Shall we Dance? (Third Time Around)

     If you've been with my blog for a while now (like at least eight months), you know the deal. Mostly when I'm bored, I look through my collection, find cards that seem like the featured player (or another player on the card) is dancing, and then add music to it and have a good ol' time. However, unlike last time, I'll only add commentary for some of the cards.

    It took me forever to find ten cards for this post, due in part to me raising the standards of the dancers, but also my stubborn refusal to use modern cards (modern meaning 2016 on -- yeah). But I decided to change it now, so most of these dancers are from the current binders. Enough nonsense, you're here to see art at its best. Right? Right?!?!!?

    Usually the music I use for these is classical, but in light of my friend's somewhat successful attempts at teaching me to dance footloose, I think I'll go with that one today.

    Now that's settled, let's check out the dancers performing today:

That's some serious air-guitar

I don't even know what this is...

I think Marty dropped his partner while trying to dip him...

    And finally....

    As the music fades (or continues, I mean the song is too long for this), I realize that this is the first of my Shall we Dance? posts that doesn't feature a card of Greg Gagne. I've grown fond of Gagne through the previous two posts.

    I think I'm going to add a card of a team celebration at the end of each Shall we Dance? post until I run out of them. I don't know how often I'll do these -- it depends on how many of these cards I find, and when I feel like looking for them.

    I may end up making the music used to aid these posts some of my favorite songs. My musical preferences are rather love it or hate it though, so I don't know how long that'll slide. I'll definitelty give it a try next time, so let me know what you think when it happens. If you want some prior knowledge as to what it'll most likely be, listen to stuff by Lifehouse and Joshua Micah -- they're my two most popular artists on Spotify right now. 

    Now that I'm through rambling about my music, I hope you enjoyed my post! These dancing posts are probably the most fun for me to make, although they definitely take up the most time, between finding and posting cards. Have a great rest of the week, thanks for reading, and happy collecting!

There's Nothing Like In-Person Trading

      Personally, as a card collector one of my favorite things to do is trade cards, usually helping to build up two collections  Also, whenever my friend John (Adventures of a Baseball Card Collector) pays a visit, my collection gets smaller (but better, so don't you worry). This past Saturday I spent some time trading with him, and acquired a rather interesting bunch of cards. 

    It's been my procrastinated goal for a while now to start collecting a few hockey cards, and John helped me take my first eight baby steps into a minor collection. I only intend to collect a few hundred hockey cards, but I tend to veer off my collective plan more often than not. These few cards made for a nice little start, as I'm really into the designs of the cards. These include 2016-2017 Upper Deck Artifacts, 2016-2017 Upper Deck Series 2, 2013-2014 Upper Deck Series 2, and of course, the 2013-2014 Panini Prizm. The only guy I previously knew in this small pile is Noah Hanfin, who I briefly had on my fantasy hockey team a few weeks ago. I hope my local card shop can aid me in my hockey card endeavors. I'll need to take a look next time I'm over there.

   

   I traded for this card purely because of the hilarious pink jersey. Laga played parts of nine seasons in the majors (1982-1990),  with the Cardinals, Tigers and Giants. In 188 games, the first baseman batted .199 with 16 home runs.

    These two cards came in the same trade, which also included the next card. I added another un-owned Ripken to my personal collection in the form of Studio '91, which I think was a decent design. The addition of the Craig Kimbrel was nice too. He looks so young in the picture! 2014 Topps Upper Class is a design that I really like. The red and gold mix really well with this card. The corners are a little roughed up on the card, as well as a small crease on the upper right side, but it didn't take much to get the card, so I don't mind. I hope Craig Kimbrel can clean things up in 2025, but he'll be 37 and coming off his worst season (5.33 ERA), so he may be done as a closer in the majors.

    This was the card I was seeking pretty much from minute one.  I have a soft spot for catchers, and the card looked so good, so it became the top priority in terms of trading. Christopher Wallace was drafted in the 16th round of the 2010 June Amateur Draft. Expecting to get drafted later, this pleasantly surprised him. Wallace played 5 seasons in the minors with the Astros and Indians, including 52 games and parts of three seasons in AAA. Across his minor league career, Wallace batted .270/.341/.445 with 39 home runs and 185 RBI in 315 games. 2015 was his last year of professional baseball, which he spent in the Atlantic League. Wallace batted .257 with 17 home runs in 129 games before calling it quits. 

