1978 Topps Paul Molitor / Alan Trammell RC #707

Centering on this copy is off a bit and maybe the edges on the back show some imperfections, but this card was a scratch the itch add to my PC - maybe the card will look different once in-hand, but maybe the most important consideration is the yellow space above the red bottom border looks fairly clean without smudging.

As a manager, Molitor just got fired by the Minnesota Twins - but I’m trying to find a narrative as far as my recollections of him as an active player.

Seeing a loose junk wax era card of his, I might have thought 'The Ignitor' was a minor star at best, winding down his playing career with the Milwaukee Brewers through the end of the 1980s - he had a 39-game hitting streak in 1987, but there wasn’t as much attachment to him as any kind of ‘real star’ when I first started collecting.

With no particularly feelings attached to any particular player - I look at his numbers, how good he was, how many home runs hit, how high the batting average was and how many runners were driven in.

I thought there might have been a pronounced decline of some sort in his 30s, but Molitor was quite productive - looking at his stats from 1988-1992, he was putting up ‘Paul Molitor numbers’ and played in over 150 games in all but one of those seasons for the Brewers.

I noticed how he might have been a great player after all, because he was a hitting machine for the Toronto Blue Jays in the mid 1990s - the perennially contending Blue Jays finally won a championship in 1992 and in the organization’s defense of a World Series title, Molitor was another quality veteran added for repeat World Series championship run in 1993 [he was named MVP of the 1993 World Series].

After waiting for quite a while, Trammell was finally inducted the Hall of Fame this past year - he played through 1996 but his last hurrah as a star player probably ended through the 1980s.

As is, he was pretty familiar as a junk wax era guy - maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all but he was also pretty accommodating about signing, the times I’ve gotten him as a retired player, so he gets a thumbs up in my book.

I got a quarter off my 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen blaster recap

It's Opening Week and I wanted some new MLB baseball cards in my hand - however, $5 for a pack for this 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen at a card shop didn't seem too appealing, if I really just want to see what the cards looked like.

I ended up at Target and found a blaster box and two opened boxes - it's the same place where I saw a pack molester three or four weeks ago, so I just took my chances with the single blaster box instead of loose packs for $2.99 each.

After ripping my first pack, I thought the second pack felt heavier than the first - even though this is retail and chances are, my mind is just goofing on me.

I was surprised when I actually pulled a thick coin card of Bill Mazeroski -the best thing about the card is it's numbered 3/5, so there is some perceived scarcity attached to the card, even though at first I thought it was just another run-of-the-mill pull.

The Ohio [apparently Mazeroski's home state] quarter inserted on the card [looks like in a little plastic holder] is from 2002 - couldn't Topps have found a quarter than was more appropriate to Mazeroski's playing career or does it really matter?

Pack one
#303 Billy Butler - blue framed paper serial #403/499
#CP-BP Buster Posey - Collisions at the Plate insert
#SS-OS Ozzie Smith - Sliding Stars insert
#227 Francisco Liriano - mini
#335 Alfonso Soriano
#233 Ike Davis

Pack two
#49 George Kell
#334 Bill Mazeroski - Hometown Currency Relic insert
#246 Jose Reyes

Pack three
#185 Ryan Doumit
#212 Kevin Youkilis
#288 Jim Bunning - SP
#93 Matt Moore - mini
#173 Yonder Alonso
#86 Mariano Rivera

Pack four
#4 L.J. Hoes
#NH-BF Bob Feller - No-Hitters insert
#GS-DJ Derek Jeter - Glove Stories insert
#283 Daniel Murphy - mini black parallel serial #'d 099/199
#57 Jayson Werth
#38 Dexter Fowler

Pack five
#228 Hiroki Kuroda
#219 Jake Peavy
#146 Erick Aybar
#182 Alejandro De Aza - mini
#120 Cal Ripken Jr.
#9 Andrew McCutchen

Pack six
#43 Enos Slaughter
#52 Hanley Ramirez
#DA-DP David Price - Dealing Aces insert
#272 Anthony Gose - mini
#161 Whitey Ford
#193 Chase Headley

Pack seven
#188 Jose Altuve
#62 Ryan Braun - SP
#SS-MT Mike Trout - Sliding Stars insert
#101 Mike Olt - mini
#205 Jay Bruce
#253 Tommy Milone

Pack eight
#311 Matt Kemp
#73 Casey Kelly
#NH-NR Nolan Ryan - No-Hitters insert
#42 Jose Quintana - mini
#158 Wade Boggs
#182 Alejandro De Aza

R.I.P. Stan Musial and Earl Weaver

Two notable passings this weekend were Hall of Famers Musial and Weaver - I was vaguely aware of Stan the Man's heroics as a player and his status as a Hall of Fame legend.

While not having the opportunity to see him play first-hand, the two things I heard about him - was that he was always a classy player and someone who was actually sort of underrated for the prolific numbers he put up during his playing career.

I picked up a 2007 Topps Triple Threads card of Musial back in 2007 for a little more than $30 - thinking it was a nice card from a premium trading card product.

I'd also purchased an Upper Deck Authenticated signed baseball and was able to send him a couple of cards in the early 2000's - which he signed through the mail for a few dollars each instead of getting back my cards unsigned with a card [presumably pre-signed] he sent back to respond to 'TTM requests.'

As far as Weaver was concerned, an actual memory I remember when he was signing autographs at the 2010 All-Star Fan Fest in Anaheim - I saw him being driven around in a golf cart and for whatever reason I wasn't intent on getting his autograph at all; I think for a time he still signed through the mail for a $20 donation to a charity and if I didn't get him then, so be it since he didn't seem too hard to get.

Cal Ripken Jr. / Billy Bean book find

I ended up at an outlet book store and found an autographed copy of one Cal Ripken's books - I wasn't going to buy anything at the book store, because I was sort of saving the $20 I had in my pocket for a 2009 Upper Deck Series I/Series II/Update blaster box, but broke down because the copy I had was a-u-t-o-g-r-a-p-h-e-d.

Ripken maybe signing his way onto Bob Feller territory, but still commands a hefty fee [maybe around $100 for a flat] to sign anything - through Ironclad Authentics for example.

On a related, but other end of the spectrum - I picked up a paperback copy of that Billy Bean's memoir as well, which is a poor man's Ball Four from a closeted ex-player's perspective.

What resonated, the first time I read bits and pieces of it is hunger of a ballplayer to stick in the pros and really the desperation he realizes - to play for himself instead of others.

The struggle to be a professional may not be the most important part for people to identify with and the obvious topic in the memoir besides a former baseball player talking about his professional career - is as compelling, maybe even more so, considering the facts in-hand.

Besides Bean dealing with his double life - his memoir gives the average person a real, unadulterated look [no matter how unflattering] at baseball players [particularly as they climb up the ladder].