April Bobbleheads & SGAs

Here's my list of April Bobbleheads and other SGAs and special ticket deals for the month of April. What did I miss? I still have yet to fill in all the MLB SGAs, and need help with that.

Seems like every team that Cal Raleigh ever played on is giving away his bobblehead this year. I haven't checked with his Little league team. Drake Baldwin has the second most.

The under the radar SGA of the month: the Augusta garden gnome giveaway on the 17th. Gnomes are the hottest seller in the Augusta National gift shops. Genius of the GreenJackets to piggyback on the sensation. The Braves affiliate has an entire line of "Azalea" caps, jerseys, and shirts.

A new SGA item this season seems to be block sets. Is your kid  excited? Sorry, blocks would be way down my list. 

No Ronald Acuna bobbleheads this year. Are you okay with that?

4.01 WED Las Vegas 11 am game

4.02 THU 

4.03 FRI Altoona Paul Skenes bobble 

4.03 FRI Dallas Mavericks Derek Harper bobble 5000

4.03 FRI Rome Easter Egg baseball giveaway

4.03 FRI St Paul Saints jersey hoodies

4.03 FRI Hartford spring cleaning misc jersey giveaway

4.04 SAT Albuquerque jersey hoodies 3000

4.04 SAT Fayetteville cream Woodpeckers jersey 1500

4.04 SAT Brooklyn sweatshirt special ticket

4.04 SAT JAX mascot onesie 2000

4.04 SAT Nashville UT shoot around half zip 1000

4.04 SAT Round Rock quarter zips 1500

4.04 SAT Wisconsin Timber Rattlers replica jerseys

4.05 SUN Easter Sunday

4.05 SUN Boston Snoopy & Woodstock bobble

4.05 SUN Brooklyn sweatshirt special ticket

4.05 SUN Fredericksburg hockey jerseys 1000

4.06 MON Boston Roman Anthony rookie bobblecard (below)

4.06 MON Boston Red Sox special ticket Celtics replica jerseys (above)

4.07 TUE Reading jerseys and caps 4000

4.07 TUE Angels Mike Trout 400 HR bobble

4.07 TUE Biloxi tshirt giveaway 

4.08 WED Richmond rally towels

4.09 THU Richmond rally towels

4.10 FRI ATL Dale Murphy replica jersey 15000

4.10 FRI SD lowrider bobblehead

4.10 FRI UGA softball replica jerseys 500

4.10 FRI Bradenton replica jerseys

4.10 FRI SEA Ichiro statues

4.11 FRI Fayetteville Jackie Robinson jersey

4.11 FRI Biloxi golf hat giveaway

4.11 FRI Arkansas replica jerseys 1000

4.11 FRI San Jose Navy Gigante bobblehead 1000

4.11 SAT UGA baseball Masters themed cap 1000

4.12 SUN UGA baseball Kyle Farmer shirsey 1000

4.12 SUN ATL bucket hats 3000 kids

4.12 SUN Everett t-shirts

4.12 SUN Dallas Mavericks Reunion Arena Replica

4.12 SUN Frisco Elvis Andrus bobble

4.13 MON

4.14 TUE ATL Hello Kitty plush special ticket 

4.14 TUE Chattanooga opens new ballpark (I'll be there)

4.14 TUE free cones at Ben & Jerry's 

4.15 WED Nashville Jackie Robinson replica jersey 1000

4.15 WED Rome 11 am game

4.15 WED Columbus 11 am game

4.15 WED JAX Jackie Robinson breaking barriers t-shirt 500

4.16 THU Tulsa Josue De Paula bobble

4.17 FRI Cubs Jackie Robinson jerseys

4.17 FRI Stockton Nick Kurtz replica jersey

4.17 FRI Augusta Azaleas Auggie gnome 1000 

4.18 SAT Rome mascot Julius torch bobbleheads 5000 

4.18 SAT Florida Gators Alberta bobble 500

4.18 SAT JAX replica jerseys 2000

4.18 SAT Boston Diary of a Wimpy Kid bobble

4.18 SAT Brooklyn bark in the park cap special ticket

4.18 SAT Columbus green cap 1000

4.18 SAT Nashville Jacob Misiorowski bobble 2000

4.19 SUN Nashville kids ice cream jersey 500 kids

4.19 SUN Columbus peach baseballs 1000

4.19 SUN Fredericksburg Eli Willits bobble 1000

4.19 SUN St Paul build your own beanie special ticket

4.20 MON

4.21 TUE SEA Victor Robles Superman bobble special ticket

4.22 WED Gwinnett 11 am game

4.22 WED UGA softball t-shirts 200

4.22 WED Lehigh Valley rubix cube 3000

4.23 THU Sugarland college spirit caps

4.24 FRI ATL Star Wars bobble special ticket

4.24 FRI Reading Nick Singleton hometown hero bobble 2000 kids

4.25 FRI Fayetteville dogwood flower jersey

4.25 FRI Hagerstown bucket hats

4.25 FRI Lehigh Valley lint rollers 3000

4.25 FRI Asheville black jersey giveaway

4.25 SAT Rays Tropicana Field Tour Tee

4.25 SAT TOR SpongeBob jersey

