Song of the Week - In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain by Buffallo Springfield

From their final album Last Time Around, Richie Furay's reflective song, "In The Hour Of Not Quite Rain".

Buffalo Springfield was an amazingly talented group of people and was always one of my favorite bands. They produced three enormously influential albums in 3 years (1966-1968) but the individual members are responsible for hundreds of albums either individually or in various combinations with each other.

1961 Topps Ruben Gomez

I don't usually make one-card posts but I'm making an exception.

I got this card at the card show last weekend. It's in pretty good shape except for being badly off center. You can see the edge of the next card on the sheet along the bottom front and left back. But it's an early Phillies card I didn't have and it only cost 80 cents.

One of the things I like to do when I get old cards like this, especially when it's a player I don't know, is to look up their story on Wikipedia. Ruben Gomez looks like a player I should have known about.

He only played 2 years with the Phillies and he wasn't that great for them but he started his career with the Giants. He grew up in Puerto Rico, and pitched there with the nickname El Divino Loco (The Divine Madman). Would you want to face a pitcher with a nickname like that?

In 1954, he was 17-9 with the Giants helping them get to the World Series. He won Game 3 of the World Series as the Giants went on to sweep the Indians in 4 games. He is thus the first Puerto Rican player to win a World Series game.

In 1958 the Giants and the Dodgers relocated to the West Coast. What I didn't know was that the two teams opened the season with a home and away series. Gomez won the first game of the season in San Francisco, beating future Hall of Famer Don Drysdale. Thus he became the first pitcher to win a game played west of Kansas City.

After his two years with the Phillies, Gomez pitched for Veracruz in the Mexican League. One day he bought a lottery ticket from a young boy to help him out and won a $35,000 prize. He ended up using the money to set up a trust fund for the boy. Years later, in 2001, Gomez was facing surgery for cancer. A Mexican doctor asked to attend the surgery. It was that boy who sold him the lottery ticket. Is this a true story? I couldn't find another reference for it (I spent all of a minute on Google) but I hope it is.

Gomez was also known for throwing at people. In his rookie season he hit Carl Furillo (apparently at the order of his manager Leo Durocher). Furillo broke his hand in the resulting melee, ending his season.

2012 Panini Prizm

You don't see this kind of higher-end product on the shelves of the big-box stores so I look out for this sort of thing when I'm at a card show. One of the dealers had loose packs of 2012 Panini Prizm. Pricey at $6 for a 6-card pack so I only bought one.  The pack had 4 base cards and an auto.  The 20-pack hobby boxes promises 2 autos per box so the insertion rate isn't too bad.

Here's what I got.

2013 Panini Prizm #69 Jose Reyes

The shiny mirror finish doesn't scan real well but these are attractive cards in a Topps Finest sort of way.  The backs feature current year stats. The card backs say "2012 Prizm Baseball" on the lower left although they are copyrighted 2013. The product was released in April 2013.

2013 Panini Prizm #85 Kyle Lohse

I'll spare you the backs on the rest since they are all the same. Notice the Player's Association logo in the upper left. Panini still doesn't have a contract with the MLB so on logos or team names.

2013 Panini Prizm #102 Alex Rios

Panini is taking the old-fashioned approach to not showing logos by removing them from the photographs. None of the crap that Upper Deck and Donruss pulled by having photographs with partially obscured logos. MBL won lawsuits against both companies for that.

2013 Panini Prizm #121 Frank Thomas

I'm always happy to pull a Big Hurt card from a pack. According to Wikipedia, Frank is a record producer these days.

2013 Panini Prizm #153 Wei-Yin Chen

The rookie card backs are a bit different. I wonder if Panini is following the rules that MLB laid down a few years ago about what players could have "Rookie" on their cards. They sure aren't using the rookie logo. Although I wouldn't consider collecting a set like this I like to buy a pack or two for my reference books. Getting a rookie card is a bonus.

2012 Panini Prizm Autographs Josh Willingham

It's a sticker auto and it's only Josh Willingham but I'm happy to have pulled an auto. There are 108 of these. The auto card has a little Topps Chrome vibe going on. Note the color along his back and how the creases in his uniform are picked out in white. Auto cards for comparable players are going for about a buck on eBay.

1950 Bowman Phillies

I posted some earlier Bowman Phillies cards that I acquired at a local baseball card show back in March. I had planned to post the 1950 cards but didn't get around to it. I was back at this show yesterday and picked up some more.

1950 Bowman #30 Eddie Waitkus

I paid $6.00 for this in March. Cards in similar condition are going for over $10 (with postage) on eBay. This isn't in real good shape. It's not centered well and has a crease. On the other hand it doesn't have any paper loss and the color is good. You all know that Waitkus was the inspiration for the novel "The Natural" later made into a movie with Robert Redford.  He came to the Phillies in a trade with the Cubs in 1948.

1950 Bowman #67 Willie Jones

Also $6 in March. The worst looking card of the lot with creases and stains on the back. When I scan cards from the 1990s, I often correct the color as the whites have generally yellowed some. On a card this old, I don't do any Photoshopping. Willie was called "Puddin' Head" and was a fan favorite. He was an original Whiz Kid and played with the Phillies until 1959.


1950 Bowman #68 Curt Simmons

Also $6.00 in March. Another original Whiz Kid, Simmons pitched 13 years with the Phillies (and 20 years overall). The card back mentions that the Phillies signed him with a big bonus in 1947. I wonder what was considered a big bonus then? According to baseball-reference.com, his salary in 1948 was $7, 500.

