Post 1,000 - Time for Another Arbitrary Giveaway.

I can't believe it myself, but this is my 1,000th post on blogger. The first 8 folks to comment here will get some free stuff from me. Why 8? I dunno. Just being arbitrary. In that same spirit, here a few of my favorite cards added while blogging. I had this Mudcat Grant card signed in person at Twins Fest, and marveled at Grant's kindness and grace- especially the time he took with kids.

Remember when Bartolo Colon was a Minnesota Twin? We lived through some wondrous and strange times over the life of this blog.

Building the 1965 O-Pee-Chee set was my first set build on the blog, which included finding this instant classic "rare 1/1" of Brooks Robinson.

I am still looking for the 2015 Topps Series 1 "Clear" parallel of Kennys Vargas, numbered to /10. I may never find it, as the majority of them are probably still sealed in series 1 Hobby Jumbo Pack boxes. If you really want to get some cool free stuff from me, help me find that parallel!

From my very first post!

By May of 2014, I was back in the hobby with both feet and began building sets new and old. What am I collecting? A little bit of everything. 2014 Topps Heritage turned into 1965 O-Pee-Chee which turned into Topps' All-Star Rookies 1960-present which has snowballed into any number of wild tangents.

Thanks for reading this first post - I'm excited to share my love of old school vintage, new school shiny things, and just plain weird things, like this Mike Cubbage card autographed by Twins bench coach Joe Vavra.

Ok, So NOW What?

By the time Mitch Garver hit this walk off double, the Twins were all bu eliminated from playoff contention. The trade deadline more or less sealed the team's fate in 2018, as they traded away Brian Dozier, Eduardo Escobar, Lance Lynn, Zach Duke, Ryan Pressly, and Fernando Rodney. 

If they could have, I'm sure they would have traded away Ervin Santana and Logan Morrison too, but injuries made that impossible. Even though their season would not extend into October, there was still plenty of baseball left to play.

I didn't listen to my own rules about sticking to just Twins NOW cards, I couldn't pass up this awesome bat flip from the wunderkind 19 year old of the Nats. Soto homered in 3 straight games, the first teenager to do that since 1898. Eighteen Ninety Eight!

On the other end of the spectrum, I knew ahead of time that this would be a card I would add, as long as Bartolo could make it happen. He's made 24 starts for Texas this season, and has stated he wants to pitch again in 2019. I hope someone signs him- he's now just three wins away from 250 for his career, which is a nice milestone.

It's the first Logan Forsythe card as a Twin! He started out with the team hitting everything, including this 5 hit game, but he's cooled off considerably. His numbers now are closer to his career rates, and he looks to finish out 2018 right at the 0.0 WAR replacement level. I have my fingers crossed that the Twins make a run at bringing back Eduardo Escobar in the off season, Dozier I am less enthusiastic about. Forsythe is better suited for a team looking for a veteran backup, rather than the Twins who need a starting 2B.

Mauer watch continues as he hasn't ruled out coming back for another season, nor has he said he'll play beyond 2018. He passed Carew in August, and the next time he reaches base, he'll pass Harmon Killebrew on the Twins' All-Time on base list. Right now he's up to 2,112 career hits, he'd probably need to play full time for another 5 seasons or part time 7 or 8 to reach 3,000. I don't see that happening, though he could pass Kirby Puckett if he plays one more great year, or two average seasons. Maaaaaybe?

One of the best stories of this "lost" season has been reserve catcher Willians Astudillo. He was called up earlier for a series in Chicago and appeared in Left and Center Field, 3rd and 2nd base, and even pitched in a blowout. He blasted this walk-off home run on a Sunday afternoon and has quickly become a fan favorite. This is his first card in an MLB uniform.

You can't spell Astudillo without "A Stud." I don't know how many more NOW moments the Twins will have in 2018, but I'm hoping for one tonight as I make my way back to Target Field to catch a few more Joe Mauer at bats if these are indeed his last.

NOW With An Unexpected Bonus

I picked up 4 Topps NOW cards in June. 2 were MN Twins. Eddie Rosario is definitely a Top 5 Twins Eddie, along with AL Doubles leader Eduardo Escobar and bullpen coach Eddie Guardado. Rosie is probably going to be the All-Star from the Twins' roster this year.

I put this right into a One Touch, so apologies for the blurry scan. This was a bonus card for ordering the Spring Training Twins team set- since Eddie had such an impressive game, Topps made a gold parallel (with a new photo) to commemorate his 3 HR outburst.

The other Twin was the team's best starter this year, Jose Berrios. He's been brilliant and, well, the opposite of brilliant so far this season, tossing a couple Complete Games, and having some big strikeout totals, and also having some real clunkers. His last good start was against Texas, a pitching duel against his old teammate, Bartolo Colon.

Colon had 3 cards this month (and a 4th if you count the Living Set), I opted to just get one- 2,500 Ks seemed more momentous than the other two which were about tying specific win totals of other pitchers. When he passes Dennis Martinez and becomes the winningest Latin American born pitcher, I'll probably pick that one up too. I'm hoping he gets at least 5 more victories this season to make an even 250 for his career.

Oh, yeah, and this overachiever. I liked the picture, I like milestones, I hadn't added any Trout NOW cards to date... so... there ya go.

