Phungo 5 with 30-Year Old Cardboard

Note - The interview below was conducted prior to the Marlins eventful day yesterday and we really didn't discuss Mr Guillen here. 

Opening Day has come and gone and despite the Marlins spoiling the Team Phungo Home Opener outing, we are going to check in with Brian at 30-Year Old Cardboard and see what is going on with the franchise that now goes by the Miami Marlins.

1) Have you adjusted to saying Miami Marlins

I'm getting there.  I prefer to call my team 'The Fish' so it works out nicely for me as the team mascot has not changed.  Still, there are times when I have to do a double-take when I see someone wearing the new gear.

2) How many items do you expect to add to the Andre Dawson collection this year? 

As many as I can.  My main goal is to get to 1,000 unique cards.  I think I will hit that goal by the summer.  I have some ideas for some new inscribed baseballs that I would like to add to my collection, and I am going to try to bring home a few surprises too...

3) Do Marlins fans really care about the retiring and unretiring of the #5?

Not in the least bit.  If #5 was worn by a former Marlins legend it would be a different story - to be honest very few people even knew that it had been retired in the first place.  My guess is that the only people upset about it were the ones that bought LoMo's #20 jerseys and t-shirts.

4) Since you cover both the Cubs and Marlins, Is Carlos Zambrano more of a Loss for the Cubs or a Gain for the Marlilns?

Definitely a gain for the Marlins.  He did very little constructive work for the Cubs at the end of his tenure in Chicago.  And while they were probably happier to get rid of him than we may have been to pick him up, I would certainly welcome any opportunity to see if a former dominant hurler could re-capture his spark on my team!!!

2012 Phungo #28 Carlos Zambrano

5) Jimmy Buffet troubador or buffoon?

He is a good guy.  And I like that he speaks his mind.  Plus, he has great taste in sports teams.   LOL

Scorecard

5 of 5 - Great answer regarding Logan Morrison picking up the #5 Jersey - We absolutely must give a salute to anyone that can build a player collection of a thousand cards for a single player.

The Buffet following sometimes baffles me, but 30YOC brings up a valid point about how the man handles himself.  I do admit I was impressed with the man the one time I saw him concert.  Side Note:  I once saw the Coral Reefer Band (Sans Jimmy) do the National Anthem at Camden Yards.

Looking Back
2010 Phungo 5 with 30-Year Old Cardboard
2009 Phungo 5 with 30-Year Old Cardboard

2012 Phungo 5 Postings
Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies Room.

Pittsburgh Pirates - Pirates Treasure Room

Oakland A's - The Fuji Chronicles

Seattle Mariners - Emeral City Diamond Gems 

Texas Rangers - Play at the Plate

Introducing PolarPhungo Cards - Cubs @ Phillies 2011 06 10

Okay, I admit a week isn't very instant, but things have been crazy at Phungo HQ and I have had this idea floating around in my head for a while. 

I wanted to create some sort of Instant Card for the Phungo Game Reports.  There has also been a bit of a  Polaroid revival happening, which I thought would be a great backdrop for i-cards, which I have dubbed PolarPhungo.

 2011 PolarPhungo #1 Roy Halladay

2011 PolarPhungo #2 Carlos Zambrano

Both cards above were created using the FREE Photo Editor Pixlr, which I learned about a few months back from Dave over at the prolific custom card blog Goose Joak.  There are all kinds of great things going on in the custom card department and it is fun checking out the creativity of different collectors. 

The first three editions of Phungo Cards were all produced using MS Paint, which has sufficed for making simple cards from the photos I have taken. I have definitely been thinking of moving on to Photoshop in order to get a more professional look.  Thanks to Pixlr I hope to come up with a more updated look for the 2012 Phungo set.


Game Report

Both of the above photos were taken at the Cubs v Phils game a week ago Friday.  The Phils won the game 7-5 thanks to another good pitching outing from Roy Halladay and a Placido Polanco Grand Slam.  A couple of Phils relievers let the Cubs back into the game via some sloppy pitching with a big lead, but Michael Stutes and Antonio Bastardo were able to come in and nail down the win.

The Polaroiding of the photos covers up some sins in my out of focus photography.  It is a shame, We had some great seats at the game, but were seated beside a rather annoying "young" woman (actually in her 40s) which cut into our enjoyment of the game and limiting picture taking opportunities. 

