Thursday, March 28, 2024

2024 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 7

This is the ninety-seventh Blake Snell autograph in my collection and definitely the first with the word "Pentamerous" on the front of the card. Pentamerous meaning something that is arranged in groups of five.  

After looking at the card for a long time, I cannot find anything with five groups of anything. There is a five-sided star at the top and two small five-sided stars next to the nameplate, but that's it. That's also three stars, not five.  There are not five pictures of Blake Snell, or five autographs of Blake Snell, which might have made this a really awesome card.  

Here is the front.  


I am going to stop picking on the name of this card and focus on the fact that it is really nice. My latest Blake Snell autograph comes out of the high-end 2023 Topps Five Star product. The card has thick card stock and a nice, glossy finish. The wooden looking parts on the front of the card have some nice gold foil and are also embossed.  The gold around the edges is obviously more embossed foil.  

A little lost on my scan is the fact that the center of the card is actually translucent. It's hard to tell on the front scan, but you'll see it in a second when you look at the scan of the back of the card.  

Here is the back.  


The translucent front can be seen here with the reversed image of Snell on the left side of the card, the faded portrait image on the right, and the autograph bleeding through on the bottom. The small print is still on the bottom of the card underneath the picture frame. 

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Random Ray - 2023 Panini Flawless

It turns out that Ray Lankford had two autographs in Panini Flawless. I added one a few weeks back and won the other in an auction on Ebay last week. I was really excited to say the least. 

Here is the front of the card, which is from Panini's high end baseball product.  



Panini Flawless is roughly $1,500 for a box. Can you imagine pulling a $20-$30 autograph of Ray Lankford in a box that costs that much? Thank goodness other people are willing to spend the money to open these boxes and resell their cards on Ebay for a huge loss.  

I'm excited.  

Back of the card.  


There is no write up on the back, only a Certificate of Authenticity. Well, there is a giant "STL" in the middle of the card, which is something different. I actually don't miss the write up that much, but they should have made the Certificate of Authenticity a little larger.  

Monday, March 25, 2024

Monday Morning Autograph - Eric Davis

I own a couple of thousand autographs, the majority have never appeared on my blog. Here is a random autograph that I have never posted.  

Today: 2015 Stadium Club Autographs Eric Davis 


Why Do I Own This Card?  

Eric Davis is one of the most talented players from the 1980s and 1990s. He was also on the St. Louis Cardinals for a few seasons at the end of his career.  Why wouldn't I want to own one of his autographs? 

I have actually posted other Davis autographs on my blog, just never this autograph.  

When Did I Get This Card?

I pulled this out of a box of Stadium Club towards the end of 2015. It was a nice pull. I took a break from blogging for a few months at the beginning of 2016 and never posted this card.  

Back of the Card 

I love that Stadium Club uses actual card back on their autographs. We get statistics and a nice write-up describing Davis' style of play and one of his career accomplishments.  This is what we deserve on the back of baseball cards.  


The Career of Eric Davis In a Haiku 

Series Champ, Home Runs

Reds, Stolen Bases, Gold Gloves

O's, Cards, Tigers Too  

Friday, March 22, 2024

A Little March Madness

My Wolfpack are on quite a run at the moment. The team needed to win their conference tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament. Last week, they won 5 games in 5 days at the ACC Tournament, including wins over Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia, Duke, and North Carolina. It is the school's first ACC title since 1987.  


Last night, NC State played their first game in the first round and defeated Texas Tech to advance to the second round.  They were led by lovable big man, D.J. Burns.  

 


I would love to find some basketball cards of D.J. Burns, but Bowman has not included him in any of their Bowman U./NIL sets. However, the team's shooting guard, D.J. Horne, was included almost all of last year's Bowman U. products while he was playing at Arizona State. I know, two D.J.s on one basketball team. 

Horne is from Cary, North Carolina (outside of Raleigh) and transferred to NC State to be closer to home during his final season in college. 



I bought these cards a few weeks ago, but thought the basketball season was going nowhere and was not even going to bother posting the card. However, the Wolfpack's run has me excited to share a few basketball cards this morning.  

I don't know know too much about the Bowman U. products, so I am mainly just posting pictures here.  


First up is a pink parallel.

I like the guy in the background wearing a rainbow on his head.  

I also like D.J. facial expression. He's one of those basketball players who looks like he has fun while he's playing and Bowman did a good job of capturing that vibe on his basketball card.  

Next. 


A little sad that the guy with the rainbow hat is faded out in the background here.  

