Tracking the card: two from three?

(ed note: this is the 4th part in an on going series where I attempt to track a card to a specific game. You can read previous card tracking through the label "tracking the card".)

Hopefully everyone had a safe and enjoyable Christmas. I have one more giveaway still in progress until the end of the year, so please take part if you like. It's free. Are their two better words than that?

Two words together that are better? You're so cute!

Anyway, over the past week I finally took the time to organize a box of junk wax I ripped from my LCS. 1992 Upper Deck baseball high series. The early, bordered UD releases are nice, and the box was just $12. There are Bench and Morgan autos in the boxes, but I didn't pull any. On the plus side, I filled a ton of holes and almost completed the set, so that's a good thing. While sorting the cards, I came across this one - Chris Gwynn #689.

Another great photo selection from UD. But as you can see, thrid baseman Greg Jeffreies appears to be throwing the bal towards second baseman Keith Miller. Is this a rare DP card that starts at third? Let's sleuth it out.

For starters, I am not familiar with Shea Stadium. And a bunch of searches only turned up more recent photos of the park with different outfield wall looks to them. While the stadium does appear to be Shea, there is always the chance it wasn't. The Mets website also has an interactive 360 view of the field, and I was still pointing to this being Shea, but none of the angles confirmed it for me. I needed to be over 50-50 on where this play at third occurred. A search at AP Images got me something that tipped the scales in the direction I needed. This image of Deion Sander and Bobby Bonilla give enough of a view of the outfield wall at Shea to state this is a regular season game.

So let's look at the 1991 season for the Dodgers. They made two east coast trips and played a total of six games in the Mets' ballpark. The first two games were in Early May - 7th and the 8th. Chris Gwynn appeared in neither. Their 2nd trip was the end of a 11 game home stand for the Mets, playing 4 games from July 18-21. Chris did not play in the 2nd game on the 19th. He started in left on the other three games.

In the game on the 18th, He came to bat 5 times and recorded a single hit - a home run in the top of the 7th. Otherwise, he flew out twice, stuck out once and grounded out 4-3 in his out plate appearances.

In the game on the 20th, Gwynn only has 3 at bats, two ground outs and a strike out in the top of the 5th. In the bottom of the 5th, Gwynn was part of a double switch. Tim Crews replaced him in left while Mitch Webster replaced reliever pitcher Dennis Cook, flopping the batting position of the two positional players.

That leaves us with the final game of the series on the 21st. Chris came to bat 4 times. He walked in the 3rd and was part of a 6-4-3 double play hit by Lenny Harris. Gwynn hit into a 6-3 ground out in the 6th. In his last at bat, he flew out to his counterpart in left field. It's his at bat in the top of the 2nd that brings our answer. After Darryl Strawberry singled, Gwynn drew a walk. Lenny Harris then drilled a single, scoring Strawberry with Gwynn pulling up at second. Next batter was catcher and current Angels manager Mike Scioscia, who slapped a slow roller to Jefferies at 3rd. Gregg stepped on third for the force, and then attempted a play at second, but Harris beat the throw to the bag.

As you look at the card, you can see how close to the bag Gwynn was as Jefferies was making the throw to second. Scioscia was swinging on a 1-0 count, so doubtful it was an attempted steal of third but a slow grounder. Considering it was Lenny Harris advancing to 2nd but Mike Scioscia lumbering down the line to first, I'm shocked Jefferies was throwing for the force at 2nd to get a second out.

And with that, we close another case for Encyclopedia 2x3Heroes.

Tis the Season: You get a car, and you get a car, and you....

The great and powerful Randomizer has spoken!

I want a onion bagel!

All total, for the dupe giveaway, there were 31 entries. And since I like stupid facts, let's give a few about the selections:
* Most common stack to be ranked #1 was the Allen and Ginter dupes, though one person ranked that #13
* Least favorite stack was the random UFC, golf, TV & movies, though one person ranked that #1. Fighting with that stack for the bottom position was the hockey cards.
* All but one winner were given a stack that was ranked #7 in their list or higher. The only person that had to go below that was the player who ended up 15th in the winnings.
* The #10 winner was able to secure their first choice in their rankings. Nice for them the stack was unclaimed for so long.
* Winner #2 didn't get the first choice on his list. Again - that's how popular the A&G dupes were.
* The first and the last person to enter the draft came out empty handed. Sorry. That being said, that last entry ranked 5 stacks with the value "999999". I kinda wish he won, but at the bottom of the randomizer - I have a stack of about 30 Bips he would have received. :)

Ok - let's get to what you all care about. First off, let me show you how the names were entered in the Randomizer. I copy and pasted the name as it was listed in form. I took the whole name as it was entered - everything you typed prior to your email address.

