Baseball Cards - Poses vs. Action Shots

Long lost in the art of baseball card photos is the pose. As players got richer due to free agency back in the late 70's and 80's, the tendency to go along with scheduled photo shoots for baseball cards diminished. What once was a rarity and often given special attention in a card set - the action shot - became the norm. After all, what could be better than a shot of your favorite player taken while in action?

Well, I prefer the still photo, the pose. Some of the classic shots in baseball card history were because of the pose. I still remember this shot of Bob Oliver, first baseman for the Royals, from my childhood.

Recently, our four year old went with a friend to a Giants game. He bought a Topps Giants card set at the Dugout Store. While looking through the team set, I discovered Randy Johnson's 2009 card. His was the only one in the set that was a pose shot. It wasn't an action shot. I am truly glad to see this card. It will be valuable for me for a long time to come.

Congratulations Randy Johnson

He did it. 300 wins. This is a great achievement, not likely to occur again any time soon. I got to watch part of it on TV and hear the rest of it on the radio. Nail biter when Wilson tried to get out of the 8th inning jam.

Now go out and win another World Series, Randy!

Rainout = Double Header

Tonight the Giants were rained out in Washington so Randy Johnson will try for his 300th career victory as part of a double header tomorrow. I love how baseball takes raining on the parade and turns it into something beautiful. Let's see football play two.

Wet Win

Last night, Mrs. Scott and I had a date night at the Giants game. We had our usual box seats, but got free passes to the club level. So we ate there, getting a greater selection of food and condiments. It rained, and there were only a few thousand at most for the start of the game. Our train coming in has less than a dozen people on it as opposed to the usual hundreds. The seats were wet, but it was not a very cold rain. More misty in nature. The kind where you can feel the water evaporate and the extra humidity takes the chill off, strangely enough.

The Big Unit struck out the first five batters of the game, and took a no-hitter into the fourth inning. There were so few people, except in our row, that we decided to move back a couple of rows and spread out. The bullpen struggled to hold a win for Johnson, and Wilson had to pitch a two inning save, basically. Enough of that! The Rockies bullpen took their share of verbal abuse from the Friday night crowd, the Giants won, and the train ride home was peaceful.

Yet Again Another Non-No-Hitter

Today, I took our oldest son to the Giants game vs. Arizona. Randy Johnson was pitching for the G-men. The Big Unit took a no-hitter into the 7th inning before giving up a hit, the D-Backs' only of the game. I think I doomed myself to failure, as I called Mrs. Scott after the top of the sixth to make sure she had the TV on. I've never seen a no-hitter, but have come close on a number of occasions. Johnson is one of those pitchers where you know that he's able to do it if he's on.

Big Unit Comes Home

The Giants signed Randy Johnson to a one year contract. Johnson is from the Bay Area, not far from where I live and grew up. This will mean that the Giants will have three Cy Young winners in their starting rotation. Johnson, five times, Zito and Lincecum. Johnson still has some gas, but is no longer the pitcher he once was. He's got a history behind him that will help others on the team.

The rotation should be, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Zito and Johnson. Where and/or if Noah Lowry will fit remains a mystery. His recovery is still in question. Will the Giants make additional moves to set things in concrete? Brian Sabean has said that neither Cain nor Sanchez will move in a trade. Interesting.