White Sox Photoshop Cards: Clayton Richard

Card #25 - Clayton Richard

Clayton joined the Sox this year to help with the fifth spot in the rotation. He has stuck around, due to an injury to Jose Contreras. Clayton has made the most of his time by showing off the skills that brought him up in the first place.

Clayton is still adjusting to being in the big league rotation, but he seems to be improving with each outing. He is starting to get away from the "big inning" that dooms most rookie starting pitchers. If he can learn from his time with the parent club, there may be no telling what the future might hold for Clayton Richard.

I chose to crop this photo, instead of showing the pitching arm. The camera caught the hand at the perfect time to make it one blurry mess. Everything else was fine with the photo, so I cropped out the blurry mess and focused on the face.

I love the emotion in the face. The ball was just released and this is the natural reaction of throwing the ball. You can see all the intensity in Clayton's face.

White Sox Photoshop Cards: Mike MacDougal

Card #24 - Mike MacDougal

Mike is a bit of an enigma. He can pitch with the best of them, yet he seems to be plagued with these long stretches of ineffectiveness. When Mike is "on", he can mow through an opposing lineup. When he's "off", Mike can blow games wide open for the other team.

Mike spent most of 2008 in the minors. He was recently called up and has pitched effectively. Hopefully, Mike can use this as a springboard towards a great 2009 season.

I chose this photo of Mike because I think it captures his 2008 season perfectly. He seems to be saying, "You've got to be kidding.", as another inning went south by way of a lucky bounce or an error.

Even though the eyes are shaded, you can still make out the confusion and disappointment in his stare.

Card Spotlight 9-5-08 (Slightly Late)

1994 Topps #5 - Ozzie Guillen

Sorry, this is slightly late. It's been a long day.

I love the way Ozzie looks in this photo. We all know that Ozzie wasn't the greatest hitter ever to grace the ballfield. At one point, he was lucky to get one home run a year. He looks badass in this photo. It's almost like he knows that he is going to get his one home run during this at-bat.

The back of the card cinches it though.

Ozzie claims to have a remedy for slumps: "I ask the trainer for eye drops, and put them right on my bat so the bat can see the ball good."

I don't know about you, but I don't think that worked very often. If it did, the eye drops on the bat remedy didn't work for much more than one or two at-bats. Could this be what Ozzie thought was the batting eye?

Oh well. He was a much better defender anyway. He sucked up ground balls like a Hoover and routinely made double plays look easy. Still, it's nice to see that he was giving those "Ozzie" soundbites before he became a manager.

Stupidity, Thy Name Is Quentin

Carlos Quentin could possibly be out for the rest of the season with a fracture in the wrist area. What does this mean for the White Sox playoff run? It could be devastating.

"Could be" would be the key phrase here. It certainly is a blow to the Sox game plan, but is it the end of the world? Maybe not. There are certainly enough good players to make up the hole in the lineup.

There are more than enough outfielders on the Sox, even before the rosters expanded. It changes the game plan slightly. If the Sox happen to limp into the playoffs, Carlos may be available by then.

Early reports say that Carlos did the damage to himself after a bad plate appearance. The Sox are keeping mum about the subject. This could be just the thing that the Sox need. If a healthy and rested Carlos Quentin returns in the playoffs, that could be a good thing.

Carlos will have a screw inserted into the wrist area, much like Cal Eldred's elbow screw I would imagine, and he will be reevaluated in two to three weeks.

Maybe someone will step up their game and lead the White Sox to victory. It isn't a one man show, it's a team effort. This does lower the expectations of the team's success though. They have overcome many obstacles this season. Can they rebound from this? Or will this be the beginning of the end? Time will tell.

***UPDATE***

Carlos tapped himself on the wrist with his bat, out of frustration, after fouling a ball on Monday. This is something he's been doing for years. It just hit the exact spot to do the most damage. Ouch!

Like I said before... stupidity.

An Open Letter To Blogger.com

OK, I give up. What makes this blog a spamming blog? Is it the fact that I post several times a day a vast majority of the time? Is it that I make posts into lists on occasion? Tell me blogger.com. I would really like to know.

I have requested to be removed four different times from this word verification step before posting. This restriction is only on this blog. I can post without trying to figure out squiggly letters on my other three blogger.com blogs. So, what makes this so different?

