I Want This
Welcome To The Club
It has been some time since I added any blogs to my “Card Blogs Of Merit” section of the sidebar. In fact, it was last February when I welcomed Night Owl Cards to the list, and have since added about a billion RSS feeds to my Google Reader. In so doing, I find that there are some blogs that consistently produce great content that I find myself compelled to read every time they post. With that, welcome to the club:
Wrigley Wax
Beardy’s Baseball Blog
I’m not going to attempt to justify their inclusion on the list over anybody else, so don’t try me. I will say this though, every time they post, I find myself clicking over to read what they’ve written—seldom do their posts linger unread.
Yes, there are other blogs out there that I like a lot, and as more time passes and I find myself continuously drawn back to certain blogs, they too will invariably make the list. For now though, welcome to the club you two, may extra hits from my site rain upon you freely.
Curtis Wins 2009 Marvin Miller Man Of The Year Award…
Yeah, I wrote about this yesterday but Curtis Granderson officially won the award, as revealed on Mike & Mike In The Morning The news was picked up yesterday afternoon by the Detroit media, one who presented the underwhelming headline “Tigers’ Curtis Granderson Recognized For Volunteer Work,” which, um, understatement of the year, considering what he won? I hate to say it, but the Free Press article isn’t much better. Don’t hurt yourselves fellas.
...Sponsored by Upper Deck Baseball Cards
That’s right. This was the long precursor to the Granderson announcement that I’ve been hearing all week: All week here on Mike and Mike in the morning we are presenting the 2009 MLB Player’s Choice Awards presented by Upper Deck. “It’s Not Worth Collecting If It’s Not Upper Deck.” This was often preceded and followed by an Upper Deck radio ad on ESPN radio.
Woah. First of all, good for Upper Deck on this trying to increase the profile of baseball cards on a national level. I was surprised that these ads were airing and am on board 100%. Isn’t it weird though, that this is happening right as Upper Deck is about to lose their MLB license? Obviously, they are not conceding baseball cards, and seem to be strengthening their relationship with the MLBPA by sponsoring these awards. Yet to someone in the know (me), this seems like a defensive move to prevent the HUGE DROPOFF IN SALES that will accompany cards with no jersey logos or team names. To the average listener though—likely someone who hasn’t thought about baseball cards in quite some time—they may be compelled to buy a pack or two, which may draw people back into the hobby to some degree. If nothing else, it is reintroducing baseball cards into the public consciousness. I’ll be interested to see how this works out and if Topps pursues a similar type of mass media marketing at some point (like by sponsoring the actual end of the year MLB awards—that would be a real F U to Upper Deck, no?)
Is This Good Or Bad?
In the category of “this has a point but you need to stick with me,” Mark Teixeira has signed an exclusive memorabilia agreement with Steiner Sports. Why do I care?
This is why.
I posted that nary a month after I started this blog, so it is very, very likely that you have never read it. As it is close to my heart, it is recommended reading.
Skipping the story, eh? Here’s a picture:
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Now go read.
Given all that, this begs the question, is this good or bad for me? On the one hand, my chances of getting my replacement ball signed have now gone up exponentially—he will probably have mail-in signings that I can take advantage of. However, the cost of getting my ball signed has also exploded, much to my chagrin. I’m thinking that ship sailed as soon as he joined the Yankees, but this drives it home. Also, this pretty much kills my chances of explaining the story to him in person at a signing, since I won’t really be able to make it up to New York much.
Thoughts?
Topps Series 4 Exclusives
Like that Kaline card up top? Yeah, me too. I find I'm often disappointed with a final team checklist because I always end up finding one or two players that should have had cards and others who really shouldn’t have. Imagine my pleasure then when I saw these:
Oh and there are more. DavidSB over at the Detroit Sports Collectors Forum put together a complete bonus set which, if manufactured, I would buy today.
Empty Cup Of Coffee
Once upon a time I did a parallel post of Tigers who were only Tigers for a tiny bit of their careers. This was intended to follow posts made at The Spot Starters. Unfortunately, he went way too fast on the next five installments, I got overwhelmed looking for cards of these guys that were damn near impossible to find, and it just stopped being worth it. Moral: something about biting and chewing. My apologies.
Misc. Zach Putnam has two starts in the Arizona Fall League and a 0.00 ERA. More team set addendums from Wrigley Wax--also Bobby Scales has a rookie refractor but not a regular base card in Topps U&H (!) I don’t care what you say, this card is awesome. Looks like another card belongs on my 2005 Topps Wantlist. You give a little, you get a little.
