A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

phillies

Why July 31 is one of the best days of the year!

I love July 31.

And if you are a baseball fan, I’m sure you, too, love July 31.

For those who aren’t baseball fans, July 31 is the trade deadline for players to not have to go through waivers. It’s when teams make their pushes to add players to move forward and go down the stretch toward the playoffs.

It’s been even better the past few years for me as the Phillies have made impact moves nearly every year. From Cliff Lee to Roy Oswalt to Hunter Pence this season, the Phillies make the deadline really fun.

However, it’s also time to watch other teams either load up or go on a selling spree (such as the Astros this year). Though the Phillies got stronger, so did top rivals Atlanta and San Francisco. The Texas Rangers in the AL made two impact moves to make their bullpen one of the best in baseball.

But it’s not just the moves that is exciting — it’s the deadline overall.

This year, with it falling on a Sunday, it was awesome.

I had the MLB Network on the television as they did something like 10 hours of live coverage. Leading into the 4 p.m. deadline, they had insiders and others talking rumors, trades and potential moves.

On the computer, I was watching the Phillies rally to beat Pittsburgh and earn a series sweep. For the record, Pence doubled in the 10th and scored on Raul Ibanez’s double. Awesome.

I was also glued to Twitter and other sports news sites, looking at info all day. Twitter made it that much more fun as following many big sports writers was a lot of fun.

The social media really has taken the deadline to new levels. People are so plugged in and know things extremely quick.

It’s a blast.

And that it was on a weekend made it even better as the majority of games were being played during the deadline.

This is just one of the reasons why I live for baseball. All the football moves that have been happening? Nothing on baseball’s trade deadline. Nothing.

I’ll catch up with football after baseball is over.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

 

Baseball cards and Rapid Robert

In honor of opening day, I thought it would be a good day to share the rest of my stories from the baseball card show I went to last Sunday.

Yes, I know that Thursday was the official Opening Day for baseball, but today is when the Phytin’ Phils open, which, to me, is opening day!

When looking for baseball cards, I’ve come to the conclusion there are basically two types of people — the collector and the investor. A collector can be split off into a couple different versions — one looking for certain players, teams, types of cards etc. But for the most part, the collector knows what he or she wants, has a certain price in their head and can walk away from a deal if needed. After all, eBay is a wonderful friend to the card collector.

Then you have the investor. These are the people who usually buy things with the idea of reselling, or something along those lines. They spend a little more freely. They want to be able to turn things around into a bigger profit, or have the chance to do so.

Me? I’m a collector.

When I go to a show, I usually am looking for a few things — cards of a player I am collecting (though I do most of that on eBay), players on the Phillies (game-used/autograph), players I used to cover in the minor leagues, or something quirky that really catches my eye.

Being I hadn’t been watching things a lot lately, my goal this past weekend was to pick up a few players and see if I could find something kind of fun.

But before I get to the cards, allow me to show something that was incredibly cheap — 15 bucks — of something I’ve wanted for a while. A signed photo of Bob Feller. For those who don’t know, Feller, or “Rapid Robert,” was one of the best pitchers of all-time and one who gave away four years in his prime to serve the United States of America in World War II with the Navy. This is something he often spoke about as his proudest moments.

I got to deal with Feller twice during my time at the local daily newspaper — both during Hall of Fame events. I found him to be an extremely amazing individual. He spoke candidly and honestly. He had his views and his thoughts and stuck with them. His memory, too, was impeccable. The first time I sat to speak with him, I told him where I was from and the first thing he did was ask me about the former owner of a local minor league team. Incredible.

But, in the line of being a newspaper reporter, you can’t (and shouldn’t) ask for autographs. Most of the people I covered, I took the memories of that and went with it.

Dealing with Feller was quite amazing. Though I got to see him throw to a couple of batters in the Legend’s game at the Hall, I can only imagine what it would have been like to see him in his prime. He went 266-162 with a 3.32 ERA and 279 complete games. He had three seasons with 25 or more victories and six total with 20 or more victories. He finished with 2,581 strikeouts, including 348 in 1946. He was an All-Star in eight of his 18 seasons.

At this card show, however, was a wonderful signed photo of Feller. It was certified, so I felt like it was worth and it listed for just $15. (Even though Bob died this past December at age 92, his autos might not be worth as much as some because he was an avid signer. His autograph is readily available, which is a wonderful thing for a Hall of Famer to do).

Here’s the photo:

Bob Feller autograph

That started the day. What a way to start, eh?

I already blogged about my Konstanty find, so here are a few others.

Rauuuuuuuuuuuul!

Raul Ibanez is one of the only Phillies starting eight (not including pitchers) that I didn’t have an autograph of, so when I saw this I had to nab it as quick as I could. What an ugly autograph though, eh? He’s in the final year of his contract with the Phils and I’ve always been a Raul fan, so hopefully he can have a solid season and help the Phils to another World Series title.

Chase and his bat

Though Chase Utley is starting the season on the disabled list, I have a hard time passing up a sweet Utley card when I see it. This one was really nice and was a really good price, so I nabbed it. Hopefully, Chase will be back in the lineup as quick as possible (as long as he’s healthy) and help the Phils to their fifth straight NL East title!

