The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge: Day #13

Tony, the wonderful writer of the “Off Hiatus Baseball” blog, started a fun activity based off the “30-Day Music Challenge” that Twitter users were taking. The list of challenges looks like this:

Today, we’ll continue with Challenge #13: One of your favorite cards from the 1990’s.

A favorite card from the 90's is starting to get trickier. There are a lot more cards to choose from in the coming decades. The nineties are the first decade where it was all spent as a "collector" trying to buy cards and complete sets. I even made it to quite a few shows for the first time.

So, I spent some time flipping through pages. It would have made sense to pick a Pedro card, but those are in another binder. My favorite player for most of the 90's was Mo Vaughn, though. So, this card made sense.

Minor league cards were always fun for me. It's neat to imagine star players back before they were even major leaguers, wearing their funny uniforms. I didn't have a lot of them, of course. A few team sets I've picked up here and there. So, I was excited when Line Drive came out with a couple minor league sets. Once set covered AA, while this card was part of the AAA set.

It's such a great card of Mo giving his famous death stare out at the pitcher. You can just see his brand peeking out from under his shirtsleeve. It's definitely Mo.

But, he's wearing the P on his hat, just to remind you that it's a minor league set. It's really just the best of both worlds. A unique Mo Vaughn.

Which is why it's one of my favorite cards of the 90's.

June Klemmer Visits Section 36!

Photo by Peter Camyre

Section 36 has another visitor! June Klemmer is an avid traveler and the current Miss Bay State. She just finished competing for the Miss Massachusetts crown, but was nice enough to take some time out of competition weekend to visit with us to discuss those topics along with the Red Sox. I’m sure glad she did.

So, let’s see what happens when June Klemmer visits Section 36!

What made you decide to compete for Miss Bay State?
I always grew up watching Miss America on TV, but never knew what it took to be one of those girls. When I was in 7th grade, we had an "alternative career day" and a pageant queen came in. After speaking to her, and learning more about pageants, I immediately decided to compete. Through the process (it took about two years for me to actually enter the Miss America Organization) I worked with her and her mother, as her mother worked at my school. Fast forward to my first local as an Outstanding Teen, and that same girl crowned me as her mother sat in the audience in tears. It was truly a memory I will never forget, and is one that keeps me going at every competition, as it was truly a crowning moment for me. 

As for the title Miss Bay State itself, I knew that if I didn't try just one last time this season, I was going to regret it. I couldn't through over five years of hard work down the drain in my pursuit for the Miss Massachusetts crown. 

Your business manager is also your predecessor as Miss Baty State, Monique Vacon. How has she helped you prepare for the upcoming Miss Massachusetts competition?
Monique has truly been a blessing to me as Miss Bay State. Last year we competed together at Miss Massachusetts, and have been competing together for years. As my schedule is insanely busy at the moment, she has found ways to squeeze appearances in, and practically packed for me as I prepared for Miss Massachusetts. Without her, I am not sure that I would have felt so strongly prepared for the pageant. 

What part of the Miss Massachusetts pageant are you most looking forward to?
Although I just compete in the preliminary portion of Miss Massachusetts, just being here for the week is my favorite part. All of the energy and excitement that surrounds you as you stand with the other amazing girls competing is so hard to describe, as everyone is so happy to be there, and has worked so hard to get

there. 

How did you decide on your platform, "Learn Something new! Encouraging a Higher Education."?

I originally chose my platform because I was an education major. As I moved away from education, I stuck with my platform because I now plan to work in alternative high schools as a social worker, and wanted to emphasize how we generally do not encourage at-risk youth to pursue a higher education. 

What has surprised you about your limited time as Miss Bay State?
Honestly, it is so hard to surprise me now in the pageant world. But, after having not one but two talent costumes fail me for Miss

Massachusetts (the first one never arrived, and the second tore during rehearsal) I learned that I can take those unexpected bumps fairly well. It is always fun to learn something about yourself and surprise yourself like that. 

You’ve done quite a bit of traveling in your life. Where is someplace that you haven’t been, but would like to visit?
I would love to explore more of this country, with a focus on California and that sates surrounding it. At this point that is the only part of the country I have not visited, and my goal is to reach all 50 states.

Growing up in North Carolina, you were pretty far removed from Major League Baseball. What’s something you have noticed about Red Sox fans now that you’re immersed in Red Sox Nation?
Oh. My. Goodness. Y'all are crazy with baseball. As someone who didn't really grow up with the sport, its crazy to me. Personally baseball is something I do not follow (or any sports for that matter) but I do not think i have ever seen so many people wearing shirts for a team like they do for the Red Sox! 

