That's Two EE Va La La

The annual September call-ups always mean tracking down and adding a few new cards to my collection from players added to the rosters of different teams.  Let's just keep it real and say that I am looking for some new Rays and Cardinals cards.  Not far enough, since I collect a lot of Rays minor leaguers with the Durham Bulls, I am mainly looking for a few Cardinals players.  I track down most of the big name Cardinals prospects like Oscar Taveras, Randal Grichuk, and all of the other well known Cardinals prospects.

There are always a few names that get called up that are challenges to track down on cardboard.  Anybody have a Xavier Scruggs autograph?  He actually has a card in last year's Topps Heritage Minor League set, but no certified autographs.  Tommy Pham?  Same story.

Then there is the Cardinals newest pitcher Sam Tuivailala.  He was drafted as a shortstop out of Aragon High School in California, but the Cardinals ended up switching him over to a starting pitcher.  The right handed reliever now throws in the high 90s and was promoted up to the Cardinals directly from the team's Double A affiliate.  Here is a look at some of his high heat....

and that leaves us to discuss Tuivailala's cardboard.  He has base cards like some of the other Cardinals prospects called up to the Majors with the expanded September rosters, but he also has a certified autograph in the 2010 Donruss Elite set.  He's got a nice autograph, even though it's a sticker autograph, and it's on one of my favorite brands (even if they are not a licensed card producer).  

The card also has a pretty high run at 820 copies, but it still seems to sell pretty well on the secondary market.  The card often crosses over the $10 mark, which is pretty good, considering that he just completed his first season in Double A and changed positions recently too.  The fact that the card features Tuivailala batting is an added bonus.  Great card and I am happy to have another hard thrower in the Cardinals bullpen.