Jeter At The DBAP

I have lived in North Carolina for roughly ten years.  Over that time I have managed to pick up quite a few bobbleheads and statue giveaways from the Durham Bulls.  I have also managed to go back and find quite a few of the team's giveaways that occurred before I moved to the area.  The recent giveaways are obviously not hard to track down, same with most of the older ones too, but there are a few tricky ones.

The two hardest stadium giveaways that I have been searching for are a Dan Johnson/Charlie Montoyo/Jeremy Hellickson triple bobblehead celebrating the International League MVP, Pitcher of the Year, and Manager of the Year.  The other was a statue the Bulls gave out to commemorate an appearance Derek Jeter made in Durham while he was on an injury rehab assignment in 1998.  Both items have been rather elusive.

Except, I found one of them last week.

A look at the front of my Derek Jeter Statue

Jeter is wearing a Columbus Clippers uni on the statue.  There is a faux autograph on the top, serial number out of 1,500 on the side, and the front has his name and date of appearance at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  I am not sure exactly when the statute was given out by the Bulls, there are several different dates that I have seen floating around the internet.  The Bulls do stagger their giveaways at times between the different season ticket plans, but some of the dates aren't even within the same calendar date.  The statue is similar in style to a David Price figurine the Bulls gave away about seven years ago.  

The bases are done in similar styles with the faux black wood base, the sponsor stamp in silver in the corner, and some other similarities on the figurines.  A few of the dates I have seen had the Jeter statue being a giveaway as early as 2000, but I think it has to be much later.  

The back of the Jeter Statue.....

and finally a side of the statue from a lower angle.....

Overall, I really happy to have been able to find this piece and will have to find it a space on my Durham Bulls shelf sometime this week.

Things I Am Sorting Part 3

I have not posted an update yet on the two set projects that I undertook a while back, but the cards have been slowly trickling in over the past weeks.  The set has been a little bit trickier to assemble than I imagined it would be when I first broke the cards out the box and typed up my list.  Here is a look at the stack of cards I have added and need to sort into the cards that I already had.....

If it looks like a lot of cards, maybe too many, you're being observant.  Here are some of the things that I have run into while trying to run down the cards I need:

1. It's not too difficult to find sellers and traders who have these cards who are willing to part with them as a lot.  Meaning, I can pick up several cards by trading away other doubles from other sets helping a fellow collector do the same thing I am doing, complete a set.  Buying lots of these cards is generally not expensive either.  However, buying and trading for lots also creates doubles which is why the stack in the picture above looks a lot bigger than what it should be considering the set is not complete.  
2. There are certain singles in this set that are for sale, but are ridiculous in price.  I like this set, it looks cool, and I know that there are other collectors who feel the same way about it.  Still, I am not sure that the cards in the set are worth upwards of $10 for a single.  Yet, some of them cost that much on Ebay and COMC.  I have out waited one person and found a star player from the set for about $2 while the only copy of the card on COMC was $8.  Of course, the other problem with over priced cards on sites like EBay is that collectors use them as a reference point.  The card costs $10 there, or on COMC, you find a collector who has it and the first thing they do is reference the sites and quote you the same price.  I want a complete set, but I am not going to get ripped off putting it together.  
3. There are cards that are seriously difficult to find.  Seems to happen every time I try to put something together from the late 1990s.  Like the Topps Tek Jason Kendall card.  

Anyway, I just had 9 more cards from the set show up in my mailbox yesterday afternoon.  Here's a look at the cards.....

A little bit more detailed post about the cards I have added, and the ones I still need, will be up later this week.  

The Durham Bulls Version of Wil Myers

It has been a week, this is going to be a really quick post.  I picked up a new Durham Bulls card for my collection last week and did not have a chance to scan it and post it.  Between starting back at work and getting ready for a new little one in a week and half there have been lots of running around.  This morning I have a few quiet minutes to sit at my computer, scan, and type.

Here is my new Wil Myers card.....

