Rest In Peace, Jim Price

 

The news came suddenly, and unexpectedly. I was driving along the top of Lake Michigan, a classic "nice area" as Jim would say, one fine late summer day in 2023 when I stopped beside the road briefly to "check messages" and double-check to see what time the Tigers game was on that night. 

That included a needed look for a message at a hunting & fishing forum I quite enjoy, where news of Price's passing had just been posted.

I got back on the road but soon remembered some key concerns about ... Baseball Cards.

This next card had been displayed on my bookshelf for many years now:

1969 Topps

Aside from being a worthy visual addition to things such as Miguel Cabrera's 2011 Lineage "Box Topper," a 1974 Steve Garvey, and another box-topper featuring Hammerin' Hank I pulled out of some product I forget, that Jim Price card was there to try and motivate me to do something with it. Something quite specific: send it to Mr. Price for "TTM" autograph. 

I kept meaning to check in with William @ Foul Bunt for the needed best tips & techniques. I had planned to even send in along with the card a donation to Price's charity, known as "Jack's Place for Autism" even though I don't think Price ever explicitly solicited such donations for autographs. His charity work was just something I admired about him.

However as Price hadn't retired from broadcasting I always figured I had plenty of time yet. I didn't really put 2 & 2 together on his occasional absences from Tigers home broadcasts the last few years prior, nor his half-retirement to Home Games only, common enough with older Baseball broadcasters, and just presumed he would eventually step away from the mic, "under his own power" as it were, and, publicly.

But that's not how things turned out. In retrospect, I quite sadly deliberately skipped what turned out to be his final broadcast, in early July 2023. His long-time radio play-by-play announcer, Dan Dickerson, had a rare weekend off, most likely for some significant event in one of his children's lives, as he usually would have a "162" listed in his "G" column, if he were to be given a Baseball Card. (Something I truly wish would happen, at least once.) This meant Jim was working with Tigers AA announcer Greg Gagne, who is ever more adept at this back-up role these days, but at the time he and Jim just had very little experience working with each other and the necessary I-speak-now-you-speak timing necessary for a joint call sports broadcast. The stop-start, halting results were not enjoyable to hear, really. And even then I didn't assign any connection to what I was hearing, on-air, and concepts of Jimmie's health.

The 2nd game of that weekend series against the A's on July 8, 2023 became a fairly historic Tigers game as it was a rare "Combined No Hitter." It became a part of my personal history in that it was my last time hearing Jim Price call a game, live. But even despite the on-going No Hitter, I just listened in fits and starts while working, and then the next day just ... skipped my usual near-daily ritual during Baseball season, awaiting Dan & Jim's return after the All-Star break, which just never happened. Thus July 9, 2023 was Jim Price's final day in the Major Leagues, after debuting on April 11, 1967; he passed away just a month later, on August 7, 2023.

That fateful day I soon pulled over again, knowing well what happens to the prices of Baseball Cards when a player dies. A whole lot of people in my exact same predicament of always-having-planned-to-buy.... suddenly buy. And thus prices rise, quickly.

Fortunately, COMC still had one copy left of the 2021 Heritage High Numbers autographed card you saw at the top of this post. And the price hadn't increased yet, with ebay recent "'comps." I gladly clicked away the necessary $50-ish and was relieved things worked out on this one small desire. Having only the limited "red ink" version of the "Real One Autographs" drove up the price considerably, compared to a "blue ink," but for such a beloved figure in my life, I was more than happy to splurge a little on the just-ego-trippin' more exclusive version that only 70 other human beings would be privileged to ever own, once all of 2021 Heritage High Numbers is finally opened, which might never happen, anyway.

That is probably definitely one of the very, very few Baseball autographs I would gladly pay real money for. If things hadn't worked out on buying that one and none were to be found for sale ever again, but I had then summoned a Genie from a beat-up old can of RC Cola with a Baseball player printed on the side of it who then gave me three wishes to get autographed Baseball Cards, I would have picked a Jim Price autographed card right away. Definitely before one from any of the 24,000-ish other people who have ever played Major League Baseball. But maybe just after selecting a 2011 Topps 60th Anniversary Sy Berger autographed Baseball Card. Tough call. Autograph #3, I dunno, right now. Probably Uecker. Yeah.

Why would I want this man's autograph so much? I figure I have heard Jim Price's voice more than any other man ever born, aside from my own father. Think about that for a minute, and who that might be in your own life, outside of close family.