Thorzul Group Break Swag

Over the Holidays, I got involved in a couple of Group Breaks hosted by Thorzul.  I enjoy the Thorzul breaks because they are generally reasonably priced and with interesting products.  If your interested Thorzul is having last call for His January Break right now - I am particularly looking forward to the 05 Topps Pristine break. 

Here are some of the Highlights from last months break. 

Phillies 

 Jim Bunning, Lefty, Former Phil Matt Maloney, and Richie Ashburn

The HOFs are from SP Legendary Cuts.  The Maloney card is from Bowman Sterling.  

Cubs

Prior, Sosa, Zambrano, Cubs Quad, Castro, Sandberg, Hornsby, Soriano

For a second break the Phils already taken so I took the Cubs.  Some interesting stuff here - The Prior Card is an X-Fractor.  I am a fan of both the Goudey cards.  Always liked the Heads up cards.  Rogers Hornsby is from this years Vintage Legends set.    


Annoying Card

2010 Topps Tales of the Game #MTOG-3 "Seven Touchdowns"

This cards which came as part of my Cubs bounty commemorates the Cubs beating the Phils 26-23 on August 25th 1922.  When I think of high scoring Cubs v Phils games I prefer to remember the game on May 17th 1979.

Thanks Thorzul and looking forward to the January Break. 

Complements of Fielder's Choice - Donruss Threads and SP Authentic including PUDGE!!

The bounty from the World Series wager with Fielder’s Choice has just come in. Dave sent me a couple of packs from two pretty nice products, Donruss Threads and SP Authentic. I had not seen any of these cards other than via web postings by various card bloggers.

Dave sent 3 hobby packs of each, which was enough to give me a good sample of both products. Both have a similar price point – Donruss Threads is a new product and did have a fresh quality to them. While the SP authentic felt like a lot of other 08 UD releases – All the UD card backs look similar regardless of what line their from.

Donruss Threads also came through with a pretty sweet Game Used card!

2008 Donruss Threads Century Collection Materials #CCM-37 Carlton Fisk (92/100)

And a healthy mix of of prospects and former players.

2008 Donruss Threads Rookie Gold #149 Yohermyn Chavez (21/50)2008 Donruss Threads #95 Josh Vitters2008 Donruss Threads #24 Mark Fidrych

The prospects were about evenly split between high and low level prospects. The three packs yielded top prospect Vitters from the Cubs, the Braves Jordan Schafer, the Brewers Mat Gamel, and Boston's Lars Anderson. I believe the Chavez card above is a gold variation.

Donruss has been away for a while though and has some issues, can you spot an error on this card?

2008 Donruss Threads #81 Jose Tabata
SP authentic presented a nice selection of current stars. Among them were a former Phillie that hit a lot of Homers and also a new Phillie who only has one homer but it was very memorable.

2008 SP Authentic #73 Jim Thome
2008 SP Authentic #29 Joe Blanton

The Player photo is set off by being slightly raised slightly and somewhat shiny. The cards also features the players uniform number in the lower right hand corner in white. It isn't very visible because it is on a white background, but it is an interesting affect. On the right the number overlaps Blanton's left leg.

Each SP pack came with an insert.

2008 SP Authentic Marquee Matchups #MM-10 Carlos Zambrano vs Albert Pujols

The last card in the 3^rd pack of SP Authentic I opened was the J-Roll card.

2008 SP Authentic Authentic Achievements #AA-29 Jimmy Rollins

Similarly the last card in the final pack of Donruss I opened was a Phillie.

2008 Donruss Threads #38 Mike Schmidt

Pretty cool – and I think it brings us full circle on Dave’s guest post from last week.

Here are the specifics

3 Packs Donruss Threads
13 Base (5 former players , 8 prospects)
1 Century Collection (Pudge)
1 Gold Rookie (Chaves)
1 College Greates (#CG-4 Dave Winfield)

3 Packs SP Authentic
12 Base
2 Authentic Achievements (Rollins, #AA-38 Albert Pujols )
1 Marquee Matchups (Zambrano v Pujols)

Team Phungo would like to Thank Fielder's Choice and look forward to the Phils facing the Rays in a future World Series.

Sources and Links
Phungo Carlton Fisk Hof Index