Zimmermann joins the Force

It seems Zimmermann joined the restricted club of the no-hitters pitchers.

Congrats my boy!

Then I get this e-mail from Topps.

Getting these as cards in next year as mini-insert-set is one thing but posters!? And by that price?

There's a lot of Zimmermann photos on the internet that I can get as poster by soooooooooooooo less money Topps...

But then again congratulations to one more pitcher who joined the Force.

Bunt or something in the middle?

Devon White is preparing a...delicate bunt.

Matt Nokes I can't get what he's doing.

Was in the middle of the swing!? Was going from a swing to a bunt!?

Maybe it was just a ball.

Football Fantasy

I don't have any football card.

But every year I play fantasy on NFL site.

Usually I have my ups and downs but this year I only have downs.

Not watching the games helps a bit of not knowing that well what's going on.

Even if I think my team is not *that* bad...

• QB Drew Brees
• RB Fred Jackson
• RB Pierre Thomas
• WR Golden Tate
• WR Damaris Johnson
• TE Andrew Quarless
• RB Steven Jackson
• QB Chad Henne
• RB Shonn Greene
• WR Travis Benjamin
• WR Mike Evans
• WR Ricardo Lockette
• WR Steve Smith
• TE Jason Witten
• K Justin Tucker
• K Shayne Graham
• DEF New Orleans Saints

It just seem that my bench always play better than lineup. And when I change them it goes just the same.

Ohhhh well...

Someone is whispering in your ear

Well...it seems.

50 Cities of the World #1 London

And we are back to 50 fabulous cities of the world!

As Commish said in the comment of my previous post, the #1 card is London.

Since these cards are reproductions from the originals from 1900 you'll notice that most cities look just like a true XIX/XX city.

But there are some icons that were present then and still are now.

Like the Tower Bridge.

When I think of London I always picture this bridge, and the double deck buses, and the palaces.

Ahhhhhh and nowadays the giant wheel, I think they call it the Eye.

And I was almost forgetting...Jack the Ripper!

I think London has around what...2000 years!? So I understand a bit of the 'the world rounds on my belly button' feel British people have about their country and specifically about their capital.

And as stated in the back, they were, back then and still now, a magnificent center of commercial exchanges. Maybe not at 'world' level but more of 'europe' level nowadays.

But I tend to see London similar to Lisbon. They are both country capitals planted right at the river. We have more sun that's for sure!

London is cosmopolitan but you need a lot of money to live there. But as the city center is cool the suburbs are quite nice too. And if you leave there you have the right excuse to spend some time riding the train through those beautiful views and then use the mythic Underground.

Ahhhhhhhhh and don't forget to find the 9 3/4 platform.




For more info on London check the wiki page.



PS: An other thing I like from London is Arsenal. Go Gunners!

Junior and master of how to pitch with the leg

The title may not make sense.

But it's all about the move some pitchers do with the leg when preparing the pitch.

Mike Witt on top rises his leg up to the middle.

I can imagine as an appropriate high and still be comfortable.

But then you have Randy Johnson who seems to be trying to put his leg around his neck!

That's gymnastic style!

Paul Molitor - Woman Perspective Post (Vintage Edition) II

I really need to start updating my Woman Perspective section.

Lets start revisiting one of the best, the one and only, Paul Molitor!

This time I bring you an example of a player that no matter the card he always look good!

Donruss Diamond Kings cards are well known and some of them can be a bit...well...strange to say the least.

But Paul Molitor can pull it just wonderfully!

I know he looks a bit chubby but a cute chubby like those teddy bears.

So based on this DK card I can picture how a Paul Molitor teddy bear would look like and I love it.

50 Cities of the World #19 Lisbon

I just bought two new non-sport cards collections.

If A&G inserts don't come to me I find a way of having something similar.

So, with all these beautiful cards that now I have I'm starting a new topic in the blog. I hope to keep these posts coming as often as I can because both collections have 50 cards each!

One of the collections is 'Cities of the World' and I'm starting with card #19 because it's my city and Portugal capital Lisboa (Lisbon).

The cards are minis and are reprints from the original ones.

But just look at that beauty...who cares if they are reprints or not!?

They are like little precious paintings in my hand.

In the 'painting' you can see an top view of downtown buildings and Praça do Comércio (Commerce Square) also known as Terreiro do Paço (Palace Square) because it was where the markets were and also has a huge palace making a U shape all around the square.

This was probable the most affected zone in the capital when we suffered the 1755 earthquake that created a huge tsunami that almost cleared the capital from the map.

After the earthquake, the square was completely rebuilt.

Well...who told us to have our feet right on the Tagus River?

When turning the card on the back we have the usual little trivia about the city as well the cigarettes logo.

Thank goodness we no longer have to buy cigars to get this precious.

As you can see, we are well known because of the terrible earthquake. We might be counting the days until something like that happens again.

But as we are known for the massive destruction we suffered we are also known for the great recovery!



On next post I'll start from card #1. Can you guess which city it might be!?


You all can check a bit more about Lisbon in the wiki page.

When you turn the card and you see a big mess

I bought my first ever Gypsy Queen box!

Not many cards because there are only 8 packs (7 + 1...Topps people like to do math).

Which means I'll get the announced 48 cards if I get 6 per pack meaning no hit or it would make me get less cards.

I didn't get any hit if you are wondering.

But since I'm happy with...well...simply getting cards I don't mind not getting autos or relic cards.

And since I got some players I collect and a few inserts and some of them are combos, like this Jeter card (insert + great moment/photo + Jeter + Yankees) I was happy with my luck.

And look! I even got this beauty numbered blue framed Robinson!

My happiness was right there! Way up high!...

...

Until I turned the card and saw it was damaged.

The one and only...was damaged!

 The box was wrapped all right and the packs were all good.

