, crisp and pure beer with blended layers of premium American and European hop aromas, brewed for the perfect balance of flavor and refreshment.”

All that said, we used to refer to it as Bud-heavy in college (and frankly still do).  It uses rice for a good percentage instead of hops, which makes it cheaper.  But it frankly doesn’t have much taste.  It’s got the typical golden color, and can be very refreshing on a hot day.  Sometimes you don’t want a strong taste – if it’s 105 degrees and you’re at a ballgame barbecue watching the olympics, having a bitter beer with a lot of hops isn’t the way to go.  So Budweiser can be a decent option as a cold beer that’s a little stronger and fuller than the light beer counterparts (though it also kind of just tastes like NASCAR too me now).  Which is why I’ll post on it again later this summer when I go back to baseball.

Medium:  Anything you can think of.  From a keg, in a can, in a bottle.  For this post I’ll focus on the Olympics.  This year, Budweiser came out with a special 16 oz bottle for the Olympics.

How it’s related to Olympics:  Budweiser has been a sponsor of the US Olympic team since 1984, when the Olympics were held in LA.  The brand has signed on through at least the 2016 games.

Good luck to all the US athletes over the next 3 weeks!

Gint-A-Cuffs IV: 2012 Allen & Ginter Packs 9-12

Almost halfway through my box of Ginter – I’m at 65 points through 8 packs, for a pace of 185.  Without further chitter chatter…

Pack 9

#226 – Jim Thome.

#78 – Joe Mauer (+2 for someone else’s FP).

#91 – Grady Sizemore.

#223 – CC Sabathia (-1 for Yankees).  I’m not going to post pictures for negative points.  Take my word for it, I pulled another Yankee.

#275 – Kerry Wood.  I’d have  to think this is one of his last cards.  It’s one of the few Ginter cards that is done decently as a horizontal card.

#HTP5 – Fall of the Berlin Wall (+3 for Historical Turning Points).

#300 mini – Roberto Clemente.  Another really nice card of a retired player.

#340 – Marty Hogan (+2 for SP).  This guy is apparently the best professional racquetball player in history, but his card makes me wonder if they’ll ever get the Hulkster in a Ginter set.  Whatcha Gonna Do!!!!

Pack total: 6 points

Running total: 71 points

Pack 10

#195 – Jhoulys Chacin.  As I mentioned, my wife helped me open this box, and this was another guy she could not figure out the name pronunciation.  Thus, Topps should nominate him for “What’s in a Name” – though I have no idea if he’s in the set or not.

#199 – Ricky Romero.

#75 – Erin Andrews.  I started posting all of these before the rules were out.  If she doesn’t get points, that’s a travesty, but regardless, she gets a scan on this blog!

#238 – Austin Jackson.

#AGR – John McEnroe (+10 for relic).  I think Johnny Mac was in last year’s set, not sure if he has a base card this year or not.  I’m excited to get a non-baseball relic!

#GH8 mini – Flat Cap (+4 for Guys in Hats mini).  This is supposedly a case hit (but only worth 4 points)!  So good for me!

#WIN4 – Antanasio Pérez Rigal (+2 for What’s in a Name, +1 for Reds FT).  Rounding out what I have to believe is the best pack in this box, is the Big Dog himself!  I didn’t know this – but his first name is actually Greek in origin (I did know he was from Cuba).  It means “eternal life” – here’s hoping the Big Red Machine RBI-man feels eternally young.  From one HOF to another – Barry Larkin’s induction was recently, and I didn’t think this through until I saw the ceremony that Larkin and Perez were actually teammates for one year.  In Larkin’s 1986 rookie year, he played alongside Big Red Machine members Perez, Dave Concepcion, and Pete Rose.  He’d also play with Ken Griffey Sr. later in his career.

Pack total: 17 points

Running total: 88 points.

Pack 11

#69 – Kurt Suzuki.

#216 – Corey Hart.

#43 – Josh Johnson.

#157 – Roger Federer.  Again, I didn’t know when I first wrote this up if he was gonna get points.  But he gets a picture on this blog, too!

#149 – Wilson Ramos.

#234 – Carlos Lee.

#180 mini – Tim Federowicz.

#WIN50 – Michael Jack Schmidt (+2 for What’s in a Name, +2 for someone else’s FP).  I’ll say it again.  Michael Jack Schmidt.  He’s one of those guys that people just seem to know his middle name.  Maybe because it’s just a cool name period.

Pack total: 4 points

Running total: 92 points.  Not a very good pack, at least Schmidt saved it.

