THANKS Bob Walk The Plank

I just saw the post by Matthew that he is retiring his terrific card blog, Bob Walk The Plank.


As a older baseball fan who remembers watching Bob Walk pitch in the big leagues in the 1980s, I absolutely clicked on Bob Walk The Plank link that first time I came across it...and it should automatically go into the Baseball Blog NAME HALL OF FAME!

 I just wanted to publicly say THANK YOU! for the past five years, and I think I can speak for the entire blogging community when I say the blog will be missed.


I've never had children, but I applaud any man for putting his family first.


Thanks, Matt, and I'll see you on Twitter.


Raise the Jolly Roger! 

Justin Verlander K's Ohtani for 2,500th Career Strikeout

Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander reached another milestone in his magnificent 14 year career when he K'd Angels rookie phenom Shohei Ohtani for his 2,500 th big league strike out Wednesday night.


Verlander blew Ohtani away in the 9th inning to become the 33rd hurler in the big leagues to strike out at least 2,500 batters.


Verlander was masterful against the Angels, and after his complete game shutout his big league leading ERA is now at 1.05.


Topps Now has issued this card commemorating Verlander's milestone...

...the card is only available for 24 hours.... you can order the card here.



My All-Time favorite pitcher just keeps getting better and better.

Play Ball! 

Happy Baseball Birthday! Miguel Cabrera

As we prepare ourselves for today's Detroit Tigers game against the Baltimore Orioles we send out Happy Baseball Birthday! wishes to the great Miguel Cabrera, born 35 years ago in Maracay, Venezuela.

Miggy is in his 11th season wearing the Olde English D, and with every at bat, hit, home run, he takes one step closer to re writing the Tigers record book.


Miggy has 1,806 hits, 325 homers, and 1,099 RBI, with a .318 batting average playing in Detroit.
.


Miggy sits just 37 home runs away from 500 in his career, and needs just 352 base hits to the magical 3,000 plateau.

Let's hope Miggy adds to those numbers today against the Birds.


Happy Baseball Birthday! MIGGY!


PLAY BALL! 🐯⚾️

My Jackie Robinson Day on Topps BUNT

I entered the Jackie Robinson Day contest on Topps BUNT yesterday, and although I only finished 1,313, (out of 6,212 total players) I was rewarded with a cool card of the Brooklyn Dodgers HOF shortstop.

If I could've scored just 314 more points...I blame the horrible weather that cancelled games all over the Midwest... I would've been in the top 1,000 players, and gotten a "better" card, but I'm happy with the fact that I was able to add a card of Jackie Robinson to my digital  card collection.


If you're on Topps BUNT, give me a follow...maybe we can make some trades, I'm logged on everyday, just look for FREEHANFAN11. 

Although my Detroit Tigers were rained out of a doubleheader yesterday, I enjoyed watching baseball on TV, especially the battle between Bartolo Colon and Justin Verlander on Sunday Night Baseball.

I hope you all had a great weekend, thanks for reading, I appreciate it.


Play Ball! ⚾️ 

Cardboard Chaos...It's Down to Four

The awesome power of  baseball card collectors and fans of baseball in general has hit Twitter with the bracket challenge Cardboard Chaos, and after nearly three weeks of fierce competition fans have chosen their four favorite baseball card sets.

Card collectors have tweeted out and voted for cards from their childhood, cards that changed the hobby, cards that came with bubble gum, were included in packs of cigarettes, boxes of cereal, cards that came with a Grand Slam Breakfast, and cards that came on the sides of boxes of cup cakes...heck, they even voted for their favorite cards of the last two Presidents of the United States. 

Using the hashtag #CardboardChaos the voting has come down to one weekend of collectors votes...


                                                  1952 Topps Baseball 

           
                                                                   vs.


                                                    1956 Topps Baseball 

                                               ⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️⚾️


                                                     1965 Topps Baseball 

vs.

 1989 Upper Deck Baseball 

The man behind this phenomenon is Kevin, who has run #CardboardChaos on his Twitter page Cards From The Attic.


Baseball fans and collectors were also rewarded for their participation, with prize packs of old baseball cards for spreading the word about the contest...the more you took part, re-tweeted posts, voted, and interactively took part, the better your chance to win a great package of cards.

I even got into the fun, and created a Day game vs Night games poll after seeing these delicious treats at the store.

The night games won, with a few write in votes for the "double header!"



Saturday night the semifinals will commence...if you haven't yet come across all the fun, well, it's not to late...it's gonna be lots of fun...and there's most certainly more prizes to be had.


If you're on Twitter and love baseball cards, come join all the fun and excitement!


Play #CardboardChaos !!

Trying To Be Better

Today I ran across this post from Julie of A Cracked Bat.


That post gave me pause to think about how I've failed at being a good blogger, and it's something I need to change.


The main problem that I have is my health, a very detrimental thing in my life, and that detriment at times causes problems with the blog.


Officially this is post number 898...but I have started and failed to finish hundreds of posts, for many reasons, mainly from my arthritis.


So many times I've received packages from bloggers, and because I was to ill to post that day, I set the package aside...sometimes for days...and then when I'd try to post about it, I had to stop again....and again.


I should've worked through it, but I didn't, and to all those who were affected, I truly apologize to you all.


So many times I've written a post to talk about a baseball topic of the day, a Happy Baseball Birthday! , baseball cards my wife bought me, a trade that I made, or something I won on Twitter, only to have to stop because of my arthritis.


I'm hoping for a much better effort on my part in 2018.


Speaking of birthdays, a belated #HappyBaseballBirthday goes out to James of BDJ6010's Topps Baseball Card Blog.


In Julie's post I mentioned that I had made exactly one trade on Twitter. .

...that 2014 Topps Miguel Cabrera Black Border card was traded to me by Jenny of Jenny's Card Collecting.


This Miguel Sano card went her way...

...I actually pulled the Sano card from a retail pack my wife picked up for me, although it took a few days for me to realize I has a SP card...

...can you imagine...a Tigers fan trading with a Twins fan...amazing!


Give Jenny's blog a follow, and, if you're on Twitter, give her a follow there as well.


Well, that's it for now...until next time... PLAY BALL! ⚾️

Justin Verlander Named 2018 Astros Opening Day Starter

Justin Verlander may be gone from my Detroit Tigers, but I still follow all the news surrounding JV.

So, of course, when I saw that A.J. Hunch, the Houston Astros Manager, named JV as the 2018 Opening Day starter, well, of course, a big smile came across my face.


JV will be making his 10th start on Opening Day as a big league pitcher, the first 9 of those coming wearing the Olde English D.


I knew, of course, that JV would get the nod to start the Astros season, after all, it was the trade from my Tigers to Houston that was the final piece of the World Series puzzle to bring the first big league title to the city known as H-town.


As for JV and baseball cards, I've already set my sights on 2018 Topps cards.

P.S...this is post number 899 since I started the blog in 2010...I'm not sure what to write about for post 900, but I need to make it a good one...anyway...

...Congrats JV... PLAY BALL! ⚾️

Baseball Bulletin... February 23, 2018

It's been a while since the last Bulletin, but today actual spring training baseball games are being played, and that's a good reason to post again.


My Detroit Tigers are playing the New York Yankees in Tampa, and Ill be watching the game on FOX Sports Detroit at 1pm.

📰 Here's some baseball stuff to get you ready for the start of your Grapefruit and Cactus League seasons.

⚾️ In honor of the victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, big league teams will wear Stoneman Douglas Baseball team caps.

                   💛💙❤💙💛💙❤💙❤💛💙💛❤💙💛❤💙💛💙❤




⚾🏆 The Sabremetric Community has honored the latest recipients of the Henry Chadwick Awards.



                    ⚾️🎂🎁  Happy Baseball Birthday! 🎁🎂⚾️

44 different big leaguers were born today, starting with former infielder Lew Camp in 1868.


⚾️📷 ⚾️📷⚾️📷⚾️        Baseball  Photo of the Day         📷⚾️📷⚾️📷⚾️


                                     This absolutely needs to be a Topps NOW card! 

                                   
                                     Photo from Justin Verlander on Twitter.



⚾️💻 The guys from the Hall of Very Good podcast talk baseball with legendary Dodgers fan Larry King.


⚾️🐯 Tigers players Daniel Norris, Jacoby Jones, and Mikie Mahtook open up a box of 2018 Topps Series One Baseball cards.


⚾️☕ If you love baseball and coffee, here your chance to drink a cup made by Hall of Fame catcher Pudge Rodriguez.

⚾️🇺🇸 America celebrated Presidents Day this week...here's a fantastic article on relationships between our Presidents and baseball.


⚾️💻 Baseball Reference now has Baseball Box Scores dating back to 1908.


⚾️🃏 New Philadelphia Phillies manager Gabe Kapler opens up 25 year old baseball cards with Mike Oz of Yahoo.




⚾️🇺🇸 I love anything that helps bring attention to the old Negro Leagues, and  came across these two things that you should check out...

📌The Other Boys of Summer  is a magnificent look at the Negro League by filmmaker Lauren Meyer, who interviewed some of the surviving players to tell their stories.

📌The Kansas City Star wrote a excellent piece on the 100th Anniversary of the Negro Leagues in 2020.


●We, as baseball fans, need to do all we can to help this 100th Anniversary celebration happen.

The Negro Leagues produced many Hall of Fame ballplayers, including Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby, Ernie Banks, Henry Aaron, and Roy Campanella.

Do what you can to help promote on Social Media by using the hashtag #NegroLeagues100 





Have a great weekend...and Play Ball! ⚾️💛💙

My Mailbox... 2018 Topps Now Mike Trout

I can't afford to order as much as I'd like, but I do, on occasion, order Topps Now baseball cards, and because I did order a few in 2017, Topps sent out this cool Mike Trout card.

                                                 "Welcome To The 2018 Topps NOW Season"


In less than a week I've added two cards to my PC of the two time American League MVP, and that's pretty cool, considering I don't go out of my way to acquire cards of the Angels centerfielder.


Earlier this week I received this 2010 Bowman Trout card from a re-tweet to a post from Mike Trout Cards.

I look forward to collecting as many Topps NOW cards as I can this season, including past cards that I missed out on.



Any trades of Tigers cards would be welcomed..... Play Ball! ⚾️ 

Happy Baseball Birthday... Justin Verlander

Today we send out Happy Baseball Birthday! wishes to my favorite Detroit Tigers pitcher of All-Time, Justin Verlander.

2018 will be Tigers fans first without JV on the mound in 13 years, and it's gonna be tough when he and the Astros play the Tigers, and, if, and when, JV starts a game at Comerica Park this year, well, I'm not sure I've ever had to think about something like that before .


JV may be in Houston now, but that won't stop me from rooting for him to win games (not against the Tigers, of course), and collecting his baseball cards.

That starts this year  with 2018 Topps Series One and will continue next week when Topps releases Heritage Series One.


I don't usually keep collecting players after they're done playing for the Tigers, but this is different, this is JV, the greatest Tigers right handed pitcher of my lifetime, a player I thought would play his entire career for my team, and set records that wouldn't be broken.


JV turns 35 today, but age is just a number, and numbers are what he will continue to pile up in the years to come playing for the Astros.

Happy Baseball Birthday! Justin Verlander... PLAY BALL! ⚾️🐯🇺🇸