Saturday, May 30, 2015

Virtual Frankenset: Page 2

Why is my Frankenset better than yours? Because mine is all Reds.

Frankenset Rules:

1) Be arbitrarily chosen by Red Cardboard based on coolness
2) See 1


Let's roll with Page 2.



1985 Topps Rose #10 Pete Rose. Both of the first two Frankenset pages open with Petey. I'm ok with this.

1992 Bowman #11 Trevor Hoffman. Fun facts about The Hoff: He spent his first two minor league years as a batter. Then he spent two years in the Reds' farm pitching. Then we let the Marlins snag him in the expansion draft. Then they traded him after a half season to the Padres, where he had some moderate success.

2014 Topps The Greats #12 Johnny Bench. Just like this set, is all.

1991 Topps #13 Mariano Duncan. Great photo. Hall of Fame cameo. My first collected set. Winner.

1971 Topps #14 Dave Concepcion. RC of a man who SHOULD BE IN THE HALL OF FAME. Also, mint condition, obviously.

1993 Topps Finest #15 Bip Roberts. Some serious Bippage, yo.

2006 Fleer Lumber Company #16 Ken Griffey Jr. There will be many Griffeys in this Frankenset. Many.

1995 Stadium Club Ring Leaders #17 Kevin Mitchell. These Ring Leaders cards are insane. I love them.

1987 Hills Nashville Sounds #18 Chris Sabo. Let's see, a Sabo minor league card, an undersized card, and a defunct department store. Beautiful.

Go Reds.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Bengals Week - Day 5: Vintage

Link to Day 1 / Link to Day 2 / Link to Day 3 / Link to Day 4
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I kinda collected football cards as a kid. They just sort of appeared in my mammoth card pile. Tons of ProSet, obviously. I've purged myself of almost all of them, save for a few player collections I just couldn't part with. How about five days worth of every football card I own, whatchasay?
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Day 5 - Vintage

The Bengals began in 1968, yet it took unitl 1971 for Topps to get a Bengals jersey on a card. Weird. Also, how great is that Bengal tiger logo that was clearly sketched in under 30 seconds.

The transition from 60's hair to 70's hair is quite remarkable. I think everyone went up a helmet size.

Who Dey.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Bengals Week - Day 4

Link to Day 1 / Link to Day 2 / Link to Day 3
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I kinda collected football cards as a kid. They just sort of appeared in my mammoth card pile. Tons of ProSet, obviously. I've purged myself of almost all of them, save for a few player collections I just couldn't part with. How about five days worth of every football card I own, whatchasay?
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Day 4: Three Minor PCs

Ken Anderson - 32,000 yards, all with Cincy. 1981 Super Bowl appearance. West Coast Offense before it was cool.

Chris Collinsworth - Yes, I actually enjoy his in-game commentary, though he does need to stop sucking Tom Brady's popsicle.

Willie Anderson - Namesake of the only Bengals jersey I own. Had to get it custom. Not a lot of love for o-linemen. Good. We don't need your love.

Who Dey.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Bengals Week - Day 3: GETCHYA COLD CUTS

Link to Day 1 / Link to Day 2
---------------------------------------------
I kinda collected football cards as a kid. They just sort of appeared in my mammoth card pile. Tons of ProSet, obviously. I've purged myself of almost all of them, save for a few player collections I just couldn't part with. How about five days worth of every football card I own, whatchasay?
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Day 3: Ickey Woods




Ickey went for 1000 yards his rookie year, a huge surprise. Also lead the NFL in yards/attempt. He helped the Bengals get to the Super Bowl that year with 300+ yards in his 3 playoff games. He was going to be huge. Then injuries beset the Ickster and he would only have 459 more career yards over the next 3 seasons and would call it a career. I wish I had more cards of his. Such is life.


I'm tied to Mr. Woods in that I played youth soccer with his kid, and then high school football with him. The Ickster was a frequent attendant of many of my mediocre athletic endeavors. Often sporting crutches.


Of course, you all may be familiar with Ickey due to those silly insurance commercials. Nice to see the man getting some work, I suppose.