Each time I request this process, I am taken to a screen that lets me know that someone from blogger.com will contact me after they have made visual contact with my blog. That has never happened. Like a tie game of tic-tac-toe, I am forced to start another game. I don't want to play games anymore. This was cute, at first, but now it's just annoying and frustrating.

I cannot find any contact information for blogger.com and I can't find an answer in the help section. What am I supposed to do here? It doesn't effect posting, but I tend to correct tiny mistakes that I catch after the fact. Sometimes, the formatting doesn't look right. Sometimes the wording isn't up to par. Sometimes I catch something that the spell checker didn't catch.

Each time I do tiny corrections, I have to strain my eyes to figure out if that letter is a "v" or a "u" or if the letter is a "d" or a "c" and an "l" stuck close together. I don't have the time for this. I do have other things that are more important in my life than figuring out puzzles to post an article.

I like it here, so please, take this site off the word verification posting restriction. It's a bit ludicrous that this site is a spamming blog. One look at the posts and the comments should be able to determine that this is maintained by an actual live person that writes every word and types every letter.

I like the option for the comments section. I use that on every blog that I maintain to keep out unwanted comment. I have no fault for the word verification system itself, just the application of it in this instance. I want my control back. I want my wasted time down to a minimum.

I understand that the initial bug was a software error, but this length of time and multiple requests, goes beyond ridiculous. To paraphrase a famous quote... "I am not a robot! I am a human being! I … am … a man!"

I hope this clears any confusion on your part.

White Sox Photoshop Cards: Juan Uribe

Card #23 - Juan Uribe

Juan is the premier utility player. He can play shortstop, second base and third base without missing a beat. Wherever the Sox need him is where he happily plays.

It looked like Uribe was the odd man out during Spring Training. A series of events led to Juan sticking around. Including passing through waivers unclaimed, long stretches of not playing and injuries to other players. All of these happened this year and Juan was the only one prepared for it.

How embarrassing! It looks like an unidentified player just stole a base, right under Uribe's nose. Perhaps Juan was waiting for a throw that never happened. Whatever the reason, it looks a little odd that Juan looks like he's just starting his move over to the base.

To put this photo in the best light possible, maybe Uribe just threw over to first base a few seconds ago. That also seems probable. It might explain why he's looking towards that direction. I just like the photo because it looks like the player is bowing down to Uribe and his big teddy bear body.

Random Card #34

I loved the Classic releases as a kid. They always had the coolest designs. Or so I thought at that age. After years of releases that have taken the Classic look and expanded it into new gaudy directions, these cards seem a little blah.

The 1991 designs are a great improvement on the primary eye bleeding colors of the 1990 set. I actually like the washed out pastel color scheme going on in this card.

The 1990 sets were all over the place, but I couldn't find sets of the 1991 releases until just recently. I'm not sure what happened in the course of a year, but I do know that releases after this point were getting rarer. After awhile, Classic just disappeared off the hobby landscape. They put out minor league sets for a few years. Nothing much else, from what I can tell.

These cards will always bring me back to being in high school. I can remember watching shopping networks for hours at a time. I would marvel at all these "rare" sets. I kept wishing that I had a job and a credit card, so I could purchase one set to store and one set to put away of each release.

It's funny the things that you remember when looking through stacks of old cards. Maybe when Donruss gets its full MLB license back, it can rip this design off for some retro set. It certainly looks better than the designs of their sets from that time period.

White Sox Photoshop Cards: Nick Masset

Card #22 - Nick Masset

Nick has had his share of ups and downs in 2008. He has done well in long relief and in rare spot starts, but was slightly inconsistent. Masset has excellent stuff, but he has to find the correct balance of pitches to succeed. Location, location, location.

On July 31, 2008, Nick was sent to the Cincinnati Reds, along with Danny Richar, for Ken Griffey Jr. Before Nick packed his bags for Cincinnati, he did earn his first career save with the Sox.

This photo almost seems like Nick is tipping his cap to say goodbye. I never thought that he would be traded, but that's why I'm not a GM.

This photo reminds me of a farewell speech. I think it takes on a little poignancy after going through the filters. The things that seem to have the most pop on them are the arms. One tipping his cap and the other holding a ball.

