Card show pickups - Manny Ramirez

'Manny' is an 'iffy' guy to collect in the 'here and now,' where I wouldn't know what to do with his miscellaneous cards long enough after he stopped playing - but he was a great, fun player to watch [as a phenom in Cleveland, a superstar in Boston in his prime and playing the starring role in the Mannywood show with the Dodgers], so I snuck in some cards that caught my eye in the '3 for 1' card show brick I was building.

Making myself at home at the card show

I was digging through a sellers discount box trying to figure out how many cards I'm going to stack in my keeper pile and maybe the seller's grandson was annoyed - "are you going to buy any of those cards?"

While it's kind of a do-or-die decision for me to come up with the cards I'm picking up - maybe I've been a little idle at the seller's table and I'm probably going to seem a little off, standing directly infront of a bored teenager [behind the table] for about 30-40 minutes.

It probably didn't help the teen didn't know any better and his grandfather was telling him about random people who might show interest in certain cards and kick the tires for a little bit - only to disappear for good.

In the end, I found my 'sweet spot' of finds - that end up not being worth more than what I paid in most cases, but fun to go through after the fact.

The shiny cards from the UV era of the mid 1990s onward tend to be nice to look at in-hand - but a chore to get a good picture of.

A hard to photograph, but shinyManny Ramirez insert - Manny ends up being an 'iffy' guy for me, where do I wonder about continuing to pick up his stray cards?

I think Manny was a force despite all his misgivings as a big league superstar and if a card is remotely interesting and/or 'pops' in a certain way - I may just have to make them keepers.

The rest of the best including some old-school rookies [Darryl Strawberry, Johnny Damon and Kerry Wood], a Team USA and a relic bat card of Nomar Garciaparra - along with a 1993 Topps Finest Tim Salmon, which isn't really a rookie or a rookie year card, but was in a first-year product during Salmon's rookie year.

Featured autograph - Manny Ramirez

The hype surrounding 'Manny Being Manny' and 'Mannywood' has been long over - though I still remember the flaky but ferocious slugger from his early years with the Cleveland Indians through his prime years with the Boston Red Sox.

In recent years, Ramirez has tried to hang on as a player, even spending time playing in Taiwan in 2013 - as is, he is a ‘has been’ whose Hall of Fame caliber hitting stats clash with PED allegations / suspensions.

The guy was moody about signing and the way he signed his autograph is all over the place - I was 'browsing around' for random subjects and picked up a certified autograph card with a scribble that is cleaner than the chicken scratch he has inked up.

2014 Topps Heritage Minors Manny Ramirez

Seeing this 42-year old 'non prospect' appear in this year's Topps Heritage Minors set makes me shake my head - I try to get cards from the minor league version of the Topps Heritage set signed in-person and this one is just not going to get ink on it anytime soon.

As is, I guess it's kind of a novelty to see him in a 2014 set of cards - even though I probably have at least 30-40 cards of him from his MLB playing days and could have done without another one.

Despite his monster career totals, his immaturity, boorishness, PED use and a handful of other goofs will probably make him a hard sell for the Hall of Fame - still he must be playing for love the game because he has to realize he is SOL if he looks to get back to the major leagues.

Diamond Giveaway trade - 2011 Topps Diamond Cut Jered Weaver DDC-111

I traded the 2011 Topps Diamond die cut Manny Ramirez in my portfolio - for a Jered Weaver 2011 Topps Diamond die cut card.

I like 'collecting' hitters' cards a little bit more than pitchers but Weaver is the Angels' ace - but wanted to add a card with some regional flavor to my collection.

Diamond Giveaway trade - 2011 Topps Diamond Cut Manny Ramirez DDC-132

I traded my 1967 Topps Don Drysdale for a 2011 Topps Diamond Cut Manny Ramirez - Manny has been exiled from Major League Baseball but I guess I wanted another 2011 Topps Diamond die cut card in my portfolio.

Maybe I have more confidence in Topps being able to deliver a shiny 2011 card - than a 34 year old card of a Hall of Famer that was probably going to be in 'vg-ex' condition at best.

Manny Ramirez - don't let the door hit you on the way out

I think I was disappointed to hear about Manny Ramirez' abrupt retirement due to possibly failing another drug test - he was one of those most dominant sluggers of his time and was probably the most entertaining as far as cheap laughs were concerned.

However I think there comes a time, when the most irreverent of professional athletes lose their relevance - you know these guys are done when they are suddenly past their mid 30s, it takes longer and longer for them to produce like they have in their prime if they are still playing and it isn't fun watching when these players don't have the same impact on the games they play.

I want to turn the clock back five or 10 years when a guy like Manny would be hitting 35-40 home runs a year - but as much as you want to see one shot of glory from this flake of a superstar baseball player, the juice is gone and maybe it is time for an athlete like him to go out.

Another Major League headache - Manny, PEDs and the legacy of the game

Manny Ramirez was suspended 50 games for using a fertility drug - supposedly used to stimulate testosterone production.

I think if you are considered a superstar through your mid to late 30s - you should get the jock deity treatment and take all the stuff you need to perform one, two or three more years.

It maybe a radical opinion - but I don't care about the performance enhancing drug use of guys like A-Fraud, Manny, Roger, Barry, Mark or any of the main 'other' guys implicated through this decade.

I know the established superstars are good for it and they are who I pay to watch the game - if I'm seemingly ambivalent over PED use or oversimplifying, then so be it.

