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."

The Man.

Stan Musial.

November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013.

"Here stands baseball's perfect warrior. Here stands baseball's perfect knight."

My favorite useless statistic in all of baseball history?  Stan Musial had 3,630 hits - 1,815 of them at home and 1,815 on the road.

RIP.

Game Seven.

       There are no sexier words in sports - heck, there might not be sexier words in the entire English language - than Game Seven.  Game Seven is truly the ultimate.  Sure, the playoff play-in games from this year (and the last few years) have been cute, and yeah, they are do or die, as are game 5's in the early rounds.  But Game Seven is a climax.  It has built from something dynamic; two teams have battled to a six game stalemate that can only be answered in this one final game.  It is a grand thing the Super Bowl lacks.  The Super Bowl builds up off of hype and presentation.  Hockey and basketball have them as well, but in essence, there is no greater Game Seven than in baseball.  A baseball Game Seven builds off of two teams who have to prove something after fighting back and forth everyday for a week.  And, oh look, the NLCS will play just such a game this evening.  Goodie, goodie!

       I have no horse in this race.  I don't care for the Giants and I truly despise the Cardinals, but wow, have they played one hell of a series.  I will be rooting for the Giants, because, well, screw the Cardinals.  Yes, I have not forgiven them for 2006.  Really, I have not forgiven them for 1985 yet, either.  So on a purely superficial and selfish level, I want the Giants to win.  I also think a Tigers/Giants World Series would be a good match up.  Besides, we just had Cards/Tigers a few years ago and Tigers/Giants would be a first time ever match up in the series and those are always fun.  So I will be eschewing a dull Monday Night Football game this evening and DVRing Dancing With the Stars and instead, I will be riveted to the most awesome spectacle in sport: Game Seven.

And after that little rant, let's look at a few of baseball's Game Seven heroes...

Jack Morris (1991)

Morris solidified his reputation as a "Money Pitcher" by going out in game 7 of the 1991 World Series and pitching 10 shutout innings.  I think he would have gone 20 in this game if need be.

Johnny Damon (2004)

Damon hit my favorite game seven home run (at least that I watched live) in the top of the second inning of game 7 of the 2004 ALCS.  The Red Sox had come back in the series from being down three games to none to force the game 7.  Damon hit a grand slam to make the game 6-0 before most Yankees fans had settled into their seats.  It was a glorious death blow to the Yankees. 

Luis Gonzalez (2001)

Gonzalez ended the 2001 World Series by dunking the ugliest little blooper over Derek Jeter's head to score Craig Counsell and beat the unbeatable Mariano Rivera and end the Yankees latest dynasty.  Most people I know were rooting for the Yankees at the time for all sorts of convoluted reasons; I would root for the terrorists before I root for the Yankees.

Edgar Renteria (1997)

Renteria had the game winning single to win the 1997 World Series - which is certainly pretty cool. But he also holds a wonderful trivial distinction.  He also made the last out of the 2004 World Series for the Cardinals.  He is the only person to be the last batter of a World Series both as the winner and the loser. 

Bob Gibson (1964, 1967)

 Bob Gibson didn't have a nickname...Bob Gibson didn't need one.  Bob Gibson won not one, but two Game Sevens in his career (and heck just for good measure, he lost one too, in 1968).  I think if you asked 100 people who they would want to pitch Game Seven, at least half would say Gibson.  I can't say I disagree with them. 

Bill Mazeroski (1960)

This page is pretty awesome.  It has more than a few heroes on it.  Bucky Dent hit a homer that eventually won a playoff game.  Bobby Thomson hit a homer to win a playoff series.  Kirk Gibson won a Game 1 with a homer.  Roger Maris won a Game 3 with a homer, as did Mark McGwire.  Don Larson pitched a perfect game in a Game 5.  Joe Carter hit a homer to win the 1993 World Series, though it was game 6.  Jackie Robinson's last game in the majors was Game Seven in 1956, and he played in a bunch of them, including Brooklyn's only winner in 1955.  This whole page has nothing but game winning credentials.  But Bill Mazeroski has the absolute unique distinction amongst this page - and big league history - for hitting the only World Series Game Seven winning home run in the bottom of the ninth.  He is pictured rounding third from that day in 1960 on the card above. 

Grover Cleveland Alexander (1926), Walter Johnson (1924)

Here we get a twofer, a pair of old pitchers who came out of the bullpen to secure Game 7 victories for their teams.  Ol' Pete Alexander did it in 1926 and The Big Train did it in 1924.  That is 780+ wins to call on in the late innings.  All hands on deck indeed.

Darryl Strawberry (1986)

The Mets have been beaten in Game 7 three different times (1973, 1988, 2006) and the 1986 World Series is mostly known for its Game 6, not seven.  But do not underestimate that '86 game seven.  It was a stirring comeback win for the Mets.  They were down 3-0 in the early innings, Ron Darling giving up a couple of nasty home runs, one off of the glove of the pictured Darryl Strawberry.  The Mets would chip away at the Red Sox lead and Ray Knight hit the home run that gave the Mets the lead they would never relinquish, but it was Darryl Strawberry who put the exclamation point on the evening, hitting a monstrous towering blast that made it 7-5.  The Mets won the game 8-5 and the series.  That was 26 years ago and 11 year old Max has been waiting for another one ever since.  

Not shown: Gene Larkin (1991), Frank Viola (1987), Brett Saberhagen (1985), Charlie Leibrandt (1985), Willie Stargell (1979), Reggie Jackson (1973), Mickey Lolich (1968), Lew Burdette (1957), Johnny Podres (1955), Enos Slaughter (1946).

(definitely) not shown (for a reason): Yadir Molina, Orel Hershiser, Francisco Cordero, Aaron *bleeping* Boone.