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.

2006 Legendary Cuts Break

I'm slowly working my way through the impressive stash of wax that I've built up. The other day my wife was going to the store and asked me if I needed anything. "Baseball cards" I said. She said "Don't you have enough baseball cards?"

Well, as anyone reading this knows...no, I do not have enough baseball cards. That's utterly ridiculous.

Good luck convincing my wife. So, I have to go to work opening and organizing a lot of my unopened wax; most of it worthless, some of it not. No...I am not looking for sympathy. This will be sweet.

The first box opened is a box of 2006 Legendary Cuts that has been patiently waiting it's turn for untold months. Let's see what we got.

The royal we.

First, the Indians:





4 of the all time greats. Great players all, definitely legends. I think they made the older players in black and white so they wouldn't have to show Feller's red ass (I'm pretty sure I've made that joke before and I don't care. It won't be the last time either)

I have a question. My son's name is Grady. If I have another son and I want to name him Nap, do I have to actually name him Napoleon? Or, is Nap good enough?

3 really cool cards of cool dudes:




First, are we sure that Eddie Gaedel was a dwarf? I'm not saying that he wasn't small. I'm saying he looks like a 9 year old boy. All of the other dwarfs I've seen look like what they are: men who are small. Nobody would confuse Peter Dinklage with a 9 year old boy.

*I went to school with a guy (a very strange guy) who kept what he called a "midget log." It is exactly what it sounds like. He had one of those small spiral notebooks where he wrote down where he was, what he was doing, how he felt, etc. whenever he saw a little person. This is absolutely 100% true. I am neither approving nor condoning a midget log. I'm just presenting this as an anecdote. Take from it what you will.

Every Bo Jackson card ever made kicks ass.

Tony Lazzeri 141/550


Why they decided to number the Tony Lazzeri cards is beyond me. However, he is a Yankee and we all know how hard it is to pull Yankees. So there's that.

Yogi Berra - When It Was A Game - 050/550


It's apparently as tough to pull this as Tony Lazzeri. I'd rather have the Yogi. Even if he was a Yankee, who doesn't like Yogi Berra?

Not sure why they thought it would be a good idea to make a "When It Was A Game" subset. As far as I know it's still a game. They still use sticks and balls and stuff anyway.

Willie Stargell - Baseball Chronology - 21/99


This is a cool looking card that fakes you into thinking that it may be some kind of relic. There is a window cut out where a relic might be. It's filled with silver tin foil, though. How come people don't wrap their lunch sandwiches in tin foil anymore? Plastic baggies are just too convenient I guess.

Not that that has anything to do with anything.

Frank Robinson - Baseball Chronology Relic


This is an actual relic. The box with the material is legit. No antique lunch sandwich wrapping material on this card. No sir. This has a piece of something that was actually used in an actual game. Possibly even by Frank Robinson (although more likely Jerry Hairston Jr.). It's all very exciting.

I even know a dude who may be interested in this.

And lastly:

Nolan Ryan - Legendary Materials - 130/199

Now that's a pretty cool card. Think I'll hang on to that one for a while. I always liked Ryan...and those Astros unis. I was a great breakout player.

I guess it wasn't a really good box. No cut autos. No autos at all actually. I don't know if that's typical or not.

But it's tough to complain when you walk away with Ryan and Robinson relics. A lot of shiny tinfoily looking stuff too.

Feeling Uninspired

Think I'll start a fire. (I love STP but a lot of their lyrics are kind of dumb.)

I've not been around for a while. I got hit with the Blog Malaise that seems to come back on me every few months. I apologize to all of my loyal readers who have no doubt had to seek counseling to cope with the loss of the hilarity that goes on here. I know it's tough to take when you aren't getting your ACB fix regularly.

I like to compare my blog to chrystal meth because I seem to have trapped the same 5 readers who just can't quit me, and they probably get dumber every time they come here. I have no way of knowing if their hygiene has been affected.

My comments have also slowed to a trickle. Work has been fairly busy and I don't have as much time as I used to to skim.

