The jury is still out on Harper

A late post for #mycardmonday is better then no post at all. It was a busy day at work for me and with the Red Wings in a good hockey game (unfortunately they lost) I am just now getting to the post.

Back in 2012 the baseball community saw two big name player make their rookie debuts. One really made his name when he came up to the majors (that being Mike Trout) and the other having a bunch of hype even before he was drafted. The latter of the two being Bryce Harper. Over the next three seasons I am unsure of what I think of Harper. He has put together a good OPS+ of 123 over his short career, but only has a career high of 22 home runs and 59 RBIs, both of which came in his rookie season. For as much hype he has received since he came up I would think he should be hitting at 30+ home runs and drive in over 100 RBIs a year. Why I am still on the fence to believe the hype is because he is still young, only 22 year of age. Maybe he will start to produce as he starts to age and mature a bit. Only time will tell.

This video is Cole Hamels "welcoming" Harper to the majors. He threw at him and Harper got his revenge by stealing home. I would be lying if I did told you that I didn't love this. To me this shows me that Harper goes all out. I love that he didn't charge the mound, but decide to show up Hamels by stealing home. I know stunts like this and him running full speed into the outfield fence and injuring himself has caused him some flack from people, but I would love to see some play this hard more often then someone ease up, because of being afraid to piss off a veteran guy or a possible injury. What Harper needs to lay off of is being such a "bro" on and off the field.

I would love to see Harper live up the hype he was given before he was drafted. He does need to mature on and off the field and maybe he will be that 30+ home run guy with 100 RBIs driven in each year, but only time will tell what he will do.

Awesome mail day!

Yesterday was another good day for me when I got out of work. Not only was I done for the day for work, but I was going out to eat with some really good friends of mine. Oh yeah I also had this awesome card waiting for me when I got home. Last week I saw this card posted on one of the many baseball card groups on Facebook. This group I haven't done much with, mostly because I'm afraid to get scammed and I see posts of people saying this person scammed that person. Well I thought I would take a chance on this David Price 2009 Topps Finest manufactured autograph patch. It was a great deal that I couldn't pass up on and it obviously worked out for me. This is my second autograph letter patch card (first being a Porcello) and I love these cards.

I would like to also give a shout-out to my best friend Augie for taking my laptop and cleaning it up for me. Now I write my blog while watching my Tigers!

#MyCardMonday

As a Detroit Tigers fan I will say I am extremely lucky to watch a player who should go down in history as one of the all time greatest hitters to play the game that we all love so much. That player being Miguel Cabrera.

For #mycardmonday I thought I would honor Miggy today. It is truly a pleasure to see him play almost every night in the Old English D uniform. Even with injuries that was dealing last year he still managed to play 159 games. He did have a down year offensively, but a down year for Miggy he still hit .313/.371/.524 with 25 home runs and 109 RBIs. Oh and lets not forget he did lead the league with 52 doubles all while dealing with bone spurs. As of right now he is 8 home runs shy of 400 for his career so it shouldn't be much longer and I will being doing another post about him reaching that milestone.

Once Miggy decides it is time to hang up the cleats, it will only be a few years before he should be immortalized in the Baseball Hall of Fame. It is really something to watch this guy play for my Detroit Tigers.

Mail Day! David Price

I have been slacking off on writing about some of the recent cards I have received in the mail over the past week or so. Mostly due to the fact of being busy at work and that is where I can scan the cards onto my computer. Hopefully in the next week or so I will be able to get caught up on my collection.

In this year's Topps Series 1 set they released their relic cards based on players career highs. Pretty cool that they are incorporating some cool feat that each player has accomplished. Being a Detroit Tigers fan I thought I would start with adding a David Price relic. This card is shows him in his days with the Tampa Bay Rays, more specifically his Cy Young season of 2012. That season Price was dominating on the mound. He would win 20 games and as you can see on the card his ERA was 2.56 to go along with his ERA+ of 150. He would even beat out our Detroit Tigers' ace, Justin Verlander that year of Cy Young.

#MyCardMonday

After missing last Monday I thought I would do a card that is something other then baseball for #MyCardMonday. Today I will show off one of my favorite hockey players of all time, Bob Probert.

