Joy from Jim.

The Rangers had last night off. Probably good with the patched together rotation and lineup they have going right now. Any day off is a day closer to some of the regulars returning. Tonight they kick off a series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Joe Saunders is going to be pitching for his spot in the rotation.

Towards the end of March I posted a list of the team sets I was down to one card to complete. A few days later I received an email from reader Jim. Jim wasn't able to hit any of the holes I listed but he'd taken a look at my wantlists and had a few other cards for me. I wasn't able to come up with anything from Jim's wantlists but he was gracious enough to offer the cards he had as a gift.

A few days ago a small package showed up in the mail. In the package was a group of Senators and Rangers cards. All hit holes on my wantlists. This 1993 Stadium Club #133 of Jeff Frye was one of the cards included. The whole package deserves the high five Frye is handing out. Jim knocked out several Rangers wants and around 13 cards off my Senators wantlists.

It's a rare occurrance to receive Senators cards in trade, even more so as a gift. Thanks a ton Jim, you really made my day with your generosity. Hope I can attempt to repay the favor someday.

Bummer...

Well, Josh Hamilton had a news conference today to address rumors from the past couple of days that he had been seen drinking in a Dallas bar. What he said is that he did it, lied about it to Ian Kinsler, and regrets having failed to stay sober.

I've talked about Josh's failings in a previous post and have little to add to what I have already said on the matter. I am glad that at least this time there were no drugs involved.

As a fan I find this to be a bummer on a couple of fronts. It's always a downer to see a key player on your team fail, especially a comeback story like Hamilton.

From another aspect this incident is discouraging because it puts the contract talks on hold. That would be the talks that were supposed to result in a contract extension by Spring Training or be cut off. Looks to me like this will result in the latter. If that happens then Hamilton, shown here on card 53 from the 2008 Stadium Club set, will be a free agent next off season. I'm having a hard time seeing Texas re-signing him at that point. Seems like Josh may have stumbled his way out of being a Texas Ranger beyond the 2012 season.

1991 Stadium Club - John Russell

Well, they're bringing back Stadium Club. Since it has been on several sites I won't dwell much on it. Just thought I should at least acknowledge the news with a Stadium Club card.

Here we see John Russell on the front of card number 474 in Stadium Club's 1991 debut. Looks like John just slid into home. The play couldn't have been that close since the catcher is not set to receive a throw. Since the catcher is with the Pirates and this was before inter-league play it is probably safe to assume that this photo is from Spring Training.

Flipping the card over we find a picture of John's rookie card, 1986 Topps. He was with the Phillies then. According to the comments section, John had trouble with outside curves when facing right-handers. His strengths at the plate were waist high inside and low-middle fastballs. Seeing as his average against fastballs in these locations was .384 I would say he liked the ball located there.

Home again

Well, after three long days in class going over information I already know and use in my job, I am home again. Glad to get that over with.

In celebration I post card number 387 of the 1991 Stadium Club set featuring Ruben Sierra. This card displays a picture of Ruben apparently at home in Puerto Rico. Rest assured that, while I am at home I don't sport the head wear or bling that we see Ruben showing off here.

As a side note to NTXCoog, I have scoured my collection and it appears that I have no Scott Sheldon cards at this time. I found several on my wantlist but none in my binders. I hope to get one at some point and will post it then.