My BladeForum Anniversary Giveaway

[JTB_5]

Just a bump for the weekend while I have a second. I've love to see some additional entries.

 

[veitsi_poika]

Great GAW Joshua Although I am a casual fan of baseball, my Dad was the true definition of a FAN-A-TIC He absolutely loved baseball and especially the Detroit Tigers. In his twenties he was actually a very good pitcher and played in "sandlot" leagues, bar leagues and any other league he could play in. This was all 10 years before I was even born so when I found out about it I was shocked that he was such a good player. He actually had a tryout with the Detroit Tigers and was offered a job with the Duluth-Superior Dukes. I think once he realized he could not make it into the majors right away, he decided to pursue his career in mining which is where he spent the next 30 years of his life... but his love of baseball never faded. Our best memory together came when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were in the midst of their amazing home run battle in 1998. I was living in Lansing, MI at the time and he was in the Upper Peninsula but we used to watch the games together while on the phone with each other... we would yell "THERE GOES ANOTHER ONE!!!"... boy what I would give to hear his voice again He is still my guiding voice and always will be Anyway, I dug up one of his old letters from 1963 that happened to be from the New York Mets. The Mets were an expansion team in 1962 so I imagine my Dad thought his best shot at making the majors would be through an expansion club. It's cool that the envelope return address says "New York National League Baseball Club" because they had not officially adopted the "Metropolitans" or "Mets" nickname LoL. Thanks for allowing me this trip down memory lane Oh and don't forget the cool Utica baseball bat shaped single blade!

 

[waverave]

Great GAW Not an entry for me but I'd like to participate
The one theme knife that comes to mind is the Blackbeard's Trapper I won in a GAW from RHC not long ago


I grew up in Fremont and frequently took the BART train to Oakland Coliseum to watch the A's play. Back in those days, a kid could go to the rec center and buy a bleacher seat ticket for $0.25...literally a quarter. I went to many games and had the distinct pleasure of watching some greats play in that coliseum but no one was quite as exciting as Ricky Henderson. 130 stolen bases during the 1982 season. 1,406 career stolen bases. I'm not sure when that one is going to get topped.

Good luck to everyone

 

[JTB_5]

Great GAW Joshua Although I am a casual fan of baseball, my Dad was the true definition of a FAN-A-TIC He absolutely loved baseball and especially the Detroit Tigers. In his twenties he was actually a very good pitcher and played in "sandlot" leagues, bar leagues and any other league he could play in. This was all 10 years before I was even born so when I found out about it I was shocked that he was such a good player. He actually had a tryout with the Detroit Tigers and was offered a job with the Duluth-Superior Dukes. I think once he realized he could not make it into the majors right away, he decided to pursue his career in mining which is where he spent the next 30 years of his life... but his love of baseball never faded. Our best memory together came when Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were in the midst of their amazing home run battle in 1998. I was living in Lansing, MI at the time and he was in the Upper Peninsula but we used to watch the games together while on the phone with each other... we would yell "THERE GOES ANOTHER ONE!!!"... boy what I would give to hear his voice again He is still my guiding voice and always will be Anyway, I dug up one of his old letters from 1963 that happened to be from the New York Mets. The Mets were an expansion team in 1962 so I imagine my Dad thought his best shot at making the majors would be through an expansion club. It's cool that the envelope return address says "New York National League Baseball Club" because they had not officially adopted the "Metropolitans" or "Mets" nickname LoL. Thanks for allowing me this trip down memory lane Oh and don't forget the cool Utica baseball bat shaped single blade!

View attachment 994965 View attachment 994966 View attachment 994967 View attachment 994968

Wow, what great memories and memorabilia! It is awesome to think that in the sixties big league teams sent scouts to the watch the sandlot teams. I also remember watching the home run battle between Sosa and McGuire. I was rooting for Sammy since I like the Cubs. Plus, 1998 was the year Harry Caray died, so it was a special year in more ways than one. That knife is a cool one, too! Thanks for sharing!

Great GAW Not an entry for me but I'd like to participate
The one theme knife that comes to mind is the Blackbeard's Trapper I won in a GAW from RHC not long ago
View attachment 994974

I grew up in Fremont and frequently took the BART train to Oakland Coliseum to watch the A's play. Back in those days, a kid could go to the rec center and buy a bleacher seat ticket for $0.25...literally a quarter. I went to many games and had the distinct pleasure of watching some greats play in that coliseum but no one was quite as exciting as Ricky Henderson. 130 stolen bases during the 1982 season. 1,406 career stolen bases. I'm not sure when that one is going to get topped.
View attachment 994978
Good luck to everyone

Ricky Henderson was so cocky, I can still remember how he used to "pimp" his walks with a bat flip. Still, he was the most impressive base stealer of his era, and maybe of all time. The game doesn't support consistent base stealers as much today, but even if it did, Ricky's record is probably safe, as you say. Thanks for sharing!

