14th Curly Blogiversary!

Today marks the 14th Blogiversary of "Curly W Cards". Some readers might be a little confused because just last week I celebrated the 20th Blogiversary a my main blog Kirk's Knook. Back 14 years ago I was ambitious by adding a third blog to my plate. I already had my regular blog and my regular trading cards blog, but noticed at the time there was an absence of blogs focused on Washington Nationals (and Senators) cards so Curly W Cards was born. I missed last year's blogiversary and only made one post about a glitch or possible hijacking of the blog. I forget what the dang thing was doing other than the fact I didn't have access to the blog (and it was just that blog with the problem at the time). 

In the meantime I don't know what the fate of this blog is or will be for this year.

Happy Blogiverary To Curly W Cards

 

HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY!

Today marks the 11th Blogiversary for "Curly W Cards". I think I might have missed posting last year for the 10th Blogiversary. OH Well. Ten years is 10 years.

As is my tradition I am timing this post to be published at the same time of day that my very first post on this blog was.

A Soto Photo Plus

For Christmas my Oldest bro and his wife almost always include some Curly W stuff in the bag or box of gifts they give me. This year was no exception there were a few Nats memorabilia things in there. Sometimes they are silly nick nacks I would never by myself or even want and sometimes there are some real cool things that I have drooled over for ages. OK so maybe I haven't literally drooled over the thought of some of the memorabilia but you get the idea. This year one of the cool things was a Juan Soto T-Shirt a red one with The Nationals script a faux Juan Soto signature and the number 22, and This Photo from this past year's Home Run Derby that Juan Won. from Fanatics.

The photograph is 8" x 10" and for now I am keeping it in the plastic bag/packaging. I thought it was a resealable bag but it doesn't act like it. 

Here is my Tops Now card commemorating the event.

Since the photo isn't a card and I have already posted about the Topps Now card, here are some Juan Soto cards that I received for the baseball team box breaking group December break:

2022 Topps Baseball: Series 1: 150

2022 Topps Chrome Baseball: 129 ACK with those star things one the top and bottom edges this might be a stupid winterized version. Blah.

2021 Topps Chrome Baseball :1992 style: TC92-49

2021 Topps Finest Baseball: 7

2021 Panini Chronicles Obsidian Baseball: 37

 

Senators Singles: 1955 Bowman Style

1955 Bowman Bob Porterfield

Some readers may have already seen this card when I showed it on my regular card blog for reference while showing some retro Rams football cards that used the 1966 Topps Football design which in turn is an homage to the original 1955 Bowman Baseball design. I'm not sure why I chose this particular card for that other post when I really should have reserved it here were it belongs.

1955 Bowman Baseball: 304 Bob Porterfield

Upon studying this card the blurb on the back is awesome. It reads: 

MY BIGGEST THRILL IN BASEBALL

by Bob Porterfield

Baseball is a game of many thrills, but my own came on May 5, 1953. You know how they always say a pitcher remembers his hits, well, this was the day I hit a home run, and with the bases loaded. Not only was it a thrill hitting my first homer, but there was also the added thrill of having it a grand slam. I'll never forget it.

Wow! Awesome achievement for any player, but remember Bob was a pitcher in the AL years before the designated hitter position was created. Extra awesome.

By the way, I was going to scan and show a completely different card for this Senators Singles post. Oddly enough it was another Bob. In searching my scanned baseball cards folder looking for the other Bob card to see if I had scanned it (I had not) I came across the '55 Porterfield. I then checked my blogs to see if I had posted that card already, or if it was a waiting to be blogged scan. It had been posted already on my regular card blog, but not here.  

Senators Singles: 2011 Topps Roger Bernadina

2011 Topps Baseball 84 Roger Bernadina

In my last Senators Singles post on Tyler Clippard I mentioned a second card that was promised but never mentioned. This one features Roger Bernadina. Roger made a spectacular game saving catch against the Astros in 2012 to end and save the game in the 12th inning. One of my all-time fave Nationals plays.

Most of the images in this tile were screengrabs from video. I didn't bother trying to edit brightness or anything else. The first image was from a blog but looks to be originally from the Washington Post. That photo is from a different better angle than the video which is from the original MASN broadcast. The straight on angle would show better continuity and wouldn't have the post block some of the action.

Oh and look who was pitching - Tyler Clippard.

Screengrab from MASN video. 07 Aug 2012 Nats @ Astros

Now the Senator's Singles Card:

2011 Topps Baseball 84 Roger Bernadina

When Bernadina was with the Nats he had the nickname "The Shark" because of the way he would hunt down and snatch the ball to make spectacular catches. The last MLB team Roger appeared in a game with was the Dodgers in 2014.He was last contracted in 2016 with the Mets for the minor leagues. In November of 2016 Roger signed with the Kia Tigers in the Korean Baseball League (KBO League) in December 2017 he signed a one year contract with the KBO Tigers.

