on July 15th, 2009 by 30-Year Old Cardboard
It’s finally here. The slowest day in sports hits us each year one day after baseball’s All-star game.
There is literally nothing going on today. And there will be nothing going on tonight either….
You see, there are just 2 days in the calendar year in which the major sports have no games scheduled. These 2 days [...]
Continue reading about The Slowest Day In Sports… »
Posted in 30 Year Old Cardboard
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on July 15th, 2009 by chrisolds
Posted in Beckett Blog
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on July 15th, 2009 by Captain Canuck
Posted in Waxaholic
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on July 15th, 2009 by T.S.
There was a four-paragraph Associated Press story the other day that
essentially said that the status quo remains unchanged in MLB’s two-decade kabuki
dance with Pete Rose.
ST. LOUIS – Pete Rose’s application for reinstatement remains under
review – 12 years after he submitted it.
The career hits leader agreed to a lifetime ban from baseball in 1989
after an investigation concluded he bet on the Cincinnati Reds to win while he was
manager of the team.
Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday he still is examining it
and did not provide a timetable for a decision.
Rose met with Selig in November 2002. His effort to gain reinstatement
appeared to falter after he admitted in his 2004 autobiography, “Pete Rose: My Prison
Without Bars,” that his previous gambling denials were false.
I don’t know about you, but the idea that Selig is still “examining”
Pete’s petition for reinstatement looks more like an Onion headline than anything
else. If the truth is really that Pete will not be reinstated as long as Bud Selig
holds the gavel, then it would makes us all feel more like adults if somebody actually
indicated as much.
Though I am sure it was unintended, I also got a chuckle out of the last
paragraph that noted his “effort to gain reinstatement” faltered after it turned out
that Rose had actually been, gasp!, lying about the betting on baseball thing for
15 years. Do we really suppose there was anyone in the Commissioner’s office startled
by Pete’s admittedly long-ovedue admission?
I am sure it’s hardly good form to suggest such a thing, but it says
here that lying repeatedly to Pete Rose is only slightly less disagreeable than having
Pete Rose lying repeatedly to the entire Western Hemisphere.
I always figured it was the lying part that aggravated the average fan
the most about the Pete Rose case, so it’s more than a little ironic to punish his
transgression with more lying from another direction.
Continue reading about MLB pushes the irony threshold in lying to Pete Rose … »
Posted in Infield Dirt
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on July 15th, 2009 by Mario A.
The Philadelphia Phillies have just signed former 3-time Cy Young winner, Pedro Martinez. The one year contract worth a million dollars got off to a terrible start when they placed the 17-year veteran on the 15-day disabled list with a shoulder strain.
Martinez, 36 (38 by Dominican years), has not had double digit wins since 2005 [...]
Continue reading about Phillies burn a million dollars »
Posted in Wax Heaven
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on July 15th, 2009 by chrisolds
Sports Illustrated’s David Bergman snapped this photo behind the scenes at the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday in St. Louis. President Barack Obama signed more than a dozen baseballs while meeting the AL and NL All-Stars, but this batch was for the umpires, according to Bergman.
Continue reading about Photo of the day »
Posted in Beckett Blog
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on July 15th, 2009 by chemgod
Posted in Bad Wax
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on July 15th, 2009 by Tuff Stuff
In February, inside its 2009 Upper Deck Series One Baseball product, Upper
Deck released a nine-card insert set entitled: “Historic Firsts Predictors.” The
sports card company made nine bold predictions and stated that if any of them came
true during the course of 2009 that it would “do something big.” One of those cards
said the National league would break its 12-year drought and win the game.
Well, something big nearly happened. Upper Deck was ready to put into motion a special
nationwide promotion that would have yielded a free baseball card pack to fans
across the country (one per customer, while supplies last), provided the National
League won last night’s 80th MLB All-Star Game. Unfortunately for collectors
nationwide, the trend continued and the National League All-Stars came up short once
again, falling 4-3, in a well-played, but unspectacular Mid-Summer Classic.
For the Upper Deck crew, things couldn’t have turned out any better. The company received
some free publicity for the promotion, the game was competitive, and ultimately because
of the outcome, they didn’t spend a nickel and come out looking like the heroes in
their efforts to make good on their original promise.
While the promise could’ve cost Upper Deck six figures if the senior circuit would’ve
prevailed, the end result was priceless. They say in baseball that sometimes
the best deals are the ones that were never made. In an apples-oranges kinda way,
the same rule applies here. Hopefully the other manufacturers will apply this same
model to events in the future with the only difference being that they’re forced to
come through and fufill the promotion so collectors can win as well. Kudos to Upper
Deck for stepping up and taking a chance in the first place. Now, if they really
want to come out smelling like a rose, they’ll take half the packs they had earmarked
to distribute and give them away anyway. Just a thought.
Continue reading about Not So Deep Thoughts: Close call for Upper Deck, but the right one »
Posted in 7th Inning Stretch
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on July 15th, 2009 by Mario A.
Upper Deck Icons baseball has been live for days but thanks to A & G Mania, has been completely anonymous. It’s really too bad because once you get past the really bad idea of unsigned manufactured patches of non-sports figures, you are looking at a very well-designed product.
Dave & Adam’s is selling boxes for just [...]
Continue reading about Has anyone seen my Icons? »
Posted in Wax Heaven
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on July 15th, 2009 by JT
I only recently learned about the 2004 Topps Retired set. I love the concept, and starting tomorrow you’ll see my own version of a 2009 Topps Retired set featuring Reds. But I decided to look up 2004 Topps Retired on eBay and see what I missed back then in those non-collecting days. Of course, my [...]
Continue reading about Am I just cheap, or is this seller crazy? »
Posted in Writers Journey
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on July 15th, 2009 by Dan
Posted in OMGAutos
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on July 15th, 2009 by chemgod
Down in the Gulf Coast League, something interesting is happening with the Pittsburgh Pirates GCL team. They now have two relievers who are the first Indian born players to ever play professional baseball. So how did they get there? They won a game show in India!
The show began in November 2007 looking for cricket players [...]
Continue reading about Million Dollar Arms »
Posted in Bad Wax
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on July 15th, 2009 by White Sox Cards
Posted in A Pack A Day
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