Monday, April 27, 2009

CSN-CA Legends Series

Comcast SportsNet California recently began a new series titled "Legends," and they started it all off with an in-depth look at Rickey Henderson. To begin, I'm ecstatic that the A's have a new TV deal with CSN-CA, as their previous deal really sucked. I was lucky if one game per week was on TV here in Sacramento, and now I get almost all of them!

So, not only do they allow me to watch the A's, but they started off a new series with a special on Rickey as well! I actually haven't gotten a chance to watch all of it yet (it premiered on April 20th, and has been on a few times since then), but from what I've seen it's been pretty interesting!

The show is going to be on again April 28th at 8:30pm as well as April 30th at 7:00pm. This are all PST, and most of you guys probably don't get CSN-CA, but fortunately there are some clips available on the website.



A short clip contemplating why the A's might have traded Rickey to the Yankees in 1985.



Rickey Henderson - "One-of-a-Kind"



A few of Rickey's teammates (Dave Stewart, Terry Steinbach, Carney Lansford) and coach Tony LaRussa talk about playing with Rickey.



Rickey comments on how he'd like to be remembered as a ballplayer.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Any More Questions...?

Just a quick post today, featuring a pretty cool picture I received a few weeks ago, from the same source that sent me the one of Rickey hanging out with Minnie Mouse.



The picture was taken at the press conference following the announcement of Rickey's Hall of Fame induction. Rickey's known for providing the press with some pretty good quotes, and there were enough present that they weren't going to miss anything!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Rickey Henderson VIP Sweepstakes

In conjunction with the Rickey themed events that they are holding this year, the A's just announced a "Rickey Henderson VIP Experience Sweepstakes."

You can enter online at this link, and of course know who you can share your prize with if you win :)

Update: Rod at Padrographs noticed that it's limited to California residents only, so that eliminates a lot of people, but California still is a big place!

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The thumbnail above is on the A's homepage, but I couldn't find a larger version of it anywhere.

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It's obviously part of a logo that they created this year (and based on the picture that they used for the pocket schedule already).

Following is a list of the three prizes. It would have been nice to have a few more of the lower tiered prizes available, but something is definitely better than nothing!


Grand Prize:
One (1) Autographed Rickey Henderson jersey
A photo opportunity with Rickey Henderson
Four (4) tickets to an upcoming 2009 regular season A's game at the Coliseum and the opportunity for four fans to attend an on field pre-game batting practice viewing for that chosen game
One (1) $200 Athletics merchandise gift card good for purchases at the in-stadium merchandise team store only.

First Prize:
One (1) Autographed Rickey Henderson T-shirt
Two (2) tickets to an upcoming 2009 regular season A's game at the Coliseum and the opportunity for two fans to attend an on field pre-game batting practice viewing for that chosen game
One (1) $150 Athletics merchandise gift card good for purchases at the in-stadium merchandise team store only.

Second Prize:
One (1) Autographed Rickey Henderson T-shirt
Two (2) tickets to an upcoming 2009 regular season A's game at the Coliseum and the opportunity for two fans to attend an on field pre-game batting practice viewing for that chosen game
One (1) $50 Athletics merchandise gift card good for purchases at the in-stadium merchandise team store only.

Monday, April 20, 2009

2009 Oakland A's Pocket Schedule

Early last week I got an email from Jim over at TasteLikeDirt about something he had found while attending the A's open workout a few days earlier. The A's new pocket schedules had finally been released, and Rickey was featured on one of them!

It's hard to believe, but this is one of the few "new" Rickey items that has been released since I started this blog almost a year-and-a-half ago. After a few e-mails to the A's, and coming up empty (no one there even knew the schedule existed), I received a package in the mail from Ted, a Bay Area A's fan and collector of A's pocket schedules.




What an awesome schedule! I don't remember if I've mentioned it on the blog before or not, but my only other "collection" besides Rickey is of Oakland A's schedules. I also have a side collection of schedules of the teams that Rickey played for, during the years that he played for them. So, when my two collections come together, and Rickey is actually featured on the schedule (which has happened 4 or 5 times before), it's even better!

