Aspirations

A co-worker gave me a factory set of 1991 Classic Best minor league cards a while ago.  It's a 450 card set that comes in a custom box with each block of 100 cards wrapped in cellophane.  This set had sort of a defect in that two of the blocks were of the 200 numbers, so I was missing the 100's.  I put them on the Trading Card database and they've come rolling in.

There are many players who went on to have significant major league careers.  Like these two:

But some of the others who didn't quite make it have similar names to those that did.  Though not all of the successful people made it in Major League Baseball.  

Cristobal Colon only played 14 games for the Texas Rangers.

He could have been Bartolo Colon!

Steve Rolen never made it beyond A+ ball. 

Scott Rolen has been on the HOF ballot.

Fred Russell was "straight outta Compton" but only had a few years at A level.

Bill Russell was a staple for the 70's and 80's Dodgers.

Oscar Munoz pitched ten games for the Twins in 1995, going 2-1.  

If he was Anthony Munoz, he would be a Hall of Fame lineman.

Jeff Jackson played from 1989 to 1998, but didn't go higher than AA.

Everyone knows what Bo did in two sports.

Some guys just weren't meant to be athletes.  Paul here actually appeared in 18 games for the Orioles in '93, with a .213 batting average.

As Harry Caray, he would have had a long career in the broadcast booth.  (Not to mention tributes by Will Ferrell.)

Freddie Davis, Jr. went five seasons in various levels up to AA with a total record of 12-11.

Sammie Davis, Jr. has been called the greatest entertainer in the world.  He started in Vaudeville at age three, was part of the Rat Pack with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and was in show business until his passing at age 64.

Rod Bolton was called up a couple times for the White Sox in '93 and '95, but only amassed a record of 2-8 in 156 innings.

Michael Bolton started as a hard rock singer in 1975, but switched to adult contemporary in the 90's and had nine #1 hits among 24 albums.

Kelly Lifgren was 28-44 from 1988 to 1993 with a 5.13 ERA.

Nils Lofgren (left) has been a musician since the late 60's and is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band as well as Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

Donovan Osborne actually played nine years in the majors, but over a 13 year span.  He did not play in 1994, 2000, 2001, and 2003.   His career ERA is a respectable 4.03 with 558 strikeouts.

But he's not the Prince Of Darkness!

Oh, what could have been!

What's The Story With This Guy?

I finally finished entering all my recent baseball extras into the TCDB.  (Ok, full disclosure, I still have a couple piles of recently processed dupes that I have to sort yet, but the majority is DONE!)

Do you ever notice that the same guy keeps popping up either when you open packs or buy bulk lots or sort out your monster boxes of extra stuff?  (What? doesn't everyone have multiple monster boxes of trade bait? 😀)

While entering my last box - 2017 thru 2021, this guy kept showing up.  Not only on base cards, which wouldn't be anything special, (since a major percentage of my extras are Topps flagship base,) but in parallels, and even a relic.

This is the Database image, but mine is identical.

I looked up the list of all the Story's I have entered, and here it is:

2016 Topps Heritage - Black Borders (High Numbers) #THC-707 SP
2017 Topps #42
2017 Topps Bunt #49
2018 Stadium Club #299
2018 Stadium Club - Black Foil #299
2018 Topps #230
2018 Topps Big League - Gold #46
2018 Topps Holiday #HMW128
2019 Topps Chrome #183
2019 Topps Update - Gold #US44 AS, SN2019
2020 Topps Heritage - Clubhouse Collection Relics (High Number) CCR-TS
2021 Topps Big League - Souvenirs #13
2021 Topps Heritage #600
2023 Topps Big League #249 SP

Two short prints, two black parallels, and an insert.  And a diverse set list as well, but that's pretty easy to do for anyone with decent talent.

I wish Heritage would stick to colored borders instead of shiny.  It makes so much more sense for a vintage tribute product.

OK, these are actually the base and black foil parallel, but of course, foil comes out black on a scanner. 

Gold parallel

Abominable Snowman encounter?

 

 

And the only 2023 cards I have anywhere in my collection come from two packs of Big League that my buddy Stuart sent randomly.  Which year did he get traded / move to the Sawx?  I don't pay attention any more...

 

So anyway, if you're a Story or Rockies fan and need any of these, hit me up.  Trades are active again on TCDB, or email at the link in the upper right.  I've got a lot of other Rockies available as well.

Like Heinz Flavors, The Nice Classic Chevys, And The First Regulation Size Topps Set

Hopefully those hints were enough to tell you that I'm 57 today.

But you know, it's never really about me.  It's about those who are much more attractive and also celebrating today...

Kate Middleton is 42.

 

 

 

And Nina Dobrev is 35.