But the man inspired me to go out and buy some paint and canvas earlier tonight. Here is a work in progress, a painting of Cesar Geronimo. I will post updates as I feel like it. I need to go back out and try to find some skin-tone color (what I thought would work, did not).
If I am happy enough with the finished project, I may try some more.
Cooperstown honors baseball players, umpires, managers, broadcasters, writers, etc. Why not an artist? Dick Perez was the artist of the Donruss Diamond Kings from 1982-1997, and they were consistently my favorite cards of any set each year. I had dreams of growing up to be an artist like Perez, working for a baseball card company and producing “art cards” for them. Unfortunately, as with most of my dreams, I gave up on that a long time ago.
I just found Dick Perez’s website. You must go there now. There are so many spectacular pieces there, including all of the Diamond Kings from 1982-1986. But there are so many other pieces of Hall of Fame players that can be viewed on the site…it’s just hard to put into words how great this site is.
So do yourself a favor and go there now, and see how great Dick Perez is (if you didn’t already know).
And thanks to Wax Heaven, who just reminded me how great Mr. Perez is, and be sure to visit MLB.com’s official website for a special tribute to the greatest artist since the guy who painted the 1952 Topps set.
I should have known it would happen. Actually, I guess I did know. I can no longer log on to WordPress or visit any WordPress site while at work. YouTube is blocked as well. As of 6 this morning, I could still check my Gmail account, but won’t be surprised if it is blocked when I get in tonight.
Last night at lunch, I came home and got my son’s GameBoy and took it back to work with me. I’ve also got a book about the Harlem Globetrotters just waiting to be read, not to mention my novel that I haven’t worked on since November. Maybe this is a good thing; maybe it’s just what I need.
Or maybe I’ll just continue looking for another job on Career Builder. Until it’s blocked too.
Last night at work, I found we had been blocked from a number of websites. Management began blocking our access a few weeks ago shortly after our union filed a court injunction against them for contract violations. The first to go was Myspace, but we found a backdoor. Next was Blogspot, mainly because of one particular blog, but they decided to deny access to every Blogspot site. They took away Addicting Games, Break, and a number of other mindless entertainment sites.
Before I go on, let me explain something. You may think, “Well if you’re at work you shouldn’t be on those sites anyway.” I argue that it depends on the job. If your job requires you to stay awake until the phone rings, or until someone talks to you, and you have no other responsibilities until one of those two things happens, then what is wrong with those sites? They are mindless entertainment, but they also keep you awake during a long 12-hour shift. They are easy to minimize or close when the phone does ring, or when someone does talk to you. They do not interfere with the job. They could be called one’s link to sanity during those long hours.
Last night, I found out they have blocked Facebook as well. Facebook has become my new favorite website. Because of the built-in chat feature, I can have conversations with friends who live far away, who keep the same hours I do. This is really my only chance to talk to them instantaneously. Now that has been taken away as well.
The backdoor to Myspace is also gone, so those friends who I have been in contact with through there, well they’ll just have to wait a half a day for me to respond to anything they write.
What’s next? E-mail? FoxNews? WordPress???
Before long we’ll be piling up all the books that we read at work and burning them.
We got an e-mail from the Reds Hall of Fame last night telling us that George Foster would be signing autographs at the Museum before tonight’s Cubs game. Better yet, the autographs were free with a paid admission to the Hall, to which my family has a membership. We were even lucky enough to find a $5 parking lot a couple of blocks away!
I wasn’t sure what the crowd would be like, so I made sure my son and I were there plenty early. Foster wasn’t scheduled to show up until 6 p.m., and he was only staying until 7 p.m., so I didn’t want to miss our chance at meeting him. We arrived at the museum at about 5:30, and waited around looking at some of the cool mementos they have on display. Then, a few minutes before 6, Foster walked into the room. There were only about 10-15 people standing in line at that point, and he had signed all of our items (only one autograph per person) within a few minutes.
Here are the cards my son and I got signed:
After everyone went through the line, I asked Foster if I could get a photo of my son standing next to him. He was very polite, and had the same smile that is displayed on many of his baseball cards. I plan to get some sort of a display frame to show off the cards and my son’s picture with the great 1970s slugger.
All in all, it was a great experience, and I enjoyed meeting George Foster.
I just finished reading a book written by Michael O’Keeffe and Teri Thompson titled The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History’s Most Desired Baseball Card. I believe it was Steve who blogs at White Sox Cards that first alerted me to the book when he wrote a post on it about a month or so ago. A very interesting read, and sad, and sort of depressing.
