The Many Faces of Moises Alou

This post was inspired by some cards sent to me recently by John from The Pursuit of 80's(ness). Another awesome batch of cards came across from the UK and whilst going through them I was reminded of the solid but rarely flashy career of Moises Alou.

Drafted second overall in the 1986 draft by the Pirates, Alou was the "player to be named later" in a 1990 trade that saw Zane Smith pack for Pittsburgh. It wasn't long before he became one of Montreal's outfield cornerstones dependable for above-average stats in both average and power. He might not have been as flashy as Larry Walker or as speedy as Marquis Grissom but he got the job done. With his father Felipe managing him, Alou finished second behind Eric Karros in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1992 and was an All-Star two years later.

As good as the Expos got, the team suffered from a lack of commitment from ownership and the team was soon dismantled following the strike that ended the 1994 season. He stuck around for a couple more years but signed on as a free agent with the Marlins for the 1997 season and made an immediate impact hitting .292, knocking in 115 runs and smacking 23 home runs. Oh yeah, he was also the winner of the Babe Ruth Award, which is similar to World Series MVP, in that it's given for the best World Series performance as voted by the New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America, leading an unlikely team to their first World Championship.

Alou's stay with the Marlins wasn't meant to last. Florida owner Wayne Huizenga promptly dismantled his championship squad in a firesale that looked a lot like the ongoing deals that Alou would have become accustomed to seeing in Montreal. Off to Houston.

Different team, same plucky player. In his four years playing with Houston (he missed all of 1999 due to a psychopathic treadmill so I'm not counting it), Alou was an All Star twice and finished third in NL MVP voting in 1998 where he set a career high for RBIs, driving in 124 runs for a dangerous team that included Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio.

As Alou approached and surpassed 40 years of age, he continued to put play a solid game yet never managed to find a place to really call his baseball home. After leaving the Astros via free agency following the 2001 season, Alou got a ripe three-year deal with the Cubs. In 2004, at the age of 37, he set a career high in home runs with 39. But that would be all for his days in the Windy City.

Although his power numbers were starting to taper off, Alou continued to hit for average in his final four seasons (spending two each with the Giants and Mets). Between 2005 and 2008 the Atlanta-born outfielder never hit below .300.

Last year marked the end of Alou's playing career. He'll likely never get any Hall of Fame career, nor does he necessarily deserve it. He was, however, one of the more overlooked players of a generation, quietly playing contently in the shadows of some of the game's bigger stars. Superstars might make those around them look better than they actually are but it's guys like Moises Alou that enable superstars to rise to the top of their game.

Thanks again, John for the awesome cards and for reminding me of an Expos great.

Expos-ed by Tribe Cards

Last week I received a box overflowing with Expos cards courtesy of Tribe Cards. These were a surprise and a testament to his continued gerosity. Stacked, the cards were more than a foot tall and gave an excellent representation of the entire Expos history.

Here's just a small taste of some highlights. Really, it's just a mouse-like nibble with all the great stuff inside the box:

1996 Ultra Gold Medallion 232. Mike Lansing

This is my favourite use of gold foil ever. A lot of Ultra cards over the years were wrecked by their overuse of the shiny, making it hard to read names and teams. However, the one-per-pack 1996 parallels went to the extreme in a good way rendering the entire background in gold. This really makes the photo standout. The embossed Ultra logo in the background is like a cherry on top.

 

2003 Fleer EX 41. Jose Vidro

The scan doesn't do this card justice. Made of vinyl, this is one of the toughest cards I've seen. The hard, sharp corners could poke out an eye for sure if projected across a room ninja-star style. The white that you see is actually the top of my scanner bed as the backgrounds are clear. My one gripe - the jersey number in the top corner makes the card resemble a playing card.

 

1971 Topps 536. Claude Raymond

A trifecta hit of card-y goodness: Expo, Canadian-born player, vintage.

 

1986 Topps Tattoos Hubie Brooks and Andre Dawson

Yeah! Tattoos! Topps gets some major retroactive street cred here for including Hubie. Back in 1986 Dawson was a no-brainer but Hubie was simply a better-than-average outfielder who'd muscled in 100 runs the year prior. Topps is still doing tattoos in lots of their non-sport sets, so why not bring them back to baseball. You say you want more kids collecting and there's no greater pledge of allegiance than a sharp temporary tattoo.

Thanks again!

Catching Up and Getting Organized

With Spring Training comes a little Spring cleaning. It's been a hectic month as I've been settling into a new position at work while still working the old duties as the search was on for a new staff member. In the meantime my desk at home has become a hodge podge of this and that and neglected goodies. I'm working on getting that tidied and organized so I can go into Spring Training with a clean desk (Or, more likely, a new batch of goodies rather than a card of Pinocchio from a Shrek the Third oddball set staring at me every night when I get home from school. I said it was a hodge podge of cards, so don't ask.).

