Vladimir Guerrero & Alfonso Soriano Jersey Card

With Alex Rodriguez set to play his final game next Friday (the day I launch my brand-new poetry book!), I will soon know a grand total of zero baseball players by name. Ok, that may not be true because I know hometown boy Russell Martin plays for the Toronto Blue Jays, but because they do not exist to me, neither does he at the moment, so there's that.

Still, Alfonso Soriano rang a bell to me, and Vladimir Guerrero was the last great member of the Montréal Expos, though I am pretty much unaware of anything he achieved elsewhere apart from his MVP title in his first year with the Anaheim Angels.

Both players are multiple Silver Slugger Award winners and All-Stars, and both were outfielders.

And both graced card #191 of Upper Deck's 2009 Ballpark collection (and Dual Swatch Memorabilia and Stat Kings sub-sets), which I obtained in a multi-sport repack, numbered 211/400:

Both swatches are game-used, and Soriano's is of the two-coloured variety, with a blue stripe complementing the predominant white. I don't really do two-player cards, so this one's up for trade.

Tim Raines: Two Autographed Cards

Today, I thought I'd feature two cards of Tim "Rock" Raines with the Chicago White Sox' black uniform, because it's a bad, dark day for the Baseball Hall Of Fame, seeing as they have snubbed him once again, leaving him with just one more shot of making it, next year.

As I wrote a little over a year ago, his numbers should have made a case for themselves:

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.

He stole 70 or more bases in each of his first seven seasons, and ranks fourth of all-time in the category, but he's also overlooked in other categories where speed was a factor: his doubles total (430) is better than Kirby Puckett's (414) and Willie Stargell's (423), and his triples totals (113) bests Puckett (57) and Stargell (55), for sure, but also the likes of Rickey Henderson (66), Dave Winfield (88), Tony Gwynn (85) and Reggie Jackson (49).

What wins a baseball game? Runs. Raines had 1571, better than Puckett (1071), Stargell (1195), Gwynn (1393) and Jackson (1551).

Freebies are fun, and walks are a sign that pitchers fear you enough to not throw you good pitches. Raines was walked 1330 times, ahead of Brock (761), Puckett (450), Stargell (937), Winfield (1216), Gwynn (790).

Chicago Cubs second basement Ryne Sandberg is in, though Raines beats him in every possible category:

Add two World Series titles with the New York Yankees and you've got yourself a memorable career.
Fix this, Cooperstown.

In the meantime, here's a closer look at the cards, first from Fleer's 1995 Fleer Ultra set (card #33), showing him attempting one of his signature surprise bunts, which he signed in black sharpie:

And here he is with his trademark smile, from Pinnacle Brands' 1996 Score set (card #449), which he signed in blue sharpie:

And here's a ballad singing his praise and talking up some of his achievements:


He remains my favourite baseball player of all time, and was the main reason why I loved the Montréal Expos so much. He likely signed those cards for me in his second stint with the team.

Érik Bédard Swatch Card

Nearly five years ago, I traded a football jersey card (some quarterback, I don't remember which one) to someone who'd read my blog for this card of baseball pitcher Érik Bédard:

It's card #CC-EB from Upper Deck's 2007 Masterpieces collection (and Captured On Canvas sub-set), showing him with the Baltimore Orioles, with whom he had his best seasons; as a mater of fact, he even finished fifth in Cy Young voting in 2007 on the strength of a 13-5 record with 221 strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA.

It was one of only three seasons in which his ERA was below 3.50; injuries were a big part of his career - he'd even had ''Tommy John'' surgery on his pitching arm (left) as far back as 2003, when he was barely out of college. He retired earlier this summer after attempting a comeback with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who hired him as a pitching coach instead.

Jeff Reardon Autographed Card

Jeff Reardon was a star closer when I became familiar with the Montréal Expos in the mid-1980s, a two-time All-Star (1985 and 1986) and Cy Young nominee.

However, as with most things Expos, leading the league in a statistical category (in his case, saved games, with 41 in 1985 and 35 in 1996) usually meant getting a raise, and that usually meant the team couldn't afford it, so he was traded to the Minnesota Twins, with whom he won the 1987 World Series.

In 1988, he became the first pitcher ever to save 40 games in both the National League and the American League, and played in his third of four All-Star games, the fourth being 1991 with the Boston Red Sox, as shown in this card where he is wearing their grey (away) uniform:

It's from Upper Deck's 1991 Series 1 (i.e. Low Numbers, encompassing cards #1-700 - this one is #418 - the High Numbers set had cards 701-800) and signed in black sharpie when he returned to the NL and faced the Expos, in either 1992 as a member of the Atlanta Braves or, more likely, 1993 with the Cincinnati Reds.

He retired after the 1994 season and has faced a lot of personal problems, most of them stemming from his son's death from a drug overdose in 2004 and the medication he was prescribed to help deal with the tragedy, culminating into this (which he was eventually found not guilty of, though he did spend time in a psychiatric ward and was treated with electroshock therapy):

I wish him and his family nothing but the best and thank him for the good times we had watching him, and perhaps this serves as a reminder that we are all just one tragedy away from spiraling out of control, even when our nickname is The Terminator.