Being that this is not a case break and no one has any finances involved in the randomizer, I am sure you are comfortable in the fact I am not video recording this. Being the third year of TTS, I ran the list three times.

As I stated, we have 15 stacks to giveaway, and Night Owl didn't have to fight anyone for the cards he wanted. After going through each person's list, here are the winners and what they are receiving:

Night Owl - 2013 & 2014 A&G cards
Jeff Yeo -  2014 Topps Gypsy Queen stack #1
Caitlin Jennings - 2014 Topps flagship stack #1
Josh DenHartog - 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen stack #2
Dawgbones - 2014 Topps flagship stack #2
RAZ - random cards UFC, WWE, golf, TV & movies
Daniel Wilson - 2014 Heritage
Jason Carter - 2014 Panini Golden Age
Steve Drennen - 2014 Bowman and Bowman Chrome
Al Kawamoto - 2014 UD hockey and 2010 UD World of Sports
Weston DeShon - 2014 soccer cards
Mark Hoyle - 2012 Panini Americana and 2014 NASCAR
Kevin Papoy - 2013/14 basketball
John Miller - 2014 football stack #1
Adam Kaningher - 2014 football stack #2

Note for those that won a stack #1 or #2 - both stacks are pretty equal. For the GQ and flagship, I put all the dupes in order, then built the two stacks by flipping each card in order and alternating between two stacks. So you may get dupes of my dupes, but they are even in number and hopefully even in stars. For the football stacks, I did the same alternating between two stacks. I watched as any inserts and serialed cards came up and did my best to have an even amount of those between the two groups.

One giveaway remains. If you haven't picked a hit from my list, go visit this post and do it. And if nothing thrills you, but you still want about 40 free cards, just leave a comment with no number, but your favorite team and player. I would love to send you something. Please, help me make a dent in this full 5000 count box of cards.

Speaking of cards, let's post two. Two I received yesterday from a successful TTM request.

Nice return from Roberto Hernandez that took just over a week. Thanks Mr. Hernandez. Congrats to the winners! Go celebrate.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter....

Just a short reminder there are free things available if you have not signed up yet. Search back through the the last week worth of posts to find them. 

Like the others out there, I want to wish you and your family a happy and safe Christmas day. May your stockings be stuffed with hits. Can we give some thanks to Santa for another year of excellent deliveries? For myself, one of his elves put this beauty together.

And to think you can make that with their wooden tools. Merry Christmas everyone.

Tis the Season: Something for everyone

Here's hoping your Christmas Eve is going well. And if you are Jewish, today is the final light on the Menorah. There is still time to have a chance at my duplicate giveaway. You can visit this post to read more, and then click the link to sign up.

As I mentioned, and as I like to do each year, I want to be sure anyone that would like something gets something. If you have been floating and visiting 2x3 Heroes over the past couple years, I have a Trade Bait page as most other bloggers do. However, it's gone now. I took the page down because in the coming years, I plan to do something else with the hits I receive. That's not to say I don't have a stack of relics and autographs within arm's reach of myself as I type. So that's my gift to each of you - take one of my trade bait, would ya? I scanned 67 different cards. I am not saying they are amazing hits. They're just cards that don't fit my collection. Some have been riding in the trade bait for a while and others never got scanned into the list. I want to let each of you pick one. Any one. It's yours, with no need to send me anything back. This is my Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Festivus gift to you.

Before I link you to the list, a couple rules. When you view the Flickr images, each is numbered. Come back to THIS POST and comment with the number of the card you want. Also, list out your favorite team and your favorite player. And if you think I don't have your mailing address, shoot me an email with your screen name and your mailing address so I can tie the two of you together.

The reason for the favorite team and favorite player is two fold. First, along with your pick, I'll throw in some team cards of your team. Now, I have baseball and hockey, so pick either. All my football and basketball are in the raffle, remember? Second, I plan on using this list to help with future hits I get. I can contact the people that have stated the team and/or player and offer up the card first. If no one wants or needs, I'll post about the card and throw it out to anyone that responds. My root thought is I don't want to be sitting on cards that belong in someone's collection. It's a waste.

Ok - Kate said she was under the weather, so Lauren stepped up to guide you to the cards...

Glenn's out looking for food.

That's pretty much it. Pick your card, comment here with that number plus your favorite team and player, then email me your address. If you aren't sure my email, I bet you could find it on the WANTS page. I'm going to let this roll thru the end of the year, so you have until the 31st to pick a card. And it goes without saying, but I will say it: just one of each card available, so once it's selected, it gone. I'll try and remove the image of any card selected. Have a great night, and watch out for fat men flying carts driven by rangifer tarandus.

