Friday Five: Favorite Delmon Young Cards

I have been writing about the Durham Bulls a lot this past week, so I figured I would break out some Delmon Young cards, scan them, and write them into a post. Delmon was a top 5 prospect for several years in the early 2000s and was the star of the Durham Bulls when I moved to North Carolina.  

His most famous moment as a top prospect for the Durham Bulls was launching his bat at an umpire after striking out in a game against Jon Lester......

Delmon would later go on to disappoint Rays and Twins fans, before developing a reputation as a clutch Postseason player for the Tigers and Orioles. He was out of MLB in his early thirties, but continued to play baseball overseas in the Australian League.  

Sorry, no Australian baseball cards in this post, but these are my Top 5 Delmon Young cards......

5. 2007 Topps 52 Chrome Delmon Young 

Yes, it's a reprint or rehashed design from 1952 Topps, but it's a really good looking card.  This is also when we started getting the "official" rookie cards. This is an official rookie card, unlike the other cards on this list, which are all unofficial.  

4. 2007 Topps Finest Autographs Delmon Young 

Baseball cards do not usually reference too much on-field drama, but here we are with Delmon's 2007 Finest autograph. Notice the "Revenge is Sweet" footnote at the bottom of the card. The back has a short write-up about the "revenge", but they go a little soft. So, here is the story this card is supposed to tell:

The Rays called up Delmon Young at the end of August 2006. His first game is against the White Sox in Chicago. Ozzie Guillen thinks Delmon is an ass and has Freddy Garcia drill him in the back on the first pitch in his first career at-bat. A few innings later, Delmon hit a home run off of Freddy Garcia.  

Here is a snippet of the box score:

Here is a white card with a silver sticker. I cannot roll my eyes hard enough.  

3. 2006 TIAA-CREF Durham Bulls Delmon Young 

Yes, I do work in education and would love to hear about your TIAA-CREF retirement plans, provided I get a baseball card for listening to your sales pitch.......

TIAA-CREF guy: "Save some money or you'll be on food stamps when you retire"  

I enjoyed the sales pitch, but after actually getting the Delmon Young card in my hands and hearing about my future on food stamps, I remembered that there is a financial advisor guy who stops by my school. I am going to teach for 30 years, get a full pension and benefits from the State of North Carolina, and now I also have a TIAA-CREF Delmon Young card. 

You do not see this card very often. 

2. 2004 Bowman Sterling Delmon Young Bat/Autograph 

Delmon could always hit.  

Delmon could never catch the ball.  

This card used to be worth a bazillion dollars and it shows Delmon likely playing a routine fly ball into a double or triple, depending on the speed of the batter. When people who are getting into prospecting ask my strategy as a Minor League for getting good cards of big prospects, I think of this card and tell them to wait a decade. I am certain this card had a three digit value when he was on the Bulls in 2005 and 2006, but it was $10 when I bought it.  

1. 2003 Bowman Chrome Delmon Young Autograph 

One of the great "what could have been" cards from the early 2000s. If only Delmon had stayed on the field a little longer and treated the regular season with the same urgency he treated the Postseason. Maybe not thrown a bat at an umpire, or yelled a bunch of antisemitic stuff at some guy in New York.  

Friday Five: Favorite Adam Wainwright Autographs

It has been really hard to watch the Cardinals this summer. The worst part has been watching Adam Wainwright trying to reach 200 career wins, currently he's at 198. Waino has not been himself this season and I fear he is likely going to fall short of 200 by two wins. 

Rather than dwelling on the negative, I took some time last night to flip through my Adam Wainwright cards. Wainwright has not signed many certified autographs beyond the first few years of his career, which came before I started writing about my cards. I have not really shared any of these on my blog prior to this evening, but thought they would be a fun post.  

Honorable Mention: 2006 Topps Co-Signers Autograph 

Wainwright actually has two autographs in this set. There is a Co-Signers dual autograph card, which also is signed by Anthony Reyes. It would be a pretty sweet add to the collection, just never got around to finding a copy. Especially given that both played an important role in the 2006 Postseason for the Cardinals. I put this card as an Honorable Mention largely due to condition issues. My scanner did a good job of hiding the blemishes, but this is a black card with not-great quality card stock. The edges are a little chippy. However, I do like the Spring Training photograph with Wainwright wearing number 70. 

