It's Official

It’s official.  The 2014 regular season is over.  The big story is the end of Derek Jeter’s career.  It’s a bittersweet moment for us Yankee fans.  I can’t remember watching too many Yankee games before Jeter was the shortstop.  Also retiring at the end of the season were Paul Konerko and Bobby Abreu.  It’s a shame that Konerko and Abreu didn’t receive more attention.  They were certainly deserving of it.  All three left the game with class and dignity, just as they played it. 

Also with the end of the regular season, comes the end of the fantasy baseball season.  About a month ago, I posted (bragged) about my sizable lead over the second place team in the league.  Shortly thereafter, I lost that lead and held second place for about two weeks.  During that time, I constantly searched the available free agents in search of an edge.  Fortunately, I reclaimed the lead and won the league.  There are no prizes – just the right to brag on this blog.  But, there is a lesson to be learned here.  Don’t count all of your chickens until Trevor Plouffe is your third baseman. 

Pack Break: 2012 Topps Update

I recently opened up a pack of 2012 Topps Update.  I remember when this was called Topps Traded and it only included players who were in their first years or traded to another team.  Now there are cards for participants in the Home Run Derby and All Star Game.  That seems unnecessary.  Anyway, here is the haul.

Ryan Ludwick
Joe Mather
Matt Lindstrom
Travis Snider
Jeremy Hafner
Melky Cabrera (Gold)
Yoenis Cespedes (Blockbusters)
Weird Royals Card
Michael Saunders
Jose Bautista

Joey Devine
Jeremy Hermida
RA Dickey

The question on the blue Royals card is what happened before George Brett homered in the first at bat of his 4 for 4 game in the 1985 ALCS.  Bueller?  Bueller?  The correct answer is that Willie Wilson was caught stealing.  But, we all knew that. 

Junk Wax Pack Breaks: Part 2

So here is my 1988 Donruss haul.  When you look at these cards, it’s amazing that any team had a winning record in 1988.  Actually, I did pretty good with these packs.  By the way, if anybody needs anything from this set, I probably have it.  Here are the best cards from each pack.  And yes, I got two Glavine rookie cards.

Don Mattingly
Mike Schmidt
Jack Morris
Tom Glavine
Tom Glavine
Dave Parker

Junk Wax Pack Breaks: Part 1

I recently acquired 6 packs of 1989 Bowman and 6 packs of 1988 Donruss.  This post will focus on the 1989 Bowman.  I will post about the 1988 Donruss on another day.  There was no Griffey rookie card.  However, there was plenty of junk wax goodness.  Each pack was $1 and there are 12 cards to a pack.  I find the unusual size of the cards to be quite annoying for storage purposes.  If anybody has any needs for some strange reason, shoot me an email.  Without further ado, I will present the best card from each pack.  (There was one judge and it was me.)

121 George Brett
179 Dave Winfield
Richie Ashburn Sweepstakes Card (Roberto Kelly was runner up)
237 Rafael Palmiero
316 Eric Davis
258 Sandy Alomar

Silk Cards: Update Edition

I picked up a pair of silk cards from 2013 Topps Update on Listia for about 1,000 credits each.  The cards feature the player’s rookie card rather than the base card from the 2013 set.  On the left is Tim Lincecum.  His rookie card is from 2007 Topps Update.  I bought a little bit of this product in search of Joba Chamberlain’s rookie.  I never got the Joba card and I never got a Lincecum card.  The card on the right is former Yankee Robinson Cano.  This was the card that I was really after.  It still feels like Cano is on the Yankees.  His presence would beat that of Martin Prado or Stephen Drew.  I never really bought any 2003 Topps.  It’s a decent design, but 2003 was a year that covered my collecting hiatus. 

Pack Break: 2007 Upper Deck

Here’s a quick pack break.  This is a 2007 Upper Deck pack of just 5 cards.  It came out of a repack at some point.  I pulled Jeremy Accardo, Jason Frasor, Mike Jacobs, Johnny Estrada, and Delmon Young.  Meh.  I hate the dark Blue Jays uniform.  At least a poisonous lizard didn’t emerge from the pack and attack me.  That’s a positive. 

NL Rookie of the Year Race

I picked up this 2014 Bowman card of Jacob DeGrom on Listia for just 26 credits.  DeGrom is a contender for NL Rookie of the Year.  He is no Doc Gooden, a former Rookie of the Year with the Mets.  But, DeGrom has put up some decent numbers.  His biggest competition probably comes from Billy Hamilton of the Reds.  Hamilton’s game is all about speed.  If the season ended now, Hamilton is probably the winner.  But DeGrom has a bright future in Flushing.