Jedd Gyorko And A Bevy Of Other Bowmans

Yesterday I received 200 Padres cards in the mail, the majority of which I actually didn't already have. I won two separate Listia auctions of 100 Padres cards each by the same user. Each listing showed only one picture of a binder page's worth of cards, which I assumed were the best of the bunches. Although there were a couple Gwynns and an autographed Lee Orr card showing, the other 182 were a crapshoot. I figured it'd be a bunch of '90 Donruss and a dozen Mike Pagliarulo cards but there were a lot of hidden gems, including a couple fistfuls of snazzy Bowmans. I'm not this biggest fan of Bowman as I find their design clunky and overboard the majority of the time, but I do like their inclusion of players on their first card and other players who may never be on another card.

Of course my favorite card of the whole batch was Jedd Gyorko's 2011 "1st Bowman Card", #83. Amazingly, this card wasn't pictured or included in the description; I have a feeling the winning bid would have been driven much higher if it had been. I have never been one to get caught up in prospects or to buy someone's cards before he's even made the majors, but Gyorko is the exception to that rule. I have a handful of Jedd's cards now; the only West Virginian I have more cards of is John Kruk.

Today would have been Mike Darr's 37th birthday. I wrote a little piece about that over at Gaslamp Ball earlier today. It's rather succinct, so if you want to take a minute to go read that, I'll be doing my best Richard Marx impression, right here waiting.

As with Darr, I got the base and Chrome versions of this Gary Matthews, Jr. card. I feel like I've already said everything I have to say about Matthews already: He was lousy for the Padres, went elsewhere and sucked there too, came back to San Diego and sucked a little bit more, did some HGH, put together a decent season capped by one amazing catch, got a ridiculous payday, and went back to sucking.

 A little over a month ago I got my first Juan Melo card and said "I'm betting there aren't a lot of cards of him out there". I still don't know exactly how many there are but now I'm up to a grand total of three including this one and a minor league card that was also included. For now, I'm going to say the same thing about Omar Ortiz, who is a newcomer to my collection, and maybe a couple more issues of him will show up in my mailbox this April or May. As for Ben Davis, this is far from my first card of him but this one is a welcome addition. Something I didn't know about him until I was doing a little light research earlier is that he was good friends with Mike Darr and likely would have been in the vehicle with him if he didn't happen to be tired from traveling when Darr invited him.

 Matt Clement was the last Padre to wear 31 for the Padres before they retired it in honor of Dave Winfield. He was traded to Florida for Mark Kotsay and went on to be on the short end of an 18-pitch at bat culminating in a home run by Joey Cora's little brother Alex.

That's a very fascinating jersey being sported by Sean Burroughs. It's just like the BP/ ST jerseys of the era but it's gray instead of navy. I've seen it once or twice before, also on shots of minor leaguers so maybe they had an excess of gray jerseys and/ or a shortage of navy ones and just sewed the chest insignia on the grays, gave them to some kids, and hoped nobody would notice. If anyone has any more information on this, please let me know.

Nate Freiman, called Nathan here, had a solid season for AA San Antonio last season and was picked up by the Astros in the Rule 5 draft. Ruben Rivera recently resurfaced in the WBC and has been playing in Mexico for the past six seasons. The Dustin Hermanson card didn't photograph well but I can live with that.

There were a lot of other good cards out of the 200 in addition to these Bowmans; I got a couple Gwynns, Hoffys, and Kruks that I didn't have before that I'll feature here in the next day or two. A smattering of current players showed up too, along with a bunch of old minor league cards. I know I said I was trying to get away from doing acquisitions posts but this recent batch really lends itself to being milked for about a week. I promise I won't drag it out that long, though.

33 Card Pickup: A Little Bit Of Everything

I got the cards in this post about a week and a half ago but never got around to writing them up until now. I got that awesome trade package the next day and that took precedent. You don't care about all of that; you just want to see the cards. Fair enough.

Ben Davis isn't a guy I go out of my way to collect but I've wound up with quite a few of his cards. This one had the right combination of cool elements to merit getting it on purpose.

Trevor, on the other hand, is a guy I go out of my way to collect.

This is the second copy of that Gwynn/ Ripken UD Masterpiece I've gotten. I believe I sent the last one I had to Backstop Marcus.

Somehow I didn't have Craig Shipley's '94 Fleer. Gotta love a good horizontally oriented card.

Here's Tony, always the positive role model, demonstrating to the kids to always use two hands. Well, maybe not always a great influence, as evidenced by a glance at his bottom lip, but still...

I'm not a big Steve Garvey fan so my favorite part of this card is the cameo by John Kruk. Speaking of whom...

