One chance for the Royals to finish this great season tonight with an incredible flourish.
One chance to win it for all those to have loved this team and worked over the years to make it what it is. Win it for them.
Win it for Mike Sweeney - who gave the Royals everything he had, even when it clearly wasn't enough.
Win it for Billy Butler - who saw us through some lean years but is hitting in the heart of the order in the most-important game of his life.
Win it for Frank White - whose analysis on the broadcasts rekindled my wife's love of baseball and eased her conversion from an Angels fan to a Royals fan.
Win it for all the KC fans spread across the country - the small contingent who show up for road games in places like Anaheim, San Diego, and Seattle to cheer on the team they love.
Win it for Sung Woo Lee - who loved this team from across the globe.
Win it for all the guys who contributed this year, but aren't on the WS roster - Colon, Chen, Hendricks, Crow, Ibanez, and Giavotella.
Win it for those players that hustled for teams who could never catch a break - David DeJesus, Joakim Soria, Kevin Appier, Gil Meche, Joe Randa, Mark Teahen, and John Buck.
But most of all, win it for my son, James - who saw his first live KC game this past Memorial Day, wore his Alex Gordon shirt for preschool picture day, and snuggles up to me on the couch to catch an inning or two every night before bedtime. I can assure you, there will be no bedtime enforcement tonight.
Last year, before I moved and before the new baby was born, I had a bomb dropped on me. That bomb was the inaugural "Ton of Bricks" package sent out by Wes at Jaybarkerfan's Junk. This was not one PWE. This was not one bubble mailer. This was a MEDIUM FLAT RATE BOX full of the best collecting stuff that I could possibly imagine. I didn't have my scanner hooked-up yet, and knew that this Ton of Bricks would require a Ton of Posts about it. Tonight, for the first time in 6 months, I've got my scanner running and knew I had to start this series.
Inside this box were 9 separate envelopes labeled as such:
1) "Some Randoms"
2) "Some Royals"
3) "Don't You Collect This Guy?"
4) "More Of The Guy I Think You Collect"
5) "Do You Know This Guy?"
6) "Now I'm Going To Toy With You"
7) "You May Want These"
8) "Do You Need This Card?"
9) "Hope This Is A Good Finish"
Let's start at the beginning, shall we?
I opened up the "Some Randoms" packet. Minis....Ginter....Football...Politics...and one Padre (although not of the San Diego variety). Here's a sampling of all the stuff he sent -- it was way too much to scan it all.
Some ships.
Some Presidents.
A mustache.
Governor Jack Markell -- he's still the current governor of Delaware. This is my first Governor card. I don't even have a Schwarzenegger yet!
America's Sweethearts.
A couple of smarties.
Roller Derby???? Why.
I think more outfits should have epaulets. Like pajamas and tank tops and stuff with epaulets. Maybe find a way to put epaulets on pants. I'd be for that.
Ski bunnies. To the lodge!
Politicianizer....
TEBOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!! I still like him, even if his gig isn't on the field anymore.
And finally, the Padre:
JOCULARITY!!!! I will count this as a boxing card. Mulcahy had quite the tough jab.
So, that's part 1 of 9. It's gonna be a good ride. JBF rocks.
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.