4.25 SAT Gwinnett Peaches replica jerseys 1750

4.26 SUN Gwinnett autism awareness day 1:05 pm

4.26 SUN Fayetteville Barbie jersey special ticket

4.26 SUN ATL Michael Harris mini bobble 3000 kids

4.27 MON

4.28 TUE ATL Snoopy bobble special ticket

4.29 WED ATL Chris Sale bobblecard 15000 

4.29 WED Brooklyn bark in the park cap special ticket

4.29 WED Nashville country legends record coasters 1000

4.29 WED Columbus 11 am game

4.30 THU UGA softball performance sunglasses 500

4.30 THU Joliet plays at Old Joliet Prison

Braves Unveil New City Connects

Not sure of the timetable, but this morning pictures of the Braves new City Connect uniforms were leaked. Not long afterwards the team released a short video with the official unveiling of them. Interestingly, as of Tuesday afternoon the official Braves website mentioned nothing about the new unis.

What do you think? Everyone has an opinion. My take: B plus. Could be worse. I'll take 'em. Probably an improvement over the old CC's. Pullover V-neck jerseys - perhaps a way the team can keep Acuna from playing with his jersey unbuttoned halfway down his chest.

Love the powder blue jerseys. Like many, I wish the pants were powder blue as well. Love the ATL sleeve patch, in the style of the old TBS logo. The white Atlanta wordmark is just okay. Wish it said Braves, but I like the cursive capital A much better than the old Braves-style A they had changed it to after a few years, back in the day.

The caps are good too. Love the lower case a. Probably a good idea to go with the royal blue bill. A powder blue bill would get dirty real fast. I won't bend over backwards to get me a cap, since I have so many other caps.

While all the local fans had their opinions, it seems like the national response is overwhelmingly favorable. The new City Connects go on sale April 9. Not sure when they'll first be worn. My best guess is April 11 - the first Saturday night game after April 9.

On Twitter today people were asking for a side by side comparison of the 2025 and 2026 home jerseys, so I responded with a photo. So far it's received almost 4400 impressions, a decent amount for little old me. I mean I'm out there a-tweetin comedy gold, and only getting like 33 impressions. But you gotta start somewhere. 

Braves take two of three from the Royals, a much better start than last year. Still I am reading complaints from some fans. Did they expect an undefeated season? Holmes is not Chris Sale. 

Saturday: woke up at 530 am to play golf. Took my time and hit 3-4 balls on each shot. Grabbed my free RaceTrac ice cream on the way home. Did the dishes and cleaned up.

Saturday afternoon I drove C around town. Perimeter Mall, Costco, then the Orvis at Peachtree and Piedmont, then IKEA. Lots of traffic. Then we made the short drive over to Westside Provisions on Howell Mill, and ate at Taqueria. Rich Morris was there, so I showed his coworkers the picture of him and Lang from 32 years ago when they visited us at Piedmont Hospital when Will was born. 

Sunday: 39 baptisms at JFBC, mostly teenagers but a few adults as well. Hopefully more of those new people will stick around SPdL with the new pastor there.   

Speaking of SPdL, I was poking around on the innerds of this blog and discovers at least two comments that Don Head had made several months ago, that I had completely missed. Sorry Don - but thanks for the comments! I get so few, that I usually don't even look for them. I promise to do better in the future. 

See the end of the Duke / UConn game? What an ending. I only picked two of the Final Four - Arizona and Michigan. 

Monday: after lifting weights I cashed in a deal for a free Whattaburger. It was my first time eating there. The burger was big, but otherwise nothing to write home about. The fries were just okay. But I'll be going back because I have one more free burger deal to use.

HOF Victims of the hidden-ball trick caught by another Hall of Famer. These are  found in the book by Bill Deane, “Finding the Hidden Ball Trick: The Colorful History of Baseball's Oldest Ruse”. 

