A Winner in my (crooked) Contest and a Stack O' Brewers from Fuji

At long last I have finished my BIG BREWERS SORT. Which means we have a winner in the HOW BIG IS MY CREWNEVERSE contest. But before we get that...

Look at that! What a beautiful sight... everything so damned orderly. What you see there are my all-time Brewers binder, which now is home to a COMPLETE set of every player who ever appeared with the Pilots and Brewers, my oversized Brewers stuff, and my two Brewers monster boxes, with players sorted by name (plus some spillage). Each of these cards is now entered into the Trading Card Database... which gives me a little demographic info about my collection.  

1.	Ryan Braun	262
2.	Robin Yount	238
3.	Paul Molitor	168
4.	Prince Fielder	162
5.	Ben Sheets	154
6.	Greg Vaughn	126
7.	Rickie Weeks	121
8.	Geoff Jenkins	120
9.	Dave Nilsson	112
10.	B.J. Surhoff	99

There you see the top ten players in my collection. Not a lot surprising about that... although Dave Nilsson ranks a but higher than I would have thought. 

Anyway, I don't plan on keeping all of these cards in these boxes long-term. I ended up having some issues with the monster box set-up. First off, I have come to hate penny sleeves. You notice that most of these cards are in penny sleeves. It makes them slick as hell, and it's almost impossible to pick up a stack of these from the top without sending them flying out in all direction. I also erred on the player dividers. They look fine, but they are printed on normal printer paper and tend to slide down between the cards. In short, this is not a good set up to actually LOOK at the collection. My plan is to start binders with my favorite players - a Braun/Prince binder for example - which would make everything much more accessible and fun. But many players will remain in the boxes... Jose Valentine for example... not someone I regularly need to browse. Perhaps a Franken-set or something like that will also soon be in the offing. 

So what about that total???? Well, about that total...

I remembered as I was doing this that in the original post for this contest, I said that I would not count Brewers cards that I got DURING the count. Well, I did. I totally forgot my own rule and lumped it all together. Anyway, since I have no idea how to undo that, I'll just stick with changing the rule mid-way through the game.

So, now, getting to the winner of this crooked contest...

But WAIT! There are some Brewers cards in my collection that I have not yet added to this total. Cards I just got yesterday from San Jose Fuji. I had won a contest of his (not crooked, I assume) a while back and my prize lot was full of Brewers!

Here is Lorenzo Cain, the backbone of this year's team, in a great-looking SP from A&G.

Hey! And a Dan Plesac card from the Topps TV All Stars set... I've been wanting one for a while.

And.... yeah, that guy. He's... certainly on the team.

Here's a Ryan Braun I wasn't even aware of... signed by the artist! Very cool.

And a couple of Greinkes from this brief time as a Brewer. The blue-bordered cards in numbered to 199. Sweet. 

And HELL YEAH! The best of the bunch, a clear-cut Greg Vaughn. Thanks, Fuji!

Which is, oddly enough, from the same set as the Lenny Dykstra in the prize pack for the Crewneverse contest. Let's recap that prize pack.

There's Nails and some UD stickers...

... and a signed Tom Selleck card...

And that's all I'd gotten around to including. But, since I now know the WINNER of this contest, I can craft the rest of the prize package around their interests. 

(which includes a lot of football)

To the guesses one last time...

Laurens – 2,200

Angels in Order – 4,444

Sportscard Collectors – 4,444

Doug Hoback – 6,500

Mike Matson – 6,700

Gavin – 6,969 (nice)

Bo – 7,676

GCA – 7,955

Trevor P – 8,100

Adam Kaninger – 8,750

EP – 9,009

Nick – 9,219

Rob 792 – 9,482

Jon – 9,700

Fuji – 9,887

Adam Sanders – 10,100

ARPSmith – 11,111

The Lost Collector – 12,224

 

and the final tally is...

 

8,162!!!!

Which means Trevor of Bump and Run is our champion!!!!

I know I've got a few Packers somewhere around here that I will include in your package and I'm sure I can find a bunch of other fun stuff from your lists. In the next week or so, I'll put something together... if you can send me your address, I'll get it out ASAP.

