Let's talk about the National

For starters, I apologize for the lack of posts this week. My company started me on a two month position in our corporate office - downtown Chicago in the Mart. So instead of waking up about 15 min before I start work (since I work from home). I am up at 5 to catch the 6:25 train and be at my desk at 7:45-ish. Then it's home about 6pm.

I frigging love it!

I have to figure out how I can NOT be sent back to the phones in two months. Doesn't say much about my current position when I work from home 4 days a week and I want out.

Anyway, I have a few small trades scanned and ready to post, and that was my intention today, ad then I got another out of the blue envelope from Julie at Funner Here (which I will post later), and it reminded me I was going to post about the National coming up at the end of this month. Being the hometown blogger (along with Dime Box Nick and maybe a couple others - Lifetime Topps?), any of you attending will be coming to our turf. I know Julie is in for all five days. I think Nick he was just doing one (Sunday, right?). Pat at Hot Corner Cards said he was just coming on Wednesday (wth?). I have all the days off, but my wallet it telling me just two days, so I think I am oily going Saturday and Sunday.

Soooooo.....who's coming in? Let's try and put together a blog roll hookup for dinner. I am thinking either Saturday or Sunday. Feel free to leave a comment here, or email me at 2x3heroesATgmailDOTcom and I'll get you on the list.

Also, if you are coming, or thinking of coming, and have any questions about the area, please ask. I've lived in this part 46 of my 47 years (I am still trying to forget about that year in Ft Myers).

I'll never forgot about that one steamy August night.

If you are not sure where to go, what to see, where to avoid - anything - just comment or send me and email and I'll give you the answer or opinion you desire.

One more, but still at four

Been a while since I made an addition to the Pierce Project. And technically, this isn't marking a card of the list. I still stand at 4 cards needed to complete the group. However, the team that wears uniforms that claim they are the Chicago White Sox (I'm not buying it with that record) did a Pierce giveaway a couple weeks back. I had done the Denver tour, so I did not have the money at the time to get a ticket and snag my own, but eBay came through for me.

Billy has one of the statues within the Cell, and resin copies were given away to fans. It was a given one of these would end up in my possession. This puppy is heavy.

And the cruddy picture does no justice to the pitcher. The seller even included the ticket stub - nice touch when I didn't even expect it.

Topps - not even trying anymore.

Series 2 has been out a couple weeks. Oh Topps. Is it me or do they just not seem to give a crap when they work on cards? From the recycled images year after year (set after set), to the really poor math skills on backside of this year's offering, to out right ignoring whole MLB teams. It's like Topps got the exclusive license... and then hired the Three Stooges to design and produce the cards.

The boys display more Yankee prospects they will print instead of Astros.

I made mention last year about the annoying font issues. An issue that started right from the get go with the 2013 flagship set. I'm tired of beating that horse, but now something new has caught my eye.

Thank goodness - my thighs are burning.

I noticed this while collating a blaster and a couple rack packs of series 2, and it sparked my brain that I saw it in series one. Would the pattern would continue with series 2. It didn't. And it's really a striking, annoying OCD problem if you ask me. Here - just look at these two cards.

Nothing to do with the foil, the shine, the rainbow - nothing. We all know about the multitude of variations for the Chasing History insert set. Just look at these two cards. Hanley is from series 1 while Junior is from series 2. Got it? Good. Now let me turn them over and scan the backs.

Opposite directions. When I first put my series one cards together, I noticed the horizontal Chasing History cards were rotated 180 degrees from the normal orientation on wide cards. Topps usually has you turn the card 90 degrees clockwise to view the image. But series one has you turning the Chasing History cards counter clockwise. In series 2, however, they "fixed" the issue. Or did they?

Did Topps royally screw up series 1, or did they fail to follow their plan with series 2? Or, is the ultimate intention of Topps to make me lose what's left of my already fragile mind?

The box part 4: Hey - there's an unintended pun there!

Happy 4thof July to everyone reading. In the rest of the world, it's just a day that appears on the calendar, then is replaced in 24 hours. If you are in the US, it's the day we blow up crap cuz frankly, we're Americans and that is just what we do.

Pictured: American dream being lived.

While it was not the plan, the fourth, and final, part of the box from Hot Corner Cards Pat happens to get revealed on Independence Day. So before I head off to do fun things, let's go through the rest of the box. We are just going to call this part "and the rest" because....well, you'll see. 

For starters, Pat sent a stack of about a dozen players sporting throwbacks. I have actually used a couple of them for Throwback Thursday, but here's a few more.

I have wanted that Felder in the upper right since Nick showed it on Dime Boxes. Threw it in my cart on COMC. Now it's out of my cart.

Couple of broken bat cards in the box. Real beauties. 

MINIS!!!! Great set fillers. I like the one at the bottom from Obak. 

More set fillers. Those collision at the plate cards are a great insert set.

And the best of the bunch?

Oh wait, wrong side. Let me rescan that.

Ahhhh.... good old Comiskey. I have a few of these Fleer stickers, but none have the back of the old part at 35th and Shields. 

Thanks again for the great box, Pat. A the rest of you play nice.

The box part 3: double trouble

While the amount of White Sox in the box sent to my by Pat at Hot Corner Cards exceeded the other categories of cards, the wide variety of cards showing the turn at second for a double play made this group the most interesting. Pat included about 60 cards with a runner being forced at second, and my initial review says he may have duplicated just one card I currently have in the binder. But enough of the jib jab - on with the scans.

