Hidden Gems: Good, for a long time

I wasn't planning a post today. I am doing my best to knock this out and post before 7, so I hope I can make that happen. A really recent bit of news prompted this post. So let's get on with it.

Players come and go in baseball. Some get a sip of coffee. Some get a couple seasons watching from the bench, getting in here and there. Some have decent careers to earn a living playing a child's game. A rare few have a career that gives them a plaque of immortality. You have to be really good for that hall enshrinement. Just being around for many, many years guarantees nothing.

When Jamie Moyer retired in 2012, he has been in the Bigs 25 years, third place in most seasons played. Ahead of him are HOFers Nolan Ryan and Cap Anson, and HOFer Ricky Henderson is tied with him. But ahead of him with 26 seasons in the league are two players not in the HOF - Tommy John and Deacon McGuire. So you may have the talent and skill to make it in your profession for very long, but unless you have a surgery named after you, there is a chance your name will slip into obscurity in the future, no matter your talent. No plaques exist in the Hall of Pretty Darn Good.

2009 Topps had a great design template that allowed really good cropping of the pictures, and a fair amount of them are not so close to lose out on the context of the photo. And for Jamie's card this year, that home plate with the Phillies logo balances out his leg kick and weights the whole card really well.

This would be for a great final card, but Jamie had other ideas. The baseball writers also had other ideas, not giving Jamie enough votes on his one and only ballot appearance to make it on the following year's ticket. If Jamie's plaque is going to be produced, it will have to come from another group of people who decide he's that good.

I just learned, as others have, that Neal Peart from Rush died a couple days back. By no means can I say Rush had a huge influence on me and my music life. But holy shit - Rush f*cking rocked! I would listen to the albums my brothers had. Rush was nothing like what you heard on the radio. It was art performed by three men. Three men that mastered the instruments in their hands. On any other band, each would have been the superstar. In Rush, they were three that complimented each other and took music places yet heard.

And did I mention they f*cking rocked?!?! For 44 years.

Rush appeared on a single HOF ballot in their career. For some reason, it took fan outrage for them to finally be considered worthy of a look at induction. A full 25% of the votes from fans were given to Rush. Fortunately, the Hall did the right thing in 2013.

For those unaware, Rush is considered prog rock. And if you can't hear it in their more mainstream hits, Cygnus X-1 from Rush's 1977 release "A Farewell To Kings" will help you understand the genre, somewhat. Ten minutes. Turn on the light above your black light poster and enjoy the next 10 minutes.

Bonus Rush:

Hidden Gems: Missing the cut

So in the Hidden Gems posts, I bring up those cards that are beautiful as well as the songs you may have missed out. But for today's post, let's look at a couple cards that one might think hit the binder, but they are just not good enough to make it in. Plus, they help transition to the song selections of the post. Yes - plural. You'll see.

I have plenty of cards I have kicked aside from the Hidden Gems binder that fit into this look. Most of the time something is considered, but ultimately rejected, comes down to one simple word:

Cropping

In the world of digital graphics, cropping is removing outside areas of a photo or image. It helps focus the eye to what the artist wants you to see, frame the image, remove trash from the image or alter the aspect ratio. Sometimes, it's perfect. But on these examples, it's too much. For the Reddick, they did well to get most of him within the frame, and the most important parts, but chopped off a leg, and the glove is juuuuuust out of the inside border. On the DeJesus, we have a similar issue. Cropped just s fraction too close, so he has no feet and the Ultra logo covers part of the image. DeJesus would have done better pulled out just a bit, while the Reddick could have fared much better on a horizontal card (yeah - I know it's Archives, but go with it).

Sometimes, you can crop too much, thinking you are getting rid of excess garbage, but losing the best part of the subject.

Now, for music, I am going to start with a simple question: Ever hear the songs "Get Away" and "Broken" by Chicago and Tears For Fears, respectively? I'm fairly certain most of you have without really knowing it. But unless you own the songs, you probably won't hear them anytime soon on the radio. Maybe on WXRT here could your ears enjoy Broken. But you tend to not hear those songs lately because of a little thing called the "radio edit".

I've talked about radio edits before, specifically the fact the 60 plus seconds are cut from The Knacks "My Sharonna" when you tend to hear the song. Many songs have sections cut out so they play faster, allowing more commercials over the air. See, Get Away and Broken appear at the end of a couple very famous songs for each band:

If you listen to the end of each video, the song ends. But on the album, each song has a close to minute jam fest attached. Getaway highlights Chicago's horn section, which hearkens back to their earlier years as a jam band. For Tears For Fears, Broken is a small section of a live performance of the song tacked at the end. It's an actual song that appears just before Head Over Heels on their Songs From The Big Chair album. It's a shame you don't get to hear either over the airwaves, though.

