Tigers vs. Twins 9/27/2015

Yesterday for my birthday I was able to spend the day down in Detroit watching the Tigers play the Twins thanks to my girlfriend. The Tigers had one bad inning that lead to the loss. It has been a rough season, but either way I cannot complain about spending my birthday watching the team that I love so much. I did have great seats right behind home plate which made it even better.

Sorry for my chicken scratch, but this is the scorecard from the game. If you look at (Bryon) Buxton last at bat for day in the 8th inning you will see that he hit a solo shot home run. This would be the first of his career. Pretty cool to be able to say that I saw the #1 prospect in all of baseball going into this season hit his first career home run. Check out the video below to watch it.

Take out the 2nd inning for the Tigers and they would have been right in the game. Randy Wolf the starting pitcher got shelled in that inning. It was base hit after base hit for him. Kyle Ryan came in next and looked pretty good outside of the two walks of his. I didn't take a lot of photos but I will share the couple that I did take below.

Through Detroit they have giant bobble heads of different Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, and Pistons. The Victor Martinez was at the stadium and the first one I saw. They did give away normal size bobble heads of Anibal Sanchez, but only to 14 years and younger.

To give you an idea of how close my seats where to the game I took a few pictures. Starting at the top with Rookie of the Year candidate Miguel Sano, former Tigers right fielder, Torii Hunter, and the generation player in my current generation, Miguel Cabrera.

The Tigers lost 7-1 to close out there home schedule. This has been a disappointing season, but with injuries to several key players hurt the Tigers a lot this season. It also forced the team to trade top players away to build for the future. Staying positive for next season!

Congrats V-Mart

This season might not have been the greatest for the Detroit Tigers designated hitter, Victor Martinez. Yesterday, though he did have a nice highlight slugging his 200th home run of his career. Even with the Tigers not making the playoffs they have had some good career highlights with players throughout the season, including V-Mart's 200th long ball.

We won't be seeing the Tigers in the playoffs this season, but I love the expression of V-Mart. He plays with a lot of passion and he shows with his picture on this card.

Congrats V-Mart and hope to see many more with you wearing the Old English D!

Short Prints and Parallels

This is my second post for the 2015 Topps Heritage Minors. Yesterday I posted my relic and autograph hits from the box that I busted open and today I will share my short prints and parallels that I opened. This series made it really easy to figure out what cards are the short prints. Cards numbered from 201-225 are the short prints. Makes it a lot easier then looking at the serial number on the bottom right hand corner.

I was actually more excited about these pulls then the my autographs and relic. I actually got a couple really good prospects. I won't go into much detail about each player but I will list who they are and what major league team they are associated with and their prospect rating.

Tyler Glasnow - Pittsburgh Pirates #7th top prospect (mlb.com)
Mark Appel - Houston Astros #44th top prospect
Hunter Harvey - Baltimore Orioles #62nd top prospect
Aaron Judge - New York Yankees #18th top prospect

My parallels were pretty good pulls as well. I pulled three blue and one orange and the orange parallel was probably the best one of the bunch. Orange parallels are #'d/25.

Jose De Leon - Los Angeles Dodgers #24th top prospect
Colin Moran - Houston Astros n/a rank
Erik Gonzalez - Cleveland Indians n/a rank
Kyle Crick - San Francisco Giant n/a rank

RIP Yogi Berra

Last night the baseball world lost a legend. At the age of 90 years old, Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra passed away. Berra's baseball career was highlighted with many awards including 3 MVPs, 10 World Series Rings, and he caught Don Larson's perfect game during the 1956 World Series. One thing that Berra will always his funny saying he always had.

