2014 World Series recap

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning their third World Series championship in five years - I wonder how Los Angeles Dodgers fans feel at the moment when they haven't won squat in nearly 30 years.

It's amazing that the Giants didn't have Matt Cain, a past his prime Tim Lincecum was mostly unused and both of their veteran pitchers [Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson] really stunk it up - I was hoping the Royals would have one more run [literally] in them to change things around in Game 7, but the Giants still had Madison Bumgarner to close things out on his way to being named World Series MVP.

To watch the Royals lose was mildly disappointing because they had come so far and even though they snuffed out the Angels early in the Division Series - how they kept surging on was pretty impressive.

Assorted card shop pick ups

Wasn't as geeked up digging around a particular card shop I can only really visit maybe a few times in the fall - but found some loose odds and ends to put away in my pocket.

I paid $5 for a 2014 Panini Prizm Evan Longoria #65 - serial #'d 10/42; maybe a $1-$3 card on eBay but I suppose adding s/h costs even things out.

When digging for random singles, maybe I have a 'handful' of guys whose cards to look for - Longoria might be one of those MLB players that pique my interest from time to time.

The rest of the cards were a dollar each - I like numbered parallels when I can find them.

1993 Fleer Ultra Top Glove Greg Maddux #1 - an old insert featuring him wearing batting helmet, so I might as well grab the card now for my pitchers hitting collection or else I might as well forget it.

2002 Upper Deck Plus Mike Hampton #UD 99 - serial #'d 0142/1125; Hampton is not a player whose cards I'd usually find as keepers, but it's neat to find cards of him as a hitter.

2012 Topps Heritage Minors Matt Den Dekker - black border parallel serial #'d 61 / 96; I'll grab serial #'d cards all day even if the players aren't quite notables.

2012 Topps Pro Debut Garin Cecchini #23 - gold parallel serial #'d 24/50; maybe I've been on a numbered cards kick and it's fun to look for them, even though they aren't worth as much as I'd assume.

2012 Topps Pro Debut Tyrell Jenkins #130 - gold parallel serial #'d 08/50.

2013 Topps Update Series Ryan Kalish #US 108 - Camo parallel serial #'d 60/99; a seemingly limited card featuring awesome outfield action is a keeper.

2014 Panini Prizm Alex Gordon #42 - serial #'d 39/99; for the 2014 World Series, I'm hopping on the Kansas City bandwagon unless the San Francisco Giants snuff the Royals' World Series championship run out rather decidedly.

Featured autograph - Alex Gordon

I think everyone has always thought Alex Gordon looked the part of a Major League All-Star or even potential superstar - maybe I've seen him just a few times, but at the plate I've always assumed Gordon had the ability to battle pitchers into deep counts before lashing a line drives to the gap or perhaps even hit a long home run. He had the innate ability to make hard contact once the ball met his bat.

However, after not living up to the hype in parts of four seasons with the Kansas City Royals, with numbers of games played decreasing from 151 in 2007, 134 in 2008 to 49 in 2009 - the former uber prospect continues to be a question mark. Perhaps not being entirely healthy, he was sent down to the minors after hitting .194 with a .323 slugging percentage in 31 at-bats.

I'm not so sure the Royals have as much patience with Gordon like they did when he was burning through the minors - seems like he's more likely to go down the path of Sean Burroughs than Robin Ventura at this point.