In The Spotlight

Andre Dawson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his ninth try. He was the only player honored, as Bert Blyleven fell five votes short and Roberto Alomar finished eight shy.
Dawson received 420 of 539 votes in results announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, 15 more than the 75 percent necessary to gain election. The eight-time All-Star outfielder was 44 votes short last year. He was known for his excellence in right field, winning eight Golden Gloves.He will be only the second Expo in the Hall, along with catcher Gary Carter.

Despite his own preference to represent the Cubs, Andre "The Hawk" Dawson will be wearing a Montreal Expos cap in the Hall of Fame.This will certainly come as a disappointment to Cubs fans, who argue that the Hawk played his best baseball as a North Sider. He had undeniably his best year in 1987, his first season with the Cubs, hitting 49 homers and driving in 137 runs. He also won the National League MVP award  that season, despite the Cubs finishing last in the NL East, the first player from a last-place team to win that honor. While he spent longer with the Expos than Cubs (11 seasons versus six), he hit 174 home runs with the Baby Bears, only 50 fewer than he did in five more seasons with Montreal.

Did you know that Ted Williams and Andre Dawson are the only two Major League ballplayers to have hit a home run off a father/son pitching duo? Williams, know as "Teddy Ballgame" joined the club first when he went deep off Thornton Lee on September 17, 1939 then his son Don Lee on September 2, 1960. "The Hawk" became the second member when he went deep off Pedro Borbon on June 10, 1977 then off his son Pedro Borbon on August 16, 1995.

My Favorite Baseball Cards

Since I have Andre Dawson in the spotlight, I'll share with you my favorite Andre Dawson card.

1996 Pinnacle - Andre Dawson #86 - The 1996 Pinnacle baseball card set consisted of 400 baseball cards. Numbering for the 300 Series subset was based on player's career batting average. At that time, both Paul Molitor and Jeff Bagwell had identical career batting averages of .305, thus Pinnacle numbered both of their 300 Series subset cards as 305. Due to this quirky numbering, the set only runs through card 399, but actually contains 400 cards. Now at the end of his career he still has that fire in his eyes. Andre will never be mentioned in the same conversation along with baseball's greats. However, if you asked the guys he played with and against they would tell you that they would be proud to have him as a teammate. 

Recently a new product was introduced by LTL Prints. One of their product lines feature various Topps Baseball classic wax pack designs. Currently there 33 Topps baseball wax pack designs ranging from 1953 to 1985. The graphics can be removed and re-hung 100 times without damaging or leaving a mark on a wall. Prices for the graphics, which can be purchased on the LTL PRINTS website, range from as little as $14.95 to as much as $149.95 depending on the size of the graphic.

Who was more dominate in their specialty, Maury Wills stealing bases in 1962 or Babe Ruth hitting home runs in 1920? Here are the numbers:

• 1920: Babe Ruth hit 54 HRs in his first year with the Yankees, breaking his own record of 29 he set with the Red Sox the previous season. His 54 clouts surpassed the total of every other team in the American League and of seven of the eight teams in the National League. (The Philadelphia Phillies hit 64 playing in tiny Baker Bowl.)
• 1962: Maury Wills stole 104 bases to break Ty Cobb's single-season record of 96 set in 1915. Wills' total surpassed the SB total of every team in the major leagues. The closest to him were the Washington Senators, who pilfered 99 sacks. Maury's Dodger teammates stole 94, while the Cardinalsracked up 86.

Tell me which one you would chose and why.

FIRST TO…….

First Grand Slam: Roger Connor

On September 9, 1881, Connor hit the first grand slam home run in major-league history. He was playing with the Troy Trojans—a small franchise that was shut down one year later to form the New York Gothams (which then became the Giants). Connor was known as the 19th century’s home run king, and held the lifetime home run record of 138 before he was surpassed by Babe Ruth in 1921. Ruth would build on his total, holding the record of 714 career home runs for another 53 years. In 1885, Connor was one of the founders of the first sports trade union, the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players, which established the short-lived Players League to compete with the National League. Connor earned the nickname the “Oak”, for being unbendable, when, in 1890, he turned down a lucrative offer to rejoin the National League. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976.

DID YOU KNOW…….

Three times, members of the same team finished 1-2-3 in the MVP voting for their league.

