A Box of Rays Will Ease The Pain

You must play the music as you read the post.  I rarely put music into posts, I am asking for very little.  If you're at work, put in some headphones or something. 

My wife and I, along with our five year old, make a fair amount of road trips every year to see different places and different people.  This year we decided to travel to Northern Michigan to see my wife's family.  It's about a fifteen hour drive from our doorstep to my in-laws doorstep.  Long drive, but her parents house is relaxing and I dig being in a small town for a week or two.  I can walk to see Lake Huron and I actually get to see some snow.  

Right before we left for our trip I had made a trade with another member of a group of local card collectors around central North Carolina.  One of the groups members has an incredible collection of Ben Zobrist cards and was looking to move a few doubles.  I had made a few trades with him before and I had a Zobrist 1/1 that could probably use a better home than mine.  He posted a picture of several autographs including an Evan Longoria, Cole Figueroa, Jake Ordorizzi, etc.  I gave up a 1/1 Zobrist autograph thinking I was getting back a handful of Durham Bulls cards.

I had actually not really thought too much about mail walking back in my door after driving home.  About thirty minutes after we got home my postal carrier dropped off all of our held mail including box of cards.  There were several boxes of cards within the box.  All kinds of different things...autographs, relics, serial numbered cards, and just about a complete set of Panini Classics.  Throw in a few Bowmans, a couple of Gypsy Queen cards, and some Triple Threads base cards.  I was blown away at the generosity of my trade partner.  

It would take awhile to scan all of the cards and post them on here, so I am going to narrow it down to five cool Rays/Durham Bulls cards that I enjoyed seeing in the box.....

5.  2010 Topps Tribute Evan Longoria Triple Relic Autograph 

This is probably the most obvious keeper in the box.  Longoria is one of the best Durham Bulls players to wander through town since the team became affiliated with the Rays.  I have posted a ton of Longoria on here and have always enjoyed collecting his cards.  Great card.  

4.  2013 Bowman Inception Jake Odorizzi Autograph

I have a bunch of these Odorizzi autographs.  I don't have the whole rainbow of cards or anything, but this was a really really good looking set.  Not sure how many of the 2013 Inception autographs are in my collection, but it's plenty.  Another great card.  

3.  2013 Gypsy Queen B.J. Upton Jumbo Relic 

I have heard a lot of garbage about B.J., or Melvin, over the last few years since he has been on the Braves and Padres.  While his career has slowed down from his days with the Rays, he still remains one of my favorite former Durham Bulls.  He was an amazing talent while he was a Bull and enjoyable to watch.  Sometimes Minor League talent does not translate into Major League talent.  B.J., I mean Melvin, had a good run in Tampa, still a favorite of mine.  This card looks awesome with the black border.  

2.  Topps Supreme Alex Cobb Autograph 

This was an Asia only release.  I have picked up a few of these including a Chris Archer, but I am still missing a few cards of some of the Cardinals, Rays, and former Durham Bulls.  This was one of them.  It's not an impossible card to find, but every time I ran across one it was too expensive, or I got outbid, or something.  Don't need many more of these to close out the Bulls/Rays/Cardinals. 

1.  2012 A Sign of History Cole Figueroa Autograph 

Easily my favorite card in the box and it's not really close.  I really liked watching Cole Figueroa play for the Durham Bulls.  Not the best player on the team, but a fan player to watch.  Plus he was on the team for several years, Minor League fans usually don't get to hold onto players too long.  There are many Minor Leaguers who sign for different Topps, Panini, and Leaf products, but Figueroa has never been in a single set.  No certified autographs.  I have an in person autograph, or two, from Figueroa, but those are autographs on top of facsimile autographs on a Bowman card.  I have long wanted a certified autograph of Figueroa and I am happy to finally have this card.  Best part about it is that there were actually two of these in box full of Rays.    

