LET'S GO BLUES!

I was at the Monday Night Miracle. I own a cinder block from the Old Barn on Oakland Ave. I was on hand when The Great Gretzky first hit the home ice wearing the Bluenote.

Senior year of high school, with my date in formal attire for our school dance, I took her to the Blues game instead. We saw Gino Cavallini get a hat trick, and got free Arby’s because the Blues scored six goals. By the way, she & I have now been married for almost 24 years.

I grew up loving Wayne Babych, Bernie Federko, Mike Liut. Then Brett Hull, Adam Oates & Brendan Shanahan. Later Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger & Keith Tkachuk. I’ve always wanted 🎶to be in that number when the Blues go marching in!🎶

My heart still aches over the Blues losing Scott Stevens and Wayne Gretzky. In fact, “Judge Houston” and “Mike Keenan” are swear words in my opinion. And speaking of broken hearts, infamous shots from Willi Plett & Steve Yzerman have done it to me as well. 🏒💔

Then the other night, as I was at the store here in Michigan, I happened to hear a familiar tune ringing in my ears. Was it just the voices in my head? Or perhaps it was a positive omen for the Blues that I actually heard them 🎶playing Gloria...🎶

My entire life, I have dreamed about the Blues winning the Stanley Cup. Tonight they have a chance to make my dreams come true...

In light of this all, I leave you with these three simple words: LET’S GO BLUES!!!

Jack's Baseball Journey

2007 Muckdog, Jack Scribner

It was the summer of 2006 when I graduated from seminary and we moved from St. Louis to Flint, Michigan. Though Jack was just getting ready for first grade, he was already firmly entrenched as a Cardinals fan, a fact that soon would be very important. 

Just two months after we arrived in Michigan, the Cardinals were in the midst of an improbable postseason run. That run would end up leading them to the World Series, and as fate would have it, they ended up facing none other than the favorite team of all our new friends and neighbors: the Detroit Tigers. When the Cardinals prevailed four games to two, we may have been the only happy family in town! And the cherry on top came just four days after that Series ended. All the kids came to school on Halloween wearing their costumes, and much to his buddies' chagrin, Jack was thrilled to show up for school dressed as his favorite player: Cardinals first baseman, Albert Pujols!

The following spring we signed him up for Little League. I helped coach along with the dad of one of Jack's classmates. The first two years of our Little League experience, all the teams were named after minor league teams. For that 2007 season, we were assigned the Batavia Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League. We, of course, knew nothing about the Muckdogs (other than that they had a cool name!), but when I did a little research, I found out that starting with that season (after nearly two decades of being a minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies), they would be an affiliate of (you guessed it!) the St. Louis Cardinals!

Jack meets Cardinals manager, Mike Shildt

We, of course, thought it was cool that our team was in the Cardinals farm system. It wouldn't be until many years later that we would find out our favorite fact about the Muckdogs. The hitting coach in Batavia that year was a relatively unknown coach named Mike Shildt. So both he and Jack were Muckdogs in 2007! More than a decade later in July of 2018, Shildt would become a Major League manager when he took over mid-season for the Cardinals.

Just a couple months after Shildt received that promotion, the Cardinals visited the Tigers in Detroit. We had a friend who gave us a couple tickets to the Saturday night game, and another friend who arranged for the opportunity to meet Shildt before the game. He was incredibly generous with his time and compassion, and showed deep and genuine concern about Jack's prognosis. I can hardly commend him enough for his kindness to Jack, as they continue to stay in contact with each other to this day, with him regularly checking on Jack to see how things are progressing. Even if he weren't the manager of our favorite team, he'd be our favorite manager!

Little League Champ

Getting back to Little League, just as Jack's first season had a special Cardinals connection, so too did his final year of Little League. In our first five seasons we were the Batavia Muckdogs, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, the New York Mets, the Florida Marlins, and the Milwaukee Brewers. When Jack was twelve years old though, we finally got to be the team we'd always wanted to be. And even better (from my perspective, anyway) the uniforms we wore were the cool powder blue road jerseys that the Cardinals wore in 1982 when I was eleven years old and they won the World Series!

Jack batted cleanup all season long, mostly playing first base and pitcher, as our team had an undefeated regular season. We won easily in the first two rounds of the playoffs, but fell behind 8-1 early in the championship game. We pulled within one after three at 12-11, and poured it on to take a 19-14 lead into the final inning.

Our opponents rallied though, and Jack came in to pitch when our top pitcher reached his pitch limit for the game. With the score 19-18, there were two men out, the tying run was on base, and the pressure was on. What an exciting (and nerve-wracking) experience it was as Jack struck out the other team's number three hitter to secure the Grand Blanc Little League championship!

After our twelve year old Little League season, five of our players and all three coaches made the transition to travel ball. We held tryouts to fill out our roster and formed a 13u team called the Michigan Mudcats.

Father and son, coach and player

Between playing in the Greater Flint Baseball League, playing an average of four tournaments each summer, playing fall ball, and being in a winter hitting league, the Mudcats pretty much became a year-round part of our life for the next five years, and many of Jack's teammates would become his very best friends. We were committed to fostering a family atmosphere with the team, and I think we succeeded. Even as many other teams disbanded as kids got older, our team stuck together all the way throughout high school for the boys. And we were able to have a competitive team through the years too, as we were always in the running for our league title, and actually won a pair of tournaments in Jack's last two years!

In addition to playing for the Mudcats, Jack also played for the school team throughout middle school and high school. Each year in school ball, Jack seemed to get off to a slow start, and each year he battled back to finish the season strong. In fact, in his final regular season game of high school, he went 3 for 3, even as he was visibly exhausted as a result of what we would soon find out was leukemia. He also likely already had leukemia less than three weeks earlier when he became just the second player on his team that year to go deep.

 

I was always proud of how hard Jack worked at baseball, and the fact that difficult challenges seemed to just push him to work harder, when many others might simply have given up. The same resilience and toughness that Jack demonstrated over the years in the sport that he loves, he has displayed over the last year in his battle with leukemia. As such, I'm thankful not just for the joyful memories, but also for the lessons learned from the greatest game there is.

Fun at the Old Ballgame

Our son was diagnosed with leukemia this June, which has led to a summer of disappointment and hardship. This week though, amidst all the junk, he got to have a really neat experience.

The Cardinals only visit Detroit every sixth year in the normal schedule rotation, so it's not often that Jack gets to see his favorite team. Thanks to some very thoughtful friends though, he got a really special experience during the Redbirds' most recent visit.

With the Cardinals coming to town, fellow baseball-crazed pastor, Paul Edwards gave us two tickets to Saturday's game. From there, Mike Smith took over. Mike is one of the official scorers at Busch Stadium, and is a friend of our family. He made a couple calls and arranged for a special experience at the game, but told us he would just let us be surprised. As it turned out, we got to meet Cardinals manager Mike Shildt and pitcher Adam Wainwright. Both were incredibly kind to Jack, showing genuine concern for his well-being as they interacted with him.

The time spent with them was cool enough, but Wainwright also signed a ball and a card, and Shildt gave Jack some really sharp Cardinals gear! We can't say enough about the kindness they showed in taking time to meet with us. Thanks so much to everyone involved!

While at the Cards/Tigers game, we also got to chat with Cardinals broadcaster (and former pitcher) Rick Horton. We reached out to him, and he graciously agreed to  meet up with the two of us before the game. Rick is a great guy and we had a real nice conversation with him, in addition to him also signing a card for Jack. Thanks, Rick!

In the midst of all this, we also got an unplanned bonus when we chatted with 1968 World Series MVP Mickey Lolich. He was there for the 50th anniversary celebration of that team, and we were waiting for an elevator in the Tigers administrative offices. He gave us a little good-natured ribbing seeing we were Cardinals fans (since the Cardinals were the team the Tigers beat in the '68 Series), but he seemed to be a really nice guy too.

We even got to witness Jose Feliciano reprise his iconic version of the Star-Spangled Banner, as first sung during the 1968 Series.

All in all, it was definitely an experience to remember!

