Still Bullish

My Taj Bradley collection started two years back after the impressive right-handed pitching prospect appeared on the Durham Bulls roster. I have quietly posted a few of his cards on here during that time, two to be exact, but stayed relatively under the radar with my Taj fandom.  However, with his performance with the Rays this season, I am going to be a little more aggressive with collecting his cards.  

In case you have been sleeping on the Rays mediocre season, I will admit they're not very exciting, Taj is posting more than a strikeout an inning and had a first-half ERA under 3. He's run into a bit of a rough patch after the All-Star Break, but at just 23 years old, I think the future is really bright for this pitcher.  

I have added 4 new Taj Bradley autographed cards in the past month and not spent more than $10 on any single signature. Quite the bargain for an All-Star caliber pitcher.  

Here are the four cards: 

This is a 2023 Donruss card. Yes, it's unlicensed and seems rather self-explanatory why nobody would spend much money on this card. However, if you look closely, this is actually a picture of Bradley in a Durham Bulls uniform.  Note the orange sleeve trim and the Rawlings patch on the sleeve. While the Major League Uniforms are made by Nike, the Minor Leagues jersey tops are made by an assortment of different manufacturers. The Bulls jersey tops are Rawlings.  

Love this card and was happy to see Bradley on what is essentially a Durham Bulls card.

Next.   

Another "2023" card, even though these were released in 2024.

This is from the Topps Chrome Platinum Anniversary set.  It's another rehash, but it's got on-card autographs, so I am going to spare you the snarky comments about Topps reusing their previous card designs excessively.  I will just tell you that I like the card and was happy to add it to the collection of Taj Bradley cards.  

Next.  

Tier One is a $300 box of cards.  Imagine opening a box and getting a Taj Bradley autograph.  You know I am always here to soften collector's financial missteps by purchasing their $10 autographed cards. Now, someone is only out $290 and I have a high-end card with a Taj Bradley autograph.  

Print run of 99, that's a lot of buyers regret.  

Last one.  

This is from last year's Topps update set. I had to get the rookie autographed card before working on his cards in this year's set, but that's next.  

More Taj cards coming soon.  

2023 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 4

Looping back to picking up another 2022 Blake Snell autograph that I missed last year, I found a copy of his Tier One autograph last week. It has been a rough first month of the season for Blake Snell, which is disappointing, but it has also brought some his card prices down. I picked up this card for less than $10, which was too hard to pass up for a nice brand like Tier One.  

Front of the card.  

Tier One is a really nice product, but it also costs almost $200 a box. Imagine getting a $10 Blake Snell autograph out of a $200 box? Most be a horrible feeling, but I wouldn't know. I am just really happy they end up on Ebay and COMC for cheap.  

As for the actual card, the two best attributes are the on-card autograph and the nice card stock. This is really similar to the last Snell autograph I posted, which was his 2022 Five Star. The card stock on this Tier One card is slightly thinner, but also seems like the edges might hold up better in the long run. I feel like really thick cards get chipping around the edges over time.   

Back of the card.  

This stinks. 

I was spoiled by that last Five Star autograph, which actually had information on the back.  I don't want to go back to these "You have received an autograph" or "Congratulations" types of notes on the backs of autographed cards.  You built up my expectations and let me down.  Thanks, Topps.  

2019 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 6

The last Blake Snell autograph that I posted here came from this year's Tier One product.  My latest Snell autograph is also from Tier One, but is a different style card and also has a relic.  Here is a look at the new card....

Yes, it is a sticker autograph.  I know that scans can make stickers stand out more, but this one is really not blended very well.  The sticker is also not even, it sinks slightly going left to right.  The card also has a small swatch of jersey.  Meh. 

Back of the card. 

This is not a very interesting card back. 

Overall, this is my least favorite Blake Snell autograph that I have added this year.  The design is not great, especially the poor blend in with the sticker autograph.  It can still go in my giant box of autographs, but this is one of my least favorite Snell autographs in my collection.  

Let's do better next time.  

2019 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 5

I had this bad feeling that there were not going to be many Blake Snell autographs in this year's Topps products after I started this series of posts.  The feeling lingered for a few weeks, but then I went out and did some work on adding some new cards last week.  It appears that Topps is still making Blake Snell autographs. 

The new autograph.....

is from Tier One.

