In the last post we saw that Bo Knows Shoes. But he's not the only one who knows something -- consider Mr. Ike Harris.
1979 Topps Ike Harris - #257
Now Ike looks like your typical "dumb-jock," right? Fast legs, but not too much going on upstairs? Surely that's the case. Let's check out the back of his card...
HE'S A CPA, BABY!!!! Putting all that Iowa State book-learnin' to good use.
So if he's a WR and a CPA, that means he knows about:
Bubble Screens and Tax Liens
Hook-and-Go's and Cash Flows
Exercising and Amortizing
Acceleration and Depreciation
"Caught It!" and "Audit!"
We tip our cap to you, Ike Harris. A real-man of genius.
(Are there any more good football/accounting rhymes that I missed?)
Currently the ones on Ebay in my size are going for over $250. I guess that means I won't be buying any of them. I guess I'll have to get my 8-bit Bo Jackson fix in some other way. Tecmo Bowl anyone?
I want to thank everyone for entering the contest -- I was hoping for 25-30 entries...and we got 34! This is one where having more people makes the results better and the game more fun, so all of your entries (even up to the very last-minute!) are much appreciated.
On some of the questions, there was substantial agreement. On others, you guys were all over the board. Without further ado, here are the results:
1) The most famous baseball card is ___________.
T206 Honus Wagner
26
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle
7
Ty Cobb
1
This question was the one with the most agreement of any question -- 26 of 34 said the T206 Honus Wagner. I was surprised that nobody chose the 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey, Jr.
2) A current or former MLB player named "Bill" or "Billy" is __________.
Billy
Ripken
13
Bill Buckner
5
Billy Martin
5
Billy Williams
4
Billy Hamilton
3
Billy Butler
2
Bill Madlock
1
Billy Wagner
1
I expected these results to be all Buckner and Williams when I posted it - Ripken never crossed my mind. But ol' "Rick Face" himself came out on top with over 2x the votes of his nearest competitor.
3) A current MLB catcher is __________.
Buster
Posey
16
Yadier Molina
12
Joe Mauer
3
Brian McCann
2
Russell Martin
1
Apparently only the NL catchers matter to you guys.
4) The "junk wax era" ended in this year: __________.
1993
10
1994
7
1995
5
1992
2
1996
2
1999
2
2000
2
2001
1
2002
1
2004
1
2014
1
The exact year is up for debate, but the window of 1992-1996 is fairly well-agreed-upon. Except for the one who thinks it ended last week.
5) If I could own an MLB team, I would choose this one: __________.
Dodgers
13
Yankees
12
Red Sox
4
Rangers
2
Angels
1
Mets
1
Dustin Pedroia
1
Looks like a little East Coast vs. West Coast battle going on here. The Dodgers take it by one vote. However, there was one vote for this team:
(Not a Baseball Team)
6) Name a member of the Boone family that played in the big leagues: __________.
Bob
Boone
15
Bret Boone
11
Aaron Boone
6
Ray Boone
2
Look at that family! You only had four choices on this one, and most of you went with Bob and Bret.
7) A current or former Pittsburgh Pirate player is __________.
Roberto
Clemente
16
Andrew McCutchen
14
Willie Stargell
4
You had a lot more possible choices here, but stuck with only 3 different guys. This was "Sheep" at its finest! :-)
8) This number is the most iconic record in baseball: __________.
56
15
42
4
61
4
714
2
715
2
755
2
762
2
62
1
300
1
744
1
Dimaggio's 56-game hitting streak took the top spot here, with Jackie's # and the Home-Run records following behind.
9) The ideal baseball card set should have this many cards in it: __________.
792
11
660
6
300
4
750
2
200
1
220
1
250
1
330
1
400
1
600
1
661
1
752
1
762
1
881
1
900
1
The fans of the Topps overproduction sets came out in force here.
10) When going to a baseball game, I buy this many beers: __________.
2
16
0
7
3
6
1
3
5
1
6
1
The good news...only 2 of my blog readers are those drunk guys screaming in the 4th inning. For everyone who answered 2 beers, that'll only cost you 28 dollars.
11) The greatest third-baseman of all time is: __________.
Mike
Schmidt
17
Brooks Robinson
10
George Brett
3
Archi Cianfrocco
1
Cal Ripken
1
Chipper Jones
1
Wade Boggs
1
"The Human Vacuum Cleaner" made it close, but Schmidt took this one.
12) A team in the American League West is __________.
Angels
12
A's
9
Rangers
8
Mariners
4
Astros
0
Yankees
1
One of these things is not like the other....
13) The best "role model" in baseball right now is: __________.
14) The most I would spend on one World Series ticket for my favorite team is __________.
$200
8
$100
7
$500
6
$250
3
$300
2
$350
2
$15
1
$25
1
$125
1
$150
1
$400
1
$1,000
1
Only $15 for the World Series? I've spent more than that for Spring Training. :-)
15) The age at which girls become more important than baseball cards for a card-collecting boy is __________.
13
12
15
8
14
6
16
5
12
1
17
1
25
1
16) A pitcher in the 2013 All-Star game was __________.
Clayton
Kershaw
14
Mariano Rivera
10
Justin Verlander
3
Max Scherzer
3
Yu Darvish
3
Matt Harvey
1
Even Rivera's final All-Star game appearance wasn't enough to top Clayton.
17) The most-poorly-run franchise in baseball is: __________.
Marlins
14
Astros
7
Cubs
4
Mets
4
Royals
3
Dodgers
1
Mariners
1
18) The scariest current or former pitcher for a batter to face: __________.