    And my trading ends with a non-sports card. I was about through with the trades before this one caught my eye. This is card one of the five-card 2005 King Kong - Kong Flocked insert set (thanks for the clarification TCDB). The fur on Kong is....actually furry, which is a nice addition to an already awesome card. I've never seen the movie -- I like to stick to the original Godzilla films with the rubber suits and all that good stuff.

    That was already a great day of trading in my book, but then John dropped a half-dozen vintage Topps on me for no return. It made for a nice little surprise.

    It doesn't matter who the player (or usually even the set) is, I'll always like some vintage baseball cards. Though these cards aren't exactly in the best condition, I still enjoy them. Besides, they were free. The top four are all 1959 Topps, and the bottom two are '61 and '69.

    So ends the acquisitions from John's last visit. I really like getting the oppurtunity to trade cards in-person with people. It's nice to see what the fellow collector has brought along with him, and offers the oppurtunity to trade for cards I otherwise wouldn't -- like the King Kong card. It adds some fun into the day whenever John comes over.

    Thanks for the cards John!  And thank y'all for spending time at Don Cardwell. I hope you enjoyed, have a great start to the week, and happy collecting!

Skye Bolt in 200 Words

     My family has this thing with Skye Bolt. I don't know, we all like him, kind of for no reason other than his legendary name. Anyway, Skye Bolt was born on January 15th, 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was drafted twice in the June amateur draft, but signed with the A's in 2015. Skye played in the lower-level minors until a breakout in 2018 that saw a .260/.347/.474 slash line in 126 games high-A and AA. He needed 19 games in the Arizona Fall League and 89 at AAA in 2018 before gaining a big-league call. His first major-league hit (in his second game) knocked off the top of the wall for an impressive extra-base knock. However, he struggled at the plate, and never played more than 34 games with the A's before coming to the Giants. He played 2 games in San Francisco before 42 more with the A's in 2022. In 81 big-league games, Bolt has a career slash of .156/.205/.266 in 173 at-bats. He is currently playing in the Braves organization. I would love to see a call-up again in his career, but that seems unlikely at this point. There's always hope though.

Dessert Time!

    I've always thought that the Mother's Cookies cards were kinda funny. It was the first instance I ever saw of a completely non-related company producing sports cards. I probably got this at the card store for a couple bucks two or three years ago, but never opened it. I finally did so, but as I took off the plastic seal on the pack, to my dismay, it looked as though the pack had already been opened! (Sighs) I guess I should've opened it sooner. 

    

    Three of the 28 cards were missing, and they obviously had been tampered with, since they were put back in the incorrect order. The perfectionist side of me is peeved a little bit about this, but oh well.

    Upon re-opening the 32-year old pack of cards, I was greeted by a few advertisements, which I don't complain about. The first thing that strikes me is the rounded edging of the cards -- a nice little touch. Say, I wonder if I sent in my $3.95, would they give me the collectors album? Haha, I'd doubt that.

    In order from left to right, then top to bottom, the numbers of these cards (out of 28) are: 28, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 18, 21, 19. 
    I could go into detail about Kevin Brown's HOF case, but I wouldn't want to bore my readers to death ;)

The cards are a little bit plain, and leave a lot to be desired on the backs, but it's not bad. I like the fact that the players' shadows are featured on the card, which seems to be desired less nowadays.

    14, 23, 22, 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, 21. We see our friend Kevin Brown once again on this page. I'll put that card up for trade if anybody wants it. The flames added to Jeff Russell's card make the rather plain design more vibrant, which I'll call a win.

    And finally, we have #'s 15, 11, 16, 20, 25, 17, 27, 13. It is now as I write this that I realize that they left a little space on the back of the card labeled Autograph. I thought that was kinda funny.

    The cards missing from this pack are #1 (Bobby Valentine), #24 (Monty Farriss), and #26 (Dean Palmer). I'd be open to trading for them, but not pursuing them too far. It doesn't leave an emptiness to my life that I don't have this complete set.

