Indy Cars and Indy Cards

The month of May has always been my favorite 30-day slice of the calendar.  This was especially so as a child/teen because my birthday and the end of the school year both occurred in the fifth month of the year.  Furthermore, the blossoming spring weather transitioning into summer conditions has also contributed to my love of this time of year.  However, above all, my favorite thing about the month of May is that it's Indianapolis 500 time.

Since 2003, my family and I have made the 184-mile trek from Chicago to Indianapolis to visit the most famous raceway in North America to attend the annual festival of speed surrounding the hallowed Indianapolis 500.  In a tradition that originally started with my parents in the late 70's, the qualifications for the 500 mile sweepstakes has been circled on the family calendar for a long time.  Though not as exciting as the race itself, Pole Day qualifications provide a proper taste of the drama, pomp, and circumstance surrounding the event on a much friendlier budget and with less of a chaotic crowd.

Yesterday marked my 14th pilgrimage to the Brickyard to see who would be starting first on race weekend:

Being an avid trading card collector and a fan of several forms of auto racing, it's only natural that I've often sought cardboard commemorating Indianapolis and the most well-known race in the United States.  I've mentioned on this blog before how my foray into the world of NASCAR reinvigorated my interest in the cardboard hobby and eventually led me back to the world of baseball cards.  Even today, I maintain a hefty binder full of "NASCards," though my focus has largely "shifted" to the Cubs and other Chicago sporting teams.

However, NASCAR ain't Indy Car; this is quite apparent in how the two series market themselves. When it comes to trading cards, the premiere stock car circuit has had at least one Flagship release since the late 80's, be it from Maxx, Upper Deck, Press Pass,Panini etc. On the other hand, "Indy Card" releases have been spotty at best and they haven't had a single set since 2007.  Speaking as someone who is informally working on a collection of obtaining one card of every driver who I've ever seen make a qualifying run, this makes things quite difficult.

Sure, NASCAR and Indy Car have had a fair amount of overlap with drivers and those spotty sets from the past have helped me fill in some gaps.  Furthermore, while there is no full set or licensing deal for mainstream, pack-based sets, there is one oddball source of current Indy Car trading cards:

Roughly, diecasts are to racing fans as traditional baseball cards are to baseball fans. Thankfully, when it comes to packaging 1:64 scale models of racing cars, there is a long tradition of including a trading card in the blister pack.  For the past few years, Indy Car has had an exclusive license with Greenlight Collectibles to produce models for their current roster of drivers and, luckily, GL has not broken with that tradition.

The Takuma Sato card that kicked off this post (and who's back side you see above), came from one of those 1:64 diecast card pairings.  Fortuitously, my brother collects these diecasts with the passion and drive that I do Cubs baseball cards and also has absolutely no interest in the corresponding trading cards.  Therefore, when my he makes his annual splurge at the Speedway gift shops, I end up with handful of "Indy Cards" for my collection.  It's a win/win relationship.

Of course, as thankful as I am for my brother's kindness, this source is far from perfect, as illustrated by the packaging you see below:

While Takuma Sato, the defending Indianapolis 500 champion, gets a picture of his victory lane celebration on the front of his card, series veteran and fan favorite, Marco Andretti, gets a generic display card with a stock photo and his car number.  That is far less desirable - what gives?

You see, Greenlight only goes the extra mile for the previous year's Indy 500 winner and for the series champion (Josef Newgarden also gets a legit card).  Meanwhile, the rest of the circuit is left with the generic placeholders that you see below:

How lame is that?  I don't know if this is some sort of stimulation in their licensing agreement with Indy Car, but it just comes off as lazy to this collector.  As a result, even my absolute favorite driver, Graham Rahal, has never had his face on his own trading card, as he has never won the 500 or the series championship.  Although,m his card is a little different from the rest because his comes from the 2017 set, while the rest hail from this year's edition.  Still stock photography though.

On the bright side, while the fronts are uninspired, the backs do still contain a brief biographical write-up for each racer:

As a further bonus, the backs also make use of each racing teams' logos and combination marks.  If only Greenlight put as much work into the front of the cards as they did the back.  This seems awfully ironic to me - wouldn't you expect this problem to be the exact opposite, with a lazy back and adequate front?  How peculiar.

At any rate, this year's trip to Indy 500 qualifying was just as fun as ever.  Indy native, Ed Carpenter won the pole for the third time in his career, on the strength of a qualifying run that was almost a full mile an hour faster than second place.  Is there anyone else out there on the blogosphere who enjoys Indy Car racing and would be interest in an Indy set?

