JBF Beats Black Friday Every Time

Aloha everybody,

Whom of you out there loves Black Friday? Who wants to fight, kick, scratch , and toss Molotovs with a tummy full of turkey? And that's just in the parking lots! 

Not me. No way. I'd much rather stay at home in my post-Thanksgiving warm up pants and enjoy the great new cards that came to me courtesy of one of the most generous of all card bloggers ever, the legendary Wes, from the now defunct Jaybarker Fan's Junk.

I'm sorry that Wes has shut down operations over at JBF central, but thankfully he will still be around the blogs. To use his own words, he'll still be around "in the shadows".  That's good news, because the blogosphere just wouldn't be the same without him.

As sorry as I am that Wes has gone into the shadows, I'm honored that he included me in the last blast of cards that he sent out from the JBF site. 

The package he sent me was so full of cardboard goodness, it's going to take at least two posts just to show off my favorites. So let's get started...

 First up is a kick-ass card of Iron Mike Piazza. This card totally sums up Piazza in his L.A. heyday. 

I dig Piazza shooting The Eye of the Tiger on a posed card, while being framed with a magnificent sky of Dodger Blue. Digging the Mike Piazza model mitt as well. Mizuno does make great catcher's mitts. I own one myself.

Next up is a very nice numbered Karros card. The SP in bronze is set into the card and makes for a cool change in surface texture.

Let's now jump into the present with this year's (and last year's) Cy Young winner in an MVP caliber card. 

The way Kershaw is a throwback to the pitchers of ole, like Gibson and Koufax, this card's imagery is like a throwback to the gritty "In Action" style card photography of yesteryear. 

Wes must have figured - rightfully so - since I collect Kershaw, I'll also be wantin' to collect our other Ace, Grienke.  

Grenks here is giving us a sweet pitcher's grip shot, while giving Piazza a good run for the Eye of the Tiger award. 

I'll be closing out this post with a cool old school artcard from a man who needs no introduction, in both the National AND American Leagues. 

I feel a bit bad about the way Gibby's baseball career seems to have imploded and ended in ridicule and boos. Gibby was a sports warrior who tried to manage like one, but he found out the hard way that dog just won't hunt, and it's not such a good idea to ask your pitching staff to be headhunters on a regular and obvious basis. 

That said, it's going to take a lot more than that to steal the thunder of Gibson in his Dodger days (for me), and the unbelievable World Series heroics he pulled off while I watched on TV all alone that night in my living room. 

If I can only take one baseball memory to heaven with me, that wonderful World Series at bat is the one. (losing by just half a point is Bob Welch striking out World Series cheater Reggie Jackson)

Do I sniff a theme for a blog-around?  How about it? I'm tossing out the idea of a blog-around where we write up this post:

"IF I CAN ONLY TAKE ONE BASEBALL MEMORY TO HEAVEN, THIS IS THE ONE..."

Of course, include cards of the players or teams involved. That might be a fun one to see what memories we all consider the greatest. 

To clarify, it doesn't have to be a World Series memory. Mine just happens to be one. 

I'll leave you all with that, and I'll be back next time with The Last JBF from JBF Part 2.  

Aloha!