Here's a link to a slightly outdated list of all of the A's schedules I currently have. I'd definitely be interested in any that are not listed on here. This next link is of the teams that Rickey has played for over the years, and I need schedules for almost all of them.


On the July portion of the calendar, the A's even included a little mention of Rickey's Hall of Fame induction at the end of the month. As mentioned previously, the A's are celebrating Rickey Henderson Weekend the following week, with Rickey themed giveaways on both August 1st and 2nd.



This last pick is of the back of the schedule, which may not seem all that exciting, but it can be for a pocket schedule collector. The A's schedules typically feature different sponsors on the back (such as their local radio affiliates), and I'm sure that this is the case with this one. If anyone happens to find any more Rickey schedules, or any A's schedules in general, please let me know! Hopefully this is the first of many new collectibles showcasing Rickey's induction into the Hall.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Another Rickey Card in 2008: Tri-Star Signa-Cuts

Whenever a new checklist comes out, I always quickly scan it over to see if Rickey is included, but usually come away disappointed. When the TriStar Signa Cuts Baseball Edition checklist was released early last year, I saw that Rickey was included, but quickly forgot about the release.

First, I knew that the card would be extremely short-printed, and I'd never be able to afford it anyway. And second, based on the Franken-cards that I'd seen from Tri-Star's cut signature sets, I knew it was not going to be the most attractive card.

I received an e-mail from Ken (a fellow Rickey collector) last week, with scans of the Rickey card, which was the first time that I had seen it.






As expected, this card is horrendous! I don't see why they felt the need to hack a perfectly good signed card to pieces, and then put a little frame around it. To make matters worse, the 1985 Fleer card that they used was not the most exciting release in the first place.


Plus, considering that the main point of this card is the signature, it looks like he signed it while on a riding mower! It's definitely not one of the better Rickey sigs I've ever seen.



The back of the card features the typical legal jargon. It doesn't list the print run, but Ken says that only 2 were produced. I'm curious as to if the other card also features a similar mangled Fleer card, or if it is actually a different card that has been encapsulated.

Of all the signed Rickey Henderson cards that are out there, you'd think they could have purchased one that was a little nicer, especially considering that they only needed to buy two of them!

Other than the Prime Cuts game-used card that accidentally leaked out, this was the only card produced of Rickey in 2008. But, given the look of the card, I think the hobby would have been much better without it! I'm still holding out hope for better luck in 2009.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Recent Additions: 1980's and 1990's Cards

As you have probably noticed, my updates on the blog recently have been few and far between. There's many different reasons for that, with one of them being that I have been trying to do too much with each post. Instead of posting something short and sweet, I've tried to put together longer posts, which tend to take forever, and never seem to get finished.

From here on out, even if I've only got a single card to post, I'm going to try and get it done, rather than waiting until there's something more substantial. That way, the blog is updated more than once a month, and everything doesn't get backed up as it is now. I've had the following scans completed for about a month now, so it's finally time to put them out there

These are all cards that I recently received from 1980's and 1990's sets, which comprises the bulk of my collection. While I'm still excited about Rickey's more recent cards, I love nothing more than checking off these earlier cards from my list. Without further ado, on to the cards...



1989 Topps Big #271 -- I'm really not sure how this card had alluded me for so long. It does look similar to his 1989 Topps Big, and I must have thought that I had them both.



1991 Panini French Stickers #171 & #196 -- These French releases were the last Panini's that I still needed for my collection. I now should have all of Rickey Henderson cards that Panini produced, beginning in 1988 and continuing through 1996.



1992 Donruss Cracker Jack II #19 -- I had one of these already, but mine was badly off-center, and I was finally able to find a replacement. I always thought it was interesting that the 1991 Cracker Jack release was a Topps card, but the 1992 release was from Donruss. I have a stack of about 10 of these the I pulled from boxes of Cracker Jacks, but I just couldn't seem to run across a Rickey.



1996 Collector's Choice Gold Signature #240 -- I've almost completed my Collector's Choice Gold Signature set, with the only one remaining the 1994 Collector's Choice Gold Signature #510. I actually thought that I had picked it up a few weeks ago, but the seller actually sent me the 1995 card, so the search continues.



