Ramblin Rockie

I try to pick up cards of different minor league and college players who pass through town who are not necessarily apart of a local team.  Players catch your eyes in different ways, but find their cards is not always the easiest task in the world.  One of the coolest college baseball games I ever attended living in North Carolina was a double header between UNC and Georgia Tech.  The Tar Heels were remodeling their stadium and were playing their home games at the USA Baseball Complex which is about 10 minutes away from my house.

There were at least seven UNC players on that team who are now Major Leaguers: Ackley, Kyle Seager, Tim Federowicz, Rob Wooten, Alex White, Adam Warren, and Matt Harvey.  I am still not sure how they walked away without a National Championship that season.  Georgia Tech had a great offense led by Derek Dietrich and Charlie Blackmon.  

As impressive as the UNC players were, I really liked Dietrich and Blackmon.  Dietrich seemed like he had a great bat for a middle infielder.  Lots of pop.  Blackmon seemed like a toolsy player.  He could run, hit, play a little defense.  Definitely good Major League prospects.  I put both of their names on my mental checklist of players to collect.  I actually have been able to find autographs of both players in Major League uniforms, but both players also have autographs in the Donruss Elite set in a Georgia Tech uni.  I tracked down Dietrich this spring.

Which left Charlie Blackmon.  He has been really difficult, but I finally found a copy of this great looking card for a reasonable price.  Yes, there is a non-logo patch autograph of Blackmon in that set, but why would you want to pass up one of these cool cards?

There have actually been several of these up over the years, but they were always for way too much money.  In other words, over $20 dollars.  His non-patch autograph in a Georgia Tech uni is listed for over $30 right now on COMC.  I like the Donruss Elite patch cards and think I now have one from almost all of the ACC schools save for Maryland (I am going to still count them) and Boston College.    I have a few others from other schools connected to Cardinals or Rays players, but always a really good find.  Kind of wish Topps would put something like this into one of their sets.  Hmmmm.

and now that you've read my post on a Georgia Tech baseball player, I give you the Georgia Tech fight song.  This is the best fight song, outside of NC State, in the ACC.