Milwaukee Also Rocks

Being assured of a first-time World Series Champ this year is pretty cool. Like I said last post, I was rooting for Cleveland, but I don't hate Tampa or anything. The Rays winning it all wouldn't really bum me out, but the Brewers beating the Dodgers almost has me forgiving them for beating the Padres, and ultimately I'll be hoping the NL comes out on top.

Regular readers know I was born and raised in San Diego, but fun fact about me you didn't know is that I was actually conceived in Milwaukee. Yep, sometime around opening day '77, probably not that far from Milwaukee County Stadium, my biological beginnings got underway. So the Brewers are not exactly my hometown team, sure, but for this beleaguered Padres fan, my seminal homeland might be the closest my DNA comes to knowing a World Series victory in my lifetime. Hey, I'll take it! Go Brew Crew!

This Bob Uecker autograph is a treasured piece of my collection. It's a slabbed-authentic index card that I've spruced up with a custom overlay, originally posted about back in 2018. It's too bad Ueck wasn't able to stick around long enough to see his Brewers back in the World Series, but at least they had returned to contention in his golden years. Winning to honor his memory would be a nice storyline.

I don't collect a lot of guys on the current squad, but I'll try to fill out a post. I've got a decent Christian Yelich PC, and did a post showing it off also back in 2018. That was back at the dawning of his time in Milwaukee, and so all the cards in that post are Marlins cards. I've added lots of Brewers cards to the Yeli PC since, so I'll pick out a few highlights.

Lots of shiny. Despite a down year with the bat, Yelich was given the honor of being designated Team Captain this season, so that's pretty cool.

Some horizontal stuff here, including a pair of Peak Performers that I initially thought were dupes until I noticed one was a refractor ("prizm"). The embedded "coin" card is kinda neat, though it makes me want to tear out the coin as if it were some sort of rip card. Feels like I'm just needing an autograph to top off the PC, so maybe I'll start looking around for one once the Fall Classic buzz dies down.

Late-blooming Jake Bauers finally had himself a breakout MLB season, playing a pivotal role in the club's success. Since he was originally a Padres draft pick, I vaguely knew I had some cards of his somewhere in the cardroom. After flipping through a shoebox labeled "semi-sorted Padres", I was able to pull out the above Bauers. Nothing too impressive, but nice to find a few 1st Bowmans and a signed Elite card.

Gary Sánchez came on the scene as a hot rookie when I was in the thick of buying boxes of cards to rip and digging through bins at the card show, and while never a true "PC guy" for me, I tend to hang on to cards of guys like that just in case they become superstars. Gary didn't, but has stuck around MLB as a fine backup catcher, this year being second-string behind William Contreras. He's got some representation in my collection thanks to this above "9-Pocket PC" page highlighted by a few serial-numbered cards and the Munson homage from Heritage. Somewhere I've also got a low-numbered Bowman mini black refractor that was briefly a very desirable card that I probably should have sold back when Yankees fans were pouring onto the Slamchez bandwagon for a minute.

As far as hot young Brewers, I know I've got more Miz and a few Jackson Chourio rookies around, but unfortunately my collection isn't organized well enough for me to locate them quickly enough for this post.

Any Brewers collector reading this probably hasn't had their socks knocked off yet, so let's break out the big guns and close out the post with Rockin' Robin himself..

There's a completed Robin Yount trifecta of Topps Retired refractor autos (#/25). I thought I'd get them in the sun for a group pic with the highest possible refraction, though I was sure to be quick about it. Remember, folks: don't leave your autographed cards in the sun-- especially autographed Chrome cards-- lest the ink fade. Sadly a previous owner of my '03 Robin refractor didn't get that memo, and so the signature was a bit faded when I got it.

And so there you go, a post tipping my cap to a banner season for the Brewers. Since I'm rooting for Milwaukee, that means Tampa Bay will probably win, and that's fine too. Should be a good series!

Bob Uecker autograph

Congrats to the Red Sox on bringing home the 2018 World Series championship trophy. I was rooting for them to beat LA, though out of the final four, I had been hoping for the Brewers to win it all.

