Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!

Maybe I'm becoming one of those grumpy old men. I couldn't have cared less about some 19 year old kid that worked the system to make the show last night. I couldn't bring myself to buy into the hype about Stephen Strasburg or Bryce Harper. It's not that I don't want the Nationals to be relevant I do.

Of course by the time that Harper actually got to play last night, the Topps money making machine was already up to full speed. They were all over Twitter and anywhere you can think of already getting collectors to give them all their money to find one of these:

We don't know if it will be a regular base card(HA HA! good luck with that), will they short print it, or make it the RARE #661 we never see but hear about?

I can't decide if I want them to go back the old days of one big set like the 70's and 80's and try to find the set and then Traded series. I know they make a tone more money continuing to sucker people into to buying all the dumb gimmicks they come up with. I for one am tired of it, and I'm not buying in. I will ask everybody for help with Mariners in Series 2 soon, but that's the only cards I will want.

Perfect in Pale

If you are a child of the 80's like me, you remember Pretty in Pink, right? Yesterday a tiny bit of the country got to see the "Perfect in Pale Hose." It was an awesome sight to watch my Mariners be on the wrong side of history at Safeco Field. While I agreed with most of the parents at my son's second game last night that you never want it to come against you, it is still an amazing sight. I didn't share their feeling of wanting to see it end before he was able to get the perfecto. This has only happened now 21 times in 10's of thousands of games, it is rare air people!

I was very honored that the 22,472 lucky people to be in the stadium yesterday did the right thing in the 8th and 9th innings. Even though our team was losing, they recognized history was being made and got behind Philip Humber. While you are a Mariner fan first, you are also a baseball fan and are honored to see something like that when it comes along. I know that the three of us had to listen to the 9th inning in the car to make his game, but all of us were nervous in the car without being able to see it. I've watch the video, did Brendan Ryan check his swing? I don't know, maybe. Do you honestly think any umpire wants to go through what Jim Joyce did when he cost Armando Gallaraga his perfect game after 26 outs, I think not.

Good to see the fans getting pictures of history, and getting behind an opposing player

I surely hope that the M's can get up off the mat today and do a little better. I can't say enough congratulations to Philip Humber though. I was a nice way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday to watch something that doesn't come along very often.

Swing and miss...

Have you ever put so much work into one of your personal collections that you are proud of yourself? You know that you have done research, made spreadsheets, and always have your checklists and want lists in order. For some reason as you read all the great blogs out there, you see something that you don't remember. I just did that the other day, and my world was turned upside down. I was reading the great Night Owl as I always do, and in part two of his report to the card show I saw a card that struck me.

This my friends is 1977 Topps #478. I never knew that this card contained a "Mariner" aka Dave Johnson. I thought I had 1977 all done and wrapped up in the binder long ago. Now I guess it is time again to try and find time in an already busy life to sit and re-check my collection. I wonder and hope there aren't many more cards that I missed. I guess that one card won't make too much of a difference since I only need 277(?) Mariners cards to have all the base and traded series from all five makers for my favorite team.

Mariners make memories

While it ended up being an UGLY night on the Safeco Field dirt for the hometown M's, plenty was positive. King Felix looked good the first inning, but who knew that his counterpart Bartolo Colon, would be freakin' Cy Young last night? I know the Mariners lineup can be anemic at times, but three hits against the A's? Last week in Oakland, we looked like the 1927 Yankees hitting the ball, and now nothing. Instead of me going all sad on them in game #9 of the season, let's check out the cool parts of last night's home opener.

It was the start of the 2000 season, and the Mariners had traded Ken Griffey Jr to Cincinnati. One of the players to come to Seattle was Mike Cameron. The kid had BIG shoes to fill because everybody loved Griffey. What does he do to start but rob Jeter of a HR in great fashion:


Cammy would patrol center field for the Mariners from 2000-2003 before leaving as a free agent. Mike was a big part of the 116 win team of 2001. One of the most lasting images in my mind was Mike and the team with the American flag at the mound after winning the AL West and honoring those lost in the 9-11 attacks.

Since leaving Seattle, Mike has been a Met, Padre, Brewer, Red Sox, and Marlin in those 8 years. He had signed with the Washington Nationals to play this season. Mike informed them before camp started that he was going to retire. Mike had not filed his paperwork with the league yet, and yesterday signed a one day contract to officially retire from baseball as a Seattle Mariner. While the Mariners had already announced that Mike would throw out the ceremonial first pitch last night, it was great to see the recently retired Mike have honor to throw the pitch to former teammate Ichiro Suzuki.

Another awesome sight to see at Safeco Field last night was a little tradition that the Mariners do at Friday home games. During the middle of an inning they do a promotion that let's a young kid run on the field, "steal" second base and run back off. Last night the young man to do the honor was 13 year old Kyle Smerer. As he pulled up second base, the umpire tried to scare him out of taking the base:

What Kyle didn't realize at first was that the umpire was no umpire at all. The man was none other that U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Steve Smerer--his dad. Sgt. Smerer had returned from Afghanistan from a 13 month deployment. The Mariners had planned this for the family but didn't tell Kyle. It really was a heart warming sight to watch last night considering nothing else was exciting on the field.

After last night's dismal performance, let's hope the hometown 9 can turn it around tonight. I don't know anything about the A's pitcher Tommy Milone tonight, but I want to see something out of Hector Noesi. We gave up a good young arm for him and he needs to step up and show us something.

You're on top of the world!!

Everybody wants FAME and FORTUNE right?? I really would love to be able give everyone a piece of the fortune:

I don't know if what I can give to you is "fame" but I will try.

