Contest Winnings from Sports Card Info

I would never buy a box of Playoff Contenders for a few reasons.  One is because it's out my price range; two is because the label-less hats remind me of the hats I wore in T-ball, and three is because there's just something about getting minor league autos all the time that irks me. 

Besides all that, this is a great looking card (#d to 99 for those curious), and it's called Sweet Signs.  I guess that means it would make an awesome road sign or the signature is sweet or the card is coated with sugar. 

In any case, cheers to Sports Card Info for drawing my name.  If you haven't seen his site, you should have by now....he's been around at least since 2008, has a ton of giveaways, and is one of the leading experts in indentifying counterfeits.

Until next time....

A Gaggle of 2011 Bowman

Sometimes you get a lot of packs of a product and you're not sure why. You look down into the depths of your card cabinet (isn't that where everyone keeps their cards, in a cabinet with shelving that gets exponentially smaller as one moves from left to right?) and see a collection of 40 odd packs of this product and you forget why it was there. Was it an investment in Bryce Harper (likely)? Was it an illicit rampage through a Target aisle (somewhat likely)? Could it have been that they were wishes granted by the gnome that lives under my dryer (slightly less likely)?

In any case, I decided it was an affront to my nature to leave those packs untouched...that, and I did want a Bryce Harper....hype, hype, hype it up. I am as susceptible as anyone else....

What can possibly be inside? I'm not going to show any base cards because they look like almost every Bowman set since 2001.

Brett Brach prospect auto: I did get an auto....of a pitcher...in the Cleveland system...I don't know anything about the Cleveland system.

Behold! Something brighter this way comes....

The sun shines bright upon the  visage of Harper; the sun's even blinding in the photo.....because the future is so bright....yes, those were violins in response.

The real Bryce Harper rookie....of course, it's the prospect Bowman rookie, which is two years after his 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars USA Rookie (unlicensed, doesn't count) or after his USA auto in 2010 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects (doesn't count, USA card), and then if he makes his debut this year,we can finally get one with the patriotic rookie emblem of power.  I don't care anymore....

It's an orange parallel! But the not kind people want (meaning a refractor). This one was numbered to 250...meh.

It's a green parallel numbered to 450, also not a refractor.  You would think that all parallels in Bowman for prospects would be refractors by now.

Finally, a refractor!  Of course, it's of the rarest version of purple....what's that?  In this product, purple is the most common version of refractor...this one is numbered to 700 or something.  At least I got one of the top prospect in the White Sox system....he is competing for the closer's job this spring, vacated by the traded away Sergio Santos.

Another purple refractor numbered to 700 of a prospect with a lot of power (over .500 SLG in the Florida State League in 2010); he was the Tampa organizational player of the year in 2011 and is a candidate to win the backup catcher's role with the MLB club in 2012.

More green....I just found it interesting that his last name starts with a Y.

Tyler Moore has a chance to be a player. He has had 30 HRs in two straight seasons in the minors, and I would not have known this if I did not get a purple card of him.

I;m not sure which is more unnecessary, this parallel or the green, since this is one is numbered to 500 and this blue (light blue? Bowman baby blue?) is numbered to 500.  Now this guy has had a journey to make it to the majors briefly last year.  Check out his transactions from Baseball Reference.  He finally made it to the Dodgers at the age of 33.

I can only think of three things that are ever granted in this world: wishes, bonuses, and free agency.

And that is the colorful world of 2011 Bowman which you may have missed out on while you were not collecting the set or only opening jumbo boxes of them to get the autos and refractor parallels (which are the only ones that count)

Stat Anomaly: 20 Losses, 1957 Robin Roberts

Sometimes great pitchers have a year that they don't want to remember.   Sometimes it means that it was an off year where the pitches don't go where they think they're going.  Sometimes it means that sore arm syndrome has struck you down.  Or sometimes it means that the best years are gone, and there will only be glimpses for the rest of your career.  

It is debatable what had happened to Roberts in 1957.  He was coming off 7 straight seasons of 297 or more innings per season, with the last five years leading the NL in complete games.  His hit rate and home run rate increased to career highs in 1956, and he had a full record of 19-18.   It was his first non-dominant full season of his career.  Let's see what happened in 1957.

