COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!

    Holy smokes, it's been a few months by now. 

    To be a little bit more concise, it's been a few months since I went to the Frisco RoughRiders game with a few friends. 

    Pretty much from the time I started playing baseball as a little kid, I've been a catcher. I have a place in my heart for them. And so when my friendasked me if I wanted any cards to get autographed, of course I requested the Riders catcher, Cooper Johnson.

    It was a little bit tough to get his signature since Johnson was starting behind the plate that day. When I was watching him do his drills in the bullpen, he must've noticed me, because he turned to me and said he'd give me an autograph.

    Cooper was such a nice guy. I don't know if I've ever met a more polite ballplayer. It really made an impression on me that he went out of his way to sign my card when he was obviously busy. I wasn't even asking for his autograph. I was a fan of his before, but I would say I'm a bigger fan now. As far as my personal player encounters go, thisthe most pleasant of them all.

    At the game, whenever Johnson came up to bat, all the fans in the stadium chanted, 'Cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop!'
    I think y'all get the point. It was a very long an excited cheer.

    Since the game, Cooper Johnson has been promoted to AAA Round Rock, where he's slashing .212/.339/.283 in 30 games. At 27 years of age, he might need to get moving if he wants his chance in the big-leagues. I hope he gets there soon and can play at least a handful of games for the Rangers.

    I love adding autographs acquired in-person to my collection. Almost every minor leaguer or ex-major leaguer I've met has been very friendly. I'm even personal friends with one of them (who just retired after the 2024 season). It's special to me to be able to meet and talk to the guys I enjoy watching so much.

    That was an experience I'm glad to remember on the blog. Thanks for sharing the memory with me, have a great week, and happy collecting!

So Close But So Far

     C'mon guys, y'all were so close!

    Yesterday the Tigers and Pirates played in a doubleheader, due to Wednesday's game being postponed. Wednesday was Skubal's turn in the rotation, and Thursday Skenes'. 

    As a baseball fan, I would have been very excited to see the two toe the rubber against one another, mano e mano. But of course, this didn't happen.

    It's to be expected since neither team wouldn't want to chance losing the game their ace is starting; and they didn't. The Tigers won game one with Skubal on the mound, the Pirates game two with Skenes. Though it makes for less exciting television, I suppose it was the logical answer, even if it feels lame from a fan's perspective.

    The annoying thing is that since the series was of the interleague variety, the teams won't play each other for a while now, and we were seriously this close to seeing the two best MLB pitchers facing each other at their best. I guess people need to live with disappointments 😂

    That's all I got for today's post. I'll be back next time with some LCS grabs. Thanks for checking out the blog, remember to have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!

I never dyed my hair

    Howdy folks!

    It's been over a month, so I figured it's probably time to post again. 

    This card is from good ol' Diamond Jesters. I had forgotten about it until it showed up about a week ago. This is the perfect card to write a short post on and get back to the blog.

    A few things about this card strike me. Firstly, Riley without a beard is downright strange. Reminds me of that 2014 Topps Charlie Blackmon card (shaking my head so hard right now).

    I love how the card says Official Trading Card of Baseball Fans Everywhere. I didn't know Leaf had it in them to make the 'Official' trading card. 

    The red is really jumping out, but kinda in a good way. I don't know what it is, but the strange color combination of red and green seems to work well with the card (and it's not even Holiday).

    Would you believe that all Matt was asking for was a card older than this one??? 

    I made a deal with myself last season that if Riley Greene bats .320 with 40 homers, I would dye my hair greene (it's a long story for those who don't know it). Unfortunately, he never did it. But I'm keeping the deal up indefinitely. Wouldn't greene hair be so nice on the blog?

    Thanks for stopping by, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!