Fall Colours for the Fall Classic

Tonight starts the World Series between the Cubs and Indians, or the Naps, as they were known the last time Chicago won the Series.

To celebrate this, I wanted to show some recent photos I took.

These two were taken at Archibald Orchard in Bowmanville. I brought a group to pick apples this week. 

These two are the entrance to Buckhorn Berry Farm. 

And Scott Ruskin makes an appearance to keep this card related..

Hope everyone enjoys the Series,, Go Cubs!

That's a Lot of Simmer

It's been a busy week. Back to driving daily again now that school's back in session by time I get home, I just don't want to think..

Anyway.. Over the summer, I received an e-mail from someone I knew back home. Her husband had passed away and had a rather large Charlie Simmer collection. She came across my blog (I made mention of Simmer a few times) and reached out to see if I wanted to purchase.

Naturally, I said yes.. I worked something out with her and I just received them in the mail Thursday.

That binder is full of different Charlie Simmer cards. Multiple copies of each card included. 

Some autographs and stick cards. Three Silver and two Gold. Also, something from Topps Vault. 

More autographs, this time from Upper Deck. 

And more autographs..

A bit of a better look at the autograph/stick cards. The Topps Vault thing looks to be a Wacky Packages style card.

This is the back of the Topps Vault thing. I find it interesting that the elements are pasted together. 

I believe this is a team set (another scan follows) of the LA Kings from All-Star Cards. 

The interesting thing about this is Steve Jensen was the only non-Canadian in the set..

So I'm a happy camper now.. I have a serious dent in my Simmer collection 

All Time Best: Jays and Expos

I was trying to figure out what to title this.. 

This post is about the best players at each position who suited up for the Jays or Expos. I do not include the Nationals in there.

I picked three starting pitchers, one closer, and one player per position. In most cases I also included players I also considered in the process..

Starting Pitchers:

Team leader in WAR (57.4), Wins (175), Ks (1658), Starts (408), Complete Games (103) and Shutouts (30), Team's only No-Hitter

He started out as an outfielder and converted to pitcher in Dunedin. He also is a member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Second in Jays history in WAR (48.5), Wins (148), Ks (1495), Shutouts (15), and third in Complete Games (49)

Lead the league in Innings Pitched four times

Halladay became dominant after being sent to the minors to completely rework his mechanics. 

First in WAR (45.3), Wins (158), Ks (1621), Starts (393), Complete Games (129), and Shutouts (37)

He also lead the Expos in losses, a result of being on some very bad teams.

He twice lead the league in losses

He improved once he had bone spurs removed from this elbow.

Elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Others Considered:

Pat Hentgen, Dennis Martinez, Pedro Martinez

Closer:

Leader in Saves (217) and Games Finished (386)

Elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011

The Terminator came to Toronto from Texas. I give him the edge over the other Terminator, Jeff Reardon, because of length of service (8 years vs 6) 

Catcher:

I don't think there's really any competition. Played in Montreal at the beginning and end of his career, Carter was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2003.

Elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001

First Base:

Jays leader in Doubles, Home Runs, and Runs Batted In.

Elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015

Also considered: John Olerud

Second Base:

Second in Stolen Bases

Elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011. 

Elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Second Base has been somewhat of a revolving door for Both teams. No Blue Jay has 1000 games at second, while Jose Vidro has 900+ for Montreal. 

Others Considered: Vidro

Third Base:

All time Expos leader in Hits, Doubles, and RBI.

Elected to Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

Third Base has also been somewhat of a revolving door. Wallach played 13 seasons for Montreal. In Toronto, Kelly Gruber and Ed Sprague tied with 6 seasons. 

Others Considered: Gruber, Larry Parrish

Shortstop:

Franchise leader in Hits, and Triples.

Elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008.

He spent four separate tours with the Jays. 

Shortstop has been traditionally a defensive position. Other long-term players include Alfredo Griffin, Chris Speier, and Orlando Cabrera. 

Left Field:

Franchise Leader in Runs Scored, Triples, Base on Balls, Stolen Bases, and Singles

Elected to Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2013.

One of the better players in the 1980s. He's 5th all time in Stolen Bases.

Others Considered: George Bell

Centre Field:

Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

Elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004.

Second in Franchise Home Runs, and RBI

Others Considered: Vernon Wells, Devon White

Right Field:

I think this may be my main choice that people will have issue with.

I was seriously thinking about Vladimir Guerrero here but I think either choice works. 

Bautista made his career in Toronto, going from utility player to Home Run champion. 

Others Considered: Vladimir Guerrero, Joe Carter, Larry Walker. 

I think next one I do is the best Canadian Born Player for each position.

Treasures from the Capital

I had received a message not long ago on one of my posts from Angus to keep an eye out for a package coming in the mail.

That package came in earlier this week, or last week, I don't remember now honestly. My brain has been completely turned to pudding since going back to work so the days blend in together. In fact I've been sitting here for the last 10 minutes to make sure I haven't covered these yet.. I know I scanned them but I thought I talked about them.. 

