We need to talk.....

I know I have dedicated a few posts over the last year to the Topps Bunt app.  I have heard all the complaints about how the cards are not real, the daily reward is not high enough, and I am not going to spend my time on cards I am never actually going to touch.  Yes, cards like this Hank Aaron autograph are really cool, but

I also understand I will never hold it in my own hands.  Definitely takes away a little bit of the enjoyment.  Still, I have continued to collect cards on Bunt.  Well, actually this what I need to talk to you about.  Again, I understand some of the gripes and complaints about the digital baseball card world, but it's still fun to open some packs and see some cards.  In fact, I went ahead and added the Star Wars card trader to my phone as well.  I know it's probably too many e-cards.....

It was all harmless when it started......

 

Who doesn't like Admiral Ackbar?  There are all kinds of classic Star Wars characters from back in my childhood.  Was I a huge Star Wars fan?  I liked the movies, I think huge is too far.  Still I liked the cards on the Star Wars Trader app.  The concept was simple with cards coming in the different factions from the movie with different color variations of each of the cards.  I like simplicity and I like collecting cards.  In my opinion, it's a cool app and loads of fun to collect these cards.  Others see it more like the most famous line from my friend Admiral Ackbar.....

I have actually learned a lot about the movies and characters from using this app.  Did I mention that it is free?  I know a lot of people do not like the Bunt app because the daily reward seems small and seems to be set up so that people spend their own money on the app.  I have a pretty good collection going after just a few months on the Star Wars Card Trader with exactly $0 of my own money spent on the app.  I receive 25,000 credits each day which buys me a few packs with a 60,000 credit as my weekly reward which buys many packs.  

Along the way I run to old favorites from my childhood like Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.  I also run into people that leave me scratching my head.  Who is this guy?  What movie was he in?  

and that's where I can go find some people who really love Star Wars to fill me in with the answers.  I was leaning towards some sort of half lizard/dino/canine.  Here's the answer......

The inserts are a little easier to find on the Star Wars Trader app too.  I usually end up with at least one insert every week, if not more.  I have had some pretty long droughts on Bunt without find anything outside of base cards and some colored parallels.  The inserts look pretty cool too.

This has been the far most popular insert I have pulled.  I feel like I get a trade offer almost every day for it, but I like these throwback looking cards.  I do not know enough about Star Wars cards to say whether these are based on an older release of cards, but they are cool looking.  I actually have landed a few of these and have tried trading for a few others.  My most recent insert is this cool looking Luke Skywalker card.....

I know that this card is based on the 1977 Topps Star Wars cards.  Best of all it was a pretty long odds card (1:77) that I actually landed, which is one thing that I love about the Star Wars Card Trader.  There are some long odds on some of the cards, but it seems like every once in awhile you end up landing one.  On BUNT, outside of Hank Aaron, I cannot really think of a cool card where I really felt like I beat long odds to land the card.  

I understand that some collectors are going to be reluctant to do cards of any kind in an app, but I am having a lot of fun with the Star Wars cards.  I really like it a lot better than the BUNT and have actually started contemplating ending my account on and just sticking with the Star Wars Card Trader.  I fully understand that I will never own any of these cards, but it's still a fun few minutes out of my day.  

Give it a try.  I am glad we had this talk....

#MyCardMonday

I have been trying to make a few of the #MyCardMonday posts about current events around baseball, so I have to give this week's post to former Cardinals player Albert Pujols.  The Machine is off to a slow start by his standards, but more importantly, he is starting to pass some big names on the all-time home run list.  So far this year year Albert has passed Ted Williams, Frank Thomas, and McCovey.  This weekend he moved past Jimmie Foxx

I know it does not look like he has passed him, but Baseball Reference always takes a day to update their stats.  Even with Albert being on the Angels I am having a pretty good time watching him pass some really good names on the home run list.  This week could bring Mickey Mantle, so I will be keeping track of his at-bats the next few days.  

In the meantime #MyCardMonday this week goes back for an easy to find Pujols rookie.  There are so many of them and there are a ton of short prints and serial numbers amongst them.  His Upper Deck one is a nice looking card that is easy to find and not too expensive.  

I have always really liked this card.  It's an action shot and it is likely from the Cardinals first road trip during the 2001 season which took the team to play the Rockies and Diamondbacks.  Pujols hit his first career home run against the Diamondbacks that week.

Underrated and Undervalued

I read this great article this afternoon about one of my favorite 1990s Cardinals player Ray Lankford. If you have been a reader for awhile you've probably seen your far share of Lankford posts, but I understand he spent most of his career playing for the Cardinals and he was not exactly the most remembered player in franchise history.  Still, St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer Bernie Miklasz did a great job of explaining why Lankford is one of the most underrated players in the great history of the Cardinals.  Which got me thinking about a few players who are underrated within the baseball card hobby.

