Update on Seitzer from Tribecards

One of David's favorite things to do is give away baseball cards. This works out perfectly because one of my favorite things to do is to get free baseball cards. Synergism.

Another one of my favorite things to do is to give some of my cards to my son Grady to see what he does.

One of Grady's favorite things to do is to see how much of the card he can fit into his mouth. Never very much at first, but the kid is nothing if not tenacious.

2 of the cards I received in the last pack made their way to Grady and he treated them accordingly. I'd link to the post, but it's right there man. Just look down.

Here is the first one. He got Seitzer because I figured I still had over 3,000 to spare. As you will see, the book value is shot. This card would no longer rate any higher than VG-EX.



The other card is this 1988 Score Jeffrey Leonard. This one wasn't chosen for the post, but it's a fine card none-the-less.

I'm not sure what Grady's attraction to it is. It could be Jeff's perfect form on the swing. It could be the sweet way the Jeff wears his stirrups. It could be that Jeff shares a birthday with his old man (me, I'm pretty sure). Most likely Grady just mistook it for a slice of cheese. I've done that many times myself.

What isn't up for debate is the sure fact that we got our money's worth from these cards.

I thank you David.

And Grady thanks you too.

Workin' In Shifts: Tribecards Random Pack 3

Here is another pack of the Workin' In Shifts feature for the random packs of kindness that David sent from his Tribecards Workshop down in Arkansas. In my head it's kind of like Santa's Workshop, only it's in Arkansas, and Bill Clinton drops by occasionally to have a few beers, eat a Big Mac and talk about Gilmore Girls.

36 cards in this pack. Here are 10 for your viewing pleasure:


Kevin Seitzer 1990 Donruss

It's great to see this card as I'm trying to collect all of them. Not the 1990 Donruss set. Not the Kevin Seitzer player set either. No I'm trying to collect all of the 1990 Donruss Kevin Seitzer cards. I have gotten one in every single pack of 1990 Donruss that I have ever opened. This card brings the collection to about 3,786 Seitzers.

This is not a bad thing. I've always like Seitzer. He was kind of the poor man's Gregg jefferies in the late 80's, only it turned out that he was pretty good. Also, he had a nice stint with the Tribe.

Seth Smith 2008 UD Timeline SP Prospect somthin' er other

Don't know this guy. Cool card though, with the top notched out and everything. I'm not sure if that makes this a "die cut" or not. I thought die cuts were done with lasers or something. I doubt they'd waste the laser maching when they can just ship them over to Mrs. Seabeck's 3rd grade classroom for the tops to be trimmed.

Hey, I just looked this guy up. He's pretty damn good. Shows what I know. I need to pay more attention to the NL.

Luke Richardson Hockey Card

I know nothing about hockey. I can stare at the back of this card all day and have no idea if the numbers add up to good things or bad things.

What I do know is that Luke here played for the Petersborough Petes. That is until he was promoted to the Toronto Tors before being shipped off to the Edmonton Eds.

(Look, I know that wasn't funny. Cut me some slack. I'm sleep deprived.)

Brook Jacoby 1992 Stadium Club

"Brook Jacoby" goes into the pantheon of great baseball names right next to Wally Joyner. I'm not sure why Brook (kind of a girls name) goes so well with Jacoby, but it does. It just sounds like a ballplayer.

Brook lives (or lived) in Oxnard. Oxnard is one of my absolute favorite places to say out loud. Oxnard.

Tom Goodwin 1997 Skybox

Pretty pink card featuring a quote from Tom:

"You just try to be the best defensive player you can be. Hey, [if] you put me back there at catcher, [then] I've got to throw out Kenny Lofton. That would be my job."

Look, I could spend the rest of the post just talking about that quote and it's appearance on the front of this card. But I won't.

I'll only say that I HAVE to get more of these cards. Expect a post dedicated to this set at some point in the future...meaning the next few years. Probably.

Bret Saberhagen 1993 Topps

there's nothing particularly interesting about this card, other than the fact that Saberhagen was awesome and we don't talk about him enough.

Pat Tabler 1991 Score

Pat was Cleveland's All Star representative in 1987, the year that the Tribe was supposed to be awesome...but was not. This is opposed to the years in the 80's that the Tribe was supposed to suck...and did.

Looking at Pat's stats, he WAS pretty good. It's just not rosey thinking from from a young Tribe fan. He wasn't George Brett or anything, but I knew that at the time...I think.

Quilvio Veras 1996 Upper Deck

I don't know this guy either. I just like this card because of all the pretty shiney orange/gold foil at the bottom. Also Quilvio looks like he might be all of 5 feet tall. the back of the card says 5'9". So does Baseball Reference. I'm not buying it. Not for a second.