Thanks again everyone for playing and for sending me so much great Brewers stuff over the past year-plus. 

 

Down on E-Street: A Crew-neverse Update

This is going to take a lot longer than I first thought. I guessed about a month, but that's probably a pipe dream. Anyway, there is still time to get in on the contest to guess how many different Brewers cards I have in my collection. 

Visit THIS POST to get an idea of what I have and enter your guess. And since it has been slower going than I anticipated in doing these updates, I will give everyone an extra week to enter... so make your guess by 11:59 central time on April 3. 

And I promised prizes for this great guess-off, to be reveled as we go merrily along. Here is the first item from the bundle the winner will take home:

That's a TTM autograph of Tom Selleck on the (sorta) famous 1992 UD SP4 card promoting the film "Mr. Baseball." That movie was ok, nothing fantastic. But not awful.

As for the update on the count, I am now through the "E" pile in my sort. My scoreboard tally is 1,719 different Brewers. The Mayor of E-Street is pitcher Cal Eldred, who runs away with the title with 82 different cards. It really wasn't even close, second place was Johnny Estrada with 13. Overall, Eldred's card tally is as impressive as his workload as a starter - he ranks #2 so far behind Ryan Braun, who continues to lead the pack with 178 cards.

 

2018 Topps Heritage Preview: Brewers and (kinda/sorta?) Pilots

I’ve gotten way backed up on posting about trades and whatnot and, while that stuff is still to come, I wanted to do a quick post today about the recently-released checklist for 2018 Heritage, which hits stores later this month.

I have mixed feelings on Heritage. It is usually a pretty good-looking set and definitely the kind of product I’d go for, but it’s also pretty damn expensive. Especially for someone mostly interested in putting together a base set. My primary interest in it then, as usual, is for the Brewers. So let’s take a look at that list…

10 Davies/Kershaw/Grienke LL

13 Domingo Santana

17 Zach Davies

49 Stephen Vogt

62 Eric Thames

150 Josh Hader

155 Orlando Arcia

204 Travis Shaw

242 Jimmy Nelson

243 Keon Broxton

283 Brett Phillips

313 Corey Knebel

344 Manny Pina

380 Eric Sogard

394 Woodruff/Wilkerson/Williams

406 Ryan Braun SP

407 Lewis Brinson SP

432 Chase Anderson SP

458 Jonathan Villar SP

493 Hernan Perez SP

Once again, Topps has pleasantly surprised me. It’s a solid group and has the much anticipated – by me, anyway – debut Brewers cards of Manny Pina, Eric Sogard and Stephen Vogt. Pina and Hader will also carry the big ass All Star Rookie trophy, which is always a nice touch. There will also be a trifecta of Brewers rookie pitchers on W/W/W card, showcasing three hurlers who debuted at the end of last season. I was hoping for a card of Jacob Barnes, who is yet without a major league card, but maybe he’ll show up in the high numbers set, if they do one this year.

As far as inserts go, it’s mostly snoozers and parallels, the one major exception being the waaaaay cool multi-player poster insert. Of course, it is limited to 50 copies, which is total bullshit. I want one of those to pin to my wall, not send into PSA. It’s a great idea that Topps muffed by making way too rare. Seed them 1:12 or something like that, and I’m thrilled and wanna collect them all. Now I’d be afraid to even touch one. Barf.

But the insert set I’m really interested in is the 1969 Seattle Pilots autograph set. As 1969 was the only year for the Pilots before they moved to Milwaukee and became our Brewers, Topps is celebrating with a set of SIGNED cards by legends of the brief Pilots franchise.

(Checks list)

Ok, scratch that last part.

Here is the list of “Pilots” included in the set:

SPA-BE Bill Edgerton
SPA-BP Bill Parsons
SPA-BR Bob Richmond
SPA-BS Bernie Smith
SPA-BST Buzz Stephen
SPA-DB Dick Baney
SPA-DBA Dick Bates
SPA-FK Frank Kimball
SPA-FS Fred Stanley
SPA-JB Jim Bouton
SPA-MR Mike Rollyson
SPA-PK Pete Koegel
SPA-RH Roric Harrison
SPA-RK Ron Kotick
SPA-RP Ray Peters

Now, the 1969 Pilots saw 53 different players see game action. And who did they chose to represent the club?