Them's the bre.....wait, what's this?

As I was about to put together another amazingly witty and humorous post....

......Well, it's got a lot of laughs and smart thoughts....

....Which, by that, means that people could get a chuckle or two while reading, or gain insight into new....

.....it is my first post in nine days.

Thanks for the support, Michelle. Anyway, as I was saying, I was going to write up one post, until I took a look in a folder and realized I had a tons of scans within that are a few months old, and I venture to say the actual mailer was from sometime in 2017. Let's do a little cleaning, and a lot of thanking, to the sender - Matt from Once A Cub. I am long overdue with a return package (where have we heard that before), and Matt really dropped a hell of a bomb on me with this mailer.

Image heavy post for you dial up users. Also, how about an A/S/L for you dial up users as well.

See that really, REALLY pathetic box on the left side of my baker's dozen commons? The one that has a crapload of empty space? These eight cards made all the white space. I'll need to get eight more into the list. It's not like I don't have filler for the wants. That Garcia at the top is the unique combo of a throwback and a bunt. Considering it was the longest on the list, I put it in both collections on Zistle (RIP). Who knows if a 2nd will come into my possession.

Double Plays. Vizcaino is from Spring Training I am sure. I think the Miller is too, though that could be old Shea in the background. Never been to the park.

Throwbacks as well. I still need to finish the Franchise Flashback set from 2015 Opening Day. I hope the Dodgers bring back the proper powder blues in the future.

Yummy, yummy bunting. If you look close, that Garvey is nowhere near a bunt. However, Matt dropped a note on that card stating "terrible bunting form". I agree. And humor gets it a pocket in the binder.

Sox box!!!! I'll take any Sale rookies out there. You have your standard Pacific scan, which means you cannot see anything on the card in the Magglio. Nice TRU purple (RIP)   ʞıupǝspod ʇʇoɔs :ɐ

These were new additions to their respective player collections. Crede pre high cuffs.

Matt also sent a ton of cards as possible inclusions to the Hidden Gems binder. So let's see who made the cut in each image I scanned.
Bolton: nice image of a ferris wheel in the back ground, but no
Alou: Interesting position, but didn't make the cut. But I may have to revist that decision
Altuve: Nah - bad cropping
Fernandex: ditto
Rodriguez: Also bad cropping, but almost was forgiven
Wolf: Currently no, but another I may revisit

Reddick: Nah. Better for a Stadium Club release.
Ramirez: Maybe for the bad shop job, but no.
Ladd: Currently no, but most likely the first of the revisits to make it. Great afro
Gibson: In. No brainer
Cole: Tempting, but passed. Composition is all off
Buhner: YES! Wait - no. Rules are it has to be on the front of the card. Damn rules....

Guiterrez: Perfect framing - it's makes the cut.
Brett: Are you even asking? How amazing is that photo????? No brainer - in.
Logan: TOTALLY IN!!!! I need to get that card TTM'd.
Cabrera: Currently on the fence. You would think it would be an easy in, but I wish it was not so zoomed in. More green would have made this card.
Blanco: This. This is what I mean about too zoomed in. Plenty of tan to encompass the subjects. It's in.

And a few last randoms words:

Score Gold Rush scans like total shit.

Bunting looks great, no matter how busy the design is.

Matt buried me in Panini Diamond Kings from the White Sox. I'll find a place for the dupes.

BOOM! Hits. The red GQ relics were numbered to 50 if I recall. Trey is currently in AA with the Birmingham Barons. Garcia is a sparkle variation. It's on the bat barrel under hit arm pit. And Buehrle is just an awesome relic of an awesome pitcher.

So a very belated thanks, Matt. You done my collection and my scanner well. No side eye from me.

Hidden Gems: It's a little different

One of the constants through baseball cards, into the 70's, was the photo selections. Posed, whether a head shot, pretending to pitch, pretending to hit, pretending to field... In the early 70's, Topps did get some action photos into the sets, and that joined in with the posed head shots, pitching shots, batting shots, etc.

But I think when Upper Deck joined the game, they really changed it up. Sure, a lot of the norms remained on the card board, but they started throwing in images that I guess you could day humanized the players. Far more candid images, like signing autographs, laughing with your team mate, with kids, changing roles..... You get the idea.

