The Bosh Pit

I ventured into enemy territory this week, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to watch a baseball game between the dreaded Tar Heels and Coastal Carolina.  I wore my best navy blue shirt, with an NC State t-shirt underneath, and parted with a few dollars for two tickets into the game.  I loaded my son into the car and away we went.....it felt a little bit like that "pilgrims in an unholy land" scene from Indiana Jones.....

A little back story.  When I first moved to North Carolina, which was a little more than 10 years ago, I had actually vowed to stay neutral in the whole college sports scene.  I lived in the southwest corner of Durham about 10 minutes from Duke's campus and roughly the same distance from UNC depending on the stop lights on 15-501.  I went to Duke and UNC sporting events didn't really have a horse in the race, just good college sports.

UNC had a pretty good baseball program at the time and I liked watching games at Boshamer Stadium.  It was a bit of dive, but you were close to the field, and the quality of players was better than State or Duke.  By dive I mean a few sections of bleachers and a grass hill.

The last game I went to at Boshamer before this week I saw UNC play South Carolina.  Justin Smoak was on USC.  I think I saw Andrew Miller pitch an NCAA tournament game sitting on the hill next to first base at some point too.  At some point a few years back the Heels shut down 'The Bosh Pit" for a year, played at USA Baseball, and then moved back into the remodeled stadium the next year.  I hadn't seen the new version.  It is nice.

A few pictures from the game......

The outside of the stadium has a nice brickyard around it and a simple entrance.  The outside of the stadium also has banners featuring some of the school's more prominent former players.  I found Andrew Miller for my picture since he was a player I saw back in the day.....

I believe that Dustin Ackley is in the background.  I like the brick facade and courtyard around the stadium.  The baseball stadium is on the UNC campus and the outside of the stadium fits in well with the other buildings in this part of campus.  Sure, there are a few ugly 1970s high rise apartment looking things in the background of the stadium, but the majority of the buildings around this part of campus are red bricks.  

The courtyard is named for the Steinbrenner Family.   Yes, that Steinbrenner family.  Apparently some of George's kids went to UNC.  I believe the former players listed on the wall made a gift towards the stadium remodel, not positive about that though.

The concourses are a little small, but I think some of that is clutter.  First base side is on the left with vending machines and concession stands.  Third base side has some of that, but most of it is built into the stadium.  A little bit more space to move around.  Still on par with a minor league stadium.  

The interior of the stadium is very nice too.  I like that they used the school colors mixed with green trim.  Green goes with baseball.  I like that the seats and furnishings are mainly green and that the Carolina blue is used on the dugouts and accents.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but a lot of the signage is green with blue writing you can see it better on the retired jerseys.....

which are behind the first base stands. 

It was a mid-week matchup, so the crowd was a little smaller than would be expected for a defending National Champion taking on a Top 10 team.  The game also started at 6 and filled in a little bit more as the night went along.  This was the line card exchange.  

A little hard to see from the pictures, the netting around the field was not loved by my camera phone, but UNC wore some throwback looking unis.  Seems to be a pretty big thing around college baseball right now.

A look at the playing field during the game from behind home plate.  So, on to the game.  UNC ended up winning.  Lots of home runs which was kind of surprising because the bats don't allow those sorts of things to happen....

In the end the Heels hung on for a 7 to 6 win.  

Collecting the Durham Bulls: Kyle Snyder

Spring Training is starting up and we are just a few weeks out from seeing who is on the Durham Bulls roster to start the season.  While it easy to guess some of the names that might appear at this point, I am trying not to get ahead of myself, make a bunch of posts, and then end up not seeing that player end up in Durham.  So, I am going to do a few safe bets over the next months.  I already did a Jared Sandberg at the end of January.

Next up in my Collecting the Durham Bulls series is the pitching coach for Bulls this year Kyle Snyder.  Snyder pitched for UNC in the late 90s after being drafted by the Devil Rays in the 1996 amateur draft and opting for college instead.  His second time around in the draft he went seventh overall to the Kansas City Royals.