Are there some Hall of Famers that are underrated by the hobby?  What about some non-Hall of Famers?  I have decided on a short list for each group.  Let's start with the non-Hall of Famers.  Really, some of these guys deserve to be in the Hall.

Ted Simmons- When I was a kid my brother used to love Ted Simmons.  By the time I got into baseball Ted Simmons was an old guy on the Braves.  I did not really see what was so great about Simba.  Years later I started to perk my ears up to the long time Cardinals/Brewers catcher when I saw some different fans making impassioned blog posts about how Simmons was really a Top 10 catcher all-time.  I had to consult my Baseball Encyclopedia, but I think that Simba supporters might be one to something.  He's not Mike Piazza or Johnny Bench, but he had almost 250 career home runs, almost 500 career doubles and almost 2500 hits.  Add in a few superlatives like 8 All-Star Games, a Silver Slugger, 6 top 20 finishes in MVP voting, and you've got a strong resume.  So what does this have to do with baseball cards?  Simmons has an OPS+ of 117.  Carlton Fisk has an OPS+ of 118.  I guess Simmons did not wave a ball fair in World Series that he lost, but he the two of them have the same number of World Series home runs (2) and the same of World Series rings (0).  Seriously, how many baseball cards of Fisk have card companies made since the beginning of the modern baseball card era?  Now, Fisk's career might have slightly crossed over into that era near the end, but Topps makes a Carlton Fisk card almost every year.  He has been included in dozens of autograph sets too.  Simba?  He just has a straight run of baseball cards extending from the early 70s into the late 80s.  No autographs and his cards are dirt cheap.  The man deserves better.  

Gary Sheffield- I could actually make this post about several 1990s right fielders, but I will go with Sheffield because it's Sunday morning and he has the easiest argument.  Just know that Bobby Abreu and Brian Giles should probably get a little bit more love too, but I do not want to make this post only about slighted right fielders from the last 20 years.  Sheffield has 500 home runs, 450 doubles, 250 stolen bases, almost 3000 hits, and OPS+ higher than Tony Gwynn, Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, and Roberto Clemente.  Sheffield never won an MVP award, but in 1996 he hit 42 home runs, 33 doubles, had a .465 OBP, .624 slugging percentage, and an OPS+ of 189.  Somehow he finished 6th in voting.  Somehow Ken Caminiti won the award over Sheffield.  Bonds went 40/40 that year and lost?  Shocking.  Sheff played for 8 different teams during this career and left a few of cities on not great terms which is a huge reason why I think he sometimes lacks traction in the Hall of Fame vote and does not get a lot of love in the baseball card hobby.  As a modern player Sheffield has some really high end stuff out there, but there are also some cards of his that are ridiculously cheap.  His rookie cards are inexpensive because they were made in 1989, so I do not have much of an argument there.  However, if you are patient it's not too difficult to find copies of certified on-card autographs of the former outfielder for less than $5.  Even the high end stuff is surprising low.  After searching out his sold autographs on Ebay I found one autograph numbered to 5 for less than $20 and another out of /10 for $15.  How much would a Reggie Jackson autograph out of /10 cost?  Sheff is undervalued.  

Bobby Grich- I could have put a Trammell/Whitaker card here, but that argument gets made all of the time.  Here's a different name: Bobby Grich.  He's a player I have discovered later in life, he was career was winding down by the time I started to pay attention to baseball.  According to Jaffe's WAR ratings Grich is the 7th best second baseman all-time ahead of guys like Jackie Robinson and Ryne Sandberg.  Yes, Lou Whitaker too.  His counting numbers are really similar to Chase Utley, but then throw in a bunch of Gold Gloves and he catapulted up into the top 10 of second basemen all-time.  So, what about those baseball cards?  Let's face it, there is zero market for Bobby Grich cards.  In some ways it's cool because it's cost me nothing to add a whole bunch of cool cards of a really good player.  His rookie card is in the iconic 1971 Topps set, but can be found for next to nothing.  He has a few autographs floating around too, but none of them sell for more than $5.  I am not quite sure how someone with this good of a career gets this little attention, but here we are....

On to some Hall of Famers.....