5. 2007 Topps Finest Autograph 

This is the only card in this countdown that has previously appeared on this blog. I traded for this card back in 2014 and gave it a post. It's a nice card, but I wish Topps had blended the sticker a little better. Nothing worse than a white baseball card with a silver sticker slapped on top. Actually pretty common practice at this time. I did not scan the back of the card, but the "No Pressure" label on the bottom is in reference to Wainwright's Game 7 performance against the Mets in the 2006 National League Championship Series. 

Not a Cardinals fan? Bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth inning, and Carlos Beltran up with a trip to the World Series on the line.  

My favorite Wainwright moment.  

4. 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars Autograph 

This is the only Wainwright autograph I ever pulled out of a pack of cards. The 2006 Upper Deck Future Stars was the greatest/worst box I ever opened. I got this Wainwright autograph along with Ruddy Lugo and James Shields. Lugo and Shields were both on the Durham Bulls at the time. I think both cards are now under $2 on COMC these days. My other autographs were Kelly Shoppach and Colter Bean, but did I mention Adam Wainwright? The sticker is showing here, because my scanner is having a really good Friday. Seriously, Upper Deck did a really good job of blending it on the front of this card. The card is also acetate and has some nice front and back features. Maybe another day when I feel like making more scans.....

3. 2004 Bowman Sterling Autograph/Jersey 

This was the first Wainwright autograph in my collection. I picked this up from a local card shop in St. Louis back when I lived there. Relatively cheap as I recall too, less than $20. I might rank this a little higher, but the autograph is partially off the sticker. I have contemplated replacing this card at some point, but many of the sticker autographs on other copies of this Bowman Sterling card are also missing part of Wainwright's signature. It's really hard to do much better than what Wainwright did on this card. The red jersey swatch is a nice bonus. Bowman Sterling is a good looking product, I just wish the autographs were on-card.  

2. 2006 Upper Deck F/X Special Endorsements Autograph 

I like the looks of this card and I also like how Upper Deck blended the sticker autograph. You can barely tell that Wainwright did not sign the actual card. Sticker autographs are a sub plot on this post and this is the best of set of stickers that Adam Wainwright signed during a two-year window early in his career. I believe this was a random EBay purchase at some point in 2006 or 2007. If this were an on-card signature, I might have picked this card as the top Wainwright autograph in my collection. Still really nice at 2.  

1. 2004 Topps Traded Signature Moves 

Good design with an on-card signature, and a complete Wainwright signature. I know a winner when I see one and this is not a sticker autograph.   

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 8

The 2011 Bowman Sterling Autograph is the 83rd Blake Snell autograph in my collection.  

Not many 2023 Blake Snell autographs, so maybe it's time to circle back and check a few older cards off my list. The Bowman Sterling card in this post was a bit of an odd hole in my Snell autograph collection. I I already own two 2011 Sterling Snell's, but both are parallels and I was missing the base autograph.  

Here is the front of the card.....

Snell was selected by the Rays in the 1st Round of the 2011 MLB Draft out of high school. Topps put Snell in two end of year Bowman products, Bowman Draft and Bowman Sterling. Both Snell autographs are stickers. Both cards are relatively cheap considering that Snell has won a Cy Young and is in contention for a second Cy Young.

Fresh out of high school Blake Snell had a better autograph than the current version of Blake Snell. A few more letters in this signature compared to more recent cards. The picture is a little goofy with Snell wearing a t-shirt and cap, most likely on a back field of the Rays training facility. However, I am sure the  Topps people were also busy trying to squeeze in photos for all ten of the Rays 2011 First Round selections.  

That's not a typo. The Rays had 10 first round picks in 2011 and they botched all of them outside of Snell. Some flamed out in the Minors, some made it to the Majors and weren't that good, and another is serving a life sentence for murder.  

The back of the card features Snell high school stats, which is better than typing "Congratulations" in giant font across the back. Nice write up too. The effort was definitely there on this card. 

New Season, New Players

We are 60 games into the Minor League Season.  

I have been to a few Durham Bulls games this year.  

There are a lot of new faces on the team this year and I have been working hard the last few weeks to pick up some cards from the new players. I am going to sort them out by quality of prospect, but some of these players are flying completely under the baseball card radar.  

