Today in Baseball history

. . . the year was 1989, April 10th, and Ken Griffey Jr hit his first major league homerun as Seattle beat the Chicago White Sox 6 - 5. Nicknamed "the Kid", "the Natural" and "the Franchise" Griffey Jr has not disappointed.

Today is also Ken Griffey Sr's birthday - born in 1950 !

So Congratulations are in order to both ! The Griffey family certainly should celebrate "today in baseball history".

more from the show

this being my second (and last) post "showing off" my finds at the card show this past Saturday I want to remind everyone that I did remember my promise to stick to my budget etc . . . and most of my "to do" promises for the wife . . .

For starters, I did pick up several 1970 Topps cards (mostly mid-high numbers) in addition to the ever elusive Al Oliver # 166 (gold trophy topps all-star rookie card). Since I am chronicling this set card by card I will not post any scans . . . yet. I am now at 683 of 720 or 95 % complete; soon I will have to splurge on the Reggie Jackson (#140), Henry Aaron (#500) and the Nolan Ryan (#712). Those are my only missing big ticket cards. Getting closer I am . . .

At the last show I went to I was introduced to the 1995 Flair set with my the one only card, Sammy Sosa #334 - I really like this card / set and added them to my "look for" list. I found a small handful, actually 13 of these heavy card stock cards, in a bargain basket.

These three show off the fronts of my new favorite "modern" set. I really like the horizontal look, double photo, and scripted initials of the players (the scans may not be so clear for that ). Finding a future HOF'er (possibly two in Larkin and Johnson) as well as a Mark Grace was nice.

I also scanned a back for you to see. The backs show a third (different) photo of each player, is the traditional up/down orientation but only shows five or six years of stats (the only down side to these cards). I liked this Ryan Klesko photo . . . each hand holding a batting glove as he seems to be leading off of first base.

I also could not pass up on a few (actually found five) Ken Griffey Jr cards . . .

including two 1991's for my daughters binder and one for me with Griffey Sr and his two sons.

My real "splurge" came from the 1976 Topps set . . . The Sporting News All-Time All Stars !

This small (10 card) sub-set is a real classic. I added these three cards to bring me only one short of completion (missing Babe Ruth # 345). Who can resist these classic black and white photos of when baseball was so different.

I also picked up a few random Cubs cards to fill some gaps; including these two; a 1968 Lee Elia # 561, though more famous for his managerial days / tirade he did appear as a pinch hitting infielder for the Cubs (though appeared in only 15 games) and a 1968 NL Pitching Leaders #5 with Fergie Jenkins.

And I could not pass up three great mustache cards !

So, all in all, I kept all (most) of my promises, had a blast looking around, added cards to several parts of my collection and now Opening Day is here !

Thanks for allowing me to share my limited yet fun additions.

Pay it Forward

No this is not a movie review, though "Pay it Forward" is a favorite of mine, and I highly recommend it to all (especially the young people in our lives). This post is an acknowledgement that since entering the world of blogging (December 0f 2008) it seems that the concept of "paying it forward" is more prevalent than I ever imagined.

Just the other day I received an email from blogger Tim of 90sboxbreaks that he was willing to send me some cards he had to fill one of my "wants". In my reply email I asked what I could send in return and his reply was "just pay it forward". This is the best answer any of us bloggers could hear and practice, especially since we all have our own specialities and collections.

Tim sent me four of the five 1991 Score Dream Team cards I was missing.

from Frank Viola's quirky "is that an apple in your hand or are you happy to see me" to "need a light" Doug Jones . . .
and Dave Stewart with his eyes posed to throw that ball at anyone who crosses him . . .
to Roberto Alomar seemingly floating in the air waiting to backhand that line drive shot (though he looks scared at the same time).

Now my Dream Team set is almost complete, just searching for that elusive last card, #12 Ken Griffey Jr. Thank you Tim for reminding all of us that our hobby is our own production of the movie as we all "pay it forward" everyday.

Happy Birthday Dale Long

I know . . . I know . . . most of you dont even know who Dale Long is and could care less that today, February 6, 2009 would have been his 83rd birthday (he died in 1991). Today is also Babe Ruth's birthday (he passed on in 1948) and is certainly more "popular". "Celebrating" somebodies birthday when they have passed away is more of celebrating and remembering their life . . . so today is a day to remember Dale Long, a Chicago Cub for the better part of three years (1957-59).

The year prior to coming to the Cubs, 1956, Long posted career highs in HR's and RBI's (27 and 91), was elected to his only all-star game and put his name in the record books for this feat: between May 19 and May 28 Long hit a homerun in eight consecutive games. Since then this has been matched yet never broken, twice Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr (1993); however both were in the American League.


Long was traded to the Cubs in 1957 and hit 55 home runs in his two plus years at Wrigley. In 1959, Long put himself in the record books again by tying another home run record, hitting back to back pitch hit homeruns.

In his ten year career, Long hit 132 HR's, had 467 RBI's and hit .267 in just over 1000 games.

So . . . Happy Birthday Dale Long . . . you were a powerful force in the NL and for the Cubs and deserve to be remembered.