Blog Bat-Around: Alphabet Title Challenge

Nachos Grande created the latest Blog Bat-Around in the form of the Alphabet Challenge where you take the letters of your blog title and match each to a player you like.  He allowed the flexibility to choose first or last names, which helps to prevent it devolving into "Player I've heard of that starts with Q or Z."  Here are my picks.  Some alternate sport choices are also present, especially when they outrank the baseball guy.

 

My number one baseball player collection guy.  This is easy so far.

Honorable mention - Sean Taylor.

 

Priest Holmes, my only real foray into supercollecting.  Two fantasy championships from him made me a fan.  First two letters - my two most favorite guys in each sport.  This is going well.

Honorable mention - Braden Holtby, goalie for the Washington Capitals (for his first few years).

 

 

Going for the first name this time.  The older era guys are just more revered.  I didn't actually see him play, but just like him better.

More of this letter to come, so no Honorable Mentions yet.

 

 

Another vintage favorite...

   

O is a tough one, but I've got one guy in my PCs. 

Honorable Mention - Alex Ovechkin

 

Sparky is one of those distinct character guys.  I really have no opinion on whether I prefer his Philly days or with the Yankees.

 

For the second L, I'm going a little off the beaten path.  Laich was a longtime member of the Capitals team with Ovechkin, Backstrom, & co.  He was a significant name and fan favorite, but the real reason I put him here is that for a while he was married to this gal:

Unfortunately, they divorced last year.  She decided she wanted too much freedom and couldn't be married, had to explore her sexuality, etc..  Such a shame.

 

I was a fan of the scrappy shortstop when the Cardinals were making their championship run in the mid- to late 2000's. 

  

Could have gone several directions here, but lately I'm into players that jumped teams a lot.  Clayton is a PC just for that reason.  He has been joined by Edwin Jackson, who is the current record holder for playing for the most franchises.  (Fun fact - all three of my PC's with 'J' names are Jacksons - Bo, Edwin, and Grant.)

Honorable Mentions - Cecil Cooper, Cesar Cedeno.

 

Tenace's tenure with the Swingin' A's of the mid-70's has been well documented in cards the last couple years, especially with Heritage and Archives.  He's got a ton of coach cards with the Toronto organization that I've only scratched the surface in collecting so far.

Honorable Mention - Joe Torre.

 

   

Ivan DeJesus is probably better known with the Cubs, but I just remember him on TV at some point.  Plus, he shares the same birthday as me - January 9.

 
I don't know another player that I associate more with one card design than Vida Blue and 1971 Topps.  There must be five or six images inside that black frame from different products over the years.

 

 

Yeah, I know it's pretty blasphemous to show Dewey in something other than his Bahsten uni, but I like the Orioles.  Not sure if I watched a lot of him while he was there....

 

 

Normally, I would go with a PC guy here, and I have a lot of choices - Mike Mussina, Bake McBride, or Jim Marshall (football), but this guy is one of the bright spots on the Washington Commanders and I still watch football (of any pro kind these days) and honestly not much else.  If the team finally sells, it will mark the beginning of a fresh start that we've needed since 1999.  Any improvement will be a milestone.  Scary Terry should be instrumental in that.

 

 

I is another tough one for names.  After DeJesus, Arturs Irbe is the only one that comes to mind with any vague connection to my fandom.  He wasn't on my favorite teams.  He was just notable for that old school helmet.  And I always like the Russian guys.  

These last few letters aren't providing a lot of solid choices.

 

 

Mike Nelms was one of the top kick returners in the whole league back in the 80's.  That's all you really saw him do.  And he did it well.

 

If you've seen the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "The Best That Never Was", you know the story of the running back from Mississippi.

On his way to eclipsing Herschel Walker’s record for the most touchdowns in high school history, Dupree attracted recruiters from schools in every major conference...Dupree took the attention in stride, and committed to Oklahoma. What followed, though, was a forgettable college career littered with conflict, injury and oversized expectations... Eight-time Emmy Award winner Jonathan Hock will examine why this star burned out so young and how he ultimately used football to redeem himself..

Everybody loves potential - especially in card collecting - and this guy had bucketloads of it.

Honorable Mention - Doug DeCinces.

Well, that was a wacky list.  But I love these kinds of posts.  We can make lists out of almost any theme or phrase.  Keep the ideas coming!

