Gary Sheffield

Mike Piazza acknowledges the cheering crowd on Sept. 29, 2013 (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)

Our second Met in Cooperstown

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Paul

Last night, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced that Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza would be inducted this summer as the Class of 2016.

Griffey set a new record, appearing on 437 of the 440 ballots cast. (The old record was held by Tom Seaver – our first Mets representative in Cooperstown – who received 98.84 percent of the vote in 1992.)

It took four years, but Piazza finally crossed the 75 percent threshold in this year’s election. And while I can’t figure out how a man who’s been retired from baseball since 2007 managed to do anything that “made him a Hall of Famer” since the last election, I’d rather celebrate the voters getting something right.

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Uncategorized

My last baseball cards of 2013

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Paul

Anthony, a longtime blog reader, sent me this pair of 1972-style mini cards from this year’s Topps Series II set. (Just 19 more, and I’ll have the insert set finished. Thank you.)

Barring another unexpected envelope in the mail tomorrow, they will be the last baseball cards I add to my collection in 2013.

You can follow Paul’s Random Baseball Stuff on Facebook or Google+, see my photos on Flickr and Instagram, and follow @PaulsRandomStuf on Twitter, where I talk about about a variety of things in addition to baseball.

Baseball, Uncategorized

You can celebrate Gary Sheffield’s birthday by buying collectibles from his 500th home run game

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Paul

sheffield-base — Image taken from eBay listing

Former outfielder Gary Sheffield turns 43 today. I think most New York Mets fans are still more likely to think of Sheffield as “Dwight Gooden‘s nephew” than remember his time as an actual Mets player, but he did accomplish one significant milestone while playing for New York.

On April 17, 2009, Sheffield hit his 500th career home run off of Milwaukee Brewers reliever Mitch Stetter. For $580, you can own a base that was used in that game that has been signed by Sheffield and authenticated by Major League Baseball.

If that’s a bit too pricey, you can get a signed 8×10 photo of Sheffield hitting the home run for $49.99 plus $10 shipping.

Baseball, Uncategorized

Random Thursday evening thoughts on the Wilpons, Ryota Igarashi and others…

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Paul

glover park softball league championships 7.26.08 - 3665 — Photo credit: Laura Padgett

Over the past two days, Wilpon & son have made their appearances in Port St. Lucie. They held court with the media, so we got to hear Fred & Jeff‘s thoughts on the Madoff lawsuit and their plans for the team’s future.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of talking about all of that. I don’t really want to see or hear from Wilpon & son until there’s some resolution to the lawsuit or the process of selling a stake in the Mets.

For the next few weeks, I want to get to know the new Mets and dream about what a lineup that features a healthy Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay could do. I don’t want to worry about Wall Street, Ponzi schemes or anything else like that when I think about the baseball.

* * *

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Autographs, New York Mets, Uncategorized

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Paul

Gary__Sheffield

Today, let’s continue to look at the 2009 New York Mets (and let me show off another new autograph acquisition.)

Gary Sheffield‘s signing right before Opening Day seemed to take everyone by surprise. Sure, for years I thought it would be nice to see Sheffield play on the same team that made his uncle famous. But with Sheffield at the end of his career, the move didn’t make a lot of sense — the last time he played at least 20 games in the field in a season was 2006.

To the surprise of everyone, Sheffield dedicated himself to becoming a competent Major League outfielder again. Sure, he wasn’t a gold glove candidate. But he wasn’t Daniel Murphy, either.

The highlight of CitiField’s inaugural season turned out to be Sheffield’s 500th home run. (At least unless you’re a big Paul McCartney fan.) It even turned out to be a game winner.

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