If you didn't see the last post, I'm trying to drum up some blogs to give love to on the 1979 Topps blog. I have gotten quite a few responses and I know of some blogs that didn't respond. If you have a favorite player or card from the set let me know. If you have a favorite team, or even if your team wasn't around in '79 it's fine. I really want to give everybody a boost. As Willie Stargell taught us with the 1979 Pirates, when it comes to bloggers-- WE ARE FAMILY!!

{{GO HERE}} for the easy connection

Do you want more??

thanks eBay for the pic

I think everyone wants more traffic to their blog right? Do you have an affinity for the 1979 Topps set? Would you want your blog to be featured with your favorite team? Was your favorite player a rookie in '79 and didn't have a card? Do you collect a player who was in the 1979 set? I want to be able send a little love to everyone. If your favorite team wasn't around in 1979, don't worry I have some plans for fans of the newer teams to work you in too. Either comment here, or send me an e-mail and give me your blog's name and your name if you want and I will continue to pimp everyone on the '79 blog. Tell your family, tell your friends. Let your trade partners know, tell everyone you can think of for a little more press!!

New York Yankees- Sexy Geek's house of Swag, The Lost Collector, All About Cards

Boston Red Sox- Section 36

Baltimore Orioles- Statis Pro 1984

Toronto BlueJays-

Tampa Bay Rays-

Chicago White Sox- two by three heroes,

Detroit Tigers- Coot Veal and the Vealtones, Potch Wheeler

Minnesota Twins-

Kansas City Royals-

Cleveland Indians-

Texas Rangers- Play at the Plate, Texas Rangers Cards

California Angels- Angel in Order

Oakland A's-

Seattle Mariners-

New York Mets-

Atlanta Braves- Cardboard Collections, Waxaholic

Montreal Expos- Classon Ave

Florida Marlins-

Philadelphia Phillies- DawgBones

Pittsburgh Pirates- Pirates Treasure Room

St. Louis Cardinals-Tenets of Wilson

Milwaukee Brewers-

Cincinnati Reds- Potch Wheeler, lifetime Topps

Houston Astros-

Chicago Cubs- toppscards

Los Angeles Dodgers- GCRL infield

San Diego Padres- Padrographs

Arizona Diamondbacks-

Colorado Rockies-

San Francisco Giants-

Non Team Specific- Chris Stufflestreet, Johngy's Beat, Baseball Dime Box

Player specific Spiff-Jon Matlack

Opening...what???

As we may remember, we had the opening of baseball last week in Japan. I guess it wasn't the "opening" that we all saw in the past. Last week's games were the "Opening Series" in Tokyo.

Last night in Miami we had "Opening Night" with one game in MLB. All the world watched the Marlins be the Marlins.

Today you have seven games which "officially" kick off "Opening Day" for some teams. Even tomorrow you don't have a full slate of games with only nine games including the continuation of the Mariners and A's series that started in Japan before both teams came back for more spring games.

The first day we actually have a full 15 games is on Saturday and those games will be part of "Opening Weekend".

borrowed from the Braves website

I always remember that the first game of the season was played in Cincinnati early in the day. Now we go across the globe, or just a new stadium to show it off, or just some random place. Bud Selig and the boys are really starting to mess with tradition to feed their CASH COW from those of us that love the game.

Welcome to the start of the baseball season, ladies and gentlemen!!

Your 2012 Mariners....

I'm sure most of you won't care to see what's going on up here in the corner of the world. This is my therapy before the beginning of another LONG season to come. Here's a look at the 25 man roster, aand guys we could see In the Emerald City this year.

Pitchers

Felix Hernandez- The ace of the rotation
Jason Vargas- A decent #2 but not the greatest
Kevin Millwood- Not who I had in mind but let's hope he stays healthy
Blake Beavan- Still young, but we need guys on the back end
Hector Noesi- Don't know much so we will see in the season

Bullpen

Brandon League- Last year's All Star will be the closer again
George Sherrill- Will be the set up guy, but can close too
Shawn Kelley- Coming back from Tommy John, 7th inning guy
Tom Wilhelmsen- From bartender to big league pitcher
Hisahi Iwakuma- I'm assuming he can be the long guy in the pen
Steve Delabar- Still young, needs time at AAA, but we need bodies
Charlie Furbush- Every bullpen has to have a lefty for long or short

Catcher

Miguel Olivo- Will be the everyday guy, but he worries me
John Jaso- I would like to see what he can do, was good for the Rays

Infield

Justin Smoak- Hopefully he will be injury free and have a big year
Dustin Ackley- This kid will be the real deal, expect big things this year
Brendan Ryan- an older veteran presence, still good at the plate and in the field
Chone Figgins- Anybody want an overpriced washed up guy? $9M albatross this year

Outfield

Ichiro Suzuki- I think the drop to the 3 hole will be good for him
Franklin Gutierrez- Needs plate discipline, but has great range and a Gold Glove
Mike Carp- Will get time in LF because of his power, all or nothing hitter

Bench

Munenori Kawasaki- I haven't seen him in spring, only wanted to play for Seattle
Alex Liddi- It was a hard decision between Alex and Kyle Seager
Casper Wells- I think that Casper will platoon in Left, it could be Saunders instead though

Designated Hitter

Jesus Montero- This kid better rake because we gave up a lot for a DH...


Guys that could see Seattle this year:

Pitchers
Danny Hultzen
James Paxton
Taijuan Walker
Erasmo Ramirez
Lucas Luetge

Position players
Trayvon Robinson
Carlos Triunfel
Nick Franklin
Vinnie Catricala
Chih Hsien Chiang


Predicted Finish

I see 78-84 and 3rd in the division this year. It could be bad and we lose over 100 games again too. I can see the team starting to get better and will hopefully start to contend in a couple more years.