On the aggregate, 1957 may have been the worst season of his career to that point.  He finished with a 10-22 record with a 4.07 ERA (93 ERA+) and led the league in earned runs allowed and home runs allowed, even though he pitched an 8 year low of 249 innings (note: he also led the league in these categories the previous two seasons).  His K/BB ratio also dropped below 3.0 for the first time since 1951 (though it was still 2.98 and 2nd in the league, his control must have been incredible).  On the positive side, he finished 2nd in the league in WHIP, 2nd in BB/9, 5th in innings, and 8th in K.  He just may have been more....hittable.... for lack of a better word. 

His first start may have been a contributing factor to the poor season in the modern view of pitching usage....check out this line....12 IP, 12 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 8 K, 190 pitches...now that's how you conserve your ace through the duration of the season.   He also had another 12 inning start in May.

I count only 4 hard luck losses to his ledger....when he didn't have it, he really allowed a lot of runs (4 or more). In wins and no decisions, he had approximately 2.00 ERA and in losses, he had a 5.61 ERA. 

It looked like the years of 300+ innings had begun to caught up with him at the age of 30, but it wasn't even close to the end for the ace of the first half of the '50s.

The Gold Rush Arriveth

I also sent away for a pack of the Topps Gold Rush wrapper redemption. Who knows, it may be possible to strike it rich with 5 card redemption packs of cards....who am I kidding? Shiny or golden cards have been number one in collectors' hearts since 1992. Let's rip open the pack and see if there was anything to get excited about, sell all my land, and move to Alaska (or Duryea, PA).

 Mitch Moreland-Texas: Not that exciting, but at least he was on a pennant winner.

 Carlos Gonzalez-Rockies: The Coors Field extraordinaire (.999 OPS at home and .757 OPS on the road) is also golded up.

 Dennis Eckersley-A's: It looks like my scanner put the Eck askew, but it works with his sidearm throwing motion.

 Brett Gardner-Yankees: The newest Yankee speedster...still probably not going to hit leadoff, probably was the best fielding outfielder in the AL in 2011.

Josh Hamilton-Rangers: The 2010 MVP needs to get back on track by staying healthy and resisting the urge to slide into home plate head first into a catcher.    Even with that, he still only had 33 less plate appearance in 2011 compared to 2010.

So there it is, a pack of cards received in the mail...this may have been the reason I got a 2012 Topps box, one never knows.  Incidentally, this is the only insert set I'm pursuing from series 1 (besides the requisite Phillies).  What can I say, a collector's life boils down to choices....otherwise, there's just cards piled up in all corners of a living room, unsorted, and scattered.  Maybe I need a real gold rush to hire someone to take care of all the stuff I don't take care of.....now there's a redemption card idea.

2012 Topps Series 1 Up for Grabs...

I have the following duplicates for 2012 Series 1:

325, 316, 314, 300, 295, 291, 285, 284, 283, 282, 271, 264, 260, 253, 248, 240, 237, 214, 204, 188, 187, 186, 185, 182, 180, 176, 175, 171, 169, 162, 154, 138, 131, 129, 127, 121, 119, 118, 111, 105, 101, 100, 88, 84, 70, 68, 67, 66, 65, 52, 44, 40, 38, 23, 22, 14, 9, 7

First come, first served by e-mail....

If you really want to send me something in return, I need 39, 258, 317 from 2012 Topps or any other card from my wantlist. If you don't want to send anything in return, that's alright too. I'm happy to help out a fellow set collector for nothing....

Hope somebody needs these numbers...

Wondrous Seasons of the Past: Dean Chance in 1964

There are times when talk of great players gets boiled down to career value, but sometimes there's a time when a good player can rise above the rest of the league for a season or two and become truly great.  Dean Chance in 1964 was that player.   During a time when the Cy Young award was awarded to only one pitcher between both leagues, Chance led in WAR, ERA, shutouts, HR/9, and ERA+ matched up against the likes of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Jim Bunning,  Whitey Ford, Juan Marichal, and Bob Gibson.

"His name is Wilmer Dean Chance, a country boy out of Wooster, Ohio, who plays pool better than Leo Lippy Durocher and beats the Yankees with more consistency than Frank Lary ever did."

He did only go 20-9, which for that pitcher's decade was not that imposing a W/L record, though he did it over an AL leading 278.1 innings with an amazing 11 complete game shutouts. He had finished 3rd in the ROY vote in 1962 and was realizing the potential in full form.

"On the night before he racked up his 20th win in 1964, Dean, never noticeably a booster for the President's Physical Fitness Program, hit the sack at 7:30.  He slept soundly, like a good boy should."