He had worked on Detroit Tigers broadcasts for decades. Even before his excellent and long-time radio broadcast partner Dan Dickerson had begun his own stellar career, Price was working for the Tigers in TV & Radio. That included time calling games with the All-Time legend Ernie Harwell.

A baseball season is quite a long experience, for everyone. When you listen to most every game a team plays, you become very familiar with your regular broadcasters. For some, that becomes overly familiar; Price was one who possibly had a few more detratctors than fans by the 2010s. It is a challenge for any broadcaster to not slip into repetitive patterns of description and that is the most challenging by far for daily Baseball announcers.

I could see the point of such critics, but for me the familiarity of the phrases was a feature, not a bug, as the modern expression goes. Price probably had an old-time expression that could say the same thing, though one is not coming to mind right now, amidst memories of his "buggy whips" and "yellow hammers."

Although I have had that treasured autographed Baseball Card for some time now, I haven't had many cards to go with it. I am being similarly way too lazy on acquiring any Ernie Harwell cards, for example; I hope that never becomes difficult. Maybe this project here will get that fire lit finally. It took some time, and multiple COMC shipments, but I now have been able to accumulate an appropriate set of mates for that 71 Topps, starting with Jim's Rookie Card -

1967 Topps

His 'Topps run' was simple enough to collect:

1968 Topps

1969 Topps

1970 Topps

1971 Topps & 2021 Heritage High Numbers

(complete w/authentic centering)

Here, however, the trail goes partially cold. 5 Cards, something that would probably be less likely to happen, today, for a career back-up Catcher, as there is less room in sets these days so we can have more Rookie Card cards of players who appear in 5 games, career. Just, 5, the grand total for Jim "Jimmie" Price, of Baseball Cards as we traditionally conceive of them, as arriving in packages sold in retail stores, still with a stick of bubblegum included.

But for me, I kind of don't ever want just 5 cards of some similarity. What am I going to do with just, 5 of them? How do I put those out on the coffee table to enjoy in my future Tiny Home? For me, Baseball Cards are to be enjoyed visually, physically from time-to-time, not just conceptually, knowing they are safe and secure down at the Bank's Safe Deposit box.

Fortunately of course, we have ... "Oddballs." And there, the Cards of Many Creators biz-ness, which supplied that wonderful Heritage Red Ink HOA I will still include here one more time — came through:

1969 "Milton Bradley"

That has to be from some sort of playable game, as it has a set of results on the back to be used after rolling two dice. Somewhat like this more familiar such piece -

1970 APBA Baseball (1969 season)

Far from ideal of course, to have a picture-less piece of Baseball memorabilia, but at least I got his at-the-time nickname out of it, one which might partially explain his bouts with Cancer later in Life, which were never revealed to the fans in much detail, something fully understandable. Thankfully, that is the only such item needed here, as we'll see shortly, although there are a few more APBA 'cards' for Mr. Price.

1971 Dell MLB Stamps

And, much later on, just one post-career card, ever, excepting the 21 HHN Auto

1988 Domino's Pizza

That one is best explained by pointing out that at the time, the owner of Domino's Pizza, Tom Monaghan, was in the midst of his 9 year ownership of the Detroit Tigers, something less familiar now than the subsequent ownership by Michigan's other mega-Pizza chain clan. Those cards were issued as a 20th-anniversary-of-68-World Series deal. I quite like how it uses each corporation's "team colors," simultaneously. I also felt it worthy of including a scan of the back, cuz, yeah, I read the backs:

which astutely points out that the Tigers went down 3-1 in that WORLD SERIES, and emerged triumphant, Boston Red Sox style. Mickey Lolich, by the way, hasn't appeared on a Topps Baseball Card since 2012, nor any other card since 2013, despite being a Game 5 AND a GAME SEVEN winner, in the same World Series. Such is life, in the flyover Baseball states. Here, have another Ty Cobb card. '84 who?

So in the end I reached my needed card count of - Nine, thanks in great deal to that APBA game card.

There is just one more Baseball Picture product in Jim Price's oeuvre, one released by the Detroit Free Press newspaper as part of a "bubblegumless" series of Tigers cards, probably not long after the '68 Series I would imagine. Maybe the set name was a way to get around the tight connection between "Topps" and "bubble gum," while still using otherwise licensed MLB iconography, I don't know. All I know is I would much rather have a 9th picture on this page of cards.

