Yastrzemski.

       I am not a great speller but as Mark Twain said: I have no respect for a man who can only spell a word one way (or not).  If it weren't for the little red squiggles on the bottom of the words, I would be in big trouble.  In the age of typewriters, my editors would curse me, hate me, and eventually demote me to the sales department.  This opening sort of introduces our subject today, Carl Yastrzemski.  As someone who is both of Polish decent and multi-generations of Red Sox fandom, needless to say Yaz is a personal favorite.  I was born in Albuquerque NM and that is the longest city I can spell without thinking.  Similarly, because of my Boston and Red Sox roots, Carl Yastrzemski is the longest baseball player name I can spell without thinking.  I once threatened to show off my Yaz collection and considering the Red Sox honored him outside Fenway on Sunday with a new statue, it seems an appropriate time to show it off.

First, let's look at the pages:

An interesting mix of faux vintage and very early all-time greats cards.  That TCMA all time Red Sox cards has a great stadium light post in the background.  It is also hiding a 1987 Hygrade Yaz. The 1990 Glossy all star in the middle is doubled up with the 1984 Glossy all star.  I probably should have scanned the back of this one, huh?  I am thrilled with how nice that 1986 Sportsflix card scanned; rarely do you get such a nice representation of a single picture much less the best one of the three.

Here we have an orgy of faux vintage goodness:

I was once very confused about the logo on that Golden Moments card.  Turns out, it is considered a Red Sox logo because they used the red hats in the mid to late 70's - and the 'B' was blue on those (see the top two cards of this page for reference).  The more you know...

We now get to some player era cards:

That 1983 Topps is not just one of my favorite Yaz cards, it is one of my all time favorite cards period.  It is also his last Topps base card - pretty damn good way to go out.  I am pretty sure that glossy mail in all star card in the middle is from the same series of photographs.  The photo on that Drakes Big Hitters card is wonderful.  It shows a full Fenway behind Yaz as he leaves the batters box.  The crowd in that 1982 Fleer card celebrating his 3000th game?  Not so impressive.  Proof that Red Sox nation was not always so strong.

Some more early 80s's stuff.

Seeing double?  Lots of 1981 cards on this page.  And somehow, a couple of faux vintage cards wondered on to this page.  I should probably reorganize my Yaz pages...  The photo of him giving the raspberry on the American Pie card is quite amusing in an outtake sort of way.  I wish they'd use more types of portraits like that on those reprint/faux vintage cards.

Ah, some gritty dark cardboard 70's Yaz cards:

Topps loved to celebrate his 1967 season, huh?  There are four of them total on these pages, two of them alone on this one.  I remember thinking as a kid how old Yaz looked on his 1978 and 1979 cards.  I am now about the age Yaz was in the pictures on these cards. Funny how not-so-old he looks on them now.  I have always been a big fan of both his 1977 Topps cards.  I don't recall how I got that 1974 Topps card and I am still not sure if that is a b.b. hole or a pushpin gouge.  Either way, that card was well loved or despised greatly by someone back in the day.  The 1972 Topps has a great spring training shot and the 1970 Topps has a classic old Yankees Stadium pose.  My, but Yaz has some fantastic cards.  And if you are a hardcore devotee of Starting Nine, you know there is one more Yaz card hiding amongst my pages.  

Alright, let's go to the boxes for some more shiny and vintage stuff:

That is the only game used Yaz I own and I pulled it from a box I bought when that product was new.  I also pulled that Yaz manu-patch card back in 2009.  I have good Yaz karma when it comes to these things, I suppose.  That Topps Stars Progression card has quite the trio on it.  I owned a 1960 Yaz rookie years and years ago and it was sold long ago in the big gotta-pay-the-rent purge of the early aughts.  My shiny 2001 Archive Reserve reprint will have to do in its stead.

Some shiny numbered commemorative cards:

Oddly, that Passing the Torch card has no one on the other side.  I thought the whole point of that set was to have players who passed the torch to other players.  Shouldn't Jim Rice or Ted Williams be on the other side of that card?  That 3000 hits club card is both die cut and too thick for the top loader it is in, thus it's crookedness. 

Some more faux-vintage:

I am not 100% sure why these are in top loaders and not in the pages.  Man, I definitely need to clean up my Yaz collection. 

A foursome from the 1999 Fanfest:

The 1999 All Star game was at Fenway and I went to the Fanfest in the Hynes Convention Center.  It was the first one I had ever gone to (but not the last).  You had to buy a certain number of each companies pack and trade the wrappers in for their Yaz card.  As you can see, I obediently did all four.

A few more inserts:

That Fleer one in the upper left should have the subtitle "keep your eye on the ball." Those Score cards on the bottom were some of the earliest retro insert cards.  The one with Musial and Mantle is creatively titled 6-7-8.  If I have to explain that to you, you are reading the wrong blog.

