News of the day

 First off I managed to get my hands on some 2021 Topps.  I thought Night Owl was employing some hyperbole when he was talking about how small the names were. Then my nephew, in his early thirties, and I opened a pack and he had trouble reading the names.  My apologies to Night Owl.

I was visiting Target today and stepped up to the card area, which was cordoned off and was completely full.  I asked if I could get some and they asked me if I was on the list.  I said what, they have a virtual list you sign up on and they have a special cashier to ring people up.  You are limited to three SKU's per person, so I guess you could get three of each type of packaging.  I said how many people are on the list and was told by the bouncer, I mean security person, that there were thirty people on the list.  With that I turned and walked away.  

Amazingly Matt Strahm won the first battle of this round of cards.  Matt got six votes, Wil got five and the El Nino got four votes.  Up next is are these two.  I don't remember much about Ed Whitson, except he couldn't handle the New York fans.  Cashner is one of the first players I remember with a big bushy beard.

Remember every vote is an entry into the contest.  Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your assistance.

Get Ready to Rumble

I am ready to start on cards 100-199 for the Phrankenset.  Remember each time you vote is an entry into a contest that has some pretty cool prizes.  You can see what is left on the prize page and I will be adding to it.  There was no battle for spot number one hundred as it is one of my favorite cards, a 1987 Topps flagship card of Steve Garvey.  Card number one hundred one is Bip Roberts on a Upper Deck card reminding everyone there are two outs.  So the first battle is for spot number one hundred and two.  We lead off with Wil Myers awaiting the throw at first, Matt Strahm preparing to (hopefully) get some one out and El Nino watching the action on the field.  

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your assistance. 

Astronauts and Padrographs

 I received two cards in the mail yesterday.  One had seven astronauts and one was Padrograph #1234.  

 Card #6 shows all seven of the Mercury Seven Astronauts.  Gus Grissom was the first to pass, when he died in a fire training for Apollo 1. John Glenn was the last of the original astronauts to pass away, doing so in 2016.  That brings me to six of fifty five cards.

Now I have two Bobby Jones cards in my Padrographs collection, Bobby J. Jones and here Bobby M. Jones.  The two were teammates with the Mets and with the Padres.  This Bobby pitched in four games for the Padres in 2002.  Punk Rock Paint transformed this picture of Bobby from a Red Sox uniform to an era appropriate Padres uniform.  I sent the card into a private signing Bobby did.  This is Padrograph #1234.

I am currently looking for a photo of Mike Campbell in a Padres uniform.  Mike pitched in four games for the Padres in 1994.  If you have any ideas for sources please let me know.  

We are snowed in at our house in Portland.  It is a winter wonderland.  The roads are slick and people are crazy so I didn't go to work today.  

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your assistance.

Phrankenset update

Here are the first eleven pages of the Phrankenset.  After Night Owl's post about horizontal cards I thought I might do a horizontal only Frankenset some day.  The frankenset concept is fun because it works within and without the limits of collecting.  We will get back to voting next week.  All of the prizes went out yesterday.  Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your assistance. 

 

Padrograph #1233 and prize update

 Padrograph #1233, Cody Ransom.  Cody was signed as a free agent by the Padres and played in five games in 2013.  The Padres put him on the waiver wire and he finished his career with the Cubs.  I got this custom signed through a private signing recently.  

All the prizes are packaged up and will go out tomorrow morning.  

We will soon start with the next grouping of cards, 100-199.  Once again I will be requesting your assistance in choosing some of the cards.  

After I get done with the Phrankenset I will be going through all my Tony Gwynn cards to cull them down to three hundred ninety four cards.  I don't think I want to try and get every card of Tony's so I picked three hundred ninety four since that was his highest batting average.  

Fuji and The Angels have picked

 Thanks to the Randomizer GCRL you have the last two picks of what is left on the Prize Page.

I will try and get all the prizes packaged up and out over the weekend.  

Then we will start the business of picking the next ninety nine cards.

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your assistance.  

Fuji, you are up again

 Brett Alan, chose the Irv Noren Auto. So Fuji you are up to pick again and Angels In Order is on Deck.  Fuji you can pick one more item from the updated prize page.  

BrettAlan your turn

 Fuji took the Ben Baller Rickey Henderson.  Brett you get to pick from the remaining items on the prize page.

Fuji you are up.

 P Town Tom has made his pick and Fuji is up for his first pick of anything remaining on the prize page.  

Fourth place is Ptown Tom

 Tom you are up for picking from the prize page.  You get to pick one item.  This is just one of the cards still remaining.

2nd place, three choices

GCRL has chosen his five prizes for being the first winner.  Next up is The Diamond King.  DK gets to choose three prizes from what remains on the the prize page.  Items like the following are still available.  

 

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

I took all 556 entries and laboriously typed them each into Random.org, Nah.  I copied them all from the spreadsheet and pasted them into Random.org and randomized the list eleven times.  

