My Top 50 On Cardboard- #26 Stephen Strasburg

My Top 50 On Cardbaord
#26
Stephen Strasburg

2010 Bowman Platinum Stephen Strasburg RC 

The summer of 2010, in the world of baseball cards, was all about Stephen Strasburg.  The previous summer the Washington Nationals used the first selection to pick the San Diego State hurler and from there the story writes itself.  Collectors are always drawn towards shiny objects, and Strasburg was the shiniest object that had appeared in the hobby in quite some time.  My opined him a sure fire ace before he even began his career during the spring of 2010.

Strasburg was an extremely polished college pitcher and breezed through the Nationals minor league system in quick order posting an 8-3 record in 17 starts with an ERA of 1.90 and 94 strikeouts in 75 innings.  Strasburg made his debut on June 8th of 2010 and was pretty incredible from the get go.

Strasburg pitched 7 innings, struck out 14 batters, and only yielded four hits.  The much anticipated debut of Strasburg and subsequent craze was unlike anything else I have seen in following the sport and baseball card hobby over the last thirty years.


Hobby Impact-
Topps has never had a problem with production quantities, but at certain points during the summer of 2010 I think the unthinkable might have actually happened.  Collectors had been hearing the Strasburg hype for several summers.  His dominance in the minors drove some of his USA Baseball cards up, and as Topps began putting out Strasburg rookie cards their prices skyrocketed too.  After his debut performance they were pretty much ridiculous.

I believe in the talent of Stephen Strasburg and have no doubt that is a really good pitcher and will continue to be a really good pitcher.  There is a point however where, as a collector, you have to seriously question whether or not a pitcher with less than a year's worth of professional experience was really worth several hundred dollars for an autograph.

I asked myself that question sometime during the summer of 2010 and decided to unload some of the Strasburg cards in my collection which featured Strasburg in a USA Baseball uniform.  I kept a lot of his base rookie cards, especially if they were essential for completing a set.  I actually ended up with a Topps Chrome (that was the year they were extremely curved) and sold that card too.  Here's a look at one of my USA Baseball autographs I owned from the 2008 Upper Deck Timelines set.

2008 Upper Deck Timelines Stephen Strasburg Autograph 

The Strasburg USA Baseball cards (I owned two, only have a scan of one) sold for somewhere in the low triple digits, while his Topps Chrome card and all it's natural curviness sold for almost $150.  Pretty good amount of money for a few rookie cards.  Base Strasburg rookie cards were pretty easy to move too and would often even sell for more than $5.  Pretty impressive for a modern rookie card.  Inserts, short prints, and serial numbered cards could get really ridiculous.

That was 3/4 of the summer of 2010.  Then Strasburg was diagnosed with a tear in his elbow, under went Tommy John, and then there was the debacle of 2011.  Not his fault, more below.  The end result for Strasburg's hobby status is this: He is a really popular and pricey player to collect, but his cards have lost some of their value over the last two summers.

The best example might be his Topps Chrome rookie card which was selling for $150, or thereabouts, during the summer of 2010 and can now be found for $70 to $80. Pretty significant price drop, but again still pricey for a guy who has four years of experience and will be looking for his 30th career win on Opening Day next season.

The fact remains though that the Strasburg rookies are some of the better cards of the best decade and have a chance to be pretty iconic if the career of Stephen Strasburg pans out into anything resembling an above average to excellent pitcher.  I still think he has an excellent chance of making it happen.  Strasburg does not turn 25 until the middle of next summer and it would appear that the Nationals are trying their best to surround their cornerstone pitcher with some good young talent.

The base Strasburg rookie cards are all very affordable at the moment.  If you add to sneak a Strasburg autograph into your collection I would recommend:

2010 Topps 206 Stephen Strasburg Autograph 

The card sells for more than some of the other Strasburg autographed rookies, but it's also not a sticker autograph and looks a little bit nicer than both the Topps Chrome and the Bowman Platinum card.  By more expensive I am talking $20.  If you are going to spend $75 on an autograph, what's $95 to $100.  Nothing.  If you want a nice looking Strasburg rookie with a signature on it, this is a winner.