I promise to get back to posting directly. I will start right away. After I do some other stuff.

And read Posnanski's blog.

Maybe take a nap too.

Until then here is a little something to brighten your day:

Updating the TBL Card Fest

A few weeks ago Punk Rock Paint and Beardy made another push in the storied history that is the Big Lebowski Card Fest. Thanks to Beardy, who has contributed well over half of the set, we now have the series 2 checklist completed with painstaking detail by our own beloved Punk Rock Paint.

Be sure to check out their blogs. If you already have, well, do it again. What the hell is wrong with you anyway?

These 8 cards bring us up to date, only 2 weeks after they were originally submitted. The fact that it took 2 weeks suprises absolutely nobody.


TBL087 Nihilists #04 2008 Beardy Original
Beardy



TBL088 Checklist 02 1968 Topps
Punk Rock Paint



TBL089 Dude #13 2008 Masterpieces
Beardy



TBL090 Brandt #02 2008 Masterpieces
Beardy



TBL091 Jesus #08 2008 Masterpieces
Beardy



TBL092 Creep Can Roll #01 2008 Masterpieces
Beardy



TBL093 Oat Soda #01 2008 Masterpieces
Beardy



TBL094 Mark It Zero #01 2008 Masterpieces
Beardy


I think that it is very appropriate that most if these are called masterpieces, because that's exactly what they are. How Beardy creates these effects is beyond me. But it is awesome.

Thanks fellas.

Oh, and Beardy, I wasn't sure if these were based on 07 or 08 Masterpieces, or what. And I was too lazy to figure it out. If I need to change them just let me know and I will do it tout suite.

Major League 4: Back To The Minaya

Thumper says you wanted to see me?



Yeah, Dave, C’mon in. Have a seat.

Dave, I’m not gonna beat around the bush here. You got a great melon, it’s one of the biggest I’ve ever seen. But your power hasn’t come around like we hoped it would. Now a lot of batters started off wild, and after they worked it out in the minors for a while they went on to great careers. Take McGwire there.



What about him?



Never mind McGwire.

Sit still while I throw baseballs at your head. You can't feel it, can you?


Next Scene



Yo man, it looks nice. I had a helmet just like it.



Well, after the game I wanna pick out a helmet that’s more me.


Good Luck.



It looks good. Besides, your melon’s the most important thing son.



I don’t think it’s that important.


Fuuuuuuck.


Ooooooooohhhhh.



Matlack, what the hell are you doing here?

Oh eBay, you know me so well...

I love the "recommendations" that eBay comes up with every time you click on a random auction. A few days ago Joe Collector had a link to a ridiculous auction of a "rare" pack of 1990 Bowman that had been graded. I wasn't even away that people grade unopened packs.

Because I clicked on the link, eBay generated a list of all ridiculously graded late 80's/early 90's wax packs available for me. Not that I could ever open them and get the 7 cents worth of cards inside.



That's about $100 worth of stupidity right there that eBay figures I want. Good times. (Thousands if I want the really good stuff that, once again, cannot be opened.)


If you eBay (and I know you do), click here and let's see what goodies are available to a discerning shopper like yourself.

You know you want to.

Workin' In Shifts: Tribecards Pack 4

There are probably some of you who are wondering why I call these card review posts "Workin' In Shifts". Well, I'll try to make sense of it for you.

I'm an idiot and I very seldom have a point.

Now that' I've cleared that up let's see what I got in my next Random Packs Of Kindness package.

Officer H.T. Loki - 21 Jump Street

I have never seen a single episode of 21 Jump Street (that I can recall). The sum total of my knowledge of that show is that Johnny Depp was on it. Now I know something else. There was also a guy named Officer H.T.Loki. Does this make me more inclined to go back and see what I was missing?

No. No, it does not.

Steve Kemp 1979 Topps

A Tiger from the vintage era. The back of this card informs us that Steve was a College All-American at USC. I knew there was something about this guy that I didn't like.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

I know very little about these guys other than they were reportedly nitty, and almost certainly gritty. They played dirt.

