2011 Pro Debut two pack break

2011 Topps Pro Debut [$3.00 each x2 at a card shop] - just looking for a quick fix before work Saturday night and I bought a couple of packs.

I'm not as nuts about Topps Pro Debut as I was at the beginning of last year's baseball season - however, I was still curious about what this year's cards look like [like 2011 Topps, duh] and the players I can pull [all minor leaguers.

First pack
#286 Wilin Rosario
#247 Jason Knapp
#85 Kellen Sweeney
#95 Cole Nelson
#51 Derek Norris
#DA 35 Chris Marrero
#159 Mike Olt
#141 Alex Kaminsky

Second pack
#320 Drew Heid
#308 Mel Rojas Jr.
#321 Dustin Geiger
#64 Adrian Salcedo
#53 Christian Yelich
#58 Drew Mittelstaedt
#162 Yadiel Rivera
#178 Jose Dore

Featured autographs - Tyson Auer

Tyson Auer was one of the Angels minor leaguers brought to Southern California for the last few days of spring training against the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers - after Sunday's game against the Padres, Auer was standing around with Mike Trout at the Angel Stadium players' parking lot.

Trout had signed autographs through the fence, though I'd already gotten him - I wanted Auer and one of the kids who gets autographs at the stadium on a regular basis called Auer for me.

From what I saw through the fence, I think Trout was ribbing Auer a little because someone had recognized him and now he had to come over and sign autographs - I was able to get the two minor league cards I had of Auer, an unheralded 25-year old player looking to reach the Major Leagues.

2010 Topps Pro Debut I pack break #5

Pack five
#190 Keon Broxton
#126 Brock Holt
#193 Ben Tootle
#93 Edwin Gomez
#DA-19 Reegie Corona - Double A All-Stars

#161 Brett Pill
#48 Robbie Widlansky
#35 Jeremy Bleich

2010 Topps Pro Debut I pack break #4

Pack four
#45 Robbie Ross
#7 Christian Bethancourt
#100 Michael Ohlman

#PDA-LC Lonnie Chisenhall - autograph / trapped sticker
#47 Carlos Triunfel
#211 Pil Joon Jang
#204 Billy Nowlin

2010 Topps Pro Debut I pack break #3

Pack three
#83 Chris Dwyer
#151 Brooks Raley
#68 Jeff Kobernus
#172 Kyle Conley

#SA-3 Jimmy Paredes - Single A All-Stars
#8 Brett Wallace - Wallace is pictured with Oakland's AAA team in Sacramento, though he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays during this past off-season.
#137 Jason Van Kooten
#179 Damon Sublett

2010 Topps Pro Debut I pack break #2

Pack two
#140 Caleb Thielbar
#108 Chris McGuiness

#154 Tony Sanchez - the No. 4 overall pick in the 2009 amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
#TA-23 Justin Lehr - Triple-A All-Stars; journeyman style, since Lehr has pitched in 77 games in the Major Leagues, but has bounced around professional baseball otherwise.
#74 Jose Alvarez
#138 Jeff Malm - I know he's been on at least one Upper Deck printed USA card.
#22 Derrik Gibson
#169 Tony Delmonico - I don't know much about him, except he is in the Los Angeles Dodgers' system and is currently catching after being drafted as an infielder. I know that much because I have his 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition card and was looking him up to see who he was because I thought he was with the Angels [wrong].

2010 Topps Pro Debut I pack break #1

Pack one [eight cards per pack] - I bought five packs of these and had to get my fix of these new Topps minor league cards, even though I overpaid to the tune of $4.99 per pack.

#102 Nate Freiman
#50 Josh Phegley
#85 Luke Murton

#104 Jordan Pacheco - gold parallel; serial #'d 20/50; the bottom left-hand corner is kind of soft.

#DA-1 Miguel Abreu - Double-A All-Stars

#25 Jefry Marte - I like to 'sound out' the names of players with 'funny' spelling names like a 'Jefry.' I think the explanation I've heard during baseball broadcast is mistakes are often made when recording names on birth certificates in the Dominican Republic i.e. 'Jhonny Peralta.'
#213 Mark Sorensen
#118 Pedro Figueroa

I plead ignorance as far as knowing who these players are - though the point of picking up packs of Topps Pro Debut I rather than Topps MLB is to kind of figure who the next up-and-comers are or at least have cards [to get signed in-person or through the mail] in-hand of minor leaguers who may play in the Major Leagues one day [or not]. 

Featured card: 1988 Score Gary Redus #443

Gary Redus was a moderately successful Major Leaguer - however, a little known feat accomplished by the largely forgettable Redus is that he holds the minors' single-season batting average record.

I suppose he is being honored just a little bit, by being included in Tristar's upcoming Obak set - I looked at the checklist and wondered why Redus would be included. I'm sure collectors who end up pulling his card will be wondering who he is.

As a 21-year old in 1978, Redus- hit a blistering .462 in his professional debut in the Cincinnati Reds' farm system.

Tristar has a chance to hit a home run with their retro set, aimed for those who like the Topps Allen and Ginter - the set features some interesting subjects besides the typical current minor leaguers and top prospects. However, it remains to be seen if the product will be embraced by collectors who do not take minor league cards seriously in the first place.

Minor matters

I'm looking for some 'new' cards to get autographed in-person and received a couple of minor league team sets I purchased from stb1 on EBay - it was a 2008 Cedar Rapids team set and a 2008 Clinton Lumberkings team set.

Many of the players who played for those teams naturally advance one level up to their respective minor league teams in the California League - for Cedar Rapids players, they move up to Rancho Cucamonga [which essentially is my 40 minute away 'home team'] and for the Clinton Lumberkings players, they move up to the Bakersfield Blaze [which I see next month at Rancho].

I like minor league team sets but they are sort of outdated 'trading card relics' of yesteryear - meaning they are more novelty products these days rather than something you would hoard for value.

I usually stick whatever Bowman/Tristar/Donruss/Just prospect cards I can get - however, the team sets give you the rank-and-file players and not just the top prospects.

It seems like the 'top prospects' in these sets are afterthoughts because for someone like Derek Holland [who is already in the Major Leagues] alone - he already has a 2008 Bowman Draft Chrome first-year autograph card, along with some of the other 2008 first-year autograph cards produced by Donruss-Leaf-Playoff [and now Panini] i.e. Contenders.

The Cedar Rapids set was in a 'loose' team bag of sorts with a haphazard placed MiLB logo - I don't know if it came packaged like this. Several of the top left corners on the first few cards were dinged with white corners. I'm not really going to compain but take note. The cards were arranged in numerical order, though I don't know if they came that way.

The Clinton Lumberkings set was sealed in plastic with a haphazardly placed MiLB logo - the cards look like they are in better condition, though as the case with minor league cards, the card stock is really thin.

These team sets often include the training staff and a novelty I've read about - is chasing down those individuals who have cards in these sets.

They sets $11.95 each and I paid $30 cash [in the age of Paypal and even money orders, I feel like a luddite] - it came to around $14 per set when stb1 gave me back $2.

While I don't have much experience with team sets, I always hear grumblings about how expensive they are either to buy from the teams themselves or through stb1 - I'd probably agree, though I like the novelty of having cards for players to sign, especially if they don't have Bowman/Tristar/Donruss/Just prospect cards out yet.

Too bad Trevor Reckling got promoted already - I'll probably see him at the end of the year in Anaheim though, if he continues to pitch well.

Card show purchases #2

Spent $14 on an assorted number of common cards - I actually found a stack of random Projections Tristar minor league cards [I am sure these cards are from their 'high series']. They were in a box listed as '6 for $1' and I jumped at a chance to pick about 18 cards up, after not being able to find any during a card shop trip.

Projections seems like a comphrensive minor-league card product but they remind me of 1991 Classic Minor League and/or 1992 Upper Deck Minor League - mass produced minor league cards released through packs [as opposed to perhaps minor league cards released through team sets] where you seemed to have an endless number of names [including guys were never going to make a 40-man roster].