1. 1941 Brooklyn Dodgers: 1B Dolf Camilli, CF Pete Reiser, P Whitlow Wyatt
2. 1959 Chicago White Sox: 2B Nellie Fox, SS Luis Aparicio, P Early Wynn – all three in the Hall of Fame
3. 1966 Baltimore Orioles: RF Frank Robinson, 3B Brooks Robinson, 1B Boog Powell – the first two in the Hall of Fame

All three teams, as you would expect, won the pennant. However, only he Orioles captured the World Series, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers four straight.

In The Spot LightRoger Maris

The year...1961:  a record was broken, hearts were broken, and a man’s life was changed forever. Roger Maris will forever be known as the man that took Babe Ruth's record. The man that changed the record books. Maris was hated, booed, cussed, and generally abused by the press and fans for his chase of the most well-known mark in all of baseball: Babe Ruth's sixty single season home runs.

Maris began the year as just another hard-hitting Yankee. If anyone, his battery mate, and media darling, Mickey Mantle was scheduled to be the one to take over the spot on the all time homer list. "Mick" was loved by the fans and the press, Maris was not. In fact, whenever Maris hit one of his home runs, he was quickly reminded that it was only because Mantle was behind him that he even saw a good pitch to hit. In fact, Maris spent his entire record setting year cast as the villain in a media-soap opera, while his good friend, Mantle, was seen as the good guy whose own teammate was trying to steal his thunder.

Maris suffered greatly during the season. He actually lost his hair and had his and his families lives threatened. The most heartbreaking part of his 1961 saga came after his record breaking long ball. Commissioner Ford Frick decided that Maris' record would not stand against Ruth's because it was not done during the same number of games. The record was followed by the most famous asterisk in history. Maris could not take the pride he deserved in his great achievement. Speaking in 1980 he said: "They acted as though I was doing something wrong, poisoning the record books or something. Do you know what I have to show for sixty-one home runs? Nothing. Exactly nothing." What should have been one of baseball’s greatest achievements became one of its saddest stories.

I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Roger Maris. He handled all the adversity with class and achieved a truly remarkable record-breaking accomplishment under extremely harsh conditions. The only asterisk next to sixty-one should denote that Roger was steroid free.

My Favorite Baseball Cards
(In each post I will share with you one of my favorite baseball cards)

Today's card is - 1954 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie Card. In 1954 I was 10 years old and after spending a whopping 5 cents for a pack of cards (including gum) there is a good chance a had this card in my hand at some time. Probably long enough to attach it to the spokes of my bicycle (who knew?). A 1954 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie Card, graded at PSA 9, recently sold on eBay.  A PSA 9 grade for a 50 plus year old card is extremely rare.  So, as you might imagine, this baseball card sold for quite a sum of money. How about $27,999! :-(

The Top Ten Reasons You Know You Love Baseball:

1. You can justify paying $6 for a hot dog and $4 for a coke.
2. You need one more Brian Taylor card to complete your collection. You still think there is chance he might make it.
3. You understand baseball's Rule 5 Draft.
4. You keep score at every game.
5. You fake an injury so you don't have to go to your mother-in-law's birthday party. Instead you stay home and watch the game.
6. You attend T-Ball games even though none of you children are involved
7. Your vacation destination always is a city with a Major League Baseball team and they just happen to be playing at home.
8. Your wife asks you to come to bed and you say “As soon as the game is over”
9. One of your life goals is to catch a foul ball.
10. You volunteer to mow the little league baseball field even though you lost the dog in your lawn last week.

Fun Cards From Topps

In 2010, Topps has continued inserting surprises in its baseball card sets.

In 2007, I pulled the Derek Jeter card with Mickey Mantle digitally placed in the dugout and George W. Bush in the stands. I don’t have 2008 Rudy Giuliani celebrating in the Red Sox's World Series dog pile, or a no-hitter highlight card for Johan Santana (a made up no hitter). In 2009, Topps had a Barack Obama card of him throwing out a ceremonial first pitch.

This year, collectors started finding cards with pictures of New York Yankees who had been pied in the face after hitting walk-off home runs and then last month Topps intimated that a short-printed variation card existed in the set featuring Abraham Lincoln.

At this time Topps isn’t revealing how many Lincoln cards have been print. So for now if you have one I would put it in a hard plastic holder in a safe place until we find out more about it. Who knows you have something good. Good luck.

Protecting Your Sports Memorabilia Collection

Whether you are collecting as a hobby or as an investor, you'll want to be sure to take every precaution to protect your assets. 

The truth is that you have invested lots of time, money and even emotions into your collection. Whether you plan to later sell for profit or to leave it for your heirs, you'll want to keep it in pristine condition.  The overall value of your collection will be determined by how well you've protected it.  Natural elements such as the sun and wind, dust or even excessive handling can damage your pieces.

