Airbrushed Fridays: 2006 Topps #424

I think it's a shame that there's no such thing as Friday Night Baseball. I realize that baseball lags behind some of the others major sports (which I shall not name) in popularity and TV ratings, but there has never really been anything worthwhile to watch on TV on Fridays. As an out of market Cardinals fan, I pay for the MLB Extra Innings package to watch the games anyway, but I still wish they would do something about the lack of baseball on basic cable when the next TV deal is up. (Never gonna happen.)

Tony Womack was a roleplayer, manning many positions over the course of his 13 year career which featured stints with 7 teams. He was an All-Star once way back in 1997 with the Pirates, but his best overall season (or at least most surprising) was a one year appearance as a St. Louis Cardinal for the pennant-winning 2004 team.

Why did Topps airbrush Tony's photo? A one year wonder at 2B for the Cardinals, the Yankees pegged Womack as something of a super utility player and signed him up for 2005. He wasn't so super, returning to his pre-2004 career norms at the plate. The Yanks then traded him along with a large sack with a dollar sign on it to the Reds, who sent back two players who never made the majors. He scratched our just 23 plate appearances in 9 games with the Reds before being released three weeks into the season, so it's not all that surprising he appears here as a Fake Red. He'd end up back with the Cubs as his last stop later that season.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Just look at Tony Womack and his shoulder shrug. He doesn't even know what he's doing in that uniform.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.

30 Teams in 30 Posts: #6

With the news coming down that Michael Pineda is out for the season with a serious shoulder injury, it just might be that the Seattle Mariners finally made a great trade. I did not see that coming. I suppose that the Yankees probably didn't, either.

The Mariners have always been the closest team in proximity to me, but I've never really felt a close allegiance to any Seattle franchise. There's always been a bit of a rivalry between my city (Portland) and Seattle as it is, so it wasn't difficult to me to latch on to another franchise with no geographical ties to my community. That being said, I usually try to make it up to Safeco Field each year to catch a game and they're not really a hard team to root for. It would just be nicer if they were, uh, better.

Favorite current Mariners player: Brendan Ryan. Ryan is one of the best defensive shortstops in the game, but he can't hit his way out of the proverbial wet paper bag. This got him run out of St. Louis, sadly. He's also a bit of a nut. That also probably got him run out of St. Louis.

Least favorite current Mariners player: Brandon League. Yeah, something about his appearance just bothers me. I guess I'm superficial that way.

Favorite Mariners player of all-time: Edgar Martinez. With apologies to Mr. Griffey, who was pretty awesome in his day, this one goes to the best DH of all-time. And as much as I hate that the DH is a position, if you're the best at something you deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

Least favorite Mariners player of all-time: Bret Boone. Talk about suspicious late career peak! Geez. I never really liked him, anyway.

I do miss Dave Niehaus.

The Seattle Mariners fly away at #6 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them a long, long time ago on October 4th, 2010. All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.

New vs. Old

One of the first things I did this collecting year was, in rebellion against traditional purchasing habits, I signed up for a big 2012 Topps group break. There would be no loose packs of current product for me this year... well, very few, anyway. (It's hard when the closest drug stores start to have cards.) I ended up with a bunch of Mets and Rays cards out of this deal, so I knew to send all of the Rays on over to The Troll. He repaid me in kind by searching his entire collecting and sending me every last Cardinal card. Awesome.

Kyle Lohse is off to another fast to this season, but it's starting to look more and more that Lohse is actually a good pitcher who had some bad injury luck in the past. He's now had two very dependable seasons with St. Louis (along with two lousy, injury plagued ones) and I can only hope he's on his way to a third of the former category.

The Troll sent me shiny cards and he sent me vintage ones. Guess which ones I like the best?

The vintage goodies were all in surprisingly good shape for being so old. The old cards I had from when I was a kid in the '80s were in far worse shape than these puppies.

You can blame my scanner for cropping off the right border on this card. I know I do. This is Joe Taylor's rookie card. It's also his only Topps card.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1978 Topps #276

Cardinals players are dropping like flies. There's not much else to say about that, really. Yikes.

Bill Bonham was a right-handed starting pitcher who spent his entire decade-long career with the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. He's not related to John Bonham or Tracy Bonham as far as I can tell.

Why did Topps airbrush Bill's photo? Bonham was traded following the 1977 season by Chicago to the Reds for Bill Caudill and the immortal Woodie Fryman.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Someone is crushing the Reds 'C' logo, much like Mark McKinney crushing your head. Plus, he's toally high, dude. 4/20, man.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.

