to 100 faster than anyone before....

Name me some great Braves pitchers. From any season. C'mon, even you 7 Braves haters that gather in your mom's basement once a month to stick pins in a Chipper Jones voodoo doll can acknowledge some amazingly great pitchers in the Braves past.

Smoltz, Glavine, maybe a guy named Spahn... well out of all the boys who have taken the mound representing the Braves, can you tell me who got to 100 strikeouts the fastest?

Okay, the pictures may have helped you. But for those of you who don't know yet, it was The Baby Faced Assassin, Craig Kimbrel.

 100 K's in 59 1/3 innings. That's not bad. Can anybody besides dayf tell me who's record he broke???

All this from a kid who looks like he should be delivering my newspaper.

I'm not sure if he even shaves yet.

Go get 'em kid... I just hope Freddy doesn't wear your arm off....

Look what I found! Part 356

As some of you know, I'm a very organized person. Neat and orderly. Except for my card collection. Go figure. But I've been working on it. And I am gaining on it. Slowly. But the key is that I am gaining.

One of the fun things about all of this, is coming across lost treasures in boxes and closets that I had forgotten about.

This is one of those. A Braves team set from the 1979 TCMA Baseball set. But we're not talking about Ted Turner's '79 Braves here. Oh no.

May I introduce you to Roy Hartsfield, 1950 and '51 Boston Braves 2nd baseman. Also the very first manager of the Blue Jays.

 Buddy Kerr 1950 and '51 Boston Braves shortstop. I love these photos.

 Del Crandall. Like dayf, I think up until Javy and BMac, Del was the greatest Braves catcher.

 Sam Jethroe. Sam led the NL in steals and runs scored during his first two seasons in 1950 and '51.

 Sid Gordon. Sid was one of the Braves sluggers for a few seasons after being acquired from the Giants. He was one of the ones who moved with the team from Boston to Milwaukee.

 As expected, not all of the vintage photos can be perfect. Such as the case with Vern Bickford here.

 Willard Marshall. Will only spent two season's with the Braves. Leaving for Cincinnati when Boston left for Milwaukee.

 Johnny Logan, one of the Braves best shortstops of all time.

 Some guy named Spahn. I think he was a pitcher.

 Mr Eddie Matthews. Can you imagine sitting in that one room school house learning about fractions or something and looking out and seeing Eddie Freaking Matthews taking some cuts? Class dismissed.

I love these cards.... I may try and find the rest of the set now.... just what I need, right?

I need '89 Topps! and other things.....

Yes... the phrase you never thought you'd ever hear from a card blogger... I need '89 Topps baseball. And some other years as well.

So if you have this card....

 or any of his friends that I need.... please dig through your closets, under your bed, the bottom of the recycle bin, and save them for me.
I finally got off my butt and finished my Topps Braves want list. Well, from 1952 through 1991 anyways.... '92 until now is going to be a bitch.

So if you have Topps baseball cards from 1952 to 1991, and wish to help, please go HERE to checkout my wantlist.
I thank you.

You've heard of Seal Team Six...

well this has nothing to do with them. But it does have to do with an insert set called Team Six from 2005 Absolute Playoff Baseball. A couple of weeks ago the owner of my local card shop went to the Expo in Toronto. I talk like I know what the Expo is, but I have no idea. All I know is that the card manufacturers are there as well as a whole mess o' dealers. So it's basically a big card show on steroids. I think.

Anyways.... Darren came back with little gifts for all of his best customers. And for some reason he brought me something too.

Here we have the best top 3 pitching rotation in baseball. Damn I miss these guys.

 but that's not all.... look at the back! Andruw Jones!!! and ... and... two other guys!!

 And here it gets even better. How's this for a 3-4-5 in the batting order? Chipper, Murph, and Andruw. Awesome.

 but that's not all! Look at the back! The Big Cat! Raffy! and.... and.... some other guy!

Really cool cards from an era when I wasn't collecting. Even if I was, I would have never pulled these....

But here's where it gets complicated. Do I put these cards in my Chipper box? My Glavine box? My Smoltzie box? My Andruw box? My Maddux box? Seriously. I have monster boxes devoted to each of these guys.

Suggestions?

I'm gonna need some sharp scissors.

