Completed insert set – 1999 Topps All-Matrix

I’m biding time a bit right now on this blog.  I have a trade incoming and I’m going to the National Collector’s Convention at the end of this week.  So here’s another completed insert set from 1999.  I thought I’d do this one because the only 2 Hall of Famers were just inducted last weekend.

Info about the set:

Set description:  This 30-card set is really 3 smaller sets.  The first 13 cards is the “Club 40” for batters who had smashed 40+ homers in 1998.  That’s right – 13 guys with 40 homers.  This includes Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s record breaking totals.  The next 10 cards are “99 Rookie Rush” for players whose rookie season was coming in the 1999 season (most notably Roy Halladay).  The last 7 cards are “Club K” and includes a who’s who of power pitchers at the turn of the century.  Each subset has a different design.  The background of the cards have reflective foil with the name of the subset included.

Set composition:  30 cards, 1:18 odds (1999 Topps series 2)

Hall of Famers:  2.  Shockingly, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson are the first two HOF-ers in this set.  Griffey will join them next year.  A lot of steroid guys in this set.

Card that completed my set:  #AM3 – Ken Griffey Jr.

I got this card from COMC back in December, as part of their Black Friday promotions.

How I put the set together:

• 2 cards from my series 2 hobby box
• 2 cards from trades
• 1 card from the National card show
• 25 cards from Sportlots/Beckett/COMC

Thoughts on the set:  These sets where the background is the super-shiny aren’t my favorite, but this is a really good one.  I like the first and last subsets.  Club 40 is a good idea – if you had over 40 homers, you were in the set.  If not, you weren’t.  Club K is my favorite design.  I don’t particularly like the rookie subset.  It’s always risky because you may get guys who weren’t particularly memorable.  That was true for just about every guy in this subset except Roy Halladay and Carlos Lee.

Best card (my opinion):  #AM29 – Pedro Martinez

I like the Club K design the best, and this is the best card from that subset.

My Favorite Reds card:  #AM4 – Greg Vaughn

Vaughn became the 2nd Reds player to hit 50 homers in 1998.

Completed insert set – 1999 Topps Hall of Fame Collection

I completed a 1999 insert at the end of last year, and thought that posting it right after the induction speeches was appropriate.  The Hall of Fame induction was yesterday, and it’s always one of my favorite things to watch.  The small part I’ve watched of this year’s has been no different.  I’m going to watch the rest tomorrow night.

I had hoped to do a “Sunday Stories” post last evening.  I’m reading Pedro’s autobiography, but I couldn’t quite finish it.  You know, life stuff.  I’m 81% of the way.  I know this, because the Amazon Kindle App tells me.  I’ve never been a big fan of Petey, but it sure is interesting and I am a fan now.  I’ll hopefully have a post up for that next Sunday.

Anyway, here’s the 1999 Topps HOF Collection set.

Info about the set:

Set description: Topps was really getting into gear with the retired player tributes at the end of the century.  They had reprint sets for Mantle, Mays, Clemente and in 1999 added Nolan Ryan.  Topps Gallery was including the first Topps Heritage cards as inserts.  Tributes were all the rage, and this set was the first insert set from Topps flagship featuring multiple retired players.  The set features 10 different Hall of Famers with their Cooperstown plaque as a background and a black and white photo in the foreground.

Set composition: 10 cards, 1:12 odds (1999 Topps series 1)

Hall of Famers:  10.  Obviously all of them.  Mike Schmidt, Brooks Robinson, Stan Musial, Willie McCovey, Eddie Mathews, Reggie Jackson, Ernie Banks, Whitey Ford, Bob Feller, Yogi Berra

If I go by primary position, this “team” has no center fielder (I figure Mr. October plays right, Stan the Man plays left) and is missing a second baseman and a third outfielder while having 3 different 3rd baseman.

Card that completed my set: #HOF7 – Ernie Banks

Mr. Cub was one of 3 cards I purchased from Beckett’s website last December.

How I put the set together:

• 3 cards from my series 1 hobby box
• 4 cards from Sportlots
• 3 card from Beckett’s marketplace

Thoughts on the set:

It’s easy to forget now, but I’m sure having a retired player set with this kind of clout back in 1999 was a big deal for the Topps flagship brand.  I really like this set and the design is great with the HOF plaque in the background.  This set was only inserted in series 1.  Having 10 more Hall of Famers (think Mays, Aaron, Morgan, Bench) would have made it even better.