    Upon opening this pack for the first time, it's slightly disappointing that they didn't have it all, but it's alright in the end. I got Nolan Ryan. And the cards themselves are alright in my opinion, maybe a 6/10, and I'm glad I got at least some of them. And though the Rangers didn't have me as a fan 30 years ago, it's still cool to see what they had as a team back then. Back when they had (some) pitching! Gee, if only we had both Nolan Ryan and Kevin Brown, as well as the '92 season out of Jeff Russell! Jacob deGrom will have to do for 2025 (so don't get injured!).

    This was a fun post to write. Thanks y'all for stopping by and reading my happy little mess, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!

Juan Soto's Still in New York!

Eh, it was only two teams ago, but it's a cool card

    But, it's the New York Mets. Wow. Way to add insult to injury. The Yankees just lost the World Series, and then lost the man they couldn't make it without. What's more, Soto signed the biggest contract in sports history -- 15 years, $765 million. I thought Ohtani's record wasn't gonna be beat, not anytime soon, and here it's crushed one season later. I didn't even realize that he had signed until like 4:00 yesterday afternoon.

    I could go into detail about the pay of major leaguers, but that would be a rather boring post. I'll just say that I wish ticket prices went down, even if it meant a small pay cut. Then again, I ain't playing in the majors! 

    Soto is coming off arguably his best season in 2024, when he hit a career-high 41 home runs, and led the league with 128 runs. He should be great for the first chunk of his contract, but by year fifteen he'll be 40 years old, and I don't know how long he'll be good for. The Mets are going to be getting at least 5-7 years of elite production out of Soto, and hopefully he'll still be great when he's 35 and older.

    Well, here we are. I wonder how the Mets will fare in 2025, now that they have an enormous piece. I was kind of thinking he would sign with Boston, so that he could hit a whole mess of tanks down the rightfield line, but I guess improved stats weren't all that he wanted.

    One of my friends is going to be really happy about this signing. I know one of them is not happy about it too. I can't say I'm happy, but I can't be too disappointed either. There was no way on this lovely planet that the Rangers were signing him, so the only way he could have really annoyed me is if he signed with the Astros, or, sorry to say it, Dodgers.

    How do y'all feel about this giant contract? I kind of don't know what to think of it. $51 million a year for fifteen years is a monster paycheck (gee, I wish I were making that much). This begs my question about whether or not players are being paid too much. I know from experience that there are some very mixed opinions on that subject, and it's a big long post for another day.

    Tomorrow's post on the blog will see both a neat and rather disappointing card pack I opened a few days ago. Stay tuned, and I'll catch y'all later. Happy collecting!

Another Trade With Matt

    Another trade was made between me and Matt of Diamond Jesters. I gave him a 1966 Topps card (Don Pavletich), and got this:

1967 Topps #227

    I am unsure what the popular opinion of the '67 Topps design is, but I like it. It's easy to tell what position Mr. Lindblad is, and what team he plays for. There aren't really any special characteristics on the front of the card (although I see the facsimile autograph, which are always interesting), but it leaves enough room for a picture in which you can make out who your player is without squinting to see his face.

    Paul Lindblad pitched 14 seasons in the majors from 1965-1978, including four with the Rangers. Most of his career was pitched as a reliever, though he was a starting pitcher in the minors. In 1963 while in Single-A, Lindblad in 14 starts and 97 innings accumulated a 10-2 record and 1.58 ERA. The southpaw ended his big-league career with a record of 68-63, 64 saves, and a 3.29 ERA in 1213 2/3 innings pitched (655 games, 32 starts). He was also an incredible fielder, setting a record by not making an error for nine years ad 385 games. I learned from the back of the card that Mr. Lindblad's hobby was mechanical drawing, and that he was named MVP of the Ban Johnson League in 1962. Paul Lindblad died on New Year's Day, 2006, at the age of 64. 

    All in all, I would say that Paul Lindblad had a successful career. It had its highs and lows, but he finished with a solid statline. Thanks for another trade Matt! They are all well-appreciated. Y'all have a great rest of the week and a great weekend, and happy collecting!

