Legendary Handlebars

My current occupation doesn't afford me the opportunity that most men take for granted - the growing of lots and lots of facial hair.  Well, I would be a beard man. In my younger days I was a goatee man - college kid, cargo shorts and polo shirt, and of course a Brewers hat to match the shirt. And my lovable, trusty goatee. 

Today I would consider myself a beard man. Yes, I do have a huge appreciation for all matter of face fur - the "fu manchu", the biker, the hitler, the chin strap, the chops, the super chops, the horseshoe, etc. My favorite though is the traditional, full beard. Whenever I have a large amount of leave to use up, I always take the opportunity to grow one

Without further ado, perhaps the greatest handlebar grower in the history of the game...well, I am a bit biased.

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Materials #LM-RY2 Robin Yount  (#'d 17/199)

And now, a picture of one of those famous facial growths of his...

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Masterful Materials #MM-RY

Classic Yount. Diggin on the 80's baby blue away jersey patch, too.

Card Show Results

Found my way down to the card show at the South Tacoma Antique Mall. I guess my only experiences of card shows were from when I was about 9 or 10 years old, Beckett used to print the card show schedule listed by states in the back of the baseball price guide, so my father would take my brother and me to those every once in a while. We would go to the one at the "Hudson House Inn" in Hudson, WI. A big banquet hall sort of room with probably 50 or so tables.

Well, this one had 12 tables, and although the prices of these cards has gone up a bit, it was still fun, and I only exceeded my budget by $4.00, so I was happy with that. Here's what I found...

2002 Flair Greats Bat Rack Classics Mathews/Molitor/Yount #'d (186/300)

2008 Upper Deck #99-JH J.J. Hardy jersey

2004 Leaf Century Collection #119 Robin Yount (#'d 246/250)

2005 UD Legendary Cuts #LE-PM Paul Molitor

2005 UD Classic Materials #MA-RY Robin Yount

And the pride and joy of this trip, the one that made the 1 hour drive, $4 Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll, and dangerous yet exciting excursion to the "South Side" of Tacoma well worth it...

2001 Donruss Elite Back 2 Back Jacks #BB-36 Yount/Molitor dual-bat (#'d 25/50)

Brewers report today, so I report on some Brewers...

...cards, that is! Today pitchers and catchers report to Marvale Park baseball complex down in Phoenix, AZ for Brewers spring training. Tomorrow is weigh-ins and eye checks, and Sunday is their first official workout with new head coach Ken Macha. 

Last week Spiff over at Texas Rangers Cards sent me a tightly-packed box full of Brew Crew players. He wisely did NOT include an Eric Gagne card, but did include several Molitor cards I didn't have, and even a Yount card not yet found in my collection. Thanks much, Spiff. Your cards went out in the mail this afternoon. Of the many cards he sent, I had a hard time narrowing down the field to the lucky few I'd share with you. Here are the winners...

2008  UD Goudey #109 Yovanni Gallardo, #106 J.J. Hardy

I officially have some competition now. For as long as my wife has known me, she has known how much of a baseball geek I am. Before we were married she was in college down in Charleston, SC and I was stationed out here in Seattle and she'd hear me speak all about how Corey, Brauny, J.J. and Cammy did in the previous game, never really asking too much about the team. Finally, as I was going through this box from Spiff she stopped at the J.J. Hardy card above and said, "Who is THAT?" Damn. Now I have to compete with J.J. Hardy? The guy is a stud. If you caught the article in Sports Illustrated last February when they followed the Brewers around at Spring Training, they showed a picture of him and Corey Hart playing ping pong down in the Arizona sun, w/ Bob Uecker in some short shorts watching the action (and likely calling the play-by-play with the bartender over a couple tall, cool Miller Lites).  At any rate, he's quite "sculpted", a bit moreso than myself. 

Yovanni is finally healthy again, and should he stay that way he can easily be a 20-game winner for the Crew. We're going to need it this year.

2005 Fleer #316 'Trio Prospects' Ben Hendrickson, Corey Hart, Dave Krynzel

The fine right fielder in the middle is the object of my sister-in-law's affection. I myself can't for the life of me figure out what she finds so appealing about Corey (besides his ridiculous speed). I hope the Brewers figure out what they are doing with him, and soon. They need to lock him into a long-term deal this spring or they are going to lose an amazing baseball player.