Milwaukee's terrific 2018 season just drove home how much of a national treasure Bob Uecker is. I wanted to pick up a certified auto card of his, but dang gumit, there are none! It's a tragedy he doesn't have any pack-certified auto cards out there. Not sure if the card companies haven't bothered asking, or if he just turns down all inquiries. Seems like a great way to make a chunk of change signing your name over and over for a few hours, but if he's not interested, fair enough.

Apart from his playing-days cards, he's only got a handful of oddballs out there and a pair of reprints in 2001 Topps Archives. Not many cards and no certified autos.

So anyways, that means it's time for me to take matters into my own hands. I kept an eye on eBay and ended up winning a beautiful slabbed Beckett-certified signed index card. But since index cards are boring, it was up to me to spice it up with a custom overlay. My time to shine!

Since it was a 3x5" index card and came in a big slab, I had more room to work with compared to a standard baseball card. And so I wanted to take advantage of that and hit a few major aspects of his career. At the upper corners you've got a couple photos from his days as a cut-up backup catcher, borrowed from baseball cards. Anchoring the bottom is a recent shot of him as broadcaster for the Brewers, flanked by his best-known acting roles, Indians broadcaster Harry Doyle in Major League on the left and George Owens in Mr. Belvedere on the right. Gotta admit I watched a lot of that sitcom as a kid in the mid 80s before I cared about baseball, so I had to even squeeze Mr. Belvedere himself (Christopher Hewett) into the mix. If I really wanted to go nuts, I could have included photos from his time messing around with WWF wrestlers, or one of his many times chatting with Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, or even his memorable beer ads.

Here's a clearer shot of it outside of the sleeve.

For scale, here's the undressed index card along with the rest of my collection of "Mr. Baseball" which is really just the two aforementioned '01 Archives reprints plus the only vintage card I've got from him, plucked from my 1965 Topps complete set. One of these days, I'll focus on picking up more of his cards, most importantly his '64 Topps, which I need for my in-progress setbuild.

I'm very happy with how this turned out. He's one of baseball's all-time classic characters. Just a very funny and interesting guy. Here's an informative little article I found called 17 things you might not know about Bob Uecker.

Definitely gonna have to display this badboy for a while! Gives me a big smile everytime see it.

Thanks for swinging by.

Refraction Action: Dave Parker 1991 Denny's Hologram

Today's featured card isn't a true refractor, but rather a hologram card from Denny's. I remember when these Grand Slam cards were really hot for a few weeks back then. They'd sell at the local card shop for like $10-15, which is a lot for a freebee oddball! (I also remember when 1990 Post Cereal cards inexplicably commanded like $15-20 a pop for a moment there.. LOL. Oh, early 90s card values..) Now you can get them for a hair above postage cost.

Here's Dave Parker during his brief tenure in Milwaukee near the end of his career (by the time this card hit stores restaurant tables, he was already gone, moved on to Anaheim). And yep, I did in fact get this card from Denny's. I talked my family into going specifically so I could get a card. I believe this is the only 1991 Denny's card I have, but I've also got a couple from 1992 (Bonds and Paul O'Neill) which are very similar.

I still need to experiment a bit trying to find the best way to take pictures of holograms. As far as movement here, the "fireworks" in the background dance around a bit, but that's about it.

Cobra had a terrific career and I hope the veteran's committee votes him into the Hall in his lifetime. Hit .290, 2712 hits, 339 homers, lots of leading the league in offensive categories in his prime, had a cannon in the outfield, and won a couple World Series rings.

Here is the card with backgrounds outside my front door.

Looks like something out of the "Enter Sandman" video.

And hey, here's some bonus movin' baseball card action:

Again, not really a refractor, but a Chrome card looks nice in the light, too. (--though, yeah, this gif didn't turn out very good, sorry.) This is a 2003 Topps Retired Signature Edition Dave Parker auto. While my main goal right now is completing the 2004 set, it's been quiet lately, with the cards left that I need not popping up for sale (at least at a reasonable price), so my signed cardboard addiction has occasionally turned to the 2003 set for a fix. I don't think I'm gonna complete that set (I read there are something like 130+ autos in that set, as opposed to 76 in the 2004 set). But yeah, if I see a player I like at a reasonable price, I may throw a bid at it. And that's how I picked up this Dave Parker recently. His big signature can't even be contained on the card.. love it.

This has been another edition of Refractin' Action. See ya next time!