Update

 Hello friends!

I'm writing this to let everyone know I'm going on a short hiatus from writing here. Between my physical health and my mental health, I just don't have it in me to do the quality of posts I expect from myself. 

My other blog will have some life updates in the meantime. 

I'll just say I'm fed up with my body and am really teetering on the edge

A Mattsplosion of Cards

 Hello Friends!

I almost feel ok today. Mind you, I did just wake up from a nap, so that may have something to do with it.. 

Anyway, I wanted to show off some cards I received from two different Matts. One is a Brewers collector, one is a Royals collector. 

First, the Royals Matt:

Glen Gorbous. I can honestly say I hadn't heard of him until Matt offered duplicates to people in our card Discord group. I asked if any Canadians were in it, and he mentioned Gorbous. So I now have one. 

All Time Team cards from TCMA. Kind of funny that they made these in the early 80s for the Jays. There were 12 cards.. Bob Bailor, John Mayberry, Bobby Cox, Luis Gomez, Roy Howell, Otto Velez, Al Woods, Rick Cerone, Dave Lemanczyk, Tom Underwood, and Joey McLaughlin. 

If this was made now, it would look MUCH different. 

The Expos has Ron Fairly, Dave Cash, Tim Foli, Bob Bailey, Ken Singleton, Ellis Valentine, Rusty Staub, John Bateman, Steve Rogers, Woodie Fryman, Mike Marshall, and Jim Fanning. 

Honestly, the three cards shown are the only three I ever see from these sets.. 

Now, the other Matt sent me a bunch of cards. Some Expos and Jays, but I'm focusing on the Canadians he sent. 

It's the Ax Man! John Axford, Brett Lawrie, and Larry Walker 

I think Lawrie was a decent player, but his... Shall we say.... Intensity? and attitude were too much to overcome. He definitely got fewer chances than hotheads like Milton Bradley and Carl Everett. 

Another Walker and Axford, this time joined by Korey Koskie. 

I also wanted to show a couple cards from the book he wrote. He wrote a book called Opening Day in Milwaukee. I may have to see about an ebook rental from the library, since physical copies are non-existent here. 

Finally, a card of the author. 

It strikes me.. We have seen all sorts of cards for all sorts of topics. TV shows, movies, Bands, Gross Out humour... Why have we never seen a set of Author Trading Cards? 

"Author Trading Cards! You've read their work.. Now, collect their card!" 

Thank you very much to both Matts for the cards!

Signature Sundays - July 30

 Hello Friends!

Well, as you  may have seen, yesterday there was no Stadium Saturday. I've mentioned before I've been struggling with my mental health lately and I was just overwhelmed trying to even decide on a topic yesterday. Between that and being social for a while, I ended up sleeping most of yesterday evening and just woke up at almost 4PM EDT today to do this post. 

So again, I decided to postpone my Stadium post rather than put out a subpar effort. 

Anyway, onto Signature Sunday Matters!

Today I do have a post. I have a nice card to show. 

Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins!

I have a couple of his autographs. There are a few players I ended up getting a couple cards of, but since they're different cards, I'm of course going to keep them. (I do, however, have an Ernie Whitt 86T duplicate that's autographed that I'm willing to trade) 

On one hand, I'm upset with myself for not getting the post out yesterday. On the other, I'm realizing sometimes I need to take care of myself.. 

Signature Sundays - July 23

 Hello friends! 

Here's part two of the blog doubleheader!

Of course, this is the easier post, since it's a pic and a post lol

It's Bo Naylor!

His brother Josh is also on the Guardians and their brother Myles was drafted 39th by the Oakland A's. 

Just so you know, for those who may be wondering Bo also used the name Noah for the first couple years of his pro career. Noah is his real name. 

Stadium Saturdays - Shea Stadium

 Hello Friends!

Today I'm doing a Sunday doubleheader of sorts.. I wanted to get both the Saturday and Sunday posts out, but yesterday I was so beat after going out for a bit I ended up sleeping and then getting up way too late to really do this justice. So today I'm doing both the Stadium Saturday and Signature Sunday posts..

Today's stadium, as you can gather from the title, is Shea Stadium. The formal name was William A. Shea Municipal Stadium. 

The stadium was built in 1964 for the Mets, who spent their first two seasons in the Polo Grounds. 

