The CT Card of the Day; This Could Be a Baseball Player, Could Be Your Uncle or Neighbor, There is No Way to Tell...

I have been singing the praises of my new favorite set, 1963 Topps Baseball, an awful lot lately, I decided to collect this set last month with only a handful of cards in my collection. I now own over 60 cards from this set get more into it with each and every card I get my hands on.
That said this set isn’t perfect… Topps made the same mistake within this set that they had been making since the early 1950s, the same mistake they continue to make now in 2011. They had their photographers snapping pictures of players without hats AND they published these awful photos and immortalized them on cardboard and included them in their annual baseball card set.

Like I said, they did it in the 50s; they did it in the 60s and 70s, 80s, 90s and have continued to do it over the last 2 decades.
Ballplayers tend to be focused on the game they are playing, more focused on that than how they looked and most of them weren’t all that good looking… It becomes convenient that their occupation requires them to wear a hat, allowing them to hide their balding heads, goofy ears and sometimes goofier faces… The ball cap is integral to a player’s “game face”. It is integral to their job and a requirement to do it.

All these things mentioned are great reasons why Topps should photograph the baseball players that they feature in their sets wearing their uniforms, their complete uniforms…
This is a really long set-up for today’s Collective Troll Card of the Day, from 1963 Topps, card #575 of Pirates pitcher Don Cardwell.

Cardwell had a pretty great career. He spent 14 years in the big leagues where he won 101 games. He topped 200 innings in a season 4 times. He hurled 17 shutouts and completed 72 of his 301 starts. He tossed a no-hitter in 1960 as a Chicago Cub, in his first start with his new squad. He was a part of the starting rotation on the Amazin’ Mets of 1969 and won a ring with that team. He had a pretty impressive resume.

Unfortunately all I see is a goofy looking guy on this card… A picture taken WAY too close with a player missing a very important part of his uniform… A picture that one has to assume is of Don Cardwell, a baseball player, but there are zero visible clues to this...
I love this game! I love this hobby! Go Rays! Troll out.

Ozzie Smith Was NOT a Pitcher-MORE From Pirate City

Since today was supposed to be about pitchers and catchers, I will start with them. It seemed like there were 100 pitchers in camp and there might have been. There are 18 pitchers on their 40-man roster and another 18 in camp as non-roster invitees, plus there were about 40 minor league pitchers who will not be in big league camp, but were there anyway. I would say that all of the big name pitchers were present and accounted for, but I don’t think the Pirates have such a thing. Zach Duke was there. Joel Hanrahan was there. Ross Ohlendorf was there. Ryan Doumit was there. And so were about 80 other guys without bats. There were veterans like 38 year-old Brendan Donnelly and 36 year old Octavio Dotel fighting for jobs with youngsters like 22 year old Bryan Morris and 23 year old Ronald Uviendo. At this point all 4 of them have a shot at making the ball club. As far as catchers go there are supposed to be six in camp with just two of them on the 40-man roster. Ryan Doumit and Jason Jaramillo were both there. I did not however see 21-year old first round pick Tony Sanchez today, but he certainly could have been there. The catchers didn’t appear until late in the afternoon. The pitchers were out early and they did what pitchers do, they ran. And ran. Pitchers run a lot, especially in spring training. That is why I am so surprised that there are so many overweight pitchers in the big leagues. Those guys are always running. After they were done running, the pitchers played catch. Initially a few feet apart and ultimately like 100 feet apart. I didn’t take any pictures of the pitchers playing expanding catch because there was batting practice going on at a different field and that was more exciting. After catch there were drills. The pitchers were split up into different groups. Four pitchers including Ross Ohlendorf went into the bullpen area for a real throwing session. The other starting pitchers took fielding practice and this I watched. I was hoping for a little bit of comic relief. The Pirates hurlers didn’t disappoint. There is a lot of rust that gathers over the winter and for some this was their first time on the field in months. The pitchers took grounders, fielded bunts, and practiced taking the throw at first base and making the throw to first. The ultimate in BASICS. I am really glad they practice this at the big league level because these guys needed it! The first round of choppers off the mound guys looked good. Daniel McCutchen got serious air off the mound. Octavio Dotel has pitched in 562 games in the big leagues. He has 67 career assists and went 5 seasons without making an error. Today he couldn't hold onto anything… He wasn’t the only one. It was all in fun. If you look close at these series of errors by Dotel, Daniel McCutchen, Donnelly, Zach Duke and Joel Hanrahan, you can see the other pitchers giggling in the background. One day of drills is not enough to start making predictions, but you have to love just seeing guys in uniform out on the field. Enjoy the comedy of errors above, courtesy of the Pirates pitching staff. I am SURE that scenes like this could be witnessed at each and every camp in baseball. Up next, more drills, more stretching, more catch, but also some bats… Much more to come from Pirate City. I love this game! troll out.

The First Day of Camp

When you see palm trees sitting beside a foul pole, you know you are in Florida. When you baseball topped posts creating walkways, you know you are in a baseball zone. Greetings dear readers, your Troll is just now returning from an afternoon at Pirate City in beautiful sunny (and windy and cold) Bradenton, Florida. Yesterday was the mandatory report date for pitchers and catchers, but it was TODAY that the first on field workouts took place. An 8:30 AM run was expected this morning, but the 40 degree temperatures caused manager John Russell to call that off. I was there just in case, as were about 25 other members of the media and around a dozen fans. We were told that the players would be taking the field at 12:45 PM for the first workout of the year. Personally, I took the extra time to walk my dog and do some homework-others stuck around. I returned to Pirate City at noon. I probably should have stayed because while stopping at home I left my camera bag there. The bag contained my tape recorder and all of my lenses. I had my camera with me, but only an 18-55MM lens. Oops. Nothing was going on at noon, but the number of fans and media had increased times 10. I don’t think I had ever seen so many people at Pirate City before. Sure enough by 12:30 players in full uniform began walking out of the clubhouse and by 12:45 there were POSITION players on the field for calisthenics. I was quite surprised to see so many players showing up early. I am going to be posting about every half-hour to an hour today to try and give everyone the feel that they were there. Even without the 500MM F4 lens that I rely on so much, I was able to snap quite a few pictures. Stay tuned for photos, roll call and even some of my spring time predictions. MUCH MORE to come tonight, so keep on checking back. Pull up a chair and grab a cup of your favorite drink... The next post will include who was there and who wasn't. I love this game!!! troll out.

