Win A Graded Frank Thomas Rookie Card!

Go on over to Dodgers Blue Heaven and possibly win this card!

Contest is over and winner has been announced.

So It's Come To This: A Contest

 Yes, that cocky gentleman with the mustache is the same cocky gentleman that has no filter during the Chicago White Sox television broadcasts. Why is it here? No particular reason. I ran across it a few weeks ago and the absurdity of it made me smile. Hawk Harrelson was your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate. What does that have to do with this post? Absolutely nothing! It's almost as absurd as a Winnebago with wings. Hawks. Eagles. Meh. Everything on television is starting to blend into one another.

Instead of going on some Hawk-ish tangent, let's get down to brass tacks. This is my 2,500th post. It only took me four years, seven months and six days. They weren't all winners, but I hope I've kept things entertaining, or at the very least interesting. For this milestone post, I would like to give away some White Sox cards. But there's a catch. Isn't there always?

I'm going to make you work for it... just a little. Then, it will all be up to a group of your peers.

What the heck do I mean by that? Well, I'm getting to that. And no, the Spaceballs references have nothing to do with it either. Here's what you have to do.

I want to know the weirdest thing you have ever seen at a Major League ballpark. Leave your answer and a brief explanation in the comments section. Isn't that simple? Sure it is! Here's where it gets complicated, sorta.

I will choose what I think are the five best answers and let the readers decide which is the absolute best. Any duplicate answers will not be chosen. Be original and stop being a copycat. I like you better that way. Whichever comment gets the most votes, will get some White Sox cards.

You have until Saturday, June 23, 2012 at 11:59PM CST to get your answers in the comment section. Only your first comment will count and duplicate answers will be ignored, so choose wisely.

Good luck and have fun!

Win This Card!

Do you want to win a free 1952 Topps style Nellie Fox card? Click here and identify a player by answering a few questions about the 1952 Topps set. Good luck. We're all counting on you.

Win This Tim Raines Auto

Or don't. There are other cool prizes too! Check it out and enter to win!

I was impressed with Obak last year and it continues to impress in 2010. Make sure you don't miss out on your opportunity to win some great cards from Drew's Cards!

Contest For The Final Board Game!

Contest sponsored by Strat-O-Matic.

The first person to correctly answer the question below will win a 2010 Strat-O-Matic board game.

What flash in the pan Major League pitcher ended his long professional career by fielding a triple play?

Hint: It happened in the twentieth century. And the Conan O'Brien card has nothing to do with the answer. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

Good luck!

Don't forget! There's still time to enter the random contest!

Congrats to Kevin who answered Bruno Haas.

In 1946, at age 55, after making a one game MLB debut in 1915, Fargo-Moorhead Twins manager Bruno Haas put himself in the game one last time to pitch the ninth inning. He gave up two quick singles and walked a batter to load the bases. Haas got the batter to ground towards third and Bruno made a diving a stop. He fired home to Rae Blaemire to nab the runner there. Blaemire threw to first to force the batter, then first baseman (and fellow old-timer in for a last thrill) Lynn King saw the runner who had been on second head home; King's throw home was in time to complete a dramatic triple play to end Haas's playing career.

Please e-mail me your address, Kevin.

Random Contest!

This contest sponsored by Strat-O-Matic games.

Strat-O-Matic’s award-winning baseball sim is an amazingly flexible, yet powerful, game. It combines all the strategy options of the board game, with the ease and speed of the computer. No game offers you more ways to customize play to your liking. No game offers you such a dazzling array of statistics, also tailored to suit your preferences.

Use the game’s preset lineups for each team, or create your own. Play against a human or the clever computer manager. You can play “face-to-face” with anyone in the world through our Netplay feature! Or let the computer play both teams in seconds to test the vast “What-if” potential in Strat-O-Matic computer baseball. You can even give the computer instructions on how you want your team to be managed – ideal for internet leagues and season replays.

When playing the game yourself, a single keystroke commands most offensive strategy (swing away, steal, bunt, hit-and-run) and defensive strategy (set the infield depth, pitch around this hitter, hold that runner). Then watch the at-bat play out. If you love the Strat-O-Matic board game, purchase the Card Image add-on. Then tell the computer to show you the card images of batter and pitcher, which will display the result in such a way that you know the wisdom of your strategy decisions. Or you may prefer to watch the dramatic animated flight of the ball. Either way, watch it all against the colorful backdrops of every Major League stadium.

