Slingin’ Sammy Baugh

Today is St. Paddy’s day, but really…it’s the birthdate of the greatest Quarterback of all-time. 

Samuel ‘Slingin Sammy’ Adrian Baugh. 

Well, the greatest quarterback if you ask a Washington Redskins fan.  Another notable note is that Sammy Baugh was born in Temple, Texas, just a mere 145 miles from my hometown of San Antonio…so, yeah.  Why not, let’s go.

Slingin’ Sammy was beyond impressive on the gridiron.  He led the way in transforming the game of football from a bruising sport led by fullbacks pounding the pig skin to downfield aerial attacks with wideouts.  The game went from three yards and a cloud of dust to the greatest show on turf, mainly due in part to Sammy.  His ability to re-imagine the forward pass as a means of attacking made the game exciting, action packed and brought greater scoring to the game, well…quicker scoring.  Other QB’s did it at this time, but no one did it quite like Sammy.  Sammy was the best.

Beyond being a tremendous quarterback, Sammy was also an accomplished defensive back and quite possibly, his most impressive feat (bad pun…sorry) of being a tremendous punter.  Leading the league in all three positions during the 1943 season.  That year he was the leader in pass completions, punting yard average (46) and interceptions (11).  Who the hell does THAT!!??!  Sammy was truly a three way player, offense, defense, special teams.  Whatever he did, he did it well, well…he achieved greatness in the game that has been unmatched.  Not too many guys in the history of the game have managed to excel on opposing sides of the ball, but Sammy did.  Sammy was the best.

Baugh came to the Boston Redskins via the ’37 draft from Texas Christian University where he excelled at football and baseball.  (Something, I never knew before was that he got the nickname ‘Slingin’ while playing baseball and not lighting  up the Giants and Eagles on Sunday afternoons.)  He was the 6th pick overall that draft, an epic slide for such a phenomenal talent.  He fell behind Sam Francis, Ed Goddard, Buzz Buivid, Ed Widseth and Mike Basrak.  Now, I have no idea where Mel Kiper had him going, but I gotta think his draft slide was kind of a shock for everyone.  He didn’t have that Aaron Rodgers kind of slide, but for five other teams to pass on a franchise quarterback must’ve caused a huge stir at the time.  To that, I say the Redskins franchise were incredibly lucky that day, because…Sammy was the best. 

During his 16 year career (1937-1952) he led the franchise to four football championships winning two of them in 1937 and 1942, both against George Halas’ Chicago Bears.  He was also a seven time all-pro and two-time player of the year, in back to back seasons of 1947 and 1948…essentially consecutive MVP’s.  Pretty impressive, again…Sammy was the best.

The greatness of Slingin Sammy can’t be stated in this blog, but hey, I’ve got some sweet cards to show off and it’s his birthday.  So hope you enjoyed the brief bio and remember…Sammy was the best.   

Thank you for reading and sticking with me, deadlines and life get in the way but man I love this blog.  Mostly for personal reasons, but l love to share as well.  Hope you all enjoy reading.

Let’s go, one more for the road…Slingin’ Sammy Baugh ya’ll!

-Cardboard Hogs

You know who is also the best?  Jay-Z.  Maybe not to the level of Sammy’s greatness, but excellent in his own right.  So, here’s a video of Jay-Z…wearing a Sammy Baugh jersey…because Sammy was the best.

young’ns

Although the past Redskins season didn’t unfold as i had expected, there were a couple of bright spots…or at least areas that may appear to be bright if things unfold how i hope they will.  The rookie class from last years draft had minimal impact this season, starting of course with the much written about here, Josh Doctson.  Most of the kids drafted in April of 2016 didn’t see much playing time due to injuries or roster depth.

Take a quick peek:

  1. WR – Josh Doctson from TCU
  2. LB – Su’A Cravens from USC
  3. DB – Kendall Fuller from Virginia Tech
  4. DT – Matthew Ioannidis from Temple
  5. QB – Nate Sudfeld from Indiana
  6. LB – Steve Daniels from Boston College
  7. RB – Keith Marshall from Georgia

If you look closer at the draft though, the team managed to keep everyone in the organization and didn’t cut them.  What that means of course is that the organization felt they did a good job of drafting.  Now, who really knows who drafted these guys.  Could have been Scott McCloughan or Bruce Allen…or maybe it was Chris Cooley…who knows…!  I’m going to keep my hopes up and hope these guys have great futures with the team.

Besides Doctson, i’m really hoping for something great from Su’A Cravens.  He’s making the shift from LB to Safety next season.  Something that should have been done last year…but who has time to look backwards these days.

16 PS Su'a Cravens auto 39:49

Cravens likens himself to a Sean Taylor kind of player…most of the defensive backs that play for the Redskins or wear 21 do, so it’s cool that he gets to fulfill that wish i guess.  Taylor was a freak of nature and a complete beast on the field.  He also loved football and always went all out when he played…not saying Cravens can’t do that…but…i’m just sayin it’s a lot to live up to.

