International, Olympic, & WBC Index

This is an Index of our postings related to the World Baseball Classic, Olympics and International Baseball.

(### This index is under construction ###)

1966 Topps #264 Ted Uhleaender (rc, Katie Uhleander related)
1969 Topps #194 Ted Uhlaender (Katie Uhleander)
2005 Topps #UH199 HR Derby Hee-Seop Choi (South Korea)
2009 Topps WBC #1 Yu Darvish (Japan)
2009 Topps Redemeption WBC #8 Yoennis(sic) Cespedes (Cuba)
2009 Topps Heritage #163 Johnny Damon (Thailand)
2009 Topps Heritage #309 Johnny Damon (Thailand)
2009 Allen & Ginter's National Pride #NP39 Shin-Soo Choo (South Korea)
2010 Phungo Bernie Williams David Ortiz Sidney Ponson (PR, Dominican, Nederlands)
2011 Bowman Platinum #BPP23 Josh Zeid (Israel)
2013 Topps #WBC-5 Hanley Ramirez (Dominican Republic)
2014 Topps Olympic Box Break Katie Uhlaender, LoLo Jones, Danelle Umstead, Lindsey Vonn, Eddy Alvarez, David Wise, Noelle Pikus-Pace, Sochi

Sources & Links

Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)

1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #7 Cassius Clay

Muhammad Ali was still Cassius Clay when he won the gold medal so I guess when M&M the Olympic Committee put together this card that felt that was appropriate.  

 1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #7 Cassius Clay (b-side)


The story of Ali's Olympic victory is on the flip side of the card.

1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #31 Jesse Owens

We are marking the release of this weekend's release of the film "Race" by featuring a card from the 1984 Olympic Heroes set sponsored/produced by M&Ms.

1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #31 Jesse Owens

I imagine the film was timed to come out in advance of the 2016 Rio Olympics which will most likely occur this summer.

It appears the movie will be set in 1936 at the Berlin Olympics. The key event appears to be the 100 meter dash, an event Owens won with a World Record tying time of 10.3 seconds.

During the 1936 Olympics Jesse Owens would win a then record 4 gold medals. The other wins victories were in the 200 Meters, Long Jump and 400m relay. Each of the Golds was won with an Olympic Record tying or breaking time. 

flip

1984 M&M Olympic Heroes #31 Jesse Owens (b-side)

The event mentioned on the back of the card is the relay, won easily by the Americans who set a world record for the 400 meters. It also the event that gave Owens his record setting fourth Medal.

The Olympic-ref results and description of the 1936 Men's 400m Relay can be found here. 

1980? 1983? 1984? Olympic Heroes Trading Cards

Yeah these cards look like they were rushed to market. Sorry for the blurry pix, but I ain't retaking them now. The box front above has a year of 1980 and specifies LA Olympics. Well the 1980 Olympics happened in Moscow and were boycotted by the US.

If you check the back of the Owens card above, near the bottom it specifies 1983, which is a little closer....

Finally on the back of the box we get a 1984, which is the year the Olympics occurred in LA. So yeah one card set 3 different years - I went with 1984 since that is the year the LA Olympics actually occurred.

Checker
I think I found this for a buck or two somewhere - well worth it. Great Checklist The Boxers alone are Cassius Clay, Joe Frazier and George Foreman. Other notables includes Jim Thorpe, Dorothy Hamill, Bruce Jenner, Bill Toomey, Mike Eruzione, Sonja Henie, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West.

Sources and Links
imdb Race
Jesse Owens
Olympic-ref

Box Break 2014 Topps US Olympic & Paralympic

I picked up a variety of items as part of the Dave and Adams Cyber Monday promo. I am leading off with a look at a non-baseball Hobby Box.

I watched a good bit of the 2014 Olympics coverage. In addition to the competition, I was also interested in the events because of the venue. Mrs Phungo has been to Russia a number of times. One of her trips there took her to Sochi, site of the 2014 Olympics.

When I saw Topps would be producing an Olympic set, I figured I would look into a set when the price was right.  That time came on Cyber Momday.

Box Break

2014 Topps US Olympics #84 Katie Uhlaender

For our base card we take a look at the #84 card of Kaite Uhlaender who we discussed back in February.  Uhlaender just missed getting a Medal, finishing 4th in the Skeleton.

The cards are nice looking, There is a flag behind ice motif going on, rather than a frame the bottom of the card is separated by a mountain range which serves as a backdrop for text of the athletes name and event. The US Olympic logo appears in the bottom right.

The picture themselves vary mostly casual pix like the one of Uhlaender above, but there are also action and head shots. 

