An Auto and a Ring?!

Happy Thursday everyone! It's finally getting warm out. Baseball is in full swing. Some early season surprises and not so surprises. Devon Travis is having a Puig like breakout in his first month of the season. The Brewers are possibly the worst team in baseball but their offense might be better then the Phillies. Ryan Howard hit his 4th HR last night so who knows maybe he'll hit 25 this year?

Speaking of Ryan Howard.. I picked this nifty card up:

It is a sticker auto but I like the design of the card as a whole. Bowman's Best is a nice brand and I heard Topps is bringing it back this year. Hopefully the cards are just as nice. I haven't seen any 2015 Bowman in person yet but I'm not sure I love the design. The names look sidewise and are difficult to spot at first glance. (I've just looked at breaks online) (Also I know little about prospects so most of the names aren't known to me yet).

And here's the "ring"

It's Bryce Harper, who may be fulfilling his potential this year. He's looked real solid at the plate and is walking quite a bit instead of just swinging at that curve ball in the dirt. This card is quite thick but it came at the price of free! One of my work friends decided to give it to me after we discussed baseball cards one day. He's not an avid collector like me but he likes to open the occasional box. 

Appreciate the nice card and go Phillies!

Thanks for reading!

Trade with Underdog!

This is more like a 2 parter. I've been bad about scanning and cataloging lately but I am trying to catch up. Both of these came over from The Underdog Card Collector! I enjoy the blog name, great cartoon. I still owe a return package for the 2nd part, but obviously still working on that with a few other packages to some people. (well that was vague)

Anyways, go baseball! Ryan Howard is up to 3 HR's and the Phillies won today!

 

It was nice to receive some Heritage. I haven't bought any of it, and I'm not really planning on it. Not my personal favorite set. Too many short prints that are kind of part of the base set but not really for my liking. Some old school Pinnacle. The inserts on the bottom left are pretty cool looking cards. Gotta love 90s ingenuity. 

 

Glorious randomness in this scan. Mike Schmidt, Ryan Howard, Kyle Kendrick (now the Rockies #1 starter?!) a really cool Cole Hamels orange refractor. It'll be a sad day when he is traded by the Phillies. He was flat out amazing in 2008. MVP in the NLCS and the World Series and there wasn't a lot of debate. 

The way contracts are these days, check this out.. 

Cole Hamels remaining contract: 

2016, 2017 and 2018 23,500,000 per year with a club option of 20,000,000 in 2019

Rick Porcello contract:

2016, 2017 20,125,000

2018, 2019 21,125,000 

Porcello is younger, but he has not earned that ace type money. I don't get it but I think this will be a tremendously bad contract by the end of it. The only plus is that its 4 years and not 7. I'm not even a Red Sox fan but I think this can skew the market. Now league average pitchers will want at least 15 mil a year. 

In conclusion, if the Phillies trade Hamels, get a good prospect (or three) and don't pay a dime of the contract. 

Thanks for reading!

Ooooh Halfway There!

Ahhhh Living on a prayer.. bad karaoke songs aside. I am halfway to completing the 2015 Topps Series 1 Printing plate rainbow! I now have TWO! of the four. (If you know where the other 2 are I am interested!)

Check it out!

 

Magenta! It's a nice color!

Black, also a nice color (not as nice as magenta though who am I kidding?)

Oh yea this guy has been pretty good this year..

Where I live, I get all the Orioles and Nationals broadcasts. He has been quite patient at the plate this year and when he gets ahold of a ball it goes, it goes far. I think as long as he doesn't get some weird injury like last year (Torn thumb ligaments on a triple sliding into third for those that don't remember) he might be on his way to fulfilling the hype. Who knows, maybe all he needed was the pressure to be shifted to Kris Bryant and then he can just play some ball. I am still a Phillies fan always, but I appreciate good baseball always.

Thanks for reading!

Metal Mania!

Why do the Rockies and Cubs hit their pitcher 8th? Wouldn't you want a better hitter to potentially bat more during the course of a game? I don't completely understand the strategy. I get you might get lucky and have speed at the bottom of the lineup and the top of the lineup to potentially create havoc but then you're making your 7th guy like the 8th guy and making him easy to pitch around to get the easy out on the pitcher spot. I don't agree with the strategy.

