It's so cool that we get to see baseball games and highlights every day until November.
Play BALL!
Sunday, February 28, 2021
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Tigers Card Tuesday... Blake Jamieson 1951 Al Kaline
Today's Tigers Card Tuesday! comes from the 1951 Topps Blake Jamieson set released a few weeks back.
1951 Topps Blake Jamieson #19 Al Kaline
At the time of the release, I couldn't get the boxes the cards came in, but I knew that singles would eventually become available, and, that's exactly how I acquired this card.
👀 When I see old school cards like this I try to imagine what it must've been like for a kid back in the 1950s, taking the few hard earned pennies in there pockets, to go get a pop, a candy bar, an a pack of baseball cards.
I also picked up the Duke Snider card, as it was available when the Kaline wasn't, and I'll for sure get a few more players.
🤔 Did you buy any boxes of the Jamieson cards?
Have you purchased any singles from the set?
Enjoy the rest of your night, and, as always, Play BALL! 🐯⚾
Monday, February 22, 2021
Monday Mopup- 61st Birthday Weekend
Every year, as soon as the Super Bowl ends, I look forward to a pretty cool stretch in February, a stretch that includes my favorite American President Abraham Lincoln's Birthday, Valentine's Day, the reporting of pitchers & catchers, the running of the Daytona 500, and, as it just so happens, my Birthday.
🗓️ All of the above things happen between February 12-21 (latest Daytona 500 running, I think).
🇺🇸 President Joseph R. Biden was just down the road from my house on Friday, visiting Pfizer, the local company that developed the first Coronavirus vaccine.
The Company, known as UpJohn when I was a kid, has been around since the 1880s.
I wasn't able to go see the President, but is was an honor to have him in my Hometown nonetheless.
On Saturday, I got to actually go to a restaurant, sit down, eat lunch with Tracy, for the first time since we went to my Birthday dinner a year earlier.
🥪 The Turkey 🦃 Club Sandwich was delicious!
Before lunch we stopped by Fanfare, the "LCS" in our area, and picked up a copy of Beckett Baseball Magazine.
8️⃣0️⃣'s 📼 The last Beckett magazine that I read was the issue a while back featuring the Top Baseball Cards cards of the 1980s, and I for sure don't remember the last time a Tigers player was featured on the cover.
I aslo got three more Matthew Boyd cards for the BOYD Binder.
1️⃣3️⃣5️⃣- That gives me 135 total Matt Boyd cards, and brings the total of the BOYD Binder to 172.
Tracy also surprised me on Friday night with a blaster box of 2021 Topps that she found...at a Barnes & Noble, of all places.
1️⃣9️⃣ I found out on Friday that I share a Birthday w/ fellow blogger Nick, @ Dime Boxes.
I don't have a top 5 favorite list of fellow February 19th Birthday buddy Dave Stewart, featured in Nick's post last Friday, but I do have a favorite card of the former pitcher known as "Smoke."
👉 Another Ballplayer born on February 19 is another Athletics pitcher, Daniel Mengden, and I have a favorite baseball card of his as well.
Other big league February 19th Birthday's include Josh Reddick, Tim Burke, and Russ Nixon.
On the celebrity side of February 19th Birthday's we have Smokey Robinson, Jeff Daniels, and, Victoria Justice.
Speaking of Spring Training, full squad workouts for the Tigers start tomorrow.
A prominent future HOFer has already shown up to camp, and, it appears, he's in terrific shape.
To end this weekend, I got one final present...a huge road win for my Wolverines Men's hoops squad, as they travelled down to Columbus, and beat the hated Buckeyes.
〽️🏀 Meanwhile, in Ann Arbor, the Women's hoops team was beating the Buckeyes.
Oh, and on Saturday night, the Michigan Ice Hockey guys were avenging Friday nights loss to Ohio State.
It was a pretty darn good weekend, and I thank everyone who reached out to me on social media, etc. w/ Birthday wishes.
Have a great week, and, as always, thanks for taking time out of your day to stop by and read my blog.
Play BALL! 💛💙🏀〽️
Thursday, February 18, 2021
My Mailbox... 1st Matt Boyd Card of 2021
Yesterday the mailman brought my first Matthew Boyd baseball card of 2021!
I know there's lots to not like about the Series 1 Topps Flagship design, but the picture of the Tigers lefty in his follow through makes up for all of those missteps.
