2019 MLB Hall of Fame and the 30 teams/30 players blog bat around

There's two great topics to cover today instead of posting cards I bought, so let's hit 'em both!

First, the 2019 Hall of Fame election announcement.  Huge congrats to:

Roy Halladay:  200 wins, 2 Cy Youngs, 8 All-Star nods, a perfect game plus a no-hitter (the latter during the playoffs!) and a career bWAR of 64.3 over 16 seasons.  It's a shame he won't be there to celebrate his induction.

Edgar Martinez:  2 batting titles, 7 All-Star appearances, and a 68.4 bWAR in 18 seasons (though he didn't play a "full" one until his fourth).  Edgar was the Platonic ideal of a DH and made people appreciate OBP.

Mike Mussina:  270 wins, 7 Gold Gloves, 5 All-Star selections, a crazy 83.0 bWAR in 18 seasons, and he saved his best for last, winning 20 games in 2008 before retiring.  His Yankees career was bookended by World Series titles he missed out on, plus it's not his fault that Baltimore's owner was a cheap asshole.

Mariano Rivera:  652 saves (a record), five World Series rings (he was the '99 MVP), 13 All-Star selections, and a 56.2 bWAR in 19 seasons.  He waited his turn for a couple years then rode into the record books as a Yankees legend.  More often than not if the Yankees got to the 8th or 9th with a lead, it was "Enter Sandman" and the game was over thanks to the greatest closer the game has seen.  Also the first unanimous selection!

All four of these guys are very deserving and I look forward to their ceremony in Cooperstown this summer.

Next, the 30 for 30 blog bat around:  the player I immediately think of when I hear the name of each modern team.  (All scans that aren't mine come from COMC.)

Arizona -- Luis Gonzalez.  Came up with one of the biggest hits in World Series history--against Mariano Rivera, no less--after the D-Backs almost let the Yanks claim a fourth straight title.

Atlanta -- Greg Maddux.  With apologies to the likes of Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson, the best pitcher of his generation.

Baltimore -- Cal Ripken Jr.  Nothing against the Robinsons, but this one was easy.

Boston -- Ted Williams.  I've never been a fan of their recent teams so I went with an obvious classic choice here.

Chicago Cubs -- Ernie Banks.  C'mon, he's "Mr. Cub"!

Chicago White Sox -- Frank Thomas.  There was a period in the early 90s when I loved the White Sox, and that was mainly thanks to "the Big Hurt".

Cincinnati -- Barry Larkin.  The Big Red Machine was fantastic but give me Barry any day.

Cleveland -- Bob Feller.  An incredible pitcher who was fun to watch in old baseball videos and a pleasure to meet in person.

Colorado -- Larry Walker.  He had his best years with the Rockies and put up some crazy numbers in his time.

Detroit -- Lou Whitaker.  So many to choose from, especially Al Kaline, but I'll go with my favorite guy growing up, another legend (and deserving HOFer) who stuck with the team for his entire career.

Houston -- Jeff Bagwell.  Man was his crouched stance and wound-up swing fun to watch as he mashed homers.

Kansas City -- George Brett.  A great hitter and representative of his era.  Three words:  "pine tar incident".  Three more:  "straight fuckin' water".

Los Angeles Angels -- Jim Abbott.  You younger guys can have Trout, but I'll go with another Michigan favorite, the amazing pitcher who throw a no-hitter with one arm.

Los Angeles Dodgers -- Kirk Gibson.  Gibby would have been a good choice for the Tigers too, but I'm putting him here for his storybook moment in '88.  None of the recent guys really appeal to me, but those 80s teams sure were fun!

Miami/Florida -- Jeff Conine.  I'm not sure if I've seen him come up yet--Giancarlo Stanton is a popular choice--but he was an original Marlin that was among the team's leaders in games.

Milwaukee -- Robin Yount.  Another guy I got to appreciate a bit at the tail end of his career.

Minnesota -- Kirby Puckett.  Joe Mauer was my second choice (Killebrew was just too much before my time) but I had to go with the guy that brought energy to the '87 and '91 Twins.

