I'm a little surprised by the results of the poll that determined The Epic Home Run of the most recent decade.
I'm thinking my reputation as a Yankee-hater (one I acknowledge proudly), has attracted like-minded thinkers and that is why the David Ortiz home run that ended Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS was voted as The Epic Home Run of 2000-09.
Or maybe I just give myself too much credit.
Here is how the poll results went:
1. David Ortiz, 2004 ALCS, Game 4: 15 votes
2. Aaron Boone, 2003 ALCS, Game 7: 11 votes
3. Derek Jeter, 2001 World Series, Game 4: 6 votes
3. Albert Pujols, 2005 NLCS, Game 5: 6 votes
5. Magglio Ordonez, 2006 ALCS: 3 votes
And a couple of other home runs that received no votes.
I am very surprised that Yadier Molina's home run in 2006 against the Mets got zero votes. Must be a lot of Mets fans out there. That home run stuck in my mind more than half of the home runs I listed.
But the home run that I would have voted for would have been the Aaron Boone home run. Even though I absolutely hate how every Yankee feat is exalted above other teams' feats, I think this homer matches the other Epic Home Runs from the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s in a several ways that the others don't.
But the readers have selected Big Papi, and I will not argue against a guy who spits into his batting gloves before every at-bat.
Congrats, Big Papi, you're up there with Kirk Gibson, Bobby Thomson and the rest. You may contact me for your non-prize at your earliest convenience.
Now, onto important matters.
We have the second member of the Cardboard Appreciation Hall of Fame to select.
As a refresher, here was the first card elected to the CAHOF:
Can't argue with that one.
The question is: will there be a card that is worthy of hanging in the Hall along with Fisk?
I'm hoping so.
This will be the first of several Cardboard Appreciation, the Review 2 polls. To shorten things ever so slightly, I will be pitting eight cards against each other for each segment of the first round. That might make for some difficult selecting, but I don't want this to go on as long as the last one did.
So, here are the first eight candidates.
I'm not going to link to the original Cardboard Appreciation posts. I just don't have the time. You can find them easily enough if you really want to do read them.
Heh, how's that for hospitality?
OK, cards:
1. Wade Boggs, 1992 Stadium Club: Terrific card. I wrote something about how Wade Boggs was an odd bird, and how this card illustrates it perfectly. I am a fan of this card winning the whole thing, by the way.
2. Jerry Reuss, 1976 Topps: OK, tough situation already. This is a favorite from my childhood, it was voted the best Reuss card in a later poll, and, if that ain't enough, Jerry Reuss himself commented on the post that featured this card. I think we have our ringer.
3. Ron Theobald, 1972 Topps: Have you ever wondered why people who were 28 in 1972 look like they were 56 when featured on a 39-year-old baseball card? Sure you have. I came up with some reasons why this is so. But I ain't linking, so good luck with that research.
4. Lindy McDaniel, 1971 Topps: Another tremendous card. The photo really gives the appearance of McDaniel being on display in ancient Yankee Stadium, which is what I wrote about in the original post.
5. Ron Cey, 1974 Topps: Why is Ron Cey my most favorite player of all-time? I listed the reasons for posterity on this post. His '74 card has a little something to do with it.
6. Rudy May, 1975 Topps: This card is already in the "So Awful It's Good" Hall of Fame, right there with Hot Dog on a Stick and the Chevy Chevette. Will it pull the upset here?
7. Jorge Posada, 2010 Topps: This card is only here because it was the last card I needed to complete Series 1 from last year's set. Finishing off Series 1 isn't really as big a deal as finishing off Series 2 (after you finish off Series 1), so not sure why I was so excited.
8. Kaz Ishii, 2003 Fleer E-X: This card was posted as a tribute to playing with your cards -- creating hand-made parallels and the like by placing colored paper behind this transparent. I got a kick out of it anyway.
And that's the first eight.
A lot to choose from there.
But I know you're up to it.
Poll is on the sidebar.
Select wisely.
Comments
From the sideways Thurman Munson, to the "Now hey fellas, I wasn't ready for the photo" look of Ernie Banks, the young, eager, whole-career-ahead-of-him look of Steve Garvey, the deflated "whiffed it" look of Brooks Robinson, the lonely look of Nolan Ryan, the Crown Cola sign and a afternoon game, the happy smile of Ted Williams... Beautiful set.
And the Lindy McDaniel is the perfect baseball card photo. It's absolutely perfect, I look in to it and I'm there, at Yankee Stadium, watching that game.
Could be nostalgia, of what baseball games used to be to me as a kid, a place where dad, uncles and grandpas went, and if you were lucky they took you with them. Where people watched baseball games, not crazy score boards with exploding lights or guessed which song the organist was playing. It was full of people who came to see a baseball game, images of my uncle with a stubby cigar stuck out of the corner of his mouth, a mean, leaning on every pitch as if it were a full count, bottom of the 9th, game 7 of a World Series. and how that has changed so much to where a baseball game is trying to be a circus now because they need to bring more people to the park in order to afford these crazy salaries.
That Lindy McDaniel card brings me right back to where baseball was to me as a kid, and for that, it is for me the perfect baseball card photo.
To me, Ortiz and Pujols tie for seconnd; they both staved off elimination games, but they both have something different going for them. First - Ortiz staved off elimination IN A SERIES HIS TEAM WON (unlike Pujols). However, Pujols staved off elimination while his team was losing (unlike Ortiz).