Roberto Alomar- Alomar was a really good player for 13-14 years of his 17 year career.  The last few years were really really rough and I am surprised that the Hall of Fame voters overlooked the White Sox/Diamondbacks/Devil Rays part of his career.  While Robbie Alomar made it into the Hall of Fame there are a few too many collectors who did not forget those last few years.  It seems like certain Alomar cards sell really well and others do not.  For example, I have been looking for a copy of his Topps Tek autograph from last year to add to my collection.  It's a Blue Jays card and an on-card autograph, but frequently sells for less than $10.  There are numerous other Alomar cards that sell in this same price range.  His older autographs, from 1996 Leaf Signature and the old Donruss Signature Series cards, still sell really well.  

Dick Williams- Williams managed the Red Sox to the American League pennant in his first year as a manager and would go on to lead the A's to two World Series wins in the early 70s, and the Padres to the NL pennant towards the end of his career.  In all Williams won 4 League Pennants and 2 World Series titles and ended his career with more than 1500 wins.  Williams also spent 13 years in the bigs as an outfielder playing for the Dodgers, Orioles, Indians, A's, and Red Sox.  Williams has a lot of cards ranging from his playing days in the 1950s up to modern sets which have included him as an autograph signer.  His cards are inexpensive, especially his autographs which can be had for less than $10 in some cases.  Recently he's been in a bunch of Panini sets, but his best autographs are in the Fleer Greats of Game products and Upper Deck Sweet Spot.  Both are inexpensive.  

Fringe Hall of Famers- I put a Rollie Fingers autograph up there, but I could have gone with Orlando Cepada, Jim Rice, or Tony Perez too.  These guys are all good baseball players, but I frequently see baseball fans argue against them being in the Hall of Fame.  Again, good players, but I think that sometimes the fact that their inclusion in the Hall is questioned hurts their card values and collectability.  I try to pick up an autograph of every Hall of Famer and own autographs of some of the players listed above, but they are not high on my list.  For example, I owned a Jim Rice autograph, but traded it away for something I really wanted to add to my collection.  Will I replace it?  Maybe, but I never saw him play in person and I am not sold on him being in the Hall.  I think a Red Sox fan blocked me once on Twitter when I told them Jim Edmonds was more deserving......I think guys like Jim Rice, Rollie Fingers, Tony Perez, Orlando Cepeada are beloved by some fan base and there is little love, or desire to spend money on cards, outside of that group of fans.  Whether you believe they belong in the Hall or not, they are good players with pretty inexpensive cards.  

This Post Has Been Thrown Away......

The most hectic part of my week has been keeping up with the social schedule of my four year old.  Last weekend there was soccer which was followed by Spirit Week at school all culminating in my son's final week of pre-school.  How do four year olds do spirit week?  There was hat day......

stuffed animal day.......

and there was also a backwards day too.  No picture, but in my mind it looked a lot like this...

Add in the fact that I am also trying to close out my school year, get everything graded, organized, and get my students onto fifth grade and I can honestly say that I did not do much with my mail this week.  One package, which came from a regular Facebook seller, managed to get out of the envelope, but not really unwrapped.  

A picture of the package would have really helped this post.  In fact, the card inside the packaging would have helped this post more.  However, both are gone.  Where are they?  My wife was surprised to learn that people wrap cards in bubble wrap and newspaper.  I was momentarily saddened by the loss of the card, but managed to snag another copy of the card this morning for a few bucks.  Here is what is headed my way.....

Herrera is a glove first shortstop for the Cardinals A+ team in Palm Beach.  While he is not known as much of a hitter I have seen several different reports which seem to think that he may turn a corner soon with his offense.  His .258/.314/.284 slash line would indicate otherwise.  Well, it's still an autograph and he's wearing a Cardinals uniform.

Friday Five: Top 5 Sets from 1999

1999 was a really great year for baseball cards.  I remember buying a box of Topps cards right after Thanksgiving that year and being happy and entertained with cards the entire year.  I feel like I could right a book about the card sets from 1999, but instead I have narrowed the list down to just five sets. My five favorites:

5. Skybox Molten Metal- This reminds of this project I started awhile back...I got sidetracked.  That is going to be one of my summer projects.  Back to the set.  I split my first box of these cards with a kid I mentored during the summer while I was waiting to start teaching.  I loved the look and feel of the cards and the inserts were incredible.  There were the Pointillism insert set.....

and of course my favorite cards in the set were the metal parallel cards......

I know the late 90s and early 2000s were filled with tons of 100-200 card, premium such and such, base sets with some cool gimmicky insert sets that were cool for a month or two and are now forgettable.  Molten Metal was a little bit different/cooler than the others.  Other card companies had made insert cards with the pointilism pictures and metal cards, but something about this product clicked with me as a collector.  Cool set and boxes can still be found pretty cheap.  

