The All Star Orphans.

       Tonight would have been the 91st All Star Game, to have been played in Dodgers Stadium.  Not only does this one not count, it isn't being played at all because we currently live in the worst of all possible scenarios where nothing good will ever happen again.  Rather than wallowing in our pain, let's instead look at some old school Topps cards. 

       Some of the best design quirks in Topps sets are in the All Star cards.  For most years from 1958 until 1992, they gave some sort of shout out to the best players in the league - though not always to the all star starters or even all stars at all (but we'll get to that).  For the most part, they did either subsets or on-card graphics to the previous year's all stars and I decided to create some pages to illustrate those designs.  And instead of picking the best player in the set or even the best photo, I decided to pick the absolute worst player.  I mean, they can't be that terrible, they did get an all star card after all, but not every collection needs to be the best of the best of the best, it adds a little variety to the pages.  While I was accumulating these cards, I dubbed the list "The All Star Orphans" and the name stuck; my thinking was most of these players were only all stars once or only got the one all star card in their career. 

       So that was my basis for these choices, they had to be either one time all stars or if that didn't apply, just the worst player among the usual superstars who make the All Star squad.  It worked out nicely that there were 27 different designs for my nine-card criteria. There were multi-player All Star cards in 1993-1995 and the last dozen years or so, the Update Series has had all the All Star selections (and certainly could have given me some truly oddball choices) but I have to draw the line somewhere and it made sense to go 1958 (the first year of all star cards) and 1992 (the last year of a run of a separate all star subset that started in 1982).  Let's break them all down:

1992: Bryan Harvey (2x All Star) Led the league in saves in 1991, ended up on the expansion Marlins and kind of faded away.  He has kids in the Orioles and Pirates organizations.

1991: Bobby Thigpen (1x All Star) His one big claim to fame was saving a record 57 games that year - which was 11 more than the record - though the record is now 62 by K-Rod in 2008.  He never saved more than 34 in any other season.

1990: Joe Magrane (never made an All Star team) Here we have our first non-All Star all star card.  He did go 18-9 in 1989 and led the league in 1988 with a 2.18 ERA (with a 5-9 record!) but after 1990 his arm fell off and he was never effective again.  Why did Topps go with Joe here? Who the hell knows. 

1989: Kirk Gibson (never made an All Star team) Ah, 1988 Kirk Gibson, how I hate you.  The designation on the card is PH and this is obviously a nod to his famous game one homer in the World Series.  He is the only league MVP to never make an all star team (and he played 17 seasons).  Why not just make a card for his series heroics?  God, I hate this card almost as much as I hate Gibson.

1988: Shane Rawley (1x All Star...in 1986) Rawley made the All Star team the year before.  This card is for I guess the brilliant 2/3 of a season he had in 1987.  He won 17 games by August and finished the year with...17 wins.  He was out of the league by 1989.

1987: Tony Bernazard (never made an All Star team)  The only explanation I can come up with for why they gave Tony this card is because they were tired of making a card for Damaso Garcia.  Why not Lou Whitaker, who actually was the all star second baseman in 1986?  Plus, the less said about Tony's front office career, the better.

1986: Tom Herr (1x All Star) This page has two of my most hated players. I don't know why, but my brother and I took all of our anger at the mid-80s Cardinals out on Tom Herr.  Not Vince Coleman, not Willie McGee, not even Jack Clark...we hated Tommy Herr.  It also figures he eventually found his way to the early 90s Mets, where we could hate him every night.  He also drove in 100 runs while hitting less than 10 homers in 1985, which is pretty neat regardless of my opinion of him.

1985: Jeff Leonard (1x All Star...in 1987) He has one of the great nicknames of all time: Old Penitentiary Face.  He has two other cool nicknames as well, One Flap Down and Hac-Man (or Hack-Man).  He had a pretty decent 1984 season (21/86/.302) but I am at a loss as to why his happy mug is on this card.