Image from Bernadinakia on Twitter

Related Links:

Nationals vs Astros: Danny Espinosa has 3 RBIs - Washington Post

Washington Nationals Fans Begin to Ask "Could This Be Our Year?" - Washington Post

Senators Singles: 2011 Topps Tyler Clippard

2011 Topps Baseball 74 Tyler Clippard

Doing some more searching of cards already scanned I found this gem. One of my many favorite late innings relief pitchers Tyler Clippard. I sort of showed it on my regular card blog some years ago in a mail day post. A What Post? Strange. Of course I also made a "promise" to show this card and another one on this blog. Wow there have been many times when I had planned on doing something and never end up doing it. Well this post corrects that six years later.

2011 Topps Baseball - 74 Tyler Clippard

Tyler started his career with the Yankees. He was with the 2017 World Series Winning Astros but despite being on the 40 man roster for them did not appear in post season play. He is currently under a minor league contract with the Blue Jays.

Senators Singles: 1954 Topps Wayne Terwilliger

1954 Topps Wayne Terwilliger

I should do this feature more often. I have considered a few times to try to do a daily single card posting thing with this feature along the lines of the blog Orioles Card "O" the Day (he only shows the card front), but I don't have the blogging stamina or the motivation to do it, even just the front. I think it would be fun to do though. Of course 99% of it would have to be planned well in advance and the posts drafted up and placed in the scheduled posting queue. I certainly have more than enough cards to post about. Some of the posts would appear to be "quick and dirty" posts since some of my cards I have no real back story for. I just collected them because I needed them for the collection. If I did do it I might have to yet again make a new blog, divide this blog in two or double post. UGH I already have 3 blogs to keep track of and organize. That is at least 2 blogs too many. OK so no new additional blog, just expand the scope of this blog to include more frequent single card posts. Since I really don't feel like taking the effort to post daily I'll settle on trying to post single card posts more often. Heck I need to just post more often. I will also try to make them all interesting.

Ah found a card that had been sitting in my pictures/baseball cards folder on my ancient XP laptop. From the looks of the scan it was also saved before I started using PhotoScape to finish up my scanned images a year or two ago. I don't think I've talked about this card anywhere.

1954 Topps Baseball: 73 Wayne Terwilliger

Senators Singles: Dick Hyde 1959 Topps

1959 Topps Dick Hyde

Once again I face the end of a month without having a single post. Forcing me to have a quick and dirty post. This card I got from a Sportlots auction for the minimum 25¢ opening bid. I vaguely mentioned this card in my latest Strive for '65 update on my regular card blog but didn't identify it.

Since this is a quick and dirty end of the month post I'll just show the card:

1959 Topps Baseball: 498 Dick Hyde

I also have Dick's 1960 Topps card at one time I think I had 3 or 4 of that card. I probably still have a dupe or two of that '60 card. Not sure but I know I have sent at least one to another collector.

Senators Singles: Signature Edition: 1965 Topps Roy Sievers

Signature Edition: 1965 Topps Roy Sievers

I have already mentioned this card on my regular blog for one of my "Strive For '65 Saturday" set build posts. Thus this is sort of a repeat post sort of. It is same post different blog. You can see the back of the card on that previous post.

1965 Topps Baseball: 574 Roy Sievers Signed on card in blue Sharpie.

I got the card from Ebay for $7.16 Free Shipping.

Nats Win 3rd Division Title Within 5 Years: With 3 Different Managers

The Nats are going back to the playoffs!

On Saturday 24 September 2016 The Washington Nationals notched their 90 win of the season by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates. They were not quite in the playoffs yet, their magic number was down to 1, but only for about a half-hour. The 2nd place team the New York Mets last year's NL East Division Champs were still playing their game with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets were behind but were rallying for a comeback. They didn't succeed and so the Nationals celebrated their Division Championship Clinch, in the visitors locker room at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

Hard to believe someone got them to stand still long enough for a group photo.

One again Bryce Harper wears interesting headgear for the celebrating. This year it was a Katie Ledecky USA Olympics Swim cap.

Sort of a repeat of the 2014 Division Clinch in Atlanta.

Harper's Headgear of choice was a Fire Fighter's Helmet.

The 2012 Celebration started an odd even year tradition in the Nation's Capital. Harper went with the standard backwards commemorative "Playoffs" hat like the rest of the team. He hadn't started his unique stylized trend yet.