On The Field Impact-
This is usually the part of the post where I throw a bunch of numbers at you and tell you how great the player in my post is and why you should value you them as a card collector.  Strasburg is a challenge.  According to JAWS he is the 1,127 best starting pitching of all-time.  One of his similar pitchers through age 24 on Baseball Reference is Bob Knepper.  There's nothing wrong with Bob Knepper, but would you pay $75 for an autograph of a Bob Knepper rookie card?

No, the real argument for Stephen Strasburg on the field revolves around the fact that he is still only 24 and there are some very good signs that he is going to be a very good pitcher in the Majors.  Whether or not he's a good enough pitcher to support his card following and prices remains to be seen, but here are a couple of Strasburg factoids that I like to bring up in support of him being an excellent pitcher.

While the Nationals limited Strasburg to only 28 starts during the 2012 season, he posted an ERA right around 3 and managed to win 15 games.  If Strasburg had been available for the NLDS, as a Cardinals fan, I have no doubt that they would have won the series.  During the 2012 season Strasburg posted an ERA+ of 126, which would have placed him in the Top 10 for the National League had he qualified for the league leaders.  He posted nearly identical stats for the Nats during the 2013 season, minus the wins, but he also played on a fairly mediocre team.

There are a bunch of other things that I could post about the potential greatness of Strasburg, but we've all been hearing it for years.  When I doubt Strasburg, I sit down and watch a Nats game.  I mute Bob Carpenter though.  I suggest you do the same.

Favorite Card-

One of the things missed in the Nationals stockpiling all of the talent during the past few years is the fact that, as the team formerly known as the Expos, they have always struggled to have an identifiable player.  The Expos had good players, but when you think of Andre Dawson is your first thought of him as an Expo?  Tim Raines has always been a yes for me, but Larry Walker is a Rockie, Pedro is a Red Sox, Dawson was a Cub, etc.  

Strasburg, Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Anthony Rendon offer the franchise it's first group of star players which it might actually retain and build around to produce a winner.  It's weird.  If you ever watch a Nationals game on television and they start talking about the team's past it's like having a really odd and uncomfortable conversation.  It could just be Bob Carpenter's fault, but I really think it might be hard to bring up history when you are on the wrong side of it.  

Which brings me to my favorite Strasburg card:

2012 Topps Archives Stephen Strasburg

and you are asking why this card?  First, the 1984 Topps set was one of my favorite sets as a kid.  I really liked the design.  Each team within the set has a unique color combination for the player name and team name.  The Expos combination was the purplish name with a pink team name as displayed on the Strasburg card.  It's a little thing, but I always liked the subtle shout out Topps gave the Expos even if the Nationals are a little too embarrassed to do it themselves.  

500th Post Giveaway

I will be posting my 500th entry to the Snorting Bull Baseball Card Blog coming up sometime during the next week.  I am currently sitting at 493 posts and I usually make one post a day which would put me at 500 sometime next weekend.  I started this blog roughly a year and a half ago and am amazed at how many people visit this website on a daily basis to hear about what cards I have added to my collection, or to hear my opinion on a card, player, or set.  I cannot thank you enough for your support.  

That being said, I am going to do a giveaway in conjunction with post number 500 which is currently scheduled to be about local Durham, North Carolina Major League manager/player Roger Craig.  The coolest card in the post is looking like a copy of a 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game Autograph, so that will be the giveaway card.  

To enter the drawing for the Roger Craig autograph simply like the Snorting Bull Baseball Card Blog on Facebook.  Family members are not eligible (Sorry Christina Seguin).  I will give readers a few reminders and until Thanksgiving day to enter the contest.  Drawing will be held sometime around carving the turkey day festivities at my house.  Again, thank you for your support and taking time out of your day to read my musings on baseball cards and baseball.

Buy Local Part 3- Colin Moran

So far I have covered a high schooler and a Blue Devil with my Buy Local posts.  Today I am going to drive down 15-501 from Duke University to the other blue North Carolina school located in Chapel Hill.  The University of North Carolina has had a great run of baseball teams during the past decade headed by Coach Mike Fox.  There are several Major Leaguers or serious prospects that I could put in this space for a UNC post.  I will get to a bunch of them eventually, but for today I am going to focus on the school's most recent top amateur draft pick, Marlins third baseman Colin Moran.

