Steve Poltz, John Kruk and Tony Gwynn at Ardmore Music Hall 2014 10 18

On Saturday Night Folksinger/Punk troubadour Steve Poltz brought his talents to the Ardmore Music Hall. I have seen Poltz roughly a dozen times dating back to the early 90s when he fronted the San Diego rock band the Rugburns.

He always gives a entertaining show and his latest performance did not disappoint.

2014 10 18 Steve Poltz at Ardmore Music Hall

The 54 year old Poltz put together a high energy set which spanned his solo career and even reached back to the Rugburns catalog for "Rub somebody the Right Way" and "Tree Hugger". There were at least three songs from his Mercury album "One Left Shoe" - "Silver Lining", "Impala" and "Everything About You" - Poltz mentioned his songwriting with Jewel a couple of times when referencing songs from this era.

Poltz filled his set with a number of funny stories about his life, career and music. When discussing "Silver Lining" he mentioned that he and John Kruk had become friends after Kruk discovered his name being referenced. Poltz said Krukker is supposed to be joining him in San Diego to go Surfing - imagine that. 

A few years back I got Steve to autograph this: 

1988 Topps #596 John Kruk (signed by Steve Poltz)  

I rank this one right up there with my Hall of Fame autographs. 

Steve is a pretty big baseball fan, he his friends with Giants Third Base Coach and fellow songwriter Tim Flannery and he has been involved in the sausage race hosted by the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Recently Poltz has written a song to honor Padres Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

Unfortunately Poltz didn't play the new Gwynn song, but I did get him to vogue with a Gwynn Card.

 

2014 10 18 Steve Poltz and 2009 UD Goodwin Champions #135 Tony Gwynn

Poltz tour will take him through the Mid-Atlantic and the southeast in the coming weeks. I recommend the show for fans of any type of music (or comedy). For locals he will be doing a 2nd area show - On Wednesday 10//22 he will be upstains at the Wilmington DE location of World Cafe Live Wilmington.  

Sources
imdb
Hi, I'm Steve Poltz
Tim Flannery

2014 Topps A&G: Quick Hits and Thoughts

Yeah I am way behind on this quick hit review but I am going to publish it anyway.

Picked up a Rack Pack and a single of 2014 Topps A&G a few weeks back. These are the Highlights.

 

2014 Topps A&G #307 Cliff Lee 

Decent Design, still says Ginter but it just different enough form other sets to keep it interesting. 

The Team Name dwarfing the player name is a bit jarring. This is a departure from prior A&G designs.  For most part past A&G designs have not featured team names. In 2011 a square team logo was displayed on each card.

Lee was the only Phillies player I got in the bounty. 

2014 Topps A&G Heritage #223 Tony Gwynn

I don't remember how many cars I picked up in the packs. I am thinking 24. Close to half of them were Hall of Famers. This is probably my favorite out of those - Pulling a card of the recently deceased Tony Gwynn brought a pang of sadness to me. 

2014 Topps A&G 129 Hank Aaron

2014 Topps A&G 228 Orlando Cepeda

2014 Topps A&G 215 Johnny Bench

I have a pretty solid HoF cards collection and these are nice additions. I like the classic Braves uni on Hammerin' Hanks card. 

2014 Topps A&G Minis

Minis are always a highlight of AnG. The Carew and Wacha cards are both members of the 3 card special border pack that comes inside rack packs. Massaccio was a painter, the image Topps used is directly from wikipedia - glad I spent $3 on that pack.

2014 Topps A&G Pastimes #PP-MT Mike Trout #PP-NR Nolan Ryan

I think this is the 2014 A&G common insert. The B-sides lists the players hobbies - Trout collects baseball cards, Nolan runs a baseball team. 

#100 Queen Victoria @#119 Felicia Day

Some of the non-baseball cards in this year's set. Here we have the one time Queen of England and an actress from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"

 

At the outset A&G inserts were always minis, not so much anymore. Neither of these do anything for me, maybe if I see some of these other members of these sets I will change my mind, but both of these are losers.

 

Tony Gwynn 1960-2014

I only got to see Tony Gwynn's play twice, and he didn't start either game. He pinch hit in both games and didn't get a hit either time. So I don't really have any great memories of seeing Gwynn play live. The latter of those two games was Gwynn's final game in Philadelphia. When he came to the plate to bat, he got a standing ovation and tipped his cap.

2002 UD World Series Heroes #57 Tony Gwynn

We have already featured the Tony Gwynn Rookie Card here and I have decided to go in a bit of a different direction here. This 2002 UD card is from just after Gwynn's career ended. The Padres franchise dates back to 1969 but they have only been to two World Series 1984 and 1998. The Series' were 14 years apart and Tony Gwynn played in both of them.

