2016 Topps Baseball Opening Day Trading Cards

I enjoy the Topps Opening Day offerings each year.  They are just different enough and the added logo works for me.  This year's Opening Day set is a nice looking set and you can see my review of the standard set here.  There you can find my thoughts on the look as a whole.  As with that review I'm happy with the look and with the different cards.  

As always Topps has plenty of nice photos and a nice back of the card with my favorite aspect each year being that they contain the stats for a player's entire career.  

My favorite card is the Jose Bautista bat flip card.  Awesome photo.  I also like the Striking distance cards which show what milestones players are coming up on.  Would have preferred a different background but I like knowing what to look for in the upcoming season stats wise.  And numbers are everything in baseball.  If you liked the base set grab these cards. They are a bit cheaper and give you some more options for collecting while not straying too far from the base set.  

3 Packs - 24 Cards Per Pack - $2.99 Per Pack (Total of 72 Cards)
52 Base Cards
11 Future Stars
2 Rookie Cards (Trophy)
2 Striking Distance
1 Mascot
1 Superstar Celebrations
1 Heavy Hitters
1 Alternate Reality
1 Opening Day Stars

2015-2016 Upper Deck Hockey Series 2

I wish I liked hockey more because I really enjoy the hockey cards Upper Deck puts out.  The 2015-2016 Upper Deck Series 2 is another good example of a nice looking set  The photos are outstanding and the design is simple with the name, position, team logo,and Upper Deck logo nicely positioned on the fronts.  This is two years running I've picked up some series 2 cards with this year's pack giving me 32 cards.  

I think hockey is a sport constantly in motion which helps in capturing great pictures.  That doesn't mean it is easy so Upper Deck has to be given credit for these nice looking cards and pictures.  

The backs are nice looking as well.  They are colorful and provide plenty of years worth of stats.  All cards were base set cards with the exception of a checklist card and a Young Guns card.  Again, a great looking set and I'm not sure how any hockey fan wouldn't enjoy these cards.

2015-2016 Donruss Basketball

I loved the Donruss football cards so I was excited to see the NBA offering by Donruss.  For whatever reason I'll say the base set doesn't excite me as much as it did for the NFL cards.  Just can't put my finger on why.  Still I like the set with the inserts standing out for me.  That has made this set worth it for me.  The price point is a bit tough but if you can get past that these are fun cards.   

The fronts have that colorful border with a big Donruss logo in either of the bottom corners.  The players name goes across the bottom front of the card with their position and team name just below that.  A nice looking front with plenty of room for the nice looking player photos.  The backs are colorful with a big team logo, the player's position and number, as well as their stats, personal information and a write-up.  As always I prefer more years worth of stats but otherwise this is a nice card back.

Inserts abound.  The rookies were showcased in the Franchise Futures, Rated Rookies and The Rookies.  As you can see players can be in more than one of the rookie offerings.  The Elite Series and Elite Extra Edition cards are some nice looking cards highlighting stars of the league.  For those loving players of years gone by, and that is me, you'll like the Rebounding Kings and Scoring Kings inserts focus and both players from the present and past.  Again the highlights for me are the inserts but the base cards do have nice photos.   Good job by Panini with their Donruss offering. 

A Look Back at NBA Player Buck Williams

Like I did with Bob Horner, I want to look at another of my all-time favorite players.  NBA player Buck Williams was a player who I became a fan of due to his tenacious defense and work on the boards.  Being 6'8" and around 215 pounds he had to be a beast against bigger and great power forwards of the day.  He wasn't flashy but Williams played 17 seasons with New Jersey (8), Portland (7) and New York (2).  Buck was the 3rd overall pick in the 1981 draft and he was the 1981-1982 rookie of the year, a three time all-star, a member of the All-NBA second team once and was twice each named to the first and second NBA All-Defensive teams.  His best statistical years were in New Jersey where he had career highs in scoring (18.3) and rebounding (12.5).  With Portland, Williams twice led the league in field goal percentage.

