Beardy's Got A Brand New Blog!

An awesome new blog has been started. Beardy, the Big Lebowski Card Fest All Star, has finally decided to share his considerable talents with us in an official forum forged from nothing straight out of the ether...otherwise known as blogspot.

I mean, for Pete's sake, look at his banner! Look at that and tell me you don't want to read that crazy bastard's blog!




Beardy is an Orioles fan and an occasional Canadian sympathizer. He's a talented graphic designer and a reportedly lazy man. I can't say for sure but I've heard he may have a 6th toe on his left foot. He can run like the wind and jump extremely high when called upon to do so, although those instances are few and far between.

I'm pretty sure he has a beard.

OK, I've done inerduced him enough.

I'll just share with you a few of the highlights from his many contributions to the Big Lebowski set (that I've been threatening to actually get organized for about a month now).










One thing I know for sure, Beardy's blog will be great. Add him to your blog lists and leave him comments. Let's rope him in and get him hooked before he realizes that this takes up way too much time to justify.

Welcome to the Blog thingy whatever you call it.

Edit: Here's that link. I don't know how I forgot it. I put it at the top too.

My New Sizemore Card

I've been out of town a lot lately. First for a work thing where a bunch of dentists get together and talk about teeth. Then for a funeral, which wasn't unexpected, but still...not good times. So I've missed out on a lot blog posts and I haven't posted anything for a while. I'm trying to catch up.

I did get a little pick-me-up the other day when my new card arrived in the mail. Here it is: A dual auto of Grady Sizemore and Nick Swisher



Not too shabby, huh?

My love for Sizemore is well documented. I named my firstborn son after him (well, not really, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I'm a big fan of Swisher for one main reason. He's a Buckeye. There aren't too many of us in the majors. As far as I know it's only Swisher, Scott Lewis (Indian's pitcher) and Josh Freeman of the Rockies. Not exactly a murderer's row. But, we take what we can get, and so I decided to try to collect some Swisher cards.

I ran across this baby on eBay a few weeks ago and I had to get it. It ended up being around $20. I have no way of knowing if I overpaid, but that doesn't matter. I also have no idea why these two are on a card together, or why they couldn't have gotten a better picture of Grady (where he isn't making a face like he's taking a dump.) Maybe it's because both of them sign terrible auto's

No matter, it's a cool card and I love it.

My only dilemma is that there are 2 Yankees I love now. Swisher and Sabathia. I have no idea how to reconcile that. Any suggestions?

BTW: Check out the Swisher page on base reference. It has pitching stats. Sweet.

TBL Card Fest: A Plethora

More TBL Cards commin' at ya! They just keep getting better and better. As per usual, this post is anchored by Beardy.

From White Sox Cards:



Saddam #02 Desert Storm

Steven pulled this desert storm card out of nowhere and fixed it up with the soup nazi. Fabulous stuff, man. You may wonder, "why Saddam"? Well, if you recall, this who sordid business took place right around the time of our (initial) conflict with the Eyeraqis. So, Saddam giving out shoe's at the bowling ally makes sense.

Yes it does.

Does too.


From Punk Rock Paint:



Dude #12 2009 Authentix

A sweet ticket stub card from the Speed of Sound tour. "Why the Speed of Sound Tour?" you ask? Because dude was a roadie for this non-existent production. Like Shawn Fanning, Dude was less than impressed with Metallica. That, however, hasn't stopped the good folks at the Lebowskifest from recreating the tour this summer.

This card rocks.

2 more from Beardy. Is this guy incredible or what?



Brothers Of Ethos #01 2009 Beardy Original

One is Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. The other is the Walrus. They are, as the card suggests, truly Brothers of Ethos. Not in Nam, of course.



292 F-Bombs #01 2008 Triple Threads

One of the first truly high end submissions. Unlike most Triple Thread cards, this one signifies a truly historic accomplishment. If you are skeptical just watch this. Do NOT watch this if you are at work, around your kids, or offended by profanity, no matter how artistically done. This cards really kicks ass.

Beardy keeps raising his own bar.

There Beardy. You happy now you crazy fuck?!

(inside joke)

2009 Chrome Legends

Here is a cool little set of cards for you. A few months ago Dayf went over all of the different ways that you can get Topps cards and what to expect in each kind of pack. He went over Hobby, retail, rack packs, blasters,...everything. He also talked about these $10 "cereal boxes". I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Cereal boxes are big. Did they put some cards in boxes of cereal or something? What kind of cereal. I was very confused. It didn't make sense to me. If I would have read Dayf's post more closely I probably would have figured it out, but I didn't. I'm a lazy man and to tell you the truth, my ignorance didn't bother me a whole hell of a lot.





Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I'm in Walmart or Target or something and I see all of the different configurations of cards. And there's this little box that is obviously Topps, but I hadn't seen before. "Hey, that looks like a little cereal box" me thinks.

"HEY! THAT"S WHAT DAYF WAS TALKING ABOUT!" It's all coming together.

Well $10 seemed a little steep for 55 cards plus some stupid chrome refractor thing. But hey, why not? I love shiny things.

Well, I'm glad I did because I LOVE these Chrome cards. Looking back on it, I don't know why I was skeptical. I just love Chrome in general.




So I've picked up a few more of these cereal boxes, basically for the Turkey Red and the Chrome. These are the 2 I've pulled so far and I have 1 box I've yet to open. Also, apparently there are two different 10 card sets. One for Target and one for Walmart. One is gold, the other silver. I'm not sure which is which. I could look it up, but, what the hell do you want from me? Reliable information? You can get that somewhere else. I've got idiocy to offer here. Take it or leave it.

This brings me to a genius plan that I've hatched. The Beckett book value of all of these cards is astronomical. The least valuable one is George Sisler at $8. The others go up to $40! So I plan on buying all of these $10 cereal boxes in existence, opening them, and selling all of the Chrome cards for a profit. So I take a $2 hit on the Sislers. Big deal. I make $30 above cost every time I pull a Ripken JR!

It's a can't miss, unless BV is off. But how could it be? Anyway, it doesn't matter what the ebay value is. The BV is right because I CHOSE TO BELIEVE! I'm a genius. I'm going to be rich!

I might even save a set of these for myself. I really do like them a lot. There are 20 cards in all. I have 3 of them (unless the unopened one is a double.) If anyone has extra of these and wants to complete their 1989 Topps set I have a lot to offer in trade. Let me know.

UPDATE!!

The veritable tidal wave of comments has prompted me to actual do about 2 minutes of research on this after all. The following are the Beckett values of these 2 sets:

Target set: (these are the gold ones)
Ted Williams is the only one with a price and it is $10
All other players are "N/A"

Walmart set: (silver ones)

1. Ted Williams $25
2. Jackie Robinson $12
3. Babe Ruth $20
4. Honus Wagner $10
5. Lou Gehrig $12
6. Nolan Ryan $25
7. Mickey Mantle $25
8. Thurman Munson $15
9. Cal Ripken Jr. $40
10.George Sisler $ 8

Curiously, the walmart set has a price for every card, but the value of the entire set is "N/A".

High Beckett value was used because that is what I Choose to accept as accurate. And as we all know, if we all want Beckett to be correct hard enough, it will make it true.

As you can surely see, my plan is foolproof.

Dinged Corners Contest Winner!

The following is the fastest transaction in the history of the Achiever Card Blog. As those of you who have sent me cards in the past know, it is usually anywhere between 2-5 months before I get up a post about the free stuff I received. It recently occurred to me that I could benefit from posting sooner. The thought process (I'm very logical) went something like this:

1. Blog People send me free stuff
2. Blog People like to know that the free stuff is appreciated
3. When I wait forever to post it may look like I don't appreciate the stuff
4. If I post sooner Blog People will see me writing about them on my immensely popular blog
5. If Blog People see my wit and brilliant writing about the cards they sent me, they will be happy
6. Blog People will send me more free cards
7. I LOVE free cards

I'm telling you, I'm like Spock.

So, I just got some free cards from the wonderful girls at Dinged Corners. (If you don't know who they are you are here by mistake. There is no porn here. Please move along). Actually, these cards weren't necessarily free, as I earned them through hard work and dedication.

First, I had to answer an extremely difficult trivia question. Then I had to type "2007" in the comments. Heck I even had to go back into the Dinged Corners archives to make sure I was spelling "Mazeroski" correctly. I'm a bad speler a lot of the time. The whole thing was exhausting. I had to take a nap. However, as you'll shortly see (if I ever actually get to the cards) the whole thing was worth it, despite the steep price I paid in physical exertion.

