26s On The 26th

Original Padre Ollie Brown and Chris Krug both wore 26 in 1969. Brown continued to wear it from '70 through '72. Bob Barton had it in '74 and it's what Rich Folkers had in '75 and '76 as he was throwing up in the bullpen. Journeyman slugger Dave Kingman got it in '77, followed by Don Reynolds in '78 and '79. Current Reds broadcaster Chris Welch wore 26 as a Friar from 1981 through '83 and Ed Wojna had it from '85 through '87. Derek Lilliquist was next in '90 and '91, succeeded by Archi Cianfrocco who wore it from '93 through switching to 29 midway through the '95 season. Eventual NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams also donned it in '95. Terry Shumpert had it in '97 and Scott Sanders and Don Wengert both had it in '98. The late Mike Darr held it down from '99 through Spring Training of '02. Apparently enough time had passed for the team to issue it to Doug Brocail for his second stint in San Diego in '06 and '07. Justin Huber and Colt Morton rocked it in '08 as did Cesar Carrillo and Jose Lobaton in '09. Dustin Moseley assumed it last year and also wore it in his one start this season.

Rizzomania!

The Padres made some, uh, interesting moves today including placing Anthony Bass on the DL, calling up Kip Wells and picking up Mark Hamburger. However, most of the buzz is about another team's callup. You know I'm referring to the Cubs promoting Anthony Rizzo since the name of this post is "Rizzomania!" and there's a picture of me holding a card of him. Everybody seems to be all worked up about it and are salivating for the chance to have a small sample size they can warp to support their predetermined stance on whether the Padres "won" or "lost" that trade. I, for one, don't really get into all that so I hope he does well except when he faces us. But, yeah, I'd be all about it if Andrew Cashner struck him out every time they went head to head. That should probably go without saying but I already said it so whatever...

Unexpected But Awesome Mail

I still haven't been able to write; I don't know what my deal is. I thought Tuesday's post would be the bloop single that got me out of my slump but apparently not. That said, I can't not show you guys the cards that came in the mail yesterday. I happened to be outside when the mailman (Is that the correct term? I think they're 'mail carriers' now. Whatever; he was a man and he had mail.) showed up. I was confused at first but after a second I was able to put the first name and city together and realized it was from Padrographs. I haven't even opened it yet and I already know it's going to be good. Exactly how good was something I wasn't quite prepared for. So many cards! And on top of that, so many Gwynns! You can see the stack to the left; there was a total of 66! He also included a packet of 33 Trevors; of these 12 were different '09 UD 2008 Documentary cards, as pictured at the top. Also in the package were dozens of Padres cards of players whose last name begins with an 'S'- including two Dave Staton cards I didn't have! There was doubles of one of them so I'll send that along to whoever gets the Sisterhood jersey after me. All in all, it was a huge haul and I'm incredibly grateful. I'm going to have to come up with something really good to get him back.

Be Proud To Keep The Faith

The number one question I get when people find out I'm a Padres fan is "Why did you move here?" They get really confused when I tell them I was born and raised right here in good ol' West By God Virginia. Their reaction says a lot of things. One, that it's common knowledge that San Diego is utopia and that the Ohio Valley is a cesspool devoid of any redeeming qualities. The thought never crosses their mind that someone might move here to further their career because everybody knows there aren't real jobs here and even if they were it wouldn't be worth actually living here to get one. Secondly, and more telling, it just blows their mind that someone would voluntarily be a Padres fan without growing up there and having it thrust upon them against their will. I like that. It brings me pride- and I'm not one of those people who throws that word around. I'm not proud to be an American or a West Virginian and I certainly don't have white pride because all of those things are out of my control. It's not that I chose to be a Padres fan; it's that I chose to be stay a Padres fan. This is something I can rightfully be proud of; I like to think it speaks for my character. Most Friar fans I'm familiar with are people of strong moral fiber. We get tested more and more each year and it only emboldens us. Only the weakest of trash finds a mistress when his marriage hits a rough spot. Us true fans invest ourselves even deeper into the relationship because we have faith and know that our love will not be in vain.

