I was tempted to label this, "My best cards 20".
Lou Brock, my favorite player as I grew up, wore number 20 on his Cardinal uniform. He was the best base-stealer of his day, holding both the season and career base stealing records when he retired in 1979. An excellent hitter, he was, if memory serves, the eleventh player in history to collect 3000 hits. As of this post only 23 players in the history of major league baseball have more career hits than Lou Brock.
Brock was acquired from the Chicago Cubs in June of 1964, in exchange for a pitcher named Ernie Broglio. This is sometimes referred to as one of the worst deals in baseball history. Broglio had a lackluster career, while Brock went on to the Hall of Fame. In fairness, Broglio had been an All Star and the Cubs thought they were getting some help with the pennant drive in exchange for the promising young outfielder.
As it turned out, the Cardinals got the help they needed to drive to the pennant in 1964, with Brock hitting over .400 after the deal in mid-June. And Brock helped the Cardinals to two more pennants later on.
The card is from 1964, in fact, printed before the season while Brock was still a Cubbie. One of the reasons it's one of my favorites.
Bob Gibson.
That's all you need to say. One of the most intimidating pitchers to ever play the game. He was quoted once, remarking on the alleged antics of Babe Ruth in the '32 World Series, that if any player ever pointed to where he would hit the next pitch, "I would drill him. In his right ear and out his left."
The question sometimes comes up among baseball fans, "If you had to win one game and you could have any pitcher, who would you take?" Gibson is always on the short list of choices.
His 1968 season still stands as one of the greatest seasons ever turned in by a pitcher. His earned run average was an astonishing 1.12! Perhaps more amazing - he lost 9 games that year. How do you allow, on average, just over a run a game and lose nine? Nineteen sixty-eight is referred to as the year of the pitcher - batting numbers were down all over the league and they lowered the mound in 1969 to take a little edge away from the pitchers. Gibby probably wasn't getting a lot of support that year.
Perhaps even more remarkable than his 1.12 ERA was his number of complete games. Are you ready for this? He completed 28 games that year. And for good measure, he completed 28 in '69, too. Times have certainly changed.
The card is a 1965 Topps which is one of the best-looking sets ever produced, in my opinion. This design is what Topps Heritage next year will use. Start saving your pennies now.
Rod Carew was one of the best hitters of his generation or any generation. He played in the '60's, '70's, and '80's and his career overlapped with another great hitter's, George Brett. I invariably think of Brett when I think of Carew.
In 1977 he made a run at hitting .400 for a season. No one has done that since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941. And this illustrates why Carew and Brett are linked in my mind. Brett made a run at .400 one year too. Carew finished '77 with a .388 average. In 1980, Brett finished with a .390 average. Which brings to mind a question: What are the best seasons, say over .350, since Williams' .406.
Maybe I'll chart that, sometime.
This card is a 1971 Topps, which I always thought was a good looking set. The black background is a nightmare for collectors who worry about condition, because the black shows every bit of any wear.
For Foto friday this week, I'm going to show you some of my favorite ball cards.
The first pack of baseball cards I ever bought were 1968 Topps. I was 10 years old. I wonder how many kids get their first pack of cards at 10 years of age.
I still have some of those, though the largest portion of my collection went to a dealer about 20 years ago. I've bought a few over the years, but none appeal to me like the old ones.
Speaking of old, this Red Schoendienst card is from 1961. And it did not come from a wax pack bought at the dime store. It was on the back of a Post Cereal box. Post would put about four cards on the back of the cereal box and when the cereal was gone, you could cut them out. A lot of 10-year-olds really can't cut very well and so lots of these, if you can find them, are in bad shape. This one is pretty nice.
One of the best things I remember is my Grandparents Scowden would sometimes have a Post Cereal box back waiting for me when next I visited.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here is another place that I am reminded of the Gospel - that Christ has done for His people what they could not do for themselves.
Here, Paul is addressing the Corinthian church which, has a number of problems attributable to the messes the people are making. In other words, these folks were far from perfect, like you and me.
Yet they, and we, are not so far gone that our Lord cannot keep us. If you are His child, this passage says Jesus will sustain you to the end. I like that word 'sustain'. It implies that we are not in a static state, and that without the constant oversight of the Lord Jesus, we would be undone.
But oversee He does and we are sustained and will be sustained. Christian, have hope for your Lord will sustain you utterly!
I mentioned recently a belated birthday celebration we had with some friends.
One of my presents was some dark chocolate with, in the makers' words, "a touch of sea salt". Also, if you hold the candy up to your ear you can hear the ocean.
One of the last two sentences is wrong.
Anyway - salt in chocolate? Have you ever? Not me. But we all love the taste of the salt and sweet combination, don't we? We put peanuts in Coke, peanuts with caramel popcorn, Payday candy bar, chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered potato chips, chocolate covered pretzels, and on and on and on. But this was new.
And delicious! The maker is Lindt who, by the way, make those marvelous truffles, so they know a thing or two about being chocolatiers. (All for one, . . . )
So, if there is some sort of salty/sweet combo that you cook up at your house, bring it on! Get it packaged and marketed, because obviously we love this stuff.
I didn't know what the plural of status was. Now I do.
Are you on facebook and do you read all kinds of clever status updates from your friends and think to yourself, "Boy, I wish I was so clever and unencumbered with things I actually have to do and had time to think of all kinds of clever status updates to write in the box."?
Well, here you go. Several slam-bang, sure-fire winning status updates you can use, free of charge.
You're welcome.
Circumstances are circumstantial.
The hero is never David - it is God.
Sometimes God intercepts us on the road to folly.
How bad must a thing be to make a millstone about the neck preferable?
Everything will be judged in light of the resurrection.
God's Word interprets God's providence.
In between bouts of fuzzy, indistinct music, the automated voice assured me that Customer Service was very important. I have my doubts.
Humility is the confidence that God actually does care.
I was tempted to label this, "My best cards 20". 