Edgerton: 4 innings pitched for Pilots

Parsons: Drafted by Pilots, debuted with Brewers in 1971

Richmond: 50^th pick in expansion draft, never played in MLB

Smith: Traded to Pilots after 1969 season, debuted with Brewers

Stephen: 14 games with Pilots Arizona League team

Baney: Nine games with Pilots

Bates: Pitched 1.2 innings with Pilots

Kimball: Played A ball in Pilots system

Stanley: 17 games with Pilots

Bouton: 57 (!!!!!) games with Pilots

Rollyson: Invited to spring training by the Pilots, never played pro ball

Kogel: Half-season for Pilots AZ league team

Harrison: Half-season for Pilots AZ league team

Kotick: Eight games with Pilots A ball team

Peters: Full season in Pilots’ system, two games with Brewers in 1970

So out of 15 subjects, only five actually played for the Pilots and only one of those spent more than a few weeks with the team. This group saw more action in the Arizona Instructional League in 1969 than in the Emerald City. While I am all for digging up some long-lost ball players for modern sets, this is just… odd. Is it lazy? Is Topps being cheap? I’m kind of at a loss here.

That said, I still really want some of the cards in this set. Parsons, Edgerton, Ellsworth, Peters, Kogel, Bates, Baney, and Smith are ALL needs for my all-time Brewers set, sigs I have yet been able to find on Brewers/Pilots cards elsewhere. So despite all my harrumphing, I am very interested in this set as a whole and really REALLY hope they’re not limited to 10 copies per card or something absurd like that. Wait and see is all I’ve got, I guess.

My Last Pick-up of 2017

So, here it is… my last pick-up of 2017.

It’s the 303^rd signed card in my all-time Brewers collection. I actually have a longer post about some recent pick-ups for that binder, but I’ve decided to put it off until I get a COMC order that was my Christmas present to myself so I can do a whole project update thing at once.

But for now, we’ve got Dante. Most will remember Bichette as a four-time All Star with the Rockies, a slugger who placed second in the NL MVP voting in 1995 as the Rox won a playoff spot in just their third year of existence. He nearly won the award, finishing just behind Barry Larkin. But Bichette spent two years in Milwaukee before becoming one of the original Blake Street Bombers as a semi-regular right fielder. On the 1992 Brewers, which won 92 games and almost upset the Blue Jays for the division title, he batted .287 with 18 steals.

After the season, the Brewers – with Darryl Hamilton ready to start in right – traded Bichette to the brand-new Rockies in exchange for Kevin Reimer. The swap came as the Brewers were still “trying” to resign Paul Molitor. But, since Reimer was primarily a DH, it indicated the Brewers were resigned to losing the franchise icon to free agency. I wrote a whole thing on this awful period in franchise history about a year ago… it’s pretty good and it conveys some of the things I feel when I look at this card.

Funny thing about Bichette is that I remember him being a beast in Colorado, kind of a lower-level Larry Walker. But he ends up being one of these guys that advance stats casts a much different light upon. He had a decent three-year peak, but had very few walks for a power guy (just 22 walks in his near-MVP season of 1995), was a terrible fielder, and had some pretty wicked home/away splits. But most stunning – to me, anyway – was that for his career, which included 274 homers, over 1,000 RBI, nearly 2,000 hits – he totaled just 5.5 WAR according to baseball reference. I know that some people deathly hate WAR. I’m not at all sold on it as the elusive “God Stat” that will settle every baseball argument ever, but I do find it to be a useful jumping off point for stat discussions. And here is a guy who actually got three Hall of Fame votes in 2007 – who has a lower career WAR than Jonathan Villar.

And this is what I love about collecting. Here is a card I picked up for a few bucks because I needed it to fill a spot in one of my binders, and it told me a little story. Even the card itself – 1992 Leaf – brings me back to an aisle at our local ShopKo when I was ten years old, talking my mom into buying me a few packs on every shopping trip and being THRILLED when I pulled a Gold Rookie of Steve Hosey or some other such flop. It was a nice way to end my collecting year.

