Entering The Cronezone

It's been a few weeks since I have made a post. I have been enjoying my fall break away from school by doing a few things around the house and taking in the NC State football game last weekend.  

My Wolfpack snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Losing to Wake Forest after leading by 10 at the beginning of the 4th Quarter is not cool. The coaching is less than ideal.  

Baseball cards have been slow too.

No Blake Snell autographs. 

Pumping the brakes on the Rays current young players.

Nobody likes the Cardinals right now.  

I did find an interesting 2023 Topps Chrome Jake Cronenworth card a few days back. Cronenworth was on the Durham Bulls a few years back and came up in the Rays Minor League system before he was traded to the Padres. Here is the front of the card.  

I have grown tired of my scanner, so you are getting a picture.

Notice the authentication sticker on the jersey swatch. I went ahead and ran the numbers on the swatch and came up with a time and date for the jersey that appears on the card.  

The answer is a bit disappointing........

No idea why Jake Cronenworth was wearing a Padres jersey in the middle of January, but I could not find anything when I did some digging on the team's social media pages. No press conferences, no fan fests, nothing.  

Here is the back of the card......

Playing around with scanning apps......

Not too bad. 

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. 

Big showing for the 𝙍𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙚𝙚𝙠 - Zoe Brooks, @PackWomensBball ‼️

🏀 Recorded 14 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in the win over Liberty, earning the first triple-double by an ACC player this season

📰 https://t.co/81akC4qRWi pic.twitter.com/YcLOmQFYMs

— ACC Women's Basketball (@accwbb) December 11, 2023

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.  

The Retail Card Aisles of Northern Michigan - Part 1

I made the 15 hour-plus drive to northern Michigan last week with my wife and kids to visit the in-laws. Not the upper peninsula, but rather the top of the lower peninsula. It's a really quiet place in the winter as you can imagine. The peace and quiet was great with the way this school year has gone. There was nothing I had to do, and no place I had to go.  

My kids got outside to enjoy the snow....

There was really good food as always. My in-laws are some combination of French-Canadian and Polish decent. The traditional holiday food at their house is usually some combination of the two, so there are meat pies and pastries (French Canadian) and pirogies (Polish).  

Homemade, created with love, not out of a freezer box.  

Onto the cards.

The town has two big box retail stores. There is a Meijer and a Wal-Mart. Both stores somehow have an abundant selection of retail baseball cards. Living outside of Raleigh, I can count the number of times I have seen packs or boxes of baseball cards at a retail store during the past year and a half. It is a rarity. 

Meijer and Wal-Mart four hours north of Detroit? 

Some of the Meijer baseball card display is cut-off on the left-side, but you get the idea. The place is completely full on retail cards. Some of the displays within the section have not been touched. I asked about the cards that were being sold at Service Desk on Saturdays. The answer was a generic, "hockey cards".  I could see that.  

Wally World.  

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the snow, good food, but also these two fine retail baseball card aisles in northern Michigan.  I made several visits to these two places during my week and a half in Michigan, so I am splitting the post into two halves with a breakdown of the different card products.  

First up, is some Topps Holiday, which I bought at Meijer. It's on the second shelf from the top in the right side. They were completely untouched. If I did not buy them, they would still be there right now. My wife was mildly amused with the purchase holiday themed baseball cards. 

I was trying to put the set together, which I am close to doing. Here are some of my highlights from my three boxes.....

We have got some ornament box toppers. These feel like they are a rip-off from old Pacific cards. Pacific used to release their base set around Christmas. I believe their final year or two there were Christmas ornaments in the packs. The Pacific ones had cooler shapes and they did not airbrush cheesy Santa hats on the players.

Snowmen relics.    

Love the Aaron Judge with the pinstripe running through the middle of the jersey swatch.  

I also got a few Santa hat and scarf variations.  

Obviously the Dylan Carlson card is a favorite here. Although, after pulling these cards I tried to pay attention to whether or not people still wear scarves. It snowed a few times while we were in Michigan and it was really cold. No, people no longer wear scarves.  

Favorite Cardinals cards. 

Tio Albert of the Dodgers has a different vibe than Anaheim Albert. Nice that Topps has made a few cards of him with the Dodgers. Hopefully this ages better than the Ken Griffey Jr. cards with the White Sox.  The Arenado card just seems to fit him a player. He makes a face like this seemingly once a week. Who knows when this picture was taken.  

