World's Largest Bosai Tree

Here in League City (the City of the Oaks) we're proud of our oak trees. A 100-year old oak, planted by one of the original settlers of the city is threatened by the reconstruction of a roadway.  Locals were outraged. So at considerable expense (around $200,000) the city is moving the tree.

In this photo it looks like they've transplanted the tree to a giant planter.

Here's a broader view.

Song of the Week - The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice

This song is from Damien Rice's first album O, which was released in 2002. The album was a pretty big hit for him in England, but he's only released one album since then. This song was featured in the 2004 movie Closer, with Natalie Portman, Julie Roberts, Clive Owen and Jude Law. I had to look it op on imbd.com but now I remember that we must have seen the trailer for this a million times but never saw the movie. I think I'll be looking for it on Netflix.

2012 Topps Archives - First Look (Part 1)

I saw these in the local Target today. There were loose packs and 8-pack blasters available. I bought two blasters.

The base set has 200 cards featuring Topps designs from 4 different years, 1954, 1971, 1980 and 1984. I pulled about 27 cards from each year between the two boxes with only a few duplicates. So I've got about half the base cards and a pretty good selection. The base set features mainly modern players, with about 20% of the cards featuring former players. Here's a card from each year.

2012 Topps Archives #50 Albert Pujols

The cards are printed on thin white card stock with a hard but not glossy finish. They have a nice crisp feel.  I don't have a lot of 1954 Topps but this looks like a pretty good facsimile.

2012 Topps Archives #77 Chipper Jones

The original 1971 cards featured a different closeup photo of the player rather than a cropped version of the front of the card like these do.

2012 Topps Archives #108 Cliff Lee

I chose Phillie Cliff Lee to represent the 1980 cards because the Phillies won their first World Series in 1980. The backs are pretty close to the actual 1980 cards although the color is off. Also, the 1980 set had the copyright in a box at the bottom of the cartoon.

2012 Topps Archives #187 Nolan Ryan

I didn't check all the former player cards, but the original 1984 Ryan card did not have this photograph. And the back is different since this card features Ryan's entire career. The original cards also had color team logos on the back.  This is the only Astro I pulled from the box. Astros cards have been very scarce this year. I've bought 971 cards so far and only 12 of them feature Astros, which is way under average. By contrast, I have 73 Phillies cards which is way over average.

2012 Topps Archives All-Time Fan Favorites #221 Jim Abbott

Cards numbered 201-241 are called the All-Time Fan Favorites. They are all past players except #241 which has Bryce Harper. These are inserted 1 in 4 packs. I only pulled 2 of them in 16 packs. These feature a past player on some randomly chosen card that was issued during the player's career. The photo is not the same photo as is on Abbott's 1992 card but the back is a reprint of his 1992 card except for the card number. Confused yet?  1992 was the first year that Topps issued cards on white card stock. This is the first post-career card of Abbott that I know about.

2012 Topps Archives Rookie Reprints Cal Ripken

This is from the 50-card insert set which is supposed to be a reprint of the player's rookie card. I got 4 of these. You can tell this card apart from the 1984 cards in the set in that it has a "Topps Archives" logo in gold foil on the front. Also, the team logo on the back is in color. The card has the same number as the original card. This is a nice card but Ripken's rookie card was 1982.  The other three I have are reprints of the player's actual rookie card.

I'll post the other inserts in a few days.

Trade with Spiff

I haven't traded cards with anyone since last summer. Perhaps anticipating my annual Summer Clearance Trade (coming in June), Spiff sent me a pile of Phillies cards. So I sent him the Rangers cards I had pulled for the Clearance.  Here's some of what he sent me.

2004 Fleer Tradition #439 Vincente Padilla

 Cards numbered 401-500 of this set were short prints which I don't have many of.

2008 Upper Deck X #77 Chase Utley

Did anyone like this set? I had the die cut Utley card but not the regular one.

2009 Topps Update #18 Cliff Lee

 This was the card from this set I really wanted and now I have it! Thanks Spiff!

2010 Topps #122 Carlos Ruiz

I had the Phillies Team Set and the Walmart Black versions of this card but not the base Topps card. Chooch is having an MVP season so far, hitting .365 with 7 home runs (his career max is 9) and 29 RBIs (max 54). There were a few Ruiz cards in the mix that I didn't have.

2010 Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out #110 Cole Hamels

I had the Original Back version of this card. Hamels is also super hot with a 7-1 record in 9 starts and an ERA of 2.17.

