Color Blind.

When I'm not searching for James Shields and Rays cards I like to pick up the odd Brooklyn Dodgers card. This card caught my eagle eye while I was browsing COMC.com. The guy on the left we all know, the guy on the right maybe not so much. We all know that Jackie Robinson was the man who broke MLB color barrier on April 15th 1947 playing for the Dodgers. Maybe some of our younger readers are unaware that Larry Doby was the first black player to play in the American League. Just eleven weeks after Robinson played for the Dodgers, Doby played his first game for the Cleveland Indians on July 5th 1947. Both men are in the Hall of Fame,Robinson a first ballot inductee in 1962, Doby voted in by veterens commitee in 1998. Lets see how their careers stacked up against each other.

Seasons Played. Robinson 10

Doby 13

All Star Games. Robinson 6

Doby 7

Batting Average Robinson .311 very nice

Doby .283 solid

Hits Robinson 1518

Doby 1515

Home Runs Robinson 137

Doby 253

RBI's Robinson 734

Doby 970

Stolen Bases Robinson 197

Doby 47.

Nice looking stats for both players,amazing that there are only 3 hits difference between them. Jackie Robinsons number 42 has been retired throughout baseball, after Mariano Rivera retires no one will ever wear 42 again. Larry Doby's number 14 has been retired by the Cleveland Indians but not by MLB.

1947 seems a very long time ago,even youngsters who got to see these guys play are now in their 70's. Can any of us imagine living in a time when people were excluded from playing a game because of their skin color? Can any of us understand the abuse and hatred these pioneers had to endure just to play a game? I love baseball and I love it because of men like Robinson and Doby,men who made a great game even better.

Vin Scully Legend.

Thanks to the Yankees playing a day game I am watching the Dodgers and Padres. Not a fan of either club, but man oh man I am a fan of Vin Scully. Vin has been the voice of the Dodgers for 61 years. Yes 61 years. The impressive thing's about Scully are that he does all the announcing,no annoying Joe Morgan style sidekick. He also has so many nuggets of information about each player,not just stats, but stories of past games stories of small town heroes. Tonight John Lindsey was in the on deck circle waiting to take his 1st ever major league at bat,Vin tells the viewers the story of the 16 year minor league vetrean, the Padres call for a pitching change and when we return from the ad break the Dodgers have put Either in to bat instead of Lindsey. Scully seems genuinely upset that Lindsey is not going to get his bat,this is what makes Vin Scully great, it's not me,me,me, it's all about the players. Unlike Joe Morgan-alikes there is no "this is what I do" or "when I played" rubbish. Vin Scully is the last great announcer and we should revere him and treasure him because he won't be around forever. Oh well tomorrow it's back to Michael Kay. Yay.

A Quick Plug.

Redsox101 is holding a group break and is looking for a few more takers, info can be found here
http://http://www.sportscardradio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=741. Nice boxes to be opened and a nice price.

Ugly,Ugly Card.

Here we have a very ugly card, it's a Diasuke Matsuzaka 2007 Turkey Red Rookie card. This has to be the ugliest card I have seen, the picture is just awful. It looks as if Dice K (how i hate that) is either about to do something nasty in his uniform pants or is about to have a stroke. I have never seen Mr Matsuzaka in real life so it may be this is how he looks, if not I would be very unhappy with a card that made me look this odd. The other thing that makes this card really ugly is of course it's a Red Sox player. Just kidding Red Sox fans. Or am I.

NCAA Football Off and Running

I love college football, I fell in love with it in 2003 when on vacation in Florida. The 2010 season kicked off on Thursday, but my team the Temple Owls started their season Friday evening against the Villanova Wildcats. As usual the Owls made heavy weather of beating their 1AA opponents. Unlike last year though they did beat the Wildcats, the Owls could be in line to win the MAC conference this year. This would be a fantastic achievement for a program that was in the toilet for a long time. Last year the Owls went 9-4 their first winning season since they went 7-4 in 1990 thats along time between winning seasons. The Owls were even kicked out of the Big East conference for being so bad. One man has turned the team around Al Golden, since Goldens arrival the team has improved year on year and are now in line for a possible conference win. Go Owls.

Why you may ask does a guy from the UK follow a team like the Owls. Simple I love to support an underdog. I follow the Rays in baseball and have since 2003 when they were awful. I support Colchester United football team and believe me they have not got a glorious history, so when it came time to pick a NCAA football team the Owls were my only choice.

Ohhh Rats!!!

My Strasburg,actually it belongs to my sister and me. My dear sister went on vacation to the states and brought back a few packs of Bowman 2010. No Strasburg, a few weeks ago she bought a blaster on E Bay. This week she finally got around to opening it. Talk about bad timing. Oh well I guess its still worth a bit of cash to someone.

Rain Delay.

The Rays got mullered 13-5. My scanner has gone on the Fritz, I seen to have picked up a fever of some sort and to cap it all off we are having the monsoon storm from hell right now. I just spent the last 15 minutes making sure the hatches were well and truely battened down in the old homestead. The only god thing about a storm like this is that it shuts up my neighbours fighting cocks ( I live in the Philippines at the moment). I thought a cock was only supposed to crow at dawn, not these buggers, every minute of everyday one of them is cock a doodle dooing. I wish they would cock a doodle don't.

So how do you cheer yourself up on a day like today? You show off one of your favorite cards. A James Shields Exquisite Phenoms Gold Auto 11/15. What I love most about this card is the look on Shield's face, a look left over from old portraits of 18th century nobles. This is not the look of a man who is going to surrender six home runs in one game. This is the look of a man who will shoot game birds before retiring to the study for brandy,the look of a man who may do something unsavoury to the under maid. So I have decided when i have a day like today I am just going to adopt the Shields face and everything will be ok. If you ever see a six five slightly overweight Englishman moaning about noisy fighting cocks, take a look at his face,because if he is wearing this look come over and say hi to me.

ps. Anyone trading with me should know all my trades are handled from the UK. My dad does all the posting and shipping, so don't worry if you were thinking they were coming from the soggy Philippines.