Tributes
Here is a collection of Tony Gwynn Card Tributes, Obits and Memorials:

Padrographs - Great personal story from Rod
Card Buzz - How Gwynn handles autograph signings
Cardboard Icons
Cards that Never Were (1982 Topps Custom)
bdg610 Topps Baseball Card Blog (1983 Topps RC)
30-Year Old Cardboard
Sports Card Info (1982 TCMA Hawaii Islanders #10)
Beckett (1983 OPC RC) 
This Card is Cool 1994 Fleer
All the way to the backstop (2002 Topps)
Lifetime Topps Project (Goodwin Champ Auto)
The Writers Journey (Fleer)
Starting Nine (Various)
Uncle Doc's Card Closet
 
Jayson Stark on Gwynn's incredible numbers

Phungo Tony Gwynn HoF Index
1983 Topps #482 (rc)

Sources
Baseball-ref

Bucket or Chuck-It: 2012 Topps Allen & Ginter Bargain Blaster

2012 AnG Blasters running for $13 at the local target.  Bucket Or Chuck-It?

Phillies

No Base cards but a Ryan Howard Insert and a Cliff Lee Mini

Speaking of Minis

Justin Upton

Freddie Freeman A&G Back

Erin Andrews Black Frame!

Nick Hagadone A&G backs, 

Jorge De La Rosa

Adam & Eve Bible insert

Adrian Gonzalez

Solid group of inserts - SportsCasting Beauty Erin Andrews draws center square in this lot. 
 

Hit

Heath Bell Relic w/ the Pix representing the Padres, the Relic may or may not be from the Padres or any other actual game or event or something like that.

Standard Size Inserts  

 

Not Sure the Smoltz pix looks a lot like him. The Willis Tower is the Sears Tower in Chicago, Dempster is card #342 SP.  .

Whats in a Name

That is Tony Gwynn the Hall of Famer in the Middle. Donnie Baseball on top and Jacoby Ellsbury last. 

The Box yielded one other Hall of Famer in base card form

Stan Musial

Bucket or Chuck-it

No Base Phils is a bust but gettting two inserts makes the Phils up for that, Erin Andrews makes the minis a win, meh on the other inserts. I imagine the hit rate for relics is about even for an AnG blaster. Overall, we give it a bucket.  I got $13 of enjoyment out of opening that box.  

ReWind - Past Ginter Blaster Breaks

2011 Allen & Ginter (Bargain Blaster - Carlos Ruiz Mini, Jim Nantz Relic, James Shields #NNO mini)

2010 Allen & Ginter (Chase Utley This Day in History)

2010 Allen & Ginter (Bargain Blaster - Buster Posey RC)

2008 Allen & Ginter (Michael Young Relic)

2009 Allen & Ginter Phillies Group Break (Cole Hamels black border Mini, Jamie Moyer Mini 

Note the 2012 Bargain Blasters are buck more than the 2011 and 2010 A&G Blasters were a few months ago. 

Sources
Baseball-Cardpedia.com
 

Reading the Competition: 1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn RC

A quick Question, What Jersey Number is Tony Gwynn wearing on this Topps Rookie Card? I did a quick search and found nothing. Does anyone have an early 80s Padres media guide that may has a 40 man roster listing Gwynn? I am a little surprised that with all the information out there, that this remains a mystery.

---
 
This week the Phillies are on the Road in Southern California, facing the Padres during the week followed by the Dodgers over the weekend. To mark the first part of the road trip we are very happy to examine the Tony Gwynn Rookie card(s)

1983 Topps #482 Tony Gwynn

2013 marks the 30th anniversary of one of my favorite Topps Sets, 1983. I Iike the design and the dual photos. Another bonus is the impressive checklist that includes 3 HoF RCs - Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, and Wade Boggs.

1983 is near the outset of the MLB awarding multiple trading card licenses and there are actually at least three Gwynn RCs.  Plus there is a 1982 TCMA card and the 1983 OPC Gwynn. For me I am a Topps guy and the 1983 #482 card above is the Gwynn Rookie Card.

HoF Career  
We have covered the career of the first ballot Hall of Famer previously. His career accomplishments are worth reiterating 3141 Hits, 1300+ Runs, 1100+ RBI, 300 SB, 7 batting titles, 15 time all-star. He was also a member of both of the Padres World Series teams, 1984 and 1998.

