Swag from Padrographs

A few weeks ago Rod from Padrographs posted that he was clearing out some player collections - one of which was John Kruk.  I jumped all over that and was able to add maybe a dozen or so new Krukkers to the collection. 

If I had my stuff together I could have picked up the Kruks while visiting Portland this past May, when I got to meet Rod in person. 

Regardless Rod was good enough to send me the card via the US Mail and he also added in some bonus Phils cards including a lot from the more recent issues.

2012 Topps '87 Mini Chase Utley
Minis officially jumped the shark for me with this insert set.  I always liked the 87 Topps woodgrain cards - but when I pulled my first in mini form, it just drew a yawn out of me.  The oxymoron of oversized-mini is part of the problem - minis in every product is another issue.  The Ginter sized Mini I am still hip to and I am sure I will be a little giddy next week or whenever I open my first pack of 2012 A&G. 
  

2011 Topps someting-Fractor Ben Francisco 
2012 Topps Hunter Pence 

The Phils let go of Ben Francisco and got him back in the person of John Mayberry Jr.  Pence and his high socks. 

2010 Upper Deck Utley/Howard

I was never fond of the final UD baseball effort.  The two player checkers always bothered me with both players looking out of frame.  Now that we are a little further more removed from 2010 the duo seem a bit more attractive - but I still feel like the overall card design of the set was mailed in. 
Thanks to Rod for the Cards and go check out Padrographs - lots of good fire sale postings going up periodically

Team Phungo Meets Padrographs!!!!

We had the opportunity to visit Rod from Padrographs while my wife was at a conference in Portland, Oregon. 

Rod from Padrographs w/ Team Phungo Author, me

Rod is responsible for a bookstore that sells the used books from the county library.  Near as I can tell Portland must have one of the most successful library systems in the country.  In fact shortly after I left Rod, I was at Voodoo Donuts and the young man working the counter saw a book that I had bought at the start and congratulated me for having a library book while on vacation.  
 
We only met for maybe a half hour but Rod was able to give us some good background on Portland's history, geography, and culture.  He also showed us around the store pointing me in the direction of the baseball books.  The book I picked was a copy of  "The Corporal was a Pitcher" about 50s era Philadelphia Athletic Lou Brissie.

I think Rod is only the third card blogger I have met in person - once again it was a pleasure.  Rod is just as funny in person as his writing. One of my favorite parts of the afternoon was when one of the customers got upset with us for talking to loud while he was perusing books. 

Phungo 5 with Padrographs

The Phillies early season west coast swing continues with a trip to San Diego.  Today we check in with Rod from Padrographs, our books and baseball man on the west coast.

1) Do you think that Cameron Maybin is a Future All-Star?   

Cameron Maybin maybe an all star because is the only one with any name recognition for people to vote on.  Or he will be chosen as the Padres lone rep this year.      

2) Do you collect any specific team from the Pre Padres era?

there was baseball before 1969, seriously though I collect a few players from pre 69, notably Rube Wadell

3) Did Bruce Bochy managing the Giants get you to root for them in the World Series?

 Bruce Bochy didn't, the fact that Tim Flannery is the third baseball coach did.

1984 Topps #684 Tim Flannery (image from Baseball Card Database) 

4) What is the Best Baseball Book you have read in the last year? 

Willie’s Boys, The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, the Last Negro League World Series, and the Making of a Baseball Legend by John Klima 

5) Who would play your charater on "Portlandia"

John Kruk could play me on Portlandia, 95% of which is true.  

Scorecard

easy 4 out of 4 - I will withhold the Cameron Maybin point for a bit.  However, the assumption that the mandatory team rep will end up making Maybin an All-Star is quite likely.  What more can you ask for out of a P5 - we have Rube Wadell, John Kruk, Tim Flannery and Willie Mays!

But most importantly I am very pleased to find out that "Portlandia" is closer to documentry than fiction

Replay

Phungo 5 with Padrographs 2010

Phungo 5 with Padrographs 2009

2012 Phungo 5 Postings
Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies Room.

Miami Marlins - 30-Year Old Cardboard

New York Mets - Paul's Random Baseball Stuff

Pittsburgh Pirates - Pirates Treasure Room

Oakland A's - The Fuji Chronicles

Seattle Mariners - Emeral City Diamond Gems 

Texas Rangers - Play at the Plate

Phungo 5 with Padrographs

Team Phungo has been away for a much needed week of vacation in the Outerbanks of North Carolina. It is a great place to both have fun and relax, especially if you can go with a dozen very good friends.