Tristar is a niche product for casual collectors who thinks the company can offer something a little different - on the other hand, while the cards are not bad looking at all, one thing annoying me is the birthdates listed in the bio on the back of the cards. They are at least three to four years off and I wonder if a team of monkeys proof read the back of these cards.

#221 Jake Arrieta - Baltimore Orioles organization
#242 Sean Rodriguez - Angels



#272 Adam Olbrychowski - New York Yankees organization
#287 Barry Enright - Arizona Diamondbacks organization
#291 Jeffrey Locke - Atlanta Braves organization
#295 Jeremy Haynes - Angels organization
#298 Tommy Hunter - Texas Rangers
#307 Andrew Romine - Angels organization
#311 James Simmons - Oakland Athletics organization
#326 Mason Tobin - Angels organization
#331 Brett Anderson - Oakland Athletics organization
#332 Chris Carter - Oakland Athletics organization
#378 Eric Hurley - Texas Rangers
#396 Dexter Fowler - Colorado Rockies' organization
#397 Matt Harrison - Texas Rangers
#399 Desmond Jennings - Tampa Bay Rays organization

#327 Jordan Walden Reflective - Angels organization
#385 Chris Carter Reflective - Boston Red Sox organization

Minor matters and picking up random cards

Sometimes you feel you are in your own world - I went to a sports card shop, looking for some minor league product.

You always have your usual Major League cards, but sometimes you are looking for something a little different - I was looking for the 'mass produced' cards by Tristar.

"It's not really [something that is] in demand," the man I spoke to said. "We only carry mainstream [product] like Topps and Upper Deck."

Well I guess I'd better stick with official MLB licensed and/or MLBPA licensed baseball cards - I usually try to get my rank-and-file cards autographed in-person and through the mail and perhaps if I'm looking to find a minor league card of a particular player [probably a young prospect], he probably has a first-year Bowman/Bowman Chrome card.

With the MLBPA rookie card rules - Topps and Upper Deck are probably printing cards of particular players as they make their MLB debuts.

Why bother with minor league cards?

At the shop, I found 20 random cards [$0.10 each] from the commons boxes - I'm not really enamored by cards right now, so they were not a priority.

I feel like more cards = more work I'm not willing to do when it comes to sorting - I don't care about my collecting topics as much at this point.

I did find several minor league cards- 2008 Just [unlicensed; meaning the cards can't display team logos, even of minor league teams] of Logan Morrison, Chris Davis, Bobby Parnell, Andrew McCutchen and Jordan Bachanov [Angels draft pick in 2007 who had Tommy John surgery].

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes - these cards are styled after the Baseball Heroes inserts of the 1990s. Upper Deck has rolled out the Baseball Heroes graphics more than a few times.

#46 Corey Hart - a rising semistar who I probably had a chance to get, but didn't have any cards for during spring training.



#79 Alex Gordon - he hasn't made the leap from highly touted elite prospect to all-star performer [or better].
#168 Luke Scott

2008 Topps Baseball Series I and II - you need Topps, but there is an expectation these cards are very basic and boring.

#132 Ramon Vazquez - a decent utility guy

#428 Jair Jurrjens - was he really the Atlanta Braves No. 1 pitcher in 2008?
#487 Corey Patterson - breaking his bat

#489 Joakim Soria - I try pick-up cards of such players because you are more inclined to do your homework on new faces.
#607 Ryan Spilborghs - Spilborghs is making a nice attempt to grab the ball.
#618 Pat Neshek - didn't really need this one, but he is a fan favorite.
#644 Reggie Willits - a fan favorite even though he barely played in 2008.

2008 Upper Deck II - I like these cards, but they are very boring. There isn't anything grabbing at you.

#534 Reggie Willits
#645 Yuniesky Betancourt
#647 Ramon Vazquez

2008 Upper Deck A piece of History

#43 Hunter Pence
#68 Phil Hughes