In Ashland, just around the corner from the Standing Stone Brewery (excellent Oatmeal Stout), there’s a cool little comic book store we always make sure to visit. This time, on impulse, I bought every baseball card they had in stock — 41 packs of maybe 30-40 cards each, separated by team — for $19. There’s everyone in here from Hall-of-Famers Paul Molitor and Eddie Murray to the all-but-forgotten Bill Stein. Heck, I’ve got Omar Vizquel as a Mariner.
Anyway, one of the packs contains nothing but Padres:
- Broderick Perkins
- Mike Maddux (x2)
- Frank Seminara
- Bip Roberts
- Jeremy Hernandez (x2)
- “Eddie” Whitson
- “Benny” Santiago
- Tim Teufel (x5)
- Andy Benes (x3)
- Rich Rodriguez (x3)
- Randy Myers (the moderately effective version, not the completely sucky and expensive one; x3)
- Dan Walters (x2)
- Kurt Stillwell
- Darrin Jackson (go Centaurs!)
- Ricky Gutierrez (x3)
- Fred McGriff (x2)
- Phil Plantier (he shoulda been great; guys who knock 34 bombs at age 24 typically don’t disappear quite so quickly and dramatically)
- Tony Gwynn
It may not be the proudest tradition in the world, but it’s what we’ve got.
* * *
While I was away I completely lost track of the Division That Relevance Forgot (TM), which probably makes me the envy of most baseball fans. In case you need a reminder why nobody cares what’s happening in the NL West, here’s how it breaks down after April 28:
- Dodgers: 32-32, 251 RS, 256 RA
- Rockies: 28-36, 297, 335
- Giants: 27-35, 279, 282
- Diamondbacks: 25-38, 240, 294
- Padres: 25-39, 246, 298
Stellar effort, guys. Way to keep everyone interested in the proceedings…