44 To Go

It's been a few days.  

I would like to tell you that I haven't posted in the past week because I have been on a fun vacation or a regular at the Durham Bulls games. 

I have been to one game.  

The Bulls lost on a long Tristan Gray home run.  

My Spring Break actually ended last week and I returned to work.  My free time evaporated.  

While I did not find time to type up a blog post, I did find time to find another 1952 Red Man tobacco card. Even found another Hall of Famer, my second in a row.  

Here is the card......

Ralph Kiner is easily the nicest card I have added since I started this project at the beginning of the year both in terms of the card condition and significance of the player. The tab is included and the surface and corners are all above average. I have a few other Hall of Famers on the National League side of the checklist. Kiner is my third behind Musial and Schoendienst, fourth overall when I included Larry Doby from the American League checklist.  

It's Saturday, the sun is shining, and my youngest wants to ride bikes. Sorry, no time to scan the card back. 

2024 Blake Snell Autograph Count: 7

This is the ninety-seventh Blake Snell autograph in my collection and definitely the first with the word "Pentamerous" on the front of the card. Pentamerous meaning something that is arranged in groups of five.  

After looking at the card for a long time, I cannot find anything with five groups of anything. There is a five-sided star at the top and two small five-sided stars next to the nameplate, but that's it. That's also three stars, not five.  There are not five pictures of Blake Snell, or five autographs of Blake Snell, which might have made this a really awesome card.  

Here is the front.  

I am going to stop picking on the name of this card and focus on the fact that it is really nice. My latest Blake Snell autograph comes out of the high-end 2023 Topps Five Star product. The card has thick card stock and a nice, glossy finish. The wooden looking parts on the front of the card have some nice gold foil and are also embossed.  The gold around the edges is obviously more embossed foil.  

A little lost on my scan is the fact that the center of the card is actually translucent. It's hard to tell on the front scan, but you'll see it in a second when you look at the scan of the back of the card.  

Here is the back.  

The translucent front can be seen here with the reversed image of Snell on the left side of the card, the faded portrait image on the right, and the autograph bleeding through on the bottom. The small print is still on the bottom of the card underneath the picture frame. 

Random Ray - 2023 Panini Flawless

It turns out that Ray Lankford had two autographs in Panini Flawless. I added one a few weeks back and won the other in an auction on Ebay last week. I was really excited to say the least. 

Here is the front of the card, which is from Panini's high end baseball product.  

Panini Flawless is roughly $1,500 for a box. Can you imagine pulling a $20-$30 autograph of Ray Lankford in a box that costs that much? Thank goodness other people are willing to spend the money to open these boxes and resell their cards on Ebay for a huge loss.  

I'm excited.  

Back of the card.  

There is no write up on the back, only a Certificate of Authenticity. Well, there is a giant "STL" in the middle of the card, which is something different. I actually don't miss the write up that much, but they should have made the Certificate of Authenticity a little larger.  

Monday Morning Autograph - Eric Davis

I own a couple of thousand autographs, the majority have never appeared on my blog. Here is a random autograph that I have never posted.  

Today: 2015 Stadium Club Autographs Eric Davis 

Why Do I Own This Card?  

Eric Davis is one of the most talented players from the 1980s and 1990s. He was also on the St. Louis Cardinals for a few seasons at the end of his career.  Why wouldn't I want to own one of his autographs? 

I have actually posted other Davis autographs on my blog, just never this autograph.  

When Did I Get This Card?

I pulled this out of a box of Stadium Club towards the end of 2015. It was a nice pull. I took a break from blogging for a few months at the beginning of 2016 and never posted this card.  

Back of the Card 

I love that Stadium Club uses actual card back on their autographs. We get statistics and a nice write-up describing Davis' style of play and one of his career accomplishments.  This is what we deserve on the back of baseball cards.  

The Career of Eric Davis In a Haiku 

Series Champ, Home Runs

Reds, Stolen Bases, Gold Gloves

O's, Cards, Tigers Too  

A Little March Madness

My Wolfpack are on quite a run at the moment. The team needed to win their conference tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament. Last week, they won 5 games in 5 days at the ACC Tournament, including wins over Louisville, Syracuse, Virginia, Duke, and North Carolina. It is the school's first ACC title since 1987.  

2024 ACC CHAMPIONS🏆 pic.twitter.com/f7Li2ZhPjA

— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) March 17, 2024

Last night, NC State played their first game in the first round and defeated Texas Tech to advance to the second round.  They were led by lovable big man, D.J. Burns.  