Most of Frank Thomas' cards are of him doing what he did best: beat the ever loving snot out of a baseball. If not at the plate, he was at first. On occasion, he was sitting in the dugout or standing on deck. But here's a Frank you don't see. Let's call him Chill Frank. Possibly stretching, but I am certain he is just relaxing in the grass during pre game warmups. Maybe he is waiting for his turn in the cage, or he just completed it. At this point in his career, Frank was afforded some luxury. He is still larger than life, taking up most of the card real estate. But it's still Frank Thomas - who you know, but slightly different.

By 2012, Garbage has over 20 years in the business with a few critically acclaimed albums, band struggles and break ups, reunions and then a continued drive forward. They have garnered numerous nominations and a few awards (LeAnn Rimes - really?). Garbage is one of my fav bands and are probably best known for one of their first single releases, Stupid Girl.

Fun fact, they are all pretty drunk in this video thanks to a few bottles of wine. Anyway, it's a great song all around with a driving beat and a slick bass line hook. We jump ahead to 2012, Garbage reforms and remade their first big hit, and it sounds quite different.

The drum beat is still there, but more subdued. The bass line is all but gone from the forefront (except for the 2nd verse), with a hard, heavy guitar sound just blowing out your ears. It's the same song you know, but different. And I like it a lot.

Hidden Gems: Back it up

Sometimes, a hidden gem is obvious to me. One glance and it's earned a spot in the binder. Others become gems because of a change of circumstance, while a 3rd just grow on you. All gems, though, have that chance to solidify their gem status the more you look at them. And you find a new reason what makes a gem so wonderful. This installment of Hidden Gems started with the first, and found new status because of something other than the main subject.

What more can I really say about this? The white of Lilly's uniform just pops on this card and becomes the focus. But then the whole card forms this amazing view with the coordinated colors of the design, the well blended green of the grass and bushes, the two patches of dirt and the soft blue fence with contrasting blue ad of Merrill Lynch. And while the perfect framing of Ted Lilly makes it an immediate gem, it's the background of the card that really gives it a brighter shine.

Now, I'm going to break rules a bit here. The idea of Hidden Gems is to showcase those cards that look great, as well as amazing music you may have missed. This week's video, though, is by no means a lesser known song. For the artist, it would be his signature song. It spent weeks at the top of charts around the world. It won Grammys and MTV awards. And you know you want to hit "play" below.

So, Jeff - how is this a Hidden Gem? You must admit this is an infectious song, which samples one of the greatest bass lines ever. The reason I have tied this song with the above card is the background. Specifically, if you play the video starting at 3:26 . I love those background dancing fly girls. But the two on the left - they are the best. It's obvious this section of the video focuses on Stanley Burrell, but the beat of the song doesn't let their feet remain still, and they each bust out a few moves while Hammer is hurting us. I wonder how many takes were rejected and they just got tired and cut this one into the song.

Also, if you are the girl on the far right reading this, call me.

Hidden Gems: who are you?

The idea of this series is simple: special cards that are unique and interesting, if not entirely famous. Today's subject is a player with a lot of fairly boring cards, but in 2011, someone over at Topps either phoned it in, or decided to troll the player for whatever reason.

When I first saw this card from a pack, I figured it had to be another goofy fake player card, ala Kazuo Uzuki. If this was Seth Smith's only card, what a photo selection. No idea what his face looks like. Hell, in 2011 I could have picked up a Rockies uniform and posed as Smith and who would know without seeing my face on the card. In fact, all three folks pictured on the card could pass you on the street and you would have no idea who any of them was, or which was which person. Does this card have great framing? Yes. And that alone would make the binder. But the whole layout of the picture is what secured a slot in a 9 page.

Ok - if you dare, I would like to give you a little tour down the rabbit hole of my mind. I say that as a warning to get out now if you choose. This will get interesting, ugly, scary and quite a bit weird. But, It's how my mind works, and I have to deal with it ALL THE TIME!

Here we go!

So one site I visit on a regular basis is Deadspin, and the other sites attached to it. A while back, a post shared on a few of the sites talked about the video game Overwatch and an update that added some skins and little dances to the characters. Now, I don't play the game at all, but it does look cool. And click that link. How adorable is that animated gif at the top with Sombra doing some shuffling? A couple days later, somehow I came upon this video that a user put together that shows all the dancing emotes and a reference video of what the dance is. In the video I see the emote for Bastion (2:03) in the video, which shows that Bastion is doing the train, which the video maker synced with a video of some kids at a minor league ballgame doing the similar dance to "C'mon 'N Ride It" by the Quad City DJ's.