Thanks Darren!

from out of the Blue, some Orange!

now that blogger is working and I can actually post images again, we'll try this posting thing again.

One of the things that really sucks about the horrible crap that Topps is putting out baseball wise is that I haven't bought much of any baseball cards in over a year. And what really sucks is that means a massive cutdown on trades. I trade a lot of hockey, but most of you are baseball only.

But a few days ago, I got a package from an address I remembered. Inside were about 25-30 Braves, including Mr Hanson Orange border refractor

 A Yunel orange refractor (one of the worst trades we've made btw)

 Brandon Hicks RC super xfractor thingie

 and one of our CF by comittee members, also a superXfractor thingie.

there was no note or anything, but I knew the address to be of Marie from A Cardboard Problem. Apparently these Braves were just gathering dust on one of her shelves.
Thanks Marie! I love this hobby! Troll out!

oh.... wait... wrong blog....

Some Fly Mail....

A wee while ago, Colbey, aka Flywheels commented on wanting a card I had posted. I said sure, no problem. I put it, aand whatever else I could find laying around in the numerous piles I have going on into an envelope and sent it off.

As usual, he did the same and then some. Among the huge stack of cards he sent, I pulled a couple of my baseball faves to share here. I say baseball faves because the swap initiated with football, and he sent some football cards as well, which I'll share later on....

Chipper! I got 4 or 5 Chippers I didn't already have, including this one. I really like this set and hope to finish it one day.

 A game used Jeffrey. I think he'll end up in Kansas City this year after hitting over .300 for Texas last season.

 A BMac Turkey Red. I have no idea if this is from the Turkey Red set, or one of the eleventeen Turkey Red insert sets they did. Could Topps publish a worse website?

 And a few shiny Topps Chrome to tell me once again it's time to clean my scanner. Tommy, which I had already, but dupes are welcome...

 and Chipper! Which I didn't have until now.....

the addition of Mr Jones means I now only need #174 Jason Heyward to complete my 2010 team set.

Thanks Colbey!

now batting, the catcher, #33... J.C. Boscan....

 It finally happened. After 15 long years riding the bus in the minor leagues throughout the U.S. and Mexico, J.C. Boscan became a major-leaguer. October 1, 2010. Bobby Cox tapped the kid on the shoulder and sent him out to catch the 9th inning against the Phillies in Atlanta.

After catching a scoreless 9th from pitcher Mike Minor, including the last two via strikeout, J.C. had the opportunity to come up to bat in the bottom of the inning, with runners at 1st and 3rd. Seven pitches later, he had earned a walk, forcing the bases loaded.

J.C. then had to show off the speed as he scored from first on a 3-run double by Derrick Lee. (if you ask me, he probably floated around the bases he was so pumped)

Congrats J.C. Welcome to the show.   LINK to the boxscore.

J.C. Boscan - catcher for the Atlanta Braves.

The Secret of Great Pitching?

When Braves pitching coach, Roger McDowell, was asked the secret to having the best pitching staff in the National League, Roger responded, I just try to use examples from when I pitched.
Maybe that ain't such a good idea......

Trade Deadline Response.

For those kids who read my blog regularly, please skip this post. You know who you are, Bobby, Steve, Dan, Nick, and any others I may have missed. Thanks, and check back for the next one, I'll have up some more trade bait.

Today was the MLB non-waiver trade deadline. And of course, the first place Braves just had to make a move. They couldn't stand pat. No. All of the guys who got them into first place to begin with just weren't good enough. Fuck no. We need to make moves. Everyone else is making moves, we need to as well.

Let's fall back a moment... I was pretty quiet about the whole Yunel Escobar thing. Forget that we traded the best defensive shortstop in baseball. Forget that we traded a young guy who's only getting better. Forget that we trade the A.L. player of the week who's made the Highlight of the Night four of the last seven games. In exchange we got an older, short, slightly overweight, light hitting shortstop nicknamed SeaBass. But Canuck, don't forget about the pitcher! We also got a pitcher who has a 12:1 strikeout to walk ratio. He averages two strikeouts per inning! He's the real key in the Escobar deal!