Snyder's early cards are right in my collector wheelhouse in the late 90s and early 2000s, but after spending an hour or so sifting through some boxes of Royals cards, my collecting of Snyder cards honestly stinks.  He has a card in the 1999 Topps Traded set, which is his true rookie card, but if you are looking for something cool I would try to find a nice parallel or serial numbered card from the era.  My two best Snyder cards are a Topps Finest Refractor, which is numbered to just 500 copies, and a Bowman Chrome refractor.

Now, here is where my Snyder collection falls surprisingly falls off.  He has autographed cards, but I do not own one.  I know it's pretty shocking because I always have autographs of these guys from the late 90s.  Snyder?  I am not sure why I never went there.  He was a high draft pick and a good prospect, but I just never got around to it I guess.  They are dirt cheap, so if you are in the market there are plenty of them out there for just the right price.

This is the pricing breakdown at COMC on his 1999 Topps Traded Autograph....

I might have to pick one of these up after I am done typing.  In the meantime, let's talk a bit about Snyder's cards outside of his early years.  Snyder reached the Majors in 2003 and started 15 games for the Royals going 1-6.  He spent a lot of time on the disabled list with the Royals and ended up tearing his labrum and missed the entire 2004 season.  In spite of the injuries Snyder was rated as the 7th best prospect by Baseball America in 2003.  During this stretch, he did miss a lot of time, there are plenty of nice base cards of Snyder pitching for the Royals.

If you were going to add just one Snyder base card to your collection I would recommend something from 2006 or 2007 while Snyder was pitching for the Red Sox.  It's true that much of Snyder's career was limited by injuries he did have one good season in 2007.  The cards prove he was there.....

The Red Sox used Snyder as a spot starter on the 2006 squad and brought him back to work in the bullpen in 2007.  He ended the 2007 season with an ERA+ of 125, the best mark of his career.  More importantly he earned a World Series ring with the team after the Red Sox beat the Rockies in the fall classic that year.

I'm going to get to work on buying one of those autographs of COMC.  In the meantime, I am also looking forward to seeing Snyder's work this season with the Durham Bulls pitchers.  He's done well with Bowling Green and Hudson Valley in past years.

Opening Weekend!

While a large majority of baseball fans are getting ready for the beginning of spring training this week the college baseball season kicked off this weekend.  As a resident of Raleigh-Durham that means that the big 3 ACC teams returned to action Friday afternoon.  I wish there would be a year where I could attend the opening of college baseball, but they tend to play their first games during the day and there is a little matter of work.  For me, Friday met work with a meeting where I was a presenter.  I did not make it to a baseball field.  Instead I followed along on Twitter.

The Tar Heels got started early in the day and had dozens of posts leading up to their early afternoon game against Seton Hall.  The sixth ranked Heels defeated Seton Hall 7-1 behind some great hitting from outfielders Tyler Ramirez and Snorting Bull favorite Skye Bolt.  The Heels have a good core of players returning this year and should go deep into the NCAA tournament this spring.  If you get a chance to check out a Tar Heels baseball game this year I would watch the two aforementioned outfielders along with Landon Lassiter and pitcher Trent Thorton.

My primary rooting interest, and alma mater, NC State also played a mid afternoon game on Friday.  While I was analyzing student data looking at gaps in achievement levels and text levels for students at the mid year point, the Wolfpack were battling Villanova.  The Wolfpack won the game 14-5, but put the Wildcats in an 11-0 hole after the first three innings.  The offensive star of the game for the Pack 9 was Preston Palmeiro, son of Rafael, whose three run bomb in the second made the score 10-0 and essential sealed the win.  NC State had two first round draft picks last year, Trea Turner and Carlos Rodon, and about six or seven other players on the team selected afterwards.  This should be a year where the team takes a bit of a step back, but if you watch a Wolfpack game be sure to check out Palmeiro and senior Jake Armstrong.

And last up was Duke's game on the west coast against the Cal Bears.  While Duke does not have the talent or ranking of UNC's squad they have the best player in the area in pitcher Mike Matuella (pictured above).  The triangle area has had a good run of pitchers from all three schools over the last decade from Andrew Miller, Daniel Bard, and Matt Harvey at UNC to Carlos Rodon at State, and Marcus Stroman at Duke.  Matuella appears to be the latest in that line and should be off the board in the first couple of picks in this summer's MLB amateur draft.  Of all the players I want to see this spring he is absolutely at the top of the list.  Might happen next weekend.

