Tim Brown Autographed Card

It's a done deal: the Oakland Raiders will move once more, this time to Las Vegas. With the NHL having approved of an expansion franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights, who will begin play next season, Las Vegas is definitely aiming to make its mark in the sports field. It remains a tourist town, with only 600,000 permanent residents in its core, but there are no other cities like it. It's an experiment, albeit one that has a better chance of working out than, say, hockey in Arizona or Atlanta.

It's the franchise's second move out of Oakland, as it spent 1982-1994 being known as the Los Angeles Raiders, before moving back into its original NFL home, Oakland-Alameida County Coliseum (1966-1981, 1995-2018). Prior to that, as a member of the AFL, the team played at the San Francisco 49ers' Kezar Stadium (1960), the San Francisco Giants' Candlestick Park (1961) and Frank Youell Field, a stadium named after a mortician that was later bulldozed to make additional parking space for Laney College.

Pretty unstable and bush-league for a franchise that holds an AFL championship and three Super Bowl championships, eh?

I don't know what the future holds for the team in Vegas; perhaps they'll move back to Oakland in 15 years. What I do know is the stadium they're building for them will be packed and will host at least one Super Bowl. It's revitalized the team's image and reshaped Vegas once more as a family-friendly spot.

Growing up in the 1980s, I was a fan of the Raiders and 49ers. Still am, always have been. My admiration for the Niners wavered when they sent Joe Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs, and I never took to Steve Young - but I stuck to the Raiders no matter what they did, even when they anointed Carson Palmer as their QB; I didn't believe they'd win with him, and I disapproved of the decision, but I kept wearing my cap, my windbreaker or my tuque, depending on the season.

The 1990s in L.A. were about Wayne Gretzky on the ice, Mike Scioscia behind the plate and Tim Brown on the field. Luckily, I got to meet Brown at a signing when I was in high school, probably circa 1993, and again upon his retirement in 2005; it was then that he signed this card for me in blue sharpie:

That's card #150 from Pro Set's 1990 Series 1 collection; the first series contained cards #1-377, the second one encompassed #378-769, and the Final Update portion went up to #800O and #800D, for the offensive (Emmitt Smith) and defensive (Mark Carrier) Pro Set Rookies Of The Year, which was originally supposed to be a single title. There were also five ridiculous inserts found in packs of the Series 2 set, of which I had two, Santa Claus and commissioner Paul Tagliabue; I was missing those of Miami Dolphins founder Joe Robbie, failed comic-book superhero SuperPro, and golfer Payne Stewart.

I seem to have lost the card I had Brown sign in '93, which pains me a bit. The 2015 Hall Of Famer was special from the start. He was the first wide receiver to ever receive the Heisman Trophy, back when he was with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. He then set the NFL rookie yards records and proceeded to appear in nine Pro Bowls and make the NFL's All-Decade 1990s team - in a decade that included such receivers as Jerry Rice and Michael Irving. He spent his first sixteen seasons with the Raiders but played his final season, 2004, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a falling out with management and ownership.

He had been eligible for the Hall in 2013, but was not admitted right away; that's too bad, because that's the year I went:

I'm in the middle, flanked by my current stepdad and brother. It was freezing; it felt like I hadn't left Montréal. I have a knack for that, as it was also the case when I went on a Vegas/Arizona trip in November 2015 and caught bronchitis (and a snowstorm). There are ways in which I would prefer avoiding feeling like home...

Happy Birthday Tim Wallach: 3 Autographed Cards

Famous people born on September 14th include singer Amy Winehouse, rapper Nas, actors Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead), Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Tyler Perry (Gone Girl), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and Callum Keith Rennie (Californication), wrestler Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon, and comedian Mike Ward.

Also, myself, and former baseball star third baseman Tim Wallach. When I was a kid, most years, there was a Montréal Expos game at the Olympic Stadium on that day, and I'd go, and they'd say it was his birthday, and I felt special because it was mine too. There was even one year where my name appeared on the scoreboard, and I got to meet him and have him sign cards for me.

I'm not sure if any of these cards are from that day, because as is the case with my favourite player (Tim Raines), I have a ton of Wallach-signed stuff. He, Raines and Gary Carter are my Holy Trinity of baseball players, though I never got to meet Carter.

Wallach was usually among the league leaders in Game-Winning RBIs, and twice led for doubles, with 42 each time. The Expos were always a run-first team, putting emphasis on doubles and stolen bases (of which Raines was the champion) instead of raw power, and #29 also holds the team record for inside-the-park home runs, both in a single season and over a career. He did have some power to his game, however, surpassing the 20-homer mark five times (with a high of 28 in 1982).

He was also a three-time Gold Glove winner, in the Mike Schmidt, Terry Pendleton and Matt Williams era, no less.

Here are the three cards I chose to feature today, all of them signed in blue sharpie, starting with card #685 from Topps' 1986 Topps set:

He's shown from the side of the field near the bench, in his regular batting stance (upright), sporting the team's classic powder-blue (away) uniform, as is the case in the following card, from Fleer's 1990 Fleer set (card #364), except there he's shown mid-swing:

There's also this one where he's wearing the team's 1990s grey (away) uniform, watching a ball he hit go deep into center field:

It's card #570 from Topps' 1993 Topps collection, one of the last baseball sets I tried to complete.

Tim Raines: 5 Autographed Cards

I usually post personal stuff on my birthday, and this year I'd planned on doing the same as last year: feature Tim Wallach, who shares a birthday with me. Unfortunately, I haven't unpacked those cards yet, but I did find a dozen or so of Tim Raines, my favourite baseball player of all time. I chose to feature the following five cards first because, judging by the pen and signature, they may have been from the same period; I never get more than two signed at a time in person unless I know the person, or know it's totally cool - particularly if I plan on going for, say, three straight days, which may have been the case here in 2001. So here they are:

The Rock may very well have been the second-best lead-off hitter of all time; unfortunately for him, he was a contemporary of Rickey Henderson's, undoubtedly the best of all time, and the only player in Raines' career who could even come close to him in the stolen bases department.

