If You Build It, They Will Come

        Profile Bing Miller was a baseball player who was most famous for his time with the Philadelphia Athletics*.  Born in Vinton, Bing was nicknamed after comic strip character in the local paper (remember local papers?)  Bing was on two World Series championship teams.** * MLB had 16 teams in 1929, including the PHILADELPHIA Athletics, BOSTON Braves, Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers), Washington Senators (Twins), St. Louis Browns (Orioles) and NEW YORK Giants.  ** Bing literally had the thing that most ballplayers dream of at one point of their lives.  He hit a double to knock in the winning run of the 1929 World Series.  How cool is that! Personal Notes When writing these posts, I like to do a little research to find fun tidbits about the person.  When the player comes from a small town like Bing does, I'll look to see who else has come from there.  Vinton has had a few people come from there, and I'd like to point out two of them who...

        Profile George Washington Carver was a man born into slavery who rose to become one of the greatest minds of his time.  George was born in Missouri and was only a week old before he was stolen away and sold in Kentucky.  He lived many different place, some of choice, but often left out of necessity.  He did however have enough support that he was able to attend college, starting at Simpson College* (after being denied in Kansas because of his color).  At Simpson his artist skills stood out, but also an emerging interest in botany.  His professors encouraged him to learn botany at Iowa State University**, where he earned his masters.   He worked at the Tuskegee Institute and here is where he made his advancements in the science of soil depletion, something good Iowa farmers know all about.  Soil was depleted from years of cotton planting, and he encouraged planting of peanuts, soybeans, and sweet potatoes as replacements...

        Profile Keith Sims was an offensive lineman for the Iowa State Cyclones in the late 80s and was drafted in the second round* of the 1990 NFL Draft** by the Miami Dolphins.  He made 3 Pro Bowls and was a 2nd team All-Pro one year.   * Sims is the 3rd highest draft pick in ISU history (2.14), behind George Amundson (1.14 1973) and Mike Stensrud (2.3 1979) ** Iowa connections in the 1990 draft: Ian Beckles (Waldorf 5th), Bryce Paup (UNI 6th), Bill Anderson (UofI, 7th), Brad Quast (UofI 10th), and Mike Busch (ISU 10th) Historical Significance That 1989-91 range is the sweet zone for finding the first cardboard gem of a player in your favorite college's uniform.  Pro Set was kind of groundbreaking with their decision to do this to diversify themselves from Topps.  However, no ISU player was drafted high enough in 1989.  I had though in my head that perhaps Blaise Bryant was the first on his 1991 Score, but nope.  I, a lowly blog...

        Profile Cole Nelson was a pitcher who pitched for Des Moines Area Community College* before transferring to Auburn.  Cole was drafted in the 2010 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers, and he topped out in double A ball. * Only 1 DMACC player has reached the majors : Scott Schebler ** The 2010 draft include one of my favorite players, Lucas O'Rear.  From UNI, he played in the minors for a little bit, but mainly I'll remember his time on that 2010 UNI basketball team that knocked off Kansas to reach the Sweet 16. Personal Notes You might not realize this, but Cole was traded for a player drafted #1 overall in one of the better drafts.  In 2011, the Tigers trade Cole to the Minnesota Twins for Delmon Young, who was only a year removed from a MVP (vote getting) season.  Delmon would accrue 0.3 WAR over the last 5 years after that trade. Collection Notes I have 1/19 (5%) cards in my collection.

        Profile Don Nelson is a former small forward with the Iowa Hawkeyes* who earned a 3rd team All-American nod in his time there.  Don played in the NBA for 14 years, and won 5 NBA titles with the Boston Celtics during his time there.  Then, he went on to coaching and became the winningest coach of all time and also winning Coach of the Year 3 times. He is retired now.** * It's between him and Connie Hawkins for the best Iowa player ever.  Fred Brown, BJ Armstrong and Ricky Davis fill in that next tier. ** I'm just going to paste this here from his Wikipedia page.  Don Nelson is living his best life: As of April 2018, Nelson lives in Maui, where he has a farm to grow flowers, coffee, and cannabis. He hosts local poker games with celebrities such as Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, and Owen Wilson. “I know how far I’ve come from being a hog farmer,” Nelson said of his career. “I’ve come a long, long way from being some country kid. I got in the...