In the end, I guess I shouldn't complain too much, as one imperfect source for "Indy Cards" is better than none, especially since I get this oddballs on the house.  Nevertheless, I wish that Greenlight would spread their effort out evenly.  Well, actually, I just wish that Indy Car would go ahead and "greenlight" a standalone trading card product for the first time since George W. Bush occupied the White House.  

Get on it, Panini!

North Side by Northwestern

One of the over-arching themes that's connected most of my recent posts on Wrigley Roster Jenga is my having difficulty keeping up with the constant flurry of roster moves that the Cubs have made since mid-April.  Bouts with sickness, injury, and overwork have caused the North Siders to cycle through more minor leaguers than they normally would have to by this point in the season; as a result, many of the waiver claims and minor league signings that were made during the winter months have ended up donning blue pinstripes.  For this, I have been wholly unprepared, as a lot of these sorts of players never even sniff the MLB roster.

Continuing this theme, last night, Theo and crew called upon lefty reliever, Randy Rosario.  After a series of short starts left the Chicago bullpen in tatters, some literal relief was needed from AAA Iowa.  The LOOGY prospect was claimed from the Twins last November and impressed the brass in Spring Training.  Of course, his only giving up one earned run in 17.1 innings so far in 2018 is probably much more impressive than any Cactus League performance.

But, this post isn't about the alliterative Randy Rosario... like I said, I'm way far behind.  Today's spotlight is focused on Luke Farrell:

Farrell was one of the first reinforcements brought up from the bushes in 2018 and I'm only just now getting around to tracking down a card for my CATRC.  Called up in mid-April, Farrell was another off-season waiver claim who's services ended up being needed in the Show.  The son of John bounced from the Kansas City chain to the Cincinatti org to the Cubs bullpen, before earning a ticket back to Des Moines for allowing back-to-back walk-off homers to the hated Red Birds.  That certainly won't endear you to those that bleed blue.

Never a major prospect, Farrell doesn't have much of a cardboard presence, making it difficult to track him down for my tome. Complicating the search was the fact that his few mainstream checklist appearances have come in unlicensed, pre-rookie Panini products, like the Prizm Perennial Draft Picks single that you see above.  These overly-shiny, failed Bowman Chrome competitors are generally not recalled in the best of lights. 

However, though I would much prefer a card with logos, at least Farrell is wearing his purple Northwestern Wildcats uniform on this one.  Northwestern University is "Chicago's Big Ten team," after all.

Farrell's baseball career has taken him from Northwestern to the North Side.

My wife is away on a business trip for the next couple of days; so, rather than sit alone at home, I decided to take a trip to one of my LCS options.  With no other obligations yesterday evening, I took my sweet time perusing the shelves of quarter boxes that sit, unwanted and rarely touched, in the corner of the store.  I had a feeling that I remembered seeing some Prizm stuff in there the last time that I browsed through these 3200-count boxes, but I wasn't so sure about that.  However, it's not like I had anything better to do.

Lo and behold, I found half a row of the most reflective card set of all-time.  Thankfully, Luke Farrell was hiding somewhere in that foil brick.  I don't anyone has ever been as happy to burn their retinas as I was at that moment!

Of course, I couldn't find any of my other modern commons needs (2012 Heritage #169 or 2017 Update #US208, anyone?) in the mass of boxes, so I sheepishly approached the counter with a single card and a quarter ready to go.  Is it just me, or does anyone else feel slightly embarrassed when making such a small purchase?  The shop-keep must have felt that way before too, as he waved me away and told me it was on the house.  Either he's a really nice dude, didn't want to bother ringing up a single (relatively worthless) card, or he just believes that no self-respecting human being should ever lay down their hard-earned money on Panini Prizm.  At any rate, that gesture made me one happy camper!

 I think these are the only other cards from Panini's Prizm Perennial Draft Picks in my collection.

I can now officially welcome Luke Farrell to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection as I continue to make a little headway in keeping up with the roster moves of 2018.  First, I was able to track down Cory Mazzoni, now Farrell, and hopefully soon I'll be able to locate an Efren Navarro, David Bote, Justin Hancock, and a Randy Rosario.  If you have a lead on any of these guys, I'd be more than happy to talk trade.

