Italy Fails To Qualify for 2018 World Cup

with a draw today versus Sweden, Italy has failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since 1958.

That is all.

Anyone else feeling old today?

Normally, I don't feel my age. I'm not old. But I'm no teenager either. Today though, I have to admit that I feel a little old.

You see, today is Heather Thomas' 60th birthday.

This is Heather.
(remember Fall Guy?)

Now, pretty much every male within 5-6 years either side of my age had this poster on their bedroom wall growing up.

Heck, I would still have it if I wasn't married. (Love you honey!)

But yeah.... Heather, everyone's dream girl, is now 60.

It seems like only last summer I tacked that poster up on my wall.

Remember kids, not too long ago, Grandma was smokin' hot!

2017 Bowman Platinum Baseball - Canadian Edition

Awhile back, in true Topps fashion, they declared that 2017 Bowman Platinum would be a WalMart exclusive product.
No hobby shops.
No sales to Canada.

Epic fail.

I guess Topps knows there are no baseball fans North of the 49th parallel, let alone any Dodger fans looking for Bellanger rookies. Yes, Bowman Platinum is the first product to feature a true Bellanger RC.

I love exclusives, don't you?

Anyways, I had a talk with the elderly lady that stocks up our local WalMart about this very thing. She wouldn't tell me who she worked for..... but she did say that she didn't remember seeing any baseball, and that she didn't realize that people were actually looking for it.

ugh.

That explains why the card section is normally 90% Pokémon and 10% hockey.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and voila! There were six packs of these beauties on a peg in the middle of an explosion of Pikachu something or other.....

One came home with me. Only one because there was no price tag and the nearest three scanning stations were all broken. Gotta love WalMart.

One Exclusive Prospect Card per pack!!!!


I have to say that the quality of the cards has decreased over the last year or so. I guess a lot like every other brand of Topps cards.

 Is Reynaldo my exclusive prospect?

 Or maybe Alex?

KIEBOOM!!!!! Heh, heh....

I haven't heard of most of these guys...

This is a Rookie Radar insert. Is this my exclusive?

A Brave!!!!!!!!! And a blue parallel Brave to boot.
I wish I knew who he was.

and finally, an autograph of Andy Ibanez.

Apparently, Andy is Texas' #2 ranked prospect and one of the top infielders in the minor leagues. He currently plays for the Frisco RoughRiders of the Texas League.

So now you know.

Over all I'd give 2017 Platinum a 3/5

Cheap card stock, bleh design, and the shiny just isn't there anymore.

What say you?

Two sport champion, Gene Conley, dead at 86.

When you think of two sport super stars in Atlanta..... yeah, the mind tends to wander over to dual personality known as Neon and Prime Time.

And rightfully so. Who can forget the media coverage of Deion leaving one sports venue after a game, sprinting to a waiting helicopter to be carried off to another stadium and the start of another game.
Deion managed a Super Bowl win with Dallas and the 49ers, but lost in his only World Series appearance with the Braves. He would've been the third athlete to capture championships in two of the four major sports.


Meet the second athlete to have accomplished that feat. Gene Conley.

Gene played baseball as a pitcher from 1952 until 1963.

 He pitched in three All Star games, 1954, 1959 and was the winning pitcher in 1955. He won the World Series with Milwaukee in 1957.

Gene played for the Phillies and Red Sox late in his baseball career, but we don't care about that. These fabulous Braves cards are from my own personal collection. Jealous?

Gene also played pro basketball as a center for the Boston Celtics.

(I don't have any of his basketball cards.... don't know if he even has any...)

He played the bouncy ball in 1952/53 and then from 1957 to 1964. He won NBA Championships in 1958, 59, 60.
Yeah. He played both sports at the same time. Awesome.


As immortalized on the back of his '56 Topps card... Gene stood 6'8"

Gene is the only athlete to play on three professional sports teams from the same city.
Boston Braves
Boston Red Sox
Boston Celtics

Gene was also the last living player to have played for both the Boston Braves and the Boston Red Sox.



Gene Conley 10.11.1930 - 04.07.2017