       Profile Matt Petersen was a pitcher who was drafted out of Iowa State (twice), and signed with the Florida Marlins in  1992*.  He played 4 seasons in the minors never reaching past AA ball. * The Marlins drafted him before they had played one single game, the Marlins first year was 1993. ** Fellow Cyclone Don Wengert went in the 4th round that year. Personal Notes Matt Petersen never made it past AA, was drafted in the 27th round and was never considered a high prospect, but yet I still have a Topps rookie card for him.  Why?  In 1993, the first season the Marlins played, Topps pushed to get as many Marlins and Rockies cards to capture the excitement for those teams and anyone who showed anything got a card.  Matt went 5-1 with a 2.68 ERA in his first season, and now is forever immortalized. 1993 Topps has a Gold, Marlins, Rockies and Micro version as well. Collection Notes I have 5/12 (42%) cards in my collection. I have 5/5 (100%) of...

    MLB Draft Iowa Connections I'll be filling these in as I post in the blog.  I'll link to the players as they each get a post.   2017 Dan Tillo, 3rd, Sioux City/Iowa Western CC John Swanda, 4th, Des Moines Jake Adams, 6th DMACC, UofI Korry Howell , 12th, Kirkwood Jake Scudder, 16th, Iowa Western CC Nick Gallagher, 16th UofI Keaton Winn, 20th, Ollie/Iowa Western CC Robbie Glendinning, 21st NIACC 2016 A.J. Puk , 1st, Cedar Rapids Spencer Van Scoyoc, 19th, Cedar Rapids Joel Booker, 22nd, Iowa Malique Ziegler, 22nd, NIACC Nick Roscetti, 26th, Iowa Tyler Peyton, 29th, Iowa 2014 Mitch Keller , 2nd, Cedar Rapids Nick Green, 7th, Indian Hills Keaton Steele , 8th, Iowa Western Jake Yacinich, 8th, Iowa Erik Swanson, 8th, Iowa Western Quinn Carpenter, 17th, Iowa Western Dominic Thompson-Williams, 19th, Iowa Western Keaton McKinney, 28th, Ankeny Ryan Lillard, 30th, Urbandale Taylor Zeutenhorst, 38th, Iowa Sasha Kuebel, 38th, Iowa 2013 Derek ...

        Profile Ronnie Harman was a running back who played 12 seasons in the NFL, mostly for Buffalo and San Diego.  Buffalo took him with the 16th pick of the 1986 NFL Draft*.  He was one of the first pass catching running backs, in fact he only rushed for more yard than receiving only once in his career.  He played for San Diego when they reached the Super Bowl**.  Ronnie was from the University of Iowa and was one of their best running backs ever. * Iowa Connections in 1986 NFL Draft: Chuck Long (1st UofI), Harmon (1st UofI), Mike Haight (1st UofI), Hugh Millen (3rd Des Moines), Devon Mitchell (4th UofI), Bill Lewis (7th Sioux City), Jim Luebbers (9th ISU), Larry Station (11th UofI) ** Iowa Connections in this Super Bowl: Chargers - Harmon (UofI) and Dennis Gibson (ISU)     49ers - George Seifert (UofI), Merton Hanks (UofI) Personal Notes Ronnie is one of the best running backs at Iowa, a school rich with running back succe...

        Profile Dan McGwire was a quarterback for the Iowa Hawkeyes* before transferring to San Diego State and eventually being drafted by Seattle in the 1991 NFL Draft**.  He played 4 years in the pros, mostly as a backup.   * Other Hawkeye QBs you can collect: Chuck Long (Det), Brad Banks (Wash), Ricky Stanzi (KC), C.J. Beathard (SF), Drew Tate (Calgary), Nate Stanley (Min), Randy Duncan (Dallas Texans), Mark Vlasic (SD), Matt Rodgers (Buf), Jake Rudock (Det) ** McGwire gets dumped on for being drafted over Favre in this draft, but even the Falcons who drafted Favre sent him away after a season.  Weird QB draft with Favre clearly the best, a QB best known for his brother (Mark McGwire), a QB with a million stories about him (Marinovich), and the 2nd best QB being a tossup between Scott Zolak and Craig Erickson.  That's not even mentioning Browning Nagle, who I saw play in a Arena League exhibition game in Cedar Falls and he was terrible i...

