2011 Topps Diamond Duos - Alcholism

2011 Topps Diamond Duos #DD-CC Ty Cobb and Miguel Cabrera

Ron Shelton directed the fine 1994 film "Cobb" which starred Tommy Lee Jones as the crazed and troubled Detroit Tigers legend Ty Cobb.

The present day Tigers have another troubled star on their roster in the form of the talented Miguel Cabrera.

Some may think it is a bit heavy comparing the 27 year old Cabrera to Cobb talent wise - consider this:

According to Miguel Cabrera's Baseball-Reference page the three players in the history of baseball whose careers most closely match Miguel Cabrera's at the age of 27 are:

Frank Robinson
Hank Aaron
Ken Griffey Jr

That is some pretty good company.   

Being associated with those great names does not mean that Miguel Cabrera doesn't have a problem or absolve him from getting behind the wheel of a car while consuming a bottle of whiskey.

To me no one has an excuse for driving drunk - especially someone who has made 54 million dollars.

Swag from All Tribe Baseball

At the 09 Trade Deadline the Phils and Indians worked a deal in which the Phillies sent Cleveland several prospects in exchange for Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco. Similarly Baseball Dad of All Tribe Baseball and I swapped a bunch of Indians and Phils baseball cards.

BD was good enough to inspect my want lists and find about a half dozen cards which I needed. I forget - I may have only found 2 or three that he needed. Then we padded the trade with some miscellaneous Phils and Indians. I hope I was able come up with some card that fit into the All Tribe Baseball Collection, because BD came up with a great variety of Phils for me.

This Cole Hamels Card is among the Phils Cards I received. There was a real nice variety of cards which were perfect for beefing up the Phungo Phils collection. I have really enjoyed the Baseball Heroes Cards I have gotten in trades, because it is a set I ignored when it came out last year. The cards have a good look and since I am not building the set, the parallels add variety and don't bother me.

2008 UD Baseball Heroes #136 Cole Hamels

My Pet Peeve on cards like this is always the lack of attention to detail. The card celebrates Hamels Major League debut, an 8-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. This is all great except the game was played in Cincinnati and this photo is of Hamels pitching at home in Citizen's Bank Ballpark.

Here are some of the cards BD sent over to fill out my want lists.


2008 Bowman Draft Pick and Prospects #BDPP104 Kevin Pucetas (1st Bowman Chrome Variation)
2008 Topps #529 Masahide Kobayashi
2008 UD Masterpieces #20 Ty Cobb


I am collecting the 08 Bowmand Draft Picks 66-110 as part of my Phungo Games Project. Kevin Pucetas is in the Giants organization. He skipped a level in 09 with mixed results, but that is a hitters league.

The Kobayashi card is one of the last three I needed to finish 08 Topps Series 2. We're down the final two cards:

533 Kyle McClellan
586 Coco Crisp

And the Ty Cobb is one of four Masterpieces cards that were sent - With these four cards team Phungo is at the 3/4 pole for the 07 Masterpieces set.

The Indians are coming off a tough season, but the Tribe faithful are very strong in the Card collecting business. I hope Baseball Dad is as happy with the Indian cards that I sent over his way as the ones I received today.