#108 Eduardo Rodriguez, Brewers

Card Front: Here is Eduardo. If you kids didn't know, Eduardo is cool. Just look at the guy. To have an almost afro, wear a rubber jacket under your uniform, and do it all Milwaukee you must be a bad ass. I do find it odd that the way the sunshine off the blue in the Brewers uniform almost matches the purple banner below Eduardo's awesome profile shot.

Card Back: Little did us kids in 1979 know we were looking at Eduardo's entire career stats with the Brewers. In February of 1979 he was bought by the Royals to play in 1979 and retire at the age of 27. Relievers were used very differently in those days. I mean anywhere from 32 to 45 games and 105 to 143 innings, nowadays guys are pitching to a batter, or maybe one inning.

Six degrees or less to Seattle: While Eduardo spent only his 1979 season in Kansas City as a Royal, he did have Frank White in his infield. If you look to the 1989 version, Frank was still in the infield in Missouri, but now he had Bret Saberhagen on the mound. Later in his career, Bret would take the mound as a 1999 Boston Red Sox. Another of those Beantowners was Derek Lowe. Derek saw 12 games of service in Seattle before being dealt with Jason Varitek in 1997 for Heathcliff Slocumb.

Blog related to the team: I still wonder what would have happened if the Pilots would have never been taken off to Milwaukee by the now commissioner to become the Brewers? One guy I'm sure that couldn't care less is also a Brew Crew fan. While we have heard much from him in a long time, I'm hoping we can maybe rile him out of hibernation, and give us some new posts. When I first started reading blogs, one of the regulars was Sharpe Since 92. He has only given us one post this year, but maybe we can get him back since I used to really enjoy his work.

Next Card: #109 Joel Youngblood, Mets

#107 Jesus Alou, Astros

Card Front: Here we have one of the three famous Alou brothers. Jesus was the last of the boys to play in the majors. Both of his brothers would retire after the 1974 season. I know that many people will bash on the Astros and their rainbow uniforms, but I for one loved them. I'm wondering if this picture was taken at spring training because we all know the home whites would be in the Astrodome, but you can see the shadows of sunlight.

Card Back: This is what the backs of cards should look like. Fifteen seasons of stats from the early 60's all the way to the previous season. The Astros must have felt they needed another extra outfielder before the '78 season. It seems that after the 1971 season, Jesus either started to succumb to injuries, or age was starting to catch up since most seasons were a low number of games each season.  How about being drafted in 1959 to eventually play with Willie Mays?

Six degrees or less to Seattle: During Jesus' first season back in Houston in 1978, Jesus played with Tom Dixon. Tom would be a part of the 1983 Montreal Expos with Tim Raines. During Tim's final hurrah in 2002, he was a Florida Marlin with Brad Penny. Brad would move to be a Detroit Tiger in 2011 with Chance Ruffin. Chance came to the Mariners in the 2011 trade that lost us Doug Fister. Chance never saw Seattle in 2012, spending the season at AAA Tacoma.

Blog related to the team: While there aren't many Astros fans to be found in the blog world, I can make a somewhat similar connection. A blogger that at least comes from the same state gives us all good information about baseball cards. I'm sure that many of you read Craig in Texas' blog. He writes about My Topps Cards. I'm sure the Astros have a soft spot in his heart. If you haven't been there lately go and read up his great posts.

Next Card: #108 Eduardo Rodriguez, Brewers