Speaking of Spring Training, I might actually be able to take some in as I'm off to Phoenix for a conference in 13 days, which is about when Arizona is going to be hopping with the early sounds of summer. While I'd love to make it to a session or exhibition game, I don't know if the schedule is going to allow for it but if all goes well I will be catching my hometown man Steve Nash take on the Celtics, which will be my first NBA game since the Vancouver Grizzlies innagural season.

I'm hoping to post a couple of box breaks this week and they're doozies: 1993 Upper Deck Fun Packs, complete with mascot holograms and glow-in-the-dark Kirby Pucketts and 2007-08 In the Game O Canada Hockey - a patriotic take on how a company can make a major set without a professional license. I also have thoughts on steroids bouncing around in my head again that I might get around to, as well as whatever else presents itself.

Finally, way back in at the start of the year Matt F. did a blogging marathon which saw him make a pile of posts in a couple of days. Part of the fun was the many generous contests he offered. One such contest I was fortunate enough to win. Here's my prize:

 

A 2008 Bowman Chris Seddon Blue Border Autograph (272/500). Note the pretty on-card signature. Let's hope there's more on-card goodness throughout the year.

I owe another HUGE thanks to John A. for ANOTHER shipment of Expos, which included some vintage O-Pee-Chee!

Welcome Home, Fergie Jenkins

As of right now, Fergie Jenkins is the only Canadian player with a spot in Cooperstown. While a small argument could be made for Larry Walker to sit alongside him in a few years, I suspect it's going to be another couple of decades before another Canuck makes it, namely Justin Morneau. But he's still a young buck and lots can happen.

At any rate, below are a trio of Fergies sent to me by Matt from Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius who is very busy today.

The first is a 1972 Topps "NL Pitching Leaders" card featuring Jenkins alonside Steve Carlton, Al Downing and Tom Seaver. Fergie has a great pose, albeit the picture is cropped very tightly. Although I did already have this card, the one Matt sent is an excellent upgrade from the one I previously had. The colours are much more vibrant compared to the old faded one and the corners look very nice too.

The second card is a 1974 Topps card in which Fergie looks like he just rolled out of bed. His eyes look very sleepy and his hair appears as though its had a hat on it for a while. That said, I do like the portrait set against a blue sky with the flag design Topps used that year.

The final card shows Jenkins as a grizzled veteran [I love that term] on the mound for Texas. He's clearly been in better shape but marching on to finish his career with 3,000 strikeouts.

 

Thanks, Matt, for the awesome additions to my Canadian-born player collection!

Wayne Gretzky and THE Trade - 20 years later

I know I was shocked a couple of weeks ago when Ken Griffey Jr and Manny Ramirez switched teams in baseball. While they were somewhat sudden, they're still not going to change the face of the game.

It was 20 years ago today that THE trade happened. It wasn't a baseball trade or a football trade. It was a hockey deal. Yes, that little sport that can't even garner the same ratings as pro bowling. When Wayne Gretzky was sent from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings, it was and remains the biggest trade in the modern sports era.

Even if you've never watched a hockey game before in your life, chances are you've heard of "The Great One." For the sport he did more than Michael Jordan did for basketball. Perhaps his lone contemporary so far as raising a sport to another level of exposure is Tiger Woods.

In Canada Gretzky was as close as you could get to a living god. Children worshiped him with their hockey cards, pillow cases, action figures (no, they weren't dolls), lunch boxes and, of course, jerseys. He was the spokesman for ProStars cereal and even went on to star in a Saturday-morning cartoon with the same name, fighting alongside Jordan and a larger-than-life Bo Jackson.

Gretzky holds virtually every major career record in the NHL including most points, goals and assists. Nobody else comes close. He made hockey look easy, making ridiculous no-look passes akin to a point guard in basketball.There is an aura of legend around Gretzky, some of which may not truly be understood.

Although, for now, hockey laments in its status as the "number four" sport in the United States behind baseball, football and basketball, it is still king in Canada and in many other parts of the world. In going to Los Angeles Gretzky was able to get the game much more exposure (think David Backham but with someone who actually made a difference to his team rather than being a traveling novelty attraction). Ironically, although he made the Kings a much better team, Gretzky failed to win another Stanley Cup after leaving Edmonton. On the flip side, the Oilers won another Cup just a couple of years later. Oilers fans might have wondered, "What if?" had number 99 stuck around a couple of more years and finished out his contract, but that final Cup win certainly did take away some of the sting left by the sudden trade.

Here's an excellent video story from TSN (Canada's ESPN) that sheds an honest and in-depth light on how the trade came to be.

Cool compilation of career highlights:

Griffey's Got White Sox, Bay's Got Red Sox and Manny's Wearing Dodger Blue

Manny's a Dodger. Bay's his replacement.

And, of course, Griffey's headed to Chicago. I love trade deadline day and the week heading up to it.