Willie Mays: Topps Living 2020

This summer my father got the Topps Living card for Willie Mays. He got two of them and gave me the extra one. Note: he's knows full-well how I feel about Topps Living in general: it's a horse's ass of a set.  But 1953 is his favorite all-time set and Willies Mays is someone he grew up watching and listening to in the 50s before they dissed NY and moved west. So the card was gratefully received.  

I was too lazy to take it out of the top loader, but it scanned rather nicely nonetheless. I'm not completely taken with the rendition of Mays in this instance, but it isn't terribly awful, like 98.5% (or more) of these cards in this horrific concept set.  It's the second card from it that I have, the first being the Darryl Strawberry card, which was printed this year. I showed it off a while ago. 

When Fanatics takes over, does Topps Living change its name to Topps Dead?

I don't care for Tatis Jr. I'm not really a Machado fan, but I have to say I'm Team Machado concerning their public dugout thing last weekend. Sorry Padres fans. 

Do you ever get anything out of a player or manager interviews? They have to be one of the biggest wastes of time in modern society. It's all blank, vanilla, boilerplate, cliche crap. It ought to be a drinking game or bingo (or both). I really find listening to them all to be just insufferable. Which is why I generally just try to tune it out when it's on the TV, radio, podcast, etc. 

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Babe Ruth: Topps 70

 What is this trash?

Scanning the card through its thick plastic casing did not turn out well. This is my Epson scanner's way of passing correct judgement on the card in and of itself, as well as of the "Project" itself.

I got this card this summer from my brother as a joke because my Twitter reaction to it was so violently vile and repugnant. In person it's worse than you can possibly fathom, and it's a stain on my baseball card collection, my house, and my life. 

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John Kruk: 2017 Topps Archives Blue Border

In 2017, John Kruk got a Topps Archive card. And what's better than that, you ask? Why, one with a blue border, of course! Once again Topps went with some incongruity. Showing the 1991 design, they feature Kruk in his 1989-1990 uniform. Even the base card for 1991 showed Kruk in his next uniform, number 19. Way go Topps, you fucktards. 

This is the last new John Kruk card I have to show off, so this particular focus of the blog may be silent for a while. 

One of the lamest things I hear in baseball is the "luck" factor as an excuse or reason for this, that, or the other. How do you feel about a player's luck or un-luck? Or a team's? I'm just not a fan of it. In part because I think most of baseball is skill-related. And skill incorporates talent, ability, proficiency, and even inefficiency (i.e. suckitude). This feeds into my dislike of weighted stats, expected stats, predicted stats, and B.S. stats like "Field Independent Pitching" and "Park Factor". I guess in general most, if not all, advanced stats can eff off! Have a nice day.

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Darryl Strawberry: 2021 Topps X Sports Illustrated

This is one of my two 2021 cards, so far, for Darryl Strawberry. The other was the Topps Living card. This particular one is something called Topps X Sports Illustrated and reproduces an iconic Sports Illustrated cover featuring a depicted player.  Again, it's no wonder Topps has lost its exclusivity license with Major League Baseball because it's products are just plain bad and uninspired.

This one has a print run of 1,474 and I got it off eBay so didn't come close to paying the retail cost. At the time I received it, it was the 1,002nd unique card in my collection. 

This is the last new Strawberry card that I have to show off! So this feature of my blog may go quiet for a while.

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HOF Rollie Fingers

Rollie Fingers was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1992. It was his second year on the ballot and he went into with fellow pitcher Tom Seaver. He played for seventeen years for three teams Oakland, San Diego, and Milwaukee. He was primarily a relief pitcher in his time in the major leagues, but in 1970 he started 19 games. After 1973, he never started another game. Fingers was an MVP, a Cy Young, a seven-time All-Star, a World Series MVP, won 4 Rolaids Relief awards, and was on three World Series winning teams.

His final Topps base card was this 1986 issue. And as he did not play after 1985, we can see his whole career here. His 1983 stint on the Disabled List saw him miss the entire year. One maybe can wonder if he'd've gone pitching longer without that injury.  

But the real reason he's in the Hall is, obviously, his mustache. He has the highest MAR (Mustache Above Replacement) in baseball history. 

This is the final last base Topps card for a HOFer that I have to show off at the moment. So this portion of the blog will be silent for a while.  

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John Kruk: 20-- Topps Allen & Ginter's

Thank goodness the front of the card tells you this is 2013.  And which is it? Allen & Ginter's Topps or Topps' Allen & Ginter? Does it even matter? It's essentially the Pandemical "blursday" of baseball cards.

Depicted here is Kruk in his 1989-1990 jersey number 11. He's better known for wearing 29. Way to go Topps! Or Allen & Ginter's! 

Remember those scenes in How I Met Your Mother...when the guys were drunk at the bar and were all like "Hey! We should start a band?"  I think that's what Fanatics is doing with its hostile card takeover. They were watching the trading card boom during the pandemic and were pissed off, like a lot of us, that they couldn't get cards in Target any longer and were like, "Dudes, we should start a card company!" And someone else was like "Yea, we should!" And someone else was like "Hey man I sleeping with someone in Manfred's inner circle I can totally hook you up. Want some Roman?" And meanwhile, Eisner's in the port-a-potty with his pants down when it gets lifted up for collection...

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"HOF" Ted Simmons

Today Ted Simmons was inducted into the Hall of Fame. To celebrate, I thought I'd show off his last Topps card: 1988 Topps.  He looks terrible in this post-swing photograph. His stats are so tiny. 

Somehow time, and the farkakte Veterans Committee, made Ted Simmons a Hall of Famer. 

Simmons played 21 seasons for three teams: St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Atlanta at the end, where players went to have their careers die at the time---I mean, to be a mentor to younger players. He won a silver slugger award. A. Singular. He was an eight-time All-Star, who played largely against guys like Jonathan Bench; and he earned MVP votes in 7 sevens (1/3 of his career). His highest finishes where 6th in 1975 and 9th in 1977. On the basic stats, he led the league in just three categories: Grounded into Double Plays and Intentional Walks (twice, and probably to get to the pitcher to set up a double play). Way to go!

Not feeling this. Congrats?

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