Fast forward to today. We just traded that wonder pitcher. To Kansas City. For Kyle Fucking Farnsworth. So to summarize, we trade away Yunel for a light hitting over weight motherfucker named SeaBass and Kyle Fucking Farnsworth. But Bobby didn't like Yunel. And Bobby is God, Governor, Mayor, and Grand High Inquisitor in Atlanta. So Yunel is gone.

The rest of the trade? Glad you asked. Atlanta has the best bullpen in baseball. So we traded away one of them. Jesse Chavez. Makes sense. He was pitching too well anyway. And why not get rid of our centerfielder as well. Gregor Blanco. We don't need him anyway. Our centerfielder of the future is in AA rehabbing a year long wrist injury. Our centerfielder we traded for last year from the Pirates, All Star Nate McLouth, has been demoted to AAA because he forgot what end of the bat to hold. So we only one centerfielder left. And he's now in Kansas City.

Who'd we get for him? Rick Ankiel. The pitcher who can't pitch. The pitcher who can't play centerfield either. So who's going to play CF?
Surely they don't expect.... oh. Fuck no. Not Fat Bastard.

Melky Fat Bastard Cabrerra. He couldn't hit last year playing for the Yankees. And if you can't hit in Yankee Stadium, you can't hit anywhere. And he isn't. And he's Fat. Capital F. The other day going from 1st to 3rd, a combination of his fat and the circus tent he wears instead of a proper fitting uniform, got hung up in the wind rounding 2nd and he was tagged out without even a slide.

Bobby CAN'T be considering him for CF, can he????

And where the hell is Ankiel supposed to play? The Braves two best hitters play in RF (Jason Heyward) and LF (Matty Diaz)

We don't do the DH thing in the N.L. So one of our two best hitters is going to sit to let a pitcher play the outfield????

Sweet Jesus.

Trading with a Yankees fan....

Okay, first off, I know I haven't been around.... it's World Cup time, and it's hotter than Hades around here. So I've been..... secluded you might say. Others might say I've been hiding in the cool basement refusing to come out. But who listens to "others"?

So to get back in the swing of things, I thought I might put up a trade post. Those of you who don't care, may leave now.... or continue staring at the latest World Cup girl, whichever. But I warn you.... this is no ordinary trade post. This is a weird one.... maybe you can help figure it out.

It's from Sooz. World renowned Yankee fan. But that's okay. We still like her. Well, most of us do.

A couple of weeks ago I had casually inquired (or maybe there was begging involved) about some Chippers she had, along with some 2010 Bowman Braves. Sooz, being the great trader she is, mentioned that she had some Topps Series 2 Braves that she would throw in too. Perfect. All that's left is the waiting. Well wait no more. The package is here. It arrived the day that I got off my butt and mailed her package. (oops. Sorry Suzy)

It starts off according to plan.... 2010 Bowman Braves....

Jair, who should have got the win against the Phillies last night after throwing a two hitter, but the Braves chose to win in extra time.

The best hitter in baseball, Mr All Star, Martin Prado

another All Star, the Old Man, Tim Hudson.

The injured one, who if he wants to go back to the All Star game, must go back to Pittsburgh.

A BMac! And it's Gold! meh..... nice pic though.

some ex-Yankee that we got for Javy.

and his gold version as well.

along with a Smoltz insert. Somebody, anybody... please swap him onto radio and bring Don Sutton back to TV. Thanks.

Now here is where the trade starts to sway.... instead of Topps Series 2, we get a dose of Topps Chicle.

The Future.

BMac - 5 All Star Games in four years of playing. Not bad.

Mr Lucky... or Mr Run Support.

Jair doing his best Tiger Woods smile.

Nate looking like one of those Asian blow up dolls.

Mr Murphy.

and another Mr Murphy.... holy crap.

Game Used Bat Baby! I love you Suzy! Nevermind what I say about the Yankees. They don't deserve you.

Okay, so maybe the Topps Series 2 is next? She just wanted to surprise me with the Murph?

No. Instead, I got these.

and these..

not a Brave in sight. Seriously though? Sometimes I just don't get women. Am I complaining though? Not a chance. These are pretty cool cards. And in case you didn't look to closely, there was this little number.

It is currently on ebay with a BIN of $100,000

Sooz has taken care of my retirement. Thanks Sooz!

btw, if you're interested in the Strasburg, after purchase, mention that you read this blog and I'll throw in free shipping....