2010 Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out Original Back #89 Steve Carlton

I had the non-original back version of this card. 40 years ago, Carlton was 27-10 with a terrible Phillies team. In his first 9 starts he was 5-4 with an ERA of 2.22.

2010 Topps Heritage #217 Carlos Ruiz

2012 Topps #117 Carlos Ruiz

2012 Topps #190 Cole Hamels

2012 Topps Heritage #139 Carlos Ruiz

2012 Topps Heritage #161 Ryan Howard

Ryan is in rehab at the Phillies Single A club in Florida and should be back sometime in June. Man do we miss him.

Movie Review - The Avengers

We finally got to see this over the weekend. I'm not going to write a review, other than to say I thought it was fantastic, since there is nothing I can add to what's already been written. The only reason I can think of for you not to have already seen the movie is that you were waiting to see what I had to say about it, which seems pretty unlikely.

In my opinion it's the best of the Marvel superhero movies, and maybe the best superhero movie ever. At least until The Dark Knight Rises comes out in July. My daughter says I'm wrong, that Thor was better, mainly because it had more Thor than The Avengers. The charms of Chris Hemsworth appeal more to her than to me.

Song of the Week - Starless by King Crimson

King Crimson is a band that was founded in 1969 and, although it has undergone many changes, is still around today.  This piece is from their Starless and Bible Black album released in January 1974. The band membership was quite unstable at this time but I'm pretty sure this live recording features Robert Fripp (a founding member) on guitar, John Wetton on vocals and bass, Bill Bruford (who had left Yes for King Crimson) on drums, and David Cross on violin and keyboards. The keyboard is a mellotron, which was pretty much the key instrument for any number of progressive bands at the time. This live recording is significantly different than the album version. I'm pretty sure that the violin work in the beginning of the live version was actually Fripp on guitar in the album version. Also there a long, and perhaps improvised, instrumental section in the middle. This is a long and difficult piece but if you like early 1970's progressive music, you've got to love this.

Update: 12/26/13. I see that the original video I posted here has been removed. Here's another.

Players I Collect - Sandy Alomar

It's been a few months since I've done one of these. At the rate I'm going I should be done this series of posts sometime in 2035.

First of all, it's not this Sandy I collect:

1974 Topps #347

But his son, Sandy Jr.

1989 Topps #648

I have 110 Sandy Alomar Jr. cards. Although he played a few games prior to 1990, his rookie year was in 1990 with the Indians.


1990 Score Rookie/Traded #18

Sandy played 132 games behind the plate, hit .290 and was an All-Star. He was also the AL Rookie of the Year. This is probably why I started to collect his cards.

1991 Leaf #189

Unfortunately. 1991 was not a good year. He only played 51 games, while spending most of the season on the disabled list.

1992 Triple Play #227

Injuries continued to plague him for several years. He hit .251 in 89 games in 1992.

1993 Ultra  #182

1994 Topps #273

1995 Upper Deck #92

Sandy hit .300 with 10 home runs in 66 games in 1995 and the Indians went to the World Series, losing to the Braves.

1996 Score #103

1996 was his best season since 1990, hitting .263 and appearing in 127 games. He was again elected to the All-Star game and the Indians returned to the playoffs but lost to the Orioles in the ALDS.

1997 Upper Deck #343

 1997 was his best year. He hit .324 with 21 home runs in 125 games. He had a 30-game hitting streak. He was the MVP of the All-Star game and the Indians again went to the World Series where he hit .333 with 10 RBIs. But they lost the Series to the Marlins.

1998 Fleer Tradition Vintage '63 #14

He was an All-Star again in 1998 and the Indians went to the playoffs but it was a disappointing season for Alomar after the triumph of 1997. He would, unfortunately, never be a regular player again, appearing in fewer and fewer games until finally he retired after the 2007 season.

1999 Black Diamond #27

2000 Topps Opening Day #72

2000 will be his last year with the Indians. He will sign with the White Sox as a free agent in December 2000.

2001 Topps Traded #1

He hit .245 in 70 games for the Sox and spent over a month on the DL.


2002 Stadium Club #64

In July, the White Sox traded Alomar to the Rockies for minor leaguer, Enemencio Pacheco.

 2002 Topps Traded #68

He was once again a free agent at the end of the season and resigned with the White Sox.

2003 Fleer Tradition Update #194

2004 Topps Total #522

Alomar stayed with the White Sox through 2004. This is the last card I have for him.  He signed with the Rangers for the 2005 season. He played for the Dodgers and the White Sox again in 2006. In 2007 he made 7 appearances with the Mets before retiring at the end of the season.