Best card (my opinion): #HOF10 – Yogi Berra

All the cards are great, but Berra has his catching gear on in a pose I haven’t seen anywhere else.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none.

Saturdays Suds: Baseball & Beer #59 – Ommegang Valar Morghulis

My next beer is another from Ommegang.  I had one of their specialty brews earlier this year and, whenever I have a new Ommegang beer I do one of these posts!  This is one of those where you can only get this at a bar or in the 750 ml corked bottles.  Since this is Hall of Fame induction week – this felt appropriate

Brewery:  Ommegang Brewery, Cooperstown, NY

(Now owned by the Duvel Belgian Brewery, though still operated out of Cooperstown)

Beer:  Ommegang Valar Morghulis

Description:  Ommegang struck a deal with HBO to brew various beers related to the Game of Thrones TV show.  The phrase means “all men must die”.

From the label:

“When confronted with the most feared saying in high Valyrian, take a sip and choose your words wisely, for all men must die, and all men must serve.  Enjoy rich aromas of caramel and ripe fruit with deep flavors of malty sweetness and fruity esters.”

This is a dubbel ale, meaning it’s a fairly strong and moderately heavy brown ale.  It has a dark cherry red color, and has a taste of darker colored fruit like cherry or raisins.  It was definitely hoppy, but the full body of the beer covers that taste up.  It’s a good beer, but not one to drink quickly!

Medium:  A large bottle (1 pint, 9.4 oz).  The bottle comes with a cork.  These were sold in Binny’s beer/liquor store in Chicago.  I think you can find them at some bars on tap.

How it’s related to baseball:  The beer itself isn’t really related at all.  The Ommegang Brewery is a Belgian-style brewery that has been around for 25 years.  But the bottom line?  It’s in Cooperstown – home of the baseball Hall of Fame.  I recently went to Cooperstown with my dad, and we didn’t stop here, but I’d had a couple of these beers when I went to Cooperstown for Rickey Henderson’s induction.  The brewing tradition in Cooperstown actually goes back much further than the baseball tradition does, and these have been my Saturday Suds posts over the Winter.  I’ve only got one more Ommegang to post about, unless I find one of the rarer beers they have!

My final All-Star adventure – the Nasty Boys!!!!!!

This is my last post about the whole All-Star experience.  For my post last Friday – I pointed out that I got quite a few autographs on my 1990 Reds pennant.  I held off my last 3 autos because they were also the ones I was most excited about.  As you can tell from above, I’m talking about the Nasty Boys.  They signed at CEI’s Cincy Fest.

They were one of the big reasons the Reds did so well in 1990.  Unlike the team they swept in the World Series, the Reds needed a lock-down bullpen.  That bullpen also included guys like Tim Layana, Tim Birtsas and Scott Scudder, but its success was anchored by Norm Charlton, Rob Dibble and Randy Myers.

Here was my tease of the World Series pennant in my post last Friday.  No Nasty boys are seen.  Other than Jose Rijo (hard to see in this picture – but its the silver sharpie over the World Series logo), all of the autographs are in blue.

I had Rijo sign in silver, which shows up better on a dark background.  Same thing with the right side of the pennant, where I had the Nasty Boys sign.  This was a blue background, and it turned out great.  Inscriptions came with the price, so I had Dibble and Myers add NLCS MVP to theirs.  Randy had the idea to add “Nasty Boys” at the top – and who am I to argue!  More on that later.

I still have some autographs to get – most notably Paul O’Neill, Hal Morris and Tony Perez (who was the hitting coach).  Rick Mahler and Tim Layana have passed away, so those are 2 guys I’ll never get.  Jack Armstrong may be the toughest – I’ve never heard of him signing.  But I got quite a few this week, and I am sort of running low on room!

But getting the autographs from the Nasty Boys and it turning out well wasn’t the best part about it.  These 3 guys were great to interact with.  They all signed together – Charlton first, Dibble next, Myers last.  All 3 of them shook my hand, asked my name and chatted for a few seconds.  Charlton said “nice to meet you, I’m Norm Charlton”, which was funny because, well, of course I know who he is!  I told Myers I was at game 2 of the 1990 Series, and he looked at me and said “Really?  So Was I!”  They’re a cast of characters for sure.  As I mentioned, Myers had the idea of putting the Nasty Boys above the spot they signed.

