Football '14 Week 2: Uniformity.

       Last week, the Saints lost a heart breaker in overtime to the hated Falcons.  Most people would find blame for the loss in the red zone interception Drew Brees threw in the second half or perhaps the crushing fumble in overtime by Marques Colston.  My mother, however, found all the blame to be with the fact that I didn't wear my game jersey. 

This, of course, is the gamer: a white 3X #9 Drew Brees Saints model 2011.  I only had my Sir Saints tee shirt on, so obviously, it is all my fault the Saints are 0-1.

Since most of you come for the cards, here is Drew wearing a similar jersey.  Mine, sadly, does not have the nifty captain's C patch. 

If I feel like mixing it up, I also have this baby:

A retro #8 Archie Manning.  I like wearing this to live games, it gets the best comments.



The only real issue with it is that it is not a throwback, like you see in this gorgeous autographed card.  I love the Saints throwback jerseys and the old school gold color and all the stripes.  Modern football sleeves are so boring. 

I recently acquired this one as well:

This is a 2010 #88 Jeremy Shockey.  Shockey was a polarizing figure with the Giants, but he was a good solider with the Saints and even caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl.  When the opportunity to pick this up for $17 came, I took it without thinking twice.  Eventually, it will be a dandy throwback.  

My next jersey purchase will definitely be of a different tight end:

I think Jimmy Graham will sign a long term deal with the team and therefore, his black #80 will be a good addition to the wardrobe. 

We have to go to the back of the closet to find my last black gamer:

You will notice the Mets jerseys are already in the closet...

Yes, I do wear those shirts into public, why do you ask...

My #25 Reggie Bush was a prized possession for a long time. 

This badboy was a second skin for games for five years.  I bought this right after he was the second pick in the draft in 2006.  Sadly, business is business and he has played with Miami and now Detroit since 2011. 

Wow, Max, you own a lot of Saints jerseys.  You haven't seen nothing yet.  This is just the laundry pile...

I wore the short sleeve Sir Saint last week; this week is a little more chilly, so I could go with the long sleeve:

Sadly, that is faux-vintage.  I could go with vintage-vintage, this shirt is pretty old:

I could go hard core vintage-vintage.  I bought this in a thrift shop in LA, so I have no idea how old it is.

I could also go new swag:

I got this at a game last year from a booth run my the lottery commission.  You bought $20 worth of tickets and they gave you a bunch of Saints stuff.  My inner gambler and lover of free stuff couldn't resist.  Of course, I think I won $2 on the tickets, so really, this shirt cost me $18.  So I guess it isn't swag at all...

I also have one tee shirt jersey, you probably have seen it before if you read the blog:

This is my Steve Gleason #37.  It also has a faux-vintage look to it.

Of course, there is my absolute favorite t-shirt:

When the Saints won the Super Bowl, the first thing I did Monday morning was go online and order these for myself, my mother, and anyone else in the family who wanted one.  I had them delivered overnight so I was wearing this on the Tuesday after they won.  I try not to think of how much this shirt actually cost, but really, it is priceless.

It is Sunday, so the choice to remain in my pajamas is there, and believe me, it will be optioned:

Hell, the pajamas I have on right now are Saints branded:

Yes, I know what you are thinking, I am the NFL's wet dream with the amount of team merchandise I own, but believe me, being a Saints fan living in New Jersey, I like to wear my fandom literally on my sleeve.  And on game day, I suppose am superstitious enough to think that if others think I am not pulling my weight, then I should wear more.  I am going to wear the Manning jersey with the black pajama pants.  I have done my part, now it is Drew and the boys' turn to go out and win one on the road.

Clemente.

       Forty years ago this evening saw the far too premature end to the life of Roberto Clemente.  I am not here to recant the heroic and tragic events of that night; far better writers have done a far better job of that than I could ever imagine.  What I am going to do is run down my Roberto Clemente collection and what it means to me.  Celebrating a man's life is always far more important than lamenting his death. 

I am proud that I was way ahead of the curve when it comes to collecting Clemente.

This page shows card from 1998, when Topps commemorated the shit out of him for the 25th anniversary of his death.  I got into Clemente more than a decade earlier when I saw a TWIB report on him.  This was when I was around 10-11 and pre internet, so I (gasp!) had to go to the library to look up the stats and story of the man.  Even at that jaded age, I was impressed.

Some of these cards are from that late 80's bygone era, some of them are more recent.  I always enjoyed getting a retro card of Clemente - 1987 was a good year for that.

On this page you will see Edgard Clemente, the nephew of Roberto.  His major league career didn't amount to much, but he did do a lot in the minor and Mexican leagues.  He adapted/adopted the name Clemente before the 1998 as a tribute (and some would say publicity stunt). 

OK, so those are the pages I have of Clemente, they are nice but nothing spectacular.  Well, Let's go a little deeper into the shoe boxes and see what else awaits us.

First thing you see is the one game used Roberto I own:

This card is very very shiny (the scan does it no justice) it is also from his game used pants.  Sassy.