OH MAN - I haven't heard that song in a while!

So I searched the video on YouTube to get the whole song played. While listening, I remembered that hip hop samples the hell out of the music world, so what song or songs did Quad City DJs sample. Fortunately, Wikipedia will usually help you out, and on this page, I learn the sampled song was the theme song from a movie Together Brothers, the soundtrack written by Barry White. Yes - THAT Barry White. But the Quad City DJs didn't sample it. They straight ripped it off, adding a few lyrics, yelps and a louder beat. But otherwise, it is the exact same song. Let me post them both and you can see how identical they are.

How great of a funk song did Barry White pen? This song has been sampled in many other hip hop music, and is the hidden gem, a groovy jam that could not walk down the street and be recognized, mainly, because of Quad Ciry DJs.

Yup - I just linked Seth Smith's 2011 Topps card with the late, great Barry White. It's my blog.

Hidden Gems: OOOOF!

Baseball, by it's nature, is slow. It can minutes before the action starts. Then the ball is in play and the activity goes on for a few seconds before the game slows back down to the pace of pitcher versus batter.

But in those fee seconds, everything is spontaneous. There is no script. No one blocked to be here and there so a certain drama can unfold. Sure, the players have their positions to start the pitch, and may rotate a bit based on where the ball enters the field. But there no no clue where it will enter and who will contact it. It just happens, and the controlled chaos occurs.

While one side of my brain understands the reasoning for the rule, the other side is saddened this is a card disappearing from the collecting world. For 99% of the game, the contact is ball to bat, ball to ground, ball to glove. All contact is between inanimate objects. Sure, there is the tag on a attempted stolen base, but the play at the plate was the only real contact part of the game between one player and another. While the badging on this card really interferes with the action, there is still more than enough to appreciate. Crawford leaving his feet and making contact with Salvador Perez (I believe), the grimace on Perez's face from the force of the play. Something we just won't see anymore.

I still remember the shock I felt hearing that Robert Palmer died, now almost 14 years ago. I liked his music a bit early on, and sure - releasing a huge hit (and video) like Addicted To Love can help out anyone's career. But when you look back on his life, he was always there. Bits and pieces of his brilliance exist in prior years, from Sneaking Sally Through the Alley to Every Kinda People to Looking For Clues, just to name a few. Riptide was the first album of his I bought, and it's a fine mix from song to song of his musical style. Flesh Wound is a great marriage of heavy metal with his hard beats.

Hidden Gems: it's a local thing

For me, there are only two ways to get to a ball park I care about. I can either hit the Rock Island and get dropped off at the 35th Street station. Or I can work my way to the Ryan and exit at the same place. Both put me in Sox Comiskey US Cellular Guaranteed Rate Park. And while I have been near that falling apart thing up north a few times, I have not stepped foot inside for a game since 1984. Yet, off the top of my head, I can think of three ways to get to Wrigley. You can take the Red line to get dropped off at the Park. You can take the Kennedy, get off at Addison and work your way east. Or you can take Lake Shore Drive, exit Addison and head west.

Pictured: sink hole in the middle of community

And yes, I have heard all the baseball purists speak. I have lived here 50+ years. Blah blah cute ballpark blah blah manual scoreboard blah blah vines blah blah sunshine blah blah blah bleachers. Even in my north side dislike of....well...everything north side, I can say that Wrigley will provide a great backdrop for fine photography. Many ballparks have blue outfield walls, and being an unnatural color that close to the ground tends to give a photo an artificial feel.

See how green pairs so well with the bright white of the Cubs home uniforms, and the just off white grays of the Astros? Sosa's helmet pops against the weeds vines of the outfield wall. Even with the large foil badging on this card from Upper Deck, they still fit the entire play on the card, barely chopping off Sosa's knees and Biggio's cap. One would claim so much unused space with the green. I say all that extra is window dressing when your eyes focus on the bright players. Even Biggio's two in one stirrups are forgiven.

May 5th. That is the release date of the 2nd Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I hope to be there opening weekend, though the smart me says to wait a week. But a week ago they released the song list from Peter's Awesome Mix Volume #2, and one of the songs is a local hit by Aliotta Haynes and Jeremiah called Lake Shore Drive.

I'm sure many of you may be hearing this song for the first time (maybe 2nd, as I have used this at the end of a post once before). And in hearing, the first thought will be "this is a hit"? I can only respond with the rote, nonsensical response "it's a Chicago thing". Because this song grows into your heart, from when I first heard it on WLS, WCFL or the Mighty MET, or hearing it now on XRT, The River or the Drive. You love the song or you hate it. And if you hate it, then get out of town.

