Qualifying Major League Baseball players' careers - the decent and the very good

From my first post on this subject:
When flipping through players' cards, it seemed important to figure out who was destined to go straight to the commons box - without a care for cards of players who may deserve a second look.

Over the last five years, I've been more exposed to the sentiment there is more ways to view players besides saying whether a guy is a star or a scrub - it is interesting to redefine my perceptions of players as part of understanding the game more as a fan.

Decent - are Major League Baseball players who have had up-and-down careers. Maybe I'm focusing on players who have gained some prominence, but this label also applies to players who are everyday players, but hardly perennial all-star performers.

Milton Bradley - injuries and his temper have always seemed to prevent him from getting legs under his Major League career.
Travis Hafner - he was putting up some very good numbers, but he really started his Major League career late and it seemed like age has caught up during the past two seasons.
Bo Jackson - on his ability alone, he was more than a decent player, but the hip injury he suffered in football derailed more than just his professional football career.

Trot Nixon - was a first round, Top 10 overall pick back in 1993, was a productive player and a Boston Red Sox fan favorite. However, it wasn't like he was a 10-time all-star.

Chris Sabo - decent career, was a fan-favorite because he seemed to be a grinder. He also wore those goofy goggles.

The distinction between the decent and the very good players was for the most part - there was some consistency enjoyed by the very good players.

Very good - players who enjoyed long, productive careers, were considered as possible all-star performers and/or players who were longtime franchise stars but may fall sort of being considered national stars.


Bobby Bonilla - he was a budding star in Pittsburgh, was the big free agent scapegoat for the New York Mets in the post-Darryl Strawberry early 1990s, but then had some productive years in Baltimore and Florida among stops before eventual retirement in 2001.
Will Clark - Will the Thrill starred as a budding all-star performer early in his career, left San Francisco, played hard but was never the same in his 30s as he was in his mid 20s.
Kent Hrbek - maybe the criteria for evaluating 'good' players was they were able to star for a prolonged period of time. For 1980s through the early 1990s, Hrbek fit the bill in a regional sense.
Wally Joyner - I don't think he ever lived up to the hype generated by his Wally World rookie campaign of 1986, but he played a long time as a slick-hitting, slick-fielding, once-experimented with roids first baseman.

David Ortiz - like Hafner, age has caught up with him, but Ortiz has been seen as a pivotal figure in helping a prominent franchise exorcise postseason demons. Papi may suck these days, but there is no denying the impact he has had in Boston. Put him on a lagging franchise and he maybe just a 'decent' player.

I started following Major League Baseball as a fan from the early 1990s to today -depending on when one started following the game and/or collecting cards, they can have their own set of players they consider decent [and/or very good players] that may differ from someone else.

Featured card: 1989 Fleer Randy Johnson #381

I don't know if I'll write a fawning prose dedicated to the Big Unit because he won his 300th game - he intimidates, has always been a 'heel' of sorts who has never really been 'beloved.' However, fans, peers and other interested people do respect the numbers the Big Unit has put up through his Major League Career.

I will say it did seemed like he was a little more gracious than he normally is - and it almost seemed he wanted to share his milestone win with his family, teammates and fans who had shown up in Washington Thursday night.

My only question is whether or not he is the most feared Major League pitcher pitcher to step on the mound - does he trump Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale? When the light clicked for Johnson [he was talented, but seemingly was a late-blooming Major League project] and when he had it going on six, seven, 10, 15 years ago, he had the ability to put the ball wherever he wanted and intimidate opposing hitters like no one had seen in a long time.

His line in a milestone night where the San Francisco Giants won 5-1 represented a diminished, but refined and still capable Big Unit - 6 innings pitched, 2 hits allowed, 1 run [unearned], 2 walks and 2 strike outs.

Khalil Greene's fight for his Major League Baseball playing career

If we can judge professional athletes by what we see - there is a point where St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Khalil Greene has to suck it up and be a professional.

He has stunk up the joint through the beginning of the 2009 baseball season - and is now supposedly getting help for having some sort social anxiety disorder.

I feel strongly that average baseball fans identify more with Greene and show a lot of sympathy towards him, because he is the moppet who looks like a surfer dude - it isn't such a bad thing to show compassion, but someone is paying him millions to play a game and if he can't handle failure, he is in the wrong job.

If he didn't like the attention - he should be a librarian instead of a baseball player.

