Song of the Week - I Ain't Marching Any More by Phil Ochs

Those of you out there who are much younger than 50 wouldn't remember and maybe wouldn't even know, but there was a short time when folk music was king in the US. In between 1950's rock 'n' roll and the British Invasion in 1964, folk music ruled the radio air waves. This is when people like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Tom Paxton and Phil Ochs became popular. Some of these artists (Bob Dylan comes immediately to mind), rode out the early 1060s rock years and gained wider popularity. Others, like Tom Paxton, remained folkies, appealing to smaller audiences but still performing for many years. Others, to be sure, dropped into obscurity. Also during this time rose the concept of the protest singer. All of the people I mentioned above, at one time or another, were protest singers. What were they protesting you ask? Injustice, racial inequality, the Vietnam War were all topics. Phil Ochs probably embraced the protest singer ethos the most. But by the end of the 1960s folk music and protest singing were way out of fashion. Phil Ochs apparently could not change with the times. Plus, growing mental illness (depression) and alcoholism took its toll. This story does not have a happy ending. Phil Ochs took his own life in 1976.

I only had the privilege of seeing him perform once at the legendary folk club near Philadelphia called the Main Point. This was in the early 1970s when his career was essentially over. He was attempting to reinvent himself as a 1950s rockabilly type, complete with a gold lame' suit. It was not an enjoyable show. I knew how great he had been and it was beyond sad to see what he'd become.

I don't actually own this song but it is one of his best. The song is timeless.

A package from another Steve

Steve, from a fairly new blog The Easy Life, out of a clear blue sky sent me some 1987 Topps cards that I needed. Among them was this gem, Barry Bonds rookie card and easily the best card in the set. Steve hasn't given me a hint of what he'd like in return so I'll be hanging out at his blog to get some clues as to what he collects.

Speaking of 1987 Topps cards, after getting 3 cards from Steve, it was looking like I only needed 2 more for the complete set. WRONG. I don't know where my head was at when I originally compiled my list but it was wrong. I like to think I real organized when it comes to my collecting. I've got every card I own in a database. I had generated the list from the database. Looking at it now it looks like there are still another 50 or so cards I need. I'll be update the list soon.
In addition to the 1987 cards, Steve sent me the gem above. Its a 1993 Upper Deck All-Time Heroes card. The card is 5 1/4 inches long and 2 1/4 inches high. It is patterned on the T202 Hassan Triple Folders (according to the catalog I used for reference). Certainly, you've seen reproductions of the right side of the card. The player is Del Ennis who played for the Phillies from 1946 to 1956. Only two other Phillies (Johnny Callison and Robin Roberts) are included in the 165 card set. The cards were distributed in 12-card packs. Production was limited to 5,140 numbered cases. If there were 20 packs in a box, and 10 boxes in a case that would be about a million sets.
This card above I already had but deserves some discussion. It is from the 2007 Topps Update set. I've written about these Classic Combo cards before. Like many of them I don't see how Chase Utley and Ichiro make a Combo, much less a Classic Combo. And what seems to be happening in this photograph? I'd guess that Ichiro was coasting into 2nd base after being out on an easy force play. But when? The Mariners played three games in Philadelphia in June of 2003. Chase Utley was on the team then but in a limited role and did not play in any of these games. The Phillies next played the Mariners in 2005, but these games were in Seattle. The Phillies and Mariners haven't played since. Its possible that this is at the 2006 All-Star game. It was in an NL park. Ichiro had 3 at-bats. He struck out, flied out to RF and ground out SS to 1B. The game was played in PNC Park. Does anyone recognize the background?

Package from Steve

Way back in February when I first discovered baseball cards, The White Sox Cards Bog run by Steve was one of the first blogs I read regularly. I also made my first internet trade with Steve. Nowadays I help him edit the Things Done To Cards Blog. Steve and I were hoping for a White Sox-Phillies World Series but it wasn't to be. But being the great guy he is, Steve sent me some Phillies cards to help me celebrate the Phillies winning me the World Series.

Steve managed to find some 1991 Phillies cards that I don't own. These were from several sets produced by Classic Games. On the back of the cards is a trivia contest game. These were produced from about 1987 to 1992. I remember buying the 1990 version as a complete set which came in a blister pack along with a game board and spinner. I've lost the board and spinner and don't remember at all how the game was played. In 1991, they produced two updates. I had several cards from the first update set, but only one Phillie. Now I have 4 Phillies. And this Pat Combs card is from the second update set of which I had no cards at all. So this lowly Pat Combs card gets a special place in my binders as the representative card of this set.
The back is a lurid pink color. One of the trivia questions is "In what inning do the fans traditionally stretch their legs?" Personally, I think this question would be better if it read "What do fans traditionally stretch in the 7th inning?"
One of the other cards he sent was this 2007 Topps Co-Signers. This is a set which doesn't get sold in blaster boxes so I don't get many of them. In fact, I only have one card (Lance Berkman) from the 2007 set. Now I also have a Phillie from the set. And since its a Rookie Card, it too is a representative card.

Thanks, Steve. Next year, Phillies-White Sox in the World Series. Maybe the Phillies can get revenge for the White Sox beating the Astros in 2005.