But, back to the main point, which is that I'm a genius and have figured out a way to get more free cards. That transaction went like this:

1. On 4-14-09 Dinged Corners holds a contest
2. Through dedicated research and shear force of will, I am able to successfully enter said contest and emerge victorious.
3. On 4-15-09 The contents of the mystery box are revealed
4. On 4-15-09 Dinged Corners asks for help in identifying cards. I am not helpful.
5. HEY! 2007! THOSE ARE MINE! HIP HIP HOORAY!
6. On 4-20-09 The package with my hard earned cards arrives in the mail. Patricia is not messing around with this.
7. Today - Post about the cards. See how fast that was?

So, what did I get? Two huge packs of 2007 Upper Deck. Apparently I was the biggest winner of the whole thing, as I should be considering the time I put in on it. The girls also sent some extra Sizemores, just because they're awesome. As you'll soon see, there was a plethora of Indians in the packs.



2009 UD Starquest Blue
2008 UD Masterpieces
2007 UD Future Stars

Here are 3 of the extra Gradys that were sent. I've always liked Starquest. I think I only need about 17 more colors and I should have the whole rainbow. The back of the card says that Grady "Mashed...33 longballs". If it was me that would have read "Mashed 33 taters".

Grady's so good he can use 2 bats at the same time. The back states "As the mercury began to rise during the 2008 season, Sizemore heated up as well." Seriously, when did they start to employ Robert Frost to write the back of these. That was beautiful.

In 2007, after crushing the league for 2 full seasons, Upper Deck finally decided that Sizemore was a "future star". Yeah. Thanks for the heads up.




2009 Heritage
2008 UD X

I like Heritage. Heck, everyone likes heritage. It's too late to scan it in but the back has a cartoon of "Grady" sitting on a wooden stool in his uniform listening to vinyl on an old-timy record player. The caption states "Grady's favorite band is The Doors." It's glorious.

I really, really like this Upper Deck X card. I don't know if I have any other cards of these. It was so widely panned I didn't even bother with it. Why didn't anyone like it? I think this card looks great. I'm going to look into getting some. I figure maybe it will be cheap seeing as how I seem to be the only guy that likes it.

Here are some of the cards that came in the packs:



Joe Smith and Jason Davis

The Joe Smith Rookie card (allegedly). Formerly a Met, now he's on the Tribe, and we're glad to have him. He didn't do so hot last night, but we still won. Joe was born in Cincinnati, but we won't hold that against him.

Jason Smith. Formerly on the Tribe, now on the ITLTLIU (I'm too lazy to look it up). See how that came full circle? 2 cards. One an Indian, the other not, but not necessarily the one withe the Indian's uniform on? Trippy.




Jake Westbrook and Kevin Kouzmanoff

Jake should be back from Tommy John surgery sometime in July. It can't happen soon enough as the Tribe's staff is underwhelming. He probably won't be full strength until next season, though.

I like to see Kouzmanoff in a Tribe uniform. That way I can pretend that the Kouz for Josh Barfield trade never happened. And it's his rookie card! (Allegedly).




Randy Johnson and Kenji Johjima

I know they aren't on the Tribe but I wanted to put something up for Patricia and Lucy. Randy probably has this big smile in very few cards. He almost looks like a decent fella, as opposed to the guy that we all know has the perennial red...uh...behind.

I know Lucy likes the Asian players, and this really is a fantastic looking card with the sun setting in the background. Normally I would mention that Kenji is an overrated player who plays below replacement level and took at bats away from a better, younger prospect in Clement. He also killed my fantasy team last year. But this is such a nice card that I'm going to avoid that kind of negativity. So, I won't even mention that stuff.




I'll end on Albert Pujols and Grady Sizemore

The Albert is one of those UD Triple Play things with the scratch off on the back. As always, I'm torn on whether to scratch off the back of these. I'd hate to lose book value. Book value is tremendously important to me. I'll have to think about it.

The other Grady Sizemore card is some kind of error. For some reason they put Juan Uribe's name on it. They even got the team wrong and wrote White Sox instead of Indians. Does anyone know anything about this? Is this error very rare. I'd love to find out that this Sizemore is extremely rare and valuable.

Well, that's it. That wraps 'er all up real nice. Thank you Patricia and Lucy. You girls are awesome. Top notch Blog People.

TBL Card Fest: Into Left Field

We have another submission to our TBL Card Fest set by Into Left Field He first mad an appearance a few TBL posts ago with the 1972 Dude card. Well, he took me up on my challenge of making a few cards based on my suggestions. I'm very pleased with the results. I'm sure you will be too.