Freddie Don't Like It

    There have been a ton of rule changes in the past 20 years -- some for the better, and some.... not so much. But just yesterday I saw this speculation for a new rule change that I find, well, interesting, to say the least. It would definitely be different from every single rule change we've ever seen in the MLB, but I think the 21st century is getting be known for that kind of thing.

    

    This definition of the potential rule comes straight from Sports Illustrated:

    Most probably haven't heard of the proposal for a "Golden At-Bat," but the basic concept is that a team could choose one at-bat in every game to use its best hitter regardless of where they are in the lineup. So if, say the New York Yankees had the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, they could bring up Aaron Judge to the plate even if it wasn't his turn in the order. It would be a one-time replacement, not a substitution like a pinch hitter.

    I'm not going to get too passionate about this one, but to me this looks like one very simple equation:

More Excitement = More Non-Baseball Fans = More Money

    I think it takes even more strategy out of the game. Batting lineups wouldn't mean anything anymore, since you can bat Shohei Ohtani twice in a row. A true baseball fan would appreciate those tense low-scoring games, and likely be excited by them, especially if a favorite pitcher is throwing the ball great that day. Of course, the rule hasn't been imposed yet, but based on the track record of our current commissioner, anything's possible.

    Reigning World Series MVP Freddie Freeman has this to say about the rule:

    "I'm old school, you know, even as a young guy. I like baseball. I'm a baseball purist. So I'm gonna go no."

   

    I kind of agree with Freddie's point here. I don't think we need a whole bunch of new rules for the game to be great. I would prefer the opposite. It was great before Freeman was playing in the majors. And Freddie's been one of the best hitters this game has seen the last decade, and he says no to it.

    Pertaining to the rule, Carlos Correa said:

    "My relievers are going to hate me if I say I agree with that one. I can't agree with that one because the relievers are going to be under really, really high stress all the time, and then the injuries are going to go even higher."

    Roger Clemens says, 'This would be the dumbest rule implementation in the history of professional sports.'

    As for me, I really don't agree with this rule change. However, if the players want it, that's one thing -- Which brings me to a point where I can get really hot at times, and that is that nobody gives a fig about what the players say. Granted, sometimes they say things that are pretty silly from time to time, but they still need a voice, especially when considering rule changes. After all, they are the ones playing the game. Otherwise it takes the fun out of baseball, and that's the number one priority.

    I saw that they may just incorporate the Golden At-Bat for the All-Star Game. But picture this: You're making your first All-Star appearance (and quite possibly only). You're on deck, ready to get your only All-Star at-bat. And then you get pinch-hit for by Aaron Judge, who already got a chance to hit. Imagine that, ruining your whole experience.

    The rule isn't going into effect yet, and maybe never will. But a different new rule seems to be closer to the game than the 'Golden At-Bat,' and maybe this is why the whole Golden AB idea began, to draw negative attention away from this one. And this possible rule change is the addition of an automated strike zone. I strongly dislike that one. Umpires are important, and even though they make some very bad calls sometimes, that can end up effecting the outcome an entire game (I think back to the NLDS of 2021), I still don't think we should replace man with machines. I'm a hard no whenever rule changes (and many changes outside of sports) of that regard are brought up.

    I think that there's going to be a ton of backlash on the Golden AB rule, and that it probably won't get implemented. However, the automated strike zone scares me. That seems like the kind of rule where the players won't get a say, and it may get put in the game no matter what they think. If un-wanted rules keep being put 'into play,' maybe we see another lockout? I don't know. I guess only the future can tell.

    So there it is. More potential and uneeded rule changes to the game of baseball. Please let me know in the comments what you think -- if you agree with me, disagree, where you think the game is headed. I like seeing what others think of this sort of thing. No matter what happens though, y'all have a great week, thanks you as always for reading, and happy collecting!

I Don't Collect Football Cards....

    So my poll is out today on the TCDB. Hopefully it can help settle a long-standing friendly debate with a friend of mine. Anyway...

    My Christmas shopping saw me at the card store again. Most of my family collects baseball cards, so it's a good place to go for gifts. I won't spoil what I got for my bro, because it may just show up on his blog in a month or two.