But *the* card was damaged...

I suppose it was damaged while being inserted in the pack tracking back to Topps auto-insert-cards-machine.

It's a shame but I think I'll treasure it even more.

Damaged cards deserve all our love and even more than the mint cards.


All in all...It was a good first approach at buying GQ cards. The couple of them I possessed until now were all from trades. I'm liking the set a bit more. Still prefer A&G but GQ might come right at 2nd place.

Hunter Pence - What a batting style!

Post by MLB.

I just saw this beauty on facebook.

Way to go my little Hunter!

US Civil War cards

What to offer as birthday gift to someone that already has everything (yes...there is that time at ones life...)?

Cards!

So last year I got a collection of cards about the US Civil War to offer to my Dad on his birthday.

It was something he was not quite expecting so it was a terrific surprise.

In a good way!

I selected two collections of 20 cards each.

One collection is about the uniforms used by both the North and South armies.

The top picture is the 10 uniforms cards for North. The next picture is the back of one of the cards.

You can see the collections' name and card number.

Then a lot of info. I like these backs!

You have to which regiment the uniform belongs to and the year and lots of trivia info.

Next is the same but for the South.

I got to say I like both sides uniforms but North seems to win in 'modernity'.

The second collection is all about the leaders. Those whose name the history is made of.

But it's in fact more of a combo because the cards are about the leaders but also about other things like arms and...tents.

Sometimes there is the need to open the collection horizons and collecting historical cards is one way to do it.

That's why I like Allen & Ginter's sets so much. I can see one insert set of these cards in A&G. But if Topps are not doing it I'm doing it by myself.

So yeh...these cards are technically my Dad's cards but I can include them in 'my' collection too.

Now I'm going to read and learn a bit more of US Civil War because I got the cards for a year but still have to really look at them.

A Woman Perspective Trade

Returning from a much needed vacations (love natural Vitamin D) and I find a pack from Commishbob .

He was kind enough to think of my hardship for getting some packs to open and besides a bunch of cards he also got me two packs.

And those were not flagship packs but a Heritage rack pack and other for my beloved Allen & Ginter's.

But lets start with the singles Bob got me.

There was this specific mini pack with a note...

Nice joke and also nice cards!

Now I have my own Ba(t)chelor to star in my Woman Perspective collection.

But lets keep going.

And just to start with my moth hang open.

An auto card of Mark Portugal. That's awesome! And even more because he's playing for Houston.

It's now in the spotlight of my relic/auto binder.

And then my moth still hang even more.

That's my beloved Molitor!

Isn't he handsome!?

'Win a Pro Player For a Day!?'

Like can I still *win* Molitor!?

And not stopping to amaze me is this beauty.

Hope you have a dup Bob!

We are not so much of a fishing country anymore (I would blame UE for that but it's all other topic) but for sure it still can characterize a bit of what we are.

But I have to say that the words on the back, trying to teach a bit of Portuguese...they are more Spanish than other thing.

But they are close enough ;)

And 'Friend' is more 'Amigo'. The translation stated is more for 'Companion' or 'Mate'.

Unfortunately the last years we kind of change the 'exporting' product. Now we export people. High qualified people.

That's what crisis brought to us...

But lets keep going in a better tone.

Gypsy Queen is one of those sets that people usually have lots to say about.

I know there were some years that the photos were a bit weird. But looking at this handsome Sale card I can almost think it's 3D! Like those UFucus modes the new smartphones have.

It's like he's truly alive and ready to throw the ball.

Next is time for...SOME DUST!

Kenny Lofton is like taking a bath in dust people!

And Jeff Treadway looks like he's practicing Long Jump!

I hope Eric Anthony's foot was alright after that play.

And then Bob surprised me with some vintage cards.

And I must say they are all going to enter my Woman Perspective binder too!

Singleton and Palmer smiles are one of a kind in the game.

Even if Singleton reminds me of work.

I think this is my first Pete Rose card. And the Schmidt card is my first none-re-print-card of him.

After all these surprises lets check both packs.

First I opened the A&G's.

I got a mini Colon!

Yep...that was kind of a joke...He's one of the not-so-mini in the game.

For what I understand this year the mini backs only have the A&G's logo with no information.

That's ok with me because the usual info is not quite readable...

I got a bit of everything in this pack! Me truly happy!

I got an horizontal card of mister Strasburg and an insert card of Natural Wonders.
That's one bloody big stalagmites example! Quite nice.

I got a current player which I don't have much to say about...But then I got two vintage players.

Everytime I see a Brewers logo I'm expecting to see my Molitor but Yount is alright.

But then, the baseball cards gods were on my side and not only I got a Yankee (I don't get a lot of them...) but it's none less than mister Babe Ruth.

Now on Heritage rack pack.

I must say the cards I got were not the worst cases of photoshop by Topps.

Matt Dominguez got to be the less natural of all because he doesn't seem to have a chin.

Look! I got an insert 1st Draft of Johnny Bench! Hope he was not always on bench...

Chris Tillman is giving the daring look...Me like it!

Also got a some Rookie Stars that probably in a few years I'll be making a post trying to understand if they were truly Rookie Stars.

Still trying to get to were Jim Adduci is looking at. (I'm that bad...)

The second part of the pack unveils the promised blue border card which is none less than Buster Posey.

And I got one Dustin Ackley to add to my players collection.

Notice John Jaso magazine-look. I think Topps has some woman working for them.

I finish with an other Rookie Star. I always notice that there are no Yankees rookies in these cards. Well...it seems we always go for the old ones.

Also a common insert in other Heritage years is the Then & Now. Again I get Colon but Juan Marichal is an asset that makes it a good looking card.





Again I must thank Bob's kindness and thank for all the great cards and packs. It was pure joy opening them and see the cards.