After the game, the unique Strat-O-Matic box scores can be customized to show you a score sheet, a detailed play-by-play and even a newspaper-style write-up of each game! The stat-report options for leagues, teams and individual players will satisfy even the most demanding numbers freaks.

Find out why so many gamers think Strat-O-Matic computer baseball rocks. Join thousands of them in online communities offering each other tips, memories and fellowship.

There are three 2010 Strat-O-Matic computer games up for grabs!

Everybody is free to enter, but anyone who wins a Strat-O-Matic board game will automatically be disqualified to win a Strat-O-Matic computer game. Sorry. One prize per person and/or household.

So what do you have to do to enter?

Leave a comment on this post only about your favorite player statistic in Major League baseball. How would you use this to your advantage if you were a manager?

Example: John Paciorek's career only lasted one game, but he went 3 for 3 in that game, leaving him with a career batting average of 1.000. Based on this one game performance, I would give him a start again in the outfield the next game.

No duplicate answers will be accepted. If you discover you have duplicated an answer, please leave a different one to be entered into the contest. The John Paciorek statistic is not eligible, since it was used as the example.

Deadline: Entries must be timestamped by Sunday, May 9, 2010; 11:59PM

All eligible entrants will be entered into a randomizer. The first three names after randomization will win a copy of the 2010 Strat-O-Matic baseball computer game! It's as easy as that!

Contest Time!

Contest sponsored by Strat-O-Matic.

The first person to correctly answer the question below will win a 2010 Strat-O-Matic board game.

Who are the first two Major League players to hit at least 400 home runs and steal home at least ten times?

Good luck!

Congrats to Chris, who knew that Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth were the first two Major League players to hit at least 400 home runs and steal home at least ten times!

For your awesome knowledge skills, you win a Strat-O-Matic 2010 board game. The downside? This makes you ineligible to win any other fabulous Strat-O-Matic game prizes. The upside? Everyone else has a better chance at winning! It's a win/win!

Look out for another opportunity to win another opportunity to win a Strat-O-Matic board game, later in the week.

Contest Time!

White Sox Cards turns two today. I want to hold an easy contest & I'd like some brutal honesty. Leave a comment on this post between now and 11:59 PM today and your name will be put in the randomizer. You could win some free cards!!

Here's the catch. I want to hear what you think is the lamest post on this blog over the past two years. It could be anything. It's your opinion. It could be something from the infancy of this blog. It could be something recent that you thought was the stupidest thing ever. There are no wrong or right answers here. Just some honest feedback.

If there is no answer whatsoever, the comment will not count towards the contest. You can comment as many times as you like, but only one entry will be accepted.

Be creative. Be honest. I want to give out free cards to somebody!!

Contest Ends Tonight!

The contest ends at 7:10PM CST tonight! There are eight valid entries, so far. Don't let this opportunity slip away.

Out Of The Metrodome Contest

I want to hear your Metrodome horror stories. Did your favorite team have a nightmare play, a horrible game or just a bad memory of this ill-fated football venue where baseball was played? I want to hear about it.

It doesn't matter what team it is. Even Twins fans, I'm sure, have horror stories in that place. It doesn't matter if your team is the home team or a visiting American League or visiting National League team. I want to hear a horror story that involved your team getting the shaft.

Here's the format for the contest.

Team: xxxxxx
Bad memory: xxxxxxxxxxxx

The winner will be randomly selected by random.org.

The winner will receive this lovely 2009 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph of Brian Duensing, numbered to 499. Brian was the last starting pitcher to face the White Sox in the Metrodome.

Contest is open to anyone. One entry per person. Invalid entries will not be included. Entries must have team name and bad memory to be counted. If you enter an invalid entry, you are out of the contest, so make sure your first and only entry count! Only your first entry will be considered.

Contest ends on September 11, 2009 at 7:10 PM Central time, which is the scheduled start time for the Twins last home stand in September. The last home stand is actually in October, but I didn't want to stretch the contest out that long.

Good luck!

