Ten for Tuesday - Eliminations from the Baseball Hall

Hey everyone, Drew back here! This week in my new series, "Ten for Tuesday", we will venture into the hallowed halls of Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame has been a controversial subject ever since its creation, and today we still see frequent debates over whether Pete Rose or any of the positively tested steroid players should be inducted. It makes for great conversation, which will be exactly the purpose of what I'm about to bring to you today.

10 Borderline Baseball Hall of Fame Members Who Shouldn't Be In

Let me be very clear with this before I begin: I am not saying that any of the following players were not good players. Every member of the Hall of Fame is in for one reason or another, however some of these reasons are more notable than others. Also, let us not forget that the Hall of Fame isn't always stats first. A guy like Ozzie Smith was a tremendous defensive player but generally an average offensive threat throughout his career with the Cardinals, however the impact he's made on baseball and on the city of St. Louis give him a larger than life persona than some of the players listed below. The players below may have been better all around players than Smith, but there is an element of character that should be slightly taken into consideration as well.

Also, this list is only for players who started their career 1950 or later. I personally do not know much about several of the players before that time period other than what Baseball Reference can tell me. Besides, the game was extremely different in that era, and it's difficult to compare the Deadball Era from any other era in the game's history. Lastly, I want to thank my Grandpa Roy and best buddy William of foul bunt for some advice in putting the list together!

Honorable Mentions - Billy Williams, Barry Larkin, Luis Aparicio

Something we took into consideration in building this list was name value, as cheap as that may seem. We questioned "Is this player an all time great?," and this question alone was helpful in picking apart the tiers of the Hall. Billy Williams was a great Cub, and after comparing him with the now 10th ranked player, I had to keep him out of the Top 10. He played in one playoff series for the A's in 1975, so it isn't fair to slight him for his lack of postseason accomplishments. There was a sizable gap between he and Larkin/Aparicio, who both came home with plenty of hardware and racked up solid statistics across the board. Aparicio is not a well known player to most because he played so long ago now, but was a fantastic defensive presence with a knack for stealing bases (sound familiar, Ozzie Smith?). The difference between Smith and Aparicio is the value to the game, and this may be biased due to Smith's younger age and increased popularity in comparison. But let's face it; a majority of fans would be shocked if Smith wasn't in, and Aparicio was, regardless of the statistics. But none of these players made the ultimate cut.

10 - Andre Dawson
OF, Montreal Expos / Chicago Cubs / Boston Red Sox / Florida Marlins

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Based on talent alone, you would be hardpressed to find "The Hawk" on this list. However, Andre Dawson spent his career battling injuries that took a toll on his final career contributions to the game. Unfortunately, this list does not give sympathy points, although it can be said that Dawson was great for the game and a beloved player among the cities in which he spread his time throughout. He was a tremendous fielder until the turf at Montreal's Olympic Stadium caused him to suffer knee problems. He could do it all during the late 1980's, and even earned an MVP and Rookie of the Year Award. Dawson has an impressive resumé award-wise, but his career statistics were underwhelming compared to what they could have been. And his career on base percentage of .323 is not Hall of Fame worthy, at all.

9 - Tony Perez
1B/3B, Cincinnati Reds / Montreal Expos / Boston Red Sox / Philadelphia Phillies

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Tony Perez was a very productive player for what is arguably the greatest baseball team of the modern era, however, he appeared to play fourth fiddle on the "Big Red Machine"; behind Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, and Joe Morgan. He was a valuable run producer in the middle of the lineup, but it can be said that driving in runs for a team of this caliber was most likely easier than it would be if he played his prime years with any other team. He also was a victim of extending his career a bit too long, which is something you will see often on this list. Perez made 7 All Star teams in his 23 year career, and even won an All Star Game MVP in 1967. He went in on his final year on the ballot, and seemed to get a lot of sympathy votes from writers who didn't vote for him previously. It's difficult to place a guy who closely missed the 3,000 hit club and 400 home run club on this list, but due to the extended longevity along with his high powered team and lack of significant hardware; the Reds slugger is on my list.

