Ok, Ok, I'm Back

In what some might say was a cynical attempt to get people to comment on my blog, I made an announcement the other night that I was through with blogging. To be fair, I did leave myself some wriggle room. After what was a pretty unexpected outpouring (OK 14 comments is perhaps not an outpouring but it's the most comments the blog has ever received) of support, I've decided to use my wriggle room and un-retire (can anyone say Brett Farve?). But, really my blogging time is reduced so I'm going to try to do one baseball card post a week and Song of the Week and probably Thursday Night at the Movies.

And thanks to all the kind comments which I received.

I mentioned that I'd bought a few packs of Topps Ticket to Stardom. I also bought the Phillies team set on eBay which follows.My main complaint with this set is the photography. There seem to be a lot of poses like this Howard photo where the player's face is partially (or even completely) obscured by his hat, a shadow or the direction he is facing.
This Rollins card is another example. As far as I'm concerned this could be a card of just about anybody in a Phillies uniform (expect the Phillie Phanatic).
The Hamels card is better.
And so is the Utley (although it's a boring pose).
And lastly we have Geoff Jenkins. Why a set which comes out so late in the year features a player who was not signed by the Phillies (or anybody for that matter) is beyond me. He did have a big hit in the World Series which gives me an excuse to show the back of the card, which features my birthday. Isn't that nice?
Does anybody remember Fleer Authenix? This was a set issued by Fleer from 2002 through 2005. Their idea was to make baseball cards which looked like game tickets. Here's what the 2004 cards looked like.
Any similarity between 2004 Fleer Authentix and 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom is surely coincidental.