Upon my returning home I do get to do another thing I enjoy, and that is getting the Phungo blob back up and running with some current info. Today we kick off June with the return of Phungo 5 and a chat with Rod from Padrographs.

Aside from giving us a rundown on San Diego Padres Autograph cards (largely TTMs), Rod also helps keep us up to date on the literature surrounding the sport. This past winter Padrographs also hosted very fun and successful edition of Spot the Sig!

Are the surprising Padres a playoff team?
I hope so, but I am afraid to get up hopes up after 1984 and 1998.

What trading card set has been the most conducive for TTM requests for a Padres fan.
Topps Total and Upper Deck 40 man. Since then I like the Allan & Ginter

2009 Topps American Heritage #99 Ralph Ellison

You list Authors among the cards you collect. What sets contain your favorite author cards?
So far the Topps American Heritage set, but the more I look there are a lot of author cards from lots of years, even some cool vintage sets.

There have been several baseball related books to be released in the past several years, in your opinion why is this happening?
Cause everything is cyclical. The authors have seen the cycles in the card industry are investigating what is happening. And they know that the main people collecting are not kids but adults who want to know more about cards or want to reflect on what cards mean to us.

What is the best thing on the McDonalds Menu?
The McRib when they have, although I have used Mickey D's to super size me and am now avoiding it so I can downsize me.

Phungo 5 Box Score

Wow where do I start - High marks all around, Thanks for bringing the McRib back. I doubt I will ever try one again - those can't be healthy at all, but I sure did like them when I could still frequent the golden arches.

Also Interesting insight into the book world and how it affects our hobby. 5 out of 5 for Padrographs.

Looking Back

For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 Click here for to see our conversation with Thoughts and Sox

Spot the Sig Contest returns at Padrographs

Check in over at Padrographs later this evening for the next installment of Spot the Sig!

Rod will be taking over the contest for the Winter 2010 Version. Good luck to All and Happy New Year!!

Spot The Sig! Special Announcement!

Spot the Sig! is on the move!

Where it's going has something to do with this:

If you have been playing along you will know that this past weeks STS! involved ballplayer-author Jim Bouton as well as the Phungo Library.

This is the perfect segue into announcing that the next edition of Spot the Sig! will be hosted by a blog with some literary connections.

And the new host will be the always entertaining

PADROGRAPHS!

If you follow Padrographs you know that Rod is an avid Padres Autograph chaser and the man is also a lover of books. This combination should make for a fun and exciting Spot the Sig! contest.

Franchising

A few months ago Rod contacted me about the possibility of running the contest on his blog, and I thought it was a great idea.

Spot the Sig! is a pretty simple concept and I hope everyone finds it to be an enjoyable challenge each week. There is some creativity in coming up with a Bonus questions that readers can identify with but might not easily be "Net" accessible. I look forward to seeing what Rod does with the contest, and I also look forward to guessing the autos presented by another blogger.

Beyond that I really don't know much of what Rod has in store for us, I would keep my eyes out over at Padrographs and expect a related announcement from him later today.

Down the road, I would love to see Spot the Sig! Run twice a year, once by myself and once by an outside blogger. If your interested in running a future STS! let me know via email and we can work on a timeframe.

Oh and one more thing -- a Special Stealth STS! auto:

If you are the first person to pick up this auto you get a bonus Double in Spot the Sig!

Swag from Padrographs - Carlos Carrasco

Rod from Padrographs ( a recent Phungo 5 participant) was good enough to send me over some extra Phillies he had in his collection. Among the cards was a giant card of Padres and Phils favorite John Kruk, several Sportsflics cards, retro cards of Phillies past like Robin Roberts and Richie Ashburn, some 2008 and 09 cards and a couple of 2000 Topps which I am extremely short on and real glad to have received.

2008 Donruss Threads #85 Carlos Carrasco

I love this card, 1 Carrasco is pretty decent Phils prospect and 2 I have a fair chunk of this set and am considering collecting it. That being said, this card has always intrigued me, if your Donruss and you don't have a lisence why do they screw up the things that they can control? Carlos Carrasco is probably the highest ranking PITCHING prospect in the Phils system - yet they show him bunting. That is weak. I think Threads is only a 100 card set - lets put some effort in guys.