His durability was never in question as he led the AL in complete games, including five 1-0 victories, becoming the 5th pitcher ever with that many in one season.   He also increased his K/BB ratio above 2 for the first time in his career, demonstrating the most command up to his point (though it would desert him in 1966 and return in 1967).

"Chance probably has the strangest-yet most powerfully effective delivery-since Fat Freddie Fitzsimmons pitched in the thirties.  Like Fitz, Chance violates on the cardinal theories of hurling: before throwing the ball he turns his back on a hitter."

So picture a much sturdier version of Hideo Nomo with a jumping fastball who doesn't always know where it's going because "he doesn't see well out of his left eye anyhow".  Imagine if he ever put on glasses....

Dean Chance, with a season for the ages and a career to reflect upon.

All quoted passages are from the book Baseball Stars of 1965: the Dean Chance section was written by Ray Robinson.

Ryan Braun and 2011 Gypsy Queen

The saga with Ryan Braun today was revealing in one aspect. There is a vehement disagreement about what transpired. It doesn't say definitively whether he used a PED or didn't or also didn't reveal whether the testing process and chain of custody is sound. The process is what it is though, and the fact that MLB disagrees with the decision doesn't reveal anything either. They also disagreed with the dissolving of the reserve clause in 1974. The worst part of the saga is probably the leaking of confidential information...again, raising the issue of trust...There's more to the story in some way, but it won't be revealed anymore. The record will show that Ryan Braun was cleared of using PEDs and was not suspended...as consumers of information, we'll have to stand by this as the state of being until proven otherwise. (wow, that was a serious paragraph)

Speaking of Ryan Braun, I was lucky enough to snag a retail box of the Gypsy Queen after the craze for a reasonable price.  I signed up without hesitation for 24 packs of the elusive set. And I pulled this amazing card numbered 01/10.



Yes, that is a stamp card of Ryan Braun, and the stamp is especially meaningful for me because I love going to Yosemite (though I don't see the connection to the player at first glance).

What other excellent cards did the box reveal besides the usual assortment of base and inserts?

Minis!! of great players with different borders. I do love me some GQ minis (not the magazine in mini form).

Also, this sepia mini of Ichiro /99.  This was in the first pack, and I thought that it would have already been a great box if I pulled nothing else.

There were also a couple of the parallel set of 2011 in Al Kaline and Mariano Rivera, that was pleasing too.

Lastly, in the final pack of the box, I pulled a full sized relic of the Greek God of Walks (why, I did see Moneyball recently, how did you know?) of Kevin Youkilis.  I wasn't sure if there was a relic per retail box, but this one had one.

This may have been the best box I have ever opened....until the next best box I opened....

Junior High Countdown: 88. 1995 UC3

It's not flatland, and it's not the space-time continuum of the 4th dimension, it's 1995 UC3.

The Stats

A strange number of 147 card base set distributed in 5 card packs, 36 packs per box, probably $2.49 per pack if my memory's right.

The Design

There were different designs for AL and NL players with ALers having a giant baseballs and NLers having a giant glove with the player superimposed.  Look, the baseballs are flying at you.

The Rookies

Only one rookie in the set: the ubiquitous Hideo Nomo.

The Inserts

There were three insert sets and one parallel set in 1995 UC3.

Clear Shots was a bunch of clear plastic rookies and newcomers, Cyclone Squad had psychedelic spinning wheels on the cards, and In Motion was made of 8 virtual pieces of players flying apart in sections as the card was tilted.  The Artist Proof parallel was the staple of the Pinnacle Brands products and the cards were marked with the seal indicating it as such.

The Impact

The set concept lasted a year.  The flying baseballs in the background coming at you in almost 3D (UC3! Get it?) must have not been the sticking, far-reaching concept that they had initially hoped.  (Sidenote: In 1997, Upper Deck released a set called UD3, which was not an offspring of this set even though it was next in sequence.  I guess the next step would be to release a set called UE3).

Summary

This was supposed to be the higher-priced, premium cousin to Sportsflix except there weren't any changing images except on the inserts.  The lithographic surface remained, but it didn't have the same fun as tilting the cards to make the players move.  Plus, players getting swallowed by giant gloves was a disturbing image for even the most non-squeamish collector.   Paying more for essentially the same set without significant changes did not let it thrive.   Of course, today, a set with that name could come with 3-D glasses and a 46 inch LCD TV, then you could really see all 3 dimensions of the card.  The inserts were both interesting and annoying to look at.  I think I bought some packs of this many years after the fact, it was a good buy for $0.99 per pack.