1950 Bowman #120 John Thompson

The next three cards were bought this past weekend. I got them from the same guy. His prices were lower Sunday. I paid $4.50 for this. From and edges and color standpoint, one of the better ones I bought. But it's got some paper loss on the front.  Notice he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They were an AAA club affiliated with the Phillies in the early 1950s.

1950 Bowman #177 Hank Borowy

Also $4.50. The Phillies got him from the Cubs in 1947 with Waitkus. I like the backgrounds on some of these cards. That fence in the background makes it look like he's pitching in my backyard, about to unleash a fast ball at my back door from about 10 feet.  This is the best looking of the 6.

1950 Bowman #205 Mike Goliat

Only $3 for this one. Mike is apparently enjoying a party on someone's back porch. He was the Whiz Kids second baseman.

2013 Topps Series 2 - First Look

I picked up some Series 2 a few days ago. I bought 1 blaster, 2 rack-packs and 1 rack-box.
I didn't think I'd have much to write about but there were some new inserts and I got a few surprises. So here goes. First a few favorite base cards.

Usually flying player cards feature fielding plays. Here's Cabrera, I guess, attempting a steal. Looks like a hard landing and a cloud of dust coming up.

Series 1 had short-print alternate version cards of players crashing into the outfield fence. I think I got 2 of those. Series 2 features short-print alternate version cards of players wearing sunglasses. I got several cards with players wearing sunglasses, but according to baseballcardpedia.com, I didn't get any of the short prints. That being said, catchers wear sunglasses?

Man, that looks like a horrible thing. And what a lurid color for a drink!

2013 Topps Cut to the Chase Sandy Koufax

This insert was in Series 1 as well but this is the first one I've seen. Die-cut with a Topps Chrome Refractor look. Very nice.

2013 Topps Chase It Down Alex Gordon

A Series 2 only insert featuring outfielders chasing down the ball.

2013 Topps World Baseball Classic Stars Robinson Cano

Another Series 2 only insert.

2013 Topps Making Their Mark Yoenis Cespedes

This insert commemorates a players first ML game. It comes in versions with relics and/or autos as well.

2013 Topps Manufactured Patch Card Roberto Clemente

Here's what I pulled out of the blaster. I'm not a big fan of these manufactured patch cards but this one is really nice. I noticed that the cards in the blaster were considerably more expensive then in the rack-packs and the rack-box, 26 cents/card vs. 16 cents/card. I guess you have to pay for what you get. The Koufax card was also in one of the blaster packs.

Song of the Week - About Farewell by Alela Diane

This lovely little song came from a Minnesota Public Radio podcast this past week. You can read about Alela Diane on Wikipedia if you're interested.

Movie Review - Man of Steel

When I was a kid in the 1960s, I was always a DC Comics guy. I liked the occasional Dr. Strange or Fantastic 4, but my comic book budget went mainly for Superman.

I loved the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies directed by Richard Donner/Lester back in 1978/1980. They were a bit campy for my taste (Lex Luthor in particular), but still very enjoyable.

I didn't like the 2006 "Superman Returns" nearly as much. Really that was way back in 2006? Superman gets Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth?) pregnant and then disappears for 5 years.  Kevin Spacy plays virtually the same Lex Luther as in the 1978 Superman with just as dumb henchman. There was no campiness in this movie and not much humor either.

"Man of Steel" retells the Superman story from the beginning, along very similar lines as the 1978 movie. Jor-El concocts a scheme to save his son from the destruction of Krypton. Russell Crowe is good as Jor-El. We meet General Zod, the principle villain of "Superman II", on Krypton. I think this movie makes Zod a fuller character, with some actual motivation beyond a overwhelming hatred of Jor-El's son. Kevin Costner plays Pa Kent pretty convincingly.

If you've seen the trailers you know we get scenes of Clark growing up and being bullied, learning to control his power. We also see a young adult, and fully bearded, Clark, bumming around the country. The trailers are a bit misleading. Most of the childhood scenes are told in flashback form which I think was very effective. We know the story so not a lot of time needed to be spent on it. The part where he's bumming around was much shorter than you might have thought from the trailers.

Henry Cavill is very good as Superman. He's not quite as goofy as Christopher Reeve could be. When he says "Come on, General, I grew up in Kansas. How American is that?" you believe him without thinking he's corny.

In this retelling, General Zod arrives before anyone but Lois Lane even knows about Superman. General Zod, as I mention, has some motivation. His sole purpose in life is to protect, and now recreate Krypton. Kel-El, human beings and the climate of Earth are just minor inconveniences.

My one real complaint with the movie is that it eventually dissolves into a fistfight between Superman and Zod and his people. Smallville and Metropolis really take it on the chin, with a unseen death toll, I'd guess, in the tens of thousands. I'm not so much disappointed in the fight itself, just that it went on so long. And as my daughter said, "Why can't Superman take this fight outside, instead of trashing Metropolis?"

The movie was produced by Christopher Nolan and it's very much his movie. Maybe not as dark as his Batman movies, but Batman was always a much darker character than Superman. But the fight between Superman and Zod ends in a way I didn't expect and I attribute that to Nolan. Not my favorite director Zach ("Sucker Punch") Snyder is the director. Hans Zimmer does the music and unfortunately seems to have run out of things to say since "Inception".