 

The crowd loves DJ Burns Jr. 😤 @PackMensBball pic.twitter.com/ItFP3gg1la

— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 22, 2024

I would love to find some basketball cards of D.J. Burns, but Bowman has not included him in any of their Bowman U./NIL sets. However, the team's shooting guard, D.J. Horne, was included almost all of last year's Bowman U. products while he was playing at Arizona State. I know, two D.J.s on one basketball team. 

Horne is from Cary, North Carolina (outside of Raleigh) and transferred to NC State to be closer to home during his final season in college. 

For the city😤 pic.twitter.com/PfumhqJ67G

— NC State Men's Basketball (@PackMensBball) March 17, 2024

I bought these cards a few weeks ago, but thought the basketball season was going nowhere and was not even going to bother posting the card. However, the Wolfpack's run has me excited to share a few basketball cards this morning.  

I don't know know too much about the Bowman U. products, so I am mainly just posting pictures here.  

First up is a pink parallel.

I like the guy in the background wearing a rainbow on his head.  

I also like D.J. facial expression. He's one of those basketball players who looks like he has fun while he's playing and Bowman did a good job of capturing that vibe on his basketball card.  

Next. 

A little sad that the guy with the rainbow hat is faded out in the background here.  

The sticker is crooked, but at least I have a D.J. Horne autograph.  

This one is better.  

The sticker is straight.  

Hopefully this run through the ACC Tournament and into the NCAA Tournament can get NC State a few more basketball cards this year. Has the new Bowman U products released? Yes?  I would love to see a DJ Horne card with the Wolfpack, or one of the other contributing members of the team on a basketball card.  

45 To Go

I am excited about my latest pick up for the Red Man Tobacco set I am attempting to assemble. As you can imagine, there are quite a few Hall of Famers on the checklist and are also the more expensive. Last week, I was able to acquire a copy of the Larry Doby card, who is my first Hall of Famer on the American League side of the checklist.  

Here is the front of the card.  

No tab, which is fine.  I am not being picky about the tabs. The surface of the card is clean, but three of the corners are soft with wear.  It's also a baseball card that is more than 70 years old.  Not sure how picky I should be about things like corner wear.  I am going to live with this one for the time being. Really happy with a clean surface.  

The card back is decent shape outside of some red spots. Not sure if that's marker or something else. 

Overall, very happy with my first American League Hall of Famer.  

Monday Morning Autograph - Felipe Lopez

I own a couple of thousand autographs, the majority have never appeared on my blog. Here is a random autograph that I have never posted.  

Today: 2001 Bowman Autographs Felpe Lopez 

Why Do I Own This Card?  

Seemingly few Cardinals players find their way to Durham and vice versa. The number is more than I can count on one hand, but two hands might be a stretch. One of the lesser known Cardinals who found their way to Durham was Felipe Lopez. 

Felipe was a toolsy infielder who played roughly a decade in the Majors and was on eight different teams during that time. You may best remember him as a Red or National, but in 2008 and 2010 he ended up on the Cardinals as a utility player. In 2008, Felipe Lopez had a great 43 game cup of coffee with the Cardinals hitting .385 with 14 extra base hits. His second appearance on the Cardinals in 2010 was less eventful as he only hit .231 for the season and the Cardinals ended up releasing him in the middle of September. 

In 2011, he was signed by the Rays on a Minor League contract. Felipe spent the first part of the season in Durham where he was really good. He hit over .300 with power and earned a call-up to the Rays, where he did not hit and was sold to the Brewers.  

To answer the question, I own this card because Felipe Lopez was on the Cardinals and the Durham Bulls. Believe it or not, I have multiple Felipe Lopez autographs. I like this one the best.  

When Did I Get This Card? 

I believe I picked it up off of COMC when he started playing for the Bulls.  

Back of the Card 

The "Congratulations" message and the information blurb run together, which stinks. Topps, Bowman, or whoever created this set should have just done without the extra information on the back of the card. Bowman typically has really good card backs that are full of information. I am sure they did a good job of describing Felipe's skill set on his base card, no need for it to also be on the autograph.  

Felipe Lopez's Teams in a Haiku 

Jays, Reds, Nats, and Cards

DBacks, Brew Crew, Cards again

Red Sox, Rays, Brewers (again)