I can't wait to bring this up next time the Pedroia MVP issue rears its ugly head. 

This does not bode well for me. It seems as though traffic picks up when I myself am not here.

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) -- A baseball fan took up smoking a century ago and with it acquired another habit: holding onto little cards that bore the faces of baseball's earliest greats.

Now, the trove of more than 1,400 tobacco cards featuring a slew of Hall of Famers like Cy Young and Ty Cobb — the legacy of a teenage smoker whose family hung onto a collection that dates to 1909 — is going up for auction.

The cards will be sold by a Maine auction house that is becoming known for selling rare memorabilia, Saco River Auction Co. in Biddeford.

Troy Thibodeau, the company's manager and auctioneer, said the collection of cards dating from 1909 to 1911 — an era when the Yankees were the Highlanders, the Dodgers were the Superbas and the Braves were the Doves — belongs to the grandchildren of a Brooklyn, New York-born man who began smoking when he was 19.

"Every time he got a card, he threw it in a box," Thibodeau said.

The collection has been dubbed the "Portland trove" because some of the collector's descendants ended up in Maine's largest city. The family doesn't want to be identified, Thibodeau said.

Due to be auctioned individually and in small lots starting in January, the collection includes about 10 cards depicting Young and a dozen depicting Cobb, along with other Hall of Famers like Chief Bender, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.

Smaller than modern baseball cards, these cards known as "T206" cards to collectors feature color lithographs on the front and a tobacco advertisement on the back.

"They're not like your normal baseball card where there's a stock piece of photography that's printed on millions and millions of cards. These are truly pieces of art. They're colorful, they're bright, they're folky, they're Americana," Thibodeau said.

The collector preferred a cigarette brand from Havana called El Principe De Gales. But there are cards featuring logos from other cigarette brands of the era like American Beauty, Sweet Caporal, Sovereign and Piedmont.

Such a large collection is unusual but not unprecedented. Large collections come up for sale every year or two, collectors say. Part of what makes this one special is that the cards are in great shape.

Scott Hileman from New Jersey-based SportsCard Guaranty, who graded the cards, said they're all among the type of cards used to market brands that were part of American Tobacco Co. for three years, from 1909 to 1911. He described the trove as "incredible."

Missing are two of the rarest cards: Those depicting pitcher Eddie Plank and shortstop Honus Wagner. The priciest baseball card ever sold was a 1909 Honus Wagner, which went for $2.8 million.

Nonetheless, the collection is valuable with the potential for some of the single cards to reach into five figures, Thibodeau said.

Saco River is making a name for itself despite being a small auction house.

Last year, a collector from Massachusetts paid $92,000 for an 1865 baseball card depicting the Brooklyn Atlantics amateur baseball club. In 2012, the auction house sold a rare 1888 card of Hall of Famer Michael "King" Kelly for $72,000.

"If you love baseball, this is the beginning of it. This is where stars were made and heroes were born. It's history," Thibodeau said.

Hoping to come away from a game with a foul ball? There's an app for that.....

Baseball is notorious for its propensity to track every statistic possible, but surprisingly, baseball statisticians don't track foul balls.

That's how IdealSeat was born. IdealSeat is an app that tracks the location of foul balls at a given stadium and uses a formula to figure out the probability of a ball landing in every section of the ballpark.

Then, it tells the user the best section to sit in if he or she wants to catch a foul ball.

For now, the app has information for only six stadiums: Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners), Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles), Tropicana Field (Tampa Bay Rays), AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants), Citi Field (New York Mets) and PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates). However, they're working on expanding.

The app is currently available only for iOS.

Pretty impressive. I thought Manny wouldn't care that much.

A list of guys who moved from behind the plate, and on to bigger and better things.

Joe Torre was inducted into the Hall of Fame in July. It was largely a nod, he admitted in his acceptance speech, of the success he had while managing the Yankees.

It was also a reminder that Torre was an excellent player in his day. He started out as a catcher, finishing second in the National League Rookie of the Year Award voting for the Milwaukee Braves in 1961. By the time he retired, though, Torre had started more games at both first and third than behind the plate. In 1971, playing third, Torre led the league in hitting and won the NL MVP Award.

As it turns out, many players started out as catchers before having success at other positions. And it's a trend that has only picked up momentum.