Or go live in Wrigley. I'll never visit you there.

Hidden Gems: From the 32nd state of the union

I've been to Minnesota once in my life. Minneapolis to be exact, cuz really, what else is to see in Minnesota? (dodges rocks from HSCA and GCRL) Hey, the city was fine, and I caught a Twins games while I was there. The Humphrey Dome was not a good place for baseball, so it's nice they got a new park. But take away the Minn/St. Paul area, and the only other reference I get for the state down here is the temperature of International Falls.

There is still some great cardboard, though, with a Minnesota touch to them. I have a lot of these types of pictures in the binder, where the focus is on the player, but a bunch of stuff is still in the frame a wonderfully out of focus. I know there is a term for this view, but it escapes me at this point. It's a fantastic look on a card. The exact moment is captured and frozen, but you as the viewer can refocus the picture in your mind and make out what the other objects are. And sure, Leach's legs are chopped off, but the other three points of his body are perfectly aligned in the frame. Well done, Donruss.

The Soviettes is a band that I actually found via a CD my son had burned many years ago. Somehow it ended up in my car and this very tune brought them to my attention. I have actually posted another one of their songs here - The Land of Clear Blue Radio. And when people think of Minnesota and Minneapolis, Who comes to mind is Prince, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Bob Dylan.... But The Soviettes put out three really good punk albums and still play together from time to time. And they are worth a listen.

Hidden Gems 9: Outer Space

I've mentioned in the past my nerdiness for NASA and other spacey things. From my love of Star Wars, to my frequent (though, it's been far too long) trips to Adler Planetarium, through to my need to get back to Kennedy Space Center, anything related to science fiction (and science fact) has stoked a fire within.

Any movie with a setting of space or distant galaxies hits the list of "wanna see". Toys with space themes like astronauts and NASA vehicles always make me pick them off the peg to examine, and sometimes purchase. I followed all the shuttle missions. There's even a subdivision Elk Grove Village with streets named after some Apollo astronauts. I get a smile on my face if I happen to drive by.

Even Nixon man crushed them.

There is so much to love about a card like this. Framing, as always, is the start. Except for a small part of Guillen's right foot, his entire body is in frame. as is all but a few pixels of his bat. Then let's talk the rainbow of color. Green at the bottom, tan comes next, followed by the light blue of the inside of the dugout, the edge of that broken with a bright royal blue, lastly fading in to the red of the seats. Factor in the crisp gray uniform, and this is a feast for the eyes. And we cannot forget that expression. Jose grunting as he tears out of the batter's box, launching his bat to the heavens as he tries to leg out a single.

It's easy to call Divinyls a one hit wonder. In the US, they really only had the one major charting single about self love, hitting #4. But in their home land of Australia, Divinyls scored plenty of top 50 hits and every album released but one charted 25 or higher. Today would have been lead singer Chrissy Amphlett's 58th birthday. As they say, "the good die young", and in Chrissy this is quite true. Her song writing talent was immense, and she owned audiences at concerts and in music videos with her stage presence and overwhelming sexuality. If Freddie Mercury was female, he would be Chrissy. Boys In Town, I Touch Myself, Pleasure and Pain, and the prophetic Good Die Young are amazing. But there is a reason the Australasian Performing Right Association named "Science Fiction" one of the top 30 Australian songs of all time.

Hidden Gems 8: Going down

Baseball is filled with exciting plays. Sure, sometimes it's just the pitcher and the catcher tossing the ball back and forth, but when that ball goes into play, anything can happen. A diving stop from an infielder followed with a throw from the knees. A rip down the line and into the corner, the runner stretching a double into a triple. Reaching into the stands to snag a foul or take away a home run. The runner barreling down the line on a short fly to the outfield. The excitement is there each and every pitch, like a huge boulder at the top of the hill just waiting to get pushed forward a foot.

For cardboard, to get a diving catch, you will need to go horizontal, and even them it seems part of the players body falls prey to the crop gods. Brett Gardner, though, is nice and compact. Eyes on the ball, which pops out on the green wall. An exciting play, captured perfectly. 2010 Topps was not a great look, but they started doing a better job with the photography, with less posed and more action. Even this bad card design can't ruin a gorgeous image like this.

