Summer Solstice.

       It's the longest day of the year, as good a time as any to take a break from sports cards and post some slightly more titillating fare.  An ex-girlfriend of mine once remarked about my hobby "You collect little pictures of men, how is that not gay exactly?"  A statement of deep profundity, even if it is not an original observation.  As luck would have it, not every collectible sports card has a dude on it.

The only thing missing from that page is a gal who likes hockey, I guess Manon Rhéaume was unavailable for a shoot. 

Here are some non-sports gals:

Bikinis? Roller skates?  Boy shorts? Tank tops? God Bless America!

(being an ass man myself, the backs of these cards are even better than the fronts...)

This page embraces every cliche about women you could want...

...and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  If loving Marilyn Monroe is wrong, I don't want to be right.  Even dressed for winter, she is unbelievably hot.

Heck, some of these cards can get down right risqué:

Wait, risqué nothing, most of those girls are naked, what's suggestive about that?

I will now go consider going to the beach and daydream about being 23 again. 

Game Seven NBA Style.

       I'm not a big basketball guy.  I watch a little here and there, usually by accident or when there is nothing else on.  I grew up a huge New York Knicks fan and as a kid I was a monster college hoops junkie.  But then instead of Syracuse, I ended up going to Emerson College (not exactly a sports hotbed, to say the least) so my love of the college game kind of withered and died over time.  And since the Knicks have sucked in grand fashion for the better part of the last decade, basketball has easily become the 4th of the big four for me.  But tonight is one of those wonderful nights for any sport: Game Seven.  I covered the joy of baseball's ultimate game in this post last year for the World Series. Alas, I am not quite the historian for basketball that I am for baseball, so let's just see what I have.

I don't really keep many whole 9 player pages for basketball, they mostly are 3x3. 

Here we see two of the three main players for the Heat, LeBron and Dwyane Wade.  I doubt I have ever owned a LeBron card of him on the Heat.  I don't think I have bought a pack of basketball cards in 5+ years.

Here we see Mr. Consistency, Tim Duncan.

I have a good friend who looks a lot like Dirk Nowitzki, though about a foot shorter.  And the less said about Kobe, the better.  I am not sure why I even have any of his cards.  Kobe Bryant is a Grade A Asshole on and off the court. 

I do have a few whole pages of players:

Here is one of my favorite player as a kid, Patrick Ewing.  I actually have 5 pages of his cards but I think one will make my point here.

I have Michael Jordan too:

I have two of his pages, but once again, one will do.

I try to keep my 3x3 basketball pages somewhat themed.

Here are the Big Three from the last Celtics' title.  I actually really enjoyed that team. 

Here you see some residue from my love of the 80's, Larry Bird...

...and the rest of the original big three...

With arch nemesis Magic Johnson there to boot. 

Wow. My basketball post is rambling.  I was hoping to find a page with some kind of interest...

...instead I only found a page with silly names.  My, I so enjoy pages with silly names, don't I?  If your name was Koko Archibong, you would to.  I mean, come on, that sounds like a character in a Cheech and Chong movie. 

Aside: I mentioned before where I went to college and it reminded me of a great little anecdote.  I shared a bedroom with my brother my entire childhood and it was a small room which necessitated bunk beds.  The only time I was without a sibling roommate was when he went into the army so I saw college as my chance to, if not have a room to myself, at least have a separate single bed.  I got my room assignment for my freshman year and I was put into a triple.  I saw my chance.  I could get the single bed and all would be right with the world.  So I arrived the first day and when I got to my room, I noticed one of my roommates had gotten there first.  He wasn't there but his parents were there unpacking his things.  He also had taken the only single bed.  I decided to speak up and I firmly yet politely said "excuse me, I know you got here first, but I have slept on bunk beds my entire life and I was hoping to get the single bed.  Not to mention I am very tall and don't quite fit well on a standard bed."  I figured I put it very nicely and succinctly. The mother immediately spoke up, also very politely, and said "Well, our son is 6'10"..." and as the words of that sentence hung in the air, I simply looked at her and said "I'll take the top bunk."  Turns out my roommate Kenny was the center for the basketball team.  Aside to my aside, our other roommate was 6'5" so I was actually the shortest person in the room.  I doubt the housing office could have possibly known, so I mean, what are the odds they would put over 19 feet of human in one tiny triple? 

