Man, I cannot sleep
I have writer's block as well
Hey, look, here's a card
Showing posts with label Ed Whitson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ed Whitson. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Happy Birthday, Ed Whitson!
Eric Show wasn't the only pitcher for the Padres in the 80s born on May 19th. His former rotation-mate Ed Whitson was once a year older to the day. Whitson served two tours of duty in San Diego, sandwiching his infamously disastrous time with the Yankees. In his early career, he spent time in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Cleveland. The list of players he was traded with and for during his career reads like a who's who of 70s and 80s baseball. In '79, he was traded from the Pirates to the Giants with others for Bill Madlock- who had won two batting titles and would go on to win two more, the original Dave Roberts and Lenny Randle, who is best known for punching his manager in the face and trying to blow a fair ball foul. After the '81 season, Whitson was sent to Cleveland for Joe Posnanski's favorite player Duane Kuiper. A year later, he came to San Diego for Juan Eichelberger (that name keeps coming up, doesn't it, WG?) and Broderick Perkins. After his rocky time in New York which involved Whitson doing some manager punching of his own (but it was Billy Martin so it doesn't count), he came back to the Padres in exchange for Tim Stoddard and spent his final 5 1/2 seasons there. He now spends his days in Dublin, Ohio, where he serves as a volunteer coach for his son's high school team.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Mustache Monday: Winfield, Whitson, Hoyt & The Other 31s
I wrote this intending to post it tomorrow. However, when I went to set it to autopost, I discovered that there are only 30 days in April. I didn't feel like sitting on it that long (TWSS!) and since all three of the principles are 'stached, it made sense to drop it today.
Seven players wore number 31 before Dave Winfield and seven others wore it after him. Leon Everitt, Frankie Libran, the original Dave Roberts and Rafael Robles all wore number 31 in the Padres' inaugural Major League season; Paul Doyle, Jerry Nyman and Roberto Rodriguez did so in 1970. Robles wore it again in '72. Winfield showed up in '73 and kept it through '80 when he headed to the Bronx. Ed Whitson donned the digits in '83 and '84 until he also headed to the Bronx. LaMarr Hoyt had it in '85 and '86. Whitson wore it once again when he returned from his unsuccessful stint in New York; this time he kept it from '87 through '91. Dave Staton, as we all know, wore it in '94. I have a card of him but I'm holding off on writing about it for obvious reasons. Billy Bean- not to be confused with Billy Beane- wore it in '95. I still haven't read Bean's book; it seems like it would be fascinating. The number was issued to Bob Tewksbury in '96 and Trey Beamon in '97. Matt Clement was the last to have it, from 1998 until it was announced in 2000 that it would be retired for in honor of Winfield.
Seven players wore number 31 before Dave Winfield and seven others wore it after him. Leon Everitt, Frankie Libran, the original Dave Roberts and Rafael Robles all wore number 31 in the Padres' inaugural Major League season; Paul Doyle, Jerry Nyman and Roberto Rodriguez did so in 1970. Robles wore it again in '72. Winfield showed up in '73 and kept it through '80 when he headed to the Bronx. Ed Whitson donned the digits in '83 and '84 until he also headed to the Bronx. LaMarr Hoyt had it in '85 and '86. Whitson wore it once again when he returned from his unsuccessful stint in New York; this time he kept it from '87 through '91. Dave Staton, as we all know, wore it in '94. I have a card of him but I'm holding off on writing about it for obvious reasons. Billy Bean- not to be confused with Billy Beane- wore it in '95. I still haven't read Bean's book; it seems like it would be fascinating. The number was issued to Bob Tewksbury in '96 and Trey Beamon in '97. Matt Clement was the last to have it, from 1998 until it was announced in 2000 that it would be retired for in honor of Winfield.
Friday, March 16, 2012
The FoC 200th Post Celebratory Review & Cardstravaganza
This is the 200th Friars on Cardboard post. In case you missed it (I know, I know, "I wouldn't say I missed it, Bob."), here's The FoC 100th Post Celebratory Review & Beardstravaganza. This one will be along the same lines, only with less emphasis on beards since it isn't May- just a mess of cards and randomness. I hope you enjoy.
First things first (i.e. while I'm still thinking about it), in a continuation of what I was blathering on about yesterday regarding the Gaslamp Ball Sisterhood 
Of The Traveling Jersey jersey, another thought I had was to take a bunch of game-used jersey cards, gut them and sew all the little swatches along a hem or in another out-of-the way area. I only have two at the moment (the other being a David Wells I already profiled on here) because I never really got into the craze but I could stock up on a bunch by the time I get it (which reminds me for the 842nd time, I need to email jbox my address and preferred dates; I'm the world's worst when it comes to dealing with email- I can't explain it). They're only a couple bucks a pop and I think it would be neat.
The second hundred has taken a bit longer than the first hundred, with large chunks of time vacant altogether. It's been more consistent recently but, as we've seen before, that is subject to change without notice at any given point. In the second hundred, the blog began to find an identity of its own, possibly for the worst, with ongoing gimmicks such as Mustache 
Monday and using the initials TTG to mean just about whatever. Oh, yeah, and the haikus. Nothing says phoning it in quite like some good old 5/7/5. Including the ten cards in this post, the last hundred have pictured 187 cards which, combined with the 138 from the first hundred gives us a grand total of 345. That's one of those numbers that seems like a lot but isn't. Or, at best, is relative. I wonder how tall a stack of 345 cards is. I don't wonder enough to count that many out just to find out, though.
