Health Issues Follow-up

A few weeks ago I posted that I had some health issues that were going to limit my postings for awhile. I wanted to give you a quick update.

I've been diagnosed with a condition called orthostatic hypotension (OH). When you stand up, it is normal for your blood pressure to drop a bit as your blood tends to pool in the lower half of your body. You might even experience a bit of light-headedness. Your heart will compensate quickly. When you have OH, however, your heart doesn't compensate quickly. You can get very dizzy, perhaps even pass out. In my case, I also have an unusual symptom, in that I'm also experiencing some numbness on the right side of my body, from my face down to my foot. This scared me enough to go to the hospital. They thought I'd had a stroke, but could find no trace of it.

They finally subjected me to the OH test. This is where they strap you to a table, stand the table upright and wait for you to pass out. If you do, you have OH. It took me about 5 very unpleasant minutes to pass out. My blood pressure dropped below measurement levels and my heart rate slowed to about 20 beats/minute.



I'm on medication now which is controlling it pretty well. The first few weeks, I felt lousy all the time, now I feel pretty much normal. I'm still getting episodes but they are minor. I see the doctor in a few weeks and I'm hopeful he will clear me to go back to work.

In the meanwhile, I'm stuck at home with orders to take it easy. So I'll probably be posting more frequently for awhile.

Thanks for your support.

Random Phillies cards of the Week

1970 Topps #56 Joe Lis/Scott ReidJoe Lis was signed by the Phillies in 1964 as a free agent and finally made it to the bigs in 1970. He was a power hitter in the minors hitting 114 home runs in his last 4 minor league seasons but never was able to translate that into a full time job in the majors. He played for the Phillies until 1972 and other teams until 1977, ending up in Japan for a year in 1978. Reid was the Phillies #2 draft pick in 1967 but only played 38 games for the Phillies in 1969 and 1970 before washing out.

1983 Donruss #63 Garry MadduxIn 1983, The Secretary of Defense was in the 9th year of his 12-year career with the Phillies. He'd won a Gold Glove in each of his previous years with the Phillies. He had 98 career assists as a center fielder, 9th best in baseball history.

1996 Bowman #346 Matt BeechMatt Beech was the Phillies 7th round draft pick in 1994. He played for the Phillies from 1996-1998, compiling an 8-22 record. Although is major league career was short, he continued to play in the minors until 2007.

2010 Topps National Chicle #304 Ryan HowardIn 2010, Howard hit for a .276 average, belted 31 home runs and had 108 rbis. Sounds like a pretty good year but it would be considered an off-year for him. Howard is on track to be, I think, the first $100,000,000 man in Phillies history. I'm sure he'll be the first $200,000,000 man in Phillies history. His contract projects out to $203,255,000 through 2017.

The $100,000,000 Men Part 1

Pretty much arbitrarily, I decided to split this list between players I collect and players I don't collect. Here are the players I don't collect. All of these guys are active players. All are long-time players with at least 13 years of service. Some are getting a bit past their prime.

2009 O-Pee-Chee Black #106 Bob AbreuAbreu is a 15-year veteran with a career .296 BA and 276 home runs. He is signed with the Angels through 2012 for a career salary of $124,379,666.

2010 Topps 206 Mini American Caramel #109 Carlos BeltranBeltran has been hobbled by injuries the past two years. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1999 and is a 5-time All-Star. He is in the last year of a 7-year $114.5 million contract with the Mets. His career earnings will be $134,127,346.

2011 Topps #144 Lance BerkmanAfter 12 years with the Astros he was traded to the Yankees in 2010. Although slowed by injuries the past few years this 5-time All-Star has a career .296 BA with 327. The Cardinals have him signed in 2011 for $8 million bringing his career salary to $102,005,000.

2010 Topps Allen & Ginter #197 Johnny DamonAfter 16 seasons, Damon is still pretty much an everyday player with a career .287 BA and 215 homer runs. He's signed with the Rays this year for $5.5 million giving him a career salary of $110,439,000

2009 Topps Heritage #593 Jason GiambiGiambi, a 16-year veteran, has a career BA of .281 with 415 home runs. Although only a part-time player these days, this 5-time All-Star is signed with the Rockies through 2012, and will have made $132,658,996 by then.

2011 Topps #255 Torii HunterHeading into his 15th season, Hunter is a 4-time All-Star with a career .275 BA and 258 homer runs. He is signed with the Angels through 2012 and will have made $134,055,000.