Six or seven years ago I had bought the book Tales from the Dugout: The Greatest True Baseball Stories Ever Told by Mike Shannon. It is a collection of different stories from different people in the baseball world. My favorite story featured the New York Yankees playing the Detroit Tigers and Yogi Berra. I do not remember the other players involved other then Yogi, but the story goes the Tigers were pitching and every time the pitcher threw a fastball, the Yankees first base coach would whistle. If it was an off-speed pitch he wouldn't. After he did this a few times, the Tigers' pitcher walked over and told him next time I hear you whistle I'm beaning the batter. Now I believe it was Mickey Mantle at the plate and the first base coach did the same thing and the next pitch drilled Mantle. Next up to the plate was Yogi and the coach still was giving signs to him. After Yogi heard the whistle, he yelled to the pitcher "I hear him whistling, but I'm not listening to him!"

Rest in Peace Yogi Berra!

2015 Topps Heritage Minors

Last night I was greeted with a box on my front porch when I got home from work. I actually wasn't expecting the box until maybe today, but I was happy to see that my 2015 Topps Heritage Minors box showed up. I haven't had a chance to really go through and look for the short prints (#'d 201-225), but I figured I would start with my other hits.

First off my relic card I pulled is of Cincinnati Reds #2 prospect, Robert Stephenson. He is ranked as high as 16 overall (Baseball Prospectus) and low as 24 (MLB) in their top 100 prospects going into this season. Drafted out of high school in 2012 in the first round 27th overall. He has climbed through the minors and made it to AAA this season. His two best pitches is his fastball that can touch upper 90's and his his curveball that hits the low 80's with good break.

My first autograph is of Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Erich Weiss. Weiss was drafted in 2013 in the 11th round by the Pirates and has made it to AA this season. His career minor league slash line isn't all that bad being .281/.360/.364. The slugging percentage is what is holding Weiss back. He hasn't hit for really any power, but has stolen 40 bags in his minor league career.

Michael Gettys is actually the one name I was a little familiar with when I pulled his autograph. I have heard his name pop up a few times on my instragram page. He was a 2nd round pick in the 2014 draft to the San Diego Padres. He is currently ranked 8th overall in their system according to mlb.com. Gettys received plus grades in his speed, arm strength, and bat speed going into the draft. He was clocked going 6.43 in a 60 yard dash and hit 100 mph on an outfield throw. He downside is his pitch recognition. If he can start to recognize better pitches his bat should start to come around with his plus bat speed.

#MyCardMonday

Last night Torii Hunter launched his 350th home run of his career and I couldn't think of a better ball player to do a #MyCardMonday then Hunter. Being a Tigers fan I have had a lot of chances to watch him play when he started his career in Minnesota to him playing for the Tigers for two years after he left the Angels and now that he is back with the Twins. Hunter has to be one of the most liked guys in the game. He always plays with a smile and always gives it his all.

In his two years in Detroit he batted .295/.327/.456 with an OPS+ of 115. His defensive had taken a step back from his early years when he won 9 straight gold gloves from 2001-2009. Along with his 9 gold gloves and 350 home runs he has 2,435 and counting hits in his 19 year career. He has been selected to 5 all star games and won two silver sluggers. At the end of his career I believe Hunter will be a borderline Hall of famer. 350 home runs and 9 gold gloves is nothing to go unnoticed on his resume. I would give him the nod if I had the vote.

Topps Chrome Break

This past week I have been slacking on writing on here and a week ago this past Monday I opened a box of Topps Chrome and just now getting around to posting the cards. With work and the long weekend I have been busy, but lets look at my hits from this box.

In this box I pulled two parallels, a Ryan Braun purple and a Carlos Gonzalez blue. I was excited to get the CarGo with him having a decent year, but the Braun I am not a huge fan of him, but being a purple parallel still a cool card.

One of the inserts the Chrome has produced this year is their future stars. Cory Spangenberg and Dalton Pompey both have had a couple cups of coffee in the majors. Both of them show promise if they can put it all together.

My first autograph actually came in the first pack that I ripped open, Cuban born Raisel Iglesias for the Reds. In his first season he is having a slightly below average season with an ERA+ of 94. He has struck out 101 batters in 90.1 innings so far though.

My second autograph belongs to the Texas Rangers Ryan Rua. He has had a couple call ups this year and last year. A career .276/.359/.477 hitter in the minors, but the numbers haven't transferred to the majors just let.