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Al Pedrique: RBI Baseball mystery man

Dave Farquhar Baseball, Retro Computing September 11, 2017September 19, 2018AAA, AC, ac adapter, ac adapters, adapter, Barry Bonds, baseball, cardinals, Mike Schmidt, mystery, National League, NES, nintendo, nintendo nes, pittsburgh pirates, RBI, Topps, volts, World Series 0 Comment

RBI Baseball was the first hugely popular baseball game to appear on the Nintendo NES. It featured real baseball teams who’d done well in 1986 and 1987 with actual player names, so kids could replay the 1986 and 1987 postseasons. It also featured two All-Star teams. The National League All Star team included a mystery man: Pedrique, a shortstop. His real life counterpart was Al Pedrique, who briefly played shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Today, if people remember Al Pedrique, it’s probably for his appearance in RBI Baseball.

Most valuable baseball cards of the 1970s

Dave Farquhar Baseball August 7, 2017December 13, 20171950s, 1980s, 1990s, andre dawson, baseball, baseball cards, cardinals, Gary Carter, George Brett, Kansas City, Mike Schmidt, plastic, royals, san diego padres, st. louis, Topps, Willie Mays, World Series 0 Comment

Although the 1970s may not have been quite the golden era for baseball that, say, the 1950s were, the decade produced a good number of stars. An important thing to consider, too, is that many players Generation X grew up watching came up in the 1970s. That, along with lower production numbers, makes it an important decade in today’s market. Let’s take a year by year walk through the most valuable baseball cards of the 1970s.

1981 Fleer baseball cards

Dave Farquhar Baseball July 20, 2017July 18, 20171950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, AVG, baseball, baseball cards, cardinals, cardstock, Fleer, George Brett, hal mcrae, Mike Schmidt, MLB, New Jersey, photograph, royals, Topps, willie wilson, World Series 0 Comment

It’s just my opinion, but I think 1981 Fleer baseball cards get less respect than they deserve. It ended Topps’ 25-year monopoly on baseball cards and, frankly, I think it’s a nicer set than the Topps or Donruss sets from the same year.

Yes, compared to the smooth and polished Topps, the Fleer set at times looked like amateur work. But they didn’t make as many mistakes as fellow upstart Donruss did. And they tried some things with their set that Topps had been unwilling to do. The 1981 Fleer baseball cards got some critical accolades at the time, and frankly I think it’s an underrated ’80s set. It didn’t contribute a lot to the most valuable cards of the 1980s, but it certainly helped shape the decade.

So much for flashes in the pan

Dave Farquhar Baseball July 29, 2015Alex Gordon, baseball, Bret Saberhagen, cardinals, Danny Jackson, Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain, Major League, royals, Scott Boras, Yordano Ventura, Zack Greinke

I’ve had some questions about the Royals’ wheeling and dealing for their pennant drive, and of course I have an opinion about that.

Mostly I’m glad I was wrong about last year’s heartbreak turning into a flash in the pan. But you may be surprised to hear I’m not too heartbroken that the Royals traded away five pitchers so they could rent Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist for two months, or three if everything goes as planned.

Final thoughts on the Houston Astros’ database

Dave Farquhar Baseball, security June 18, 2015baseball, breach, cardinals, CNN, drugs, facebook, hacker, hacking, Houston Astros, Password, passwords, royals

One of my college buddies (Hi Christian!) shared my previous post on Facebook, pointing out that I’m a long-suffering Royals fan in Cardinals country, and adding that what I said was balanced and dispassionate.

I’m normally anything but dispassionate. But in this case, it’s not a baseball matter–it’s a business matter, and neither my employer nor any past employer is involved, so it’s easy to be detached and dispassionate. I guess you can say my take on hacking has changed. I was going to say “evolved,” but “changed” is more dispassionate.

Minor-League hacking in the MLB

Dave Farquhar Baseball, security June 17, 2015June 17, 2015baseball, breach, cardinals, FBI, hacking, Houston Astros, IP, IP address, ip addresses, ISP, license plate, Major League, MLB, Password, password list, prison, Spring, st. louis

So, about a year ago, the Houston Astros announced their internal player database had been breached. This week, more details emerged, pointing right at the St. Louis Cardinals.

It wasn’t a terribly sophisticated attack. You knew I’d write about this, but I’ll explore it from an IT security perspective more than from a baseball perspective.

My seventh 1935 Goudey: Four Beleaguered Braves

Dave Farquhar Baseball January 25, 2015January 12, 2015Babe Ruth, Bill Terry, Boston Braves, Burleigh Grimes, cardinals, Carl Hubbell, Goudey, webster groves

The fourth and final ’35 I bought (so far I hope) from Dugout in Webster Groves featured four men who had the misfortune of suffering through the entire Boston Braves 1935 season. All are rather obscure and information about of them was difficult to come by.

“I had a Babe Ruth like that,” the owner said as I flipped through his ’35s, picking out the best condition cards from among the duplicates. My ears perked up. “Really?” I said, mishearing the “had.”

“Yeah, that sold fast.”

Disappointment stings. Of course, the guys on this card knew all about that. Read more

My sixth 1935 Goudey: Bill Terry

Dave Farquhar Baseball January 24, 2015January 11, 2015baseball, Bill Terry, cardinals, Carl Hubbell, Goudey, National Leaguer, New York, New York Giants, st. louis, World Championship, World Series

My sixth ’35 featured four Giants players. I didn’t realize at first what a good card it was, that it featured four All-Stars and not one but two Hall of Famers. Bill Terry was the obvious one, but it’s easy to forget how good the Giants were then given that Terry and Mel Ott and Carl Hubbell towered over the rest of the team.

My fifth 1935 Goudey: Dazzy Vance

Dave Farquhar Baseball January 18, 2015January 10, 20151940s, baseball, cardinals, Goudey, Jimmie Foxx, Louis Browns, Major League, Major League Baseball, National League, Philadelphia Athletics, st. louis, Washington Senators, World Series

As I mentioned before, four of my cards came in a single visit to a local baseball card shop. The nicest card in terms of condition that I bought in that four-card batch featured Hall of Fame pitcher Dazzy Vance, so overall it was probably the best card out of the batch as well.

Vance is the only Hall of Famer on this card, but the other three players certainly had interesting careers, even though 1935 wasn’t necessarily a highlight year for any of them.

Baseball cards for the lulz

Dave Farquhar Baseball November 6, 2014November 1, 2014baseball, baseball cards, cardinals, Felix Martinez, George Earnshaw, Goudey, Jose Lima, Neifi Perez, Philadelphia Athletics, royals, st. louis, Wild Card, Willie Mays, Yuni Betancourt

After the Royals won the Wild Card game and officially ended their postseason drought, I thought of a novel way to celebrate it: Celebrate their badness.

After all, there are people who celebrate the 1962 Mets, and between 1986 and 2013 the Royals had quite a few players who wouldn’t have been good enough for the 1962 Mets, so why not?

So I dredged up the memories of those players I’ve tried to forget, so I could buy baseball cards of them. Read more

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