I like these Panini booklet cards.  They may be unlicensed, but always have a good design and some nice jersey pieces.  I know Myers autograph is a scribble, but that's just the norm for him.  Let's get into the real reason I got this card....

The right hand side of the card labels Wil Myers as a member of the Rays, which is sort of true, but I really bought this card because of the picture on the left panel of the card.  Here's a little picture comparison.

Tampa Bay Rays Wil Myers.....

Durham Bulls Wil Myers......

Notice the picture on the booklet has Myers wearing the number 5, but he wore the 9 on the Rays.  Also notice the double ear flap on the batting helmet, worn by minor league players, but not Major League players.  I also went and checked just to see if the picture could be from his time in the Minors with the Royals.  Picture....

Myers wore the number 8 almost his entire time in the Royals Minor League system and their teams almost have their jersey numbers on the right side of the jersey.  

I know that in a normal year the Durham Bulls get a card or two in sets like Pro Debut and Heritage Minor League, but I was excited to find another card outside of those two sets which would appear to feature a player in their uniform.

The Acetate Backstop

The last few years I have cut way back on the different parallel cards that I pick up in trades and purchase.  There are just so many of them and they run across almost every set.  It's numbs the mind somedays.  Instead I have tried to focus in on some specific parallel cards and try to limit them to Cardinals and former Durham Bulls players.  Sometimes current Durham Bulls players.

The main focus of my parallel purchases and trades have revolved around the acetate cards that Topps has put in their base sets the past three years.  The cards are serial numbered out of 10, so they can be expensive and difficult to track down, but they are worth it most of the time.

A few days back I found a former Durham Bulls player on an acetate parallel for the less than $5.  That's hard to beat.  It's also my first acetate card of the year.

Maile has actually spent a part of this year in Durham, but is currently up with the Rays.  He is a good defensive catcher and has done a lot to improve his hitting over the past two season with the Bulls.  This year he has already equaled his extra base hit total in Triple A from 2015, but has about 130 less plate appearances.  Given where the Rays are in the standings I am glad to see Maile get a chance to play at the Major League level during the second half of the season.  

It's an acetate, so we have to check out the back of the card.  One of the best parts of an acetate card.....

I am going to have to find a few of these before the end of the year.  Especially a Cardinals card.

Simply Amazed

There have been several good cards this year that I have thoroughly enjoyed adding to my collection.  However, this past week I added, what has become, easily my favorite card that any company has put out in any set this year.  Here is a look at my newest baseball card of Durham Bulls, and Rays prospect, infielder Richie Shaffer....

The reason that this card is great is the fact that it can be tied to a specific memorable event from Shaffer's career.  Last year, Shaffer the majority of the season with the Durham Bulls, but he had a chance to play a little with the Rays in September.  Shaffer's first hit came in the form of a home run against the White Sox.  The dugout was great and is the subject of this Richie Shaffer card.

In a season where the Durham Bulls and the Rays missed the playoffs, in my opinion this was one of the best moments of last season.  I am glad that Topps chose this picture and moment to use on Shaffer's card in this year's Stadium Club set.  

Beyond the Shaffer autograph, I also picked up the Stadium Club autograph of former Durham Bulls pitcher Alex Colome.  

 

Colome had been looking for a role the past few years, but has fit into a nice groove as the team's closer.  It's good to see him settle down and find a little bit of success at the Major League level.  

Simply Disappointed

As a lifelong Cardinals collector I have been eagerly awaiting the first Aledmys Diaz card.  The rookie shortstop, who was originally called up to be a stop gap for the injured Jhonny Peralta, has turned in a magnificent rookie season.  He's not quite Corey Seager, but he's essentially in the conversation with him for the National League Rookie of the Year.

The big difference between the two as a collector is the fact that Corey Seager has had cards out for several years, while Aledmys Diaz has a few team issued cards from his time in the Cardinals farm system.  Well, a few weeks ago Topps put up the first Diaz rookie card as a part of their Throwback Thursday sets.  The cards are sold in their online store and feature a design from a past Topps product.

