104

This is the 104th Blake Snell autograph in my collection. I crossed 100 while I was gone, maybe there will be a recap post coming at some point in the future. You could also check out my Instagram account where Blake Snell autographs 99-103 are all posted.  

My latest Snell follows my more recent pattern of buying older Snell cards with low serial numbers that I missed the first time around. Many are available on Ebay at much lower prices these days. 

Today, a Snell rookie autographed card from Prime Cuts that is serial numbered out to 25 copies.  

Here is the front of the card.....

That's a really young Blake Snell in the photograph, which is way too small for the front of the card. I know this is an unlicensed card and that Panini could not show Snell in a Rays uniform. Still, the word "PROSPECT" should not be the overwhelming design feature over a photograph of the player.  

In positive news, the card is older and features Snell's full signature. He only signed every letter of his name for a short period of time at the beginning of his career. The signature more than makes up for the fact that this a sticker autograph. 

Back of the card......

The back of the card is better. I like the write up about his decision to play professional baseball over college. There are plenty of high school kids that get drafted into professional baseball who are also committed to play college baseball somewhere. Kind of nice knowing the back story.

 More Snell autographs to come....

Is That You, Junior?

My favorite player on the Durham Bulls this year is third baseman Junior Caminero. He's one of the best hitting prospects in all of Minor League baseball and a name that everyone is going to know sooner than later. Junior hits the ball hard.  

Junior Caminero (@RaysBaseball) smokes his 12th Triple-A homer at 112.4 mph 🔥

MLB's No. 2 prospect has five extra-base knocks through nine games this month for the @DurhamBulls. pic.twitter.com/WXBqoKmzq8

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 11, 2024

I have been slowly working more Junir Caminero cards into the collection, but it has taken some time due to their high cost. This is one of those rare moments when my collection aligns with an expensive prospect, which kind of stinks. Most of his autographs are $100 and up, so I have been chasing some of his nice looking inserts instead of his autographs. The inserts are much more reasonably priced for a guy who has played only a handful of games in the Majors.  

My latest is an All-Etch Rookie card out of this year's Topps Chrome set.  

Topps originally made the All-Etch cards back in the late 1990s, but they've brought them back for this year's Chrome set. Really nice looking cards. I love that they've kept the 1990s vibe with the background design of the card.  This card has some long odds, but still cost less than a Chrome box at Wally World or Target.  

Here is the back of the card.  

Nice write up on the back of the card with an interesting factoid about Caminero and blog favorite B.J. Upton. While Junior made his Major League debut last season, he has spent all of this year with my Durham Bulls up to being called up last week following the trade deadline.  

I have a few more cards of Junior in the works, hoping he becomes a player I regular blog about.  

Around The Card Room, Take 18

I am here this evening to talk about one of my biggest blogging fails.  

It all started when I decided I would live blog a Durham Bulls game ten years ago. 

I hung out at the American Tobacco Campus before the game and it got a short blog post.  

Love the water fountains, so relaxing after a long day at work. 

I bought dinner at the ballpark. It was a Pepsi and a hot dog. That dinner was a short blog post.  

The Bulls wore pink uniforms. That was a short blog post. Pictured is pitcher Alex Colome.  

Then the game started and disaster ensued. I thought I was going to see a loaded Durham Bulls team battle a loaded Syracuse Chiefs team. Each team scored a run in the first inning, but Syracuse than put up 11 runs in the second with Steven Souza collecting 5 RBIs.  

Kind of hard to blog about this kind of game.  

The live blogging came to a grinding halt and has not been attempted since.  

It was one of my bigger fails as a blogger.  

What am I left to show for this attempt at live blogging?  

Two things. 

First, I have a healthy collection of Steven Souza cards. He had a great 2014 season in Triple A, One of the better ones I have witnessed in the two decades I have followed Minor League Baseball. Souza was also a solid Major Leaguer for the Nationals, Rays, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Dodgers, and Mariners.    

Second, there was a bobblehead giveaway the night of my live blog attempt. The box and ticket were featured on the live blog, but the bobblehead was never shown.    