Buck Williams and the New Jersey Nets made the playoffs in his

first five years with the team.  The Nets then hit hard times but Williams averaged 16 points and almost 12 boards a game while shooting an outstanding 55% from the field in his time in New Jersey.  It was easy for his great play to be missed playing on some lackluster teams.  He didn't get a ton of attention but his tough play and consistency was key to a team with big personalities like Darryl Dawkins and Michael Ray Richardson.  Unfortunately there just wasn't enough talent there to keep New Jersey in the hunt.  Prior to the 1989-1990 season Williams was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Sam Bowie and a second round pick.  Something else to point out during his run with New Jersey was that Williams played all 82 games in five of his first six seasons in the league which is no small feat.  The other season he played in 81 games.

Williams joined a Portland Trail Blazers team that had been ousted in the first round four years in a row and seemed to be the right guy for getting them over the hump.  Portland immediately made two trips to the NBA Finals in Buck's first three years with the team.  The Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls kept Portland from winning their first championship since the seventies.  The Trail Blazers are one of my teams and those losses hurt but without Williams I'm not sure they even get a shot at the title.  His defense and tenacity were exactly what was needed for a team with frontcourt players who just weren't cut from the same mold.  Portland would then go on to lose in the first round the next four years but those three years were great for Portland fans with two NBA Finals appearances sandwiched around a Conference Finals appearance.  Williams left the Trail Blazers as their all-time leader in field goal percentage. 

Williams' last two years in the league at the playing ages of 36 and 37 were largely forgettable but those teams did go to the playoffs each year with the Knicks bowing out in the semis.  Williams' playoff totals throughout his career were very close to his regular season stats though he did average 24+ points for New Jersey one post season while averaging over 14 boards a different post season also for the Nets.  I always think it is great to see players who can step up their own game against the better teams in the league during the playoffs.  Williams also played a role off the court as the President of the NBA Players Association from 1997-1999.  His number 52 was retired in 1999 by the New Jersey Nets. 

After Dominique Wilkins, Buck Williams is my next all-time favorite NBA guy.  I can't pinpoint why but I do know his play on defense and around the boards were a big part of it.  And he just had the look of player you didn't want to mess with.  And come on, his name was Buck.  I was a big fan long before he joined Portland but that was just the icing on the cake.  To see him be part of those fun Trail Blazers teams with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Kevin Duckworth, Cliff Robinson and Jerome Kersey was great.  They were a special lineup in the history of the franchise.  I enjoy these looks back at players and will continue to look at players whom I've rooted for throughout the years in future posts.   

New Jersey         16.4 PPG, 11.9 RPG, .550 FG%,

Portland               10.2 PPG, 8.7 RPG, .550 FG%

New York            5.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG,  .526 FG%

Peyton Manning Retires

I'm very happy Peyton Manning left on his own terms.  He may well be the greatest quarterback of my  NFL watching fandom.  So from the late '70s until now.  I'm not saying he is but he is definitely in the discussion and for my money he is top 3.  We have been in an era of great quarterbacks for some time now.  Peyton, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rogers, Big Ben, and maybe even Phillip Rivers.  And no matter how good those others are Peyton will always stand out among to me.  Peyton is the real deal.  His stats stand on his own.  Just look them up.  They are crazy numbers.  Brady may best some of them if he can continue to stay healthy as long as he wants but that doesn't diminish what Manning has done.  He is a fricking stud.  

Peyton also has something that many others do not.  He has a personality.  He can be funny, poke fun at himself and do great commercials.  Here is one of the great skits he did on Saturday Night Live.  While his life seemed to revolve around football he got it.  He got why people made fun of him and went with it.  He was good at addressing the media and being real.  He didn't have to be something he wasn't.  He was just Peyton.  