White Sox Photoshop Cards: Josh Fields

Card #21 - Josh Fields

Josh is still considered the third baseman of the future, but his options are starting to run out. After taking over third base, for the injured Joe Crede in 2007, Josh was ready to resume the role in 2008.

With Joe Crede still on the White Sox in 2008, Josh was left to "season" in the minors until he was needed. Unfortunately, Josh's bat went into a little slump. Fields was called up for the expansion of the rosters in September 2008 and has responded well. Could this be a preview of 2009?

I picked this photo of Josh because it reminds me what a great hitter he can be. He can be very dangerous with the bat and the glove, but things just haven't worked out for him this year. You know you're having a bad year when Juan Uribe takes third base instead of you, every time that Joe Crede goes on the DL.

I'm glad that the Sox jettisoned the left field experiment. It reeked of the Fisk tampering they did in the eighties. With the filters in effect, Josh reminds me a little of Kent Hrbek. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

88 Topps Contest Winnings

Technically, this package came Friday. My weekend was so swamped that I even missed a day in posting the White Sox Photoshop Cards. Um, let's call it a holiday reprieve. Or a break from the Pythonesque tone this blog has taken in the last few days. Sorry, I popped in my Monty Python DVDs over the weekend to wind down. Now, everybody will suffer from that slight indiscretion.

After I confirmed that I had won, I posted this. What was in the package, surprised even me. I got everything from this post, except the paperback book, which was won by dayf.

- Cards 551-650 of the 1988 Topps set.
- The 1988 Topps style George Bell Fan Favorites card.
- A pack of 1984 Topps
- A pack of 1988 Sportflics
- The contents of a rack pack of 1987 Donruss
- The contents of a rack pack of 1990 Fleer

All of the previous packs were opened on A Pack A Day.

There were two bonus packs included in the mighty haul of childhood era wax. A pack of 2007 Topps Opening Day and a pack of 2008 Upper Deck Series 2. Plus there were a smattering of random White Sox cards.

The pack of 2007 Topps Opening Day.

106 - Brian McCann - Braves
23 - C.C. Sabathia - Indians
166 - Jerry Owens - White Sox
51 - Jered Weaver - Angels
125 - Jeff Francoeur - Braves
OD Puzzle 2 - Adam Dunn - Reds

Not too bad. I even got a White Sox card in there!

The pack of 2008 Upper Deck Series 2

492 - Justin Verlander - Tigers
422 - Nick Markakis - Orioles
659 - Chris Duncan - Cardinals
YSL5191 - Don Mattingly (Indians 10 - Yankees 5)
611 - So Taguchi - Cardinals
639 - Daniel Ortmeier - Giants
782 - Brian Roberts SH - Orioles
775 - Troy Tulowitzki CL - Rockies

Not too shabby either!

The smattering of White Sox cards.

2008 Topps
86 - Scott Podsednik
284 - Lance Broadway
296 - Paul Konerko
420 - Nick Swisher
508 - John Danks

2008 Upper Deck
286 - Juan Uribe

2008 Goudey
43 - Jermaine Dye

2008 Spectrum
22 - Jermaine Dye

2008 Topps Heritage Black Back
94 - White Sox Team

2008 A Piece Of History
108 - Lance Broadway

2008 Topps Chrome Refractor
64 - Mark Buehrle

That was quite a package! There were some nice surprises in there. With the 1984 Alfredo Griffin card, I am one year closer to reclaiming the card that started it all for me, the 1983 Topps Alfredo Griffin.

Like I've mentioned before, Andy puts on some of the most imaginative contests. Even if I wouldn't have won with my team of Daves, I had fun looking for the best team featuring one name. Thanks, Andy! Awesome contest! Awesome prize package!

In A World...

Don LaFontaine has died. Even if you don't know the name, you know the voice. He was one of the most recognizable voices that did movie trailer voiceovers. The movies will never be quite the same without his voice preceding the feature attraction.

He did manage to get on camera and have a little fun.

dayf's Missing Card

I have found an image of the one card that eludes dayf. The rare 1985 first draft pick card of Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein- nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.

Someone got cute at the Topps company and designed this card of "Shawn Abner" using his real name. They were immediately pulled and all remaining copies were thought to have been destroyed. There are a few still out there and this is living proof.