1984: LaMarr Hoyt (2x All Star) Hoyt won the 1983 Cy Young award and was also an all star in 1982.  He also loved cocaine and ended up out of the league by 1986.  I am shocked he never played for the Yankees during this time.

Best design on the page: 1988 (might be my favorite subset design of all) runner up: 1987 (the league logos and red, white, and blue stars pop)

Worst design on the page: 1985 (they just threw a star where the team logo is on the base card, the tan color is also a loser) runner up 1986 (zzzzzzzzz I'm sorry, I fell asleep looking at this)

1983: Pete Vuckovich (never made an All Star team) Pete did win the Cy Young award in 1982 and led the league in wins in 1981, so it is not egregious that he's here.  Alas, his shoulder turned to mush and he was out of the league by 1986.  Also, he later led the league in nose hair and won the triple crown.

1982: Ken Singleton (3x All Star) Ken might be the best player of all on any these pages.  He was a good steady bat for a decade for the Orioles.  But the first subset in the expanded 1980s Topps sets was just loaded so he "won" the honor of being here.

1981: Jim Bibby (1x All Star) Jim is exactly the kind of player I wanted for these pages.  He had a pretty decent career and he made exactly one All Star game. Of course, he didn't start the 1980 All Star game, J.R. Richard did. Why didn't Richard get the designation instead? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1980: Roy Smalley (1x All Star) He was a second generation player who made his first and only all star game in 1979.  He had a pretty unspectacular career and 1979 was maybe his 3rd or 4th best year but he started the All Star game mostly because of the "one player from every team" rule.  His dad never made an all star team.

1979: Richie Zisk (2x All Star) Zisk is a forgotten player but he had a pretty good run in the 1970s.  He got his all star card in 1979 for 1978 though his 1977 year was better.  If he had his big years for the Dodgers or the Red Sox, rather than the Rangers and the Mariners, he'd be much better remembered.

1978: Rick Burleson (4x All Star)  The 1978 All Star cards were just loaded with hall of famers and superstars, so I had to go with our first time four timer.  Rooster was known as a bit of a red ass in his day and he hurt his arm and was done as a useful player after 1981. 

1977: Randy Jones (2x All Star) Jones got lost in Fidrych-mania in 1976 and even though he had a great year and won the Cy Young, but no one remembers that at all.  Much like Fidrych, he was never very good after his big year in 1976 either.  Since Jones and Fidrych both made two All Star teams, I went with Jones because he deserves some recognition somewhere.

1976: Joe Rudi (3x All Star) Rudi was a cog in the A's green machine in the 1970s but he was also one of the players Charlie Finley tried to sell off in 1976, deals the commissioner all killed.  So he gets to be mentioned with players like Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue in that respect.

1975: Jeff Burroughs (2x All Star) Jeff famously won the 1974 AL MVP because the A's had three players who all split the vote, including the aforementioned Joe Rudi. He's not the worst player to win an MVP award but he's easily one of the most forgettable.

Best design on the page: 1976 (I love the chubby star designation, '76 had the best icons) runner up: 1978 (that badge is great and reminds me of the US Interstate signs)

Worst design on the page: 1981 (just for the very boring little drop down) runner up: 1980 (same reason)

1974: Rick Wise (2x All Star) The only multi-player subset in the vintage era, Wise finds himself among a bunch of iconic players - including Catfish Hunter on his own card. He also made the huge mistake of being traded straight up for Steve Carlton.  Not very wise at all.

1970: Rico Petrocelli (2x All Star) Topps took three years off for All Star cards, which is a shame since they all could have used them, 1971 and 1972 because they were so good looking, 1973 because the set is so boring. If Rico had the years he had in 1969-1971 in the 1990s, people would have said he was on steroids.

1969: Ken Harrelson (1x All Star)  Known more for a bunch of things other than his playing days (announcer, golfer, protruding proboscis) The Hawk had his career year in 1968 during the Year of the Pitcher and made the All Star team.  He was then out of the league by 1971 and eventually tortured White Sox fans with his homerism and annoying calls for decades. 

