Throwback Thursday - 06.04.2015

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.

Jhonny Peralta - 2015 Bowman - St. Louis Cardinals

So close for the other 28 means I give out free cards

As I start to type the first words, we are 5 minutes from the broadcast start of game 1 for the Stanley Cup. And with commercials, Doc and Edzo and the dipwads back at the hockey network, probably closer to 20 before the puck drop.

Now, I talked a bit about a trade with a Lightning fan on Monday, and yesterday used Upper Deck to predict the Cup winner. But what about the other 28 teams that tried so hard to make it to this point (except the Coyotes)? They have been on the golf course for a month in some cases. The fans for those teams, and I know you are out there, deserve a little something to make them smile about the 14-15 season.

They didn't make the finals, honey.

I alluded to an announcement today, so here it is: FREE HOCKEY CARDS!

Yup. If you are a fan of one of the 28 teams that didn't make the finals, just leave a comment and I will send you a super PWE of cards. A super PWE is a nine card page cat into thirds and stuffed with cards. About 25-27 cards per envelope. I have at least 50 cards per team, so if you see someone post a team, you can pick it too. And when all is said and done, you may get a 2nd or a 3rd mailing since I plan to empty out this 5000 count box this summer. Oh, and if you want cards from the 5 time Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, I got some of those. Just no Lightning - Jeff has them all.

Details: Yes, there is junk wax era in there, but the cards do go up to current releases. They are from sets I don't plan to collect, dupes of other sets, cards from repack boxes - you name it. And did I mention hits? Yup - there are relic and autograph cards to be had too. I won't tell you which teams, but these are cards that won't go for high money on ebay. I don't want the hassle of scanning and posting for it to sell for a buck. Better to give it to someone who will love it for simply leaving a comment.

And that is all it will take. Leave a comment below with the team you would like. If you are certain I have your mailing address, then we are good. If you are not sure, or you think I may not be able to associate your nickname with your real name, shoot me an email to my gmail account - 2x3heroesATgmailDOTcom. Subject it so I can find it easily and I'll get mailings out this weekend. You don't need to follow my blog. Pimping is not required. If you want to do either, thank you. But please help me put all these cards into your hands, cuz they belong somewhere nicer then the bottom of the box pile.

Top of the pile.

Let's do this!!!

Predicting the Cup via cardboard

It's time for Lord Stanley's bowl to be awarded. All 30 teams fought hard (except the Sabres), but we are down to the final two. All the sports sites like to point to stats, depth, grittiness and a hundred other ideas to come to their prediction of who will raise the Holy Grail. Being a card blog, let's just look at what Upper Deck thought about the two teams during this year's flagship hockey release. Score the cards and we determine the winner. Simple, right?

Where the hell is panel BF?

For this comparison, I took the team sets from both series of the 2014-15 Upper Deck release. Fortunately, I have all but one of the cards (how about some want list help folks?). In the two series, the Blackhawks have one more card in series 1, so I omitted that from the scoring. The player on the card was traded away anyway (Ben Smith). I took the cards in order, placed them side by side and scanned. While comments will be made, the ultimate decision is based on which card looks better. Got it? Let's go.

First up we have Shooter for the Hawks, and team captain Stamkos. Both in away uniforms. Sharp is the expected action shot one would see on hockey cardboard. Steven looks.....troubled. Not sure about the grimace on his face. I guess he is looking for the puck. Going with Sharp.

Hawks 1 Lightning 0

Two goal scoring celebrations, from Filppula and Captain Serious. Plug for NBCSN and Honda with Toews while Filppula gets Great Clips, Reebok and Best Buy. Toews easy win with the horizontal card.

Hawks 2 Lightning 0

BTW, I noticed I didn't keep the teams on the same side. It's because of the horizontal cards. This isn't hare to follow. Tyler Johnson vs. Marian Hossa. Hoss just scored another goal and the crowd is dancing the Chelsea Dagger. Johnson is about to let one fly on the Sabres. Perfect timing catching the shaft of the composite stick mid bend. Johnson with the win here.

Hawks 2 Lightning 1

Killorn against Seabrook. The shots are so close they might as well be photoshopped. However, Killorn is in that DREADFUL alternate the Lightning have. Seriously guys, get rid of that thing. It's embarrassing. Seabrook wins.

