Instead of 2018 Topps...

2018 Topps debuted a couple of weeks ago and I've enjoyed it vicariously through all of your posts. I'm on a strict budget at the moment so I won't be picking up any cards any time soon.

Luckily for me I already have plenty of cards to keep the posts coming and fellow bloggers like P-Town Tom keep sending me cards. Thanks Tom!

I found a small lot of Topps Tek Dan Vogelbach cards in a Facebook group and so I made payment and arranged to have them shipped directly to the biggest Vogelbach fan I know. I wasn't expecting anything in return, but that's not how Tom plays.

Because of the foil the scan does not do this card any justice. It's a 2003 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia Team Tandems card of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling.

In 2002 Johnson and Schilling were a combined 47-12. The became the first teammates in the history of the game to each record more than 300 strikeouts in the same season and the finished 1 and 2 in Cy Young voting for the second straight season, with Johnson winning it.

Between 1992 and 2004, either Randy Johnson or Curt Schilling led their league in strikeouts 11 times.

Johnson and Schilling in 2002 were the last pitchers to record 300+ strikeouts in a season until Clayton Kershaw finished 2015 with 301 k's and Chris Sale accomplished the feat last season with 308 k's.

Check out some of the other cards that Tom sent!

Great card of David Peralta, but I wish his eyes were open.

Three Goldschmidt cards. Two I needed and the Marketside card is great because I'm also trying to complete that set. 

Jake Lamb had a great 2017. Hopefully he will repeat in 2018.

Only 33 MLB players have been born in England and 31 MLB players have been born in Australia. Pretty small numbers. Phil Stockman was born in England and grew up in Australia.  

Thanks again Tom!

D-Backs vs. Pirates 8/3/14 Recap

The Arizona Diamondbacks have a program sponsored by Subway called Kids Take the Field, and before each Sunday home game a child gets to take the field with each Diamondbacks position player for the National Anthem. You pick up an entry form at a Subway restaurant and mail it in. I got a call last week saying that my son had been picked for the game on August 3rd.

They give them a shirt and a ball to have the player sign. Miguel Montero had the day off, so my son got paired up with catcher Tuffy Gosewisch. The Diamondbacks sent me the photo above and I'm so happy they did because it's an awesome photo and we didn't get any photos nearly that good.

Here is the ball he got signed. Tuffy had a good game. He threw out two base runners (well...sort of), hit a single and a double, and scored the winning run in the bottom of the tenth inning.

I got David Peralta to sign a ball for me. I struggled with whether or not to have him sign it. In 2004 he signed with the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher. They released him in 2009. He transitioned to an outfielder and was playing in an Independent League when the D-Backs signed him last year. He was brought up to the majors on June 1st and in 51 games he's batting .313 with 4 homer runs and 22 RBI. 

I'll probably end up turning this into a team ball, but for now I'm happy with it.