First up, Taj Bradley.  

He's actually pitched a bunch of games with the Rays this year. As good as the Rays have been, they have had a ton of pitching injuries. Taj Bradley is a Top 100 Prospect across the board, throws hard, and looks like all the other pitchers the Rays crank out. Somehow he has a bunch of autographs that are between $10-$20. I have not seen Taj in person yet this year, but I imagine the Rays will send him back to Triple A once some other pitchers come back.  

Next up is Curtis Mead.  

He's going to be the third baseman for Rays at some point, but he's currently on the injured list for the Bulls. Mead is not a new face. He debuted with the Bulls back in 2021. I actually got to see his Triple A debut, which was a little odd. The Rays had to call someone up unexpectedly, the Bulls had a thin roster, so they promoted Mead from A Ball (Charleston, SC) because he could drive to Durham for the game. 

I went for Adley Rutschman, but also got Curtis Mead and Felix Bautista.  

Mead is another Top 100 Prospect. He's also Australian, that's a bonus. 

You do not get many MLB players from Idaho, but Kyle Manzardo is from the Potato State. He is also another Top 100 Prospect. Good looking first baseman/outfielder, nice looking left-handed swing.  Super cheap baseball cards too.  

This is actually a double. I picked it up in a trade, but still love Jonathan Aranda. He was on the Bulls last year, back this year. Aranda can hit, but does not really have a defensive position. Should I say it?

He's a Top 100 Prospect, but only on the Baseball America list.  

That's four Top 100 Prospects and none of them are the best player I have seen in a Bulls game this year. It's tough watching the Bulls some days. 

On to a pair of non-Top 100 Prospects.  

Picked up a pair of Kameron Misner cards. He's a Missouri native, from Poplar Bluff, and also played at Mizzou during college. Misner was drafted by the Marlins and traded to the Rays last summer for Joey Wendle. No Rays cards yet, so I went for a Marlins rookie card and a sparkly Mizzou card from Panini. 

Misner is a really good defender in the outfield, but not the best hitter. Although, he has a crazy walk rate. Misner has around 200 at-bats and has walked almost 40 times. He's doesn't quite lead the league, but close.  

Last one for tonight. 

Tanner Murray has only played a few games this year. Three of them were with the Bulls. Why did I get this card?  I am a sucker for combined shipping and this card was two dollars. That's a pretty good deal for a Bowman Chrome autograph.  

Murray was decent in the lower Minors the past two years, so why not?  

A few more Durham Bulls related cards next week.  

The Mayor of Kings Mountain Has Relocated

While Will Wilson was playing on the NC State baseball team, one of the school's fan websites dubbed him "The Mayor of King's Mountain", which his small hometown located in the western part of the state.  

The Mayor of Kings Mountain, Will Wilson, singles as the UNC LF misreads the ball. Run scores. Bases loaded with no outs in T5. Pack, 3-0.

— Pack Pride (@PackPride) April 16, 2017

The nickname is still popular with the local college baseball crowd, but has not really caught on with people outside of the area.  Regardless, I am enjoying the fact that Wilson appeared in several different 2020 products.  I recently picked up two of those cards, including one with his new team.  

Old team first.  

This is Wilson's card out of this year's Topps Heritage Minors.  The Orem Owlz (Z is for stupid) are an Angels Minor League team.  The Halos picked him out of NC State in the first round of the 2019 Draft.  For whatever reason, the Angels traded him last off-season to the Giants for Zack Cozart.  

I am sure that this photo would have probably been different if there had been Minor League Baseball this season.  The back of the card gives mention of his time in Raleigh.  

I think he's going to be at minimum a solid Major League Baseball player.  

Now, for a card with his new team.  

I used to really hate Bowman Sterling.  It supposed to be some sort of high end Bowman brand product, but for a long time it had sticker autographs.  This is actually a really nice card, and I love that the signature is signed on the card, not on a sticker.

These were the last two Wilson autographed cards that were on my list to find for this year, so I will give his cards a break until next summer.  

Finally Something From The Jeremy Hellickson Trade....

I started writing in this space at some point during the Spring of 2012. One of the better young players I collected at that time was Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson. He had been through Durham just a few years earlier and had also won the American League Rookie of The Year in 2011.  It was a good time to collect his cards, he was in everything.  No shortage of Hellickson cards to chase down and post.