Ruben Amaro, Jr. Named Phillies new General Manager

Ruben Amaro, Jr. has a long history with the Phillies. His father played for the Phillies from 1960 to 1965 and Junior was born in Philadelphia in 1965. He was a bat boy with the Phillies (his dad was 1st base coach) in 1980 to 1983 and played for the Phillies in 1992-1993 and again in 1996-1998. In 1998 he was hired as assistant general manager by Ed Wade. This means he has had some involvement in every World Series the Phillies have been in since 1980. With the retirement of current GM, Pat Gillick, Amaro was named the new GM. He is one of only 2 Hispanic GMs currently in baseball. Amaro is only 43 years old. He has had a large part in putting together this current Phillies team. Here's wishing him luck in his new rule.

2008 Baseball Cards in Review - SP Authentic

My collecting strategy is to get at least a few of as many kinds of cards as possible. Blaster boxes are what I mostly buy, although I buy single packs and once in awhile I buy a hobby box on eBay. I don't really card about collecting sets (except for a few). I have a number of players, plus Phillies and Astros that I collect and I get a fair number of these players this way. I'd seen this SP Authentic set on several blogs and wasn't too impressed so I only bought one blaster.

In person, the cards are ok, but there is nothing special about them. In design they remind me of 2005 Flair so maybe Upper Deck had some old Fleer designers working on these. There are 191 cards in the set. The cards feature silver foil on the logo and text. The photo area of the card is high gloss with a non-glossy background. This is a favorite Fleer design element. The backs feature some text about the player, 6 years of stats and a head shot of the player. The back ground color roughly corresponds to the player's team colors. The best card I got is this Ichiro.
Below is an insert called SP Authentic Authentic Achievements. Although this card features Sabathia in an Indians uniform, the Achievement is a game on 5/14/08, where as a Brewer, he struck out 11 in a complete game shut out. There are 50 cards in this insert set and I only got the one.
This next card is an SP Authentic Marquee Matchups insert. There are also 50 of these and I have two of them. Lots of gold foil on the front. On the back it actually has something to say about Jeter-Schilling matchups over the years. Upper Deck featured an insert set with the same name in their 1996 SP set, but with only one player on the card.
The next and only other insert card I got is the SP Authentic Rookie Exclusives. These feature 60 different rookies. They thankfully do not feature the official MLB Rookie Card logo.
There is also a gold parallel set and 9 other inserts featuring either autographs (up to 4) or relics or combo auto/relics. The blaster box cost $20 and contained only 40 cards. I think they could have guaranteed an auto or relic in every box for that kind of money. The cards haven't shown up in Beckett yet but I'm willing to guess that the commons aren't going to be worth 50 cents.

Bonsai - Lemon Tree

I've had this lemon tree for about 5 years. It was a Father's Day present from my oldest son's girlfriend. It has been growing in this plastic pot out on the back porch ever since. It's been pretty unruly but has had a lot of stamina. It gets 6-7 lemons a year, mostly about the size of marbles. This year it actually got two which approached the size of small lemons. Some thing had to be done, it couldn't stay in the pot much longer. So I decided to bonsai it.

Here it is after trimming. You can maybe see how root bound it is in the pot.
I was surprised to find out that there were actually 2 plants in the pot. Here they are after the preliminary root trimming. I'll had to do some more trimming before I could get it into the pot.
After potting. The soil is special bonsai soil I got on eBay. It's very dry. The soil doesn't allow much water to hold up in the pot. Root rot can be a problem for bonsai plants if you give them too much water.
I always like to put down a layer of small decorative stones on top of the soil. This serves two purposes. One, it looks nicer than the soil. It also protects the soil. It doesn't get too disturbed during watering and doesn't blow away when it gets dry.

Now for the patience part of bonsai. There isn't anything I can do now besides watering and feeding it to make it grow. It's either going to grow or not. I'd hate to lose this one since I've had the plant so long. This will be an outside bonsai. I think its a good time to start an outside plant down here as it isn't so hot as summer and the sun doesn't dry out the soil so much.

Song of the Week - My Only Offer by Mates of State

I have 5,643 songs in my iTunes. This is one of them.

My 23 year-old-daughter is always bring new music to my attention. Recently, she introduced me to Mates of State. This duo has been performing and recording since 1997. It consists husband and wife team Kori Gardner on keyboards and Jason Hammel on percussion. They have released 6 albums. This song is from their 2008 release Re-Arrange Us. Its a bright peppy song and I really like it.

Bought a home, we bartered right
So we kissed to, and caught a light
Those pictures on the walls
Small talk in a bedroom hall

Can't make it home tonight
Go to sleep and leave the light
I pretend to make a call
Loose talk in a bedroom stall

Oh, oh, oh
It's my only offer
Stifle copies of myself
Oh, oh, oh
There's someone else

My friends, they all agree
Give into our defeat
In secret we believe
We're nothing, nothing, nothing
That we need

No, oh, oh
It's my only offer
Stifle copies of myself
Oh, oh, oh
With Someone else

I always wanted to be
The face in front of me
Debating a life
Sipped out the energy

Built up a wall
Made out of finer things
Pile it high
So we could barely see it

No, oh, oh
It's my only offer
Oh, oh, oh
My only offer

Oh, oh, oh
My only offer
Stifle copies of myself
Oh, oh, oh
It's all I have to offer