The Durham Athletic Park

It was a dreary Saturday afternoon here and the wife is a little bit under the weather.  My sons and I headed out for a little field trip to Durham.  I let him pick out a spot to stop for lunch and then we headed to downtown to visit an old friend.  When I first moved to North Carolina I worked just north of downtown Durham for several years.  I either lived in the southwest part of Durham, near Duke, or in the Research Triangle Park area and drove past the Durham Athletic Park all of the time.  It was just a block or two out of my way on my morning commute.  Two extra minutes?  I've got time to drive past it.

It's been a few years since I had been past it, which is really a shame.  North Carolina Central, an HBC in Durham, actually plays their home baseball games in the park, but I have not managed to make my way to one of the games yet.  I will change that at some point this spring.  In the meantime, I just spent a little bit of time today walking around the park snapping some pictures.  I promise to return for an actual baseball game sometime in February or March and take some pictures around the inside of the stadium.

The tower, which appears in it's own pictures and with the ballpark, is the Durham Fire Drill Tower.  Kind of a cool old building across the street from the stadium.

In the meantime, here are a few just to give you an idea.

Acetate Fever!

There have been a lot of different acetate cards put out during this past year.  For me, as a collector, I started out with a few of the acetate cards out of the Topps sets.  Really nice cards and one of my favorite parts of the Topps sets from last year....

I felt like these were kind of a constant last year.  Topps issued a series of cards and I spent a few weeks chasing down a bunch of these cards.  I would find most of the cards I was looking for and the next series of Topps would drop.  The cycle just kept repeating.  As much time and money as I spent finding acetate cards out of the Topps sets this year, there are still a few I would like to add to my collection.  I found one of them last week and finalized a trade for the card this afternoon.  Pretty exciting. 

Besides the acetate parallels in the base Topps set, there were also plenty of cool autographs in the acetate based Topps Tek set.  Sure, the Ron Gant card was a bit of bummer, but there are plenty of cool cards in this sets return.....

I think this might be my favorite autograph I have added out of the set so far, but I still have two of these cards I have yet to post.  Love the look of these cards and have considered working on a project to assemble the base set of these cards.  Topps did a great job of reviving this cool late 90s/early 2000s acetate baseball card set.  

Two acetate baseball card obsessions in a year is pretty good.  What else could there possibly be that would fit into my collection?  

Have you seen the new USA Baseball cards that Panini put out recently?  

I live about ten minutes away from the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, North Carolina and always make time to check out a few of their games every year.  I really enjoy watching the college team the best, but still check in on the other teams here and there.  This past summer I attended one their games against Chinese Taipei and did a write up about some of the players I saw during the game.  

When Panini dropped the USA Baseball set I naturally checked in to see if I could find some autographs of the players who stuck out in my mind during the summer when I saw this sweet Justin Garza card:

That's an autograph over an acetate strip with a jersey relic.  Acetate!  Again!  More!  How cool is that.  I really liked watching Justin Garza pitch last summer and have some big hopes for him as a Major League pitcher.  He's only 5'11, which makes him on the small side for a pitcher, but he has a great arm.  I had a couple more players on the USA team I would love to add, but I am going to be patient with this set since the cards seem to trend downward over time.  The cards also seem to trickle out on the marketplace which makes the first couple of cards a little bit pricier than they should be.  Still, I am excited at the prospects of adding more acetate cards to my collection.