Not to mention, Cravens likes his social media which i really couldn’t imagine Sean Taylor posting photos of him posing near a waterfall during his vacation…but maybe…who knows.  I have hope that Su’A will become a dominant player, only time will tell.

16 IN Su'a Cravens auto 91:488

The only other player that really saw much time on the field last year was Kendall Fuller, although it was somewhat short lived.  He was coming off an ACL surgery from the prior season, so no telling how healthy he was last season.  His impact last year didn’t amount to much, but he seems like the kind of player that will be solid and have some great games.  Maybe not an All-Pro, but his blood line is that of an NFL’er…plus the new secondary coach for the Redskins was his DB coach at VTech.  So there’s that.

Nate Sudfeld is a bit of a curiosity for me.  Is the Cousin’s replacement next season?  Is he just a guy that will be a 2nd and 3rd string quarterback?  Who is he and what can he do!  Only time will tell for him.

16 LTC Nate Sudfeld auto

Since he’s a QB, i’ve been working to stock up on his autographs like i did with Cousins during RGIII’s rookie year.  That was some seriously major foresight on my part.  If things don’t work out for Cousins and the Redskins in the future, i’ll have my Sudfelds ready to go and fully invested in!

16 SC Nate Sudfeld

The other players i don’t have cards for yet are Steven Daniels and Matthew Ioannidis.  Daniels was injured during training camp and was placed on IR but had a decent start to his camp last year.  Seems like one of those small cannon ball kind of line backers that is everywhere and becomes a field leader…like London Fletcher was for so many seasons.  Keith Marshall was another player that was injured and didn’t have an impact on last season.

Looking back on t the draft, you really have to hope that these kids can get and stay healthy or this draft could turn out to be a huge bust.  But if they can get and stay healthy, who knows what their future holds for them.  Lots of potential and talent for them young’ns.

The music today is brought to you by a couple of enigmatic dual personality MC’s from New York.  Kool Keith and MF Doom.  A couple old guys that the young’ns love…especially Doom.  He has quite a cult following for those true hip hop fans.

Keepin’ it 1 hunid

Today on Twitter, Josh Doctson posted this vague tweet that was left up for interpretation…or maybe it was quite clear.

Yup, 100%.

There’s a lot of things that can be 100%…one of them is not this laptop i’m typing on, that’s at 42%…apparently in honor of Jackie Robinson.

100% could be how he’s “keeping’ it!” that’s what the kids say.

100% could be how much effort he gives each time out, although some like to give 110% or 120%.

100% could be the score on his driving test, that’s a good grade.

100% could also be how his health is rated in relation to his aching achilles, which is most likely the reason for the very general tweet.  If that’s the case, this is great news for the Redskins and the guy that drafted him…the guy that was fired a couple weeks ago.  This, of course is assuming he continues to stay healthy and is at 100%.

I find it hard to believe that a football player every really gets to 100% healthy.  With all the hitting and overzealous physical contact from large, fast moving objects from opposing directions…how can you ever be at a full 100%.  100 percent is technically perfect, can’t really do better.  Even the foolish coaches that tell you to give 110% or 120%.  If you give your all, isn’t that a full 100?  Maybe i’m just a slacker or too cynical for wordplay with number…but…nevermind.

So, today marks the 17th anniversary of one of my all time favorite albums.  Hands down favorite album by one of my favorite artists, Common (Sense as he was named when i first heard him).  Like Water for Chocolate was a phenomenal album that came out at a time when hip-hop was getting back to more positive rhymes and storytelling…not to mention the music produced by the late great J-Dilla.  Here’s my favorite track from that album…if you like this one, the rest of the album will be a great listen for you if you haven’t yet heard.  Common definitely gave it a 120% effort on this one.

Rookie gambles

“…the kids better buy my rookie card now

cause after this year the price ain’t going down!”

These words were uttered by the lyrically inclined, Mos Def…or Yasin Bey.

The value of rookie cards have been a part of non-card collectors for many years and often referenced in pop culture.  Maybe not necessarily the value of a card, but the understanding that rookie cards generally carry a significantly greater value or general demand over non rookie cards.

I’ve never been a gambler, nor have i been a prospector.  I’m a collector, a team collector.  A team collector of an NFL franchise that has not been great for a few years and are faced with a high draft pick each year in the Spring NFL draft.  Typically a high NFL draft, assuming an offensive player or skilled defensive player will have valuable rookie cards.  When they are drafted by the Redskins, i have a collectors obligation to pick them up.  Typically, the sooner the better for me.  Problem is though, you never know how a guy is going to pan out in his athletic career.  Case in point, this guy.

