Phungo 5 Returns with Capewood's Collections

I am very happy to debut the 2010 season of Phungo 5 with our favorite Phillies/Astros fan Cliff from Capewood Collections. The Phils are currently in the middle of an early season three game set with the struggling Astros.

These must be interesting times for Cliff as a baseball fans - the Astros are starting to look like Phillies West with tons of former Phightins' on the club. We Cover a lot of ground here - Books Music and of course Baseball Cards.


1) Do you have any Baseball Books on your upcoming "to read" list?

I usually read at least one baseball book a summer but I haven't really started looking for anything yet this year. However I am planning to read "Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession" by Dave Jamieson. I've seen some good reviews on it on other blogs. I wouldn't say that I was obsessed with baseball cards although my wife and children might disagree.

2008 Phungo #39 Brett Myers v Paul LoDuca

2) What former Phil are you most anxious to see perform for the Astros? And what is with Pedro Feliz wearing #77?

I'd like to see Brett Myers do well. I always like him as a Phillie even though he seems to be an erratic talent. And I'd like to see Michael Bourn have a really breakout season. I have no clue as to why Feliz is sporting #77. He got the first hit of the season for the Astros this year.

3) You are currently doing a retrospective on the different 1998 card sets. Do any stand out as a fun set/subset/inser to collect on a budget?

There were a lot of cards issued in 1998. As near as I can tell almost any of them are available pretty cheaply on eBay. At least base cards and most inserts. A lot of sets were including numbered inserts and parallels which are pretty pricey today if you can even find them. I was real partial to Upper Deck Collector's Choice. They utilized a number of different styles in the sets, and had some interesting subsets and inserts.

4) Can you get a Texas Tommy in Texas?

I was pretty sure that a Texas Tommy is a hot dog but I had to look it up on-line to be sure. I've never heard of a hot dog referred to as a Texas Tommy down here so I don't suppose you can get one, at least not in Houston. Maybe up in Dallas where they do things a bit differently. According to Wikipedia, a Texas Tommy is also some sort of dance that originated in San Francisco around 1910.

5) Why "Everybody Knows this is Nowhere"?

I imagine you're referring to the Neil Young album cover in my blog banner. I call my blog Capewood's Collections because I try to feature other things that I'm interested in other than just baseball cards. Music is one of those things. Over the years I've acquired a fair amount of music (enough to power my Song of the Week feature pretty much forever). Neil Young has always been one of my favorite artists and probably the musical artist I've consistently followed the longest. I was a fan of Buffalo Springfield in the late 1960s (where he got his start), a fan of his solo career and a fan of his collaborations with Crosby, Stills & Nash. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere was his second solo album and the first of his I bought. I own just about everything he has released.

Phungo 5 Box Score

Thanks Cliff - Awesome way to start out Phungo 5 in 2010. I have very mixed emotions about Brett Myers - but will give the point here - despite all the on and off the field troubles he has had, I still root for Myers. Buffalo Springfield's "Retrospective" is among my first albums, and I still have it today. Bonus Points to Team Capewood for bringing back some great memories. And for my money "Down by the River" is as good as any song ever recorded - among my friends we refer to it as the "Shot her Dead" song.

Final Score: 6 out 5 with a Bonus added for the Buffalo Springfield reference!

Thanks Cliff, keep up the good work and Go Phils!