30 Teams in 30 Posts: #7

With the big Google Blog/Blogger upgrade, I have decided to remove my somewhat restrictive five image limit to most of my posts. It's no coincidence that this comes with a post about the Oakland A's, as to this day I've never successfully traded with a fan of this team. (This means I have tons of cards to send you, dear Oakland fan. Hint, hint.)

Here are some tidbits about my relationship with the A's. I once bought an A's hat to impress a girl. (I don't think it worked. Hey, I was 18.) I had a Jose Canseco 40/40 poster on my bedroom wall at one point. I thought Mark McGwire was awesome, but I also thought Terry Steinbach and Walt Weiss were pretty great at one point. And don't get me started on Carney Lansford.

Favorite current Athletics player: Coco Crisp. I think this is mostly because his name sends my mother into fits of laughter. He was actually a Cardinals draft pick once upon a time.

Least favorite current Athletics player: Jemile Weeks. I disqualified Manny Ramirez, because I'm skeptical the dreadlocked layabout will ever take the field again. Weeks is guilty by association, or rather, by relation to his brother Rickie who is one of my least favorite players in the entire league.

Favorite Athletics player of all-time: Rickey Henderson. I used to pretend to be Rickey Henderson when I tried to steal a base. Heck, I pretended to be Rickey Henderson when I ran across the street to catch the bus.

This guy was like 12 feet tall and made of oak.

Least favorite Athletics player of all-time: Eric Byrnes. Have you ever heard him talk? Enough said.

Yes, apparently that thing with the skull on it was some sort of Oakland logo at one point.

It's THE Don Sutton. You know, the amazing first baseman? No?

The Oakland Athletics snag a spot at #7 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them a long, long time ago on October 4th, 2010. All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.

Animals and Benes Bros.

St. Louis is sitting comfortably in first place after just 10 games this season with a 7-3 record. Considering that quite a few of their big pieces are dealing with or likely will deal with injuries, I consider this a big plus. I am not going to read too far into it and go out and extrapolate that record after 10 games into something like a 112-50 season, especially considering that the other NL division leaders at this point are the Nats and the Dodgers. I can't see either one of those teams in the postseason. I am, however, pleased with what has happened so far and I do expect the Cards to continue to do well.

Apropos of nothing, here are some pictures of animals (and a couple of Redbirds of the past) courtesy of Jason at Hobbs' Knights.

I may not live in Madagascar where the lemurs apparently grow on (or are at least raised in) trees, but I do know that my humble city of Portland could use a few more lemurs. Or a lot of them. Like this guy.

I'm not sure that reptiles lie in the direct path of human evolution, but they're pretty great nonetheless. It would be cool to have scales, though.

Hmm... do you think Pinnacle is trying to tell me something here? What do I do with this card?

Here's Benes the Elder. This is just a frightening mess of '90s awesomeness/horribility.

Thanks again to Hobbs' Knights for the assorted Cardinals cards and Allen & Ginter set needs. Trades should start perking up around here again soon. Perhaps I should do some sort of spring cleaning type of thing, since it's actually spring now.

Airbrushed Fridays: 2012 Topps Opening Day #76

I'm not quite settled in to this baseball season. Something seems a bit off about it. I wonder if it could have anything to do with the Dodgers' 6-1 record so far this season. That seems mighty fishy if you ask me.

Gio Gonzalez is a left-handed starting pitcher who was originally a White Sox draftee. He made the All-Star team for the first time after four seasons with Oakland and has been involved in some pretty high profile trades in his career.

Why did Topps airbrush Gio's photo? Gonzalez was one of the key offseason acquisitions by a promising young Washington Nationals team. He's expected to settle in as their #2 starter behind the rebuilt Stephen Strasburg.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? Something seems really disproportionate about that huge "47" on Gonzalez's jersey. As is well understood, I'm sure, Gio had not appeared in a game with Washington when this set was created and this is likely a Photoshopped Athletics jersey.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.

30 Teams in 30 Posts: #8

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel... and it's a TRAAAAAAAIN! AHHH! Seriously, though, after this post I only have 7 teams left to run through. At this point, it should be all wrapped up by the time the playoffs start, right?

The Rockies are one of those teams that I could definitely see myself rooting for if I ever lived in the Denver area, as long as it didn't conflict with the Cardinals in any way. You could say the same thing about most of the teams in my top ten if I ended up in the home market of that team. Still, the Rockies are a National League foe and have been a threat in recent years, so you won't see me rushing out to buy any purple hats anytime soon. Have I also mentioned that I'm not all that fond of the color purple?

Favorite current Rockies player: Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo is just plain easy to root for. It also helps that he plays at a position that it's very difficult to excel at, and yet he manages to do it.

