Closing out the year - award winners

There is usually some excitement as far as adding another set of cards to my binder to celebrate the most prominent individual player accomplishments - even if there were no particular surprises among the guys who won and I don’t have fancy cards [something shiny like a parallel and/or autographed] to show off.

Maybe something like a Topps Now card would be nice and relevant, but I stick with random base / inserts I may find since I have my share of them - knock on wood, maybe I'll try to look for more jazzy cards in future years.

For my MVP collection, I went with a 2017 Topps Stadium Club Jose Altuve #116 [American League] and a 2017 Topps Finest Giancarlo Stanton [#29] - the Altuve is a horizontal card and while I sort of want my cards arranged vertically on a nine-pocket page, my award winners collection is kind of made of a claptrap of assorted cards anyway, so I'm not going to be a stickler.

In my Cy Young collection, I dug out a 2017 Topps Chrome [#159] of National League winner Max Scherzer - it’s a current year card that's moderately shiny, so it might as well be the card for him.

For American League winner Corey Kluber, I just went with a second card [2014 Topps #279] I’d stored in the same pocket where I had his 2015 Topps Chrome Sepia parallel [#79] for winning the Cy Young four years ago - it’s kind of a boring card but it serves its purpose.

In my Rookie of the Year collection, I’d already put away a card for Aaron Judge [American League] and Cody Bellinger [National League] sometime during the regular season - I went with a 2017 Bowman rookie card for Judge [#32] and a 2017 Bowman yellow parallel prospect card [#BP149] for Bellinger.

Featured autograph - Ryan Howard

I’ve wanted a Howard auto since I’ve really had only a couple of chances not to end up getting his autograph over the last 10 years - I tend to look at Howard as a slugger who put up some nice power numbers and was a face of a franchise that won the 2008 World Series.

As is, Howard has probably been considered one of the worst MLB players relative to the contract he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2010 - while he still had occasional pop in his bat, his ability to hit otherwise has disappeared [primarily dealing with defensive shifts and his inability to hit lefties].

At first base, Howard seemed to be more of a big oaf with no defensive value - if advanced metrics are to be believed for all the counting numbers he has put up, has only been worth 14.9 WAR [according to Baseball Reference] over the course of his career.

The random certified autograph card features a sticker - I’ll flip a coin to see if I put this in my Rookie of the Year [2004 National League] collection or my MVP [2006 National League] collection.

Award winner adds - miscellaneous MVPs

2002 SP Legendary Cuts Dazzy Vance #16 - 1924 National League MVP

1991 Conlon George H. Burns #309

2007 SP Legendary Cuts Charlie Gehringer #32 - 1937 American League MVP

2001 Topps Archives Jackie Jensen #145 - 1958 American League MVP

2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970s Joe Torre #144 - 1971 National League MVP

2002 Topps Tribute Paul Waner #71

I looked for one more card to add to my stash before checking out my cards and found this shiny base card from a 15-year old high-end Topps set - Waner was the 1927 National League MVP with the Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming the first player in the team's history to be honored with the MVP award.

Award winner adds - miscellaneous MVPs

1983 Galasso 1915 Cracker Jack Reprint Roger Peckinpaugh #91 - 1925 American League MVP; I'm not going to worry about it, but I didn't realize this identifies Peckinpaugh as member of the New York Yankees when he won the MVP with the Washington Senators.

2008 UD Yankee Stadium Legacy Box Set Joe Gordon #17 - 1942 American League MVP

2008 UD Yankee Stadium Legacy Box Set Spud Chandler #19 - 1943 American League MVP

2014 Panini Golden Age Phil Cavarretta #89 - 1945 National League MVP

2001 UD Legends of NY Don Newcombe #20 - 1956 National League MVP; a die-cut piece of felt surrounds the team logo, making these cards feel a little different.

2005 Diamond Kings Red Frame Keith Hernandez #300 - 1979 National League co-MVP with Willie Stargell; I picked up a two-sided, dual jersey [like these] featuring Hernandez and Stargell, though I wanted at least one random card featuring each guy.

The card cost about $0.50, but it's pretty nice to have in-hand - red frame makes the cards feel a little more sturdy and fancy.

Award winner adds - Conlon Collection

1991 Conlon TSN Frank Schulte #304

I've been vaguely aware of these cards, where I might have seen them sold at a Toys "R" Us [or other toy retailers through the mid 1990s perhaps] as sets [housed in a plastic box] and/or blister packs - I couldn't relate to the cards because the product was released in the junk wax era and I just wasn't interested in a black-and-white card set featuring vintage players, without the allure of being 'old and valuable.'

While I still don't think much of these cards, I looked to fill some holes in my award winners collection and picked these six up - these cards have probably been packed out in some repack I'm going to see on a card blog somewhere, but I'd rather just have them in-hand now, than think I'm going to stumble upon them at some point.

1991 Conlon TSN Larry Doyle #317

1992 Conlon TSN Bob O'Farrell #621 - 1926 National League MVP

1992 Conlon TSN Bucky Walters #537 - 1939 National League MVP

1991 Conlon TSN Frank McCormick #306

1991 Conlon Mort Cooper TSN #301

Dave Parker game-used material card

I've got some Parker cards in hand though not one picturing him in his prime with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team he won the National League MVP with in 1978 - to fill a hole in my award winners collection, I picked up a Parker 2012 Panini Golden Age Museum Age Authentic Collection material card for $2.

I was really looking for an autograph card but couldn't decide on the cards available - the color of the material caught my eye and I'd like to make believe the swatch was taken from something Parker wore in a game when he was a Pirate.

Award winner adds - pre-war MVPs

2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Red Crystal Shard Jim Bottomley #29 [$0.62] - serial #'d 184/399; he was the 1928 National League MVP

For my award winners collection, I'm trying to hunt down the cards of guys who won MVP awards before WWII - players from the era might be a 'special focus' because I have to be more creative in looking for suitable cards for my collection.

I'm not likely picking up original trading cards from when these players were alive and playing professional baseball - reprint and retro sets seem to be my bets to find the cards that fills holes in my collection, though I still want to get a little picky.

2010 Topps Tribute Dizzy Dean #46 [$0.55] - he was 1934 National League MVP

2013 Panini Cooperstown Collection Red Crystal Shard Carl Hubbell #41 [$0.50] - serial #'d 356/399; he was the 1933 National League MVP

2012 Panini Cooperstown Red Crystal Collection Joe Medwick #88 [$0.87] - serial #'d 372/399; he was the 1937 National League MVP

Featured autograph - Vida Blue

I wanted at least one certified autograph card of Blue to represent one of the two MLB awards he won in 1971 - this $3 card goes into my MVP collection, while I have a 2002 Topps Archives card [a reprint of his 1971 Topps card] for my Cy Young Award collection.

I remember tagging along with a friend to a golf tournament 10-15 years where Blue was appearing along with others like Bobby Bonds [former Angel, since passed away] and Gene Mauch [former Angels manager, since passed away] - unfortunately I had no concept of getting Blue, Bonds or Mauch on anything specific [like getting a card signed to fill a card project], so the best I got Blue and Bonds on was a program with a bunch of other random autographs.

I figured picking up a certified Blue autograph would be the easiest if I wanted a signed card - Blue still signs through the mail for $10, though I didn't want to bother putting together a TTM request I'd have to wait for.

Featured autograph - Mike Trout

An early season slump threatened to derail Trout's season [temporarily] - but it looks like he's locked in again and he's more or less the front runner of the 2014 AL MVP.