Cards From Karsal

     My good friend Karsal sent me a PWE. Karsal's blog, Collecting This 'n' That, had a giveaway, and I was the recipient of three great cards. Without further ado, here they are:

    Freddie appears to be doing a Dodger hit celebration. All the different celebrations used by teams these days intrigue me. Most of them seem to rotate celebrations multiple times every season. 

        I like the design of the Bowman Platinum cards of 2023. I'm not entirely sure why; they have a rating of 5.7 on the TCDB.
    Interestingly, the back of the card says that the WAR totals are provided by Baseball Reference. It's probably for the better since different people have different ways of calculating the stat so that it's never always the same as another person. 

    I've always taken an interest in Vaughn Grissom, and this card catches my eye immediately. It looks amazing in person; my picture really doesn't do it justice. 
    The 24-year old Grissom is still with the Red Sox, in Triple-A, where he is currently wrecking the minors. It's almost unfortunate that the Red Sox have such a good middle infield, because it might a while for Grissom to blossom in the Bigs again. I hope to see him soon. He has so much talent.

    Thank you Karsal for the great new additions to my collection! Be sure to check out Collecting This 'n' That if you haven't yet. The blog has been around since December of last year, and is a very good read.

    Thanks for checking out Don Cardwell! Have a great week, and happy collecting!

Christmas Cards From The Diamond King

    I receiced a PWE from the Diamond King's Christmas giveaway. I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- the members of the card blogosphere are extremely generous (I have another PWE to post on later). 

    Han Solo was the card I requested from the Diamond King. I have a few Star Wars cards, and Han makes for a very nice addition. Harrison Ford is in so many good movies, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones to The Fugitive.... anyway, back to the cards.

    

    Han Solo was already a nice card, but he threw in more than just that. I also found that he sent me two PC players. 

    I've never seen the UK edition card before. This is card #75 of the 220-card UK set. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference to the card design other than the Union Jack on the upper left-hand side of the card. While researching this particular card, I found that there are multiple international versions of the cards, but I don't know how many (I only saw UK and Japan, and was too lazy to look any further).

    And we finish things up with the reigning World Series MVP. Oh, I really like this card. This is the first Chrome-Strokes card I've ever owned. 2024 Chrome-Strokes is only 25 cards, so maybe I'll try and complete it sometime in the future. Haha, I say these things, but I'll probably never actually get down to it. I prefer to dig through quarter and dollar boxes at the card store. We'll see how it ends up going. 

 

    A big thanks to the Diamond King for some more great cards! And thank y'all for reading, have a great weekend, and happy collecting!

Fall Classic Games 3 - 5: Freddie Kills...But So Do Errors

     Let's face it; we all know what happened in these games. Right? Let me just make sure I'm not wrong. Anyway, I've lost my train of thought, so these are my takeaways from each game. (Warning: This post is going have an extremely different feel to it.) Buckle up y'all.

    This time, I didn't watch any of game three, due to being places at the time of the game. I watched a lot of game four. But, I watched all of the fifth game, and had a very mixed experience with that one. 

Game 3: Game 3 of the good ol' World Series was a story of Freddie Freeman. Again. If you're a Dodgers fan, you must be really happy. If not, then you're probably not too happy. Clarke Schmidt pitched a little bit less than idealy, and Aaron Judge continued to be confuddled by the Dodger pitching staff. The Dodgers ended up winning 4-2, and had a chance to sweep on Tuesday.

Game 4: Freddie Freeman. Yet again. Coming into the game, Freddie had the highest slugging percentage in World Series history at .853, and when he went yard in the first inning, extended his Fall Classic home run streak to six games, also a record. The tide turned when, of all people, Anthony Volpe hit a grand slam to make the game 5-2 in favor of New York (that kid has talent). Gleyber and Austin Wells also hit homers. And Aaron Judge finally got a hit, which happened to be off of Brent Honeywell Jr. who was actively getting shellacked. Maybe that heats things up for the next game(s)? Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that fans assaulted Mookie Betts to take the ball out of his glove. They got in trouble.