Tell Me What To Write About

I have really been slacking on this blog the past few days. I didn't write anything yesterday or Tuesday and Wednesday's was about as close to nothing as you can get. I'm not sure why I just haven't been having any good ideas lately. Some might say "Lately?" and to them I offer an unblinkingly poker-faced, monotone "Ha". It's not general writer's block or just not feeling like it because I haven't had any problem churning out Padres Minor League Recap & Top Performers posts the past week. That's probably because with those I know going into it what I'll be writing about. So, help a guy out and tell me in the comments who or what I should write about and I will if I have a card that goes along with it. Lay 'em on me; I need all the help I can get!

Wednesday's Whitson: Haiku Edition

Man, I cannot sleep

I have writer's block as well

Hey, look, here's a card

This Made Me Laugh So Hard...

The card in today's post was one of a slew of good cards I scored in a trade with all the way to the backstop. It's a 2010 Topps National Chicle Diamond Stars, No. 49. I really like it; it looks like something I'd draw- especially the background.

Every now and then I'll check the stats in the guts of the site on how many people looked at what and so forth. Earlier today I was looking at the list of things people searched that led them here. Well, I'll just let this picture save me a thousand words: What made it even funnier to me was when I realized that not only is there someone out there googling "poems about adrian gonzalez", there's someone out there who wrote a poem about Adrian Gonzalez and I'm that person. It wasn't too flattering and probably not what they were looking for but still... it just cracks me up that that's something people are in search of. Oh, and while I've got you here, I might as well make you look at this. I took it when I was getting out the card for this post:
Her so preeeecious. Yes her is!

The FoC 300th Post Low-Key Nonstravaganza

I noted the occasion in my 100th and 200th posts but for some reason 300 seems like less of a big deal. Ooh, that made me think that post #338 definitely has to be a Tony. I like numbers. I'm not sure why because I'm not really a big fan of math. I did manage to get from 2 to 300 quicker than either hundred before it. The first hundred took a year and four months. The second hundred took a year and ten months. This past hundred took a bit under three months. Anyway, thanks for reading whether it was just this or the other 299 as well.

We Have A Winner!

...of Thursday's contest and that winner is Mariner1 of  Emerald City Diamond Gems, self-described "home for all your unwanted Mariners cards". So, email me your address, M1, and I'll get that and a stack of M's cards out to you- no Coras or Buhners, though; theirs are among only a handful of non-Padres cards I collect.


Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday; I was doing stuff and didn't really think about it. I'll try to get something good up this afternoon. 'Til then, enjoy your Saturday.

Win This 1 of 1 Padres Game Worn Jersey Card!

I have a game worn Robert Fick jersey which is huuuuge. I also have a friend who is quite the seamstress. She said she'd take it in so it doesn't look like a muumuu on me. Anyway, there's a lot of leftover fabric; I have planned for most of it but that's for another time. Last night I took a small swatch of it and a few junk cards and threw together the card to the left. I didn't have a card of Robert Fick to mutilate for this so I found a card of a left-handed hitter in a Padres uniform with his face obscured. The card is five layers thick and was put together with the aid of a kitchen knife and superglue. At any rate, it was fun to do but I've probably already gotten all the enjoyment I'm going to out of it so do any of you want it? Just leave a comment saying why you want it or why you should get it or something. I'll pick a winner out of the comments in, oh, let's say a day and a half.

Alexi Archives V: 2008 Topps

Sick of these yet?

What A Win!

Man, that game had it all! The Pads got off to an early 4-0 lead in the second, aided by Carlos Quentin's fourth home run in his sixth game with the team. It should have been 5-0 as the blue blew a call at third giving the Padres runners on first and second instead of loaded with one out. San Francisco scored once in the third, thrice in the sixth to tie it and one in the seventh to go ahead 5-4. They stole another run on a terrible call; this time at first base. Just a bad day in general for the whole crew, I guess. Quentin wasn't shook so he lined an eighth inning pitch from Jeremy Affeldt 420 feet to dead central and tied things up upon touching his tenth total base of the day. After fresh-off-the-DL Huston Street worked himself in and out of a jam, The Aristocrat sprung into action. Logan drilled the second pitch into the second deck for his first Major League home run and that's all she wrote. Forsythe had already made a play for the ages an inning earlier, laying out farrrrr to his left behind first baseman Yonder Alonso and somehow gunning down the runner headed to third. Best game of the year so far? I think so.