The Flushing site was pitched to the Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley in 1957, but he refused because he couldn't agree to terms with the city. The city was going to have a hand in the construction and operations of the stadium, but O'Malley wanted to build it himself to have control over the operations and parking. Or shall I say, the revenue from said?

The other sticking point was O'Malley wanting the new stadium in Brooklyn. The city was insistent on the Flushing site. When Los Angeles offered O'Malley what he wanted, he decided to pack up and move to the west coast. 

The Mets came into existence when Shea was trying to help begin a third Major League, called the Continental League. The league disbanded when MLB agreed to expand, adding 8 teams. 

In order to get the stadium built, the team agreed to a substantial rent in order to pay the construction bonds. At the time, the State didn't allow public money to be used to build a stadium. 

The stadium opened five days before the World's Fair in New York. The Fair site was across the street from the stadium. For the Fair, the stadium had blue and orange steel panels on the outside. They remained on the stadium until 1980. 

At one time the foul territory was the largest in the Majors. As retrofits occurred (it was retrofitted after the Jets moved out) the foul territory was lessened. At one time there were plans to have this stadium fully enclosed, but that never came to pass. In the card above, you can kind of see the outline where the outfield enclosure would have gone. 

Shea hosted one All Star Game, in 1964. It hosted the Postseason in 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 1999, 2000, and 2006.

Tommy Agee was the only person to hit a fair ball into the upper deck in left field. In 1971 Dave Kingman hit a ball out of the stadium and hit the Giants' team bus parked behind the bullpen.

Shea Stadium also hosted the first and last games in Montreal Expos history. 

Here we see Shea in the football configuration. 

1975 was a busy year for the Stadium. The Mets, Yankees, NFL Giants, and Jets all shared the venue. The Yankees were here due to Yankee Stadium being renovated. The two NFL teams were waiting for Giants Stadium to be completed. Neither the Jets and Giants could play home games until after the baseball season was over. Since neither MLB team made the playoffs, the NFL had the park from October on.. 

Here we see Citi Field rising in the background.

You can see the orange panels in this photo.. 

In 1965, there were plans to add a glass dome and 15000 seats, but the Mets opposed the plan. The idea was scrapped altogether when engineers determined that the foundation wouldn't be able to support the additional weight.

When it came time to remove Shea Stadium, they needed to dismantle it rather than implode it, as NYC regulations don't allow implosion in city limits. After any salvageable memorabilia was taken, demolition began. Pairs of seats were sold for $869.

So who used this place??

The New York Mets (MLB) 1964-2008

New York Jets (AFL/NFL) 1964-1983

New York Yankees (MLB) 1974-1975

New York Giants (NFL) 1975

St. John's Red Storm (NCAA) 2000

Two personal things I'd like to add.. I did a painting of Shea Stadium based on a picture from Topps Magazine while I was in high school. I still have it. Maybe once I excavate it from my closet I'll take a pic and show people. 

The other thing I remember is hating playing games in this place on any baseball video game. I don't know what it was but I found it impossible to focus playing games. 

What say you? Any memories of Shea? Let me know!

Signature Sundays - July 16

 Hello Friends!

As you can see, there was no Stadium Saturday post. Honestly the past few weeks I've been feeling low emotionally, mentally, and physically. I've had zero energy. As I put it to my CMHA worker, I just feel done with everything. And that includes being done with everything. 

Yesterday I didn't have the energy or the motivation to do a post that you, the awesome readers of this blog, deserve. I feel it's better to not do it than quarter-ass it.. 

ANYWAY...

It's Sunday! That means it's time to show another autographed card from my collection..

Today's card is Paul Quantrill. It's from that Leaf Signature Series they did where every card was autographed. 

Now, I just need to get an autograph of his son.. 

Signature Sundays - July 9

 Hello Friends!

It's Sunday. Technically this is the second post I've done today since my stadium post launched after midnight.. (oops) but I digress..

Today's card puts another check in my "Canadian Player Autograph Card" collection/project.. 

Love those Marlins uniforms, though I love the original teal even more. 

He played for the Marlins, Reds, Rangers, Cubs, and Red Sox.

After retiring, he went into the Cubs' front office, pitched for Canada in the 2017 WBC, and started broadcasting Cubs games. 

Fun fact.. He was originally drafted by the Rangers, but was traded with Rick Helling to the Marlins for John Burkett.

He was born in Gibsons BC, which was also the setting of a long running Canadian series, The Beachcombers.