8 - Gaylord Perry
SP, San Francisco Giants / Cleveland Indians / Texas Rangers / San Diego Padres / New York Yankees / Atlanta Braves / Seattle Mariners / Kansas City Royals

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If you're among the fairly large crowd who never wishes to see Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, or Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame; you probably shouldn't be a fan of Gaylord Perry's, either. Perry is an admitted cheater, who frequently threw an illegal spitter pitch and doctored baseballs with lubricants and vaseline. Apparently, he was so proud of his system that he tried to land an endorsement deal with vaseline products! He seemed to be a hittable pitcher during his first few seasons until he started cheating his way all the way to the Hall of Fame. When it comes to his actual career statline, he pitched until he was 44 years old; which did not pay his career ERA dividends. Even while winning 314 games, Perry lost a whopping 265 games; posting a career winning percentage of .542. He struggled mightily in his only postseason appearance, and only made 5 All Star teams over his 22 seasons. His numbers were good, but not dominant, and lest we forget, he cheated. And from the looks of it, he liked it.

7 - Phil Niekro 
SP, Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves / New York Yankees / Cleveland Indians / Toronto Blue Jays

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"Knucksie" will forever be known for just that: his knuckleball. Niekro mastered the knuckleball well enough to pitch consistently well for 24 years; up until he was 48 years old. While there is something to be said for someone who is capable of performing well past his prime, he didn't exactly look like he belonged on the field at that point. It appeared as though he played in order to pad his statistics towards making a Hall of Fame case, and sure enough his plan worked out in his favor. Similarly to Perry, Niekro had a shaky winning percentage of .537, losing 274 games. Sure, Cy Young may have lost 316 games, but times were much different in the early 1900's than they were during his time. His saving grace helped him keep the legacy he has now, especially because it has been since passed down to Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey. But just because you have longevity on your side should not make you a lock for the Hall of Fame, because you're bound to reach significant milestones eventually. Niekro was a very good pitcher, better than anyone would have expected, and he makes for a fun story. But he's not a Hall of Famer in my book.

6 - Don Sutton
SP, Los Angeles Dodgers / Houston Astros / Milwaukee Brewers / Oakland Athletics / California Angels

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You know those Golden Oreos? They're great in their own right, yet every time you eat them you wish for an original chocolate cookie instead. Don Sutton is the golden Oreo of Hall of Fame pitchers. Sutton pitched for 23 seasons, and many of those years were average or slightly above average. He won over 20 games once during an era where pitchers were more capable of achieving the feat. Wins can surely be a difficult category to inspect, because a lot of the problem could have been due to lack of run support. He compiled 324 of them eventually, after struggling to get through his age's 38-43 seasons. But when it comes to sheer dominance, Sutton and Niekro simply did not own the league. When I view a Hall of Fame player, I expect to see players who appear significantly better than the rest of the pack. Plus, he only made 4 All Star teams, showing that he was not someone who was viewed among the fans as highly as perhaps he should have. Sutton accomplished plenty throughout his career, but if we could just do away with the silly 300+ wins argument (that will be ruined anyway once Clemens doesn't make it), we would see that he may not appear as much of a lock as he was in 1998 when he was enshrined.

5 - Hoyt Wilhelm
P, New York Giants / St. Louis Cardinals / Cleveland Indians / Baltimore Orioles / Chicago White Sox / California Angels / Atlanta Braves / Chicago Cubs / Los Angeles Dodgers

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Another name, another knuckleballer. Wilhelm was the first primarily relief pitcher inducted back in 1985, and set the standard for which late inning stars should or should not be included. He made eight All Star teams and won a World Series with the Giants in 1954, but he played for nine teams in that span. Saves should not matter when it comes to voting, which helps his case due to his 227 total career saves, 37th all time. My main gripe with Wilhelm, as well as with Sutter, Rollie Fingers, and Goose Gossage, is something they could not control. They simply did not pitch enough. I gave Fingers an edge on this list due to his 1981 MVP and Cy Young season, as well as 3 World Series championships (not to mention great postseason performances). Dennis Eckersley also padded his resumé for much of the same reasons. Wilhelm was transcendent in baseball history, and probably should get more respect than I am giving him, but I had such a difficult time leaving him off this list.