As it stands right now there is a strong Mr. Jimmie Goes To New York vibe to this collection, one which I will never be able to dilute very well via just adding more cards.

But until that glorious but perhaps improbable day when I track down one of those newspaper issues, the following will suffice quite nicely at the very beginning of my Tigers binder —

The Result

Rest, In Peace

More Favorite 2018s

Best Classic Baseball Card

I should have mentioned in my Card of the Year Post preceding this one, I picked a card somewhat the way Time Magazine picks the Person of the Year. That Angels Future Stars blast from the past Ohtani rookie is not my favorite card of 2018, not even close. I enjoyed pulling it and the thoughts it lead me to, in the 2018 baseball card hobby. But I enjoyed many 2018 baseball cards, as I always do. So here comes a whole bunch of them, and since I picked a Big League card to start, I'll roll some other faves from there first. I haven't finished that set (nor, with the abysmal state of retail collation, am I closer than about 85% on S1/S2/Update) yet, so I still might luck into some more choice ones if I can luck into some discounted packs as 2019 rolls along. I also didn't finish a set of the green bordered parallels that one could cut from the blaster boxes, so I might end up buying one online and ponying up for larger item shipping, which I hate - but I also appreciate, cuz it helps keep my baseball card spending under control, bigly. So here we go ->

Best Socks

Favorite Celebration Card

Normally, 'celebration' cards feature a bunch of team-mates on the card. They were a steady running insert set in Opening Day for several years as well. There is also no shortage of 'main set' (I will never warm to the term 'Flagship') Topps cards featuring a Pitcher celebrating a Win, usually a Closer, often with his Catcher.

This card is more of a brief, in-game vignette, most likely of Velasquez celebrating a single out as he returns to the top of the mound. This may or may not even be seen while watching a TV broadcast of a game. Since I rarely have a chance to do that, I depend on my baseball cards to help me "watch" baseball, and this card comes through for me.

Best Frame Break

It's a 'pizza cake', as my Spanglish speaking friends say, to have the bat break the frame. I like more creative efforts at such.

Favorite Bubble Gum Card

Salvy is one of those players who always seems to get good cards. And one of those players I probably follow and root for a little bit more largely because of that. Each passing window of likely trading in MLB, I am increasingly amazed that the Royals don't join the Rebuild Parade and flip him for 3 cards just released in Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects. I somewhat hope they do, largely because he has already achieved what he can achieve in Kansas City, as a perpetual All-Star and the 1-1 record in the World Series, with the heartbreaking loss and the perfect, there's-always-next-year redemption victory. Though perhaps his final achievement will be as a beloved, single franchise player that is so incredibly rare in the 21st century MLB. Let's just hope that if that becomes true, and it does seem likely sometimes, he doesn't fall off the cliff as sadly as his teammate out there in left field.

I think I have now probably definitely accumulated a permanent set of 9 Salvador Perez cards to keep in a binder page, if I could only find time to assemble them altogether (y'all will be the first to know). But this card makes me feel like it might have to be the first such true "Player Collection" page that will have to feature 2 cards in every slot, for a more robust 18 cards. And I was darn glad to find this card, because the only other Bubble Gum Card I can recall this year was for Manny Machado, who will make it onto the Bubble Gum Card binder page, again, but I hardly want one of his cards to make a 'Best Of' anything.

Favorite Card From Another Sport

You didn't think I would really stray from my love of baseball cards, did you?

Other Most Hated Card

No, I really do love that Mookie Betts card up there - 'Other' is cuz I also had to go negative in that Rookies post just previous to this one. There are probably other cards I really really didn't like this year, but not too many. And I would hardly want to rank them.

But this card seriously made me mad. I like 1977 Topps. That was the first year I started to pay attention to cards from the Detroit Tigers, because that was the first summer I lived in Michigan. This should be the perfect combo of retro design and team fandom, just for ... me.

And not only had I never even seen _any_ Hal Newhouser card before, nor even knew any even existed, this is a pretty darn good color photograph of a 1940s baseball player - you don't see those very much.

I will be keeping this card, and putting it in my Tigers binder. I might even pick up extra copies of it, given that any random "base" card now is considered to have essentially zero value, and nearly only one cost, really - shipping. And with those extra copies I will practice and practice my horrifying baseball card altering skills and color in that insanely stupid use of the color white in that yellow pennant, where we are supposed to read the word "Pitcher", but of course, we can't. And eventually some certain pen and some certain careful bit of penmanship will fix this card right up to be just exactly perfect, and the original, un-altered white-on-yellow FAIL of a baseball card will go straight into the circular file.