Who Dey.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Bengals Week - Day 2

Link to Day 1
---------------------------------------------
I kinda collected football cards as a kid. They just sort of appeared in my mammoth card pile. Tons of ProSet, obviously. I've purged myself of almost all of them, save for a few player collections I just couldn't part with. How about five days worth of every football card I own, whatchasay?
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Day 2: Boomer Esiason

West Coast Offense before the West Coast Offense was cool.
10 years behind center for Cincy.
Nearly 38,000 yards passing.
Nearly 250 touchdowns.
Took the Bengals to the Super Bowl in '89.
Named Boomer.

Solid.


Who Dey.

Monday, May 25, 2015

Bengals Week - Day 1

I kinda collected football cards as a kid. They just sort of appeared in my mammoth card pile. Tons of ProSet, obviously. I've purged myself of almost all of them, save for a few player collections I just couldn't part with. How about five days worth of every football card I own, whatchasay?
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Day 1: Anthony Munoz


Still the only Bengal in the Football Hall of Fame. Munoz is among the greatest o-linemen of all time. As a former lineman myself, and being from southern Ohio, how could I not love him?. Two stories tying me to Munoz:


First, I was at a tailor getting fitted for a tux and there was only one other customer in the shop: Mr. Munoz. So I spent about an hour shootin the shit with Anthony (yeah, we're totally on a first name basis) while we tried on suits. It made me feel like big time stuff, even though he was buying a few multiple-thousand dollar suits and I was merely getting fitted for a rental.


Second, in high school, his son Michael (who would eventually captain the Tennessee Volunteers) beat me in the shot put at the state track and field meet in Ohio. So did almost everyone else there, but the younger Munoz was among them. But hey, I was good enough to be invited. Adjacent to greatness, baby!


Who Dey.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Get To Know Your Reds: Part 33 - Jon Coutlangus

According to Baseball Reference there have been 1,891 different players who got into a major league game as a Cincinnati Red/Red Stocking/Redleg as of the end of the 2014 season. So I threw them all into a randomizer and off we go.

Get To Know... Jon Coutlangus


Born: October 21, 1980, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Drafted: 2003, by the Giants
Debut: 2007, with the Reds, acquired via waivers
Reds Stats: 1 season at RP. 64 games, 41 IP, 38 K, 4.39 ERA. 4-2 record
Final Major League Season: 2007, with the Reds




Initially drafted by the Brewers in 2000, but didn't sign, continuing his college career at South Carolina.
Was drafted again in 2003, by the Giants, as an outfielder, but switched to pitching in 2004.
Spent 6 years in pro ball, playing in the minors for San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Arizona.
Only spent 1 year in the majors, 2007, pitching in 64 games for the Reds.
Currently the pitching coach at North Greenville University.




Number of cards: 91
Number of cards as a Red: 71
Number of cards in my collection: 6 (8%)






Go Reds.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

PWE + Box Breaks

Got some new goodies here. First, a couple of cheap box breaks I got into: 2015 Prizm and 2015 Diamond Kings. No hits, but a few nice cards, and for not too much cash. And second, a PWE from 2x3heroes.

The Prizm break only yielded two cards, but the Cueto is a refractor, which is nice. I fear Mr. Cueto will be gone from Cincy soon. Such is life.

Three base from DK. I was pleasantly surprised to see Big Klu included. As much as I love Bench/Morgan/Perez, it's getting a little stale seeing them pop up in modern sets all the time.

Three rookies as well. The black jersey is a variation. Yeah that's right. I landed a Yorman Rodriguez variation. BOW DOWN. I have no idea how rare the variations are, or what players have variations, or anything, really. I do love the black jerseys, though.

And here's all but one of the cards 2x3 was able to squeeze into a single PWE. Impressive. Nice spread. The other one...

Boom. 2014 Gypsy Queen bat relic Jay Bruce. My first Bruce relic. And my first bat piece in a while, amidst a recent slurry of jersey swatches. Noice.

Thanks for the love, 2x3. Go Reds.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Virtual Frankenset: Page 1

Yeah, that's right. I'm joining the Cool Kids Club and making a Frankenset. There are already 500 other bloggers doing this in one form or another, but this one will be the best because, well, it's all Reds, baby. Some of you non-Reds people may disagree with this sentiment, but whatever. You're dealing with the best 75-win baseball squad of all-time this season, so kiss my grits.