Not a favorite Cardinals card, but it was weird to see Jon Lester with the birds on the bat.  

The Cardinals scotch taped together a rotation for the last two months of the season, which included Lester. He pitched well for them, but as a long-time Cub and member of a Red Sox team that beat the Cardinals in the World Series, it was weird to see this card.  

My favorite Durham Bulls player in the set is Jake Cronenworth.  

There is no card of Blake Snell wearing a Santa hat this year. I feel a little sad about that.  

That brings me to the second part of my post, which features cards from a few packs of Panini Chronicles. I picked these up at Wally World. I was sent there to buy a star tip for a frosting bag. These cards are better than fancy shaped frosting. Not a huge Panini cards fan, more a curiosity with this purchase. I had actually opened a pack of these a few weeks back. Some of the cards were interesting. Why not?  

There are 15 cards in a pack with a variety of different designs. I have no idea if these cards are all a single set or different sets packaged together.  

These are really thick cards with heavy card stock. Nice glossy finish too. I pulled two relics out of my three packs. Love the AJ Puk card. I saw him pitch with the College National Team at USA Baseball a few years back. Good college pitcher, hoping he can pull it together in the Majors.  

"OverDrive" sounds kind of dumb, but I like the overall design. Yes, I am ignoring the airbrushed logos. Both cards would be in the "shiny" category in terms of finish. I like the pink hues on the cards.  The Dalbec is some sort of parallel, but it's not serial numbered or anything.  

Next group of cards are all acetate.  

The white background is from the scanner. Are these from the same set or subset?  Why is Aaron Judge standing on some sort of island?  I like acetate cards, but I am not sure about these.  

Last cards for this post.  

These two cards have a similar finish as the Juan Soto and Bobby Dalbec, but without the stupid "OverDrive" wording over the card. I like the diamond design in the background. The Ke'Bryan Hayes is a parallel with more sparkle than the Acuna, but not serial numbered.  

Tomorrow, I will share out a few more cards that I picked up while visiting the retail card aisles of north Michigan.  

2021 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 3

I am not a huge fan of dual autographs.  It's not really my thing.  Blake Snell has not signed many dual signature cards and I have not added any of them to my collection.  For me to like a dual signature card, there needs to be a strong connection between the two players.  I prefer the players to be on the same team and comparable pieces.  I know one of the dual signature cards Snell has is with Brendan McKay.  Same team.  One of the players was the American League Cy Young Award winner, the other has been on the Durham Bulls injured reserve list for 2 years.  

So, what would move me to buy a Blake Snell dual autograph after passing on others?  

Dual.  Durham.  Bulls.  

Here is the card.  

Snell and Cronenworth were never on the Durham Bulls at the same time, but they are both two of my favorite former players.   Obviously on the same team at the moment with the Padres.  They are actually pretty close in age, but Snell was drafted out of high school and Cronenworth went the college route.  Cronenworth was also not a very highly regarded prospect, but there is nothing more Rays than turning a former college relief pitcher into a super utility player.  Snell was a first round pick.  

As for the card, this is from Dynamic Duals, which was a Topps On-Demand product.  I don't buy Topps directly from Topps.  I still have not moved on from my curved Aledmys Diaz rookie card.  

I am not sure how much these cost when buying direct from Topps, but I waited out a seller on Ebay and got the card at I price I felt comfortable paying.  Mind you, it has Cronenworth on it, so it cost more than the typical Snell autograph.  Since I am only 3 Snell autographs into 2021, I decided to splurge.  It's also a dual sticker autograph, so I was not going to splurge too much.  

Back of the card.  

Meh.  

If they had mentioned that they were both on the Durham Bulls, I would have been really impressed.  That did not happen.  

The Rare ManuPatch Appearance

I used to be a big fan of the ManuPatch cards, but they have disappeared from my collection and blog over the last few years.  ManuPatch being a manufactured patch.  Topps used to make some really well designed ManuPatch cards that were pretty fun to collect.  I had two favorite types of ManuPatch cards.  

The first were the awards cards.  They were big and chunky cards.  Always really thick and heavy for a baseball card.  If I had to narrow the category down to two specific sets, I would go with the Silver Slugger cards in the 2013 Topps set.  

I believe that I got this out of a pack of cards and it was the only card in the pack.  No, the award cards were not in the per-box Manu cards at Wally World and Target.  Pretty common back then, but Topps put the nice ManuPatch cards in Hobby boxes and counted them as your autograph or relic that you were guaranteed.  

From the same year's Topps set, I also really like the MVP cards.  It could be that 2013 was the peak of ManuPatch cards.  I have a Pujols and Musial card from the set.  Still a little irked that Topps did not make a card for 1985 National League MVP Willie McGee.  

This card is not as thick as the Matt Kemp, but it might actually weigh more.  Great looking cards.  

I also really liked the Minor League ManuPatch cards that Topps used to put in Pro Debut and Minor League Heritage every year.  The Durham Bulls used to frequently appear.  

My two favorites were Tim Beckham and Mike Montgomery.  

There is a Blake Snell ManuPatch card as a member of the Bulls, but I do not like it as much as the two above for design reasons.   

I am sure that some people like the pennant shape.  I like the simpler look of the large square logo.  

I have a few Cardinal Minor League ManuPatch cards too.  I think my favorite is Kolten Wong.  

I have not bought any ManuPatch cards in recent years.  I went and checked COMC to see what I missed?  Maybe Topps didn't even make them?  As it turns out, Topps did make ManuPatch cards and I stand by my decision to not buy any ManuPatch cards.  

After years of skipping over ManuPatch cards, why would I buy one now?  

Have I mentioned how everyone is spending excessive amounts of money on Jake Cronenworth cards?  

Yes, bringing up his age or the fact that he graduated from the University of Michigan has not persuaded people to discontinue spending money on the cards of one of my favorite former Durham Bulls players.  In fact, it seems to have gotten worse as he plays better at the end of the season.  So, I have started looking for cards that are affordable, but not boring.  That includes ManuPatch cards.  

This was very affordable compared to many other Cronenworth cards.  

This is not nearly as good looking as the two award or Durham Bulls ManuPatches at the top of the page, but I still like the RC patch logo on this card.  I know the RC logo has limited meaning at times in the baseball card world with the large number of Bowman brand and Minor League products that Topps put out.  However, they skipped over Cronenworth for years, meaning this year Cronenworth is officially on his rookie card year, but these are literally his first cards.  

I'll Go Ahead And Cave

One of the biggest reasons I was excited about the 2021 baseball card releases was getting my hands on some Jake Cronenworth cards. He was on the Durham Bulls a few years back. The Rays ended up trading him to the Padres before the 2020 season. I would have loved to see him stay in Tampa, but understand that if you follow a Minor League team, trades are inevitable.  I am just happy Jake Cronenworth made the Majors after a long journey through the Minors.  

My only Jake Cronenworth card entering 2021 was a Durham Bulls team issue card from 2019.  

Cronenworth has appeared in several 20201 Topps and Panini products, even signed a bunch of autographs.  I was not really happy about the prices of his cards on eBay.  Earlier this year I tried to lay out a case for people spending less money on Jake Cronenworth cards.  He's a 27-year-old rookie and he went to the University of Michigan.  Those are two really good reasons.  

I have waited patiently, but being a Rookie of the Year candidate and making the National League All-Star team doesn't really do anything to make your cards more affordable.  So, I decided to go the opposite direction two weeks back.  

Here are some reasons to buy some Jake Cronenworth cards.  

-Cronenworth is one of my favorite Durham Bulls players 

-I don't really mind the Padres and there are a ton of other former Durham Bulls on that team. 

-He's a Rookie of the Year candidate who just made the National League All-Star team. 

-Cronenworth cards are still less expensive than Wander Franco's cards.  

I picked up three Cronenworth cards, two autographs, and one insert.  

The first one is from Topps Finest.  The background on these cards is a little odd this year.  The left side looks very 1980s/1990s this year with the pink and green background with the different shapes mixed in.  The right side is very plain with the Chrome reflective material kind of standing alone.  There is a little color in there, but not much.  

This is my favorite card in this post.  Love the action shot of Cronenworth sliding into home, even if he is wearing a ridiculous camouflage baseball uniform.  Some of the recent Stadium Club designs with the large player name at the bottom haven't really done anything for me, but I like this year's design with the bar at the bottom.  Feels like a throwback to the original set released back in 1991.  

Last one. 