 

[veitsi_poika]

I was rooting for Sammy since I like the Cubs.

The guy from the Mets that signed my Dad's letter, Wid Matthews, was the GM and director of player personnel for the Cubs in the 1950's. His claim to fame is that he signed the first African American player in Cubs franchise history... you may know that man as Ernie Banks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wid_Matthews

 

[JTB_5]

The guy from the Mets that signed my Dad's letter, Wid Matthews, was the GM and director of player personnel for the Cubs in the 1950's. His claim to fame is that he signed the first African American player in Cubs franchise history... you may know that man as Ernie Banks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wid_Matthews

Perfect!

 

[Bigfattyt]

Not an entry. I'm not much of a baseball fan, so I'll refrain from entering.


Not sure I have a favorite theme knife. I'll have to think about that (unless it is Japanese style wrapped handles, or fighting bowties, ect)

 

[r redden]

Great idea for a GAW Joshua. I'm not in as I have won and been gifted several things lately but if this post is selected please give the prize to my friend @Ramrodmb .

 

[JTB_5]

Great idea for a GAW Joshua. I'm not in as I have won and been gifted several things lately but if this post is selected please give the prize to my friend @Ramrodmb .

You got it Randy! Thanks for sharing an “in” for a friend.

 

[5K Qs]

Joshua, congrats on your impending BF anniversary, and thanks for the generous GAW!

I've certainly enjoyed your contributions this past year, ranging from some of the distinctive knives you own (I adore your El Greco knife! ), to your acquisition strategy of trying out knives and then getting rid of them before you get another new one (in mathematical game theory, it's called a "zero-sum game" ), to your academic interests and teaching experiences that you bring to bear on your "knife life", to your devotion to your family, to your positive attitude and over-all good guy persona on The Porch!

I think I've seen a Vic Classic with the baseball covers, but when I saw the Baseball Tinker you've generously offered, I thought to myself, "I am SO in on this GAW!" But it has taken me a while to post an entry, because I wasn't sure what a theme knife was, and I couldn't decide what baseball memory to share!

I'm also a baseball fan, although my ardor has cooled some as I've aged. I used to watch baseball on TV at least a couple of times a week (mostly Cubs games since 1974 or so, when I first moved to a new city and encountered WGN on something called "cable TV" - this in the days when EVERY Cubs game was on WGN). I used to be an ardent collector of baseball fiction, but haven't bought anything in that genre for a couple of decades. I was also an "early adopter" of sabermetrics (now called "analytics") a la Bill James and company; it was a happy marriage between my mathematical/statistical vocation and my baseball avocation, but again, I haven't bought any books on the topic since the 20th century, probably. This was the first summer since 1975, I think, that I didn't play in at least one slo-pitch softball league, which has at least some tenuous connections to the game of baseball!

I haven't actually attended very many MLB games in my life - certainly less than a dozen, spread among old Tiger Stadium, Comiskey Park, and Wrigley Field. My first major league game was in Detroit, where the Tigers played Mantle, Berra, Richardson, et al. and the hated Yankees, but I don't even remember the outcome. I'm convinced that I saw Frank Howard of the Washington Senators hit one of 4 home runs EVER that made it onto the roof of the left field stands at Tiger Stadium (Harmon Killebrew, Cecil Fielder, and Mark McGwire also did it), but my memories don't seem to be supported by factual data I can dig up online. I attended a 4th of July Cubs-Braves doubleheader (in 1974, I think) that cost me a buck to get into the left field bleachers, and another buck for each 16 oz. cup of Old Style. We spent some of our honeymoon in June 1985 at a Cubs game at Wrigley (again, no recollection of the outcome, or even the opponent). When our daughter was quite young (probably under 5, so early 1990s), we attended a Cubs-Pirates game at Wrigley; we saw Sammy Sosa trot in toward the infield after catching out number TWO of the inning as Pirate baserunners were tagging and advancing at will, and we saw two bench-clearing brawls. I think my most lasting memory connected to each and every one of these MLB in-person experiences was the incredible contrast of walking through kind of gritty neighborhoods to reach the ballpark gates, going through dark tunnels, and then emerging into the stands to see a "magical place" with unbelievably green grass, reddish dirt, summer sunshine, and glittering uniforms!! That sight got me every time!

