Merry Christmas Eve!

 It’s Christmas Eve, we’ll it’s Christmas Eve morning anyways. I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas and say thanks to a few bloggers that sent me some cards recently.

First up are these three awesome O-Pee-Chee packs from Angus over at Dawg Day Cards. Angus saw my collection of Topps pack wrappers that I am working on and figured I could use these O-Pee-Chee packs/wrappers. He couldn’t be more right! These are awesome! Living in Arizona I don’t come across O-Pee-Chee cards very often, let alone packs! I think these are the first O-Pee-Chee packs I have ever seen in person. Thank you Angus!

Next up is this 1991 Fleer white border mod parallel of Nolan Ryan. 

Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown sent this really sweet solar modified 1991 Fleer Nolan Ryan card to me. I had read Gavin’s post about these cards the night before he arrived and so I was super excited when I saw the envelope in the mailbox from him.

It arrived with the holiday insert, which is great in and of itself! Gavin is super creative!

I am one of just four know individuals in existence who actually like the 1991 Fleer design, but I really dig the white border mod parallel as well. Thanks Gavin!

And a bubble mailer from Greg at Night Owl Cards showed up in my mailbox the same day as the envelope from Gavin. Greg sent me some recent D-Backs cards, which are always much appreciated! Thanks Greg!

Hope everyone out there has a very Merry Christmas and a great 2023!

I had no idea!

Johnny Bench recently celebrated a birthday. He turned 75 years old on December 7th. That means he was born in 1947. 

Do you know who else was born in December 1947? December 26, 1947 to be exact. 

I was made aware of this the other day and it did truly blow my mind. I think it's because I got to see Fisk play for a number of years, while Bench retired when I was just 2 years old. It's just hard for me to fathom them being born the same year, just a few weeks apart.

Even though Fisk retired 10 years after Bench, their career numbers aren't that far off. Bench began his career in 1967 and played continuously through 1983 (17 years). Fisk debuted in 1969, but did not spend any time in the majors in 1970. He would then play continuously from 1971 - 1993. (24 years) Bench played in 2,158 games compared to 2,499 games for Fisk. So even though Fisk played 7 more season than Bench, he had some years where he was limited due to injuries. 

Bench                                        Fisk

.267 career batting average    .269 career batting average

2,048 career hits                      2,356 career hits

389 career home runs              376 career home runs

1,376 career RBI                     1330 career RBI

When you look at the career numbers and take into consideration how difficult the catcher position is, both careers are extremely impressive, but I give the nod to Bench for all the he was able to accomplish in "just" 17 seasons. How about you? Bench or Fisk?