If you had two tickets to watch the Red Sox in Section 36, who would you bring to the game with you?
I would most likely bring my boyfriend with me, as I am sure he would be thrilled to go to my 1st major league baseball game with me.

How do you think the Red Sox will finish the 2017 season?
To be honest with you, I don't even know how they are doing now. But I hope they finish well! It seems like everyone is just slightly happier when their favorite team wins. 

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Hard to argue with that plan! Love how she can so easily see Red Sox nation in full force!

As always, I want to send a huge thank you to June for taking the time to visit with us, especially at such a busy time! I hope you enjoyed the visit as much as I did. Another big thanks for supplying the pictures included with the interview. They really make the interview much better than it would be otherwise. 

If you want to find out more about June, you should definitely check out her official Facebook page. It's a great way to follow along with her on her Miss Bay State journey. 

And good luck to June as she finishes her time as Miss Bay State!

Thanks again June!

From The Pedro Binder

2001 Donruss Class of 2001

I don't know what to think.

My first impression is that the card looks choppy. It feels like it's broken into a bunch of pieces. The picture. The red arc on the left. The white arc on the bottom right. The red arc in the corner. The baseball on the bottom. Nothing seems to flow together. It's all visually disjointed.

It's not really my cup of tea.

But, Donruss probably didn't care about that. This was just a set to be put out at the very end of the year to try and capture some hot rookies in another card set. And, of course, they tossed in some start to make it worth out while. Like Pedro here.

Because there is nothing special about this card. It could be any other card made that year. It's just a way to pump out as many cards as humanly possible.

So, I suppose they succeeded. I have this card now.

But it's not a great one.

So, He's Human

That could have gone very poorly. The Red Sox, on the road, had built up a decent lead. Rick Porcello pitched decently, into the seventh. He left the game with the lead, following a quality start. Not quite Pedro Martinez out there, or even 2016 Rick Porcello, but we'll take it.

Then the Rangers scored a run in the eighth. No big deal. All you need to do is get the game into Kimbrel's hands. Get to the ninth holding the lead and everything will be fine.

They did.

But it wasn't.

Kimbrel actually blew the save. Suddenly all the bad thoughts creep into your head. Why couldn't the offense just score one more run? How did that inherited runner score? Why couldn't the Red Sox have just done one more thing right. It's easy to see how that would become mentally deflating for the team.

Not for this team.

Hembree did his job following Kimbrel. He kept the Rangers scoreless in the tenth to match the Sox. Then, the offense took over, scoring two runs to put the game away. 

It was the sort of thing that could have fallen apart. "Well, the winning streak was nice while it lasted." "Tough game on the road, what whatcha gonna do?"

Whenever the Red Sox lose a tough game, people seem to mark it down. If a starter stays in the game one batter too long, and the Sox lose the game. Or there's a miscue in the outfield allowing the winning run to score. People say it. "Remember this game in September when they're down two in the division with three to play. Every loss is noted so that it can come back to haunt them.

But, why not mark this game down? "July 3. Won a game they could have easily lost." Let's remember this game when they're first in the division come September. Because wins can be remembered too. This one let the Red Sox keep their current three game lead.

That's pretty important.

The 30-Day Baseball Card Challenge: Day #12

Tony, the wonderful writer of the “Off Hiatus Baseball” blog, started a fun activity based off the “30-Day Music Challenge” that Twitter users were taking. The list of challenges looks like this:

Today, we’ll continue with Challenge #12: One of your favorite cards from the 1980’s.

I figured this would be a fun topic when I got to it. Like many of us, the 1980's hit the wheelhouse of my collecting. It was when i really started to make card collecting something more than just buying a pack or two a year. They started being a pack or two a trip. I knew that two 35 cent packs totaled 70 cents, we did it so often. I started collecting sets. I started selling doubles to my local card shop. I bought pages. I traded with friends. I became a collector.

Which is why I was a little surprised I picked a card from earlier in the decade. 

But, this card reminds me not only of my time as a card collector, but as a Red Sox fan. I may have mentioned before, i just missed the Yastrzemski era. By the time I was actually watching games, he was "that old looking guy" on the team. I knew nothing of the Impossible Dream. I knew nothing of the 3000 hits, or games. He was the old guy who had that retirement ceremony when he ran around the field.

So this card always stuck out to me. Here was a card celebrating that old guy. Along with a couple other old guys. It was a card that harkened back to days long gone. Back when people knew who these guys were.

Of course, I know who Carl Yastrzemski is today. (He's the old guy who keeps showing up at ceremonies in Fenway and won't wear a hat.) I know all about the 1967 team. I know about his Hall of Fame career. I even have a nice little collection of his cards.

So it's nice to be reminded of a time when I didn't.

When he was just another old guy on that card.