And they let each fan get a photo with them.  After getting your item signed, you could go to the side and wait.  They’d sign 15-20 items, then go take photos with those 15-20 people.  Charlton said they asked to do this because they wanted it to be a better experience for people than just walking through a line and leaving.  It certainly was for me.

Here’s the full pennant.  I have another pennant signed by the Big Red Machine.  It’s probably worth more, but they were for a different generation.  They were my dad’s team, or at least the team for someone in between the age of me and my dad.  This was my team, and this is my prized sports possession.

Monday Mascots #4: Mr. Red

A week ago today I was at the home run derby!  I’m letting my homage to the Reds for the All-Star festivities last week leak over into this week.  On that note, here’s my 4th mascot post.  This is actually the first post about your more “traditional” mascot – meaning there’s a guy who is paid by the team to dress up in mascot attire.  I’ve done a post about Babe Ruth’s personal good luck charm, and one about the Angels’ Rally Monkey.

But, this particular mascot is actually retired.  So I guess I still haven’t done a post about an active mascot yet!

Mascot/Team:   Mr. Red (Cincinnati Reds, 1968-2007)

Background:   The Reds first came up with a mascot known as Mr. Red in 1953 as part of the Crosley Field All-star game logo.  The character with a baseball head and a handlebar mustache and a bat.  The same character then appeared on either a primary or secondary logo for the team from 1954 through 1967.

However, this mustachioed gentleman isn’t the guy really known as Mr. Red – the Reds would later dub that guy “Mr. Redlegs” when he came back in 2008.  He’s a mascot for another post!

The clean-shaven mascot known as Mr. Red first appeared in 1968 as part of the “Running Man” logo.  This became the team’s primary logo in 1972.  He donned the number 27, and the Reds were apparently hesitant to hand #27 out to an actual player due to this.

The creation of this Mr. Red generally coincided with the Reds’ new ownership; Francis L. Dale bought the team in 1967 and committed to keeping the team in Cincinnati by building a stadium downtown by the river.  This was during the best days in franchise history.  From the Big Red Machine to the 1990 Wire-to-Wire World Champions, “Running Man” saw 3 World Series wins, 5 pennants and 7 division titles before he was replaced by the primary logo in 1992 (he functioned as an alternate logo until 2007).

The “live” mascot first showed up in 1973, when Dick Wagner purchased the team from Dale – he was there for the 3 home games in the 1975 World Series.  In the 1980’s, Marge Schott did away with him in favor of her dog Schottzie, but he returned in 1997 with a more modern look as Schott was on her way out of baseball.

Mr. Red was joined by Gapper in 2003, and he officially retired in 2007 to make way for the return of Mr. Redlegs and a female mascot named Rosie Red.  Those guys and gal will get their own post someday in the future, but this post is for the Mr. Red I was used to growing up!  His retirement didn’t completely last – he came back for a part-time gig in 2012 and can now be seen on selected dates helping the with the Reds’ mascot duties at Great American Ballpark alongside Rosie and Mr. Redlegs.

Outside of baseball:   Like any good mascot, Mr. Red could be found off the field at parties, etc. during his days as the lone Reds mascot.  According the Reds website, when he retired you could expect to find “this Running Man sunbathing, vacationing and coaching in Sarasota, Florida”.

Baseball card connection:  I was surprised to see there were only 2 cardboard versions of Mr. Red.  He was featured (with the same photo) in the 2000 and 2001 annual Kahn’s set that was given out as a promotional item at a specified Reds’ home game.

This year there was a Mascot set associated with the All-Star Fanfest.  Five cards of the Reds’ 4 mascots, and Mr. Red was featured on one of them.  I didn’t get this card when I was down there – just Gapper and Mr. Redlegs for me.