Pack 12

#220 – James Brown.

#34 – Alex Gordon.

#287 – Hiroki Kuroda (-1 for Yankees).  Pitching the night (Monday) I scheduled this post.  It was also Ichiro’s debut.

#61 – Richard Petty.

#142 – Jose Reyes.

#BH11 – Nolan Ryan (+3 for Baseball Highlight Sketches).  This year Topps didn’t use this solely as sketches of highlights from the previous year.  Not sure if I like that, but it does allow for some sketches of old-timers like this one – which is a very nice card.

#125 mini – Ben Revere.

#335 – Alexei Ramirez (+2 for SP).

Pack total: 4 points

Running total: 96 points.

New Pace: 187 points.

OK – that’s the halfway point!  BTW, I calculated this by taking the point total, subtracting the 5 points I got for the box topper, and then extrapolating it out (in this case, multiply the 91 x 2, then add back the 5 points).  Not sure where I’ll end, but it’s not looking too good. I still have one “hit” out there.

MVP of the post – Johnny McEnroe argued his way past the guy with the flat cap (though for a case hit – I feel like that should be worth more than 4 points)!

Gint-A-Cuffs IV: 2012 Allen & Ginter Packs 5-8

On to the next 4 packs of Ginter, my running total is 40 points.  This would put me on pace to get 215 points (35 in 4 packs x 6 = 210, plus the 5 points from the N43 box topper).

Pack 5

#218 – John Danks.

#134 – David Freese.

#23 – Yogi Berra.  (-1 for Yankees).  Come on!  Who doesn’t like Yogi Bear!!!

#10 – Dustin Pedroia.

#1 – Albert Pujols.

#NNO – Kerry Fulder (+3 for Murder in Willow Cove).  Kerry was friendly acquaintances with the murder victim.  They patronized each other’s businesses.  Sounds like he did it!!!

#35 mini – David Ortiz (+3 for mini black border).

#321 – Carl Crawford (+2 for SP).  Has there every been a more disappointing contract in MLB history?  I know there are worse ones, but you just knew the Red Sox overpaid for this guy.

#NNO – Murder Mystery promo card.

Pack total: 7 points

Running total: 47 points

Pack 6

#183 – Darwin Barney.

#64 – Matt Latos (+1 for Reds FT).  Haha, conveniently he was pitching on Monday night when I scheduled this post.  And it looks like he’s gonna get the win.  Somehow the Reds have managed to be on fire in Votto’s absence!

#32 – Ben Zobrist.

#53 – Hisashi Iwakuma.  My wife actually helped me open this box – we did so while killing time waiting on our baby to arrive.  She could not stop laughing at attempts to pronounce his name.

#242 – Alfonso Soriano.

#317 – Jayson Heyward (+2 for SP).

#149 mini – Wilson Ramos.

#NNO – Don Givens (+3 for Murder in Willow Cove).

Pack total: 6 points

Running total: 53 points.

New pace: 197 points.  The pace slowed after the last two packs.  It’s Boo Boo’s fault.

Pack 7

#212 – Ken Griffey, Jr (+4 for my FP)!!!!  To say this is a beauty is a real understatement.  It’s hard to mess up a card of Griffey from his early days.

#208 – Martin Prado.

#217 – Brian Wilson.

#107 – C.J. Wilson.

#76 – Michael Bourn.

#52 – Cameron Maybin.

#327 mini – John Lester (+3 for SP mini).

#WIN87 – Joseph Daniel Votto (+2 for What’s in a Name, +1 for Reds FT).

That turned out to be a pretty good pack – my FP and a card from my favorite team.

Pack total: 10 points.

Running total: 63 points.

Pack 8

#263 – Jason Motte.  I think the Cardinals should be worth negative points, not the Yankees!

#137 – George Brett.  Topps seemed to put more retired baseball HOF-ers than they did last year.

#14 – Nick Markakis.

#158 – Melky Cabrera.  How awkward was his All-Star Game MVP interview?

#88 – Stan Musial.  See my comment above about retired HOF-ers.  Also, I don’t mind getting this Cardinal – he obviously played way before the Cardinals were hated by Reds fans.

#139 – Tim Hudson.

#12 mini – Bryce Harper.  I wondered if there would be a negatron in the rules for this guy.

#WIN29 – Lynn Nolan Ryan (+2 for What’s in a Name).

Pack total: 2 points.

Running total: 65 points.

New Pace – 185 points.  Going in the wrong direction!  At least I got a Ken Griffey Jr., though.