Some Jack Scribner Highlights

Haven't posted anything in a while; need to get back in the swing of it and hopefully will soon. In the meantime, I'm just posting some videos of Jack here so I have access to them in a quick and easy-to-find location.

Jack goes deep against Elk Rapids senior year

Jack's last regular season game of high school. Less than a week later, he would be diagnosed with leukemia. He was already feeling pretty ill and incredibly weak (he is noticeably winded each at bat upon reaching first base), but he went 3 for 3 nonetheless. Here is what I posted on Facebook at the time: 

Of all the (very many) things for which I am proud of Jack, near the top of the list would be his resilience. He started this season in the worst slump of his life, going 1/19. Though he was down, he kept working hard, and from that point on (over the last five weeks), he has had the second highest batting average (.378) and highest on base percentage (.521) on his high school team. Today, in the final regular season game of his career, he capped things off with a 3/3 performance at the plate. Next up: District Playoffs on Saturday!

Little did we know how valuable that resilience would be in the very near future.

Jack comes up big against Linden junior year. He hadn't been playing a ton, but with family visiting from out of town, he got the start at first base this day. With family (and the TV cameras) on hand, Jack did not disappoint!

Varsity fall ball against Davison sophomore year. Davison won the league with their pitchers allowing only NINE runs all season. Three of those came here as Jack got a two-out, bases loaded walk-off triple in Davison's only loss. One of my favorite moments from his baseball career.

Here are two of the other runs Davison allowed that season. That's right, as a sophomore facing varsity players, Jack drove in five of the nine runs they allowed on the season!

First Varsity Hit

Sophomore year; JV walk-off winner over Carman-Ainsworth

12-year old Grand Blanc Little League championship game. Jack on the mound trying to pick up the save. His team (the Cardinals!) was up 19-18 with two outs and the tying run on base...

And some basketball, too...

Senior Night

And going REAL old school...

A Couple Strong Arms

8x10 of Neil Lomax from my favorite Big Red team (1984)

Another 8x10 that Mr. Lomax kindly added to my request

Hall of Famer, Don Sutton

95 and Counting...

Now up to 95 autographs for Project87. Here's the latest update:

A few months ago, I sent three cards to Ron Cey. He signed two of the three, one of which being the Cubs Leaders card that featured him and Steve Trout. I sent that card to Trout, and didn't hear back from him. Fearing that it might be gone for good, I sent Cey another one of the Cubs Leaders cards as well as the one he didn't sign last time. He signed both of them and returned them quickly, getting them back to me in just nine days!











Just ten days later (74 days after I'd originally sent them), I got these back from Steve Trout! Trout was a solid starter for the Cubs in the mid-80s, after having started his career with the White Sox. His best year was probably 1984 when he went 13-7, 3.41 for the NL East champs. The southpaw finished up his career with a few months with the Yankees and two seasons with the Mariners.











 Mike Fischlin was a solid, versatile defender who managed to have a ten season career despite not having much pop in his bat. His best season was 1982 when he had a .351 OBP in 322 plate appearances for the Indians.










While I still consider myself very much an amateur, my friend, Alex Hyde is a serious autograph collector. Not long ago he contacted me and asked if I still needed Dick Schofield for Project87. Indeed I did. Schofield was going to be signing at a show the next day in St. Louis, and Alex offered to get me his card signed for me.

Schofield had a very respectable 14 year career that spanned much of the 80s and 90s. He played mostly for the Angels, with short stints also with the Blue Jays, the Mets, and the Dodgers.  From 1986-88, he averaged a WAR of 3.3 per season, the two best seasons of his career coming in '86 & '88.

Schofield's father also played 19 years in MLB, including eight with the Cardinals.

I got a lot of six cards from Tom Tessier. They included:

Bobby Meacham was a first round draft pick of the Cardinals who was traded to the Yankees along with fellow prospect Stan Javier as a "make-good" for Bob Sykes, who ended up injured when the Yankees acquired him in October of 1981 in exchange for a young outfield prospect named Willie McGee. Sykes never pitched for the Yankees in 1982, while McGee starred for the World Champion Cardinals. Yankees owner George Steinbrenner threatened legal action so the Cardinals agreed to deal him two of their top prospects. Meacham was a starter for most of the 1984 and 85 seasons, leading the AL in sac bunts each season. He would only last six years in the MLB, but would stay in baseball and ultimately became the 2017 manager of the Blue Jays' AAA affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons of the International League.

