Rookie Cards of Bugs

I amuse myself sometimes.

"On Brand" Story from Childhood

A Topps baseball card had a batting average that was inconsistent with a player's hit and at-bat totals, so I typed (with a typewriter) and snail-mailed a letter to Topps to inform them that their calculation, their data, or both were wrong. I also asked them what the error was. https://t.co/u3KPrC5YSq

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) February 23, 2019

(They answered me. Apparently, the batting average was correct, but the data were entered incorrectly.)

Topps Baseball Cards of Will Ferrell

In commemoration of Will Ferrell's Spring Training stunt, Topps now has issued Will Farrell baseball cards using designs from years gone by (and one from 2015 for Ferrell's last hurrah with the Dodgers).

RIP Sy Berger (1923–2014)

Baseball card pioneer Sy Berger, who is credited as the co-designer of the 1952 Topps baseball cards, died today.

RIP Earl Weaver (1930-2013)

Earl Weaver, long-time cantankerous (and Hall-of-Fame) manager of the Baltimore Orioles, died while on an Orioles-associated cruise.

One thing worth mentioning is that the canonical manager-umpire arguments that one sees in commercials and the like often has a manager modeled after Earl Weaver (e.g., turning the cap backwards and going face-to-face with the umpire).

I sometimes have a soft spot for cantankerous people, by the way. :)

Discussion of Science Books and Other Sources of Inspiration on 'Quantum Frontiers'

John Preskill has written a blog entry on Quantum Frontiers about books and other sources of scientific inspiration from when we were kids. Thus far, three of us have brought up baseball cards as part of such inspiration.

Update (1/09/13): In case you have not peen following the comments on the IQIM blog post above, let me urge you to read what various people have had to say about what popular science books (and other things) got them interested in science when they were kids. I think it's really cool to read what a lot of people are writing about that.

Smile on a Baseball Card and Live Longer (and maybe also Prosper More)

One often hears comments that people who smile more live longer, which has to do with the positive emotions. But how to test this? Well, how about with baseball cards. Now that's pretty damn cool!

And in other news, I have a book deal. And I'm going to try to be concise when I write it. Stay tuned. (Or ask me, but I have to actually write the book first...)

Another Piece of my Childhood is Gone

OK, so this apparently happened in November 2007, but I only just found out. Namely, Tony Silver (Beverly High class of 1979), the owner of the Beverly Hills Baseball Card Shop died in November 2007. (I read about this in the obituaries in the 2009 Beverly Hills High Alumni Highlights.) As a child, I went to that store regularly, and even after I left home, I would still go there on occasion during breaks from school when I was back home. I didn't know the guy well or anything, but I feel bummed out after reading this because of the fact that feels like a significant piece of my childhood just left. (OK, admittedly my feelings are rather selfish in nature in this case.) Although I moved quite far away, this is a 'people in your neighborhood' sort of thing.

I have actually been in the mood to open some packs of baseball cards for quite a while. I do have a number of unopened packs in my parents' house, but one of the things I'd like really like to do when I am home this winter is to head over to the Beverly Hills Baseball Card Shop and buy some baseball cards---this includes some new ones, but I think I'd like to splurge a bit and buy some packs from the 70s or earlier.

The Joy of Opening a Pack of Baseball Cards

Josh Wilker describes the joyful process of opening a pack of baseball cards. The way he describes it isn't exactly the way I would do things, but he's exactly right that there is a certain mystical feeling in opening a new pack of baseball cards and seeing what players are inside. (Hope springs eternal.) I still have some unopened packs of baseball cards at home (including some that are old enough to have sticks of gum in them) and if I were home, I could always go to the Beverly Hills Baseball Card Shop and buy some. And Wilker's article really makes me want to go and open up some packs of baseball cards. When I am back home in the winter, I am so going to partake.

Mistaken Identities on Cardboard

Here are some mistaken identities that have been immortalized on baseball cards, as compiled by the blog Home Run Derby. A couple of these are absolutely awesome.

(Tip of the cap to Rob Neyer.)

Omar Vizquel sets record for most Major League games at shortstop

Omar Vizquel passed Luis Aparicio today to set the Major League record for most games at shortstop. You can see Vizquel's career statistics on this webpage.

I remember when I bought a ton of packs of 1989 Upper Deck baseball cards that included cards from the extended set. This particular baseball card set wasn't known for being well-collated, and there were in fact significant, noticeable correlations. In one box of 36 packs (which had about 15 cards each, with something like 2-3 cards from the 100-card extended part of the set), I got over 20 rookie cards of Omar Vizquel. I was really annoyed at the time because there were a lot more interesting cards in the set, and here I was getting a shitload of cards of a defensive whiz who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. Vizquel's card right now is either the most valuable card of the set (the extended part; it's not even close to true for the entire set, given that the base set contained rookie cards of Ken Griffey Jr., Craig Biggio, and several other luminaries) or close to it. He's certainly had the best career of any of the players whose rookie cards appeared in the extended set. (The set also included cards of people who changed teams.) I never would have called this one back in the day.

Vizquel will get some Hall of Fame votes, though I don't think he quite deserves it. He has a chance of getting in, so let's see what happens.

In other news, I am again having trouble sleeping. Damned jet lag. I won't get up at 2:30 pm again tomorrow, however, as I have set my alarm so that I can actually make my morning meeting. My body hasn't been in the correct time zone in close to two weeks. Maybe in a few days?

How to write about baseball cards

Courtesy Rob Neyer's blog, here is a link to a Cardboard Gods post about how to write about baseball cards. Simply priceless.