Featured card: 2010 Bowman Throwbacks Kendry Morales #BT 69

I picked up the Los Angeles Angels [Torii Hunter / Hideki Matsui / Kendry Morales] cards from the 2010 Bowman Throwbacks set because I still familiar with the 1992 Bowman set as one from a 'nine or 10 years ago,' though it has actually been 18 years since its release - I like the novelty of the reprinted card designs because there is a 'what-if' quality to them, even the cards themselves are anachronistic and some of the details on the original cards may not actually be mimicked on the insert cards.

When I overheard a couple of Angels fans [I'll assume] telling former Halo Adam Kennedy [during batting practice before the Washington Nationals / San Diego Padres game in San Diego on Saturday] - how Morales got injured after hitting a walk-off grand slam, I was in disbelief. The biggest news for this fan on Saturday wasn't Roy Halladay's perfecto, but the Halos losing their 'bully' in the middle of their lineup with light tower power from both sides of the plate.

Morales is probably close to as done for the regular season - who knows how he will bounce back if somewhat healthy enough to make a return this year.

In 2009, the Angels had to deal with Nick Adenhart's passing - but losing a guy for a chunk of the season because of an apparent walk-off celebration adds insult to injury and is a blow to a team looking for some consistency.

Maybe the real question is how are the Halos going to be able to get production from first base with the possible options they have available - will the Angels trade for a first baseman who can hit with some pop or is the organization content to 'fill in the blank' at first base with someone within the farm system or perhaps someone currently on the Angels.

My purchase - a 2010 Bowman Prospects set

I wanted to see what the 2010 Bowman cards looked like, but obviously it has been an overhyped product since its release - with the lottery / rat race mentality of speculators and collectors alike chasing Stephen Strasburg's first-year [non-USA team, not unlicensed Tristar] parallels / autographed cards. 

I ended up getting a hand collated base set of the prospects [around $30 shipped from a seller on eBay] - so at least I can have a basic Stephen Strasburg first-year card for my personal collection and also get a complete set of 109 other prospect cards featuring such up-and-comers like Jose Iglesias [Boston Red Sox], Starlin Castro [Chicago Cubs], Aroldis Chapman [Cincinnati Reds], Dustin Ackley [Seattle Mariners; card looks too dark for an autograph], Donavan Tate [San Diego Padres; card looks too dark for an autograph], Hak-Ju Lee [Chicago Cubs], Wilmer Font [Texas Rangers], Brett Jackson [Chicago Cubs], Thomas Neal [San Francisco Giants], Grant Green [Oakland Athletics], et al.  

The Strasburg card should be a $10-$15 card by itself, though by the end of the year - Topps will have likely rolled the presses on releasing various basic, non-autograph MLBPA rookie cards [~Actual rookie cards people! Not just these silly 'first year' cards printed of guys who haven't thrown one pitch or had one at-bat in the Major Leagues~] of Strasburg, along with more valuable parallels/ autograph cards. 

The Angels are not getting it done in the American League West

The Angels are horribly inconsistent and cannot get anything going at this point - they are my team and it is early, but it isn't fun watching a baseball team that can't consistently get off the mat. 

The Mariners were depending on one Milton Bradley to be a middle of the lineup force - so they suck too with Bradley taking his ball and going home. As much as I'd like to be a contrarian and root for Bradley the player and perhaps the person, his mood swings have made him an unsympathetic figure in my eyes. As much as he maybe calling out for help, it maybe time to cut the cord on his MLB playing career. 

Meanwhile in the rest of the suddenly 'weakened' American League West, the A's are emerging as a scrappy bunch who looks like they may stand out - I don't know if they have enough pitching and offense, while I think scrappy guys like Adam Rosales, Cliff Pennington and Kurt Suzuki can only take the team so far. 

However, unlike the 'Moneyball' era A's teams, my perception is the current A's are a more balanced team - with their ability catch the ball, run and perhaps do more than wait for the three-run home run from a Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada or Eric Chavez. 

Can it be conceivable the A's and the Texas Rangers will be the two teams in the AL West battling for the division title - the Rangers' lineup can score lots of runs and if their pitching holds up, it makes them a team with some staying power. It looks like Vlad Guerrero is getting some of his mojo back and if healthy, maybe a comeback player of the year candidate.

Torii is playing well, but the rest of his Angels' squad isn't coming together anytime soon.

Maybe the slumping Godzilla needs a rest. 

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.

Baseball cards and me - trying to be honest about my waning interest in cardboard

I don't feel like I can relate to collecting baseball cards right now because I've just gotten too lazy [in life] to care about them and I have these things going on in my mind - where I'm ambivalent towards my collection of baseball cards. 

