Merry Christmas Trollites!!! Merry Christmas Blog-O-Sphere!!!!! Happy Birthday to Ken of the Field of Cards blog and happy birthday to the Guy for whom most of us have the day off to spend with our families…I have never touched on religion on this blog and I don’t plan to start here, so I will stick with what I know-baseball and baseball cards and I will wish a happy birthday to Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox. He would have been 82 this year. Sadly he passed away in 1975, 12 years before the Veterans Committee elected him to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997. This year was the 50th Anniversary of Nellie Fox’s finest year in major league baseball. 1959 belonged to Nellie Fox. He started both games of the 1959 All Star game. His team, the Chicago White Sox, won the American League flag and went to the World Series. Unfortunately the Dodgers rained on his parade and the Dodgers took the Series in 6 games, but Fox had a .375 batting average for the Series with 3 doubles. He also finished 2nd in hits and 4th in batting average that year. He won his second Gold Glove and took home the 1959 American League MVP Honors. Like I said, it was Nellie Fox’s year. This is the 50th Anniversary of that year, that Award and today is the 82nd Anniversary of his birth. Seems like high-time to make his 1960 Topps card #100 the Collective Troll Card of the Day, right? Nellie Fox wasn’t a power hitter, but he was a great hitter. He batted at the top of the order and he hit like crazy, nobody could lace a base hit like Fox. He led the League in singles 8 times over his career. He hit 2161 over his career which is 25th best All Time. He is 66th All Time on the hits list with 2663, which gives you an idea of how often he got on base, but how seldom he went for extra bases. He set the table better than anyone of that era and scored more often than not. He scored 1279 times over his career. I was happy when Fox finally went into the Hall. I wish it happened during his lifetime, but he epitomized the dedicated and gritty gamer-the scrappy middle infielder that is timeless and goes beyond steroids and juiced balls. Over his career he won 3 Gold Glove awards and played in 15 All Star games. 
As of 1960 he had played in 9 AS games and owned a .367 All Star batting average. Some other highlights from the back of his card in 1960 are as follows:April 10-Nellie’s first homer in 623 trips beats Detroit in 14th inning.
July 7-2 hits in 1st All Star contest
August 3-2 for 4 in second All Star game.
October 4-In 4th game (of World Series) was 3-5. Average for series-.375
November 12-Wins MVP Award.
Like I said, it was his year. Its cliché to say, I know, but Nellie Fox played the game the way it was meant to be played. When current players are referred to as throwbacks-they are being compared to Nellie Fox. Happy Birthday Mister Fox!!! Happy Birthday Ken! Merry Christmas to the entire blog-o-sphere!!! From Sally the Cat, Emma the Dog, my sons Zadeh and Darvey, my wife (the legendary) Esther Gin N Juice and myself-from our family to yours MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! Blogging with y’all this past year has been a wonderful experience. I have “met” so many wonderful people and it has been a fantastic ride. Thanks to everyone who has read, written or traded with me this year and Merry Christmas once again…Oh, by the way... I know that "Blow Out the Candles" is not my thing-be sure to check out Can't Have Too Many Cards who does the birthday wishes right! Happy Holidays from the Troll and a HUGE thank you to each and every person who has stumbled across this blog-I’m out!
Over here at Troll HQ it doesn’t really feel like Christmas. Maybe its because it is 80 degrees out, I don’t know… We did (after much deliberation) decide to put up a tree and it is topped with a mini Rays helmet! We are getting ready to make the rounds and visit our Moms and Dad since I will be working all day tomorrow at All Charities. Thanks again to everyone! I didn’t think I would find my way on the good list this year, but I think I fooled some people… I will post the goodies soon. This wasn’t a gift, but it is soooo regal and spectacular looking that I couldn’t wait to post it. It came here by way of Paul from 
Graded cards are one of those things that I don’t really like (unless their in my mailbox!). Anyway, the card is from the 2001 Just Minors set. It is graded at a 9 with the autograph graded a 10. The signature looks nicer than some I've seen, but is Beckett really qualified to grade penmanship? Anyway, kidding aside, it is pretty awesome and I couldn't wait to take a picture and post it up. Thanks so much for thinking of me with this card Paul. I will find something more than suitable to return the favor with after the holiday. Anyway, off to my folks place, then my Momma-In-Law… Thanks to all and Happy Christmas Eve! Troll out.
