Olympics: They Played for Canada

Well, the Big Sporting Event covering multiple sports that aside for this one gathering nobody cares about is going on in Rio. 

At one time at this Event, Baseball was played. In both 2004 and 2008, Canada had a baseball team at this event. 

Seeing as this came about when I wasn't collecting as much, I have almost none of the players represented, so I'm borrowing heavily from the Trading Card Database here. For ease, I'll note the cards I own lol. 

Today I'll cover 2004, tomorrow 2008. 

In 2004, the Big Event was held in Athens, Greece. All told, Canada had 12 medals from the events. The baseball team had qualified and ended up doing well in the preliminary round, going 5-2. In the semi-finals, they lost to Cuba, then went on to lose the Bronze medal game to Japan. 

Chris Begg is from Uxbridge, Ontario and was in the Giants system when he played for Canada. 

He ended up taking the loss in the Semifinal against Cuba.

For the competition, he pitched 8 innings. 4 Earned Runs, 3 Strikeouts, No walks, and one Loss. 

Todd Betts is from North York, Ontario. 

He was playing for the Columbus Clippers when he was selected to team Canada. 

For the competition, he was 5/30 .167 with 4 runs scored.

Richard "Stubby" Clapp was born in Windsor, Ontario and actually had major league experience. After playing in the majors with St. Louis in 2001, he went to Atlanta and Toronto. In 2004 he was in Syracuse. 

In competition: 8/35 .229 1 HR, 5 RBI, 6 runs scored.

Eric Cyr was born in Montreal. 

He made the major leagues with San Diego in 2002. 

In 2004 he was in Salt Lake when he went to play for Canada. 

In competition: 7.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 SO, 4 BB

Phil Devey was born in St Jerome Quebec. 

He was on the San Antonio Missions roster when he joined Team Canada. 

In competition: 1-0, 6.0 IP, 1 SO, 1 BB 

Jason Dickson was born in London, Ontario. 

He played for the Angels from 1996-2000. 

In 2004 he was playing for the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League. 

In competition: 1-1, 11 IP, 5 ER, 3 SO, 2 BB 

I own this card! 

Rob Ducey was born in Toronto, Ontario. 

He was actually retired from professional baseball in 2004 but joined the team to play in Athens. 

In competition: 0-6

Jeff Guiel was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia. 

2004 was his last year in professional ball, spending it with Syracuse. His brother is Aaron Guiel. 

In competition: 5/24 .208, 3 runs scored

Shawn Hill was born in Mississauga, Ontario. 

In 2004 Hill was playing in Montreal and Harrisburg. He would have been in Harrisburg at the time of the Olympics in order for him to have been eligible. 

Oddly enough, he spent time with the Jays later in his career, being one of a handful of Canadians to play for both Montreal and Toronto.

In competition: 1-0, 11 IP, 2 ER, 6 SO, 2 BB 

Mike Johnson was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He played in the major leagues from 1997-2001 for Baltimore and Montreal. 

In 2004 he was pitching for the hometown Edmonton Trappers, then Triple A team for Montreal.

In competition: 1-2, 13.1 IP, 13 ER, 5 SO, 4 BB

Ryan Radmanovich as born in Calgary, Alberta. 

He ended up playing for the Seattle Mariners in the major leagues. 

In 2004 he was on the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League.

In competition: 8/33 .242, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 4 runs scored 

Simon Pond was born in North Vancouver, British Columbia. 

He briefly played in the major leagues with Toronto, spending the majority of his time in Syracuse. 

In competition: 1/16 .063 

Pete Orr was born in Richmond Hill, Ontario. 

Orr played in the majors from 2005-2013 with Atlanta, Washington, and Philadelphia. He was in Richmond in 2004. 

He's not related to that other famous Canadian Orr. 

In competition: 12/34 .353, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 8 runs scored

John Ogiltree was born in Toronto, Ontario. 

In 2004 he was playing for New Hampshire in the Eastern League. 

