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It's Outta Here! In the late 1970s, we had a video game system called Odyssey 2. It was like Atari but the games were kind of lame. The baseball game was pretty cool though. We played it a lot. Anyway, there were no lineups or player names, just funny shapes swinging something that somewhat resembled a bat. So we would sometimes pretend a certain player was batting or pitching. I realize how ridiculous this sounds, but everytime we said, "Lerrin LaGrow is on the mound," the b

The first of many... There was nothing, and I mean nothing better in life for me at age 8 than opening my first pack of baseball cards for the year. And it wasn't like it is today, new sets coming out every month year round. Nope, it was only Topps and the first packs appeared in March. Well, Mr. Scrivener, a guy I don't know a thing about, was the first card for me in 1977. It stuck with me all these years and is the only first card that I remember. I think the pack came fro

The Card Speaks For Itself! There's nothing I can say about this card that millions of Phillies fans haven't already said. The greatest moment in the history of the Phillies franchise was when Tugger struck out Willie Wilson to win the 1980 World Series. As great as 2008 was, it didn't hold a candle to 1980. I was at Game 1, started by Bob Walk, but I watched Game 6, ended by Frank Edwin "Tug" McGraw. What an amazing game that was. When Boone dropped the foul ball but Rose ca

Always A Boomer Fan!! Rest In Peace! It is a sin to see George "Boomer" Scott at the end of his career wearing a Yankees uniform. He wasn't that old, he just stopped hitting. I was a huge Boomer fan when he played for the Brewers. Needless to say, i wasn't happy when he was traded to the Red Sox for some guy I never heard of, Cecil Cooper. It got worse. They threw in Bernie Carbo too, and I loved his baseball card. Little did I know Cooper would have nearly 10 years with the

The Ultimate Showboat Willie was far from his prime by the time he put on a Mets uniform. He came over in a complicated four team deal with names like Bert Blyleven, John Milner and Jon Matlack involved. You need an advanced degree in something to figure out who traded whom. Willie didn't do much nor last long for the Mets. But he was traded for a pitcher who would make an impact for them, albeit briefly, Ed Lynch, the man who made more money in arbitration one year than Ron

The Red Rooster! I don't remember much about Rader as a player, but he was pretty good. I think he managed for a bit too. That being said, how cool was it to be eight years old and see cards of a new team? For me, all Blue Jays and Mariners were cool the first two years! Playing around 10 years, he accumulated more than 1300 hits, which isn't a bad number. But when you are released mid-season by a horrible Blue Jays team, now that's a bit scary. And for the record, Rader's wi

The Occasional Bannister? I have a few odd memories of Alan Bannister. First of all, he was originally with the Philies. I was young so I don't remember him actually playing there, but he was one of a ton of young players like Bosetti, Andrews, Iorg, Nahorodny, etc that the Phils traded for veterans in the mid to late 70s. But my biggest memory of Alan Bannister had nothing to do with Alan Bannister. I was a freshman in college and I noticed someone had a sticker on his door

The Ugliest Man In Baseball? I am 45 years old and my brother is older (much older). To this day, he still mentions the name of "the ugliest player of the 70s" (aside from Andy Etchebarren of course), Buddy Bradford. I can't remember the exact reason for it, but we hated this poor guy. Looking back, he's no worse looking than a boatload of ballplayers. Just look at the 1975 Topps card of Larry Milbourne or any Bake McBride card. Yet at family gatherings, you can count on my b

Oh Eddie Watt, we hardly knew ya.' I loved this card at age 6, even though I wouldn't know Eddie Watt from Eddie Rabbitt, who honestly I knew nothing of except his inclusion on a K-Tel record from the commercials. And I also knew that he loved a rainy night. But anyway, I never saw Eddie Watt pitch. Well, I might have, but I don't remember. 1974 was a long time ago and I was only 5. But I remember this card. I didn't know that Watt finished his career playing briefly for the