Say It's...So?

According to multiple media outlets, MLB is expected to hand down a decision on the reinstatement of Shoeless Joe Jackson tomorrow morning.  An announcement is expected to be made on the Facebook page of the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum.  This is something that is a long time coming, considering since he died in 1951.  Since it was a lifetime ban and his lifetime is over, this makes a lot of sense.

I know the circumstances around his ban rocked baseball, and the need to be able to trust that the players are on the up and up is very important.  Jackson, if reinstated, would be something of a sure bet for the Hall of Fame.

My hope is that if Jackson is reinstated, that Buck Weaver will also be reinstated as well, especially since it is widely known that he never took any money for the 1919 World Series fix.  Weaver just didn't rat on his teammates.

We will know for sure tomorrow, and I, for one, am really excited.

An Assortment of Goodies From My Buddy Max

My good friend Max sent me a couple more packages recently and these were slammed full of awesome stuff.  He sent me 4 Orioles signed post cards.  Among them was this Milt Pappas.  Pappas was most remembered for being the piece that brought Frank Robinson to Baltimore.  Other signed post cards Max sent were Al Bumbry, Chris Hoiles and Tippy Martinez.

Max sent me several Conlon Collection cards, most notably this Ty Cobb.  I have the complete set of these, which I picked up at the National a few years ago, but I'm always happy to accept more of them.  They're always fun to look at, especially the players who weren't Hall of Famers that they included in the set.

Speaking of Hall of Famers, Max added a bunch of random Hall of Famers inserts in his packages.  One of them was this 2009 Topps Career Best Legends Walter Johnson.  I just talked with my buddy Andrew on Skype the other day about all-time great pitchers and Johnson was one of the ones who's stats we spent a lot of time analyzing.  I need to record some of these discussions.  They would make for great blog or Youtube posts.

Finally, Max sent along some oddball stickers like this 1982 Topps Stickers Carl Yastrzemski.  This is a pretty cool piece from later in Yaz's career that I had never seen before.

Max is a realy awesome guy whom I've spent a lot of time getting to know recently.  He's one of the best traders on Instagram, and one of the best all-around people that I've met.  I'm certainly happy that I have been able to help him out with his collection, and I'm even happier that we have built a friendship from it.  If you are on Instagram, I recommend you follow him, @graphinchitown.

Random Card Pickup at the Shop

While working at the shop yesterday, a lady came in looking to get back into cards. We talked for a while about the hobby (she is focusing more on football) and looked over a few of the albums she brought in. It is always nice when people come into the card shop who will actually listen to you when it comes to collecting, etc. Usually, I get the people who come in thinking they know everything about cards and that the 1990 Donruss Ben McDonald that they have is worth THOUSANDS of dollars. Usually, that leaves me as the one who has to break it to them that their late 80s - early 90s stuff is pretty much kindling...
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It was refreshing to have a woman come in who 1. knew about sports and 2. was interested in cards. I am lucky to have a good friend (Babe) who seriously knows sports. Trust me, you don't want to play her in any fantasy league, because she will OWN you... Growing up, my mom had a big interest in sports (yeah, ok, it was mostly because she thought Don Mattingly was cute, but hey, thats a start), so that helped me along in building my interest.
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I'm glad to see that the hobby and the blogs are a diverse bunch; I believe this is a good sign that the hobby will be ok, even in this world of exclusive licensing, etc. I hope the lady who came in keeps her enthusiasm, even if she focuses on football, because any new or returning collectors we can maintain makes it better for all of us.
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I noticed that I didn't talk about the card at all, haha. She had the above 1993 Conlon Collection Walter Johnson/Nolan Ryan in her album and I asked her if she'd part with it. She gave it to me for free, which was unnecessary, but a nice gesture from her. I think the card looks pretty sweet. I was never a fan of the Conlon stuff, but this card is pretty sharp and I like the novelty photo of the Big Train and the Ryan Express. What do you guys think?