The Snorting Bull's Chrome Weekend Part III

Something different.  It's a vlog.....

The Snorting Bull's Chrome Weekend Part 2

One of my favorite parts of the 2013 Topps Chrome set are the die cut insert sets.  I know that Topps had one die cut insert set in last year's Chrome release, and also featured die-cuts in Bowman Platinum and the Golden Moments Giveaway, but I like this year's die cuts better than the others.  The die cuts in this year's remind me a lot of some of the cool inserts from the 90s.

The Chrome set has two die-cut insert sets.  I have put together a complete set of Cardinals Die-Cuts for both of them.  Let's have a look.

These cards look like castles or something.  This set is the Close Connection set and features a card of Matt Holliday and David Freese.  I am not sure why Freese is till getting insert cards, but oh well.  I like all the nooks and crannies in this insert set.  It kind of reminds me of something that Pacific would have put out back in the day.  Not one of those Christmas ornament cards, but they had a lot of cool cuts.  This could have easily been in one of their sets.  

Last insert set is the Dynamic Skill set.  You remember when Upper Deck issued the Vintage sets in the early 2000s that were really copy of Topps sets?  Do you remember how upset Topps was about the cards?  Well, it seems the worm has turned.  Maybe.  They're close.

Anyway, I like the rounded edges on the die-cut.  Not many round baseball card floating around, so a partially round card is probably equally as rare.  

The Snorting Bull's Chrome Weekend Part I

A themed weekend.  I have attached theme music for this post.  You should hit play before you start reading.

I am not endorsing any particular brand of beer, but its a good night to enjoy an ice cold brew.  It's been a relaxing day around my house watching baseball (results were poor) and my wife cooked an awesome dinner with brats and a hot German potato salad.  It was either this song or perhaps Ice Cube's Good Day.  I try to appeal to a broad audience.  Sorry Ice Cube.  

So, this weekend I am giving blog space to a Chrome set.  Before in the past I have spent time putting down the metallic rehash sets issued by Topps and have often avoided picking up these cards.  This year, I am being open minded.  I will get more into my different reasons for buying into this product as the weekend progresses.  

First up this weekend is my newest autograph from the brand new Topps Chrome set.  Any time Topps puts out a product with on-card autographs I am always willing to listen.  Topps Chrome has on-card autographs, so that was my first attraction to the set.  

2013 Topps Chrome Carlos Martinez Autograph 

While I am not thrilled that the Chrome autograph checklist looks very similar to a lot of other Topps products this year, I was really happy with the design of the cards in combination with the on-card autograph.  The whited out bottom space combined with the blue ink autographs is really nice.  I know that this is one of those "rainbow" products where Topps made eight different colored cards for each autograph, each with a different print run, but to me the base autograph is perfect.  

Afterall, your buying a Chrome card, not an orange, blue, or sepia card.  After picking up a Carlos Martinez autograph for a 5 spot, I went ahead and added to other Chrome Autographs to my collection in a trade.  I was able to pick up one Cardinals favorite and an International League favorite too.  The IL favorite first:

2013 Topps Chrome L.J. Hoes Autograph

L.J. Hoes has played the last few years in Norfolk for the Orioles Triple A team.  He's a pretty nice player.  Hits for a good average and walks a lot.  Last season his on-base percentage was over .400 and the previous year it was in the .370 range.  The Orioles traded him to the Astros in the Bud Norris deal and the team promptly promoted Hoes to the Majors.  L.J. kind of lost his way with the walks and strikeouts, but who didn't on the 'Stros this year.  

Notice, similar to the Martinez card the bottom of the base card has the clear whited-out area for the players signature.  This is a really nice card design for the autographs.  Really good quality for collectors.  Kudos to Topps also for just leaving L.J. in his Orioles uniform and not airbrushing him into an Astro.  

The best one is last:

2013 Topps Chrome Shelby Miller Autograph 

Miller has a great autograph and I love the red trim on the card, paired with the blue autograph, and Chrome finish.  This might be the best Miller card Topps has put out all year and it's probably also the cheapest and easiest to find.  

Overall, while the selection may be poor, especially if you've already hit up a few Topps sets this year, the design of this year's Topps Chrome autographs is outstanding.  I had thought that Bowman Inception was the run away best looking autograph issued by Topps this year, but I may reconsider for a few minutes after flipping through a couple of these cards.  