Probert was one of the most feared guys to ever lace up the skates. He was known for his fists and protecting his teammates. When he was with the Red Wings he had a motto if you went after Steve Yzerman, the captain of the Wings, you better watch your back.

Kevin Maguire learned the hard way in this video. It might be a cheap shot, but Probert was going to get his message across one way or another. Nobody was going to lay a hand on his captain and go unmarked.

You know you are a legend when a hardcore band, Grimlock, writes a song about you. Here is the song "24" by Grimlock along with the highlights of Probert's career. RIP Bob Probert.

Thank You Snorting Bull

Last week my parents went on a vacation to see my two sisters, brother-in-law, and nephew in North Carolina. For my dad it was more of a working vacation with the projects my sister had for him to do. I decided to stay in town, because of the busy end of the month for my job. When my parents returned home and stopped over and had dinner with them and talked about their trip. My dad told my mom to get what Eric (The Snorting Bull) gave me.

Again I will state I am a huge Ken Griffey Jr. fan. I grew up in the 90's idolizing him as a player. Even to this day he is ranked right at the top of my list as my all time favorite baseball players. Eric had this print laying around and didn't have much use for it and thought it should go to a good home. This is a print done by the artist Rick Rush and it is 1,877 out of 5,000 in production. I know pretty big number, but still cool to me. The picture shows Griffey's sweet swing (one of the best swing in all of baseball). From what I read it is suppose to be during the 1997 season when he was chasing the current home run record of Roger Maris' 61 homers. He would finish the season 5 short with 56 home runs.

Thanks again Eric a.k.a. The Snorting Bull!

Call Your Shot Contest

Yesterday was a pretty good day for me. I was busy at work which is always good. I received a cool gift from my brother-in-law (will make a post about that later), had my new sweatshirt in the mail along with a couple of cards waiting for me when I got home also. The one card I received in the mail was from the contest Babe Ruth's Call Your Shot game. In this year Topps Series 1, they would have scratch off cards with a chance to win an autograph, autograph relic, or an entry to win a grand prize. I stuck to my game plan and just scratch off the autograph relics on about the ten cards I had pulled. I did get lucky and won on one card.

After redeeming the code it gave a list of potential players that you could receive in the mail. I was pretty happy with the list that was shown and even more happy when I ripped open this beauty of a card. I pulled a 2013 Topps Triple Threads of Atlanta Braves all star first basemen, Freddie Freeman. I love that the relic is part of a baseball bat and the autograph is on card instead of a sticker. Jersey relics are more common, I believe then baseball bats relics and the on card autograph is always a better deal then a sticker. Needless to say I am really impressed with what I received from Topps and even more impressed how fast this card came. I knew they wouldn't start to ship until the end of March and I received it yesterday (4/6), which anyone who has redeemed a card with Topps will agree that came quick.

Congrats Devon Travis!

As not only a Detroit Tigers fan, but a baseball fan in general, I understand that this is a business. Sometimes you are going to see a player you like be traded away from your favorite team. Hopefully you will get a player back who can address another need to help your team win. This off-season I saw a minor league player who I followed for the past year and a half traded away from the Tigers to the Toronto Blue Jays.

This is my second post about Devon Travis. My first post talked about him being traded this off season to the Blue Jays for Anthony Gose. Travis was blocked at second basemen by Ian Kinsler and the Tigers needed a centerfielder. This trade made sense for the Tigers, even though I really liked what I was seeing in Travis in the minors. I followed Travis since half through the 2013 season when he was making noise in single A ball. He would finish the season as the Tigers Minor League Player of the Year. He would follow up that season in AA and would have another good season for the Erie Seawolves.

Going into spring training Travis was somewhat considered a long shot to have win the everyday second base job for the Blue Jays. He never played about AA ball and he was competing with veteran players like Maicer Izturis and Ryan Goins. He did what he has done since he became a professional baseball player and hit the ball well. With a .352/.397/.463 slash line and six doubles. He hasn't hit any home runs this spring, but he could eventually be a 12-15 home run guy for the Blue Jays. Really glad to see him get his chance this year. He will be someone I follow this season and probably his whole career. He isn't a Mookie Betts, but he is a pretty good ball player.