Kruk is one of the few guys whose non-Padres cards I collect. Well, just him and Joey Cora, I guess, although I'd hang on to cards of Hoffy as a Red, Marlin or Brewer; I just haven't sought them out. I'm pretty sure I already had the first two of these but you never can be too sure or have too many, for that matter.

'94 Fleer Ultra was actually fairly, dare I say, classy. I had pretty much forgotten about it until I happened upon a big patch of them in the middle of a dime box.

'91 Studio: The concept was great but the execution would be much better in years to come.

Stadium Club Member's Choice seems vaguely familiar to me but not that interesting of a topic to bother looking up. I do know that they aren't just a parallel because his regular SC card that year looked different.

I added a couple of cards from 1983. My Gene Richards collection was lacking this one and I got the Show just in case I didn't already have it. I'm getting close to having the full '83 Topps team set; I know I'm at least one notable card away.

Billy Hall never made it to the Padres but he had quite a career- one that deserves a post of its own, so look for that some time in 2014. I'm a procrastinator, I admit it. Of course, as would be expected, it took me way longer than it should have to get around to accepting it.

*crickets*

Anyway, Julio Bruno. He also never made it to the Padres or the majors at all. I think cards like these are the ones I get the most stoked about. "Whoa, I've never heard of that guy!" Okay, maybe second-most stoked about. You already know what's number one and probably also suspect that there's at least one at the end of this post.

There's something to be said about predictability. Exactly what that is, I'm not sure.

I showed Bob Scanlan the picture above and had the following conversation with him on Twitter last night:
Scan: "Wow! Those Scanlan cards must have set you back at least $0.12 each!!!!! Nice find!"
Me: "They were worth every cent. But you, Scott Radinsky, and Joey Cora are going to dime me to death."
Him: "I tried to corner the market and raise my value by hoarding all my cards...but you can see it didn't work."

Very cool of the Scan-Man but not out of character at all. He's one of the friendliest and most accessible guys in broadcasting and baseball in general. He has even been known to FanPost and comment over at Gaslamp Ball from time to time.

That's my first card of Randy Jones as a Met and it will never look right.

I don't think I've ever shown any cards on this blog not related to the Padres in some way or another. I'm going to stray from that on this instance just because these ones are part of the total "haul" and they deserve their share of attention too.

Scott Radinsky is the most amazing man alive. Here's a brief overview of why, If you don't know. I already had the '93 Topps but, like Kruk and to a much greater extent, Cora, it never hurts to have some extras. I really like his '93 Upper Deck. I had to do a double-take to see what was happening. It seemed that an industrious fan lowered a ball to him in a plastic cup at the end of a string. Nice work by both the fan and the photographer.

More Scott Rad raditude. That Score Gold Rush was one of a bunch grouped together; I found one of a certain one of his teammates that will appear, yes, at the end of this post.

Along with Radinsky, Jay Buhner is among the select handful of players I actively collect who has never been affiliated with the Padres. Tom Henke is another and Craig Biggio- well, we'll get to him.

I became a fan of Buhner when Joey Cora went to Seattle and I started paying attention to the Mariners. From the ages of around 9 through 13 I shaved my head every morning before school (don't worry, I wasn't some sort of racist skinhead; I just liked the way it looked) and thought it was cool that he had the same, uh, "hairstyle" as me. The Griffey cameo is just bonus.

See, I told you I'd get to Craig Biggio. I'd say something about these two cards but, nah, I'm too excited to get to the next one. After all, I've alluded to it about three times already.

Another Joey Cora card! Not only that but it's one I didn't already have.

That's one of the biggest beauties of collecting to me: That some basically monetarily worthless card like this that 999 out of 1000 people would pass right over can make somebody's day more than a relic or signature of some superstar would.

Or maybe I'm just weird. Probably a combination of the two.

Ben Davis: Back In Baseball

The last time I wrote about Ben Davis he was still trying to work his way back to the Majors as a pitcher. He officially announced his retirement a little over a year ago after beginning Spring Training for what would have been his second season as a pitcher for the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League. "It's something I've been thinking of for a couple of years," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time. "My numbers started to decline and I just figured, you know what, I'm going to shut it down now." Davis added that he felt it was time "to go get a real job" and did so; he got hired on as a sales rep for the Wells Fargo Center, selling premium seating for the home of the Flyers and 76ers. He recently took on a second job with mother corporation Comcast doing pregame and postgame analysis for Phillies games; he also dabbles in the radio end of things. He lives in nearby West Chester, also home to Jackass jackass Bam Margera, with his wife Megan and three children. Much like how Geoff considers Kory the MVP of Team Blum, Ben is in awe of the work his wife does. “Doing what I do is fun," said Davis. "What Megan does is the toughest job in the world, I think.” Davis seems at peace with his past career and happy in his new one; he confirms as much by stating that he is "very blessed".

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.

