Friday Five: Top 5 Durham Bulls First Baseman

This is the Saturday edition of my normal Friday blog post.  I am going to post two of these today.  This post was planned since last week, but my real job took up a lot of time the last few nights and prevented me from finishing this post.  The second Friday Five post is in reaction to some baseball news from yesterday.  

5.  Rusty Staub 

Staub appeared for Durham in 1962 as a minor leaguer in the Astros organization.  The Bulls were apart of the Carolina league that season and Staub's performance that season paced the Bulls to a league title over the Kinston Eagles (Pirates) and their star pitcher Steve Blass.  In his only full minor league season "Le Grand Orange" posted a .293/.429/.483 line with 23 home runs and 93 RBIs.  Staub was one of the top offensive performers in the league that season and ranks as one of the best offensive performances in the history of the Durham Bulls.  On a side note,  Rusty Staub missed out on leading the Carolina League in home runs and RBIs to one Bert Barth, St. Louis native,  who hit 33 home runs and drove in 136 playing for the Rocky Mount Leafs.  He also pitched in the minor leagues too.   I am going to have to track down more info on Bert Barth and I promise he gets a post in the near future.  

4.  Greg Luzinski 

Luzinski was apart of the 1969 Raleigh-Durham Phillies team (they also played one season around this time as the Triangles).  The team placed second that season, to those dreaded Rocky Mount Leafs, in the Carolina League's Eastern Division finishing with a record of 79-62.  Luzinski lead the Carolina league that season in home runs, RBIs, and finished third in slugging and OPS posting a line of .289/.371/.394 with 31 home runs, and 92 RBIs.  "The Bull" ended up splitting his career between the Phillies and White Sox where he hit over 300 Major League home runs, drove in more than 1000 runs, and almost reached 2000 hits.  

3.  Kevin Witt 

Kevin Witt won the International League MVP the first full season that I lived in Durham.  The big first baseman had some incredible power in his bat which never really worked out in the Majors.  He was still a great player in the more than half a dozen Minor League stops during the late 90s through the mid 2000s.  His 2006 season with the Durham Bulls was his last year playing for a minor league team in the US.  Witt posted a .291/.360/.577 line with 36 home runs and 99 RBIs.  Witt lead the International League in both home runs and RBIs, as well as slugging percentage.   The Bulls had a lot of talent on that team including Delmon Young, Jame Shields, Edwin Jackson, Ben Zobrist, B.J. Upton, Darnell McDonald, Elijah Dukes, and newly minted Rays manager Kevin Cash.  Still all the talent could not get the Bulls above .500 that season.  After Witt's MVP season he had a short lived career playing baseball in Japan with Rakuten.  

2.  Steve Cox

Cox spent two seasons in Durham with the Bulls and his 1999 season was one of the best offensive seasons in team history.  Cox posted a .341/..415/.588 line with 25 home runs, 127 RBIs, and 49 doubles.  Cox lead the International League in batting and RBIs, but missed out on the home runs leg of the triple crown finishing fifth.  I would like to say that the doubles in an International League record, as I cannot find a total higher than that, but some of the older stats in the IL are a little murky in places.  Cox ended up spending a few decent seasons with the Devil Rays before his career lost traction.  He spent part of a season in Japan and ended up back with the Rays briefly in 2005 and even made a return appearance (for 19 games) as a Durham Bull 

1. Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson spent three years as a Durham Bull.  His second stint with the Bulls, in 2010, he was basically an unstoppable force at the plate.  I attended several games that season where Johnson just simply schooled the other teams pitching staff in every way possible.  You've heard the old say about how the "baseball must look like a beach ball to that player right now"?  Johnson turned the right now into most of a season.  In 98 games in Durham that season Johnson hit 30 home runs, 19 doubles, with 95 RBIs while posting a .303/.430/.624 line.  Johnson basically missed a third of the season, but still lead the league in home runs, walks, slugging, and finished second in RBIs to Brandon Moss who played 38 more games than Johnson.  It was one of the most impressive seasons I have ever seen.  His Major League career has not been the best, but he still owns one of the biggest hits in Rays history.  

 

30 Year Top 50: Topps Triple Threads

#34-This post is going to be slightly different than the other posts that I have made for my Top 50 countdown.  I came up with the idea of doing this countdown leading into my 30th year in baseball card collecting this summer and put thought and consideration into where to rank all the different card sets that I have brought into my life since the summer of 1983.  The Triple Threads brand started in 2006 and is still currently running.  Every summer I eagerly await the release of Triple Threads and cannot wait to pick out a handful of really cool cards to add to my collection.  In many ways, the Triple Threads set is a top 10 on my personal list, but looking at the big picture and taking into account important rookies, design, etc, etc this is where it falls.  Note that I did not attach a year.  I do have a few I like more than others, but not a clear cut favorite.  Let me walk you through why I love this product:

2006 Triple Threads
I was initially really excited about the release of Triple Threads in 2006.  I rushed up to a card shop, which is no longer with us, in Durham to buy a pack.  Quickly spotting the product behind the counter I bought a pack of the high end product and immediately remembered my rule about high end wax.

