Utility Dude

I just can't let the month go by without a post.

Cool card, lots-o-gloves, fun facts:
Interesting Scott Bradley Factoids:

1. He is currently the head coach of Princeton University's baseball team.

2. Bradley was the catcher for Randy Johnson's no-hitter on June 2, 1990.

3. Bradley also coached major league baseball pitcher Ross Ohlendorf while he was at Princeton, giving him the unique distinction of catching Johnson's no hitter, and later coaching a player Johnson would be traded for.

4. He is the brother of Bob Bradley, head coach of the American national soccer team and the uncle of professional soccer player Michael Bradley.

5. When this picture was taken, Bradley had only played 2 positions at the major league level, catcher and left field.

6. In his sparse 9 year career, he did manage to play C, 1B, 3B, LF, RF, and DH.

Dale Murphy: Mariner

Did you know that Dale Murphy was a Seattle Mariner in 1980? Neither did I until I found this card.
Bochte was a one time All-Star while the Murph won 2 MVPs and was an early 80's baseball god.

Bochte is an agnostic while Murphy is a Morman.

Bochte sat out the 1983 season in protest of rising salaries ruining the game while Murphy made 1.3 million in 1983.

Neither is in the Hall of Fame.

Jay Bell: EGOMANIAC

It's been a while since I did any actual blogging. Trade posts have littered Stats on the Back since my son was born.

I thought I would get back to blogging about the simple things: cards I like. They are generally worthless and don't really fit into my collecting goals. But I like them so they are allowed to take their place with Aaron, Pujols, Yogi, etc.

1993 Upper Deck #103 Jay BellBell is taking infield, wearing a t-shirt that reads "WE NEED ME". The "WE" must refer to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1992 Pirates won 96 games and eventually lost to the Atlanta Braves in the postseason. Jay Bell was arguably the 3rd best position player for the Pirates that year, behind Bonds and Van Slyke. In 1993, Bell was the best position player and the Pirates finished 5th in the NL East, winning only 75 games. So while the Pirates "needed" Jay Bell, they didn't need him nearly as much as they needed BARRY BONDS!

All-Time Teams: Braves - As if there was such a thing!

I am from North Carolina and because of Michael Jordan and the "Superstation," I grew up surrounded by Tarheels and Braves fans. Being an NC State and Mets fan, it kinda stinks sometimes. UNC fans are everywhere. Braves fans are usually found in the southeast, like Dayf. EXCEPT for the Waxaholic. He lives in Canada, enjoys hockey and the Braves. Sad but true.

Here are the All-Time Atlanta/Milwaukee/Boston Braves:
The Starting Lineup:
C - Javy Lopez - Watch out, Javy! McCann is gunning for your spot.
1B - Joe Adcock
2B - Glenn Hubbard - Really?
SS - Jeff Blauser - Blauser was a good hitting shortstop even before ARod/Jeter/Nomar
3B - Chipper Jones - Mets killer.
LF - Rico Carty
CF - Dale Murphy - not worthy of the Hall, but close. Classy player.
RF - Hank Aaron - so good for so longChipper and Javy made a lot of playoff runs together. Anybody have a quantifiable reason they failed to win at least 1 more World Series?

Starting Pitcher: Greg Maddux - one of the best ever.
The Maddux card above is from 2000 and is numbered 53/67. The foil might be electric blue!

The Bench:
Bob Horner - 4 HRs in a game
Andruw Jones - he was so good when he was so young. Interested to see if he can make it all the way back as an older player
David Justice - didn't he date Halle Berry?
Eddie Mathews - nice back up 3rd baseman
Terry Pendleton - did not deserve his MVP
Bob Elliot (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
Wally Berger (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
Joe Torre (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!) - i have a few but none in a Braves uniHelp me fill this page! I really like the 2007 Bowman Heritage relics and 2008 Goudey is my favorite set of this decade.

The Pitching Staff:
Tom Glavine - Great #2 to Maddux
Kevin Millwood
Phil Niekro
John Smoltz - great starter, great reliver, still pitching!
Warren Spahn
Gene Garber - RP
Mark Wohlers - RP
Kid Nichols - Bill James' Win Shares love him (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
John Clarkson (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
Vic Willis (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)I could definitely use a Warren Spahn upgrade!

Best Batter: Hank Aaron - not even close!

Worst in the Starting Lineup: Glenn Hubbard - 85 OPS+ = Best Ever!

I'm surprised he made the cut: Mark Wohlers - 9 years as a Brave with solid numbers.