As I type this the Phillies should be wrapping up a win against the Marlins and Ryan Howard whacked his first HR of the season. Nice to see him get on the board and to take the lead!

This post does pertain to baseball and more importantly baseball cards. I had lamented earlier in the year not being able to win the silver framed cards because so many people were chasing them. Someone decided to unload the Phillies he collected and I was able to snag 4 of them for about 20 bucks!

He made a poor choice having the auction end about 5 minutes into the first episode of Game of Thrones.

 

Bastardo was part of a pretty solid bullpen last year. He is no longer on the Phillies, but the Phillies bullpen won't be the weakness of the team this year. Real solid 8th inning guy in Giles and Papelbon is still good despite his price tag.

 

Choooooch! Always a fan favorite but we'll see how many years he has left. I have a feeling they're going to let him, Howard and Utley go all at the same time to really end the Championship era. 

 

 Marlon's been a solid player most of his career whereever he has gone. He's had a fairly slow start in Cincy but I'd expect him to pick it up a bit. The guy always hustled. 

Here's a nice PC addition! I really hope Howard makes the Chrome cut this year so I have another rainbow to chase. If not, not 100% sure what I'll chase instead. We'll cross that bridge when it comes. In the meantime, the first few weeks of baseball season has been fun!

Thanks for reading!

Trade with Off Hiatus Baseball!

I recently got my half of the trade from Off Hiatus Baseball! I have to go through my Brewers cards and try and return the favor. He messaged me and asked if my want lists were up to date (they were) then proceeded to destroy them! I cross offed well over 100 cards! Completed 7 team sets in full! I had no idea what to scan so I just have a bit of a sampling.

 

Maybe Pete Rose will get reinstated by the new commissioner and get in the Hall of Fame, or probably not, but it is fun to debate. I actually saw Pete Rose in Atlantic City last year (not gambling). It was his one man show. The beginning of it I thought was entertaining, he told a bunch of funny baseball stories, but when they opened the audience to questions I didn't think it was controlled real well. Most of the people just complemented him and didn't actually ask any questions or told their own personal story. 

 

I like picture in picture. Remember back in the 90s when that was the new thing on TVs. I feel like it didn't quite catch on, but it was cool to be able to watch two football games at once even if one was in a 5 inch square on the screen and you had no idea what was happening. Good times!

 

Larry Bowa is a fun guy. I always wonder how its like to literally do baseball your entire life. Player, manager, base coach, a little bit of everything in his career. 

Thanks for the ridiculous package!

and Thanks for reading!

Gypsy Queen.. (one card trade bait!)

I see Gypsy queen just dropped. I didn't get any yet but I do have this one for trade from year's past if anyone is interested. It's a Curtis Granderson wood mini in a Yankees uniform numbered out of 5.

I would love something cool in Phillies in return or Frank Thomas. Or just a really delicious sandwich. So you know I'm open to offers if interested!

Check it out!

 

Thanks for reading!

I spoke to soon..

My bad to all the Phillies fans out there. They no longer have a winning record. The pitching has been quite solid this year, hitting not so much. Lots of guys might not break .200 this year, that's kinda ugly. Hopefully the warm weather starts warming up the long ball for some Phillies hitters. Never like losing to the Mets. Rollins was the Mets killer when he was here. Check out these stats..



Thats near impossible read from baseball reference.com but his stats are

241 Games, 987 At bats, 148 Runs, 267 Hits, 51 doubles, 10 triples, 30 Home Runs, 118 RBIs, 62 SB's, 94 Walks, .280/.343/.786 and roughly 40,000 broken hearts in 2008.

Good times.

By the way the amount of information on Baseball Reference is absurd. I feel like I could be a scout. Here's a shiny card for everyone's viewing pleasure.

Always willing to pick up rookies for cheap. This was before he was Rookie of the Year and MVP and World Series Champion. Pretty solid.

Thanks for reading!