P-Town Tom Sent Me The Mother Load

P-Town Tom broke my back with his most recent baseball card packet. Tom -- you didn't really, I don't want to give you a complex. But I've been slowed down for a couple of reasons from posting some more meaning full trade posts (various projects, surgery & recovery, and nice weather!).  So this post is over-due and I'm feeling very terribly about it.

Tom sent me a smorgasbord of John Kruk and Darryl Strawberry cards. Some of them were dupes, but dupes are welcome in my house. As opposed to spiders and aunts.... I mean ants and other bugs. My wife and I have a policy about freeloading in our house... if you don't contribute to the mortgage cannot stay here, ergo, you die.

Anyway... the cards... which because there were so many I got lazy and scanned in bulk but did not crop out individually....

So much John Kruk and Darryl Strawberry goodness above! The rest is all Strawberry... wouldn't mind some rhubarb, too....

Did you see that last card that Tom awesomely squeezed in there? That's a glorious 2016 Topps Heritage purple refractor-like-thing card of Michael A. Taylor of the Washington Nationals.

Tom wasn't done with the above. He also sent me this sun-faded but otherwise "good-in-'box'" condition Darryl Strawberry Score M.V.P. card and pin from 1990.

Tom: THANK YOU!

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____ Goes Great with Baseball

I know not everyone drinks alcohol and not everyone drinks beer. But, I like beer and I am relatively unapologetic about it. Sorry. Wait... Huh?

Recently ran out of beer so went to a local shop and made my own 6-packs. I really like doing this as it lets me try a lot of different beers rather than buying a complete 6-pack or a case and then finding out I don't like it. In this way, it's a lot like the Bachelor or some such dating program. You can try out different ladies (or men) instead of just jumping right into the family!

So I got six IPA style beers, some IPA, some Double/Imperial.  They are:

Melvin Brewing Asterisk IIPA
Stony Creek Ruffled Feathers IPA
Shakesbeer The Tempest Imperial IPA
Hidden Cove Brewing Thunderclap Double IPA
Shakesbeer Act One IPA
Opa Opa A-10 Warthog Double IPA

Supreme, massive kudo's to Shakesbeer not only for their name, but their slogan if is just simply perfect: "Brewed as you like it", which is of course coming from the title of a Shakespeare play. and I had to buy, above, "The Tempest" as it's my favorite play by Bill.

And then I got some Porters and Stouts too, which is large the fault of two people, my brother, and Matt from Bob Walk the Plank. Both of these fine men have changed my palette.

Boulevard Dark Truth Imperial Stout
Revival Brewing White Electric Coffee Stout
Founders Porter
Opa Opa Em's New Moon Porter
Backlack Beer Company The Great Molasses Disaster Imperial Stout
Moat Mountain Brewing Company Imperial Stout

It's summer just about... so I like nothing more than having a cold one after working in the yard (or on the computer) and sitting back and watching or listening to a baseall game via MLB TV or the At Bat App. Add in some peanuts or pretzels and, well, you can't get much better than that.

I had the Thunderclap yesterday afternoon and it was really good. Today I think I'll try one of the darker beers and maybe just mix it up like that each weekend (I'm a weekend warrior with regards to yard work and beer).

I don't think the shift is the problem with baseball and pace of play. Do you? I don't think it takes up that much time; it's the pitchers and batters, really, who are wasting time. Right?

What beverage and food do you most associate with or salivate for when you're watching or listening to a game?

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Thanks a million

I sent a bunch of Dodgers cards recently to Brad M to contribute to his 1 Million Dodgers Project. (Brad also tweets at SouthIndyCards.) And in return, super fast, he sent me  two fat baggies of Washington Nationals. This was unexpected and totally appreciated. I'll turn these around and send them on to my nephews and as luck would have it I'll be seeing them really soon. The in-person delivery is much better than leaving it to the mails.

But what's so great is that these cards run the gamut of players from Big Stars like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, to fleeting, streaky guys like Jayson Werth, Jordan Zimmerman, and Dmitri Young, down to prospects that may one day make it or may have already left baseball.

Thanks Brad!

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Invincible Gems!

This is the last of the Sportlots posts for cards that I got back in September and October. I sure did milk this, didn't I?  This is Darryl Strawberry's 1998 Pacific Invincible Gems of the Diamond #80 that I got from n5sports. It reminds me in some ways of Topps 2017 Aaron Judge base card; but what I like about it most is that it's different. So many of Strawberry's cards are him in the batters box, pre-, mid-, or post- swing. 

The card name, "Pacific Invincible Gems" is like something created from refrigerator magnetic poetry sets. This card also screams that its dated in terms of its design. It screams of early computer enhanced baseball cards (from say, it's first five or six years: 1993-1998). It was probably just about cutting edge at the time and I can only hope in 20 years we rip the shit out of Topps for their over-reliance of graphics (fogging, snowflakes, Listerine water slides and whatever else those uninventive, lazy folks are doing) on their current sets. 

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1998 Donruss Silver Press Proofs Series 2 #181

1998 Donruss Silver Press Proofs Series 2 #181. This delicious card is a match to the gold version that I recently posted. This was a Sportlots order from mkoates5.

Which do you think is the better looking card? The silver or the gold?

I like the gold one better through and through, especially on the card back because I feel that Strawberry's stats are easier to read and like the contrast between the gold background and the photo.

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1998 Donruss Gold Press Proofs Series 2

jessecar on Sportlots is someone I have bought from a few times now and each time I have to say I have been very pleased with the entire transaction. I treated myself to this 1998 Donruss Gold Press Proofs Series 2, Card #181 of Darryl Strawberry and it's a very welcome addition to the collection.

This card is kind of different as it's minimally die-cut. I gather this was en vogue in the late 1990s and early 2000s? I'm not a massive fan of it. Are you?

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1996 Ultra Base Set #107

Continuing the blissfully never-ending string of posts highlight cards I got off Sportlots there is this gem from the 1996 Ultra base set which I purchased from iguana02, whom I like quite a bit. Great cards, fast shipping, etc.

Pinstripes notwithstanding this is a sweet card. I like the leg kick and noticed he's got the bat fairly low in his hand on his body which suggests he's winding up here, flinching a bit, if you will, in anticipation of the pitch.

The back of the card feature two additional batting photographs and a head shot with a cheek-full of, probably, tobacco.
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