The best thing about this card is the trivia question on the back.

Not that it's a terribly interesting trivia question. The interesting part is that apparently the producers of these cards thought that people would be forced to complete the set in order to get the answers to the trivia questions. It didn't work on me. I'm not any more likely to track down card #96 than I was 2 minutes ago. On the other hand, I'm set should I run across card #46.

For the record, my guess is (B) The 70's.

- I'm not %100 sure what the matching boots might look like, but "Hot pants" has to be 70's. Doesn't it?

Jon Garland Sticker

Jon is one of those Jons that spells his name without the 'h'. I'm not sure how I feel about that, to tell you the truth.

The back of the sticker (Actually, I just realized it's an incredibly thin card) has a helpful tip for young ballers:

"When you throw, make sure the ball faces away from you so your fingers stay behind the baseball." Also, it makes it much less likely that you will throw the ball straight into your own face.

That's a good tip, dudes. Be sure to pass it on.

Junior Herndon - 1999 Baseball America

You'd think a guy legitimately named Junior would be a can't miss. In 1999 he was the #52 prospect in America (allegedly). By 2004-2006 he had been signed and released by the Royals...twice. When the 2004-2006 Royals have no use for you, I guess it's time for a little self reflection.

The back of the card notes that: "A ski instructor in the off-season, Herndon is extremely poised on the mound." I'm not sure if this is implying that the later can be directly attributed to the former. If they are, I'd like to see the evidence to back that up.

Junior played for the Rancho Cucamongo Quakes. You have no idea how happy it makes me that there is an actual place called Rancho Cucamongo.

Devon White 1989 Topps somethin'-er-other

This is one of those annoying cards that's just a little bigger than regular cards for no particular reason whatsoever. I'll probably trim this one down to the correct size.

The back says that Devon collected 4 hits against the Indians on 7-1-87. The question becomes, since this normally impressive feat came against the '87 Indians, should it still count? I guess it would depend on the pitcher in this case.

Steve Carlton

Yeah, it counts. Even if Steve was probably 57 years old by then.

By the way, the attendence was 5,005 that day. Yikes.

Billy Bean 1988 Topps

If he's such a genius how come he got drafted by the Tigers, huh?

Dean Palmer 1997 Skybox

Another one with a quote on the front. "We have been unified as a team...People are not playing for stats. They care about winning first."

We're just taking it one game at a time. I'm just trying to do my best for the club. Blah, blah , blah.

Who thought this stuff was interesting enough that it had to go on the front of the card?

David Howard 1992 Score

This guy played for the Royals and Cardinals from '91 - '99, and I've never heard of him. Career OPS+ of 57...I guess that explains it. Come to think of it, he'd fit right in there with this years Royals.

Anthony Telford 1991 Stadium Club

I don't know much about Telford. What I do know is that for this 1991 card there was "insufficient Major League data available for an accurate analysis of pitch selection."

If you ask me, the Topps statasticians took the coward's way out.

RMS Carpathia 2008 Mayo

This is the boat that came to the rescue of the Titanic in the 1997 movie. In the sequel, 6 years later, she was torpedoed by a german sub.

Germans man...what a bunch of A-holes.

Jovanny Cedano Auto

In 4 seasons with in the Ranger's farm system, Jovanny never made it past A ball. That's not what I find unusual. Hey, the guy just wasn't good enough. No shame in that.

What I find unusual is that there were 4,950 of these autographed cards made and hand numbered. I have no idea if this happens all over the minors. Maybe it does. I just thought that was overkill for a dude in the minors.

In 2009 he was baseball americas #9 prospect in the Ranger's organization. Another good call by those guys. I think he's selling cars with Junior Herndon now.

Another post in the books for the Random Packs of Kindness.

Thanks again David.

Still more to come. Stay tuned.

Are you guys getting tired of these yet? (Both of you that read them?) Because I'm not.