However, maybe Greene likes playing baseball because he is good at it - good enough to be a regular Major League shortstop for several years. Good enough to be sought after by one of the most historic franchises in baseball. He may not have lived up to the expectations, but he clearly had shown spurts of talent.

Playing baseball was the only thing keeping him sane - however the fact he can't go out and be left alone is really what is eating him up inside. The fact he has struggled so bad does the one thing he can't stand, which is being scrutinized by people whom he could probably care less about like the media and the fans.

He is under some scrutiny and maybe for the first time in a long time - is being held accountable for something he is not doing right in a game he loves.

It just seems kind of weird, you have guys like Ryan Braun, Dustin Pedroia and Evan Longoria, who are among the young stars in the game - they are baseball players first, but still have sort of the 'face' to present themselves to the media and to fans.

Then you have players like Greene, who have enjoyed some success, but somehow is really introverted and sort of aloof - I assume for him, the attention was 'bad enough' when he was having some sort of success or when he was even the star of his team in college.

But now he can't go out and just play the game.

Time will only tell if Greene can bounce back and hopefully he puts himself back together - so he regains the confidence to become a competent professional.

Random baseball card dream

In my dream, I had about $18 dollars of spending money for food but come across this box of cards [marked $2 each] at some card show - I figure I wouldn't find anything, but there was a Mike Piazza certified autograph card [it was an ugly card with a sticker auto, but it was still Piazza!], various patch cards and other cards which I wanted. I didn't know how much it was going to add up to or which cards I would regretfully have to leave behind.

In my dream there was at least a Jim Thome patch card I was thinking of picking up - among others that caught my eye.

I guess the closest these 'fantasy cards' would resemble are the cardboard jersey/bat displays - that come you can purchase at a retail shop like Walmart or Target i.e. like the one pictured, except the cards in my dream where horizontal and had multiple windows for several patch pieces.

As I flipped through the cards, I realized I was probably dreaming - there was a realization as this was too good to be true. No matter how I tried to prolong the experience of finding all these cards, when I woke up, they wouldn't be in my hands.

Featured autograph - Tim Salmon

Had an opportunity to get several items signed by Angels franchise legend Tim Salmon when he was doing a promotional appearance at Angel Stadium for Can-Am Spyder - a roadster of sorts originating from Canada.

Salmon is my favorite player and probably recognize him as the greatest Angel to put on the uniform as far as a guy who was drafted and developed in the organization - sorry to the more prominent and nationally recognized former Halos [i.e. a Nolan Ryan, a Reggie Jackson, a Rod Carew] who started their careers somewhere else.

At his appearance, he made his way to do a meet-and-greet with the Spyder owners - before actually coming over to sign for the rest of the people who showed up to get his autograph.

He was pleasant and took the time to take pictures with everyone who wanted one - as the line to get his autograph died down, I did overhear him say he probably could sign autographs all day long, but what got kind of tiresome was getting up from the table and posing for pictures. I think that tidbit was interesting to overhear, but I think he was just telling it like it was from his standpoint and didn't mean anything malicious.

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.

Blog Bat Around VI - why I blog

All of the people who are participating in this have a blog, or at least something similar. For this question, I just want to know about the reasons you do what you do. Why do you blog? What made you choose Sports Cards as your topic of choice? What got you started? What has been your favorite post from your own work?

Collecting baseball cards/autographs are my last links to what I was doing when I was an adolescent through my teens - I never really stopped collecting, though like the blog, the interest ebbs and flows.

I blog in order to show people I have an interest in collecting baseball cards and collecting autographs - at a time, when the reality is all I have are other blogs to read as opposed to real life interactions with actual collectors I might see on a regular basis. I don't have a cute banner, I don't have agenda against the card companies or known experts. I blog to showcase more stuff from my collection and talk about hobby related issues I may find interesting.

My interests evolved from having a now-defunct through the mail autograph 'collecting' page 10 years ago - when people still had web pages instead of Web sites. In the last five years, it seems like every other collector has a blog instead of a Web page.

My roots are in baseball card collecting and I liked the idea of someone being able to have fun with their cards - they randomly picked up at a card show or swap meet.

I said if Ben Henry can have fun blogging about his baseball cards - then I can post a regular basis.

Other 'fun sites' have influenced me through their postings include - the Cardboard Junkie, Dinged Corners, Wax Heaven, et al.

My favorite posts probably come from the reflective posts - it adds some conscience to what I consider a site discussing the esoteric qualities of collecting baseball cards and autographs.

i.e. Why we care about performance enhancing drugs.