Friday Five: Top 5 Durham Bulls Second Basemen

I must say that I really enjoy writing these posts on the Durham Bulls.  Minor leaguers are fun to research and there is a lot of work you have to do to connect some of the dots on the players.  So far I have published two Durham Bulls Friday Five posts on their Top 5 catchers and first basemen of all-time and I am already contemplating scrapping/revising those lists.  Actually I am at peace with my list of first baseman, but my catchers list will likely be redone at some point.  I started working on the second baseman post several weeks ago and did more work for this post than anything I have posted on here in a long time.  Hope you enjoy this list:


Shout Outs:

Some of the Minor League stats are records are not the best once you leave the 1980s.  How many RBIs did Joe Morgan have for the Durham Bulls?  I am not sure, but he .332 with 13 home runs and 20 doubles in only 95 games.  Don't worry, he's on the list and not in this shout out section.  The actual five second basemen on the list are ranked on both their time with the Durham Bulls and their impact beyond.  I am going to post a few players here who look like they might be deserving of the honor, but I could not find enough data of some sort to give the player a nod onto the list.  Almost all of the players in this section appeared for the Durham Bulls during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.  

Rewind to that first base post for a second.  I am going to add this one:

John Radulovich- This Tigers farmhand appeared on the 1953 Durham Bulls.  He is listed as a first baseman and a second baseman, but there is no exact break down of where he played in the field and how many times.  There are also many minor leaguers who start off playing a position and end playing another position.  It appears that Radulovich start out playing second, missed time for World War 2, and then returned to the Minors in the late 40s and early 50s as a first baseman.  In this case, there is a record for the 1953 Durham Bulls that Radulovich appeared in 101 games at first base for the Class B Carolina League team that season.  Why the late shout out?  In 395 at bats the 30 year old (very Crash Davis like) hit .349, with a .585 slugging percentage, 19 home runs, 4 triples, and 28 doubles.  All of that stacks up against the five first basemen I picked a few weeks ago.

now second basemen...

Mike Fontenot- I am throwing a curve for my first shout out player.  Mike Fontenot has spent the last two years playing a lot of second base for the Durham Bulls.  The long time Cub and Giants second baseman has been an invaluable part of two division winners and the 2013 Governors Cup Championship team.  All of the players on this list have better numbers than Fontenot, but he's also one of the few players on my Friday Five Durham Bulls Second Baseman list who I have seen in person.  I can tell you the Bulls probably would not have gotten as far as they had the past two years without this Major League veteran taking the field.

Rufus Anderson- Rufus Anderson spent a few years in Durham during the summers of 1959, 1960, and 1961 playing shortstop and 2nd for the Class B Carolina League Team.  Again, the defensive records are not great, but it looks like he played 2B for 108 games in 1961.  I am not sure where he played in the field the other two years on the Bulls, but I can probably speculate that some of the time was playing second.  During his 1961 season the 22 year old Tigers farm hand hit 19 homers, 5 triples, and 21 doubles while posting a slash line of .272/.314/.439.  For the era, Anderson displayed a good deal of pop for a middle infielder.    Anderson never appeared in the Major Leagues.

Edward Richardson- This guy was Kevin Youkilis before Kevin Youkilis.  His last year of professional baseball was spent in Durham playing for the Class B Houston Colts affiliate.  It appears that Richardson played a lot of second base that year for the Bulls, but also spent time playing other places on the infield during his career.  During his one season in Durham his slash line was .256/.414/.426.  Not a typo, but that's a pretty hard line to duplicate.  For what it's worth Youk had a .382 OBP, but had a slugging percentage of .478.  Richardson's on base was greatly helped by his incredible 117 walks that season.  He also had 13 home runs, 25 doubles, and 73 RBIs.  You wonder what would have happened to a guy like this if he played during a different era.

Woody Fair- He's listed as having played second base on his Baseball Reference page, but I am not sure if he played there for the Durham Bulls.  What I do know is that he appeared for the 1946 Durham Bulls and played in 139 games that season.  During those 139 games he had 569 at bats and hit .348 with a .589 slugging percentage, 24 home runs, 7 triples, and 51 doubles.  Again, not sure if he played second base, but that's a really good season.  In fact, in talking to a few folks who witnessed the Carolina League in the late 1940s and early 1950s, they are hard to find, they describe Woody Fair as the best player in the league during that time.  He appeared almost exclusively for Carolina League teams between 1946 and 1951.  Interestingly his final season in 1951 was spent playing for the Raleigh Capitals managed by former Cardinals star Joe Medwick.

5.  Elliot Johnson

The most recent member of the team on this list, Johnson was an important part of the very successful Charlie Montoyo Era for the Durham Bulls.  Johnson appeared in games for the Durham Bulls during the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 seasons.  He also appeared in 2 games for the 2011 team, but we are going to ignore those 9 at bats.  I am not sure if I can really point out a singular great season that Johnson posted during that time for the Bulls, but the team won and he was on the field a lot playing pretty well.  In 2009 the Bulls won the Triple A National Championship game with Johnson slashing .265/.324/.450 with 11 home runs, 11 doubles, and 7 steal in 68 games.  The slash line was pretty typical of Johnson's time in Durham and he usually had pretty good pop and speed to go along with solid defense.

4.  Tony Graffinino 

Graffanino appeared for the Durham Bulls as a farmhand for the Braves and Rays.  During his first trip through Durham he was a 21 year old second baseman playing for the Braves A ball team.  He posted a .275/.342/.460 line with 15 home runs, 30 doubles, 24 steals, and 69 RBIs.  Six years later Graffanino appeared for the Bulls as a late twenty-something trying to make it back up to the big leagues.  I might add that he was successful and ended up playing in the Majors until 2007 before spending 2007 and 2008 back in the International League.  During his second appearance in Durham Graffanino hit .313/.379/.499 with 9 home runs, 6 triples, 25 doubles, 58 RBIs, and 16 steals in just 87 games.  He also appeared in 10 games with the Bulls during the 2000 season, but it looks like it was a rehab appearance, but for what it's worth he had a .286/.405/.543 line during those games.

3.  Mark Lemke 

Lemke appeared for the Durham Bulls in 1987 and spent almost the whole summer playing for the second base for the team.  While you probably do not remember Lemke hitting in the Majors, he held his own during his time in the Minors.  During the 1987 season the Bulls second baseman hit .292/.364/.485 with 20 home runs, 28 doubles, 3 triples, and 10 steals.  Lemke went on to be an important member of the 1990s Braves teams including the 1995 World Series Champions.  

2.  Ron Gant 

Gant played second base?  Absolutely.  Gant appeared in 135 games for Durham Bulls in 1986 all of them at second base.  During that season Gant hit .277/.372/.529 with 26 home runs, 10 triples, 31 doubles, 102 RBIs, and 35 steals.  I thought I was surely going to find a Carolina League MVP in there for that performance, but it appears that Ron was best by Mets prospect Gregg Jefferies who hit .354 with 43 steals in just 95 games with the Lynchburg Mets.  Still a great year for Gant and one of the better offensive seasons in the history of the Bulls.  Gant started off on the infield for the Braves, but eventually ended up as an outfielder for the majority of the team he played in Majors.  He was a feared power hitter, but ended up spending the second half of his career bouncing around the league.

1.  Joe Morgan 

Obviously the biggest impact beyond his time with the Durham Bulls, but he was a pretty special player during his brief stay with the team.  Again, the record on Morgan's time with the Bulls is incomplete.  He hit .323 with a .434 slugging percentage in 95 games with the Bulls, but their is no record of walks, nor his on base percentage.  Morgan also hit 13 home runs, 20 doubles, and 2 triples in just 322 at-bats.  Morgan went on to be an important part of the 1970s Cincinnati Reds teams hitting over 250 career home runs, driving in more than 1000 RBIs, and stealing almost 700 bases.  He won two World Series rings for the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.  Bill James called Morgan "the percentages player in baseball history"

Friday Five: Top 5 Cardinals Third Baseman

Honorable Mention-  Albert Pujols 

Third base is a hard position.  Albert Pujols makes my honorable mention list based on his one season as a Cardinals third baseman.  It also happens to be one of the better rookie seasons ever, so there's that.  Again, third base is a hard position.  Without giving away the rest of the list, in one season as the Cardinals third baseman Albert Pujols posted a WAR of 6.0.  Terry Pendleton, who is also on this list, posted a WAR of 4.9 for the Cardinals in 7 seasons.  Pujols also had 47 doubles, 37 home runs, drove in 130 runs, and posted a slash line of .329/.403/.610.  The rookie third baseman also won the National League Rookie of the Year, made the All-Star team, and finished fourth in MVP voting.

