PWE Week: Envelope #4 Contains Vintage Reds (and a Baseball Rules Trivia Question) plus Contest Update!

Happy Thursday morning everyone - and welcome back to the fourth (of seven) PWEs for the week.  As usual, I'll update the contest first.  Today's PWE comes courtesy of Mark up in Massachusetts.  Most (all?) of the towns in New England have low zip codes so today's envelope barely moves the total.  Our current zip code score is now 139832.  Those that guessed low are probably feeling a bit better about their guesses than they were after the previous envelope was revealed!

Mark is a great trader - and he seems to have a nearly limitless supply of cool vintage Reds for me!  Mark sent me 11 different Reds - and picking my three favorites to scan was tricky indeed!  In the end, I opted for the following:

#3:  Rookie Cup Card

I enjoy lots of things about baseball cards.  Among those things are:
A.  Rookie cup logos
B.  Reds' cards
C.  Spring training shots

This one happens to have all three aspects - plus a nice blue sky (and semi-green grass).  Grimsley looks a bit creepy in the photo but I guess you can't have everything perfect!

#2:  Baseball Trivia

The front of the card is obviously all about Hal McRae, but it's the back that earned the card the #2 slot on my mini countdown.  Let's see if you know your baseball rules (copied word for word from the back of the card).  I'll post the answer at the bottom of the post for those that want to know.

The umpire will not permit a batter to step up to the plate without his bat.  Yet, it is possible for the batter to hit the ball with his fist.  Take this hypothetical instance, based on an actual happening elsewhere:
Suppose the Minnesota Twins lead the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1, as the Twins bat in the last of the seventh inning.  Jim Nettles, leading off, runs up a three-two count.  He swings hard at the next pitch, an inside fastball.  The ball thuds against his right fist and caroms into foul territory without ever being touched by the bat.  The Orioles claim Nettles is out on strikes.  The Twins argue that is it merely a foul ball.  If you were umpiring, how would you call it?

Again, I have the answer at the bottom of the post so you can make your decision and then see if you are correct!

#1:  Reds' Leaders

The best card in the PWE packed with great cards was this Reds' leaders card featuring Ken Griffey (Sr) and Tom Seaver.  A 2.55 ERA is pretty solid from Seaver - and the .311 average isn't all that bad for Griffey either.  I bet there have been plenty of years where the Reds' leaders had much worse statistics than the '81 leaders racked up!

Thanks for the great cards Mark!  And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - check out my want list and make an offer!

Now, let's return to that trivia answer, shall we?


Baseball Trivia Answer:
(Again copied word for word from the back of the Hal McRae card):

Nettles is out.  It is a third strike, as the ball touched only the batter's hand and not his bat.  The rule (Section 2.00) says: "A strikes is la legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which touches the batter as he strikes at it."

Did you make the right call?