Featured autograph - Jeff Mathis

Angels catcher Jeff Mathis got the game-winning hit in a 5-4, 12 inning win - against the Boston Red Sox Thursday afternoon. It is nice when you can post something relevant to what is going on.

He made an appearance to sign autographs at a telephone store in Tustin California last Saturday - I was able to get him sign two of the four cards I showed him.

When I was in line, there was another collector infront of me - I don't know if he was making fun of me or my cards, but he had this smirk because the ones I had were prospect cards and/or MLBPA rookie card logo. It wasn't a big deal at all, just funny to see another true-to-life person make the distinction.

Often times, people don't realize or care someone's first-year [non-minor league] card may have come out four or five years before - especially before the MLBPA rookie card rules came out.

Even though the collector got an 8x10 photo signed - he had his box of Angels cards in-hand and had the 'real deal' xrc/rookie cards of Mathis [2001 Upper Prospects Premiere and 2001 Topps Traded].

Mathis was probably the No. 1 catching prospect in the Angels' system for the last four or five years in this decade - he is an athletic, competent receiver. While his bat has stagnated at times, he can probably produce offensively when given the at-bats to do so.

I see Mathis as the type of hitter who keeps things going at the bottom of the lineup - stringing along hits here and there, with the ability to hit a home run once in a while.

By virtue of them being catchers and playing in the Angels system through the 2000s - his best friend on the Angels is probably Mike Napoli.

With how Napoli has developed in the minors and through the last few years in the Major Leagues - he probably Mathis' No. 1 competition at this point to be the Angels' starting catcher. Napoli's power and patience has translated to the point where Angels' Manager Mike Scioscia needs to get his bat in the starting lineup [as a catcher or designated hitter].

Autograph request through the mail received: Pete Rose

Pete Rose c/o Field of Dreams - I received the cards I sent to Rose signed in blue ballpoint pen after two weeks c/o the place he makes appearances at in Las Vegas.

I wish he'd used a Sharpie - the autographs are tiny and the autograph on the 2008 Donruss Threads card is sort of smeared a little.

It is a great success in my book - provided Rose signed the cards himself. It seems weird altogether, that a guy who almost always charges to sign autographs at organized signing events, would respond to requests to sign through the mail.

Autograph request through the mail received: Bill Schroeder

Bill Schroeder c/o Milwaukee Brewers - Schroeder signed three of my cards in black Sharpie. The ink from autographs on the other cards stained the back of two cards, but there was one 'clean card,' from front and back. I mailed my request in mid April 2009 and got my cards back in about two weeks or so.

Schroeder was a back-up catcher for the Brewers in the mid 1980s - and the California Angels just a few years at the start of the 1990s. I think he backed up starting catcher Lance Parrish.

Schroeder is another retied former Angel autograph to add for my Angels project - Andy Hassler, Bo Jackson [on a golf tournament pairing book/program], Jerry Reuss, Schroeder and Bob McClure [a recent in-person success].

I'm sure I've got some autographs of guys I haven't bothered to 'count' just yet i.e. Matt Palmer [2009 rookie, who I got this past spring training] and Rafael Rodriguez [2009 rookie, who I got in spring training the year before this one] - a lot of fun is discovering you already have autographs of Angels players who are rookies or players who end up becoming Angels through various transactions.

Autograph request through the mail received: Juan Gonzalez

Juan Gonzalez c/o home - I was surprised 'Juan Gone' was responding to autograph requests sent to him. I scurried to find what I assumed was the working address online and sent a small package to him, with a blue Sharpie [it may have been the second time I've ever sent a Sharpie out with an autograph request, though I'm pretty sure I've sent some ballpoint pens out]. It may have taken a week before I actually sent my request out and in another two weeks, before I got my self-addressed stamped envelope back with my cards signed [on Wednesday], including a 2004 Topps Cracker Jack 'set card.'

At his healthiest during the mid to late 1990s, Gonzalez was an RBI machine - all the ribbies he got may have been the result of guys hitting infront of him and getting on-base, but there is no denying the man could rake.

I remember being so excited to get his and Ivan Rodriguez's autograph on cards 10 years ago after getting into a baseball stadium before the gates were scheduled to open - Gonzalez actually was a pretty good signer if you saw him and I think even have a picture with him.