Game 5: I wrote this one while actively watching the game, which is why it's longer and more detailed. In the first inning, I totally called a rejuvenated Aaron Judge two-run bomb. When he stepped in the box I said, 'Here comes the Judge tank,' and he did it first pitch. Jazz went yard the very next at-bat, and totally showed up Jack Flaherty. Moving on to the fifth inning, Yanks up 5-0.
    Alright, I don't care who it is, no major league team can ever make that many errors and mental mistakes in one inning. Between dropped flies, throwing errors, and missing covering first base, the Yankees gave the Dodgers 5 free runs (and I mean free: 0 earned runs) to tie the game. I hate errors. Watching them hurts. Nonetheless, Gerrit Cole ended up going 6 2/3 innings in 108 pitches. The statline is definitely an interesting one with 5 unearned runs (cringe), but at least he left with a 6-5 lead. 
    After the ninth inning, I gotta tell you two words: errors kill. This could have been a 6-2 game, but instead, it's 7-6. I'm not trying to bag on the Yankees, believe me. I was rooting for them. But that fifth inning was really painful. 
    On the bright side, Freddie didn't hit a homer this game. So the streak ends.

    

    I donned my 2023 Rangers World Series hat for the ninth inning of game five, knowing that it could my last day of the Rangers being reigning champs. It's kind of sad what happened to them this season, but I know they can, and believe they will make it up next year and have a postseason run. However, that's a conversation for another day. For now, the Dodgers are the champions. And I thought it was gonna be the Padres......

    It comes as no surprise to anybody that Freddie Freeman wins the World Series MVP. An enormous walk-off homer in game one followed by three more in the next three games makes for an obvious choice. But, since I've posted cards of him in a bunch of posts these last days, I'm afraid it's time for Walker Buehler and Tommy Edman.

I'm afraid I got nothing special for these guys, just base cards from years past

    You know what Gerrit Cole, you can get a feature on this post too. You're a work horse. You deserve it.

    Though I wasn't exactly rooting for the Dodgers to win, I am kind of glad that the series is over, because I was starting to get sick of writing these game recaps. After I wrote the first one I was going to keep on though, even though these wore fairly boring to write, and probably boring to read. I have a few decent posts in my queue to be released into the world in the near future.

   

    Post Script:
    Tomorrow's post will mark my third in as many days, which I don't typically like to do, but the post tomorrow is one I really want to do, and it can only be done tomorrow. You'll get it when you see it. Anyway, thank you for reading, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!

Fall Classic Games 1 & 2: Freddie for MVP

    Alas, I'm a dirty liar. It's baseball. I watched it. Most of it. I watched the entire first game of the World Series, and then most of the second game. Here are my personal recaps from them.

    

    The first game was a tale of (in my opinion) bad managerial decisions and a suffering bullpen. Nestor Cortes hadn't pitched in 37 days. That's typically the way it goes, I guess. I jokingly mentioned the intentional walk of Mookie Betts, and then it actually happened.

    I call it anticlimactic that the Yankees went through the free pass of Mookie, because Freddie Freeman deposited the very next pitch into the right field pavilion. Dang it. It was the first walk-off grand slam in (at the time) 696 World Series games.

    It also stinks that Juan Soto didn't have the best game on his birthday. You win some, you lose some.

    I had even less hope for the Yankees in Game 2. Carlos Rodon had been decent in the regular season, but he wasn't an ace. Yoshi Yamamoto is getting overpaid for a reason. He shut down the offense of the Yankees for 6 1/3 innings, his only blunder being a Juan Soto home run. Meanwhile, Tommy Edman went yard, and I called the second Freddie tank. After all Freeman's been through this year between his son's scary illness and the ankle injury, I'm kinda glad he's doing what he's been good at for so long.

    I left sometime in the fourth or fifth inning to practice dancing Footloose (I don't even know why I mention this), and came back somewhere in the last three innings. I saw Shohei get hurt attempting to steal second, which was a little bit frightening (hope he's alright). After a scoreless inning out of Mark Leiter Jr, the score was 4-1 in favor of the Dodgers, going into the ninth inning.

    Then Blake Treinen came on again, and instantly got himself into trouble. Juan Soto (who hit a homer earlier in the game), singled and then reached second on a wild pitch. Aaron Judge struck out again for the first out before a really weird Stanton RBI single off of third base. A Chisholm single followed, and then one of those classic Anthony Rizzo 'this pitch is inside so I'm gonna be on first base' plate appearances. This loaded the bases for Anthony Volpe. 