Anyway, enough babbling.. Onto the Cards and stuff!

One of the Topps Marketside cards. I think I like the front design better than the 2016 flagship set. 

National Baseball Card Day cards. Again, I like the front design better than the 2016 flagship.. Angus has mentioned he pulled both of the Jays from the packs he received and knew I'd want them. 

Something tells me Grey Guardian Games wasn't taking part in the promotion this year.. 

These were rather interesting. I hadn't seen these before but I received the full set. 12 Jays and 12 Expos. I'm going to keep them connected and put them in some sort of storage so I don't lose them. 

Obviously the big names and the not-so-big names fill out this wonderful set. 

1974 Expos Photo Cards. These are unlicensed as you can tell from the lack of logos on the hats and uniforms but at the same time, part of the ads on the back is "Get your EXPOS trading cards free inside specially marked..." 

Something else that's interesting about these are the backs. All are in French and English. I almost expected the French to be first, but on some the English is first. 

Also, for a switch hitter they don't list "Both" or "switch" as the batting handedness. They list it as "Left/Right"

I remember reading that when the Expos came into existence, they had to figure out the nomenclature for baseball in French in order to broadcast it in French. 

O Pee Chee Poster cards. They fold into small card-sized squares and are listed on the Trading Card Database as an insert to the base set.

The Double Play combination of Tony Fernandez and... Domaso(???) Garcia... 

Angus sent me half the set. I'm looking for the other half now. :)

These were fantastic! Thank you again, Angus! 

Completely Arbitrary Cards

Earlier on I made a trade with Brian from Highly Subjective and Completely Arbitrary. I had some cards he needed and I got back in spades.

Some Expos ranging from Cliff Floyd to Hiram Bocachica. 

Lou Frazier was one of those guys I enjoyed watching play. He wasn't a star by any stretch of the imagination, but he could steal a base if he got on. He hit one home run in his career. His first season in the majors with the Expos.

Hiram Bocachica never suited up for the Expos, as he was traded to the Dodgers with Mark Grudzielanek and Carlos Perez for Peter Bergeron, Wilton Guerrero, and Ted Lilly. 

1980s and 1990 Topps Jays here. Some interesting photos here. I'm trying to figure out where the Key photo was taken. It looks like it could be Tiger Stadium or Municipal Stadium, but I can't remember if the bullpens were on the field or not. 

A Heritage Roberto Osuna to go along with a nice bunch of 1987 Topps Traded. 

Every time I see the name Bob Brower, I think of the former professional wrestler "Bulldog" Bob Brower. Oddly enough, both of them were from before I was interested in the respective sports. (It does take talent to be a professional wrestler)

Photographic proof for myself that Jim Gott played for the Giants. I only remembered him from the Pirates and Dodgers but he did start out in Toronto. 

One third of the cards in this one depict catchers. Dave Valle, Mike Stanley, and Jeff Reed. 

Either Bill had the sun in his eyes here, or someone really annoyed him.. I can't figure out which one.

Thanks again for the cards, Brian! Hopefully I'll stumble across more you need sometime 

Looking at... 1984 O Pee Chee

While looking through my cards I noticed a couple interesting things that I'd like to share. I may turn this into a semi-regular thing too..

Here we have Billy Sample. Honestly that sounds like a filler name I may need to use in future create engines on games when I have no name ready in my mind.

Anyway what drew me to this card was the logo under the "Rangers" wordmark on the front of the uniform shirt. I hadn't seen that before. I knew the Rangers used that logo but I hadn't seen it on their uniform before. In a way it fits in with some of the other teams that had logos on the front at that time period. 

I honestly don't remember what brought my eye to this one.. I do have to chuckle at the wording of the "grand slammer" 

Incidentally, Google translates the French to this:

he knocked a fantastic grand slam in the practice pen left center field at Yankee Stadium

Those uniforms.. Those Glorious Uniforms. The fact that it looks like he's on the inner grass of the infield doing his wind-up is even better. The fact it looks like it's in a small-town community park is the icing on the cake. 

Joey McLaughlin in that inset photo reminds me of former wrestling manager Downtown Bruno/Harvey Whippleman. 

If you need a comparison... 

There we go... 

In the main photo, I see more Pat Hentgen with a mustache. I'm not sure where the photo was taken. I almost want to say Tiger Stadium.. 

Clean shaven Larry Parrish showing off the Rangers logo, back when they were the Rangers, and not the Texas Texases as they are now, according to their uniforms. 

Judging from the catcher, I want to say they're playing the White Sox.. Probably in Comiskey. 

Poor Scott McGregor.. What drew me to this card was nothing about him at all. In fact, I can't stop staring at the background. Almost in a nod to what was to come in 2016, the people in the background are a blurry blob of multicoloured blotches. 

In a way, it almost looks like a background screen used when photographers want to make a scene look "sporty" 

Then again... There is that face in the inset... The blank Festus stare... 

They both look like someone's teasing them with ice cream or something.. 

Anyway, that was my look at the 1984 O Pee Chee cards I found interesting.