Look around. The Nationals made catcher Bryce Harper the first overall pick out of the College of Southern Nevada in 2010 ... and immediately announced that he was no longer a catcher, but would learn to play the outfield. The Mariners drafted high school catcher Alex Jackson in the first round this year, but announced him as an outfielder.

Injuries -- or fear of injuries -- have convinced the Twins to permanently move Joe Mauer to first and the Giants have thought about doing the same with Buster Posey (who has played 455 games as a catcher and 110 at first base). There have been reports out of Atlanta that Evan Gattis could go back to left field for good. Victor Martinez was converted to designated hitter in 2011, even before he missed the entire '12 season following left knee surgery.

Here, then, is a look at some of the players who made their marks at other positions after starting their career behind the dish:

Craig Biggio

Biggio made the All-Star team as a catcher in 1991, but the Astros convinced him to move to second base the following season because the team was concerned that squatting would rob him of his speed. Biggio made the All-Star team at his new position in '92, and he ended up with 3,060 hits and 414 stolen bases in a career that ended in 2007. Last year, Biggio finished just two votes short of joining baseball's immortals in Cooperstown.

Dale Murphy

Legend has it that Murphy had so much trouble throwing runners out that his father once consoled him by saying, "If they ever try to steal center field on you, you'll throw them out every time." Murphy moved to the outfield, and he blossomed into a two-time NL MVP Award winner who hit 398 career home runs.

Paul Konerko

Konerko was ranked the top high school catcher in the country and was a first-round Draft pick of the Dodgers as a backstop in 1994. He never played that position in the Major Leagues, though, and is best known as a six-time All-Star first baseman for the White Sox, and he has been their team captain since 2006.

Raul Ibanez

A late bloomer, Ibanez didn't have 500 plate appearances in a big league season until he was 30 years old. By then, he had long since been moved to the outfield. It turned out to be a good move. Still playing for the Royals at 42, Ibanez has over 300 homers and 1,200 RBIs in his career.

Jayson Werth

Drafted as a catcher in the first round by the Orioles in 1997, Werth got the vast majority of his playing time behind the plate his first four years in the Minors. It was only after being traded to the Blue Jays in 2001 that he started playing some outfield. After the 2002 season, Werth stopped catching all together.

Troy Percival

In his first professional season after being drafted by the Angels, coaches for the Class A Boise Hawks of the Northwest League noted that Percival's return throws to the mound were harder than the pitches he was catching, so they decided to make him a reliever. At least, that's the story. Percival went on to make four All-Star teams as a closer for the Halos.

Mike Sweeney

A 10th-round Draft pick by the Royals in 1991, Sweeney was a backup catcher who worried about being released his first four seasons in the big leagues. He was moved to first base in 1999, and beginning the following year, Sweeney made the AL All-Star team five of the next six seasons.

Jason Motte

Before saving 42 games in 2012, Motte was a catcher in the Cardinals' system

Ricky Bottalico and Carlos Marmol

Speaking of catchers who became closers, Bottalico went on to become an All-Star for the Phillies and Marmol did the same for the Cubs.

Justin Morneau

Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP Award winner for the Twins, started his career as a catcher before being moved to first base.

Wil Myers

Now best known as the Rays' right fielder who won the 2013 AL Rookie of the Year Award, Myers was originally drafted as a catcher out of high school by the Royals.

Joey Votto

Before winning the 2010 NL MVP Award, Votto was drafted by the Reds as a catcher, but he quickly converted to first base.

Pablo Sandoval

One of the rare catchers who didn't moved to first base or outfield, Sandoval has become a two-time All-Star third baseman for the Giants.

Josh Donaldson

Another third baseman, Donaldson caught for the Athletics until Scott Sizemore suffered a season-ending knee injury in Spring Training 2012.

Josh Willingham

Willingham, a veteran outfielder who was recently acquired by the Royals, played some third and caught in Minors, and he even has a handful of starts behind the plate in the bigs.

Neil Walker

The Pirates' second baseman played his first three Minor League seasons as a catcher, then played three more at third before moving to second for good in 2010.

Mike Krukow

Krukow, a 124-game winner and current Giants broadcaster, caught in college before making the transition to the mound.

Kenley Jansen and Chris Hatcher

The Dodgers and Marlins relievers both started out as catchers. Hatcher even made four appearances behind the plate for the Fish in 2010.