 

Perpetrator         Victim                    Date

Miller Huggins...Max CAREY...........30-Jun-1911

Miller Huggins...Fred CLARKE.......15-Apr-1909

Jake Beckley.....Frank CHANCE.....17-Apr-1902*

Dan Brouthers...Buck EWING.........27-Sep-1884

Leo Durocher.....Chick HAFEY........06-Sep-1931(2)

Jake Beckley.....Joe KELLEY..........30-May-1893(1)

Roger Connor....Sam THOMPSON 04-May-1889

Jake Beckley.....John WARD...........28-Sep-1893

Miller Huggins...Max CAREY...........30-Jun-1911

Miller Huggins...Fred CLARKE.......15-Apr-1909

Jake Beckley.....Frank CHANCE.....17-Apr-1902*

Dan Brouthers...Buck EWING.........27-Sep-1884

Leo Durocher.....Chick HAFEY........06-Sep-1931(2)

Jake Beckley.....Joe KELLEY..........30-May-1893(1)

Roger Connor....Sam THOMPSON 04-May-1889

Jake Beckley.....John WARD...........28-Sep-1893

Opening Day

Friday: left for the ballpark at 3 pm. Parked at my usual spot and walked almost 1.5 miles to the Battery. As I arrived, I ran into Jeff Francoeur, who was headed into the broadcast booth from the orange parking deck. He said hello, and was probably glad that I didn't ask him for a picture. 

Arrived just in time for the Opening Day parade - which lasted less than 2 minutes. The Tomahawk Team girls carrying the parade signs, the drum line, the players divided out by position group, and Blooper. They were wearing their BP uniforms. I noticed Acuna was wearing one of the new DriFit caps (below left). 

After the parade I made a beeline for the Chop House gate, to catch the end of the parade - but it was too crowded to get a good look. Nabbed a free Braves t-shirt then checked out the Money Mike Ford Bronco display in the Red Deck. Could've won a Ford cap but opted for a pin instead. 

Saw where the Braves key ring I've carried for several years had broken. I hoped this would be a good omen, that the Braves will do better now that I don't have it anymore. 

I walked around the Battery waiting for Will to arrive. The Baseballism store was giving away a free cap with purchase. I wasn't going to buy anything but did enter their sweepstakes. Won a $5 gift card, so I bought a pair of $12 socks so I could get the free cap that I didn't need. 

Walked across the pedestrian bridge to meet Will and the girls. We walked back and went inside the stadium. The girls got to visit with Blooper, then we hung out there in the kids area for a while.

Will took the girls out into the outfield of the little whiffle ball field. He made a nice catch while holding Millie, that I happened to get on video. 

Cool pregame ceremony with former players from each decade of the Braves 60 years in Atlanta: Garr, Bream, Chipper, Torre, Murphy, McCann, and Acuna. Note how Acuna's 2026 jersey is markedly better looking than the previous year's Nike jerseys worn by Bream, Chipper, and McCann, with a much larger wordmark. Also note the sleeve stripes are fixed on Acuna's jersey, after a couple of years down on the end of the sleeve. I wonder if the Braves will add a 60th anniversary sleeve patch soon. 

Torre threw out the first pitch. During the National Anthem the girls covered their ears for when the F15s flew over. Then the jets circled back over the stadium one by one as they approached Dobbins AFB to land. 

A good game. Sale pitched 6 scoreless innings. Home runs by Albies, Harris - and Drake Baldwin slugged one during the RaceTrac Home Run Inning. The new shortstop drove in two runs, and initiated two 6-4-3 double plays. Riley made a great diving catch of a line drive.

The girls had a blast. The Home Depot Tool Race, NAPA cap shuffle, and the Beat the Freeze Race. They were amazed that the organist played songs they knew, like Do You Know the Muffin Man. The big highlight was the Dippin Dots ice cream.

Haley Hurt and George Ewing were in the section next to us. When I took a selfie, they were in the background behind me. George rarely goes to games, but Haley goes to many.

Special thanks to Collier Metals for the tickets.

Will and the girls watched the postgame fireworks from their parking space, while I hoofed it the 1-1/2 miles the other way back to my car.

What Will You Do With Jesus?

Clay Smith JFBC
What will you do with Jesus?
Matthew 26:57-68

Thursday night Jesus attended a Passover meal, before being seized and taken for a trial before Caiaphis.

To Kill a Mockingbird is one of Clay's books. In the secret trial inside men's hearts, he had no case" is a great line, most applicable to these verses.