I really like this card with Jake Cronenworth on the 1986 Topps design.  There is an autographed 1986 Topps-style card of Cronenworth too, but it's a sticker autograph that looks terrible.  

That's it for today.  I am really happy with these cards, glad to have a few Cronenworth's to look at, and I will live with the fact that I caved on price this time.  

A Kinder, Gentler Post About Panini Cards

Let's talk about Jake Cronenworth.  One of my favorite players to recently appear on the Durham Bulls, I don't talk about him enough on here, but there is a good reason.  

Cronenworth was on the Bulls in 2019 and had a great year.  He hit for average, got on base, showed a little pop in his bat, and even pitched a few innings as a reliever.  Cronenworth had pitched while he was at the University of Michigan, but the Rays settled on making him a position player.  The great 2019 meant that the Durham Bulls made a baseball card of Cronenworth and put it in the team set.  

 

There are not actually many cards of Jake Cronenworth.  He had a card in the 2015 Bowman Draft set, but outside of that, there are only a few Minor League team issued cards.  Cronenworth got traded to the Padres after the 2019 season and had a great 60 games last season.  No baseball cards during the 2020 season, but Topps put him on their Topps All-Rookie team.  I figured that he was going to get a card at some point.  

He was not in the base Topps set, but has appeared in both the Inception and Topps Heritage sets.  I have spent time looking at his cards, thinking about buying one.  Just one problem.  

This is where I get annoyed.

 

EIGHTY DOLLARS.  

I should buy another Stan Musial autograph.  

I didn't, because I really wanted a Jake Cronenworth card, but I created a list of reasons why people should not spend $80 or more on a card of the Padres infielder.  

1. He's a 27 year old rookie.

2. He's played less than 60 games in his career.  

3. He hit .183 with a .268 slugging percentage during the last month of the 2020 season.  That's half of his career. 

4. He went to the University of Michigan.  

Seriously, I hope Jake Cronenworth has a great year in 2021.  I would love to see him and Blake Snell get a shot at winning a World Series with the Padres.  I also hope the Padres let him pitch a few innings this year. 

Frustrated at his card prices, I went a bit of a different direction to add one of his cards to my collection.  If you are a long time reader, you know that I am not a big fan of Panini.  Buying a Panini card is usually a last resort.  I love team logos and cards that are actually autographed by the player.  I love when the card says, "Cardinals" or "Padres" and not "St. Louis" or "San Diego".  

Welp.  Here is my Jake Cronenworth card from the Donruss set with no logos and an autographed sticker. 

 

I did not spend $80 for this card.  

Not even close.  

Hopefully, the prices of some of the other Cronenworth cards come down significantly and maybe one will find its way into my collection.  In the meantime, I wanted to post one more former Bulls player who also appeared in this year's 2020 Donruss set.  

This is where I say nice things about Panini.  

While I pick often pick on Panini, I will say that the company does a good job of getting some different players to sign autographs for their sets.  Topps always seemingly has the same 3 or 4 players for every team in every set.  Panini sometimes branches out and throws in an unexpected player.  

Like this one. 

Who is Josh Fleming?  

Why should you care about Josh Fleming?  

Josh Fleming was on the Rays last season, started a handful of games, before being sent to the bullpen for the playoffs.  He became a starring member of "The Stable", a group of younger, hard-throwing relief pitchers.  Fleming spent the end of the 2019 season with the Durham Bulls.  I was not really expecting Josh Fleming to appear on any baseball cards this year.  Happy to find this one.  Sometimes Panini does something right in my world. 

I actually got to see Fleming's Triple A debut.  If you read the scoreboard, you will see that he attended Webster University, which is in Webster Groves, Missouri.  I have spent a little bit of time running around Webster Groves, Missouri.  My parents worked in that town and I am pretty sure that a large percentage of my mid and late 1980s baseball cards came from the Ben Franklin store there.  I had an apartment in Webster for awhile as an adult.  Nice place to live and right down the street from Webster University. 

Josh Fleming at Webster University.  

Picture courtesy of Webster University Athletics

Sadly, after finding the Fleming card above, I actually found out that Panini made a card of him at the end of the 2020 season.  I should probably be a little nicer towards Panini and pay a little more attention to their cards.  On card autographs and logos aren't everything, right?   I will have to find a copy of the other Fleming card and post it.