Tim Carroll is not your regular artist. Rather than relying on an easel, palette, paintbrush and canvas his favorite medium is baseball cards. He’s also been known to use such items as rubber stamps, fake $100 bills, and black socks. His artwork usually portrays sports figures but he’s also done pieces on Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln.
Two of the cards he produced artwork of are cards that I mentioned in my blog on Rookie Cards. Neither of which are cards I own sadly. One is, of course, Mickey Mantle’s 1952 Topps card and the other is Ken Griffey Jr.’s 1989 Upper Deck RC. (more…)
Art By Tim Carroll
Congrats To The Yankees
Oh no! the Yankees won the World Series! That was my expected reaction, and I still would have greatly preferred to see the Phillies win over the Evil Empire. But, I think the better team won here. I think we saw some great baseball from both sides and I think the fans won in this World Series. Here’s why I say that. (more…)
Eric Lands a White Whale
I won my first “true” 1/1 on eBay yesterday. The card is a 2008 Topps Triple Threads Josh Anderson with an autograph, 2 games used jersey swatches and a patch piece. Serial numbered 1/1 of course. I just recently started my Josh Anderson PC and it has been growing pretty quickly. I haven’t found a lot of competition and was surprised that I was forced to pay $32 for this card. (more…)
Robin Yount Corked?
A link to this auction was posted on Pat Neshek’s forum. The item is supposed to be a game-used, corked bat used by Brewers legend and Hall of Famer Robin Yount. I for one won’t pass any sort of judgement based on this one piece of evidence suggesting Yount was a “cheater”. For one, even though they have very good reason to believe the bat was used by Yount extensively, it’s still not like they took the bat right out of his hands and caught him red-handed. I don’t know much about the process of corking a bat, but theoretically couldn’t it have been done after he retired the bat? I’m not saying I think that’s the case either. I’m just saying their are too many possibilities to brand Yount a cheater. (more…)
Cleveland Ready To Acta Fool
The Cleveland Indians are taking the same approach to rebuilding as the Washington Nationals took before the 2007 season. Manny Acta will be manning the helm for 2010 and the Indians were so excited to acquire him and his 158-252 record that they didn’t even go ahead with their scheduled interview of Don Mattingly. To add to the craziness the Astros tried to get Acta but (to my relief) he turned down their offer. (more…)
Why We TTM
TTM means through the mail. I along with thousands of other collectors write athletes in an attempt to acquire their autograph. It’s an inconsistent hobby, but I find it to be very rewarding. The autograph aside, sometimes there are things that come from these requests that make the experience extra rewarding. Maybe it’s a handwritten letter from the player or a special inscription or something else entirely. Gregg Zaun provided me with one of those moments Saturday.
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Steiner Comes Through! Ugh… Eh?
Well I thought it was only fair to Steiner to give readers an update in regard to the YANK909 fiasco I blogged about several days ago. On the 13th I was perusing a web forum and reading about the experience of other collectors in relation to their YANK909 Steiner orders. This inspired me to go to the Steiner website and check my order. I had checked a couple of days before and it said “departed”. This time it said “delivered”. I was taken aback because I hadn’t seen a package so I read on. Delivered October 13th at the front door. I stood up and ran outside and opened the door. Eureka! There was my package! Three Rawling’s Official Major League baseballs for $9.99. Amazing. But my positive Steiner experience is not being shared by many other collectors. (more…)
Steiner Buzzes The Collecting Community
Message boards centered around sports memorabilia came alive on Saturday. Steiner Sports had a promo code (YANK909) which allowed purchasers to get $50 off any order with no minimum to buy. So if you could find something for $49.99 then you only had to pay shipping and the item was yours. Virtually free. To good to be true? Probably. Collectors were suspicious but it did appear to be working. I did it myself and after placing my order I got an email which contained this… (more…)
American efforts to coddle children maintain momentum
Sometimes I get so damn irritated I can hardly express myself. I suppose this is one of those types, so I’ll keep my input to a minimum.
In Connecticut, a nine-year-old kid has been banned from his baseball league because of his 40 MPH fastball. No, he hasn’t hit a single batter, but “facing that kind of speed” is scary. That, from league attorney Peter Noble, is enough to justify his expulsion.
Give me a break. (more…)
Sexist attitudes revealed in commentary on Erin Andrews
sex·ism – noun
1. attitudes or behavior based on traditional stereotypes of sexual roles.
2. discrimination or devaluation based on a person’s sex, as in restricted job opportunities; esp., such discrimination directed against women.
Arguing semantics gets a bad rap. When it distracts from the true points of contention, that’s understandable. Sometimes it’s all about the semantics though.
So when I call this piece by Mike Nadel sexist, you’ll forgive me for picking it part word by word. You see, there is a language to sexism, and Nadel employs it effortlessly, laying bare the attitudes behind the writing.
So, let’s look at the language.
