Facebook Trades

I am spending a little time this morning typing up some of my trades from the past two weeks.  I am glad everyone is enjoying my countdown posts, but I need to put up some cards coming into my collection too.  This morning I am writing up two trades that I made with one awesome Facebook collector.  My cards this morning came from Brian who is in several Facebook trade groups and has lots of good stuff on his page.  A few weeks ago he traded me a Sweet Spot Miguel Cabrera autograph.         Last week, I picked up five different autographs from him:

First up is a childhood favorite Vince Coleman.  Coleman was a big cog on the mid and late 90s Cardinals teams.  He played on the for six years and stole almost 550 bases.  Coleman's first three years in the league all produced 100 steal seasons.  Vince does have a few autographs including a 2003 Fan Favorites, a Tristar Obak, and an Upper Goudy.  Of course, he also has this one which I was previously missing:

2008 TriStar SignaCuts Vince Coleman Autograph 

Next up is my first Mark Trumbo autograph.  I have picked up a few Trumbo cards since seeing him at the All-Star Game Home Run Derby this year, but no autographs.  I was really impressed with his raw power and figure this would be a good add.  Trumbo's cards have picked up some steam this year and should be a solid add considering he will probably spend the next couple of years hitting behind Mike Trout.  Plus, this is a beautiful card.  

2012 Topps Museum Collection

I also picked up an early Max Scherzer autograph in the trade.  I saw Scherzer pitch earlier this summer against the Angels and was very impressed.  I've always kind of watched him since we are from the same corner of St. Louis County and he pitched at Mizzou.  Scherzer was a high draft pick and I think he finally starting to live up to some of the hype.  Fight Justin Verlander for the league lead in strikeouts is a nice accomplishment.  Anyway, I have only sticker autographs of Scherzer, so this was a good add for my collection.  

2005 Upper Deck USA Baseball Max Scherzer Autograph/Jersey

Last two autographs I will put together.  I picked up a Starlin Castro autograph from this year's Topps Heritage set.  I love the 1963 Topps set and have picked up a lot of the cards from this year's set.  There are a lot of cool autographs in there too.  Last card for this morning is a Paul O'Neill from the 2012 Topps Tier One set.  I enjoyed watching O'Neill as a Red way back in the day and still liked him on the Yankees.   O'Neill was a really good productive player.  He made a few All-Star games in his career and will never make the Hall of Fame, but he won a lot of rings.  

2012 Topps Heritage Starlin Castro Autograph

2012 Topps Tier One Paul O'Neill Autograph 

2011 Bowman Platinum Starlin Castro Jersey/Autograph

I have been expecting Starlin Castro's card value to come down.  Any day now.  Seriously.  It's not just because he is a Cub and I have a strong dislike for the team.  There is something about him that I just do not like watching.  For some reason I find several collector's who agree with me and have a Starlin Castro autograph of some variety they are willing to part with at a low cost.  I always take them up on the trade because as sure as I can find a Starlin Castro autograph, I can find someone who will pay full value in cash or trade for the card.

2011 Bowman Platinum Starlin Castro Jersey/Autograph

Perplexed, I have decided that for once I will hold on to this Starlin Castro autograph.  This is at least the fourth or fifth one that I have owned over the past two years.  Am I missing something that with him that I should be impressed by on the field?  I decided to consult my good friend baseball-reference.com.

A quick glance at his year to year stats show that his power production has risen and he might have also finally mastered the concept of throwing the ball to the first baseman and not some dude sitting behind the dugout.  However, there are some serious alarm bells there too.  Examples, 16 walks in 400 plus plate appearances, an OBP of .305, and a stolen base percent hovering in the 60s.  His comparables, at 21, are still favorable.  There are four Hall of Famers on the list including Rogers Hornsby.  However, if one removes the age restrictions his similar hitters include Mike Aviles, Mike Caruso, and Cliff Pennington.  Yikes.

The gap between Cliff Pennington and Rogers Hornsby is pretty steep and if Castro turns out to be ordinary many card collectors will be out some nice change or cards they traded for Castro.  I am going to join everyone else in owning a Castro card.

New Card and My Marquee Collection

Ladies and Gentleman,

I wish you a good evening and thank you for your visit to my little corner of the blogging world.  For your enjoyment this evening I present to you a fabulous new card which I received this afternoon in my mailbox from a trade last week.  The card is a 2011 Topps Marquee Matt Kemp Gametime Mementos Quad Jersey Quad.  However, you will note from the scan posted below the top-right hand box of the card features a piece of blue patch.  Nice.  Remember that you have until Sunday to enter my first month trivia contest (please read the rules) and the question has been reposted below along with several other scans of Topps Marquee cards which you may, or may not, enjoy looking at during your spare time.


Thank you,
The Snorting Bull

2011 Topps Marquee Matt Kemp Quad Jersey 

Trivia Question
Contest #1 Question- During the summer of 2007 Evan Longoria played briefly for the Durham Bulls.  Who was the primary third baseman that season for the Durham Bulls prior to Longoria's arrival?


Some other random cards: