Making some moves.

Lots of former Rangers players making moves over the past couple of days.

Yesterday Texas announced the hiring of one-time Rangers catcher Benji Molina as first base coach and catching instructor. That leaves former Ranger Bobby Jones as the assistant hitting coach. That settles the coaching staff unless there is an unexpected development.

Also yesterday, former Ranger Mark DeRosa announced his retirement as a player. The Blue Jays had already picked up his option for next season but DeRosa said he was tired of battling injuries and wanted to spend more time with his family.

Yesterday as well, former Ranger Kevin Brown's 1994 Pacific card 610 completed the move to my collection. Brown was accompanied by two other hits off my want list, two former Rangers autographs, and two game-used cards featuring mostly former Rangers. The arrivals were the result of a trade worked out with reader Scott following my post looking for such trades. Scott got in touch with me and proposed a trade. He was very gracious through the whole process and we ended up with a mutually agreeable deal. If Scott ever contacts you, wants to make a trade, and throws my name out as a reference, you can be sure it's a good recommendation. Thanks again Scott!

Best Seasons: Aaron Sele - 1998.

The World Series starts tonight. Cardinals versus Red Sox. Still not focused on it but since I grew up with the Cardinals as my National League team at least there's some interest. Seems like a good time for the next installment in TR Sullivan's list of the top 50 seasons in Rangers history.

Showing up at number 31 on the list is Aaron Sele's 1998 season. Arriving in an off-season trade with Boston Sele, shown here on card 430 of the 1999 Pacific set, was a starter brought in to bolster the Rangers rotation. Depending on your definition of bolster, he did just that.

Aaron made 33 starts for Texas in 1998 and posted a 19-11 record. He also pitched 212.2 innings over the course of the season. If those were the only numbers involved I would be tempted to agree with TR's assessment of the season as "excellent". However, take into account Sele's 4.23 ERA and 1.519 WHIP and the excellence of his season becomes a whole lot more debatable.

All things must be viewed in context though. Sele's ERA was the lowest among Rangers starters in 1998. While baseball purists might blanch at a staff ace with an ERA north of four, the times have to be considered. 1998 was the height of the steroids era and only a select few hurlers managed to keep their numbers reasonable. For the time Aaron must have looked somewhat decent, he was named to the All-Star team that year.

A look ahead.

Decided to post this this 2000 Aurora Scouting Reports card of Ivan Rodriguez today. Scouting is a big part of Major League Baseball. Clubs have advanced scouts, minor league scouts, talent scouts, and foreign scouts to name a few. They all have one thing in common - trying to predict what is to come.

Well, this next weekend and the first part of next week are going to be pretty busy for me. As such I have pre-scheduled my posts. Letting you know this in case you wonder why I am all of the sudden not commenting on current happenings.

So, here's the scouting report on the coming few days. Tomorrow and Monday will be flashbacks as regular series that have had an extended hiatus are revisited. Tuesday is the next player from the 1974 team. Wednesday is the fifth installment in the Top 50 Decisions series. Thursday things will hopefully have slowed down and you'll have to put up with current posting again.

Thanks for your understanding and I hope you enjoy (or at least read) the upcoming posts.

Rangers posts around the web.

In 1998 Pacific had the idea of mixing cards and the Internet. The result was the Online set, demonstrated here by card number 743. Like most Pacific ideas, this one was not real well done. The set was huge and confusing. Not everyone had the Internet yet. Trying to look up your favorite players on a dial-up connection took days. Literally.

Fast forward to today. Pacific is defunct but their idea isn't. Seems like a new card blog pops up every few days to join the hundreds already out there. Like a lot of folks, I read several blogs regularly and a lot from time to time. A normal way for me to get drawn into a blog is through a Rangers-oriented post. With that in mind here are a few from recently.

Night Owl continues to plug away at the 1975 Topps set. His write-ups are always fun to read. The most recent Rangers card is Jeff Burroughs.

Carl Crawford cards takes a lighter look at John Ellis' 1978 Topps card. At least there's no stale smell about this one.

Goose Joak always has some great custom cards he makes up. His recent return to an earlier design is no different. Great way to get a look at a possible ace and new player in their Rangers threads.

Do you know that some Nolan Ryan collectors out there have actually worked for the man? I didn't either until I read Bo's recent post at Baseball Cards Come to Life. May have to see if I have any extra cards of Nollie.

Sully says that the Rangers shouldn't trade Michael Young. I agree Sully, welcome aboard. Sully usually writes and commentates well in spite of living in California and being a Red Sox fan.