4 - Jim Rice
OF, Boston Red Sox

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There has been a lot of talk regarding why Jim Rice was inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2009 alongside Rickey Henderson. Rice was a feared hitter without question in his prime with the Red Sox, but no matter how he performed, he never seemed to carry any of the spotlight. There's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't put his case off to a good start. He was generally a solely power hitter, although he did bat over .300 seven times during his somewhat short 16 year career. Meanwhile, he produced significantly better at home in Fenway Park than on the road (.320 average at home, .277 on the road).

But my biggest problem with Rice, along with the aforementioned Andre Dawson; is that there a plethora of players from that general era who have comparable statistics. I call it the "If he's in, then he's in, then he's in" rule, and I know it's not a catchy name but it fulfills exactly my problem. If you're going to let Jim Rice and Andre Dawson in the Hall, then their contemporaries Tony Oliva, Dave Parker, George Foster, Dick Allen, and Dwight Evans all should have plaques in the museum as well. And for a museum that strives to honor the top percentage of players to ever play the game, it should not include so many similar players in and honor the ones who were able to stand out.

When a player takes the full 15 years on the ballot to be elected, it's clear how little his presence was felt against some of the other greats of his time.

3 - Bruce Sutter
CP, Chicago Cubs / St. Louis Cardinals / Atlanta Braves

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Bruce Sutter was a really good reliever for the twelve seasons he played, and he will forever be credited for being the first pitcher to effectively use a split-finger fastball. That is why he's in the Hall of Fame. But for a Hall of Famer, he didn't pitch a whole lot. Sutter only throw slightly over 1,000 innings between the Cubs, Cardinals, and Braves, whereas his contemporary, Goose Gossage; threw almost 800 more innings. The reliever conundrum in the Hall is conflicting, because it seems to be judged based on consistent dominance and not as much on the numbers themselves. If that is the case, then Lee Smith, Billy Wagner, Trevor Hoffman, and Mariano Rivera should be in as well. All relievers, even Rivera, should be heavily debated when it comes to being inducted, because relievers (especially in the new era with one inning saves) simply do not pitch nearly as much as starting pitchers. Sure, he won a Cy Young Award, but I don't know if that is enough to build a resumé that would put him in the same Hall as guys from the same era that consistently threw 250-300 innings, year in, year out.

2 - Jim Bunning
SP, Detroit Tigers / Philadelphia Phillies / Pittsburgh Pirates / Los Angeles Dodgers

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When William and I discussed Jim Bunning's case, we initially were saying how he made it due to accumulating 300 wins. After researching his career, though, I noticed that he came nowhere close to 300 (224 total), and he shot up this list. I do not value 300 wins all that much, as you have read before with Sutton, Perry, and Niekro's respective cases, but that was why we thought he was in, which made his case more puzzling when I saw his overall numbers. The former Senator was a nine time All Star and pitched a no hitter, and other than that, he doesn't have much else to boast about. No World Series ring (or playoff experience), no Cy Young Awards, and although he was 2nd all time in strikeouts at the time of his retirement he has since been surpassed fifteen times. When you view Jim Bunning, do you see him as an all time great, better yet a legend? I didn't think so, and despite his consistent, solid career, it's hard for me to honor players that didn't have that "wow" factor.

1 - Bill Mazeroski
2B, Pittsburgh Pirates

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I remember sitting in my basement years ago sorting through cards, only to come across a 1972 Topps Bill Mazeroski card. I recognized him for his iconic home run against the Yankees to win the 1960 World Series, but didn't know much else about him. I went on to research his career statistics, and then saw that he was elected into the Hall of Fame. And ever since that day, I've wondered why that could be. His career on base percentage was .299, which would be an excellent career batting average, but is a horrible OBP for one of Cooperstown's elite. He was a great defensive player, who came away with eight Gold Glove awards, but if it wasn't for his walkoff home run it could be easily said that he would never have been even regarded as a Hall of Famer. Putting him in means that Bobby Thomson, Joe Carter, and Kirk Gibson should be in as well, and that just doesn't make sense.

