Fantasy & Reality & Some Rookie Cards

I always get a kick out of instances where baseball cards (or sports cards, or hobbies in general) help relate to other aspects in my life.

For instance, last fall I was able to work on some basic math and critical thinking skills with my daughter by using some Upper Deck soccer cards I had picked up for her.   I would consider this to be high (if not THE highest) on the list of extra benefits from my cardboard addiction.....anything that brings us closer with our loved ones is a GOOD thing.

My example for today is not so righteous, but it is pretty cool to see how a fantasy game version of my favorite sport has added to my enjoyment of our hobby.

I played fantasy baseball for the first time last season and I really enjoyed myself.   It is interesting, statistic-centric (nerd sound) and creates incredible moments of crisis as a fan when one or more of your fantasy players face off against your real life favorite team or player.   Good stuff, despite the quizzical "I love you, idiot" looks from Mrs. Ryan's Pitch.

This season has been no exception.   I'm playing in two fantasy leagues again and having a grand time.    There's been an added focus for younger stars in my new league as it is a "dynasty" league where you can keep some of your players from year to year and build with prospects and minor leaguers.   Exhausting sometimes but.....it's baseball.   So it's awesome, naturally.

This year, there's been a couple of young chaps in the game who have caught my eye.   I don't own either of them but I've given considerable thought to "claiming" them for my team off of the waiver wires.

Matt Adams for the Cardinals and Patrick Corbin for the D-Backs.

A bat and an arm - good mix.

Matt Adams is a hoss!   He comes with a lot of power potential, which we received a sneak peek at last season, but the Cardinals have a pretty well stocked cupboard right now.   He is getting some playing time but I haven't been able to justify picking him up just yet.   Still, it's been a lot of fun doing the research and monitoring his performance.

While going through my 2012 Topps flagship extras the other night, I came across this card:

Who doesn't love an RC?

It didn't really have much  meaning for me when I shuffled through the packs last year but now this "Gold" parallel (#'d out of 2012 - MOJO!!!!! :) means a little bit more and was a lot of fun to check revisit a second time.   Taking a look at Mr. Adams' physique provides a quick visual explanation for the power potential, too.   And because this is Ryan's Pitch - here's the CARD BACK:

Not considered a "HIT" by millions of collectors

Patrick Corbin is a young fellow who, so far, is making D-Back Manager Kirk Gibson look like a genius for selecting Patrick as their #5 at the end of spring training.   Corbin has a 1.72 ERA, sub-1 WHIP and a respectable 2.9 K/BB ratio.   Not too shabby.   He's 2-0 on the season and his 21 IP have come against the Yankees, Dodgers, Giants and Brewers.   He's also only 24 years old.   Great job, kid.

Now, corrections happen and great starts happen......the Yankees aren't the usual Yankees right now and the Dodgers have been a bit anemic as of late (though Kemp is heating up!) but still.   This kid could be legit.   Maybe I should drop Wade Davis for him?   What do you think?

That being said, I also stumbled across this card during the same 'hobby break' that I found the Adams:

Not an SP and I couldn't care less

Actually, I found two of them!   Immediately, they were penny-sleeved.   Yeah, in the opinion of some hobbyists they're worthless base cards......but to me, they represent rookie cards of a great young pitcher.   And all because I'm following the sport a little bit closer through fantasy baseball.

I love technology.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

My First Play At The Plate

Brian from over at Play At The Plate noticed a couple of months back that I had stumbled upon some blue Ranger parallels from Topps' Walmart offering this year.   As you all probably know by now, parallels for my Yanks or Braves have slowly grown on me but as far as the rest of 'em - it makes me happy to send them home!

SO....I procrastinated way too much and had the Rangers set off to the side for a wee bit.   I managed to find a couple more Texans for Brian and eventually sent them on their way.    Sorry it took so long, Brian!   He was certainly generous with what he sent in return - he was able to help me out with my NEEDS lists for 2012 Topps base and the few insert sets that I'm chasing.......I was worried I might never get off the ground with some of these but our blogging community has, as usual, graciously turned that frown upside-down.

Here's a little look at what Brian sent over:



I've said it before and I will undoubtedly say it again - I love these '87 minis!   They're simple, yes, but the wood-grained '87 release marked my first year in collecting.   I'm tempted to make a comparison of the special feeling towards my first set to the first girl I kissed but I think that would require me to also attend a support group.   Anyways, I'm making some decent progress with these inserts now.   Thanks for the help, Brian - and those guys are no slouches!

Some more of the Goldens from this year - Standards and Moments.   I think there's a TV radio station called Singers and Standards, yes?

Some help with the Series 1 base set.   It would be remarkable to wrap up this one before Series 2 hits the shelves.   Considering I just completed Series 1 and 2 from 2011 last month, this progress is already a shining example of the benefits to having a blog - communication is key!   I would encourage any of the readers out there to make the leap.  

