Well D.A.M.

    Looking at today's date, I knew it would be pretty easy to do a post today.  And sure, anyone could throw up a Brandon Puffer or Jung Bong (or Tobi Stoner or Josh Smoker) and call it a day, but I decided to go in a direction few would expect from me, I am going to praise a Yankees player as today is the 59th birthday of Donald Arthur Mattingly.

Mattingly takes up five pages in my retired player books, which is pretty much the most of anyone I can think of who doesn't have a dedicated player collection.  I think I might also have five pages of Mark McGwire and Nomar Garciaparra but I'd have to check on that.

I respected the hell out of Mattingly as a player when I was a kid, his prime years were right in the middle of my childhood obsession with all things baseball plus I was living in New Jersey surrounded by Yankees fans so it was impossible not to know all about him. From everything I could see, he was a good dude with a sweet swing who made the most of his chance with the team since he was one of the few young players the Yankees didn't trade away in the early 80s for washed up veterans.  So seeing his cards is like a time capsule of all those great designs and oddball issues; he was one of the big hits you got when opening a pack.  Plus Donnie "looked" like a ballplayer.  I mean, you don't get a name like Donnie Baseball for nothing.  The mustache, the flowing hair, the pinstripes, it all adds up to a perfect mystique.

I always refer to Mattingly as The Reverse Koufax in that he had five or six amazing seasons followed by five or six mediocre seasons punctuated by a career shortening injury.  Koufax was exactly the opposite.  His first seven years were mediocre at best and then he had five or six of the most amazing seasons you ever saw and sadly had to retire due to injury.  Koufax's career numbers aren't that much different than say Johan Santana or Ron Guidry's and yet the only way they will ever get to Cooperstown is by buying a ticket.  If Koufax hadn't built his legend and left us wanting more, he would never have had the unbelievable awe around his name.  Mattingly's numbers are similar to another player, Kirby Puckett, who also left early due to injury.  Puckett is in the Hall of Fame, first ballot no less, and Mattingly isn't.  It is one of the rare times a Yankees player has gotten shafted by the system and by our memories.  If you reverse his career trajectory and have him build that amazing resume peaking at his 1985 or 1986 season and then leave at 34 with a back injury, he's in the hall no doubt.  This isn't me arguing that he should be in Cooperstown, mind you, but it is a major part of his legacy that isn't always talked about. It is one of the more undeniable examples that perception is reality.

Alas, the one place Don has not acquitted himself is as a manager.  The Yankees passed over him for Joe Girardi so he went to Los Angeles and there, he made less out of more for five seasons and after they got tired of him, he's gone to Miami where most old people go to rot and done less with less.  The less said about all this, the better.   

If you care to notice, this page is nothing but fielding photos of Donnie Baseball.

The other important thing about Don Mattingly that always gets talked about was his defense.  He won nine gold gloves and I can recall more than a few big arguments, both in my childhood years and adulthood, about who was better, Keith Hernandez or Don Mattingly.  There is no denying that Mattingly could pick it at first base about as good as anyone and I am not going to disparage his play.  But Keith redefined defensive play at first and Mattingly then fit into that definition. There is something to be said about setting defensive standards; it is why Ozzie Smith is in the Hall (and Bill Mazeroski for that matter).  Mattingly played like Keith and in most ways as well as Keith at first base but Keith was the first and best one to play the way he did at first.  That is why I always say Keith Hernandez deserves to be in the Hall even more so than Mattingly despite his offensive numbers being lesser.  There is something to being the first one to do something.

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Some further reading on the subject here.

Old and New Business on a Pretty Good Good Friday.

   First things first, you will have noticed that the header has changed, I figured the blog could use a spruce and little more color plus the other photo was not a good example of social distancing.  While I am not sure if the new one has the guys 6 feet apart, it is still a better graphic for this day and age. 

A couple packages have come to Starting Nine central recently, one was from a new reader eager to share; Tom from The Angels in Order looked at one of my my wantlists and satisfied some missing base Mets, especially from series 2 of 2018 Topps, from which I purchased exactly zero packs:

One of the last posts I did before I disappeared was a harsh yet fair critique of the 2018 Topps design (and what they could have done about it).  I stand by my thoughts 1000% though I must say, those vertical photos of d'Arnaud and Thor looks great regardless of their borderless nature.  I never did get to say what I thought of the 2019 look, but I liked it more than most; 1982 Topps is one of the first sets I remember and it definitely invokes that look.  Anyway, I have a bunch of Angels stuff to go out to reciprocate these so thanks Tom!