Meanwhile, if the Cubbies could call upon a prospect of which I have a baseball card next time they need a supplement, I would selfishly be okay with that - maybe Adbert Alzolay, Oscar de la Cruz, Stephen Bruno, Duane Underwood, Corey Black, etc.  I just need a little bit more time to finish catching up!

(But, seriously, I hope they do what's best for the club; I'm not that self-centered and/or crazy!)

The Daly Double

Vintage TCMA singles can be a pain in the butt to find.

Of course, the granddaddies of all oddballs were produced on a far lower scale than contemporaneous Topps, Fleer, Donruss, etc. products and catered to a much more niche market of collectors.  Advertised and sold exclusively through mail-order catalogs and other assorted hobby publications, it should come as no surprise that these oddities are much tougher to come by than their pack distributed, mass produced peers some forty years on down the road.  For me, personally, this is quite frustrating, seeing as these specialty sets are of great interest to me and my collecting needs.

Tom Collier and Mike Aronstein used their often team-centric and decade-specific sets to fill in considerable gaps in the cardboard history books.  These cards were usually very basic, with just a photograph and some type-written identifying information on the front and/or back.  Focusing on players of the distant past rather than design, TCMA sets often produced the only cards of long-forgotten baseball players of  yore... players such as:

Tom Daly, seen here as a coach for the Boston Red Sox.  While the signal-caller served the longest uninterrupted coaching tenure in franchise history, this is not why I sought out this card from TCMA's 1975 tribute to the '46 Sawx.  Long before then, Daly spent the vast majority of his playing career in the Windy City, split almost equally between the South Side and North Side of town.

Originally coming up with the Chicago White Sox, the prospect was a hot commodity.  While playing for Lowell of the New England League, Daly accepted an offer from Charlie Comsikey to don the palehose.  At the same time, the Red Sox contested this transaction, citing that they had rights over the catcher's services.  The National Board of Arbitration would eventually rule in the White Sox's favor, but the other Sox would eventually land their man.... it would just take a loooooooong time!

Daly went on to serve as as a backup catcher with the Sox of White from 1913-15 before being sold to the Cleveland Indians.  After just one season with the Naps and a demotion to the minors, the Cubbies came-a-callin', purchasing his contract from Buffalo of the old International League.  After a one-game cameo in 1918 with the eventual NL pennant winners, Daly closed out his days as an active Big League player with three seasons as the Cubs' second-string backstop.  In February of 1922, Daly's contract was again sold, this time to the Los Angeles Angels of the PCL, officially marking the end of his MLB career.  That said, Tom continued to ply his trade with various bush league clubs through the 1932 campaign.

The very next year (the card-back erroneously states 1934), Daly began his career on the other side of the clipboard with the Boston American League club, who finally landed their man twenty years later.  They must have liked him around there, as his 14 consecutive years stint as a coach (mostly posted at third base) in Beantown is still a franchise record.  It sounds like he was an interesting fellow and took a particular interest in keeping his charges humble.  According to Amazing Tales from the Boston Red Sox Dugout, Daly once caught Bobo Newsom barehanded to prove that his velocity was nothing special and crammed on checkers just so that he could take down the boastful Wes Ferrell in a game where the latter claimed to be unbeatable.

Tragically, his coaching career came to an abrupt end... not with a managerial change or roster move, but due to a bout with colon cancer.  In the November of 1946, Daly lost his battle with the deadly disease and passed away at the far too young age of 54 years old.

Daly warming up prior to an unknown game in 1918.

Despite his notoriety in Boston, courtesy of that stint as a reserve with the Cubs in the shadow of World War I, Tom Daly required representation in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.  Seeing as his playing career took place entirely in the gap between the original tobacco premiums and Goudey gum cards, it is not surprising that the back-up's contemporaneous trading card checklist is quite limited.  During these dark days of no regular Major League Baseball card sets, Zeenut minor league issues are the only checklists that he appeared on.  Seeing as my cardboard budget is quite limited, this TCMA single was my only other realistic option.  Cheap though it may be, these specialty sets are a bear to find today and singles from these compilations are even tougher to find.

Luckily, after years of prowling dime boxes at card shows and saved searches on Ebay, I came across a copy on the latter service with PWE shipping and a "best offer" option.  Sure, Beckett will say that three bucks (plus a dollar for shipping) is an overpay, but considering how rarely I stumble upon these bad boys in the wild, I'm calling that a win.

