'09 Topps Pepe Negro

I really do not like this guy. Wait, I take that back. I don't know him as a person and from what I've heard he sounds like a nice guy. With that said, I really do not like him managing my favorite team.

I really, really hope that the White Sox suck enough this year for Ozzie Guillen and his whole staff to get fired so Joey can come here and have the job that we should have given him two years ago.

'09 Toppstown Jake Peavy

I was out and about today doing what I do when the little lady called asking me to stop by Wal-Mart to pick her up some Sleepytime tea. Naturally, the first thing I did once I got there was check and see if they had any '09s in yet. Heck yeah they did! I got a couple jumbo packs or whatever they're called and pulled this along with what are sure to be my next two posts. I don't really get the whole "virtual card" thing and certainly don't get the tagline on the front. Bring it to life? Huh? How is a "virtual card" more real than this tangible slab of cardboard?

'08 Heritage Checklist

It's an '08 card, but appears to be the '07 team- I'm pretty sure I spotted Mike Cameron and Broke in there. It's hard to tell since all of the faces are so effin' tiny. One thing I do know for sure is that the guy in the middle of the top row is totally CY.

The Krukker

When I mentioned Krukkie at the end of my last entry I realized that I had yet to post one of his cards. Improbable, I know, as he is the sole purpose I became a baseball fan in the first place, nevermind a Padres fan. How does a white trash five year old who's never been west of the Ohio River become a San Diego fan? It's pretty simple, actually- I just showed up to kindergarten and the only kid in my class related to a professional athlete was Andrew Kruk. It didn't take long for me to become as fully immersed in Friardom as a kid in West Virginia could be in 1988- which is to say I read their box score in the paper every day and studied their baseball cards like a pederast studies a playground. Within a year he was sent off to Philadelphia but it was too late for me; I was already sucked in. I still followed Kruk's career but couldn't shake the soul sickness that is being a Padres fan.

Here ya go, Timmy!

I thought it might be kinda nice to say thanks to the one guy who follows FoC by featuring a card of his favorite Pad. I was hoping it wasn't Ruben Rivera or some other guy who was around when I wasn't buying baseball cards; after poking around his blogs, I was relieved to discover that he's a Tony guy. I've got a whole slew of Gwynn cards but this is one of my favorites. This eighteen card insert set commemorated the eighteen (of course) guys active in '95 with a .300 avg. over 1000 or more career at bats. Number 18? John Martin Kruk himself, signing out at precisely .300.

Seven Years

It's hard to believe that it's been seven years since Mike Darr died. Admittedly, I wasn't as affected by his death as other fans were since it (and his entire career, for that matter) happened during the time in my life when I wasn't following baseball closely. I just remember reading about it in the newspaper; I didn't feel a personal sadness, just the general sadness one feels when somebody dies at a young age leaving behind a wife and children... I had no idea until I saw pictures of him years later that he was all sleeved up- quite the rarity for baseball players back then- so I have to imagine that if I were paying attention to baseball back then he would have been my favorite Padre since I've been known to be superficial like that...

Opening Day '06

Here's a little something I call filler. I'd write something relevant to it but... yeah, I don't even have it in me to come up with an excuse.

Thankfully, only Briles, Adrian and Peavy remain from that year's starting lineup.

One For Corey

The sole purpose of today's post is to appease to a very specific subset of FoC reader--- the Bip fan/ greatest bro-in-law ever/ occasional beard farmer/ all-around-good-guy best known as C-Rob demographic. Behold:



I'm really excited that it's already almost that time of year where we spend half of our time texting back and forth about the Padres. I think my thumbs might need an extended Spring Training to prepare for six arduous months of bemusement, frustration, and dismay...

Ben Sheets? What?

Thanks to reader 'tec4 for contributing the following misprint:

Twenty Packs, One Effin' Padre

I went to the store earlier to pick up some delicious Dos Equis (Ambar) and figured I might as well piss away some money on 3 1/2 by 2 1/2" slabs of cardboard along with fellow impulse buys of beef jerky and Season 5 of The Simpsons. I got a box of 2008 Upper Deck Timeline and one of those ten pack repacks with the hopes of pulling some memories of Padres past. Out of those ten shitty packs, I got CY with the Rangers and one of the Pads and Giants lined up before Opening Day '06. Yay. The one Padre I got from the new box was this abomination:

Top Prospect?!?!? Really?!?!?

I guess Upper Deck and I have different definitions of "Prospect", nevermind "Top Prospect". Seriously, have you people seen this guy pitch? At all? Ever? He spent seven unimpressive seasons in the minors and came into the season with 27 ML games over 3 seasons under his belt. Huh. The fact that these were printed at the end of the '08 season makes it even less sensical. I can't say I'm gonna be too disappointed when CSB becomes some other team's top prospect.