Bob Mould is a musical genius. Whether with Hüsker Dü, Sugar or on his own, there had better be a call soon for him from Cleveland. There is so much out there you may not know was Bob Mould. Like this. I know you have heard of this. "Needle Hits E" is the lead song of the last Sugar album Besides, a play on words as the album is made up of B-sides to single releases. "Needle Hits E" was the B side of the song "Helpless" from their first studio album. And it straight jams.

And there is still time to get your custom in. If you need time, let me know in the comments.

Hidden Gems 7: Everybody starts somewhere

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

This is a famous quote from the Tao Te Ching, text for the philisophical and religious concepts of Taoism. The literal translation is "A journey of a thousand miles starts beneath one's feet" - 千里之行，始於足下 (I grabbed that Chinese text from Wikipedia, Zippy, so if it's wrong, yell at them). I don't remember the first time I heard it - it might have been from the book "The Tao of Pooh". Yet, the statement is so accurate in it's simplicity. You can break down any activity, no matter the size, to it's smallest component.

It's true about collecting. No matter the number of cards we have in numerous binders and numerous boxes in numerous rooms, it all started with that very first card that sparked our passion to collect. And like any journey that make last a thousand miles, how we look at the start can be different than how we are at any later point of the trip.

This Clayton Richard is the start of many cards in the Hidden Gem binder of similar images - the pitcher in release of the ball, the focus on the hurler while the rest of the photo has appropriate blurred views of the rest of the participants. There's probably one or two cards with this style released each year, I bet, and I think there is only one I ever came across that didn't make the cut for a slot. Your eyes are drawn to the player in focus immediately, but almost as fast, you begin to scan the rest of the card, finding first the ball, then the batter and the catcher. Next the second base umpire, and finally, the player in center. Your brain is able to take those out of focus elements and put them back into some bit of focus. You can almost make out the catcher's nameplate, the home plate umpire's number, the ad on the left field wall. But not completely. And you come back to the player in focus.

Before running on treadmills, building complex Rube Goldberg machines, riding single wheeled vehicles in sync or flying on the Vomit Comet, OK GO was just a Chicago band making music and releasing "normal" videos. No huge gimmicks in this video. Simple music with a couple goofy. subtle jokes sprinkled here and there. Released a full 4 years before they made exercise equipment cool, if you look hard enough, you can see their potential to grow video into a fun form of art.

Hidden Gems 6: Can't really say why

The best part about my Hidden Gems binder is I can put in any card I want. It's subjective only to me, so when all is said and done, I really don't have to explain myself in great details why a particular card got a slot in a binder page.

1989 Score. Who really knows the production run of the set, but we can easily assume it was huge. Van Snider got a total of 19 games in the big leagues over two years with the Reds. He has 35 at bat with 7 hits and one home run. Stuck out more then half the times at the plate (18 times). Then he was sent to the Yankees and never saw the bigs again. But look at this card. Every bit of Van is on the card, from the tops of his toes to the end of the bat. The badging fits perfectly in the space between his legs as he swings. The kick up of dust from what I thought was his front foot, but after further look, I think he beat the ball into the ground on his swing. Otherwise, he is WAY in front of the pitch. Gorgeous perfection in the time of junk wax.

A total nobody in the history of baseball, appearing in my collection on an ugly, overproduced set. Why? I don't know. Just because.

The Replacements put out straight garage rock for years, and Pleased To Meet Me is one of their top albums. From the start with I.O.U into Alex Chilton through to the end with Skyway and Can't Hardly Wait, it's a disc to play straight through every time. I aways contend some of rocks best songs are place at #3 on a disc, and I Don't Know is no exception. Right after the semi-poppy Alex Chilton came this song that spoke a bit of the band leaving it's punk rock roots and going more mainstream. After Alex Chilton, I think it's the best song on the album.

BTW - If you want an amazing version of Can't Hardly Wait, listen to this demo version from the album Tim.

Hidden Gems 5: Out and about

Just a quick recap about a tweet I sent out the other day. If you saw, I found a huge stash of card packs at my local Goodwill. Ten packs for a buck, in convenient prepackaged groups. Well, turns out they were packs that were searched. Some scum bag pack searcher pulled out the hits (and I think all the Cubs and Sox cards). The only decent card I found was a black bordered mini from Topps Magic of Peyton Manning. Otherwise, pretty much everything will go into the trade box. But still - at about 3 cents a card, it was a fun rip, and I added to the stash of packs for APTBNL.

All those - unposted. Oy!

But let's dive into the Hidden Gems binder for some pretty cardboard. Today, we go a way back to 2012 Topps.