2005 Fleer #71 Ben Sheets

2004 Upper Deck Power Up #82 Ben Sheets

Sheets had surgery on his right elbow Tuesday, and hopes to be ready following the All-Star break. As you know, he's not under contract with ANYONE right now, so time will tell what happens with him. Brewers management says nothing is under discussion right now with Sheets' agent. At over $11 million last year for only 12 wins, not worth it. On the other hand, without him and CC we never would have made the playoffs. Milwaukee fans have a lot to thank Ben for, he was with us for many years, but I think we need to move on. I wish him luck, and really hope he's able to sign with somebody this year.

1984 Fleer #204 Pete Ladd, #203 Roy Howell, #212 Ed Romero, #194 Jerry Augustine

Spiff sent me a number of these cards from '84 Fleer (almost the whole team set) but I picked these four due to the large mammals that seem to be sitting on their faces, resting neatly just above the lip. You can't tell due to the color, but Howell is sporting some very respectable handlebar action. Wisconsin native Jerry Augustine, however, was busy keeping the book. He only pitched 6 innings in '84, as you can see he made himself pretty comfortable in the meantime. He played his entire 10-year career for his hometown Brewers, and later would coach the UW-Milwaukee mens baseball team, to much success.

2008 UD Goudey SP #268 Ryan Braun

I love Brauny, and to me he is THE "Hebrew Hammer". No disrespect for Gabe Kapler, he had a helluva season last year with the Crew. But Brauny is my boy. If you haven't seen his interview on Jim Rome's show "Rome is Burning", check it out on YouTube.  Adam Carolla is the guest host, and he and Brauny put on a great show. Great card here.

1992 Donruss Triple Play #254 Paul Molitor

1992 Bowman #375 Paul Molitor

Love me some Molitor cards, truly do.  It was a sad day when he left Milwaukee for Toronto and the money (and the World Series hardware), but I guess he was smart enough to leave "The Good Land" before the uniforms went to shit in the mid 90's. 

1990 Best Cards Stockton Ports #61 Cal Eldred

Back when the Brewers had a minor league team in California (now an Oakland A's affiliate) they saw a number of soon-t0-be big names pass through their gates, including Gary Sheffield, Dan Plesac, Ben Sheets, Geoff Jenkins, Jeff Cirillo, and a one Cal Eldred.  This is my new favorite Cal Eldred card, and currently in the mail for some sharpie action.

1993 Score #485 Pat Listach ROTY

1992 Leaf Phenoms #BC-7 Pat Listach

In '92, Listach (also a former Stockton Ports player) beat out Kenny Lofton to win the AL Rookie of the Year award, the first Brewer to do so (until Ryan Braun in '07). His '92 UD card is my favorite, I had that baby in a hard plastic case when I was a kid, 4-screws and all. That case was previously occupied by the 1991 Studio David Justice card, and before that the '88 Topps Jose Canseco 40/40 card. Quite a throne of achievement.

2006 UD All-Time Legends #ATL-12 Robin Yount

No Brewers lot would be complete without a Robin Yount card, and this time it's a nice one. Thanks again, Spiff.

I'll Show you what $10 can get you...

I stopped by the card shop after work today to pick up some boxes, and decided to browse through the $2 and $4 card binders before I left. I also thought ahead and made sure I had some cash in my wallet. That pesky $10 minimum check card purchase rule has gotten the better of me on more than a handful of occasions...not this time. I need to save my monthly card budget for the card show I'm going to on Saturday down in Tacoma. I think it's only 20 tables, but it'll be the first one I've been to in probably 15 years, so I want to maximize my buying power. That sounds ridiculous.

Well, I found the boxes I needed and on the way to the register I found these...these three cards totalled $10. Sweet!

2004 SP Legendary Cuts Significant Swatches #PM Paul Molitor

My first game-used bat card. I never have luck finding Brewers relic cards in blasters, so I'm forced to buy them at shops. I'm not complaining, though. This card is awesome.

2004 Leaf Certified Cuts #233 Robin Yount 

Not in your exclusive club really, not a relic card but it IS numbered...

2005 UD Hall of Fame Cooperstown Calling #CO-RY2 Robin Yount 

Yes, this one is numbered too! And not out of 599, either...

All said and done, $10 and three awesome cards to add to the collection. And to make matters even better, I came home to find out that Milwaukee signed righty Braden Looper to a one year, $4.75 million contract with a mutual option for a 2010 extension. Half the cost of Gagne last year, and even with 14 losses he almost tied our previous ace Ben Sheets in wins at 12. One could almost say, any pitching addition is a good pitching addition for the 2009 Brewers. 