So, outside of getting to see each of the triangle area ACC baseball squads play here are my goals for this college baseball season:

1.  See Mike Mattuella pitch for Duke.

2.  See an NC Central game at the original Durham Athletic Park.

3.  Go to the ACC Championship game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Trade with Chavez Ravining

I picked up a really sweet card this past week from Alex at Chavez Ravining.  He's obviously a huge Dodgers fan and has a great collection of over 200 Matt Kemp cards.  I helped him out with a great Matt Kemp autograph for his collection and picked up a really nice Oscar Taveras Acetate card from the Topps Update set in return.  Here's a look at my newest card:

 I have added a whole bunch of these cards to my collection this year and this card might be my favorite of the bunch.  It's numbered 2/10 and has all of the cool trappings of the Acetate cards which I have talked about numerous times this year.  This is the one of two Topps base cards of Oscar Taveras, so there is that too.    

I always have to post the back of the card when I pick up on Acetate too.  Love the mirrored look of the back and the fact that the card is translucent.  This is one the coolest parts of these cards which I hope Topps will bring back for 2015.  Here's a look at the translucentness..... (is that a word?)

2014 Topps Update Oscar Taveras Acetate 2/10 #Cardinals #OscarTaveras #OT18 #Topps

A photo posted by The Snorting Bull (@thesnortingbull) on Jan 10, 2015 at 5:40pm PST

Alex also add a stack full of extra cards into our trade.  My favorite extra card has to be this cool Topps Pro Debut Gold of Rays prospect Thomas Coyle.  The Rays second base prospect played for the Charlotte Crabs in the Florida State League (High A) last season, but had previously starred at the University of North Carolina.  

The card is numbered out of just 50.  He also threw in a whole gaggle of other Cardinals and Rays goodies which can be summarized in this short Vine.  

Overall, it was a great trade and I am really happy with my brand new Oscar Taveras card.  I still have a few other cool Kemp autographs hanging out, so I am looking forward to a few more trades with Alex.  Thank you again!  

it's a tar heel card

It's too bad that Blogger does not let you change the font size for just one post because the Tar Heel in the title would be a size 3 font if I had my way.  Last spring as college baseball was winding down there was a lot of speculation about Colin Moran, the UNC third baseman, being the top overall draft pick in the MLB amateur draft.  There were a group of people who were pretty sure if he was not the first pick, he would be in the top five for sure.  ESPN's Keith Law issued a video scouting report of the Tar Heels third baseman which confirmed this common notion.

After Moran was drafted his cards went crazy, like most top draft prospects, and collectors spent plenty of time and money scooping up cards of the future Marlins third baseman.  However, I decided to let a little time go by before picking up too many Moran cards.  I got a few, but not much time or money was sunk into the effort.  The main reason being that I am not drinking the Kool-Aid on Colin Moran being a good Major League player.  I know that certain individuals might attribute my opinion to my degree and sports loyalty belonging to the red North Carolina school, but it goes far beyond that.

First, in the Keith Law scouting report he makes light of the fact that Colin Moran might have a slow first step.  Let's correct that and say that the second, third, fourth, and so forth are also slow steps with Colin Moran.  He's slow.  Molina brother, Vinny Castilla slow.  Let's take a look:

Moran is on second when the ball is hit and is a good ten to fifteen feet off the base.  When the ball gets past the pitcher he's running "full speed", the outfielder for NC State throws the ball with on several bounces, and Moran is still out by feet.  Does he get within five feet of the plate even?  I don't think so.  In watching Moran his lack of speed really hurts his defense.  I know he has a good arm over at third base base, but his fielding stats in Single A last year showed his range factor is somewhere around David Freese (Cardinals fan cringe) and he has a lower fielding percentage.  Yikes.  

I know he's more of a power/hitting prospect, but I even have my doubts there.  Last year Moran' overall offensive production in college looks great.  He posted a .357/.485/.579 line with 13 home runs and 84 RBIs.  Good enough to win the ACC Player of the Year.  However, it should be noted that their was a drop off in both power and batting average from Moran once UNC reached ACC play last year.  I am not sure he ever got a hit off of Luke Weaver or Carlos Rodon, who are the two best pitchers in the ACC.  

