Trevor Times Two

Out of the seemingly endless parade of brands and lines that exploded in the early 90s, I think Studio was my favorite. They always had a posed, portrait style picture of each player along with really cool backgrounds, be it an action photo or the player's locker.I always especially liked this credit card style design; I think I've already profiled Tony and Bip's.



I, like pretty much everyone else is, am glad that Trevor is back with the organization. I just kind of wish they would have announced a date for the retirement of his number by now.

Rickey

Man, Rickey is awesome. Always was and always will be... and Rickey knows it, too. In my opinion, Rickey's the greatest player in the history of baseball. Once, while Rickey was still playing, Bill James was asked if Rickey was Hall Of Fame worthy. He replied that if one could cut Rickey's stats in half, you would have two Hall Of Famers. Rickey.

On A Personal Note: Khalil & The Kiddo

For five years I had a stepdaughter. She was and is one of the coolest, smartest, funniest, most amazing people in the world. Her favorite player was Khalil; she would always come up while I was watching the games and ask how he was doing. My marriage to her mom was in its final death throes around the time he went to St. Louis and I haven't spoke to her in nearly two years. It's a gap in my life that will remain there until I eventual have a kid of my own; she felt like my own daughter. She'll be turning 14 this year which is amazing to me; she was already a miniature adult when her mother and I split for good. Though I may never see her again, she will always have a huge place in my heart. Otter, if you should ever happen to read this, just know I love you.

Beware The ATVs: Ron Gant & Donavan Tate

I got those party hats on my favorite person ever's birthday and snapped this pic with a card of birthday sharer and one time Padre Ron Gant. She and I were watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother a few weeks later and she spotted them rocking the same ones. Nice! When I think of Ron Gant, I tend to think of him getting into a four-wheeler accident that effed him out of what would have been the most lucrative contract ever.
That incident was, of course, the first thing I thought of when '09 first pick Donavan Tate did pretty much the same thing. He didn't screw himself out of any money but he did miss out on development time and kinda dicked over the organization. It's not necessarily the end of the world, though.

2011 Topps Heath Bell

I'm a big fan of Heath Bell but this is my first card of him. I like his outspoken nature and child-like enthusiasm but most of all I love that he has publicly stated that he'd be willing to take the famed "San Diego Discount" to stick around. I got this card out of my first pack of 2011 Topps (see below). One neat detail on the backs is that along the right side it tells you in very small print who appeared on that card number in a random year. For instance, this one informs collectors that in 1996, card #178 was Otis Nixon.

Gene Richards & Reel Big Fish

Gene Richards is an underrated part of Padres history. His career was a short one but he did his fair share of damage in seven years in brown and gold before bowing out after a season in San Francisco- I think a season in San Francisco would make anyone give up on their passion. His last season with the Pads and the penultimate season of his career was '83; talk about being so close! Before then he stole 56 bases in his rookie season and led the league in triples in '81. His .291 career average was a San Diego high water mark until some guy named Tony came along and rewrote everything. Richards was also the last guy to wear #19 before T.

Another Birthday: Mike Pagliarulo

Sorry for the lack of content lately. Since I'm in a hurry and have to be at work in 24 minutes, I'm just throwing up another birthday card. Mike Pagliarulo's old ass is turning an old ass 51 today. I don't think very highly of him since apparently he was one of the a'holes along with Jack Clark that talked mess on Tony The Gwynn way back when... and NOBODY talks mess on Tony The Gwynn. So, Mike Pagliarulo, have a good time doing whatever the hell the Mike Pagliarulos of the world do on their birthdays.

Another Day, Another Catcher: Happy Birthday, Ben Davis!

It's only been ten days since my last Ben Davis post but today's his birthday so here we go again. He turned 34 today. Thirty four! For some reason, I thought he was older than that. I'm pretty sure that every time I've put a card of his on here, I've mentioned the time he broke up Curt Schilling's (Schilling?!?!) perfect game in the eighth with a bunt single. That was the best thing ever and it was made even better by Schilling and all the other D-Bags getting pissy about it. Ben hasn't played in the Majors since '04 but he's still trying to make it back, albeit now as a pitcher. That would be pretty incredible if he managed to pull that off; I guess he has more time to do it than I thought.

Happy Birthday, Benito Santiago!

Today is Benito Santiago's birthday. I remember getting this card when it came out and thinking about how weird it would be to see him wearing a different uniform since he'd been a fixture with the Friars since my first full season as a fan. He would go on to wear many, many more uniforms before he finally hung up his syringe.
I think I mentioned this before in a Bip post but either way, man, I thought those portrait wristbands were the shiz back in the day. All the big stars and big egos had 'em and I definitely drew them when I made baseball cards of myself.

Tuesday Tony Gwynn: '98 Pinnacle Inside Can

Today's Tony Gwynn isn't actually a card at all; instead it's a can of '98 Pinnacle Inside. I remember when these came out. It was fairly radical packaging even back then when everything in the card market was seemingly in a contest to be more ridiculous than last week's die-cut, reflective and 3-D abomination. Still yet, I was 15 at the time so I was sold and bought quite a few cans. The local card shop even had a can opener behind the counter if you wanted to open them there- I always did since I always ripped at least a few packs there at the counter each visit; the lady that owns the place genuinely enjoyed seeing what everybody got and showing you her new pulls. Anyway, for whatever reason- maybe they were distributed regionally- my card store never got the Tony cans so I was relegated to getting cans of Chuck Knoblach and the like. I had forgotten about this product until about a month ago when I got this unopened cylinder of awesome from reader ABY. Even though I'm slightly curious what cards are encased within, I will never know.

More Mud

I know I just posted a Mark Grant card but oh well, both of you reading this can deal. I'm so eager for baseball season and one of the best parts of watching 162 Padres games is listening to Mud. He's been a fixture for years and no matter who he's paired up with, his personality shines through. I mean, the man can even make listening to the beacon of obliviousness that is Dick Enberg tolerable.
Oh, and unrelated but last week I made my first box break video. It's pretty awful and awkward; if you haven't seen it yet, here it is so you can have a laugh at my expense: