Happy Easter everyone - here's hoping that the Easter Bunny came hippity hopping your way this morning and was generous with the jelly beans and hard boiled eggs.
However, if either of these two "Rabbits" showed up on your doorstep this morning bringing baskets filled with marshmallow Peeps and plastic grass, that'd be much more surprising than a giant. anthropomorphic bunny:
"Rabbit" Maranville is one Hall of Famer player who liked to "hop" from team to team. In a time before free agency, Maranville played for 5 teams in his 15 year career - more than your average bear... errr.. rabbit in that era. In the midst of all that jumping, he spent 75 games with the Cubs in 1925.
During the brief stint, Rabbit was even named the player/manager of the team partially through the year. However, his infamously, goofish and immature behavior (throwing the contents of a spittoon at his players, running wildly through train cars so that his men couldn't sleep) quickly showed that he wasn't suited for a leadership role and he was quickly shown the door.
At least he wasn't "egging" the opposing teams' hotels?
The second "Rabbit" who came bouncing into the Northside of Chicago was one Harold Warstler, a middle infielder who played the final games of his Big League career with the team in 1940.
Having spent most of his career as a solid, but unspectacular up-the-middle presence for Boston in the NL and AL, Warstler was selected off waivers from the then Boston Bees (Braves) in late July and was released just before the start of the 1941 season. All told, he played 45 games for the Cubs and batted .226 along the way, proving that he'd reached the end of the road.
You might say that no-bunny wanted him after that performance.
And on that note, I'm outta here - I hope you enjoyed this terrible grouping of puns with a loose Easter theme. I've got family celebrations to ruin with even more awful jokes.
Like many a blogger, I kinda got a little irrationally excited yesterday when I read that Topps and Walmart were partnering to release a special set of cards along with the latter's Marketside brand frozen pizzas. A genuine food-issue in this era of Topps monopoly seemed like a complete impossibility; it was like being a kid smack dab in the middle of the junk wax era all over again!
Thus, as soon as the work day was done, I hopped in my car and made the journey to a store that I otherwise try to avoid. My reasons aren't unique - the business model, the crowd of people it attracts, the mass of humanity, blah blah blah. For pizza cards though? Everything went out the window.
However, my enthusiasm was quickly squelched. While they had a large stock of Marketside brand pizza available, none of the boxes were decorated with baseball themed markings... well, damn.
Here I was, in a place I despise, with no food-issue cards to be had. So, while many in family drowned their disappointments with the bottle, I instead turned to the cardboard isle because that's what I do. It's much easier on my liver.
At the price of 10 bucks for a blaster, it's not too bad on my wallet either.
It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, but I figured a healthy amount of pack ripping would assist me in getting over my worst pizza-related disappointment since Pizza Hut didn't call back after my interview when I was just out of college, broke and desperate for work.
But enough of that darkness - what'd I get?
As far as base cards go, it doesn't get much better than these two as a Cubs fan. A new Kris Bryant card is always a welcome addition and I quite like the image of Addison Russell climbing the ladder to snare a line drive used here - quite fitting for the defensive wiz.
Just one more Cubs base card to be had and it's of the usually lights out closer Hector Rondon. Can you believe we stole this guy in the Rule 5 draft? Also, sweet tat, Hector!
Like I said, that was the final Cubs base card to be found; but, there was still one more Cub hidden:
Kris Bryant hot box! This is a pretty cool still-frame from literally fractions of a second before being doused with Gatorade and ice. The Superstar Celebrations insert seems to be a pretty popular one each year in Opening Day; in pulling this one that honors "Sparkles" walk-off homer over the Indians last summer, I can see why.
There was also one former Cub included in D.J. LeMahieu - a reminder of one of the few bad deals made by Theo & Co. since their rebuild began. Of course, you gotta break a few eggs to make an omlet, right?
So, since that's the end of the cards that fit into my collection, what goodies made their way to my trade bait box then?
Well, since we were just on the topic of Superstar Celebrations, here's a couple more.
I have to say, pulling that Daniel Murphy celebration was a nice little dig for this Cubs fan - stupid Daniel Murphy. Also, Justin Bour was plucked out of the Cubs system in the Rule 5 Draft and seized the Marlins starting first baseman gig. Meanwhile, I think we Northsiders can get over that thanks to some dude name Rizzo that's manning the spot over here.
A couple of Striking Distance pieces were to be found. I do enjoy the concept of this set, honoring players who are nearing significant statistical milestones. They're like the complete antithesis of those stupid "career chase" notes found on the back of 2013 Topps Flagship
Thanks for the urgent update, Topps...