Hammering Out A COMC Order

Dave Parker is the coolest guy. COMC had their Spring Cleaning sale, and I decided to hop on over to the site and look for some hidden gems.

I had some Action Packed Football cards when I was a kid, but I was totally unaware at the time that there were baseball cards out there too. Clemente is in his Santurce Cangrejeros (Crabs) uniform. He played for the Crabs in 1954, sharing the outfield with Willie Mays for the Puerto Rican Winter League team and Caribbean Series Champions. Joe Morgan and Hank Greenberg fill in the bat rack mini collection contingent.

Like Joe Morgan and/or minor league cards? The card above is from a Durham Bulls Hall of Fame set. Sophie Kurys was the Rickey Henderson of the AAGPBL. Can't have a card of Buck without his best friend Satch.

See what I mean - 1,114 career stolen bases? 201 steals in 113 games?!?!?! Only 98 of her hits that year were singles. That's some serious speed! 

Sometimes I just go for aesthetics - no real rhyme or reason to add these.

Church's Chicken had to compete with Denny's somehow - they decided on Gold Parallels to combat those highfalutin' holograms. Jersey swatches are probably cheaper than they've ever been, even with a low serial number, Joe Mauer's card was super cheap in the sale.

             
Can't resist vintage for pennies on the dollar!

The big prize? Baby Bart! I noticed that Colon hasn't signed many cards in his career, so I jumped at this one, even though I'm generally not much of an autograph hound.

This autograph is older than Washington Nationals phenom Juan Soto!

A Very Special Future's So Bright Fridays

The Future's So Bright - Darell Porter's Gotta Wear Shades.

These guys know what's up - the sun. From which we need eye protection!

But Big Bart knows that even the Moon can be too bright, if the timing is juuust right.

Topps NOW, you so crazy.

NOW We're Talking!

First card of Bartolo Colon as a Minnesota Twin. Unsurprisingly, it's from Topps Now. Colon is pitching again tonight for the Twins. Keep up the good work, Big Sexy!

There was a time when Colon thought about packing it all in. Really glad he decided to keep going after the Dodgers start. Until the last two starts things were looking bleak. Minnesota is glad to have him in the rotation as they fight for a Wild Card spot. Postseason can be a total crap shoot, so getting in is half the battle!

Sometimes You Need a Giant to Slay a Giant

The last time the Twins beat the Yankees in a season series was waaaay back in 2002. In an effort to bolster the back end of their rotation and eat some innings, the Twins signed Bartolo Colon. His first start was last night. Here are a few photos I took during his outing: 

Big Bart looms large in the bullpen before his Twins debut

Colon and his entourage (catcher Jason Castro and pitching coach Neil Allen)

The crowd cheers as Bartolo is announced as the starting pitcher

Colon deals the first pitch of the game, ball one. He'd finish the inning by striking out Aaron Judge.

Still dealing in the 4th inning, but Colon would run out of magic and was hit hard with a pair of doubles in the 5th. His final line was 4+ innings, 4 runs allowed.

Here ya go Yankees fans - here's Aaron Judge

Target Field from the concourse, looking towards Right Field

A cameo appearance from former Twin Justin Morneau (far right) on the Twins Telecast 

Brian Dozier takes a ball. He would Triple later in the at bat. 

The Yankees have their big inning, Twins Reliever Ryan Pressly gave up 3 hits and allowed 2 runs (not including the runners that he inherited from Colon) 5 runs scored in the inning. 

Colon got the loss in the game, and will make at least one more start for the Twins - Monday night in LA against the scorching hot Dodgers. Colon was reportedly mulling retirement following last night's start, I'm hoping he can turn things around and give the Twins some much needed support in the second half.

You're Older Than You've Ever Been - And Now You're Even Older.

Big Bart was officially released by the Atlanta Braves today. While he apparently is drawing interest from the Mets for a reunion (among other teams showing interest as well), many see this as the end of the road for Colon, who at 44 is the oldest player in the major leagues this season.

Assuming that he's really done, that leaves Ichiro as the oldest man standing. Just today he surpassed Rod Carew on the MLB hits leaderboard, making him the most prolific hitter born outside the United States.

Last week on twitter, various bloggers and baseball fans were sharing the names of the last player to play in the majors that were older than they were (most people were saying Jamie Moyer); as well as the first player in MLB history that was younger than they were.

For me, that guy is David Wright. *Whoops, this turns out to be wrong, not Wright. I will correct this with my next post* This Whippersnapper is just barely younger than me, and he made his debut way back in July of 2004, back when we were both 21 year olds.

Wright might not be done, though he is currently on the 60 Day DL for the Mets. His contract extends through 2020, so there may be some career yet to go for the dean of the Mets.

There is another active player who is younger than me, and older than David Wright. Ervin Santana made his MLB debut in May of 2005.

I didn't feel so old once I did a little research - I found that there were close to 50 players in the big leagues still older than me. Which one will be the last?

I felt a whole lot younger when I realized that 2016 Topps Rookie All-Star Seung-Hwan Oh was older than me. Can't be that old if a rookie last year was around before me, right?  . . . right?

Aw, get off my lawn!