Hawks 3 Lightning 1

Matt Carle and Kris Versteeg. I really want to like Kris. He has a lot of talent and when he is focused he can be dangerous on the ice. He gets lazy though, and that's why he has been a healthy scratch for many games. Carle appears to be making an outlet pass. I am giving this to Carle for one big reason: Versteeg's stick is up. Dammit - get that thing on the ice! You can't score from there.

Hawks 3 Lightning 2

Gudas for Tampa and Kruger for Chicago. Again, the crappy alternate. But the greatness of that Kruger card, with the puck below the border, would beat the regular sweater.

Hawks 4 Lightning 2

Netminder Corey Crawford and winger Ondrei Palat. This round is tough. End of game celebration for Crow, and I'm assuming a milestone goal for Palat. I want to lean towards Crawford, with the nice shot of the mask. But I am giving this to Palat. Good framing and the "natural" lighting highlight him well.

Hawks 4 Lightning 3

Great shot of Shaw ducking out of the way from being run over by a Flyer. Any other round, that would win. But man, amazing in the net shot of Ben Bishop. UD set itself apart in the card world with images like this. Panini could have learned something.

Hawks 4 Lightning 4

Raanta and Brown. Brown is, again, the standard action photo. Raanta is showing off his mask and staring down someone. Antti gets the nod.

Hawks 5 Lightning 4

Brenden Morrow. Patrick Kane. Really?

Hawks 6 Lightning 4

Brad Richards about to feed a pass over to either Kane or Versteeg (unless Q did line shuffling already). I wonder what Nabokov is laughing about? The all white background frames his card well.

Hawks 6 Lightning 5

Bicks just scored, which this post season has happened far too little. Hedman is rocking the long flowing hair. I don't think it's a mullet. Liking the fans behind Bickell for this one. That old dude is very happy indeed.

Hawks 7 Lightning 5

Battle of the horizontal cards. Two time (soon to be 3 time) Norris trophy champ Keith goes against Ryan Callahan trying to slide one past Dustin Tokarski. You can't see the puck on Callahan's card, but I think it made it in 5 hole. Goal and win to Ryan.

Hawks 7 Lightning 6

Last cards have a battle of blue liners, Ham Sandwich against Stralman. Niklas is looking to pass and I think Anton is racing up the ice to get the icing call. Or maybe jumping in on an odd man rush. Even cards, but the extra point goes to Stralman for the nice Canucks sweaters. Those need to be their standards and jump that jumping orca disaster.

Hawks 7 Lightning 7

Well how about that. We are tied. For overtime, let's decide this with a simple audio test. Fog horn/goal score songs. Click "Listen Here" beneath each logo. You will be taken to a page with the current sounds.

                                                     Listen Here                                                          Listen Here


Hawks in 5. Bishop will be hearing that in his sleep.

Thanks for the trade. I hate you.

"Hate" is such a powerful word, but misused I think. The definition of the word is "to feel intense or passionate dislike for someone or something". Wikipedia really breaks out the idea of hatred even more than a simple Webster's entry. Hate, however, is really a difficult concept to convey. There are such varied levels of hate, that hate in itself becomes just a blanket word. You can hate a sports team, or hate a vegetable. You hate this actor, that movie, this song, that store.... I prefer the word "dislike". See, the opposite of hate is love. So you can't hate someone, but love something that person is involved in. I can't claim to hate Led Zeppelin when I have one of their songs on my phone. I can dislike them, though, and just like that certain song.

The Stanley Cup finals start on Wednesday. My Hawks, whom I like, are up against the Lightning, whom Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum likes. Jeff is new to the blog world, but getting his feet wet in the trading game. He offered to help with my GQ needs, and I offered to help with anything I could find, plus every single Lightning card I have in my trade box. (side note: more hockey cards will be available on Wednesday, so come back, ok?) Jeff was kind enough to hit more than my GQ needs.

 Not just base, but 3 for the Glove Stories insert and a couple white framed. I wasn't planing on putting together the white borders, but I will take any sent my way.