The goal of this post is to spark debate over which bottom tier of Hall of Fame players could be removed. There will always be marginal players who are comparable to other members, but there are simply too many of them inducted today. Of course, this will never happen, as you cannot take away such incredible honors from the players. All of these players were extremely good players, but as time goes on, the Hall of Fame has become less and less of an accomplishment. The honor stays the same, but the more marginal players are added to the roster, the less of a distinction it becomes.

Bill Simmons wrote an article in 2002 about how he views the Hall of Fame by five separate tiers of talent; the first tier being of players who barely made the cut, while the fifth tier contained the Ruth's and the Mays' and the Walter Johnson's. Looking back on history, I would have tried my best to avoid this classification and narrow down the standards necessary for entry. It's so hard to fathom being able to make this strategy work in this day of age, and I would never mean to take away from players who earned their place in the museum. If there was ever a time to reminisce on such a debate, it is now, because of the steroid era, the Pete Rose situation and so on. So, if we were to start all over, where would we go differently?

What would you do? How do you feel about the state of the Hall of Fame today?

See Ya!

2013 All Star Fanfest Recap! Part 3!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Well, considering this is a continuation of the past few posts, I'm left without much else to say. Enjoy what's left of our adventure!

I left off yesterday after I was able to add George Foster to my signed baseball collection, and from that point forward I was relatively content. Just kidding, because if you could identify either or both of the men above you knew I was hungry for some more signed balls. I came across a Q&A session in the clubhouse with none other than Cardinals legends Ozzie Smith and Lou Brock! I listened to a very small amount of the conversation, as I was more focused on trying to prepare for their exit. I overheard the security guards say that they would go out the back entrance, and considering I thought I knew the place, I headed over to this "back entrance". Sure enough, they left out of another door, and I was left chasing down Ozzie Smith along with an enormous mob of people. Smith was in the midst of signing a few autographs when security told him to stop signing, and he seemed a little annoyed about that. 

He wound up joining Cal Ripken Jr. at the MLB TV station, where we had previously gotten Frank Thomas and Jack Morris. But, since Ripken had already been sitting there, we were camped out way in the back of the enormous crowd. I decided to leave because I figured it was all a lost cause, but Mike and Vinny decided to try a little longer. They were unsuccessful again, unfortunately.

By the time I came back to the station, Ripken and Smith had exited and Brock was being interviewed. But, the huge crowd was still there, so I again, decided to leave. Dad and I went for a little stroll around the building, and all of a sudden we caught a monster roaming around. Andre Dawson was walking around in the store with security guards, picking through some shirts. When he came out from the aisle, I politely asked him if he could sign for me, considering there weren't many people around. Before Dawson had the chance to open his mouth, the security guard said "No, he can't". Andre gave me a look as if to say "I would if I could, kid". It was really disappointing to see the security as difficult as it was at the show. I mean, had they been more open to allowing players to sign at FANfest, I may have been able to go home with signed balls of Ozzie Smith, Andre Dawson, Andrew McCutchen, and quite possibly Cal Ripken Jr. I understood that players have schedules and what not but I didn't think it could've killed Mr. Dawson to sign one ball in a relatively empty store. Whatever. 

Dad and I came back to the MLB station to find Vinny and Mike, and as we came across them we also came across a familiar face entering the building, at least for me. Mike, Vinny, and Dad had no idea who it was, but I knew the face when I saw him. Mr. Marlin himself, Jeff Conine! Conine was a solid player in his day, and I guess he decided to show up for some particular reason (we didn't follow him around). Before he entered the room, he signed for Dad and Vinny, because Mike and I didn't have anything to really add him on. Conine would be the last player to sign for my Dad, so he left with this beautiful custom made (by me) picture of Citi Field celebrating the All Star festivities!

The picture is signed by Frank Thomas, Gaylord Perry, Jack Morris, Jeff Conine, Jim Leyritz, George Foster, and Rollie Fingers! Leyritz' autograph came with the MLB authentication sticker, so it made the photo look pretty legitimate. I'm glad I decided to customize a picture, because it sure did come out nicely, even though nobody signed to like the right field bleachers. I'm planning on framing this and hanging it up, in commemoration of the event!