Quilvio was 3rd in ROY voting in 95. Probably on the strength of 56 stolen bases. But he was caught 21 times. That, my friends, kind of sucks.

Here is the back of the Quilvio card that I mistakenly scanned. I figured since I scanned it I might as well show it to you.

Patrick Roy Hockey Card.

This is my only card of Patrick Waahh. I know he is good because I have heard of him.

Pat was a great goaltender who would stop a puck by any means necessary. On this card we have Larry Odelein retrieving the puck after one of Patrick's incredible sphincter saves. No wonder the guy was an all star.

Gregg Jefferies 1992 Studio

I've been very clear what I think of this Studio set. To put it mildly, I'm for it.

I guess by following my earlier logic, Gregg Jefferies is the rich man's Kevin Seitzer. I still haven't given up hope of buying a Trans Am using my Gregg Jefferies rookie card. This one isn't a rookie, but it might get me the floor mats.

Let's see what good stuff we learn about ol' Gregg from the back, shall we?

Named the minor League player of the decade in 1989. This is not to be confused with Robin Ventura being named the amateur player of the decade. Also, Gregg didn't get his face punched in by an old man.

Gregg likes Chevy Chase (very reasonable in 92), The Hustler (reasonable for any time) and David Letterman (ibid, your honor). He also says his favorite book is "Of Mice and Men". Yeah...right.

Well, that's all for this installment. Thank you once again David. There is still much more to come.

Bad Wax Contest Winner

Bad Wax has weekly contests. You probably have seen them. A few weeks ago I stumbled across one that asked a few trivia questions. It had already been answered a bunch of times so I checked my answers and entered. Translation - I cheated.

In my defense I knew 2 of them and was pretty sure on the 3rd. The other question I would have had to look up, but it seemed kind of silly with all of the right answers staring me straight in the face.

It would have been like Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show. What's the difference if you take the time to look up the answers yourself? Eventually you just kind of take the glory.

And that's exactly what I did.

Here's the glory I won: 3 packs of unopened wax! 2006 Fleer, 2007 Topps U+H, 2008 Topps.

Let's rip them and see what we got (the royal we). I'll post my favorite card in each.

2006 Fleer: David Wright
Toweling himself off after a hard day at the office.

OK - One more from this pack.

Carl Everett
I wanted to post this one because it looks to me as if he's spotted a pterodactyl up in the sky. I wish Carl Everett would say more stuff. It doesn't matter what. Just keep talking my man.

OK - Last one

Jeff Kent/Derek Lowe
I always feel as if I must post Beardy's favorite player when given the opportunity. That would be Jeff Kent, by the way.

2007 Topps Updates and Highlights

Johan Santana
Not much to say other than Johan is really good, and it appears that the Mets may have broken him. Hey, what's the harm in repeatedly sending out the league's best pitcher with a sore arm during a lost season? Nothing bad ever happens when guys pitch with a sore arm.

2008 Topps

Paul Byrd
I always loved Byrd. Sure he could be infuriating, but his games were usually exciting.

I was at this game. It was a hell of a thing watching a junkballer and a knuckleballer get out of one jam after another. There were ALWAYS guys on base. That game could have broken wide open at any time, but it didn't until the 6th. Edge of your seat for every pitch. Nothing better than postseason baseball. Made all the better because my team won. Now all we have are the memories of a competitive team past.

And Paul Byrd was a part of that. My memories of Paul are mostly good ones.

Thanks Chemgod. Good Times.

Workin In Shifts: Another Pack From Tribecards

Here's another package of cards from the Great Free Card Give Away of 2009. As usual from David at Tribecards.

This package contained 42 cards, 12 of which have been selected and scanned for your enjoyment. Well, actually, for my enjoyment. I'm the one that gets to keep them. There was a lot of goofyness in this package. A lot of movies, comics, soccer, boxing, and at least on person who I will assume is Canadien. He's on hockey skates, and he looks like he might be wearing a demin Bryan Adams tour jacket under his pads. You'll never know for sure. I didn't scan that one. I've got to keep you on your toes you know.

Well, let's see what that crazy Arkansasianite sent this time.

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Terminator 2

I like this card because the back has a wide range of interesting and obscure facts about the Gov. For example: Did you know that Arnold is from Austria, was a body builder, played Conan the Barbarian, and today is "an international star"? Me neither. Interesting stuff.


Delmon Young 2009 Turkey Red

If I get a Turkey Red...you get to see that Turkey Red. Simple as that.


Gary Stevens - Soccer player card from some kind of set.

Gary played for the Rangers. I liked it better before I knew that and thought he played for McEwan's Lager.

This reminds me of a week long soccer camp I would attend as a kid. It was at Osborne Park, a short drive from my house. My friends and I would all go for the camp because everyone I knew played soccer. This was before we got old enough to play football for the school.