Also, let me just take this moment to wonder that despite the fact that this is going to be his second year with the Marlins and he's also played 2.5 years in the Bronx, am I the only one who still has to look twice when I see Ichiro in anything but a Mariners jersey? Especially in those garish, orange monstrosities, Ichiro just looks like a fish out of water in anything but Seattle colors.
Here we have a couple of heavy hitters and speaking of the Marlins...
This insert set is pretty darn straightforward and I certainly can't argue against either man's inclusion; although, I guess Chris did have an off year in 2015. Either way, I don't have much else to say about these... other than I thought that the little circle on the very bottom, right edge of these cards was some kind of flaw when I was reviewing the pictures for this post until I saw both had it.
The last pair of inserts that fell out of the blaster were these two Alternate Reality cards. Honestly, when I read about this insert set being included, I initially envisioned some sort of checklist of guys Photoshopped into uniforms of different teams which they COULD have been playing for today, if circumstances had been different. Wouldn't that be awesome?
Something like this double-take machine, perhaps?
Instead, these inserts show off the alternate uniforms sometimes trotted out by each player's ACTUAL franchise. Nevertheless, while far less creative, I still like this concept; I'd like them better if the images used showed off the jersey better. but that's just me.
I also found myself a couple of Opening Day parallels of guys whom I care nothing about. I must admit, the rainbow foil with blue design accents would mesh well with a Cubs card though. Maybe I'll have to hunt one of those down, just for funsies.
Then, of course, there's the mascot cards, the Opening Day's most popular niche.
The Rangers' Captain mascot is pretty ho-hum. On the other hand, Hank the Ballpark Pup was the subject of some serious ballpark "controversy" earlier this spring; so, it was kinda cool to pick up a card of the supposedly dead and replaced with a look-a-like canine.
Seriously, that was a thing. I also read that if you really pay attention to the fade out of the Beatles' Strawberry Fields Forever, you'll hear Lennon say "Hank is dead."
Additionally, there were a few regular, ol' base cards that caught my eye as well. For instance, this card of local product Mike Foltynewicz - Mike was born in Sterling, IL and attended Minooka HS, just a little bit south of where I hail from. As such, I tend to hang onto his cards and truly hope that he makes good in Atlanta this year.
Meanwhile, while Avisail has yet to make good on his untapped intentional for the other team in town, this is still an exceptional "at the wall" shot. with a cameo by the "Winning Ugly" throwbacks too. Love it!
Another White Sox card that I kinda like? Jeeze...
These are my first cards of a couple of youngsters with seemingly bright futures. Maybe these will be worth something someday and I can pay off my student loans when they're being inducted into the Hall of Fame... oh wait, it's not 1987, is it?
Speaking of the 80's, here's Brian Johnson, who's apparently a pitcher with the Red Sox. But, I only include his name here because his namesake has been in the news lately - that is, the Brian Johnson who, until recently, fronted the legendary rock band AC/DC.
Please allow me to temporarily switch into music fanboy mode.
In case you missed it, Brian Johnson's hearing has been deteriorating for a little while now and doctors have ordered that he sit out for a while, maybe for good, pausing their current tour. Rather than hang up the school boy uniform, Angus and Co. are planning to soldier on with a new frontman. Bizarrely, the rumored singer is supposedly going to be Axl Rose... yea, THAT Axl Rose, as if there are any others.
I didn't realize I was getting the frontman of AC/DC's auto when I pulled this.
If you completely ignore the fact that it's Axl and just judge the match based on his voice and singing style, this seems like a perfect fit. Rose's range and ability to hit the high notes are unparalleled in the world of rock - it doesn't seem hard to imagine him being able to pull off Brian's high-pitched snarls. That being said, it just kind of feels weird to have Axl Rose fronting AC/DC - it's like, if Eddie Van Halen ran off and joined Motley Crue or something...
Not to mention, this would probably be a good time for AC/DC to just call it quits. Between the loss of Brian Johnson to hearing problems, Malcolm Young's to dementia and Phil Rudd's to all sorts of unsavory activity, it feels like AC/DC is one step away from playing your local summer carnival... It's like Griffey, Jr. his second time through Seattle - you just have to know when to walk away...
OK - back to baseball cards:
Let's close out with a neat bunting shot of former Brewer Jean Segura and that darn Justin Bour again. I'll set this one aside for my recently started "Coulda Been a Cub" collection of MLB guys whose contracts were once property of the Cubs franchise, but never played in an MLB game with the team.