2009 Topps Hobby Box Break #3

I want to start off by thanking both Achiever Card Blog and Dinged Corners for their gracious patronage as well as throwing up links on their page to mine. Perhaps more minds will be infected, and if nothing else, more eyes will be looking for Brewers cards for me. Always looking for a trade.

I'm posting from work today (ya, I know, sometimes its a tough job) so I don't bore the wife to death when I get home tonight.I still haven't fully decided which cards to share from the recent trade w/ Spiff, so I'll copout again and give you packs 3-4 of the '09 Topps box.

PACKs 3-4

#71 Mat Gamel
After the departure of prospect Matt LaPorta to Cleveland last summer (among others) as part of the CC Sabathia trade, this young man moved higher to (if not, to) the top of the prospect pool. I mentioned our guy Alcides Escobar last time, but this guy in my mind will be moving up to Milwaukee first. He's got a great bat, great glove, just a stud. He's a 3rd baseman by trade, so expect him to see much more time this summer as we suffer once again through Bill Hall's slumpiness. I love Bill Hall (most enjoyable when said as one word, 'Billhall!') and thank him for being THE guy on the ballclub for a good amount of time, prior to the arrival of Braun and Fielder. Anways, watch for Gamel this season. This card is on it's way to Arizona as we speak for some sweet TTM lovin.

#213 Jeremy Sowers
This is one of my favorite cards so far in the set. I have always been a huge fan of alternate uniforms, but throwbacks are the best. The lighting on this card, with the sunshine coming in, really makes it look as if there is 1950's filter on this camera, absolutely great shot. Could swear this was an older card...except for the Nikes, though.

This card also shares with us the "Six Degrees of Mickey Mantle": Jeremy Sowers plays with
Anthony Reyes who played w/ Cal Eldred who played w/ Robin Yount who played w/ Mike Hegan who played w/ Mickey Mantle. Nice reference to Rockin Robin.

#LG13 Jackie Robinson LOTG
Not a bad subset here. If you've seen the list of players in this line of card, it's easy to see how it will have a decent shelf life.

#104 Brandon Moss
I have a spot in my heart for the Pirates. They have been terrible for a long time, I mean, worse than my Brewers (I'm sure if the Brewers organization went back further than 1970, however, we could probably rank up there with the Bucs). They give us a decent number of wins each season, so that helps offset the games we can't win against the freakin baby bears, or those pesky inter-league games against the former AL rivals, the Twins. Nice action shot, here. Fun fact on the back: he became the first major leaguer to his first career HR in the eastern hemisphere.

#271 Cliff Lee CY
Nobody celebrated CC Sabathia's departure from Cleveland more than Cliff Lee. Not that Sabathia was a having a great season prior to his move to Milwaukee (6-8 record) but he casts a pretty big shadow.No longer 2nd fiddle to the big teddy bear, Lee had an amazing '08 season. I'll leave the speculation to Motherscratcher, he's the resident Tribe afficianado. Here's to you.

#286 Odalis Perez
As I was ripping my way through this box, I kept saying to the wife "Man, they gave EVERYONE a card this year". Kind of like the old days, when everyone got a card. I'm glad those days are back, so guys like Odalis here can show their kids a card w/ their face on it. His cander on the back of the card is absolutely priceless. When asked about his 2008 season, he said "I didn't know if I'd even be part of the team. I'm not going to say I had a great season, but I was there every five days". Indeed you were, sir. Indeed you were.

#33 Jose Guillen
#29 Jerry Hairston
#273 Brian Roberts - last player to ever bat at Yankee Stadium
#266 Todd Wellemeyer
#218 Emmanuel Burriss
#285 Justin Duchscherer
Topps Attax
#96 Dexter Fowler
#114 Chris Dickerson
#86 Kila Ka'aihue
#79 David Eckstein
#328 Doug Mientkiewicz
#210 Geovany Soto

Change...Indeed.

We're going to be out tomorrow at the March for Life in Olympia, WA, so unfortunately we'll also be missing the $50 Million inaugural "celebration" which will be gracing every cable station across the country. I'll keep my political opinions far away from this blog...politics and baseball should never mix. Instead, I'll share with you a few photos I worked on today to mark the occasion. Enjoy.