    Along with the Christmas shopping, I picked up some extra card stuff for that upcoming event I spoke of however many posts ago. Once all that was through, I had a little bit of time to pick through the boxes myself. I came away with three personal cards, and some top loaders, which will always come in useful (though some of those went towards the 'event'). 

    

    One of the cards came from the quarter boxes, one from the dollar box, and one from the $2 box. 

2006 Topps #25

    I have been lucky in that throughout my whole of card collecting, I have always been able to find cheap Chipper Jones cards. This card was the one from the quarter box, and it caught my eye because of the dotted line that appears to have been used for the cutting of the cards. However, while looking at the card online, it doesn't seem that the normal base cards of his have the dotted line. They also have a metallic sheen to the lettering in the name and position, something that my card doesn't. Anybody got an idea on that?

2022 Topps Player Jersey Number Medallion #JNM-BP

    This was the $2 card. Considering the amount that Evan Carter and Jackson Merrill are mentioned on this blog, it may surprise you that Buster's my favorite player. I think he has the second-most individual cards in my collection, behind Cal Ripken Jr. I'm patiently waiting for his turn to get inducted into Cooperstown (please make it on the ballots!). Anyway, I was more than happy to add another Posey to the collection, and a relic at that.

    By now you may be wondering at the title of my post. It is true, I don't really collect any cards other than baseball cards, unless it's a name I recognize for a good price (I am trying to build a small hockey collection, although my card shop doesn't have very many hockey cards). However, I just found one such deal at the card store. I traded Jayden Daniels for this guy in my fantasy football league. You guessed it, I got....

2022 Panini Chronicles Playoff Draft Picks #11

 

    Drake London! And a pre-rookie too. And it's also serial-numbered. It was a little difficult to tell at the store, but this card is numbered 126/149. And it only cost a dollar?!?!?! No second-thoughts about this card. I didn't know too much about football coming into the year (that's not true -- I knew next to nothing), but my team is in first place, so I guess it's going pretty well.

    That sums up my acquisitions from the day. What I found probably the most interesting about the trip was that the shop owner gave me over 40% off for everything, including the gifts. He had a table of things marked off for Black Friday, and maybe one thing came from the discounted section. The guy's always giving cards for less than marked, which I definitely appreciate. In the few months I've been going to the store, I can safely say it's the best card store in my neck of the woods, and they've got a regular customer in me.

    Before I forget, let me mention that Nachos Grande has opened his End-of-Year Awards for blogging and cards in 2024. If you haven't done so, go down and vote for your best cards and favorite blogs. I'll leave y'all to it. Have a great start to the week, and, as always, happy collecting!

So, the HOF Ballot Came Out.....

     Yes, it did. I'm keeping this really low-key for now. I always make a post about this on my other blog, but times have changed, and Don Cardwell is entering the limelight. Anyway, here's what we got on the BBWAA ballot, starting with the squatters -- er, guys who have already been on it. Yeah, them. The guys I'd vote for will be in bold. (Sorry for the lack of cards. I was feeling way too lazy to take any pics, so instead we're going with good old internet pictures)

Billy Wagner 
Andruw Jones 
Carlos Beltran
Alex Rodriguez
Manny Ramirez
Chase Utley
Omar Visquel
Bobby Abreu
Jimmy Rollins
Andy Pettitte
Mark Buehlre
Francisco Rodriguez
Torii Hunter
David Wright

    As you can see, my ballot's a little bit all over the place. 

    

    Wagner is an obvious choice, and he's getting gypped in that he's not in already. Billy Wagner was one of the most dominant closers....ever (I hold that he's better than Trevor Hoffman, but that's just me). A career 422 saves and 2.31 ERA. What are we doing BBWAA? I feel that they always miss at least one or two guys on the ballots every time.

    A premier fielder and power hitter, Andruw Jones won 10 Gold Gloves (in a row, might I add), and hit 434 homers. This included that one insane 51 home run campaign he had back in '05. I usualy wouldn't vote for a sub-.260 batting average, but he deserves it.

