Josh Johnson turns 28 years old today.

My favorite Marlins pitcher is set to have the best season of his short career this year.  Fully healthy, and ready for the start of the 2012 baseball season, Johnson is at the cusp of becoming one of the NL’s best pitchers.

As someone that has gotten to see JJ pitch countless times, both live and on television, I have thought that he has had ‘ace’ stuff for some time.  His ability to dominate games from the onset, while allowing very few runs in the process, is rare.

All we need to do is keep JJ healthy.  As you may recall, each of the last two seasons have been shut down early due to injury.  You may also recall, that he was an early Cy Young Award candidate in each of those years due to his great starts.

I am hoping for another strong start, and an equally strong finish.

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

Nolan Ryan turns 65 years old today.

One of the most dominant and competitive pitchers that the game has even seen, Nolan Ryan was a player admired by many.  His hard work and dedication to his craft made him a very well respected player with his teammates, peers, and fans.

It’s hard to believe that we will soon be entering the 18th season since ‘The Ryan Express’ derailed his baseball career.  For any collector and baseball fan in general that was active in the 1980′s, we all have a Nolan Ryan moment ingrained in our heads.  For me, it was the speech I did in 10th grade about Ryan’s incredible feat of 5,000 K’s.  I actually had the game taped and used the strikeout of Rickey Henderson as the ‘ice breaker’.  It was pretty cool and I believe I got an A for the speech.  I remember saying something along the lines of ‘Nolan Ryan has done this 5,000 times.  Nolan Ryan did this 1,500 times before any of us were born.’

Anyways, ‘Happy Birthday’ to one of the game’s ultimate competitors!!!  Nolan Ryan is and will always be remembered as the guy that was unbelievably dominant yet was never rewarded with an individual honor for his pitching performances. 

Amazingly, Ernie Banks is turning 81 years old today.  I have seen recent pictures of Ernie at various Cubs and baseball related events and he looks great!!  Still has the famous smile of his!!!

‘Mr. Cub’ will always be the most popular and respected player from the Chicago Cubs organization.  His 19-seasons of perfection in a Cubs uniform still remain as fond and vibrant memories for the ‘North Siders’.  Banks’ 512 career home runs and season after season of MVP caliber baseball earned him a Hall of Fame induction in 1977 on the first ballot.

Unfortunately Banks never played 1 single inning, never batted 1 time, never took the field 1 time in the playoffs.  For someone that means so much the sport of baseball and specifically to the city of Chicago, it would have been great to see Ernie Banks play when the games counted the most! 

Now this card right here takes me way back.  Back to a time when Rickey Henderson was the most exciting baseball player on the planet!!!

Rickey could do it all – and some of it very well – and some of it better than anyone else!!!

The ‘better than anyone else’ reference is about his skills on the base paths.  In that case, Rickey was unreal - a true pace setter!!

Here is the card:

The headline of the card reads, ‘Athletics Single Season Stolen Base Leader’.  And while it could say so much more as Rickey’s base stealing history has made some major headlines during and after his playing days, I understand the theme of the card.  And I am more than OK with it!!!

Enjoy.

Steve Hargan played in the big leagues for 12 seasons.  A pitcher, used in both starting and relief roles during that time, Hargan compiled an 87-107 record.  His lifetime ERA is 3.92 and he amassed 891 career strikeouts.

Hargan was an All-Star during the 1967 baseball season, and that is why is was probably added into this set of baseball cards.  In ’67, he went 14-13 while tossing 15 complete games which included a league-leading six shutouts.

Progress: 5/33

I see this photo of Fergie used quite often.  It has graced countless baseball cards, and I even see 8×10 versions of it on Ebay all of the time.

The photo works well with this card’s design.  But, it does kind of look like Fergie is rising out of that thing with the stars on it…

Man, I remember loving these cards back when they were released.  I always wished that Fleer issued more of these in their sets to the limited amount that they gave us.  I always wanted one of these of Andre Dawson (you probably guessed that, huh).

This card, from the 1986 Fleer base set, features the ’84 ROY and ’85 Cy Young winner.  And is gives us a nice glimpse of what a batter might see as ‘Doc’ prepares to fire another 99 mile-per-hour pitch at them.

Here is the card:

An awesome addition to my Dwight Gooden collection – NICE!!!

Now that my Bo Jackson collection is complete, it is time to show of my favorite five cards from the set.

Card #5 – 1991 Score ‘Bo Breaker’

While certainly not a typical card that makes my criteria for a ‘Fab Five’ post, this card of Bo Jackson sure does bring back some memories of watching Bo play, and fail, the game of baseball.

Bo became famous for several on-the-field reasons: his power, his speed, his thrilling style of play, and for breaking bats over his knees!!

This card takes me back to the late 1980s and early 1990s.  All of a sudden, I feel like listening to Def Leppard… 

I have always been a fan of the ‘Rocky’ franchise, while admitting that I really have not cared too much for the last two installments.

Still, the films fairly represent the periods in which they took place, and I find that the storylines are just as engaging to me today as they were at the time of their release.

The television channel A&E has been airing a 2-hour documentary about the ‘Rocky’ series providing us with some great insight about the films with interviews from the stars and people who worked on the production side too.  I found the documentary to be pretty insightful, and I was happy to see that most of the main characters from the series were sought out to be interviewed for the project.

All of this got me to thinking – What is my favorite ‘Rocky’ movie of them all?

So, after going back and forth and really thinking about how these films impacted me when I first watched them and how they still impact me today when I catch them, my decision is very, very clear.

My favorite ‘Rocky’ movie from the series is:

Rocky 3!!!!

Of the group, this is the one that excites me the most today when watched.  The addition of ‘Clubber Lang’ as the villain was perfect for the film.  And since Mr. T was new to the acting scene, it made him very believable as a ‘bad guy’ as we have no other roles to compare him to from other films.  Also, I love the role that Hulk Hogan took on as ‘Thunder Lips’ - it was brilliantly played, and certainly memorable.  I also really enjoy the dramatic scenes between Rocky and Mickey and Apollo – all of them were done very well, and have left lasting memories for me.

OK, now it is your turn, let us know which ‘Rocky’ film is your favorite, and if you feel like sharing more, let us know why too.

Thanks for reading!!!

One more time – ‘The Ultimate Male versus The Ultimate Meatball’!!!  LMAO

I keep pecking away at this set, bit by bit. 

So far, my collection of Andre Dawson baseball cards from this 2005 Topps Finest set is at seven cards.

The latest acquisition is this one:

Serial numbered as 95/99, this is the ‘Black’ version of the card.  You cannot really see it clearly in the background, but the Black behind Dawson’s image features a ‘fingerprint’ design’ that looks great with the Black and Grey contrast that it provides.

A great addition to my collection!!

*And a ‘Hat-Tip’ to Charlie for the generous donation!!