They just make such a cute couple! Anyway, I am finally starting to pull some Indians cards (and didn't pull any Braves). I ripped a few packs ahead so I could scan them all at once, so I know what I am saying when I say a few… I mentioned I was a Marlins fan in ’97. I was, but even I didn’t think they could beat the mighty Indians. Top to bottom they had one of the best hitting line-ups of all time. The guy who got it all started was this man:
#6 Kenny Lofton Cleveland Indians (Lofton only stole 27 bases in ’97 and he broke his streak of 6 consecutive stolen base crowns. He is 15th All Time with 622 steals. When I look at the players from this era and think about the Hall of Fame-all of steroids and inflated power numbers-I think Lofton stands a better chance than anyone at making it. His stolen bases weren’t aided by a juiced ball or juiced player and he is 56th All Time with 1528 runs scored. Just something to think about…)
#96 Randy Johnson Seattle Mariners (In the juiced era, they still couldn’t hit Johnson…He only started 8 games in ’96, but came back to win 20 in ‘97)
#32 Derek Jeter NY Yankees
#124 Dmitri Young St Louis Cardinals (Where is the Meat Hook??? Is he still active?)
#150 Chase Checklist featuring Hideo Nomo LA Dodgers (This one is for you Owl!)
#680 Charlie Liebrandt Texas Rangers (this is NOT Liebrandt’s rookie card)
#688 Robby Thompson San Francisco Giants (1993 was a banner year for Robby. He hit .312 with 19 homers and 65 RBI-all career highs. He was an All Star and won both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Awards for second baseman and earned a baseball card with a VERY goofy pose)
#630 Javy Lopez Atlanta Braves (The Braves are BACK!)
#712 Rene Arocha St. Louis Cardinals (Arocha was 11-8 as a rookie with the Cards in ’93)
#611 Chili Davis California Angels
#102 Kevin Brown Florida Marlins (Ahh, Brown in 1997… What can I say about this d-bag? Well, the Fish won the Series that year, DESPITE Brown. I wondered how much money he had bet on Cleveland to win cuz he was AWFUL in the Series. This was pre-Devil Rays and the Fish were MY team. I drove to Miami many times to cheer them on that year, I drove to Atlanta, and I flew to New York to see them. I probably saw them play 30 games that season… Brown was okay in the regular season, he was an All Star and went 16 – 8 and topped 200 Ks for the first time in his career. He was decent in the NLCS against Atlanta. He won the game I saw, but didn’t pitch great. In the Series he SUCKED!!! He lost 2 games and gave up 15 hits and 10 runs in 10 innings. After the ’97 season the Fish dealt him to San Diego and he went on to lead all of baseball in salary for 5 or 6 straight years. I am not a Kevin Brown fan. I wish I had some photo shop skills cuz I would tear this card up!)
#99 John Wetteland Texas Rangers (After winning the Series for the Yanks in ’96 he left as a free agent and went to Texas and had another good year-7-2/1.94 ERA and 31 saves. He is 11th on the All Time Saves list)
#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card Vladimir Guerrero
#35 Ivan Rodriguez Texas Rangers (3 Rangers out of 9 cards-Merry Christmas Brian! Pudge hit .313 in ’97 and played in his 6th straight All Star game. This guy revolutionized the position of catcher)
#686 Tim Wallach LA Dodgers (BotC quote-“A 3-time Gold Glove winner, Wallach can still flash the leather”)
#??? Master Photo Redemption Card-Greg Maddux (This was a big hit back then. It is a redemption card and it is long expired, but at least it has a picture of the player on it. If you can read the back and see the other subjects in this series you can get a laugh...)
#708 Steve Bedrosian Atlanta Braves (I had a friend in little league who was a Bedrosian fan-I loved to pull his cards and unload them on him)
#681 Troy Percival RC California Angels (Yep, this is Percy’s RC. It shows his numbers at AA Midland from ’92, he was 3-0 with a 2.37 ERA, Call that kid up!)
#673 Kirk Gibson Detroit Tigers (Gibby was on his way out, but I can never get that image of him limping around the bases out of my mind)
#701 John Jaha Milwaukee Brewers (After his playing career ended, John became a model-kidding…)
#149 Commons Checklist Greg Maddux (any excuse to get more Braves in this series)
#5 Frank Thomas Chicago White Sox (The Big Hurt’s line in ’96-.349/40/134-He was the Pujols of the 90’s!)
#27 Edgar Martinez Seattle Mariners (The greatest DH of all time? He had a typical year in ’96-.327/26/103. Will he go to Cooperstown?)
The brains behind these awards are two awesome bloggers in their own rights-
These guys have like 30 deals going on at once. Keeping everyone’s cards together, going to the post office everyday, keeping everyone happy but keeping your collection happy, too, is a crazy balancing act and not everyone can do it. The five bloggers nominated for the Trader of the Year Award never seem to run out of great cards, they respond to trade offers quickly and they are mega super generous and trading with these top-traders is always a great experience. Before I name the 6 deserving nominees, I want to give a shout out to two of my favorite trading partners who for whatever reason didn’t make the final cut. These two have spoiled me this past year, filled my mailbox and my collection. They have sent me way more amazing stuff than I could ever pay back (but I will! Someday) and I wanted to thank them here on this post. It is funny, but both of them are Blue Jays fans (that is why I seek Jays cards in trades, to pay these 2 back!) and amazing internet friends. 
I get (almost) just as excited to get an email from them as I do when I get a mind-blowing package. They are 
I have traded with all 6 of these guys, some of them MANY times. They are all super generous, have great stuff and aren’t afraid to share it. They are collectors first. They aren’t dealers; they don’t make money on their cards. They love this hobby and they make everyone who trades with them love it even more. Okay, here are the nominees…First up is 
The 6th and final nominee for this very important Award is the mysterious 
Another Award is for the Most Creative Blogger. This is another biggy (actually they all are) because card collecting walks a fine line and to many outsiders this hobby can be seen as boring. Of course outsiders think we are all fat, bald, geeks, nerds and freaks, too. Anyway, it isn’t hard to come across as mundane when writing about a flat piece of cardboard. It takes a whole bunch of creativity to keep things interesting. I personally spend between 5 and ten hours a day reading and writing about baseball cards (I know, I need to get a life!) and if there weren’t creative and interesting people writing these blogs, I would be pretty bored and would probably stop. Fortunately there are a ton of amazingly creative bloggers out there that keep things fresh, exciting and interesting. At least 4 of the 5 nominees for this Award have the savvy to keep you coming back and wanting more. The nominees are: I’ll start with 
He deserves them all, too. Beardy is hilarious. He writes a great blog, he knows and loves the hobby and the sport and he keeps it fresh and funny. The next three nominees I will group together because that is how I found them all. Months before I bit the bullet and started a blog with a silly name I was just a regular blog reader. There were 5 blogs that I read every single night after I got home from work (I used to work during the day). I tried a lot of others, but there were 5 in particular that really stood out to me. They all had a little something extra, some savvy and creativity that I never before experienced in this hobby. Keep in mind at that point the few cards I had were packed away in the garage. I was not collecting nor did I intend on collecting again. It began as casual reading to kill some time while my wife was at school, but it turned into a reading obsession. 
Those 5 blogs are what roped me back into the hobby, what made me want to spend all of my time in front of a computer and spend all of my money on cards and postage. I don’t know whether to hate them or thank them, but those five special blogs (which are still 5 of my favorites) are 
That said, PLEASE, please, pretty please with a refractor on top, go over to 
#25 Mariano Rivera New York Yankees (Mariano was 8-3 with 5 saves and 130 Ks in ’96)
#78 Jeff Bagwell Houston Astros (One of the Killer B’s, Bagwell hit .315 with 31 homers and 120 RBI in ’96)
#73 Sammy Sosa Chicago Cubs (SAMMY!)
#37 Fred McGriff Atlanta Braves (The 3rd future HOFer in this pack. The Crime Dog drove in 107 in ’96)
#51 Lance Johnson New York Mets (From the Crime Dog to the One Dog… Lance stole 327 bases in his career and I have NO idea what he is doing with his hands...)
#357 Todd Van Poppel Oakland A’s (For years TVP was the prospect that would not go away-he did win 7 games in ’94, a career best, but he lost 10 and had an ERA over 6. He still found teams willing to pay him and had an 11 year career, but was never the “Future Star” that all of the cards promised he would be.)
#486 Walt Weiss Colorado Rockies (The original Rockies shortstop-and the Rookie of the Year with A’s in ’88, also won a ring with them)
#332 Dave Winfield Minnesota Twins (One of my favorites, EVER, the big guy was that good… I love the high five shot with 6’6” Winfield and Puckett)
#510 Brett Boone Cincinnati Reds (Boone was a great fielding second baseman, a little dude at 5’10”, but he had power. Put up Jimmie Foxx like numbers at the beginning of this decade)
#466 Cory Snyder LA Dodgers (This shot is eerie… Cory, his stache and his mullet led the NL in K’s in ’93 with 147-topping 100 Ks for the 6th time in 9 seasons)
#355 Ken Hill Montreal Expos (1994 would be bittersweet for Hill… He was off to his best start ever. He made the All Star team and was the Ace on the best team in the NL and then came the strike… Hill is another guy who finished second in the Cy Young voting to Greg Maddux. They tied for the league lead with 16 wins, but Hill’s ERA was double Maddux’s)
#442 Jamie Moyer Baltimore Orioles (Yep, 15 years ago Moyer was just getting warmed up-he was 12-9 for the O’s in ’93)
#363 Gene Harris Sand Diego Padres (not all the photography is good in here)
#435 Jay Powell Baltimore Orioles MUSEUM COLLECTION (I do love these cards, but 2 Jay Powells in one pack?)
#521 Jeff Reardon NY Yankees (1994 was the last year for the Terminator-spent it with the Yankees and appeared in 11 games, saving 2-he is 7th All Time in saves)