MVP of the post – my favorite player, and the namesake of my little dachshund, Griffey!!!

Let’s Get it On!!! Gint-A-Cuffs IV: Box Topper and packs 1-4

Starting my second attempt at Gint-A-Cuffs!  The rules seem a bit less daunting now that I’m a seasoned veteran – well, a sophomore really.  I’m still a bit nervous I’ll fudge the math somehow.  But I’ve got a second monitor up with the rules, so I’m minimizing the likelihood that my stupidity costs me a point!

Last year I had to pick between the two boxes I ordered, but this year I just got one.  I picked that box up from the LCS – The Baseball Card Store in Midland Park, NJ (which, as always – I recommend if you are ever in Bergen County).

My favorite team is, naturally – the Cincinnati Reds.

My favorite player is, also naturally, Ken Griffey Jr. – I was excited he was in this year’s version!

The Box Topper

#N43-HR – Hanley Ramirez (+5 points for N43)

An N43.  Not a great start – as it’s the easiest box topper.  I will say, I like these better than the ones from last year that had flowers or something on them.  Is that cannabis in the background????

Running total: 5 points

Pack 1

#54 – Al Kaline.

#174 – Ubaldo Jimenez.

#98 – Nelson Cruz.

#262 – Justin Verlander.  Best pitcher in the game.  He gets a scan even if he’s not worth a point.  Scratch that.  He’s actually worth 2 points – he was added later as a Favorite Player (+2 points for someone else’s FP)!  Now I need to update the point calcs for this and for future posts!

#182 – Colby Rasmus.  My buddy recently suggested that all the guys on Toronto are a bunch of roiding fools, including Rasmus.  I defended Rasmus, pointing out that Colby used to play for Tony LaRussa, who basically ran him out of St. Louis.  Tony LaRussa is known for many things, but he sure as hell has never run a guy juicing up out of his locker room 🙂

#278 – Fatal1ty.  This guy is apparently a big video game player.  Do you think his relic card is a piece of a Nintendo cartridge?

#204 mini – Adam Dunn.  My fantasy baseball team used to be named “trade Dunn for coneys”

#WIN16 – Jose Miguel Cabrera.  I did most of these posts prior to the rules, and assumed the What’s in a Name got me something.  Apparently I was wrong, but I already scanned these cards and thus I will show them!

Scratch that – they are worth points, I pointed this out while the great and mighty Gint-A-Cuff master made them worth some points (+2 for What’s in a Name).

Pack total: 4 points

Running total: 9 points

This was quite the Tigers pack!  And nearly a worthless pack!  A big fat zero four points – hopefully the first is the worst.  If I continued at this rate, I’ll end up with: 101 POINTS!!!!  Kind of like how George Bell should have hit 486 home runs based on his opening day that one year.

Pack 2

#267 – Neftali Feliz.

#105 – Arnold Palmer.  A solid addition to this year’s set.  But not worth anything!

#97 – Max Scherzer.

#145 – Drew Storen.

#36 – Kirk Herbstreit.  Putting him and Erin Andrews in here was interesting.

#NNO – Jack Guttman (+3 for Murder in Willow Cove).  Apparently this year’s “code” is a mystery.

#18 mini – Kevin Youkilis (+2 for A&G back).  The picture on this doesn’t really look all that much like Youk.  But I won’t show it because I want to prove the back is legit!

#314 – Michael Buffer (+2 for SP).  Along with Arnie, I got two very solid non-baseball additions to this pack.

Pack total: 7 points

Running total: 16 points.

New pace: 137 points.

Coming back from the abyss – but still on pace for a pretty weak total.  Some hits to come, though!

Pack 3

#285 – Ryan Zimmerman.

#211 – Keegan Bradley.  He’s a weird addition.  I know he won the PGA (I’d actually forgotten about it) – but that’s the worst major.  It’s barely above winning the Memorial or TPC.

#11 – Eric Hosmer.

#2 – Juan Pierre.

#29 – Hanley Ramirez.

#HTP14 – Emancipation Proclamation (+3 for Historical Turning Points).

#ML18 mini – William Wallace (+3 for World’s Greatest Military Leaders mini).

You may take our lives, but you can never take OUR FREEDOM!!!!  I hope I didn’t just break some Gint-A-Cuffs rule with that picture.

#306 – Ryan Howard (+2 for SP).

Pack total: 8 points

Running total: 24 points.

New pace: 157 points.  Keep moving on up with that point projection!

Pack 4

#154 – Bobby Hurley, Sr..

#74 – Johnny Cueto (+1 for Reds FT).