5. (tie) Joe Torre 

Joe Torre spent one season as the Cardinals full time third baseman in 1971.  Turned out pretty well.  If I can put Pujols on here for one Rookie of the Year season I can also put Joe Torre on here for one really good MVP winning season.  In 1971 Torre posted a slash line of .363/.421/.555 with 24 home runs, 137 RBIS, and 230 hits.  The RBIs, hits, and batting average all lead the National League that year.  He posted an OPS+ of 171 and an oWAR of 8.6.  Torre spent a fair number of games at third again in 1972 before the Cardinals used him almost exclusively as a first baseman his last few seasons in St. Louis.  While his 1972 season was a far cry from his 1971 season, Torre still posted a .289/.357/.419 line with 11 home runs, 81 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 122.

4.  Terry Pendleton 

Pendleton was an important cog on the 1980s Cardinals.  Some times the Whiteyball era players can be a little tough to judge.  While Pendleton went on to win a batting title and an MVP award with the Braves, he was not that player while he was on the Cardinals.   In 7 seasons as a Cardinal Pendleton hit .259/.308/.356 with only 44 home runs.  He also only stole 99 bases as a Cardinal and almost all of those happened during his first four seasons on the team.  Pendleton is here for defense.  During those 7 seasons as a Cardinal Pendleton posted a dWAR of 10.7 which included a 1985 season of 2.9 and two seasons of 2.3 in 1986 and 1989.  It's not Ozzie Smith, but it's closer than you think.  For example, in 1985 Ozzie Smith led the National League in dWAR.  Pendleton was second.  In 1986 Pendleton finished fourth.  In 1985 Pendleton led the National League in Total Zone Runs with 24 and finished second in Range Factor.  In 1986 he finished second in Total Zone Runs and led in Range Factor.  In other words, if you hit the ball on the ground to the right side of the Cardinals infield, with Smith and Pendleton playing, you were likely out.  

3.  Scott Rolen 

I could have lived with Rolen at two or three on this list.  I think that the peak of Rolen was actually higher than my player at my two spot, but Rolen's lows as a Cardinal were really low.  Plus there is always the whole World Series ring.  Rolen has one ring from 2006.  He won it while pouting on the bench.  My player at two has three rings.  Now, on with Scott Rolen.  Rolen was probably already the best third baseman in the National League when the Cardinals picked him up from the Phillies in 2002.  He had a shot at an MVP award in 2004 when he hit .314/.409/.598 with 34 home runs, 124 RBIs, and Gold Glove defense.  He just decided to have his career year the same year that Jim Edmonds had a career year and Pujols was Pujols.  He finished fourth in the voting, but could have easily won many other years.  For his Cardinal career Rolen posted an OPS+ of 127, but only spent six years in St. Louis.  At his peak he could have been first on this list, but his Cardinals career was too short to move him past this spot on my list.  He was traded to the Blue Jays after the 2007 season was spent feuding with Tony LaRussa over playing time and health concerns with Rolen's shoulder which was injured in a weird play at first base in 2005.  The play involved Hee Seop Choi who seemed to run over a lot of people in the mid 2000s.  Ask Mark Prior.  Rolen ended up being a good player the rest of his career, but probably could have been the best Cardinals third baseman and a Hall of Famer in a perfect world.