OK, I lied, a couple more inserts and finally some real vintage:

I once owned a beautiful 1971 Topps Yaz.  It was clean, pack fresh, and well centered.  If I believed in such things, I could/would have gotten it graded.  I sold it on ebay relatively recently because I finally abandoned my overwhelming urge to build the '71 set.  There is a much better looking 1974 Topps than the one in the pages.  That 1973 Topps card is Milhouse's favorite.  If I have to explain that to you, we cannot be friends.

One final batch of Yaz vintage cards:

As you can see, my vintage Yaz collection is not as impressive as my adoration of him may have suggested.  Along with the rookie and the 1971, I once owned a 1961, 1962, and 1965.  Alas, they are all gone.  But let's focus on what I have rather than what I don't.  Yastrzemski was a monster in the late 60's, setting hitting marks in an era when no was was hitting.  Therefore, he shows up on a lot of league leader cards.  In fact, he shows up first on the three big ones in the 1968 set due to his aforementioned monster 1967 Triple Crown year.  It took until last year for that to happen again.  My love of World Series cards wouldn't let me get rid of that epic 1968 card (also seen above in Archives reprint form).  And of course, my eternal affection for oddball cards wouldn't let me sell that 1969 Topps decal.  I am still not sure if they are like stickers or rubdowns or tattoos or what.  While they are not super rare, I am not willing to find out.

Refugee Report: Boston.

       We are now in day five of my electric exile from my home.  The first couple of days found me in Pennsylvania taking care of my brother's adorable doggie.  The last couple have found me visiting friends in Boston.  To be honest, a good friend of mine is in town and I am really slumming it staying with her.  This trip was planned well in advance, so it has turned into quite the serendipitous refuge.  I will be spending the rest of the weekend with some good friends in the Boston suburbs.  It turns out I made a very wise decision in fleeing the northern Jersey area, since things there have gotten worse since Tuesday.  I don't own a generator and I have no stomach for panic, so I would just like to thank my friends and family for putting me up (and putting up with me).

       Lemme tell you, being stuck in a luxury hotel for three days is no picnic.  I mean, I am right by the waterfront and downtown, how on earth am I supposed to cope and keep myself occupied?  I mean, I had to have lunch with a couple of good friends at a wonderful (tastefully named) deli.  And then I could easily walk to one of my old and all time favorite baseball card haunts, the venerable Bay State Coin.  I have known the proprietor Andy for almost 20 years and I even have worked there and done some online work for him over the years.  He is a prickly yet loveable character; they don't make them like him anymore.  He is a huge Cardinals and Stan Musial fan (and erstwhile Albert Pujols supporter as well, though bring his name up now and all you will get is a loudly shouted "traitor!!!").  He is also one of the biggest Celtics fans I know.  He goes to just about every home game and in fact I found out today that he has been to every Celtics home playoff game since 1966 but two - and one of those he missed to meet Stan Musial.  Anyway, Andy was happy to see me as I don't get in much to see him anymore.  We gabbed and jabbed for an hour or so and then, just so I wouldn't appear to be a freeloader, looked at some of this years Topps inserts.  Seeing how I have some time to kill, I will now show them. You will have to forgive me as I do not have access to a scanner and my photography skills are not exactly on par with Ansel Adams, but being a refugee, I am making do with what I have.

First, I saw that he had multiple copies of my favorite insert set from the first series of 2012 Topps, the Classic Walk Offs: 

While not the best designed cards in the world, I do like the subject matter (they would be far better if they enlarged the main picture and better highlighted the background secondary picture, but who am I, a graphic designer?).  They got a nice mix of modern and vintage players and with the inclusion of such memorable homers like Bill Mazeroski, David Ortiz, and of course, Carlton Fisk, it is a very comprehensive set as well.  I don't always like to mix current and retired players on a page, but this set kind of calls for it.  I also kind of like how they got Jay Bruce and Jim Thome in the exact same pose.  I am glad I didn't have to go online to find these and pick them off one by one.  There is something to be said for a well stocked Local Card Shop.

I also picked up a few Mets and player odds and ends from this years inserts that I didn't have yet:
 
There is an awesome Dwight Gooden card that I had been hungering for.  As memory fades from the 1980's, we have all forgotten how awesome Doc really was. Also, with the same old school players in the same Topps sets over and over again, it is nice to see someone as underutilized as the Doctor used and I'd like to see them use him more - to the point where I get sick of him.  Just like, say, Tom Seaver (this is, of course, preposterous, as I could never get tired of Tom Seaver). I grabbed the Golden Moments, which I wasn't sure if I had or not, and a rare non-Mets card of him.  I really dig those horrifyingly ugly 80's White Sox unis.  There is also the David Wright Golden Memories, which I thought $30 a Week Habit had sent me - turns out he sent me something much better.  Lastly, I grabbed a bunch of the 1987 mini type cards, just because, well, minis!!!  The Roberto Clemente is a wonderful photo that I hadn't seen before, too bad my picture on the hotel bed does it no justice.  Oh wait! I forgot Yaz! How could I forget about Yaz?  I am not entirely sure if I have expounded on my love of Carl Yastrzemski on this blog yet.  I am not going to now, but trust me, he is one of my all time favs.  I am puzzled about the logo on that card.  Is that a Red Sox B?  Is that current? Period?  Is that just a mistake and it is a Brooklyn Dodgers B?  I am stumped and to be honest, I just don't have the energy right now to go looking it up...not with all the great bars in Boston just waiting for me to go and drown my sorrows in.