Giant Phillies on the Loose

1964 Topps Giant set is supposed to be post-card sized, measuring 3 1/8" x 5 1/4", so that's pretty giant for the time. Not quite modern boxtopper size, but they dwarf the standard size cards. The set is 60 cards, including 7 shortprints of Koufax, Mays, Bill Skowron, Bob Friend, Wayne Causey, Dick Stuart, and Galen Cisco. There were three Phillies in the set, of which I've managed to pick up two so far. The missing Phillie is Jim Bunning, which would be his first card with a Phillies hat.  The others on the team checklist are pictured below, both long time Phillies, Tony Gonzalez and Johnny Callison.

Compared to the regular Topps issue from that year, the entirety of the player is the focus of the image.  There's even enough space to include some background color.  The 1964 Topps set's prominent feature was the team name at the top of the card. The reverse of the card is also unique for the time because of the inclusion of a 2nd photo and the newspaper-style text.  The baseball element in the corner was duplicated in the 1969 Topps set.

I like to collect oversized cards.  At some point, I'll create a real display on the wall with them all.    They're usually striking just because more detail can be included in a larger shot....think baseball-panorama in collectible form.  Happy weekend everyone....

Subsets, Star Card Questing, and Pack Opening

What I'm about to say isn't shocking, unique, or about 2012 Topps (except tangentially).  A good card for a collector can come in a variety of flavors:
a) the high dollar, extremely rare, can you believe that? card
b) a rare card of a favorite player
c) a card of a favorite player or team
d) a card that adds to a niche collection
e) a card of a star that you don't hate viscerally
f)a card that leaves you smiling

As I was ripping through a jumbo box of 2012 Topps (there's that word combination again), the sheer enormity of the pack made it almost impossible to gauge what a "good" pack would be.  Fifty cards covers a lot of range in the disappointment to elation face changes over the course of sorting through the pack. 

As a collecting tool and set completion means to an end, the jumbo packs are great.  But if you want to measure them on the scale of collecting enjoyment as a stand alone entity, they're tough to judge.    Each are fairly similar in their construction...bunch of base cards, slew of inserts, flood of base cards with some variation here and there.  There's very little of the hope of much of those categories of what makes a good pack.  For me, it would be an insert or parallel of my favorite team.  Even finding base cards were a shrug-worthy event because in most jumbo boxes, you'll run into the all the base cards at one time or another. 

Before the world of inserts, it took some imagination to get star players into multiple cards in a release.  For awhile, there were the standard all-star cards, which were soon joined by the league leader cards (1967 version shown below)


The league leader cards sometimes even felt like they were set apart for star players; I don't recall any other cards with black borders in the 1967 set.  And with some exceptions, league leader cards did feature star players.  The presentation of the 60s and 70s versions of this subset, was all about the posed shots or head shots and usually complemented the player's principal card well.





There have been other subsets over the years, with this MVP retrospective from 1975 Topps one of the best.  The card within a card concept does work, and it even fooled me as a kid as being real old cards with the Turn Back the Clock cards from 86-90.  MVPs were generally stars and added an extra element to the star player pursuer or the collector defining a good pack just opened.


The problem with modern collectible sets is not the limitation of star cards or the lack of elements that would make a good pack. It's almost the overproliferation of them.  I never thought I would be unexcited to see a Roberto Clemente card or Mickey Mantle card (that's not actually true, I still get excited, but some are definitely not).  Of course, this is a reflection of the times, collectors want every pack to have the odds in their favor to have a potentially positive experience; who wouldn't after all?  And I can see the reason, packs are not cheap, you get a collector to buy a few where there's a positive in nearly every pack, then they're likely to purchase a few more later down the line.


Contrast this approach to 2001 or 2002 (the beginning of the ultra modern collecting era) where there was an insert maybe one in every 4 packs if you were lucky for Topps.  A relic was one in every 3-5 boxes and an auto had even steeper odds.  It was real luck to pull something amazing, and there was even a small amount of luck to pulling out a pack win on the positive experience side. 


For the base set at least, Topps has tipped the scales in the nouveau collector's favor because if every pack has something to offer, there should always be another pack waiting to be opened.  For mid-end sets, this is even more pronounced.  Check out the refractor distribution in Topps Chrome over the years or look at the insert mini distribution differences in Allen and Ginter from 2008 to 2011. 