The design of the card feels like some sort of wallpaper pattern.  What are the little patterns on the side supposed to be, and how do they fit onto a baseball card?  I am not sure, but I like that there is a picture of Snell centered on the card, and an autograph in a clear space.  The usual Snell autograph, and the card has a print run of 299 copies. 

Back of the card. 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! That's not very interesting.  

The Last Time We Saw Tim......

was almost two and a half years since I last posted a new Tim Beckham baseball card.  He was one of my favorite Durham Bulls players for awhile, but then a few things happened that slowed down the flow of his cards into my collection.

Here was the last card from January of 2016.

Here are three quick reasons for the dearth of Beckham baseball cards......

1. Beckham stopped signing cards.  It has been four years since he had a certified autograph, which was in a Panini product.  The last certified autograph Beckham had in a licensed product was his 2012 Bowman Platinum autograph.  I tried to buy one of those once.  Seriously, the guy wanted $200.  

I wonder if anyone ever actually bought this card?  There is one currently listed on COMC, but its $40, which is still about twice as much as one should pay for a Tim Beckham autograph.  

2.  I actually took a vacation from talking about Beckham around Rays and Durham Bulls fans on social media.  Did I know that the Rays drafted Beckham in front of Buster Posey?  Did you know that Buster Posey has won a bunch of World Series with the Giants?  I did know all of that, but none of that makes Beckham a terrible person.  

Not sure that certain people around Tampa cannot help lump the two players together.  Absolutely brutal comments on these sorts of things.  I wonder what would have happened to Sam Bowie, guy drafted in front of Michael Jordan,. if he played during an era where there was social media.  

3. Beckham was traded to the Orioles last year and he had a great stretch for the team at the end of last year.  In 50 games in Baltimore, Beckham hit 10 home runs, 13 doubles, 26 RBIs, with an OPS of .871.  There were some Rays fans that were pretty silent.  

I tried starting a Beck-O-Meter, based on the Shawon-O-Meter......

from the Cubs games while Shawon Dunston was their shortstop.  At first the Beck-O-Meter was a success.  I expanded to include some stats outside of just batting average....

Beck-O-Meter:

2.4 WAR in 238 games with the Rays
2.0 WAR in 41 games with the Orioles #Orioles #Rays #TimBeckham

— The Snorting Bull (@TheSnortingBull) September 15, 2017

but unfortunately, Beckham has been injured most of this year.  The stats are low, but it's also a pretty small sample size at this point.  Just 30 games.  Maybe after break.  

Which brings me to the good news, which is that Tim Beckham is back signing in Topps products again this year.  There are three different sets in which he appears so far, I have managed two of his autographs.  Although, you know that in today's day and age there are about seven different colored variations of each of these cards.  

I am just happy to have two new Tim Beckham autographs.  

This is my favorite of the two new cards.  I worked on putting together the 1983 inserts from the Topps Series 1 earlier in the year, and included a few autographs as I was putting those cards together.  I am not sold on doing the same for Series 2, but I am still going to pick up another autograph or two.  This card, with the number 1 inscription, was the number one card on my list.  

The signature is a little off center, but Beckham signed the card on the lighter backgrounded side of the card.  Kind of considerate.  

The next card is a little bit nicer, in terms of brand.  I really do like the 1983 Topps style card the best.  This is out of Tier One, which seems like a little bit high end for Beckham.  In fact, the whole reason I tracked this card down was because I saw a few case breakers complaining about the fact that they pulled a "utility infielder" out of a pack that cost $125.  

That's why I do not open boxes/packs that cost that much.  I do appreciate the autograph though.  

Relaxing With Some Cards

This week has kicked off my summer vacation.  I teach, but I have a little bit of a different schedule.  I work for roughly nine weeks at a time, rarely less, sometimes more, before I get three to four weeks off.  Again, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less on the breaks.  I often travel with my wife and kids, but I also spend time attending baseball games.....

and working on my baseball cards.

I need to post an updated picture of my card room, but I have come a long way since last summer.  This popped up on my Facebook memories feed today.....

My closet team boxes have been switched out for set boxes, which has been a slow process over the last few years.  I also had a doubles table, which was just a large wood desk covered in extra cards that I pulled out as I was assembling sets.  Some of those cards have been traded, some have been given away, some have been boxed up, and others have gone to other odd places.

