Visiting The Baseball Reliquary - The Gifts (Part 2)

Aloha everybody,

Here we go with Part 2 of the great gifts that we received from Terry. I believe the following are called caches. 

They were designed and produced by Terry and they commemorate various sporting special events and personalities. These are for you basketball enthusiasts...

Of course the last couple are baseball-centric. Cool stuff. 

In addition, Terry dropped a couple of packs of cards on us to enjoy ripping. Last time  I didn't have too much luck, but these packs were A-OK.  I pulled several guys that I am always happy to get cards of - and they are all new for my collection...

Rickey...nuff said

Last time I got Griffey Sr. Now I got The Kid. Nice!

Check that bat!!!!

Check out Doc's eyes. Does he always look that way when he pitches - or is he checking a runner on second?

BOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!

Sweet Kirby. His autograph is one of the tops in my collection. 

After our great day at the Reliquary, Wallet Card and the boys stopped at a local establishment to check out some craft brews.  You can see my selection just above Wallet Card. I chose Oskar Blues because...well, you know...

 Now if they would just get that tarp off the field in St. Louis and play ball! 

Alohaaaaaa 

Visiting the Baseball Reliquary - The Gifts (Part One)

Aloha everybody,

It's a sad day in Dodgers Nation today as another fan (and team)  favorite - Juan Uribe - was unceremoniously dumped....errrr, traded...to the Atlanta Braves. I want to like my team, but those new front office guys seem to think nothing of shipping off fan favorites (Matt Kemp, Dee Gordon, and now Papi).  *sigh* 

On a brighter note, my recent visit to the Baseball Reliquary (Institute for Baseball Studies) also included some awesome gifts from good ol' Terry. Let's get right to them, shall we? 

We begin with another uncut sheet of baseball cards. These are from a tribute set of the infamous Black Sox. 

One new thing we learned about Terry from our last visit was Terry used to produce baseball cards - back in the junkwax era. These uncut sheets and cards are from one of those past endeavors.  

The blur is from the sheet being too large for my scanner.

 If you should ever visit the Reliquary, ask Terry to tell you about his past limited edition autographed sets of the top high school players in the country - and his great gets of young high school phenoms Derek Jeter and Manny Ramirez. 

Back to the Black Sox. In addition to the uncut sheets, Terry also gave us complete sets of the cards. Here's the back of card number one...

Note: Produced in an edition of 5000, by our hero.

Here are a couple of sample cards and backs. I absolutely dig this set.
 

Terry tossed in more limited items, programs from the past ceremonies to induct folks into the Shrine of the Eternals. Here is a look at two of them...

 The program from 1999 is from the first year and the first class of Eternals. I chose to show the 2006 program because of the Roy Campanella stamp. 

Speaking of stamps, I want to also point out the special postmark the Pasadena Post Office made for the Induction Day. Terry designed these special baseball-themed postmarks that changed every year. 

Here's a look inside the 1999 program...

Dock Ellis' page...

Hey, ol' Dock was born in L.A., just like me!

Here's one of the back covers. I chose it because of the Brooklyn connection. Note the emcee for the night was Elayne Boosler, and they had legendary Dodger Stadium organist, Nancy Bea Hefley. Wow! I'm sure sorry I missed that night.

That's all for now, folks. Part Two will feature more cards and something special for you fans of vintage basketball. 

BTW - I didn't even notice my previous post was Number 500! Wow.  That makes this one just another, but apparently I'm now on my way to post number 1000. 

Aloha! 

Another Trip To The Institute For Baseball Studies

Aloha everybody,

Laker Dave and I met up with Terry at the Institute for Baseball Studies recently, and we had a blast!  

 I mentioned in my previous post about visiting the Institute that it's currently housed in a small space, and they only have enough room to display just a fraction of the goodies and memorabilia in the archives. 

Terry Cannon, Executive Director, took us behind the scenes and showed us the storage room. I would sure love to be there and help Terry when he cracks those boxes open and sorts through all that fun baseball stuff.

By far the best part of visiting the Institute is talking with Terry, who is a walking baseball encyclopedia of facts, trivia, and stories from old time baseball, as well as many of the baseball names that you and I grew up with.

We took seats around the table and had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon talking with Terry about a multitude of subjects from the Dodgers' TV blackout fiasco, to the windfall of Negro Baseball League paraphernalia coming to the Institute, to the junk wax era of baseball cards, to fascinating behind the scenes stories of Tommy Lasorda and Sparky Anderson.
 

Terry brought out a great piece of baseball history that I think ol' Matt from Bob Walk The Plank will appreciate.

