Alex Rodriguez Mercedes Benz

Do you ever wonder what a guy like Alex Rodriguez does with all his money? Well, neither do I but apparently he invests it in high end automobile dealerships.

I'd like to say that this was from my Mercedes but I'm driving a Pontiac Vibe. My wife works in the Galveston County tax office. Among other things the office processes auto registrations for dealerships. Just down the street from us in League City Texas is an Alex Rodriguez Mercedes Benz dealership. This license plate frame got left at the office when someone turned in his old plates for new ones. I've also got a little tin of Alex Rodriguez Mercedes mints. I have no idea of how he came to own a car dealership in League City. As far as I can tell by searching on Google, he only owns this one dealership. Sure, he used to play for the Texas Rangers but League City is several hundred miles from Arlington.

The closest I'm going to get to owing an Alex Rodriguez Mercedes Benz is this.

Thursday Night at the Movies

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

This may become a regular feature, then again, maybe it won't. Up until last Thursday, my wife and I were in a bowling leage. We've been bowling on Thursday nights for 4 or 5 years. But a shoulder injury (baseball news flash - Lance Berkman just hit his 17th home run of the year) has probably ended my, not so illustrious, bowling career.

I suggested that we do something else on Thursday nights. Going to the movies is what we decided to do (at least until the summer movies run out). In recent years we haven't gone out to the movies much although we try to see the blockbusters. If we're going to go every week, we'll be seeing more than blockbusters. And its cheaper than bowling.

So we saw the new Indiana Jones movie. If you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, you'll like this one too. Its got everything you could ask for. Insane vehicle chases, archaeological mumbo-jumbo, musty spiderweb laden dark places, bad guys with accents (Russian this time), Harrison Ford and Cate Blanchett. I'll rte the movie 3 capes.

Nice Card File

1995 Donruss Bomb Squad

This is a 6-card insert set to 1995 Donruss. Each card featured two players who were the home run leaders in 1994. The cards are kind of militaristic, what with bombs, explosions, and the players names on dog tags. Note the National League or American League logos on the nose of the bomber in the background.

There is a little bomb for each home run the player hit in 1994. The bombs and the Donruss card logo are in silver foil. It's pretty unusual to see metallic foil on both sides of a card.

I acquired all 6 of these cards in a single pack of Donruss cards in 1995. In the mid-1990s, Donruss seeded what they called 'Hot Pack' into their boxes of packs. A Hot Pack would have all the cards from an insert set. I'd heard of them but hadn't actually seen one until I bought this pack. Even today I can still remember the thrill of opening this pack and the realization I'd gotten one of the fabled Hot Packs.

Photography - League City Texas

League City Texas, where I live, is located south of Houston about mid way between downtown Houston and Galveston. It's a small town (about 67,000 people) but it's a Houston suburb. When we moved here in 1995, the southern portion of the town was still pretty rural. But as you can imagine, a rural area so close to a big city is going to succumb to growth and League City is no exception. In January 2007, my youngest son and I drove around some of the quieter parts remaining in League City to take some photographs. Philip took most of the photos (he's currently taking photojournalism at the University of Houston). Here is some of what we saw.

There are still quite a few horses in League City. Cattle as well. This is Texas afterall. We saw this horse who clearly believes that the grass is greener on the other side.

There is a lot of growth in the area now. All that growth requires earth moving equipment. Here is a recently opened place which sells and rents all sorts of heavy equipment. We liked the row of earth movers reaching into the sky like some sort of alien presence.

League City, although not incorporated until about 1960, was first settled in 1873. In old League City is the Fairview Cemetery, which was founded in 1900. There are Civil War veterans buried here. Unlike modern cemeteries, the head stones are scattered all over, with odd bits of statuary and even a small reflecting pool. We're not sure who maintains the place but clearly it is being maintained.

A bit of life in the cemetery. This is a purple martin house. Behind it is a very large live oak tree. League City is called the City of the Oaks because of the number of large oak trees in the old city area. The area which became known as League City was purchased by a man named J. C. League around 1900. In 1907, he brought in two railcar flatbeds of oak trees for residents to plant. Many of these trees survive to this day.

The cemetery is located along a stream called Clear Creek, which drains into Clear Lake which is an estuary of Galveston Bay. Although it doesn't get real cold in Texas in the winter, it still looks like winter. We saw a spot of color along the banks of the creek and found this child's toy hammer logged in the flotsam.

Song of the Week - Brick: Ben Folds Five

I have 5,297 songs in my iTunes library, this is one of them.

This is a sad song.

The song is from the Ben Folds Five album Whatever and Ever Amen which was released in 1997. "Brick" is one of many hits from that album.



6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping
I am numb

Up the stairs to her apartment
She is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte
They're not home to find us out
And we drive
Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

They call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Can't you see
It's not me you're dying for
Now she's feeling more alone
Than she ever has before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

As weeks went by
It showed that she was not fine
They told me son, it's time to tell the truth and
She broke down, and I broke down
Cause I was tired of lying

Driving back to her apartment
For a moment we're alone
Yeah she's alone and
I'm alone but
Now I know it

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

New Blog, I mean Wiki, Open For Business

I've been thinking for about a month about starting a baseball card only blog. About 2 weeks ago I came up with an idea and started laying it out. I got some encouragement from others in the BCB (baseball card blogosphere), so today is opening day. But it's not going to be a blog, but a wiki (an on-line encyclopedia) Please check it out at Baseball Card Reference.

I've got an over long explanation of what I'm trying to accomplish at the new site. So rather than reproduce that here, I'll hope you'll at least give it one look to see what I'm talking about.

I still plan to post here, probably 3-4 posts a week, with the same mix of topics. And I'll still try for a post a week at Things Done To Cards. The hardest part of doing a blog, I find, is coming up with content. Coming up with new content will not be a problem with what I'm doing on the new site so hopefully I be able to keep up with this.

This Pete Rose card is the first card posted at the new site.

1993 Phillies World Series Team: Mitch Williams

1993 Upper Deck - Mitch Williams

It is perhaps fitting that my review of the 1993 Phillies World Series team should end with Mitch Williams. The dream of winning the 1993 World Series ended with one pitch by Mitch. This, along with the collapse of the 1964 Phillies, are probably two of the defining moments in Phillies history for my generation of Phillies fans. The other, of course, is the Phillies winning the 1980 World Series.

Williams was the 8th round draft pick of the Padres in 1982. In December of 1984, the Texas Rangers drafted him from the Padres in the Rule V draft, but returned him to the Padres in April of 1986. After the Padres got him back they immediately traded him back to the Rangers for a guy named Randy Asadoor. A year later he made his MLB pitching debut with the Rangers. He pitched 3 years for the Rangers. In 257 innings he saved 32 games, hit 24 batters, threw 14 wild pitches and walked 220 (while striking out 280).

In December 1988 the Rangers traded him to the Cubs in a multi-player deal which brought Rafael Palmeiro to the Rangers. Mitch had 36 saves for the Cubs in 1989 but only 16 in 1990. 1989 was his best year yet. Despite a strikeout to walk ratio of about 1, he had an ERA of only 2.76. It was with the Cubs that Mitch earned his nickname of Wild Thing.

The Cubs traded Williams to the Phillies on April 7, 1991 for Chuck McElroy and Bob Scanlan.

1993, as with many Phillies, was to be his best year. He saved 43 games but he also lost 7. He walked 44 and struck-out 60 with an ERA of 3.34. In 1993 he took to wearing number 99, the same as Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn in the film Major League.

But Mitch Williams will always be known for the guy he didn't walk, or strike-out, or hit with a pitch. With one out and two runners on base in the home ninth inning of the World Series, Joe Carter blasted a 2-2 pitch out of the park, giving the Blue Jays an 8-6 victory and the series crown.

Mitch finished up his career with single seasons for the Astros (1994), Angels (1995), and Royals (1997). The Phillies actually signed him as a free agent in July of '96 but released him a month later without using him in a game. He only pitched about 37 innings from 1994 through 1997, earning 6 saves (all with the Astros).

According to Wikipedia, Mitch signed up with Comcast in Philadelphia in April 2007 for post-game analysis of Phillies games. He was also appearing on a local sports talk radio show in 2007. Maybe the Phillies fans have forgiven him.

Click here for the story of the Williams baseball card featured above.

This concludes my review of the 1993 Phillies as told by baseball cards. If you've stuck through with every installment I thank you. In a little while I'm going to start a similar review of the 1980 World Series winning team. Here's a preview.