I should do a "Where Are They" post about players I wrote about five years ago.  I am going to file that idea away for later.  Back to Hellickson.  I collected his stuff.

This is a ticket from his first win.  

At some point Hellickson's shoulder fell off, he ended up back in Durham for awhile on injury rehab, and eventually the Rays traded him to the Diamondbacks for a couple of young players.  When the trade first happened, I ventured out and found a token autograph of outfielder Justin Williams, one of the players the Rays got back in the trade. 

Pretty nice autograph from Bowman Sterling.  There are some horrendous sticker autographs in this set, but this Williams autograph has a nice on card signature.  Very nice card, but that was three and half years ago.  What has happened since then?  Jeremy Hellickson has been on the Diamondbacks, Phillies, Orioles, and Nationals, while Justin Williams has gone from A Ball all the way up to Triple A.  I have not really written anything about him, nor have I done much with his cards.  

I had the chance to get a good look at Williams a few weeks ago.  Pretty impressive outfielder.  

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He's still only 22, and this is his first experience in Triple A, so I would guess he's with the Bulls the entire 2018 season.  Given how the Rays run things, I would guess he's in Durham for some time in 2019 too.  Which gives me a little bit of time to work on some Justin Williams baseball cards.  

Surprisingly, he does not have a lot of cards.  Topps made a few of him when he was first drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2013 and 2014, and his first full season with the Rays in 2015.  After a two year lull, Topps did put him in 2018 Bowman, but I am a sane person and have not touched that craziness.  

Low quantity of cards, so I started all the way back with his first Bowman card from 2013.....  

his Bowman Draft Chrome autograph.  Yes, I have been really hard on the Bowman Draft sets in the past, especially the 2013 set.  I believe that I did a post, it's somewhere around here, about how this is one of the worst airbrushed sets ever.  The airbrushing on this Williams card is not great by any means, the D-Backs script on his jersey is pretty suspect.  So small and really straight.  The batting helmet is the same style worn by the high school kids in the Perfect Game All-American program and the stripe on his pants clearly does not match with the Diamondbacks uniform.  

So, now that all of that is out of the way, I really think this is likely the toughest autograph of Williams to find, and I love that it has an on-card signature.  Interestingly, the Sterling and Draft cards were put out roughly within the same time period, late 2013, and Williams signature seems to have changed during that time.  Not markedly different, but outside of the letter "J" there are a lot of little changes.  

Back of the card. 

Always some interesting facts on the backs of the Bowman Draft cards.  Some are standard fare, like his choice of college if he had gone that route, while others are always a little bit more interesting.  Really thought it was cool that he used a wood bat during his senior year of school.  

Collecting the Durham Bulls: Richie Shaffer

Two days in a row with a Richie Shaffer post.  I will leave him along the rest of this week, most likely.  A little bit of repeated information:  Shaffer was the Rays first round draft pick in the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of Clemson.  He has played in the Rays minor league system the past two and half years for the teams A, high A, and Double A teams.  The third baseman has increased his home runs totals each season in the minors and he seems poised to do that again this year with 9 in his first 40 games (last year he hit 19).

Shaffer's first cards appear in the late 2012 releases.  His key rookie is in the dreadfully super airbrushed Bowman Draft set.  At some point in the future Topps should write an apology letter to all of the players included in the set and reissue a new rookie card.  What pains me about the Shaffer rookie card?  The jersey airbrushing is not terrible, but the helmet is not cool, and if you are going to go ahead and change out the jersey and helmet why leave the little things untouched?  Shaffer has two wrist bands, one orange and one purple.  The crowd in background is also wearing orange shirts, and if you squint, you can even make out the C for Clemson on the guy's hat to the right of Shaffer's wrist in the picture.  Charles Barkley says......

Shaffer also has rookie cards in Panini and Leaf products which show him in a Clemson uniform, but the logos are just blanked out on the cards.....

All three rookie cards, the Leaf, Panini, and Bowman Draft, all feature an autographed version which all can be found for less than $5.  In my opinion, I like the Panini and Leaf cards better than the Bowman issues.  I'd rather see him in a Clemson uni with no logos, then a Rays uniform haphazardly placed over a Clemson one.