Further complicating my search for a Tom Daly baseball card was a sort of "Daly Double"; by that, I mean that this Tom Daly wasn't the only Tom Daly to don a Major League uniform.  Plus, this Tom Daly wasn't even the only Tom Daly to put on a Cubs uniform.  Double plus, this second Tom Daly was also a catcher. This "Daly Double" definitely had the potential to be a stumper.

Turning back the clock even further, to the 19th century, this "other" Tom Daly originally debuted in the Bigs as part of the short-lived Union Association with the Philadelphia Keystones in 1884.   After that two-game cameo and two more years in the minors, the original Daly was promoted to the National League and served two seasons as Chicago's regular catcher and fill-in elsewhere.  Released prior to the '89 campaign as Anson sought to rid his club of rowdy influences, Daly went on to spend more than a decade with the eventual Brooklyn Dodgers as their regular second baseman, in a career that would last through 1903.

While the second Tom Daly originally came up with the White Sox and then closed out his career with the Cubs, the first originally came up with the Cubs and then closed out his career with the White Sox (and Cincy), during that 1903 season.  Funny how that works out, isn't it?

Embed from Getty Images

The first Tom Daly, near the end of his career with the Chicago White Sox, circa 1903.

Despite the fact that their playing careers weren't particularly close to overlapping, the fact that both of these men (of no relation, by the way) had the same name, often played the same position, and both played for the Cubs franchise threw a bonus monkey wrench into the machinations of my search for the latter Daly.  As if chasing an obscure oddball from 45 years ago wasn't difficult enough, my saved searches were almost always populated exclusively with Target Dodger singles of the OG Daly, as well as reprints of his 1895 Mayo's Cut plug tobacco issue, and other bits of miscellaneous ephemera - the original definitely had a larger cardboard footprint.  All in all, this just made for another layer of junk to patiently sift through.

On the bright side, the other Tom Daly had already been acquired for my CATRC, thanks to an LCS purchase made about half a decade ago.  Maybe a year or two before I established Wrigley Roster Jenga, a trip to More Fun Sports Cards and Coins in Dyer, IN uncovered a complete, cello-wrapped 1986 reprint collation of the Mayo's cards.  Reprint sets are often massive boons to my super vintage, roster collecting needs, so I bought it without consulting the checklist.  It worked out well though - among the dapper 19th century players needed for my CATRC were Bill Dahlen, Jimmy Ryan, Fred Pfeffer, and T.P. Daly... better known as Tom Daly.

Now, after all this time, I'm thrilled to finally have the complete "Daly Double" safely nestled in my CATRC tome.

It's always a thrill to add a new name to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection, especially so when it's a card I had so much difficulty in tracking down.  I guess it should come as no surprise that vintage oddities of obscure and forgotten men who share names and positions with fellow ballplayers of the same franchise are not particularly easy to track down.  However, that quest has finally been completed and Tom Daly (mach two) is now properly represented in my binder, courtesy of that 1975 TCMA 1946 Red Sox artifact.

Name game aside, has anyone else had the same difficulty in tracking down old school TCMA cards from the 70's and 80's or is that just me?  I find it especially difficult for certain sets too - their collaborations with Renatta Galasso, for example, seem to rear their heads far more often than their team-centric sets or decade-specific checklists.  Please feel free to weigh-in in the comment section below.

In the meantime, I'm just glad that I didn't blow the "Daly Double."

Struggling to Keep Up

It's May and there are flurries... flurries that quickly appear to be developing into a full-on storm.  This is unusual.

While snowfall of any amount at this point in the year would be abnormal, I'm not referring to fluffy flakes of powder.  Rather, in this case, what is storming the city of Chicago is a flurry of roster moves.  In Tuesday's post, I detailed how the Cubs have had to call upon the services of several minor league call-ups to fill in for injured regulars.  Meanwhile, this has added an assortment of new names to chase for my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection because, of course, none of these fresh faces have much of a cardboard footprint.  I must admit, it's been somewhat frustrating.

Speaking of Tuesday, in that post I detailed the circumstances surrounding the call-up of Cory Mazzoni and showed off the Topps Now-inspired custom card that I whipped up to commemorate the occasion.  Still needing an actual card to fill his newly created gap in my collection, I used my lunch break yesterday to stop by my LCS, which is conveniently (and dangerously) located near my place of employment.

While there, I was irrationally overjoyed to come across this dual-rookie card from 2015 Update in the shop's random Padres box.  This LCS has a small, plastic box for every team in the league, crammed with an assortment of cards from the last decade and a half - to say they've come in handy with my roster jenga collection would be an understatement!

Of course, while I still have yet to acquire cards of Efren Navarro, David Bote, or Luke Farrell, checking Mazzoni off of my rapidly-swelling "needs" list alleviated some frustration.  That said, since I clicked publish on Tuesday, Mazzoni has already been demoted to AAA, after just one appearance.  Rob Zastryzny came up, along with Jen-Ho Tseng to replace a concussed Jason Heyward and a sick Yu Darvish.  Thankfully, these names already appear in my CATRC binder, having debuted in years previous.  I felt as though I had re-gained a little bit of lost ground in picking up Mazzoni.

The powers that be must have sensed my placation and, proving that I just can't keep up in the rat race, another series of roster moves was announced shortly before my lunch break trip.

Swapping Z's, outfielder Mark Zagunis took Zastryzny's spot on the 25-man, while yesterday's sport-starter Tseng gave way to another fresh armed relief prospect, Justin Hancock.  I've had Zags in my CATRC binder since last summer, after he made his MLB debut in June; however, this will be Hancock's first cuppacoffee.  Owing to the fact that he's never appeared in a mainstream set, I do not have a card in queue for the latter.  Womp, womp.

Like I said, I don't have any cards of the prospect because his options are extremely limited, as the borrowed scan above attests.  Never a blue-chipper, Hancock has never appeared in a Bowman, Contenders, Pro Debut, Onyx, Leaf or any other prospect-laden product.  For me, the only options are his minor league, team-issued singles, which are usually annoyingly over-priced on the secondhand market... harumph.

I should mention that the former Padres moundsman was acquired from San Diego in the Matt Szczur swap, which was consummated just barely over a year ago.  After a conversion to the bullpen, the fringe prospect's stock rapidly rose, as did his readings on the radar gun.  Topping out around 98 mph, Justin has struck out 58 in 52 innings of work since joining the Cubs organization, though his secondary pitches may still need some refining and his control is suspect.  It's easy to dream on his arm, but we'll see if his stuff translates to the Big League level.

Back on the card front, after a quick Ebay scan, it looks like I'll only be losing more ground for the time being.  I'm not paying twice the value of the card on shipping alone.

Speaking of falling behind, I'm not only lagging in terms of roster additions, I'm also struggling to keep up with new products hitting the market.  I usually like to sample at least one pack per product as the baseball season progresses; however, so far in 2018, the only newfangled card stuff that I've ripped is a single pack of Series One.  All I can say is that life has been busy and I've had much more important things to deal with than checking the card release calendar.

So, with that in mind, I decided to grab a pack of the much-ballyhooed Bowman as I completed my lunch-time LCS trip.  Well, it was mostly because I needed something to get my purchase up over five dollars, seeing as I didn't have any cash in my wallet and the shop keep has a minimum requirement for debit card use.  But, who knows, maybe there's one of those Ohtani's in there just waiting to make me flush with greenbacks!

That Shohei guy is exciting and all, but that autograph that I'm really chasing in this product is aforementioned Cubs prospect, David Bote - one of the previous call-ups that I've fallen behind on.  The late-bloomer, like Hancock, has never been deemed worthy of a Bowman card... that is until this season.  Of course, he vaulted over for the base set and was placed solely into the autograph section.  A "hit" in an already scarce and over-priced/valued product...why must you do this to me, Topps?

Anyway, ranting aside, let's see how I did with my flesh-out addition.  First, the Major League base cards:

Not too much to write home about here, although no one buys Bowman for the Big Leaguers.  The sight of Evan Longoria in Giants orange is still surprisingly jarring.  Is that because orange is naturally distracting color or due to the fact that Evan is the only Tampa Bay Ray anyone could name before this season.  You decide.

Next up, the paper minor leaguers:

Oh hey, Hunter Harvey - I recognize that name.  The embattled former first-rounder was called up to the Bigs early this season for the first time... and then promptly optioned back to AA before making even a single appearance.  Will the Oriole farmhand make it back up to the Majors again, or will he be relegated to haunting the footnotes of Major League history as a "ghost?"  Only time will tell.

As for the other guys, Andres Gimenez is considered one of the best international rookies to come out of the 2015-16 free agent class and is a 19 year old in High A.  Of course, he's a Mets prospect, so they'll probably break him.  Meanwhile, Merandy Gonzalez is yet another Marlins card that I'll have until the day that I die.

Now, the shiny stuff:

Chrome prospects.  Cal Quantrill is a name that's familiar to me, both because I'm vaguely aware of his high standing in the Padres chain and because his father, Paul, played in the Bigs not too long ago... at least, that's what I thought, anyway.  I suddenly feel very old, as Baseball Reference just informed me that Paul Quantrill last donned an MLB jersey 13 years ago... egad.  How is 2005 almost a decade and a half ago?

Meanwhile, I know A.J. Puk's name too; unfortunately for him, that's only because he's about to have Tommy John surgery.  Oh pitching prospects...

And, finally, the insert.  Was it a super mega valuable Shohei Ohtani?  A David "Bote McBoatface" signature?

Not quite, but it was an insert featuring a guy who recently tossed a no-hitter in the Majors.  Granted - it was of the combined variety, but impressive nevertheless.  Lord knows there's no shortage of Dodger collectors on the interwebs either, so I shouldn't have much trouble re-homing this Bowman Scouts Top 100 insert featuring Walker Buehler... Buehler... Buehler...

So, there you have it, my dalliance with 2018 Bowman.  It's hard to be disappointed with a purchase made only to get me to a five dollar minimum, but it wasn't particularly notable.  Honestly, I kinda wish that I'd had some spare change in my pocket to save myself the waste.

On the bright side, I did finally get around to trying some new product and, most importantly, did track down a needed new name for my CATRC binder.  While I may be having a truly difficult time keeping up on both fronts and feel like I'm trying to catch The Freeze, these were both certainly positive developments that I should focus on.  Of course, I'm sure the Cubs will announce another flurry of roster moves ahead of the upcoming Crosstown Classic, just to screw with me.

So goes the roster jenga life!

Next Man Up

Another one bites the dust.

I have nothing more than anecdotal evidence, but it sure seems like injuries are up across the league this year and Chicago is no exception.  So far, we've had such keys cogs as Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist hit the disabled list with back problems, Eddie Butler hurt his hammy, and Kris Bryant get drilled in the head with a pitch.  The latest casualty is Yu Darvish, who is suffering from the parainfluenza virus and Javy Baez might soon join him on the DL with a lower body injury.  As such, there has been a few more roster moves than there normally is at this point in the Cubs' season and, thus, business is booming here at Wrigley Roster Jenga.  Unfortunately, so far, none of these injury replacements have much of a cardboard presence and I do not have cards prepared for entry into my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection.

I know... first world problems, am I right?

First, we had journeyman, Efren Navarro, sub at first base, then late-blooming prospect, David Bote, took up temporary space in the infield.  After that, Luke Farrell came up to sop up the innings that Butler was missing before giving up back-to-back, walk-off dingers to the Cardinals.  It should come as no surprise then that Luke was immediately demoted back to Iowa in favor of a fresh arm, in the form of Cory Mazzoni:

Mazzoni was claimed off of waivers from the Padres in November and then again from the Dodgers in late March, so clearly the Cubs see some potential in the former prospect.  For his part, Cory debuted with a solid, scoreless frame (with a K) in the ninth inning of yesterday's win over the Marlins.  Of course, that was also against a Marlins team being blown out 14-2 and probably just wanting to get back to their hotel.  That said, his control (just one walk in AAA) would be welcome in the Major League pen.

The latest Cubs hurler to join the all-time Cubs roster also becomes the third addition to my custom "Topps Now Call-Up" supplementary series.  As I mentioned with Farrell, Bote, and Navarro, this minor league reinforcement simply doesn't have much of a cardboard footprint.  Plus, after seeing this wonderful photo with his battery mate on Getty, I had to whip something up.

So far as Major League cards go, the only checklist on which Mazzoni appears is the 2015 Topps Update set and he's forced to share the spotlight with Chris Rearick on that one.  Beyond that, dating back to his days as a prospect in the Mets chain, our hero makes appearances in three different 2011 products:  Donruss Elite Extra Edition, Playoff Contenders and Playoff Prime Cuts.  Then, of course, there are his MiLB team-issued singles.  I suppose that a fair amount of options; however, since I rarely bust prospect-laden products, I do not have a Mazzoni ready to go for my CATRC binder.

If anyone has an extra one of these puppies lying around, I'm more than willing to talk trade!

