This Date in History

Today, August 14th, is Ernest Thayer's birthday, he of Casey at the Bat fame. He turns 147 today, which, if he returned from the dead, would make him incredibly old. Here's how to celebrate in a way Thayer would appreciate:

Step 1. Write a great poem about our national pastime or something else rife with folly.
Step 2. Submit it to a newspaper.
Step 3. When it becomes famous, deny you wrote it then distance yourself from the fame of its greatness.
Step 4. Move back to Worcester.


Or you could just read Thayer's great poem, Casey at the Bat, preferably aloud and with a thick regional accent of your choice, as befits the rivalry of towns that claim to be Mudville.

"Casey at the Bat" poster now available!

That's right. It's finally here, the poster everyone's been waiting for: "Casey at the Bat" done in baseball cards.



If you are interested in purchasing one, I have a limited number available and I'll be signing the first fifty!

The poster dimensions are 24" x 36".

They're $20 plus $6.50 shipping.

CATB Poster breakthrough

I've had a breakthrough in the Casey at the Bat poster quandry: All 95 card images can fit on a 24" x 36" sheet when sized to 75% of normal size. Done and done! This will cut costs in half, and decrease the cost of the poster as well. Real question is: Why didn't I think of this earlier?

Also: Thinking of a new recurring post idea, coming soon...

Finally: I'll be going through a Life Event in a few weeks (as it's known in the health insurance industry), so posts will be probably be even less frequent than they are now.

CATB Poster update

For those who are itching to get their meaty paws on their very own copy of the "Casey at the Bat" poster I've created, here's some news: I still haven't found a cost-effective way to get these printed.

I've searched the Web high and low for a way to keep the end product affordable to you and the process to have them created affordable to me. It had been my original goal to get these printed and available rather quickly. Now I'm not so sure how it will go.

I did have a test print set made, but I was not completely enamored with the yellows, so I won't be using that printer again. Besides the yellows, the prints kicked some major ass.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Casey at the Bat Poster

Last week I put the finishing touches on a set of two 24" x 36" posters of the "Casey at the Bat" project I did at the end of 2008. I should be getting them back from the printer any day now.

I'm posting this because I'd like to find out if there's more interest in either

A) Two, ready-for-framing 24" x 36" posters

or

B) One longer/larger poster (not sure of the dimensions)

In terms of price, I'm thinking $25 for the set of two 24" x 36" posters (signed and numbered out of 250 by yours truly). I'm not sure how much the longer/larger size would be.

I want to create a size that's easy to hang or tack up in a cubicle or bedroom. Share your thoughts as a comment to this post.

On Our Current Baseball Card Renaissance

While the big-money players in the baseball card industry have been in a bit of turmoil lately, the guys on the fringe have been quite industrious.

When I started blogging in 2006, there were two baseball-card-related books out there that you'd find with the normal books (not the hobby-specific catalogues): The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book by Harris and Boyd, and Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child's Hobby into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business by Pete Williams. And that was it.

Since then, there's been The Card by Thompson and O'Keeffe, and a slew of others: Mint Condition by Dave Jamieson, Cardboard Gods by Josh Wilker (which I haven't seen for sale anywhere), and my personal favorite: The T206 Collection: The Players and their Stories by Tom and Ellen Zappala.

I got an advance press packet for T206 and I have to say it looks awesome. The authors set out to document each player who appeared on a card from the original tobacco set, with a picture of the card and a short biography of the player. It's a huge undertaking, to say the least, and I've heard that the initial print run is going to be very low. It's going to be a coffee-table-type book: over-sized, full color on every page, the works. Sounds really cool.

Also, yesterday I got an email from Gary Joseph Cieradkowski, the graphic designer behind Oriole Park at Camden Yards, announcing Series 1 of his Infinite Card Set. And yes, I bought a copy immediately. Take a look at it here.

And speaking of baseball-card art, I've finally figured out how to present my "Casey at the Bat" project in a tangible form. I'm planning on offering the set as a poster and as individual cards (in their correct sizes). If you're interested in obtaining a copy of the finished piece (or pieces), let me know.

Casey at the Bat