Repack Haiku #460 (Jedd Gyorko)

Once upon a time,

Was Padres' home run leader

For second basemen

 

2019 Topps #261 Jedd Gyorko

 

Gyorko played 3 seasons in San Diego (2013-2015). In just his second season, he broke the Padres' franchise record for career home runs by a second baseman, surpassing Mark Loretta's total of 30. (That's career, not single season folks!) Current Padre Jake Cronenworth has since claimed title, with a grand total of 44 home runs while playing 2nd base (as of the beginning of May).  

Red Sox Frankenset: Choosing Cards #31-33

It's time to take a look at a few more cards and see which ones deserve inclusion in my Red Sox Frankenset. Just a refresher, I'm going through my Red Sox doubles and picking the best at each number for the Frankenset. 

 

We're continuing page #4 today, and although there aren't a ton of choices for each number, you'll notice some similarities. With limited choices, I added a new feature too - Cards that would have probably won if I had a double of them.

 

#31

 

Favorite Card: 1992 Upper Deck - Baseball Heroes: Ted Williams #31 Ted Williams

My Choice: 1988 Donruss All-Stars #31 Wade Boggs (TVG)

Card I Wish I Had a Double of: 1971 Topps Eddie Kasko (MGR) 

 

Let's get this out of the way: If you check out the last Frankenset post I did, you'll see that 2 out of the 3 card spots featured a double from the 1992 Upper Deck - Baseball Heroes: Ted Williams insert set. Additionally, the final spot from that row (#30) was taken by a Ted Williams card. I'm trying to avoid pages featuring multiple cards from the same player, let alone the same set. As much as I love the photo of Williams holding the actual MVP award he won, Boggs gets the spot in the Frankenset. To Donruss's credit, I do like that they produced a card celebrating Boggs as the top vote getter for the All-Star game. It's that little bit of originality that makes me content with the choice.

 

#32

Favorite Card: 1992 Upper Deck - Baseball Heroes: Ted Williams #32 Ted Williams

My Choice: 2013 Topps #32 Craig Breslow

Card I Wish I Had a Double of: 1986 Donruss Highlights #32 Bobby Doerr

 

Have you picked up on the similarity yet? Another Upper Deck Ted Williams card - pretty sure I'm a card or two short of a second complete set for these inserts. At least the alternative is a unique instance of a card featuring the current Chief Baseball Officer of the Red Sox.

 

 

#33

 

Favorite Card: 1992 Upper Deck - Baseball Heroes: Ted Williams #33 Ted Williams

My Choice: 1992 Fleer #33 Tom Bolton

Card I Wish I Had a Double of: 1993 Upper Deck #33 Tony Pena (CH) 

 

Three cards to finish off the row, and once again another Ted Williams card that gets passed over due to my desire to avoid repetition. Of the two remaining, I don't know if a Red Sox Frankenset can morally have a card featuring two Yankee players, so the choice goes to Bolton. It's not the most interesting card, but I do feel the teal design of 1992 Fleer is underappreciated. It could be worse.

 

So with these three selections, our second row of page 4 is complete:

 

  

To think, if I went with what I believed to be the best card for each spot, we would have a row of 3 straight 1992 Upper Deck Ted Williams cards (and 4 in a row on the page to boot!) Was that the right choice? Let me know what you think!

TCDB Trade Recap: Cards From Mt. Juliet, TN

Another simple and easy trade to show off today! This is my second trade with TCDB member Brian, and like the first one I sent along some set needs while receiving some team needs of my own.

 

 

For some reason, complete the 2025 Topps Red Sox team set gave me "Fitts" (or a lack thereof), but now I can say that year is done! I can also say that year's Holiday edition is complete as well outside of the short-prints. Updates, Archives, and Big league needs fill out the trade.

 

Favorite Card:  Put some respect on the man's name! It's spelled Y-A-S-T-R-Z-E-M-S-K-I! If I could learn it in middle school, Topps quality control should have no excuse!

 

Thanks for the trade Brian!

Repack Haiku #459 (Mark Thurmond)

Three hundred plus games,

Over an eight year career:

Not one D.L. stint

 

1988 Donruss #599 Mark Thurmond

 

According to Wikipedia, Mark Thurmond was never placed on the Disabled List (now known as the Injured List) during his Major League career. That's an impressive feat given he pitched over 800 inning in 314 games from 1983-1990. 