2014 Topps US Olympics #48 LoLo Jones

Prior to the 2014 Olympics we knew Lolo Jones as a Hurdler in the Summer Olympics. This year we were re-introduced to her in the Bobsled event. Her card above is a silver parallel - this is signified by a "Medal" in the lower right. I have paired Jones' card with it's b-side which contains a few biographical tid bits. In a nice bit of continuity the design on the b-sde echoes the mountains from the bottome of the a-side.

2014 Topps US Olympics #85 Danelle Umstead

Paralympians are also featured in the 2014 Topps Olypic set. The visually impaired Danelle Umstead won a Bronze medal at the 2014 Paralympic Winter games. According to her Team USA bio Umstead's Guide since 2008 has been her husband Rob. The Topps card doesn't specify if the man featured in the above photo is Rob.

2014 Topps US Olympics #85 Lindsey Vonn 

For our example of a bronze card we present an Olympian most sports fans are familiar with, Lindsey Vonn. Vonn failed to Medal this year but did take home a Gold in 2010.

2014 Topps US Olympics #3 Eddy Alvarez

Eduardo Alvarez is another athlete we features in February. After the Olympics concluded Alvarez followed in his brothers footsteps and returned to playing baseball. Eddy put together an impressive debut batting .346 with 5 homers across 2 levels in the low minors. Alvarez is in the White Sox organization and will be an interesting prospect to follow in the next couple of seasons. 

2014 Topps US Olympic Relic #OR-DW David Wise

I got a picked up a bit of a David Wise hot-pack. The Box Relic was a Wise as was one of the four Gold Medal Cards. The Medal Card is appropriate as Wise took home the 2014 Gold in the Half-Pipe.

The Vaguey Lawyerese on the back of the relic is as follows: 

The Manupatch

2014 Topps US Olympic Sochi Patch Free-Skiing Patrick Deneen

It's a manupatch but I like it. The pix featurs Patrick Deneen doing a flip, which through me off a bit. I thought Topps had put the swatch in upside down. Took me a second, but I figured out the orientation eventually.

The Hit

2014 Topps US Olympics #68 Noelle Pikus-Pace

Oops buried this a bit. Each Box contains one auto "on average". We had the good fortune to pick up an auto of Noelle Pikus-Pace.

Yeah I didn't know her either. She took home the Silver in the 2014 Skeleton. This is the same event in which Katie Uhlaender at the top of our post just missed medalling.

There were a few other insert cards, but I have elected to not present them here.

The Vitals

1 Hobby Box of 2014 US Olympic and Paralympic Team and Hopeful Trading Cards $24



Complete 100 card base set
24 Bronze Parallels
8 Silver
4 Gold - All parallels fell at expected odds.

Inserts
3 Games of the XXII Olympiad (Bobsled - Steven Holcomb, Skeleton - John Daly, Ski Jumping -Lindsey Van)
2 2014 Olympic Game Venues (Sanki, Rosa Khutor)
1 Olympic Heritage (1980 - Lake Placid)

Hits
1 Autograph Noelle Pikus-Price (Skeleton)
1 Athlete-Worn Memorabilia - David Wise (Freeskiing)
1 Offiicial Commemorative Patch - Patrick Deneen (Freestyle Skiing)

35 Duplicates

190 cards total

Sources & Links
Cardboard Connection
Sports Ref
Team USA

Brothers Eduardo and Nick Alvarez: current Olympic Speedskater and a former Dodgers Prospect

In addition to Katie Uhleander we have uncovered another Olympic athlete with a baseaball connection. Today we look at Speed Skater Eduardo Alvarez. 

The 24 year old Eduardo (Eddy) Alavarez hails from Miami. How does a young man from the Sun Belt get involved in Speed Skating? In-Line Skating of course. In addition to being an Olympian Eduardo was also a baseball prospect for a time, but had to give up the game as involvement in two sports starting giving his knees troubles. 

Eddy is entered in several speed skating events, several of which he has completed, but not medaled.  Near as I can tell Alvarez still has a chance at the podium in the 500m race which commences Tuesday and runs through Friday 

Eduardo's older brother Nick was also a baseball player, The elder Alvarez was once a prospect in the Dodgers organization.

2002 Topps #681 Nick Alvarez (image swiped from Baseball Card Database)

Nick Alvarez was drafted by the Dodgers in the 26th round of the 2000 draft, he stuck with the Dodgers through 2006 rising as high as AAA Las Vegas. He was an outfielder first baseman, who posted decent hitting numbers, possibly without enough power to make the transition to the major league level.

Best of luck to Eddy Alvarez in the remainder of the 2014 Olympiad. According to Sam Dykstra at Minor League Baseball.com this may be Alvarez's only Olympics, apparently Eddy has an interest in following in his brothers footsteps as he still has baseball aspirations. 