Of course things went sort of downhill for Gonzalez when he turned down something like $140 million over 10 years from the Detroit Tigers in 2000 - he had a great season with the Cleveland Indians in 2001, but various bumps and bruises presumably ended his Major League career a few years later [he tried to make a comeback with the St. Louis Cardinals in the spring of 2008, but pulled up lame].

Gonzalez is probably a borderline Hall of Famer but possible red flags in his prolific Major League Baseball career [during the Steroids Era] - include being associated with noted [or infamous] Dominican Republic trainer Angel Presinal and also with good ole' Jose Canseco who implicates Gonzalez [among other prominent, early 1990s Texas Rangers' players] of PED use in Canseco's first book [Juiced].

Autograph request through the mail received: Nate Schierholtz

Nate Schierholtz c/o San Francisco Giants - I mailed this request [consisting of two cards] out near the beginning of the 2009 season and received it back in May. Schierholtz signed two cards in blue ink. Though he was never listed as the top prospect in the Giants' system by Baseball America, I think Schierholtz was considered the organization's best position player coming up through the minor leagues for several seasons.

With the ability he has shown and his age - he probably needs the opportunity to play everyday as opposed to getting random at-bats and/or random starts here and there.

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 autograph - Jerry Reuss

While Jerry Reuss was a little bit before my time - he was a solid performer, who won 220 games in the Major Leagues and was a two-time all-star.

He made an appearance to sign autographs at a minor league baseball game in Rancho Cucamonga California last Sunday - I needed to get his autograph for my ongoing Angels' autograph collection. He played for the Angels in 1987 and posted a 4-5 won-loss record and a 5.25 ERA.

I only had the 1984 Donruss in-hand - I offered to get a couple of cards signed for an acquaintance I sometimes see getting autographs, if I got one card picturing Reuss as a Halo.

Reuss ended up signed three cards on a clipboard [one for me, two for the acquaintance with his Angels card going to me] - I had maybe two or three other cards with me [again for the acquaintance] and while Reuss saw them [I didn't put them on the clipboard], he said I'd have to get back in line to get them signed.

I gave the cards [one signed, two unsigned] back to the acquaintance but got back in line because Reuss had a stack of 1986 Topps cards he was signing if you didn't have anything to get signed by him - I got two of those cards, though I didn't bother to ask him to sign it with a specific color Sharpie this time.

I think Reuss was cordial, though maybe a little reserved - he was accomodating, signing from the start of the game [2 p.m.] to about 4 p.m.

A shot in the arm - Matt Palmer

After a horrible loss by the Angels on Friday night, the Angels defeated the New York Yankees 8-4 - Matt Palmer was the Halo star on the mound as he pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing only three hits and one run against the New York Yankees.

I'm not going to say I knew much about Palmer - other than a random guy whose autograph I got in spring training. He seemed accomodating and friendly.

One of the fun things about collecting autographs - is getting one of someone who maybe in the minor leagues, who may not be nowhere close to being a prominent member of your 'home town' team, but who contributes later on.

It is some credit to the Angels' organization - they find a guy like Palmer or Shane Loux and give them a legitimate opportunity to contribute. One of the great qualities of manager Mike Scioscia is the ability to find use out of the last guys on the 25-man roster. If you are called up, you aren't merely there to fill up a roster spot.

On the other end of the spectrum - I would believe every other Angels fan is bitching about perennial top prospect Brandon Wood playing. No one even matters because he is the next great, hype yet to be realized. When was the last time the Angels had someone like Wood? When Todd Greene was coming up? When Troy Glaus was coming up? When Darin Erstad was coming up? When Jim Edmonds or Tim Salmon was coming up?

Now, Wood is 24 years old and who can ever think being 24 is somehow a step away from not making it in any profession - the young man does need to play in order to see if he is an all-star talent or is going to disappoint.

I'd like to say Wood isn't the uber prospect anymore destined to be a superstar - I tend to believe if Wood had a career path similar to Evan Longoria, David Wright or Ryan Braun type, he should be in second or third full season in the Major Leagues already.

However - it just seems like he has made some strides to fix some holes in his swing and he does have legitimate 30 home run power. As much as the Angels put faith in 30-year old journeymen, they need to do so in a guy who still can be a franchise player for the next five or six years.