Most Puzzling Photo Selection

Maybe it is a good thing that A.J. Minter has a couple other 'base' RC logo cards to call his "Rookie" home later in his career, which looks promising. And maybe his seeming antagonistic pose on his '18 Heritage High Numbers RC explains this photo selection - perhaps he fought with the Topps photog that day in late February last year.

But I can't recall a live MLB action photo baseball card quite like this one. I never care for a picture of a player's butt, save for _maybe_some of the most dramatic action shots. This shot, snapped near the end of A.J.'s delivery of a pitch, somehow conveys the opposite of impending baseball action motion. It is weirdly sleepy. 

At least we do get to see his face in profile, not totally uncommon on an action shot from live baseball. And I do think there has probably been a baseball card printed in the past featuring a player with his eyes closed. But I can't say I can specifically recall one.

Ahh well, I'll knock off the negative waves now. Let's dig how beautiful these Rolling Stones water slide baseball cards can be, and check out some righteous and hopeful ones...

Best Home Run Card

We always gets lots of Home Run cards. Hitters admiring their latest moon shot is common. Hitters clearly on a Home Run trot can be seen on baseball cards. Hitters mobbed at Home Plate after a walk-off Homer are not unknown. Topps even immortalized one of the more immortal Bat Flips of all-time in 2016 Series One. I'm not sure if that one was previously against the Unwritten Rules of Baseball Cards. And this card makes me wonder along those lines too. Is this against the Unwritten Rules? I know if this particular bit of live game action was shown on replay, I would be cracking up. And maybe if Brian McCann played on the other team, trouble would be a-brewing by the time Khris rounded 3rd base. I mean, it's like you can almost hear him thinking here - "Man, did I hit that thing a mile, or what?"

Light, Camera, Action

This card speaks to me to. It sounds just like one of the sound effects on the near-30 year old Pinball machine 'Comet' - except it says "Ride the Water Slide" instead of the ferris wheel. That's because all the lines on this dramatic (to me) card lead me to a quick trip down the slide with my inflated Blue Jay water toy and it's sidekick the Canadian maple leaf. Or something.

Normally I would prefer lines that all converge up to the top of the card, or the side. But this card is not a downer. It is a Twilight card, from a late afternoon game, with the crowd now in shadow but the players still lit up. I always like those, though some sets never even cough one up these days. And nearly every strong line in the image is parallel, or close to it. The uniform leg stripe, the shadow line on the cap, Louie Saints' arms, a key bit of the RC logo, even what we can see of the overly lit player behind Mr. Saints ... all those lines lead us right to the iconic slide with it's pleasing cool blue on a warm sunny day, down the little dip, and boop, on to the next one -

Favorite Team Card

Favorite Team Card? Who does that? This card is, lighting wise, the near opposite of the previous card, even though they both include a section of the stadium now fading into shadow. I don't know who the main player is who seems to have just done some kind of Walk-Off magic. Nor do I care.

But somehow, the photographer managed to make this look like a live action shot from the 1960s, with a basic warmth captured even while the players are well-lit. It looks Analog, rather than Digital, like so many cards do these days; almost painterly-esque, even. 

And you can tell the Real Fans, the ones who come see a losing team, anyway, and sit in a sea of empty seats, like on so many cards these days - the Real Fans came to the game that day, and they are standing, and cheering, even way up there in the cheap seats! Baseball!

Favorite Yankees Card

Favorite Yankees Card? Who does _that_? I don't even like the Yankees. But I like this card. It probably looks best, in-hand, if you can bring yourself to hold onto something that has no monetary value, and is connected to the New York Yankees. Maybe I should have called it my Favorite Pinstripes Card. Oh dear, I feel a new side-collection trope coming, we'd best move along.

Favorite Tigers Card

Perhaps baseball cards are a touch less fun when your team is going for the League Lead in losses, lately. Or, perhaps they actually help ameliorate all the blah-blahs that come with losing 4 days a week. This year there were only a handful of cards of Tigers who will actually still be around the next time they have a chance at posting a winning season, which definitely is highly unlikely for 2019. I will be taking a look, right here with you, at the Tigers Topps results for 2018 soon. Jeimer Candelario will probably never be an All-Star, but it does look like at least there will be one corner on the field with a little continuity for a couple seasons, unlike most of the other 7 fielding positions.

