2012 USA Baseball Trea Turner Dual Jersey/Autograph

I picked up my second Trea Turner autograph during the past week in a trade on my Facebook page.  In case you missed my other Turner autograph, he is a speedy infielder on the NC State baseball team.  As a freshman All-American, he was invited to spend last summer playing for the college All-Star version of the USA Baseball team which tours around to various minor league parks and plays against different international teams.  Turner was then also included in the Panani set of USA Baseball cards last year.

2012 Panini USA Baseball Trea Turner Dual Jersey/Autograph 

If you spent much time reading my blog you probably know that I am not a huge fan of the unlicensed cards and therefore do not spend much time, money, or effort picking up cards from Panini or Upper Deck.  However, the USA Baseball cards are a fully licensed product and I am really impressed by the quality of work Panini has done on this set.  Maybe they can change my mind...a little bit.  To add to my Trea Turner card, I also picked up another card of a local North Carolina product in the way of Rays pitcher Chris Archer.  

2012 Panini Signature Series Chris Archer Autograph

You will notice that this card is also a Panini product, but it is unlicensed and does not use the team name, Rays, or use the team logo anywhere on the card.  I still rather enjoy this card though for a few different reasons.  First, the giant Rated Rookie patch up in the corner reminded of the Donruss cards of my childhood.  Always loved seeing that little logo on the bottoms of the cards even if the guy turned out to be a total scrub.  I also really liked the design of the card which Panini has also used on their college patches the past several years.  

2000 UD Hologrfx A Piece of the World Series Brian Jordan Base/Autograph

I am a fan of the 90s Cardinals and of 90s baseball cards.  One of my true joys in life is finding an awesome Cardinals card from the 90s.  It's much harder than it sounds.  While the Cardinals are typically a good team with star players they were actually mediocre, at best, for much of the decade.  The start of the decade started with a transition over from the Whitey Herzog era of speed, defense, and pitching to the Joe Torre era of young players, washed up pitchers, and a cheap owner.  The team switched ownership in the middle of the decade and brought in Tony LaRussa.  In 1996, the team came within one game of the World Series before the Braves ran Glavine, Smoltz, and Maddux out for the last three games of the NLCS and won.  The rest of the decade centered around Mark McGwire.  While those teams also featured Gary Gaetti, Fernando Tatis, Edgar Renteria, Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, and Ron Gant their pitching staff was anchored by Kent Merker.  

One of my favorite Cardinals players from that era was outfielder Brian Jordan.  Jordan came up with the Cardinals in the early 90s after spending a few years juggling minor league baseball and playing safety for the Atlanta Falcons.  The Cardinals eventually convinced Jordan to quit football and he became a mainstay in the Cardinals outfield along with Ray Lankford and Bernard Gilkey.  Later the Cardinals would trade Gilkey to the Mets and sign Ron Gant.  Jordan would be one of the most productive Cardinals of the mid 90s regularly hitting for power and average while providing above average base running and great defense.  In 1995 and 1998 he finished in the Top 10 in the National League in Wins Above Replacement.  My favorite moment of Jordan came during the 1996 National League Division Series when he hit a game clinching home run off of Trevor Hoffman.  

Jordan would eventually leave the Cardinals to sign with the Braves in 1999 and helped the team to a World Series appearance against the Yankees, but they lost to the defending World Champs.  That leads me to my card for the day.  During the summer of 2000 Upper Deck released the new product Hologrfx.  The cards were probably a step above retail products like MVP and Victory, but not very far.  The boxes tended to be in the $50-$60 range and the autograph odds were steep.  Most peculiar about the autograph list was the inclusion of a set commemorating the 1999 World Series.  The card set featured players on the Braves and Yankees with a series used base card for each player and an autographed version.  I added a base card of Brian Jordan to my collection a few months ago.  

2000 UD Hologrfx A Piece of the World Series Brian Jordan Base Card

A Piece of the World Series cards are not easy to come across and some of the cards are nearly impossible to find.  Especially the Yankees.  The autographed versions of the base cards are even harder to find.  One or two tend to come up each year, but they tend to stay away once the auction closes or the card is traded.  Currently, there are few base cards up on Ebay and COMC, but none of the autographed versions are listed or have been completed recently.  So, as a Brian Jordan fan and collector I was extremely happy to be able to add this card to my collection this week:  

2000 UD Hologrfx A Piece of the World Series Brian Jordan Base/Autograph 

I am aware that there are printing plates and limited print run parallels and plenty of other cards that are rarer than this card, but I would argue that this is probably the best Brian Jordan card that is out on the market.  I have spent the past three or four years looking for this card and this copy is the only one I have ever seen.  If you have a favorite player who played on the 1999 Braves or Yankees this card set is one of the most challenging finds out there.  