While not card related, T.R, Sullivan's blog is some good Rangers reading. Watch for the Latin quotes and cultural and historical references. Don't worry, Toby won't bite.

Well, that's the links I can come up with for recent Rangers posts. Let me know in the comments section if I missed any. If you happen to stop by and leave a comment for any of these guys feel free to let them know that Spiff sent ya.

So much cooler online?

So once again it is Wednesday. No wantlist today though. Instead I have finally gotten my wantlists put online. Thus card number 750 of the 1998 Pacific Online set.

You can see the Rangers wantlists here, the Senators wantlists here and the tradelist here. Still have a little updating to do on the tradelist but it's mostly there. Not sure if being online makes the lists any cooler but they are more available. Let me know if you see anything you want or can send my way.

Since there will be no more wantlist posts, I am looking for ideas for Wednesdays. If anyone has something they would like to see as a regular feature please let me know. If it catches my fancy I might give it a shot. If I don't get any ideas you'll just have to suffer through whatever I can come up with.

Wantlist - 1994 Pacific.

1994 was before Pacific had completely gone off the deep end with inserts, strange designs, and a multitude of sets. In fact the design, as shown here by Butch Davis on card number 613, was rather simple. The backs of the cards were in both English and Spanish. The set was pretty large though, as is my wantlist to complete this team set. Here is what I need:

1994 Pacific
609 Jeff Bronkey
610 Kevin Brown
615 Julio Franco
616 Benji Gil
620 David Hulse
622 Rafael Palmeiro
623 Dean Palmer
624 Bob Patterson
625 Roger Pavlik
626 Gary Redus
628 Kenny Rogers
629 Jon Shave
630 Doug Strange
631 Matt Whiteside

I know, lots of cards to go before I can put this one to bed. Let me know if you can get me any closer. I am sure we can work out a trade. Maybe even include some cards from this week's installment of the tradelist:

Sammy Sosa
1991 Studio #38 (2)
1992 Upper Deck #438
1998 Score #65
1999 Upper Deck Challengers for 70 #C2
1999 Upper Deck Power Elite #2
2000 Opening Day 2K #OD18
2003 Post #6 (corner slightly dinged)
2004 Upper Deck Power Up #61 (x2)
2005 Bazooka #49
2005 Fleer Patchworks #63 (x2)
2005 Fleer Platinum #91
2005 Upper Deck #42

Mark Teixeira
2008 Topps #350 (x2)
2008 Topps Heritage Flashbacks #FB1
2009 Topps Town #TTT48
2010 Topps Heritage #92
Frank Thomas
1991 Fleer #138
1991 Leaf #281
1991 Upper Deck #246
1992 Stadium Club #301
1993 Upper Deck Reggie Jackson #R20
1993 Ultra #181
1994 Fleer Lumber Company #9
1994 Stadium Club #267
1995 Ultra #34
1997 Collector’s Choice #300
1999 UD Choice Starquest #SQ17
1999 Ultra #214
2000 Fleer Focus #168
2000 Upper Deck Ovation #55
2001 Donruss Classics #7
2002 Sweet Spot #33
2003 Topps #109
2003 Victory #26
2004 Flair #56
2004 Upper Deck Super Sluggers #SL-9
2005 Fleer Classic Clippings #1
2005 Fleer Patchworks #8 (x2)
2005 Ultra #135
2007 Topps #305

Let me know if you see anything you like. Always willing to trade.

A Christmas card!

So I was having a hard time trying to come up with a card to post on this Christmas Eve. Then I remembered this one. What you see today is Ivan Rodriguez on card number 20 in the 2000 Pacific Ornaments set. These cards were designed to be hung on the tree if so desired. They even came with a red string for the hanging. In the scan I have the string behind the card but you can see a little of it at the top center of the card.

Special thanks to Mariner1 and Night Owl for their recent Christmas packages. Mariner1 even sent the cards inside a Christmas card, very seasonal.

Here's to wishing everyone a merry Christmas. Hope you and yours have an enjoyable and safe evening tonight and a great day tomorrow.

Wantlist - 1999 Aurora.

Pacific just never did anything for me. It always seemed that they were a fly-by-night company that had to try and lure collectors with outrageous designs and lots of absurd inserts.