#49 – Jeremy Hellickson.

#79 – Yoenis Cespedes.

#AGA-CK – Clayton Kershaw (+10 for autograph).

Awesome!  On my 3rd all-time box of Allen & Ginter, I pull an autograph.  Kershaw was an FP last year, but I guess not this year, so no bonus.  But this is certainly a nice card.  Going up on eBay to help recoup some of this box.

#PB10 mini – Luke (+3 for People of the Bible).

Oh, no, I got confused and broke the rules again…

#WIN8 – Clifton Phifer Lee (+2 for What’s in a Name).

This was the Award Winners pack – the defending NL Cy Young and AL Rookie of the Year.

Pack total: 16 points

Running total: 40 points

New Pace: 215 points. [(35 x 6) + 5].

I said this last year; Rome wasn’t built in a day, and my box of Ginter won’t be broken in less than a week.  But there’s the start of my foray into 2012 Gint-A-Cuffs.

MVP of the post: Easily Clayton Kershaw, with the sweet auto!

Trades – a 30 dollar Sandlot

I got two more trades wrapped up in early July (trades 26 & 27 for 2012!).  The first was with an old trading partner – Joe from Sandlot.  I sent Joe a couple of Piazza cards and some Mets.  Joe sent me a few cards I needed – 2 cards from the A&G set, Minds that Made the Future.  He also sent me a card from SP Legendary Cuts (Legendary Americana).  It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten one of those cards from my wantlist, but it’s always good to get them when I do!  Thanks for the trade, Joe!

The second trade was with another multiple time trading partner, Robert from $30 a week habit.  I think this is our 3rd trade overall.  I sent Robert a bunch of Gypsy Queen and a whole lot of the 1986 Topps set.  He sent me some Heritage cards:

And quite a few 2012 Topps inserts…

Thanks for the trade, Robert!

Barry Larkin Hall of Famer

Today’s a big day in baseball.  First, congratulations to Ron Santo.  My mom grew up in Chicago, and her favorite Cubbie growing up was Santo.  It’s sad he didn’t get inducted until after he passed away, but I also believe that it’s never too late to right a wrong, and I’m glad he got in nonetheless.

But for me, this is Barry Larkin’s big day.  As a big baseball fan, I don’t know if I can quite put into words how cool it is for Larkin to get inducted.  He played his whole career in the city I grew up in – and that career spanned the time I grew up.  His first full year was 1987, when I was 7 and first started understanding and paying attention to baseball.  It’s pretty cool – you really can’t expect to have someone who fits that bill, particularly in the free agency period of today’s game.

He wasn’t my favorite Reds player – that was alternatively Eric Davis or Ken Griffey Jr.  But Larkin was the best player on the 1990 World Champion team (I went to game 2).  He played his first All-Star game in the 1988 Summer Classic in Cincinnati – which I attended with my dad.  He won the 1995 MVP during the last season the Reds won a playoff series (and game, actually).  So I’m really excited for his induction.  He’s also a really good analyst for ESPN (and formerly MLB Network).

I had really hoped to go to this – since I’m only ~3 hours away from Cooperstown.  But we have a baby on the way shortly (we’re actually past the due date – and as I posted most of this in advance, it’s very possible the baby is already here) – so I’m very excited to not be going anywhere more than 20 minutes away at the moment.  Anyways, I did DVR the induction speech on MLB Network, and will watch it when time permits.

Thanks for all the great memories and one more, Barry!  And congratulations, Barry – you deserve it!

Saturdays Suds: Baseball & Beer #3 Victory Summer Love

This is my third “Saturday Suds” – where I’ll post a beer that has something to do with baseball (or at least I’ll try to figure out some way to correlate it with baseball).

Brewery:  Victory Brewing Company; Downington, PA

Beer:  Victory Summer Love Ale

Description:  A paler, yellow colored summer ale.  The other craft brew that I drank this summer was Pyramid.  This one is more hoppy, but still very drinkable – it still went down very smoothly and had a light finish.  Another really good beer for a hot summer day, but with a bit more flavor than some of the standard beers you’d find at a barbecue!

Medium:  I bought 2 6-packs and drank them over the past month or so.

How it’s related to baseball:  It’s got a baseball behind the beer name on the logo – and a shadow caricature of batter beneath it.  And it’s a summer seasonal.  Other than that, there’s nothing in particular, but I bought it because I saw the baseball on the logo and I’d heard of Victory Brewing.  And I enjoyed the 6 pack I polished off last month – so that earns this beer a post on my blog!