Following Conine's autograph, we decided to start wrapping things up. Since the building had been basically divided into two huge rooms, we finally got to check out some of the side we entered through. Most of this side was composed of memorabilia/card dealers and some exhibits/fun family activities. However, ESPN Radio was also staged over on that side, and it had previously had Gaylord Perry and Tim Teufel as free signers earlier on. My favorite author Mike Lupica was doing his radio show earlier as well, but at the time we got there his show was long over. Instead, Don La Greca and Yankees announcer Michael Kay were doing their show! I have grown up with Michael Kay as the Yankees announcer, and since he's about 100 times better than John Sterling, I've always respected him. He isn't Bob Uecker or Vin Scully, but he definitely holds his own and knows what he is talking about.

A fan standing to the side of the booth waved to Mr. Kay during his break as if to grab his attention for autographs, and Kay gave him the "one minute" signal. Mike, Vinny, and I joined in behind the fan in line, but we knew we had to hurry because he probably would have to go back on air shortly. However, we all got a chance to go up on stage, greet him and talk to him. Unfortunately this was where wearing a Pirates jersey did me wrong, but I explained to Michael that I wore it to get McCutchen's attention and that I'm a diehard Yankee fan, and that I really enjoy listening to him. He was really cool about it and appreciative, and he signed my ball on the sidepanel. It still looks pretty awesome to me, but say what you want!

Although I wasn't wearing the proper attire, I'm really glad we all got to meet him! It was so surreal hearing his voice as he talked to us, considering I've listened to him as long as I've been a baseball fan. We all agreed that he was a good way to complete the day, and that from that point on we could have a little fun before we made the trek over to our next stop (see next post)! As we talked about the rest of the plan, Dad came back over from the Topps booth with a handful of cards, topped by this one:

The special at the Topps booth was one All Star commemorative card per every 3 packs bought by customers. I planned to take part in this but I completely forgot about it, but I'm glad Dad wasn't shy! He bought 3 packs of 2013 Bowman, the first tastes I've gotten of the product. Well, it looks nice to me, and take a look at what I ended up getting!

I'm not really into cards as much as I used to be, but I will never really turn them down, unless they're commons from the junk wax era. I plan on using many of these for future through the mail requests, so again, this was definitely appreciated Dad!

From there, we basically just walked around, snapping pictures in every direction, and as we headed out, we posed for a photo with the Fanfest "World's Largest Baseball", which is below the header of the post. I want to thank Dad once again for everything he did for me at this show, along with my buddies for accompanying me, although they seemed to have had a great time as well. But this trip wasn't over yet...

See Ya!

March 24th White Plains Card Show Recap! Meeting Two HOF'ers!

Hey guys, Drew back here to finally wrap up the White Plains Card Show Review. Many bloggers seem to be able to pound out a whole show review within a few posts, but I prefer to go into depth on my pickups because it's not like I leave with a whole lot of money in my pocket, if any at all. The other day I thought about what my collection would be like without discovering these shows that take less than an hour to get to from here, and I couldn't even begin to tell you how much weaker it would be. I'm fortunate that I heard about them a few years back though, as I've gotten chances to meet players such as Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Ernie Banks, and even the whole Jets defensive line known as "The Sack Exchange"! 

At this show, I was able to add two more legends to the list of people I've met, both of which have been enshrined into Cooperstown within the past ten years. I had an opportunity to meet recent inductee Roberto Alomar as well, but the price for an autograph wasn't very favorable to my show budget. Instead, I met a guy with over 3,000 hits on the back of his baseball card, and a guy who was one of the most feared power hitters of his era. 

After waiting 2 hours in line for the free guys, I heard an announcement, saying it was the last call to meet one of the Hall of Famers I bought a ticket to meet. Dad had to take a few photos of the people in front and behind us in line with our camera because he had offered, since they didn't have cameras, and so following getting my Shantz and White autographs, he stayed there for a few moments getting their emails to send the pictures too. In the meantime, I took a mad dash through the show to try and make it before my player left, and fortunately enough by the time I got in the room, both Hall of Famers had absolutely NO line! 