Oh, gee....did I leave that Mantle on top for all of you to enjoy?   The Mick - always epic!   Nice touch, Brian.   Here are two of my favorite cards from the stack:

This guy is a beast of a ball player.   I'm playing fantasy baseball for the first time this season and Yadier fills my catcher slot for both of my teams.   Turns out, he's been one of the most productive players out there, so far in 2012.   Yes, Pujols - your former fellow Card is trampling all over your HR total through week 1.   Not hard to do when your sitting on a goose egg, Albert!   Way to go, Yadier.

 JERED MAD!

Thanks for the great trade, Brian!

Thanks for reading, guys.

"O" YES, Don't You Know!

I recently had a great trade with my fellow AL East collector, Ryan over at "O" No!!! Another Orioles Blog .   It's always a beautiful thing when two collectors of different teams can swap some great cards from each team and pull off a very honorable 'prisoner exchange' that works very well for both sides.

This is exactly what happened for us two Ryan's.

I had some Baltimore ink and threads that Ryan could use for his Orioles collection while he had some Bronx lumber for me.   A win-win!   Here he is in all his glory, my first 'hit' for 2012, Mr. Robbie Cano:

Glorious.   I got to thinking - wouldn't it be cool if Topps had gone and obtained relics from THE game described on these Golden Moment cards and inserted a piece of THAT into these inserts?   I know - that would have caused each one to become, as Bay of E sellers like to say, "Ultra Rare!" and probably make them utterly unobtainable.

Be that as it may - I love this Robbie card and am glad to have a little piece of SOMETHING Yankee from the 2012 releases.   I hope there's more to come!

Ryan also went through my NEEDS lists and was able to help me out with some 87 minis, my '91 Fleer pursuit (getting close, you guys), and some other 2012 insert chases.   Check 'em out!

I love these mini's!

"The Honeycomb Set" -Ryan..............is almost done!

Great Ones

Yes.   Yankee legends.   One thing I appreciate this year is the slight bump in face-time for Maris that Topps seemed to afford 'ol Roger this year.   Here's a few examples that I'm ecstatic to have in my collection now:

Pettitte.....Timless....hopefully.

 

And here are some more inserts to help along mission to complete the sets:

True, with every glance of these Golden Moment/Standard inserts, I am reminded that there was a lot of space int he design for some ink or material that simply is not there.   BUT, I will say that there are some great baseball tidbits and factoids on each one as well.....which my inner baseball-nerd embraces as a totally satisfactory consolation prize.


Thanks for the GREAT trade, Ryan!


Thanks for reading. 

Multi-Taskin'-Set-Chasin'-Tradin' with $30/Week

Whew!

The tremendous generosity and effort from my fellow collectors out there is truly awe-inspiring.   The trade propositions and offers to help me with my NEEDS list (for so little or almost nothing expected in return) have been coming through in DROVES.   It's been a challenge to keep up with and I hope I haven't missed anything or failed to deliver on my end - If I have, please let me know!

But in the meantime, let's take a quick look at some great help from Robert over at $30 A Week Habit sent in my direction:

Making some great progress towards the Golden Standard and Golden Moments subset completions!   This trio of Standards caught my eye, though.   I enjoyed reading the backs and I feel like this collection of milestones for these three players is indeed truly noteworthy!

Yeah, the Hawk reached his 1,500 RBI mark while he was finishing out with the Massachusetts Chicken 'n Beer Squad - but 1,500 RBI, 3,000 K's and 600 A-roid-infused HR's are pretty powerful numbers to consider.   HOFer, Soon to be HOFer and Hobbler.   H^3?   Sorry - I'm done.

How about some great Yankee parallels?!   Yes?

Parallels are growing on me, my friends.   Specifically, rainbows of my Yanks and favorite players (I'm looking at YOU, David 'self-mover' Robertson!).   These are great additions.   I am hoping Betances can continue to develop and that Hughes can finally settle down with some decent velocity and control in the club's rotation.  

Robert was also kind enough to help me along with my pursuit of 2011 Heritage.   Crinkly Wrappers warned me about chasing this issue....but I couldn't help it.   So thick, so cartoon-y, so retro.....I'm still pursuing (sans SP's) and getting a little closer every day.   It's the little boosts like this that will help me reach my goal:

Evan may have a lot to smile about this year...a wild card, anyways.

Great trade, Robert - thanks for digging up these great cards for my collection!

Thanks for reading.

Steve's Old Yankee Stickers!

Reader Steve recently reached out to offer some help with a few of my sets, including the infamous 1991 Fleer set, 2011 Heritage and 2012 Series 1.   I was able to swap out for some '12 Series 1 that he needed and a few other odds and ends.

And, as is quite common practice for the great collectors I've met out 'here' in the Internet ether - he knew I was a Yankees fan and sent along a great smattering of bonus Yanks!   Here were my two favorites, sticky mini's of Rickey and Rags!

Left to right: John Olerud's closest friend and a Cool Cajun

The Henderson is '88 Topps and the Righetti is '84 Fleer, if I remember correctly.   So very cool.   Here are the rest of the Yankees and the very helpful singles from my Sets NEEDS lists.

Bucky!