New York Mets -- Gary Carter.  The Mets are one of the few teams here that I just never really cared for, but Carter's a HOFer that was a big piece of the '86 champs.

New York Yankees -- Derek Jeter.  I went with one of many obvious choices, just a more recent one.  Jeter was the face of the 90s/2000s Yankees dynasty, though I wish he would have made a pit stop in Ann Arbor on the way to Cooperstown!

Oakland -- Rickey Henderson.  The do-everything cog of the A's on four different occasions, he was the greatest base-stealer ever and put together the 19th best bWAR the game has seen.  And he was simply a blast to watch.

Philadelphia -- Mike Schmidt.  Nobody recent could topple the power-hitting 3B for the 1980 champs, though he retired when I was still quite young.

Pittsburgh -- Roberto Clemente.  I can't possibly add anything new in lauding a true legend and humanitarian.

St. Louis -- Stan Musial.  My modern choice would probably be Albert Pujols but Musial is such a beloved HOFer and career Cardinal that there was no question in my mind that he was "the Man" for the job here.

San Diego -- Tony Gwynn.  I opted against "Mr. Tiger" but went with "Mr. Cub" and now "Mr. Padre".  The greatest pure hitter of his generation lives on thanks to some very cool bloggers.

San Francisco -- Willie Mays.  This choice was far too easy, especially after I confirmed that most of his Giants career was spent in San Fran, not New York.  One of the greatest five-tool athletes ever.

Seattle -- Ken Griffey Jr.  The most fun player to watch in the 90s, health prevented him from being the true heir to Mays, but when he was playing, you stopped and watched.

Tampa Bay -- Rocco Baldelli.  First reaction:  "Eh, who cares?"  Second reaction:  "Jeez is Florida baseball garbage".  Third reaction:  "Ok, Baldelli was a good guy".

Texas -- Nolan Ryan.  He pitched for so long I got to see a lot of him in my formative baseball years, and the flamethrower was amazing to watch game after game.

Toronto -- Joe Carter.  That World Series homer, tho.  Other guys have come and gone but if that moment doesn't scream Blue Jays, I don't know what does.

Washington/Montreal -- Vladimir Guerrero.  The current version of Washington doesn't have enough history yet so I'm going back to the Expos days.  Again, Pedro Martinez was a good option, but Montreal is where Guerrero built his legend as his generation's answer to Clemente while toiling in relative obscurity.

I realize a number of my choices were obvious and/or unoriginal but I tried my best to adhere to the "first guy you come up with while not thinking about it" idea.  What do y'all think?

Another another completed set: 1997 Bowman's Best

When I did my previous wantlist completion extravaganza post, one set that was conspicuously absent (assuming you were as intimate with my wantlist as I am) was 1997 Bowman's Best baseball.  I needed only one card, but alas, I couldn't find a reasonable price on it from SportLots, COMC or eBay MakeSellersSquealLikeAPigBay because of who and what it was.  Who and what is it?  A rookie card of Roy Halladay.  Just my freakin' luck that I get a box of this set some number of years ago (not in '97 when it was bigger, more like five or 10 years ago, maybe), drag my feet on completing it, then end up needing exactly one card of Philadelphia baseball Jesus.  But then,

BlowoutCards is the alpaca in this scenario

BlowoutCards message boards to the rescue!  A guy had a pair of this exact card for $6 delivered each.  $6!  The cheapest I could find on COMC was $10, and forget about FeeBay.  Because you're reading this post, you know I was on that like dayf on Gypsy Queen (has he posted a master set yet?).  Anyway, here's the highlight of one more completed set, 1997 Bowman's Best baseball:

Because this post is a bit light on content, let's close with a semi-related image, Roy from the IT Crowd:

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"  If you're in my line of work, that's hilarious.  Seriously, check out this show, it's awesome.

To all you other collectors slaving over incomplete sets, keep hope alive--if I can do it, anyone can.