1️⃣3️⃣2️⃣ This sparkly GOLD card is #132 in the Matt Boyd collection, and gives me 169 total BOYD cards.
Yeah, BOYD! 🐯⚾
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Tigers Card Tuesday... 1968 Topps Willie Horton
Tigers Card Tuesday!
1968 Topps #360, Willie Horton
Willie Horton is one of the best Tigers players of my lifetime, a man who grew up in Detroit, going to games at old Tiger Stadium, sitting in the left field bleachers, telling all his friends that one day, he to, would be playing LF for their hometown team.
🐯 My 1968 Topps Willie Horton🐯
Play BALL, and, Go TIGERS! 🐯⚾
Monday, February 15, 2021
Happy President's Day, 2021
Happy President's Day!
Hoping all of you who serve in government are enjoying your extra day of rest, and I thank you for your service.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Saturday, February 13, 2021
Happy Baseball Birthday...The Negro Leagues
Today's Happy Baseball Birthday! is a celebration of the founding of the Negro Leagues, on this date in 1921.
On February 13, 1920, in Kansas City, Missouri, led by Rube Foster, the Negro National League was formed, and, for nearly 30 years, would produce some of the greatest players in baseball history.
Here in Michigan, we had the Detroit Stars, an original member of the Negro Leagues, with great players like Turkey Stearnes, Pepper Daniels, Andy Cooper, and Yellow Horse Morris.
⭐⭐ The Stars played in famed Hamtramck Stadium, one of only five Negro Leagues ballparks still in existence.
⚾ My favorite All-Time Negro Leagues players are:
Turkey Stearnes, Detroit Stars
Buck O'Neill, KC Monarchs
Buck Leonard, Homestead Grays
Satchel Paige, KC Monarchs
Josh Gibson, Pittsburgh Crawfords
There's so much history in the old Negro Leagues, and #1 on my Baseball Bucket- List is to travel to KC and visit the Negro Leagues Museum.
🤔 What's your favorite Negro Leagues team?
👉 Give me your five favorite Negro Leagues players.
Here's hoping y'all are having a terrific weekend.
Baseball season is almost upon us, with pitchers and catchers reporting this week.
Play BALL! ⚾
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Happy Baseball Birthday... Tom Veryzer
Long before we knew anything about a guy named Alan Trammell, we Tigers fans cheered on a young shortstop named Tom Veryzer.
Today's Happy Baseball Birthday! remembers the former big league infielder, who also played for the Cleveland Indians, New York Mets, and Chicago Cubs, over a dozen years, from 1973-84.
🏆 I absolutely love this card of Veryzer, who got the famed Topps Rookie Cup on his 1976 card after he batted .252, collecting 102 hits in 128 games, w/ 13 doubles, 5 HRs, and 48 RBI.
🎂 Thomas Martin Veryzer was born on February 11, 1953, in Port Jefferson, New York, played baseball at Islip High School, in Islip, NY.
The Tigers selected the 6' 1", 175 lb. future shortstop in the 1st Round of the 1971 Amateur Player Draft, and he made his big league debut with the club on August 14, 1973, collecting his first hit against the Minnesota Twins.
The Tigers had a Gold Glove 2nd Baseman in Eddie Brinkman, and traded him to the San Diego Padres on 1975 to make room for Veryzer to play SS full time.
I'm his final season, Veryzer, playing for the eventual National League Eastern Division Cubs.
In 1985, following his retirement from baseball, Tom Veryzer was inducted into the
😢 Tom Veryzer suffered a stroke and passed away on July 8, 2014, at the age of 61.
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Update- 1961 Topps Quest
Here's an update on my quest to collect 61 different cards from the 1961 Topps Baseball Card Set.
Card #506- Willie Davis, Los Angeles Dodgers
This is a terrific card of a young Willie Davis, mostly because of that cool Topps RC Star ⭐.
In 1961 Davis played in 128 games for the Dodgers, collecting 86 base hits, I9 doubles/6 triples/12 HRs, 45 RBI, while hitting .254.
👉 I now have 8 different 1961 Topps cards, with a few more on the way.
🗓️ Yesterday I posted about card #7, a pretty sweet looking card of former Detroit Tigers infielder Jake Wood.
💳 The '61 Willie Davis card cost me $1.00 + shipping, and the card is in good shape.
Have a great Wednesday night, and, as always, thanks for taking time out of your day to stop by.
