A New Longo To Celebrate the Longo of Old

We have reached the end of the regular season for baseball, and with it, the Rays have thankfully played their last game of the year.  There was potential for this team headed into the year, but 2016 was a complete disaster in Tampa.  While the Rays are not my primary rooting interest, they are the parent club of the Durham Bulls, so obviously there are many of my favorite former Minor Leaguers hanging out on their roster.  

Evan Longoria has long been a favorite, but over the last few years the All-Star third baseman has started to slide in terms of performance.  I still love watching Longo play and still will always enjoy collecting his cards no matter than state of his stat line.  

However, while most of the Rays were flopping all over the field this year, Longo looked like his former self from a few years back. The former Durham Bull set a career high in home runs and extra base hits.  Longo made it worth checking out the Rays games this year...

The enjoyment of watching Longo on the field has made me flip through his cards a few times this summer and keep my eyes open for some new cool cards.  I think my latest one is pretty nice....

Yes, another card from the $1,000 per box Topps Mint.  This is my second card from the product, but the Longo cost me a little bit more than my $9.99 Andres Galarraga autograph.  I seriously do not know who is opening boxes of these cards and finding cards that are between $10 and $20.  I'm sure that there is something high end in there....maybe.  

I love the looks of this card and the card stock that it is printed on.  The dark background is cool and the signature is clean and on-card.  Overall, a nice addition to my collection of Longoria autographs.