Richie Ashburn

In 1945, the Phillies signed Ashburn as a young catcher and assigned him to Class A Utica. Like Biggio, he ran so well that team officials moved him to center field to take advantage of his speed and avoid putting added stress on his legs. Ashburn went on to have a 15-year career, during which he batted .308 and stole 234 bases. And 50 years later, Ashburn was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

I caught for one year. Catching sucks. Thankless job that is.

And the work to bring the Braves new home to life marches on.....

Although work has been underway on the site of the new Braves stadium in Cobb County for months, the team will hold a formal groundbreaking ceremony Sept. 16.

The Braves said Tuesday that the ceremony will mark the start of the construction phase of the project, “putting it on schedule to host fans for Opening Day 2017.”

The Braves have released only preliminary conceptual renderings of the $622 million stadium, but team executive vice president of sales and marketing Derek Schiller told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week that more detailed plans will be unveiled “before the end of the season.”

“We have had some really good breakthrough architectural design meetings here,” Schiller said.

To this point, much of the work on the site has been related to the relocation of two gas pipelines from the heart of the property to the periphery. The previously forested site has been largely cleared.

In a news release announcing the groundbreaking ceremony, the Braves said the stadium “will bring together a classic ballpark feel, modern amenities and southern hospitality.”

The stadium will seat 41,500, with the upper and middle of three decks cantilevered to push seats closer to the field, the Braves have said.

Preliminary drawings show a large canopy atop the stadium — about three times the size of the Turner Field overhang — to offer some protection from sun and rain. Typical of recently built stadiums, the Braves plan more indoor spaces and club areas than at Turner Field. Concourses will be wider, most with direct views to the field, the team has said.

The Braves said in Tuesday’s news release that the home-plate side of the ballpark will “nestle into the hillside” on the gently sloping site.

The Sept. 16 ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the site near the intersection of Interstates 75 and 285. It will not be open to the public.

Periodically the gambling/oddsmaking website Bovada sends out the odds for various baseball things. Playoff and World Series chances. Awards odds. Things like that. Today they sent one with World Series odds and postseason awards odds.

The odds to win the World Series break down like you’d expect. At the moment the Angels are the favorites at 5/1. The team with the least chance but for which Bovada still calculates odds is the Padres at 500/1. Everyone else has been taken off the board.

But the most fun set of odds comes for the NL Awards:

NOTE - There are no odds for the N/L Cy Young award, as the odds would be too high in favor of Clayton Kershaw.


Anyone wanna make an argument to the contrary?

Yes.  They will have value.  In time.  The kind of time that you will be dead before your treasure has a chance to pay off. 


"Thanks Grandpa / Great -Grandpa!"

After reading yet another story on Jeter and his final year, I must say it is refreshing to say that many writers outside of New York are seeing this for what it is. A P.R specticle, and nothing else. This year is nothing like last year with Mariano, who managed to go out with a bang, and not a whimper.

In fact, baseball Gods be damned, some people are calling for and hoping that he cuts his world tour a month short. The chances of that actually happening? Maybe .000001%.

Now, this is NOWHERE NEAR the same. But, still, Jeter COULD HAVE taken a page for Lou Gherig's book, and gone out when he knew he was no longer helping the team win. You know, making it all about the team.

Here is a quote from Lou -

"I decided last Sunday night on this move. I haven't been a bit of good to the team since the season started. It would not be fair to the boys, to Joe, or to the baseball public for me to try going on. In fact, it would not be fair to myself and I'm the last consideration."

Just something to consider. Unless you are a blind Jeter lover that is.

The season is not over, not for aprox 1 month.

However, in a larger sense, the season WILL BE over for the Rangers tonight.

If the Rangers lose to the Royals, and, the Tigers beat the Indians, then the Rangers will be officially eliminated from post season chances.

The first of many teams that will bite the dust, before the dust really has a chance to settle and clear.....

Must not say bad things about fantasy football and those who play.............

Tim Tebow has not thrown a pass in the NFL since 2012, yet he is still a more popular pick in ESPN's fantasy league than Jacksonville Jaguars starter Chad Henne.


Despite currently being a broadcaster for the new SEC Network, Tebow is owned in 1.3% of leagues while Henne, an actual NFL player who is scheduled to throw actual passes to real live receivers in an NFL game, is owned in just 0.8%

Yeah, PIckles w/ Hamels