    This picture may be a bit blurry, but it's too cool to leave out. Chase Utley was another great fielder, but at second base rather than the outfield. He was a very good hitter (.275 batting average, 259 home runs). Utley won four Silver Sluggers in his 16-year career. He also prompted a rule change; although being the guy who slid into Ruben Tejada probably doesn't help his case. Hopefully it doesn't hurt it.

    Alright, alright, this one may be a little bit biased. In my defense, David Wright was a pretty great player. The third baseman hit .296 with 242 home runs in 1,585 big-league games. He also won two Gold Glove awards. The only problem is that injuries ruined him at the end of his career. In his last three seasons Wright played in a combined 77 games. His career was just too short. While he seemed like a Hall-of-Famer on the field, he didn't spend enough time on it to land him a spot in Cooperstown.

    This leaves me with six votes left going into the newbies. Let's see who we got:

Ichiro Suzuki
CC Sabathia
Dustin Pedroia
Ian Kinsler
Felix Hernandez
Troy Tulowitzki
Ben Zobrist
Curtis Granderson
Hanley Ramirez
Russell Martin
Adam Jones
Brian McCann
Carlos Gonzalez
Fernando Rodney

    Okay, spoiler alert: I would only actually go for two of these guys.

    I think Ichiro will make it on the first ballot, and that he is probably the best player on the ballot. Okay, not probably. Ichiro has the most professional hits, including over 3,000 in the Bigs. He holds a .311 batting average, 1,420 runs, and 509 steals in 2,653 major-league games. He was also a very good fielder. This should be an easy choice.

    CC Sabathia got 3,000 strikeouts. Case closed. However, his ERA was slightly high at a 3.74 mark, so I kind of doubt that he'll get in first ballot, but I'm confident he'll make it.

    Alright, so Tulo shouldn't actually get in. But he's one of my favorite players, so I figured, 'why not?' Troy Tulowitzki had an outstanding 13-year career in which he batted .290 and hit 225 home runs. He was also a very good fielder, acquiring two Gold Gloves in his career. However, aside from playing at Coors for so long, the shortstop's problem is lack of games, and injury seems to be the culprit. Tulo only played in 1,291 games. And though those were 1,291 really good games, you can't really expect to make the Hall with so little.

    Alright, so I guess for guys who I think should get in, it goes as Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, Chase Utley, David Wright, Ichiro, and CC Sabathia. And then of course I added in Tulo with the courtesy vote, but he'll probably get booted off after his first time. There's a reason I don't get to vote 😂

    Other guys who I may have voted for include Carlos Beltran and Bobby Abreu. I actually probably would vote for Bobby Abreu (I decided to add him in while writing this paragraph), and I bet Beltran will make his way in. I love Ben Zobrist and Ian Kinsler, but wouldn't vote for them.

    Well, thanks for bearing with me to the end. There will be cards for my next post, that's a promise. Thank you for reading, and let me know in the comments what you think of my ballot and who you think should get in. Y'all have an amazing weekend, and happy collecting!

    Also, Don Cardwell hit 10,000 views yesterday, so thanks for that.

Yes, it is today

     Break out the Topps Turkey Reds, 'cause it's Thanksgiving!

    There's a lot to be thankful for. The day has been pretty chill thus far for me, which is just right. Hope it's been a great day for y'all!

    I don't know how many times I'd need to watch this to stop laughing.

    I'll keep it short so y'all can get back to enjoying your day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

      What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

The New Yorker Book of Baseball Cartoons

    I have been able to get a few baseball books for free via the website BookMooch. The New Yorker Book of Baseball Cartoons is one of such books that I was able to get. The book is filled with little comics by the writers of The New Yorker America from the last 80 or so years. It's a delightful little book, filled with humorous little drawings that I can imagine were extremely fun to write.

    Here are ten of my favorite cartoons from the book (it contains 100). There are some more in there that I really like, but they’ll need to wait for another day…

This is my favorite one in the whole book.

I think this one comes in second

    

    Okay, I know someone who I think might actually do that last one. The whole book is really good, though without many words, as you can see. I have a few other baseball books I gotta finish and then stick into the blog, but I think this one is a good start.

    Now then, y'all make sure to have an amazing rest of your week, thank you for reading, and of course, happt collecting!