Breaking News! John Franco will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame

I have to say that this was one of the more pleasant surprise emails I've read from the Mets lately.

I have written before about John Franco and how I was a big fan of his growing up, so I am quite happy to see him inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame.  I'm sure the fact that he is from Brooklyn and Italian played has into my fandom as well.  I might even try to find my way back to Queens for his induction on June 3rd.

He certainly has the credentials, being fourth on the all time saves list and the top lefty when it comes to saves (with two saves more than fellow lefty and former Met Billy Wagner). Franco played in 21 seasons, and 14 of those were with the Mets.

I've got a nice PC of Franco, about 95 cards in all including one autographed card which I posted about in the aforementioned post.  Here are four of my favorites from my collection.

Leaf 1993

Yes, the back of the card is what makes this one of my favorites.  Besides the great backdrop, there is also the little Mets hologram in the top left corner.

Fleer 2002

Retro uni on a patriotic card, what more can I say.

Circa 1996

The quote plus a backdrop that invokes Shea Stadium makes this one of my favorites.  Circa was an interesting line for a couple years there in the mid 90s.

Fleer Tradition 1999

What better way to close it out than with Franco and Olerud (another personal favorite) embracing after what I can only imagine is Franco saving another game.

When the Mets Win I Win

Alright, finally the Mets take 3 of 4 to make their first series win extra meaningful! All thanks to this man who deservingly got the win:


I was worried because Gorzelanny looked better than Santana in the early innings, but the offense finally came through with a big enough spurt to win the game (with the help of some shoddy Cub defense).

Hopefully the Mets can build on this effort.

I decided to celebrate the Mets' win by opening my second place winnings from the NCAA bracket contest over at Cards on Cards. I am just thankful that I spent a summer several years ago in North Carolina working with a student from Duke. While I did not see any college sports while I was there, I did catch minor league games at about seven different ballparks and drive down to Atlanta to see a game at Turner Field. All in all, it was a productive summer during which I bought lots of baseball cards and has now helped me win some more.

First, I have to say that the package was incredibly generous. I can only imagine what I would have gotten had I come in first! In fact, all the cards in the post were part of the package which also included a bunch of packs and cards to add to my player collections. I plan on posting two of the packs over at A Pack to Be Named Later, so check there in the coming days. The great thing was that even the packs contained a bunch more Mets than I am used to finding in the packs I break. Nice work selecting them Madding.


Included in the pack were the Mets from the 2002 Donruss Super Estrellas that I had set my sights on after seeing the packs detailed here, including the above Mike Piazza poster.

However, my eyes lit up the brightest when I saw this card:
Thank you, thank you, thank you! In addition to adding the card to my collection, I was able to find out from the back that Mr. Met is one of only three MLB mascots to be inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame. Well deserved in my view. The Fanatic has nothing on you Mr. Met, and it is nice to know that the Mets have a clear historical advantage over the Yankees in at least this one respect.

Hopefully, the good Karma Mr. Met brings can help the team continue the positivity over the last four games for the entire homestand. Let's Go Mets!

Trade With Big D

Now, I have gone on record as not being a huge fan of this year's heritage set generally. At the same time I like some of the Mets cards from that set like this Daniel Murphy. Therefore, when BigD posted this over at Hey, That's Mine! along with a F-Mart Heritage card as being available for trade I jumped at the offer.


I sent him some Rangers cards from his want list along with some catchers in full gear. In return he sent me several of the Heritage cards he was uninterested in that I will enjoy. However, he also sent along some 2010 Mets Upper Deck Cards, including what is perhaps Upper Deck's attempt to laugh with its last gasp in baseball, this card:


Though this fact has been documented elsewhere, I still find it extremely amusing that this card depicts Castillo attempting to field a pop up after the dropped pop up he had last year against A-rod and the Yankees that ended up costing the Mets the game (and any hope that the 2009 season would be a success).

Card of the Week: John Maine Game Used + Autograph

2008 Ballpark Collection
John Main #SA-86

Construction: Cardstock, Game Used Jersey, Sticker Autograph

The Player:
As I mentioned at the bottom of an earlier post I have good reason to like John Maine. Actually, I forgot to write there that Maine also helped me win the first year of my current NL Only Fantasy League (2010 will be the league's fourth year). While I do not have him in this year's league, and he is on an opponent's roster, for the Mets' sake I hope he has another great year. This is no big news, but he an Ollie Perez will go a long way to determining how good the Mets are this year. I'll be rooting hard for both guys, but it is a bit easier to root for Maine who came up big down the stretch in 2007 by almost firing a no-hitter and has been inconsistent only because of injury problems rather than wildness. The nice thing about Maine is that his cards are inexpensive and yet he appears in some of the nicer sets, so it makes good looking cards like this one easy to add to my collection.