Here's a look at the set for sale after it had been pulled down.  The cards are only for sale for one week.

I was honestly a little bit apprehensive about buying these cards.  First, they were $19.99 for 6 cards.  Second, the only other time I have bought something off of the Topps site I was sent two poorly packaged cards.  My post about the two cards is here, or you can check out my scan of the Bryce Harper card that was mailed in a flimsy Ultra Pro top loader with no penny sleeve.

This evening after dinner my son and I walked out to the mailbox to pick up the mail.  He's not really interested in the baseball cards that come in the mail, but he's interested in letters that are addressed to him.  Letters from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even statements from his bank are reason to celebrate.  Similarly, I get excited when the mailbox opens and there is any sort of padded envelope inside which might be holding some cards.

When the mailbox door opened there were two items in the mail today.  A letter from my son's great grandparents in Michigan and a package from Topps.  He was excited, I was not happy just looking at the package.

It was in a hard cardboard envelope, which isn't terrible, but it just had a big lump in the middle of the package.  I opened the tab on the end of the envelope and my six card set, which cost me $19.99 was jammed into a plastic snap case with a piece of bubble wrap and no other protection for the cards....

Everyone has been mailed cards in a snap container before, but this is not the way to package them and have the cards arrive safely.  Bad things happen.  Here are my cards out of the case....

Which don't look terrible, until you turn them to the side.  This is where the disappointment sets in for a collector who was excited to get their first card of a player they enjoy watching......

or if that's not clear you can try this angle...

I tried, but I should have taken my own advice the first time that I bought cards directly Topps and stopped right then and there.  We will chalk this one up in the loss column and find some other Aledmys Diaz cards to post some other day...

A Bowman Cardinal With A Yankee. Twice.

I kind of skipped over the whole Bowman thing this year which is really unusual for me since I really like following along with the Minor Leagues.  I ended up not completely skipping the set outright, I did end up with a copy of the set, I just didn't bust open any packs to put together.  Just helped out by the generosity of a case breaker.  It's a little late to the party, but I have put together a few autographs from Bowman over the past few weeks.

My first Bowman autograph is a Cardinals prospect.  I bought the card and the seller threw in a Yankees autograph really cheap, so I couldn't pass it up....

This Piscotty autograph was one of the first cards I wanted to find out of Bowman.  I have been looking for a new Cardinals player to collect and have enjoyed picking up some Piscotty cards the last few months.  The right fielder is also having a great season with a .299/.374/.497 slash line, 13 home runs, 23 doubles, and 53 RBIs.  Looks a lot better than whatever Jason Heyward is batting at the moment.

My cheap Yankees autograph.....

Luis Severino was a really highly touted prospect back in 2015, but has not really done well in the Majors.  This year he is winless and has an ERA of 7.46.  At the same time he has pitched really well for Scranton in the International League.  I guess if he does not pan out this can go in my good Minor Leaguers box, but hopefully he can put it together for the Yankees.

So, my next two Bowman cards are similar to the first two autographs: One Cardinals autograph that I wanted and a Yankees card that was sort of put into the trade.  Cardinals autograph first:

Little bit of a gamble here, but DeJong has been one of the Cardinals better power prospects.  The team is not really great at developing power hitters, but this former Illinois State star might break the mold.  Last year DeJong hit 9 home runs in just 66 games in Rookie and A Ball.  This year he's on the Cardinals Double A affiliate in Springfield, Missouri where he has 17 home runs, 17 doubles, and 59 doubles.  Sounds good until you look at the 104 strikeouts and .314 OBP.  The Cardinals already have Randal Grichuk.....

My Yankees more or less throw in.....

Feel like Refsnyder is somewhat similar to Severino in some regards.  He's been good in the Minors, played better in the Majors than Severino, but not sure if the Yankees are going to give him much of a chance with Starlin Castro playing second.  I keep waiting for him to be traded......either of them.