In competition: 4.2 IP, 2 SO

Kevin Nicholson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He made the majors with San Diego, playing 37 games in 2000.

In 2004 he was playing for the Altoona Curve. 

In competition: 0/6, 2 runs scored

Aaron Myette was born in New Westminster, British Columbia.

Myette played in the majors from 1999-2004 with the White Sox, Rangers, Indians, and Reds.

In order to be eligible, he would have been in Louisville, Cincinnati's Triple A team at the time.

In competition: 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 8 SO, 2 BB

Chris Mears was born in Ottawa, Ontario. 

Mears made the majors with Detroit in 2003, He split 2004 between Erie and Toledo. 

In competition: 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 1 SO, 1 BB

Pete LaForest was born in Hull, Quebec.

He played in the majors for Tampa, Philadelphia, and San Diego. In 2004, he was playing for the Durham Bulls.

In competition: 8/26 .308 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 Runs scored

Mike Kusiewicz was born in Montreal.

In 2004 he was playing for the High Desert Mavericks of the California League.

In competition: 2.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 SO

Danny Klassen was born in Leamington, Ontario.

He played in the Majors from 1998-2003 for Arizona and Detroit.

In 2004 he was playing in Toledo.

This was also Klassen's first time playing for a national team.

In competition: 4/31 .129 4 RBI 6 Runs scored

I own this card!

Paul Spoljaric was born in Kelowna, British Columbia.

He played in the majors from 1994-2000 for Toronto, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Kansas City.

In 2004 Paul was playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Intercounty Baseball League

In competition: 1-0 5.1 IP, 4 SO, 2 BB

Adam Stern was born in London, Ontario

He played in the majors from 2005-2010 for Boston, Baltimore, and Milwaukee.

In 2004 he split between the Greenville Braves and Norfolk Tides.

In competition: 8/32 .250 4 RBI 6 Runs scored.

Andy Stewart was born in Oshawa, Ontario.

He played in the Majors in 1997 for Kansas City.

In 2004 he was on the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

In competition: 5/12 .417 4 RBI, 1 Run Scored

Jeremy Ware was born in Orangeville, Ontario.

In 2004 he was in Harrisburg and Edmonton in the Montreal system.

In competition: 5/14 .357 2 HR 4 RBI 3 Runs Scored.

That was 2004. Tomorrow I will look at 2008. 

Baseball Cards Come to Canada

Recently I made a trade with Bo from Baseball Cards Come to Life!
What I received is a mixed bag of wants.

1987 Topps.. I am now 4 short from being complete. Bo Jackson appears in this batch. 

More 1987 Topps. The main names here I've heard of are Mattingly and Alexander. I do remember Tim Hulett though. 

I still get a kick out of those White Sox uniforms. 

1982 Expos also make an appearance here with Grant Jackson and Dan Briggs. 

1989 Topps and 1990 Topps with a heavy Canadian influence. Stieb, Wells, Raines, and Gruber show up here. Mark Eichhorn, David Wells, Jim Acker and Technically Dave Stieb all did two stints with the Jays. The reason I say technically for Stieb is that while he did pitch for the White Sox in 1993 he also retired for four years before making a one-season comeback for the Jays in 1998.  

Fleer Focus. Until this package I hadn't seen these cards. They're certainly interesting. 

1988 Topps Jays and Expos. I have an odd hatred of Rance Mulliniks. I can't really describe it. Really it's the same with Frank Catalanotto, though I think Catalanotto's stems from watching him hit ground ball after ground ball to the second baseman.. 

To offset that little rant though, we have Rob Ducey. We also have Dennis Martinez when Topps was still calling him Denny. 

Further mixed bag here with Studio, Donruss, Fleer, Topps, and Leaf. Pascual Perez was the first of two Perez brothers pitching for the Expos. His brothers, of course, were Melido and Carlos. 

For those who never witnessed it, Carlos would gesture on the mound after every strike. It was.. Interesting.. 