Moran "slid" in the draft because he was picked sixth instead of the top 5.  He was one of the better players in the ACC last year, and in my opinion, the best offensive player.  His stance reminds me a lot of Andres Galarraga where he is a big guy with an open stance as the ball approaches.  I don't think he will have that kind of pop in the majors, but you never know what can be changed and improved with work in the minors.

Moran's one real weakness, again just my opinion, is once he gets on base he can be kind of a base clogger.  He's a smart base runner, but not a speed burner.  Here's a good example of a base hit to the outfield, not hit directly at the outfielder, with Moran on second he is thrown out at the plate.

He is also a good defender.  Not Scott Rolen or Nolan Arenado, but good.  I am always really surprised by his arm.  If he fields the ball cleanly and has time to throw there is an excellent chance the runner is out.  I think that Moran will likely be a good everyday Major League player, but I am not going to use the word great.  He seems like a guy who will get to the Majors quickly, but he is kind of who he is at this point.  Low ceiling, high basement would be my best description.  On to the cardboard.

2013 Leaf Draft State Pride Blue Colin Moran Autograph 

I recently had a chance to pick up my first Colin Moran autograph for the 2013 Leaf Draft set.  I'm not a huge fan of Leaf (long story that would make a great blog post) and was reluctant to pick up an unlicensed card, but the flag in the background and the fact that there are no other choices made this the only choice.  I know that Moran is on the initial checklist for Bowman Draft this fall, so maybe the choices will increase shortly.  Hopefully.  

His card prices are pretty reasonable as long as you stay away from the really low print runs of 5 and 10 on autographs.  If you have $10 and want a Moran autograph you will likely find one and have enough money left over to buy yourself a bottle of Cheerwine.  Given that Moran is on the Marlins, and is not named Stanton, I would guess that the trend will continue for sometime.  The Marlins always seem to have some good young players that baseball card collectors are slow to pick up on.  See Jose Fernandez.  Moran could hit 30 home runs for the Marlins next year and few would notice.  

My Top 50 On Cardboard- #27 Nomar Garciaparra

My Top 50 On Cardboard
#27
Nomar Garciaparra

1992 Topps Traded Nomar Garciaparra

My favorite, and maybe only tolerable, Red Sox of the past fifteen years.  Nomar Garciaparra was also a pretty fun player to watch and one of those players who you wouldn't mind seeing win something.  Unfortunately, the Red Sox traded him before they won they title in 2004.  Would have made that pill a little easier to swallow.  Anywho, Nomar's rookie card showed up in the 1992 Topps Traded set as a USA Baseball player.  This was a really cool, and slightly pricey card back in the day, but has lost much of its luster nowadays.  A really easy find on Ebay for a couple of bucks.  You can also check out the 1993 Stadium Club Murphy which has the added bonus of being sold in a set that comes in a giant plastic model of Jack Murphy Stadium.

Hobby Impact-
Nomar was part of the big three AL East shortstops in the late 90s with the other two being Derek Jeter and Miguel Tejada.  Garciaparra has always been second fiddle on that list to Jeter with baseball card collectors and it appears it is kind of permanently etched that way at this point.  Garciaparra is still plenty popular though.  In my opinion, he was the face of the Red Sox from late 90s through the early part of the 2000s.

 Even after he was traded, he remained a popular figure with Red Sox collectors.  Topps has put out several Nomar cards including autographs and relic cards since his retirement from baseball in 2009.   My key to find good Nomar cards goes like this: remember that Nomar played for the Cubs, Dodgers, and A's, now go find his Red Sox cards.  The Red Sox traded Nomar for a good reason and the later years of his career were not really reflective of the type of player he was for much of his time on the Red Sox.  Well, maybe 2006 with the Dodgers.

Nomar has plenty of cool cards out on the market largely due to the fact that he was a great player, a popular Red Sox, and just a cool player to watch.  Collectors have their choices with plenty of cool base cards, inserts, and short prints to nab.  If I had to add one Nomar card to my collection though, I would save my money up and buy one of his autographs.  Like this one:

2000 Topps Stadium Club Nomar Garciaparra Lone Star Signature Autograph

Nomar has a great signature which has changed very little over the past fifteen years and is a great add to any collection.  Many of his early Red Sox autographs are on-card signatures (Dodgers and Cubs tend to be stickers) and can be had for between $40 and $50.  A little bit more than the average autograph, but the popular Red Sox factor drives up the price a bit.