Since entering the Rays system in 2012 there have been plenty of Shaffer cards in Bowman products and some of the other Topps Minor League products like Pro Debut and Heritage Minor League.  The cards are readily available and really inexpensive.  I like his Stone Crabs card from last year's Pro Debut product.  I am guessing he will have a card in this year's product as a Montgomery Biscuit.

Shaffer also has a handful of autographs out on the secondary market all of them were issued in either 2012 or 2013.  I have already talked a little bit about his 2012 signatures, but I am going to throw out one from that year which is, in my opinion, his best autograph.

I am sure the photograph is probably photoshopped, but the fact that Topps made an on card signature of Shaffer is the important thing here.  The Leaf cards from 2012 are also on card, but this is Shaffer's only licensed on card autograph.  If you wanted to add a Shaffer autograph to your collection this is my 1A pick.  There is one other good one, but mainly because of the product....

 Share's Bowman Inception autograph is a sticker, but this is from a really nice product with real, non-airbrushed pictures, of players in their uniforms.  I like Shaffer's signature and he has been really consistent throughout his time signing for card manufacturers.

The Things You'll Find While Shuffling Through Your Boxes, Want Lists, Bowl Games, and Other Minutiae

I spent a little bit of time yesterday watching the NC State football game and sorting and filing some cards.  The Wolfpack was stuck at five wins on the season and needed one more to get to a bowl game this year.  Enter Wake Forest.  Last year State did not win a conference game and did not make a bowl game for the first time in a long time.  Yesterday was a big step forward:

I got a lot done with my cards too.  I started to compile a wish list of cards that I would like to add to my collection and was also able to extract a huge stack of nice duplicates and other items to use as trade bait.  As quickly as the list was made a few cards were quickly eliminated.  It's amazing what you will find when you do a little bit of cleaning.  I think my mom told me that all the time back in the day.  Probably should have listened a little better.....

Here's my first card checked off the list.  It was sitting right here in a box......

If you have not kept track of all the off season happenings the Rays traded Snorting Bull favorite, and former Durham Bull, Jeremy Hellickson to the Diamondbacks for a pair of highly regarded minor league prospects.  One of them is former second round draft pick Justin Williams.  The outfielder has hit for a high average and shown great ability to get on-base.  We just need a little power.  Williams will likely be in Durham at some point, so I might as well get a start on finding his cards.  Right?  

I have no idea how I got this card.  It's not a very old card and I never posted on this blog.  I am going to guess it was a throw in at some point, but I am really glad it is here.  I will have to publish my list somehow when I finish it off.  Maybe over Thanksgiving Break.  How many collectors have want lists?  How many collectors publish their want lists?  

A New Bull and a Tar Heel

I picked up three new autographs this weekend from two players with local connections to the Raleigh-Durham area.  Let's start off with a new player to my collection, new Ray and current Durham Bulls infielder Nick Franklin.  The second baseman came over to the Rays in the David Price trade and caused a little bit of disappointment amongst the Rays faithful.  I will admit that I had anticipated a huge haul of prospects for Price, but I think I am starting to finally wrap my head around what the team got in return.

Franklin actually appeared in Durham earlier this summer in the Triple A All-Star game playing for the Mariners Pacific Coast League affiliate the Tacoma Rainiers.  While his Major League stats leave a lot to be desired, Franklin has been a very successful player in the Minors and has remained a top 100 prospect throughout his career.  His overall career line in the minors stands at .284/.361/.450.  Throw in almost 200 extra base hits in 500 minor league games and you have a pretty good prospect. Perhaps a call up to Tampa this September?  I think so.

Nick Franklin has several autographs out on the secondary market and I managed to snag two copies of his Bowman Inception card from last year.  I have a huge chunk of this set, but no Franklin until this weekend.....

Now I have two.  The same person who was selling these Nick Franklin cards also had a Colin Moran autograph up that nobody was going to bid on.  He's a Tar Heel and he has not hit much of anything in the minors, but a $1 autograph is hard to pass by......

Let's change that statement a little bit.  Moran hit .296 with a .344 on-base at two minor league stops. The former Heel also had a .397 slugging in both stops.  That's 7 home runs and 27 doubles from a player who was considered the "best power hitter" in the previous summer's amateur draft.  The Marlins, who originally drafted him, passed him on to the Astros at the trade deadline.