In the 1990's a dig uncovered a box with the bones of Caiaphis. He'd been politically savvy. What was he standing up for?

John 11:47-53 Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, which alarmed those in power. At that time Caiaphus predicted that Jesus would be put to death.

Peter followed at a distance. Cowardly fear. Am I ever like that?

Caiaphis had a problem - what to accuse Jesus for? Several falsely testified.

John 2:18-19 Jesus wasn't talking about the building but his body. The council tried to manipulate the truth. Caiaphis thought that he was doing good, doing God a favor.

Why was Jesus silent? Did he think he had done enough? Was he thinking about the prophecy in Isaiah 53?

Caiaphis asked Jesus if he was the son of God?

In Matt 16 Jesus asked Peter "who do you say that I am?"
 
v 64 you will see the Son of Man seated on the right hand. Caiaphis and the council knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. Jesus did claim to be God.

What does Son of Man mean? A title of humility, of deity.

Daniel 7:13-14

God ripped the veil from the top so we could have access to Jesus.
 
Caiaphis could feel his power slipping away. He called blasphemy, telling Jesus to prophesy.

Is there not some Caiaphis in all of us? Some religious pride? Pride keeps us from surrendering everything over to God. We don't need religion, we need the gospel. God has done everything for us. God wants to make dead people alive.

31 in Sunday School

39 were baptized at JFBC this morning, some in each service.

Teams Near Me

Mileage to 19 of the closest baseball teams to me. Birmingham makes for a long day trip - anything further would have to have something else going on. I could be visiting as many as seven teams this season, we shall see.  

While I have attended games in eight of these cities, I haven't been to the new ballparks in Greenville or Augusta or Chattanooga. 

011 Atlanta Braves 2026

030 Gwinnett Stripers 2026?

063 Rome Emperors 2026?

108 Chattanooga Lookouts 2026

110 Macon Bacon - been there.

127 Columbus Clingstones 2026?

144 Greenville Drive - been there.

160 Birmingham Barons 2026

170 Augusta GreenJackets - been there.

175 Rocket City Trash Pandas (Huntsville)

181 Montgomery Biscuits

194 Asheville Tourists

224 Knoxville Smokies

235 Columbia Fireflies 65 miles from Jefferson

240 Nashville Sounds

242 Charlotte Knights 56 miles from Jefferson

318 Charleston River Dogs

382 Myrtle Beach Pelicans 134 miles from Jefferson 2026

404 Memphis Redbirds

Tom Hanks is making another baseball movie, based on Dave Eggers' short story The Comebakers. Costarring Bad Bunny and Colman Domingo. I'll have to read the story. 

A thought: should big people drive big cars? Probably. Should little people drive smaller cars?

At 9 am I drove back to the Catholic church at the end of the street. There was a short line of people waiting to get into day two of their yard sale - half price day. The neighbor that I had seen yesterday was there again. I bought a nice bike for $20.00. Matthew has "borrowed" the bike that I had, so it was kinda like I needed a bike. 

My plan was to ride the bike the mile home. I asked the priest to pray for me, and walked it out to the parking lot. The tires needed air, so I just walked the bike home. I took Winnie with me on my walk back to the church, but Ceil was coming back from picking up Goose, so she picked Winnie up after a half mile walk.

Since Will had to get to work early this morning, Ceil woke up early and drove down to take the girls to school. The girls woke up excited, knowing they were going to tonight's Braves game. They both dressed for school in their Braves jerseys - on top of their matching baseball dresses. Millie said she didn't want hers buttoned.

When I got back to my car at the church, I drove out to the Cheeseburger Bobbys in Marietta for their opening day deal - a free hot dog with purchase of french fries. Not bad.

Thursday was Nike Air Max Day. The sneaker giant is re-releasing the Air Max 1990. For the occasion I wore my Max's to the game.

TOM SEAVER [SABR Bio]was the first pitcher to strike out ten consecutive batters in one game. The final 10 SDP batters on 22-Apr-1970 all went down on strikes: 5 looking and 5 swinging. Al Ferrara was the first and last. Seaver already had 9 Ks when the streak began at the end of the 6th.  Aaron Nola (25-Jun-2021) and Corbin Burnes (11-Aug-2021[1]) have equaled Seaver’s feat. Seaver notched his 300th  career win the same day Rod Carew collected his 3,000th hit, on 04-Aug-1985. Seaver and Frank Chance both attended Fresno High School, and are both members of the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame.