Mail Day!: Ty Cobb

I have been really impressed with some of the commemorative cards that Topps put in their series 1 and 2 this year. They have honored players with a commemorative medallion celebrating their first home run and they have also issued a nice thick card with a commemorative bat knob.

Ty Cobb is one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game of baseball. There are not many people that are around that can say that they have seen him play in real life. I have enjoyed reading and learning about Cobb and he has became one of my favorite ball players. Here are a couple cards I picked up honoring Cobb.

On September 23rd, 1905 Ty Cobb would hit his first home run. He would hit a total of 117 in his career. Nowadays that doesn't sound like many home runs, but he did play during the dead ball era. His career high in a season was 12 which he did twice 1921 and 1925. 

This is one of my favorite cards in the series. It was part of series 2 and I did pull a Robinson Cano bat knob in my box. I have been looking for a bit to add a Ty Cobb commemorative bat knob card to my collection and I finally found one that I thought was a good deal and snagged it.

Joining the Legends

This past Sunday was the baseball Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown, NY. Craig Biggio, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Randy Johnson were inducted into the Hall of Fame. In honor of my favorite childhood pitcher, Randy Johnson I thought I would shared my favorite my Johnson card that I own.

Being left handed I have always tended to like left handed pitchers. Well the Big Unit was the best one of my generation. I grew up a Detroit Tigers fan, but being 25 years old now I was in the generation that watch Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners. I was never really a Mariners fan, but I loved Griffey and Johnson.

In his 22 year career Johnson would win 303 games with an ERA of 3.29 and 4,875 strikeouts which is good for second all time behind Nolan Ryan. He would win 5 Cy Young awards including four straight from 1999-2002. An amazing stat from his career is that his lowest finish in strikeouts was 8th which was during his final season in 2006 and his rookie season in 1990 when finished 6th. Every other season he would finished no worse then 3rd.

Ken Griffey Jr.: My Childhood Hero

Yesterday while checking some of the usually baseball sites that I read, I stumbled upon this article about Ken Griffey Jr. and his trade from Seattle to Cincinnati. Growing up in the 90's what kid wasn't a fan of Griffey. I remember playing little league and trying mimic his swing at the plate, but what stood out the most for me with him was his defense. Watching highlights of him taking away home runs was just awesome to me.

This was one of my first Griffey cards that I added to my collection. What is cool about this card it has part of his batting glove in it. I haven't seen really any other relic card that has something other then a part of a jersey or a bat. Pretty cool relic to have.

Going back to the article written about Griffey the other thing that made me really like him growing up was how close he was with his dad and his family. He always put family first. I am lucky enough to have a close relationship with my family and especially with my dad. Just like Griffey, I am able to work with my dad (I am salesperson at a Chevy dealership and my dad is the parts manager).

Can't have an article about my favorite baseball player of all time without having a highlight film.