Which hinders him when it comes to Hall Of Fame voters, obviously. There are, however, sites using advanced metrics to make a strong case for him. I'll tell you, 808 stolen bases, and a stealing percentage of 84.5% - second-best of all-time for players with at least 500 attempts - bests even Henderson. 2605 hits, 430 doubles, 170 home runs, 980 RBIs, 1330 walks for 966 strikeouts...

From the very beginning, in the strike-reduced 1981 season, Raines proved he was for real: sure, he was second for the Rookie Of The Year award, but he also garnered some MVP votes on the strength of 71 steals in just 88 games - the National League record was 75, by Benny Kauff, in a full season. His 27 steals in his first 27 attempts remains a record, though. In the American League, he set a record with 37 straight stolen bases in 1995.

The seven-time All-Star Game participant will be remembered for one of them in particular - in 1987 in Oakland - as he went 3-for-3, and produced both of his team's runs in a 2-0 victory with a two-out, 13th-inning triple against Jay Howell.

My own defining Raines moment came in the 1990s, when he must have been nine feet away from first base, in a stealing attempt, and the pitcher pretended four or five times to throw to the first baseman to get him out; not only wouldn't Raines budge, but he stared straight into the pitcher's eyes, not just daring him to, but pretty much defying him to throw the ball, and there probably was a beating going his way of he did. The pitcher eventually threw to home plate, and Raines stole second.

Raines got used to sliding into second head-first from the beginning, because he was a pretty big cocaine addict in 1982 (his stats did slip noticeably that year) and kept his vial in his back pocket, because had he kept in in his locker, he could have gotten caught; sliding feet first gives the runner the advantage of leading with his shoe, which strikes the fear of some pain in the second basement - but Raines had his drugs to protect, and was quick enough that he didn't need the extra intimidation that sliding cleats would have provided.

He also voluntarily checked himself into rehab following the season - after spending upwards of $40,000 on cocaine that summer (those are 1982 numbers, by the way).

Gary Carter was a legend, Pedro Martinez and Vladimir Guerrero were the purest raw talents, but Tim Raines, to me, defined the Montréal Expos. And, like Carter, he eventually came back in his twilight years. The Expos did him a favour by trading him to the Baltimore Orioles at the tail end of 2001 so he could play with his son, Tim Jr.

He won two World Series with the New York Yankees (1996 and 1998), and batted for .299 with them in three seasons of part-time work (a high of .321 in 1997, a high of 109 games in 1998).

He also played with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, and 98 meaningless games with the Florida Marlins.

There are many ways I could get into the specifics of the cards - all of them signed in blue sharpie - but I decided to go my usual route and separate them by uniform, starting with the Expos' classic powdered-blue (away) uniform:

The card on the left is from Fleer's 1988 Fleer set (card #193), probably showing him during pre-game warm-ups or between innings; in the middle is card #40 from Score's 1989 Score, showing the ambidextrous hitter in his most common plate position, hitting lefty; on the right is a card from Leaf's 1990 Donruss set (card #BC-7 of the MVP insert sub-set).

Card companies rarely sent photographers to Montréal, probably because they were afraid of summer snow, igloos, and us not having electricity (or Doritos) and only speaking French; that's why when the powdered-blue uniform wasn't chosen on cards, it'd usually be the red t-shirt from Spring Training, which took place in Florida:

The card on the left is from Fleer's 1987 Fleer set (card #328) in an obvious ''pose for the camera, Tim'' shot, while the one on the right is from Leaf's 1988 Donruss (card #345) in another ''official team photo'' type of pose.

By the way, check out the consistency/lack of originality of the Donruss backs, two years apart:

If it wasn't that he gained 15 pounds and had two more career highlights to speak of, it'd be the exact same back; same design, same ''last five seasons'' statistics, same font...

I have never visited the (Baseball) Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown. And I don't plan to, any day soon. That might change if they come to their senses and induct Tim Raines.

Kevin Gross Autographed Card

Having just come off a dream 1988 season that saw him lead the National League in walks (ok, not a positive statistic!), rank 6th in shutouts and 9th in strikeouts, culminating in a scoreless inning at the All-Star Game, the Philadelphia Phillies sent Kevin Gross to the Montréal Expos for utility player Floyd Youmans and star middle reliever Jeff Parrett (who had just concluded a 12-4 season).

Gross would play two years in Montréal, never posting a winning season, and both times ranking third in the pitching rotation. In 1989, he finished 8th in the National League for hitting batters with pitches - the only season in his first 6 that he was out of the top-5...

After a disappointing 1990 season (9-12, a 4.57 ERA, only 111 Ks, one of his lowest career totals) , he left for the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent, the Expos unable to match his salary demands (over $2M per season, which amounts to nearly 4 pro-rated to today's value).

I stopped following baseball so closely after the 1994 strike, so I never noticed he spent his twilight years with the Texas Rangers and Anaheim Angels. A career National Leaguer, it's no surprise he finished with ERAs of 5.54, 5.22 and 6.75 in his final three seasons (the Designated Hitter makes a huge difference in how a pitcher confronts a batting order).

I guess he could have been considered a polarizing player. I, for one, liked his mustache, and I'm sure I told him so when he sigend this card fro me in 1990:

It's from Fleer's Fleer '90 set (card #348) and shows him wearing the Expos' classic powder-blue (away) uniform they wore in their first 25 years in the Majors.