Saturday, March 31, 2018

2014 Topps Opening Day--Where Are They Now?

Four years in baseball seems like an eternity these days.  I wondered what would have become of the players from a pack of Opening Day from 2014.  I wasn't too surprised but take a look.

Coming off a 2013 season that saw him lead the team with 28 saves Jim was on the Brewers Opening Day roster in 2014 but soon went on the DL and did not return.  He last pitched in 2016 for the Mets.
A-Rod was not allowed to play in 2014 so he wasn't on the Opening Day roster. Alex's career came to an end on August 13, 2016 when he was released by the Yankees.  I'm a strong anti-PED guy but I have to admit I was impressed by his skills as a TV analyst.
Andrelton was on the Braves Opening Day roster in 2014.  He went 2 for 3 in a loss to the Brewers.  He was on the Angels Opening Day roster this year and collected a hit and a walk in 5 plate appearances.
Big Papi was, of course, the Red Sox Opening Day DH in 2014.  He had a single in the 3rd inning.  David retired after the 2016 season.
Middlebrooks also started (at 3rd base) for the Red Sox on Opening Day 2014.  He was 0-3 but reached on a HBP in the 9th.   The Orioles won the game 2-1.  Will was in the Phillies Spring Training camp this year but broke his fibula on February 25.  
Carlos was 1-4 for the Yanks on Opening Day 2014 in a 6-2 loss to his former team, the Astros.  Beltran retired after winning a Championship with those Astros last year.
Kyle went 1-3, an RBI double and walked twice and scored a run in Seattle's 10-3 win over the Angels on Opening Day 2014.  Still with the Mariners, Kyle went hitless in this year's Opening Day but his team held on to beat Corey Kluber and the Indians by a score of 2-1.

So lets tally things up.  Of the seven players, six were on their team's Opening Day roster in 2014.  Four years later only two were left and only one on the same team.

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Meat Extract Anyone?

Do you guys like "American Pickers"?  I for one can never get enough of looking at the cool stuff they come across.  One of the things Mike Wolfe often says is that he's always looking for the unusual, something he hasn't seen before.

I'm always on the lookout for interesting sets, whether new or more often old.  Here's something I found from an ebay seller in Belgium.  It's one of over 1800 sets issued by the Liebig Co.  They began issuing cards in 1872 and continued for over one hundred years (1975). Take that Topps!

This set (#1244) appeared in 1931.  At 4-1/4" x 2-3/4" they're larger than a standard modern trading card.  I've included a translation of each card's French description.  (Blame me for not speaking French and Google for the errors.)

1. DROPS OF WATER UNDER THE MICROSCOPE, There are in the water, ponds, shrubs and rivers a quantity of organisms my animals and animals are invisible to the naked eye. We would like to present you some of these little Ctres, after having enlarged them thousands of toises: In the upper corner of gaudre Arcella vulgaris: a small cluster of live frost in a shell or shell to protect the animal. In the center an Amoeba, swimming. This Being is even simpler than the previous one because it does not even have a shell. AT right: Difllugia acsminala, apparentd ir Arcella, and possessing an inlaid carapace small foreign bodies. The other organisms are green plants, alguoa, of which the lower one decides precisely a spore, the beginning of a new seaweed. - Let's note that Arcella, Amoeba and Diflugia are composed of only one cell, and nourish by enclosing particles by means of tentacles, acting as The single cell possesses most of the functions, but reduced i. their simplest expression, - These creatures dig, breathe, have sensations and can move.

What difference between ready meals with beef broth, and those that do not contain While the latter, faded and without strength, require excessive seasoning and harmful, the dishes in the preparation of which between broth, the "bottom of meat, are substantial and tasty - especially if one of the excellent economic and concentrated beef biscuits that are the Liebig Produirs: LIEBIC LIBOX OXO.