On The Field Impact-
As mentioned before, Garciaparra was apart of the big three shortstops in the AL East during the late 1990s.  The American League also had Alex Rodrgiuez at the time making the position quite deep.  Don't tweet me about Omar Vizquel.  For the time being I am just going to focus on Jeter and Garciaparra.  ARod was better than both Jeter and Nomar, and despite spending half his career at third base, ranks as a top 5 shortstop all-time on several different lists.  However, I really despise those who think that Jeter was really better than Garciaparra during the late 90s.  Lets look at some numbers.

Let's start by look at their WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for the years 1997-2000.  That would be Garicaparra's first season through Jeter's fourth World Series title.  According to the court of public opinion, I would guess that many would place Jeter ahead of Garciaparra, but math doesn't lie.

When you compare the years each player you can see that Jeter has two years where he is high than Garciaparra and vice versa.  However, the total number of WAR over this four year stretch is slanted in favor of Garciaparra with 30.6 Wins Above Replacement compared to 28.4 for Jeter.  Jeter also had a negative defensive WAR in two of the seasons during the four year stretch, meaning the Yankees had better defensive options at shortstop, while Nomar had none.

In fact, if you look at the 7 year-peak WAR used for the JAWS rating, Garciaparra is still higher than Jeter despite the fact that Nomar's seven seasons are diluted by injury shortened seasons.  It's one stat, but there are others we can compare too...

Let's take a look at one more.  Here are the two shortstop's OPS+ from the same four year stretch.

Garciaparra has a clear advantage in this stat too.  While Jeter is shown to be an above average player, though 1997 he's rather pedestrian, he is below Garciaparra in three of the years and be large amounts.  The one year that Nomar is not ahead of Jeter, they are just even.

Really the only thing Jeter has going for him in an argument against Nomar Garciaparra is longevity and his World Series rings.  Although it would probably pain Yankees fan to know that Garciaparra has a higher postseason batting average.  If Nomar had played twenty seasons and been manning shortstop in 2004 and 2007, maybe this season too, nobody outside of New York would even debate the better shortstop.

Garciaparra could be a Hall of Famer.  Still really popular as witnessed below.

Favorite Card-
My favorite part of watching Nomar play was watching him hit.  He could hold his own in the field, but he was a great hitter.  He was really busy while he was up at the plate and had the same busy routine before every pitch.  Here it is while he was in AA

 

The pre-pitch routine was cool, but the guy could hit.  I have always enjoyed the cards of Nomar batting more than the cards in the field, so I am going with this one as my favorite. 

2002 Upper Deck Vintage

This appears to be somewhere during the foot shuffle/stomp part of the pre-pitch routine.  Really good photograph by Upper Deck. 

Da Albertross...I mean Albert.

I have done a little writing about Albert Pujols in the past two years since he left the Cardinals for the Angels.  Like most Cardinals fans I would have loved to have seen Albert end his career with the birds on the bat, but for $240 million dollars and the performance he has put up for the Angels in 2012 and 2013, I am doing just fine with Allen Craig, Matt Adams, and Carlos Beltran filling his spot in the Cardinals offense.  Who would have thought the Cardinals would have played more playoff games in Los Angeles than Albert Pujols? 

Like many Cardinals baseball card collectors I decided to part ways with a fairly significant chunk of my Albert Pujols collection towards the end of the 2011 season, when his re-signing started to look murky at best, through the spring of 2012 when Angels fans were going crazy trying to find all the Pujols cardboard they could get their hands on.  And now? 

Just like Albert has become an albatross (I prefer Albertross) to the Angels winning much of many thing for the next decade, Angels collectors have suddenly found themselves stocked with Pujols cards that are plummeting in value.  Many are starting to try to get out from underneath their cards before they fall much further.  The resulting purge of Albertross cards has left the market on his cards considerably lower than when I last did much checking around Pujols cards in 2011. 

