Fun Cards: 2019 Reds, 1987 Topps football style: Jose Peraza

How awesome were those throwback uniforms last night? The Reds actually looked like ballplayers, wearing 1902-style duds. I wish the visiting teams got into the spirit of the throwbacks. How cool would it have looked for the Giants to wear 1902 New York Giants uniforms?

The team will have an interesting dilemma when Scooter Gennett returns from the disabled list. Derek Dietrich is hitting the cover off the ball, but Scooter was an All-Star last year. Will they bench Jose Peraza in favor of Gennett and Dietrich?

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Fun Cards: 2019 TWJ Opening Day Cincinnati Reds!

The Reds have only posted pictures of a couple of players on their Twitter feed so far, so I took them and turned them into baseball cards…

Luis Castillo got his first-ever Opening Day start in the majors; Jose Peraza scored the first run for the Reds in 2019 and hit a 3-run homer in the 7th.

I will update this later if I find additional photos.

I don’t like the Cardinals, but they have some cool fans

A few weeks ago, I sent Levi (@levi_vm some Cardinals cards that were cluttering up my house, and he sent some Reds cards back. I was sick when they arrived, wasn’t Tweeting much, so this is the first mention I have made of them. Sorry it took so long.

This package, while small, was a heavy hitter. Starting with a couple of retired Reds, including Hall of Famer Johnny Bench…

…and Reds Hall of Famer Jose Rijo.

This is now my second autographed Rijo card. I still want to get his signature on a 1990 World Series baseball that I have had on my shelf since 1990. But I’m not willing to spend a fortune on an autograph, so it will probably remain unsigned forever.

Moving to the current Reds roster, Levi sent over a 2016 Optic Billy Hamilton black (I think) parallel. It looks black in-hand, but when scanned looks more purply.

Two Jose Peraza cards also fell out of the package, both from 2016. First is the Optic Rated Rookie.

Next is an Immaculate jersey relic. I love this card.

Finally, the package was rounded out with a 2017 Finest Cody Reed autograph.

I don’t know a whole lot about Reed, but I know the Reds need good pitching. I hope he is up to the challenge. The offense looks great, but the pitching staff is highly questionable. I still think the team could have competed this year if they had signed one of those free agent starters, but as usual, they went the cheap route and let them all slip away. Rebuilding is just an excuse to avoid spending money.

Thanks for the cards, Levi! A definite surprise that brought a smile to my face last week when received, even though I didn’t acknowledge them right away!

Happy Reds birthday, Jose Peraza!

April 30, 1994

Jose Peraza looked like the real thing in 2016, hitting .324 in 72 games. He has yet to hit the same this year, but the hope is that once he settles down, he will make Cincinnati fans forget about “dat dude” that used to occupy second base.