Card of the Day -- Names

1989-90 NBA Hopps #104

From Hoopedia:

Uwe Konstantine Blab (born March 26, 1962 in Munich, West Germany) is a German former professional basketball player who had a 5-year career in the NBA.

School and College

Blab attended Effingham High School in Illinois, U.S., and played college basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers, averaging 16 points per game in his senior season. He was under constant criticism under coach Bob Knight for not being in good shape.

NBA

Drafted seventeenth overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1985 NBA Draft, he never proved to be a significant contributor. His first four seasons were with the Mavericks, and he played for both the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs in his final year. He finished with career averages of 2.1 points and 1.8 rebounds per game at the center position.

After the NBA

Blab now resides in central Texas, working as a math teacher and a substitute teacher.

Blow Out the Candles -- Mr. Cub

"Mr Cub", Ernie Banks turns 79 today. Happy Birthday, Ernie! Let's play two!

1954 Topps #94

Back in the 80's when my late Mom and Ernie were both working for New World Van Lines, Ernie was nice enough to autograph these promotional postcards for my Dad, my sister and me.

back

HOPE

FAITH

LOVE

Thanks, Ernie. Again, Happy Birthday and many more and may our beloved Cubs finally win in 2010.

Card of the Day

1996 Topps Stadium Club #53

What a great shot of Cubs pitcher Jim Bullinger on one of the rooftops on Sheffield Avenue across from the right field bleachers at Wrigley Field. The colors are terrific as well as the detail. You can even see the tarps covering the mound and plate in the left field bullpen near the wall just past the infield.

Here are a couple of shots as reference points:

The street in front of the buildings is Sheffield on the east side of Wrigley. You can see the EL tracks behind them ("This is Addison--Next stop Belmont, change for the Ravenswood"). On the left, Sheffield intersects with Waveland Avenue.

Here's a happening pre-game shot. Looks like some kind of Nascar promotion was going on that day.

1961 Topps Artwork?

I was looking through my small stack of 1961 Topps cards and came across these two odd ones. They both seem to be paintings (or at least painted over) rather than regular photographs. Does anyone know the story behind them? Are there others like this?

#213

#276

"Stay, Cubs, Stay" - -Mesa AZ version of "Go, Cubs, Go"

Mesa resident Gary Sievers sang his own version of Steve Goodman's "Go Cubs, Go" at a recent city council meeting. The Cubs were threatening to move their spring training facilities to Naples, FL. His voice is lacking but the lyrics are funny and he's got a lot of chutzpah.

1971 Topps Football Card Game Part 2

This is the back of the game cards. If they look familiar it's because they are the football equivalent of the Topps baseball game cards issued three years earlier.

Here's a sampling of some of the best players I have in my collection, more survivors of my childhood collecting.

1971 Topps Football Card Game Part 1

1971 Topps Football packs included a game complete with playing field. I don't recall how the various inserts were distributed.

These posters came folded with the cards. When opened they are about 6-3/4" X 4-3/4".


The back of the poster has instructions for playing the game, a scoreboard, and a football field to play the game on.



This is another insert used, when cut in half, to be the ball marker and first down chains.


Stay tuned. Tomorrow I'll show you some of the game cards.

Card of the Day

I love oddball player shots. Here's a great one. Hope you haven't seen it lately. It was one of the cards in a $9.99 Fairfield repack box.

1995 Pinnacle #223

Topps All-Time Fan Favorites Favorites T-Z

Topps put out 150 card sets of retired players in 2003-2004-2005. Players are pictured on card designs from their playing days but with different photos than were in the originals. Here are my favorites, alphabetically.

2003 #95

1952 design. Shot heard round the world. "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" This looks like a wax statue, doesn't it?

2004 #146

1989 design. I just like having cards of important non-players.

2005 #79

1993 design. Here's the "Wild Thing" thinking about that bad dream he had last night where he gives up a home run to lose the World Series.

2004 #109

1967 design. I love the purple and the multi-colored warm up bat. Maury was the greatest base-stealer of my youth along with Lou Brock.

2005 #46

1979 design. Nice posed shot of a young Winfield. The future Hall of Famer hit .308 in 1979 with 34 homers, 118 driven in, and 10 triples.

2005 #78

1963 design. This is a design that's growing on me. I don't own very many of the originals. Love Yaz. He looks very hitter-ish here.

2003 #91

1982 design. I liked the Brewers more when they were in the American League. I can't find any fault with the "The Kid" and his 3142 hits.

2004 #69

1957 design. Who doesn't love the colorful Zim. Look at those steely eyes. Pitchers feared Zim--NOT!

Well that's it for my Topps ALL-Time Fan Favorites favorites. One thing I noticed is that there seem to be more from the first two sets so if you're looking to pick them up I'd start with 2003 and 2004 before 2005. The sets did include some great on-card auto's as well. I wish I had a complete set of those. I do have some. Great for those second tier guys you remember that aren't always included in the newer sets.

Happy Birthday, Johnny Dickshot

1994 Sporting News Conlon Collection #1286

The late Johnny Dickshot was born in Waukegan, Illinois on this date in 1910. Known as "Ugly Johnny Dickshot", the self proclaimed "ugliest man in baseball" had a .276 lifetime average in just 990 at-bats in parts of 6 major league seasons.

Vintage Football -- Colts vs Jets

Today's match up of the Jets and Colts for the AFC Championship is reminiscent of a former meeting of the two teams, in Superbowl III . In both cases the Colts come into the game as favorites (although this time not as heavy) and in both cases it's experience vs youth at the quarterback position.

So in honor of this rematch of sorts, here are some of the guys who played back in 1969:

1971 Topps #1

1970 Topps #150

1969 Topps #150

1971 Topps #19

1969 Topps #207

1969 Topps #193

Vintage Basketball -- Hall of Fame Coaches Edition

These four players went on to become Hall of Fame coaches, to date winning a total of 4777 games.

1972-73 Topps #81 1332 wins

1972-73 Topps #144 1210 wins

1971-72 Topps #87 1161 wins

1972-73 Topps #32 Phil Jackson 1074 wins

More 1972 Topps FB Follies

Sometimes I act like I'm ten years old. This is one of them.

The 1972 Topps Football Best Nostrils Shot Awards


Runner-up:

#94

Winner!!!!

#97