Favorite Card: My 1974 Topps Hank Aaron Home Run King card is my favorite Braves card (in my HOF binder) but the 1984 Fleer Hubbard with the snake and the Phanatic in the background is awesome. The beard and the crayola box seats don't hurt either.Hey Junkie and Aholic! Who did I miss? Who is here that shouldn't be? Convince me I am wrong and you get free cards!

Who's next? Don't make me show Beardy the Sox and the Yanks.

All-Time GIANTS: Responses to Responses

I received a few responses about my first All-Time Giants team.

Matt R, the requester of Giants, offered up a few honorable mention pitchers:

"Joe McGinnity -- he was a great #2 for Mathewson." - True. He didn't quite dominate his era enough (ERA+ = 118)

"John Antonelli -- good seasons in the mid-late 1950s." and "Sal Maglie -- didn't stay with the Giants long enough." - I could be persuaded to replace Schmidt with one of these 2 guys, but I like having current players on these lists.

"Gary Lavelle -- if you need a lefty in the pen he's a good one to put in there." - Good reliever. I didn't worry about righty/lefty stuff on my rosters. Nen and Beck were better, yet right-handed.

Everyone's favorite Troll, other than Shrek, had a few ideas as well:

"Even though he only spent 5 years as a Giant, Johnny Mize would get my vote. He did have a 51 homer season there... That is hard to ignore." - Kevin Mitchell, who won an MVP in 1989, probably took his spot. If Mize had not lost 3 years to WW1, he would be on the Giants list. But don't worry, Mize will show up on a list before this thing is over.

"Wes Westrum would be a nice back up catcher too." - Like the LHP/RHP, I just picked the best players on each team after the starting 9. Very few teams have a 2nd catcher.

"Monte Irvin!!!! Can't forget him!" - Monte Irvin didn't get to play in the bigs until he was 30. He missed a lot of good baseball due to ignorance. Larry Doyle, the last Giant bench player, won a Chalmers Award (MVP) in 1912 but they don't count in my book. MONTE IRVIN IS ON THE TEAM!!!
Troll, I owe you some free cards. Not sure if I can help with the want list, but I will see what I can do. Red Sox are next since nobody asked for their team!

All-Time Teams: GIANTS

I chose 27 players from each Major League Franchise. Why 27? 9-pocket pages, of course. I only considered stats for that franchise therefore some elite players appear on multiple teams. I always included MVPs and CY award winners (mainly because I also made a goal to collect a card of every winner). Most teams consist of 16 batters and 11 pitchers (9 starters, 2 relievers). I usually put my best card of each player unless a better one is already in my HOF binder.

First up is the San Francisco/New York Giants:The Starting Lineup:
C - Roger Bresnahan (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
1B - Willie McCovey
2B - Jeff Kent (Best 2B of the past decade)
SS - Travis Jackson
3B - Matt Williams (lots of HRs in the strike season)
LF - Barry Bonds (Great w/ and w/o medical help)
CF - Willie Mays
RF - Mel Ott (Tiniest dude to hit 500+ HRs)

Nice lineup. Teams with long histories obviously have stronger all-time rosters. Kent, Williams, and Bonds are solidly in my wheelhouse of collecting.

Starting Pitcher: Christy Mathewson (original HOFer)

The Bench:
Will Clark (one of the more underrated players in history)
Orlando Cepeda
Kevin Mitchell
Roger Connor (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
Bill Terry (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
George Davis (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
Ross Youngs (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
Larry Doyle (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)

Help me fill this page! Vernon Wells' dad did a great job with the UD checklists!

The Pitching Staff:
Carl Hubbell (Great #2)
Tim Lincecum (2 CY Youngs already!)
Juan Marichal (Leg Kick)
Mike McCormick (Who? He won what?)
Gaylord Perry (Better than I ever gave him credit for. But he cheated.)
Jason Schmidt
Rod Beck - RP
Robb Nen - RP
Tim Keefe (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)
Amos Rusie (HELP - I NEED HIS CARD!)Carl Hubbell could wear that hat today, as long as he doesn't take the sticker off the bill.

Best Batter: Barry Bonds over Willie Mays. (Mays is one of the best ever. Bonds was Ruthian.)

Worst in the Starting Lineup: Travis Jackson (slightly above average for his era, not deserving of the Hall)

I'm surprised he made the cut: Jason Schmidt (Nice career with the Giants. Didn't know it was that good)

Favorite Card: My Original T206 Christy Mathewson is my favorite Giant card but of the ones here: Those 1970 All-Star cards are nice. McCovey is exploding out of that Sporting News. The back is nice too.
Who did I miss? Who is here that shouldn't be? Convince me I am wrong and you get free cards!

Who's next? Don't make me show Beardy the Sox and the Yanks.