 

May The 4th Be With You!

 

Like many kids that grew up in the 80's I was a Star Wars fan. I still like the franchise, but I'm not nearly as big of a fan as I used to be. Disney has oversaturated us with more movies and television shows than any casual fan could keep up with. Still, my love of the original trilogy remains, and I can't help but be amused by how today has exploded into the culture as it has (I remember when it was just a cheesy little pun, well before Star Wars had it's own "day").

 

Years ago, I wrote a post connecting legendary actor James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader, with all of the baseball movies he's appeared in (5 in total!). To be honest, I was going to just re-post that for today, but then through the magic of A.I., I made a discovery that made me want to write a whole new post sharing the connection of actors who have appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy as well as a baseball movie!

 

According to my research, there have been 3 Star Wars alumni who have graced us within the confines of a baseball move. (My "discovery" however, deserves an honorable mention of it's own!) 

 

James Earl Jones

Makes sense to start with the iconic Mr. Jones, who has appeared in two of the most famous and well-loved baseball movies out there. As the elusive writer Terrence Mann, Jones delivered the famous "People will come" speech in "Field Of Dreams". Four years later, he played the blind Mr. Mertle in the "The Sandlot". He is credited in 3 other baseball themed movies. Ironically, it's been reported he wasn't much of a fan of baseball.

 

Harrison Ford

In 2013, the Jackie Robinson biopic "42" came out, and Harrison Ford played a rebel of a completely different kind. Instead of fighting the Evil Empire, Ford's Branch Rickey fought an entirely real evil as one of the central forces behind Jackie's integration to the major leagues. 

 

 

Billy Dee Williams

Billy Dee Williams played the lead character in the cult-classic 1976 movie "The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings". The movie is about a rag-tag group of barnstorming ex-negro League players, and feature once again James Earl Jones (as well as the always hilarious Richard Pryor!)

 

 

Honorable Mention: Mark Hamill

 

While researching this post, I came across a hidden gem featuring Luke Skywalker himself! Although not a baseball movie, Hamill once played a baseball player in a made-for-TV movie anthology.

 

 

As a Western New York native, what really caught my eye was that it sure looks like Hamill is wearing a Buffalo Bisons jersey - very cool!

Now what makes this particular movie totally insane is that we're deep into genre of horror here folks! The movie is called "Body Bags", and appeared on Showtime back in 1993 as sort of a "Tales From The Crypt" wannabe. The movie featured 3 unrelated tales of terror introduced by a character called the Coroner, played by the legendary "Halloween" writer John Carpenter!  

 

 

Mark Hamill appears in the story "Eye". He plays an aging professional baseball player who suffers a horrible accident before he gets called up to the Big Leagues. In a desperate attempt to get his life and career back, he accepts an experimental eye transplant. Being a horror tale, you can probably guess what kind of person the original owner of the eye was, as well as what effect it has on our baseball player...

 

 

I may have to track this down somewhere and watch it... 

 

Happy Star Wars Day everyone! May the force be with you! 

It's Gonna Be May!

Perhaps on other social media, you've been inundated with images and sound bites of Justin Timberlake. I'm not living that life. Around here, we celebrate May 1st the right way:

 

1977 Topps #633 Lee/Carlos May (BLB)

 

Fun Fact #1: Carlos wore number 17 when he was with Chicago, meaning the back of his jersey displayed his birth day!

 

Fun Fact #2: In both 1972 and 1973, the May brothers each received MVP votes! (Carlos in the AL and Lee in the NL)

 

Fun Fact #3: They also were All-Stars in both 1969 and 1972 on opposing teams. According to Carlos, his brother was laughing at first base when he struck out against knuckle-baller Phil Niekro to end the 1969 game (Lee also struck out in his lone at bat that year). In 1972, Lee was selected as the starting first baseman and went 1-4 with an RBI. Carlos was a reserve that year but did not see game action.

 

 

Repack Haiku #458 (Steve Shields)

Nine years in minors

Before debut with the Braves

Five teams in five years

 

1987 Topps Traded #113T Steve Shields

 

Shields was originally drafted in 1977, but didn't make his MLB debut until Atlanta called him up in 1985. From 1985 - 1989 he played for the Braves, Royals, Mariners, Yankees, and Twins.