The Card: Now while I do believe that this is a sticker auto, it is way nicer than some of those silver foil ones from Topps. In fact, this sticker is barely noticeable unless one holds it up to the light at just the right angle. I think this type of sticker auto is not overly bad, especially since the card design has a specific spot for it. It just does not bother me and seems to fit well with the card design. While the jersey piece is a solid white, Maine's photo and the general layout of the card make up for the lack of a stripe. Needless to say I am a fan, though I bought it as a single rather than having this as my hit in an expensive purchase of UD Ballpark Collection, so maybe I am a bit biased.

Old School Trade

In with the old thanks to Matt over at Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius. I really appreciate the cards he sent, which actually rank as the oldest in my Mets collection. Here are my two favorites:


I was quite happy that Matt sent over this Cleon Jones, who will be forever remembered for catching the final out of the 1969 World Series, card.

He also sent over this interesting specimen:

OK, Willie Montanez: Classic Mets - trade for a guy who goes on to play poorly for you. However, the plot thickens thanks to this note from Matt.
Now I am intrigued. So, I take a look at the back and what do I find:
I'm not sure about you, but the first thing I noticed was the tilda on the "n." Hmmm... Topps in the late 70s having a tilda on an "n"? Then, I look at the other Montanez Matt sent, a 1979, no tilda on the front or back. Is this, perhaps, a Spanish card? Why yes it is. Complete Major League Batting Record in English and Spanish. Very nice!

Thanks again Matt.

Woo Hoo! Successful trade on Topps Million

After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally swung a deal! I dumped my 1985 Yankees Tim Foli for a 1985 Mets Tim Foli, that is pretty much as fair a trade as one can come by.

First, the nice green back in honor of the holiday:

Now the nice Met front:



Wow, this guy was the number one pick. As always wonderful work by the Mets. I wonder how much the number 1 pick in 1968 got as a signing bonus?

Card of the Week: Glavine 300 Win Patch Card

2008 Upper Deck Premier Stitchings
Tom Glavine
Materials: Card Stock and Thread/Patch

The Player:
Yes, I am a Met fan posting a Tom Glavine card. I do not hate Glavine for the final game of the Mets' regular season in 2007. While I rationally understand his comments subsequent to the game as being true, I do think they were in bad taste. I also think that a HOF pitcher needs to do better than Glavine did on that infamous day in Mets history. Nevertheless, I respect Glavine as the HOF pitcher that he is and simply do not consider him a Met. This is of note because though Pedro will always be known as a Red Sox player I still consider him a Met. Pedro may be the Red Sox fans' first, but the Mets fans have a certain claim on him too. The Braves can have Glavine in his entirety as far as I'm concerned as a result of that game (I am happy, though, that it was not Glavine's final game).

The Card:
Ah yes, the manufactured patch card perhaps the most debated: is it overpriced filler, interesting innovation, or ambivalent insert? I tend to like manufactured patch cards outside the letterman stuff. However, I do actively dislike the letterman patches which are single letters from the team or player's name. Additionally, some patches are boring like the simple team logos. Yet, I REALLY like some of the patches from Upper Deck's Premier Stitchings Set. This, along with the others commemorating specific events are probably my favorites. I scored this beauty at a card show for $3 and I was genuinely surprised at the low price (it probably did not hurt that the market for Glavine cards in suburban IL is probably not what it is in Atlanta). Out of the many manufactured patch cards I have seen, this has got to be up there as one of my favorites. It has the team colors, a player image, and an indication of the event to be commemorated and, for me, these are the key ingredients of a very cool manufactured patch card.

The Materials:
I like to think that textiles in baseball cards gained popularity as a return to more traditional materials after the use/experimentation with more modern materials like acetate during the 90s. Acetate and other plastic cards remain relatively rare in the hobby while more traditional materials such as patches, silk, and even game used jerseys have become familiar staples. How true this whole assessment is I am not sure, but one could write an interesting sociological/anthropological commentary on the whole issue were it true.

One of the things I like about the manufactured patch cards is how different the process of creating them must be compared to creating a normal or even plastic baseball card. I imagine it to be like one of those machines that customizes hats at Lids, and for some reason find the thought of these particular patches being created in that way especially interesting. Maybe it is just me...

Anyway, if you have any interesting manufactured patch cards up for trade drop me an email, whether or not they are Mets (as long as they aren't yankees).