Play BALL! ⚾
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Tigers Card Tuesday...1961 Topps Jake Wood
Today's a special Tigers Card Tuesday!
I got a package in the mail on Saturday, and it contained a card that's part my goal of collecting 61 different 1961 Topps Baseball Cards, a celebration of turning 61 this year.
A couple of weeks ago I posted on the Tigers Facebook group that I'm a part of, some '61 Topps that were sent to me from an awesome collector on Twitter.
Someone asked me in the comments if I had a particular card, and when I saw the card, I could only look at it and say that I didn't, but I couldn't afford the card, no matter how beautiful it was.
I can only trade for cards, or make a purchase on eBay, or COMC, etc., or, as it's happened a few times, the cards are gifted to me, as I don't have PayPal, or Venmo, etc.
👉 A while later, after I'd gotten up from a much needed nap, I had a message waiting for me.
To say the least, I was completely blown away, WOW, I couldn't believe what I was reading.
A very Happy Baseball Birthday! to me, indeed!
I'm continually amazed at the generosity of "the hobby," and I know that I'll never be able to repay all the kindness shown to me these past few years.
👍 Thanks to fellow Tigers fan Justin Pidruzny, for making this old guys Birthday extra special.
😎 Tell me your favorite 1961 Topps card in the comments.
Have a great Tuesday everyone, and keep swinging that bat, one day, you might hit that game winning HR.
PLAY BALL! 🐯⚾
Monday, February 8, 2021
Monday Mopup, 2-8-2021
Was there ever a doubt?
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Tom Brady once again showed why he's the best that's ever played the position of QB in the history of the NFL, as he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl Championship over the KC Chiefs, 31-9.
For a long, long, time, my favorite All-Time QB was the great Johnny Unitas, the Baltimore Colts HOFer who called his own plays in career that included back to back NFL Championships in 1958/'59, but as Brady continued to win, and win again, and again, Johnny has slid into my #2 position.
Say what you will, I know there's all the haters out there, but the simple fact is that Brady is the undisputed best ever, and his leaving the New England Patriots to go to play for the Bucs, winning his 7th Super Bowl, just cemented that fact.
I'm hoping I get this for my Birthday in a couple of weeks.
Mrs. Brady posted this pic before the big game on Sunday night.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The NFL announced the newest members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night, and two of my favorites, Charles Woodson, and Calvin Johnson, were included.
🦁🏈 Johnson getting in on the 1st ballot was a win for every Lions fan who saw the greatest receiver in team history play every week.
👉 Maybe the voters realized that the "Calvin Johnson Rule" was such an injustice that they had to get "Megatron" in to let the NFL know that the rule stunk from the beginning, and, still, to this day, no fan knows if a catch is truly a catch.
💛💙🏈 Charles Woodson, the former Heisman Trophy Winner from Michigan, and Super Bowl Champ, was also elected to Canton.
That will give the Wolverines 11 former players on the HOF, the most in Big Ten history.
⚾ Oh, yeah, and there's some baseball stuff...
Trevor Bauer signed with the Dodgers, just when it looked as if he was headed to play for the Mets.
🔥I'm no fan of the 2020 N.L. Cy Young Award Winner, but, heck, his agent is pretty hot.
⚾🖊️ Here's a look at each big league clubs Best FREE AGENT signings,, from MLB
com.
The Tigers choice is in the article is outfielder Robbie Grossman, who signed a two year deal with Detroit in January.
This is a decent signing for my Tigers, as Grossman is a solid veteran ballplayer who should help shore up both the batting order, and the outfield defense.
😢 The baseball community was devastated to learn of the sudden passing of reporter Pedro Gomez on Sunday, at the age of 58.
🐯 Pedro was a terrific reporter on ESPN, who, as a young boy growing up in the late 1960s, who, because of his grandfather, learned to love the Detroit Tigers.
👍 Tim Kirkjian, long time colleague of Gomez, says that he especially loved the 1968 Tigers, and would take any chance he could to talk about them, including daily text quizzes to as Kirkjian if he could name the Tigers in a photo he sent.
Well, that's it for today, this post has taken me almost 12 hours, on, and off, to write, and I'm pooped, and ready for the news, and late night TV.
1️⃣9️⃣6️⃣1️⃣ Before I finish up, be on the lookout for a very special Tigers Card Tuesday! tomorrow, it's pretty darn cool. 😎
Play BALL! ⚾