Best Card Back

Now, another endearing Tigers blog selected this card as their 2018 Card of the Year, so you can check out the front over there. Hicks hadn't even reached 100 AB in MLB and was back in the minors  in July of 2017, so it wasn't surprising he didn't make the cut for '17 Update. But this year, he did.

And though I often think Topps is barely paying attention to the Detroit Tigers, this card back shows me they were. Because in a long long season of lowlights for my favorite team, John Hicks supplied my favorite Tigers play of 2018. Oh, Kevin Cash, you want to play some Nu Baseball and shift hard against this sluggish Catcher/FirstBaseman? Ok, says Ron Gardenhire, hold my iPad and watch this. Here is a Fan Shot view of the action, from the stands:

And here is a full game re-cap with the key details leading off to this fun play from Fox Sports Detroit, with the radio call from Dan Dickerson and Jim Price nicely subbed in for the critical moment (the way I heard it live); 1:25 is a good starting point for the tl;dw generation:

Apologies on the blockage there, though it can be watched on any other webpage, but not this one. Brilliant customer relations here, MLB. :(

Favorite Unknown Rookie to root for in 2019

In baseball, everyone likes the players with 3 names. Usually. And in baseball cards, everyone likes the players with 3 positions. Because you just don't see that on baseball cards. So this was a no-brainer selection. Now if only there was anywhere within an hour's drive that would fix me some falafel for dinner. Sorry, Isiah, I just couldn't resist. Bring your promising 1.6 Rookie WAR on out of spring training this year, and make us some glorious new 3B/2B/C baseball cards.

Best Rookie Card

Though I am nowhere close to owning all of the "Key Rookie Cards" of 2018, as if an entire season of baseball cards revolved around just 10 cards, nor will I ever be, most likely, I knew when I pulled this one it would be the Best of 2018. And everyone likes a Pitcher who can hit a Home Run. In the playoffs.

I like the Woodruff card because of the photo used on this object -

which obviously was the gensis of this iconic part of my life -

So whenever I pull a card that comes pretty darn close to this image, it's a keeper. I set them aside, and someday I will run a little side-by-side comparison on which card comes the closest to it. Brandon Woodruff 2018 Topps #179 RC could well be among the leaders, at this point.

Look Ma, No Feet!

Ahh, just chillin' after servin' up my latest meatball. Nah, I don't need the pitching mound, I'ma goin' for a ride on the water slide here.

Most Focused Card

I first pulled this card in Opening Day, and liked it then. It stayed the same in Series 2, but Thames appears ready to slug another Homer in Topps Chrome.

Thames is not looking at the photographer. He is not looking at you. He is focused on the incoming ball, which just landed in his glove - but before he has been able to re-focus his eyes to his next body motions needed to play the game of baseball. There are probably lots of cards in the 2010s that well capture a baseball player intent on his craft. But few of them can match this intriguing photo of a split second that has only just now flown past us.

Best Stadium Card

Best Stadium Lights Card

Only Stadium Lights card? Possibly. Probably.

Whoever shoots photos from the field in Atlanta, well, Topps needs to buy more photos from them. It's the 70s now Topps, it's time. Put the Stadium back on the baseball cards. Pretty please?

Most Revealing Card

You try plying your trade outdoors nearly year-round all your life. You carry a franchise on your back and generate most of it's All-Time leader statistics, all while all the retired people you live amidst would rather root for their old team, back up north, and paid attendance makes the construction of a 2nd level of seating in your stadium nearly superfluous. You try fighting the 2 titans of the AL East for your whole career, watching any talented teammate inevitably leave your clubhouse in hopes that they bring back in exchange a perfect combo of hot young players who can knock one of the titans off the top spot, someday, but inevitably also have to be traded to just try, try again. You gaze into the future of five more years of the baseball standings equivalent of Groundhog Day, and wonder if your career will always be this way. You, too, would end up with some well earned Crows Feet around your eyes, and the first hints of grey in your hair, in your early 30s.

Topps could have easily made this decidedly non-action shot another one of their unique short, or super-short printed 'Photo Variations'. The vast bulk of these sets are composed of true action shots, snapped during live baseball play. But some of the photos are not. Only some, in a given set, and I think a few more of them may have crept in to my 2018 baseball cards than normal. And I think they are mainly given to long-time Veterans, and in the Complete Set now, a bit of a true Topps salute in solid baseball card tradition, rather than yet another insert card not everyone really wants. 