The more times you commented the better your chances were.  So here is the list of winners.

Just in case you can't read the screenshot here are the winners in order.  

1. GCRL

2. Diamond King

3. BBCardz

4. Ptown Tom

5. Fuji

6. Brett Alan

7. Fuji

8.Angels in Order

9.GCRL

10.GCRL

So GCRL gets to pick five items from the prize page. 

Then the Diamond King picks three items from the prize page.

Next BBCardz picks two items from the prize page.

Then Tom picks an item, Then Fuji picks an item, then BrettAlan picks an item, Fuji then gets to pick another item, then Angels in Order picks an item and then GCRL picks two more items.  

Thank you so much for all your help.  

Updating the contest, updating Padrographs and astronauts and a box of 2020 Topps Holiday

 It seems you can't randomize a list of 556 names ninety nine times in a day on random.org.  I ran out of data bits, so once I can get back in I will randomize the list eleven times, since that is the number Tim Flannery wore after Steve Garvey showed up.  

I have picked up a bunch of Padrographs since the last one I featured.  Padrograph #1232, Chad Gaudin.  I just got this custom card back from a private signing.  He was signed as a free agent, pitched twenty games for the Padres in 2009 and then the Yankees purchased his contract.  

Padrograph #1230, Mike Clevinger.  Clevinger was supposed to be a key part of the playoff run last year after he came from Cleveland in a big trade, but then he got hurt.  He will miss the 2021 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  I picked up this card off eBay, it is from some Topps subscription set.  

Padrograph #1229, Austin Nola.  One of my granddaughter Nola favorite players.  Austin came over from the Mariners in a late season trade and seemed to me to be an upgrade at the position.  I picked this card up on eBay and it is from the same set as the Clevinger card.

Padrograph #1228, Steve Delabar.  Steve was drafted by the Padres in 2003 and played four years in their minor league system before being released in 2008.  I thought I had this card in my Padrographs but I did not and picked it up from the bay.

Padrograph #1227, Zach Davies. Zach is now a Cub but pitched in twelve games for the Padres last year.  This exceptionally thick card was purchased on the aforementioned auction web site. 

Padrograph #1226, Owen Caissie. Was the first Canadian drafted in the 2020 draft in the second round.  He was traded to the Cubs as part of the Yu Darvish trade.  He was included in the Bowman Draft cards in 2020.  I didn't pull this card but bought it somewhere.  

Padrograph #1231, Ripken Reyes.  Ripken was drafted by the Padres in the 30th round of the 2019 draft.  He played at Ft. Wayne that year.  He was part of the great layoff in 2020.

I picked up the last card in the 1963 Astronauts set.  Usually the checklist has been the most expensive card I have seen.  I managed to find this one for just ten dollars.  I now have five of the fifty-five card set.  

I managed to snag a box of 2020 Topps Holiday cards through a connection in retail.  I opened the box yesterday.  I got more Padres than I think I have in any other modern Topps box. I got Hosmer, Myers, Grisham, Machado and Tatis.  These are the hits I got.  Robles and Rogers are metallic snowflakes, Trout and Alonso are SPs.  I got a Rowdy relic and a Soto ornament.  All of the below are available for trade purposes.

See you tomorrow with the results of the contest.  

The Weekend

 This post has nothing to do with the SuperBowl halftime show.  There were a total of 556 entries in the Phrankeset contest to this point.  The plan is to randomize the list ninety-nine times, since you helped me choose the first ninety-nine cards.  Then the top ten will win prizes.  Number one will be able to pick five items, number two three items, number three two items and four through ten will each get to choose one item.  If anyone is repeated they will wait until the people in front of them choose their items.  I will announce the winners sometime Saturday (if I am done stacking the cord of firewood that is coming tomorrow) otherwise it will be Sunday.  Here are two of the prizes that will be available.  

Remembering the Home Run King

 I just read that Hank Aaron passed away at age eighty-six.  I remember the first time I became aware of him.  In 1969 I lived in La Palma, California.  We were attending a church in Cerritos and I was active in the AWANA program there.  One summer day for an outing we went to my first ever baseball game.  We went to Chavez Ravine to see the Dodgers play the Braves.  Just being in those hallowed spaces was amazing, all that green.  We sat in the right field bleachers and right in front of us was number 44.  We watched the game and at one point Hammerin' Hank hit a home run and it landed in my scorecard.  Alas I don't have it as I was mobbed and someone took it.  I never saw who it was.  Being a twelve year old who had never seen a baseball game in person before and whose father preferred basketball and track and field to baseball I didn't know anything about any of the players.  I do know that even know at age sixty-three I will always remember that day.  Goodbye, So Long and Farewell to the All Time Home Run King.  Barry may have a few more but to me Henry Aaron will always be the home run king.