2. In gaudre, a pretty colony of Dinohyon Sentularia. Each small vase made of cellulose transparent lose contains an individual having an eyelash and two whips length indigestible, these whips serving to attract the nourishment. In the center and on the right, two indi- vidus d'Euglena Oxyurus, living in pools of stagnant water where there is also manure. The whip is its locomotion organ and the red spot is a Gil. - The little Japanese Ianterne is Trachelomonas armata, moving exactly like the prdcddent. We must use the names of Latin Americans to designate these organisms because they do not have a vulgar name. They were baptized by the scientists. Their cut? It is measured under a microscope with a measuring unit called micron c-i-d 1 / 1s6e of mm. Each Dinohyon vase is about 35 microns tall 10 wide. An Eugldne such as the one depicted is a giant of its kind. It can sometimes reach the size of 400 microns or 400 M (1 ll: 1 micron), or almost half a millimeter.

If the housekeeper let it cook until thickening a good broth prepared with the best beef, with or without the addition of herbs and spices, she will be able to obtain after of a long time I have to consider that of Liebig Products, which does not In fact, only concentrated, pure or seasoned beef consump- good cooking can not do without such "meat funds", which alone give strength and flavor I all the dishes; and Liebig Products, perfect broth, come back well less than those provided by the Minister himself.


3. Here are some examples. So we call organisms met in the first place in vestigial infusions. Although unicellular, they have a structure already compliqude. - Baudre's, crawling on the ground, but also able to swim, has a monstrous appearance. But admire this organization: on this body, sl small, there are about 3000 appendices, organs of tact and locomotion. And all this works together, harmoniously, at the same time as the internal organs as if a complicated nervous system regulated this co-ordination. His scientific name is Siylonychla. - The organism of the center, and its green companion swimming freely, are Stenlons, having an organization similar to that of Stylonydria, but they can reach 2 mm in length. - On the filament of seaweed, Vonellcelles, lixCes by means of a rod, which can be stretched and curl of the little creature, and that abruptly, to escape danger, for example. The Vorticella can give up its stem and swim freely, pointing out a more favorable, to remake a new rod, and to refix itself. - All three live in the stagnant waters.

 The time is over when the owner could waste meat, vegetables, fuel and a lot of time, to prepare the concentrated beef broth, the meat base r, O>


4. Another Infusory: Pammecium, To have an innumerable quantity, it just put in a few days a handful of hay water. These Paia- mies can live for years, completely dddds, But they appear dead: not moving plfs, no longer eating, they stay accoids i a brindle away. But just put them back in their normal environment, the water, so that they live again, as if nothing had happened. llyaplus; they do not know the natural death), old age death; they only die by accident, which almost always means to be eaten. As our picture clearly indicates, the Paramdcie is reproduced in simply dividing latently in two. Every half has all the neces- to form a whole organism. And here is a microscopic one, which is dj) organized in a very complicated way. He possdede even an extraordinary way to defend oneself: by the whole surface of the body, he can start with tiny fl owers poisoned, completely paralyzing the aggressor. A Paramdcie has about 200 It is the fifth, a fifth of a millimeter.

Good food is at the door of the cheapest and most pressing home. if she uses Liebig Products based on meat extract, which replace. advantageous - the bottom of meat, without which it is not good food. Lleblg, Bxtrslt of pure Viandc. Llbox, Mixed Meat Extract. Oxo, in flames, boulllon conc iltt6. Oxo, cubes, boulllon concentr6.


5. Wonders of finesse! They are tiny cups of silica, sand. box with its lid. And inside the box lives a unicellular plant lar. These are diatoms, of which there are thousands of different forms, all didgantes and ornCes with art by nature. There are diatomids in the waters sweet, and there are some in the ocdans too. At certain times in the history of our globe, there must have been labulously large quantities, because we have found deposits of thousands of kilograms of these empty minusculetbolies. - Their way of reproducing is worth the pain of being told: In the interior, your celtule vdgdtale simply divides into two, like a Paramdcie. One half wins the box, the other half the lid. Diatomde i. box is made a new cou- vercle, and the other is a new box. - Many Diatomids form colonies, live together, in a group.

