Bo Knows how to Knock Down a Perfect Game Checklist!

Aloha, everybody, 

Back in the dogdays of August, the most generous Bo, from Sportscards Brought to Life, sent a humongous box of cards to me.

I showed a bunch of them off in a couple of posts, and it's now time to feature another batch of cards that Bo included. These chipped off a big chunk from my want list of The Perfect Games Project. 


In a nutshell, I'm chasing the cards from each perfect game pitched. The spin I'm putting on my chase, is I'm collecting the battery mates, both pitcher and catcher, and the ultimate cards from each would be the cards from the year of their perfectos. 

Bo went to work, sorted through his cards, and pulled a whole lotta cards to help whittle down my checklist. 

We'll start off with the Angels (9/30/84)...

Bob Boone's is the ultimate card...

This 2002 Posada will fill in with my David Wells ultimate card 5/17/98...

(8/15/12)I already had Felix Hernandez's card, and this John Jaso completes the ultimate pair...

Ron Hasse's ultimate card pairs up with my El Presidente to complete the ultimate pair (7/28/91) This was Hasse's second perfecto! 

I really love the variety in the cards for the backstops. I've got them working with the leather and the wood. 

These next ones are ultimate pairs that Bo knocked out of the park for me...

7/18/1999 David Cone and Joe Girardi...

5/29/10 Roy Halladay and Carlos Ruiz...

5/29/10 Dallas Braden and Landon Powell...

Finally, 4/21/12  Phillip Humber and A.J. Pierzinski...

Thanks for the help with my project, Bo! Much appreciated, and rest assured, I'm working on your return package. 

Aloha! 

Sometimes Perfect Isn't Perfect, Making it More Perfect

Aloha, everybody, 

Summer is creepin' up on us here in LA, as the temperature rises and boils away the memories of our wettest rainy season in years. 

For many of us in the blogosphere, our hobby is all about memory and perfection. The cardboard we chase is akin to our attempts at holding on to scraps of our past, and we are always trying to fill in the blanks, chasing perfection in our personal collections. 

Perhaps that's why I love baseball so much. Baseball is wrapped in memory and the pursuit of perfection. Thus, my pursuit of the Perfect Games Project. It's my attempt to collect the cards (in the respective year) of every battery of pitcher and catcher for the 23 perfect games in baseball's history.

Tim, one of my readers, sent me a batch of cards that brought my  pursuit closer to perfection. As if that wasn't enough, he included something that I didn't even know existed. 

Leading off is El Presidente, in photos produced with two different exposures, making it look as though he wore two different colored unis...

Nevertheless, both are great shots of his pitch coming right at ya. Here's a third shot of Martinez in '91, his year of perfection. This time at Wrigley...

This tribute card reminds me that Martinez threw his perfect game against my Dodgers...

Catcher Ron Hassey was Martinez's battery mate, but I don't have a card for him yet. 

However, that was Hassey's SECOND complete game. He caught his first as a Cleveland Indian, ten years earlier. Tim took care of that battery - along with that something extra I mentioned earlier. 

Memory is a strange thing, often bringing us comfort and nostalgia. Partly because we don't always remember the events as they actually occurred. Memory is tricky like that. Different people will remember the same event differently. 

This 1982 Fleer card erroneously credits Bo Diaz as Barker's catcher that day. I wonder how many people think it was Diaz who caught that game because of this card?

I wonder if Diaz sometimes remembers himself as the perfect game catcher? 

Memory is a strange thing, but I'll always remember it was reader Tim who brought me a few steps closer to perfection with these cards. THANKS, Tim! 

Aloha! 

Stepping Toward Perfection

Aloha, everybody, 

My weekly card show pursuits will have to cool off for the time being (we're currently down a car), but that doesn't mean my collection is in the cooler. 

Thanks to a very helpful reader/collector, GCA, my Perfect Games Project has taken a great big step toward completion. GCA is primarily a set-collector, but he took a liking to my little project, dug through his boxes, and sent these cards over to me.

(A reminder: although any cards from the players who made up these batteries will do for a start, my ultimate goal is to have cards representing the players from the year of the perfect game.)

Leading off is King Felix on 2012 Topps Archives...

I still need his catcher, John Jaso. 

Jumping back to 1988 Topps, Jeff Reed. 

While Reed's card hails from the correct year (1988), he's pictured as an Expo. Reed caught the perfect game as a Red. Which brings to mind, I still need the ultimate card for his pitcher, Tom Browning. 

Up next is a beautiful 2009 O-Pee-Chee featuring southpaw Mark Buerle. I'm still in need of his battery mate, Ramon Castro. 