Tribute Rock

I found a pretty nice spot to auction off a few cards two weeks ago on Facebook and even managed to snag a few cards for myself on the page.  Seems pretty legit, but I am always pretty careful with everything and everyone on Facebook and Twitter.  One lot that caught my eye featured a nice autograph of 80s/90s great Tim Raines.  I have posted a rant or two about The Rock being a Hall of Famer,   Apparently running a blog and teaching fourth grade does not qualify you for a Hall of Fame ballot.  Maybe someday.....

In the meantime, I can enjoy the Rock's autograph on my latest addition to my collection.  Topps has put out a fair number of new Raines cards out this year, several of which feature him in an Expos uniform.  Raines was still a good, productive player as a White Sox, but still I remember him best for his Expos days.  Raines also has a nice signature which looks great on this Tribute card.  This was a really good looking product.  As a bonus I also picked up a card of White Sox prospect Jacob May.

May is most likely an organizational guy.  He's currently playing in the Carolina League for the Winston-Salem Dash with a .259/.321/.399 line.  Not too impressive, but I saw him once while he was at Coastal Carolina and thought he was a nice college player.

Uber Taveras

The market place on Oscar Taveras cards really cooled last year when the Cardinals uber prospect wasted his first full season in Triple A with an ankle injury.  Add in a buffoon sports writer in St. Louis questioning his maturity and the team's commitment.  Taveras had a little fine tuning done on his bum ankle, worked hard this off-season, and is back to crushing minor league pitching for the Cardinals Memphis affiliate.  The sports writer is still trolling is own fan base.

The reaction to all of this from the sports card hobby was a slide in the price of Taveras cards.  Sure Oscar is hitting .320 something with power in Triple A, but last season still lingers in the minds of collectors who sunk hundreds of dollars or more into Taveras autographs and short prints.  The reluctance to spend on Taveras autographs has pushed the price of some of his autographs down below the $20 mark.  

I suspect that the Cardinals are planning on leaving Oscar Taveras in Triple A until the second half of the season.  The team already has a crowded outfield in St. Louis with Matt Holliday, Peter Bourjos, Allen Craig, and Mike Matheny's man crush on mediocrity, Jon Jay.  Throw in that Taveras is sharing the outfield with two other top offensive prospects, Stephen Piscotty and Randal Grichuk, and something is going to have to happen to make room for all of these players on the Cardinals bench.  

I suspect that as long as Taveras is in Triple A his cards will not regain the value the cards possessed during the summer of 2012.  If you are a regular reader you know that I am always cautious with spending money or trading resources away for high priced, high end rookie cards, but Taveras should be very high on your buy list at the moment.  

I figure at worst Taveras is probably going to be an above average Major League player for the next decade or so.  Add in the fact that he plays in a baseball crazy town with a good market for baseball cards and you've got to be pinching yourself over the prices Taveras cards have been selling for this year.  It's amazing what a high ankle sprain and garbage journalism will do to help out your cause.  

So here is my latest Taveras autograph I added to my collection:

I am still pinching myself a little bit over the cost of this card which I traded for over Facebook.  I ended up parting ways with a pair of Mets autographs, a Jeremy Hefner Gypsy Queen autograph and an Upper Deck Etchings autograph of former shortstop Jose Reyes, for this great looking Taveras autograph. While I already have a copy of this card, it's hard to pass up on this card at that price. Plus Upper Deck Etchings is one of my least favorite sets of all time. 

Sterling Bird Signatures

I picked up a pair of cool Bowman Sterling autographs of two Cardinals prospects.  I am always a little bit leery of Bowman Sterling cards.  High price tag with cards that can be easy to find with high print runs and low prices.  It's a great product to let someone else open and then swoop in to pick up the cards.  Yes, opening packs of cards is fun and I could potentially pull something really sweet.  However, I have been burned too many times with these sorts of products.

A month or so after the product was released I managed to pick up a cool pair of autographs at a really good price.  First up is a cool card that any prospect collector would love to have in their collection.  The best prospect in baseball.....
 