I am one single card short for the series 1 base. Card #12? Anyone? The Drew goes towards the 2010 Turkey Red insert set. I'm about 3/4 the way through finishing that.

Shiny, gold and purple.

Some other White Sox junk wax additions I didn't have. Man, I have never see the Ventura insert. That is the typical stuff the card companies put out in the late 90's. Love adding that to the collection.

Jeff did put a couple Hawks in the package. I'm sure he was glad to get rid of them, as I was glad to receive them. Now that this trade is complete, I will hate you and your blog until we win the Cup.

Sorry, it turns out that I love my Blackhawks.

Two by two

Hands of blue.

Among other blue appendages

If you know your Firefly references, River makes that rhyme during an episode when she talks about the group that held her captive and experimented to turn her into a killing machine. If you don't, stop reading this post and watch the entire series on Netflix right now. What the hell is wrong with you?

Now, along with blogging, I nightly play the Firefly game on Steam. It's still not completed, so basically you are just making "runs" to earn points. With those points you get crates. And in those crates are trading cards. Which is good, because I never got into Bunt, and I frankly don't enjoy the Star Wars card trader. All the power to those that do, but I like my cards tangible and tactile in hand. With the Cortex, the cards are just a side part of the game right now. When it launches, I don't believe they will factor much into the play. If anyone wants an invite for Firefly, leave me a comment. I can snag 100 points if I shoot you an email.

So in celebration of River Tam's poetry, here's two scans from two different mailings.

If you aren't going to be buried in cards from Wes at Jaybarkerfan, you won't complain when the return address if from Matt at Bob Walk the Plank. Matt always drops some great envelopes on me filled with missing cardboard. I think he hid a camera in my Sox box to see what I don't have. Plus...

...there is always a hit or two in the package. Two from Magglio this time, one off his back and the other out of his hands. And look - game used reference on each. Thanks again, Matt.

The other package is from Keith at the Home Run Apple. Always nice to have a place to send your Metropolitans cardboard. In return, Keith sent a few needs from the mid 90's on. That Sale is the rainbow foil parallel. I just need two others for the rainbow.

The Quentin was the reason for the mailing. Somehow I came out on top in a recent contest Keith ran. Luckily, the Dodger favorite Quentin was a former White Sox, so I snagged his autograph for that very reason. Imagine my surprise when the Triple Threads Sale came along for the ride, and numbered 5/18. My luck in 2015 GQ will soon be your collection addition. Thanks, Keith!

Throwback Thursday - 05.21.2015

(note: been almost 2 months since I posted one of these - let me get back on track starting today)

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.

Josh Hamilton - 2014 Topps Stadium Club - California Angels

Keeping track

I'm fairly certain I can say "School House Rock" and everyone will get the reference. It' embedded into our cultural lexicon so much that it's known by people who may not have been around to see it first hand, just like American Bandstand, Ed Sullivan, Candid Camera and the like. I know many of you reading this, however, did see them Saturday mornings between cartoons on ABC. Hell, for a while the cartoons really sucked and catching SHR was the highlight of the morning, along with snagging the prize out of a fresh box of Quisp.

Wannabe.

I bring up School House Rock, because when I share these scans from a package sent to me by Brian at HSCA, one of the songs from mathematics comes to mind: I Got Six. There is a theme to all these cards. Let me show you and explain.

These technically don't fit in with the theme. However, one cannot receive some '79 OPC and not show them off.

I do wish the Queen's Throwbacks were in color. I get the idea, but still - they could have washed them out a bit. Most of the joy of throwbacks are in the color. Geez, that is a great miscut. Boy oh boy.

I need to complete the GQ mini set of the Basics of Baseball, so if you have any lying around I would be most appreciative. Throwback in the middle and a sweet mini of Golden Age. I miss Golden Age.

Shiny throwbacks.

Cards needed for the player collections. Chromes on the outsides.

Not just any 2014 Eaton but a SP image variation Eaton. And that wasn't the last Eaton in the mailing.

My 2nd copy of this card. This copy is a great centerpiece in my throwbacks binder.

So, what ties them all together? Brian checked out my lists, both up top and via Zistle. There wasn't a card he sent that was a dupe (besides the Eaton auto). Brian, thanks for the cards and thanks for realizing "I Got Lists".