2008 Documentary #2902, PHI92 July 9th Cardinals 2 @ Phillies 4
2009 Topps #12 Andrew Carpenter

Rod also sent bunches of new cards. I don't believe that I have any Documentary cards, but I would like to collect cards of all the Phils games I was at during the 08 season. Unfortunately game 92 wasn't one of them. Game 92 played on July 9th 2008 was a 4-2 victory for the Phils. Chase Utley, pictured, did play in the game and went 1-3 with a walk and a single. Of course UD could have featured Ryan Howard or Pedro Feliz who both homered in the 8th inning.

A few weeks ago I busted open a blasters worth of Hobby Packs of 09 Topps and came up with very few Phils so the Drew Carpenter card is a welcome addition.


2000 Topps #63 Chad Ogea
1992 Classic Best #100 Mike Schmidt (Reverse)

The 2000 Topps set is likely the modern Topps set I have the least amount of Phillies from and I was very happy to see that this Padrographs lot included several of these. The other card is from 1992 Classic Best, I have included the reverse of the card because it features a box score. I am always a fan of cards that feature game stats and it is pretty cool to have a document of the game in which Mike Schmidt hit his 500th Homer.

Big Thanks to the Padrographs crew for sending out this bundle of cards!

Phungo 5 with Padrographs

The surprisingly hot San Diego Padres are here to play the Phillies in the first home series since the death of Harry Kalas. It is an emotional weekend in South Philly, hopefully the Phils will be able to remain focused and play well against the Padres.

For the Fightin Friars Phungo 5, I have enlisted the help of Rod from Padrographs who is in the process of chronicling over 700 San Diego Padres autographs on line. Rod has also recently begun an interesting project of collecting cards that represent every Padres Starting line-up - Great idea nine players in a starting line-up, 9 pockets on a card page.

1) Your reviewing your autos (700+) in Alphabetical order. how long do you anticipate this task taking?

Well if all I did was the Padrographs and did one per day, it would take two years. But since I keep adding to the total and am blogging about other things and have a life it could take several years. I am at 715 as of today (4/13/09) and have about 12 guys out in the mail, plus a few others that I haven't been able to track down. By the way if anyone is going to see the Erie Sea Wolves play let me know, they have a player that I need a signature from.

2) The Padres are off to a Hot start - who is the biggest surprise to you?

Hundley and Headley have really been amazing for just getting started in MLB. I hope that the team can keep up this pace. It will be amazing if they do, but the really important thing is finishing ahead of the Dodgers and Giants.

Note: Hundley came up with a big hit in the Pads Friday night victory over the Phils.

3) Among Padres Phillies Connections John Kruk comes to mind, can you think of any other interesting ones?

John Kruk is one of my all favorite players, we have the same Buddha body shape. Another Phillie Padres connection is a local player from Portland, the man who once wondered why do we drive on a parkway, and park on a driveway, and if packing peanuts are for shipping stuff how do we ship them. Ladies and germs, Larry Anderson

Chachoengsao Temple Buddha, Chachoensao Thailand
1989 Donruss #86 John Kruk

4) According to some of your blog entries you have been away from Southern Califormia a long time. Has it been hard to maintain your allegiance to the Padres?

I was originally born in SoCal, Long Beach to be exact. I would have gone to the same high school Tony Gwynn if we stayed where we lived when I was born. I moved from Long Beach to Honolulu to Ferndale to Oxnard to Newport, RI to Norfolk, VA to Long Beach to Big Sur to Eugene to Portland to San Diego to Chicago to Oakland to Portland. I have been here since 1981. I became a Padres fan when the brother of my classmate, Jill Roberts, Dave Roberts was drafted by the Padres. I have followed them since, more or less.

5)Better Mascot - The Phanatic or the San Diego Chicken?

The San Diego Chicken. I was in San Diego before he became the San Diego chicken when he was a mascot for a local radio station.

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Padrographs gets a 5 outta 5. I thought I would have to ding him on the Mascot Q, but he came up with a good enough justification for favoring the chicken - And anytime Larry Andersen gets mentioned that is always a bonus.

I would like to thank Rod for his time, well thought answers, and for giving me the opportunity to post the Buddha picture. For a look back at a previous Phungo 5 click here for a look at Trader Crack's 5.