Least favorite current Rockies player: Jason Giambi. I don't know, I'm not very down on Giambi really, despite the whole steroids issue. I'm just lukewarm to him and I can't really find faults with any other prominent name on their roster.

Favorite Rockies player of all-time: Larry Walker. I decided to disqualify Matt Holliday, despite the fact that I was a big fan of his before the Cardinals even grabbed him. It's just that with the contract he has and the good years he still has left in the league, he'll probably go down in the annals as a Cardinal more than anything else. On the other hand, Larry Walker was great and his time with St. Louis was relatively brief.

Least favorite Rockies player of all-time: Andres Galarraga. I'll never remember anything more about Galarraga other than his absolutely horrifying single season with the Cardinals in 1992. He would go on to hit .370 (!) with the Rockies the following season, making the All-Star team.

The Colorado Rockies sneak in at #8 in my reverse-ranking of favorite teams as of the moment I picked them a long, long time ago on October 4th, 2010. All of these cards are very much up for trade, so please contact me if you're interested.

One Wizard and Four Former Cardinals

Longtime reader Tim sent me some Cardinals cards last month, and I'm here to post a few words about them.

Tyler Johnson was one of the integral members of the 2006 Cardinals bullpen as the only lefty who was productive down the stretch. I had a soft spot for him because of this, so it was tough to see his career tank because of injury. He tried to make a comeback in the Mariners organization in 2009 but it didn't last long.

As this 2005 Topps clearly indicates in big gold lettering, Lambert was a Cardinals prospect at one time. St. Louis traded him to Detroit for the extremely terrible Mike Maroth before he would make a regular season appearance in red. After a stint with the Orioles, he was out of professional baseball at 26.

Brendan Ryan continues to be one of the best defensive shortstops in the game. He very well might be #1 on that chart. For this reason, as well as his always adventurous interviews and off-field shenanigans, Ryan's exodus from the Cards remains one of the more unfortunate lasting aspects of Tony La Russa's legacy.

I wouldn't trust a guy named Lary any more than one named Mat. Double letters are the way to go, people! It's all about double letters.

Airbrushed Fridays: 1974 Topps #621

Baseball is a thing again! This is my favorite time of the year.

Bernie Carbo was a journeyman outfielder who had some pivotal moments in the 1976 World Series as a member of the Red Sox. He also notoriously battled drug abuse throughout his years in MLB and beyond. All told, he logged 12 seasons in the majors, often returning to teams for which he had previously played for a second go around.

Why did Topps airbrush Bernie's photo? Carbo was traded by my beloved Cardinals along with Rick Wise for Reggie Smith and someone named Ken Tatum in the offseason prior to 1974. Mostly, though, I think they just wanted to use this picture of his moustache.

What's wrong with this picture, anyway? It looks like someone took a dark felt tip marker to the brim of Carbo's cab and those stripes around his collar. Whenever you see someone looking skyward, it's pretty much a no-brainer that it's an airbrushed card. It makes me wonder if they specifically took extra photos of players in case they needed something easy to airbrush in the future.

If you are interested in obtaining a card featured here, please send me an e-mail. If you have a card you would like to nominate for Airbrushed Fridays, please get in touch as well. I will require that I am able to see the card in person, either on loan or as a donation, so that I can examine the card and experience it in all its cruddiness.

Contest Winners of Radness

The Radness finally came to a conclusion last night, with the Kansas Jayhawks tempting, teasing and threatening to make things interesting before finally succumbing to the overall favorite Kentucky. Although the lead was double digits for most of the game, the championship at least never approaching the low watermark set by last year's finale.

This also means we've got winners. To no great surprise (to me), Colonel Panic (aka Elf Captain) took first prize as he also won his very own pool. Stats on the Back takes second place, which is rather embarrassing, as I haven't mailed out his prize from the last contest. I guess this will end up being a super monstrous package. Jon from Community Gum takes third place, while Tenets of Wilson "wins" the prize for worst bracket.

I just realized I didn't finalize the prizes, so I will announce those soon and get addresses and so forth.

Meanwhile, in Trade Bait of the Week news, here's a card that's up for grabs that I received in part for winning a share of a fantasy league last year. Most reasonable offers will be considered, though you should be aware that the upper right corner is kind of chipped off.

The only thing I'm looking for in exchange for this 2010 Brooks Robinson SP is a Cardinals SP (or non-Cardinals Ozzie Smith) from the base set from any of the past few years. I don't have any of them, so it would be nice to get ahold of one or two. I also have a George Sisler 2009 Topps SP that I am willing to part with. I can always throw in some extra cards if this peaks anyone's interest.