The sticker is crooked, but at least I have a D.J. Horne autograph.  


This one is better.  

The sticker is straight.  

Hopefully this run through the ACC Tournament and into the NCAA Tournament can get NC State a few more basketball cards this year. Has the new Bowman U products released? Yes?  I would love to see a DJ Horne card with the Wolfpack, or one of the other contributing members of the team on a basketball card.  

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

45 To Go

I am excited about my latest pick up for the Red Man Tobacco set I am attempting to assemble. As you can imagine, there are quite a few Hall of Famers on the checklist and are also the more expensive. Last week, I was able to acquire a copy of the Larry Doby card, who is my first Hall of Famer on the American League side of the checklist.  

Here is the front of the card.  



No tab, which is fine.  I am not being picky about the tabs. The surface of the card is clean, but three of the corners are soft with wear.  It's also a baseball card that is more than 70 years old.  Not sure how picky I should be about things like corner wear.  I am going to live with this one for the time being. Really happy with a clean surface.  


The card back is decent shape outside of some red spots. Not sure if that's marker or something else. 

Overall, very happy with my first American League Hall of Famer.  

Monday, March 18, 2024

Monday Morning Autograph - Felipe Lopez

I own a couple of thousand autographs, the majority have never appeared on my blog. Here is a random autograph that I have never posted.  

Today: 2001 Bowman Autographs Felpe Lopez 


Why Do I Own This Card?  

Seemingly few Cardinals players find their way to Durham and vice versa. The number is more than I can count on one hand, but two hands might be a stretch. One of the lesser known Cardinals who found their way to Durham was Felipe Lopez. 

Felipe was a toolsy infielder who played roughly a decade in the Majors and was on eight different teams during that time. You may best remember him as a Red or National, but in 2008 and 2010 he ended up on the Cardinals as a utility player. In 2008, Felipe Lopez had a great 43 game cup of coffee with the Cardinals hitting .385 with 14 extra base hits. His second appearance on the Cardinals in 2010 was less eventful as he only hit .231 for the season and the Cardinals ended up releasing him in the middle of September. 

In 2011, he was signed by the Rays on a Minor League contract. Felipe spent the first part of the season in Durham where he was really good. He hit over .300 with power and earned a call-up to the Rays, where he did not hit and was sold to the Brewers.  

To answer the question, I own this card because Felipe Lopez was on the Cardinals and the Durham Bulls. Believe it or not, I have multiple Felipe Lopez autographs. I like this one the best.  

When Did I Get This Card? 

I believe I picked it up off of COMC when he started playing for the Bulls.  

Back of the Card 

The "Congratulations" message and the information blurb run together, which stinks. Topps, Bowman, or whoever created this set should have just done without the extra information on the back of the card. Bowman typically has really good card backs that are full of information. I am sure they did a good job of describing Felipe's skill set on his base card, no need for it to also be on the autograph.  


Felipe Lopez's Teams in a Haiku 

Jays, Reds, Nats, and Cards

DBacks, Brew Crew, Cards again

Red Sox, Rays, Brewers (again)


Saturday, March 16, 2024

It Was A Card Shop Kind of Day

I have tried to explain my teaching schedule before in previous posts, so I am not going to completely rehash the whole thing. I am currently in one of those windows where I do not teach for a few weeks. Most teachers have summer vacation. I have "track out" a few times a year. Earlier in the week, I did a bunch of stuff around the house, so I decided to treat my productivity with a trip to the card shop on Friday afternoon.  

Besides, I needed some supplies to help me put away some cards. I really need to make a sorting post one of these days. Maybe next week.  

Beyond the supplies, I also went home with a few new baseball cards. I hope you're in the mood to look at pictures of cards, because I am not in the mood to do a ton of typing today.  

Did I mention there are basketball cards too.  



I will start out with the basketball cards. I found these McDonald's All-American cards in a quarter bin. I found two cards of Zoe Brooks, who goes to NC State, and a Hannah Hidalgo, who goes to Notre Dame.  I saw Zoe Brooks record a triple-double earlier in the season. 


It's March. Go Pack!!! 

Both Hidalgo and Brooks are freshman, so they are going to be around for awhile.  

Onto baseball. There were no new Blake Snell cards at the shop, but I did find two new cards of former Durham Bulls star, Jake Cronenworth. It's been a minute since I added a new Cronenworth card, but these two looked pretty sweet. They were also just fifty cents. Pretty good deal.  

I also found a pair of Pujols and Goldschmidt cards.  

 

An Adley Rutschman rookie card.  Big fan, you should be too.  