Pat being a Tigers fan (as he claims), he dropped a lot of Detroit clad players in the box.

I'll have to admit - that is a lot of Old English "D" I have to put in pages. The Stadium Club Whitaker is a pretty nice card. Great framing. Actually it's a little sad that is not a photo from Tigers Stadium in the background. Speaking of Whitaker, I made mention yesterday to remember his name when I showed a couple cards of him bunting.

AHHHHHHHH!!!! Pat even emailed me it was fun to drop all those Whitakers on a White Sox fan. The Leaf in the upper left is a difficult card as it shows Lou bunting on the back. Oh what binder to put it in? FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS! Here's two more cards that could go in multiple binders.

 Nice throwbacks on those two cards. Sometimes, a turn at two will have a cameos of another player. At times you can't see the names, but other times there is no doubt who's being forced out.

 

I wonder if a certain Wallach collector wants the card on the right? I know a certain dime box digger would want these two.

And I only thought Upper Deck did those multi image cards. More gems in the box...

Canvas-y DPs.

Shiny DPs.

Airborne DPs.

A lot of airborne DPs. In fact, my vote for the best of the bunch is a player launched in the air, about to make the throw to first. Enjoy...

Maybe not the best of Topps designs, but man that is an amazing shot. Ball still in Owen's hands, player just missing taking him out, SS focused on getting the runner at first. Gem card right there.

Ok - three groups down. Tomorrow we will tackle the group known as "all the rest".

The box part 2: Laying one down

So yesterday I started diving into a 300 count (or more) box that came from Pat at Hot Corner Cards. Let's get back to displaying the goodies within by seeing how Pat helped fill my binder of bunting cards. About 40 or so of the cards in the box had players positioned to have, or be prepared, to drop down a bunt. As this binder has grown, it's interesting who they (the card companies) select to be enshrined forever on a card squared to the pitcher. Some are obvious.

One would expect that if a pitcher is on the card, at the plate, he's probably not swinging away unless the sacks are empty. Three things on these cards: a) these guys REALLY need to work on their bunting. You will never deaden the ball with your hands that close together. b) You don't want to move the bat towards the pitch, unless you are trying to pop up the ball.  And c) Sorry Nick - find your own copies of these pitcher at the plate on COMC. BTW - combined career batting average between these two - .197 with 10 homers (all by Fernando).

Now, let's go to the other end of the spectrum to players you would NEVER expect to bunt.

Combined lifetime home runs of these 3 is 1248. Granted, about 30% or so are aided with steroids. I'm not looking at you, Kirk or Harold. See, though, how they all hold the bat - hand at the bottom with the other half way up. Kirk it going to drag, but he is not about to swat at the ball. Baines is waiting for the pitch to come to him. And Sammy.....is contemplating if he has enough HGH to make it through September. But I digress.

Some players - they just seem to always be a-bunting. Like...

Curtis Wilkerson.

Gary Thurman. Different games, btw. You can tell by his stirrups.

Doug Dascenzo, from both sides of the plate. The card on the right is perfect positioning to bunt.

And Lou Whitaker. Remember this name - we will visit Lou a LOT in part three of the box.

So who takes the prize as the best bunt card in the box?

Giving the win to Andy Sheets. Sure, it's a nice card, and Andy is squared up well. And yes, those Angel uniforms are horrible, but check out the killer view of the memorial patch for Gene Autry. One of the better honors shown to a former owner.

Ok - tomorrow: double plays.

A box...in 4 parts

I've been dumped on before. I had the PWE bombing by Jaybarkerfan. I had a drop from Junior Junkie. Even Jeff at My Sports Obsession dumped a ton of Chisox on me. But for sheer variety, Pat over at Hot Corner takes the prize with the 300 count box he sent a couple weeks back. I finally have the chance to organize all the goodies within. I won't scan everything and show it in one post, so let's look it over thru the rest of this week.

First up, the plethora of White Sox cards. About half the box was Pale Hose. Strange a Tigers fan would have so many. I think he secretly wants to be a Sox fan but is afraid to go public. I am sure these are just dupes in that regard. So what are the highlights of those dupes Pat gave up?

Let's start with the shiny, chrome-y Sox. Love the Frank '04 Chrome. And the Mark from 04 Donruss is a great addition. Ahhh....the days when the picture on the back was different.

Vintage-y Sox are next. I really need to work on that Goudey set. I like the simplicity of the cards and the bright colors. The Turkey Red in the middle is one I am no longer missing.

Some real vintage was in the box as well. Three eras of uniforms on display. I really hope the Sox bring back the 59 threads as a Sunday throwback some year. They wore them a couple years back as a throwback for a series, but that is not enough time for a fine design as that.

Lots of great players in the stack of Sox. How can you go wrong with three great cards of Fisk? I have never seen those SI Kids cards before (with perforation on the edge). I have a few of the Fleer star stickers, but zero White Sox until now.

As I am want to do, we need a best card of the bunch. Since I am breaking this box down by groups, we will showcase the best, IMO, of each group. The best of the ChiSox was a little tough, but I am going to have to pick this beauty.

 

Yup - not a Sox card at all. But a cameo of the Big Hurt takes the top bill. Does it bother me with Frank as a Bronx Bomber? Nah. I mean - Magnum PI is their first baseman. Who cares!