2006 Topps Triple Threads Dan Johnson Dual Jersey/Autograph

Starring me back in this face was this Dan Johnson card.  Of course, he ended up playing for the Durham Bulls and won the International League MVP, so I would have ended up with the card in my collection anyway.  Right?  Disappointed, I did not open another pack of Triple Threads the rest of the year.  Since that time I have traded for a few.

2007 Triple Threads

My second venture into Triple Threads went much better.  I opened approximately zero packs of product, but worked the secondary market very hard to come up with a few gems for my collection.  My favorite:

My first Triple Threads card with a patch piece was a Shawn Riggans with two jersey pieces, a piece of green patch from the old Devil Rays unis, and an autograph.  I found it cheap in an Ebay auction and picked out the card since Riggans was having a great season for the Durham Bulls.  Riggans struggled in the majors and now out of baseball.  Still a cool card and turned the corner for me on this product. 

2007 Topps Triple Threads Shawn Riggans Dual Jersey/Patch/Autograph

2008 Triple Threads 

We all have misses in life and the 2008 Triple Threads set was a miss for me.  I didn't have many players I was excited to collect out of this set and the players I did collect, well....

2008 Topps Triple Threads Elijah Dukes Triple Bat/Autograph

I think I also picked up a few Jo Jo Reyes cards, Melky Cabrera, and a few other infamous characters.  I did pick up a good selection of Matt Holliday relic cards from this set after the Rockies run to the World Series.  This was the first year that I really went after the relics cards along with the autographs.  More recently, I landed a nice Dimaggio relic piece in a trade.  

2008 Topps Triple Threads Joe DiMaggio Six Piece Relic

2008 Topps Triple Threads Matt Holliday Six Piece Relic

2009 Triple Threads

I have two favorites in my collection from the 2009 set and would rank this set in a three way tie for the lead in the best Triple Threads sets.  My favorite card I picked up in 2009 which is a Ryan Braun patch/autograph.  This card has patch pieces from his Futures Game relics, the red/black/yellow pieces along with a thicker piece of black or navy patch.  I also love the word: HAMMER on the card.  If I ranked all of my Triple Threads cards against each other this would finish in the top 5.  

2009 Topps Triple Threads Ryan Braun Triple Patch/Autograph

My second card I picked up a few years ago after watching Nolan Reimold play for the Norfolk Tides. Sometimes I get a feeling about a player I watch in the minors and was fairly impressed by Reimold.  I found this card on Ebay really cheap and figured I would, at worst, have a really cool looking cards.  Reimold is looking like a regular though, so I think I did well with this card.  I love the orange jersey pieces and the yellow/red/black patch piece like the Braun. 

2009 Topps Triple Threads Autograph

2010 Triple Threads

I loved the 2010 release of Triple Threads.  If I had to narrow the Triple Threads sets down to the best, this would be another among my favorites.  The best part of the 2010 release was the inclusion of on-card autographs.  In someways, it gives this release a slight nod over the 2009 set, except the more standard looking Triple Threads cards were still sticker autographs.  My favorite two on card autographs were Andrew McCutchen and Howie Kendrick.  The McCutchen was my first McCutchen autograph and the Kendrick card is just signed really cool.  I've always like Howie's signature and I like how he just wrote over the whole card.  

2010 Topps Triple Threads Andrew McCutchen Jersey/Autograph

2010 Topps Triple Threads Howie Kendrick Jersey/Autograph 

The regular Triple Threads cards were still cool, but again, Topps used sticker autographs.  My favorite has to be Zorilla.  Ben Zobrist.  Again a personal Top 5 Triple Threads card. 

2010 Topps Triple Threads Seven Piece Relic/Autograph

2011 Triple Threads

The 2011 release was similar to the 2010 release in many ways and again, I would consider this to be among the three best Triple Threads sets along with the 2009 and 2010.  The veteran cards were generally sticker autographs.  My favorite is my Miguel Cabrera autograph, which I also collected all of the similar relic cards.  

2011 Topps Triple Threads 13 Piece Relic/Autograph

The young star players in the set were on card autographs like the 2010 release, but I felt the design of the 2011 cards was a little truer to the set.  