Well, this post sort of went off the rails but to bring it all back around, tonight I will actually go out of my way to watch a basketball game, hopefully a very exciting basketball game since it is the ultimate basketball game: Game Seven.  I have no rooting interest but I really kind of despise LeBron James, so I will be rooting for the Spurs. I think 5 titles in 14 years makes for a nice little run. Plus, seeing a stoic, quiet team stick it to a team that is mostly bombast and braggadocio is always nice. Maybe I'll just watch the Mets lose to the Braves again.

Super Tuesday.

       The Mets swept a doubleheader from the Braves yesterday and the three cornerstones of the franchise all had wonderful performances and milestones:

David Wright got his 1,500th hit.


Matt Harvey pitched 6 no-hit innings in the day game (and somehow the Human Gas Cans known as the bullpen held on to the lead to get him the win).


Zack Wheeler's debut went well as he struck out 7 in 6 scoreless innings and got the win in the night cap.


Now, all we need to do is find 22 more players and we might have a ball club (21 if Travis d'Arnaud ever comes off the DL and lives up to his Buster Posey-esque pedigree).

Debut Part Deux.

       This evening marks the second time in the last calender year that a Grade-A capital-P Pitching Prospect has been recalled by the Mets.  And whether you believe TINSTAAPP or not, it will be one of the few silver linings in this horrible sow's ear of a season (mixed metaphor alert!). Last year it was Matt Harvey, who I immediately saw as the future, and then this happened.  I stand by my unabashed love of #33 and look forward to every one of his starts; they are usually the highlight of my week - though lately the Mets can't seem to score more than one stinking run for him *sigh* (UPDATE: they actually scored more than one run this afternoon for him and the bullpen tried to give them all back *double sigh*).  Tonight during the second game of a day/night doubleheader against the hated Braves we'll see the debut of the spoils of the Carlos Beltran trade, Zack Wheeler.

I have not gone 'all in' the way I have with Matt Harvey, but I have picked up a few of his cards here and there.  You will notice that I do not even have a complete page of him (yet) but the three I have in the Mets books share a page with the overflow of Harvey's. 

The bottom three are currently in top loaders, but I will be moving them to the books.  The middle Bowman Platinum card is a refractor and it is much shinier than the scanner wants you to think.  I especially like the high leg kick follow through shown on the Bowman's Best card there.

Are Harvey and Wheeler going to be a 21st Century Seaver and Koosman or the second coming of Generation K (would that be Generation L *pinky to lip*)?  Obviously I am rooting for the former and only time will tell.  We have seen that Harvey is the goods and on a team with even competent hitting, he would have 9 or 10 wins by now (though his other numbers so far are marvelous).  I was very impressed with what I saw from Wheeler in spring training, and while his minor league stats are not overwhelming, one has to remember that he's been pitching in Las Vegas (notorious hitter's haven) and he has been frustrated by the Mets keeping him in the minors to protect his arbitration clock - he is convinced he has long been ready for the big time.  I certainly hope he can channel that bravado into some good pitching so I can have two reasons every five days to watch this awful team. 

Father's Day.

       Father's Day is not my favorite greeting card holiday.  Last year, I was feeling sort of morose and gave the five cent version of why and then was pretty negative to the cards I featured.  Well, this year, I have decided to accentuate the positive.  It is quite an exciting time in my family because my brother and his wife are expecting their first child in about six weeks.  Not only will this be the start of the next generation, it will be the first time someone will be happily referred to as "Dad" in this family in decades.  Needless to say, I am very excited for my brother and he is, well, he is scared shitless.  In honor of his impending paternal status, I have decided to highlight my player collection of his favorite player, Keith Hernandez. 

Let's start off with the nine pocket pages:

These are the faux vintage reprint cards.  For such a popular player, it sure seems like there is not a ton of these out there like some other players of similar stature. 

There in the middle you see some great before and after shots of Keith's mustache.  It was quite a big deal last year when he shaved it off.  In fact, his upper lip is still naked and it still looks weird.

