Friday, September 10, 2010

Free Cards!!! Contest!!! Giveway!!!

UPDATE: PHASE ONE OF THE CONTEST IS CLOSED.  CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FINAL SET AND YOUR LAST CHANCE TO ENTER.

“Keep your eye on the ball.”  That’s what every Little League coach drums into their players’ heads.  Good advice in theory, but taken literally, it can lead to your downfall.  Just ask Nick Masset.



During Thursday’s Reds-Rockies game, with runners on first and third, Masset went into his wind-up by raising the ball to his face and waited there like a chess player figuring out his next move.  While he was eyeing the ball, or staring at the ground or slipping in a little yoga meditation, he paid no attention to the runner on third, Rookie Chris Nelson.


Nelson decided, on his own, it was a great time to steal home.  He had never stolen home, or even a base in the majors, but he broke for the plate.  Upon hearing his teammates screaming, “He’s going!” Masset came out of his trance, and with a “which way do he go, George?” expression on his face, whipped around to throw the ball to… second base.

Needless to say, Nelson scored, which broke a 5-5 tie and proved to be the winning run.

BUT what does that have to do with giving away free cards?  I’ll get to it shortly.

Masset shouldn’t feel that bad, at least he doesn’t have a play named after him like Fred Merkle.


It was dubbed the “Merkle’s Boner,” as if the incident weren’t bad enough.  In 1908, with the pennant on the line, the Cubs and Giants in a tied game, two outs in the last inning, Merkle, of the Giants, was on first and a runner that was the potential winning run was on third.  A single was hit to centerfield.   The runner on third scored, winning the game and the pennant for the Giants.  Going from first to second base, Merkle saw the fans start to swarm the field.  He retreated to the dugout without ever touching second base.

The shortstop for the Cubs, Johnny Evers,


noticed this and got the ball, touched second base and after some umpire debate, Merkle was called out, the third out of the inning, so the winning run did not count, which preserved the tie.  The game was called due to darkness and the Cubs went on to win the tiebreaker makeup game the next day, ending the Giants season.  The ball sold at auction this year for $76,375.   

BUT WHAT does this have to do with GIVING AWAY FREE CARDS?  I’m almost there.

Still, keeping your head in the game is not always a Cubs trait, just ask Milton Bradley.


In the eighth inning of a 2009 game against the Twins, while playing for the Cubs, Bradley made a decent catch off a ball hit to him in right field and then threw the ball in to stands to a Cubs fan.  A nice gesture except for the fact that the ball he caught was the second out of the inning.  The Twins scored a run and advanced the runners thanks to Bradley’s goof.  But he shouldn’t feel back because Larry Walker...


did the same thing when he was playing for the Expos.    

SO, ARE YOU GIVING AWAY FREE CARDS OR WHAT?

Why, yes... yes I am.  And if you haven’t figured it out, I’m giving away all the cards you’ve seen in this post.

But wait, there’s more.

To sweeten the deal, I want comments, lots of them, but one comment per person please.  

Pick your favorite moment, the kind that made you cringe if your team committed the error or made you experience extreme schadenfreude if your team benefited from it.  Leave it in the comments to this post by Monday, September 20th, 2010 at 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time.  

I will look through all the comments and repost the best of the incidents, perhaps all of them if I'm inspired; with the cards of the players involved.  Then I’ll give all the cards away to one lucky person.

But how do you get a chance to be the one who winds up with all these cards?  Here are the ways you can earn up to five (5) entries until the September 20th deadline

1 – If you follow All About Cards Blog, that’s worth one entry.

2 – If your moment makes it into the set and you follow All Abut Cards Blog, that’s an additional entry.

3 – If you have a blog and link this contest to it (please provide the link in the comments section) that’s another entry.  Please put All About Cards Blog on your blog roll/suggested reading/blog feed/etc while you are at it

4 – If you like us on Facebook, that’s another entry.

5 – If you follow us on Twitter, that’s another entry.

After the deadline, I will compile the set and post it for all to view.  You will then have until Monday September 27th, 2010 to leave your comments on the set.  If you follow All About Cards Blog and leave a comment on that final post with the complete set before the 27th, you will get an additional entry.  So you can wind up with up to six (6) entries per person.

Can we really buy your interest in this blog?  I sure hope we can.  But once we have your interest, I’m pretty sure you’ll want to stick around.

But the main thing to remember here is this set and this contest will only be as good as your participation in it.  The set will get better and grow bigger in direct proportion to the feedback received.