I'm calling it a 'virtual' Frankenset because it won't exist in an album, as that would require either breaking up team sets or acquiring doubles. And I hate doubles. The qualifications to make the Frankenset are as follows:

1) Be arbitrarily chosen by Red Cardboard based on coolness and
2) See 1

Boom.


1986 Topps #1 Pete Rose. Not quite his farewell player card, but '86 was Petey's last year and of course getting the one-spot in a Topps release is a nice honor.

1948 Bowman #2 Ewell Blackwell. Six-time All-Star, Reds Hall of Famer, old, old set. I like.

1989 Kmart Dream Team #3 Chris Sabo. Sabo is my boy. My family shopped at Kmart often when I was a kid. They had an Icee machine.

1994 Fleer Ultra Strikeout Kings #4 Jose Rijo. Fleer was killing it with the inserts in the mid-90's.

1941 Play Ball #5 Frank McCormick. Another Reds Hall of Famer from a friggin' sweet vintage set. Frankie was the NL MVP in 1940, for the curious.

1952 Bowman #6 Virgil Stallcup. Just a really good-lookin' card. You know when I bought my first '52 Bowman I thought I got hustled due to the size. No, I was not a child. This was 3 years ago. I had seen many pics of the set, just never knew they were so small.

2001 Stadium Club #7 Barry Larkin. Like there was ever any doubt Larkin was safe. Get up off the dirt, White Sox chump.

1992 Rembrandt Ultra Pro #8 Hal Morris. I just had to. Look at that thing.

2011 Gypsy Queen Sticky Fingers #9 Brandon Phillips. I really, really like this set.
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Go Reds.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Rookie Parade: 1951-1954 (The Last One)

Continuing new running theme where we check out some Reds rookie cards. Here are the rookie card rules. 1) The player must have played his first major league game with the Reds. 2) The card must have been issued after the player debuted in the majors, whether it be issued late in the debut year or any time the year after. None of this Bowman first year stuff. None of this multiple rookie year stuff. I'm gonna list every player who got his first major league appearance with the Reds and pray that I have his RC.

This will be the last one of these, as the ol' rookie collection takes a dive off a cliff in the years prior to Topps being around. Let's roll.
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1951 Rookies

Ed Blake - 3 games, 4 IP, 1 K, 11.25 ERA, 0-0 record

Roy McMillan - 85 games, 222 PA, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .211 BA
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1952 Rookies

Jim Greengrass - 18 games, 76 PA, 5 HR, 24 RBI, .309 BA

Joe Rossi (no RC in hand) - 55 games, 166 PA, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .221 BA
Johnny Temple (no RC) - 30 games, 102 PA, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .196 BA
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1953 Rookies

Ed Bailey - 2 games, 9 PA, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .375 BA

Frank Baldwin (no RC) - 16 games, 21 PA, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .100 BA
Hank Foiles (no RC in hand) - 5 games, 14 PA, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .154 BA
Bob Marquis (no RC) - 40 games, 50 PA, 2 HR, 3 RBI, .273 BA
Barney Martin (no RC) - 1 game, 2 IP, 1 K, 9.00 ERA, 0-0 record
Joe Szekely (no RC) - 5 games, 13 PA, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .077 BA
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1954 Rookies

Nino Escalera (no RC) - 73 games, 77 PA, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .159 BA

Art Fowler - 40 games, 227.2 IP, 93 K, 3.83 ERA, 12-10 record

Chuck Harmon - 94 games, 314 PA, 2 HR, 25 RBI, .238 BA

Dick Murphy (no RC) - 6 games, 1 PA, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .000 BA
Cliff Ross (no RC) - 4 games, 2.2 IP, 1 K, 0.00 ERA, 0-0 record
Moe Savransky (no RC) - 16 games, 24 IP, 7 K, 4.88 ERA, 0-2 record

Corky Valentine - 36 games, 194.1 IP, 73 K, 4.45 ERA, 12-11 record
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Go Reds.