A Thorzul Bonus?

OK here's what I've got. There was a stack of cards with these 2 in protective hard covers. the stack is about 20 cards or so and it features a mishmosh of players, sets, and teams.

I have no idea where I got these.

I can guess. And I think I'm right, but I might not be. Who knows? I think they are from Thorzul in one of his breaks. I don't know if it's the same break as I posted earlier or another one, but I'm pretty sure that's where their from. I think that because the Dan Haren card I think is something that Thorzul threw in there for me from his own personal collection for reasons that seemed to make some sense at the time (although it was unnecessary).

Travis Lee 1999 Upper Deck Scouts Choice

This isn't a great card but it looks a lot better in real life than it does in that scan. It's got an Orwellian feel to it that's a little disturbing, but hey.

Dan Haren 2008 Topps Gold 1196/2008

I like these Gold variations and I think this is the one that Thorzul gave me from his own collection. Probably because he knows how super cool I am and wants me to like him. I'm used to stuff like that.

I hope that is, in fact, an accurate portrayal as to what actually has transpired in reference to these cards. I thank you again Thorzul.

You do, in fact, rule.

Thorzul Break: From a long long time ago.

That Thorzul guy had a break. It was one of those $5 jobs if I remember correctly. There's a good chance that I don't, but that's how I remember it.

If you haven't noticed, there is no shortage of Indians fans and bloggers out there hanging around these parts of the interwebs. And, since most of us are unemployed, lazy, or both, we spend a lot of time on the internet. Consequently, the Indians are often one of the first teams to go in group breaks.

For example, in the monthly group break that I Am Joe Collector does, this will be my first shot at the Indians. I have been doing Joe's baseball breaks since the very first ones. In fact I was in on a few of the very first ones that never made it off the ground. But, when he opened up team breaks I always seemed to be a little too late to get the Tribe. Hey, thems the breaks.

I fell in to a habit of taking the Twins, A's, and Dodgers when the Indians were gone. Not sure why, just that they historically have had a lot of players that I like.

So there you go. the explanation behind why I have those teams in so many group breaks when I'm am Indians fan.

Here's a sample of what I got in Thorzul's break:

The A's Hologram sticker.

I have a giant shoebox of these kicking around somewhere

I just thought this was cool. It's part of the protective wrapping that the cards came in. It did the job. My cards were pristine. But, I've never seen an omelet maker before. I thought an omelet maker was just a...you know...a frying pan.

Yeah, you heat it up, melt some butter in there, make an omelet.

Just weird, man.

Tim Hudson Power Up

Dude's head is enormous. The back of the card lists "fun facts" that are so damn boring, if I tried to type them out for you I might fall asleep on my computer.

AJ Hinch 1999 Upper Deck

This card is really strange. I'm not sure if it's because AJ looks like he's 12, that look on his face, or what, but it kind of gives me the creeps. Maybe Freud could give you a reason. I sure can't.

I just know that I don't care for it.

Terry Steinbach 1993 Triple Play

Read the back of that card. I'll wait.

I call Shenanigans on that. Are we supposed to believe that that's really how they remember Terry at New Ulm High? C'mon, man.

"Hey, did you know that Terry Steinbach went here?"

"Terry Steinbach? You mean the guy that scored a bunch of hockey goals in 1981?"

"Yeah, that's him. What ever happened to that guy?"

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything else about him."

Jose Canseco 1992 Score

I remember how astoundingly good this guy used to be. But he makes it harder and harder to remember, doesn't he?

Well, that's a little sample of the Thorzul break. Thanks dude.

Mr, Bam, I mean.

Fragile - That must be Italian

I won I won I won. A major award.

Thorzul had a little contest about a month back and I won. How you ask? Brain power.

And what did I win? Well, I thought it might be a bowling alley or something. It could have been electric sex glowing in the middle of the living room window. It could have been Prince Fielder's unused left over frozen ground beef. There was just no way of knowing.

When I returned from my sabbatical down to the land of Dayf and Dubbs, I found my award awaiting me in the mailbox.

The game in question was a June 12th 7 - 2 win by the Brewers over the White Sox. The prize was 2 cards.



The first card is a 2007 Sweet Spot Mark Buehrle 011/850. Maybe if Mark had been pitching that night, the outcome would have been different. Then again with DJ Carrasco giving up 4 runs in 1/3 of an inning it probably wouldn't have mattered much in the end.

I get why this was the prize because Mark is probably the best player you can pull from the White Sox. This is a cool card. I always like Sweet Spot when I get my hands on it.

