Sad State Of The Marlins

Just got done reading an article about how bad of shape the Miami Marlins are in. Seeing the pictures from the article brings to mind the phrase I've heard a few times throughout my life. What happens when you throw a party and no one shows up? I guess the Marlins can answer that question for us now. The main picture of the article is a line of four people waiting a half hour before single game tickets go on sale. Looking at the picture I think one of the four is an employee for crowd control. Gotta keep those rowdy Marlins fans in check you know. If I am right it makes the situation even worse. It would show how clueless the owner is of the damage done with the Blue Jays trade.

After gutting the team I don't know what ownership expected. Maybe they were hoping that the beautiful stadium would still get people to show up. While it might help a little it's not going to solve the bad feelings ownership has now created.

As a fan of both the Mariners, and Rockies I know a little about bad teams so I can feel for the Marlins a little. Both the Mariners, and Rockies have tried to win atleast so it is different. The interesting thing is will the Marlins suffer from some of the same attendance issues the Mariners suffered from last season or will it be worse? Watching one of the few Mariners games I did at home last year. There was one game that the attendance was below 20,000. While this might not be alarming to most, the game was an Ichiro bobble-head giveaway. If there is anything Northwest people love it is an Ichiro bobble-head. So to still have bobble-heads left it was quite the stunner.

Personally we have to drive over four hours to Seattle for a game, and the team was so sad we decided it wasn't worth the cost. While they are trying to improve I don't know if we will make a trip this season either. Imagine how it would be for the Marlins this season. You'll have fans that won't drive across town as the cost will be to much.

In closing I read a few of the comments from the article, and these were the best.

the best part about being a Marlins fan is that you know every other single Marlins fan.

I called the stadium and asked what time the game starts, and they said what time can you get here

Marlins 2013 home opener: 3 people, 16 pigeons and a moth.

Feeling Thifty

It's been over a month since my last successful trip to a Goodwill. While I have only been twice since then they were both busts. Something just told me that today would be different and before coming home a trip was needed. Work was slow so they let five people leave early, and I was lucky enough to be one of those people. Leaving at lunch I thought it'd be fun to take the side trip, and see if I could find anything good.

Once inside I made the usual trip down the sports aisle where they sometimes have the advertising baseballs. I've been very selective on picking these up as currently five are still looking for a showing place. Lately it's been easy as I haven't seen anything new in baseballs. Turning around I found a white matte that I hoped would go with a frame I had picked up two months ago. Two weeks ago Walgreens had a sale on 8x10 photos so I blew up both a Safeco Field, and a Daytona Raceway picture. The matte looks awesome with the picture, and will end up on the wall in the near future.

Rounding the corner I hit the nick-nac aisle, and the search was on. A third of the way down the aisle on the top shelf were five bobble-heads. Looking at each one disappointment started to set in as three were damaged, and the other two were the infamous Brent Morel which was a giveaway this past season at a Corvallis Knights game. I say infamous as it seems like no matter where the Goodwill is I find a minimum one of these bobble-heads. Even the one at the coast which is two hours away had the Morel bobble-head.

The three damaged would have been great additions so it was sad to see all three in the shape they were in. One was the old Portland Rockies owner, whose head fell off when I picked him up. The second a Portland Beaver player had a chip missing on the batting helmet, and the sponsor blocks had chips were damaged as well. The third was the Portland Timbers, and it's chainsaw was torn off.

Still wandering the row as I wanted to make sure nothing was missed. A lady moved a couple items on the bottom shelf in the blue section. As she rounded the corner they fell to the ground revealing.

2007 Raul Ibanez

This goes with the Kenji Johjima I got last month at the coast. Still missing is the Ichiro with Gold Gloves, and Felix Hernandez. If I ever find those two at a Goodwill my next stop will be a store for a lottery ticket. 

Excited about the find I tried to put the items back on the shelf. While trying to put things back up another one slid out of place to show another box.

2009 Ken Griffey Jr.

This goes with a Brandon Marrow we got at a game we went to in Seattle. I personally love this series, and hope to finish it one day. The problem is as with the 2007 series Ichiro, and Felix are missing along with Franklin Gutierrez. When put together they form an outside of Safeco Field. The Ichiro has the glove with the hole in it sits outside the left field gate.

Overall this will be a tough trip to beat as it might even be my most successful ever.

The Biz- Jim Sundberg

When I started this blog it was to showcase, and share the three hobbies that I enjoy. Those hobbies are baseball cards, pocket schedules, and business cards. While I've showed some business cards, and pocket schedules when they arrive in either trades, or in artelopes. The biggest share of this blog has been about baseball cards. While I have really enjoyed sharing my opinions on cards, and done some different types of posts with pictures of baseball cards.

Every so often I want to share a business card or two, and let them stand on their own. Doing these posts will hopefully be enjoyable for you the readers of this blog. Some of these in my opinion are pretty cool, and as you will see over time is the reason I enjoy collecting them. Some are more than just the team logo. As with the Artelopes I will label these posts.. The Biz....

I wanted to go big with this series, and share something huge. Thinking through what would be the biggest card to start with. I came up with a card that covers baseball in a big way.

As you can see I deleted Jim's contact information so he can keep his privacy. The Rangers have decent cards design wise. They aren't great, but they aren't bad either. Most MLB teams are lacking in design with a few standouts. In general most are like this one as it's just the team logo, and information. This card is the currently the only ex-player that I have in the collection. Hopefully in the future I can add some other big names into the collection.

Jim has been in the Rangers front office since 2004 in various positions. In 2008 he was named as the Senior Executive Vice President. This is the position Mr. Sundberg still holds to this very day.

If there is a team's card you'd love to see in the future let me know as I'd love to share them. All sports are fair game as this collection covers them all.

This Post Sponsored By T-Mobile

While I know this is almost a month late. In January it was announced that MLB was changing all bullpen phones to cellular. The change comes due to an agreement that named T-Mobile as the official phone carrier of the MLB. In the past the usual sight that could be seen would be.

Now instead of the old fashioned phone with the cord as seen above. Word is there will be a base to hold the phone while not in use. I guess it's good to see that baseball is starting to catch up with the time in the phone area now. Imagine the joy the first time we see this sight of a player or manager with cellphone in hand.

The wild part is with all the pranksters that play baseball. How long do you think it will take for some of these guys to be doing crazy stuff with those phones? It wouldn't surprise me to find out that right now there is a bullpen pitcher sitting in his house with ideas flowing. I can see it right now. He's there writing down idea after idea on what he can do to this phone, and not get in to much trouble with the manager.

Odds are the cord slowed these pranksters down. Minus the cord there is no telling what chaos will ensue now. I for one would love to be around when they start deciding to let the fun begin.

This leaves me with another question to ponder. Now that we've gotten cellphones what will be the next part of baseball to catch up with the times?