Randy
Johnson
18
Bob Gibson
4
Nolan Ryan
3
Aroldis Chapman
1
Justin Verlander
1
R.A. Dickey
1
Rick Ankiel
1
Roger Clemens
1
Roy Halladay
1
Ryne Duren
1
Sandy Koufax
1
Satchel Paige
1
Randy Johnson vs. John Kruk:
I just learned who Ryne Duren was, too.
19) A baseball team that has blue as one of its team colors is __________.
Dodgers
20
Blue Jays
8
Cubs
4
Mets
1
Yankees
1
Even though they have BLUE in their name, the Jays could only swing 8 votes.
20) I feel cheated if I spend more than this amount for a pack of cards: __________.
$5.00
13
$3.00
11
$2.99
4
$4.99
2
$1.00
1
$4.00
1
$10.00
1
$15.00
1
If all the 99-cent people had rounded up, $3 and $5 would have been tied! One person only buys Opening Day and Triple Play, I see.
Scoring and Winners:
As I mentioned originally, for each question you get the number of points equal to the number of people who gave the answer you did -- highest score wins.
Without further ado, our winners are: TTG and The Lost Collector!!! The local Dodger-bloggers (Stealing Home and Greg Z) were close in 3rd and 4th.
Here's what we have for the standings:
TTG (Joe) -
fromanunlikelysource
254
The Lost Collector
245
Stealing Home/All Trade Bait All The Time
244
Greg Z/Plaschke, Thy Sweater Is Argyle
240
Daniel/It's like having my own Card Shop
231
Steve D.
230
Josh D / Royals and Randoms
226
Nachos Grande
225
Scott O
221
The Diamond King
219
Dhoff / Coot Veal and the Vealtones
218
Thoughts And Sox
213
RAZ @ The Raz Card Blog
210
Great Sports Name Hall of Fame
210
TorontoBlueJaysCollection
208
Alex M/Chavez Ravining
207
Jeff - One Man's Junk (Wax)
207
Stubby--stubbyschristmas
207
Nick P./Dime Boxes
206
Matt / Tenets of Wilson
203
rnisly
202
hockeykazi
197
Zach from Autographed Cards
193
Tribecards
192
Kerry B / Cards on Cards
185
Marcus
184
Gavin at Baseball Card Breakdown
177
Play at the Plate
169
Bleedin' Brown and Gold
166
captkirk42
164
Robin
153
The Junior Junkie
139
Dawgbones/Schmidt Happened!
127
John H
98
I also said I would give one prize to a random participant. Thank you to those who promoted the contest on your blog....I have double-entered you here. The traditional 3 spins of the randomizer yields....The Junior Junkie! Congrats!
I would love to run this game again in the future. Thanks to everyone who entered. If you have any comments about how this ran, or if you have any good ideas for future questions, please post them in the comments below.
Howdy all,
Since I have been away from posting for awhile (but still reading all of your great posts), I figured it was my turn to give back a little bit. I propose we play a little game together. This game is called "Baseball Sheep."
How to play: I have created this form which has 20 baseball and baseball card-themed questions. (Click on it now to see the questions.) There are no right or wrong answers. However, your goal is to put down the answer that you think will be the most-common answer to that question -- it is not necessarily how you would answer it yourself. Think of it like the baseball version of "Family Feud." Don't be too original! Don't be too wacky! Remember, you are but a simple-minded sheep who follows the rest of the mindless flock (who also happens to like cards and read blogs).
How to win:
Once all of the entries are in, I will tally the answers for each question. You will receive the number of points equal to the number of people who shared your answer on a given question. For example, if I said "What is a team in the AL East?", and the responses were (Yankees - 12, Red Sox 7, Orioles 1), then each person who said Yankees (the biggest sheep) would receive 12, the Red Sox respondents would receive 7, and the one guy who said Orioles would just get the single point for himself. I will sum up the score for each of the 20 questions -- HIGHEST SCORE WINS.
Deadline:
I will accept responses until 11:59 PM Eastern on Sunday night (May 11th). After that I will tally the scores and make a post about it. Prizes:
I will have prizes for the 1st and 2nd place finishers...likely some '70s-era vintage and modern-era relic cards, which I will post once my scanner is connected. Or maybe a team-bag full of the winner's favorite team, or something from their want-list (if I have it). There will also be a similar prize for one of the game entrants drawn at random from all the entries -- so even if you are a big loser with your responses, you still can win! If you promote this contest on your blog (post link in the comments) I will include an extra entry for that second-chance drawing.
I would love to see us have 25-30 (or more!) entrants in this contest, and I can't wait to see what all the answers are!
I hope none of you needed this card. It came from an 2014 Opening Day blaster I bought this week. But I didn't open this pack. This pack belongs to my 4-year-old son, James. It's his very first pack of cards. He only knew the Royals players before this (and he knows who Jackie Robinson is), but he thought that this Bryce Harper lenticular card looked pretty neat.
However, that wasn't his favorite card in the pack. It was this one:
2014 Topps Opening Day - James Paxton
When he looked at it, he didn't say anything at first. Then he read the letters out loud. "J. A. M. E. S. James! We have the same name!"
Per his request, both of these cards are now in top-loaders and (blue) taped to the wall next to his bed. None of the other cards in the pack interested him. I guess CC Sabathia, Ben Revere, and Todd Helton don't hold the kids' interest as much these days.
I'm hoping that this will be the seed to start a long, enjoyable time for him in "the hobby." That means now I will have to add a new thing to my want-list: "Cards of guys named James." Those should be pretty easy to find. My little baby is named "Ellis," so if you can set aside some of your Ellis Burks overproduction-era product for him, I'd appreciate that, too. I won't need it for about 3-5 years :-)
Are any of your kids into card collecting? How did you go about encouraging that?
