Four-Bagger!

Here's a great-looking card from the 1977 Topps baseball set.

The whole thing resembles the back page of a newspaper, even down to the headline: Chambliss’ Dramatic Homer Decides It. And there’s the scene right in front of you. Chris Chambliss is finishing a hero’s follow-through, watching the baseball soar into the cool night sky, soon to clear the outfield fence.

Home runs are always dramatic, but add the fact that it was the final game of the AL Championships, in the bottom of the 9th, in front of the home fans at Yankee Stadium, and you get a historic winning moment.

 

Here's Chambliss himself talking about the game, complete with video footage.

 

 

 

All those fans on the field. Pandemonium!

 

 

But this post isn't just about famous home runs. Something else has touched four bases in a figurative sense:

 

This blog is 4 years old!

It was an eventful year. I created over 30 custom cards, which is the most I've done in one calendar year. Some of those were commissioned works too, which was a first.

Then there was the Battle of the Bands series, which provided a great creative outlet for me. It also helped me rediscover some bands that I hadn't listened to in a long while.

I also finished creating the series of 8-bit sports stickers and posted them on redbubble.

 

And on top of all that, I was able to post content to the blog every Sunday throughout the year once again, which means the streak that started way back at the beginning of this blog, in 2019, is still going.

 

But it was a strange year too.

 

All the time I spent designing custom cards and doing creative work meant less time for the hobby in general. Less time to read and comment on other blogs. Less time to collect. In fact, I probably only added a couple dozen cards to my personal collection the entire year.

 

Part of that has to do with the absurd boom this hobby has been experiencing. There's good and bad to it, of course. But as one example of the negative side, I know I've put a few of my 1980s set builds on hold because some of the high-dollar cards in those sets are currently sporting prices that I'm just not willing to pay.

 

But I can't let that sap my enthusiasm forever. I've got to regain some zeal for the hobby. I need something to reinvigorate me. That's a goal for 2023, especially if I want to keep coming up with engaging content and continue that Sunday streak here on the blog.

I have some good confidence that it will continue, but even if the streak ends at some point during the year, I'm still going to post content. Still going to create custom cards, too. No worries there.

So stay tuned for more good stuff as we head into year 5 of the Nine Pockets blog, including some new giveaways.

Thanks so much to all of you who've followed along, commented, and otherwise exhibited your generosity and friendship.

Keep on collecting!

This Custom Card Set is Only a Pawn in the Game of Life...

If you've just read the title of this blog post and you're a fan of Mel Brooks films, you might have an idea of the custom card set I'm going to feature below.

The initial idea was for just one card, but the film is such a classic and features so many hilarious characters and quotable scenes that before long I'd come up with enough content for a six-card set. And when I discovered some peculiar similarities between the original card design I wanted to use (1975 Topps) and the film itself, the process became even more of a joy than usual.

If you haven't figured out what film we're talking about yet, here's a first look at the six cards:

 

 

It's Blazing Saddles!

 

Let's review each card now. The first four are based on the highlight cards that appear at the start of the original 1975 Topps baseball set.

 

 

Card #1 features Mongo, played by former NFL defensive tackle Alex Karras. I styled the card backs to match the original 1975s, even fabricating a newspaper-style story based on the particular scene depicted on the card front.

 

 

 

Card #2 features sheriff Bart, who came up with a clever, cartoon-like plan to subdue Mongo. (CandyGram for Mongo...) One of the fun connections between the original 1975 baseball set and the film is the color scheme that Topps used for the highlight cards. The orange and brown are definitely Western-themed, don't you think?

 

 

 

Card #3 features the lovely Lili Von Shtupp and the song and dance number she put on at the saloon. 

 

Do you want to know another interesting link between the film and the baseball cards? The film was released in 1974, and the original baseball cards feature highlights from the 1974 season (hence the '74 Highlights banner across the top of each one). So that works out rather nicely in that I didn't even have to adjust the '74. 

 

And how about this for something even more amazing: While I was doing some research on Blazing Saddles, I discovered that the story takes place during the year 1874. So the '74 Highlights banner works perfectly in two different ways!

 

 

 

Card #4 features The Waco Kid, and the memorable time when he shot the revolvers out of the hands of seven of Taggart's men. It's a Western League record that stands to this day.

The final two cards of the set are based on the 1975 rookie combo design.

 

 

 

My original idea was based on this card: Take four of the main stars from the film and put them on the rookie template. Again, all I had to do was change the year from 1975 to 1875 on the top of the card front. The yellow and orange combination also feels very Western to me.

As for the card back, I decided to list some notable roles and other accomplishments for each star. I thought Gene Wilder's fencing championship was a pretty cool thing to add.