"Change" 

I give to you the new manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, Ken Macha. He did great things while the skipper in Oakland with a very similar lineup - youth and ability abounding. Hopefully he can use the young, raw talent in Milwaukee to the utmost, and to be sure, he'll be able to manage a bullpen more effectively than Ned Yost. Hopefully, the "change" the Brewers need.

And just for fun, I decided to make a few more of my all time favorite Brewers. No need to introduce any of them, I don't think.

Life Before the Strike #14

In celebration of our nice 3-day weekend, I'd like to share a few of the cards I purchased yesterday at the local card shop. I'm a fan of this shop, and am going to miss it when the Navy moves me somewhere else in these great United States in the next 2-3 months. The only downside is the transit time - the Puget Sound has a lovely way of seperating people from things. As the crow flies, it's a 17 mile distance. But using 4 modes of transportation it takes nearly 3 hours from my front door. Because of this, my trips are usually about 2 months apart, which allows for my want list to grow quite a bit, and just as "absence makes the heart grow fonder", my trips to the card shop never lose their "kid in a candy shop" feeling.


Pete is the proprietor of this shop, and in my estimation he's a man of 65 years or so. He knows the name of everyone who steps foot into his store. He recieves a phone call and can tell you immediately whether or not he's got the card you're looking for...and he has millions of cards. To get folks into the store, he runs a fantasy baseball/football/basketball contest (depending on the season) where you pick a few players for the week and track their stats, the winner recieving a $10 credit on their next purchase. Slow economy being what it is, foot traffic has dwindled for this store and so I'm competing with 2 other people this weekend. Say a prayer for Larry Fitzgerald, Willie Parker, and Kurt Warner. Daddy needs a new pair of shoes.


He's a man with an Ivy League degree from Dartmouth, who worked for a number of years recruiting for the University in my old stomping grounds of the midwest, so we chat a while about Wisconsin and how cold it is there, how big the high school football kids are, and how I'm the only Brewers fan he knows. This is great, because nearly every card I go into his shop to find, I'm able to locate with little effort.


On to the cards...


2007 Topps Distinguished Service #DS23 Stan Musial

I'm a little bit of a dork when it comes to the military - both of my parents were in the military when I was young, and I've been serving this great nation of ours for the past six years. These cards are cool because they add to the baseball purest hatred of modern day card companies and the products they produce. As they did in '08 w/ the presidential candidate cards, Topps has a way with creating cards that people still want to collect. At least this one is loosely related to baseball, ya? This next one, however, nothing at all to do with baseball...

#DS28 George Bush

Actually, I take that back. His son (CURRENT president Bush) was a partner in the ownership of the Texas Rangers for a while...he also threw out a few first pitches, so I guess this one counts too. This next card, however, has absolutely NOTHING to do with baseball.

2006 Allen & Ginter #336 Pope Leo XIII

Although baseball had been around in United States in professional form for almost 20 years when Pope Leo XIII was elected to the Papal office in 1878, we have little reason to believe he had anthing to do with baseball. I just like the card.

Aside from the numerous Ryan Braun cards that I snatched up on this current trip, I also found two more Robin Yount cards to add to my Yount binder...

2008 Upper Deck Masterpeices #46 Robin Yount

I didn't know that UD gave Robin a card in the series last year. I was digging for the Ryan Braun and mouth went agape with awe when I saw it. Hmm...great painting? I find it very hard to critique the art of others, as I myself have very little artistic ability. But this looks absolutely nothing like him. To me, the player should be wearing a Cleveland Indians jersey and go by the name Jake Taylor. I wonder if Yount has seen this one yet. I assume there was no approval process when UD came out with this card. Here's how it may have gone, though...

UD: So, Mr. Yount, what do you think?

RY: Really?

UD: What do you mean?

RY: This looks nothing like me. This looks like Tom Berenger.

UD: Tom who?

RY: You know, the guy from that baseball movie, played cather. The Indians?

UD: Don't think I know that one.

RY: Come on, they even had Bob Uecker in it as the announcer, Cleveland Municipal Stadium was actually shot at County Stadium in Milwaukee. Hell, that movie had more to do with the Brewers than it did the Indians.

UD: You know, now that you mention it I think I have seen that one. Is that the one with Bernie Mac in it as well?

RY: No, that's Mr. 3000. This one had Wesley Snipes, and that guy from the All State commercial.

