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.

#MyCardMonday

I'm just like everyone else and loves to get a good autograph or relic card. I know when I look on EBay or wherever to buy cards I tend to look for one of those. I know that is only one end of the perspective in collecting. For #mycardmonday I thought I would show off my favorite non autograph or relic card.

A 2014 Topps Acetate of the Tampa Bay Rays Desmond Jennings. I am a fan of Jennings who plays a good centerfield for one of my more favorite teams. I know the acetate cards have been around for awhile, but this is the first one that I have picked up. It is a low numbered card with there only being /10.

Here is what the back of the card looks like. Just a reversed image of the front. Even the back of the card is pretty cool. All in all a cool card to have in my growing collection.

Expectations are high

Over the past few of years the Detroit Tigers have pretty much traded their farm system away to get proven MLB talent. It has worked out pretty well for the Tigers. Doug Fister came over from Mariners and was everything and more then what the Tigers have wanted. The biggest trade was the Miguel Cabrera trade. We all know how great of a deal that was for the Tigers and how much of a flop it was for the Marlins. With this common scenario the Tigers' farm system was ranked near the bottom every year.

Nick Castellanos was Detroit's one prospect that was pretty much untouchable. Nick was drafted in 2010 out of High School by the Tigers. He was given a hefty signing bonus to keep him with the Tigers and not go to college. Every stop in the minors he proved he could hit. The big question was his defense at third. Once the Tigers would sign Prince Fielder and move Miggy over to third, the Tigers would try Nick out in left field. Once Prince would be traded away Nick found himself right back at third. Last year he would win the everyday job at third for the Tigers. Offensively he had a decent year hitting .259/.305/.390 with 11 home runs and 66 RBIs. Defensively he was one of the worst third basemen in the game if not the worst.

Coming into spring training Nick has a lot of work to do to continue to build Tigers fan's trust. The way I look at Nick is he will only get better. Offensively he proved he can hit at every level in the minors and I think it is a big jump from AAA Toledo to the majors. He is also only going to be 23 years old this season. He is still pretty young. Defensively will still be the biggest hurdle for him, but with the help of Omar Vizquel and Alan Trammell, two great gold glove winning shortstops working with him and Iglesias coming back to play along side him at short should help out.

#MyCardMonday

Roberto Clemente was one of the best baseball players on and off the fields of all time. Unfortunately his life was taken way to earlier due to a plane crash. He was trying to bring aid packages to Nicarague in 1972  after an earthquake struck the city. He was always looking to help out his home country of Puerto Rico.

As a baseball player, Clemente was one of the most feared right fielders the game has ever seen. He finished his career with exactly 3,000 hits while hitting .317/.359/.475 with 240 home runs. His career OPS+ was 130. In the outfield he would win 12 gold gloves in 12 straight years. Add in a MVP, 2 World Series rings, and one World Series MVP you have a 1973 Hall of Fame election.

Clemente did just as much off the field as he did on the field. He life was ended while trying to help people out. He was elected to the Hall of Fame early due to his untimely death.

Topps Heritage Part 1

Last night I received my favorite baseball card series, Topps Heritage. I really like the retro design to their cards. I purchased two hobby boxes due to the reasonable cost and the fact that each box you are guaranteed either a relic or an autograph.

My first box started pretty slow for me. It wasn't until the last pack i ripped open that I pulled this Zack Greinke game used relic. I was pretty impressed with the card. Greinke is a good pitcher coming into his contract year with the Dodgers. I remember watching him come up with the Royals and show his dominating stuff against the Tigers. He is a little bit of a head case, but still a pretty cool card to add.

My second box I pulled another game used relic of Atlanta Braves first basemen, Freddie Freeman. This is probably my favorite of the two cards just because of having the red jersey piece compared to the usual white or gray. Freeman is good young first basemen who has a great glove and I like a guy who can flash the leather.

By the time I had a chance to rip into these boxes it was a little later in the evening. I did pull a few cool parallels that I will post in part 2 and I have to go through and look to see what short prints I pulled and if I did get any bubble gum stained cards.