 

 

 

 

And it would only be fitting if I created a similar card that featured four of the "villain" characters from the film. Just like the previous card, all of the actors here had fantastic careers. Most impressive to me, other than Mel Brooks having fought in the Battle of the Bulge, is Burton Gilliam's impressive record as a Golden Gloves boxer!

 

So that's that. Another really fun set of custom cards is complete. I've already had them printed out, and they look and feel great in hand.

 

And finally, to wrap up this post, here's a clip from the film where Mongo gets philosophical:

 

 

 

Aren't we all, Mongo?

Board Advertisements on Cards, Episode 5: MSG Network

Way back in 1978, the NHL allowed teams to start selling advertising space along the boards of their rinks. By the time I was a hockey card–collecting kid in the late 1980s, the trend had caught on. From snack foods to car manufacturers to banks to fast food restaurants, board advertisements really ran the gamut—and they still do.

This series will explore some of the advertisements that also managed to make their way onto hockey cards.

 

 

1991-92 O-Pee-Chee #289, Ray Sheppard

 

Here's Ray Sheppard of the Rangers, being trailed and hooked by an Edmonton Oiler who I think is Joe Murphy.

 

Back then, home teams wore white jerseys, so this game is being played at Madison Square Garden. And if you need any more proof, just have a look at the board advertisement to the right of Mr. Sheppard.

 

 

 

It's for the Madison Square Garden Network!

 

The MSG Network was—and still is—a television and radio service that broadcasts local sporting events and other programming. And they don't only cover Garden residents like the Rangers and Knicks. They also cover games played by the Islanders, Sabres, and Devils (hockey), Giants (football), Red Bulls (soccer), and Riptide (lacrosse), along with regional collegiate and high school sports.

 

Can't blame the network for taking up some advertising space during Rangers games, can you?

 

It's a sharp-looking logo, too, although it's since gone through some rebranding. For another look at the old logo, check out this video introduction to a Knicks game back in 1988:

 

 

 

Snazzy theme song, ritzy graphics, New York City, Marv Albert. Time to watch the game!

But let's get back to hockey for a moment and the man on the featured card. Ray Sheppard had an excellent 13-year career in the NHL, playing for the Sabres, Rangers, Red Wings, Sharks, Panthers, and Hurricanes.

His Ranger days came only across one season (1990-91), but in 59 games played he posted 24 goals and 23 assists for 47 points.

He was an excellent goal scorer from his very first season in the league (38 G, 27 A, 65 PTS in 1987-88), which earned him a spot on the All-Rookie team. His best season was likely 1993-94 with the Red Wings, when in 82 games he put up a stellar 52 goals and 41 assists for 93 points. 19 of those goals came on the power play. Sheppard also seemed to be a pretty good guy and a clean player, never compiling more than 29 penalty minutes in a season and earning some Lady Byng votes quite a few times across his career.

Career numbers: 817 GP, 357 G, 300 A, 657 PTS, 212 PIM, 125 PPG, 52 GWG

Back to the board advertisement now. At some point in the past, the folks at MSG began promoting the Garden as "The World's Most Famous Arena". If that's not an ingratiating, New York-ish thing to do, I don't know what is. But I suppose the Garden is pretty famous. And I do have some great Garden memories:

(1) Watching Wayne Gretzky play during his time with the Rangers. His on-ice awareness was second to none. Many times he'd just coast over to a certain section of the ice while play was going on elsewhere in the zone, and as soon as we'd all wonder what in the world he was doing just standing there alone, the puck would bounce out from a battle against the boards and come right to him.

(2) Watching Michael Jordan play against the Knicks. I've never seen one person completely control the pace of a game like he did. If he wanted the game to speed up, he sped it up and everyone else on the court followed suit. If he wanted to slow the game down, he did, and everyone again followed suit. Without exception. He had such a huge presence, and it was fun to feel that in person.

 

 

So now my question to you is:

 

Have you ever been to a game or other event at Madison Square Garden? If so, share some memories in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading!

Another Softball Season in the Books

 

I've shared on the blog once or twice before that when it comes to sports, my first love was baseball. My Little League days were everything to me back then, and I studied the game pretty hard even at that young age. 

 

Something I haven't shared on the blog before is that a few years ago, I joined a softball league. It was the first organized ball I'd played since high school, and I'm still at it. In fact, our 2022 season recently finished. Here's the quick story to catch you up:

 

In the summer of 2018, I discovered that the organization I worked for had registered a softball team with a local weeknight corporate league. It was free for employees to join, and the captain was looking for some players. The league was co-ed, and was slow-pitch with an arc between 4 and 10 feet. I hardly knew anyone on the team, but after some hesitation, I found my old mitt and figured I'd give it a shot.