1994 Topps. Darrin Fletcher ended up playing for the Jays later in his career. Ed Sprague was an instant celebrity in Toronto for the home run he hit off Jeff Reardon in the 1992 World Series. After his switch to third base, however, he started getting the nickname E5 in Toronto. 

Dave Stewart pitched two seasons with Toronto before going back to Oakland to end his career. 

Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter appearances. Tony Fernandez in his second stint with the team.. Kirk Rueter was a decent pitcher for the Expos but did better once he went to San Francisco. 

1992 Triple Play. There are people who don't like this set. I happen to like it. Oddly enough, I did not have the SkyDome card until now. I still want another one to throw into my ballparks collection. 

1994 Fleer Sunoco cards. I was able to tell the difference right away because of the lettering on the name and team. 

Tom Foley and Tim Foli both played for the Expos at different times. I just find that a little odd. 

A 1988 League Leaders mini and a Bowman Mike Flanagan. I can't recall but were the first few Bowman sets larger than standard cards? 

Anyway, thank you Bo for the trade! I hope we can work out another

Archives

Well, I bought a blaster box of Archives through Amazon recently since Archives do not exist in the backwaters of Peterborough Ontario.

Now to be perfectly honest, I had to double check my collection on the Trading Card Database to verify these were Archives and not Heritage. I find the two to be redundant, but that's a rant for another day.. Onto the cards..

A group of Jays and Andre Dawson in an Expos uniform. I like the way the cards look, though I don't like the way they've done the team names for the 1991 throwback style. For reference, I've got a 1991 Expos and Jays card below

 

I like the mix of current and former stars in the set as it gives some collectors a chance at getting a card of someone they may have heard of from their grandparents without paying an arm and a leg for it. 

George Springer either looks stunned or stuffed.. I haven't figured out which.. Either way it's rather disturbing. 

Rafael Palmeiro.. The man who went in front of the US government inquiry panel and adamantly denied he used PEDs only to be suspended for PEDs later.. 

Tony Perez will always be a Red to me, even though he played for the Expos. 

Phil Niekro briefly pitched for the Jays before retiring. I like the way most of these look though for some reason, Dennis Eckersley's face looks weird to me.. 

Not really much to say about these ones.. Mostly posed pictures aside from the Brito in the middle. 

That Ian Kinsler looks like he's in the middle of a forest clearing somewhere, maybe at a softball diamond or something.

I really like that Honus Wagner card.

Mostly retired players here aside from Simmons and Sanchez. I almost would have preferred Boggs in a Devil Rays Uniform.. 

I like the 1991 style. I also like the group shown here.

Nolan Ryan. 

It's interesting to see the different action shots here. 

The Bull Durham card I got was Larry Hockett, Robert Wuhl's character. Another of the Super cards, this time of Ortiz. Adrian Gonzalez as a Marlin. I forgot he started there. 

I really like the Father/Son cards. I've always liked things like that. I can't really explain why though. 

The Oscar Gamble is a parallel numbered to 199. It also mocks me a little.. 

This is my second serial numbered card that was numbered 67. This is also the second number 67/ that was featuring a Yankee player. 

67 is my favourite number. When I played little league baseball, and later on slo-pitch as an adult, I wore 67. Many of my usernames carry 67 in it somewhere. So I was thinking at one point maybe starting a collection of serial numbered cards 67/. At this time, however, it's still just a thought, as I feel I have too many things I'm trying to collect to complete. 

Wallet Card And Book Club

A bit of a fusion today.

Another day at Buckhorn Berry Farm. This time we were at the corn field picking corn. 

I had read an excerpt from this book a few years ago and really enjoyed it. After making an error with Amazon gift cards, I had $55 to spend on Amazon. I picked this up. 

It's interesting so far. I'm 1/3 to 1/2 way through. I don't want to give away too much about it but the main character goes back in time to join the Cincinnati Red Stockings during their perfect season. 

Also of note: That is a 1990 Donruss Jeff Huson card doubling as my bookmark.