Hope Springs Eternal

Fans have had this date circled on their calendars for months. I know I have. Pitchers and catchers have been arriving and reporting all over Florida and Arizona. This morning there were about 20 pitchers and catchers jogging and playing catch at 8:30 AM. I didn’t do a role call (its tough without uniforms) but Pirates manager John Russell and their GM were there along with many of their trainers and strength and conditioning coaches. This afternoon several players did drills and the grounds crew made some final adjustments to Roberto Clemente Field and the other practice fields at Pirate City. I will be there tomorrow morning when workouts begin at 8 AM. Interviews are planned. If there is anything specific that you want asked of a certain player, please send me an email. Off to work. I am so glad that baseball season is underway! I will be at Pirates camp on Thursday, Orioles camp on Friday and Rays fanfest on Saturday. Rays camp on Monday... Today was all about showing up. Tomorrow the magic begins... Go Rays! Troll out.

CT CotD-1969 Topps Willie Stargell

Good morning collectors! Time for a quick card of the day post before working another double shift… The exciting thing about today is it is a split double-1st and 3rd shift. The reason is Mrs. Troll is graduating tonight!!! With honors, as you can imagine I am mega-proud! Pictures will probably follow. Anyway, the card of the day comes from the 1969 Topps set, card #545 of Pittsburgh Pirates leftfielder Willie Stargell. I picked this card because Willie had a very off year (for him) in ’68 ('68 was the year of the pitcher), but bounced back huge in ’69 and he was just getting started. Stargell was an All Star 3 times in his 20s, but he really came into his own in his thirties. He was an All Star 4 times, but was in the top-10 in All Star voting 7 times from 30 on up. When he finally won the MVP Award he was 39 years old and he didn’t just win the MVP, he won the NLCS MVP, the World Series MVP, the Major League Player of the Year, the Babe Ruth Award and he and the Pirates won the World Championship. That would also be his final full season in the big leagues. I am getting ahead of myself though… In ’69 Stargell was 29 and he had bounced back from a year (1968) where he hit just .237 with 67 RBI. In ’69 he raised his batting average 70 points (.307-8th in NL), raised his slugging percentage 115 points to .556 (4th in NL) and drove in 24 more runs. The back of the card mentions that on June 24, 1965 Willie belted 3 homers in one game. It is unusual that it only mentions that one time because he also did it in 1968-hitting 3 homers on 5/22/68. Of course he did it twice more after that, too. The back of the card also mentions: Pittsburgh’s slugging star set the club record for homeruns by a left-handed batter when he clouted 33 round trippers in 1966. Last year Willie topped the Bucs with 24 homers.” He would top the Bucs in homers many more times and he topped the NL in homeruns twice (’71,’73), too. He also raised the club record from 33 up to 48 homers in 1971. Willie Stargell was the greatest slugger in Pirates history-he owns the club record with 475 career longballs (28th All-Time) and he did it with grace, class and without steroids. Maybe the most impressive thing is that he spent 24 years with the Pirates organization, never playing for another team. From the time he signed as an 18-year-old in 1958 till his final game in 1982, he was a Pirate. As a fan I only knew of Willie “Pops” Stargell, the elder, veteran leader of the “We Are Family” teams-I like looking back at this youthful Stargell, 7 years into his career, optimistic, but with no idea he would be one of the greatest to ever play the game. I love this hobby! Troll out.

The Pirates Make Deal With the Devil, err Yankees

NO!!!!!!!!!!!
When I got an e-mail from the Pittsburgh Pirates mailing list saying the Bucs had made a trade with the Yankees, my heart may have skipped a beat. I was certain that the Yankees were gonna rob the Pirates of Freddy Sanchez or one of the Laroche brothers or Zach Duke. I have to say I was relieved that it wasn’t one of them, but I wasn’t happy when I realized who it was. I’ve said it before, I wasn’t happy that the Rays didn’t re-sign Eric Hinske in the off-season. He was a great addition to their team; he was part of a 4-headed-monster at DH splitting time with Cliff Floyd, Jonny Gomes and Rocco Baldelli. I was pretty upset that all of them moved on. I was glad that Hinske found a job with the Pirates, though. They are my favorite National League team and they spring train just a few blocks from my house. The only problem is they weren’t utilizing him. He can play 1st and 3rd base, both spots occupied by LaRoche’s. He can do left or right, occupied as well. He was pretty much relegated to pinch hitting and not too often (.255, 1, 11).
In the grand scheme of things, it’s a great career move for Hinske. Balls fly out of the new stadium and Eric can hit the long ball. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hits 15 in the second half of the season as a part time player. I’d be happy for him, too, as long as those home runs don’t matter. I’ll be damned if we (the Rays) miss the playoffs because Hinske is winning games for the Yankees in September. I just hope this is the first and last trade the Pirates do with the Yankees this year, or ever. On the up side, the Pirates got something (2 prospects) in exchange for Hinske, right-handed pitcher Casey Erickson (3-3 2.25 in Sally League) and young catcher Eric Fryer.