Knox Harrington #03 1968 Topps

Knox is a small but very important part of the cast. I mean, I'm not really sure who in the world you move this intricate plot along with a video artist. With a cleft asshole, no less.



Bunny #03 1979 Topps (Toe Card)

I asked for a toe and I got a toe. With nail polish. And, before you ask...yes, I got it b y 3 in the afternoon. Well done Mr. Field.



Marmot #01 1987 Topps

What you are seeing here is illegal. Do not attempt this at home. Keeping a wild animal...within the city limits...for domestic purposes...that ain't legal. I'm just saying.



Dude #11 1961 Topps

Huh.

Nice cards all Mr. Left Field. Thank you very much.

TBL Card Fest: Paul and Steve

A few weeks ago we had a new submission to the TBL set from a new blogger. He left a card and a link in the comments of one of the previous posts. It only took about 2 weeks to see that it was there. Hey better late than never, right?

We also have another submission to the set from one of the charter members. Steven at White Sox Cards actually gave a name to this beast and got the who ball rolling, so to speak. Without him, this whole thing may still just be kicking around my head.

Hear is his latest:



Plymouth Fury #01 2009 WSC Original

At least I think it's an original card. I'm sure I'll be set straight if it is not. Once this set is complete I think we should all get together (We've already agreed to meet down the road with Patricia and Lucy) and set fire to this card while listening to Kraftwerk. Who's coming with me?

Here is a card from Paul who has a really cool (not to mention immensely popular) music blog. I recommend you check it out.



Smokey #02 1973 Topps

This is a really cool card. I can't believe that this thing is spreading so far and wide across the ether. I hope this isn't the last of the TBL cards from Paul. We gotta keep feeding the monkey, you know?

Also check out his Raising Arizona cards

TBL Card Fest: Beardy

That's right kids, Greg has been at it again. Here is the latest from the TBL Card Fest MVP



Walter #07 2008 UD A Piece Of History

I'm sure Mrs. Jamtoss would be proud of this card, being a social studies teacher and all.

Now there are 3 cards that (I think) are Beardy Originals. He has dubbed them "Potent Quotables". They are fantastic



Bush #01 2009 Potent Quotables

I love the design. One thing I really like is the Buckeye leaf at the bottom of the card. I didn't even know Greg was a Buckeye fan. I guess it makes sense though. EVERYONE is a Buckeye fan, right?




Jeffrey Lebowski #03 1009 Potent Quotables

One of the great things about Potent Quotables is the fact that this could be a 500 card insert set. Every line that the Big Lebowski (The other Lebowski. The millionaire.) says could be a Potent Quotable.



Stranger #02 2009 Potent Quotables

I don't know about you but, I take comfort in this card.

Back with more directly

*Yes, I know it's not a Buckeye leaf.

Pre Wantlist Post

A few people have email me lately to ask what I collect, or some kind of wantlist so they can send me some free stuff. Since it's about 10 months since I started this ridiculous blog I guess it's about time to put something together. I promise to work on it.

The first thing I can think of off the top of my head is this. I am definately a huge collector of 2000 Bowman Draft Grady Sizemore Autos. I hope this helps.



Soon I will get a more comprehensive (and serious) list together. Those of you who, for some reason, read my blog will be stunned to find out that it will prominantly involve Turkey Red.

I want to thank all of the Blog People who make this hobby worthwhile. Without you guys (you know who you are) I would have packed up my stuff and thrown it back down in my parents basement months ago.

Oh, and, leave a comment or email me if you have one of these (Sizemore) cards to send me in exchange for about $1.12 worth of junk wax.

More TBL posts later tonight.

The House That Sizemore Built

Babe Ruth homered in the first game at Old Yankee Stadium back in 1923.

The ballpark was dubbed "The House That Ruth Built"

Well, we want to be consistent. Don't we?

Yankee Stadium Firsts

You may have heard.

New Yankee Stadium opened today. The First Game featured the Yankees vs the Indians in a battle of the last two AL Cy Young Award winners, CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee. As a loyal Tribe fan who was able to watch some of the game and listen to most of the rest I feel like I am in a unique position to report on a few of the historic firsts that inevitably transpired.

You're welcome.