Since this has turned into an Angels' round up of sorts -

1.) Bullpen implosion - I was hoping Brian Fuentes would give the Angels a different look out of the bullpen, but I want K-Rod back. It seems like the 2009 group has been one big fail.
2.) Wanting to dump Erick Aybar - his nickname is 'Failbar' on a fan site I visit, though I don't get the impatience other than he is a little, speedy, punch-and-judy type of hitter who sometimes gets careless on defense.
3.) Pitching staff - have holes like Swiss cheese, but Ervin Santana and John Lackey look to make some rehab starts next week.
4.) Gary Matthews Jr. - this guy didn't come cheap a few years ago, this guy then got implicated for purchasing HGH and was demoted to being a fifth outfielder before the 2009 season started. As is however, he has the opportunity to show he can still perform on a regular basis.
5.) Loss of Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson - I really cannot forget what happened as we try to move on while Jon Wilhite [the lone survivor of the crash] continues to struggle in fair condition.

Titch Bits

I'm way late to the party, but found this trading card image from a message board and with the new A-Rod revelations, found it apropos. My only question is whether or not the actual image was Photoshopped.

Autograph request through the mail received: Casey Weathers

Casey Weathers c/o Phoenix Desert Dogs [Arizona Fall League] - the No. 8 overall pick in the 2007 Amateur Draft personalized and signed one card in blue Sharpie.

I was glad to get this back - since I'd read [on the Freedom Cardboard message boards]someone had received a recent success from him.

I thought it was ironic a few days after I mail my request on 10/10/08 - he gets injured and eventually needs Tommy John Surgery.

Received 4/28/09 postmarked from Sacramento - I think a postmark on a self addressed stamped envelope [SASE] tells a lot of things i.e. where the mail was sent. Often times you get postmarks from the players hometown [or close to it], from the cities they've travelled to as players, et al.

A recap of 90 different repack cards for $5

I was in Las Vegas on a three-day vacation and not necessarilly being a 'Sin City' type - what interested me was going to at least a couple of Las Vegas 51s baseball games. I was interested in getting some in-person autographs from the Toronto Blue Jays' Triple-A affiliate.

From the looks of it, the team store offered a quaint selection of baseball cards. A 'two-pack' of Tristar blasters [2008 Projections High/2008 Prospects Plus] were being sold for around $42 - there were about five packs in each blaster [with a guaranteed autograph].

There was old junk wax on top of one of the showcases - packs of what looked like 1991 O-Pee-Chee Premier were $1 each.

There were also official MLB baseballs [individually wrapped in tissue, but in ball cubes or boxes] - $15 each.

There were old team sets - most were from the 'junk wax' years, but the 1985 Fleer Angels was interesting [$4]. Some guy bought three of the team sets for whatever reason [I don't think the cards he bought contained anyone playing down on the field] and was guiding the lady working there what to reach for.

There were some various singles in one showcase - maybe selling for $2-$5 each, though none might be worth more than $0.50.

I saw there were plastic boxes with had 90 different cards for $5 -with the cards I have in my A-Z boxes, I could probably come up with a 100 sets of 90'repack' cards.

The next night I ended up purchasing an official Major League Baseball and one plastic box of those 90 assorted cards - I think I'm always will to look at another man's junk [trading cards] even if I know there isn't remotely valuable in a repack.

However, how do I use the cards [if I know it won't be cards from the last five years] - making a blanket statement like, 'I'll use these for through the mail' requests never work out because it is an excuse to pick up more crap.

I'm all about picking up any type of cards - as long as I feel like 'hey, I can probably get that signed in-person today, tomorrow or in a month or so.'

I broke down because I saw a 1988 Fleer Tim Flannery card on top of one - the card isn't special by any means. I didn't grow up with it or anything. It is just a card with a posed shot of a player and his surfboard.

The particular card ended up being damaged of course - never fall for the 'showcase' card in any repack, because it is the one that ends up being off-conditioned thanks to the Hefty Hinge Sports Cube.

The damage was an indentation left by the piece of plastic molded inside the box to help snap the lid shut - a design fail for trading card storage if there was one. For storage items such as plastic boxes, the piece of plastic [that gives the ability for the collector to snap the lid shut] should be on the outside, not where it can damage the top card.

I don't really want to have to worry about cards being damaged by a plastic box - but maybe I shouldn't fill the card plastic box up to 'capacity' and always use some kind of filler card [the thicker, the better] to protect the top cards.

The rest of the cards were 80s-90s filler - it is kind of fun looking through the cards, especially some of the cards using a less than flattering image of a particular baseball player. The box wasn't completely devoid of stars, though I think no cards were worth more than a nickel each. The lone card from the last 10 years was a 2005 Leaf Certified Material Miguel Cabrera.