Tracy Jones came up with the Reds and played for five teams in his six year career.

Tom Lawless is famous for two things: First he was the only player to ever be traded for Peter Edward Rose, having been sent to the Expos by the Reds when they acquired Rose to become their player-manager. Secondly, Lawless is the possessor of the most ridiculously epic bat flip in MLB history. In 1987 he had only two hits (in 25 at bats) for the Cardinals, but still found himself in the starting lineup of World Series. His fourth inning home run not only broke a 1-1 tie, but represented the only three RBIs he would get all season long. Even though it BARELY cleared the wall, Lawless acted as if it were out of the stadium completely.
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Chris Codiroli spent six of his eight years in MLB with the Oakland A's. In 1985, he led the AL with 37 games started as he went 14-14 with a 4.46 ERA.

Denny Walling spent 18 seasons as a corner infielder/outfielder, 13 of which were spent with the Astros. His best season was 1986 when he hit .312 with a career-high 13 home runs for the NL West champs. At the trade deadline in 1988, he was shipped to the Cardinals in exchange for one of my personal favorites, Bob Forsch, who I've written about elsewhere. Walling would spend the next two seasons in St. Louis before finishing up with a season with the Rangers and a few final at bats for the Astros.



Dane Iorg was a pinch hitter extraordinaire for the Cardinals in my earliest memories (1977-1984), and hit .276 throughout his ten-year career.

Available for Trade

When I was a kid, one of the best parts of collecting cards was trading cards with friends. In working on Project87, trades have been a fun way to reconnect with my youth. So I thought I'd post some autographed cards here that I have available for trade in hopes that a willing trade partner have some of the 1987 Topps cards I need. All autographs received TTM unless otherwise noted.

IP at a game in 1987

Two Number Ones and a Super Cooper

TTM Update

 This 8x10 glossy photo of Ron Gant was one I've had for close to 20 years. I saw that Gant works in TV in Atlanta and was a great TTM signer, so I dug up the photo, sent it to him, and was pleased to get it back quickly. Gant played for eight teams over 16 years, spending the first seven of those years with the Atlanta Braves. For Cardinals fans like me though, he is perhaps best remembered for the two home runs he hit off of former teammate Tom Glavine in game three of the 1996 NLCS, the highlight of his three seasons wearing the Birds on the Bat.








 

I was thrilled to get this one back from one of the greatest third basemen of all time! Brooks Robinson was a 15-time All Star and a 16-time Gold Glove Award winner. Robinson's Hall of Fame career was of course filled with amazing performances, but the highlight would have to be his performance in the 1970 World Series. Brooks hit .429 with two home runs and six RBIs in leading the O's to a dominant 4-1 Series win over the Reds. That combined with spectacular defense throughout the Series (including his iconic play against Lee May in game one) earned him the Series MVP.

Bruce Benedict is perhaps best remembered for his Chris Berman nickname, "Eggs."

  

Dan Plesac now works for MLB Network.

Ron Roenicke

 Rich Bordi

Floyd Bannister

In a post a couple weeks ago, I mentioned Tony Pena. He played in 74 games for Pittsburgh between 1980 & 1981, coming into his own for the Pirates over the next five years. During that span, he was a four-time All Star and a three-time Gold Glove Award winner. After leaving Pittsburgh with a .286 career batting average, he would play for five different teams over the next eleven years, winning just one more Gold Glove and being named to only more All Star team, compiling a .239 batting average over that span.

Lance Parrish was another catcher who moved to a new team in 1987. I had a previous post with his regular card, but today we feature his All Star card and his card from the Traded set.
The eight-time All Star team, six-time Silver Slugger, and three-time Gold Glove Award winner played for seven teams over 19 years. Much like Pena though, his greatest success and longest stay was with his first team, which for Parrish was the Detroit Tigers.

Rod Booker