Jumbo Axman

John Axford has been on the Cardinals for a little more than a month and I think I might have already conquered his two best non-plate cards.  I picked up a copy of his Topps Tribute autograph when he was traded to the Cardinals on August 31st, but managed to pick up a copy of his lone jumbo relic cards last week.  I was a little disappointed that his only certified autograph features the Axman pitching for the Canadian National team, his token jumbo relic out on the market features the reliever as a Brewer.  Nothing against Canadians, the World Baseball Classic is stale, but the Brewers card makes me a little bit happier.

2013 Topps Museum Collection John Axford Jumbo Jersey

The card also features a cool picture of Axford with his trademark high socks and awesome mustache.  This card is limited to a print run of just 35 cards and features a large swatch of Axford's road grey uniform.

The Brewers traded Axford after he had fallen out of the closer role with the team and seemingly out of favor with a lot of Brewers fans.  In 62 games this season Axford had sported an ERA over 4 and had surrendered 10 home runs in a set up role for the club.  Since being traded to the Cardinals Axford has seemed to settle back into his old self.  In one months work he has an ERA of 1.74, more than a strikeout per inning, and an ERA+ of 217.  Not too shabby.

Here's a look at Axford in a Cardinals uniform:

My Top 50 Players On Cardboard-#39 Barry Larkin

My Top 50 Players On Cardboard
#39
Barry Larkin

1987 Fleer Barry Larkin

Hobby Impact-
Larkin seems like he missed out a little bit by beginning his career in the prime of Ozzie Smith's career. It seems like a lot of people warmed up to Barry Larkin cards after he had been playing for a decade, but he still pulls a lot of weight with his cards.  First, his rookie cards have good company in the 1987 sets which also feature other bigs stars of the nineties like Maddux and Bonds.  Not the most expensive card in those sets, but definitely important to have a good clean copy of the Larkin card if you want to claim your set is truly complete.

His autographs sell very well.  Larkin has been a little bit stingier with his autographs then many of the stars from his era which has pushed the price and competition on bidding and pricing.  Older inserts of Larkin also sell very well and often pusher high because of demand and popularity.  Whatever Beckett says you can throw it out the window at times with Larkin cards.  While Larkin was slow to warm-up nationally, Reds fans have always viewed him as the best player from his generation of the team and they do not miss out on many of his cards.

On The Field Impact-
As stated before, Larkin was the best player on the Reds for a long run.  Sure, the Reds had Eric Davis at the beginning of his career and the team had Ken Griffey Jr. towards the end of his career, but Larkin was always better than the other good players on the Reds.  Strictly looking at awards, Larkin put up an MVP award in 1995, won a couple of Gold Gloves (would have won more without Ozzie), and also claimed roughly ten Silver Slugger Awards.

Larkin was always a really good shortstop defensively, but was also a top tier offensive player for a middle infielder.  In my opinion, a better defender than a player like Derek Jeter and a better hitter than Ozzie Smith.  Although, I would argue that he is probably much closer to Jeter offensively than most people would probably admit.  Larkin's highest OPS+ season of 155 is higher than any season posted by Derek Jeter.  In fact, for his career Jeter and Larkin are within a point of each other in that statistical category.  The separator between the two for me however, is the fact that Larkin has a higher career dWAR than Jeter who has a negative rating for his career.

The JAWS rating system puts him as the thirteenth best shortstop of all-time immediately behind Jeter and several spots behind Ozzie Smith.  Here's a look at Larkin in action:



Favorite Card:
Larkin has had some pretty cool cards over the years.  A part of me wants to put a card like his 1987 Topps in this space, but everyone has seen that.  Not interesting.  So, I will go with a bit of a dark horse.

1995 Emotion Barry Larkin

I've always rather liked this card.  The Emotion set was released once or twice in the mid 90s and featured close up, almost studio like, pictures of players with a descriptive word.  Cool picture of Larkin in his prime with the red Reds jersey, not black.