Sochi 2014

Katie Uhleander

Sources

Baseball Card Database

Sochi2014 

Baseball-ref.com

Minor League Baseball

Katie & Ted Uhlaender: Olympic Athlete Daughter & Ballplayer Father

Recently via the fine twitter account of @ObxLeatherman I found out that Katie Uhlaender, A US Competitor in the Olympic Skeleton, is also the daughter of 60/70s era Outfielder Ted Uhlaender.

1966 Topps #264 Ted Uhlaender (RC)


Sochi is the third olympiad for the 29 year old Katie Uhlaender.  Uhlaender's resume includes a 6th place finish at the 2006 Olympics in Torino. She also has Olympic aspirations in the summer sport of weightlifting.

This years Women's Skeleton events will be held on Thursday and Friday (13th & 14th).  Not sure if the game competition will be on NBC, but will be keeping an eye on that.

Sadly Katie's father Ted Uhlaender died of cancer in 2009 at the age of 59.

1969 Topps #194 Ted Uhlaender (Swiped from Baseball Card Database)

To honor her father Katie keeps Ted's 1969 Topps card taped to her sled. As a card collector, I find this to be a really hip tribute. The 1969 Ted Uhlaender card is show above.

Ted Uhlaender spent eight seasons in the Majors mostly with the Twins, but was also a member of the Reds 1972 National Leaque Championship squad. During game 2 of the World Series he had a pinch hit double off of future Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter. 

Katie Uhlaender has a card in the 2014 Topps US Olympic and Paralympic Team Hopefuls Trading Card set (including an auto). I would think that this would make the Uhlaender's one of the few father-daughter combinations to both have Topps Cards - very unique.

2014 Topps US Olympics #84 Katie Uhlaender
In our 2014 Topps Olympic Cards break we feature Katie Uhlaender a bit more. That post can be found here. 

More Uhleander's
1967 Topps Baseball
Von's Cards (2014 Olympic Katie, 1972 Topps Ted)  

Sources
Sochi2014
SportsRef/Baseball-ref
Baseball Card Database
New York Post
Cardboard Connection
Phungo 2014 Topps US Olympics Box Break

Updates (2018 0211) - Added Katie Uhlaender card and link to related box break.  

Noteworthy 2008 UD Goudey #276 Bruce Jenner

I know very little about the Kardashians - I don't really watch Talk Soup as much as I should, but somewhere along the line I found out Bruce Jenner is connected to the show.


2008 Goudey #276 Bruce Jenner - Sports Royalty

For fans of the show Bruce Jenner won a sports event called the Decathalon it is part of a larger event called the Olympics. 

For the Collector - This is an insert from 08 Goudey - I think this came out of a blaster.  2008 was the 2nd year for UD Goudey which I believe ran for 3 releases.  Similar cards have been listed on ebay recently for under $2 and have not sold.   It appears that UD Razor and some other manufactures have produced Jenner Auto in their recent sets.  There are a handful of low-end sticker autos that have soled for under $10.  $10.  Recently $200 bought a pair of 2008 Allen & Ginter autos one of which was hand numbered to 10.

2010 Phungo Cards - Sidney Crosby

2010 Phungo #09 Sidney Crosby

ugh.

I am mostly over yesterday's game. Hockey is Canada's game and Canada is the 2010 Winter Olympics Host Country - and for those reasons it was good to see the Canadian team win.

I think it is time that we stop looking at USA Hockey as perennial underdogs. The Canadian and American squads were the only teams to be entirely made up of NHL players. I don't know a lot about hockey but while other countries may have professional leagues, I am not sure that they quite measure up to the caliber of hockey played in the NHL.

Going forward I would think that in the 2014 Solchi Olympics that team USA should come in as one of the favorites in Hockey, along with Canada and the host country, Russia. The Russian Federation perhaps had the most disappointing showing in the 2010 Olympiad and I would .

As with the past year, we have included some non-baseball subjects in the 2010 Phungo Set. I believe this is the first Phungo Hockey Card. I took this photo prior to a Pens Flyers game last January. If you ever get to the chance to go to a Hockey game, definitely try and check out the pre-game skate. It is the Hockey equivalent to Baseball BP. In Philadelphia they let you go down to the rows just off the ice. Just try and stand behind the net and not flinch as the pucks fly against the glass.

I have given Crosby card number '09' to mark the Penguins 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Championship. His position is 'c' for center and I suppose Captain also.

Congratulations to Team Canada and looking forward to 2014. USA! USA!

8-8-8 Olympics

Tonight the Olympics open in Beijing. In addition to rooting for the USA I will also be pulling for Thailand. The two pictures below were taken on a trip to Thailand this past winter.


Both of the photos are of a temple in Ayutthaya. Much of Ayutthaya was burned down by the Burmese in during a 18th century conflict. These temples are among the ruins that remain from that conflict.