A tragic week for the Halos

Nick Adenhart 1986-2009

My father roused me out of my dreamy sleep to say a young pitcher for the Angels was killed -the guy who pitched last night [Wednesday].

Last night I was watching the game and thought with the number of flameouts and never has beens - Nick Adenhart may have been the best pitcher from the 2004 draft.

Here he is pitching at 22 on opening week for the Angels - throwing six shutout innings. Watching him leave game, I said there he goes into the clubhouse [the young kid did his job].

I kind of went back to a half-sleep - I kept thinking it was a mistake and if someone was killed, maybe it was someone else. It wasn't Adenhart, right? He was the great hope for the Angels on the mound for the last several years and considering where he was, things kind of worked out for him Wednesday night.

Fans who follow the Angels' system knows the story about Adenhart being a 'highly regarded' 14th round choice - whose stock plummeted because he had to go get Tommy John surgery in high school.

All I knew now was an Angels pitcher was killed - it wasn't a dream and as Adenhart realized his dream for one night, it was all taken away hours later.

I didn't want to see it, didn't want the news confirmed, but I turned on the TV and it was on SportsCenter - anchor Chris McKendry [and Buck Showalter] was talking about Adenhart getting into a fatal hit-and-run accident [along with two others who perished with him, Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson and a former Cal State Fullerton baseball player Jon Wilhite who was in critical condition].

There was a statement from Torii Hunter read over the air - I go to MLB Network and Hunter was basically saying what was on the statement. You take it for granted, but never know when its your time to go.

Lots of things going through my mind and it seemed almost canned and petty - would I post a pic on the blog? What will the Angels do with a depleted starting rotation? The Angels were to induct Brian Downing and Chuck Finley to their Hall of Fame Thursday night, but the game vs. the Oakland Athletics was postponed and what may have been a celebration of two franchise stars turned into a mourning party.

Random memories as a fan - passed over an Adenhart 2004 Donruss EEE certified autograph rookie card and got a Phil Hughes instead [both were $5 each] at the 2006 Seattle Mariners/San Diego Padres Fan Fest card show in Peoria.

Saw him signing autographs at Rancho Cucamonga [Los Angeles Angels high-A affiliate] in 2006 after he was called up from low-A, saw him at Meet the Quakes day and got a mini-bat signed the same year - saw him a couple of spring trainings in 2007 and in 2009.

The Angels have had bad luck this week with Adenhart's death and an Angels' fan [Brian Powers] - getting into a fatal fight after an Angels' game opening night. You really can't say you hope things 'bounce back' into place, the way it was before like if this was a game played. I think you just let things sink in and let things be.

When reality hits - it leaves you cold and befuddled.

Qualifying Major League Baseball players' careers - the rank-and-file guys

When flipping through players' cards, it seemed important to figure out who was destined to go straight to the commons box - without a care for cards of players who may deserve a second look.

Over the last five years, I've been more exposed to the sentiment there is more ways to view players besides saying whether a guy is a star or a scrub - it is interesting to redefine my perceptions of players as part of understanding the game more as a fan.

The rank-and-file guys - are basically the so-called common players who fill up a 25-man roster. Often serviceable and competent in spurts, as great as these players are for reaching the Major Leagues, often they are expendable and always have to re-invent themselves in order to stick around for a prolonged period of time. Often you have to root for these guys, because for the most part, they offer the illusion of being the every day guy who just happened to work hard enough to reach his goals.

Pedro Martinez

With the Los Angeles Angels pitching staff hurting, I wouldn't mind it if this guy was given an opportunity to fill in - while John Lackey and Ervin Santana recover. Of course Pedro's hitting is the least of anyone's concerns, but if he can make 20-25 starts for a team - I think it would be a pleasant surprise. He may not be the Pedro of 1999, but any contributions from this pitching legend will be welcomed.

There is some grumblings Pedro wants 'John Smoltz' money - which is about $5 million for 2009. If I was a general manager I'd probably offers Pedro around $3 million plus 'favorable' incentives he can realistically hit.

Looking at the Angels' primary competition in the American League West - I would think the Oakland Athletics can give Pedro a shot as well and give their rotation someone to immediately lean on while Justin Duchscherer is on the shelf. It maybe a good thing for Angels' fans, but the A's rotation seems thin or at least a rotation with no definite starters to jump on.