Sunday Stories: Major League Memoirs #2 – “The Day All the Stars Came Out” by Lew Freedman

In honor of the fact that I was going to the All-Star Game in Cincinnati this year, I read a book about the first All-Star game.  I knew a few things about it already – that it happened in 1933 and that an aging Babe Ruth hit a 2-run homer.  But that was about it.  This was a great read, in part because of the personal fact I was going to this year’s version of the Midsummer Classic.  But in general this was just a really good book.  It was fun going to the game after reading this book – I remember walking into Great American Ballpark and thinking “This is the same tradition that started back in Chicago in 1933 with a Babe Ruth home run”.

I’m calling these posts “Sunday Stories: Major League Memoirs”.  This is the second book I’ve covered.  The first was a chronicle of the home run exploits of Babe Ruth.  So Ruth has played a big part in both posts so far!

Title/Author/Publisher: “TheDay all the Stars Came Out: MLB’s First All-Star Game” by Lew Freedman (McFarland, 2010, 231 pages)

Description:  The book is a beginning-to-end narrative of how MLB’s first All-Star Game came to be and then played out.  The game was originally conceived by Arch Ward, the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune.  His boss and owner of the Tribune, Colonel Robert McCormick, asked him to put together a sporting exhibition as part of the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.

At the time, this was viewed as a one-time deal, dubbed the “Game of the Century” by Ward.  The game was such a success – despite being played in the midst of the Great Depression – that it soon became an annual rite of summer.  Freedman’s book describes the game through the game’s conceptualization and build-up, then covers the playing of the game itself and the impact it would have on the sports world in the future.  Freedman ends with a chapter detailing the accomplishments and the “where did the end up” of each of the players and managers involved.

My review:  Overall, this was just a great book.  It was a fast read, without a single part that seemed to drag.  The first part of the book discusses how the All-Star game came to be – and it really trumpets Arch Ward as the driving force behind the creation of the idea.  The book describes everything from how he got baseball’s power players involved to the fact that he offered up his annual salary if the game wasn’t a financial success.  Ward basically put his career on the line – and then spent the 2 months between May (when the event was greenlit) to July (when it was played) doing everything he could to promote it.   Despite the fact that an All-Star game is obviously about the players – I would say Ward was the star of this book.  Freedman really shows not only how instrumental Ward was in making this first game a success.

He does cover the players, though, and does so in an interesting fashion.  Each inning of the game gets its own chapter, and Freedman covers every single player who played in the game.  He weaves their backgrounds into their current place at the bat or on the mound in the All-Star Game.  For example, when covering the at bats for Bill Terry (the NL’s starting 1B and the NY Giants’ manager in 1933), Freedman covers the relationship between “Memphis Bill” and his former skipper John McGraw (who was honored with the manager spot for the NL).

Ruth was the star of this game – he hit a 2-run homer to pace the Americans’ victory, and he made an 8th inning catch to stifle a National League rally.  And while Ruth was important, he doesn’t really get any more coverage in the book than any other of the All-Stars.   In fact, Freedman covers Ruth’s homer in a great chapter.  But as opposed to spending 10 pages recapping the Babe’s exploits, he covers the homer from the perspective of the bat boy John McBride.

The book finishes up with a look at the Negro League All-Star game that followed shortly after MLB’s “Game of the Century”.  This was a cool feature, and it made me want to read the book that’s out there about that event.  Finally, the book spends a chapter covering the rest of Arch Ward’s career, and another full chapter covering what each of the players and managers did after that game.  This doesn’t just mean their baseball career – Freedman covers where the players lived and died after their career.  He goes in order of their death, and it’s a cool touch to finish up the book.

Other Notable nuggets:  This book has so many things that I just didn’t know.  But it’s not just stuff about the more famous guys like Ruth, Gehrig, or McGraw.  Here’s a few of them.