There are 40+ cards in my faux-vintage hall of famer box, and I am gonna show you every last one:

I love that Stadium Club card, I believe the ladies over at Dinged Corners were nice enough to send me that a few years back.  You also can see my Triple Threads addiction well represented.  That sepia Clemente in the upper right corner looks tremendous. That lower right picture is from his 1971 Topps card (or from the same group of pictures)  The lower left from his 1969.  I didn't have to look that up.


I'd like to get that Upper Deck Masterpiece in a better color than the Green, I think the black might be a good choice, since I don't think they make a gaudy yellow.  His very upright batting stance is on full display in this group.  Those bottom three are quite a handsome triumvirate.


A couple of paintings in this group, also a shot of him showing off his arm - you would think there would be more pictures like this to represent his legendary cannon.  I picked up that 1954 Topps Archives card in a dime box years and years ago.  That is a $5 card now all day long, if you can find one.  Oh, and I do love those mini Diamond King puzzles; I believe that came out of the 1987 The Rookies set.


Some cards from 2000-01, when Upper Deck went nuts with their faux-vintage phase.  I have never seen that picture of him holding up a page with "3,000" on it; it certainly echoes another famous picture. And you see some of the Topps reprints they did, here in Finest form. That 1956 reprint is a refractor...more on the '56 later.


Look! More reprints.  The 1973 card is seminal, and I have both the Archives and insert reprint of that one.  I also have the rookie reprint from the Archives and the Rookie of the Week card from a few years back that is similar but very different.

Wait?  Are you tired of the fake retro stuff?  OK, lets dive into the true vintage shoebox and see what there is to see.

Here we have a real copy of that 1973 Topps.  I once built the 1972 Topps set, so these are the second copies of these cards I have owned.  I was always fond of his 1972 card because of that 1987 Turn back the Clock card. 

What else?  How about 1965?


Or a handsome 1964? 


I got this 1962 Topps card for a song years ago.

I never understood why, in 1957, Topps started calling Roberto "Bob" - was this a colloquial choice?  He was called Bob and Bobby by his teammates and the announcers. Was it xenophobic?  The 50's were not a good decade to be a person of color in America.  I have never gotten a good answer to this question.  So anyway, from 1957 to 1969, he was known as Bob, which I always thought was dumb since Roberto Clemente is such a lyrical name.

What is the oldest Clemente I own?  I have his 1956 Topps, which is just a fantastic card.  I gushed about it here a while back.  Let's look at it again.

I never get tired of this card.

I once owned this card:

I had to sell it years ago to pay the bills.  So sad.

Last but not least, I own a good dozen baseball jerseys. Only one of them does not depict a Mets or Red Sox player:

I bought this jersey in 1996 in the Bergen Mall.  It has a mustard stain on the front from a Kahn's hot dog in Shea Stadium (not shown).  I like to wear this jersey whenever I am at a 'neutral' baseball situation.  I also wore it to a pirate themed party once when I didn't have time to make a costume - most people found that quite amusing.

Anyway, that is my Roberto Clemente player collection.  Clemente the Man often overshadows Clemente the Player.  He has been deified in some circles, perhaps a little too much, but in a way, his deeds both on and off the field cannot be overstated.  He was a great player and he was a great humanitarian.  That he was taken from us too soon is a loss to us all.  Godspeed Roberto.

***

I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year.  I am still getting over a cold and I don't particularly like to go out on what I consider "amateur night" so I will be home tonight watching bad movies.  But if you do go out and have a good time, please get home safe and do not, under any circumstances, drive drunk. I want to see you all in 2013!

Under the Tree.

       It was a typhoid Merry Christmas around these parts, as the party I went to on Christmas Eve seems to have spread a nasty flu virus around to almost everyone who attended.  It did not rear its ugly head until Boxing Day, thus saving my Christmas dinner, but it has since rendered me useless as a functional human being.  A couple of days of Tylenol Cold and hot & sour soup have at least made it possible for me to sit up and type at the laptop.  Thank heaven for small favors.

       This bought of deathflu kept me from posting about what Santa left under the tree for me.  And I mean this literally, as my brother plays Santa Claus every year for my little cousins (and when we get him dressed, my joke is "every year, we use less and less padding" He does not like that joke...), anyway, he was nice enough to have procured this for me:

Drink that in.  It is a 1983 Mets Blue Throwback Tom Seaver jersey.  The levels of awesome of this present are hard to measure.  First of all, it is Tom Terrific, The Franchise; the gift that keeps on giving.  Second of all, it is obscure, from his all-too-brief triumphant return in 1983 after a five year exile in Cincinnati (and I love it obscure).  Third of all, the Mets are bringing back the blue this year as their alternate jersey, finally mothballing the kinda cool but mostly gimmicky black ones.  This year, I will be strutting around in the coolest blue jersey there is.  I also now have a wonderful trifecta of throwback Mets jerseys: a 1986 home Gary Carter, a 1987 away Dwight Gooden and now, this beauty.  Being a grown up sometimes makes Christmas morning a bit a of a downer, but not this year.  Thanks Santa!