From 2004 Topps Total, Robby Hammock, taking grounders. Now I need to catch Randy Johnson, who threw that no-no...

Here's southpaw David Wells, on a well-designed, horizontal 1998 Collector's Choice card. Jorge Posada needed. 

Last up, GCA sent the ultimate cards for both members of the Texas Rangers' perfect game battery of pitcher Kenny Rogers on 1994 Fleer Ultra (I love this set)...

and newly-inducted, Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez on 1994 Upper Deck Electric Diamond...

Pudge looks reflective on that card, right? Perhaps he's thinking about how awesome he looks on the card back...

It's no wonder you caught a perfect game, Pudge. 

THANKS for getting me closer to my goal, GCA! 

Aloha!

My Cards Are Marching Toward Their Collecting Goal

Aloha, everybody, 

I received a PWE from Jon, the proprietor of the brilliantly named blog,  "A Penny Sleeve For Your Thoughts". Jon sent some cards to help me along with my "Perfect Game Project" and he chipped away at my Dodgers team sets chase also. 

I don't want to lead off my post with hated Giants, so let's start off with a couple of Dodgers that I needed for the 1970 Topps team set. Here's the skipper, Walter Alston...

You can see The Quiet Man didn't spend as much time at the clubhouse buffet as Tommy Lasorda, his successor. 

Thanks for chipping those guys off my wantlist, Jon. 

OK, on to the 2012 perfect game battery of Matt Cain and Buster Posey...

    BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Cain on flagship 2012 Topps, Posey on the Topps Chrome release...

Jon also sent along the ultimate perfect game card for King Felix, from one of the two perfect games thrown in 2012...

Now I need his battery-mate, John Jaso. Anybody out there got one?

I'm including a shot of Jon's cardboard box packing because it was the first time I'd received cards packed like this, and I want you all to see this option. 

It was a simple box cut to fold in half and protect the cards. Lightweight and easy to fit in a PWE, it was an easy and free packing solution.  

Back to the cards...

This is a nice little card from Sportsflix. When tilted you get a background of baseball threads or the wood grain of a bat. In this scan you can see both. 

Last up is a shot of the stamps Jon chose. Lots of guys use baseball stamps, but this is the first time I got one from Los Angeles Lakers legend, Wilt the Stilt...

I'm wondering if those penguins are a nod to Ron Cey? 

THANKS for helping with my chases Jon. I'll be putting something in the mail for you in around a week's time. 

Aloha! 

Cracking Perfection

Aloha, everybody, 

Yesterday I took a trip to the Frank and Sons card show to continue my work on The Perfect Game Project. 

As I've mentioned in the past, Frank and Sons, which was once the go-to weekly card show for anyone chasing baseball cardboard, is but a shell of the resource it once was. 

The industrial-sized building is still packed with vendors and collectors, but 95% of them are hawking and seeking comics, figurines, dolls, international video games, and nothing at all interesting to me. 

There are a few dealers with sports cards, but they specialize in ripping boxes of the latest product, only interested in pulling and immediately selling the hottest cards of the moment. Once again, a yawner for me. 

The baseball-centric card collector, looking to complete sets, or seeking any vintage that is not ridiculously priced and locked away under glass cases, is left with only two tables to choose from. All of that said, I was able to chip away and find a few ultimate cards (from the year of the perfect game) for my collection. 

Jim Bunning and Gus Triandos, 1964 Topps...

These 64's are in beautiful condition. The only flaw on the Bunning card was being slightly off-center, and a small amount of yellowing on the back. It's got sharp corners and good gloss on the surface. 

According to the dealer, the Triandos card is a short-print. 

Triandos is pictured in a Tigers uni, and checking the card back, he was traded to the Phillies the previous winter. 

I checked Bunning's card back and found he had also been traded from the Tigers. It seems they were packaged together and sent to Philadelphia, where they then combined for their perfect game. 

The same dealer filled out another battery for me. 1968 Topps, Jim (Catfish) Hunter and Jim Pagliaroni. 

Interestingly enough, Pagliaroni also caught a perfect game in his first season on a new team. Pagliaroni came out to Kansas City from Pittsburgh (as evidenced by the uni on his card)...

Catfish got his perfecto in his fourth year in the majors...

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to dig up any other perfect pitching duos, as nobody in the show had any cards from the 80's, 90's or 00's. At least, no cards that weren't high-priced autos. 

There's a big card show coming to the Long Beach Convention Center next month, so that will be my next best bet. I suppose I could find all of the others with a 20 minute search on the net, but call me an old-school collector, I just don't roll that way. For me, nothing beats flipping through those boxes and binders, cardboard in hand. 

Tune in next time to check out the other cards I grabbed from the show. 

Aloha!