• I knew about the 1911 benefit game to help the family of Addie Joss after his untimely death.  That game was a collection of AL All-Stars playing against his old team, the Cleveland Naps (now the Indians).  But I didn’t know about the All-Star barnstorming tour that Joss actually played on as a rookie in 1902.  The book covered this in one of the early chapters, discussing how Win Mercer killed himself after ostensibly gambling away his fellow players’ proceeds from the trip.
• FC Lane, a writer for Baseball Magazine, had championed the idea of an All-Star Series nearly 2 decades earlier.
• The Chicago World’s Fair of 1933 was a similar scale event as the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893.  The 1933 Fair introduced us to the All-Star game, but the 1893 version also produced another baseball staple – Cracker Jack!
• The book covers the unique relationship between Terry and McGraw, which began as extremely contentious before morphing into a situation where McGraw recommended Terry as his replacement.  It also covers the relationship between Jimmy dykes and AL manager Connie Mack.  Mack had been forced to sell Dykes to the White Sox the year before, but the two had a great rapport and Mack taught him well enough for Dykes to become a manager for over two decades himself.  Like Terry and McGraw – Dykes wound up replacing his mentor when Mack retired in 1950.
• It’s all too common for today’s athletes to be tattooed to the gills.  But one pitcher on the 1933 team, Al “General” Crowder was notable for having enough tattoos to be called a “human picture gallery”.
• The NL and AL used different balls back then (they actually did so until 2000).  Like the selection of Comiskey Park over Wrigley Field, this was a point of contention.  The umpires switched balls mid-way through the game, after the top of the 4th.
• The 2nd All-Star game was played in the Polo Grounds in 1934.  It had a national fair tie-in as well – for 300 years of New York sports.
• Ward was offered the role of NFL commissioner, but turned it down to stay at the Tribune.  He later helped form a competitor of the NFL – the AAFC.  He also created the annual Chicago All-Star Football Classic.

AL Roster

NL Roster

 

Saturday Suds: Baseball & Beer #58 – Golic’s RBI Rye Ale

I haven’t done a beer post in a while, but I just had one that was perfect for these posts!  I mentioned in my post yesterday that my dad and I went down to watch Mike & Mike early on Monday morning.  It was held at the Moerlein Lager House down on the river, and they brewed a special beer for Greeny & Golic.

Brewery: Christian Moerlein Brewing Company in Cincinnati, OH

Beer:  Moerlein Golic’s RBI Rye Ale

Description:  This is a special brew made for the Mike & Mike event.  They were at the Lager House on Monday and Tuesday, and had a contest to see whose beer was drank the most.  Mike Greenberg picked his beer to be a lighter ale, since that’s what he likes.  According to Mike Golic, they asked him what kind of beer he wanted, and he answered “beer”.  So he got the darker rye.  This beer lost to Greeny’s short hop ale, which is to be expected.  People are just more likely to drink a lighter beer.  But not me, or at least not when I’m drinking my breakfast!

This is a robust American Brown Ale brewed with malted rye for a distinct finish.  It poured brown and it tasted like a brown ale – it’s pretty heavy and “bread-y”.  I don’t know if that’s a technical term.  It also had some chocolate and spice to it.  It’s not a beer for a hot summer day, but for me it went well with eggs, sausage and potatoes from the breakfast buffet.

Medium:  I bought a pint at the Moerlein Lager House last Monday morning.

How it’s related to baseball:  It was one of two beers brewed specially for Mike and Mike for their trip to do their show for the All-Star game.  Or at least they re-named existing beers after the two co-hosts.  And they gave them a baseball name and created logos in the design of the All-Star logo.  Both Mikes have mustaches and the pill hats on the design.  It was a cool event, and despite the fact I gave up on some sleep, I’m glad we went.

My other adventures in All-Star Weekend

 

I’ve got two more posts about my experiences from All-Star weekend.  First, as I mentioned at the end of my post yesterday, I went to Mike and Mike Monday morning.  They broadcast from Moerlein Lager House, which is right next door to Great American Ballpark.  Coincidentally, I’ve done a Saturday Suds blog post about this establishment.

On the outside chance anyone reading this doesn’t know (it’s possible, but the demographics would surprise me), Mike and Mike is ESPN’s national morning sports talk show.  It’s the most popular sports talk show in the country.  And it showed on this day.

The Lager House opened at 5 in the morning for a breakfast buffet.  My dad and I left my parents’ house at 4:30 in the morning, and were parked downtown before 5 AM.  And the above picture was the line when we got there.  Now, when you wake up at 4:30 and see something like that – you immediately wonder if you made a mistake.  But we were already there so we waited in line.  We couldn’t get into the restaurant – they were over capacity and the line was only about halfway whittled down.  It worked out OK in the end.

