Steroid Fatigue

While working on my bottomless pit of organization I came across these two cards: 

 

There's a part of me that wants to rant about how much I hate this guy and what he stands for.  Then I quickly find that I'm getting really tired of the whole thing.  I don't want to forgive but I'd rather forget.  I just don't want to deal with the steroid issue anymore.   How do you feel?  Tired of all the debates?  Tired of hearing who should or shouldn't get into the Hall of Fame?

Henry Aaron passed The Babe and is still my Home Run King.  And the Babe is till the Sultan of Swat.  And Willie is still just about as great.  They're what I want to remember.

A Tough Question -- Weigh In

Seeing the blogosphere light up with the newest version of archives got me thinking about the original 1973 set.  I still have a bunch from when I was a teen.  The first card is this one:

 1973 Topps #1

My thoughts on seeing this card were, "Those are certainly three of the all-time greats.  You could put them on a Mount Rushmore of baseball."  Yes, but Rushmore has four Presidents.  If we start with Ruth, Aaron and Mays, who would be the fourth?   I know, this isn't an original thought but it did pop into my head as I described.  Care to share your thoughts?  Would you start with the home run kings?  I can't imagine a baseball Mt. Rushmore without The Babe.  Or maybe you could.  Who's on your baseball Mt. Rushmore?

2001 UD Hall of Famers -- A's to Cards

I really miss sets like this 2001 UD Hall of Famers.  I picked this one up for $8.00 shipped.  Lets look at them all.

I was never a big fan of the "colorful" 70's uniforms but I always liked the A's green and gold.

Reggie never scored 100 runs in a season?

I don't want to get into it but to me Hank remains the Home Run King.

How do you get to 755?  Consistency.  Check out 1959-63.

Eddie is one of only 16 third basemen in the HOF.  POW!  He'll be forever tied with Ernie Banks with 512 home runs.  Quite a one two punch with Aaron.

 

Wish I could have seen this guy pitch.

Mr. Brewer?  I guess so!  

It sure doesn't show in his stats but The Kid only made 3 All-Star teams.  He's tied with Fergie Jenkins for second least among HOFers behind Bert Blyleven.

Glad this isn't in color because I hate those striped helmets.  Perfect choice of photo otherwsie.

Talk about consistent greatness.  Check out 1964-74.

Great portrait shot of Diz.  I like the mixture of color and B&W photos.

Diz has a short career and you can debate whether he belongs in the HOF.

No debating that this guy deserves to be here.

Maybe not as charismatic as some of his contemporaries but Stan the Man is undoubtedly one of the all-time greats.

Other than "the Mad Dash" in the 1946 World Series i don't have much of a feel for Slaughter's career.

Any debate about who was the all- time best second baseman includes this guy.

More to come.

Diamond Kings and More from The Diamond King

I recently won one of seven prize packages from Kevin, The Diamond King.  The rules stated that you could only enter to win three of them.  As luck would have it not only did I win but I won the package I most wanted.  Kevin labelled them, "modern retired players", which sounds a lot less exciting than the cards themselves.  I picked my favorite 13 cards to show here which is only 10% of the total.  Thanks Kevin!

Not a bad baker's dozen, eh!