Beyond sets, I am also working on some of my Cardinals cards today.  I picked out a few of my favorites to share on this post.  I am going to go with two new autographs and two new cards of one of my favorite current Cardinals prospects.

Autographs first, prospect cards second.

First up is a Tommy Pham from this year's Tier One set.  Before last year there were not that many Tommy Pham autographs floating around out there.  I was actually lucky enough to pull one out of a Topps box a few years back.  Pham seems to be in almost everything nowadays.  He's got a nice autograph, and while he is not having his best year, I still enjoy watching him play.

I like the looks of this card too.  The diamond pattern, the hues of gray in the background, and best of all, the on-card autograph is very nice.

Next.

I like Jack Flaherty.  I am not sure how good of a pitcher he will be in the long run, but I am hopeful that he will continue to pitch well.  More than a strikeout per inning, an ERA under 3.00, and a WHIP right around 1.  Seems like he might be a nice one-two punch with Carlos Martinez the next few years.  I like the the horizontal layout of the Pham more than the Flaherty, but all of the Flaherty autographs from this product are all vertical cards.

Prospect cards.

Tyler O'Neill is probably my favorite Cardinals prospect at the moment.  The guy hits home runs, offers something that the Cardinals really do not have at the moment.  When the Cardinals traded for him last summer his cards were fairly inexpensive.  He's hit really well this year between a brief stint with the Cardinals and Triple A.  The prices on his cards have been creeping up this year, but I am still trying to slowly add some of his cards.

This is from last year's Bowman set.  I know there are a lot of different refractors, colored parallels, etc in Bowman.  This card is a mega box refractor.  I am not sure why Topps/Bowman has gone to all the different types of cards with different patterns in the background.  Who knows.

Last card for this post, another Bowman.  This is from the 2016 Bowman Chrome set.  The Top 100 Prospects inserts have been a long running item in these sets for the last eight or nine years.  Not sure what the point of the Top 100 Updates set is exactly.  The back of the card has a little blurb about him, but nothing insightful or having to deal with his status as a good prospect.

You Don't Need A Quadraphonic Blaupunkt

One of the better pitching prospects I have seen come through Durham was current Rays pitcher Blake Snell.  While he was a member of the Bulls he named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year.  He was just simply dominate posting a 1.41 ERA and almost 11 strikeouts per nine innings that season between three different Rays Minor League teams.

I was fortunate enough to see Snell pitch a few times for the Durham Bulls.

Even started a small collection of Blake Snell cards that I have slowly added to over the last three years.  Admittedly, Snell was pretty hit or miss in both 2016 and 2017 for the Rays.  There were some really good moments, also some rough stretches.  As a baseball fan though, I have always been really impressed by his stuff.......

That curveball.  Everyone in the show needs one, more than some fancy Porsche.

Not sure I have really done much with posting Snell cards in awhile, so I will show off my two newest additions which both come from the Tier One product.  

First up is a base autograph.  It's numbered to 275, which I know is high, but I like the looks of this card better than some of the colored parallels in this set.  I am not even sure you can really call them colored, they are just varying shades of gray and black signed in silver pen.  If I find one cheap enough I will post it, but they are not the cleanest looking design concept.  

The grayish/silver background with the blue ink is nice in my world, especially since it matches up well with the Rays color scheme.  

Last one for today.  

The card stock on this card is pretty incredible.  It's thick.  I like the general design of the card, horizontal always works for me, especially on autographed cards.  The only thing I do not dig about this card is the fact that it is a sticker autograph.  A little odd that Topps makes three different style autographs in the Tier One product, has a player hand sign two versions of their card and then places a sticker autograph on the third.  

I am sure there is some good reason for it, right?  

More Snells later.  

Finally!!!

I write often about the Cardinals and the Durham Bulls, but I also enjoy a good card of a good player from the 1980s, 1990s, or 2000s.  I feel I have a really complete list of the Hall worthy players from those decades in my autograph collection.  Some of the players have been tougher than others, but I am really proud of the collection I have assembled.  Going back to 1988, thirty years, there is only one elected through the regular Baseball Writers ballot whose autograph has eluded my collection. 

I first started collecting certified autographs in the early 2000s.  The first time I saw an autograph of Rickey Henderson was in 2004.  Truth be told, there were actually a small number put out in 2003.  At the time, my main reason for avoiding his autographs was price.  They were expensive.  Even today, his early autographs remain expensive.  

Almost $100 for a sticker autograph on thin card stock is not a very appealing card in my eyes.  I knew that Henderson had been in baseball cards set over the past decade and a half, but I just never really looked into the idea of adding one to my collection.  

Until recently.  

I was working on trading a few vintage cards to another collector, when I was offered a Henderson autograph in return.  The vintage cards were not worth $100, but the Henderson card that was offered looked a lot better than the older cards of the all-time stolen base leader I had known from more than a decade ago.  I paused, looked up a few Henderson cards, and found that they were far cheaper than I had thought.  

My trading partner had a few other cards I was more interested in, so I passed.  However, I did start a search for a Henderson autograph.  This is what I came up with.....

I am very happy with this card and I spent well under $100 for this great looking card.  Still a little disappointed that it took me this long to find an autograph of one of the best players from the 1980s and 1990s, but this is a really nice card.  Great design, nice card stock, and Rickey has a very nice signature.   Well worth the wait.  

Friday Five: My Five Favorite Autographed Longoria Cards

I was sort of expecting the Rays might trade away long-time third baseman Evan Longoria this offseason, but it was still rough actually seeing it happen last Wednesday.  I started following his career after he made an appearance with the Durham Bulls towards the end of the 2007 season.  Longoria is easily the best player to have ever donned the Rays uniform and provided some of the best moments in franchise history.  

He helped the Rays make their only World Series appearance in 2008 by hitting 6 home runs during the American League Division and Championship Series against the White Sox and Red Sox.  My personal favorite moment was his walk off home run on the last day of the 2011 season which put the Rays into the playoffs that year

I have had a good time collecting Longoria's baseball cards over years.  There are plenty of nice ones out there, so for this post I am going to stick with a few autographed cards which I have enjoyed having in my collection.  Maybe next week I can do another post with the great non-autographed Longoria cards in my collection.  

Honorable Mention:  2013 Topps Tier One Autograph/Patch

I have a few Tier One autographs from a few different years.  Longoria has appeared in the product in some way every year that Topps has put out the product since 2011.  Most years the autographs are on-card, which is one reason why I usually like to pick up an autograph or two out of that product every year.  I really like the design of the 2013 Tier One autograph below, but I cannot put it in my top 5 based on the fact that the card is a sticker autograph.  I love the patch piece, I love the picture, I love the design, but I am bothered by the sticker.  Small thing, but this was a tough list to get down to five.  If I made a list of my favorite sticker autographs of Longoria, this card would be first.  

5.  2014 Topps Tribute 

Tribute is another product that has been a mix of sticker and on-card autographs over the years, sometimes even within a year.  Most of the relic cards from this set that have autographs are stickers.  I have a few different autographs out of Tribute, but this simple autographed card is my favorite of the group.  I like the finishes and design of the card.  It has a nice glossy front and a little bit thicker card stock.  Tribute is also one of those products that has all sorts of different colored parallels, some of them can look a little goofy at times.  I like that this card is low key in background color.

4.  2016 Topps The Mint 

The Mint was one of those ridiculously priced products that was something along the lines of a four digit number for a box.  There were several autographs that I looked into picking up from The Mint, but I was happy that the cards ended up being reasonable in price after a few weeks of the cards sitting on Ebay.  I love the darker background and the on-card autograph.  I sort of wish that the autograph was signed in a different color ink, gold or silver would have been a good look, but the blue still is nice on this card. 

3.  2017 Topps Five Star Autograph/Patch 

This is a recent addition and there is a recent blog post about this card.  Bascially, I have really slowed down on the whole relic card scene.  I don't go after them, I don't trade for them, I don't spend money on them.  I even feel sort of in different when I land one in a pack of cards.  However, this card is something a little different.  I like the jumbo patch which is from the nameplate of Longoria's jersey.  Very nice card that filled a void in my collection of Longoria cards. 

2.  2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Evan Longoria Autograph 

Not the flashiest card.  There is no foil or fancy card stock.  Allen & Ginter is one of my favorite products every year and I really like the framed autographed cards.  Longoria has other Allen & Ginter autograph that are fancy with jersey pieces.  He also has another framed Ginter autograph, but this is my favorite one in my collection.  