 2013 Bowman Sterling Oscar Taveras Autograph

Taveras has a bit of a lost season in 2013 due to an injury to his ankle, but should be back in 2014.  I am not sure if he is going to be in Memphis to start, or on the bench in St. Louis.  I would guess that even if Taveras ends up in the PCL at the beginning of the season, he will be in St. Louis at some point during the 2014 season.  Taveras is an excellent hitter and has hit for a high average at every level.  His power has increased every year he has played in the minors, so the Cardinals are probably hoping for an improvement over his 22 he posted in 2012.  Taveras is pretty popular in he hobby, but the prices of his autographs has cooled over the last year. 

2013 Bowman Sterling Robert Kaminsky Autograph

Kaminksy is not as well known as some of the other prospects in the Cardinals system, but I think he has a pretty good shot to be a good contributor the team in the future.  The Cardinals drafted Kaminsky out of high school in New Jersey, but he had a scholarship offer and had committed to play baseball at North Carolina.  After being selected in the first round, Kaminsky skipped college to play for the Cardinals.  Spend a little time reading up on Kaminsky and you will find he's got three pitches including a fastball, curve, and change-up.  The curve ball is supposedly spectacular.  I am hoping to see Kaminsky in St. Louis in the near future.  

My Top 50 On Cardboard- #28 Clayton Kershaw

Top 50 On Cardboard
#28
Clayton Kershaw

I have had several entries into my Top 50 On Cardboard Countdown headed in the wrong direction.  Tonight's entry will likely be much higher when I revisit this countdown again in the future.  Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball at the moment and is still only 25 years old.  He seems like one of those players who's been around forever, but still probably has another good decade of baseball on him. 

2006 Bowman Sterling Clayton Kershaw Autograph

Kid K has several rookie cards, but most of his rookie cards that are a must have for your collection show up in 2006 products.  I believe the "official" rookie cards for Kershaw are technically in the 2008 releases, but I have officially found that people do not care about technicalities with rookie cards.  2006 happened before 2008 and I would recommend any of his Bowman products.  I own a copy of his Bowman Sterling, but it's a sticker autograph.  Meanwhile his Bowman autograph is not.  If you are looking for a regular, non-autographed, rookie card of the Dodgers southpaw I would recommend the Bowman Original.  Kind of a hidden treasure.  Buy one. 

Hobby Impact-
Kershaw is a really really good player.  We'll get into that in a few minutes below, but given the level of player he is on the field he is really really under-appreciated in the baseball card biz.  First, the Dodgers have a really good collecting fan base.  There are plenty of good Dodgers fans with good money to spend on cards of Dodgers players.  Kerhaw is a favorite, so those collectors will often drive the price up on Kershaw cards.  However, in my opinion Kershaw is starting to gain recognition in the hobby, and with that increased popularity and scarcity in finding tough Kershaw cards.  Also higher prices. 

It's taken the hobby awhile to catch on to Kershaw's value on the field.  After the 2010 season I managed to pick up my second Kershaw autograph, beyond his rookie Bowman Sterling autograph, at a small card shop outside of St. Louis.  At the time Kershaw was basically a .500 pitcher with twenty some wins to his name after three seasons.  He had also doubled his autographs over his first three seasons, stuck out more than a batter per inning, and posted two seasons with an ERA+ over 130.  All of that at the age of 22.  Of course, the Cardinals fans had a cool Colby Rasmus autograph in the 2007 Bowman Sterling set to track down at the time, so the card store owner didn't mind parting with this Kershaw autograph for a mere $15.

2007 Bowman Sterling Clayton Kershaw Jersey/Autograph

It's a sticker autograph again, but it's a low run Kershaw autograph for under $20.  Most base Kershaw autograph now sell for the $20 neighborhood, but the premium autographs sell for much more.  Better yet is the fact that Kershaw has several on-card autographs, including several Allen & Ginters, floating around on the secondary market.  Relics of Kershaw are an absolute steal with jumbo pieces available for less than $10, if you are willing to sit around and wait to bid on them.  Ignore the $50 Buy It Nows on Ebay. 