With Dad and the camera not being present at the time, it gave me a few extra moments to talk with third baseman Wade Boggs as he signed my photograph for me! Boggs wasn't just one of the best third basemen to ever live, but he was also the third baseman that helped bring my Yankees to the World Series in 1996- the year that I was born. "The Chicken Man" made 12 All Star teams, while nabbing a few gold gloves in his illustrious career, which resulted in 3,010 career hits and a .328 lifetime batting average! He was wearing his 1996 ring, which I complimented, and I also said thanks to him for helping bring New York Yankee baseball back on the map. He was grateful and kind, and signed my 16x20 photograph beautifully with one of the nicer inscriptions I own. 

I couldn't come across any Boggs photo any more iconic than the one I was able to get signed, of him riding a horse after winning the World Series in 96'! The autograph came out beautiful, and the inscription reads: "To Drew, Best Wishes, Wade Boggs, '96' WS Champs, HOF 05". I just asked him to write it out to Drew, and then include whatever else he wished to include, and this went far beyond expectations. What an awesome experience.

Dad ran into the side room where Boggs and I were a few minutes later, and was able to meet him and take this great picture of me with the 5 time batting title winner himself! After I met the next player, I went and got my picture certified for $6 from JSA, since they run discounts on the players signing at the shows. I can't wait to frame it up on the wall, especially because the picture was from my birth year!

The two of us then scurried through the Alomar line to meet another Hall of Famer with absolutely no line- Expos/Cubs great Andre Dawson! "The Hawk" charged the same price as Boggs, and while he was a little quieter, it was still well worth it. Dawson was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2010, in his 9th year of eligibility. With a career average of .279, with 2,774 hits and 438 home runs, this guy was by far one of the better all around players of his time. To add to his list of accolades, he also won the 1977 NL Rookie of the Year, as well as the 1987 NL MVP, to go along with 8 gold gloves and 8 All Star selections. So, to say he wasn't Cooperstown worthy is a tad bit ridiculous in my opinion.

I had him sign a Hall of Fame custom for my set, which came out nice as always. He has one of the best signatures around, even though I don't necessarily understand why his 'd' in Andre drops down so low. Nonetheless, it looks really cool! The neat part about it, however, was that he signed the card sideways, and still managed a beautiful looking autograph! I've never seen anyone sign like that before, so I thought it was pretty cool.

Dawson seemed like a very nice guy, and I was able to get this picture with him, which came out really good in my opinion. Dad is getting better at pictures every time, so I gotta give him props for that!

That will just about conclude my Card Show review post series. We didn't come home with any door prizes this time around, because we didn't necessarily see any need for the prizes, and we figured we would let someone else win this time! Dad and I had an awesome time without a doubt, and I just want to once again thank him for taking me and treating me with so many awesome cards to add to my sets! You're the best!

See Ya!

A Hawk Swooped Into My Collection

Hey everyone, Drew back here, after a long morning of doing chores, mowing the lawn, I was surprised with a nice little eBay package. I bought this after being outbid with 1 second left on a Nick Swisher patch card, so I at least finished my night on a good note. I know a few of you guys will be jealous of me, and sorry it's not going anywhere.

An Andre Dawson autograph! Now this, is how Upper Deck should've done Sweet Spot while they had a license in 2007/2008/2009, not really the design but the pen selection, baseball feel, that kind of stuff, because this is 4 years older than those badly faded 2007 cards, and the auto is most definitely still in tact. This was about $15, not that bad for the price, while I was watching other Dawson autos soar up to at least $20 at the most $30.

Dawson, as you all know, was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year, with 2774 hits, 438 home runs, 1591 RBI, and a lifetime batting average of .279. But, the stats were not Andre's game. Even though I never got to see him play, he was a scary player to face, a monster at the plate in the game's biggest situations. A former Rookie of the Year and MVP, Dawson was arguably one of the top players of the 80's. I'm glad to own this card!

Let me know what you think of the card in the comments below. See Ya!

Stuff from Mike Pelfrey Collectibles

Hey guys, Drew back here, with some nice mail today, from Anthony of Mike Pelfrey Collectibles. But, before I get into it, first I wanna say R.I.P. Ralph Houk, who died yesterday at the age of 90. I wanted to get TTM but it was too late unfortunatelt. Houk was a great manager and he will be missed. I also wanted to say that I'm going to skip showing the videos sadly. I don't really have time to do a ton of work for just one post, so for now I can't really show them. I wish Blogger was better at uploading videos though, I mean, they were a minute long! Anyway, moving on to the mail.