1.  2008 Topps Chrome Red Hot Rookies Autograph

I really love the 2008 Topps set.  The little circles at the top are a neat design element that make these cards unique and easy to recognize.   There are always autographed rookie cards in the Topps Chrome set, but the Red Hot Rookies set was actually a redemption in this product.  Not sure when Topps started these cards, or if/when they stopped.  I really hate redemption cards, so this was an early Longoria rookie that was a more recent addition to my collection.   Well worth the wait though, this is my favorite Evan Longoria card.  

Then There Were Two Of Us In The Wolfpack....

Trea Turner is really fast.  I am really fast if I am running with someone who has a sprained ankle.

Trea Turner is really good at baseball.  I am really good at wiffleball when the people I am playing against have been drinking.

Trea Turner is on the Washington Nationals.  Sometimes I watch the Washington Nationals on television.

Trea Turner was once a student at NC State.  I was also once a student at NC State.  I graduated, not sure about Trea, but I might have that over him.  Maybe.

Sorry, I am not scanning my degree for this post.

I did scan a pair of Trea Turner cards for the post that I picked up because I did go to NC State.  I borrowed the title from a speech given by another former student at NC State.....

I am hoping that maybe Zach Galifianakis could have Trea Turner on Between Two Ferns in the near future.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Bruce Willis from Funny Or Die

On to the baseball cards.....

I actually picked up both of these cards from a card shop in St. Louis, RBI Cru 7, awhile back.  The store was not there when I last lived in the Lou, but I actually picked these up after they posted a picture of them on Twitter.  I need to get to that shop one day soon, hopefully it's near an Imo's since we do not have provel cheese in Raleigh.  

First up.  

This is a Tier One autograph of Turner numbered out of 25.  I love these cards when they have the gold and silver signatures.  It's a little busy with the granite like design on the bottom of the card, but overall this is a very nice card of the former Wolfpacker.  The card is serial numbered out of 25.  

Next.  

Also a Topps Tier One autograph, this card is serial numbered out of 250.  The card has a little bit cleaner look with the lighter colored marble pattern on the bottom of the card and the signature in blue ink.  While Turner has a really simple signature, he is really good about the consistency on his 'graphs.  The autograph on both cards is roughly the same.  

Overall, I am thrilled to add these two cards to my growing collection of Trea Turner autographs.  

Oh, and while we are here tonight.... Go State!  Beat the Illini.  

The Lost Scans of Tier One

I have a system for my mail, scanning the cards, posting, and then sorting the cards into boxes.  Occasionally there are breakdowns in the system.  I cannot necessarily pin point one spot in the process where the system breaks.  Sometimes it is because my desk looks really messy.  Sometimes it's because I get excited about a card and skip the scanning part, instead opting to go straight to the card.  

Other times I just lose the scan. 

I am not always great about using folders.  Cards get scanned and put into some jumbo file of scans and pictures.  Even when I know I have scanned the cards for a blog post, I have to fight through a plethora of pictures featuring my wife, kids, and all sorts of other random pictures which float onto my computer.  

I actually have to give some props to JediJeff from 2x3 Heroes who commented on my post yesterday about how he had been watching some undervalued Tribute cards.  Slight case of ADD, but the chart below shows the connection between Jeff's comments and this post featuring cards that I completely forgot about during the past few months.....

If you look at the left side of the scan you can see through the paper where I wrote the title of the chart Landscape with a grey marker.  I switch to portrait and supplemented the grey title with purple ink.  Hopefully you made it to the part where I find three cheap Tier One autographs.  I know I write small, it's been a problem for years....

First card.  

It's an Evan Longoria card.  No flow chart on this card, but he was on the Durham Bulls.  I like the Durham Bulls and buy baseball cards of their players.  I also bought an autograph of a current Durham Bull.....

Very nice indeed.  Shaffer has been up and down between Durham and Tampa this year, little bit of a down year, but is probably best known for his self high five first home run.  I have posted the video of the home run a few too many times, so it's here somewhere just not in this post.... 

 Last autograph is a Cardinal.  

I love Carlos Martinez cards.  I need to do a post about his ever changing autograph one of these days.  I think this year's is a little different than last year's and completely different from what it looked like when his first Bowman and Leaf autographs came out.  

