Can You Spare 10 Minutes For A Blog Post?

It won't actually take you 10 minutes to read this blog post.  

The question in the title is actually directed at myself.  

We are 11 days into September and this is my second post of the month.  I meant to make a few other posts somewhere along the way, but virtual learning feels a lot like my first year of teaching.  Everything takes a little longer.  There are plenty of things that I start, stop, and re-do throughout the week.  It's very time consuming.  

Throw in a wife who is also virtual teaching and two kids, and there have not been much time for me to sit down and crank out a blog post.  Honestly, there have been nights where I have had a free fifteen minutes to type something up, but would you want to sit in front of a computer at your house after spending eight hours doing that at work?  

Not me.  

I have decided to spare 10 minutes of my evening to type up a post.  My wife and daughter are watching Aladdin and my son is talking my ear off about the Cincinnati Reds in anticipation of watching tonight's Cardinals game.  So far, I have learned that Freddy Galvis has the best hair-do in the National League Central.  

Since it's been awhile, I am doing three cards that I was excited about adding to my collection. 

First up, is a Brandon Lowe autograph out of Topps Big League.  

Brandon Lowe is having a pretty good season for the Rays.  Getting a little more attention with baseball card folk, but his cards have stayed reasonable.  I have barely touched any 2020 cards over the summer, so it's nice to go back and get some of these sets that came out awhile ago.  

The same seller also had a pretty inexpensive Lowe jersey card.  That's so 2004.  

I love these cards with the MLB Authentication stickers.  Always willing to jump down that rabbit hole, halfway expecting it to be from a game where the player sat on the bench.  The answer with Brandon Lowe?  

Brandon Lowe left the bench.  Even had a hit.  

Huzzah.  

Last card for this post.  

I have been waiting for this moment for awhile.  

Kirby Yates was on the Durham Bulls for three years from 2013 to 2015.  He was a decent Triple A player, but definitely fell into that category of being more of a fan favorite than a serious prospect.  He did make the International League All-Star Game, but had an ERA of nearly 8 when the Rays called him up to the Majors.  Yates bounced around a bit with the Yankees and Angels before he ended up the Padres.  

He's been incredible in San Diego.  

Last year he had an ERA of 1.19 with 109 strikeouts in 60 innings.  Made the All-Star team too.  I heard he was getting a few certified autographs this year.  Happy to finally have on in the collection.