Odorizzi, The Machine, and Kolten

A short quick post for Saturday afternoon.  I picked up a few cards this week in a trade with Tim from I Love the Smell of Cardboard in the Morning.  Good blog if you have not checked it out yet.  Tim had a few holes he was trying to fill in his Archives set and I swapped out a few inserts for a couple of nice cards for my collection.  Here's a look at the four newest cards in my collection:

I love the look of all four cards.  Sometimes I wonder why I do not make trades like this more often.  I always have a ton of doubles and love picking up some of these variations.  I am still not chasing down the complete rainbow of cards, but cards like the xfractor parallels always look cool.  I need to update my want list.  Perhaps some cards like these should be added.....

Cheap Books

Books and baseball cards are both pretty cool things.  I like books.  I like baseball cards.  I rarely mix the two things together.  I have picked up a few of the booklet cards over the years, but I can count the number of them in my collection on one hand.  I know a lot of people like booklet cards, but I have a few reasons why I avoid them.  

1.  Cards that do not fit into normal cards spaces cause me pain.  Not a big fan of slabbed cards either.  I find that they linger on coffee tables, sit on top of boxes in my closet, and are occasionally used by son as a fake telephone (Only a graded Miguel Tejada rookie)

2. There are too many booklet cards that are multi player cards.  Not to say I am against multi player cards, but too often they make cards that combine a great player with a bad player or there is just some old mash-up of players.  Triple Threads can be often guilty of these offenses.  

In order for me to consider a card booklet I usually have to get a good deal and really really like the player(s).  I saw a Jake Odorizzi booklet last week for less than $10.  I thought it was a pretty good deal.  So, yesterday my mail......

It looks nice in the video, but the card does have a slight flaw.  Check the bottom left-hand area on the card.  Notice the piece of relic is torn and does not cover the entire space.....

It's not a huge flaw, but I understand why I got a good deal on the card.  I am still happy with the addition to my collection.   Odorizzi was one of my favorite Durham Bulls players and is also from the St. Louis area.  He has not broken out a Cardinals jersey on Twitter, but he is a pretty big Blues fan.  

Big D's Sports Cards

I was shocked a few weeks ago to find out that a new card shop started up recently in Raleigh.  I was really excited at the prospects of finding new places to find cards.  If you read those cool places to live lists Raleigh, Durham, and its immediate suburbs often appear on those lists.  Money Magazine recently rated my corner of North Carolina, Apex, as the ninth best place to live in the US.  In reading all of these lists and accolades the writers often do not take into account the fact that the Raleigh-Durham metro area has almost zero card shops.  How does a metro area of almost two million people end up without any decent card shops? 

For eight years I have been perplexed at the lack of card shops.  It's not that there are none, but it's more like the ones that are here are a little disappointing.  The major hurdles facing card shop in the area are plentiful, but I mainly blame two factors.  First, college sports rule in central North Carolina.  While there are college sports products and memorabilia, it's a little bit of difficult market to base a whole card shop around.  Second, Raleigh-Durham is a huge transplant area.  During my twenty-five minute commute in the morning I am often astonished to see how many NFL, NBA, and NHL team stickers and license tags I see on different cars.  Name a major sports team, drive around Raleigh for a day, and you will see something of that team attached to a car.  Imagine trying to stock a card shop for a city with a diverse population of different fan bases.

I can be a little bit tough on card shops, but I have my standards and I stick to them.  Finally, almost eight years to the day that I moved to Raleigh-Durham I found a card shop that I not only bought cards from, but I will return to the shop and buy more cards.  So, here's my run down on Big D's Card Shop:

The card shop owner Jimmy is an awesome person.  Knowledgeable and friendly about cards and sports.  He's also tech savvy and can be found on the internet using the information on the card posted above, or by visiting his Facebook page and his Twitter page.  He posts pictures of cards to his pages, so even if you are not in central North Carolina he's a great person to follow and talk cards with via social media.  You know that I am a baseball only collector, so I cannot give you a complete and detailed run down on all of the different sports, but he does have a nice variety of football, hockey, basketball, and college sports items with a good range of prices from high end stuff all the way down to dollar boxes and common boxes. 

The display cases are well organized and it's really easy to find cards in the shop.  The display cases are full with all kinds of cards, but the items for sale are stacked and organized so they can easily be looked at and seen by customers.  Jimmy is also great at pointing out cards of interest without being high pressure and is more than willing to pull cards out for closer inspection.  When I entered the store we talked for a few minutes and he did a great job of helping me try to pick out some nice Cardinals and Durham Bulls cards.  I had my choice of several nice cards of Bob Gibson, Matt Holliday, David Price, Matt Moore, and the list could go on.

I usually try to limit my first visit to a store and have a set number of dollars to spend entering, but Big D's Sports Cards made that rule a little bit challenging.  I had several nice single cards to choose from along with wax which was priced very competitively.  I would go so far to say that Big D's has the best wax prices of the card shops in Raleigh-Durham.  I haven't really dabbled in the Bowman Draft set yet, but I would have a hard time beating his prices on Blowout Cards or Atlanta Sport Cards. 

So, after much deliberation I settled on having myself a Durham Bulls kind of day during my first trip into Big D's.  Here are the cards that I walked out with at the end of the day:

 2013 Topps Chrome Jake Odorizzi

2012 Topps Triple Threads David Price Jersey

 2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Moore Quad Jersey-Nice 3 color patch

2013 Topps Triple Threads Jake Odorizzi Jersey/Auto

2011 Bowman Sterling Wil Myers

2012 Bowman Chrome Wil Myers All-Star Futures Game

I have also picked up a pair of non-Durham Bulls too.  Love the Tulo. 

2013 Topps Triple Threads Troy Tulowitzki Quad Bat

1983 Topps Archives Miguel Cabrera 1983 All-Star

This was clearly the best card shop I have ever been to in North Carolina and it's not even close.  The variety and quality of single cards cannot be touched and the wax pricing is great.  Single card pricing was great too.  I was happy to find a store where I could find Cardinals cards and also find some really great additions to my Durham Bulls collection.  Finally, I would not be doing fair or quality work as a blogger if I did not mention the Braves cards.  Jimmy has an absolutely incredible selection of Braves cards.  There is a little taste on his Facebook page, but the store display is awesome.  If you are a Braves fan, Big D's is a must stop.  If you are not a Braves fan, shop at Big D's. 

Two New Inception Cards

The Inception set has been out for awhile and I am still adding pieces to my collection.  The set lacks some of the star power of other Topps releases this season, but there are many things that I really like about the set.  First off, the set has a great design.  The cards remind me a little bit of the Five Star product released at the end of last year, but without the ridiculously thick card stock that chips.  Second, you have to love when card companies take time to get the players to sign the actual cards, not a bunch of stickers.  Third, while the set lacks the star power of other Topps set the prospects who signed for the set are high end prospects or are worthy of checking out.

Months after the sets release, I am enjoying the fact that the autographs seemed to have settled in price and allowed me to add a pair of great looking autographs for a small amount of money.  Less than $10 shipped.  My new cards:

2013 Bowman Inception Taijuan Walker Autograph 

The guy pitches in the Mariners minor league system.  He's got only 22 wins in four minor league seasons and this season his record stands at 8-10.  I partially understand the price of his cards if you are just looking at the superficial statistics like wins, but this guy is going to likely be a very good player.  While he is 8-10 in two stops at AA and AAA this year he is the youngest player in both leagues at 20 and is averaging more than a strikeout an inning while maintaining a three to one strikeout to walk ratio.

Baseball America rates him as the #5 overall prospect in the game and there are rumblings that he could be called up in a week when the calendar turns to September and the Major League rosters expand to 40.  I also understand collectors being cautious with Mariners prospects after the likes of Dustin Ackley and Justin Smoak, have left people with disappointment and lost investments.  I have a better feeling about Walker.  

2013 Bowman Inception Jake Odorizzi Autograph 

I also added another card of Rays prospect Jake Odorizzi.  I have added several others this summer including his Inception Jersey/Autograph.  Odorizzi is currently pitching for the Durham Bulls who just clinched their sixth International League Southern Division Championship in the past seven years.  I am guessing Odorizzi could get a spot start for the Rays down the stretch, but is likely in AAA until he is given a crack at the rotation next spring.  