A cheap copy of the 1987 Topps Barry Bonds rookie card.  I can't believe these are a few dollars.  


Which brings us to the vintage portion of the post.  All of these are former Cardinals, former Durham Bulls, or in the case of Vada Pinson and Robin Roberts, older players I like.  






One final card for the post.  

I also picked up a Bowman Platinum autograph of Orioles pitcher Grayson Rodriguez.  


I have been really impressed with him in the Minors and his work in the Majors at the end of last season. I think he is going to have a really good season and his autographs are really inexpensive given his talent. I do not often advocate for people to spend money on autographs of prospects, but this is one of those moments.  

Monday, March 11, 2024

Monday Morning Autograph - Jose Cruz Jr.

If you collected baseball cards in the late 1990s, Jose Cruz Jr. was a name you knew. He was one of those "Can't Miss" prospects who was going to be the next great player behind Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez on the Mariners. He hit 12 home runs in roughly 50 games for Mariners before they traded him to the Blue Jays where he continued to hit home runs. Jose Cruz Jr. played right around 100 games his first year and ended the season with 26 dingers.  

The future was bright.  

Unfortunately, the next two seasons were down years. When Jose finally got healthy in 2000, he did manage to hit more than 30 home runs, but also only hit .242. Jose Cruz Jr. actually had a pretty solid career.  He played for 12 seasons, hit 200 home runs and 250 doubles, and collected more than 1,000 hits. Those numbers are not very flashy, so his baseball cards are currently not worth much money, which is fine.  

I still liked Jose Cruz Jr. and have a few of his cards hanging around the collection

Today: 2000 Fleer Showcase FreshINK Jose Cruz Jr. Autograph 



Why Do I Own This Card? 

I pulled it out of a pack of cards in 2000.  


Jose Cruz Jr.'s Team In a Haiku 

Mariners, Blue Jays 

Giants, Rays, D'acks. Bo Sox

Dodgers, Pads, and "Stros 


Back of the Card 



I love the "Authentic Autograph" ribbons on the backs of these old Fleer cards. They remind me of clip art that would be used in a lower elementary school classroom on an award. Thanks for coming to class everyday last quarter, you win first prize........


or an autographed baseball card from Fleer.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

2024 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 6

This is the 96th Blake Snell autograph in my collection and the card comes from the 2023 Topps Update set. This was a little too pricy for my tastes a few months ago, but they have come back down to reality. Snell was the Cy Young favorite by the time Topps Update was released and there seemed to be an uptick in his card prices for a time this fall.  Snell's prolonged free agency seems to have returned his card prices to more comfortable and familiar territory.  

Here is the front of the card.  


Pretty standard looking card for a Topps jersey/autograph. It's a decent design that does an above average job of blending the sticker autograph on the front of the card. I like the action shot of Snell pitching.  Looks like a change-up grip. The jersey piece is all white, you can find copies of this card with patch pieces, but this was roughly a $10 card.  Plain, white jersey swatch is just fine.  

Back of the card.  


The back is the standard "Congratulations" message with all the typical small print about representatives and witnesses. The serial number placed at the top, center of the card. Bit of a different location for a serial number for a Topps card. 

Four away from 100.     

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Random Ray - 2023 Panini Flawless Autograph

Ray Lankford became one of my favorite Cardinals players after watching him hit for the cycle against the Mets during his rookie season in 1991. Over the years, a few different baseball cards have referenced Ray's cycle game, but today's card might be my favorite of the group.  

This is from the high-end Panini Flawless release and from the autographed insert set "Flawless Achievements". Note the small banner under the autograph and serial numbering labeled, "Homers To Complete Rare Rookie Cycle".  I knew the second I saw this card that I needed a copy for my collection.  



Yes, it's a "high-end" Panini card without logos and the most expensive Ray Lankford card I have added to my collection in the past year.  It was still less expensive than plenty of other modern autographed cards, so some perspective on it being an expensive Lankford card.  I kind of dig the design on the card too.  


I like the color scheme on the back with the gold writing on a white background with red trim.  Panini also did a really good job with the write up on the back of the card describing his cycle and the rarity of the feat by players in their rookie season.  

Monday, March 4, 2024

Around The Card Room, Take 16

I typically do not collect items from fast food restaurants, but I made an exception in 2002 when the St. Louis area McDonald's started selling Cardinals bobbleheads. Sadly, I do not remember many of the details surrounding these, nor could I find them online. I do not know how much the cost or when during the season they were released, but I have always liked them and these are an item that has a connection to my kids.  