When they won the division in 2012 it was the first time since 1933 a Washington Baseball team had been to the playoffs. The Nationals have won the NL East Division three times in the last five years.That is a mighty impressive achievement, although what makes it even more impressive is that they have done it with three different skippers at the helm. Davey Johnson, Matt Williams and Dusty Baker. Both Johnson and Williams won NL Manager of the Year the year they took the Nats into the Playoffs.

 2012 the salty dog Davey Johnson led the Nats to the stromy NLDS seas:

1975 Topps Baseball 57 Dave Johnson Braves

2014 saw the good ship Nationals sail into the rough seas of the playoffs with Matt Williams:

 1995 Fleer Ultra Baseball 247 Matt Williams Giants

This year 2016 the Captain at the helm is Dusty Baker:

 1981 Fleer Baseball 115 Dusty Baker Dodgers

The Nats need to start playing like they want to go deep into the playoffs. As of this posting there are four games left in the regular season and the Nats are only at 92-66. In 2012 they went 98-64 in the regular season and lost the NLDS 3-2 vs The Cardinals. 2014 they went 96-66 regular season and fell in the NLDS 3-1 vs The Giants.

This year even though they have the division they seem to have spun around and are backing into the playoffs. NOT GOOD. At least the other two times they seemed to be going forward into the post season.

Related Links:
CSN MidAtlantic - WASHINGTON NATIONALS CELEBRATE NL EAST TITLE

ESPN - Nationals clinch NL East -- now comes the hard part

ESPN (another blog post) - Another even year, another NL East title for Nationals
MLB - Nats jump on Bucs, wait out Mets, clinch NL East

USA Today - Nationals clinch NL East title with win and Mets loss

Washington Post - Nationals clinch third NL East title with win over Pirates, Mets’ loss to Phillies

State of the Blog: June 2016

STATE OF THE BLOG:

JUNE 2016

OK lets see once again it is the very last day of the month and my damn procrastinating has got me fighting the very last seconds to get a post in on this month. I barely got my update for my regular blog done before the stroke of midnight. Right now it is a couple of minutes after. Dammit. FRACK!

OK real quick this is post number 6 for this year. That means a minimum of another 6 posts only 1 post per month. Sheesh this is barely even a dang calendar. ACK!

EDIT: This post was published approximately at 12:04 AM Eastern Time on 01 July 2016. I am attempting to Fudge it slightly to make my blog archive look balanced.

Updating A Page Or Two

Updates for Apr and May 2016

OK so I did a little updating on a page or two in the last couple of months. My original date for this post was mid February Ouch. Here is what I have done that I remembered doing in preparation for this post.

Something that I should do more often and every time I acquire new Curly W cards is to update my Curly W Teams Checklists. 1950s | 1960s,

?What else have I updated? Not sure as I said I don't update as often as I should and I usually just do piddly little changes that don't amount to much. I also tend to abandon these update type of posts for weeks, months at a time and then have to edit and reedit them. I also need to stop my procrastination of posting til the end of the month. That makes for the dangerous going a month without posting anything.

Once again procrastination has forced me to do only one lousy post to this blog. I also haven't done much scanning. Including scanning an older yearbook I got way back in march that I haven't mentioned here or scanned. It has a cool article on Walter Johnson I was planning on mentioning, possibly reviewing. Dang it now I got to re-read that for a review. Big Heavy *sigh*

Nats Gear: A Hat And A Shirt

Recently I made a purchase from the MLB.com Shop for some Nats Gear. I also bit the bullet for a custom Nationals jersey. I had been debating about it for sometime since I really didn't want to spend the amount that they charge for the custom jerseys let alone the prices for favorite player jerseys. This post is not about that it is about my other purchases. The custom jersey will have to wait for a later post.

The first is another hat to add to my Nats Hats collection. My total of Nationals and Senators hats now stands at 10 with 1 plastic "kids" batting helmet. I haven't made posts about those hats. A long time ago I had done a partial video about some of my Nats Hats Collection but the online service I had used deleted all my old videos there. I was really bummed. Anyway that is post fodder for some other time. For now let me get on with this post.

Here is my latest Nat Hat:

I wanted a green Curly W hat and really liked the Olive one. It is a darker Olive in real life than it originally looked online oh well. I think one of these days I might get a Kelly Green hat with the shamrock on the side as well. This hat is a fitted one, and has the MLB Logo on the back. I have some Nats Hats that are fitted but say "Nationals" on the back.

Next up is a baseball jersey/t-shirt J-Shirt? Shirsey? One of the 2/3 sleeve baseball jerseys.

Yes a retro Senators Shirt. I like both the blue and gray colors plus the old style Senators straight W logo.

The images I used are stock photos from the MLB Shop. I was too lazy to snap any pics on my own, plus the shirt is a bit too large to "scan" and scanning a hat doesn't work well either.