I think at times I say, 'I'm too cool for cardboard,' since I live within 30 minutes of a Major League Baseball team and going to games takes up most of my leisure time [tough life] - and perhaps any sort of spending money I may spent for actual baseball cards is used to pay for tickets / gas perhaps and food. 

Back when I first started to collect, 15 or 20 years ago, I could never have imagined to get my little pieces of cardboard signed by the players shown on the cards - now I've got cards to sorted out by MLB teams with some knowledge of getting them signed on somewhat regular basis [whether it is cards featuring a college player, professional player from the minors to the Majors and even some retired guys]. 

Collecting baseball autographs in-person [maybe through the mail, though sending requests has slowed down for me] takes some precedent over merely collecting baseball cards of players pictured - and it gives me an excuse to conveniently ignore collecting baseball cards for the sake of collecting them like I see through other baseball card / trading card blogs.

Perhaps I'm not so eager to secure something for my 'personal collection' and I'm not as enthused buy into the hype of new releases - I'm a fickle baseball card guy as far as budget is concerned and I don't need another fancy set-builder product like Topps Chicle with unopened boxes around $80. 

At times I feel nostalgic about collecting the cards for themselves - maybe I'm trying to find a way to enjoy card collecting again, even though most of the cards I'll be trying to pick up are ones I'm trying to get autographed.

Featured links - collecting from two points of view

At times I feel like I've kind of lost something as far as collecting baseball cards for the heck of it and can relate to the point of view in this link - Are Cards Needed

Then again, I kind of see collecting baseball cards in a different, nostalgic, way when I read this - What He Left Behind

Featured autograph - Scott Brosius

I first got Scott Brosius' autograph in-person when he played for the Oakland Athletics back in 1996 - I ended up not collecting in-person autographs in 1997 and Brosius got traded to the New York Yankees after enduring a subpar year.

After a comeback season, including being part of a 114 win team and being named 1998 World Series MVP - Brosius had enjoyed some new prominence and got kind of elusive perhaps [for a good, but generally average MLB player] and I remember seeing him last in 2000, when he was getting dropped off at alternate players' entrance at what was then Edison Field in Anaheim.

I never got him on a 2000 New York Yankees team baseball I was working on back then - it was far from complete since I know Derek Jeter wasn't on there, but it was still from a championship season.

Brosius currently coaches a NCAA Division III [Linfield] baseball team in Oregon - they were in Orange County, California, playing Chapman University this past weekend. 

After a doubleheader on Saturday, I was able to get Brosius to sign the 2000 NYY team baseball [which features luminaries like Lance 'One Dog' Johnson and Todd Erdos, but missing Jose Canseco, Jeter, Ricky Ledee among other players I still need] - more importantly I also got a 2001 Fleer Tradition set card [I'd been holding off on actually sending with a donation to Brosius' baseball program] signed.

Featured autograph - Jason Heyward

I had an idea of who Jason Heyward was before he exploded onto the Major League Baseball scene this season - I'm hoping he follows in the footsteps of this guy as far as a baseball phenom who took the league by storm and as far as anybody can tell, hasn't ever looked back.

I got the 2009 Tristar Obak card signed in-person last year in the Arizona Fall League - which is the place to go to watch baseball's next star performers.

Featured autograph - Ubaldo Jimenez

Ubaldo Jimenez doesn't have much of an autograph - but I don't think his penmanship isn't much of a concern for Colorado Rockies fans who were treated to watch him throw the organization's first no-hitter.

These are no secrets, but on his good days, it seems Jimenez seems like he has no-hit stuff - he is also a big and strong guy who doesn't seem to get gassed as he gets into the later innings of a baseball game.

2009 Tristar Prospects Plus box break recap

Even though the cards feature the same Stephen Strasburg sketched image [which makes him look a little sickly, a little ghostly] - just for novelty's sake, I was happy to pull a base card, a short print variation card [pictured, has a box around the card number on the back] and an Obak Update card of the professional pitching phenom. 

2009 Tristar Projections [20 packs per box, six cards per pack] - I think I'm still making up for a month during the off-season when I was out of the country and having just a little leftover spending money [after spring training] is giving me some confidence in picking up various packs / boxes. 

I was able to pick up a box of 2009 Tristar Projections for around $40 [during a special through a place that does blow out prices on some boxes / packs] - I didn't get a free preview box, like a number of card bloggers have, but these cards maybe the most attractive of Tristar's Prospect Plus series.  

In the end, these are still minor league cards, ones not officially licensed by Minor League Baseball - but once I finally had the cards in-hand, I may actually like these better than the 2010 Topps Pro Debut.

While the logos on the players' uniforms are edited out, it isn't as much of a distraction because the cards' graphics look pretty clean with foil stamping used - though it maybe subjective, the images are generally sharp with backgrounds washed out [at times, it seems like images on cards are cluttered up by stuff in the background].  

Collation may not be a card company's responsibility, but it feels so good to be only one card short [#78] of putting together the 100 card base set - sorting the cards isn't as messy if I don't have too many doubles / triples to deal with. 

I'd also rather have as many different cards towards the base set - instead of missing cards towards the base set I was expecting to pull [and end up not pulling, so now I have to find some way to get the cards without picking up another box of a particular product]. 

It looks like I got my 11 hits out of the box, including four different autographs - these cards have been out for perhaps four or five months already and I'd read some initial 'box bust' reports where people were getting four autographs of the same guy out of a box.

#44 Tommy Joseph autograph; serial #'d 08/50

#29 Matthew Davidson autograph - serial #'d 22/50

#38 Victor Black autograph; serial #'d 095/199

#50 Robert Stock autograph; serial #'d 13/25

#108 Drew Storen - Crystal Ballers; serial numbered #22/50

#116 Kristopher Hobson - Crystal Ballers

#57 Adam Warren - parallel; serial #'d 34/50

#24 Slade Heathcott serial #'d 09/50

#4 Tony Sanchez - SP variation card with a box around the number.

#115 Stephen Strasburg - Obak Update card

Featured autograph - Jered Weaver

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]. 

GA trudges on

2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot base #2

Garret Anderson hasn't been with the Angels in two years - he was an Atlanta Brave in 2009 and will be looking to prolong his playing career a little bit more in 2010 as it looks like he's made the Los Angeles Dodgers' Opening Day roster [along with one-time Angels starting pitcher Ramon Ortiz].

Unlike a pinch-hitting specialist like Matt Stairs perhaps - even at 37, GA still has the ability to be a position player on the field [either in left field or maybe first base] as opposed to being strictly a one-dimensional guy off the bench who is looking to get that one key hit, late in a game.

He's probably made too many outs at the plate and maybe his counting numbers are a little overrated since he was never a guy to work pitchers into deep counts, so he could walk - however, I've liked him as a player because of his ability to put the bat on the ball to the tune of 2501 hits.

The Jim Edmonds story - the 2010 comeback edition

Jim Edmonds played well enough to earn a spot on the 40-Man roster of the Milwaukee Brewers for 2010 - hopefully his comeback in his age 40 season proves to be successful [hope he doesn't get released in May or suffer some kind of career ending injury] and he finishes his career basically enjoying a season where he plays enough to reach some career milestones [collecting 2,000 hits in his career and hitting 400 home runs.

I honestly can't say I followed his playing career as close, when Edmonds really enjoyed his peak seasons in St. Louis - I do pick up his cards when I can just because he came through the California Angels' farm system and established himself as a star when I was paying closer attention to the team. 

It was Tim Salmon, Edmonds and Garret Anderson who formed one of the best young outfield trios in baseball - for the Anaheim Angels during the late 1990s. 

2009 Topps Unique Yovani Gallardo Prime Time patch card

Prime Time patch card, serial #'d 24/99 

I'll assume the patch was cut from a 'game-worn' jersey from the 2006 Futures Game in Pittsburgh - since I cannot immediately associate the colors on the patch card to a Milwaukee Brewers uniform. 

Other reasons include, Gallardo was on the World team for the Futures Game, Topps has printed a Gallardo jersey insert card from the Futures Game before [in 2006 Bowman Draft] - it states on the back of this card:

"The relic contained in this card does not come from specific game, event or season."

I picked up the card for $5, which is probably too much, but I realize $5 can't get me an 2009 Upper Deck Ultimate jumbo patch card - and regardless of perceived value of the card, Gallardo is a rising star who is the ace of the Brewers' pitching staff. 

For my collection, a card with a small patch swatch is OK - I do like the novelty of being able to see a little bit of the jersey from where the patch was cut from. Seeing some separation between the actual patch and jersey material gives a patch card some character. 

It is disappointing when a patch card only has a one-color patch piece covering the entire window where the 'game-used' jersey / material is visible - the purported patch card becomes like another a plain jersey swatch card. 

Featured autograph - Tino Martinez

I never really had an opportunity to get Tino Martinez's autograph when he was an active player - since he wasn't exactly an 'easy sign' when he was starring for the New York Yankees through their dynasty years, where the organization won four championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000.  

Maybe Martinez signed, 'here and there,' but I never saw him pick up a pen - with my own eyes, particularly when his Yankees' teams played the California / Anaheim Angels.

I found the signed 1993 Fleer Ultra card [picturing Martinez as toiling for the Seattle Mariners] in a dollar bin at a card shop - during my spring training trip to the Cactus League.

Obviously it is an in-person / through the mail autograph, so the authenticity of the signed card maybe up in the air - but it was probably worth the dollar gamble, since I think the autograph is real.