the record falls...

 Braves rookie pitcher Craig Kimbrel has just broken the all time Major League record for saves by a rookie in a season by pitching his 41st save. And it's not even September yet.

 Craig has pitched 65 2/3 innings, with 107 strikeouts and only 25 walks. He hasn't allowed a run in the last 33 2/3 innings.
And he has struck out at least 2 batters in each of the last 8 innings pitched.

People are talking about Fabulous Freddie Freeman as Rookie of the Year. Sorry Freddie. Craig has this one locked up tight. No question. No arguments. End of discussion.

Vintage Troll.... Part Deux.

These are the other vintage cards that Troll sent over, but they just didn't fit with the 1965 theme of the last post. Again, we'll play the Got 'em,  Need 'em game.

we'll start off with a beauty...

 I wonder if Spahn ever threw a knuckleball as part of his repertoire? Anyone know? And how would you like to just sit back and listen to that conversation going on right there between those three pitchers... Awesome.
Need 'em!!!

 Braves team card. 1963 edition. Good luck identifying all of those blurry faces. That may be Eddie Gaedel on the far left in the tux.
Need 'em!!

 1961 Chuck Dressen - Manager.  Chuck managed the Braves in '60 and '61 going 159-124
Chuck passed away part way through the 1966 season at the age of 67.
Got 'em... but upgrade!!!

 1963 Ty Cline - I babbled about Ty in the last post... This card came two years earlier. And he is still pictured in his Indians uniform, whom he played with in 1962.
Need em!!!!

Ahh... my buddy Carlton the doorman. (Those of you who got that obscure reference are OLD!) We're looking at his rookie card here. I wonder how I figured that out without three oversized logos, a special insert subset, and it being short printed at the back end of the set? We just did people. And it worked fine, thank you very much.
Carl pitched 8 years in the bigs, the first 5 with the Braves, before retiring as a Met at the end of the '65 season. He passed away in 2009 at the age of 78.
Need 'em!!!

Thanks again Troll... up next... Vintage Junkie.

Vintage Troll...

I'll be wrapping up the massive trade package posts from Collective Troll and Cardboard Junkie in the next day or so.... here we have a small stack of 1965 Topps from my bud the Troll.

Let's play a little game of Need 'em, Got 'em....

Ty Cline had just finished his first year with Milwaukee. 101 games, 1 HR 13 RBI and a .302 avg

Got 'em.

 Sandy "Iron Pony" Alomar played 15 seasons in the majors, hitting 13 HR 282 RBI's and batting .245

 Johnny Braun appeared in one game as a reliever in 1964. He pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk, while striking out one.
He never appeared in the bigs again.
Need 'em!

 Mean Gene Oliver played from 1959 to 1969. Five years with the Braves.
Got 'em.

 Frank Lary was traded to the Braves halfway through the '64 season. He only appeared in five games for Milwaukee before being sold back to the Mets for the '65 season. After being traded to the White Sox, he retired at the end of the season. But here's why he is kick ass. He has three nicknames, "Mule", which is way cool. "Taters". I bet there's a story or two there... but the best is "The Yankee Killer". YEEAAHHH!!!
Apparently he had some pretty great years with Detroit.
Got 'em.

 Bob Sadowski pitched four seasons in the majors. He had two brothers play in the bigs (Ed and Ted) as well as a nephew (Jim)
Need 'em!!!

 Mike De La Hoz played nine years for Cleveland and the Braves. He hit 25 HR and 115 RBI, batting .251 Times were different then.
Got 'em.

 Dan Osinski is pictured wearing an Angels jersey. He only played the one year in Milwaukee before being traded with Bob Sadowski to Boston. Dan played for six teams in 8 years.
Got 'em.

 Frank Bolling played 12 years split evenly between the Tigers and Braves. He hit 106 HR and 556 RBIs
Got 'em.

Denver LeMaster was coming off a 17-11 season in 1964. He played six years for the Braves before being traded to Houston. He finished his career with the Expos in 1972.
Got 'em, but this is an upgrade!

Thanks again troll... it was fun sorting them into my team set binder, but even more fun learning about each player.

What Really Grinds My Gears...

 I've ranted on this topic before. Twice actually. Over a year ago... maybe two now that I think of it. But you see, nothing has changed. In fact, it's gotten worse. Why do idiot commisioners insist on wearing rose coloured glasses, and eating scented pellets so their crap don't stink when it's obvious that there are serious problems in their sport?
In case you're still wondering what the hell Canuck is blathering about now, I'm speaking of Bud Selig and the Florida Marlins.
In their game against Cincinnati yesterday, there were 347 fans in attendance. That's not a typo. Three hundred and fourty seven.

 Apparently the Marlins closed down the top two decks earlier this season.

 My local Calgary Vipers get a bigger turnout than this. Foul balls for everyone!!!

Sweet jesus Bud, wake up and smell the contraction. The game will be better for it. The quality of play will increase. And the fans will be happier.
Oh wait, none of that matters to you does it?

Good things come from Michigan.

I know. I'm as shocked as you are. Who knew that anything good could still come outta Michigan. But apparently things can, and do. Case in point. These cards from everyone's favourite Sewing Machine tycoon.

Awhile back I sent him a super duper elite short print from '09 Goodwin of Roy Halladay along with some other stuff he collected. I guess the Halladay is uber rare and I could have retired if I had only kept it awhile longer. But, a fellow set collector needed it for his set, a set which I am not collecting, so the card must be passed along. It is the law of set collectors.

In return, I received some cards from this year's Goodwin and Ginter. Now that would be a great set hey? Goodwin and Ginter. It sure would confuse the hell out of the purists.

Moving on.... I have a new Mad Dog for my pc...

 a rather odd picture of Bobby Orr, appropriately numbered #4. It appears as though Bobby has a towel around his neck while wearing an argyle knitted sweater.

 Penguin superstar Evgeni Malkin dressed in an outfit like my mom used to make me wear when I was five.

 Mr SuperBowl Troy Aikman.

 and the man who single handidly ruined not one, but two NHL franchises. Although he did win the Cup with one....

 B-Mac!!!

 and a Brandon Beachy rookie. I read an article on one of the other card blogs that said Brandon's in the running for Rookie of the Year. Maybe, but he's only the third best rookie on the Braves this year.... so I wouldn't hold out hope.

SMG also sent one other card, but I'm saving it for a post tomorrow. Hopefully. Maybe the day after. It sure doesn't look like I can post it tonight.

Thanks for the cards Larry!!! And no Daunte Culpepper.

I'm here to help you... the Fall edition.

Back in the Spring, I posted a handy dandy flow chart designed to help you choose who to root for this current baseball season. Find it HERE. Many of you found it uber useful, so I scoured the globe trying to find ways to help you now that it is FOOTBALL SEASON!!!!!!!! (click on the pic to enlarge)

Why yes, I am a Dallas fan, why do you ask?

Local Freebies...

 When I was at my local card shop the other day buying packs, the owner handed me two cards from under the desk.
A 2011 Bowman Gold Fabulous Freddie Freeman and a 2011 Bowman Platinum J-Hey.

I'm ashamed to say I didn't ask if it was the shop's donation, or another customer leaving me cards. Either way, I'm very grateful.
Another two great cards to the collection.

I love that new Braves smell....

 this seems like part 27 of the massive trade/gift packages from dayf and the Troll.... probably 3 more posts after this one. And as per dayf's request, the last two posts will be the vintage.  I got a whole swack of new Braves. This is great, because other than sample packs, I haven't bought any new baseball this year or last. My favourite Troll sent me my first Ginter Brave. Fabulous Freddie Freeman. He also sent my boy Adam.

 Then troll sent a bunch of 2011 Topps Braves... or former Braves. Dudes in Braves uniforms. How's that?

 Jordan Schafer who is now Astro Boy. And Brandon Beachy. Another one of his rookie cards.

 and a great shot of Jonny Venters. I like this because it shows his left arm attached to his body. After Fredi pitches him in a few more games.... it may not be quite so attached.

 The whole gang! Celebrating a Sunday home win! In one of their four regular uniforms! Remember when teams only had two?

 Chipper! Sliding into... second?

 how many horizontal cards did Topps do in this set??? My main question is, I wonder if it's Rick Ankiel safe at third? Or Brian Snitker? Does this count as two runners on one base?

 And finally Troll sent me Tim Hudson. He must really have liked this card because....

 he sent me two. I hope he doesn't need one of these for his set.

 Dayf, knowing that Troll was taking care of Topps flagship, sent me Braves from other sets.

First up, some Heritage.

 Floating Heads!!!

 Chippah!!!

 Derek Lowe asking the photographer if he could have his hat back yet?

 J - Hey smiling. Nice trophy Jason!

 Dan Uggla showing off some palm trees and some light poles. Too bad there wasn't some cars in the background too...

 My boy Adam!!! Now I just need A&G, Gypsy Queen, Lineage... I think.
Speaking of Gypsy Queen...

 Tommy Boy!

 a mini Derek Lowe

 and J- Hey. He's everywhere!!!

 A tiny Prado from Topps... are there mini's in every set now?

 and some Bowman's of the next generation.

Mr Hoover.

 Mr Teheran

 and Mr Delgado. Randall pitches his second game tomorrow night against the Giants.

Thanks guys!!!

Today's trivia question. If you watched the Braves game tonight, it'll be easy. Since Tim Hudson made his major league debut in June of 1999, only one pitcher has more wins than Tim's 177 wins. This pitcher has 179 wins. Who is he?