A quirky find

As I said, I like certain things.

I have seen these before and wanted one. It really didn’t matter the player and this one was, I believe, five bucks. I liked that it was the patch and the autograph. Jeff Kobernus is in the Nationals organization, so maybe it’ll be worth money some day if he makes it big, eh?

Speaking of quirky…

Joe Pepitone!

I’m not a Yankees fan.

Never have been, never will be. But I love the history and tradition of the team. And there’s something about Joe Pepitone. I don’t know if it’s the name, the way he played or what, but I like Joe Pepitone. And I loved this card. Add to it that it was in a half-off bin and I ended up making a bargain to get two cards from that bin for $10 instead of $12, and I was a happy camper!

I picked up a few other cool cards at good prices, too — including two game-used cards of Mike Schmidt and Cole Hamels.

As per normal, too, I broke a box at the show. Me and Rod went half-and-half on a box with three guaranteed hits. Unfortunately, the hits were all game-used and nothing major. Would have been nice to get something really sweet out of it. It’s the 2010 Allen and Ginter, so there were some interesting cards. One in particular I was really happy to get, but I’m going to save that for another time as its own post.

Anyway, the Phytin’ Phils are about to start their season and I’m going to settle into some baseball. Go Phils!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

A Phantastic Phind

1950 Bowman Jim Konstanty

The image above might not mean a lot to many people. But, it was part of my day Sunday as two of us traveled to White Plains for a baseball card show. These shows are held at this spot every few months, but I’ve been hitting the March one for the past three or so years as my yearly intake of baseball cards. I was a little more strapped this year, so I was just kind of looking for things that caught my eye a little.

Jim Konstanty pitched seven seasons with the Phillies, including being part of the 1950 Whiz Kids. A reliever, Konstanty had 22 saves that season — as well as 16 victories! He also started Game 1 of the World Series against the New York Yankees, but lost, 1-0. The Phils were swept in the Series but Konstanty was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player.

That regular season, he pitched in 74 games and finished 62! He even had a 2.66 ERA over 152 innings — which some starters these days might not reach! And he was a reliever!

I know of Jim Konstanty because I’m a Phillies fan. I also know because his son is a prominent lawayer in our area and I covered his grandson, who also went on to play professional baseball, when he was in high school.

I’m usually not a collector of old baseball cards. First, because they can be quite expensive. Second, because it’s tough to get what you want, usually. Anyway, as we strolled around the card show Sunday, we came upon a table selling a lot of old cards. I’ve wanted to get a few old cheaper cards, just to have as they are really wild, I think.

I peered into the one box and saw several Phillies cards.

So, I started looking through to see if there was a card or something that really drew me in. As I flipped, I saw this one. I knew right away who it was and I was interested. Then I saw the price.

$6.

Holy cow!

I immediately had to buy it. It’s not in mint condition, as you can probably see by the scan. But it’s in pretty solid shape. The colors are still sharp. My worry is that this might have made me want to do something with Jim Konstanty cards.

See, a lot of collectors go after one or two players. I’ve done it in the past with a few such as Larry Christenson, Tom Brookens and Bill Monbouquette. Christenson was my favorite pitcher growing up and I covered Brookens and Monbouquette, so that drew my interest. I have a couple of other smaller collections of players I covered, but their card selections aren’t too massive.

It’s hard trying to collect every card a player has.

With Christenson and Brookens, I have the bulk of their cards. Same for Luis Quinones, another player I collect, and someone I used to cover. Monbouquette is another story, as his cards are older, thus making things a bit more expensive. When I look sometimes, I’ll find something a bit affordable and I’ll grab it. But I knew his cards were going to take time to collect.

And then I had to find this little gem of a card in this 1950 Bowman Konstanty.

*sigh*

I’m a subscriber to Beckett, a monthly guide aimed at the card collecting market. On their website, you can do custom setups for card collections. According to Beckett, this 1950 card is Konstanty’s rookie card. But, also, he has 39 cards listed with the database. Some could be very tough (for example, he has a 2009 SP Legendary Cuts signature numbered to 5… that could be rough!) to get, but I might try.

Why not, right?

I almost had a second card of his at the show. It’s a 1952 Topps. Beautiful card. Clean, crisp… and $42.

In my current situation, I don’t think $42 for a vintage card would have been smart. So I’ll peek around eBay and the Beckett Marketplace. While I’m at it, I think I should pull out my other player collections and see what I’m missing. Maybe I can fill in some blanks.

I’ll have another post or two this week about the card show as I have some things I want to share. But for now, I’ll leave you with the back of the Konstanty card.

According to Beckett, this is his rookie card, but it seems like there were a few before the 1950 card.

More later!

2009 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Cut Signatures #LC48 Jim Konstanty/5 Buy Pricing Buy Pricing
Item image of 2010 Topps Heritage 1961 Buybacks #479 Jim Konstanty MVP 2010 Topps Heritage 1961 Buybacks #479 Jim Konstanty MVP