Protecting Your Memorabilia

Commemorative bats, baseballs, helmets, tennis balls and hockey sticks should be kept in protective display cases. The cases should have a UV protective shield to protect your items against dust and fading.  A quality case should be attractive and complimentary to your memorabilia, and it should offer you easy access to your piece. 

Memorabilia such as magazines, tickets, photos and event programs are especially prone to damage. Several storage options are available, none the less you’ll want to choose the one that best works for you while providing the best protection for your collection.  For example, if you want to display your collection, you’ll want to choose a method that allows for easy visibility but does not allow for too much handling.  One such method is to have your memorabilia displayed, mounted and protected in a high quality, UV protective shadowbox or collectible frame. To insure this is done properly, you’ll want to choose a company that has experience working with sports collectibles.  Other options include acid-free archival storage boxes, resealable sleeves/bags or albums.  When storing thin sheets of paper, be sure to keep the pages flat by using an acid-free backer board.

Sports cards are very popular in the memorabilia industry.  To keep your collection safe, you’ll need to come up with a storage solution that protects your cards from both fading and tearing.  Sports cards can safely be stored in plastic sleeves, storage boxes, hard plastic cases or card collecting binders. 

Other collectibles such as collectible coins or autographed jerseys should also be well protected.  Coins should be kept in a coin box, holder or album.  Jerseys should be protected in a jersey case (which will allow you to display your treasure), or in a textile conservation box. 

Even though your items are well protected, it is still wise to keep them away from exposure to the sun, smoke, food, water and other potentially hazardous items.  If you have children around, you’ll also want to be sure to store or display your collectibles in a place in which the children cannot get to them.

Baseball News and Comments

Historic Mickey Mantle Game Worn Jersey surfaces as one of the hobby’s greatest modern finds
Unquestionably the jersey Mantle wore at the end of his career; possibly the great slugger’s last game-worn pinstripes will be offered at Heritage April Sports Auction. For the full story go to news-antique.com.

Upper Deck in Trouble - Major League Baseball Files Suit for Trademark Infringement

The Upper Deck Company has been hit with a lawsuit from Major League Baseball. The lawsuit accuses Upper Deck with trademark infringement.  UD has been producing baseball cards licensed by MLB since 1989. MLB decided not to renew UD’s contract this year and to pour salt on the wound, gave The Topps Company exclusive rights.

The initial lawsuit was imitated based on two Upper Deck products, UD Signature Stars and Ultimate Collection Baseball. MLB claim is that these two series were distributed illegally, because UD used MLB trademarks.

Apparently, Upper Deck has other baseball card series that they planned to release that would fall into the category has the first two named in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims that UD owes MLB over 2.4 million dollars.

Stay tuned, this should be interesting.

B.J. Upton Loses Salary Arbitration

The Tampa Bay Rays recently won their salary arbitration hearing with B.J. Upton. Upton’s numbers for the 2009 season weren’t as good as his 2008 season. Upton requested $3.3 million per year but will receive only $3 million. The good news for B.J. is that he got a significant raise from last years salary, which was close to the poverty level at $435,000. 

FRANK THOMAS RETIRES

I was very pleased to hear that the Chicago White Sox were going to retire Frank Thomas’ number 35. I was a fan, not just because he was a great ball player, but because he was a class act from the beginning to the end.

Thomas' uniform number will be retired during an on-field ceremony on "Frank Thomas Day," Aug. 29, when the team hosts the New York Yankees.

Thomas’ No. 35 is only the 9th White Sox player to have his number retired. The other eight in numerical order are No. 2 (Nellie Fox), No. 3 (Harold Baines), No. 4 (Luke Appling), No. 9 (Minnie Minoso), No. 11 (Luis Aparicio), No. 16 (Ted Lyons), No. 19 (Billy Pierce) and No. 72 (Carlton Fisk).
 In the 1990’s, Frank Thomas was one the most dominate offensive players in the game. I would hope that he is a first ballot inductee into Cooperstown.

Steroids and Baseball

First, let me state that by no means do I favor the use of steroids in any athletic situation. However, I do question the benefit they give to a ball player. Sure they give him bigger muscles, but big muscles aren’t the reason a very few players can hit a lot of home runs. Hitting a round baseball with a round bat coming at you at up to 100 mph has to be the most difficult task in all sports. There is more to hitting home runs than muscles. Babe Ruth wasn’t exactly a chisled athlete, Hank Aaron wasn’t a big muscle bound man, both could hit home runs. Ted Williams, arguably the best hitter to ever play the game, was rather thin and he was able to hit 521 home runs. In his book “The Science of Hitting”, Williams defined what it takes to hit a home run. “A good hitter must identify a pitch to hit, know enough about the pitcher and the game situation to give himself the best chance to succeed, and put hands and hips into motion to drive the pitch.”  There is no mention of muscles aiding in the production of home runs.