See what I mean about not a lot of the new stuff featuring him?  I have a rare empty spot.

Let's get to the section with his playing days.  First off, a page of him on the Indians, a stage of his career that he and all of us would like to pretend never happened. 

The less said about him in a Cleveland uniform, the better.

Here we go, he's in the blue and orange of the boys from Flushing, much better.

The second 1989 Topps card here is a box bottom card, which is baby blue and alas, did not scan well.  Those cards really looked sharp.

The 1959 style card on this next page is from Baseball Cards magazine.  He looks pretty panicked that they picked pink for the border, I think he has a point.  

If it seems Keith has a lot of cards showing him fielding, you're right...and he should. He won 11 straight gold gloves and it is one of the rare cases where a player deserved every single one of them.  He was an artist at first base who practically redefined the way the position is played.

Keith was named the first team captain of the Mets back in 1987. If you look closely, you will notice that on the 1988 Score card he has a 'C' on his jersey.  While I have seen it a few times since, I hadn't seen that in baseball before. 

Hey look! A decent scan of a Sportflix card, you can almost see an actual picture there.

If you check out this picture, you'll see his 1986 Topps All Star card in the background along with former Mets teammate and fellow Met broadcaster Bobby Ojeda.  I know if I had a baseball card, I would keep them around like that too.

It kind of makes sense to have Keith Hernandez featured on Father's Day for me.  My father was a dude with a mustache who could kind of be a dick and Keith is, well...he's had his moments.  My mom liked dudes with mustaches and intimated to me when I was a kid that she also liked Keith's butt.  That would theoretically make that 1984 Topps card a favorite of hers.

Keith was traded from the Cardinals to the Mets in 1983 for two stiffs because of his love of the nose candy.  It was one of the rare cases cocaine did something good for the Mets. 

I have no idea where I got that 1981 OPC card, but I am glad I own it. You can see on the 1978 Topps card there that he is not 100% sold on the mustache.

I remember buying this 1987 Star set from a kiosk in the Paramus Park mall when I was 12 years old.  Why do I remember that so vividly yet I cannot recall important events of my life?  Or even where 90% of the other cards in this collection came from...sigh. 

So those are the pages, but since I am on a roll, let's go into the shoe boxes to see what other goodies I have.

Right off the bat, I have his rookie and the mini.  That mini is really well centered, considering I have seen that card in all sorts of alignment disarray. 

I also have a nice big bat piece and a very handsome autograph.  Not only is it on card, but it looks splendid; you can make out every letter in his name.  That is a quality signature.

Wow, I have a lot of bat cards but no jersey cards.  I should pick one up eventually so I can fill out the quad.

That Team Tribute card with Gary Carter and Lenny Dykstra is all sorts of shiny.  Sadly, the scan does not do it justice.  The quote they used for the Bazooka card is very amusing.  Keith is, of course, famous for his love of the night life to the point where he dated Elaine on Seinfeld.  I hope I don't have to explain that to you.  If I do, you might be reading the wrong blog.  

Some nice low numbered shiny here:

Those Pristine cards look fantastic, too bad Topps felt the need to hide them in gigantic sealed special holders.  I usually bust those out; I have no idea why I left this in its uncirculated prison. 

A couple of inserts of him on the wrong team again:

That is his 1983 Topps Traded card, which was featured in the pages, so I guess I have two of them.  Anyone want to trade for that one?

Finally, a few more nice inserts:

Those Topps Super Teams refractors are pretty much the ultimate in shiny cards ever.  Damn, I adore that set.  The Dynasty Card there has Gary Carter and Dwight Gooden on the front.  I remember having endless arguments in my youth with Yankees fans over who was the better first baseman, Keith Hernandez or Don Mattingly and who would make it into the hall of fame first.  Sadly, the unfortunate answer to that particular question is: neither. 

That's my Keith Hernandez player collection. There are some cards I'd like to add to it, but I think it is pretty comprehensive.  I now leave you with the immortal words of Ralph Kiner - "It's Father's Day today at Shea, so to all you fathers out there, Happy Birthday."