Goose & Garvey

It's been a couple days since I posted anything so I thought I'd toss up a little scrap of filler to suffice until I have time to write a proper post in a few hours or so. Man, I love the unis from this era- those BP jerseys especially. Outside of that, there's not really much I have to say about this card right now that the back of it hasn't already said.

Ten Trivia Gems: Joey Cora Edition

1. In Joey's 11 year career, he hit 30 HRs. He didn't hit any in his three seasons with the Pads; in fact, he didn't hit his first until his sixth season.
2. After a 1986 game in AA San Antonio, Cora got jumped by eleven guys
and was stabbed. According to Sandy Alomar, Jr., "The doctor told me if the stab was two inches lower, Joey's probably dead."
3. In 1997, Joey hit in 24 consecutive games. This is a record for American League switch hitters.
4. He was no stranger to hitting streaks; in 1989, he hit in 37 straight games for AAA Las Vegas.

5. Joey led the A.L. in sacrifice hits in 1993.
6. Best remembered with the White Sox and Mariners, he played the last month of his career with Cleveland. He went to Spring Training in 1999 with the Blue Jays but retired before the season began.
7. Joey wore numbers 4 and 5 with the Friars, 21 and 28 with the White Sox and kept 28 the rest of his career, wearing it with Seattle and Cleveland.
8. His best season was 1997. He was an All Star and posted career highs in most statistical categories. He hit exactly .300 with an OPS of exactly .800. It was his only season with an OPS+ over 100 (110).
9. In 402 plate appearances in 140 games spread out over three seasons with San Diego, Joey had 35 walks and 35 strikeouts.
10. My cat Cora is named after him. The day I got and named her, Joey's brother Alex was released by the Rangers about an hour later.

This Isn't About Randy Jones

I was just reading SDPads1's awesome memorabilia blog .400 in '94; man, he's got so much RJ stuff! I guess it makes sense considering his other (*cough*more recently updated*cough*) blog is RJ's Fro. Gaslamp Baller ABY recently sent me a parcel of Padres gubbins as she called them. I'd never heard that word before but it has since became one of my favorite words. Man, I love words. I love words so much that my friends call me "Words". But I digress... Anyway, I'll be posting some of that in the near future- along with an accompanying card, of course. I hope he doesn't think I'm stepping on his turf! He's already done a post on one of the things...

Oh, and that jersey I'm wearing in that picture? Hoffy. That was all ABY. To quote Rivers (no, not that one!), "How cool is that?"

A Baby-Faced Derrek Lee

Three weeks ago, the Orioles signed D. Lee to a one year deal worth up to ten million dollars to man their first base vacancy. Lee had a down year by personal standards though his numbers did pick up after a waiver-wire trade to Atlanta, albeit in a small sample size. Despite his subpar season, he was still in demand this offseason with several teams, including the Padres, attached to his name. "I hear people say I'm old, I'm declining. I want to prove that theory wrong" said Lee upon signing. Nobody was saying that about Derrek during his short tenure in San Diego. As a baby-faced 21 year old, Lee got into 22 games and hit one of his 312-to-date home runs before being sent to Florida in the trade that got us a year of Kevin Brown. Of course, you can't mention Derrek Lee without thinking of this picturewhich led to this

which led to this

Rambling About Camouflage And... Wait, Harold Reynolds Was A Padre?!?!

As you know, the Padres have unveiled two new uniforms over the past two days. I've made my disdain for the new road grays well known both on Twitter and Gaslamp Ball so I won't gripe any more about that. As for the new Marines-inspired digital camo, well, I like it. I like it better than the most recent camouflage jersey but my favorite is still the original. I'm just a fan of that print; maybe it's the West Virginia in me. I've owned countless pairs of Army pants (usually cut-off) along with an Army jacket (which of course got covered in patches of punk bands) and my favorite Bouncing Souls (speaking of New Jersey!) shirt. Sheesh, that was a lot of parenthesis...
I got this card the other day (among many more and lots of other awesome stuff that will be showing up on this blog) from fellow Gaslamp Baller ABY and was pretty surprised. I had no recollection of Harold Reynolds being a Padre. Turns out, I had good reason as he never played a regular season game for the Friars. He was signed as a free agent January 28th, 1994 after one year with the Orioles and was traded two months and a day later to the then-California Angels on the eve of the season opener for the forgettable Hilly Hathaway. The more you know...

So Long, Salad Bar

I don't have a card of Oscar Salazar so I decided to do the next best thing and picture cards of Oscar Azocar (R.I.P.) and Luis Salazar. It'll do.

Well, it appears that with Jed's addition of Jorge Cantu, Salad Bar's days with the Pads have come to an end. What little business he still had doing on the roster is now gone. I remember the day KT traded for him. I was, as I am right now, suffering from a brutal cold. My friends made me get up and hang out; we did some shopping- I got a way too big for me Springsteen Born To Run shirt- and went to Red Lobster. Then I scored some Vicodins and we drank a bunch of Coors Light on the porch of my then home which has since burned to the ground. I'm grateful to say that today is different- not that I'd mind getting a new Bruce shirt or some seafood and cheddar biscuits, but I'm not drinking today and the only drug I'm on is DayQuil.