You Left Me Standing Alone.

       I do not own a page of Blue Moon Odom cards.  If fact, I looked in a few places and I am not sure if I own any Blue Moon Odom cards.  Which is a shame, because I like the name Blue Moon Odom and it would be topical, tonight being a blue moon and all.  I also have been drinking.  DRUNK POST!!! WOOHOO!!!!   Like I said, I couldn't find any Blue Moon Odom cards, but if I had been looking for Sam Octoberfest, American Pickers reruns, and homemade chili...mission accomplished!

       One page I did find, however, is very amusing to drunk Max:

At the end of most of my player books, you will find a few 4 and 8 card pages with the odd sized oddball cards.  This one is especially beyond the normal amount of odd oddball though.  Before I get into it, let's look at the back too:

We're gonna have to break these down one at a time, starting in the upper left.

1) That is a sticker that came with the Mr. T In Your Pocket gag gift that I bought my ex-girlfriend about 8 or 9 years ago.  It was one of those little soundboard thingies that spouts catchphrases when you hit one of the buttons.  My ex, being easily amused (she dated me for 4 years, after all) used to call me and just press one of the buttons over and over again.  Along with the obligatory "I pity the fool!" it also said things like "First name Mister, middle name period, last name T!"  and my personal favorite "Quit your jibber-jabber!"  I hadn't thought of it in a very long time, but seeing that sticker made me miss answering the phone and hearing "Q-Q-Q-Q-Q-Q-Quit your jibber-jabber!!!"  She would hit the button rhythmically for emphasis.  I have no idea why it is in here but it did kindle nice memories.  OK, moving on...

2) A 1984 Carl Yastrzemski Donruss Champions card.  I think that is just runoff from the legitimate cards in the book.  Poor Yaz, always stuck near the end of the list.  Pity us poor 'M' people; sometimes folks will throw the people at the end of the alphabet a bone and start at Z and work backwards.  Either way, us M's are right in the damn middle.  Did I mention I can spell Yastrzemski without looking?  Even drunk?  Now that is a bar bet I should go clean up with....

3) Billy Joel "The Stranger" press pass.  They gave these out at the Last Play at Shea concert, which I was lucky to attend because my buddy's girlfriend had to work:

buddy: "Hey! You got 275 buck to waste?"
me: "Sure!"
buddy: "OK, you're going with me to the Billy Joel concert tonight" 
(I may have been drunk then too...)

Anyway, I am not a huge Billy Joel guy.  I like him fine, don't get me wrong, but I like my music a little more hardcore and rock and roll and non-mainstream and whatnot (hipster! snob! *flips bird*).  But growing up in the 80's with a more mellow music liking brother, I am overly familiar with Mr. Joel's canon (and I am sure he would appreciate me blogging about him while I was drunk).  I went to the show, which was bathed in historic rhetoric - last rock show at Shea Stadium, blahblahblah.  Considering we had awesome seats and like half a dozen other famous classic rockers showed up (Roger Daltrey, Steven Tyler, Paul McCartney, etc.) it was about 100x cooler than I imagined it would be.  So, they gave us this thing, which I am not sure we got because we had good seats, or if everyone got them, or like the first 10,000 got it or what.  But I remember being offered $50 for mine after the show.  And I also recall them going for similar money on ebay afterwards. But I am a sentimental fool - and because I had such an unexpectedly good time - I kept the thing for prosperity.  Somehow, it wound up here.

4) Mickey Mantle: His Final Inning.  At first glance, one would think this is a card, but it isn't.  It is one of those bible tracts people hand out on the street by subway stops and whatnot.  I am 99% sure I got this in Boston in the late 90's or early aughts.  Full disclosure: I used to collect these things.  As a lapsed Catholic and confirmed atheist, I found the real fire and brimstone tracts funnier than most prime time sitcoms.  They usually had names like "Heaven or Hell - Which Will You Choose?" or "Do You Want to Burn for All Eternity?" with corresponding graphics and over the top preaching backing up those notions.  Hilarious.  Alas, that collection was only a passing fad and I am pretty certain I chucked the whole pile in the trash after moving them one too many times.  I should have put them in top loaders or pages like this to preserve them.  Anyway, this one is a little less old time religion and more self help.  It covers the Mick's drinking and how he recovered and redeemed himself before he died.  It is actually kind of rational about the whole thing.  Definitely a switch from most of the little pamphlets I was handed by the Park Street Station.  I can only assume I kept this thing due to its baseball subject matter.  (I just checked ebay - I could get a whole dollar for one of these.  Plus my memory for dates isn't always flawed: it says there they are from 1998).

So, all that from a few beers and a lack of Blue Moon Odom cards...Wow.  Admit it, you missed me.