There was a good spot on the lawn to wait and watch their show, and you could even grab a 6 AM beer for your troubles.  Dad and I stood there until about 7:45 listening to the show.  I had one beer, and listened to them interview Barry Larkin and MLBPA president Tony Clark.  It was fun.  And when we left, we realized that plenty of people had left and it was now feasible to go into the restaurant to partake of the buffet.  I had another beer – this time one of the two special brews that Moerlein had made for the event.  I had the Mike Golic rye – which seemed more appropriate for breakfast than the Greeny light ale.  But those are for another Saturday Suds post!

So that was Mike and Mike.  We left to head back home around 9, and I was on less than 4 hours of sleep, so I took about an hour nap or so.  But I had to get up at 11 to head down to another event surrounding the Cincinnati extravaganza.  This was me doing some autograph seeking.  I got a few free ones at All-Star Fanfest, but CEI Sports was putting on something called Cincy Fest across the river in Covington.  This was of the “pay for it” variety, and I went a bit overboard.  I was trying to add to a 1990 Reds collection I have, and I also started a new one this past weekend.

The first collection is a World Series pennant where I’ve gotten as many guys on the team as possible.  I mentioned Chris Sabo in a previous post – he was the one guy I needed on the pennant that I was able to get at Fanfest.  Tom Browning and Ron Oester I had autograph their 1990 Topps card – which is the collection I’m just starting.  Every player from the postseason roster has a 1990 Topps card, if you factor in Traded and ML Debut.

At CEI’s Cincy Fest, I found a few more.  Billy Bates was the first one; I actually had to go down to Covington Sunday just to get his autograph.  It was worth it though.  Bates played a total of 29 regular season games in the Majors, with 3 more in the 1990 postseason.  In fact, his last appearance in the Majors was when he scored the winning run of World Series game 2.  That was the game I attended, and I told him as much when I got his autograph.  It was $40 for his autograph, which was well worth it in my opinion.  He’s hard to find – and he told me as much when I mentioned I’d been hoping to get his auto for quite a while.  I was excited to get his signature on my pennant.  Also, for on 10 bucks more he signed my card as well – which is from Topps ML Debut.  This is the only 1990 card for the 25 postseason players & manager that doesn’t feature a Reds uniform.

I forgot to scan Billy’s card – so I’ll post it another time.

On Monday, the first autograph I got was Danny Jackson.  I needed his signature on my pennant, and since I’ve read he doesn’t sign much either, I had him to sign his 1990 card.  That was $30 for each auto.  Jackson’s line was low by the time I got there, so I was able to chat with him for a minute.  I had seen him at the Futures game the night before, and assumed he was there with his family.  He said he was impressed with the seats at Great American, in that the seats were geared to face Home Plate so you don’t have to turn your head.  It was neat to know that a former player was enjoying himself as an All-Star spectator!

I also got Glenn Braggs autograph on his 1990 Topps Traded card.  He already signed my pennant, so I just wanted to get this since he was in town and it was only $20.  He’s a friendly guy as well – and is still clearly in phenomenal shape!

The next autograph was Jose Rijo.  I needed him for the pennant as well, and I thought about buying two of his autographs.  But his auto was $40, and getting two seemed more than I needed right now.  I had him sign the pennant in silver (the other autographs are in blue), and it honestly didn’t turn out as well as I’d have liked.  I’m starting to run out of room for it, so I had him sign over the World Series logo.  I should have had him do the upper right corner.  It’s not perfect, but it’s still great to get Rijo’s autograph!  He added an inscription “MVP 10/20/90”.

The next autograph I got was Luis Quinones.  He was a utility infielder for the Reds, and another guy who’s autograph I didn’t have yet.  He signed it on the underline portion of the World Series logo.

This is a picture of my pennant, though I’m not showing the last three autographs I got at Cincy Fest.  Those are for tomorrow’s post!

Attending the All-Star Game

So the last part of my All-Star weekend was, of course, the All-Star Game.  This was the cap of a great weekend for me.  When it was announced that Cincinnati was getting the 2015 All-Star Game, my Dad and I decided that we’d go.  We had gone to the game in 1988 when I was 8 years old, so this was a special thing for both him and me.