So I won't go on quoting a ton a stats, and there are a ton of them, but I will just say all accolades he receives are deserved.  He was never bigger than the game though he was definitely larger than life.  And it is great to see him go off into the sunset a winner and not pulling a Johnny Unitas.  Very few quarterbacks have ever been able to accomplish that feat.  It isn't key to his "legacy" though.  I tired of that talk pretty quick.  His legacy was set.  His achievements outweighed any notion that winning "only one Super Bowl" could be held against him.  Even if he had lost, he would have gone to four Super Bowls and won one.  Four!  Very elite company now matter how you twist it.  I relish how I've gotten to enjoy one of the great quarterbacks of all-time.  And this era is different than when Joe Montana played.  Now we get to know players like never before - good, bad or indifferent.  I wish that everyone has enjoyed Peyton for what he is.  One of the greatest and I for one have enjoyed every moment.  

Ken Stabler Autobiography Snake

Last week I finished Ken Stabler's autobiography, Snake.  It is exactly what you'd expect it to be.  He goes right into the training camp  hijinks which is something he and the other Raiders were known for.   We all want to hear about the dirt in books and this has plenty of it.  But no matter how bad the debauchery Stabler and his band of merry men get into they never come off as bad guys.  Just guys looking for fun which is what they found almost every time.  My formative sports years were when the Raiders and Stabler were at their legendary best so I loved the legend that was Stabler.  And what kid didn't love the RAIDERS?  The silver and black, the attitude, the look and the talent to back it all up.  They had it going and Ken Stabler was front and center.

Stabler played 15 years starting in 1970 after Starring at Alabama under Bear Bryant in college.  Stabler and those Raider teams were unfortunate in that Pittsburgh was also in their prime during the seventies.  This led to many years of frustration though Stabler reached the AFC Championship game four times outside of the year they went to the Super Bowl.  The Raiders and The Snake won the Super Bowl together in 1976 defeating the Minnesota Vikings.  John Madden was the coach for most of Stabler’s Raider years and it was great to read about their relationship and to get to know him somewhat better.    

Stabler does a good job writing this book.  He throws himself out there at the beginning so there are no surprises.  He then leads you through his life in an entertaining fashion.  All the while he brings along all the characters in his life who we get to know well.  It is just a fun easy read.  I’ve always been a fan so it was a highlight of mine to get to read his book though it is sad due to his premature passing after dying of colon cancer last year.  One of things he had looked forward to was a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame.  Sadly he was announced as a 2016 inductee this January.  Still he had a fabulous career that was already much celebrated.  He was a four time pro-bowler (when it mattered) and a one-time first team all-pro.    I think any football fan will enjoy this book.  It is entertaining while giving you plenty of insight into his football and private life.  This book is out of print and hard to find but make the effort.  It is well worth it.  

A Look Back At Bob Horner

Baseball season is closely approaching so I thought I'd do a look back at my all-time favorite player, 3B/1B Bob Horner.  Like many people I tend to latch on to a guy for no real good reason but I root for them in thick and thin.  Part of being a big Horner fan I’m sure coincided with me starting to watch baseball about the time he entered the sport.  Horner played 10 seasons in the majors.  Nine were with Atlanta from 1978 through 1986 before playing one final season with St. Louis in 1988.  1987 he played in Japan.  After being the #1 pick in the 1978 draft, Horner went straight from the college campus to the majors.  He justified his status as a #1 pick by being chosen as Rookie of the Year for 1978.  Horner was as a third baseman by trade but by 1985 he was playing first base full time.  He was not a good defensive third baseman so the move to first was a good one for him.  Horner was hindered by injuries the majority of his career with lingering wrist problems being the major culprit.  Had Horner been able to average more than 102 games per season his career definitely could have been viewed differently.  As is, he was a good power hitter who under achieved.   

Again he started out well his rookie year with 23 homeruns in just 89 games.  1979 and 1980 saw him playing in 121 and 124 games respectively.  He hit 33 homeruns in 1979  and a career high 35 in 1980.  His power numbers were excellent while he wasn't a huge strikeout guy, something you definitely like to see.  Unfortunately he couldn't stay on the field long enough to max out his potential.  1979 may have been his best year with career highs set in average (.314), slugging (.552), and runs batted in (98).  1981 was a strike shortened year and Horner was only able to stay healthy for 79 of the 107 games Atlanta played.  But again he put up good stats when he was able to play.  He again reached 30 homeruns in 1982 putting 32 over the fence earning all-star honors for the only time in his career.  1982 also saw him reach the playoffs for the only time though he struggled mightily batting only .091.  That was 1 single in 11 at bats against the eventual World Champion St. Louis Cardinals, a horrible effort. 