2010 Topps #192 Andruw JonesJones actually played for the White Sox. Although his stats and playing time have decreased in recent years he is a 5-time All-Star with 407 home runs. After 2 years of suffering with only a half-mil paycheck, he is signed with the Yankees in 2011 for $2 million which will give him a career salary of $105,433,410

2010 Topps Allen & Ginter #250 Magglio OrdonezOrdonez is a 5-time All-Star with a career BA of .312. He also has 289 home runs and a .511 career slugging percentage. He is signed with the Tigers through 2011 by which he will have made $133,470,746

2010 Topps 206 #95 Jorge PosadaPosada has played his entire 16-year career for the Yankees. He has a .275 career BA with 261 home runs. He has a .992 fielding percentage as a catcher and is 5-time All-Star and a 5-time Silver Slugger. He is signed with the Yankees through 2011 by which he will have made $104,358,500. I haven't checked but I would guess that would make him the highest paid catcher in baseball history.

2009 Topps Update All-Star Stitches #45 Mariano RiveraComing into 2011, Rivera is an 11-time All-Star with 559 career saves. He is signed with the Yankees through 2012 by the end of which he will have made $159, 530, 125.

Song of the Week - Colours by Grouplove

This is probably a band you never hear of. I never heard of them before this song was a daily podcast from KEXP this week.

Movie of the Week - The Adjustment Bureau

So do you believe in free will, or do you think that snappily dressed men in fedoras are controlling your fate? This is the existential question posed by "The Adjustment Bureau".

When former congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) finds out the answer to this question, a question he never asked, he's faced with a choice. Have the girl of his dreams or eventually be elected President. From the trailers, it's obvious that he chooses the girl but the story gets much more complicated then that. I'm happy to say that the trailers did not give too much of the story away.

When Norris steadily refuses to conform to the plan laid out for him (by fate, God, the Chairman, whatever), the Bureau has to directly intervene. The concept of the Bureau was well done. These guys are just bureaucrats. They are given a plan to enforce. They don't understand the plan, it's above their pay grade, as one of them says. But the plan is important, it's their job to make sure it stays on course. What about free will says Norris. The last time we let you have free will, Mr. Thompson explains, was 1910. After the Cuban missile crises we had to step back in.

So does love conquer all, even The Plan? You'll have to see the movie to find out. I recommend that you do.

Random Phillies cards of the Week

1968 Topps #225 Richie AllenRichie Allen (as Phillies Phans remember him) broke on the scene with the ill-fated 1964 Phillies. He led the league with 125 runs, 13 triples and 352 triples. He also hit 29 home runs, drove in 91 runs and lead the league in strikeouts with 138. All this was good enough to win him the NL Rookie of the Year Award, but not good enough to get the Phillies in the World Series. By the end of 1968 he was a 3-time All-Star who had hit 145 home runs.

1983 Topps #225 Bill Robinson
Bill played for the Phillies in 1972-1974, then went to the Pirates. He came back to the Phillies in 1983 and ended his 16-year career there. He was a career .258 hitter with 166 home runs and 641 rbis. He was a member of the 1979 "We Are Family" Pirates who won the World Series. After retiring as a player he remained active in baseball as a hitting instructor and coach and was with the 1986 World Series winning Mets and 2005 World Series winning Marlins. He died in Las Vegas in 2007 of unknown causes. At the time he was the Dodgers minor league coordinator and was visiting their affiliate team in Las Vegas.

1993 Leaf Limited Rookies #7 Mike Grace
Mike was the Phillies 10th round draft pick in 1991 and played for the Phillies from 1995-1999. He was primarily a started, although in his last season he was mostly a middle reliever. He compiled a 16-16 record with the Phillies with a career ERA of 4.96. In 1993 he was still just a potential major league pitcher. Looking at his minor league career, I see he didn't even play in 1993, perhaps shut down due to injury.

2005 Topps Cracker Jack Mini Stickers #90 Bobby Abreu
2005 was Bobby's the last full year of his 9-year stint with the Phillies. In that span he batted .303, had 195 home runs, and 814 rbis. He was an All-Star in 2005 and won the Home Run Derby. He also won the Gold Glove Award. He was traded in 2006 to the Yankees for a bunch of low-level prospects, in a trade not liked by Phillies fans.

Topps Worthless Website

Just a little rant here.

Does anyone understand why Topps.com is completely worthless?

The latest release they have on the site is 2010 Topps Series 1 baseball, which came out 14 months ago.

Their release calendar shows nothing coming out.

The search function does absolutely nothing.

Have they just abandoned this site? Is there some other website they maintain to get information about their releases?