I don’t think there was any way the All-Star Game could beat the Home Run Derby.  The energy in the building when Todd Frazier won was palpable – it was probably the coolest event I’ve ever been too live.  At least that I can remember.  I did go to game 2 of the 1990 World Series, which was a walk-off, extra-inning win.  But I was 10 years old and I only remember snippets of it.

The pre-game festivities did give the Derby a run for its money; they were amazing.  We got there about 5:45, so it started out with watching batting practice.  Fox does put some of their broadcast interviews on the big screen, which keeps it interesting.  At 7:30, the pre-game show ended and the National broadcast started, hosted by Thom Brennaman.  The first thing was a tribute on the scoreboard showing the voting results of the “Franchise Four” for each team.  116 players from 29 franchises were put onto the video board.  Well, I think it was actually 114 players.  The first thing that stuck out to me was that Nolan Ryan made it on with 3 different teams (Angles, Astros, Rangers).  The other thing was the Yankees top 4.  Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio – I think this was the right decision, however, I was curious to see if Derek Jeter would get the vote since he’s been so recent.  My dad and I were talking about it – we actually think Yogi Berra would be next, and then Whitey Ford and Jeter would be really close.

I said 29 teams, because they held the home team for last.  This was where the “controversy” came in, as MLB honored Pete Rose as one of the Reds’ Franchise Four.  Johnny Bench, Barry Larkin, Joe Morgan all came out, with Rose held for last.  Now, I am anything but a Pete apologist; to me he’s lived a lie for so long that I think you can’t trust anything he says about his situation.  I cringe when so many people from my hometown Cincinnati argue so vehemently for him.  I can’t count how many times I’ve heard some guy in Cincinnati call into a talk show and argue that Pete should be let back in to baseball, and how they think he’s an example for their kids.  Pete Rose is not a good example for anybody’s kids.  He’s a guy with demons, and I think his fame enabled him to get through his life without every truly staring them down.  He’s an habitual liar, a convicted tax cheat, he had a child outside of his first marriage, and he broke the most important rule in baseball.  Sprinting to first base after getting a walk doesn’t erase all that and make me want to hold him up as an

That said, he has a special place in Cincinnati history, and he did accomplish all those amazing things.  In my mind, I can separate the two things (though if you can’t tell from above, I am still bitter from defending him to my friends for many years).  I do hope baseball finds a way to reinstate him for things like this.  He doesn’t deserve to be on the decision-making side, but there’s no reason he can’t be a promotional figure for the Reds and Phillies.  He got about a 2 minute ovation, and it was cool.

After that, MLB brought out the greatest living foursome.  This was also decided by an online fan vote.  Bench made his second appearance here (and he changed blazers in between!); he was one of the 4 voted in along with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Sandy Koufax.  My dad and I had a moderate debate about it; he thought the picks were perfect.  Aaron and Mays were slam dunks, but I would have picked Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds over the others.  Though I get why Bonds was never going to get voted in.  So if you eliminate him, I’d have gone with Tom Seaver.  I do agree with my dad, though – the picks may not have been correct in my mind, but they were perfect for the event.  There’s something to the greatest living players being guys who are older.  Bench was the only player on that group who played in the 1980’s, and he retired in 1983.  Those 4 guys represent baseball royalty as much as anyone (Yogi Berra also comes to mind), particularly since Ernie Banks just passed away.

Koufax then threw the first pitch to Bench.  Bench has the obvious Reds connection, but Koufax did pitch for a year at UC.  I was doing quick math in my head and guessed since his last year was 1966, Koufax was probably a little over 80.  I was a little off – he’s 79 – but he threw a strike and in general looks amazing for his age.

In between the Franchise Four and the Living Legends, it was time for the more standard pre-game stuff.  Leo Welsh, who sings the National Anthems for the Columbus Blue Jackets, sang “O Canada”.  Ciara, who apparently is a Grammy-winning artist, sung the Star Spangled Banner.  I felt old because I had no clue who she was (I’ve since learned she’s dating Russell Wilson), but she did a good job.  They had 4 fighter jets, U.S. Navy FA-18 Super Hornets, do a flyover.  That’s always very cool and it’s amazing to me how they time it.

The game itself was fun, but not the most dramatic All-Star Game out there.  If you’re reading this, you’re probably a baseball fan and you undoubtedly know the American League won, 6-3.  Mike Trout lead off the game with a home run, and while the NL tied it up, the junior circuit always seemed in control.  Todd Frazier didn’t reproduce his HR Derby magic – he went 0-3.  That was OK, though, as the hometown fans cheered him loudly for each of those 3 at bats.