There haven't been as many cards of Tony and Trevor this hundred. Not that I've ran out of cards, just that I've ran out of things to say. I mean, there's a world of information out there about both of them but that's the thing. They're both such big deals that they've already been dissected and broadcast to the nth degree. As fans, we already 
know all there is to know about both of them, whereas it's fun for me to discover new things digging around trying to figure out what to say about the Dave Cashes and Dennis Rasmussens of the world. Not to say Gwynn and Hoffman won't be showing up on here, just that it requires a different approach. Man, I'm rambling. Talk about watching sausage being made...
There was only one guest post in the second half of the blog's existence, as opposed to the three in the first hundred, but it was a great one. The offer's still on the table, people. If there's a card or a player you'd like to write about here, just let me know. I need to bug Sam about getting that report on Austin Hedges onto my desk; he pulled the card last month but couldn't do 
it then because Hedges is a cracker and February ain't havin' none of that. Other stuff on the table for the next hundred include, this, that and more of the same. Mustaches on Monday and whenever I post a Tony, it will continue to usually be on a Tuesday or Thursday so I can TTG the title because I'm like that. If I happen to post a Tony on any of the other five days of the week, I will continue to use the cop-out "Today's Tony Gwynn" because I'm like that. Also, there will eventually be the inevitable Dave Staton post later this summer along with the results of a bunch of destroyed game-used jersey cards. Like how I brought it back around to that? That's some writing right there. Thanks for reading it; stick around for the next hundred!
First things first (i.e. while I'm still thinking about it), in a continuation of what I was blathering on about yesterday regarding the Gaslamp Ball Sisterhood 
Of The Traveling Jersey jersey, another thought I had was to take a bunch of game-used jersey cards, gut them and sew all the little swatches along a hem or in another out-of-the way area. I only have two at the moment (the other being a David Wells I already profiled on here) because I never really got into the craze but I could stock up on a bunch by the time I get it (which reminds me for the 842nd time, I need to email jbox my address and preferred dates; I'm the world's worst when it comes to dealing with email- I can't explain it). They're only a couple bucks a pop and I think it would be neat.
The second hundred has taken a bit longer than the first hundred, with large chunks of time vacant altogether. It's been more consistent recently but, as we've seen before, that is subject to change without notice at any given point. In the second hundred, the blog began to find an identity of its own, possibly for the worst, with ongoing gimmicks such as Mustache 
Monday and using the initials TTG to mean just about whatever. Oh, yeah, and the haikus. Nothing says phoning it in quite like some good old 5/7/5. Including the ten cards in this post, the last hundred have pictured 187 cards which, combined with the 138 from the first hundred gives us a grand total of 345. That's one of those numbers that seems like a lot but isn't. Or, at best, is relative. I wonder how tall a stack of 345 cards is. I don't wonder enough to count that many out just to find out, though.
There haven't been as many cards of Tony and Trevor this hundred. Not that I've ran out of cards, just that I've ran out of things to say. I mean, there's a world of information out there about both of them but that's the thing. They're both such big deals that they've already been dissected and broadcast to the nth degree. As fans, we already 
know all there is to know about both of them, whereas it's fun for me to discover new things digging around trying to figure out what to say about the Dave Cashes and Dennis Rasmussens of the world. Not to say Gwynn and Hoffman won't be showing up on here, just that it requires a different approach. Man, I'm rambling. Talk about watching sausage being made...
There was only one guest post in the second half of the blog's existence, as opposed to the three in the first hundred, but it was a great one. The offer's still on the table, people. If there's a card or a player you'd like to write about here, just let me know. I need to bug Sam about getting that report on Austin Hedges onto my desk; he pulled the card last month but couldn't do 
it then because Hedges is a cracker and February ain't havin' none of that. Other stuff on the table for the next hundred include, this, that and more of the same. Mustaches on Monday and whenever I post a Tony, it will continue to usually be on a Tuesday or Thursday so I can TTG the title because I'm like that. If I happen to post a Tony on any of the other five days of the week, I will continue to use the cop-out "Today's Tony Gwynn" because I'm like that. Also, there will eventually be the inevitable Dave Staton post later this summer along with the results of a bunch of destroyed game-used jersey cards. Like how I brought it back around to that? That's some writing right there. Thanks for reading it; stick around for the next hundred!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Wednesday's Whitson: '92 Topps
Even casual readers of this blog (as opposed to the devoted army of FoC fanatics who are constantly refreshing in hopes of seeing another card and a sliver of my classically beautiful face) know that I love me some alliteration. Mustache Monday has actually stuck and I've often thought of what I should do for other days. One that came to mind was "Saturday's Stupid S#!t" but I've been trying to keep it decent around here lately. Friday lends itself to Flan but I only have three of his cards; I guess I could just do a different F player each Friday, though. Forsythe and Fingers come to mind immediately. It's not like I have enough Ed Whitson cards to keep this going indefinitely like Tuesday's Tony Gwynn but I do have enough to do a miniseries. That's why you aren't reading anything about Eddie Lee right now; consider this an intro. We have five more weeks for me to blather on about him and make you never want to see another card of him.
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