Until you can track down this ultra rare error card, here is a low res picture of it. This will have to do for now. Maybe you will have better luck at finding the rare Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein- nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm 1985 draft pick card.

White Sox Photoshop Cards: Orlando Cabrera

Card #20 - Orlando Cabrera

Orlando came to the White Sox for a price. That price would be pitcher Jon Garland. The hole filled by Jon was soon forgotten when rookie pitchers filled his spot nicely. The value added by Orlando will not be forgotten as easily.

Originally, the plan was for Cabrera to fill the number two spot in the lineup. Unexpected injuries to other players forced the Sox to shuffle the lineup and Orlando ended up in the leadoff spot. Orlando has adjusted to the leadoff spot and has started to thrive in it. Add in an All-Star type defense and you've got a solid player in Cabrera.

This photo shows Cabrera in an almost ballet-like move. In reality, the bat is just out of frame, still in Orlando's left hand. I decided to put the focus on Cabrera's positioning after the swing of the bat. It's pure poetry in motion.

Orlando fills the space nicely. It even appears that he will step out of frame for a second. This might be from one of his rare home runs. Whatever the end result, it looks like Cabrera hit the ball right on the sweet spot.

Random Card #33

Shawn Abner seemingly had it all. He was a former number one draft pick. How do I know this? I saw it on a 1985 Topps card when I was a kid.

Shawn also played on the White Sox for a brief period of time. I was very excited when I heard that the great Shawn Abner was coming to the White Sox. Why was I impressed? It was the same 1985 Topps draft pick card that I had. That sort of thing impressed me when I was younger. I should have learned my lesson with Cory Snyder, but I didn't.

I thought that the White Sox front office knew what they were doing when they chose players to put on the team back then. Hey, how was I supposed to know? I was just a kid back then.

In fact, it was just recently that I found out that Shawn Abner wasn't actually a Major League ballplayer. In reality, "Shawn" was in the witness protection program and was drafted number one in the country by the New York Mets, because they were the Mets. Who knew that they would actually win the World Series a few years later. A few shrewd moves that panned out and a few lucky picks in the draft and the Mets were a force to be reckoned with in the mid-eighties.

"Shawn" moved from team to team, trying to gain anonymity. It eventually happened, but it took awhile. Now when people say Shawn Abner, most will reply, "Who?"

That's because "Shawn" went back to his real name after his baseball career. There was no more threat, so "Shawn" could go back to being Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein- nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.

Yes, Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein- nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm can go back to his lovely wife, Sarah Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein- nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm and his life of composing classic music.

Little did he know that Karl Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon...

We interupt this blog posting for a much shorter name.

Zisk.

We know return to the Random Card blog posting, already in progress.

... of Ulm.

I would like to thank Shawn Abner for being such a good sport and for accepting his previous role as Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter-crasscrenbon-fried-digger-dingle-dangle-dongle-dungle-burstein-von-knacker-thrasher-apple-banger-horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty-spelltinkle-grandlich-grumblemeyer-spelterwasser-kurstlich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen-gutenabend-bitte-ein- nürnburger-bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache-luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shönedanker-kalbsfleisch-mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.

White Sox Cards salutes you.

White Sox Photoshop Cards: Brian Anderson

Card #19 - Brian Anderson

Brian was supposed to be the next great outfielder. He could run. He could catch. Most importantly, he could hit. A funny thing happens when you expect too much. It doesn't happen.

Brian spent a few years lost in between AAA and the parent club. Now, Brian seems to have found his niche as a fourth outfielder. He plays the late innings for defense, gets the spot start and pinch runs. The focus is on his strengths in short bursts. This style of play has produced a more consistent level of play for Brian. One that will be the building blocks for future success.

I loved this photo of Brian celebrating with the team. While I forget exactly what happened here, I do remember that Brian won the game. It looks like everyone is having a great time and Brian is the focal point.

The goofy face on Carlos Quentin makes the picture. Cropped out of the photo was Joe Crede, looking very similar to Ghostface from the Scream movies. The filters really weren't kind to Joe Crede, so he gone, as Hawk would say. The filters make everyone else look slightly surreal, but bordering on lampoon. I think that's OK. After all, it is a goofy celebration. Why not have it look a bit goofy and fun.