What's The Over/Under?

Sports are back and that means that sites like fanduel and draftkings are running crazy betting schemes to get new gamblers to use their products.

I don't gamble, even when it's a sure fire thing like Kansas City Chiefs not losing by over 100 points.  My problem is I always like to root for the underdog (Hello Pittsburgh Pirates fandom!!!!).

I am deep into enjoying my pizza with the girlfriend watching the Steelers Broncos game and thinking with a 3 point difference, its looking too close to bet on anything even straight up, no point spreads. 

I tend to always be optimistic of the impossible happening, but in the case of today's game I just want the Steelers to win. 

Well, when it comes to impossible and sports cards, often times Topps Customer Support is spoken in a bad light.

I ordered a 5 pack of Topps Now cards that discussed the 100 year anniversary of the Negro Leagues.  

I did this for two reasons.

1)It has Andrew McCutchen on it so I needed 1 for the PC and

2)It has players of teams that are collectable so it could make for nice gifts or trade pieces. 

Unfortunately Topps sent me only 1 of the 5 cards ordered.

I reached out to them via email and through Twitter, but haven't heard back yet.

If you were gambling, what percentage do you think that Topps will respond and send me my four missing cards before the year is up? 0%, 25%, 50%, 100%

Leave a comment below...

#TBT: "Judy" of the Crawfords

Over the past 3 Thursdays I have shown off some of the biggest and most popular names in the former Negro Leagues.  Those names include Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, and Cool Papa Bell.

As we celebrate Black History Month on this final day of February I want to take a look at a few more of the former stars of the Pittsburgh Crawfords.

I have shown a bunch of cards on this blog featuring the purplish pinstripe worn by the Crawfords and tributed by the Pirates over the past few seasons.

Topps purchased these pinstripe Crawfords Jerseys the Pirates wore and used them for multiple product releases over the past few years, most notably in Triple Threads.

We have seen it in Triple Threads by both Cutch and Gerrit Cole.

We have seen it used for the 2016 Scouting Report

The pinstripe even showed up for Cutch's Laser booklet relic. You can see the purple pinstripe to the far left of the window.

The pinstripe also appeared for the Sy Berger tribute for Berger's Best

And here is one more I have celebrating Cutch's MLB debut featuring a relic not from the game mentioned on the card.

The Pittsburgh Crawfords had a really cool design with their uniforms.  It featured a red hat and piping with purple pinstripes.  I am not sure where the idea came to use that combination, but it worked.

In addition to Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell playing for the Crawfords they had a rock of a third baseman in the name of William "Judy" Johnson.

I only have two cards of Judy Johnson and they both feature the same image of Johnson in a Crawfords uniform playing the hot corner.

#tbt: Paige(ing) Another Legend

Hopefully you will enjoy these Black History Month segments this month as there seemed to be some modest responses to the idea.

In addition to the Homestead Grays, the Pirates have paid tribute to another Negro League team throughout the years, the Pittsburgh Crawfords.

The Pirates have worn this uniform once each year since 2012.

It features a gray uniform with purplish pinstripes and red piping along the edges in addition to the numbering and lettering.

While I am not aware of any cards of Cutch being produced wearing this uniform, there have been a few relics produced where the uniform is clearly from an old Crawfords jersey.

This 2016 Gypsy Queen is my favorite as it has the purple like pin stripes and the red Majestic logo worn along the sleeve.  I will show more swatches of this jersey in future posts along with other Pittsburgh Crawfords legends.

One of the first stars that the Pittsburgh Crawfords saw rise to prominence was Hall of Fame pitcher, Satchel Paige.

I don't have nearly enough cards of the former Negro players.

Satchel had a rough childhood even landing himself in reform school before gaining the attention as a teenager and signing a contract to play for $250 a month.

Soon after that initial contract, Satchell began to sign on and play for anyone who would be willing to pay for his electric arm.

Satchel is still the oldest player to make his MLB debut at the age of 42 years old when he began his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1947.

There are many urban myths about Satchell including my personal favorite where he had his team sit down on the field with bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th and clinging to a one run game.  Naturally as the story goes, Paige struck the batter out.

He is to this day considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

He was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

If you have 30 minutes to spare, I strongly suggest you listen to this video called Black Diamonds: The Satchell Paige Story.
The YouTube video is below.

It is essentially an interview with Satchell.  Truly worth the listen if you love baseball and the history of the game.  There is an interesting segment where Satchell talks about how Jackie Robinson wasn't even on the starting roster for the Kansas City Monarchs.  He would go on to say that any Negro League team could have beaten a team in the majors because those players in the Negro Leagues were tops in the country.