Alexi Archives IV: '07 Heritage/ '58 Topps

Here's another "vintage" card of Alexi. This one is based on '07 Heritage which was itself based on 1958 Topps. I have a '58 Topps around here somewhere. I should post it on notpadres some time...

Fives For The Fifth

Of ten players to wear 5 for the Padres, Jose Arcia was the first; he wore it in 1969 and '70. Gene Locklear was the second, in '73 and '74, followed by Bill Almon in '74 and '75. Fred Kendall donned it in '79 and '80, succeeded by Randy Bass, who had it from 1980 through part of '82. Ron Tingley wore it for eight games, also in '82. Randy Ready rocked it from '86 until being traded in '89 and Joey Cora switched over from 4 in 1990. No player wore number five in the blue-and-orange era as seventeen years lapsed before it was issued to Kevin Kouzmanoff, Patron Saint of Grounding Into Double Plays. Kouz kept it until he was traded to Oakland after the '09 season. Alexi Amarista has worn it since being called up from Tucson this season.

Happy Birthday, Kurt Stillwell!

I almost forgot! I even made a reminder for myself to write something about Kurt Stillwell for his birthday. Seeing as how there are only 42 minutes of his birthday left, this won't be too in depth. I have other cards of him so I guess I can do a proper post about his career and life in general one of these days soon. I owe you one. Anyway, I hope he had a good cake and got a cool fishing pole or something. I don't know; I've never met the guy...

Barely There: Samuel Deduno

Before being picked up off waivers by San Diego in January of 2011, Samuel Deduno had pitched in a grand total of 2 & 2/3 Major League innings, spread out over four appearances with the Rockies. Before signing with Minnesota this past November, Samuel pitched in two games with the Padres. For the second season in a row he gave up a single run, this time over three innings. Deduno is now plying his trade for the team I spent my childhood summers watching, the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings.

Alexi Archives II: Triple Play 20th Anniversary

I've been having fun with the whole making cards of Alexi from sets before he played thing and here's another fun one I whipped up with a swiftness. It's supposed to be like '92 Triple Play. I even threw in the '20 Years' "foil" design around the logo just so we can pretend this is an actual thing.

First Padres Card Of Alexi Amarista!*

*Not really.

I was bored so I threw this "Topps Heritage" together with good ol' MS Paint. I've never tried that before but I have to say it doesn't look completely horrible. Sure, font and night game and all of that but, hey, I'm not trying to make passable currency over here...

Trade Post: All The Way To The Backstop

I haven't really felt like posting anything the last couple of days so, well, I haven't. The other night I was reading all the way to the backstop and saw my zip code among those he sent packages out to. I already had his cards packaged up but I hadn't made it to the Post Office yet. Yesterday as I was heading out to mail his cards and another batch for Dime Boxes, I checked the mailbox and the cards from Backstop were already here; that was quick! I chose the two cards for the top photo because they happen to be two cards I also sent him- hey, that's a pretty good success rate! There were a few cards I already have but most were new to me and will be finding their way here for some time to come.

At the top of the stack were six Joey Cora cards. Now here's a guy who's been paying attention! There was one of him with the Padres, one with the Mariners and four as a White Sock.

The cards spanned from 1987 until present and included both stars and unheard of players along with an array of fan favorites and historical footnotes. A great number of manufacturers were represented as were two languages (English and French). There were a few Benitos, a couple Adrians and one of each Alomar.

One of my favorite things about trading through the mail is the handwritten note. It's such a juxtaposition to everything you know about fellow bloggers; all I've seen before is the typed word and written words lend an extra element of humanity. His was no disappointment, complete with nifty lettering, an awesome illustration and words of encouragement all Padres fans must heed.

This was a blind trade so I had no idea what to expect. I'm very happy with what I got and hope he's as stoked when he gets his. I have a feeling he'll be pretty pleased.