The other card makes a little less sense.

Here we have a 2009 Topps Chris Cornell. I didn't realize that Topps included the former Soundgarden frontman in the set.



Here he is standing in a tee shirt on some kind of ice berg or something. Look at all of that angst! Dude is just full of angst.

I didn't know he was a Brewers fan. I always just assumed the Mariners, you know? I was in high school during the whole Seattle grunge thing and my musical tastes mostly arrested right there, so this Cornell card is right up my alley.

Thanks Thorzul for the contest and the prize. Good times, man. Good Times.

Thorzul's Five

Five dollar. Five dollar group Breeeeaaaak.

Back in January, Thorzul (who rules) had a five dollar group break of a whole bunch of stuff. I was unaware of this at the time. I only got in at the end. There were 9 teams left over and Thorzul offered them for $20. I snatched it up for two reasons. The Indians were one of the teams, and there was Turkey Red involved.

I like Turkey Red for two reasons. Red is one of my all time top 25 favorite colors, and I like turkey.

I guess for me it wasn't a $5 group break as much as a $2.22 group break. I figured I might as well show you a few of my favorite Indians, Turkey Reds, and other stuff.




2005 Donruss CC Sabathia. There is a sideways 'P' on this card. I have not been able to figure out what it's for. It looks like it would have something to do with Purdue but I don't get that CC connection.

Maybe, and stay with me on this one, it DOES stand for Purdue, but instead of the university, it's the chicken. CC obviously eats a lot of chicken. There you go. Mystery solved. I'm like Marge Gunderson over here.

I wanted to show a CC card because of all the crazy synergy, or symmetry, or synergism, or something between me and Thorzul.

1. We both like baseball and baseball cards.
2. We both have a favorite team, just not the same one.
3. We both got to root for CC Sabathia (hence the card up there)
4. Thorzul is an elementary school teacher. I once attended elementary school.
5. If you add up all of the letters in "Thorzul" and "Motherscratcher", then you add 1 letter to honor the Hebrew God of Ryan Braun, you get...THE NUMBER 23!!!!OH MY GOD!!!!

Spooky, I know.

Also I wanted to show you this Dave Rosello card for no other reason than I like it. Dave looks like a swingin' cat. He should have taped the other end of his bat, though.




Here's a 2006 Opening Day card of Garrett Atkins. But it isn't any ordinary card. It's all shiny red and whatnot. It's also number 1897/2006. I haven't priced it but I'm sure it's worth a fortune.



I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking I made the decision about this purchase lightly, without considering all of the consequences and ramifications. Prior to sending in my $20, my wife and I sat down with our pie graphs and spreadsheets to discuss the matter. We poured over all of the available info for hours. We finally came to the conclusion to buy. Here is the conversation that put us over the edge:

Me: There will be some 1987 Leaf cards involved.

Wife: Are the Rangers one of the teams?

Me: Yeah, I think so.

Wife: Well, is Scott Fletcher one of the cards?

Me: How the hell should I know?

Wife: Can't you send this Thardzing fella an email?

Me: I just don't know if we have the time. We have to jump on this deal.

Wife: I guess you're right. I think it's worth it if we can land 2 Scott Fletchers. Less than that and we're getting screwed. Are you feeling luck?

Me: Let's do it.

As you can see, it all worked out, and then some.



Here's the Grady Sizemore Turkey Red. Whenever I get a Sizemore I have to put it on the blog.

The other is John Rheinecker. I don't now who he is and I have no idea what the heck is going on in this card. He appears to be looking at some tomata sitting between third and home. He's already released the ball to leave it sailing over the backstop. Or, he's practicing slapping high fives with his ginormous hand.



Here are two Turkey Red Parallels, one red, one white. These are the first examples that I have in my collection. I think they look pretty sweet. And one of them is Vizquel. Not too shabby.



Jhonny Peralta. This is up here for 2 reasons. One, he's and Indian. Two, this is a short print (I think). I guess that means that this card wasn't made as much as most of the others for some reason. Whatever. Looks the same to me.

Jhonny spells his name wrong. I have no doubt that Thorzul picked up on this, being an educator and all. The story I heard is that his parents wanted to name him Johnny but his dad spelled it wrong on his birth certificate. I choose to believe this story.



Miguel Cabrera Jersey card. This is the only jersey card I have in Turkey Red. Good player. Nice card. Sweet deal.

Thanks Thorzul for the loot. I don't care what Dayf says about you in his emails, I think you're a good guy.