The other came from Nate of The Bucs Stop Here, who read about my glut of 2020 Heritage and wanted to trade.  I sent him the Alvarez/Aquino rookie I had and he sent me some Mets that will be far more appreciated around here:

It may not look it, but that Granderson is shiny foil and rookie cup cards are always appreciated especially when needed. My completed trades column to the right has been updated.  Thanks Nate!   Also in the right column, you will see the "followers" and "blog roll" - if you aren't following me, you may as well click on the button now and rectify that.  Also, if you want to be on the blog roll, just let me know and we'll do the old quid pro quo (and not even get in trouble for it).  I usually don't worry about such things much, but with the blog being dormant for so long, I figure I'd like to see more readers and know who they are, especially if they're new.  Hell, I have now posted more in the last month or so than in any of the last four years.  I am also pleased to see that one of the few bright spots of this current lockdown situation we all find ourselves in is that a few blogs that had gone down have started up again.  Let's hear it for the blogosphere!!!

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A few belated thanks need to also be delivered to some altruistic displays of cardboard giving.  Last November, Jeff from 2 by 3 Heroes sent a random email to me verifying my address.  This email had no other information whatsoever but I told him I hadn't budged, address-wise.  A few days later, a package arrived full of goodies:

I am pretty sure it was this long forgotten post that inspired his delivery, but full of Firefly cards it was.  He even gave it an international header card.  There was also a bunch of Mets cards in there too and it is rare that they are relegated to second tier in a scan, yet here we are.  Firefly is streaming on Hulu right now and we all have nothing but time on our hands, so I suggest highly that if you have never seen it to go watch it.  And hell, now is as good a time as any to watch it again if you have seen it.  (belated) Thanks Jeff!

While I was irregularly (then not) blogging, one person I kept trading with was venerable veteran Night Owl Cards.  We have probably sent 40-50 packages to each other in the last 10 years or so and because we know what each other collect so well, we just kept doing it regardless of online status.  At one point last year I scanned this batch:

Matt Harvey?  Sheesh, this is old.  Remember that guy?

These are some fabulous Mets cards and inserts, then there was this vein of oddities (from NO at least):

The note answered my questions when it said "I didn't suddenly become a Bo-Chro collector, the cards just kind of landed in my lap."  It is probably the strangeness of the rookies in there and the gloriously dismissive abbreviation that made me scan them for future use in the first place.  Well, thanks as always Night Owl, I already have plenty in my pile for your next package.  I even looked at your wantlists for a change.

And speaking of piles, lastly I need to clear up a few unresolved trades.  I keep the outgoing cards on my bookshelf close to my mailing stuff and right now there is a bunch of things I need to figure out.

A few, like those Orioles and Blue Jays, I just need to verify addresses before I send them out.  But I also have a rare Barry Larkin insert that I can't recall whom I was going to swap with.  I also have a bunch of blue parallels, do you collect blue parallels?  Let me know, I think those are for you.  I also have a couple of 1990 UD Marquis Grissom rookies that I know there is a blogger who wants to collect 1000 of them or something but I can't remember who it is.  Is it you? Do you know who it is and if he's done collecting his grand of Grissom?  Please leave a comment or drop me a line. 

So now it's back to the grand Spring Cleaning, in between playing with stuff I find of course...

RIP Mr. Tiger.

Al Kaline 1934-2020

       I was having a very good day, since I have very little to do right now I decided to get high and sort baseball cards this afternoon (who said the lockdown is all bad?) But my good mood is ruined with the word that Al Kaline has died.

This is one of my favorite hall of famer pages; I love the symmetry.

You have to be pretty good to be Mr. *team here* and Kaline earned his Mister moniker with a great career spent all in Detroit.  He was the youngest batting champ in history, hit 399 homers (so close!), collected 3007 hits and went into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.  More than that, not only did he lead the Tigers to a World Series win in 1968 I literally have never heard anyone say a bad word about him as a man or a player.  My real issue is why he wasn't known as "Battery" or "Basic" to everyone?  Godspeed Al.

Foolish.

     I think we all could use a genuine laugh these days, so I think you should all see this 50th Anniversary box topper from this year's Heritage. It is my new favorite card:

I'm pretty sure everyone except Denny Riddleberger will think this is funny.

You might be wondering what my old favorite card was?  Well, that's easy...

It's right there in the middle of that page.  Happy birthday Phil Niekro!