1st hit - Johnny Damon - single in 1st

1st pitch - Sabathia to Sizemore (ball)

1st K - Victor Martinez

1st HBP - Mark Teixeira

1st Elk and Elk Injury Lawyers Injury Report - pregame

1st walk - Kelly Shoppach

1st double - Ben Fransisco

1st pop up to the first baseman with the bases loaded and no outs - Tony Graffanino

1st AB by a former Buckeye - Swisher fly out to center

1st AB by a player with 2 ear flaps - Shin Soo Choo ground out to 2nd

1st player inexplicably thrown out by Posada while trying to steal - Sizemore

1st Run - Ben Francisco

1st Thrown out at home - Peralta and the piano he carries

1st RBI - Kelly Shoppach

1st Error - Tony Graffanino

1st Player to start at second despite being below replacement level - Graffanino

1st Double Play - Turned by Yankees in 3rd

1st HR - J. Posada

1st Northern Ohio Toyota Dealers Pitching Change - 5th inning (Sabathia to E Ramirez)

1st 9 run 7th inning - Cleveland Indians

1st Grand Slam - Grady Sizemore

1st Indians player not to score in the 7th - Graffanino (why?)

1st Meaningless Run - Melky Cabrera

1st Guy to get laid post game - probably Jeter - maybe Sizemore

1st Spitzer Chevy Seventh Inning Stretch - 7th inning

1st Billy Joel song - You May Be Right

1st time I head that song - 1980 on Chipmunk Punk

1st Loss - Veras - Yankees

1st Win - Lee - Cleveland Indians

1st Total Ass Kicking - Indians over Yankees 10 - 2



*I will be out of town for a few days listening to dentists tell me stuff about teeth. Just in case, you know, anyone misses me.

TBL Card Fest: PRP and Beardy

Here are three more submissions to The Big Lebowski Card Fest Set. This thing just keeps plugging away. We're up to 68 cards now. I know I promised to get the whole thing linked up and whatnot, but like the Dude, I'm a lazy man. It'll happen. Until it does I suspect your lives will remain relatively unaffected.

Here's another awesome submission from Travis Painterstein at Punk Rock Paint:



Jesus #06 1996 Pinnacle Aficionado

This is really cool. I'm unfamiliar with this set but that effect is outstanding. I have no idea how to do something like this.

Two more from Beardy:



Smokey #01 1956 Topps

My heart was warmed when I saw that Smokey finally had a card all his own. I was worried that he may find his way through the interether to this very site only to find that he was left out, or viewed only as a pawn to the dominating Walter. I was worried about his emotional state. He's very fragile. He has emotional problems that go beyond pacifism.



Dude #10 2007 A+G Cut Sig

This may be the finest of them yet. I'm very impressed by Beardy's detective work. How in the world he tracked down this check is beyond me. But, Brian Gray and I are both pleased beyond words that the one existing check made famous in this movie has been destroyed so that it can be glued to and displayed on a piece of rectangular cardboard.

Well done Greg.

Now I'd like to address a small problem that has been brought to my attention. It has been suggested that we are running out of subjects for our set. Nothing could be further from the truth. (Actually, there are a lot of things that are further from the truth. A Rod is liked by his teammates. Gellman's dream is to work for Beckett. Paul Walker can act. You get my point though. There's plenty of subjects.)

So I'll submit a brief, incomplete list off the top of my head of possible cards. Some should be fairly easy considering they don't actually appear in the movie.

1. Gary
2. Mrs. Jamtoss
3. Marty Ackerman
4. Cynthia
5. The Pomeranian - with the papers
6. The Ringer
7. Walter's dirty undies - the whites
8. Pilar
9. Liam
10. The Ralphs checkout girl
11. Sioux City Sasparilla - it's a good one
12. Francis Donelly - The guy at the mortuary
13. Maude's thugs
14. The coffee shop waitress - you know, at the family restaurant
15. A toe with green nail polish
16. The two cops who solve the rug theft
17. The cop who has the boys at the station working in shifts
18. The Dude's car
19. The Thorough Doctor
20. Sherry - costar of Logjammin
21. Aimee mann
22. The corvette owner
23. Police Chief of Malibu
24. Lawyers Kunstler and Ron Kuby
25. The Knutsens
26. The marmot
27. The cab driver who looks like Ving Rhames
28. The limo driver who is NOT careful around beverages
29. A cleft asshole
etc.

As you can see there are a lot of subjects remaining. My only problem is finding pictures to use. If anyone can find pictures someplace other than a Google search, please let me know.

Bummer. This is a Bummer, Man.

I'm fairly certain that when I was a kid collecting baseball cards, watching games, playing in little league I'd heard of Mark Fidrych. I may have even been able to tell you who he played for. But, nothing much more than that. I'd missed the boat so to speak.