Anthony was having an online yard sale of his entire collection, because he's grown bored of the hobby and wanted to move on and try something new, which in his case was War Memorabilia. So first, if you have any of that, go to his blog and let him know. His sales were great, and he negotiated with me really well and I feel like both sides made out well. I'm pretty sure he forgot one of the cards in the package, so I contacted him about it and he said he accidentally did forget about it and will ship it soon. So, here's what was in today's package!

Yes, he did write on the bottom right card. He says he has like 50 of these cards, so he figured he'd send some my way. I do enjoy collecting cards of players that aren't on the Yankees, as you will see more of in this post. I like Mike Pelfrey, although he's struggled a bit, he's a good pitcher and I'm happy to own a few of his rookies.

I got these from Anthony because they're two favorites of mine that don't play for the Yankees. Morneau was completely under shadowed by the Pujols and Ichiro phenomenon but has turned out to be a great MVP caliber player. Longoria was brought up on a local team that I occasionally go to games with, and in 8 games with that team, he hit 4 home runs. I also really like Evan's talent and it's a nice card to have.

Now for vintage, I got an Oscar Gamble 1977 Topps since I didn't have it, and the Andre Dawson rookie card. I've wanted Dawson's rookie ever since he was elected to the Hall of Fame last year, and even though it's not mint condition, I really like the card.

Here's the 1st of 2 Sheffield relics I got, a 2005 Cracker Jack "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" relic at that. It's really nice, smaller than a regular card but bigger than a 2007 Goudey card I'd say. Sheff as you may know used to be my favorite player, until he left NY on a bad note. I still like him and I'll try to add some of his better cards to my collection from time to time.

The second Sheffield is from 2006 Topps Heritage, another bat card. I must say I like the one above this more but this is nice too.

The final card here is a rookie jumbo jersey from 2006 Sweet Spot of Giants pitcher Matt Cain. Cain has been very good so far in his career, but is very unpopular due to Tim Lincecum being the star pitcher in San Francisco now. This may be the biggest relic on a jersey card I have, and I like the simple design. Plus, it's numbered out of 299.

All that plus one more nice relic for $15. Thanks for the great deal Anthony, go check out this link to see if you like anything, Anthony needs to get this stuff out of his collection! See Ya!

Recent Aquisitions

Hey guys, Drew back here. Today I just wanted to catch up a little bit, tomorrow I do have a little review for you and giveaway, so stay tuned for that. This morning we had our 7th game and got our 7th win, final score... 31-0! Ha! I was 1-2 with 3 walks, so I feel like Nick Johnson for the last 3 games. Well, that isn't such a bad thing in little league though at least. Ok, here we go:

First up is a nice little contest package from Offy's Sports Site. I won one of his contests a little while ago and here is the card I chose. Allen Pollock is the 2009 #17th overall pick by the Diamondbacks, and this card is numbered /25. If this guy turns out to be good, this could be a great card of him! There isn't much about him online and it's for trade right now, but if nobody wants it then I'll hang on to it.

Offy also included 2 2010 Topps gold cards that I wanted from one of his flagship breaks, and they're really nice. One is for the Cano collection too, so thanks!

Here are 6 cards that I got from my dad today. After the game we went to this little store and they had some cards and I picked out these 6 for 2 bucks. 2 nice Jeters, an El Duque rookie, and 3 Tinos. The second Tino on the bottom row is numbered to 1,500 while the third is numbered to 5,000. Very nice!

Lastly for now, a beautiful price list from Andre Dawson. This is the first time I've heard or seen him charge although I did know that people were including some cash. He now wants $20 for cards alone and higher for other things. I guess he can do that since he's a Hall of Famer, but whatever.

Alright guys, See Ya!

AND PLEASE VOTE I KNOW I HAVE MORE THAN 13 READERS!!!

Bob Feller Custom Finished!