Contest For Plunder

Yarrr!! There be a contest for more plunder, over here. I think this be getting trendy.

Try and take it me mateys. Only one will walk away with all the plunder! Do ye feel lucky? Well, do ye, pirate?*









*This may have something to do with watching Dirty Harry and Garfield's Halloween Adventure on the same night.

Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't I?

If this is the first blog that you've read today, then have I got a treat for you! Trader Crack's is having a contest for a pack of Razor Sports Icons Cut Signature Edition.

It's easy to enter and you have a chance to get a card of Bill Veeck or Ted Lyons. If you are not a White Sox fan, there's plenty of those in there too. Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Jose Canseco, Jennie Finch, Lou Gehrig, Buck Leonard, Brooks Robinson, Mario Andretti, Dick Butkus, Pete Rose & Neil Diamond are among the many possibilities.

What are you waiting for? Find out how to enter now!

A Quick One While They're Away

The All-Star game is tonight. I'm excited, even though there's only two Chicago players on the rosters. One for each team. Sigh, such is life.

I've been organizing my cards, trying to streamline everything. I'm hoping to get my collection of doubles and cards that I do not collect whipped into a well organized machine. While I was quickly thumbing through cards last night, my eye caught something. I hadn't noticed it earlier and I've had an example of this card in my collection for nearly four years.

It was by sheer luck that I spotted something amiss with this card, as the cards were going by fast and furious. In a tenth of a second, my brain saw something that had escaped it on previous, longer glances at this card.

Can you spot what's wrong with this card?

The first person to guess correctly will win some White Sox cards.

***We have a winner!!!***

Lonestarr is correct. I'll throw in some White Sox cards along with a package I was already sending, very shortly. Nice try VOTC. Better luck next time.

The 2005 U&H card #UH184 has Buehrle spelled as "Buerhle" four times on the card! Twice on the front and twice on the back. To add insult to injury, the AL ERA Leaders card (#UH139) from that same set, correctly spells Buehrle's name twice. Once on the front, once one the back.

Updates And Ramblings

Just a couple of update announcements for the site.

I am on Twitter now, so if you'd like to follow me on Twitter, you can now do so. There is a Twitter Tracker somewhere in the links on the right hand side.

The Make Me Laugh contest is ending tomorrow at noon, Chicago time. Hurry and get those entries in! You could win some cards!

For some reason, I have been updating sites like mad this weekend. I guess I'm just in the mood to do so. The want list will soon be updated too. I'm hoping for tonight, but we'll see how that plan goes.

Happy Father's Day to all the proud pops out there. Hasn't this just been the perfect day to sit down and watch a baseball game? Even better, weather permitting, hasn't this been the perfect day to play some baseball with your kids? I'm not a father, but I would imagine that would be one of the many great joys to share with your kids.

I have a couple of packages left to sort through and post. Those should be up tonight or tomorrow.

Traded Sets Contest

Traded Sets is running a contest that you should all check out!

There are great prizes to be won!

Good luck!

It was a difficult contest, but it was solved rather quickly. I was the third person to identify all 24 cards and I got it done about an hour after this post.

Make Me Laugh Contest

This moment from the third inning on June 10, 2009, between the Tigers and the White Sox shows Alexei Ramirez tagging Blue Island, Illinos native, Curtis Granderson during a rundown between first base and second.

The premise for this contest is simple. I'm in a giving mood and I want to give away some cards. Whoever can come up with the caption for this picture that makes me laugh the most will win. It's as simple as that.

It really doesn't matter what the nature of your caption is. Just look into the archives of this site for inspiration of something that might make me laugh. My taste in comedy is wide ranging, so it could be almost anything that will make me laugh. That's all up to you to decide.

I will accept entries in the comments section until noon, Chicago time, on Monday, June 22, 2009. I will not be making any sort of comments in the comment section of this post until a winner is decided.

I'll tell you one thing, repetition is not funny to me. If you base your entry off of another entry, it had better be twice as funny to get me to laugh at it.

The winner will get an assortment of cards from their favorite team(s), player(s), set(s) or some Frankenstein combination of the three. It all depends on what I have available and what the winner's favorite baseball related things are.

Let's have some fun and make me laugh!