Complete Set: 2013 Topps Heritage Minor League

One of my favorite sets of the year dropped just last week and I have made short order of putting together a complete set of all 200 cards in this years Topps Heritage Minor League Set.  Topps has put this set out for the past three years and I have been able to put together the set all three years.  The basic concept for the set is it uses the same card design as the regular Topps Heritage set, but the cards feature minor league players.  To separate out the product a little bit from Bowman, Topps uses pictures of players in their minor league uniforms (not their major league unis airbrushed over their minor league unis).  It's a step up from Pro Debut which also features minor leaguers in minor league uniforms, but on the base Topps design from the current year.  Here's a look at this year's set:

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League Ethan Martin 

Pretty cool looking set in my opinion.  I had to throw in an Iron Pigs card to my post too, not enough Iron Pigs cards are made, but Topps put a few in this set.  As a minor league baseball fan, it's great to see all the players in the minors on cardboard.  Of course, there all not here, but Topps really does a good job with the checklist in this set.  After putting the set together I broke out a few cards that I will highlight as some suggested pick ups and one to avoid.  First, if you are looking for a cool team to collect out of the set I recommend the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.  They are the Phillies AAA team and they play in the International LEague's North Division.  Cool name, cool uniforms.  What's not to love?

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League Hak Ju Lee 

The Durham Bulls would also be a good choice to collect, except there is only one Rays AAA prospect in the set.  Hak Ju Lee had a lost year in Durham with a knee injury, but I am guessing he will come back strong.  In my opinion, he's already good enough to play in the Majors defensively.  He just needs to hit, which he was doing at a .400 plus clip before he blew out his knee.  Good card to pick up, but you hear me say that about Hak Ju Lee twice a month.

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League Sean Gilmartin 

 Does Beckett still do their Rookie Rolodex issue?  The one where every Minor League player is going to be someone?  I bet Sean Gilmartin was Tom Glavine in that issue.  He was a first round draft pick out of Florida State by the Braves in 2011.  He was okay at Florida State.  The first round seemed a bit of a stretch.  I saw him pitch last year for the Gwinnett Braves.  He was a stretch.  Gilmartin had an ERA of almost 6 and struck out only 60 batters in more than 90 innings of work.  He throws hard, but it's rather flat.  The first game I saw him pitch I was not quite sure if batting practice ever ended for the Durham Bulls.  What ever Beckett tells you, Gilmartin cards will be cheap in the future.

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League Francisco Lindor

My sleeper in the set is Carolina Mudcats shortstop Francisco Lindor.  He's a lot like Hak Ju Lee, but I think he's better offensively.  Lindor played great D this summer for the Mudcats, the other team close to my house, and earned a promotion up to Double A Akron late in the summer.  Lindor has pretty inexpensive cards, including autographs, and is one of the reasons that there are rumblings about Asdrubal Cabrera being traded away.  While I think Iglesias (Tigers) is a better fielder, I think Lindor has the potential to be the better all around player.

2013 Topps Heritage Minor League Matt Andriese 

I've got to put this one up.  I've been putting together minor league sets the past three years.  Every year there is a Missions card.  Decent name being in San Antonio and a bonus since it's a Padres minor league team.  Theme?  Yes.  What's going on with the jersey?  It looks like a giant iron-on of the Alamo and frankly reminds me a little bit of the t-shirts they sell in Walgreens.  I live two blocks from a Walgreens and they sell t-shirts for the town of Apex, where I live and type my blog.  Quiz:

According to Walgreens the biggest landmark in Apex is:
A. The Walgreens
B. A Train Depot
C. An Antique Store
D. A Water Tower

According to a bunch of corporate guys in Chicago it's:

Most knowledgable people in Apex would have answered B, or maybe C if you are older than 50.  However, the biggest and tallest thing around Apex is this water tower.  It clears the top of our pine trees.  Just because something is a monument does not means its attractive.  The Alamo is not attractive.  It also does not have a basement....

Platinum Padre

A quick post for this morning.  Catching up on life is putting me a little bit behind on blogging this week, but I have got the next two weeks off work.  Everything will get done.  I had the chance to add a cool card to my collection this past week in the shape of a 2002 Topps Gold Label Ray Lankford Platinum parallel.

2002 Topps Gold Label Platinum Ray Lankford 

The card is serial numbered to 250 and features one of my favorite Cardinals players as a member of the San Diego Padres.  He was traded to the Padres in 2001 for pitcher Woody Williams.  Lankford ended up back on the Cardinals for his final season in 2004.  Lankford does not have many cards as a Padre, but there are a few floating around.  Curiously, most of the really rare Lankford cards, printing plates etc, feature him as a Padre.  Like all Lankford cards, a welcome addition to the collection.