2013 Bowman Inception Jake Odorizzi Jersey/Autograph

2013 Bowman Inception Jake Odorizzi Jersey/Autograph 

Before the season, Odorizzi was rated as the Rays third best prospect behind Wil Myers and Taylor Guerrieri.  He has spent the majority of his season pitching the Bulls to a large first place lead in the International League's Southern Division, but has made a few spot starts for the Rays along the way.  Ordorizzi's starts in Tampa have been shaky, so I am guessing that he will probably spend most of the rest of the season hanging out in Durham.  I actually saw him pitch for the Bulls earlier in the week against the Norfolk Tides.  Pretty rough outing.  

This is my third Jake Odorizzi autograph of the year and the first relic card I have picked up of the Rays talented right-handed pitching prospect.  I've really enjoyed finding autographs out of the inaguaral release of Bowman Inception.  The cards look great and Topps has put in some really great prospects for collectors to chase down.  This Odorizzi card is a sticker autograph, it's tough to tell, and features a nice swatch of blue jersey.  The addition of this card puts me close to completing the basic set of Rays autographs from the Inception set.  A few more to go...

2013 Bowman Jake Odorizzi Autograph

I started working on my 2013 Bowman set a few days ago.  A little bit easier this year without the Bryce Harper, or whatever other fifteen second phenom, being included in the set.  Still I am trying to assemble the set mainly through lots which I have bought or picked up in trades.  Still busted a few packs for fun, but making life simple for myself at the moment until I am done reorganizing my card closet.  There are still some pretty attractive rookie cards included in this year's Bowman release and I will have a little bit more on the complete set later this week.

One of my must have cards in this year's Bowman release is the autograph of Rays prospect Jake Odorizzi.  I've picked up an autographed card of the talented right-hander, but really was hoping to see his signature in a Topps product this year and I got my wish with this great looking Bowman card.

2013 Bowman Jake Odorizzi Autograph

Odorizzi has already made a spot start in the majors for the Royals and will be making another spot start on Monday for the Rays.  David Price, whom he is replacing in the Rays rotation, should be back for his start next weekend.  However,  I would not be surprised, given the struggles of some of the Rays pitchers, if he stayed up in Tampa.  Although I would not mind seeing him start a few more games this season for the Bulls.

2008 Razor Letterman Jake Odorizzi Autograph

I picked up a few Durham Bulls items to post for this week and am going to start off the week by posting cards of two new players to my collection.  First up is pitcher Jake Ordorizzi.  Originally from Breese, IL (not far from St. Louis) Odorizzi was drafted by the Brewers and traded to the Royals for Zach Greinke.  He pitched very well in two seasons for several different Royals minor league teams including a stellar year last season in the hitter friendly PCL pitching for Omaha (AAA).  Odorizzi started 18 games for Omaha and posted an 11-3 record with an ERA of 2.93.  This off-season he was packaged together with Wil Myers and pitching prospect Mike Montgomery.

2008 Razor Letterman Jake Odorizzi Autograph 

Odorizzi is rated as a top 50 prospect by MLB.com (#45), but he has had a fairly limited amount of cardboard produced despite being a part of two large trades.  The Razor autographs from 2008 are the only autographed products on the market for Odorizzi.  The plain Razor autographs (on-card) turned out a nicer autograph than his letterman autographs, but I acquired this card in a trade and was not going to turn down a chance at adding an Odorizzi autograph to the collection.  He acutally has a nice autograph, but I am not sure that marker pen is the best thing for autographs.

I also picked up an autograph of the Bulls fifth starter this year J.D. Martin.  Martin is over 30 and still in AAA, so he's not a hot prospect or anything.  It's still nice to add an autograph of a player from the team and really cool to find out he was a part of the 2001 Prospect Premiers set.  Martin is having a solid season so far, so maybe the Rays will give him a spot start at the end of the season.