After being drafted last year, Moran hit .296 in Single A Greensboro and also managed an On Base Percentage of .354.  However, he only had 4 home runs and 8 doubles in almost 200 at bats for a slugging percentage of .442.  Moran still has not appeared in a minor league game and seems destined for a short season A ball team this year.  Not a great thing for a top 5 draft pick who's supposed to be a polished college bat.  

Moran started this season in the Baseball America Top 100 prospects, but down the line a bit at 74.  I'm not going to doubt Moran's ability to reach the Majors, he will get there, but I am calling into question how big of an impact he will have once he reaches that level.  Card collectors seem to have figured out Moran quickly and his card prices have dived south sharply.  

The drop in prices has put many of Moran's autographed cards below $5.  Sure, if it's short printed or serial numbered to something really low you are still going to pay for it.  If you are looking for a good risk on a $4 or $5 autograph this a good risk.  I could be right about Moran and he could be a ho hum third baseman for your favorite team for the next five to ten years in which case $5ish is a good price for an on-card autograph.  If I am completely wrong about Moran and he ends up being the National League starter at third base for the next decade I will write another post saying I am wrong and you will have scored a major bargain on a nice piece of cardboard. 

ACC Baseball on Cardboard

College baseball season is getting close and I am pretty excited to check out some of our local teams around Raleigh-Durham.   I am planning on making it to several games this year and have a list of players I want to see from various colleges making trips in to play one of the three Triangle schools.   Last year both NC State and UNC made the College World Series and this year look just as promising for both teams.  NC State is lead by star pitcher Carlos Rodon and shortstop Trea Turner.  The Tar Heels will be lead by pitcher Trent Thorton and outfielder Skye Bolt.  The rest of the ACC has some talented players as well and the conference should be pretty deep this year.  

While it's great to live in an area where I have several great college baseball programs nearby, fans all across the county have had more and more access to the best players in college baseball regardless of their location.  The availability of college baseball cards has greatly increased during the past decade mainly through the popularity of the USA Baseball program and its continued popularity amongst baseball card collectors.  Here's my look at four good players in the ACC who are already featured on cardboard:


Carlos Rodon-P
NC State

Rodon projects to be the National Player of the Year, the ACC Player of the Year, and should also be the first overall draft pick in the MLB Amateur Draft this summer.  He's won every individual award there is to win during his two years in Raleigh.  He has also played a few summers over at USA Baseball which means he has several autographs and relics cards floating around already.  Here's a look at an autograph:

Rodon is a pretty hard player to collect.  He has a few cards out on the market, but they are pretty pricey for a baseball player who has not thrown his first professional pitch yet.  The average Rodon card frequently costs more than $50 and the bidding is usually very competitive.  I've been trying to get my hands on one of his new Panini cards, have the money to make a serious offer, but have been outbid, sniped at the last minute on Ebay, and everything else.  You almost have to overpay to land a copy of his cards.

Here's a look at Rodon in action:

Trea Turner-IF
NC State

 Turner currently is projected as the top position player available for this summer's MLB Draft.  Turner had a great freshman year, but had battled the injury bug a bit last year which limited his playing time.  He is incredibly fast and has pretty good patience at the plate.  Like Rodon, he's been around the USA Baseball program for a few years and has several cards out floating about.  They are much cheaper than Rodon's, but I would not say they are cheap.

Turner autographed cards are frequently more than $20.  Not a terrible price, but he still has never played an inning of professional baseball.  I think Turner is a pretty safe bet for Major League teams, so I am not sure where he will go in the first round, but he will be in there somewhere.  I would also guess he is not in the minors a really long time.


Skye Bolt-OF
North Carolina

Bolt is still another year away from the MLB Draft, but should be a pretty high pick coming up in two years.  He's a very patient hitter who posted a great average average, on-base percentage, and walked more than he struck out during his first year in Chapel Hill.  He doesn't have a ton of pop last year, but I am guessing he still develops some good power.  His cards are all from releases put out during the past year.  There are some really cool ones out there, but he's already pretty popular.  I am not sure if people love the name, or they know the potential talent.

I have a base card of Blot, but his autographs are already north of Trea Turner.  Bolt also has some great relic cards that can be found for less than $10. 