2.  Whitey Kurowski 

Kurowski had a short career, but played on several important Cardinals teams that won three World Series titles.  Whitey was not just along for the ride either, but was an important part of the team.  The four time National League All-Star won the World Series with the Cardinals in 1942, 1944, and 1946.  He also helped the 1943 Cardinals to a National League pennant.  During his 9 year career, all spent with the Cardinals, he averaged 19 home runs and 94 RBIs with a career slash line of .286/.366/.455. He is one of those rare players who actually walked more in his career (369) than struck out (332).  His best season was probably in 1945 when he hit 21 home runs, drove in 102, and hit .323.  While JAWS ranks him as the 85th best third baseman to ever play the game, his OPS+ of 125 puts him in the top 30 of all-time even with Hall of Famer Ron Santo.  

1. Ken Boyer 

Boyer is the only Cardinals player, with their number retired, who is not in the Hall of Fame.  Basically, the most common argument is that he and Ron Santo are really the same player.  If Santo got in then Boyer should be in too.  Boyer was a really good and consistent player for the Cardinals for a decade starting in 1955 running through 1965.  During that time Boyer was always good for 25 to 30 home runs, 90 to 100 RBIs, a .290 to .300 batting average, an OBP over .350 and a SLG near .500.  He won the National League MVP in 1964 and hit a grand slam in the World Series to help the Cardinals defeat the Yankees, but in my opinion his best year was actually 1960.  During that season Boyer hit .304/.370./562 with 32 home runs, 10 triples, 32 doubles, 97 RBIs, and won a Gold Glove.  The problem with Boyer's Hall of Fame candidacy in my opinion is his post Cardinals years.  He bounced around with the Mets, White Sox, and Dodgers before calling it quits.  There were some rough years in there.  Still, as a Cardinal he played at a high level and is a pretty easy choice for the first spot on this list. JAWS ranks him as the 14th best third baseman of all-time.

2014 Snorting Bull Awards: Goat of the Year

2014 Goat of the Year 

Last year there was a clear winner, in the form of Alex Rodriguez for this award.  I spent a lot of time thinking about this award for 2014, but there was not a player who was a clear and dry no brain winner.  ARod's play has declined, there have been loads of steroid problems off the field, and the values of his cards have plummeted over the last two years.  ARod did not play this year and his cards did not drop anymore so I am going to let him off the hook.  

There were a few steroid rumblings during the past year with players like Ryan Braun and Johnny Peralta, but their card values did not really seem to be hurt by their suspensions and time away from the game.  Peralta played fine for the Cardinals, but Braun had an off year for the Brewers.  Braun had career lows in almost every category, but his cards are still selling and doing quite well.  Sure there are still a few bargains out there, but generally his cards seem to sell for roughly the same prices now as they did last year.  Steroid user for Goat of the Year?  No.  

I also considered a few players who had declining performance on the field.  Joey Votto and Evan Longoria both received careful looks.  Both franchise players had power outages during the 2014 season and set career lows in several categories.  Both players saw the values of their cards fall during the 2014 season, but the fall in card pricing was not drastic.  Both players remain very popular in the hobby and ares still highly collectable.

So, who is my Goat of the Year?  Be prepared for a little bit of outrage out of some people.  I am going with Bryce Harper.  I know, I know, but hear me out for a couple of minutes.


1.  Falling Prices

While there are still some very strong Harper autograph sales there are also some chinks in the armor of his hobby pricing.  Several years ago collectors could hardly scratch a Harper autograph for anything less than $100.  There are still many Harper autographs that still sell for big dollars, but those are either rookie cards or low print, high end products.  Want a base autograph of Harper out of a Topps set?  The price is now just about half of what it used to be a few years ago.  For patient collectors, who are willing to wait out the right autograph, Harper autographs are now starting to drift below $50.

Want to take a shot on a redemption card and you can find things for even less than this.  In person autographs are all the way down into the 20s, but there is more to Harper receiving this award than card prices that are declining.  So, what can possibly stop the decline of prices on Harper cards?  I am not sure there is much that can slow this trend down.


2.  Falling Performance

I understand that Bryce Harper is a really young player with plenty of potential.  I have watched plenty of Minor League baseball and I can see that he is more than capable of being a very special player.  I also understand that we are only three years into his career.  Again, plenty of time to grow as a player.  Especially for a player who is only 22.  However, Harper's career seemed to take a step back last year.  Sites like FanGraphs are optimistic that Harper can bounce back in 2015, but how long can a .275 average with 25 home runs is going to justify autographs that sell over $100?  That question is already starting to be answered.


3.  It's A Business, Take It Out on Your Fans

Harper is a young player and he has signed a ton of autographs in his career already.  As a long time collector I am always appreciative of the players who take time to sign for fans.  Whether they sign for fans at the park, outside the stadium, answer fan mail and letters....it takes a person literally seconds to sign their name and it can mean so much.  I recently ran into a Nationals fan, locally in Raleigh, who was really upset at Harper for skipping out on the Nationals Fan Fest this past month.  They had planned on attending the event for months and they were disappointed that Harper bailed on the event.  Why you ask?  Surely there was a great reason not to spend an afternoon talking and signing for your loyal fans.  Nope.  If you have not been following Harper this offseason, he's filed a grievance (and settled with a 2 year $7 million contract) over his arbitration rights.  There are several articles floating around the internet about Harper skipping the FanFest, and while an excuse was offered by the Harper/Boras camp, nobody is really buying.

Dear #Nats fans, Mr Harper couldn't see you due to his temper tantrum @Bharper3407 http://t.co/m8zBY0fAzc
— Chris Miller (@MillerChris0886) December 14, 2014

If Harper wants to kick the A logo behind home plate in Atlanta that's fine, but kicking the fans that show up and support you?

There have been some bad missteps by Harper this year and his status in the hobby has certainly started to erode.  Personally, I own Harper cards and have a copy of his rookie Bowman autograph.  I would love nothing more than for Harper to come out and hit 30 home runs this year, but given what transpired this year I have my doubts.  In the meantime, the falling card prices, declining performance on the field, and mistreatment of fans off of it have earned Bryce Harper my Goat of the Year.


FYI- The goat of the year is named after this fine fellow.

Snorting Bull Awards: 2014 Hobby MVP

2014 Hobby MVP

I did not give out this award last year, but decided to add it to my list of end of year accolades.  I went through and made some criteria and had a few different players I considered for this award.  There is the obvious choice, Derek Jeter, but collectors had ample notice that he was leaving the game at the end of the year and his retirement did very little to move the needle on his card market.  Jeter was popular and would still be popular if he were playing this year, or he had just picked a random day in the middle of the year and walked.

Instead I decided to go with Madison Bumgarner.

I quietly dabble in Bumgarner cards.  He's a North Carolina guy and it's hard to pass up cards of a pitcher that talented.  We had the 2014 Postseason, but this was Bumgarner's third successful trip to the postseason.  During the past World Series appearances the price of Bumgarner cards would bump up a little bit around the time of the World Series and then just fall back down into Earth.  During the 2012 season I picked up an ordinary Madison Bumgarner autograph and spent about $7 on the card.

Prices on Bumgarner cards were still selling for less then $10 at the beginning of the year.  This card is now selling consistently for more than $20.  Harder to find autographs of Mad Bum are even pricier now.  One of my favorite Bumgarner cards of all-time is his 2010 Topps National Chicle autograph.  Not the world's best set, but the Bumgarner autograph in the set is awesome.

At the time this set released I went out and got a bunch of the autographs including the Bumgarner.  This was one of the more expensive autographs in the set at the time and cost me about $15 shipped.  Like his Topps autographs, it has had it's fluctuations, but is now selling for more than $30.  Sure, there could be a dip in some of the prices of Bumgarner cards, but the guy is 25 and has 3 World Series rings.  Bumgarner could have a pretty uneventful rest of his career and his cards will still always have decent value because of his work over in the postseason over the last five seasons.  2014 helped to cement Bumgarner's place in the deep end of the baseball card swimming pool and made him my 2014 Hobby MVP.