1968: Joe Horlen (1x All Star) Joe is another great example of All Star Orphan-ness.  He led the league in ERA and shutouts in 1967 but was fiercely mediocre most of the other dozen years of his career.  Dean Chance started the game and Catfish Hunter lost it, but somehow, Joe Horlen got the card in the set. Topps made no All Star cards from 1963-1967.

1962: Chuck Schilling (never made an All Star team) Here in the early days of all star cards, Topps went with the Sporting News or Sport Magazine selections, which is why Chuck got on the card even though he never did make an All Star team on the field.  Chuck finished 3rd in the ROY voting and yet was out of the league in 5 years.

1961: Frank Herrera (never made an All Star team) Pancho is probably my favorite Orphan.  He qualifies for One Year Wonder status as he won the IL MVP in 1959, had a pretty decent 1960 year (finishing second for ROY even), and then was back to the minors for good by 1962.  Heck, he never had a regular 'base' Topps card, he had two rookie card designs (1959 and 1960) and this high numbered all star beauty. Alas, Topps also went all Bob Clemente on him by anglicizing his name.

1960: Joe Cunningham (1x All Star) Joe finds himself in a high number series among a lot of hall of famers, but he had his career year in 1959 and wandered onto the All Star roster.  Willie Mays! Hank Aaron! Joe Cunningham!

1959: Wes Covington (never made an All Star team) I am kind of at a loss to say something about Wes, he was that average a ballplayer. He had good 90 game runs in 1957 and 1958 but never got more than 400 PA in any season.  He helped the Braves win the Series in '57 but then bounced around the league afterward.  Hey, he was once traded for Don Larson...just like dozens of other players.  Wow, he really is bland.  Um, his 1961 Topps card is pretty sweet, so he's got that going for him, which is nice.

1958: Frank Malzone (6x All Star) Topps first foray into All Star cards finds us with the player here with the most selections.  But so stacked was this subset, I had to go with Malzone over Johnny Temple simply because, well, I owned the Malzone and not the Temple.  This subset famously includes the first Topps Stan Musial card and Bob Costas' favorite Mickey Mantle card.  I should probably get the Temple card to better fit in with the spirit of the project, but hey, these are my pages.

Best design on the page: 1961 (it was so good, they basically copied it in 1970) runner up: 1960 (very of its time)

Worst design on the page: 1974 (it fits the set, but man is it boring) runner up: 1968 (half the card is the year and an advertisement for The Sporting News)

Never made an All Star team: 7
1x All Star: 9
2x All Star: 7
3+ All Star: 4

       I hope this little rundown will help fill the void of no baseball tonight.  I know the league is suppose to start up again on the 23rd, but I will believe it when I see it.  So much stuff is going on so rapidly and so many players seem to not be into putting their lives literally on the line, I wouldn't want anyone to become a real orphan just so we can watch sports. 

One Star.

       Well, it's the All-Star break again and Tuesday means the big game is ready to be played.  One of the many good things about this baseball season is getting rid of Bud Selig, who a lot of people hate for the wrong reasons.  The A-number-one reason to hate that dude was the 2002 All Star Game, when he just threw up his hands and let the game end in a tie.  Any one of 20 other ideas could have come to him (off the top of my head - let position players pitch, let a pitcher reenter the game, have the coaches toss an impromptu home run derby - winner take all) but instead he did nothing. What a jackass.  Instead, remember, This Time It Counts™! 

That little rant aside, this year only one Mets player made the game and it is a different sort of pick, Daniel Murphy:

Murphy is a scrappy player who makes the most of his limited talents.  He will never be a "star" per se, but he plays his butt off every day.  And he can definitely hit.  Now he gets to have the little All Star banner over his name on his Baseball Reference page forever.