        Profile When coming up with a list of greatest athletes to come from Iowa, Bob Feller is always on that short list.  Known as the "Heater from Van Meter", Feller was an instant smash in his first start striking out 15 batters.  Later that season he struck out 17 batters in one game.  After a successful rookie season, Feller returned home to Iowa and finished his senior year.  Not college, but high school.  Yes, he was a 17 rookie dominating the league.   Feller has the 4th highest WAR* of any Iowan, but is still regarded as the best ever.  Why?  Well, besides the stat packing that Cap Anson had (27 seasons!), Feller gave up 4 prime years of his career to enlist in the Navy.  This selfless act to protect our nation is another proud Iowan tradition**. Feller is one of 7 MLB HOFs born in Iowa (Anson, Clarke, Faber, Feller, Vance, Bancroft, and J.L. Wilkinson from Algona, founder of the Kansas City Monarchs). Ed B...

        Profile Derrick Willies is a wide receiver* for the Cleveland Browns.  Cleveland snapped their playoff drought this year, and while many say it wasn't all because of Derrick, we'll say it was a contributing factor.  Derrick started his college career with the Iowa Hawkeyes before eventually ending up at Texas Tech.  He also played one year at Burlington High.  He was undrafted in the 2018 NFL Draft** but signed quickly with Cleveland. * WRs from Iowa this decade: Riley McCarron (2018), Marvin McNutt (2012-14), Tevaun Smith (2016) ** Hawkeyes in the 2018 draft : James Daniels, Joshua Jackson, Josey Jewell, Akrum Wadley , Derrick Willies, Nic Shimonek, Ben Niemann Personal Notes I remember that I saw posted somewhere on Twitter that Willies had signed and that he was a former Hawkeye.  The transfers often elude me, so I love when I catch that info.  So I went searching for his collection to that point.  Maybe a ...

        Profile Jon Koncak was born in Cedar Rapids and chose to play his college ball at Southern Methodist University.  He was drafted in 1985* (6th overall) and played 12 years for the Atlanta Hawks, won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics**, and has an IMDB page (for his time in the movie Eddie). * Other Iowa connections: Greg Stokes (2nd UofI) and Barry Stevens (2nd ISU), Michael Payne (3rd UofI), Daryl Lloyd (6th Drake) ** Everyone remembers the 1984 team because of Koncak, future Iowa head coach Steve Alford and some guy named Michael Jordan Personal Notes Koncak chose to play outside of Iowa for his college career, a choice that many players made before all three Iowa schools built their reps. Some other notables who chose to play outside Iowa include: Raef LaFrentz (Kansas), Nick Collison (Kansas), Kirk Hinrich (Kansas), Harrison Barnes (North Carolina), Doug McDermott (Creighton), and Patrick O'Bryant (Bradley). Collection Notes I have 24/80 (30%...

        Profile Buddy Biancalana was born in California and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.  He played six years in the majors, finishing with the Houston Astros.  He had a  career WAR of -1.6, but also one World Series ring* of which he played a vital role.   ...scanning...no Iowa connection found... Now, I know that people typically don't move to Iowa unless they have some sort of connection. However, Buddy is a bit of an exception here.  Buddy moved to Fairfield** years after his MLB career was over, attracted by the chance for personal growth.  With his business partner Steve Yellin they formed Perfect Mind-Perfect Motion, a company that helps athletes get "in the zone".   * Won with John Wathan (Cedar Rapids) and Jim Sundberg (UofI) ** Discovered while I was writing the post of Matt Stutzman.   Personal Notes I don't know about you, but I've spent some of my pandemic time organizing.  I'm tr...

       Profile Matt Stutzman was a Olympian* for the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic teams and was a Silver Medal winner in 2012.  He resides in Fairfield**, Iowa and continues a proud tradition of Iowans that have represented our country. * Matt is not the only Olympian from Fairfield, John Jackson was a sharp shooter in the 1912 Olympics and came home with a Gold and Bronze  ** Other famous people from Fairfield: Walter Day (Twin Galaxies owner), Milo Hamilton (Sportscaster), Buddy Biancalana(MLB), and Ben Foster (actor)  Personal Notes While not exactly true, when I was growing up we basically had baseball/football/basketball/hockey cards to choose from.  There are generations of athletes who missed out on cards not because they weren't awesome, but because there was no one producing cards about their sports.  That's why I love these Topps Olympic cards, because they spotlight these superior athletes who might never cards otherwise.   (...