A home run hitter can’t hit a home run if he can’t make contact with the ball. As stated earlier, hitting a baseball is a exceptional skill in all of sports. It is a powerful act that does not require extraordinary muscle strength. The ability to hit a baseball depends on technique, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination, not muscles. Having said that, can someone provide me with scientific evidence that steroids improve your technique, reflexes and eye-hand coordination?  Also, how many picthers were taking steroids? Did that make them throw the ball faster or give them better control?

I’v been and still am a fan of Mark McGwire. Yes, I was very disappointed when he admiited using steroids, but I look at the whole picture.  McGwire is publicly active in The Mark McGwire Charity. He donates $1 million a year to his foundation for abused children, has done many autograph charity auctions, plays in charity Golf tournaments, and does other such endorsements and events to help those in need.

Baseball players of different eras were facing different pitchers throwing different balls in different stadiums. And within the game of baseball, there’s more support than you might think that Bonds’ achievements have more to do with pure baseball skills than possible increased muscle mass due to steroids.

Free Agents Remaining Unsigned as of February 16, 2010

Player	Position	Age	Status	Former Team
Garret Anderson	LF	37	Free Agent	Atlanta
Rich Aurilia	1B	38	Free Agent	San Francisco
Paul Bako	C	37	Free Agent	Philadelphia
Rocco Baldelli	RF	28	Free Agent (B)	Boston
Rod Barajas	C	34	Free Agent	Toronto
Joe Beimel	RP	32	Free Agent	Colorado
Hank Blalock	1B	29	Free Agent	Texas
Aaron Boone	3B	36	Free Agent	Houston
Chad Bradford	RP	35	Free Agent	Tampa Bay
Russell Branyan	1B	34	Free Agent	Seattle
Paul Byrd	SP	39	Free Agent	Boston
Kiko Calero	RP	35	Free Agent	Florida
Joe Crede	3B	31	Free Agent	Minnesota
Johnny Damon	LF	36	Free Agent	NY Yankees
Carlos Delgado	1B	37	Free Agent	NY Mets
Jermaine Dye	RF	36	Free Agent	Chicago Sox
Alan Embree	RP	40	Free Agent	Colorado
Darin Erstad	LF	35	Free Agent	Houston
Chad Fox	RP	39	Free Agent	Chicago Cubs
Nomar Garciaparra	1B	36	Free Agent	Oakland
Jonny Gomes	LF	29	Non-Tendered	Cincinnati
Mike Hampton	SP	37	Free Agent	Houston
Livan Hernandez	SP	34	Free Agent	Washington
Jason Isringhausen	RP	37	Free Agent	Tampa Bay
Braden Looper	SP	35	Free Agent	Milwaukee
Felipe Lopez	2B	29	Free Agent	Milwaukee
Mike MacDougal	RP	32	Non-Tendered	Washington
Ron Mahay	RP	38	Free Agent	Minnesota
Pedro Martinez	SP	38	Free Agent	Philadelphia
Ramon Martinez	SS	37	Free Agent	NY Mets
Eric Milton	SP	34	Free Agent	LA Dodgers
Jose Molina	C	34	Free Agent	NY Yankees
Dustin Moseley	SP	28	Non-Tendered	LA Angels
Greg Norton	LF	37	Free Agent	Atlanta
Tomo Ohka	SP	33	Free Agent	Cleveland
Chan Ho Park	RP	36	Free Agent	Philadelphia
Troy Percival	RP	40	Free Agent	Tampa Bay
Shawn Riggans	C	29	Non-Tendered	Tampa Bay
Gary Sheffield	LF	41	Free Agent	NY Mets
John Smoltz	SP	42	Free Agent	St. Louis
Russ Springer	RP	41	Free Agent	Tampa Bay
Brett Tomko	SP	36	Free Agent	Oakland
Ron Villone	RP	40	Free Agent	Washington
Chien-Ming Wang	SP	29	Free Agent	NY Yankees
Jarrod Washburn	SP	35	Free Agent	Detroit
David Weathers	RP	40	Free Agent	Milwaukee
Dmitri Young	1B	36	Free Agent	Washington