Odd Connections

A few years ago I wrote a post in my Everybody's Got A Record series about John Paciorek who is one of the few players that ended their major league career with a perfect 1.000 batting average. John went 3-for-3 and two walks in his one professional game making him the only player with three hits and still have a perfect batting average. 

Last summer I was contacted by a writer from a professional magazine called Texas Co-op Power. They wondered if they could use the image of the Paciorek card from 2010's Tristar Obak set I posted on my blog from 2011. I said "certainly, go right ahead" and dug out the card and re-scanned it in the best quality the old scanner could muster. 

Several months later I received a large envelope filled with a few issues of the September 2013 issue of Texas Co-op Power. 

Flipping around to page six I found a familiar looking card. 

The section of the magazine was about interesting facts from around Texas and so they shared Paciorek's claim to fame. So now one of my cards has been published in a magazine...writing this blog does lead to some odd connections. 

Atlanta Bound

In about a month my wife and I will be moving down to good old Hot 'Lanta away from the hot and humid temperatures of Lawrence, Kansas and onto somewhere even hotter and more humid. Along with giving me the chance to experience hurricanes for the first time it also lets me change my official "adopted team."

Let me explain.

I'm originally from northwestern Wisconsin and so my team growing up was the Minnesota Twins. Since then I've lived in Seattle and Lawrence so I've taken under my wing the Mariners and Royals as my "adopted teams" that I follow and go to games occasionally. The move to Atlanta will now bring me the Braves which is really my perfect adopted team as they were the Milwaukee Braves from 1953-1965 and I'm working on collecting those team sets. Plus...you know...Hank Aaron.

Now I've just to get the Cardboard Junkie to clue me in on the best card shops around town! To finish up here's the Allman Brother's famous jam "Hot 'Lanta" from their Fillmore East performances in 1971:

 

Hits Memorabilia Is Giving Away A Derek Jeter's Elastic Band! Yes, You Read That Right

Hits Memorabilia, the card company owned by YouTuber King of Steak, recently put up a contest on Facebook for one of the most "unique" items I've ever seen in the baseball memorabilia game. Sure we've seen bat barrels, bat knobs, buttons, patches, jersey pieces...but how about an elastic band!

Hits Memorabilia makes very unique memorabilia cards and apparently some upcoming cards contain Derek Jeter pieces. While assembling the cards/cutting up the jersey the elastic band from the bottom of the jersey came apart. That piece can be yours if you like and comment on Hits' Facebook page. Here's the link and you've got until Monday at 10pm ET to enter.

Packers Release Johnathan Franklin

Yesterday the Packers announced that they released running back Johnathan Franklin due to the neck injury he sustained late last season. It sad news because I hoped that Franklin and Eddie Lacy would become a great tandem of running backs for years to come. I picked up a few of his cards this season and I here are two of my favorites. What could have been. 

2013 Topps Strata #CCAR-JF Johnathan Franklin Auto Relic

2013 Topps #RP-JF Johnathan Franklin Patch Relic

Brett Favre's Mullet Endorses A Candidate

I detest Brett Favre and possibly detest his politics even more but I do love that Brett is sporting a mullet and looks like he's come off a three-day bender to stand in front of the camera and endorse Thad Cochran for the U.S. Senate. Although "Thad Cochran" does sounds like something Brett would have named his penis when sexting someone. Here's the advertisement:

Call Topps When Your Casting Couch Needs A George Brett Sign

Last week Topps announced a new set of aluminum signs featuring current and former players available for a penny under $70.00. By the looks of the photos they created to promote these signs...

...it looks like they could be used in any casting couch office that looks a little "bare".  

My Top 5 From My Jumbo Pack of 2014 Topps Archives

For just the low low price of $4.99 you can buy yourself 18 Topps Archives card in a jumbo pack. I'm almost boycotting these because I'm sick and tired of hearing about this Major League insert set. What's next an Angels in the Outfield with on-card autographs of Tony Danza and Danny Glover...hmmm...well actually taking a look at that movie's IMDB page you'll also find that Joseph Gorden-Levitt, Adrien Brody, and Matthew McConaughey were in it as well so let's bring on the next stupid gimmick that we can put in to our next gimmick crap fest!

I had expected to do a lengthy write up for each card but that first paragraph burned me out. So Harmon is #1 because he's The Killer.  

#154 Harmon Killebrew

Warren is #2 because reasons. 

#138 Warren Spahn

#3 and #4 are two Braves because I'm moving to Atlanta at the end of the summer so it looks like the Braves will be my new adopted team...so for the record my true favorite team is the Minnesota Twins...and from 2004-2008 my "adopted" teams was the Mariners, from 2008-2013 it has been the Royals and now 2014 is Barves all the way!

#111 Jason Heyward

#3 Freddie Freeman

Yu got the #1 card in this set so he's #5. 

#1 Yu Darvish

Ripping A Kidrobot Simpsons Vinyl Figure

Another mini figure found its way into my cart and this time it is a Simpsons vinyl figure put out by Kidrobot. I'm not sure if Kidrobot makes these anymore as  they are marked as sold out on their web page and I found my figure at a used movies/music/comic shop called Vintage Stock at a marked down price. 