Here is what I do remember.  The set was comprised of J.D. Drew, Albert Pujols, Fernando Vina, and Jim Edmonds.  A new bobblehead was sold each week at McDonald's and the base and autographed baseball were sold during the last week. I think. 

"I will take a J.D. Drew and an orange soda"

Here is the back of the bobbleheads, which are made from hard plastic and are not ceramic.  


Beyond housing all of my baseball cards and memorabilia, the card room is also a second floor family room for my kids. They have spent countless hours playing in the room and also use the television to watch movies. Playing usually means making sure they do not knock over piles of baseball cards, nor touch any of the things hanging on the wall. 

However, my daughter in particular has always been a huge fan of action figures and took an early interest in the bobbleheads that are in the card room. Since most are ceramic they are less than ideal action figures for the average toddler. However, the plastic Cardinals bobbleheads were a part of her play schemes for years, making them one of the few pieces of baseball memorabilia that I allowed to double as a play toy for my kids.  

Here are J.D. Drew and Jim Edmonds at the vintage Little Tikes Doll House.  



J.D. Drew enjoying snack time. 



She has moved onto American Girl Dolls and other toys, so I have reclaimed my McDonald's Cardinals bobblehead set and placed them back on a shelf in the card room.  They held up really well through years of toddler use.  

Hardly a scratch.  



Back home in their spot on a shelf of bobbleheads.  



Monday Morning Autograph - Mark Mulder

I own a couple of thousand autographs, the majority have never appeared on my blog. Here is a random autograph that I have never posted.

Today: 2000 Bowman Draft and Prospects Autographs Mark Mulder 



Why Do I Own This Card?

We all remember the Cardinals years of Mark Mulder? Hopefully you remember him pitching for the early 2000s Moneyball A's teams. He was traded to the Cardinals in December of 2004 for pitching prospect Dan Haren, catcher Daric Barton, and relief pitcher Kiko Calero. Mulder pitched decently in 2005, but then ran into shoulder problems which limited him to just 23 games in 2006, 2007, and 2008. It was a sad ending to an otherwise really good career. If you don't remember him on the Cardinals, do not go refresh your memory. It's not pretty, nor happy.  

The biggest highlight from his time with the Cardinals was hitting a home run on the first Opening Day at Busch Stadium III while also collecting a win against the Brewers.  


When Did I Get This card?  

I own several Mark Mulder autographs, all of them were bought post 2005 when the prices of his card tanked. 

Haiku About Mark Mulder 

Moneyball, pitcher 

Shoulder injuries, Big Trade 

Oh! What Could Have Been

Back of The Card 


Bowman cards from this era always have nice write-ups on the card backs, and this one is no different. They give mention to his college career, time with USA Baseball playing in the Pan Am Games, and his quick ascension through the Minors and into the A's starting rotation.  In all, Mulder only pitched 24 games, all in Triple A, before the A's made him a starter in the middle of the 2000 season.   

Saturday, March 2, 2024

All My Wildest Dreams Come True

In the almost 20 years I have lived in North Carolina, I have thought it would be really awesome to see a favorite player with the Durham Bulls end up on the Cardinals and have a successful run with my favorite Major League team. For years, I have been hoping that someone like Evan Longoria, David Price, or Blake Snell would end up in St. Louis, but it has never happened.  

Well, this past year the Cardinals finally ended up with a favorite former Durham Bulls player when they signed Taylor Motter (mutliple times) to be a utility player and the person at the end of their bench. Not really the type of star power I was hoping for, but I was still a big fan of Motter on the Cardinals.  

Taylor Motter is good defensively at multiple positions, but can struggle with the bat. Taylor's performance on the Cardinals did not really surprise me, as he has bounced around to multiple teams over the past few seasons. 

If you are a regular reader or read my Twitter page, you know that I really wanted a Taylor Motter card on the Cardinals during the past year regardless of on-field production and my wish came true when Topps included him in their Heritage High Numbers release.  

I believe I declared this my favorite card of 2023.......


Over the past few months, I have checked on parallels for this card on Ebay and COMC, but have seen none. I figured the base card was good enough for my collection. However, last weekend I revisited my saved search "2023 Heritage Motter" one last time and I struck gold.  

I found the black parallel, which would be the rarest Motter parallel outside of the printing plates.   


This card is limited to a stated print run of just 50 copies. 



Although, it's not actually serial numbered.  

106.

Blake Snell number 106 is just a red herring to make two other announcements.      Announcement #1- I have not written very often in this sp...