While I never root for injuries, I must admit, roster moves do get me excited because I love the possibility of adding new names and cards to my collection.  I must also cop to the fact that I get a tad bit irrationally disappointed when I do not have a card in queue for said new player.   On the bright side, if Adbert Alzolay, Anthony Bass, Duane Underwood, etc. get the call at some point this season, at least I'm prepared for their addition.

At any rate, welcome to the Windy City, Cory Mazzoni!  Maybe he'll do something cool and earn a real Topps Now card during his MLB trial.

An Expedition to MARS

Whew doggie - this was one heckuva busy weekend, filled with familial engagements, communions, graduations, and day-drinking.  As far as what concerns Wrigley Roster Jenga and it's "brand", there were two major events that took place during the two-day span:  the Cubs suffered a humiliating three-game sweep at the hands of the hated St. Louis Cardinals and my community held it's long-running, annual resale day.  The former was an offensively and defensively challenged embarrassment that more closely resembled the "Lovable Losers" era of the North Side franchise, while the latter was the day that my hometown waives the usual fee associated with setting up a garage sale and everyone is welcome to hawk their wares in their yards or garage.  One of these two events was much more exciting to me than the other - can you guess which?

In the past, I've portrayed Midlothian Annual Re-Sale Day (MARS Day, for short) as my own personal Christmas.  Ever since I was a 90's kid, prowling for deals on lightly used Beanie Babies, Hot Wheels, and Pokemon collectibles, this "holiday" has been circled in red on my calendar.  These days, what I target has changed, but the level of anticipation remains the same.   That's because, over the last few years, I've stumbled across some nifty things - including a Keith Magnuson autograph, a complete Bowman reprint set, and a full-size Red Bull cooler, among other treasures.  You really never know what you're going to find on MARS!

As part of my most recent exploration - Saturday morning - I salvaged a few intriguing items.  Don't be alarmed, but the following item somehow made it into my purchase pile:

Bought this (on purpose) at the community wide garage sale event. I don't even know who I am anymore. pic.twitter.com/sKWFTbUucm

— Tony Burbs (@RosterJenga) May 5, 2018

While the Cubs' five-game losing streak has been absolutely pitiful, I'm not about to switch allegiances.  However, I do attend a fair amount of White Sox games on an annual basis, seeing as I love our nation's pastime, my wife cheers for the Palehose, Sox Park is a short train ride away, and tickets are much more affordable.  Since I'm not a jerk and support my city, I always cheer on the home team (except when it's a Crosstown tilt), usually wearing a borrowed cap from my brother.  For two bucks, now I can keep things in house with a "Winning Ugly" era hat of my own; you're not going to be able to beat that a Lids location, that's for sure!

Unfortunately, that was the only baseball-related purchase made during my hours of garage sale hunting and baseball cards were nearly completely absent from the bins and boxes.  That's okay though - because, with the Cubs' play as of late, I'm not in much of a baseball mood right now anyway.  On the other hand, while some cheap DVDs, video games, and a pinata (of all things) helped fill the void, there was still one cardboard-related discovery to be made that made the trek worth it:

Of course, the Blackhawks were extremely disappointing this season, as well; but, as we approach the Stanley Cup finals,  I've since gotten over that let-down.  Therefore, a new Blackhawks oddball for my burgeoning hockey collection was just the ticket.

This Chico Maki stamp hails from the 1974-75 NHL Action Stamps checklist, a 324-ct set which was issued in promotional strips at participating grocery stores throughout North America.  While kids across the country originally obtained these 2.1" x 1.6" hockey "cards" from Loblaw’s, IGA, A&P, Acme, etc., I found mine in a driveway in the "Jolly Homes" neighborhood.

There was still one other way to acquire a sampling of these non-postage stamps and it came in the form of a book:

Issued by the league itself, these books contained a write-up on the previous year's Stanley Cup Champions (the Philadelphia Flyers), profiles for each team competing in the '74-75 season, and - perhaps, most importantly - a full sheet of Action Stamps:

These stamps were intended to be separated, wet, and pasted into corresponding pages for each club's roster.  For example, my Chico was intended to be affixed to this page:

As you can see, the whole set-up is quite similar to the popular Topps and Panini sticker albums we see for the various professional sporting leagues today.  Also, while I'd rather have had Stan Mikita than Maki, I'm not going to complain about such an interesting, vintage discovery at the bargain-basement price of two dollars.  After all, I'd never even heard of these oddities before this weekend.