    Let me just say that I've never been more disappointed in a player when I have very little rooting interest in a game. That strike three pitch was so outside that I don't think he could have hit it with a 39 1/2 foot pole.

    And now, for the most anticlimactic portion of the game: Blake Treinen is pulled and Alex Vesia comes in to shut the door. Down to their last out, with the bases loaded, the Yankees send Jose Trevino to pinch-hit for Austin Wells. 

    He flies out on the first pitch, and that was all she wrote. 4-2 Dodgers.

    I know I said that I wasn't going to watch most of the World Series, but since it was on antenna, I was unable to hold back. Sure I was rooting against both these teams, I won't deny that. There is a ton of star-power in this series, which is definitely appealing. But the main reason for my watching is this: it's baseball. Whether or not you like the teams, this is the championship for this whole year of baseball. The rules may be less than ideal, and same with the teams, but this is the game that I've been with since I was in diapers. 

    So, I watched it. I will probably continue to watch most of it. But, maybe we can have the Rangers in the World Series next year for that adrenaline boost and the rooting interests. Please?

    Thanks for reading my very poorly written recaps, have a great start to the week, and happy collecting!

Well, we got a world series....

     Don't get me wrong, this is a clash of the titans; one seed on one seed, team y team. But, alas, I was rooting against both these guys. Apologies to the numerous Yankees and Dodgers fans out there; I come in peace. But ay caramba, couldn't the Tigers at least have made it?

    

    I think I'll be rooting for the Yankees on this one, for the same reason I was rooting for the Mets before; for the sake of a friend who's a die-hard fan.    

    Well, hopefully this will at least be an entertaining series. Both of these team like to hit homers. I don't know, but it may come down to which team provides the most longball. My money's on a Dodgers World Series, but considering that I was wrong on most of my predictions for the playoffs, the Yankees are probably going to win. 

    

    If any of my readers are fans of either of these teams, good luck to you and your squads. As for me, maybe next year the Rangers will make a rebound or the Tigers or Giants will do something interesting (yes, believe it or not, it wasn't long ago when I was a hard-core Giants fan; not expecting much from then).

    Y'all have a great start to the week, happy World Series, and happy collecting! 

Friday Again?!

     It's that day of the week again. Last week I finished showing off all the pitchers (except for one), so we will be moving on to position players presently. First however, that last lingering pitcher...

    This Clayton Kershaw card is the redo of 1986 Topps. I don't particularly like the '86 set design, but I do like the Kershaw card. It shows the 2020 wins leaders on the back of the card, and since 2020 was that shortened season, Yu Darvish took the lead with 8 wins, good for about 22 in 162 games.

    There isn't really anything special about the Series 2 Realmuto card, but I really like it for some reason. For one, I love J.T. Realmuto (being a catcher, a lot of my favorite players are catchers), and I also like the photo on the card. He looks either deep in thought, or like he's giving Angel Hernandez the side-eye. Either one will do.

    1952 Topps may very well be my favorite of the 2021 Topps representations. Just coming off Freddie Freeman's MVP-worthy 2020 season, he didn't disappoint in '21, batting .300 with 31 home runs and leading the league in runs scored (120). This was also his last season with the Atlanta Braves. It is here that I must stop to shed a few tears.

    Now then, back to the post. 1979 Topps was the first Topps set to include the company logo on the front of the cards. However, I don't think they had a 70 year anniversary patch on them, since at the time they'd been around for only 29 years. I was really dismayed to hear that in 2022 Tatis was suspended for the use of steroids. I was very interested in the young shortstop who was hitting 42 homers, but I've almost completely lost interest in him after his suspension. He doesn't play short anymore either.

    Of all the cards in the 2021 binder, this one ranks among the top five. Reminiscent of the 1993 set, the back of the card explains how '93 Topps included 825 cards, making it the biggest Topps set assembled. Unfortunately, like many of the throwback cards of the 2021 set, you don't get Trevor Story's stats. 

    Since the card doesn't have his stats, I pulled them up on baseball reference:

    Where did it all go?

    Well, that'll do it for this post. Sorry for the abruptness. I completely forgot about the Friday post until about 11:00 this morning. Come back next Friday when we'll take out another chunk of the 2021 binder. Thanks for reading and Happy Collecting!