The Curious Case of Kyle Lohse

Collectors love when new players join their favorite teams and are often excited about jumping out and finding some cards of their team's newest player.  Yesterday, I got hit up by a Brewers fan five minutes about the news broke that Kyle Lohse had signed a three contract with the team asking for the low down on collecting Lohse cards.  What autographs are out there?  Relics cards?  Key rookie cards?  The usual set of questions.  Lohse has been on the Cardinals for the past five seasons and I usually do not hesitate in picking up something for every Cardinals player.  Except Kyle Lohse.

Nothing against Kyle Lohse, but I literally have no cool Kyle Lohse cards.  In fact, you do not own any either.  I promise you there is no need to look unless you own a printing plate of his Topps card.  Kyle Lohse is the most uninteresting man to collect.  Kyle Lohse has zero autographs.  Kyle Lohse has zero relic cards.  He does have four or five rookie cards from 2001 sets, but all of them can be found for less than $5.  He usually makes an appearance in the Topps base set every year, so I figure there is at least a handful of printing plates floating around.  However, looking around at completed items most appear to fall south of $20.

So, how rare is it that a player can hang out in the Majors for ten years and not appear on a single relic or autograph card?  I did a little checking on Baseball Reference yesterday and actually found that there are zero starters in the National League last year that did not have a relic or jersey card.  If that is expanded out to position players you can add names to that list, but not many.  For example, just looking at the Cardinals players from last year only Matt Carpenter and Tony Cruz fit in the same category as Lohse of not having a relic or autograph.  However, both of those players are backups and have had limited time on the team.

There are others scattered about that I am not going to track down, but in today's age of baseball cards Kyle Lohse is a rarity.  One interesting card of note for Lohse collectors and Brewers fans trying to pick up a Lohse card or two for their collections is his appearance in the 2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom set.  The set was based on ticket stubs and the tank is surprisingly dry on these cards on Ebay and COMC.  If a ticket stub is a relic then this is your best hope.

2009 Topps Ticket To Stardom Kyle Lohse Ticket Stub

 

I will add that I actually keep my eyes out for copies of this card and I do not think one has been posted on Ebay or COMC for at least a year.  There are only 110 copies of the card too, which makes me think that most of these cards are in collections and are probably the de facto Lohse relic for many Cardinals fans who have attempted to assemble a collection of his cards.  I am not sure what Beckett lists this card for in their pricing guide, but I bet if you put one up for auction you could toss the price guide out the window.

1999 Topps Stadium Club Kerry Wood Autograph

A little 90s goodness for your Tuesday morning.  I love finding cards from the late 90s and picked this card up last week.  The Stadium Club brand ran from the early 90s through the early 2000s with a brief comeback a few years ago.  The brand was initially billed as a premium card set and maintained it's focus on quality and great photography throughout its decade long run.  One of the features added to the set in the late 90s was the inclusion of autographs in the set.  The Co-Signers card were the most popular autographs in the set, but there were lots of good single signature cards in those Stadium Club sets too including this one of Cubs hurler Kerry Wood.

1999 Topps Stadium Club Kerry Wood Autograph

The most challenging aspect of hunting down the Stadium Club autographs is condition.  The autographed cards have the same high gloss finish that the base Stadium Club cards had making the autographs subject to smears, smudges, and fading.  Fading seems to be the most common problem, but they aren't as bad as the 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot set.  I was happy to see this Kerry Wood autograph and was able to swap out a few duplicate late 90s autographs for this card.  Kerry Wood was a good closer for the Cubs for several years and a great starting pitcher for a few years before injuries sent him to the bullpen.  He has several nice on-card autographs from early in his career, but his later autographs tend to be stickers. 

2001 Donruss Class of 2001 Bud Smith Jersey

I also picked up a cool Bud Smith jersey card in this trade.  I enjoy picking up Bud Smith cards which are really, really cheap.  If you look up his career numbers they are rather unimpressive pitching part of two seasons with a 7-8 record and an ERA of almost 5.  Bud Smith was also part of the trade that landed the Cardinals Scott Rolen from the Phillies and also did this:

 

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.  