So, I recently pulled off swapped out some "garbage" with an Angels collectors to help them move out from underneath two of their Pujols autographs.  Garbage meaning, cards I figured to take a significant hit during the next year in terms of value.  It was a nice package of a Ryan Braun auto, a pair of ARod autos, a Prince Fielder, and a Brian McCann, and package of Darin Erstads.  I also had to part a Jim Edmonds.  It had been awhile since I had pulled off a big trade, but here's what I got back in return:

2003 Topps Albert Pujols Autograph

I have always loved this Pujols autograph.  On card from the base Topps set, but I either could not find one when I had the money and cards to buy or trade for one, or I found one and did not have enough to buy or trade.  I actually found a few of these on Ebay while I was working on the trade and was shocked to see that these cards have a really hard time pushing the century mark in auctions.  In fact, all most every non-premium autograph of Pujols is finishing under a Ben Franklin.  Premiums still catch some good bucks, but not nearly as much as you would think. 

One of the last cool low-print run Pujols cards I sold in 2011 was this cool 2008 Topps autograph card which was numbered out of 25 and was a sticker autograph. 

 

At the time, I was able to sell the card for $250.  Pretty nice price at the time, but it still was not the top of the line for Pujols cards.  It was not hard to find Pujols autographs from his rookie year and extremely high end brands fetch another $100 over that price.  In fact, most of his rookie autographs were much closer to the $500 range two years ago.  Not anymore.  My other new Pujols autograph:

2001 SP Chirography Albert Pujols 

Surprisingly while working on this trade I found several copies of this card that barely crept over $200 which is considerably lower than the price the card used to sell for a few years ago.  I never owned a copy of this Pujols rookie card, but am happy to add it to my collection for the price I picked it up at.  

Honestly, as poorly as Pujols has played the past two years for the Angels, and the likelihood that his 10 year contract with Angels is likely to end, he is still a future Hall of Famer.  Pujols had a great decade long run for the Cardinals and whatever happens during the next eight years with the Angels will have very little effect on the fact that Albert is going to have a plaque in Cooperstown at some point during his lifetime.  

While many collectors are still pointing to the fact that Pujols could fall further, I think we are honestly to the point where his cards are getting to be really good bargains.  There have been plenty of baseball players who played too long (Willie Mays and Rickey Henderson) and while collectors and baseball fans might occasionally talk about Rickey Henderson on the Dodgers or Willie Mays on the Mets, most remember the good points of those players careers.  

At some point Pujols will retire and time will wash away whatever becomes of the Angels years.  I would guess that he will mend fences with the Cardinals at some point and we will see Cardinals fans reengage with Pujols.  It may take a long time, but if Vince Coleman can get a bobblehead after leaving the Cardinals for the (at the time) hated rival Mets, than Pujols can work his way back in too. 

My Top 50 On Cardboard- #28 Clayton Kershaw

Top 50 On Cardboard
#28
Clayton Kershaw

I have had several entries into my Top 50 On Cardboard Countdown headed in the wrong direction.  Tonight's entry will likely be much higher when I revisit this countdown again in the future.  Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball at the moment and is still only 25 years old.  He seems like one of those players who's been around forever, but still probably has another good decade of baseball on him. 

2006 Bowman Sterling Clayton Kershaw Autograph

Kid K has several rookie cards, but most of his rookie cards that are a must have for your collection show up in 2006 products.  I believe the "official" rookie cards for Kershaw are technically in the 2008 releases, but I have officially found that people do not care about technicalities with rookie cards.  2006 happened before 2008 and I would recommend any of his Bowman products.  I own a copy of his Bowman Sterling, but it's a sticker autograph.  Meanwhile his Bowman autograph is not.  If you are looking for a regular, non-autographed, rookie card of the Dodgers southpaw I would recommend the Bowman Original.  Kind of a hidden treasure.  Buy one. 

Hobby Impact-
Kershaw is a really really good player.  We'll get into that in a few minutes below, but given the level of player he is on the field he is really really under-appreciated in the baseball card biz.  First, the Dodgers have a really good collecting fan base.  There are plenty of good Dodgers fans with good money to spend on cards of Dodgers players.  Kerhaw is a favorite, so those collectors will often drive the price up on Kershaw cards.  However, in my opinion Kershaw is starting to gain recognition in the hobby, and with that increased popularity and scarcity in finding tough Kershaw cards.  Also higher prices. 

