The 900-pound post in the room

I don't have anything in particular to say for this post. Yet, "something" compels me to write anyway.

In situations such as these, I often go to my folder of scans and pull out those neglected cards that were either part of a half-written post that never saw the light of day, or an idea that never realized its potential.

For example, there is this card of George "Shot Gun" Shuba from the '74 TCMA '52 Dodgers set. The intended post likely had to do with his nickname and how great it would be to be featured on a card with only "Shot Gun" under your photo. That is an achievement if I ever saw one.

Like almost any card blogger, I would imagine, I had ideas of writing a post about players with the same name. This is Pedro A. Martinez, who pitched for the Padres, Astros, Mets and Reds.

I periodically wonder if he ever gets mail intended for the much more well-known Pedro J. Martinez. Perhaps he's received a few letters that end with " ... and I loved how you pushed down old man Zimmer during that brawl." I'm sure Pedro A. could have fun with those kinds of letters.

Or how about the "Big Unit" Randy Johnson?

Do you suppose this Randy Johnson:

Or this Randy Johnson:

... ever got a call from some memorabilia company representative mistaking one of the early '80s Johnsons for the Hall of Famer-to-be? Has the ex-Twin or ex-Brave ever signed an autograph request "Big Unit"? You never know. There could be confusion. They all have mustaches, you know.

I had intended to write about the pitchers that always seemed to give the Dodgers problems. Dennis Martinez was one of them. I had planned to look up whether my perceptions were correct. But I've never gotten around to it.

But I did just make a special case for Martinez and look up his stats against the Dodgers. Including the perfect game he threw against them, he held the Dodgers to a .234 batting average in 22 games. But among teams that he faced at least 10 times, the Dodgers still fared better than the Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals and Blue Jays did against El Presidente.

I've mentioned the defunct Baseball Cards magazine a few times (no I didn't win the Steve Sax jersey). I still enjoy going through the issues that I have and there remain some post ideas in those 25-year-old magazines.

I accumulated quite a few cards that the magazine created and have sent several to other bloggers. But I came across a couple of cards that I scanned a year or so ago but never mentioned.

These came in one of the last BCMs I ever bought. Apparently, back before people called these things "reprints," they were called "repli-cards." I like "reprints" better.

I have no idea why I never cut out these cards. Here is what the back looks like:

I guess I should cut them out. What do you think? It'd be shame to throw away that blue-speckled cardboard.

OK, so, that's a brief wandering through my scans folder. I'm a bit relieved that I can now recycle some of these items that have been clogging up space for no particular reason.

I'm also a bit relieved to say that this is the end of my 900th post. That was the "something" that compelled me to write. But you knew that already didn't you?

Sorry I didn't have anything special for you. But I do plan on some blog changes real soon. It's sort of in preparation for another milestone on the way. I hope I'll  have things more together for that one. But no guarantees.