The next year was a great year at the plate though it was again shortened by injury.  His .383 on base average far outpaced any other year of his career but because he only played in 104 games he only racked up 20 homeruns and 68 RBI’s.    The Atlanta Braves of 1984 won only 80 games and the team went into a decline that wouldn’t end until 1991.  Horner was only around for 32 games due to injury only putting up 3 homeruns.  This was also the year of the infamous Padres – Bravesbrawl.  Horner played a part in that he was injured at the time and in press box.  He went to the locker room and  changed into uniform before going to the dugout.   I watched this game live as a teenager and loved it.  Can’t say it was right but I enjoyed the heck out of it.  In 1985 he rebounded with 27 homeruns and 89 RBI’s but batted a career low .256.  Still a good year but he was only on the field for 130 games.  Horner played a career high 141 games in 1986 again registering 27 homeruns and drove in ’86.  He even hit four homeruns in a game that year tying the major league record.    

You couldn’t ask for much more than this.  Two good years heading into free agency.  But this is where it gets weird.  Bob Horner was only 28 years old and had already hit 215 homeruns in his ^th in the league with 31 homeruns, 4^th in batting (.327), 2^nd in OBP (.423), and 1^st in slugging (.683).  They loved him.  He was in his prime and he feasted on Japanese pitching before they decided to pitch around him instead of challenging him.  All that did was frustrate Horner who left after one year though he had probably made the biggest impact by any American on Japanese baseball.  He left $3M on the table and returned to Major League Baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals for $950,000.  I still hadn’t forgiven the Cards for beating the Braves in the ’82 playoffs so I really wasn’t on board with this.  To me he should have been a Brave for life.  Still you root for your guy, right?  His stint with St. Louis was not a great one.  St. Louis needed a replacement for Jack Clark who left the cards via free agency but Horner struggled.  He battled injuries, could no longer generate power and played his last game on June 18 of that season. 

career.  Even for someone with his injury history he should have been a free agent who could easily find a home.  Then there was collusion.  Teams got together and held down the salaries of players.  While this was underhanded Horner still made a bad misstep.  He headed for Japan.  Horner played one year for the Yakult Swallows having a very good year at the plate.  Though he didn’t play a full season he was still 5

Bob Horner was a good player who was riddled by injuries that hampered his career.  Combined with his decision to go to Japan and his subsequent decision to leave Japan he will never be much more than a distant memory of Braves fans.  If healthy and playing to age 35 Horner was a guy who could have easily had 400+ homeruns.  I also think that if he had had a few seasons of 155+ games he might have put up a monster year in there somewhere.  Maybe 45 homeruns and 110 runs batted in.  It is always fun to play the “What if?” game but when wondering what injuries robbed a player of it is tough.  You also have to wonder what it would have been like had he stayed in Japan.  If he had continued to put up numbers like he did in 1987 he would have been a cult hero there.  Again, “What if?”.  No matter.  He’ll always be that guy for me when it comes to baseball.  There are many others who I’ve rooted for but Horner is my favorite.      

1978       .266/.313/.539   23 HR  63 RBI      89 Games Played

1979       .314/.346/.552   33 HR  98 RBI      121 Games Played

1980       .268/.307/.529   35 HR  89 RBI      124 Games Played

1981       .277/.345/.460   15 HR  42 RBI      79 Games Played

1982       .261/.350/.501  32 HR  97 RBI      140 Games Played

1983       .303/.383/.528  20 HR  68 RBI      104 Games Played

1984       .274/.349/.425   3 HR    19 RBI       32 Games Played

1985       .256/.333/.499   27 HR  89 RBI      130 Games Played

1986       .273/.336/.472   27 HR  87 RBI      141 Games Played

1988       .257/.348/.354   3 HR    33 RBI       60 Games Played

1987       .327/.423/.683   31 HR  73 RBI      93 Games Played