The Card that was last sold for over $2 million to an unidentified man in California is not what it’s all cracked up to be. After reading the book, I decided to do a little websurfing and found that the “proof” that had not yet been offered was finally out there. On June 25, 2007, O’Keeffe wrote a post on the New York Daily News blog that the incriminating photograph had been found. You can read the original post here. The blog omits the photo, but T206 Museum.com included it in their reprint of the story.
After reading the book, I’m still left with questions. The Card, or more appropriately the sheet from which The Card was cut, can still only be traced back to 1985, when Bill Mastro purchased it from Alan Ray. Where did Ray get it? Where was it before that? How did the sheet that it was cut from remain in such good condition?
In case you’re not familiar with the history, here’s a brief run-down:
1985: $25,000 - Mastro purchased The Card from Ray
1987: $110,000 - Jim Copeland purchased The Card from Mastro
1991: $451,000 - Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall purchased The Card from Copeland; PSA grades the card and it scores an 8
1995: $500,000 - Wal-Mart and Treat Entertainment purchased The Card from Gretzky/McNall
1996: FREE - Patricia Gibbs wins The Card from a sweepstakes, but is unable to pay the taxes on it, forcing her to sell it
1996: $640,000 - Michael Gidwitz purchased The Card from Gibbs
2000: $1,270,000 - Brian Seigel purchased The Card (on eBay) from Gidwitz
2007: $2,350,000 - An unidentified California collector purchased The Card from Seigel
That’s right. Someone paid $2.35 million for The Card that had been hand-cut from a sheet, presumably before Mastro bought it (but he knew it), and then trimmed, allegedly by Mastro himself.
Then there is the whole PSA controversy. The company does not grade trimmed cards, plain and simple. Nor does it grade cards that are hand-cut from a sheet. But the Gretzky T206 Wagner got a PSA 8 (on a scale of 10). Even one of the graders, Bill Hughes, admits that he knew The Card was not factory-cut: “I am aware it was part of a strip. We were aware of that when the care came to PSA and I graded the card. This particular card was obviously cut, but if it had been a disgusting card that was cut, of course we would have graded it ‘trimmed.’ This card was fresh in every way, brand-new looking in every way….Because of the freshness, the great color, the white borders, you know, basically the card looked new” (The Card, 195).
Yes, there are more people on Myspace that I know than there are on Facebook, but Facebook beats Myspace hands-down because of their built-in instant messenger. You don’t have to download anything, it’s just there along the bottom of the page.
Facebook, you rock.
The ever-wise Ken Rosenthal (said with tongue firmly implanted in cheek) opines that Griffey will be sent packing, possibly back to Seattle, before July 31. The rumors have been floating around Cincinnati for months, some placing Griffey back with his first major league team, others flying him down to the Atlanta Braves where his father also played. I haven’t heard the Yankee rumor in a while, but that’s been volleyed about as well from time to time.
My opinion is that if the Reds trade Junior, they will lose at the box office. And that’s what it’s really all about. People (like me) pay to go to games at Great American Ball Park just to see #3. If he was not on the team, who would draw the fans to the stadium? Not Adam Dunn, who is also probably headed out of town in mid-June. Not Bronson Arroyo, his JTM commercials notwithstanding. Not Edwin Encarnacion, who hits a home run only when he needs to cancel out his many fielding errors. Maybe Johnny Cueto, but he’s only out there once or twice a week.
The only way Cincinnati could make up for the loss in ticket sales by sending Griffey away is if they were able to get an exciting star player to take his place, a player like…well…ok, they can’t do it. There is no player in the majors who is as exciting as The Kid.
Baseball Legends went live less than a month ago, and we already have 28 profiles posted, representing several eras of the game and players from a variety of teams. We have other ideas that we will start implementing very soon in addition to the current Legends profiles. Many other bloggers are contributing to this project either as writers or voters, but we still need more voters. Click on over to Baseball Legends, check it out and send me an e-mail if you want to take part in the voting!
I attended the Van Halen concert last night in Cincinnati, sitting in the cheap seats (of course). Section 214, on Eddie’s side of the stage. Couldn’t see the jumbotron, but it’s ok because I was still close enough to see most of the action. Great show. I got chills when the lights went dark and had to fight back tears when the started “You Really Got Me.” Amazing. I can’t wait to find a bootleg of the show. It will spend a lot of time in my CD player.
* Read Hard Rock Hideout’s review of the same show.
* Read Bring Back Glam’s review of the same show.
(Do you have a review of the Cincinnati stop? Leave a comment and I’ll post a link above.)
 | Mario A. on No more WordPress at work |
 | JT on No more WordPress at work |
 | Mr. West on No more WordPress at work |
| Mr. West on No more WordPress at work |
| JT on The Frank Thomas Fiasco |
