If you're a blogger who has their collection on the
Trading Card Database, there's a new feature that may prove useful. Recently the Admin of the site installed a random card feature, where you can have a random card selected from your collection. The first time I used this feature, this was the card it chose:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sLIYlM4tqWT0eJuEUA4PThakkI-ZQfW8joMH3_XfzTvAbITJaV4qy5S_HL_XCNEhXiW0er7bvFSSiJxQnOjZRwsVqmRz_FLlEWspvgJ7A3P2GMOrjRIjaUUxxOaVUiDEB2SXkbcg23BO/s320/BlogDay1Berrios.jpg) |
2017 Topps #8a Jose Berrios |
Ironically, this was the
very first card I ever featured on this blog! How funny is that? You can also pick a random card from your favorite team or set.
It a fun little time killer. Personally, it'll help with a new feature I've been contemplating. I've been toying with the idea of a variation of the "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. The plan is to connect a random card to a card of Red Sox player Mookie Betts ("6 Degrees of Mookie!"). The added wrinkle is that the connecting players must also appear as teammates in a baseball card set. (Trust me, it's not as easy as it sounds!)
Let me give you an example. Using the TCDB random card generator, I pulled up this card of former Springfield nuclear power plant worker/now also former Angels skipper Mike Scioscia:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdB3zL_i60FxAWdJQrzH5xhku46vem9jnT2gd0gvS1JD-zRIleOaDOs4iUGlwjT6s_SgOL0YE60YAmaBqCe5cS9tlS7DpcY5Lq7GEsEFAZpGCy_AsLBehY69n0dmS73j3WD81w1vXlE8Gc/s320/6Degrees_Scioscia.jpg) |
1985 Topps #549 Mike Scioscia |
Looking at other Dodgers in the 1985 Topps set, I found one player I knew would also later play for the Red Sox, and was able to create this link:
Teammates in the 1985 Topps set |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidYyAYag1I0zoAPg7CatGSVHcNeXA0uE87t3pJ1qRX1Zddaqsnm9AiQfB0MnRABkZCfvqIok4gofaAqtYG2FktGRSCmWn1fAmZoo5IjUxliVy9mqlWE6DMxVfUtIXyUBN2ai6BTXAFnptw/s320/6Degrees_Scioscia.jpg) |
#549 Mike Scioscia |
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![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAsgozgMmCC2Ox93GZ0LwUSKyqFjMr0QFDdgqWYHqNl51Y8IUcjDp-Mx05EJrVfwnWGILIZY7Xt3wmO1GyEGdcyQeL9VCtU0FZsQ2EyIjLmvwtzMHa4sd-W-WcchJzL9agWNhB-DZXWiGr/s320/6Degrees_Marshall.jpg) |
#85 Mike Marshall |
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Now that I have my Red Sox player, the other degrees fall into place:
Teammates in the 1991 Topps set |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLwDVAqddqmKS-vRMFjlPRI9bDR0sN7q9WtSCuxO8FtbIvtX3mLzMnP7agv52Kkepun-FhfamLVMFdcQIXgTRF63H601qeyOAZMqUx4FcpAOnggO4iiowl47POnCDU7Htp8YW5ss1lBMDK/s320/6Degrees_T91Marshall.jpg) |
#356 Mike Marshall |
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![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFBUkFo7nYc60J9dzA1lHUlhc5tQiuJfAXJ5AEPB_yjkvgivxcPmZF2-ykdA8yaJDHobJ8EJZOJWFlNOORTNsIJ4EWGLX_077oIOsCKTushjVxfU5-MlWBvrAWXB1czGQGh-ANDDG5NtLH/s320/6Degrees_T91Burks.jpg) |
#70 Ellis Burks |
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*****
Teammates in the 2004 Topps World Champions Boston Red Sox set |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNovX-iAWqg_mFFKH2DSFfi_DS_vAJ4SSrZ_wWhmqZS8ot5i8s-xXwE1GNdVJkpCspIw7rKtJglUb8Q6CCdjglUqFVn1SvGuSyKd7sLKdRq58ACDhgIz8WJT-JFTqGrrQjhD-Tiixy3ZC/s320/6Degrees_TWS04Burks.jpg) |
#28 Ellis Burks |
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![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikuMsgE4_nb6Nj28HM1fEKA1WMxFcrN3O_EStg0PkyAYyGjzNayvL3Sy_a32F7_83ahGFkiPMEbiQXANbTdr29T_kJAOiVEVpXMqL67EyUtNqFHDxlNCoksmt9oozgMOPJNOdLGnVyyFf_/s320/6Degrees_TWS04Ortiz.jpg) |
#29 David Ortiz |
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****
Teammates in the 2015 Topps set |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhipRLLIY5wj8BB9iZ8-729buWgTQ7yo_WAdTQEEOUsjGXwS26B1CfjKnuRtjctptm60W7FSzpZsbwtpYoFBzyedCKoruCO_AdKN3BG9FYPOqASuBjvA3CW2R9lnSW2SYWwZ4ut2MWZ5TS8/s320/6Degrees_T15Ortiz.jpg) |
#500 David Ortiz |
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![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgy2C5jZi8YZZXbP5VaS5UAyJeNLJUfPV_HZtW7O8zOGr8wiTCTHkz43IXOdD1PoI5HCZmRt6gH2nJu_kBpuht74DZRsN9Z3qB7-PLdLTzjpkAyTtUsiIrnvMGg2U-363nrnZSlersVfhN/s320/6Degrees_T15Betts.jpg) |
#389 Mookie Betts (FS) |
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So, Mike Scioscia has 4 degrees of cardboard separation to Mookie Betts! Just for fun, I'm going to go to
Basebal Reference's Oracle page and see what a non-cardboard connection would look like:
Oracle can do it in 3 steps, but I wouldn't have been able to match that. Mike Morgan wasn't a Dodger until 1989, so I would have needed a step in between to connect them. Also, he was a Twin for only half a season, and his appearance on cards in a Twins uniform is limited to two sets - 1998 Upper Deck and 1998 Pacific Online, neither of which has A.J. Pierzynski on the Twins. (Funny enough, David Ortiz was a Twin in those sets, so I could have still made that connection!)
I figure with most of these I'll need one more step than Oracle. Most connections are made by journeyman relievers/bench players who don't get a lot of cardboard love. We'll see! Tune in next time...
The TCDB random card generator is a cool function. Hmm it might help me for some of my random blog posts, except I like to use scans of my own cards for my blog not online database samples. It would take me a long time to find some of my cards in my collection for posts like that. Hmm need to think more about it.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the 6 Degrees experiment!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds awesome! If I had more access to my completed sets, I'd totally give this a shot myself. Can't wait to see more of these.
ReplyDelete