A to Z Challenge - Favorite MLB Player

Since I have over 60 baseball player collections, I was really up for Diamond King's A-Z Player Challenge.  There aren't a lot of HoF'ers in my list, so I won't be picking a lot of the "chalk" players - this is a "favorite" list, not a "best" list, right?

I had this list mapped out and just needed to add the card images when I hit Undo and suddenly the whole post was wiped out (and instantly autosaved to prevent any chance of recovery!)  So call this the 2.0 edition.

Actually, I like Wrigley Wax's approach - just the images and blurbs, no titles.

 

And of course, I start off with a big "chalk" pick.  If it was just about cards, I might say Garrett Anderson (I know someone with a PC), or the Alou brothers.  But Hank was a pillar of the game, and such a class act that I can't deny him.

 

Lots of choices here.  In my PC's I have Paul Blair, Dusty Baker, Don Baylor, Nelson Briles, Bob Bailor, Bobby Bonds, Larry Bowa, Ollie Brown and Pookie Bernstine.  Vida's got the unique name and one of the bigger "cool factors".

 

Keeping with the Oakland theme, Campy edges out Cesar Cedeno and Cecil Cooper (even though he's not a double C).  Played all 9 positions and another just cool dude.

This one was tough.  Coulda said my local favorite Doug DeCinces, but I just like Ivan better.  Not even sure why. He's the first of two generations of major leaguers along with Ivan Jr.

Dwight Evans signing at a show.  (I got Livan Hernandez's sig right next to him.) Back when I liked the Red Sox, Evans was a big part of the team. 

 

Many choices here too.  Fisk, Ron Fairly, Jim Fregosi (very diverse cardography), and Joe Ferguson round out my PCs.  But no one is as badass as George Foster.

 

 

I collect Ron Guidry too, but Grich is an Oriole and I got his auto at a National.  (Had to borrow this card for it.)

 

 

 

Livan is on of my favorite players, really just because he has an interesting story, and isn't a big flashy star, but just did this thing consistently for years.  Luckily he stayed away from the McDonalds enough to have a good career.

 

 

Monte Irvin is another one of those guys that I can't recite their stats or which teams they were on, but just seem like cool dudes and good players - the kind I tend to make player collections out of, instead of the huge superstars.

 

 

 

Even just with guys named Jackson, there are several good calls here, but even though I didn't see a lot of him live, I like Bo best.

 

This one's from my association with his nephew in real life.

 

 

Sparky Lyle is my pick over some worthy Tigers LeFlore and Lolich.  His minor league manager cards are really neat.  Just have to find more of them.

 

Brian Matusz is another quirky PC.  When he was with the local minor league Frederick Keys, he lived at the property my best friend managed.  I saw his debut at Comerica Park against the Tigers.

You would think N wouldn't be one of the letters that didn't have many choices, but it was one of the hardest for me to come up with viable candidates.  Newk was a clear winner.

 

Claude Osteen is an unusual pick, but he was the nicest guy when I met him at a Chantilly show, and he signed just the same even though he was getting to an advanced age.

Jim Palmer is one of my few HOF superstar PCs.  But he's one of the big Oriole greats and I've met him a couple times.  There are guys I like a bit better, but Palmer is still contributing to the game as a quality broadcaster (even though the team isn't).

 

 

Had to go with Jamie Quirk.  Was never a fan of Quisenberry, even though he sorta pioneered the crazy sidearm technique.  And look at all that blue!

Gotta stick with the Oriole greats even over my card PCs. 

 

 

Manny Sanguillen is one of the best autograph guests ever.  And the nicest guy, even though he's showing his badass side here.

 

 

 

Luis Tiant is my #1 PC.  Such a great family man and fun player and cool dude.  What else ya want?  Though when I met him at a show, he seemed like he wasn't having a good day.

 

 

How can you not go with Uecker?  Just for the entertainment value alone.

 

Fernandomania?  Yep, I remember.

 

Wieters over Winfield.  Hey, he played for both my local teams!  I know, Williams, Wagner, etc. but this is favorites, not famous.

This is one of the first cards I ever owned.  Plus I know a guy that collects him exclusively, (and Mike).  And Steve Yeager just isn't Yaz.

 

 

Ryan Zimmerman is the face of the Nationals for their whole existence.  And he won a championship with them.  'Nuff said.