4. Crown Royale- Pacific was a really important card company for me around this time.  They thought outside the box and had some truly unique looking card products.  I think I did more of their products in 2000, but for me the Crown Royale set was a huge starting point for me in collecting their cards.  Before Crown Royal I tended to think of Pacific as "that other" card company, not Topps or Upper Deck, Pinnacle, or Fleer.  The die cut cards featured the Pacific brand logo crown with a player photo over the top.  The set also featured all of the usual Pacific set trappings with colored parallels and cool looking inserts.  I don't see many boxes of this product anymore, nor do I see many sets.  There are a bunch of the singles up on Ebay and COMC.  There were also a few other cool Pacific products sets from 1999 that are probably a fun project too.   I ended up also putting together an Aurora and Paramount set that summer.

3. SP Signature- This was Upper Deck's answer to the Donruss and Leaf Signature mega-autograph sets.  Packs of this product cost $20 and contained a few base cards and an autograph.  I don't remember pulling anyone too cool out of this product, but I have picked up a whole bunch of these cards over the years, especially the Cardinals.  SP Signature cards are all on card autographs, the set features tons of Hall of Famers, and they are pretty readily available.  Some of the cards can be pretty pricey obviously if you are trying to track down a copy of the Maddux or other short printed star.  Still there are plenty of good players with inexpensive, on-card signatures in this product.  

2.  Sports Illustrated Greats of the Game- Another per pack autograph product that roughly had the same cost as the SP Signature product.  This also had on-card autographs (no stickers in 1999) and featured older players including a bunch of Hall of Famers.  The boxes run hot and cold, but I have already told that story on here before.  Like the SP Signature set there are loads of singles floating around of some pretty good players that can be had for less than an arm and a leg.  This set is definitely worth a little bit of your time and money.  Most year's this set could have easily been the best set of the year, but in 1999 there was this gem......

1999 Century Legends- I like the base set, but this set is here strictly for the autographs.  Unlike SP Signature and Greats of the Game, this was not a per pack autograph set, but this is one of the best autograph sets of all-time.  Black and white backgrounds, color player picture on the side, and clean crisp on card signatures of some of the greatest baseball players of all-time on cardboard.  I own a slew of these and would not trade them.  In fact, I have upgraded several of the cards I owned searching for better copies or nicer signatures.  If you love baseball cards owning at least one autograph from this set should be a must for your collection.  If you are looking for someone inexpensive for the sake of owning one there is Bobby Thomson or Bucky Dent.  from there the price of the cards goes up.  Anyone own a Barry Bonds?   

Durham Bulls, Future Durham Bulls

Besides picking up a pair of Pro Debut boxes last weekend, I also picked up four single cards from Jimmy, who used to own the local card shop Big D's in Raleigh.  He still does a lot with cards and is still a great person to work with on new cards.  Last week's new additions were a pair of current Durham Bulls players and a future Durham Bulls player.  First let's look at the current players.....

I love the look of the black bordered Bowman parallels.  There have been a few sets with dark borders over the years that have been duds, but I generally enjoy this look on cardboard.  This is from last year's Bowman Chrome set and is serial numbered to just 35 copies......

This is Romero's third season on the Bulls, but he is still just 24.  He's made only 3 starts this year for the Bulls and has also had a brief stint with the Rays already.  The card has Romero's usual scrawl like signature on the front.  This is definitely my best looking Romero card in my collection.

The second card is awesome.  I am not a huge in person autograph collector, but Jimmy picked this up for me at a Durham Bulls game.  Taylor Motter, current Durham Bulls spark plug, went to Coastal Carolina which is near Jimmy's hometown in South Carolina.  Motter has been a popular player around these parts during the first half of the baseball season.  This is a cool autograph and I am happy to have it in the collection.  Motter actually does not have any certified autographs.  

On to a future Durham Bulls player......

I make those Collecting the Durham Bulls posts about players who are on the Bulls roster.  I cannot wait to make one for this guy.....Daniel Robertson.  The Rays picked up the former A's shortstop in the Ben Zobrist trade and so far he has been pretty impressive in Double A Montgomery.  The interest in his cards has picked up a bit in recent months, but his cards are still very affordable.  I cannot decided which of these I like more.......

They are both great looking cards and I am looking forward to adding a few more Robertson cards soon.  He does not having any Rays cards yet, but I am hoping that Topps will throw him into one of the Topps products later this summer.