Having said that, I do kind of like the 1999 Aurora base design. Roberto Kelly shows off the design on card number 192. I still need two cards to finish up this team set:

1999 Aurora
191 Rusty Greer
193 Rafael Palmeiro

Let me know if you have them laying around and want to get them cleared out. Ok, here's the next installment in the tradelist:

Mike Schmidt
1986 Sportflics #148
1987 Donruss Highlights #2
1987 Fleer Award Winner #36
1987 Fleer Baseball’s Best #37
1988 Fleer #636
1989 Topps #100
1989 Upper Deck #684
1989 Upper Deck #406
1989 Donruss #193
1990 Donruss #643
1990 Upper Deck #20
1992 Classic Best #100
2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes #195
2010 Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT-25

Ozzie Smith
1988 Donruss #263
1990 Topps #400
1990 Topps #590
1990 Upper Deck #225 (x2)
1991 Donruss #240
1991 Upper Deck #162
1991 Studio #238
1992 Fleer #592
1992 Upper Deck #177
1992 Upper Deck #716
1992 O-Pee-Chee Premier #84
1993 Leaf #328
1993 Topps #40
1993 Upper Deck #146
1993 Donruss #520
1996 Denny’s #20
2004 Fleer Greats #143
2005 Upper Deck All-Star Classics #94
2005 Zenith #236

Couple of more retired players this week that it seems nobody really chases anymore. Let me know though if you see something you would like to have. I am sure we can work out a deal.

Flashback.

So I finally got some 2010 packs today of both Topps and Upper Deck. Got a code card for the Topps Million Card Giveaway. As I was entering the code I thought of the 1998 Pacific Online set. I am showing Mike Simms on card number 745 as an example.

How many folks other than me remember this set? I recall that at the time it came out that it had a rather high-tech mystic about it. Each card had the URL of the team featured and a URL (now dead) for that specific player. The back of the cards urged collectors to hop on line and get more information on the player and his team. The inserts in the set had special codes printed on the back that could be redeemed for prizes and points if I recall correctly. I remember thinking that this was the wave of the future, computers and cards merged together. Pacific appeared to have got a jump on the big boys.

Sadly I don't remember anything about the website these cards promoted. At the time the only access I had to the Internet was through dial-up and picture heavy sites were a no go. Apparently the set was also a no go, it disappeared after just one year.

At least dial-up is no longer an issue. I was able to to successfully redeem a 1973 Marty Pattin card from Topps. Marty's a Red Sox. Anyone got any Rangers up for trade?

Headlong.

I like this card, number 424 in the 1999 Pacific set. Kind of surprising really. Pacific never did much for me and I didn't even notice them leaving the baseball card scene. I didn't like the red uniforms, either the first time around or this time. I only have a vague recollection of Tommy Goodwin with the team.

In spite of all of this, I like the card. I like the hustle and the headfirst slide. The dirt kicking up ahead of Tommy as he grabs the bag. The concentrated set of the mouth.

I would like to imagine he is swiping second or third but this is likely taking place at first as he dives back in under a pick-off attempt. Either way, it is a nice shot. Even if you can't see Tommy's eyes.

1995 Pacific - Rick Honeycutt

Number 428 in the 1995 Pacific offering is Rick Honeycutt. The card design here almost shouts second tier card company. The player name, year, and company logo all scan black but are gold foil. Maybe if they were black the design wouldn't look quite so gaudy.

Rick was one of those players that put in more than one stint with Texas. He pitched for the team in '81, '82, and part of '83. In 1982 he had an ERA of 5.27. The other two years it didn't get over 3.31. That must have been the Honeycutt the Rangers remembered in 1993 when they signed him as a free agent for the '94 season. That was not the Honeycutt they got as he had a whopping 7.20 ERA in 25 innings pitched.

Not sure if it was the red uniforms or the difference between being in his late 20's the first time and 40 the second that accounted for the decline.

1997 Pacific - Rusty Greer

Today's card of the day is kind of a rush job. We have family coming in and Mrs. Spiff is reminding me that I promised to help with the house-cleaning.

I chose #201 in the set because I like Rusty Greer. I figured that way there would be something about this card I like as well as something I don't. I like the mostly border-less look. What I don't like is all the foil along the side (top) of the card. Too much in my opinion (in which I feel I am sure to be joined by Joey at Squeezeplay Cards). It's hard to read Rusty's name and one can only imagine being able to read the year just to the left of his name.

This card also brings up another topic. Rusty is wearing the red uniform that the Rangers sported in the late nineties up through 2000 or so. During that time they went to the post season three times, the only three in club history. Lately I have read some talk about the fans wanting the team to return to red uniforms because they won in them. Well, at least made the post season. Others feel that the red uniforms somehow look better. I beg to differ. I prefer the blue and hope they stick with it. After all, they originally went to blue to get away from the red that they wore in Washington as the Senators. As the saying goes, "Washington: first in war, first in peace, last in the American League."