The bobblehead of Bulls outfielder Wil Myers has since left the box and resides in the baseball card room. Myers is a North Carolina native and was the top prospect in baseball at the time he was in Triple A, so it was a big deal that he was playing in Durham, 

Here is the front of the bobblehead.  

and the back of the bobblehead.  

I really like this bobblehead, even if it reminds me of my failed attempt to live blog a baseball game.  

Monday Morning Autograph - Joc Pederson

 

Today's Autograph: 2015 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autographs 

Why Do I Own This Card: I first saw Joc Pederson at the 2014 Triple A All-Star Game, which took place in Durham. The Bulls hosted. Joc Pederson is somewhere in this picture in the visitors lineup. Maybe third from home plate?    

It was not the best night for many of the Pacific Coast League players, but Pederson stood out.  

In particular, he hit a really long home run, which do not happen often in Durham. The ballpark is much more pitcher friendly. Here is a look at the blast.  

Anyway, Pederson had a good night and I decided to purchase one of his autographs.  Just in case.  

Back of the Card: 

Joc Pederson's Career In A Haiku

Dodgers, Cubs, and Braves 

Where He Won A Series Ring 

Giants, Diamondbacks 

Here One Minute......

I have been following Taylor Motter's career since he first appeared with the Durham Bulls nearly a decade ago. This was my first card of Motter on the Durham Bulls.......

Last year, Motter played for my Cardinals and even though the quantity of Cardinals cards was limited, I still collected them.  In this case, limited means one Topps Heritage card with one parallel.  

I still keep my eye out for new Motter cards. I recently found a printing plate from his 2016 Topps Update card, which is his rookie card. The plate was only a few dollars on Ebay.....

and the back of the card.......

Seems like a great addition to the Taylor Motter collection, if only the printing plate had been here for longer than a minute....... 

An update post coming soon.......

Holy $&%$, It's The Candy Convention Card!!!!!!

Two years ago, I posted a Ray Lankford card out of the 1991 Score All-Star FanFest Set. Included in the post was a story about a local card shop owner who tried to sell me a similar card that came from a Candy Convention in St. Louis. At the time, I passed on the Candy Convention card, which I later deeply regretted. It turns out the Candy Convention Ray Lankford card is pretty rare.  

Here is the FanFest card.  

Note the banner underneath the write-up, which identifies the card as a part of the "1991 Major League All-Star FanFest" set. This is a really common card, easy to find.  

Well, after posting the card, I received a comment from a reader who was also trying to track down a copy of a Candy Convention card of former Blue Jays player Ed Sprague. More comments followed indicating that they had found a copy of the Ray Lankford and a promise to forward the card on once the commenter received it from COMC.  

Well, a few weeks back I got a white envelope with a print out of the blogger comment section and note.....

and inside the note was a top loader with a baseball card........

Holy $&%$, It's The Candy Convention Card!!!!!! 

I cannot thank Derek enough for sending this card along to me! It's my current favorite baseball card and it will always have a prominent home in my collection of Ray Lankford cards.  

Monday Morning Autograph - Tristan Gray

It's not the morning, but the important thing is that I am writing on my blog today.  

It's a Monday (while I am writing this).    

So much to catch up on since I last posted here a few months back.  

My school year ended.  

I went on vacation to Michigan and hung out by a lake.  

My school year started again last week.  

Last weekend, I ate French food.......

and went to see Mama Mia with my wife in Durham.  

A few other things happened in there, but the previous few sentences are a good summary of the past few months. That's a lot of non-baseball card stuff on a baseball card blog.  

On to the card.  

I cannot believe Topps Chrome is $44.99 or something like that at Target.   

No, thank you, Fanatics.  I am buying single cards off of Ebay from other people who spent at least $44.99 to open a few packs of Topps Chrome.  Since the Cardinals stink at the moment, I am working on adding some former Durham Bulls players to the collection. Tristan Gray was on the Bulls for a few years and his autographs hover around $5. Seems like a good reason to add this to the box of Bulls signatures.  

Back of the card.  

Gray is now on the Marlins and has received a whopping 7 at bats this year with the Major League team. He has zero hits and three strikeouts.  

I am still a fan.