Lets have fun with this.  I look forward to putting this set together.

UPDATE:

Carlton Fisk, Willie Randolph, Jeff Kent, J D Drew, Paul Lo Duca, Travis Fryman, Chuck Knoblauch, Leon Lett, Pete Stoyanovich, Dale Berra, Bobby Meacham, Enrique Wilson have been added to the set.  More to follow.

FYI -  these moments can be from ANY SPORT, Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, etc.

13 comments:

  1. June 12 2009 Mets at Yankees. Alex Rodriguez was at bat in the bottom 9th inning with a 3-1 count when he hit a lazy popup to 2nd base - second baseman Luis Castillo dropped a routine pop up and two runners scored as the NY Yankees beat the Mets in a wild game ending.

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  2. Buckner. Need I saw more?

    No Twitter, No Facebook but I will link you to my blog and post your contest tomorrow...

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  3. In Game 2 of the 1998 ALCS between the Yankees and Indians, with the score tied at 1-1 in the 12th inning, Travis Fryman bunted to advance the runner Enrique Wilson to 2nd base. After Tino Martinez's throw hit Fryman in the back, Chuck Knoblauch argued for an interference call with the umpire, which never came. While arguing, he failed to pick up the live ball. He didn't hear the Yankees yelling to pick it up as he was in his own world with the umpire. Wilson scored the go-ahead run all the way from 1st base and the Yanks lost the game. I remember it like it was yesterday, along with all the "Blauch-head" headlines the next morning.

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  4. I know there are only Baseball cards here, but if this can be expanded to any sport, including Leon Lett is a must. He was guilty two times. In the Superbowl for having his sure touchdown broken up when he decided to celebrate early and Don Bebee knocked the exposed ball out of his hands. The second time being a Thanksgiving game where he touched a blocked kick by Pete Stoyonovich that lead to Miami being able to rekick the ball for the game winning field goal.
    I don't have a blog but I am following you here, on Facebook and Twitter.

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  5. Oct. 4, 2006

    Dodgers vs. Mets in NLDS, Game 1, Shea Stadium

    Top of the second inning

    Jeff Kent singles. J.D. Drew singles.

    Russell Martin launches a drive into right field.

    Kent is slow to run. Drew, behind him, is quick to run. Rich Donnelly, the third base coach, fearing he'll have two base runners on third base, waves Kent home, knowing he'll be thrown out. But then he turns to see J.D. Drew run past him on HIS WAY TO HOME TOO!

    And that's how both Jeff Kent and J.D. Drew were tagged out at home plate on the same play!!!!!

    The Dodgers lose the game 6-5. They lose the series 3-0.

    Oh, did I mention that the three players on the Mets who figured in this play -- Shawn Green, Jose Valentin and Paul Lo Duca -- were all former Dodgers??

    I hate Jeff Kent. I hate J.D. Drew.

    I'll find you on Twitter and follow.

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  6. Well, being a Cubs Fan and a Bud Man can anything be as prolific as a man named Bartman? That name makes me feel a twinge in the stomach and I feel like going to punch someone wearing glasses

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  7. Just one play? It is really hard to narrow it down to just one instance of a Tiger pitcher trying to field a ball and throw it to first, or third base in the 2006 World Series. I think the one that broke my heart the most was when Zumya threw it past Inge at third base. That was a major facepalm momement for me.

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  8. I'd have to say Jose Canseco knocking a homerun over the fence with his noggin. He was already a joke of a player in my opinion, the fact that he was so clueless in the aftermath just made it worse.

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  9. Twins/A's AL playoffs 2006 Game 2: Torii Hunter ignores the fact that he can't play centerfield like he once did, and makes a weak dive at a sinking fly ball by Mark Kotsay, and turns a single in which he could have held the runners into an inside-the-park home run.

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  10. Gotta be the Moises Alou play in the playoffs against the Marlins where he lost the foul ball to a fan. Yes I know his name, I'm not going to type it. I'm a new follower.

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  12. Super Bowl XLII - 4th quarter, 4th down, and the Patriots just need to stop the Giants and they will win. Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour have Eli Manning almost completely wrapped up, but they can't bring him down for some bizarre reason. Eli gets away and heaves the ball downfield. David Tyree is able to make the catch off his helmet, and Rodney Harrison is unable to break the play up, again, for some bizarre reason. This play still makes cringe every time I see it.
    Adding this to my followed blogs and will post the contest on my blog.

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