Sadly, Daniel Murphy is destined to join such glorious Mets solo All Stars as John Stearns, Lee Mazzilli, Pat Zachry and Joel Youngblood in the annals of history.  And how the hell did Armando Benitez ever make an All Star Team?  Yikes.

This year the game is being played in Target Field in Minnesota and last year it was played in Citifield.

How much did that mean to me?  I didn't write a single word about it last year.  In fact, the last time I mentioned the All Star Game prominently was two years ago and it was a less than glowing recommendation.  I did make this page of cards from last years Topps Update because it had the ASG logo on it, which was very Mets-centric.

I didn't go to any of the Mets Fan Fest events last year and I regret that because I did go to the one from the Yankee Stadium game in 2008 and it was a lot of fun.  I even held the fastest thrown ball at the booth with the radar gun for like 20 minutes.  I got there early and 69 MPH was enough to give me 5 more minutes of fame than I deserve. 

I also picked up these four Fan Fest exclusive Mets Manu-Patch cards.  Three of the four obviously make me very happy, though my hatred for Jose Reyes has diminished since he went to Toronto because now he is on a team whose job it is is to keep the Yankees out of the playoffs.

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.

Step Right Up And Greet The Mets.

       It has not been the best season so far for the home team in Flushing.  It is 1983 all over again, really - that team went 68-94 and youngsters and castoffs abounded then too - but it also lead to bigger and better things.  At least, that's what I keep telling myself. 

The one thing they have beating us over the head with this year has been that the All Star Game is in Queens for the first time in nearly 50 years.  And wouldn't you know it, the two bright spots for the Mets this year will be starting for the National League down in Citifield - David Wright and Matt Harvey.

David Wright has lived up to the huge contract the team gave him over the winter, going 13-44-.304/.396/.507.  I find this a breath of fresh air, since it seems every time the Mets give someone money, they immediately get old, tank, get hurt, or some combination of the three.

I also found it a very good thing that Wright didn't make it past the first round of the Home Run Derby Monday night.  Last time he participated in that glorified piece of batting practice, it screwed his swing up for months.

The real shining jewel of the season has been the maturation of Matt Harvey.  I mean, we all knew he was going to be good, but we didn't know he was going to be this good this soon.

He is 7-2 (and he should have about 12 wins and would if anyone on this team could hit) with a 2.34 ERA (4th) and a league leading 147 strikeouts.  Not to mention his peripherals are magnificent - 10.2 SO/9, 5.25 K/BB, 6.3 H/9, 0.915 WHIP.  He has all the makings of the man who threw out the first pitch tonight, Tom Seaver.  It looks like I know what my next jersey will be...a bright shiny pinstriped home #33. 

The Mets now have 71 games this season to see who can play and who can't.  I like what I have seen from Zack Wheeler.  Jeremy Hefner has been a revelation the last 10 starts.  Dillon Gee has comeback from a brutal start.  Plus they have Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard waiting in the wings.  The Mets have enough arms, now if they can just get a few more guys who can actually hit like they are supposed to (*cough*IkeDavis*cough*), this team will be formidable for next decade and we can send 5-6 guys to the All Star Game every year and not just two.

Meh.

       I wish I was 12 years old again.  While there is a plethora of reasons this statement is true, in this particular instance, it's because I would/could be excited about the All Star Game again.

1974 - 13 years before I was 12.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I am watching it right now, probably out of some rote Pavlovian response.  Believe me, if I had anything anything going on on this summer Tuesday evening, I would be doing it - and besides, listening to Joe Buck and Tim McCarver is punishment for felony crimes in some nations. Anyway, I guess in my experience, it would seem excitement for the All Star game peaked somewhere between ages 9 and 12 and just faded away after that.  Oh well.  What I am excited about is this:

Yes, that is a giant FU Bloomberg soda, two Beefy Nacho Burritos and two 2012 Allen and Ginter blasters.  I will have the game on, but I am infinitely more interested in the entertainment at hand.  More to come.