My box had a bunch of zombie variations as well as a series of mariachi variation Simpsons. I wouldn't mind a variation figure but I would rather just have a basic character...minus Maggie.

Enjoy the shiny!

And my character turned out to be Moe Szyslak, Homer's favorite bartender.

Each pack also comes with mini card...mine had a crease in the corner but it's still nice to have a Simpsons card. 

Jose Vizcaino Junior and Senior

Last summer I got to go to a few Eau Claire Express games back home and it was surprising to see a familiar name on the Northwoods League roster. One of the standout stars of the team was a player from Santa Clara University by the name of Jose Vizcaino Jr.. He ended up batting .320 during the summer league with 5 home runs and 27 RBIs over 37 games.

I took a couple of photos of Jose in action but I only had my camera with me so they are not of the best quality. 

Here's an action shot. These games were played at Carson Park Stadium which has been hosting baseball games since 1937.

Of course Jose Vizcaino Jr. is the son of Jose Vizcaino Sr. who played 18 years in the majors from 1989 through 2006. Since I'm going to be a collector of Jose Junior if and when he starts showing up in Bowman sets I thought I would pick up a few of Jose Senior's cards as well. The first being a Leaf Signatures Series from 1996 which was one of the first products that had a ton of autographs from many different players.

1996 Leaf Signature Series Jose Vizcaino Autograph

Here's a nice refractor from 2001 Topps Chrome. 

2001 Topps Chrome #573 Retrofractor 

During the junk wax years the truly gold stamped Topps Gold cards were really the best part, weren't they?

1993 Topps #237 Jose Vizcaino Gold

The Bob Feller Museum's Last Days?

I'm sad to say one of the my favorite writing topics, The Bob Feller Museum, may not be around for very much longer. This past winter they were forced to close their doors temporarily but were able to reopen their doors with limited hours on Opening Day. The museum is located in Van Meter, Iowa which is just outside of Des Moines and is also Bob Feller's hometown. I've visited the museum many times and along with having a great many Feller relics they also have the famous bat that Babe Ruth used a cane din this famous photo taken at Yankee Stadium 25th Anniversary.

The bat in question has many autographs on it include Babe's. 

The museum also has a great many autographs and memorabilia for sale including an impressive display of autographs of players who have had signings at the museum.

So currently the museum has reopened on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays and I hope you get a chance to visit if you are ever traveling through Iowa. You can also follow the museum on Twitter at @bobfellermuseum for updates on events and news.

2014 Topps Heritage Cards and Their 1965 Topps Counterparts

I've purchased next to no 2014 baseball products this year and instead I've been focusing on Packers autographs and more Packers autographs. I'm slowly loading them up on Sports Card Album if you are interested in seeing what I've recently picked up. 

My embargo only lasted through the end of May as I finally picked up a pack of Heritage when nothing else struck my interest at Target. Instead of doing the standard pack review I took a look through the 1965 Topps set and did my best to find the card that is being emulated by the 2014 Topps Heritage card. As you'll see sometimes this worked out well and sometimes you'll have to use a little bit of your imagination to see the resemblance between the two cards. And thanks to COMC.com as they were the resource for the photos of the 1965 cards. 

We start with Matt Holiday's card who has a twin in Dick Groat's card from 1965. This one is a pretty spot on match except that "Cardinals" has to get jammed onto the pennant when "Cards" was used in 1965.

The backs are the same great blue color from the original set. 

Next we have A.J. Griffin and his counterpart Ken Harrelson from the then Kansas City Athletics. None of the Athletics pitchers showed their glove in the 1965 set so I just had to go with a "staring at the camera" similarity.

These next three cards have players from the Nationals, Rays, and Marlins which are all teams that didn't exist in 1965. For these I tried to find matches in the color scheme and found some odd matches. 

The orange pennant and grey background was also used on the Orioles, the yellow pennant and pink background was also used on the Yankees cards, and lastly the white pennant and red background are shared with the Cubs 

These two stern looking gentlemen have the exact same facial expression separated by 49 years.

I enjoy how the "Saltalamacchia" card ends up being paired with an nearly as difficult last name "Amalfitano." 

This one turned out the best...if only the away and home jerseys could have been reversed on one of the cards.

In trying to match Konerko's swinging pose I could find very few that showed the completed swing. Although the swings are different the backgrounds are very close including some shrubbery between Dave Nicholson's hands and the pennants. 

Someday will we think of Paul Goldschmidt, Jay Bruce, and Freddie Freeman in the same way we think of Willie Mays, Ken Boyer, and Ron Santo? Probably not but it must be fun to be on a card like this.

The back gives you a lot of information...like the top 56 RBI leaders in the National League. That kind of thing would never be on the 2014 Topps flagship set.

My last card is a Sandy Koufax Flashbacks '65 insert commemorating Koufax's perfect game against the Cubs.

This sort of card didn't exist in the original set so instead I'll just show you Sandy's 1965 Topps card.