Reviews (1)

The greatest third baseman of all-time crushing a baseball
I wonder what Mike Schmidt thinks of Alex Rodriguez moving from shortstop to third base.I also wonder what Honus Wagner thinks about it, but since Schmidt is still one of the living it would be his opinion that matters more in the current debate.Schmidt and Wagner would be my choices for the left side of the infield on my All-Time Baseball Team.Wagner's position was pretty secure until A-Rod came along, but not that he has started playing third base it could be Schmidt that has to worry about his status as the greatest player at his position who ever lived.

Schmidt provided a combination of power and defense at the hot corner that gets him to the top of the list (i.e., more home runs than Brooks Robinson and better fielding than Eddie Mathews).A right-handed slugger who hit 548 home runs in his career he holds the single season mark for the position with 48 homers in 1980 (A-Rod will not get the record for homers while playing third for a career, but for a single season?Do not bet against him after he belted three last night at the Stadium, but remember that Schmidt hit four in row in one game in 1976).Named to the All-Star team 12 times and the winner of 10 Gold Gloves, Schmidt was named the Player of the Decade for the 1980s by the "Sporting News." Enough said.

I think this is one of the better sports figures that McFarlane Toys has put out, showing Schmidt at the moment of contact as he is about to tell Mr. Spalding to go long.Schmidt is wearing the blue jersey of the Philadelphia Phillies and his number 20 (now retired).He was a tough guy in a tough town (is there a tougher sports town to be a home player in than Philadelphia?The only thing worse was Tehran when Saddam's son was running the Iraqi Olympic program), and this 6" figure captures him perfectly.This is clearly the best of the figures in this second series of current and future Hall of Famers.

The rest of the MLB Cooperstown Series 2 figures are for Jim "Catfish" Hunter of the Oakland A's, Cal Ripken, Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles, Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Willie Mays playing for the San Francisco Giants, and that Babe Ruth fellow who hit a whole lot of home runs without ever taking steroids (not to mention ever playing a major league game at night, on the West Coast, or against an African-American pitcher: no wonder baseball fans like to argue out the relative merits of old-timers versus the ballplayers of today). If you missed Series 1 then you need to track down Yogi Berra, Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, Brooks Robinson, Nolan Ryan and Tom Seaver. It is really great that McFarlane Toys is going back to these great old school players and I am waiting to see who they come up with next (Honus Wagner would be nice). ... Read more

Reviews (1)

McFarlane does it again!
The Isles' dynasty gets some plastic props.I am hoping for Denis Potvin next! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Whoever is sliding into home here is not going to make it
Irony abounds with this second sports figure of Mike Piazza from McFarlane Toys.Piazza has always been known as one of the best hitting catchers of all time, currently with a .313 career average and 384 home runs.But then the first Piazza figure showed him in full follow-through at the plate having just hit the ball someplace hard, so they wanted to come up with something different for this one.The other ironic element is that there was all this talk about moving Piazza to first base, to save the wear and tear on his legs working behind the plate, that he is still catching, as shown in this MLB Series 11 figure.That Series 1 figure was as a New York Met too (I thought that would be far back enough to when Piazza was a Los Angeles Dodger, but I was wrong).

The scale on this figure is 6-inches, although obvious the figure is not that tall since he is shown blocking the plate to prevent a runner from scoring.It would be nice if there was another McFarlane figure shown sliding that could make a mini-diorama, but I do not think there is one yet (and if there is, it is probably sliding into second instead of home).As we have come to expect from McFarlane there is nice detail on the uniform and the catching gear, but they also did a nice job sculpting the face on this one so that it is recognizable as Piazza (granted, the facial hair helps with the recognition factor).

McFarlane's MLB Series 11 also has the second figures for Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, Ken Griffey, Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds, Mark Prior of the Chicago Cubs, and American League M.V.P. Vladimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or however that goes). Getting their first figures are Roy Halladay of the Toronto Blue Jays, Bill Wagner of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Johnny Damon of the Boston Red Sox, who has to hold the record for most hair on a McFarlane baseball figure.Mets fans can look forward to a figures of their two big free agent acquisitions this year as well with Carlos Beltran in Series 12 and Pedro Martinez in the Series 13 Extended Edition (old figures in new uniforms).
... Read more