Goose Joak Originals: Jerry Owens

See the full set here.

WSC Birth Years: Carlos Zambrano

Card #5 - Carlos Zambrano

Born: June 1, 1981

After a late Spring Training trade, "Big Z" has landed on the White Sox. Finally, Carlos realizes his dream of being on the team that he grew up loving. The trade is the best of both worlds for Zambrano. He gets to stay in Chicago, where he has a built in following and he gets to play for his childhood favorite.

The White Sox traded speedy outfielder Jerry Owens, hard throwing closer Mike MacDougal, and a second round draft pick for the big ace. With Bartolo Colon and Jose Contreras still slight question marks, Kenny Williams pulled off the trade to solidify his rotation.

Carlos will pitch third in the rotation, according to Ozzie Guillen.

"This kid is the real deal. We're going to pitch him third, between Floyd and Danks. We want to break up those two kids from going back to back. Buehrle is still my number one, my ace, but we gotta give everybody a different look out there".

Pitching coach Don Cooper had this to say about the surprising transaction.

"This guy is coming in and all I have to do is keep his temper under control. He gets the job done out there. I don't have to follow him around showing him the ropes. He knows what to do".

Mark Buehrle chimed in, in his own playful way.

"Anytime you get a guy with these credentials, it's a shot in the arm for your rotation. If you believe that we got this guy, then you're a big April fool. Maybe we'll get him down the line, but right now it's not in the cards. We got you good though, right? Yeah, we got you good".

So there you have it. Carlos Zambrano is now a member of the Chicago White Sox.

Goose Joak Originals: Josh Kroeger

Check out the full set here.

A "Little" Pack Of Cards From Andy

There are a few people that just send me random cards whenever the mood strikes them. One of those people is Andy of the fantastic blog Traded Sets.

I received an envelope the other day that was addressed to "Little Stevie" and had a familiar return address. My immediate reaction? When did I join the E Street Band? And will I get to meet LaBamba because of my new found Max Weinberg connection?

All of these are pipe dreams of course. The reality is that I have a better shot at singing the National Anthem at U.S. Cellular Field as a really far fetched fringe celebrity than showcasing my not quite up to E Street level guitar playing. For those of you who now believe that I'm a far fetched fringe celebrity... I'd like to know what color the sky is in your world. Maybe you see everything as a world of puppets, like Kenneth on 30 Rock.

Anyway, that's a tangent built for a lazy Sunday afternoon, which this is. Before I go off track any further, let's see what Andy sent over.

2009 Topps
30 - Ken Griffey Jr.
255 - Joe Crede

2009 Topps Heritage
200 - Ken Griffey Jr.
316 - Wilson Betemit

2009 Upper Deck
80 - Jermaine Dye (2)
435 - Carlos Quentin, Gavin Floyd, Javier Vazquez (TL)

Thank you, Andy! Those cards get me a little bit closer to some 2009 set completion! At some point, you will find an unexpected package in your mailbox.

Catch Me On Baseball Digest

I have agreed to write posts for Baseball Digest online. It pays nothing and most of the content will originate on this blog first. I will be doing a White Sox "Card Of The Week" column. Today's selection is word for word, the Card Spotlight from earlier.

I will be highlighting past Card Spotlights and feature different cards as well. It should be a healthy mix of the two. It should bring a few readers over to this blog and vice-versa.

Here is a link to the main page. Here is a link to the White Sox section. Here is a link to my profile, which features all the posts that I will write.

I have been asked to expand, eventually, into other baseball cards. I'm all for that! I'm not one to limit myself to just White Sox cards. I only limit myself in my collection. A man's got to know his limitations.

Card Spotlight: 3-27-09

1955 Bowman #213 - George Kell

While George Kell is most associated with the Detroit Tigers, he was with the Chicago White Sox for parts of three seasons. May 23, 1954 was the date that he was traded from Boston. May 21, 1956, George was traded from the White Sox to Baltimore. In between, he was selected to one All-Star game, but did not play due to injury.

There are very few cards that show George Kell in a White Sox uniform. In fact, there are only three vintage cards that fit the criteria. 1955 Bowman, 1955 Red Man and 1956 Topps. The 1955 Bowman and the 1956 Topps are fairly common, but the 1955 Red Man is a later variation that came out after the trade to Chicago.

Each card is beautiful in its own way. The 1955 Bowman is unique because of the design. The fake television set design is instantly recognizable. This was also the last Bowman set during the golden age of baseball cards. Topps bought out its competitor in January 1956.