I'll admit one thing: this is not entirely perfect. I give it a 98%, but I'll forgive the last 2 percentage points and give it a slot in a 9 pocket page. The only bad thing about this card is the badging. It ruins a bit of a great image. So much happening here. It's an old school play at the plate. Ellsbury is defintely trying to dislodge the ball from Josh Bard's hand. The body position tells us that. And the image captures to moment of impact: dirt flying, Bard's mask in mid air, Josh's right hand knocked from the glove and the ball beginning to trickle from his hand. If I found the right play, this is from the August 13th game in 2011, top of the 4th. Jacoby attempted to get home on a short fly to right, but was called out at the plate. So appearances of a ball falling out of someone's grasp are exaggerated.

It can be real easy to call Gotye a one hit wonder. And he probably will, in the long run. It was track 3 that got overplayed and over covered in 2011, but this track comes on his Making Mirrors album just before "Somebody That I Used To Know". It's poppy and upbeat, nothing like the song that made Gotye an international star. And it's almost half the length of that other song. If you spend a little time listening to the songs he's released, Gotye is all over the place. A bit Peter Gabriel-ish.

Hidden Gems 4: Sixty Six

Just a short post, being Memorial Day. Also a short post based on the length of the song. This will probably be the shortest gem in the series. But well worth it, and fairly topical for those enjoying this holiday with BBQ and too much food. Before we get to the song, let's take a gander at one of the few decent images from 2014 Topps.

Too much crop can lose a lot of the premise of the action. What's going on? What's the context? Fortunately, for a play at the plate, you can chop out the background and we still know what's happening. A player in mid air. Concentration in the catcher's eyes. The anticipation of the pending collision. Though a bad design, perfect framing on McCann's face makes this card.

When my wife and I first started dating, we would send mix tapes back and forth while she was at school. This song appeared on one from her, and it's 66 seconds of brilliance. It's from a Cincinnati radio station album of local bands. I lost the tape. But I always remembered the song, and 25+ years of searching later, now you will remember it too.

This song appeared in the B movie Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo. Pretty forgettable. I  almost had to use that video in this post, but I'll add that YouTube video to the playlist. You can download this song, and many others, from the I Heart Radio link in the paragraph above. Speaking of paragraphs, each one in this post is 66 words long. I'm so meta.

Hidden Gems 3: Quentin in the rain

As I go through this binder and series, one thing will be apparent - bodies. In recent years, Topps has been zooming in on images they use to create the cards. I think I understand why - the focus is the player. While there are less portraits than have been on vintage cards, this return is not beneficial or positive, in my book. Action cards are where it's at.

Prime example is player hated by all Dodger fans Carlos Quentin. Sure, Topps could have zoomed in more, but someone was wise enough to realize you can get everything you need by showing everything there is. Full body crashing into the wall, the hint of white from the pocket of the beige glove, the fencing, the top of the wall - all of it together makes the entire image. We know who the player is - it's right there on the front in foil we can't read. We don't need to see his face because there are enough identifying information to know this is Carlos Quentin. Bonus points for not messing with the contrast. The latest deal with Topps running images through a filter to to bring out each fold of a uniform is overused. The stark white of the top of his pants work well with the shadowed torso and lower legs.

Electric Light Orchestra is one of my favorite bands. From Eldorado to New World Record to Discovery, I've owned a bunch of their albums. And say what you want about Xanadu, it's still a guilty pleasure. In 1977, they release the double album Out Of The Blue. Filled with hits like Turn To Stone, It's Over, Sweet Talking Woman, it was their best selling album. Side 3 (side A of album 2) is a 4 part piece called Concerto For A Rainy Day. Most famous song from that side, used in dozens of movies, is the last song - Mr. Blue Sky. But the best song, in my opinion, is the first song from the piece, Standing In The Rain.

It's a well written piece that hits you hard with a bevy of instruments and melodies, and its' staccato rhythm mimics that of a thunderstorm, which is pretty much it's intention. It's ebbs through it's 4 minutes and flows into the next track, Big Wheels. If you haven't heard the entire piece, give it a listen here.

Hidden Gems 2: David and Neal

In recent years, Topps hasn't really spent the time to find great images. In fact, too often you see the same image appear on cards from the same year, or in consecutive years. True, they have done this in the past, but maybe we are more fickle in our live now than the previous generation.

Topps also used to have their own crew of cameramen out there. I'm sure for the Heritage and other releases where portrait shots are used, you have a group hired by Topps head out for the photos. But otherwise, a bit of searching through AP Images or Getty Images will turn up the photo used on a card. And many of those are great images. It just, in the task of turning the picture into a trading card, something inevitably gets lost.