Four types of concentrated broths are prepared by the Liebig Company; I am able to use dars claque case the most indicated and most practical product. Cds four birches concentids are: The Lieblg Meat Addition, which is a ready-made broth only with viancie, without any additions, and forcibly concentrated; The Examine of Libox Meat, corresponding e. a broth prepared with meat, vegetables, herbs and spices, and highly concentrated; the Bouillon Oxo anagons, of the same kind as the precede; Being liquid, it is dissolves easily, and its use is very convenient, even as it is; Oxo Bouillon in Cubes, which is also a complete and seasoned broth. easy to assay, and of modest price.

6. You may have been present at the Phosphor of the Sea. And did you know that this phenomenon is caused by millions of small animals spherical, less than 1 mm in diameter, translucent, swimming freely in bands, and having, in the darkness, the faculty of becoming luminous when they are struck? Perfectly. Light as a means of teaching! And the light we make yourself! When you will be i. the sea, make the following experience: pick the night, by means of a bucket, of luminous water. Let the bucket be safe. When everything is calm in your water, drop a small pebble: it leaves a luminous trace, for he has encountered a very large number of Noctiluquas (right of our image), as these animals are called. But here is more astonishing still. Leave your bucket e. the cellar, in the complete obscurity, and redone the day the experiment of the pebble. No light! Indeed, it is clear outside and these organisms seem so remember that there is a regular rhythm of light and darkness! - As for the other small organism, it's a little jewel to go up in hairpin. Acanthomatna (I waffle on the image) is a regular sphincic Radiolaire, having rays, spicules e. the carapace, which constitutes for this small village a place of refuge, a dwelling, a shelter that he never leaves. There are in all the seas millions of these Tiny radiolarians.

No need to be a millionaire to eat well. The simplest and least dreadful cooking can be deceived, ii the dishes are prepared with the essential, "meat", that the products Liebig provide money for low expenses. Liebig Products are delicious concentrated bouillon broths.

Monday, March 12, 2018

Cubs Sign Matt Murton

No, Murton isn't making a comeback. Matt has been named as an assistant in the Cubs baseball operations department. It's always nice to see a fan favorite remain part of the team, even if it's after a ten year absence. Maybe we'll get to hear Matt sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch this season.

If I were as organized as our friend, my fellow Cubs fan, known as "Wrigley Wax" I'd be calling this, "Matt Murton: All I've Got of Him." He sort of did this. For me, it more like, most of what I've got of him, I think.

I assume anyone reading this knows about Matt Murton's successful six year career in Japan.



Friday, March 9, 2018

Cubbies of My Youth -- Hall of Fame Relics

Opinions vary about relic cards.  Like in all aspects of our hobby you should collect whatever you enjoy.  I have a box of over 200 relics, predominantly of baseball players.  I accumulated most of them in the early years of my return to collecting in the early 2010's.  Here are my favorites from the four Cubs Hall of Fame members who played together in the 1960's.

If I were going to build a relic set I'd probably start with this one.  What's not to like?  I love this one for the early photo, though it's from a year earlier than the award.  Also it has an unusual relic.  How many dugout jacket pieces to you see.
 Here's another with a great early photo.  What I always like to see is a flannel swatch.  At least I can imagine it wasn't worn during an old-timers game.
 Another nice photo.  Notice that the card in the background matches the year of the award.  Excellent!
 Not sure when this one was worn but it's big and is one of only 10.
 This card would be good even without the relic.  Wish I had that bat Ron's holding.  
A bonus dual relic.  Could have made this a triple relic card.  Billy Williams also reached 1,250 RBI.  Ernie is first but Williams had more than Santo.  All three have their devoted fans.  I'm a Santo guy.  I think I have in the neighborhood of 30 of his relic cards.

Here are all the backs.