Luke Weaver-P
Florida State

Weaver was a second team ACC performer last year in Tallahassee and projects as a top 10 pitching prospect for this summer's MLB entry draft.  I did not get a chance to see Florida State's baseball team last spring, so I cannot speak on Weaver's abilities first hand.  He did pitch for the USA Baseball team this summer, but honestly I made sure that I saw Rodon when I went to their games.  Here's what I know about Weaver: he throws in the mid to low 90s and has a pretty incredible strikeout to walk ratio.  He does have baseball cards.

Weaver's cards are pretty affordable with his autographs sitting below $10 and his relic cards sitting below $5.  Worth a role of the dice given he is likely a first round draft pick. 


Name to remember for later in the summer, they will have baseball cards soon:
Trent Thronton-P University of North Carolina
Landon Lassiter-IF University of North Carolina
D.J. Stewart-OF Florida State
Bryan Radziewski-P Miami
Mark Zagunis-C Virginia Tech
Mike Papi-OF/1BVirginia
Daniel Gossett-RHP Clemson
Brett Austin-C NC State
Brandon Downes-OF Virginia
Derek Fisher-OF Virginia

2010 Donruss Elite Patches Matt Harvey Autograph

2010 Donruss Elite Collegiate Patches Matt Harvey Autograph 

There are not many nice things that I have to say about the blue Carolina schools, especially the powder blue wearing one at the south end of 15-501.  "Go To Hell Carolina" is not a phrase reserved only for a football game or a few basketball and baseball games, but almost everyday.  Cannot say that I really dig schools with fake classes or Hansbrough.  

However, I will give a brief tip of the cap to the Heels baseball team this evening and the wonderful season being crafted together by UNC alum, and New York Mets pitcher, Matt Harvey.  In 16 starts this season the second year pitcher has posted a 7-1 record with a 2.05 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 110 innings.  While most have taken notice of Harvey's performance this season, he also put together a solid, yet brief, appearance with the Mets in 2012 too.  During his rookie campaign he only went 3-5, but post an ERA of 2.73 with more than a strikeout per inning and less than a baserunner per inning.

Of course, Harvey's connection to the Mets and Tar Heels somewhat limited my interest in his cards.  Then again I am interested in a Matt Harvey card if you are interested in trading a card, like the one pictured above, to me for the right price.  So, what is the right price for this piece of cardboard?

Let's just say the reorganization project might be paying off some dividends.  I have not necessarily sold off any of my doubles or triples, maybe some quadruples, but I have floated out the fact that I have surplus quantity at the moment.  So, the question was posed to me?  How many A-Rod doubles does one collect in amass in thirty years?  I recently found the answer to that question and cashed in a chunk of them for a Matt Harvey autograph.

Now, some of the A-Rod cards were very nice.  A few relics, but I still am liking the idea of having a smaller collection if the quantity I am sacrificing will land me some nice pieces for my collection.

2012 Topps Tier One Kyle Seager Autograph

I am going with a Tar Heel today for my blog post.  Kyle Seager is currently the Mariners third baseman and was drafted from the University of North Carolina in the summer of 2009.  During his time at UNC, Seager was an elite hitter, but was always viewed as the second best hitter on his college team featuring Mariners second baseman Dustin Ackley.  Ackely was drafted in the first round by the Mariners, but also managed to also draft Seager during the third round.  Seager first arrived in the majors for a cup of coffee at the end of the 2011 season when he hit a pedestrian .258/.312/.379 with 3 home runs in 200 plate appearances.  So why would I pick up a Kyle Seager card?

2012 Topps Tier One Kyle Seager Autograph

Seager returned to the Mariners as their third baseman for the 2012 season.  Many people would argue that over the last season, Seager passed his former Tar Heel teammate as the best young player on the Mariners.  Seager's overall line for the season ended at .259/.316/.423 with 20 Homers and 86 RBIs.  More impressive is Seager's road split away from pitcher friendly Safeco Park where his line was .293/.324/.511 with 15 Homers and 60 RBIs.  I ended up with Seager on my fantasy baseball team last season and he really helped me out and I became a bit of a fan.  Hard to say about a Tar Heel.  Anyway, I've had my eyes open for a Seager autograph for awhile and was happy to finally add one to my collection.