1,000th Post

Well, here’s the 1,000th post of this blog. Have all the posts been nuggets of joy? Not really. A few have been phoned in. There are a few real gems in there too. Most of it, I would say, has been not too shabby.

I wasn't thinking of an audience when I started this blog. I was thinking that this would be a good place to keep track of my collection, while highlighting some of the cards that I came across. My how things have changed.

While this blog started in November 2007, my love affair with baseball, baseball cards and the White Sox (in that order) started many years ago. If I had to estimate when baseball came fully onto my radar, it would be around 1982. I’m sure that I saw baseball games on television before then, but my first recalled memory of watching a ballgame would be around ’82.

My on and off obsession with baseball cards started in 1983. I was hooked from that first pack. I didn't stay hooked like I should have. Other factors of growing up got in the way.

The picture is from 1986. I had just received a comic book in the mail, from a subscription that I had. Although, all you can see is the back of that comic book. I am, however, wearing one of my favorite White Sox t-shirts. I must have worn that shirt at least once a week back then. Despite the way it looks, I am wearing shorts. More than likely, some type of squiggly print that was popular at the time.

While I’m in a reflective mood, I will give away 100 random cards to the first person to correctly identify the comic book in the picture. For comic book buffs, it shouldn't be that difficult to figure out. For others, you may get lucky with a guess. Let’s try one guess per blogger. If it still isn't properly guessed in 24 hours, then everyone can wager another guess.

I would like to thank everyone for reading and commenting. It really has been a great ride so far. One that I don’t want to get off of anytime soon. Let’s see how long it takes until 2,000!

Free Cards Question #18: The Final Question

OK, we've made it this far. We've had some fun, but now it all has to end.

The White Sox put some bad teams on the field. It's been balanced out by winning teams and mid-grade teams. When they were bad... they were really bad.

In fact, unless the divisions contract, or many new teams are added, they can't go lower than fifth place. Yet, there were times when they were lower.

Since divisional play started in 1969, they have only finished in seventh place once. Since the expansion into three divisions, they can't finish lower than fifth. To add insult to injury, the year before divisional play started (1968), the White Sox finished eighth! To have only finished in seventh place once since divisional play began is pretty impressive.

Question #18

What was the last year that the White Sox finished in seventh place?

Bonus question!

How many total times did the White Sox finish in seventh place?

Good luck!

The Final Question Coming Up

Congrats to dayf for knowing that Michael Jordan stole a team leading 30 bases, for the Sox AA team, in 1994.

I'd like to take this time to thank Mark from Stats On The Back for providing the cards. These cards are saved because of your efforts. Give Mark a big round of applause. Better yet, anyone who wins, please e-mail Mark and thank him.

The final question will come around 9:00 PM central time, tonight. This way, everyone knows when it's coming and everyone has a fair shot at one year. So far, there have been 13 different winners! This is why I pop these questions up at random. If not, these cards would be going to 2 or 3 different people. Where's the fun it that?

I know most of these questions have been easy. That's the point. The question may seem hard, but there's always been something in the question itself that will draw you to the answer quickly. I may have asked about Jim Siwy's only start, but he only made 3 appearances over 2 non-consecutive years. It's not that hard to figure out.

The responses have come quick and furious! I am thankful for all the people who have tried their hand at answering. I think the only question that tripped a few people up was the Cangelosi question. Sorry about that. But someone did get it right, so it couldn't have been too hard.

Thank you, everyone, for making this contest a complete success. Final details of the contest and final tallies will come later tonight, after the final question has been answered. Good luck to all!

Free Cards Question #17

Congrats to dayf for knowing that the White Sox won their division by twenty games in 1983!

Here's someone who knows a lot about winning. Michael Jordan. He just didn't win very much with the White Sox organization. He did lead in something positive though.

He led the Birmingham Barons in steals the year that he played for them. He also gave Chicagoans a thrill when he got two hits in the annual Windy City Classic that he played in.

Mostly though, the baseball experiment was a failure. I've heard rumors that he did it because he was caught gambling and was banned from the NBA for a year's time. I've also heard the story that he did it for his late father. All I know is that it happened.

Question #17

What year did Michael Jordan steal a team high 30 bases, for the Barons?

Good luck!