Terry is showing us one of the baseballs from Pirate Rennie Stennett's record-setting 7-hit night back in September, 1975. That night Stennett became the only player in the 20th century to get seven hits in seven at bats in a nine inning game.

The seventh baseball that Stennett hit went to the Hall of Fame. Terry is holding in his hands the sixth ball hit that night.

The ball had been autographed, but unfortunately time has almost erased the signature...
 

Nevertheless, it was an awesome feeling to be so up close and personal with an artifact from a Hall of Fame worthy accomplishment...

Of course, not only is Terry generous with his baseball knowledge and personal warmth - he's also been very, very giving with goodies for us when we've visited, and this time was no exception. 

Coming up in the next post we'll see some of the awesome items that Terry gifted to us. 

Aloha! 

Wallet Card Gets A World Series Championship Ring

Aloha everybody, 

Last week Laker Dave and I headed out to Chavez Ravine to take in the Dodgers game. It wasn't just any game - it was the Old-Timers game, and the fans were being given replicas of the Dodgers' 1965 World Series Championship ring.

What a grand day it was, until the big club played and got killed 7-1 by the Rockies. We'll bypass that horror and just focus on the pregame fun that was the Old-Timers game.

 This post is also going to focus on a lot of Dodger Stadium shots, which are dedicated to my blogger buddy, good ol' Night Owl.  Most of us know that Night Owl is a lifelong Dodger fan who has never had the Dodger Stadium Experience.

I feel for N.O., as I consider Dodger Stadium to be the most beautiful stadium of all. It's my summer home and my Blue Cathedral. One day the hills beyond the outfield will be the resting place of my ashes, so I will never miss a game, from Opening Day to the World Series. 

 Night Owl recently wrote  about the inclusion of Dodger Stadium on baseball cards, and he lamented the fact there are just not enough views of the stadium for him to drink in.  

In addition, I know there are other Dodger fans out there who would appreciate seeing the old-timers, so please indulge me as I drop a few extra photos. 

Outside the gates you'll find these giant replicas of the WS rings. This one is from the Brooklyn Dodgers' one and only championship. 

Behind me you can see the mural honoring past Dodger Cy Young Award winners. This year the Dodgers are giving away pins honoring those winners. 

Eric Gagne was scheduled to be there, so I broke out my old "Game Over" Gagne shirt. 

 Upon entry we were given these very cool replica rings. Hefty, substantial, and with shiny cubic zirconia bling! 

Here's the view from our entry point just behind the visitor's bullpen.

We walked right over to old-timer's batting practice...

Hey N.O., there's the Penguin...
 

Group shot: YAY!  Time Warner Cable: BOOOOOOO!!!

 Below is World Series MVP, Payy-Droooo Goo-Rare-Ohhhhhhh!!
(As the old stadium announcer used to say Guerrero's name) 

Behind Guerrero in visitor greys is Fernando and beyond him is Shawn Green.

 Then came the old-timers. There were three members of the 1955 Brooklyn WS champions and five from the 1965 team.

Joining the group at the far left is Boomer, Steve Yeager, decked out in the Tools of Ignorance... 

Steve Garvey...

 Bulldog Hershiser shaking hands on the line. Among those waiting are Green, Nomar, Yeager, Guerrero, Cey, Garvey, and Fernando. 
Tommy Lasorda in the center doing the Alfred Hitchcock profile and Magic Johnson to the far right. 

The largest ovation of the day went to the man on the Wallet Card, Mr. Koufax...

Old-Timers game action. Fernando pitching to Mickey Hatcher...

More Fernando...

Orel Hershiser vs. Nomahhhhhh....

  
Shawn Green still has that beautiful swing. Here he is cracking a long single off of Chan Ho Park...

 It was overcast, but a beautiful day for a ballgame...

Here's an extra note for those who stayed along till the end. Part two of Project Cardboard went off yesterday.  PWE's and bubble mailers went out to these zip codes...

02766

19713

16101

03801

60706

76063

77251

Aloha! 

Project Cardboard Launches - And A Second Call Out

Aloha everybody, 

Today Wallet Card and I stepped out to the post office and we fired off the opening salvo of Project Cardboard. 

In addition to the zip codes I listed before...these destinations can soon expect a Koufax PWE heater bomb....

10707
60657
70062
72758
48105
63303

And now for the second call out to three blogs for which I have PWE bombs awaitin', but no address to mail them out to...

Battlin' Bucs 
This Way To The Clubhouse and 
$30 A Week Habit

It seems they * shudder * don't read my blog, so they are not seeing my shout-outs. 

If you know these folks and you're in contact with them, help us to make a blogger connection and let them know I'm trying to include them in Project Cardboard.  

The bubble mailer assault awaits....

Aloha!