Tis the Season: let's give stuff away

Ok - I am behind this year as opposed to the last two years of Tis the Season, but let's start if off quickly. If you are new to Tis the Season, it's very simple:

You get free stuff.

That's all there is to it. I have my commons box from the 2014 card season. I hate dupes, so you have a change to get all my dupes for simply a couple minutes of your time. In the past, I have had guessing contests for the cards. This year, I am going to do it a little differently. I have broken out all the stacks of free cards into 15 different groups. You have a chance for:

One of two 2014 Topps flagship baseball stacks (series 1, 2 and update)
One of two stacks of 2014 Gypsy Queen
A stack of 2014 Heritage
A stack or 2014 Panini Golden Age (no minis, sorry)
One of two stacks of random 2014ish football cards
A stack of random 2014ish baseketball cards
A stack of Allen and Ginter cards (mostly 2013 but some 2014 in there)
A stack of 2014 Bowman & Bowman Chrome
A stack of soccer cards (yes, Panini World Cup is in there)
Three other stacks of oddball releases, like UFC, WWE, golf, UD World of Sports, Panini Americana

So how do you get a stack? We are going to let the great and powerful Randomizer decide the 15 winners. To take part, I have created a form to fill out. It lists the 15 different stacks available. Just rank the stacks from 1 to 15, with #1 being the stack you really, REALLY want, and #15 being that stack that will end up lining the bottom of your bird's cage.

As with all my contests, you are welcome to promote it if you want. You can follow me if you want. But neither are a requirement. Being that this is so late getting posted, I will give everyone until the Dec 27th to fill out the form. At midnight, I will cut of the entries and run the Randomizer to select the winners.

So if you would like to get some free cards, just click the right spot on the image below to be taken to the form.

My silly boyfriend! Just click me anywhere to get to the form!

As I mentioned earlier this week, everyone will have a chance to get something this season. I expect to post the other giveaway post on the 24th. Just because you win in the Randomizer, you will still be able to select something from that post. More on that when Wednesday comes along.

Got questions - take a few seconds and you can find out how to contact me.

Sensory overload

So all of us pretty much learned when we were younger about the senses we have in our body. You know the five - smell, sight, sound, touch and taste. Aristotle came up with that list. We actually have more, closer to nine and maybe as many as 22. But when you dive into other senses above the first 5, it becomes harder to describe. Sure, I step outside right now without a shirt on and know pretty quick the thermometer is closer to zero than 100. That still seems like a bit of the touch sense.

When it comes to baseball cards, most of us only attribute them to two senses: sight and touch. Yet, over 100+ years of cards, we have touched on all of the senses.

SIGHT

I could post pretty much any card here and demonstrate "sight", but when you think about Championship Baseball, you have more than the cards. The playing board, the tokens, the box - all of the pieces really are something to add in viewing the cards. They take on much more than just holding them in our hands to view the front, then flip them over to read the back. 

TOUCH

Again, almost any card could be here, but think about all the changes that cards have gone through. The sizes and shapes, the gloss, the foil, the embossing, the addition of jersey swatches and patches - all allow us to get a different sense of the cards. Just like this '96 Fleer with the matte finish. Quite the change to cards than everything else coming out since the late 80's.

SOUND

Cards were flat, inanimate squares of paper. Then, Starting Lineup released Electronic Talking Baseball, and now we could hear the player on the card "playing" a ball game. A year later, Topps jumped into the sound with Baseball Talk cards. Then, Donruss and Upper Deck put a card on a CD, so you could watch and hear videos of the player on your computer.

TASTE

While officially no card exists you can eat (to my knowledge), there are still a plethora of cards released by food companies and restaurants. Slurpee, Jimmy Dean, Denny's, Hostess, and even Red Heart dog food to name but very, very few. Plenty of food products you can munch on as you hope to pull out a nice Griffey card and not a.... DAMMIT!

SCENT

Now, just a year ago, an official scratch and sniff card was released by minor league club the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. But here, in my mind, is the first card you could smell. Plant the card, water it and in a short period of the time the seeds within the card would sprout. I wonder how many people planted these?

Baseball cards - much more than something pretty to look at.

Throwback Thursday - 12.18.2014

Every Thursday, I post a card showing a ballplayer wearing a throwback uniform from my collection. Hopefully, he will be wearing it well, with proper pants blousing. I'll try not to duplicate a uniform. The picture may be from the front of the card, or the back. Enjoy the uniforms from years past.

Bud Black - 1993 Donruss - New York Giants