Calm Carlos

I have been a pretty big fan of Carlos Rodon since he first stepped foot on campus at NC State.  The all everything starting pitcher had spectacular college career which included a trip to college World Series.  Back then Rodon had a bunch of cards in the Panini USA Baseball sets and collectors went crazy for them.  I dabbled here and there, I do love my Wolfpack, but it's hard to shell out big dollars for a player in college.  

Cue Music....

   

In case you forgot what happened to Carlos after college....

Rodon was drafted by the White Sox in 2014 with the third overall pick.  He breezed through the minors and debuted with the ChiSox in 2015.  He's been a decent pitcher during his first two seasons in the Majors, but I am not sure that he has been as good as most collectors and fans had hoped he would be when he reached whatever stadium the White Sox play in now (insert corporate name).  

I still have high hopes for Rodon.  He's just 23 years old and has been out of college such a short time, I am hoping their is a little higher ceiling in his left arm.  In the meantime, the slow career start has made the chore of finding Carlos Rodon cards a little easier and a lot cheaper.  

Carlos has become calm.  

Collectors have cooled on him.  Honestly, I feel like I had sort of let him slip off of my radar this year, but I think this card is a pretty sweet find for my first autograph of the NC State alum....

Tier One is always a good looking set and it's an on card autograph.  Kind of cool that it's 149/149, even though I do not do the whole Ebay one of one thing.  I have another Rodon autograph on the way that I just traded for and will post in awhile.  In the meantime, let's hope Carlos picks it up on the mound.   

If you're a White Sox fan, I'd be on the lookout for the White Sox to important the Braveheart guy from NC State for a little extra motivation and pep.  

Steal of an Autograph

I think I drafted a few blog posts the last few years about how Topps has continually repeated the same four or five Cardinals players in all of their products.  Every year, every product: Matt Adams, Kolten Wong, Matt Carpenter, and maybe an Ozzie, Lou Brock, or Bob Gibson.  Instead of making a singular post that catches all of my feelings on the topic, I have complained across dozens of other posts about baseball cards.  Like this.....

I (traded for/bought) this Kolten Wong card from a (card show/card shop/Facebook Group).  Kolten is (sitting on the bench/been demoted to Memphis/playing poorly in the outfield) at the moment.  He has had a lot of cards recently, he's been in every single Topps product this year, and frankly Cardinals collectors are a little tired of his cards.

Of course, it's really not that bad and I am probably a little misguided here.  Topps has done a decent job during the past year of picking up Cardinals newcomers like Stephen Piscotty, Brandon Moss, and Tommy Pham.  There have also been a few cool players from past Cardinals teams like Terry Pendleton and some not so great cards of players like Ron Gant.  Not cool as a Cardinal, yeah Durham Bulls.

Still, I was really impressed when I started searching out for a few Tier One autographs a few weeks back and found that Topps had included a Cardinals autograph of one of my Cardinals childhood favorites.......

I have been on a roll lately with Vince Coleman cards.  In the past two months I have picked up a cool version of his 1986 Topps rookie card from the Topps Vault and a copy of an autograph booklet with Coleman and Ozzie Guillen.  I cannot promise that I will continue to post more cards of Coleman, but if people keep making new cards of him I am going to try to add them to my collection.
As a Cardinals fan growing up Coleman was the ultimate offensive weapon on the 1980s Whiteyball teams.  It might seem odd to people who watch modern baseball, that a player whose only tool was speed could have that big of an impact on the game, but Coleman did it every night.  If you have a few minutes I found this awesome clip from the 1988 All-Star Game of Vince producing a run, basically by himself.

Pretty typical of what happened when Coleman got on base: stolen bases, pressure on defense, errors, pass balls were all magnified by speed.  I think we are a Tommy Herr and Tony Pena Cardinals autograph away from having the mid 1980s Cardinals players covered in Topps autographs.  

Five Star Andrew with a Free Folty

Still working on adding some more Five Star autographs.  Again, my favorite autograph set this year. I have picked up a Cardinals card, in way of a Matt Carpenter, and have a Rays autograph on the way.  That leaves me to find a Durham Bulls related card to round things out a little bit.  Here's what I found on a Facebook trading group.....

Andrew Jones was on the Durham Bulls during the 1996 season prior to joining the Braves later in the year.  Not a really pricey card in terms of a trade and Andrew has a really nice signature.  I also picked up an autograph of Braves prospect Mike Foltynewicz.  