Well, that original love for baseball came back in a hurry. As rusty as I was, as awkward as I felt out there on the diamond that first evening, and as sore as I felt walking around the office the next day, I was still energized—so much so that when the company decided to nix the softball team the following year, I sought out a weekend league and signed up as a free agent. I was assigned to a team called the Wolfpack, and I've been playing with them ever since.

Although we didn't make the playoffs this past year, it was still a really fun time. One thing that contributes to the fun is that I've been tracking my personal stats. Because this is a trading card blog, and because stats on the back are such an integral part of the hobby, I'd like to share some of them here.

For those of you who enjoy things like stats and player development, read on. For those who don't, you can skip to the last couple of bold headings below.

Batting Stats

 

Batting
Year	Club	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SLG	BB	SO	AVG
2018	Acorns	3	9	2	4	1	0	0	1	.556	0	0	.444
2019	Wolfpack	13	32	11	20	2	0	1	7	.781	0	0	.625
2021	Wolfpack	23	68	31	42	2	1	0	8	.676	3	0	.618
2022	Wolfpack	25	68	28	42	2	5	1	23	.838	4	0	.618
Totals		64	177	72	108	7	6	2	39	.751	7	0	.610

 

Now keep in mind, the top players in any slow-pitch softball league will post batting averages well over .700 and put up a lot of extra-base hits, so I've still got plenty of room for improvement. But I do like the consistent numbers. In fact, remarkably, I had the same number of at-bats and hits this year as I did last year. And I am happy that my power numbers and RBIs increased this year while keeping up the consistency and batting average. I think this was a result of a few things:

Batting Practice

It can be tough to improve when you're only getting 2 or 3 at-bats in your 6-inning game, and then don't swing a bat again until the following weekend. This past year I set aside some time for BP and worked on my swing technique.

 

Being More Selective at the Plate 

Being patient and letting bad pitches go can be difficult to do with slow-pitch softball, when so many of the pitches seem hittable. But this past year I was a little more selective, extended the count more often, and drew even one more walk than the previous year.

 

Changing My Approach at the Plate

For the past couple of years I've been a tablesetter, generally batting first or second in the lineup and just trying to get on base. At times during the 2021 season I took that role a little too seriously, and would just slap singles through the holes even when I had a pitch I could really drive. This year I started to drive the ball a little more when the opportunities presented themselves.

 

Hitting to the Opposite Field

I throw right-handed but bat left-handed. And I'd say maybe only 2 out of every 10 hitters in the league are lefties. So when I step into the batter's box, oftentimes at least one or two fielders yell out "lefty!" and everyone shifts over toward the right side of the field. Even if the shift isn't that severe, I'll often have at least some kind of hole on the left side to hit through, and I took advantage of that more this year than in years past.

Next up is fielding stats. This past year I was a mainstay at third base, but in previous years I also did a bit of pitching, as well as some fill-in work at shortstop. Here's a look at my fielding stats, by position.

 

Fielding Stats

 

Third Base
Year	Club	Pos	G	Inn	Chances	PO	Asst	Err	DP	Fld%
2019	Wolfpack	3B	4	11	7	5	1	1	1	.857
2021	Wolfpack	3B	17	92	52	27	22	3	2	.942
2022	Wolfpack	3B	24	123	83	39	39	5	3	.940
Totals			45	226	142	71	62	9	6	.937

 

 

Pitcher
Year	Club	Pos	G	Inn	Chances	PO	Asst	Err	DP	Fld%
2019	Wolfpack	P	7	37	24	7	15	2	0	.917
2021	Wolfpack	P	8	38	18	4	14	0	0	1.000
2022	Wolfpack	P	3	6	4	2	2	0	0	1.000
Totals			18	81	46	13	31	2	0	.957

 

 

Shortstop
Year	Club	Pos	G	Inn	Chances	PO	Asst	Err	DP	Fld%
2018	Acorns	SS	3	15	13	7	3	3	0	.769
2019	Wolfpack	SS	3	9	5	1	3	1	0	.800
2021	Wolfpack	SS	1	2	1	0	1	0	0	1.000
2022	Wolfpack	SS	1	3	5	1	4	0	0	1.000
Totals			8	29	24	9	11	4	0	0.833

You can see evidence of how rusty I was when I started playing back in 2018. As someone who's always taken a lot of pride in his fielding, it was frustrating to boot a few balls early on. In the first game I played back in 2018, I remember ranging to my right at shortstop to field a grounder, reaching over on the backhand to try to grab it, stumbling over my own feet as the ball tipped off the end of my glove, and tumbling to the ground as the ball rolled into left field. Good thing I had easygoing and funny co-workers. (After the play ended, our left fielder yelled out to me, "Well, at least you fell gracefully!")

 

But over the past couple of years I've recaptured some fielding skill and ability, and along with that, some confidence. Here are some things that helped out:

 

Fielding Practice 

I took fielding practice at third base whenever I could, even if it was just getting to the field early on game day and having someone hit me a few. 

 

Positional Play

This past season I started to re-learn and remember more about how and where to position myself at third depending on the batter, how many runners were on base, how many outs the opponent had, and things of that nature. Playing a little closer to the line, off the line, deeper behind the bag, or in front of the bag at the right times helped me field a lot more balls cleanly and easily. 

 

Reaction Times
My reaction times at third base have improved as well. This past year I made more diving plays than in years past, both to catch line drives and hard-hit ground balls. And I think that's what's made me feel the best, especially considering I've reached an age when even guys like Ichiro and Adrian Beltre are about ready to retire. A lot of players in our league can hit the ball deep, but not nearly as many are willing to lay out and get dirty on defense. As for my fielding percentage at third this year, it could have been even higher, but I made an error in each of the last two games of the year, bringing my total from 3 to 5. That was frustrating, but it's making me hungrier for next year. 

 

Finally, although I hardly pitched at all this year, here are my pitching numbers:

 

Pitching Record

 

Pitching
Year	Club	G	IP	W	L	T	SO	BB	GS	CGW	CGL	CGT	SV
2019	Wolfpack	7	37	1	3	2	9	2	7	1	3	2	0
2021	Wolfpack	8	38	4	2	1	12	2	7	4	2	0	0
2022	Wolfpack	3	6	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1
Totals		18	81	5	6	3	23	4	14	5	5	2	1

 

I didn't keep track of ERA for two reasons: (1) Games usually finish with really high scores like 12-9 or 15-10, so any pitcher's ERA isn't going to look so pretty, especially when the games are only 6 innings long. (2) There are usually a few errors made each game by both teams, and to try to keep track of which baserunners would be earned runs and which would be unearned at any given time during the game would be a little too much to think about while still trying to pitch.

 

Ultimately, I'm totally fine being a third-string pitcher. This year we had an excellent pitcher for most of our games, and our second-string pitcher was good as well. I was happy to trot out to third base almost exclusively.

 

 

To Work On for Next Season

 

Pitch Recognition

My pitch recognition did improve this past season, but I still swung at a few too many pitches outside of the strike zone that resulted in weak contact and some ground-outs or pop-ups.

 

Situational Hitting

I also improved in this area in 2022, and my RBI totals show some evidence of that. But there were still times when all I needed was a simple single to drive in a run, and ended up diverting from my game plan by swinging at a bad pitch or swinging too hard and making poor contact.

 

Fielding

I did well this year and rode some great stretches of confidence, but there's definitely room for improvement. There were a few games when I wasn't feeling sharp in the field, either physically or mentally or both, and that's when errors happen. I've got to figure out a way to perform better on those days.

Overall, I'm determined to improve even more. To raise my fielding percentage even higher. To pick my batting average up higher. To become even better at placing the ball when it's called for. Better at driving the ball when I have a good opportunity to do so. And I think sharing my goals here with all of you will help me hold myself to them. I'm really looking forward to next season.

 

 

The Big Takeaway, and Some Encouragement to Share

 

When I first signed up for that corporate softball league in 2018, I was unsure of a few things. I was unsure of how much my skills might have diminished. I was unsure of whether I'd make a fool of myself. I was unsure about meeting a bunch of new people and being part of a team again. I was unsure about the time and energy I'd have to devote to it. And I'll be honest—I didn't even go to the first few games that year because of all the uncertainty and apprehension. But eventually I did go to a game, and I enjoyed it so much that here we are a few years later, and I'm still enjoying it. Looking back, as difficult as that first push seemed, I'm really glad I made it.  

 

Want to hear a bonus that came from it? 

 

After hearing me share my softball experiences every year since 2018, my dad found a senior-level softball league near his neighborhood this past year and signed up. He loved it. 

 

How much did he love it?

 

He's now got two bats, two gloves, a batting tee, and a bucket of practice softballs. That's how much.

So what about you?

 

If you played a sport when you were younger and it's been years or decades since you did, why not consider picking it up again? Even if it's just grabbing a mitt and a ball and having a catch with a buddy or family member. Grabbing a hockey stick and a roll of electrical tape from the garage and stickhandling around in your driveway. Picking up that tennis racquet and hitting a tennis ball against a wall. 

 

There's a lot of happiness to be had with sports, even at the most simplified level.

 

Get out and do it.