Sometimes, the New York office gets it right. This is a fantastic card of David Murphy. The clean, raked lines of the track. The hint of green and yellow with the rapidly approaching wall. The center framing of Murphy as he tracks the flight and is about to raise his glove to make the catch (I assume). I've noticed recently that too much is spent by Topps making sure the player's face is the center of the card. Fortunately, the cropping is just right on this and creates an excellent piece of cardboard. By leaving in that bit of wall, not only are we, the viewer, not lost on the context of the action, but the wall balances the Topps badging on the left side of the card.

Journey. You either love them or you hate them. Growing up, my best friend Paul loved them. He had every cassette (and a couple 8 tracks I believe) of all their albums, so we listened to them a lot - as he had a car, and Chaz and I did not. But that's ok, because when you get past "Faithfully", Lovin', Touchin' Squeezin'" or "Open Arms", you can find some great tracks.

Early stuff with Gregg Rollie lead singing on "Play Some Music", adding Steve Perry with "Where Were You" and "Feeling That Way" to the overused, but still good, "Don't Stop Believing". That last song comes from their top selling album Escape, and that sucker is great from the first track to the end. But hidden among chart topping songs "Don't Stop Believing", "Who's Crying Now", "Open Arms" and "Stone In Love" is track 8 - Dead Or Alive. Neal Schon is an under appreciated guitar god. Every so often, a Journey song gives him the opportunity to show off his skills, but Dead Or Alive allows us to really hear his talent.

Hidden Gems #1: Kennedy & Blondie

Since I have cleared out my scan folder....Well technically, no - I just added two images, but those were PWEs I just received. They can wait. Anyway, since I cleared out my scan folder, I finally have a chance to start a new semi regular series here at 2x3 Heroes.

Recently, I took one of the many extra binders I scored from my local Goodwill (99 cents for a 3" D ring, baby) and created a collection I call "hidden gems". In my world, hidden gems are the cards that are gorgeous in their own right, but not the iconic cards in the trading card world. We all know of Gamble's afro, Luis Alvarado playing ball in a salvage yard, Munson in a cloud of dust at the plate and other fantastic rectangles over the years of cards. But there are others. Many others that are just part of a set and maybe because of the high volume of cards released or the change in attitude from set building to pulling the hit that they'ret forgotten.

Hidden Gems is the binder for them.

I will admit this is an idea based a lot on Night Owl's Cardboard Appreciation series. It was from reading his posts that I started to think about cards that don't fit my collecting habits but are still beautiful cards in their own rights. So in creating the binder, I was able to spend time going through my trade box to find those cards that I may have paused while sorting, thinking how great it looked though deciding it didn't fit my collection at the time. Now it does.

However, I wanted to go a little farther in these series of posts. Placing a song at the end of my posts became my trademark gimmick. I started it on a lark years back, but decided that it would be an identity for my blog. Also, it gives me time to hunt my brain and YouTube for a video that suits my mindset. For hidden gems, however, the song is not a tie in to the post subject per se, nor a wink and a smirk in an attempt a humor. In regard to the songs in hidden gems, they are just that - songs you may never have heard from an artist, but should. Whether some early cut, live show or buried in am album release, these are great songs to my ears.

Ok - I think I have set this up enough, let's see the card that really started this idea in my head.

I actually had to ask Night Owl for a copy of this card (thank goodness he had dupes). I am so enamoured with this card I talked about it when it first came out and made a custom card from the image. The only fault I have is that the badging at the bottom covers the feet. But really, when the card is this beautiful, you can quickly overlook a small flaw like that. My hope is that the over blurred 2016 cards are a one year thing because Topps is forgetting that a card is not just the player, but the environment around him. The palm trees, the 76 logo, the Muscle Milk ad, the small bleachers, the blue sky - all those are as much of the image as the position of the player and the shadows and highlights on his uniform. The best photos pull you into the scene, not push part of it into your lap.

For the first hidden gem song, this is a video that a coworker shared with me years back. When New York was the place and CBGBs was the club, a young band had a regular gig at the venue.

That is 30 year old Debbie Harry on stage with Blondie about 2 years before the re-release of their first album in 1977 gained some success in Australia and notice from Rolling Stone. That lead to their break out success in 1978 with the album Parallel Lines and their first hit "Heart Of Glass".

Lastly, Along with Radio 2x3, I have added the Hidden Gems songs to their own public playlist on the right side.