According to Wikipedia Tony Gwynn has been battling various health issues (some weight related) but he remains active as the coach of the San Diego State Aztecs. The biggest name that Gwynn coached with the Aztecs is likely Stephen Strasburg. In 2013 Tony Gwynn's son Tony Gwynn Jr remains in professional baseball, playing at the AAA level of the Dodgers system in Albuquerque (batting .321/ .400 OBP at press time)

For the Collector

This makes me sick. Tony Gwynn is a first ballot Hall of Famer, His Topps Rookie Card is 30 years old and had recent auctions close as low as $2.10 Shipped! Hell, a year ago Cardboard Connection selected the card as one of the 10 most valuable RCs of the 1980s.

Why the hell would anyone buy a pack of 2013 Topps S2 when for the same price you could have Tony Gwynn's Rookie Card?  At least two other auctions ended under $3.

The 1983 Donruss #598 came in as low as $3.48 while the 1983 Fleer #360 came in at $3.50 - A graded (PSA 5 EX) version of the Fleer card went for $3.99.  

All 3 cards could be found multiple times for under $5 and All 3 cards are each currently available BIN under $10. 

On the other end of the spectrum graded version of the cards sold as follows:

Topps #482 Tony Gwynn PSA GEM MT 10: $454 
Fleer #360 Tony Gwynn PSA GEM MT 10: $75
Donruss #598 BGS GEM MT 9.5: $53 

HoF Index
2005 Topps Pristine #105 (#d/999)
2012T A&G What's in a Name
2011 Topps Tier One
2002 UD World Series Heroes #57  (Memorials and Tributes)

Sources
30 Year Old Cardboard
Cardboard Connection
Old Cardboard
ebay.com
Baseball-Ref.com
San Diego State Baseball
Wikipedia

Swag from Nachos Grande - Tier One plus A&G nno

Still catching up on postings - Last month Nachos Grande ran a Tier One Group Break.  Here is the good stuff.     

2011 Topps Tier One Tony Gwynn (Base #d to 799) 
2011 Topps Tier One Hunter Pence (Base) 
2011 Topps Tier One Cole Hamels (T4 #d 199)
2011 Allen & Ginter NNO Roy Halladay

Tier One as the name states is a Tiered product with several parallels.  The break was of the 15 team variety where you get a team you choose plus one at random.  My random squad was the Padres - Tony Gwynn is about as well as I could do personally for a Padres base card as he is one of my favorite players.  The Pence Base card may be my first of him as a Phil.  The Hamels was my best pull from the Tier One portion of the break. 

2011 A&G NNO Roy Halladay

Nachos Grande had won a box of 2011 A&G and he through cards from that box that he didn't need for his PC into the break.  Fortunately one of those cards was arguably the best card in the box.  A No Numbered Roy Halladay Mini.  This is only my 2nd nno mini.  I have a Cole Hamels from a different break I was involved in a few years back. 

Chris also gave each participant a team set of 2011 Topps Lineage, so in addition to the above cards, I also picked up the Phils and Padres Topps Lineage cards.

Right now over at Nachos Grande a group break featuring 5 turn of the century products. Phils from that era aren't not nearly as exciting as the current crew - maybe pick up a couple of cool Scott Rolen cards.  

Hall of Fame Thursday - Tony Gwynn

2005 Topps Pristine #105 Tony Gwynn (#409/999)

Tony Gwynn was inducted as a first ballot Hall of Famer in 1997. The honor was much deserved. 3141 hits, 319 Stolen Bases and a career average of .338. The batting average is the highest among all major league players whose careers started after World War II. During the 1994 season Gwynn batted .384 for the year, 3 hits shy of .400. He led the league in batting average 7 other times. Pretty impressive.

The 15 time all-star played his entire career with the San Diego. The Padres have gone to only two World Series', Gwynn was a member of both teams (1984, 1998).

I love these Topps Pristine cards, with players in their college unis - this year Donruss Threads also has an insert series dedicated to great players representing their colleges. This Gwynn card also mimics the 1983 topps set.

Gwynn has returned to his alma mater as their baseball coach. These days Tony Gwynn Jr is playing baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, getting 130 games with the big club over the last 3 years. Gwynn also has a daughter Anisha Nicole who is an R&B artist. Her album is called "19", Gwynn's Uniform number. On the first song clip you can hear Tony congratulating Anisha on her 19th birthday.

Tony Gwynn is making a bit of a buzz over at Punk Rock Paint where they have recently featured the rare 1971 Topps Gwynn card which was discovered in Al Copones Secret Vault. And Cardboard Junkie is featuring a related contest.