Brewers Auto Round-Tripper Pt. 4

How about we get back to some of my recently acquired all time Brewers Autos? We're deep in the weeds, now. If you remember any of these guys, you are a True Blue Crew Devotee...

Jack Heidemann was once a hot-shot prospect with the Indians, but failed to produce either at the plate or in the field. He came to Milwaukee in June 1976 from the Mets and became the team’s regular third baseman, despite an atrocious .520 OPS. His career WAR of -6.1 ranks among the worst in baseball history. But Jack is a generous TTM signer. He signed my card and sent along a business card (he now works as a real estate appraiser) that has a picture of him with the Indians on the backside.

Most Impressive Brewers Stat: He hit a homer off Bill “Spaceman” Lee in September, 1976.

Gary Sutherland was no-hit infielder who was a regular with the Expos and Tigers before Detroit sent him to the Brewers for former ROY runner-up Pedro Garcia in the middle of the 1976 season. He played part-time for the rest of the year before being released.

Most Impressive Brewers Stat: Batted .538 during his first week as a Brewer (and .176 the rest of the way).

“Bullet” Bob Reynolds threw six innings for the Brewers in 1971. Over a six year career, he appeared with six teams. For two years with the Orioles, 1973 and 1974, he was dominant, posting a 2.25 ERA over 180 innings and helping the O’s to consecutive AL East titles. His fastball was known to top out at 100 mph.

Most Impressive Brewers Stat: Threw five scoreless innings against the AL West Champion A’s in 1971.

Art Kuysner was one of the less-memorable parts of the huge 1973 trade that send Ollie Brown, Ellie Rodriguez and Skip Lockwood to the Angels for Steve Barber, Ken Berry, and Clyde Wright. He appeared in 15 games for the Brewers in 1976. He was a part of history in 1973 when he caught Nolan Ryan’s second career no-hitter.

Most Impressive Brewers Stat: As noted in his Wikipedia page, he hit a three-run double against the Red Sox. It was the only three runs he drove in for the Brewers.

 

Brewers Auto Round-Tripper Pt. 3

I tried at Target yesterday for some Update blasters, but OF COURSE, they didn't have any yet. So, here are some more Brewers autos I've recently acquired. This one we'll call the 'Dooley n Dick' edition...

Dooley Womack lacks a Pilots card, but Commissioner Bob was nice enough to mail me this one a few months back. Dooley broke in with the Yankees in 1966 and saw plenty of action during one of the Bombers’ most forgettable periods. He was traded to the Astros after the 1968 season for Dick Simpson (another future Pilot) and was sent to Seattle near the end of the 1969 season for the man profiled above, Jim Bouton. He pitched well for the Pilots in a handful of games, but was traded after the season in what baseball-reference.com calls an “unknown transaction.”

Most Impressive Pilots Stat: 2.51 ERA over 14.1 innings.

Wayne Comer was the Pilots’ everyday center fielder and put up decent numbers in what would be – far and away – his best season in the bigs. He hit 15 homers and managed a .354 OBP to go with 18 steals. He opened the 1970 season with the Brewers before he was traded to the Senators for Hank Allen and Ron Theobald.

Most Impressive Pilots/Brewers Stat: 14 OF assists in 1969, 2^nd in the AL

Dick Schofield joined the Brewers at the very end of a 19-year career. He broke in the Cardinals in 1953 at age 18 and an important cog in the 1960 Pirates’ World Championship team. He came to the Brewers in a trade in late July and played mostly off the bench. He managed only three hits with the Brewers.

Most Impressive Brewers Stat: Played errorless at 2B, SS, and 3B.

Kevin Kobel debuted with the Brewers in 1973 at the tender age of 19 and is still the only Brewers pitcher to appear in the majors as a teenager. Even more interesting is that he doesn’t really seem to have been much of a prospect. He was drafted in the 11^th round and had pitched decently, but not overly fantastic over three minor league seasons. He joined the Brewers rotation in 1974, pitching pretty well for a 20-year-old with a 3.99 ERA and a pair of shutouts. He developed arm troubles the next season and would only throw four more innings for the Brewers.

Most Impressive Brewers Stat: 2.06 ERA over his first nine games in 1974, at age 20.