Pick-a-Card: Series 2 (Booster Pack)
Alright ladies and gentlemen, it's time to dust the top off of that shoebox and see what's inside! A lot of you have been waiting to see when YOUR card will be made or released and for eight of you the wait has finally ended. As for the rest of you, they may be in the next release...or maybe they won't. I'll never tell!!!
Sorry if this pack doesn't have the one you've been looking for! So, keep saving your allowance and searching the parking lot for loose change so that you can buy the next set! Who knows, maybe it'll feature that card you've been hoping for... Keep collecting, my friends.
So, let's tear into this pack! The wrappers can be tricky sometimes. Ah, here we go. Wow, some nice ones this time. Looks like we have a 2015 set here. Great season! Most of these players were seasoned vets and all but one (Scott Westcott) of them are still playing today. Man, I miss these players!
A Scott Westcott card is valuable to any collector of HWL cards. He's a well-rounded player, in figure and in statistics (I can relate with the former), who has played four seasons now. He's not had very consistent attendance the past couple of seasons but he always seems to be there when his team needs him most.
Holy Cow! Is that a Nick "Skip" Scala card! Sick!!! Moooooooooooooommmm, I finally found it! This guy is a living legend. How can you NOT like this guy. He was kind enough to write an article about the league in the Charleston Gazette back in 2014 and earns immediate respect from all players that have met him. One of his most impressive attributes to this guy is that he's a Yankees fan and NOT obnoxious about it. This guy is pure class.
Shewee...never thought I would get this one, a Sumaiya Chaudhry card. This woman could straight up hit the ball. Never knew what to expect from her, one at bat she'll strikeout, the next, a blooper single, then take you yard. She's the definition of a wild card. We've only had a handful of female players in the league and they all have left their mark and Chaudhry is no exception. I'll be putting this card in a protective sleeve for sure.
Dayum, son! I can't believe it. This is a bitchin' Nick Kappra Card. This dude never got the praise he was due for his talent on the mound. He was out-shined by other pitchers like Jacob Fischer, Drew McClanahan, and Jeremy Ray at a time when the league was at the pinnacle of it's fast-pitch days. Kappra finally got his moment in the spotlight at the 2014 nationals when he hit a walk-off home run in a double-elimination game and shut down a couple teams on the mound. Kappra pitched some beauties in 2014 for Wee Willy Wiffle in a tough division but he never got many wins because the team couldn't get the run support needed. In 2015 he signed on to the powerhouse franchise of Sit On My Base but moved to Maryland about halfway through the season. He was looking better than ever that year too, could have been his hallmark year but we'll never know. Perhaps, if he would have stuck around Sit On My Base may have had the edge needed to take the title away from Breaking Balls that year. Can't help but wonder...
I've heard two things about Brian Ball that I can neither confirm nor deny. 1) He wears a hat all the time because he actually has no skull at the top of his head and his brain is exposed. 2) He is an antelope from the waist down and that's how he could jump 10 feet into the air and rob all those home runs. But keep it between us, okay? You didn't hear it from me. This guy was an all-star through and through, plain and simple. The dude could hit the ball a mile, field anything coming his way, and hit the strikezone a decent amount when called upon. Probably the best all-around player in league history right here. Glad I finally have this card!
Hold up...I'm about to faint. Is that a Matt Gordon card? The same Matt "Gordo" Gordon who led the league in home runs (12), RBIs (30) and Slugging Percentage (1.333) at a time when no hitters and perfect games were being thrown on almost a weekly basis? The very same! This guy was a legend! Little known fact, this guy could pitch pretty well too. He had a 3-0 pitching record in 2015 with a 6.22 ERA and 17 strikeouts in just 13.2 IP. Not bad for a guy who generally let his bat do all the talking. Seriously though, I couldn't tell you what this guy's voice sounds like. I played with him for two years and I do not remember him saying a single word.
Now here's a card I never thought I'd see...Andy Hill. This guy is truly an unsung hero of the league. Fewer players have sacrificed more as a player in the league than him. He was having an explosive performance in spring training 2014 and was turning heads throughout the league. He played, when he could, for Wee Willy Wiffle that year and had ho-hum performances among a team of standouts. In 2015 he had options but instead answered the call of duty to captain a much needed 8th team to balance out the divisions. He was the only constant player for his team that year and as a result his team, the Plain White Tees, had the worst franchise finish in league history. This is a shame because Andy was having a breakout year, hitting .420, with 8 HRs, 14 RBIs, 69 total bases, and a .574 OBP. He made the play of the game in the 2015 All-Star Game by robbing a home run, after which the field was rushed and he was carried off the field. It was so disappointing to see a player's hallmark year be tarnished as he willed his franchise into existence week after week. But he's a hero in my book for putting up with it and seeing the season through. I never heard him complain once.
Oh, hello there. What a pleasant surprise to see a Jonathan Maxwell card in this pack. What a great way to end it. Jonathan was a newcomer to the game and I could tell by watching him that he didn't play much sports. Nevertheless, he managed to string together some impressive stats (.412 AVG, 4 HR, 17 RBIs, and 42 total bases). That 2015 Asthmatics squad featured Paul Hesson, a spirited and in-your-face competitor, as well as Josiah Chapman who seemingly could hit a wiffleball over Mt. Everest. The team also had Veronica Stanley and Samaiya Chaudhry who were making a lot of noise on the field with their new talents. So Jonathan kinda was background noise among the cacophony of noise the team was emitting that year. But he quietly improved all season long and was a fun player to watch. I absolutely love watching people who initially struggle with this game gradually improve as they stick it out. This is one of the few sports that I think that king of thing is possible. Once the season ended, Maxwell moved to Florida for work and remains one of the better one-and-done players the league has ever seen.