Chico may have been the only Blackhawk included as part of the one-page sampler; that said, he wasn't the only Chicago-connected player on the sheet:

The trade of Phil Esposito to Boston in 1967 ranks near Brock for Broglio in terms of the worst transactions in Chicago sports history.  The center went on to cement a Hall of Fame legacy in Bean Town - but, never forget, the first two seasons of his star-studded career were spent in the Windy City.
Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Joey Johnston spent the last year of his professional hockey career in Chicago.  After several years with the Golden Seals, the winger played in 32 games with the Hawks in '75-76, with only five points and zero goals on his ledger. 

Unfortunately for me, all three of these men were previously represented (in Indian-head sweaters, no less) in my Blackhawks All-Time Roster Collection.   Nevertheless, this was still an intriguing find and a welcome diversion from the baseball atrocities occurring concurrently.

All in all, not a terrible outing for MARS day - nothing out of this world, but I didn't get totally skunked.  The Blazing Saddles DVD that I purchased will provide hours worth of entertainment and   the stamp book was definitely worth the price of admission.  Does anyone else have any 1974-75 NHL Action Stamps of their own, or perhaps further information on this oddball set?  Maybe you see a stamp that you need in the sheet above?  Does your community have their own version of MARS Day?  Feel free to let me know in the comments section below!

You never know what you'll find on a MARS expedition.

Assimilated By The Borg

The kindness of relative strangers never ceases to amaze me.  One of the things that continuously regenerates my faith in this ever-crazier world of ours is the way we card bloggers constantly look out for each other.  On the other hand, sometimes we "attack" each other too.

Currently on the prowl is Oriole rooter and noted Trekkie, GCA, from The Collective Mind.  The clever moniker for his blog is derived from the Star Trek universe, specifically from the alien cybernetic creatures known as "the Borg."  These alien lifeforms are a vast collection of drones, linked in a hive mind called "the Collective," and appropriate the technology and knowledge of each society it takes over.  While the originals are antagonistic in nature, GCA's version of the Collective Mind is the exact opposite; when it absorbed my want-list, the offensive gave back instead of taking away.
Just look at what the Hive sent my direction:

 

First, a PSA to make sure that you bloggers do your best to keep your posted want-lists up-to-date.  Both of these cards were long sought after needs for my vast Cubs All-Time Roster Collection; a "Cubgrade" for catcher, Vic Roznovsky, and the closest thing to an obtainable card for infielder and later coach, Vern Morgan.  However, within the last few months, they finally made their way into my collection through an LCS purchase and a trade, respectively.  Silly me - I updated my binder and personal checklists, but neglected to change my want-list tab on the blog.  The Collective Mind had no way of knowing that these cards had been obtained - it can only absorb knowledge that I share, after all.

Although, there is a happy end to my error - I do believe that both of these represent conditional updates, so they weren't wasted inclusions by GCA.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Collective's assault was made up of needs that I still needed, including a second 1965 Topps single.  Frank Baumann was yet another "Cubgrade" needed for the CATRC tome, although the only thing that makes this card a "Cubs" pasteboard is the pennant in the design.  The hat-less hurler is depicted in the uniform of our crosstown rivals, with whom he spent the previous five years of his career.  1965 would be Frank's final season in the Bigs, making four appearances out of the bullpen and giving up three earned runs.

Frank's only North Side card might only be slightly "Cub-ified," but it still looks much better in my CATRC than the obvious White Sox card (right) that it replaces.  Clearly, the Hive agrees, as well.

The second "Cubgrade" found in GCA's want-list absorption is also somewhat hard to spot at first.  Jim Tyrone is definitely sporting a Cubs uniform on this 1976 SSPC oddball; that said, the image is far zoomed in and cropped, there's no way of knowing that unless you are already aware that was a member of the Cubs organization then and a few years prior.  The lack of identifying information on the minimalist design only compounds this issue.

Despite these issues, the outfielder's only solo Cubs card is one that I've wanted for many years, as the only other option is shared by three other, non-Chicago players.  Jim shouldn't have to share his space in my binder.  Plus, dig those awesome sideburns!

With that, the Collective Mind's "assault " on my want-list came to an end... although, this was one take over that I wasn't fighting too hard against.  My thanks go out to GCA's iteration of the Borg; I'll be sure to "return fire" as soon as possible!  In the meantime, if The Collective Mind turns his attention to your cardboard desires, I recommend that you immediately submit.

Remember...

via GIPHY