Howie Kendrick

Kendrick gets to stay in the So. Cal area and ends up playing for the more prominent 'LA' team - I guess with one year remaining left on his contract, it's great he was traded for a young, cost controlled pitching prospect.

I'm not so sure Kendrick was overtly popular with Angels fans, but for better or for worse, he just came to the park to play - the Angels are probably going to miss his presence at second base and his steady bat at the plate.

From a fan's perspective, Kendrick was expected to be a perennial hitting star, but he fell just a bit short of being the type of hitter that contended for batting titles - even as batting average is considered outdated means of gauging a player's worth, BA is still a stat to check out on a daily basis.

A home grown talent who has been in the organization since 2002 and been in the major leagues since 2006 - Kendrick is getting older and while it's obvious now that he's gone, the Angels weren't going to extend him.

Featured autograph - Andrew Heaney

A Miami Marlin just a few days ago, Heaney was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers and then flipped to the Angels for long time second baseman Howie Kendrick - as an Angels fan, I look forward to watch Heaney earn a spot on the starting rotation in 2015 and start to do his business.

I don't know much about him except he's lefthanded and I've already gotten his autograph a few times during the 2013 Arizona Fall League - from the bits and pieces I would guess Heaney gets results as more of a polished pitcher who throws 90-91 MPH as opposed to overpowering opposing hitters with pure stuff.

The kid seems to be is a legit prospect - though he's not another Chris Sale.

Featured autograph - Howie Kendrick

I wasn't planning on making the trip to BFE for a Kendrick autograph signing last Thursday, but there was a signing near Angel Stadium this past Saturday that was a more reasonable distance - I don't bother with most Angels appearances, but made a sacrifice for Kendrick, since he signs sporadically at the stadium these days.

He was polite and cordial otherwise and I got a baseball and a 2012 Topps Allen and Ginter card signed - he thanked me after I told him he was having a great season and how he should make the All-Star team.

There was some wait, but that's a given at these player appearances - maybe this ended up a 'low key' deal, but at least there didn't seem the mess of 'pros' who brought friends, family and long lost relatives to pounce on an opportunity.

2014 Topps Series I hobby jumbo pack

Even though I'm waiting on a hand collated set I purchased - I tried a 50-card pack for about $12 to see if I could pull something decent like this past break.

Pack one 
#90 Ethan Martin
#198 Nick Swisher
#284 Brandon Belt
#63 Tyler Skaggs
#107 Jordan Zimmerman
#46 Kolten Wong
#129 Yonder Alonso
#252 Kevin Pillar
#6 Josh Beckett
#14 Yoenis Cespedes
#60 Jon Niese
#328 James Loney
#74 John Mayberry
#279 Corey Kluber
#326 Khris Davis
#233 Rafael Soriano
#237 Michael Cuddyer/Chris Johnson/Freddie Freeman - 2013 NL Batting Average Leaders
#36 Billy Hamilton
#62 Joe Kelly
#323 Jose Bautista
#207 Jonathan Villar
#66 Kris Medlen
#180 Ben Revere - Gold parallel serial #'d 0269/2014
#185 Howie Kendrick - Red Hot Foil parallel
#PP-26 Jon Lester - Power Players code card
#TM-23 Roberto Clemente - 1989 Topps minis die-cut
#UC-24 Justin Verlander - Upper Class insert
#FN-7 Jean Segura - Future is Now insert
#BG-18 Cal Ripken Jr. - Before They Were Great insert
#10 Junior Lake
#272 Carlos Villanueva
#196 Cole Hamels
#154 Chris Iannetta
#125 Joe Mauer
#315 Jose Quintana
#40 Hyun-Jin Ryu
#144 Joakim Soria
#311 Chris Young
#216 Ubaldo Jimenez
#26 Josh Phegley
#181 Jim Henderson
#65 Hisashi Iwakuma
#242 David Holmberg
#281 Robbie Erlin
#219 Charlie Morton
#241 Henderson Alvarez
#33 Matt Harvey
#58 Dan Straily

2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway Haul

I had 25 of 28 cards shipped through the 2011 Topps Diamond Giveaway Web site for about $16 - the highlights were probably the three die-cuts; the rest are cardboard curiosities that I had delivered for whatever reason.

The oldest Topps card in my Diamond Giveaway collection was from 1959 and the newest non die-cut was from 1985 - the three cards I didn't get shipped included a 1982 Topps John D'Acquisto #58, a 1987 Topps Don Sutton #673 and a 1988 Topps Kirby Puckett All-Star subset card #391.

2011-BB-DDC-DDC-10 Howie Kendrick 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
2011-BB-DDC-DDC-11 Jered Weaver 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
2011-BB-DDC-DDC-25 Vladimir Guerrero 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1959-BB-TS1-194-NA Jim Brosnan 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1960-BB-TS1-113-NA Bob Skinner 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1972-BB-TS1-504-NA Ed Spiezio 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1973-BB-TS1-513-NA Dave Marshall 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1974-BB-TS1-455-NA Tom Bradley 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1974-BB-TS1-512-NA Joe Lahoud 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1976-BB-TS1-213-NA Dave Heaverlo RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1976-BB-TS1-32-NA Danny Frisella 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1978-BB-TS1-19-NA Darrell Porter 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1978-BB-TS1-301-NA Buddy Schultz RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1980-BB-TS1-137-NA John Castino RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1980-BB-TS1-97-NA Bill Lee 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1981-BB-TS1-170-NA Ross Grimsley 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1982-BB-TS1-356-NA Denny Lewallyn 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1982-BB-TS1-77-NA Miguel Dilone 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1984-BB-TS1-189-NA Tim Conroy 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1985-BB-TS1-3-NA Dwight Gooden RB 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1985-BB-TS1-630-NA Tim Raines 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1974-BB-TS1-96-NA Jerry Hairston RC 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1973-BB-TS1-439-NA Eddie Fisher 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1975-BB-TS1-542-NA Pete Broberg 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED
1981-BB-TS1-709-NA ALAN TRAMMELL DP 1 07/17/12 SHIPPED

Order # 308490-1 Order Date: 07/02/12 0299EDI
Shipping Method - USPS