At this camp they would import some english soccer players from accross the pond. At one point we were taking a break in the shade and one of the English guys was talking to us about strategy or something. The thing was, he was kind of laying on his left on the ground, propped up on his left elbow. He had his right knee, however, bent with his right foot flat on the ground. You know how a dog lays when it wants its belly rubbed? Yeah.

And, he was comando. And, I was sitting right there taking the full brunt of the assault. I remember wondering how they weren't dangling below his shorts when he stood up. I thought they might start talking to me like that cartoon one did in the video that Michael Keaton showed his brother in Johnny Dangerously. What the hell is wrong with the English anyway?

I was just a kid, man. It scarred me. I'm still not completely over it. Maybe it's not as bad as what happened to Tim Robbins in Mystic River, but still, it ain't right.

My God, man. Why the heck did I get into that? Why didn't one of you stop me for crying out loud?


Walt Weiss 1993 Studio

Let's talk about something more pleasant, like Studio and Walt Weiss, a good American sports hero who I'm sure wore his cup. The backs of these cards are usually interesting but this one is kind of bland. Walt likes to play the drums. So, there you go.

He also likes Chris Berman, but I'll give him a pass. This was 1993. Probably before we realized that Berman is one of the most annoying people to walk the face of the earth.


April - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Sticker. I don't remember the show that much so I don't remember April. She does look pretty 1989 hot, though. Why did you girls all try to tease your hair so that it would scrape on the ceiling?


Max Manning 1993 Ted Williams

Max was a pitcher for the Newark Eagles form 1939-47. What made Max different from the other players is that he was college educated. He also lost 3 years to World War 2.


Larry Walker 1999 Flair Showcase

This is a really cool looking card. Fleer Flair. I still don't quite understand if Flair was their own thing or just a set put out by fleer, like A & G is put out by Topps. Either way, it looks great. I always liked Larry Walker too.


Reggie Sanders 1995 Pinnacle Zenith

This is an awesome looking card too. It's all gold and whatnot. The back has a really cool hit location chart. Reggie liked to spread it out a bit.


Silver Surfer

Everything I know about the Silver Surfer I learned from that movie last year. I think it was the fantastic 4. Going by that movie, it seems like this guy was pretty unstopable. Not very bright , though.

Really, that's not me talking, that's the back of the card. The Silver Surfer got rated a 4 for intelligence. Now, I'm not sure if it's out of 7 or 10. But, either way, it's kind of a slap in the face. His strength and speed are a 7, as is his energy projection.

Wait...what? What the heck is an "energy projection"? No, you know what? I don't care.


Hipolito Pichardo 1993 Upper Deck

I was pumped to get this Hipolito card. I always remembered this guy. I now have an excuse to show you this:

Grady's toy...Hipolito Pichardo.

Hipolito Pichardo the toy has been around for as long as Grady has been around. I bet you didn't know this, but, one of the job's of the father is to take some of the toys and give them names that don't suck. If you leave it all up to mom you end up with Mr Hippo, Mr Monkey, Mr Squirrel, Mr Sun, Mr worm, etc. You can't let this happen.

When my wife first uttered Mr Hippo I had to intervene. "No. That's not Mr Hippo. That's Hipolito Pichardo." Well, it was silly enough for Grady to love it; partly due to the song I made up. It's sung to the tune of "Lady" by Styx. The only words are...you guessed it...Hipolito Pichardo. Sing along:

Seriously, sing along.

I'm not doing this until you are all singing along.

Hiiiippoooo

Hipolito Pichaaaardooooooo

Hiiiipooo

Ewoowwwoowwooowwooowwooooooooo

The Kid is all smiles. Good times are had by all. Feel free to use that on your kids. They'll love it.


Jerry Dybzinski 1982 Topps.

When I first played fantasy baseball I would name my teams after players from the Tribe. But that was it. My first team was named predictably: Ernie Camacho. I had this idea in my head that when asked who was winning the league, the other players would be forced to say something like: "Ernie Camacho is out in front right now"

Well, my second year my team was Jerry Dybzinski. Jerry homered in his first at bat for the Tribe in 1980. As of the printing of this card he had yet to homer again.

Ah, early 80's Tribe. You got to love 'em.



Robby Thompson 1992 studio

I had to end on this astounding card. I was floored when I saw this. I mean, did Robby approve that pose? Did he have no say in the matter? Was this considered OK back in 1992? So many questions.

What isn't in question is that this might be the most hilariously terrible photo of a baseball player ever put to cardboard. He's gazing into the camera in his turtleneck with his head resting against the bat. What a sensitive soul Robby is.

That is really really awful.

Robby wishes he could take this one back. He has to, right?

Well, that's all for this installment of "Workin' In Shifts" I know they are taking a long time to get out, but I'm moving at the speed of life right now.

Once again, thank you David. You are the best.

More to come.

Joe Collector Break

Here is the loot I got from Joe Collector in the August group break and also the Bowman's Best group break.

You really need to get in on these breaks. I think there are open spots for the monthly break club. It's worth getting in. It's cheap and fun and you'll get stuff you probably wouldn't have bought on your own. In September you will get some Icons and Finest at a fraction of the cost of one of those boxes.

Stusigpi is also breaking a case of 2007 Exquisite baseball. Did you read that correctly? A CASE OF EXQUISITE! When the heck are you going to have a chance to bust Exquisite? And you are guaranteed hits. There's no chance of coming away empty handed or getting a bad team. No. You will get hits. The only question is if they will be mildly cool, really cool, or completely freaking awesome.

Someone is getting a case hit. This isn't an "I hope there's a case hit" thing. Someone will get it. It could be you. I hope it's me. There are spots left so get your asses over there so we can get this thing done!

In August we did some Ginter. Now I've posted the hell out of 2 boxes of Ginter already with the Gint-A-Cuffs. So I won't bore you too much with it. I picked 3 cards.


Last year when Casey was still in Cleveland I saw him in Perkins eating with his kids. On TV he looks like a lot of other ballplayers. Up close he looks every bit the guy considered the best high school athlete in Iowa history. You might remember that Dan Gable is from Iowa.




I just like to look at the cards of 2 of the guys that I heard might be involved in the Cliff Lee trade. That's what we do in Cleveland. We torture ourselves.

By the way, how's Cliff working out for Philly? Anyone know?

Now on to the Bowman's Best. I was unfamiliar with this set. I didn't know what the cards looked like. And, I didn't know how expensive a box is. If not for this break I might never have known. That would have sucked. They are some of my favorite cards I've ever gotten.


Of course you knew that Sizemore was going up there.


It's also not a bad idea to put the eventual MVP up here either. I refuse to accept that there are enough stupid baseball writers out there that Teixiera might win.


Shawn Riggins 417/799

I don't know this guy, but hey...numbered rookie card.



Even though I hate the Red Sox I was excited to get this rookie card of Jonathan Papelbon in some kind of green parallel numbered to 249. It's a really sweet card of one of the best closers in the game. You can't complain about that, am I right? This guy is...wait...huh?

Why does it say Josh? His name is Jonathan, right?

Yeah, that must be him. There must be some kind of mistake on the card. Josh Papelbon is a 26 year old who's still in A ball so they wouldn't make a card of him.

Yeah, that's right. It's Jonathan. Case solved. They just wrote the wrong name. Could happen to anyone.



Eric Bedard Auto. I wonder if this is still Beardy bait?


Adam LaRoche Auto. I lost track of where the hell this guy is. I just know he's not in Pittsburgh anymore, which is a good thing for anybody.

There was more stuff but that's all I scanned.

Thanks for the breaks Stusigpi. I love the stuff that you pick out. Good times.

Personally, I don't agree with all of the terrible things that The Bearded One says about you. I think you're a great guy.

Amazing Blaster of Chrome

My wife goes to Target the other day and she returns home with the usual stuff, plus a blaster of 2009 Chrome. My wife rules.



I'm about to bust it open last night while watching the Tribe and Royals battle it out for 4th place in the AL Central and I mention to my wife that I sure how I get an Xfractor. She smiles at me and says that she hopes so too, as if she has any idea what I'm talking about. Or even cares a little bit, for that matter.

I scanned one of the refractors above because it looks like Derek Lowe is pitching in some kind of Donny Darko like time warp or something. Either that or the card is just screwed up for some reason and that isn't really the distortion of space/time protruding from his back.

I didn't get any Indians (except Justin Masterson, but he's in a Red Sox uni) so I didn't scan any of the base cards.

Let's see if I got any Xfractors.











Yeah, I guess you could say I got my share of Xfractors. 9 in all. In one blaster.

Is that the most kick ass blaster ever? I have no idea what the average is but it can't be more than 1 or 2, can it? Another goofy thing is that the first pack had 5 cards instead of 4. I thought I was going to really make out but the 5th pack only had 3 so it evened out. I was in Xfractor heaven by then so I didn't even care.

Has anyone else had a blaster like this? Are they all like this and you guys think I'm an idiot...or more of an idiot than you already knew me to be?

Well, I did what any good collector would do. I told my wife that she has to run up to target tomorrow to get the rest of the blasters there.

I'm pretty sure she said: "Not only will I go to Target and get you all of the cards you want; I will also stop at Victorias Secret and get something really sexy so that I can sit on your lap and feed you grapes while you open your cards."

Only it sounded more like: "You're such a dork. Why don't you do something constructive sometimes."

Nah, I'm pretty sure it was the first one.

Seriously though...9 Xfractors. How great is that?