The last card I set aside from 2018, which will surely make my annual Nicest Nine for 2018 Topps, or whatever I finally nickname the series for blog posting use, well this card and player needs no introduction, once again, as in a previous post.

Pawing through a stack of 2018 Topps Series One, any true baseball fan will stop, and reflect a little, and remember, when they see all the action on every card suddenly come to a stop, on this card. And that is what baseball cards are all about. 

Lo, Winter is Past?

A rite of spring eluded me today. Every baseball season, I like to listen to the beginning of my team's first broadcast...and their final out, and the final post-game, post-season wrap-up.

Though I am far from home as I type, I have been able to do this the last few years courtesy of the MLB At Bat app, which has generally been a wonderful thing to have in the palm of my hand. Aside from all the coverage of my team, I certainly wouldn't have been able to listen to a legend of the game like Vin Scully, or the man depicted in the dictionary alongside the word 'smooth' (John Miller), or feel like I'm knocking back a few well mixed drinks after the game back at the bar with gravelly Mike Shannon.

But it seems MLB took a few lessons from Topps and didn't release the new version of the app until the last possible minute. So I can get gimmicks like video pitch track overlays. On my telephone.

All I really want is the incredible buffet of every radio call of every baseball game. Instead I got a long morning of software updates, download throttled free wi-fi connections, a critical cable missing at a critical point, new account log-in registrations, and enough techno frustration to swear off telephone computer radios and go back out in the woods for several more weeks.

All just to have the broadcast finally start working in the 3rd inning.

I missed The Verse. 

Of course, in the age of all human intellectual content being just seconds away 60/60/24/7/365, now via voice activation just like on Star Trek, I can read The Verse any time I want.

If I want to read it, all I have to do is go back to the very first post on this blog.

So, yes, this is my one year anniversary of blogging. Happy Anniversary, To Me.

Of course, I didn't hit 365 posts as I would have liked, though I batted .395, hopefully a respectable mark for a Rookie blogging campaign. Just lately I've been staying in another remote location without Internet, though there was here last year. In fact I discovered baseball card blogs from the very seat I am sitting in now. But to celebrate this anniversary I figured I should post via the phone, a bluetooth keyboard, and of course, there's an app for this.

I'll be heading out soon, and I really look forward to catching up on a lot of blogs.

So meanwhile to help assauge my Spring Training Baseball Spring Fever, I stopped by one of my favorite card stores and rip a few packs. Even though I probably didn't need the cards, as you will see soon. I want to pull one of those Topps 75th Anniversary buybacks. I really want to pull one. Really. Mostly to see a piece of actual cardboard in a pack of baseball cards again.

I've purchased 6 of the ten card Hobby Packs so far. Only 12 more to go until I hit a Buyback at 1:18. Right?

I also had to break my Olympics spell. I even cheated on baseball cards and peeked at another sport's cards. I'm sure you'd understand the pull of this card.

Oh the things that happen when I have access to cable TV and eBay (via app) at the same time.

But I didn't pull that trigger. I'll miss Curling for four years though. Sometimes I wonder, though, how much I need 2.5" x 3.5" slices of cardstock when I can summon an image of anything I want in just seconds.

But I still need them. So I bought some today. Three hobby packs, 30 cards. I got 2 inserts, a Red Hot Foil parallel (my only Tiger, the basically nice Don Kelly), and 21 baseball player torsos.

I'm glad I didn't try to play Five Card Challenge with a 5 card pack from the Dollar Tree store today. That would have been very, very challenging. I like the Don Kelly card, it's so basically happy, and I love the action shot of Garrett Jones, though as usual I have to wonder about Topps' decisions on who to put in Series 1, at such an unsettled position as First Base in Pittsburgh this year.

Ahh well. I'll eventually read all the backs of these cards, and I did learn that G. Jones hit one into the Allegheny River last year, thanks Topps. But otherwise, a short pile of boring baseball cards. I figured out why Series One bores me this year....I'll have a post on that soon.

Of course, that random itch to rip a few packs of cards was only part of the reason I stopped off at the baseball card store today. I also wanted to be 101% certain I had my name on something new, coming soon...a Hobby Box of Heritage...