(But I'll never forget listening to radio broadcasts of the 1968 Tigers-Cardinals World Series in 7th hour study hall in high school (when all the Series games were day games), and taking a 30-minute bus ride home during Game 7 in time to catch the end on TV and see the Tigers complete a comeback from being down 3 games to 1 and win their first World Series since 1945! I'll also never forget the time in 1984 as the season was winding down and both the Tigers and the Cubs were playing in their League Championship Series; I pulled into a parking spot when I came home from work one day, and realized that if they both made the World Series, I'd actually root for the Cubs over the Tigers!!)

As for a "theme knife", I guess my "theme" is more a "dream": I'd love to find mathematics-related pocket knives. Here's one that I have, and I carry it every day, a gift from @r8shell who scrimshawed Euler's Identity on one side of a white smooth bone Rough Rider small stockman (and a feather on the other side):


Thanks again for the generous GAW, Joshua. I always enjoy the GAWs that require participants to tell everyone a little bit about themselves. Best wishes to all the participants (including me )!

- GT

 

[JTB_5]

Joshua, congrats on your impending BF anniversary, and thanks for the generous GAW!

I've certainly enjoyed your contributions this past year, ranging from some of the distinctive knives you own (I adore your El Greco knife! ), to your acquisition strategy of trying out knives and then getting rid of them before you get another new one (in mathematical game theory, it's called a "zero-sum game" ), to your academic interests and teaching experiences that you bring to bear on your "knife life", to your devotion to your family, to your positive attitude and over-all good guy persona on The Porch!

I think I've seen a Vic Classic with the baseball covers, but when I saw the Baseball Tinker you've generously offered, I thought to myself, "I am SO in on this GAW!" But it has taken me a while to post an entry, because I wasn't sure what a theme knife was, and I couldn't decide what baseball memory to share!

I'm also a baseball fan, although my ardor has cooled some as I've aged. I used to watch baseball on TV at least a couple of times a week (mostly Cubs games since 1974 or so, when I first moved to a new city and encountered WGN on something called "cable TV" - this in the days when EVERY Cubs game was on WGN). I used to be an ardent collector of baseball fiction, but haven't bought anything in that genre for a couple of decades. I was also an "early adopter" of sabermetrics (now called "analytics") a la Bill James and company; it was a happy marriage between my mathematical/statistical vocation and my baseball avocation, but again, I haven't bought any books on the topic since the 20th century, probably. This was the first summer since 1975, I think, that I didn't play in at least one slo-pitch softball league, which has at least some tenuous connections to the game of baseball!

I haven't actually attended very many MLB games in my life - certainly less than a dozen, spread among old Tiger Stadium, Comiskey Park, and Wrigley Field. My first major league game was in Detroit, where the Tigers played Mantle, Berra, Richardson, et al. and the hated Yankees, but I don't even remember the outcome. I'm convinced that I saw Frank Howard of the Washington Senators hit one of 4 home runs EVER that made it onto the roof of the left field stands at Tiger Stadium (Harmon Killebrew, Cecil Fielder, and Mark McGwire also did it), but my memories don't seem to be supported by factual data I can dig up online. I attended a 4th of July Cubs-Braves doubleheader (in 1974, I think) that cost me a buck to get into the left field bleachers, and another buck for each 16 oz. cup of Old Style. We spent some of our honeymoon in June 1985 at a Cubs game at Wrigley (again, no recollection of the outcome, or even the opponent). When our daughter was quite young (probably under 5, so early 1990s), we attended a Cubs-Pirates game at Wrigley; we saw Sammy Sosa trot in toward the infield after catching out number TWO of the inning as Pirate baserunners were tagging and advancing at will, and we saw two bench-clearing brawls. I think my most lasting memory connected to each and every one of these MLB in-person experiences was the incredible contrast of walking through kind of gritty neighborhoods to reach the ballpark gates, going through dark tunnels, and then emerging into the stands to see a "magical place" with unbelievably green grass, reddish dirt, summer sunshine, and glittering uniforms!! That sight got me every time!

(But I'll never forget listening to radio broadcasts of the 1968 Tigers-Cardinals World Series in 7th hour study hall in high school (when all the Series games were day games), and taking a 30-minute bus ride home during Game 7 in time to catch the end on TV and see the Tigers complete a comeback from being down 3 games to 1 and win their first World Series since 1945! I'll also never forget the time in 1984 as the season was winding down and both the Tigers and the Cubs were playing in their League Championship Series; I pulled into a parking spot when I came home from work one day, and realized that if they both made the World Series, I'd actually root for the Cubs over the Tigers!!)

As for a "theme knife", I guess my "theme" is more a "dream": I'd love to find mathematics-related pocket knives. Here's one that I have, and I carry it every day, a gift from @r8shell who scrimshawed Euler's Identity on one side of a white smooth bone Rough Rider small stockman (and a feather on the other side):
View attachment 995457

Thanks again for the generous GAW, Joshua. I always enjoy the GAWs that require participants to tell everyone a little bit about themselves. Best wishes to all the participants (including me )!

- GT

Thank you for such kind words, GT. The porch is such a unique and splendid place, and your part is no small one in making it so.

Your baseball memories are all excellent choices! In fact, hearing so many great stories makes we want to tell my own baseball stories, but I'll save those for the end of the GAW.

I have always admired your Euler's Identity knife and am glad to know you carry it daily! Thanks for sharing and good luck in the drawing!

 

[abcdef]

GEC's next offering, an HT Barlow. Thanks for the opportunity.

 

[JTB_5]

Still open for entries.

 

[315]

I’m in and thanks for the opportunity. I do like baseball and a co-workers(he’s retired now)son pitches for a major league team currently so I think the Tinker is exceptionally cool. But in thinking of a theme knife something else came to mind recently. I traveled through several national parks and I did not see one gift shop selling any of the National Park theme Swiss Army Knives by Victorinox. I told my daughters to keep an eye out for them but we struck out....pun intendedBut here are a few I found online. The middle one being Mount Rainier, which I’m looking at as I type. Good luck to all....next batter!

 

[JTB_5]

I’m in and thanks for the opportunity. I do like baseball and a co-workers(he’s retired now)son pitches for a major league team currently so I think the Tinker is exceptionally cool. But in thinking of a theme knife something else came to mind recently. I traveled through several national parks and I did not see one gift shop selling any of the National Park theme Swiss Army Knives by Victorinox. I told my daughters to keep an eye out for them but we struck out....pun intendedBut here are a few I found online. The middle one being Mount Rainier, which I’m looking at as I type. Good luck to all....next batter!

I've seen those National Park knives before, they are cool. I have had the privilege of playing alongside or against a major leaguer or two. Ben Zobrist (currently a Cubs' player) was on the same summer travel team as I was in the summer of 2001. He was a super guy (still is, from what I can tell), and very dedicated to the craft even then. I also got to coach Michael Kirkman when he was 14 (he had a few years, but looks like he got released by the Braves last year). Thanks for entering and good luck!

 

[Fodderwing]

I’m in and thanks for the opportunity. I do like baseball and a co-workers(he’s retired now)son pitches for a major league team currently so I think the Tinker is exceptionally cool. But in thinking of a theme knife something else came to mind recently. I traveled through several national parks and I did not see one gift shop selling any of the National Park theme Swiss Army Knives by Victorinox. I told my daughters to keep an eye out for them but we struck out....pun intendedBut here are a few I found online. The middle one being Mount Rainier, which I’m looking at as I type. Good luck to all....next batter!

Very cool! I never knew those existed.

 

[Fodderwing]

I've seen those National Park knives before, they are cool. I have had the privilege of playing alongside or against a major leaguer or two. Ben Zobrist (currently a Cubs' player) was on the same summer travel team as I was in the summer of 2001. He was a super guy (still is, from what I can tell), and very dedicated to the craft even then. I also got to coach Michael Kirkman when he was 14 (he had a few years, but looks like he got released by the Braves last year). Thanks for entering and good luck!

That's really interesting Joshua. I'm thinking now it was you who's father knew Ty Cobb well? I can only imagine the memories you have of those days. Oh, and I liked the knife so much... still no entry

 

[Half/Stop]

Joshua this is not an entry, but a thanks for your generosity! I appreciate your presence on the Porch. Your comments and responses are always respectful and contribute to the subject involved. If this post were to be picked please give the prize to my friend 5K Qs .

 

[JTB_5]

That's really interesting Joshua. I'm thinking now it was you who's father knew Ty Cobb well? I can only imagine the memories you have of those days. Oh, and I liked the knife so much... still no entry View attachment 997659

I saw that you had the baseball SAK in the blades on books thread, that's sweet! My dad never knew Ty Cobb, but he did get to watch some Dodgers games when he was a kid in New York.

Joshua this is not an entry, but a thanks for your generosity! I appreciate your presence on the Porch. Your comments and responses are always respectful and contribute to the subject involved. If this post were to be picked please give the prize to my friend 5K Qs .

Thank you for the kind words, Ron. It is hard not to enjoy the Porch, and there are plenty of great examples for a new guy like me to follow. Thanks for entering a friend, and one who epitomizes generosity and respect!

 

[JTB_5]

I'm going to run the contest through the weekend, because I won't be able to send the knife until after Monday's holiday. So there's still time for entries!