UD: Yogi Berra?

RY: No, that's Aflac. I'm talking about Dennis Haysbert.

UD: I thought he did the US Navy commercial voiceover work.

RY: No, that's Godsmack, the band.

UD: Not the music, the....

As you can imagine, the rest of the conversation stayed somewhat along these lines, neither side acoomplishing much. At the end of this one hour meeting, both sides were so tired that neither thought it important to look at the back of the card. As Thorzul went into depth discussing on his blog once, Robin Yount never did, in fact, win the AL Rookie of the Year award.

I decided to call the fine folks at Upper Deck this morning to find out who did this painting for the card. I spoke with Crystal in their sports card division, and she's going to have the project manager for the 2008 Masterpieces give me a call later today with the artist's name. I'll keep you posted.

1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack #202 Yount/Winfield HES

Besides the really tan mutant arm coming from Yount's side and shoulder, this card seems pretty standard, really. At first glance, I didn't really see that it was a double card, not only with regard to its subject, but it's thicker than normal. See, it's not actually a mutant arm, it's Yount ON TOP of Dave Winfield. Pretty tricky, folks. The card unfolds and becomes kind of a book card. Neato.

Still waiting on that phone call from Upper Deck...

Life Before "The Strike" #1

And thus begins the resurgence of my childhood hobby - baseball card collecting. I chose the title for this thread, 'Life Before "The Strike"' because the Major League Baseball players' strike of 1994 ended my years of baseball card collecting. My brother and I just stopped buying cards after that. When the 1995 MLB season began, I was too busy listening to the Smashing Pumpkins and discovering that girls bodies were...changing...to put any effort into card collecting. At that point, all the major card companies had converted to a "glossy" format, thus driving up the price of cards. What used to cost 50 cents for 20 cards, now cost $2.50 for half as many cards. For an unemployed 13-year old, this was no longer an affordable hobby.

13 years later...2008. Baseball is still my favorite sport, and I have been blessed with a job that affords me the opportunity to religiously watch and follow baseball once again. And so, my love of cards is re-awakened. It also helps that the Brewers are actually a good baseball team again!

A fellow Brewers fan and I share something in common - our favorite baseball player of all time is Robin Yount. We recently agreed to trade some cards, 2 of mine for 10 of his - I scratched his back, and likewise he scratched mine. At any rate, here are the cards I received from Thorzul today.

1994 Pacific Silver Prisms Circular #1
This card is really neat - not only is holographic (which means 3 dimensions of fun) but the back is in both English AND Spanish...which helps. I now know that the Spanish word for "Homeruns" is "Cuadrangulares". Badass.

2000 Upper Deck why 3k? #59
Robin Yount retired with a career batting avg of .285 - and averaged 1.1 hits/game. Math says that if you can stay healthey, that average will get you to 3,000 hits.
2001 Fleer Greats of the Game #83
Perhaps one day MLB will bring back the pullover game jersey. At least Kansas City is doing their part by bringing back powder blues.2001 Topps American Pie #71
I think the bat he's holding in this photo weighs 12 oz., it's tiny.
2002 Donruss Team Heroes #286
I actually found this card today at a card/coin/uniform/clock shop. Nice photo of him during his "mullet days".
2004 Donruss Leather & Lumber #78
There's nothing better than Mizuno's and stirrups...call me old-fashioned, but we need to bring stirrups back.The only thing on this card better than the stirrups is the photo of Robin on the back, circa '76...


2005 Donruss Diamond Kings HOF Heroes #HH-61
My favorite card in the lot. The border around the card is raised, and the painting of Robin has him sporting his legendary handlebar mustache.
2005 Upper Deck All Star Classics #96
Great photo of Robin sporting the blue and white batting helmet that the Crew abandoned in favor of the solid blue helmet after the '86 season.
2005 Upper Deck Legendary Cuts #69
Even though I already had this card, I wanted to post it because it's very well done. I like the scrollwork, looks old school. It also has Robin's middle initial, "R". First time I'd ever seen that on a baseball card.
1986 Dorman's Cheese
Just like Kraft and Post used to offer baseball fans inserts and "cutouts" from boxes, the smart folks at Dorman's Cheese figured out that baseball and cheese are a great couple. Not liscensed by MLB, they of course had to remove the logos from the hats. This always confused me as a kid.


My thanks again to Thorzul for these awesome cards.