Four Baggers and Foreclosures

Go For It Gas... I never did. Not there anyways.  Was aware this had been a gas station since my earliest days as a passenger in my parents cars. But they never stopped here when gas was needed. It was just another of those places that you never really notice it until it's gone. Well, I noticed it and saved it. So anybody can remember it, now that it's gone. Please note, I know nothing about this place other than reacting to what I saw when I took the pictures. As always, I welcome any additional information you can add. This story was started back in November of 2016, with plans on it being part of a Minnesota vacation themed issue of Wasted Quarter. (Nearly a full year before this blog was founded.) That issue, was to include a series of photos and short stories about some of the abandoned properties I photographed around town, in August, 2016, before going back to Colorado.  This included pictures of not only Go For It Gas in Blaine, plus a former Marathon gas station... An...

 I don't think you can come up with a better name to summarize the failed rookie chases of the Junk Wax Era, than Todd Van Poppel. A name that will cause shudders from those who believed that he was the next ace of the Oakland Athletics. (Myself included.) So, besides everything, what went wrong? It's a promising start to be pitching professional baseball, under an advertisement for a local car wash, when most of the people your age are working in one. You have to be an absolute stud in high school to achieve this. The numbers say he was.  Van Poppel pitched to an 11-3 record, posting an 0.97 earned run average, with 170 strikeouts, in his senior year at Martin High School in Arlington, Texas. Going into the 1990 MLB Draft, he was the consensus top talent. But he used college as leverage to chase any potentially low bidding teams off. Telling the Atlanta Braves specifically, that he would not sign with them. Weeks before the 1990 Draft, the Braves strongly considered drafting ...