16-pp-robert-griffin-iii

In 2012, i bought way too many boxes of football cars in hopes of pulling ONE…just ONE autographed RGIII card.  Never.  Not once did i have my wish granted…ironically though, i did manage to pull two Kirk Cousins cards that year.  At the time, i was slightly disappointed…that’s what it came to, i was disappointed to have a back up guy, not the main guys autograph, i mean c’mon man RGIII was the future!  As you may be able to tell from the card above, he is a distant memory for all Redskins fans now and something the Cleveland Browns are forced to deal with.  Now, don’t get me wrong i have some great memories, some not so great ones too, but the drama with this guy…not to mention the fragility with which he played.  Point is, you have to be patient and know when to strike on these young guys.  I think i’ve learned my lesson a bit and have managed to make a few good pick ups from the past couple of card shows with Kim.  Here are the few top Redskins rookies and cards with autographs.

16-lc-ff-207-josh-doctson-164299-a33-josh-doctson-a

I’ve written about this guy a lot.  The main reason is that i’m feeling like he may be another Malcolm Kelly or Devin Thomas or Michael Westbrook or Rod Gardner or…you get the idea.  A highly touted rookie WR that isn’t able to meet the expectations.

Doctson has missed most of the season and who knows what the future will bring.  With the lull in his playing this year though, it’s time to swoop in and pick up some autos.

16-ss-364-josh-doctson-4250-a

I’ve been able to pick up a few for less than $5 each.  Not bad for a first round draft pick, skilled position player autograph and or jersey.

Another guy that i’ve been putting together a nice collection of is Nate Sudfeld.  A back up QB…worked well last time, why not try again!  I don’t believe Nate has suited up for any regular season games this season, which is great because that means Cousins has played great and has been healthy.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Kirk Cousins and hope the Redskins can sign him to a long term contract and hope that he is the long term answer.  But you need a backup and a good backup at that.  Worst case, he gets traded and stars somewhere else and i’m able to flip these guys for more Redskins.

16-uld-gr-glr-ns1-nate-sudfeld-a16-pp-dp-267-nate-sudfeld-32199-a

The digital camoflauge is always something cool to see on a card.  The autograph of Nate though…it needs some work.  I think these kids are asked to initial the stickers, not autograph them…oy!

16-ppdp-212-nate-sudfeld-a

Next rookie that i haven’t really started my pursuit of but need to step it up a bit is Su’A Cravens.  He was a huge fan of Sean Taylor as a young’n and his play in some respects reflects the same intensity that Sean had.  Su’A is an intense young man that hits hard and plays with enough intensity to become playmaker in the future, so now is the time to strike if you ask me!

16-ppdp-176-sua-cravens-a

Last kid for the night is Keith Marshall.  A rookie running back from the University of UGA…or Georgia.  Don’t know much about this kid since he was injured in the preseason and has been on IR all season…you can never have enough RB’s, especially the fast ones which i believe he is.

16-pp-ep-km-keith-marshall-1550-a

I’m thinking of posting some Bowman cards i’ve picked up recently after i do some research on the nicer cards i pulled.

Hope you enjoyed the cards today.

Here for your viewing pleasure…Pharoahe Monche, Mos Def and Nate Dogg…OH NO!!

Sundays with J-Dox

 

Sundays around here can be a little chaotic.  Lots of chores to be done before the day is done, spending quality time with the family, and getting ready for the upcoming work/school week.  Not to mention finding a way to watch every second of every Redskins game.  The swings of my emotions would often swing directly with the results of the game and how each play played itself out.  I’ve grown up a little bit though.  I’ve been able to manage my expectations a little better and control my emotions and temperment…being a fan of a team that hasn’t been to the Super Bowl since 1991 will do that do you i guess.

The 23-31 loss to the Arizona Cardinals today though was quite frustrating.  Arizona has a solid defense and a few fantastic players on both sides of the ball…but i think the Redskins had many chances to win the game today…the defense just didn’t get the job done today.  Here’s hoping they can regroup for the Philadelphia Eagles next week in Philly and that DeSean Jackson has a big game.

Speaking of D-Jax, there seems to be a lot of build up about him returning to the Eagles next season.  Although i wouldn’t be overly happy about that, i don’t think i would lose much sleep over it either.  One of the reasons is this guy…Josh Doctson.

10-josh-doctson-a

 

Josh is a completely different type of receiver than Jackson.

65-josh-doctson-249499-a

He’s also a very different kind of receiver than the Redskins have had in a long time.  Tall, fast guy that can make some plays on the edges and in the middle of the field…i just hope he can get healthy.  He’s been dealing with some odd achilles/foot injury all year and hasn’t been on the field too much this season…two games i believe.

Here are a few of the nicer cards i picked up from Brian the other day.  Brian is an Eagles fan.

jd-josh-doctson-4850-a

I’m always a sucker for jumbo patch cards like this…but i’m always a little curious about the crop of the player on these cards.  Jumbo patch or player photo…i’ll take the jumbo patch, especially with the burgundy and gold stitched together.

126-josh-doctson-6799-a

The tri-colored patch is pretty cool, but the autograph is just aiight.

7-josh-doctson-a

So whether or not D-Jax leaves and Josh Doctson can fulfill his large shoes…or not is to be seen.  If J-Dox turns out to be a gem, i’ve got a nice start to his rookie card collection.

Thanks for reading…on to the Eagles!  HTTR!!