The most exciting moment for me was when Aroldis Chapman came in.  It was 6-2 when he entered the game in the top of the 9th, and they messed up his introduction music.  But that didn’t matter.  He struck out the side, with 12 of his 14 pitches registering triple digits.

Trout of course won the MVP – and he is now the first player to win the award back-to-back.  He won this car, which was being showcased at Fanfest earlier in the week.  My son loved this car, because he’s 3 and he thinks it belongs in the Cars movie.

All in all – it was a great showcasing of Cincinnati.  My team stinks this year, but the city did a great job hosting and everything I heard was rave reviews.  My dad and I went to Mike and Mike on Monday morning, and the lines were ridiculous.  They said it was the largest showing they’d ever had for a traveling event, and I believe it.  It showed how excited the city was for this event in general.

Completed insert set – 2013 Topps Archives ’83 All-Stars

It’s All-Star day today!  In a few hours, I’ll be taking in the second All-Star game of my life.  The first one was at Riverfront Stadium in 1988.  So if you’re scoring at home, that’s 2 All-Star games, 2 ballparks, and 1 city!

In honor of the All-Star game, I decided to do a completed set post that fits the bill.  This is from 2013 Archives, a 30-card set that uses the design from the 1983 Topps All-Star subset.

Info about the set:

Set description:  “Modeled after the 1983 Topps All-Star subset”.  The ’83 All-Star subset is pretty similar to the base cards from that year.  The front has a white border and features a blue star in the bottom right, which basically replaces the cameo portrait that’s at the bottom corner of the regular cards from the set.  The players’ league is designated to the right of the star, with blue background for AL players and red for NL.  The red backs feature write-ups and the box score from a selected All-Star game.

Set composition:  30 cards, 1:4 (2013 Topps Archives)

Hall of Famers:  13 – Andre Dawson, Carlton Fisk, Cal Ripken Jr., Dave Winfield, George Brett, Gary Carter, Johnny Bench, Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn

Card that completed my set:  83-BP – Buster Posey

One of 3 cards I picked up from Check Out my Cards last November from the Black Friday special they have.  I always go a little crazy over that weekend and end up putting myself way behind on completed set posts.  So expect to see more of these in the future!  The other 2 cards I got were Ripken and Brett.

How I put the set together:

• 12 cards from two hobby boxes
• 2 cards from a blaster
• 16 cards from Sportlots, COMC and Beckett.com

Thoughts on the set:  I really like the inserts cards from Topps Archives – along with the Fan Favorite concept (which was basically discontinued after 2013), it’s much better than the base cards.  The base cards basically feel like a modified version of Heritage.  But for the inserts, Topps takes old cards from their history, like oddballs and subsets, and makes for a fun collectible.

I generally like it better when they do an oddball from the 60’s or 70’s – but this is one exception.  I’ll always have a soft spot for 1980’s cards, and this was a cool set to re-do.  Additionally, Topps did very well from an execution standpoint here.  They stayed true to the design of this set – as you can tell from the Henderson cards below (the one on the left is the new card).  The 19 retired players in this set were all in Major League Baseball in 1983, and Topps generally used pictures that were era-appropriate (Fred Lynn being the only real mistake).  That doesn’t happen often, but when it does – it’s a set well-done in my opinion!

Best card (my opinion):  83-CR – Cal Ripken.

This seems to be an era-appropriate picture of Ripken, and I like how you can see the seats in the background.

My Favorite Reds card:  83-JB – Johnny Bench.

The lone Redleg in this set.  Bench didn’t make the 1982 All-Star game, which is the game the original subset picked players from.  But he did make the 1983 Summer Classic, so this is something of a cool “card that never was”. 

Any other tidbits:  Back when I first started collecting this set, I did a post comparing guys who had cards in this set and the Topps All-Star subset from 1983.  Out of the 19 retired players, 7 of them fit this criteria.  You can see that post here.

Also, only 2 of the guys above (Dave Winfield and Leon Durham) actually made the 1982 All-Star game and thus have “provenance” in this set from that perspective.