Another Trade With All The Way To The Backstop

I just got done putting together a return package for Marcus of All The Way To The Backstop so I thought it was about time to do a post about the cards I got from him last weekend. There were so many good cards. Above is what appears to be the entire '86 Fleer team set- minus the Tony, the Garvey and the Hoyt, which I already had and sent the doubles of to Sam. If it isn't the entire team set, it's close enough.
I can never have enough Joey Cora cards. Duplicates, I don't care; I want them all. Marcus knows the way to my heart and included four- one I didn't have a copy of.
Speaking of him being in the know about who I'm all about, he sent these two Jedd Gyorko cards. Jedd, for those of you who don't know, is batting .355 in AAA and making the concept of trading Chase Headley a distinct possibility. I've been a fan of his since before the Padres drafted him in 2010- he was born and raised in West Virginia and played for WVU.
Yes, another Dave Staton card! I've added a few to the collection since the Sisterhood project began. On a side note, I've always liked those BP pullovers Lolich and Dade are shown rocking.
As much as I dislike Boch and his current employer, I still collect his cards as a Padre and that's a nice one I didn't have. I've always liked that 'Dream Team' Robbie Alomar card; I'm glad to get a new copy.
Lastly, here are a couple of current Padres. It's always good to pick up newer cards through trades as I rarely buy new packs. Thanks again to Marcus for the new Friars cards; I hope he likes what he's getting back.

Cards from Larry, Part II

To the left are the cards sent to me by Larry of ECDG. I'm going to focus on the smaller stack in this post and get to the others at some point later in the week. These cards were doubs so I went ahead and sent them to Sam.
That Perkins card is one of my all time favorite cards. The Eichleberger is a classic too- and you can never go wrong with RJ.
Of course there were some '79 Topps cards included. There were two each of the '85 DeLeon and Hawkins so everyone won.
These are classics as well; I've always been a fan of the '84 Donruss design. It's hard to tell in this shot but Glenn Beckert is pictured in a Cubs uniform on that card... I'll take pictures of the other cards and try to write something up for them before too long.

Hidden Gem

I've been inexplicably incapable of writing about baseball cards lately but this one is too good not to puke some words up about. It was one of, pardon my French, a metric shit-ton of Padres sent to me from Larry of ECDG. Get it? French... metric? Oh, yeah. Now that we've established that I'm still not funny, I'll get to talking about that card. Okay, typing; whatever. Larry won my 1-of-1 "contest" so I sent him that card and some Mariners. To my amazement, he sent back the aforementioned shit-ton. As I was scanning through to do Part I of what has to be a multi-part "trade" post, I noticed what I thought at first glance was a child's vandalism. Now, I'm not saying Rick Harrison would have me come to his pawn shop and verify signatures but that's totally consistent with Luis DeLeon's autograph. The lines are smooth and the transitions are the same as in other examples. Also, the 'H' for his middle initial is very distinct, resembling a capital 'A'. Lastly, he's Luis DeLeon. I'm stoked on it. I've never really been an autograph collector so it's extra awesome to me, if that makes any sense. I guess I mean I'm not jaded on having a bunch so this takes me back to the feeling I got when I pulled my first redemption card when I was 11. The rest of the cards are all awesome and I promise I'll get Part I of that up here today or tomorrow but I wanted to give this hidden gem its own post.

CongratuLatos

Mat Latos just had what Mud Grant would call a heck of a week in the big leagues. He threw two consecutive complete games, the second and third of his career. The way I recall his first one is that he pitched the first no-hitter in Padres history but the official scorer remembered it otherwise. I usually make it a point to watch Mat's starts since I live in Reds country and I can. I missed his most recent start because, you know, the whole tornado thing, but he was ON when I watched last Monday. He struck out 12 in that one and 8 more on Saturday, giving up only a single run in each outing, lowering his season ERA by nearly a run. He was rewarded with the NL Player of the Week Award for his effort.

Tornado!

I'm writing this on Saturday afternoon but who knows when I'll be putting it up. You see, there was a tornado here yesterday and cable and internet have been a luxury that's been off the table since then. I'm actually pretty fortunate; I was talking to a friend from my hometown- about two hours up the river- and they still don't have power at all and the city just shut the water off for reasons I don't even know. I'd look it up or turn on the news but, yeah... But anyway, this is a card blog so I should probably say something about cards. I recently gathered up some Padres and Yankees cards to send to everybody's pal Sam as a late birthday present or whatever. I figure the guy puts up with enough tiny phallus jokes over the course of a year; the least I could do is give him some cards. Here are some of the doubles I weeded out; he'll be getting some others but why ruin the surprise any more?

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!