It's taken the hobby awhile to catch on to Kershaw's value on the field.  After the 2010 season I managed to pick up my second Kershaw autograph, beyond his rookie Bowman Sterling autograph, at a small card shop outside of St. Louis.  At the time Kershaw was basically a .500 pitcher with twenty some wins to his name after three seasons.  He had also doubled his autographs over his first three seasons, stuck out more than a batter per inning, and posted two seasons with an ERA+ over 130.  All of that at the age of 22.  Of course, the Cardinals fans had a cool Colby Rasmus autograph in the 2007 Bowman Sterling set to track down at the time, so the card store owner didn't mind parting with this Kershaw autograph for a mere $15.

2007 Bowman Sterling Clayton Kershaw Jersey/Autograph

It's a sticker autograph again, but it's a low run Kershaw autograph for under $20.  Most base Kershaw autograph now sell for the $20 neighborhood, but the premium autographs sell for much more.  Better yet is the fact that Kershaw has several on-card autographs, including several Allen & Ginters, floating around on the secondary market.  Relics of Kershaw are an absolute steal with jumbo pieces available for less than $10, if you are willing to sit around and wait to bid on them.  Ignore the $50 Buy It Nows on Ebay. 

On The Field Impact-
Has anyone gotten into the EloRater on Baseball Reference?  I've always been a little bit curious about what it means, but I recently took a little bit of time to read up on the rankings system and kind of dig the whole concept behind the rankings.  To summarize, players are given point values based on their overall statistics.  The players are then paired up where they face off and wins and rankings are created.  Here's what you need to know about the EloRaters ranking of Kershaw:

• He is the 7th Best Active Pitcher

• He is the only pitcher on the list under 30, with Captain Crunch Sabathia (33) checking in as the second youngest

• Given the six pitchers in front of him all have uncertain futures (Halladay, Hudson, Oswalt, and Santana) or have retired (Rivera and Pettitte) it's not unrealistic for him to be the best active pitcher on this list before 30

• Kershaw already ranks as the 129th all-time best pitcher and is closing in on passing Hall of Famers Jim Bunning and Catfish Hunter.  

If you like the JAWS system I have been using on my other posts, they actually rank Kershaw slightly lower as the 211 best starting pitcher of all-time, but that's a 25 year old.   He should start catching up to the back end of the Hall Fame pitchers on that list soon too.  If you just like numbers Kershaw has 4 season with more than 200 strikeouts, three ERA titles, one Cy Young Award with a second place finish and another probable Cy Young on it's way soon.  Kershaw has also posted on ERA+ of 161, 150, and 194 the past three seasons.

By the way, he already has the second highest ERA+ of any active player and is already 8th all-time behind guys like Walter Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera, and Lefty Grove.

Favorite Card-
I really like Kershaw the player.  I wish he had been around for a little bit different era of baseball cards, so my favorite Kershaw card is....

2013 Bowman 1992 Bowman Reprint Clayton Kershaw

One of the classic Bowman designs and a popular one for Dodgers fans.  I also love that the card was taken in Busch Stadium with Red Schoendiesnt's number 2 and Stan Musial's number 6 behind this future Hall of Famer. 

The Wizard of Manus

The stream of 2013 Topps Update cards has slowly begun to flow into my mailbox after a few weeks of holding out and resisting.  I knew it was a matter of time before I found a few cards that I liked and I am slowly coming around.  Slowly.  Late last week I checked out the Manupatch products from the Update set and found some pretty slim pickings and a few weird cards.  One of them was an Ozzie Smith.  I bought the card despite it's oddness.  Let's take a look...

2013 Topps Update Record Holder Rings

I guess the concept behind this set of cards was giving Championship Style rings to some of Major League Baseball's record holders.  I guess the concept seems alright on the surface, but I am not sure I really like the style of the cards.  First, Topps has made other manupatch ring cards in the past and they have been a much higher quality than this card.  The piece of "ring" in the middle of the card feels cheap and undersized compared to past issues.

Second, why break from the award theme started in earlier series of 2013 Topps baseball and make-up cheesy rings to give players.  Topps did Silver Sluggers and MVP awards in Series 1 this year and Rookie of the Year Awards in Series 2.  Why not give out Gold Gloves or Fielding Bibles, more MVPs.  Something cooler than this.

It's been a good year for the Manupatches in the 2013 Topps cards, but the Record Holders cards are a little bit of a let down at the end of the year.  I am not going to turn down many Ozzie Smith cards, but this card would be awesome with a giant metal Gold Glove attached in place of the slightly crooked thin cheap ring currently there.