 

The Rookie Card Dilemma

I am not a big fan of high end prospects.  I've not been burned very often on high-end prospects mainly because I just simply will not cross that bridge.  Rather than buy the latest and greatest rookie sensation at some obscene price, I will take my time and end up with the same card a few years later at a much better price.  I remember during my junior year of college there was a huge rush over J.D. Drew cards.  People couldn't decide whether he was going to be Mickey Mantle or Stan Musial.  Everyone needed a J.D. Drew rookie card.  Drew got called up at the end of the 1998 season and hit .417 with 5 home runs in 41 at-bats.  Which of course started some insanity with his cards.

1999 SPX J.D. Drew Autograph

My favorite J.D. Drew rookie card was his 1999 SPX card which was autographed.  There was a really high end card shop a few minutes from my parents house that sold these for triple digits for a year and could not keep them in stock.  I did not buy one.  Instead, I picked up a Fleer Update set and a few nice Pacific cards.  However, I recently did manage to pick up this card and I paid a little more than $5 with shipping.  J.D. had a nice career, but nothing in the neighborhood of the Mick or Stan the Man.  

2001 Fleer Premium Albert Pujols

Even players with Hall of Fame careers have trouble living up to the hype of their rookie card prices.  During the summer of 2001, I made a dash to pick up as many Pujols rookie cards as I could get my hands on.  The base cards from products like Upper Deck, Topps, and others were not difficult.  However, higher end products with short printed, serial numbered rookie cards were quite difficult.  One of those Pujols rookies that I actually pulled from the pack was the 2001 Fleer Premium rookie, which actually came as a redemption for an unnamed rookie.  I got my Pujols card and saw the value of the card rise into the triple digits during the first few years of his career.  Of course, Pujols has diminished as a player on the field and the value of this card has slid south of $50.  Honestly, if I did not own one I would still not buy one for another year or two.  Albert still has a little bit more sliding to do over the next few years.  

My point?  Between the success of the Cardinals minor league system and the Rays minor league system I find myself at a point where many of the cards for players on the two teams are steep beyond their value.  Certainly that statement does not apply to established players like Adam Wainwright, Evan Longoria, Matt Holliday, or others that have been in the majors several years.  No, I am talking about players like Wil Myers, Oscar Taveras, Hak Ju Lee, Trevor Rosenthal, and others.  I picked up a Bowman Taveras autograph last summer for under $50.  The card now regularly sells for $110-$120.  That's a nice profit, but I can almost guarantee that at some point the card will come back down from that perch.  So, I've decided to take a little bit of a stand with this years group of rookie cards. 

2011 In The Game Heroes and Prosepcts Wil Myers

I recently saw the roster for the Durham Bulls and noticed that there were a few Top 100 prospects on the list of players.  Chris Archer, Wil Myers, and Hak Ju Lee should make this summer fun in the Bull City, but might make assembling a collection of Bulls cards a bit of a challenge.  However, rather then paying $100 for a copy of a Myers Bowman rookie, I was able to snag this In The Game autograph for around $25-$30 worth of cards in trade.  Archer has a few steep autographs, but also has several that are affordable and can be found for less than $10.  So, I am going to assemble my collection of Durham Bulls players this summer and pick up my new Cardinals cards too, but I am not going to over stretch on cards that I will be able to pick up at a fraction of the cost in a few years.  

2010 Topps Triple Threads Ben Zobrist All-Star Game Patch

I spend a lot of my collecting time looking for players I have spent time watching during their time on the Durham Bulls.  Over the past decade the Bulls have had a fair share of successful major league players on their roster which has made my collecting a little bit easier.  I have a nice collection of David Price, Longoria, Hellickson, Desmond Jennings, and many others.  I even saw the Bulls posted their roster for the start of the 2013 season and have started working on picking up a few of the new names on the roster.

Sometimes a few of the former Bulls players slip through the collecting cracks and I miss out on some good cards.  It's not a bad problem to have to keep track of a highly successful minor league system that graduates many Major League Players up to the bigs.  Somedays it just gets to be a little much.  One such player is Rays super utility man Ben Zobrist.  I enjoy watching Zobrist and appreciate the contributions he makes to the Rays, but he does not have a ton of cards and most aren't worth going out of the way to collect.  There are exceptions.  

2010 Topps Triple Threads Ben Zobrist All-Star Game Patch

Zobrist rarely appears in the high end Topps products, but they do manage to throw him into the Triple Threads set every couple of years.  Zobrist usually gets an autograph and the card usually plays on his nickname of "Zorilla".  Topps also threw Zobrist into the Topps Marquee set two years ago with some nice quad relic cards.  However, I am really happy with my newest Zobrist card.  While it is not autographed, it features some fabulous patch pieces with an added bonus of being from the All-Star Game in my hometown of St. Louis.