With that, we can close the book on my first ever blaster of Topps Opening Day. not too bad for a consolation prize.
I'll still probably stop by Wal-Mart again, in hopes of finding a fresh roll out of Marketside pizzas with the proper Topps adornment. In fact, I might venture out to the other one a few towns over and see if they've received any shipment yet... I have problems.
So, if I end up with another post about a blaster on Monday, it's probably because I got skunked at the Wal-Mart in Orland Park tonight. We shall see.
Yesterday evening, the baseball world lost an icon in Joe Garagiola. Joe had been a baseball lifer since signing with the St. Louis Cardinals at the age of 16, going into the 1942 season. At the age of 90, Joe lived himself a full life and certainly made the most of it along the way, being involved with the sport as a player, coach, baseball author and, most famously, as a Hall of Fame broadcaster.
Most identified with the Cardinals, after serving in the Army during WWII Joe stayed in St. Louis from 1946-51 as a (mostly) backup catcher, playing in the 1946 World Series along the way. However, this reprint of his 1951 Bowman card produced by CCC resides in my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection as a result of his two, not-so-notable partial seasons spent on the Northside from 1953-54. He also spent time with the Pirates and the Giants.
Joe putting on the tools of ignorance in Wrigley Field, image courtesy of Getty Images
Joe swung a decent stick (.257 career batting average) and played well defensively, but never really capitalized on the promise that brought him to the Bigs at the tender age of 20. Much like another contemporary backstop in Bob Uecker, Joe owned it with self-deprecating humor. Some famous quotes attributed to him include:
"He knew that it was time to retire when he was catching, and his ex-teammate Stan Musial stepped into the batter's box, turned to Joe, and said, "When are you gonna quit?"
"It's not a record, but being traded four times when there are only eight teams in the league tells you something. I thought I was modeling uniforms for the National League."
After his playing career came to and end with a 5 game stint in a New York Giants uniform in '54, Joe took to the broadcasting booth, where he truly found his calling. Starting out as a local Cardinals voice, Joe eventually went national on NBC's Game of the Week crew, calling several World Series and All Star games and even having his own special pre-game segment known as "The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola," which often featured wacky, off-kilter baseball-related stories.
Joe interviewing "the Kid" for an NBC telecast, image courtesy of al.com
Leaving NBC after the 1988 season, Joe spent time as the voice of the Angels and the Diamondbacks (with whom his son, Joe Jr. was the GM) right up until the 2012 season, after which he announced his retirement.
For his troubles, Garagiola was inducted into the Hall of Fame as the winner of the Ford Frick Award in 1991.
It seems to be universally accepted that Joe was an all-around good guy and one of the most respected personalities across the sport. Much like the passing of Don Zimmer a few years back, the loss of this baseball lifer is being felt all throughout in the MLB community.
Another baseball lifer who's presence was interwoven into the fabric of the game
Joe's passing has reminded me that Cubgrading the Cardinals card seen at the top of this post is still on my long to-do list. As far as I am aware, there is only one card that depicts Joe's brief stint in the home clubhouse at Wrigley Field, his 1954 Bowman single:
I'll have to keep my eye open for one of these; although, one can assume that prices on his cards are going to temporarily spike due to opportunistic vultures. That's the way it goes, I guess.
At any rate, Joe Garagiola truly made the baseball world a much more entertaining place and the influence you had on the next generations of broadcasters will keep his legacy alive for many years yet to come.
Working as an IT guy/media specialist at a school district will really help you with your cardiovascular health; I'm constantly running (ok, not running - I'd probably get a detention for that - briskly walking) from one end of the building to the other trying to figure out why one printer won't print in one room, taking pictures of a school event in the gym and creating multimedia presentations back in my office at about the same time.
In other words, I kinda feel like I'm constantly running (err briskly walking) around in circles.
With this morning being an especially circuital one, it feels like as good a time as any to review the latest NASCAR card acquisitions I've made over the past few weeks. Get it? It's because they drive around in circles! I'm so funny.
Just to get you up to speed (more puns!), I used to be a huge fan of NASCAR in my early teens; but, my interest has waned to casual over the ensuing years. Nevertheless, since I don't have enough cardboard goals taking up my time, I decided to build up a collection of as many NASCAR racers as I can.
The pole position in this post goes to:
My first* Bobby Labonte card. The asterisk is necessary because I used to have a massive accumulation of auto racing cards that likely migrated to a recycling bin when I switched my focus to baseball, back in the day. I know that I had a few cards of the 2000 series champion at the time.
This rectangle comes from an oddball set, produced in 1994 by a company called Hi-Tech, centered around the tire tests held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the previous year during the lead up for the inaugural Brickyard 400. I got a whole bunch of these in a multi-sport repack about a week ago.
Tire tests might seem like an awfully pedestrian event to build a trading card set around; however, one must know that the first stock car race at IMS was a historic event, being the first non-Indy 500 event held at the track since it's earliest days. Additionally, many die-hard open wheel fans saw this invasion by "rednecks" as blasphemy, as an affront to the track's honor. Twas a different time, when NASCAR wasn't the juggernaut it later became and Indy Cars reigned supreme in the motor sport world.
Next up, we have a guy who came into NASCAR with an open wheel background in Dave Blaney and perpetual independent David Gilliland. Blaney, who's son Ryan is now running for Rookie of the Year in the Sprint Cup series and is making me feel old, is one of those guys who kept managing to land rides but never really got over the hump, usually making his way as a back-marker. Here's hoping Ryan has better luck.
Meanwhile, Gilliland initially burst onto the scene for his improbably win without factory backing or major sponsorship at Kentucky in what was then called the Busch Series (essentially NASCAR's Triple A) in 2006. This earned him a trip up to the Cup series and he's bounced around, mostly with the independents, since then. He's never made it to Victory Lane in the top level.
As for the set which both of these singles hail from, I don't have much more to say about it other than it's called Ignite and was released by Press Pass in 2012.
Now we're jumping back to the mid-90's with 1994 Maxx, along with Buddy Baker and Morgan Shepherd - two ageless wonders.
Buddy Baker's NASCAR career lasted from 1959 to 1994, at the end splitting his time between driving duties and broadcasting. The son of legendary race Buck Baker won 19 races along the way, including the 1980 Daytona 500. Sadly, Buddy succumbed to lung cancer last summer at the age of 74.
Meanwhile, Morgan Shepherd made his first start in 1970 and is still racing today (in the sport's lower rungs). He even became the oldest man to ever start a Cup series race in 2014 at the young age of 72. Must be that Cheerwine soda keeping him fresh.
Eat your heart out Jamie Moyer!
These sorts of feats of longevity are much more common in NASCAR than you'd think. Unlike most sports, age doesn't really matter as long as your reflexes remain sharp. As such, many racers, such as Richard Petty, Dave Marcis, James Hylton, Red Farmer, etc. raced well into the years where a normal person might be admitted into a retirement community.
Sticking with 1994 Maxx, we have Rodney Combs and Kenny Wallace - two guys who never won at the sport's top level.
Combs, while a legendary dirt-track racer, never could keep a steady ride in any of NASCAR's top levels. Shown here piloting the legendary #43 for Richard Petty at the Busch Series level, never won so much as a single race at any level from 1982-97. Nevertheless, he's a member of the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, Kenny Wallace (the brother of the wildly successful Rusty) always seemed to be on the periphery of a win, but could never seal the deal. Kenny ran 344 Cup races and finished in the top 10 27 times and sits 11th all-time for making the most starts with no victories. Meanwhile, number 3 on that list is the aforementioned Dave Blaney, with 473 races run.
Here are a couple of guys who had much more success and also parlayed that exposure into a post-racing career in broadcasting.
Ned Jarrett is the father of Dale and was quite the racer of his own. Ned won the NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) championship in 1961 and 1965 and won 50 races along the way. With that performance, he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011 as part of their second-ever class. His most famous moment in the booth came as he called his son's win in the 1993 Daytona 500 - talk about bias!
Neil Bonnett won 18 races in a career that started in 1974 and initially ended in 1990 due to a life-threatening crash. The member of motorsport's famed Alabama Gang, Bonnett took to the booth for CBS while still making multiple comeback attempts in the ensuing years. Tragically, he made one attempt too many and lost his life in a crash during a practice session for the 1994 Daytona 500.
Neil's final ride
Coincidentally, Neil was well-known for being one of the prickly Dale Earnhardt's closest friends in the sport. Dale, of course, also died in a crash at Daytona International Speedway just 7 years later.
Also coincidentally, that 2001 Daytona 500 in which "The Intimidator" was lost, was the very first race I sat down and watched from start to finish. Thus, it's pretty well sealed into my memory.
Finally, we wrap this up with another single that feel out of one of those multi-sport repacks I tend to pick up at the local Dollar Tree, this one of 1993 Rookie of the Year Jimmy Hensley. However, it should be noted that Hensley had actually been competing in the Cup series series off and on for 20 years leading up to his award, while never competing in enough events to ruin his rookie eligibility.