Bowman may be a recognizable brand in today's market, but the history is not one that every collector knows. Bowman was in danger of becoming a forgotten fringe set until Topps resurrected the brand in 1989. It's true that Topps turned Bowman into something unrecognizable. The recent sets have put an emphasis on rookie cards and draft picks. That's fine in its own right, but it doesn't resemble anything of the original product.

I can appreciate George Kell's 1955 Bowman card because it's the type of card that we will never see from Bowman again. I can imagine kids being blown away by the television design aspect in 1955. Television was still a newer medium and it was what every child wanted in their home. Bowman capitalized on that and became an immediate threat to Topps.

The designs that were in place for the 1956 set was later used in the 2003 Bowman Heritage set. The collector of today will recognize this as the knothole set. The knothole was one of the three prototypes that have seen the light of day.

With George Kell's passing this week, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for a history lesson using George as the subject. Rest in peace, George.

Goose Joak Originals: Jim Thome

See the full set here.

The Rare "C" Version

This missing toe card (and the two that came before it) are obviously modeled after the Garbage Pail Kids sets of the mid eighties. I grew up with them and I collected them until the sixth series. On a rare occasion, I would run across a third version marked with a "c" after the number. This is in recognition of that childhood memory.

The Missing Toe

That toe had to come from somewhere! The unidentified woman gave up her toe in a failed extortion scheme. Maybe they would have had more luck with a Ponzi scheme.

Goose Joak Originals: Brent Lillibridge

See the full set here.

Want Lists Updated

The 52nd thing that I've had to do after coming back online was to update the want lists. They have been woefully neglected since January. Everything should be up to date, for the years that are on the list.

I have also added a 2009 list. It's hard to believe that without trying, I've managed to back my way into almost the entire Topps team set and the Wal-Mart and Target variations. Dumb luck, I guess. It certainly wasn't planned that way!

You may start seeing asterisks on the want lists. This will happen when I have the card for the particular set, but I still need a card for a player collection. Hopefully, this will result in less confusion on everyone's (especially mine!) part.

White Russian

Where would a card set about The Big Lebowski be without a card of the White Russian drink that The Dude favors? It would be a pretty sad set indeed! So here's a tasty adult beverage card based on a 1915 invention set.

WSC Birth Years: Mark Buehrle

Card #4 - Mark Buehrle

Born: March 23, 1979

Well, well, well. Happy birthday Mr. Buehrle! Let's celebrate by featuring you on a card from your birth year.

Mark is the very definition of a team ace. He may not come out smelling like a rose, but he does his job when it counts. This results in a so-so record, but an amazing number of key moments that keep the Sox in the game.

It also helps that Mark is a fun guy to be around. Before he was banned from doing so, Mark used to use the tarp as his personal slip n' slide during rain delays. Among the highlights of Mark's career (so far) are a near perfect no-hitter to the minimum amount of batters and an unlikely save after a win in the 2005 World Series against the Astros.

I hope you have a great 30th birthday today.

Mailbox Joys: Grand Old School

Here we go again with another blaster team break brought to you by Grand Cards. This time, the culprit is 2009 Topps Target Retro. On the surface the cards don't look radically that different from the regular 2009 Topps issue. The only difference would be the use of the retro Topps logo.

Ahh, but that's where you'd be wrong. In an effort to truly go retro, the cards are the same consistency as pre-1992 Topps cards. And yes, it does feel right. It feels similar to the cards I enjoyed purchasing at the drug store, when I was a kid. The only difference would be the use of foil on the front. The foil actually doesn't distract as much as I though it would. I'm still not a fan of foil on retro products, but it kinda works here.

Let's see what the blaster break produced.

2009 Topps Target Retro
70 - Jermaine Dye
149 - Juan Uribe (2)
154 - A.J. Pierzynski
255 - Joe Crede
306 - Javier Vazquez

2009 Topps Toppstown
TTT19 - Carlos Quentin

2009 Topps Turkey Red
TR29 - Carlos Quentin

Overall I'm very pleased with this box break. The Turkey Red is especially welcome! I have four cards that I received in the Wal-Mart Black group break. It's nice to get a good chunk of these variation cards off the checklist.

For those of you wondering, the 2009 checklist should be up shortly. I am currently working on deleting the cards that I have received since January, off the checklist. That three weeks that I was offline has put me further behind than I could have ever imagined.

WSC Birth Years: Josh Fields In Action

Card #3 - Josh Fields In Action

Born: December 14, 1982

Since the 1982 set had a subset of "In Action" cards, Josh gets an extra card depicting that. The original 1982 set had cards of Fisk and Luzinski "In Action", so anyone with a birth year in 1982 will get this little bonus after their original card.

It's just another way to have a little extra fun.