A CUBS extravaganza

Thanks to A Cardboard Problem my Cubs collection took a big boost today. Once again the generosity of fellow bloggers make me smile. The offer to send "free cards" of my favorite team was too hard to pass up and I just received a small box of 117 cards -all Chicago Cubs. Here is a picture of about half of them.

Yes, many of them are the over-produced mid 1980's cards but for his Cub fan one can not have enough duplicates of these (great for putting in team sets, team binders and year binders). Thank you ! An added note of interest to those who care; there were three Ryne Sandbergs, four Andre Dawsons, two Mark Grace and three Greg Maddux's.

There was also two 1981 Cubbies: Lenny Randle and Larry Biittner.

A small collection of Frank DiPino - a twelve year, 5 team journeyman who spent the middle of his career (2 1/2 years; 1986-87-88) as a Cub. DiPino's highlight was in 1989 going 9 - 0 for the St Louis Cardinals.

Two 1998 Fleer Ultra, my first cards of this set and nice cards they are.

And one cannot forget to mention two of the happiest Cubs ever, always smiling, always playing hard; Manny Trillo and Bob Dernier.

Thank Card Bandits and A Cardboard Problem . . .you have given this Cubs Fan much to smile about !

Duplicate Initials: D.D.

In my ongoing "irregular special feature" that is called Duplicate Initials I am up to D.D.

There are many players with D.D. as their initials like: Doug Dascenzo, Darren Daulton, Doug DeCinces and Delino DeSheilds. There are old-timers Dizzy Dean and Dom Dimaggio. And I could not forget to mention Doug Drabek, Dan Driessen or Dave Duncan.

But D.D. is more complicated than that. I sort of wanted to present, Dave DeBusschere but . . . . . . he is more of a NBA star. One of only eleven (11) other players to play in both the MLB and the NBA, DeBusschere did pitch for the Chicago White Sox in 1962 and 1963, going 3-4 with a .290 ERA. DeBusschere really made his mark as an NBA star for twelve (12) years playing and coaching for the Detroit Pistons and N Y Knickerbockers. An eight (8) time NBA all-star and elected to the NBA Hall of Fame in 1983 Debusschere would certainly have been a good choice.

But D.D. is a struggle for me because there is also Dodger (Brooklyn and Los Angeles) great Don Drysdale.
The 1962 Cy Young winner, played 14 years going 209-166, Drysdale was one of the greatest pitchers of his day. I will leave it at that, since there are so many Dodger bloggers out there I could not do Drysdale justice.

But those two aside my pick as my "favorite" D.D. is . . . . Dave Dravecky !

For those of you who remember, Dravecky was a solid starting pitcher for the Padres and Giants for the better part of eight years (1982-89) having a career record of 64-57. However, Dravecky's career will always be remembered for that one day in July of 1989, pitching for the Giants, in the sixth inning facing Tim Raines . . . when his arm and body went forward to pitch and his humerus bone broke - right there on the mound, his arm breaks and he is writhing on the mound in excruciating pain. This was after a tremendous fight and successful return from cancer in October of 1988 and bouncing back to pitch in the majors in less than a year.

The Giants went on to win the pennant in 1989 and in the post-game celebration Dravecky would break his arm again and during the examination doctors would notice the cancer had returned. Just three weeks later Dravecky would retire from baseball. That year he would earn the Willie Mac award for courageous spirit and leadership.

What makes Dravecky a personal choice for me is two things: one he is a cancer survivor and a battler (need I say more) yet secondly is that on July 18, 1991, after two more surgeries, his arm and shoulder were amputated -the exact same day (almost to the minute) as my daughter was born.

Dravecky has gone on to be an author and motivational speaker as well as my favorite D.D.

The Year of the "Bulldog"

Another beautiful evening in Sarasota, Florida gave me the opportunity to walk my dog (our five year old shetland sheepdog named Winnie) around the block and enjoy the dark blue sky with millions of stars. Upon our walk, we met a new neighbor who also had a puppy, a bulldog puppy. Now I can not honestly say that I like bulldogs but this puppy was cute.

When we got home, Winnie got her cookie and like any good dog owner I left her alone and went back to my baseball card collection, it was there I came across another "Bulldog", named Orel Hershiser.

Hershiser was given this nickname by manager Tommy Lasorda and lived up to that toughness. As most of my usual posts are directed to baseball and cards from the 60's and 70's I must take this time to acknowledge Hershiser.

To go back a few years, many would consider 1968 "the year of the pitcher" with Gibson' year ending ERA of 1.12, McClain winning 3 games and Louis Tiant having batters hit only .168 against all year. This was also the year that Yaz won the AL batting title with an anemic .301 BA. Throughout the sixties, pitchers were gaining the advantage over hitters and it was the year 1969 that MLB lowered the pitchers mound (from 15" down to 10") and restored the strikeout zone to the larger pre-1963 area. Hitters were now the focus of baseball . . . but here came Orel Hershiser and his glorious year of 1988 "the year of the bulldog".

Hershiser went 23 and 8, had a .226 ERA and pitched 267 innings. He was voted to the All-Star team, earned a gold glove and won the Cy Young award. Though that was just the beginning.

He ended the year with 59 (yes, fifty nine) consecutive scoreless innings (eventually broken on opening day 1989). Behind Hershisers pitching, the Los Angeles Dodgers went on to win the National League Pennant and World Series, crowning Hershiser MVP of both. Hershiser went 42 2/3 innings allowed only 5 earned runs, went 3-0, with 3 CG and 1 save in the postseason. 1968 may have been the end of an era favoring pitchers but 1988 was certainly the year of this pitcher, the "bulldog".

Maybe tomorrows walk I will come across a penguin, ryno, snake or a goose ?