Team Issued Cards and Fan Packs

     As I scour the web for information about uncatalogued cards, one of the main areas of interest is always Major League team-issued cards and photos.  I've posted a bit about some of these in the past:

1987 Cleveland Indians Photocard
Team-Issued Stadium Give-Away Sets in Japan
1994 Chicago Cubs Old Style team issue photo card
1992 or 1993 New York Yankees postcard set (update)

    They can range anywhere from fully featured baseball cards to over-sized photos to postcards to simple black & white cards with blank backs.  They have been around for nearly as long as the hobby, but they definitely don't get the love or attention they deserve.  These days, the most common way to acquire them would be as part of a "fan pack" from a team.

"It was after 3. His blood sugar was low!"

     Grinning maniaclly out of his little box on this 2009 Emerald Nuts Giants card (brought to you by Topps, the Giants and the letter 'C'), one has to wonder if that was what the Giants management decided was the problem with Carney Lansford's hitting coachery in 2009. No, that opening dependent clause really doesn't go with the rest of the sentence. But I threw a comma in there. And that's OHHHH-kay!

     As everyone knows by now, Lansford was asked to leave the store, and Multilingual Mister Meulens was brought up from Fresno as his replacement. But that's not important, right now.

     Flanked by Flannery in the first box and Lansford on the left is one Roberto Conrado Kelly. Kelly is the Giant's first-base and baserunning coach. Before the '09 season, I caught this article on MLB.com:

Giants work on better baserunning

     Now, Kelly was one of my favorite Yankees when I was watching them during their miserable 1989-1992 doldrums. But after reading that article, and then watching the Giants scratch and scrape for wins this season with their casualty list of a roster, one can't help but wonder if Lansford was the only one they might have asked to clean out his desk. The Giants finished 10th in the NL in stolen bases. Their team leader, Randy Winn, had a whopping 16 steals. 16. Even now, as a Hall of Famer, Rickey Henderson could still manage more than 16 steals.