Also of interest, Hensley was and is the oldest racer to win the award, having taken home the trophy at the age of 47. It should also be noted that Hensley really only won the award on technicality, as he was the only rookie who ran a full-time schedule in 1992.
So, in summation, the 47 year old, 20 year veteran won the Rookie of the Year award only because he was the only one eligible. That's quite the oddity, now isn't it?
Hensley and his 1992 ride
With that, we've reached the end of my recent NASCAR acquisitions; I hope I didn't scare away too many people who came here looking for baseball/Cubs related content.
I'm slllllloooooowwwwwlllllyyyyyyyyyy making my way forward with this collection, picking up a few cards every month or so towards my goal of one of every NASCAR competitor I can find. If anyone is sitting on a large stack of stock car racing doubles, I'd be more than happy to talk trade. Although, as noted by the proprietor of my LCS when I purchased the non-Hensley Maxx singles seen above, not many people buy such products. Here's hoping Panini can generate some interest with their new licensee.
Anyway, it's time for me to go back to circling around the school - lunch is over and there's already e-mails pouring in. Time to make some laps!
Don't panic yet, but the Blackhawks have been floundering quite a bit lately, having lost 5 of their last 6. This includes a heartbreaking shootout defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Wild on Sunday, after a hard-fought comeback to tie the score in regulation. Talk about deflating.
At least part of this recent skid could be partially blamed on the loss of goalie Corey Crawford to injury. While Scott Darling has filled in admirably, it was hard not to think about Crow when Charlie Coyle immediately put one through the pipes on the Wild's first shootout attempt. Although, even before his injury, Corey had been in a bit of a funk anyway
With that in mind, I may have subconsciously picked up a few new cards of netminders on Ebay recently.
Well, I definitely DID pick up the cards, I just didn't put it together that all three men were goalies until I got the envelope. Silly subconscious!
In other coincidental news, all three cards hail from the same set as well: 2002-03 Topps. Again, that wasn't necessarily a goal, it just so happened that all three guys needed representation in my Blackhawks All-Time Roster binder and all were available for about 10 cents with free shipping.
You can't beat that deal.
Lalime served as the backup to Nikolai Khabibulin during his two season stint in Chicago (06-08). All told, he played in 44 games for the Blackhawks, going 20-18 with an .897 save percentage. Pretty forgettable.
Patrick was much more notable for his goalie mask theme - cartoon eyes - which you can see in the picture above. In Pittsburgh, the googly eyes were found on a Penguin; meanwhile, in Ottawa and St. Louis they were on Marvin the Martian. Marvin stuck around in Chicago, but an Indian headdress was added on top of the Martian's head. When wrapping up his career in Buffalo, Marvin gained the horns of a buffalo.
Who doesn't love a fun goalie mask, right?
Lalime missed the beginning of the 2006-07 season due to a herniated disc and was kept on injured reserve until February. As a result, the man you see above, Brian Boucher, became a Chicago Blackhawk; after all, they still needed a backup goaltender.
Boucher was a gun for hire, having never played for the same team longer than three seasons in his 13 season career. His Chicago tenure was brief, only 15 games, and also wildly unsuccessful, 1-10 with an .844 save percentage. I'm sure no one shed a tear when he was claimed of waivers by Colorado.
As short and rough as his stint was, he was still a Hawk and thus needed a card for my all-time tome.
And now, the only actual Blackhawks card of the lot was Jocelyn Thibault, the starting goalie from 1998 through 2004.
His best season came during this time, when he recorded eight shutouts and made an appearance in the NHL All-Star Game during the 2002-03 campaign. Along the way, he recorded his career best GAA of 2.37 and a save percentage of .915. It's just a shame that his best years were wasted on some of the worst hockey teams in Chicago history.
This was the last card of my coincidental or subconscious goalie binge. Although, my next target is Michael Leighton, a goalie who was a Hawk from 2002-04 and just recently returned to replace Crow on the active roster.
Has anyone seen this man?
Still, despite all the issues the Blackhawks have been having during this recent stretch, I wouldn't say it's time to panic. It's easy to become spoiled with all of the success this team has had since Stan Bowman took over the franchise reigns; rough stretches happen to even the best of teams. They're pretty much assured of a playoff spot, which is really all that matters.
That said, I'd really like it if they could get back on track with a win over the Central Division leading Stars tonight - it would make for a nice statement.
In the interim, I'm going to do my best to mind my subconscious urges - this time it was just buying a batch of goalie cards, but next time it could be something crazy, like buying a llama.