Ben Davis, Suicidal Tendencies & Stirrups

Look at those stirrups. That's how baseball socks are supposed to look. I remember when Jim Thome debuted with the Indians back in the early 90s, he became one of my favorite non-Padres because he rocked 'em the right way. It's become slightly trendy on a small scale in the past ten years or so for players to wear their socks high although most who do so favor the solid sock- it's not ideal but it's definitely better than the pajama pants look.

(I bet you thought I was gonna write about him breaking up Schilling's [Schilling?!?!] no-hitter with a bunt, didn't you? God, that was awesome.)

The FoC 100th Post Celebratory Review and Beardstravaganza

Wow, one hundred posts. I guess this is a milestone and should be approached in a completely over-the-top fashion thusly. I can honestly say that when I started this in January of Aught-Nine, I imagined that I'd have a hundred posts knocked out much, much sooner. Oh, well; it's finally picking up steam and I have no complaints about the journey. Before I get into links and statistics, let's take a moment to pay our respects to Beard Month with eight completely generic nineties-style 'stache/goat combos: The well trimmed goatee was pretty much a career-long mainstay for all of these guys except for Benes. He spent most of his time in San Diego naked-faced, adopting the look only toward the end of his Padres tenure when it was getting trendy. When it first started appearing on his face is when we should have known he was turning evil and would soon become a member of our hated northern rivals. These next four Pads were nowhere near as decisive; they are pictured in a state of limbo, exhibiting the lazy look favored by George Michael and sdsuaztec4 (nope, I'm still not anywhere near done with this post):

Although this is the one hundredth post, more than a hundred cards are depicted. Including the fourteen in this post, 138 to be exact. This is the part where I get my Wonko on and have some fun breaking down numbers that nobody else is even remotely interested in:

• 3 guest posts
• 16 Tony Gwynn posts, 33 cards (24%)
• 10 cards of Padres pictured with other teams (Abner, Furmaniak, Gaudin, Sut, Jerry Hairy x2, Cora x2, C. Gwynn & B. Giles) (7%)
• 7 non Padres sharing a card with a Padre (Edgar Martinez, A-Rod, Brett Butler & Will Clark w/ Tony, Matt Holliday w/ Adrian & J.R. House and Juan Castro with Ben Davis) (5%)
• Two Dodgers (Butler, C. Gwynn) are pictured, albeit with all references to filthy Dodgerdom obscured.
• 19 players pictured more than once, led by Tony's 33; Klesko & Adrian have 6 & 5 respectively; Broke, Joey, Abner & Briles have 3 apiece.
• This month has far and away been the most prolific, with 29 posts to date showcasing 45 cards, including 23 Tonys in 14 posts. Tied for second are February & April of this year with 12 each.
• Two back to back posts in February are tied for the most comments with 7.
• 63 posts are tied with zero comments.
• My friend Shane a.k.a. Shizzle a.k.a. Sheezy is mentioned, inferred to or referenced on 6 occasions.
• Aside from the two Abners Steve sent with his post, there has been 1 reader contribution.
• 4 logoless oddball cards are depicted
• 1 post doesn't have a card- it's the most important post of them all.
• Gaslamp Ball is mentioned, linked or alluded to more times than can be counted.
• Heath Bell has been mentioned the most times without being profiled

Well, I think that just about puts a bow on it. I'd like to use this part to thank everybody who has read, commented on, retweeted, linked, contributed to or had anything whatsoever to do with these first hundred posts. As always, feedback, submissions, suggestions and anything else you can come up with are more than welcome. Thanks once again.

Ben Davis, But Mostly J.R. House

Every time I see or hear about Ben Davis, I think of him bunting for a hit to wreck Schilling's (Schilling?!?!) no-hitter and it warms my heart every time. That's not what I like most about this card, though- and no, I'm not a Ramon Castro fan, either...When I was a student at South Charleston (WV) High School, J.R. House was the quarterback for our rival Nitro. Dude was a big friggin' deal; when he graduated, he held the national record for career HS passing yardage and once threw ten touchdowns in the state championship- a national record that still stands. He didn't play baseball for Nitro; his father conveniently owned another car dealership near an elite baseball school in Florida so young J.R. would move back and forth between semesters. I think that high school athletes are allowed to do that is total B.S. and undermines the very idea of education but I suppose that's neither here nor there. After a slew or surgeries and a pair of tiny September cups of coffee with the Pirates, they cut him loose and he spent a year at WVU as a clipboard holder before getting back into baseball. He's had a scattered bit of ML experience the last few years with the O's and 'stros and is now in the Braves system. I always feel bad for guys like him who are characterized as disappointments for not living up to a bar set ridiculously high. All I know is that he's played in more ML games than anyone I've heard criticize him has, so I suppose they can just suck on that.