Workin' In Shifts: Random Tribecards Pack 5

Just when you thought that there couldn't be any more good stuff from Tribecards!

IT'S PACK 5!!

Yup, we have arrived at another brilliant installment of the "Workin' in Shifts" review series that has been diligently pouring over David's generosity for the past 6 years. I know it's been a few weeks since the last WIS post, but time ceases to exist in my house lately.

I'm not sure if it's because of summer ending, or going into a week long funk after watching another gutwrenching loss by my Buckeyes, just general laziness (likely), or what.

Let's just say I was bowling with this guy. Yeah, that sounds best to me.

On to the cards:

Gary Roenicke - 1985 Topps

After staring at Gary's baseball reference page for a good 5 minutes, I still have no idea whether the guy was any good. So I looked up Lefty Gomez instead (because the back of Gary's card says that Lefty got the first RBI in All Star competition) in the hopes that Lefty was a righty. No such luck.

However, I did find that his name is actually Vernon Louis Gomez and his nickname was Goofy. Goofy Gomez.

Wait...I thought his nickname was Lefty.

Yankees are stupid.


Taryn Manning

Even though I have no idea who she is, Taryn Manning is "a renaissance woman and a true brand." I'm sure that means something to somebody. She's also the lead singer for her band Boomkat. Great. I've always said that what the world needs more of is actresses trying to break into the music biz.


Jay Payton - 2001 Fleer Triple Crown

I just like the look of this card. Jay Payton is cool too. He's from Zanesville.

True story, I was in a wedding in Zanesville. The reception was in the hotel ballroom that we were all staying. I highly recommend that. When people don't have to drive the party doesn't really end, it just moves. Good times. I've been told numerous times what a great time I had. You will not hear from me anything about the groom's father falling asleep in a chair and the groom actually tea-bagging his own dad. I will never admit to witnessing something this disturbing. As far as I know there are no photos of this anywhere. I'm not confirming anything. In fact, I'm a little bit confused as to why you brought it up in the first place.


Albie Lopez - 1995 Score

Somewhere in the back of my mind I still think that Albie Lopez is going to be a phenominal pitcher. I still get a little tingle when I see one of his cards.

Albie Lopez made over $10 mil in his career. I just thought you should know.


Sal Fasano - 1995 Upper Deck

Make that former Indian Sal Fasano. Look at young, vigerous 1995 Top Prospect Sal Fasano. So full of piss and vinegar. That is not the dude that I watched last year in the Tribe uni. I still liked watching him.

For a short time last year, Rob Neyer (who is not a fan of the Chief Wahoo caricature) took to calling the Indians the "Cleveland Fasanos" until such time as they change their mascot. It didn't last but I got a huge kick out of it while it did. I wish Rob would throw out a Clevand Fasanos reference occasionally just to keep people on their toes and reward loyal readers.


Bill Bonham - 1979 Topps

I will not look it up because right now this could still be John's brother. As far as I know.


BJ Surhoff - 1992 Studio

Am I the only one who for years thought BJ's name was "Shuroff"? I still have trouble not pronouncing it with the "sh" sound at the beginning.

Unfortunately, all of the info on the back of this card is boring. I won't bore you with it. I'm doing a good enough job at that without any help.


Manny Ramirez - 1995 Score Hitters Inc

What the hell is going on here? What is the point of the whole eye thing at the top? That's just creepy, man. That's creepy.

The back reminds us that Manny was second in the '94 ROY voting. It makes no mention of the fact that he lost out to Bob Hamelin. I wonder if the writers would like that one back?


Mookie Wilson - 1984 Topps

I can't look at a 1984 Topps card without thinking of Don Mattingly.

I like guys named Mookie. Quick, give me one guy named Mookie who people hate.


Randy Johnson - 1993 Flair

I just scanned this because it's one of the best looking cards ever. I have to get more from this set.


Rey Quinones - 1989 Fleer

I have very little tolerance for guys named Ray who spell their name "Rey". This guy's going to have to work pretty hard to get out of my doghouse. That mustache doesn't hurt his cause.


Sandy Alomar Jr - 1999 Upper Deck 10th Anniversary team

This is a fantastic looking card. Obviously it's the 1989 set with just the right amount of touch ups in cool gold foil. I like it a lot.

Believe it or not, there is still more to come. I have to keep at it because I've gotten myself way behind in the last few weeks and I have a lot of stuff that needs posting.

Thanks again David.

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.

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.

Workin' In Shifts: Randomness From Tribecards Uno

Here is another Workin In Shifts card review of cards that I did absolutely nothing to deserve. As usual, the most generous Blog Person of them all, David of Tribecards, sent them. He offered and even though I haven't sent him anything in a long time, I accepted. I have no shame.

And I love free cards.

So, what did he send me? About a week ago I got a package in the mail with 6 individually wrapped stacks of cards. It was like Christmas in July! Only it was August, but just barely, so I'm counting it. There were a few other things in the envelope that I will get to in a later post because, well, I forgot to scan them for this one.

The first pack I opened (and the other 5 remain sealed. I have tremendous will power.) contained 41 cards and a few hours worth of interesting stuff to think about and look at. I'm not kidding you. When I get these packages I really do spend a lot of time looking at what I got. I picked out a few of the cards to share with you now. And, to provide my usual nonsensical and funny only to me thoughts.

This blog exists mainly as a means to crack myself up.


Buck Leonard 2006 Legendary Cuts

I really like all of the Legendary Cuts cards that I have laid my hands on, and this is no exception. I even have a box laying around ready to bust (what did I tell you about my will power). I never knew much about the Negro Leagues until about a year ago when I started to read Joe Posnanski's ridiculously awesome blog and I picked up a copy of his book The Soul Of Baseball about Buck O'Neil. If you consider yourself a baseball fan it really is something you should read. In fact, if one of my fellow bloggers wants to read it, email me and I'll send it to you (I'm not giving it up if you aren't familiar though, or a Yankees fan...just kidding).

The back of this card says that Buck Leonard and Josh Gibson were known as the "Thunder Twins". I thought that those were the superheros that could turn themselves into a bucket of water and a bird in order to put out a fire or something. Remember, they would bump fists and yell: "Thunder Twin Powers ACTIVATE!!!! Form of a bucket of water! Form of a bird!" Exciting stuff. Not sure what it has to do with baseball, though.

I always wondered how come they didn't have to find all of the water in order to reconstitute the one twin. I guess maybe that guy only turned into the bucket and then he was filled with water. But then, how could you possibly expect to put out a forest fire with one bird carrying a bucket of water that it has to keep refilling? You'd be better off having Jimmy Duggan piss on it. Even as a young kid I wondered these things (except the Jimmy Duggan thing. I think I was in college when that movie came out). But I wondered about the other stuff.

Actually, they were pretty lame Super Heroes when I think about it. They should have just left the name to Buck and Josh.

Good Lord, I'll never finish this post if I keep rambling like that. Sorry.

Bobby Jones 1995 Upper Deck

I just love these cards when they get the picture of the guy throwing the ball right at you. I like to think that the photographer was snapping off pictures until the last second before diving out of the way. Maybe the young photograhers took one on the melon occasionally, much to the delight of the grisled veterans.


Unknown 1992 Confex


I have no idea what the heck this is. The front says fun stuff. The back says the Baseball Enquirer. There is a picture with no name that looks like it's probably supposed to be Nolan Ryan but looks more like Robert DeNiro. And there's a rocking chair on the hat for no apparent reason whatsoever. What the hell is going on here? And, there's some sort of fake interview on the back.

I'm confused

Joe Carter 1987 Topps Mini

I don't know what it is about minis that I like so much. And I have fond memories of Joe Carter. I liked him when he was in Cleveland, and I liked that he brought us Carlos Baerga and Sandy Alomar Jr. I was happy for him when he hit that homer.

Rex Hudler 1991 Studio

I love these stupid Studio cards. The backs never cease to crack me up. The only problem is that I liked Rex more before I got this card. And, I think I'm justified.

It says on the back that Rex is from Tempe. His favorite teams are the St Louis Blues, LA Lakers, and Dallas Cowboys. Talk about bandwagon, there's no way around it...what an asshole.

"Yeah, well, you don't seem to mind Lebron being a Yankee and Cowboy fan you stupid hypocrite!" you're saying. Well, you're right. I do love Lebron and I'll defend myself this way:

1. Lebron plays for my team
2. Rex Hudler will never be in the conversation for the greatest baseball player of all time.

As long as Lebron is a Cav he can rout for whoever the heck he wants.

Geez, another tangent. But see how much fun these Studio cards are?

Barry Watson 2008 Americana II

Barry is the famous actor who played the unmatched bachelor in What About Brian. So...yeah...uh...I still have no idea who he is.

Ken Caminiti 1999 HoLoGrFX

I can't help but be a little sad whenever I run accross a Caminiti card. I really loved that guy and I was shook up when he passed. And I was disappointed that he took steroids. Now...I don't care. I stoped caring a long time ago about the steroids. But, I still miss Ken. He was a hell of a ballplayer.

Dwight Gooden 1986 Topps All Star Set

What could have been.

Paul Sorrento 1993 Topps

The forgotten man in the ridiculous Indians lineup of the mid 90's. Paul was steady. He was solid. He was nobody's favorite player, but we were all glad to have him.


Unknown 1992 Confex

OK, I couldn't resist. I had to put the other one up. Just what the heck are these things supposed to be? If the other was supposed to make us think of Nolan Ryan, I guess this is supposed to make us think of Steve Howe. They have him doing drugs on the front, and on the back they basically mock his inability to stop partying and rehab. Good times.

You know, for the kids.

Bob James 1984 Topps

I don't know Bob James but I wanted to show this card for 2 reasons.

1. I like 1984 Topps (Mattingly Rookie)
2. Look how terrible those uniforms are. The hats are the worst.

I do like the way Bob wears his stirrups, though. And man, that guy could really fill out a uniform.

I especially like the picture of him in the bottom left where he's wearing his off-season car mechanic attire.

Juaquin Arias 2007 Topps Auto

Sweet! An auto! I love auto cards. Juaquin is having a rough time of it. He's been up to the Big's for a cup of coffee a few times. This year in 3 games he is hitless in 8 ABs. On the bright side he has only 3 strikeouts, so that's less than half the time. I figure things have to start falling in sooner or later, right?

OK, that's enough for now. Thank you very much David.

And remember everybody, there are 5 more to come some time in the near future. Stay tuned.