Sparky Lyle: Elliptical Connections

-  Cards I have of Sparky:  that one.  It's in my Cy Young collection, as he won the award in 1977.

-  Sparky managed the Somerset Patriots.  

     Somerset was the name of the junior high school in my neighborhood when I was a youth. 

     The high school I attended senior year had Patriots as its sports team name.

-  Sparky played for the Phillies in 1981, and part of 1980 and 1982. 

     Big Phillies fan in my youth.  Might have mentioned this before.   

-  Let's look at some of his Phillies cards.

This post brought to you by Dan, from It's Like Having My Own Card Shop.

It's like having my own Card Shop: 1969 Heritage, I mean Topps, Sparky Lyle Rookie Card CONTEST (betterthanbeckett.blogspot.com)

My MLB Team Pages: Blue Jays

You have one day to submit your guesses for the Braves. 

My MLB Team Pages: Athletics (A's)

   

You have one day to submit your Blue Jays guesses.

Reminder:  These are MY team pages.  So you don't need to waste guesses on guys like Cobb and Ruth.  

MLB Team Pages: Astros

Verlander's injury cost him. 

You have 24 hours to submit your A's guesses. 

MLB Team Pages: Angels

Pettis and White were Gold Glove centerfielders who stole a lot of bases. 

Finley was married to Tawny Kitaen.

Abbott had one hand.

 

You have 24 hours to get your guesses in for the Astros.  

MLB Team Pages: Preview

 

There are 25 current teams, because I don't have a page for the Marlins, Rays, Rockies, Diamondbacks, or Nationals.  Add four who are no longer with us - Expos, Pilots, Colt .45s, and Senators, so 29 total.

I'll try to post a team a day, starting Friday, so it should take about a month.  

If you wish to play, you have three days from now for your Angels guesses, but after that just one day.  I need players' names, not specific cards.  

You get nine guesses for each team, unless otherwise stated.  I won't punish for spelling mistakes as long as I know who it is.  But if it's a surname shared by another high-profile player, you need to clarify who you mean.

If I upgrade a slot during the contest, I'll accept either the old player or the new one as a correct guess.  

Previous commenters only. 

A baseball PWE to the winner, and I'll make it a better one than the usual.  

The Clean-Up

 

-  I'm a bit miffed at how new releases keep getting pushed back.  A year or two ago, I could have understood it, but now?  Get it together, for eff's sake. 

-  That being said, a football set came out and my dealer didn't have it.  So I'm probably waiting for nothing.  Might have to shell out another $6 for a trip to Target to find that they don't have what I want either. 

-  Anyway, I sent a couple random Michael Jordan cards and a trio of 1985 Fleer Team Action to Jeff, in Illinois.  Received these:

 

     

-  Nobody commented on my brilliant National Candy Month post - Wilt Chamberlain's 100-pint game in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  

-  I did, however, get 8 comments on my reader survey.

1.  All eight collect baseball cards.

2.  Three collect basketball cards.

3.  Five collect football cards.

4.  Two collect hockey cards.

8.  Collection highlight posts eked out a victory over card acquisition posts.  (I'm planning a series of posts that fit the highlights category.)

12.  A whopping six think we should keep the penny. 

15.  Brett Alan was in Singapore, and Jimetal7212 was in Australia when the Eagles blew out the Patriots in Super Bowl LII. 

18.  Six think Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.  One of them thinks it should be posthumous and one thinks Joe Jackson should get in first.

20.  The most popular baseball card collecting era is vintage (1957 - 1979).  The Bob Walk era (1980 - 1993) finished a close second.           

The full survey is here:

The View from the Third Floor: Reader Survey (viewfrom3rdfloor.blogspot.com)