Hey guys, as Spring Training is here, I am piled in snow. On my driveway we must have at least 8-11 inches of snow, and we've had no school for 3 straight days! Since we don't get winter recess here in NY, this is a nice treat! Anyway, I've spent a lot of the time in the snow or working on customs. I'm preparing many trades and TTM's to ship out, getting pretty close to the first 330 2010 Topps cards, I think I still need about 30 though. I got a lot of doubles in the box from my blaster. Anyway, on the post below this (or on the sidebar), the cards not in red are still available for trade, and I made my wantlists a lot neater, so check that out for a really easy way to see what I need. My 2010 Topps wantlist looks like a checkers game, you'll see when you're looking for cards I need! Anyway, I wanted to show you all how the custom Hall of Fame Heroes cards are coming out, I'm gonna start sending them as soon as I'm done! I started printing them yesterday, so first check out the cards, the fronts are printed but the backs aren't yet:

Bob Feller


Andre Dawson


Stan Musial


Side View of Stan Musial

I used plain white dummy cards to make it thick, I have a bunch of them, and they look great! I used double sided tape (mom helped me with this card making experience, thanks again mom!), and stuck the card to the dummy. Two of the cards are not perfect, but the Musial came out perfect!

Backs

The Plain white back, soon to be covered in pictures like this:

Musial Back


Feller Back

My signature will be in between the "Congratulations" paragraph and my name, like Richard P. McWilliam, or whatever the heck his name is. By the way, I'm sending in the Dye "no relic" card for a replacement, Upper Deck finally got back to me.

Any advice is needed! I'm gonna make a few more now, starting with the Dawson back though! See Ya!

P.S. If you request one, I'll do my best to try to make one for you, if not you can feel free to use the pictures I used, just save them or something! Later.

TTM Custom #3

Nice card eh? I chose the Expos since he chose them for the hall, and this would look great signed! More to come! See ya!

3 Cheers for the Hawk! And 3 Jeers for Hibachi!

Hey guys, Drew back, and I haven't covered much in sports lately so I guess I should sorta recap a ton of stuff that just happened in the sporting world, and although I almost never post anything basketball related, I need to address my opinion on what the heck happened in the Gilbert Arenas situation.

All I can say is Wow. Wow applies to both me and to Gilbert Arenas, me because I thought nobody can EVER do ANYTHING as stupid as what he did (shame on me), and him because he did the STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD OF... well... since Plaxico at least. This one was up there too. If you haven't heard what happened, I'll fill you in. So Gilbert was gambling with Javaris Crittenton, and he didn't want to pay him back after losing, so he pointed an un-loaded gun at Crittenton as a joke. Joke? WTF! How in the world is pointing a gun at someone a joke??? In any way, shape, or form, pointing a gun for fun is ridiculous! He said afterward that he learned not to do that again, how have you not learned that already? Wow, that is plain pathetic. And now he is suspended indefinitely. This story is almost as brutal as my New Jersey Nets!!!

Congrats to Andre Dawson for finally making the Hall of Fame! It took him 9 years, but he is finally in, which makes many of our bloggers happy. I didn't watch him play, but he certainly seemed to be a big threat back when he played. The only person I want to see make the Hall on the ballot right now is Don Mattingly (and can I wish for Billy Martin?) but I assume his stats aren't good enough to make it in, but boy do I wish. So, again congrats to the Hawk!

Randy Johnson finally hung up his cleats yesterday, after a very long and fantastic career. He is most definitely a first ballot hall of famer and although he didn't fare well in New York, he sure did do phenomonal on his other teams. And boy, I love the mullet!

and he also should be a hunter, cuz he is good at killing birds!

Lastly, I need to cover my boys from New York... er... New Jersey? Go Jets! I can't believe they made it, and in style too! Even though we're halfway through the week already, I must say that was a complete blowout and hopefully we can do it again next week, isn't that right Mr. Chad Johnson/Ocho Cinco/Hachi Go/Get scared of the Jets and "get hurt" before the game starts after talking smack ALL week long. Thank you Darrelle Revis, YOU OWN!!

Also in sports, Matt Holliday signed with the Cardinals for 7 years, Tom Brady is comeback player of the year, and Rex Ryan says we're gonna the Super Bowl. And I'm going to get the luxury suit tonight. (commercial joke)

Oh yeah, change in votes, somebody else win Tom Brady is caught cross dressing! Take it from hum please! See Ya!