On The Field Impact-
Has anyone gotten into the EloRater on Baseball Reference?  I've always been a little bit curious about what it means, but I recently took a little bit of time to read up on the rankings system and kind of dig the whole concept behind the rankings.  To summarize, players are given point values based on their overall statistics.  The players are then paired up where they face off and wins and rankings are created.  Here's what you need to know about the EloRaters ranking of Kershaw:

• He is the 7th Best Active Pitcher

• He is the only pitcher on the list under 30, with Captain Crunch Sabathia (33) checking in as the second youngest

• Given the six pitchers in front of him all have uncertain futures (Halladay, Hudson, Oswalt, and Santana) or have retired (Rivera and Pettitte) it's not unrealistic for him to be the best active pitcher on this list before 30

• Kershaw already ranks as the 129th all-time best pitcher and is closing in on passing Hall of Famers Jim Bunning and Catfish Hunter.  

If you like the JAWS system I have been using on my other posts, they actually rank Kershaw slightly lower as the 211 best starting pitcher of all-time, but that's a 25 year old.   He should start catching up to the back end of the Hall Fame pitchers on that list soon too.  If you just like numbers Kershaw has 4 season with more than 200 strikeouts, three ERA titles, one Cy Young Award with a second place finish and another probable Cy Young on it's way soon.  Kershaw has also posted on ERA+ of 161, 150, and 194 the past three seasons.

By the way, he already has the second highest ERA+ of any active player and is already 8th all-time behind guys like Walter Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera, and Lefty Grove.

Favorite Card-
I really like Kershaw the player.  I wish he had been around for a little bit different era of baseball cards, so my favorite Kershaw card is....

2013 Bowman 1992 Bowman Reprint Clayton Kershaw

One of the classic Bowman designs and a popular one for Dodgers fans.  I also love that the card was taken in Busch Stadium with Red Schoendiesnt's number 2 and Stan Musial's number 6 behind this future Hall of Famer. 

2009 Bowman Sterling Justin Masterson Autograph

Sometimes I wonder if collectors actually watch and pay attention to what's going on during the Major League Baseball season.  Honestly, there are some cards that simply do not fit their price.  Both ways, high and low.  Why are ARod autographs not $20 yet?  Seriously, I still see collectors paying a premium for his ink.  What can he possible accomplish to justify spending $100 on his autograph that has not been completely washed away by the fact that he's a little bit slimly?

Same can be said for several players being undervalued.  I recently ran into a Justin Masterson autograph and was shocked to find it available for $3.  While he is not going to win the Cy Young Award this season, Masterson has been one of the key players in leading the Cleveland Indians to respectability this season.

2009 Bowman Sterling Justin Masterson Autograph 

Three dollars for the autograph of an above-average player is ridiculously cheap.  Masterson is out performing pitchers like C.C. Sabathia, but yet his autograph sells for a fraction of the Yankees hurler.  Sure, there is the fact that Masterson is stuck playing in Cleveland while Sabathia is toiling in mediocrity under bigger lights in New York, but still there seems to be little reasoning behind the price some collectors pay for the signatures of certain players.  Masterson does have a pretty extensive line of autographs and signed frequently as a younger player including several on-card signatures.

2012 Bowman Sterling George Springer Autograph

I have posted a few George Springer cards over the past few weeks and have really enjoyed collecting the Astros outfield prospect.  There are plenty of good Springer cards out on the market including plenty of good autographs.  I had started my Springer collection after he posted a .297/.399/.579 line with 19 homers and 23 steals in AA.  At the time he was being promoted up to the Astros AAA in Oklahoma City.  Since his promotion there has not been much of an adjustment period.  So far in PCL Springer has posted a .404/.507/.842 line with 7 homers and 5 steals.  It's only 70 at-bats, but clearly there is a lot of talent here.

Naturally, I was happy to add my third Springer autograph to my collection during the third month.  Like the other two Springers, this card from the Bowman Sterling set, features a sticker autograph.

2012 Bowman Sterling George Springer Autograph 

Of course I am still on the hunt for more Springer autographs and was thrilled to see Topps insert an autograph of him into the Bowman Inception set, but the pricing has started to tick up on his cards.  A month ago when I started hunting down Springer cards the market for his autographed cards was generally in between $10-$20.  Some of his harder to find, or unique cards, drifted north of $20.  However, I considered his cards very affordable for a top flight prospect.  Many of his basic autographs are now settling in around $20.  Premium autographs, such as the colored version of the Bowman Inception autograph, and his 2010 Bowman Autograph, are now selling between $40 and $50.