2011 Topps Triple Threads Jaime Garcia Triple Jersey/Autograph

The real drawback to this set, in my opinion, is the veteran cards with a single piece of jersey or patch.  If you are going to use sticker autographs the only reason to duck the design of the Cabrera card above is to cheapen the product.  I love the Matt Holliday card below, but I would have gladly tried to find a copy with multiple relic pieces in the regular Triple Threads format.

2011 Triple Threads Matt Holliday Patch/Autograph

2012 Triple Threads

I feel like the set has taken a little step back this year.  Still a really cool product and I own several really nice cards from the set, but the player selection is a little lacking in my opinion and there are several cards which are repeats from previous years.  Also, similar to the 2011 is the pattern on the autographs. Veterans are on stickers, younger players are on card, and there are single jersey autographs that are also stickers.  My two favorites from 2012:

2012 Topps Triple Threads David Freese Autograph

 2012 Topps Triple Threads Lance Lynn Jersey/Autograph

If you like the follow up I do on card sets not in my Top 50 be sure to check back tomorrow for a special piece I am putting together on a few sets released over the past few years similar to the Triple Threads releases.  

Two More Cards Shops In The Lou

I usually try to hit three card shops in the St. Louis area when I return home, but this spring trip has been really busy and I have only been able to hit up two different stores.  I will plug my third store this summer perhaps. 


First Stop: The Sports Card Dugout In Webster Groves, Missouri

I actually lived a few miles from this store for a number of years and kind of consider it to be my home store.  Every store has it's strengths and the best part about the Dugout to me is the selection of wax.  The owner, Randy, does have a lot of singles and will definitly help with lists and singles.  However, like most stores in St. Louis the store is extremely baseball heavy and there are premiums placed on Cardinals players.  I don't often buy single cards from the Dugout, but when I do, I focus away from the Cardinals and get some great deals. 

So, now for my wax plug.  Again, it's baseball heavy, but if you need a box of football, basketball, or hockey it's going to be there, or the owner will help you find it.  The owner does two things to make the wax shine: knowledge of product and competitive pricing.  When a known product comes out it is usually a great day to visit the Dugout.  Randy, the owner, will often bust open several boxes (or a case) and isn't shy about sharing details and opinions about the product.  He will show you some good and some ugly, but he will keep you away from bad boxes and steer you towards the great ones.  The pricing is also really good.  It's not going to beat the mega-stores on-line, but for a local store nobody can touch him. 

I walked in the other afternoon and was happy to see the store.  He had four different lines of baseball wax in stock: Topps I, Topps Heritage, Topps Tribute, and Musuem Collection.  He talked me through each box of cards and gave me the run down of pros and cons.  I eventually decided on a box of Heritage.  I was told that the boxes this year had great collation, great design, and I would get some good parallels, a jersey or autograph, and a few inserts.  I know I have pretty much put together my set, but I went ahead and got the box. 

So how did I do?  In the twenty-four packs I had zero doubles, a few inserts, and eight short prints.  My highlights are pictured below:

Top Row (L-R) 1963 Topps Craig Andeson, Recollection, Chris Ianetta Chrome, Joey Votto Chrome, and Vance Worley Chrome

Bottom Row: Matt Kemp Reverse, Jacoby Ellsbury Jersey

Second Stop: Southtown Sluggers In Saint Louis, Missouri

This is a great little card shop located in the southeast suburbs of the city.  The main thing you need with this store is time.  If you walk into the store looking for something specific you are going to be disappointed.  The store owner, Dave, is really helpful and will work hard to find what you want, but you have to give it itme.  If you go in, decide you are going to spend forty-five minutes looking and have X amount of dollars to spend you are going to be very happy.  The store literally has something for eveyone.  Like vintage?  He's got it.  Like shiny and new?  He's got it.  Cheap, expensive, and everything in between.  I use this store to find single cards that are hard to find.  I generally try to find cards to add to my Ray Lankford collection, fill in from recent Cardinals sets, and just generally good deals.  I probably looked through eight or nine five thousand card boxes, two or three large notebooks of autographs, and two eight-hundred count boxes of mateials cards.  I set my budget at $10.  You read that right.  Here's what I got:  

Three Ray Lankford Parallels: 2000 Topps Stadium Club First Day Issue, 1997 Topps Gallery Players Private Issue, and a 2000 Topps Finest Refractor.  The first two are serial numbered.  

2009 Donruss Brian Friday Autograph  

2011 Topps Heritage Dan Johnson Jersey

3 Cardinals Inserts/Parallels - 2001 Fleer Genuine Jim Edmonds High Interest, 2007 Topps Juan Encarnacion Parallel, 2011 Topps ALlen & Ginter Matt Holliday Insert

1998 SPX Delino Deshields.  I was missing this card to complete my Cardinals team seat. 

1988 Topps Danny Cox autograph