The question is have we reached a saturation point of how much positivity we can handle?  When all the elements are in nearly every pack or box, what allows a set or a concept to rise above the others?  Does this lead to more uniformity of collectors' expectations?  If we don't experience the valleys of opening disappointment (not based on perceived and intrinsic value such as in high-end), can we enjoy the peaks as much?

Stat Anomaly: 20 losses: 1973 Wilbur Wood

Here is the first 20 game loss accumulator that can be said that is based on volume rather than dearth of quality.  Let's take losses out of the equation for a minute and look at his other stats from that year of 1973.

Wilbur Wood, knuckleballer extraoadinaire of the year had a record of 24-20 in 48 games started in 359 innings with a 3.46 ERA (116 ERA+), 1.31 WHIP, 199 K, 91 BB and a league leading number of batters faced, hits allowed, etc.  You get the picture....he started nearly 1/3 of the White Sox's games that year, which is an incredible ratio.  It's amazing that he only had 20 losses during the season.  This year was also a step down from his similar, but better 1971-1972 seasons.

Let's see if he was a victim or an instigator of his 20 losses.    His season started off incredibly over the 1st two months through Memorial Day, going 13-3 with a 1.71 ERA.  All four of his shutouts were during this time period, and all starts except two went 8 innings or more.    Somehow, he pitched in 32 games in the first half of the season and matched that with 32 decisions, going 18-14....before the all-star break.  He clearly was injured or just got tired from the workload since he went 1-8 in June with a 4.43 ERA and 1.46 WHIP; the rest of the months of the year also followed a similar pattern in WHIP in ERA.  

Over the course of the season, there were 6 starts in which he allowed 3 earned runs or fewer with 8 or more innings pitched and lost the game.  This is not an obscenely high total for the era (just my guess), but it would have made his won-loss record a little better.  This was his 3rd straight season of greater than 330 innings, and it may be the toll came upon him in June 1973.

Interestingly, he allowed what seemed to be a high amount of unearned runs (28) or the season, this is probably due to the 33 passed balls committed by the White Sox catchers that year. 

His workload continued unabated for awhile, so expect to see him again in this series at some point.

Pack Rips from the Recent Past: 2011 Topps Update Value Box

I think I was reading the Blowout forums too much during the collecting and release lull of December and January. Did you know there were collectors out there who would buy 30 or more at a time of these packaged packs? Apparently, you can break even on these guys if you're into that type of buying and selling part of the hobby.

The normal damage is $15; the spoils are a diamond giveaway card, one of three exclusive Bryce Harpers, 5 2011 Topps Update retail packs, and a 2011 hobby Bowman Chrome pack. I think other people have explored whether they were "loaded". I did see some amazing pulls on the boards. Let's see what happened when I jumped into the retail boulevard of dreams.

It's the exclusive Bryce Harper card.  This looks like the most common version, the red.  The silver and gold have definitely been harder to come by.  I do like having a Harper rookie just because he's the major rookie association of 2011 at this point.  I say the odds of him breaking camp with the Nationals on the big league roster as the starting right fielder is 60-40.

The 2011 Topps Update packs gave me pretty much what was expected.

The insert series of that moment: Topps 60; nobody's favorite, but nobody's least favorite. There were some images I like, like this one of Tris Speaker. The Gray Eagle can be thought of as either an Indian or Red Sox member. 

The Target exclusive red-bordered parallel of another of the rookies of the moment, Dustin Ackley...he is already probably the Mariners 2nd best offensive player.

An Eric Hosmer Rookie Debut liquorfractor sure spices the pack opening up.   His age 21 season compares favorably to Eddie Murray's, I'm just saying.

I already miss the legend shortprints this year, so I was happy to pull Ty Cobb as a Philadelphia Athletic.  In 1927, as a 40 year old, he had 5 HR and 93 RBI at the peak of the power '20s, a remarkable career.

Robinson Cano won the home run derby and it was awesome to watch in person. He was really locked in.


Was Kevin Correia named to the all-star team last year?  And not as the only Pirate?  He must have had an incredible first half (after further review, he did).  This is a nice diamond parallel anyway.

From the 2011 Bowman Chrome pack, I got a Chase Utley (good for me) and beat the odds with a refractor #d to 500 of Hunter Morris, a young prospect in the Brewers system. Refractors give me an uplifting feeling, don't they give you one also?

So there it is, I feel good about the value...won't be going for huge returns on these....but then again, when have I ever at this point in my life?