Fast forward to about 8-12 months ago, I couldn't say for sure how long. I finally caught up with my baseball cards. I hit the internet and found blogs, among them Cardboard Gods. I read about Fidrych, the "all time single season leader in joy." Never again would someone speak of Fidrych and me not know who they were talking about.

About a month ago MLB Network replayed a game of his. It was so astounding, so awesome, so incredible that I immediately had to write this post. Mark Fidrych was better than I had ever known. I felt lucky to have seen it. It was a "now I get it" moment and it made me feel good to get it.

It made me happy to be a member of the Fidrych appreciator's club, no matter how late the to game I seemed to have been. And now this. Now it's like something is over before it even began (for me) and I'm just left here feeling sorry for myself. I know it's selfish and I don't care.

Take care on the other side Mark. We hardly knew ya.

This sucks.

This really fucking sucks.

TBL Card Fest: More good times.

I know we haven't posted any for over a week but The Big Lebowski set is still going strong, only a little slower. I've got three more cards for you.


The first is another submission from Punk Rock Paint. As a little side note, Mr. Paint himself sent me an email of his word verification on one of the previous TBL posts. It happened to be "Lebow". So you see, this thing really is coming together. It's like God is on our side.

Here's his card submission:


Modestly Priced Receptacle (Donny) #02 Upper Deck

This is a much improved version that got posted on Travis' blog at about the same time as I posted my submission of Donny post MI. I love the Then Now aspect. Donny used to drink at the bar. Now he's transported in this receptacle which is very modestly priced.

And I thought I was so clever. I guess great minds think alike. Some are just more creative than others. And that's cool...that's cool.

Here is a submission from a blog that is new to me, Into Left Field. I'm always stoked when a new blogger wants to contribute to the cause.


Dude #09 1972 Topps

This card is just awesome. The Dude is definitely not having a good time here. It somehow goes perfect with the 72 Topps card. Not sure why. It just does.

Here is my latest creation:


Woo #01 1992 Pinnacle

It's funny, we have about 65 cards for the set now and this is the first Woo (by himself anyway). He's the guy that arguably set the whole crazy ride in motion. I figured he deserved his own card.

That's all for now.

Sizemore Auto

I've been away too long. Partly too busy, partly uninspired. Do you guys get like that? You probably have time to post something but for some reason it seems like such a daunting task? That's how I've been feeling lately.

But alas, the life of an important blogger such as myself, knows no repose.

So I was sitting here, bummed out because my Tribe is, once again, getting mauled by the Rangers (I have no idea why the Rangers are so far down in the predictions of all of the experts and prognosticator types. They're going to score around 2,000 runs this season. Kinsler himself might score 350. They even have some 20 year old dude named Elvis. I'm telling you, they will not be denied.) and trying to think of something to post.

Well, I did get a card in the mail today. So here it is:



A Grady Sizemore signed 2003 Just Minors. I got it off the Bay for around $5. I know there's a decent enough chance that the guy who sold it is also the guy who signed it, but it looks like a Sizemore auto and it was only $5, so what could it hurt?

Actually, it was sent from Arizona where the Tribe had spring training so I'll bet that some old guy pushed his way past a bunch of kids to get to Grady in order to make some money on Ebay. This makes me kind of sad. Oh well, it won't be the last time that happens, and I have (what I believe to be) a new Grady auto.

Like I said, I got it today and was pretty happy about it. But, what I really wanted to post about was the exchange that the card prompted between me and my lovely wife, Katie. I've posted some of our conversations before because I get a big kick out of my wife and when it comes to these cardboard rectangles we are rarely on the same page. So I'll transcribe that brief conversation in another episode of what I'll dub:

Mike and Katie - Masters of Communication

Mike (M) - Hey, look what I got in the mail! (obviously excited) It's a signed Sizemore card.

Katie (K) - Wow, that's pretty nice (obviously underwhelmed but trying to be supportive of her husband whwith whom she is stuck). How come he's not wearing an Indians uniform?

M - It's from after he was drafted and in the minors.

K - What team is it?

M - The Expos. I'm not sure who this minor league team is.

K - Why does it say "of"?

M - huh?

K - of

M - of what?

K - of. It says of.

M - of what?

K - of

M - huh?

K - of (points to the "OF" at the right of Sizemore)

M - You mean Outfield?

K - Oh! Hahahahahaha.

M - Hahahahahaha.

And....scene.

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. Good times.