Always nice to get a throw-in when you are trading.  The Braves would seem to have  an infinite amount of pitching prospects, but Folty seems like he could stick in the Majors.  He played part of last season in Triple A and has a big arm.  This is a great looking card for a freebie.  

Crazy Tier One

I have a lot of catching up to do on my 2015 autograph posts.  As the summer ended, and we are just a few weeks away from officially starting winter, I really need to catch up on my cards.  Here's part of the stack that I found this last week which still needs to be posted......

Sorry, that is the only Andruw Jones card in this blog post.

One of the things that I have been looking for in the cards that I have been buying and trading for this year is a few new names.  I seems as if some of the card manufacturers have been in a rut with the same players appearing time and time again in autograph sets.  Well, there are a few new signers here and there, just need to find them.  I thought that this card was a pretty cool add to the collection....

Not very expensive either, but Rob Dibble was one of the great personalities in baseball during the early part of the 1990s with the Cincinnati Reds.  Dibble combined with Norm Charlton and Randy Myers to form "The Nasty Boys".  The three players were great at closing out games for the Reds, but they also caused a few melees around baseball.  Dibble was kind of the ring leader of the crazy with the three relief pitchers.  

A Meh Kind of Autograph

I try to pick up an autographed card of every Cardinals player that I can possibly find.  I prefer to go the certified route, but sometimes I have to pick up a few things from a reliable autographer.  The Cardinals added a few new players at the trade deadline that sent me looking for two new autographs.  I already owned a copy of a Steve Cishek autograph and traded for a Jonathan Broxton autograph.  I still need to post that card.  I also needed a Brandon Moss card and found a pretty nice copy of an on card autograph out of Tier One

Not a great looking autograph, but I am happy that this is an A's card over the Indians and Red Sox.  While I was initially excited to see Brandon Moss in a Cardinals uniform his performance during the first handful of games has left Cardinals fans feeling rather disappointed.  I am still hopeful that this trade will still work out since the Cardinals have Moss for next season too.  At this point I am feeling a little bit meh about my latest pickup.  Moss has hit in the past, but right now he looks completely lost at the plate.  Lets hope that Moss kind find his swing in the next few weeks and this trade does not end up going down with other players like Todd "Third Degree" Burns.

Missing the Stro Show

Have you been watching the Blue Jays since the trade deadline?  They have been red hot and winning everything.  Well, until they starting playing the Yankees this past weekend.  I have never really minded the Blue Jays and like some of the players that they have added to their team.  Tulo and David Price are both cool players.  As a former Durham Bulls player, I am a huge fan of David Price and still enjoy collecting his cards.

When Price was traded a week and a half ago, I went out and spent a little bit of time searching out his cards to see if I could find any Tigers fans dumping some cards cheaply.  I did not find that, but I did a really cheap Marcus Stroman card.  I miss Stro.  He's still busy and Twitter, but it's not as entertaining as watching him pitch.  Well, except for when they traded for Price and he was in class....

Pardon my rudeness for being on my phone Professor. We just picked up @DAVIDprice14 and it's kind of a big deal. Lol @DukeU @BlueJays

— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) July 30, 2015

 

It's been awhile since I have added a new Stroman card to the collection.  His autograph has always been pretty simple, but I love the look of the blue ink with the blue from the Blue Jays uni and his glove.  They look nice on the dark black and gold background.  The card is numbered to 399 copies, which is quite a few, but still a great looking card.

New Tier One Redbirds

I have already picked up a pair of Tier One Cardinals autographs, but there are still a few more Cardinals cards out there floating around that I would love to add to my card collection.  I picked up two of them a few weeks ago and never got around to posting anything about either card.  The first card I actually picked up at Big D's Sports Cards in Raleigh.

This beautiful Yadier Molina relic is numbered to 399, which sounds like a lot, but Yadi always has a limited number of relic cards every year.  Some of the Molina relics have a pretty good sized print run, but in the end he still has a pretty small number of items out on the market.  He is also, surprisingly, one of the pricier Cardinals players to collect.  Jimmy, the owner at Big D's, gave me a good deal on this card.  Next up, another good Cardinals player.....

The McGwire is my second Big Mac of the month after I picked up a sweet jumbo patch of the slugging first baseman a few weeks ago.   The McGwire out of Tier One is numbered to just 99 and I found it in an auction room on Facebook and paid less than $10 for the card.