1996 Flair Gold #376 -- This is a parallel that I didn't know existed until fairly recently, when Beckett updated their master checklists.



1996 Leaf Preferred Steel Promos #57 -- I scanned the back of this one, since the front looks exactly like the regular base card. This is the silver promo, and I'm still on the lookout for the gold promo that was also produced.



1996 Padres Mother's #4 and 1997 Padres Mother's #5 -- I always enjoyed collecting the Rickey's Mother's Cookies cards, and since played on the West Coast after leaving the A's, he had cards produced with the Padres as well. I'm still missing the 1998 A's Mother's 2 card, which I'd love to add, as it would complete my Mother's collection, which started all the way back in 1984.



1996 Summit Above and Beyond #66 -- I've been trying to track this one down for awhile, and still need the Artist's Proof parallel. The Artist's Proofs from this Score brand sets (such as Summit and Zenith) are notoriously difficult to find.





1997 Donruss Limited Exposure Non-Glossy R.Henderson/D.Hamilton #85 -- Here's a variation that I was finally able to track down. The top version (showing the back of the card, with Rickey on the front) is the "error" with "Limited Exposure" listed under the card number, but featuring only the standard non-glossy finish. The card below is the corrected version, showing how the card was supposed to look



1997 Score Showcase Series Artist's Proofs #51 -- This is another one of those Score Artist's Proof that I was finally able to track down. I also just recently obtained the White Bordered Artist's Proof, which should be in the mail now. I still am looking for the "Hobby Reserve" parallel from this set, which I've actually never seen, and was only recently added to the Beckett checklist.



1998 Angels Score #1 and 1998 Angels Score Platinum #1 -- I'm not sure how it worked out this way, but I've recently picked up a lot of the harder to find Score parallels that I was missing. I purchased the entire team set of Angels Score cards (denoted by the team logo in the corner), to get the card on the left. If anyone is interested in any of the other cards, just let me know. I also picked up the Platinum version on the right, for the whopping price of $0.25. It's definitely the best deal on a Rickey card that I've found in awhile.



1998 Pacific Silver #9 -- It seems that the late 1990's Pacific parallels are just never-ending, and it's usually impossible to figure out which version you actually own! There were surprisingly only three parallels to the 1998 card, and I'm still missing the Platinum Blue and Red Threatt (and yes, it does have 2 t's).



1998 Paramount Gold #80 and 1998 Paramount Red #80 -- The 1998 Paramount set included 5 different cards, with the Gold and Red versions shown here. I also have the Copper parallel, but am still missing both the Holographic Silver and Platinum Blue versions.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Nick Adenhart



I really don't know what to say, and I wasn't going to say anything at all. But, after reading Night Owl's post, I knew that I had too. I was at school late last night, but was able to "watch" part of the game online, while catching most of the rest on radio and TV.

I didn't know much about Nick, but I do know that he pitched a great game against the A's, throwing 6 innings of shutout ball. As many times as the A's play the Angels during the year, I wasn't excited about the prospect of seeing him a few more times this season. There are a couple of A's pitchers that the A's can't seem to score any runs off of, and Nick was adding himself to that list.

I was pretty excited about the A's come from behind win last night, and was looking forward to reading the recap when I got in this morning. This quickly changed, however, when I signed on and read the news about Nick's accident. Nick was living every kids dream, and while leaving the ballpark after a great outing, all this was suddenly taken away from him. He had a lot of life ahead of him, which he was robbed of by another selfish individual.

It's not yet known if the person who ran the red light was intoxicated at the time, but that seems to be the case. Not only that, but he fled the scene of the accident, only to be caught while on the run. I know that nothing can bring Nick back, or the two other individuals who were also killed in the crash, but I hope that justice will eventually run its course.

The A's vs. Angels game was cancelled for tonight, and rightfully so. If I'm feeling as strongly about this right now, I can only imagine what his fellow teammates are feeling. My heart goes out to all of them, and to the families of Nick and the other passengers.