It becomes a witch hunt anyway and I wonder if we'll ever get to some understanding it was an implicit part of the game - the terrain is murky however and the moral dilemmas shift from one way to the other.

Baseball fans wanted to crucify Barry Bonds at one point, but now we want the problem to just go away when other names came out through the Mitchell Report - we are so eager to forgive and forget but as long as it was 'our guy.'

I believe some guys dabbled here, dabbled there and maybe some guys have used them for a prolonged period of time - during the last 25 years PED use has exploded to fuel bigger, faster and better players.

It doesn't make it OK, but how can we get angry and pass judgment when PED use was so prevalent - admittedly however, it is harder to watch the game as a spectator and judge numbers from the Steroid Era.

I can choose to enjoy the Major League game and be a staunch defender - as someone who is a little ignorant, naive or blind.

You watch one guy, nicknamed 'The Machine' in St. Louis and he's the next guy at the top of the hill, the shining beacon of hope in our downtrodden times - Albert Pujols is truly the best player in the game today, but is he clean? Has he always been clean? How did he get to where he is? Playing in the Steroid Era, will he be the next one exposed?

I can be totally disgusted, knowing the players you may love to watch are damaged goods and no one is above suspicion - from the slap hitting dynamo to the bruising slugger who either hits a home run, walks or strikes out.

Part of me says 'get a grip' because this is the real deal in professional sports and whether I like it or not - players are looking for an edge, even to cheat to justify their livelihoods. You either pay to watch them play, tune in somewhere to watch them, chase them for autographs or you do something else entirely.

Part of me says, what about the legacy, what about the history of the game that presents itself as a noble game, with noble heroes - while the history of Major League Baseball is flawed, there is a fine line painted between what certain players in bygone eras represented and what players of today do.

By using PEDs, it seems like the players are content to give the finger to the past. Where is the professionalism - don't cheat your way to the top, don't try and get an edge by using PEDs. Let your talent take you as far as you can go and if you aren't good enough or can't play long enough, go somewhere and play golf.

Maybe I've been influenced by a Goose Gossage interview during a 6-1 Angels win on Thursday night - the Goose said if a player is caught using PEDs, the teams should void their contracts. Gossage doesn't like Manny, doesn't like 'my man' Francisco K-Rod Rodriguez showboating [after his saves], doesn't like Joba Chamberlain's fist pumps [Gossage said he was contacted by the general manager of the Yankees after Gossage was interviewed about Chamberlain].

Gossage thinks the 'me first' baseball players have ruined the game because they don't carry themselves with the same respect some of the past greats had when they were playing - as sort of a link between the past, present and the future. Gossage firmly states that no one player is bigger than the game.

It is kind of sad, Jose Canseco was right again - not that I have anything against Canseco, just that what he has said has been the truth. Once he said Manny might be using, you couldn't just brush it off and was waiting for 'El Maniaco' to be exposed one way or the other.

If he throws the name out of your favorite player as a potential PED user/abuser - you'd better be listening.

The games go on, but I don't know how to feel about guys who maybe real good at playing this game and their lasting legacy - because they might have artificially inflated their numbers.

Featured pickup: 2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Idols Quad Swatch Memorabilia card #237

Don Mattingly - October 4, 2005
3-for-6 RBI with a walk in Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS

Derek Jeter - September 21, 2008
0-for-5 - despite going hitless in the last game at Yankee Stadium, he is the all-time hit leader, surpassing Lou Gehrig.

Manny Ramirez - July 6, 2008
0-for-1 - struck out by Mariano Rivera on three straight pitches in what may have been the deciding game for Boston Red Sox management and their players to come together and say 'we have to trade Manny now.'

David Ortiz - August 24, 2008
0-for-2 with two walks

This was an appropriate card to note the last game played at Yankee Stadium Sunday night - I dug around to look for the featured players' last appearance at Yankee Stadium and to see how they did.

I don't know if the price I paid for the card was a good deal or not - but my standard saying is it is worth the price is what I paid for it, no more and maybe less. My cap is probably $10 on picking-up any 'midlevel' or strictly 'low-end' singles.

I'll look for a 'topper' to my collection - like a card or something once in a while when I have the chance and when I feel like I'm not breaking the bank.

The card is probably more common than I can imagine [it is listed as part of the base set and not an insert] - but features jersey pieces [game-used cards are oversaturated to the point of pissing off collectors looking for something worth more] from Don Mattingly [pinstripe], Derek Jeter [pinstripe], Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.

I wanted to find an 'acceptable' player combination featuring Jeter and figured two of the most prominent players [Manny and Big Papi] from the No. 1 rivals would be suitable - I don't see where Mattingly immediately fits in and can see where someone who played in the last five years being a more ideal subject for the quad card.

On the other hand, Donnie Baseball kept the Yankees relevant - through a World Series dry spell in the 1980s and is considered a franchise legend, probably more beloved [particularly by New York Yankees' fans] than many Hall of Famers enshrined in Cooperstown.

1998 Leaf 50th Anniversary # 32

2008 Trading Card Day UD 9


Featured players: Manny Ramirez and Ken Griffey Jr.

Manny Ramirez connected for his 500th home run against Chad Bradford of the Baltimore Orioles on May 31 and Ken Griffey Jr. is one shy of hitting his 600th home run after hitting his 599th off Jair Jurrjens of the Atlanta Braves on the same day.