Pro Debut Base Set: 9 Players I Watch

I did a top 10 list with my Bowman box a few weeks back and decided to do something similar with my Pro Debut box.  However, since the two sets share quite a few players I decided to put a little bit of a twist on this list.  For Pro Debut I am going to share nine players who I check in on regularly during the season.  I like checking the scoreboard and readying through box scores, but with the minors there are only so many scores that you can stop and read without spending the whole day on baseball.  That wouldn't be so bad, but I am not sure I would get much done at work.

Everyone ready?  Let's go.

Alex Reyes- Peoria Chiefs - He's only 1-4 on the season, but has 66 strikeouts in just 44 innings.  The tall right hander is widely considered the best prospect in the Cardinals system and rated by many publications in the Top 50 for all of baseball.  While Reyes might not win many of his starts, I always check his box scores for his strikeout/walk ratio and to see if the other team hit him in any way.  He has not given up a home run yet this year.

Carlos Rodon- Chicago White Sox - The former NC State lefty did not last long in the minors this year.  He made his Major League debut in late April out of the bullpen, but was quickly put into the starting rotation by the Sox.  Rodon has now made 4 starts with almost a strikeout per inning.  His WHIP is 1.709, so he needs to keep a few more people off the base paths if he is going to be successful long term.  Still, the rookie has an ERA+ of 113 during his limited time up with the ChiSox.

Willy Adames- Charlotte Stone Crabs - I follow the Rays Minor League team to see who is up on their way to the Durham Bulls.  The scenery around the Rays Minor League changed greatly during the past year with all of the trades.  Adames is one player who has flown under the radar to a degree.  The shortstop was acquired in the David Price trade with the Tigers and has posted a .316/.382/.462 line so far this year with 18 extra base hits (13 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs) in just under 200 at bats this year.  I know there are some Rays fans who have openly, and frequently, complained about the haul the time received for Price, but Adames seems to be a really nice prospect.

Corey Seager- Oklahoma City Dodgers- Seager is a local guy from North Carolina.  He's had a great Minor League career and has now reached Triple A.  His OBP is down slightly, but Seager is still showing good pop at the high level of the Minors.  I obviously watch Seager to see how well he hits, but it also seems that the Dodgers are starting to work the top prospect out as a third baseman.  He has played 5 games so as at third, but many predict that he will land there long term.  

Colin Moran- Corpus Christi Hooks - Moran was one of the better college players I have seen with my own two eyes.  The guy could hit while he was at UNC.  My only hang up with him was always his foot speed.  Still, the Marlins took him with the fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft and later moved him onto the Astros.  Moran is almost a .300 career Minor League hitter with an OBP near .350.  However, his slugging percentage is just above .400 and he has only 11 career minor league home runs in almost 800 at bats.  Moran was a great college player, I hope he makes it in some capacity.  

David Dahl- New Britain Rock Cats - Dahl has shown great flashes during his time in the Minors, but has had some trouble staying healthy.  Last season, his only full year in four years in the Minors, Dahl went .299/.355/.492 with 41 doubles, 8 triples, and 14 home runs.  The Rockies outfield prospect also stole 21 bases.  He was off to a bit of a slow start in Double A this year, but is out again after having his spleen removed last weekend after a pretty bad collision.  

Trea Turner- San Antonio Missions - Well, for the moment Turner is a Padres prospect, but he will be a National soon.  He was in the Will Myers/Steven Souza three way trade between the Padres/Nationals/Rays, but he could not actually leave the Padres yet because he has not played a year in their system.  In 47 Double A games the former NC State shortstop is hitting .333/.405/.508 with 5 home runs 2 triples, 12 doubles, and 9 steals.  I think Turner could be up in the Majors within the next year.  

Francisco Lindor- Columbus Clippers - Lindor is a top 5 prospect according to MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus.  He played locally the past few summers with the Carolina Mudcats and has worked his way up to Triple A Columbus.  While the Clippers play the Durham Bulls, I still have not seen him play in Triple A.  However, the future shortstop of the Indians has had a slow start in the International League with a .260/.318/.367 line.  There is definitely a strong defensive presence with Lindor, base running is also an important tool also, but even those have been a little shaky this season.  I am still watching Lindor, but if he does not pick up the pace, I am going to have to check in a little less often.  

Henry Owens- Pawtucket Red Sox - I like Henry Owens, but he has fallen into a bit of a rut in Triple A.  It's not anything as bad as Lindor, but his ERA is up, along with his walks, and his strikeouts are down.  Still, I like the chances that Owens will figure out Triple A hitters and continue to progress as a top prospect.  Plus, I am watching the Paw Sox right now for Allen Craig.  Owens is there too, but someone left Allen Craig out of the Pro Debut set.  Hmm.


This is my list of players.  What are some of the players you check on everyday?