The Gardner that you can barely make out was one of a few 2010 Heritage that Steve sent that are my first, since I had only gotten back into the hobby last spring.   I instantly loved them, of course - but I am a Heritage lush and it's probably for the best that I just.....leave that set......alone......

Shiny future for Lind and the Jays foretold by the cards? 

"DAR-RYL! DAR-RYL! RUS-SELL! RUS-SELL!"

Not sure why the last caption went right-to-left.   Martin and Strawberry are both Yankeedodgers and they are both in my VERY small collection of certified autograph cards (neither of which show them as Yankees).   What's up with that?   A good idea for a post.   Love that All-Star game photo of Straw Man's leg-kick!   OH, what might have been for Mattingly's fellow "Slugger from the Left Side".....

The Set NEEDS lists are updated, folks.   Thanks for the great trade, Steve!   I look forward to our next opportunity.

Thanks for reading!

A Package from the Roundtable of Hobbs' Knights - and a PC Announcement

I recently enjoyed a trade with Jason from Hobbs' Knights.   He took a look at my NEEDS lists and offered to help.   I was able to piece together a few things that fit into his collection and we got it done. 

Jason sent a lot of help for my set building quests.   His package included some 2012 Base, 2012 Golden Moments & Gold Standard inserts, 2011 Heritage Base, 1991 Fleer and even some 1981 NEEDS lists.   Variety is the spice of life, yes?!

Thank you for your time and effort to do some sifting on my behalf, Jason!

Highlights for the '12 base cards and some of my favorites:

"I hope Fab Freddie gives me a high five!"

                                                                                                                                

I loved the great view of Porcello's grip on this one



Is that Joe Cocker I hear in the background?

My 1st D-Rob of 2012!  And not the last...



Behold the WHIP - and, Topps attempts some Mo humor!


 Have I confessed my decision to make David Robertson my latest PC quest?   Well, consider this an announcement.

Ahem -  I am starting a player collection of David Robertson.  

I would like to take this time to wish David a swift recovery from his, um, foot injury that he suffered Wednesday evening while moving boxes at his apartment.   X-Rays were negative but he'll undergo an MRI soon to be on the safe side (Chien-Ming Wang suffered a disastrous Lisfranc foot injury in almost the same place and ended up missing the entire season).   My reaction to this news about my latest favorite player?

fear - "No!"  
realization - "Okay, doesn't sound bad."
relief - "Whew...I think he'll be alright."
hope - "Maybe this means he'll have a little more time to sign my TTM request?"
anger - "David Robertson has to move his own boxes?   Where's A.J. when you need him?!?"

All kidding aside, I hope he recovers quickly and makes that 8th inning appearance in Game #1 for the season (in lieu of that Soriano character).  

UPDATE: "Cause for conern" from Robertson's MRI, according to Girardi as of 4:30 EST today.   He will have more tests and I will have no nails left.   Say it ain't so, Joe......

Now, on with the review!   Ben Revere is jealous of Giancarlo/Mike Stanton; can you guess why?

Awesome Picture but - smallest Rookie Cup EVER?

Jason also threw in some inserts that I needed.   I'm beginning to wonder if I will ever complete the sets I've chosen (Gold Standard, Golden Moments and '87 Mini's).   I could very easily just buy the sets outright for a few bucks.   But what fun would that be?   Here they are and, yes, they're Yankees:

A lot of empty space......but it's still Joltin'!

Robbie!   Solid Gold, in my book.

What's better than helping me out with my 2012 NEEDS?   Crossing a few off of my 1981 Topps NEEDS list, that's what!   Here was my favorite card of the bunch, Sam Mejias, with a GREAT stat line on the back for 1979:

Hello, Sam.

Ever notice how many table-tennis enthusiasts there were?

That's right - in 1979, Sam made the most of his two at-bats by walloping a hit during one and eventually coming around to score.   1 for 2 means a slick average of .500!   Hey, Sam - it's quality over quantity, right?!   Right.   Play on, Sam.   The 1981 Topps NEEDS list should consider itself one .500 hitter shorter, now.

I'm also gratefully happy to say that Jason nudged me a little bit closer to completing 2011 Heritage as well.   One of the Heritage cards caught my eye for a couple of reasons.   First - this guy can now enjoy the "player formerly known as" joke like his buddy Roberto Heredia Fausto Carmona (hey, at least he only changed one name).   I shouldn't group them together, though.   Mike......er, Giancarlo is going to do some big things for the Fish down in Miami this year.   Reports out of camp are that the balls were FLYING during a BP session in their new stadium with the roof open - and flying even FURTHER with the roof closed!   Not only that but Vegas had Stanton at 8:1 odds to lead the Majors in HRs this year.   That is until the public put their money in the pot and the odds are now at 7:1.   Zoinks!

DUDE - Ben Revere has TOTAL Rookie Cup-envy!

             
Jason wasn't done yet - he also wanted to help me out with my few remaining 1991 Fleer needs.   My two favorites were:

Lemmer!

Bobby Bo and Barry!

Much thanks for the great trade and help with so many of my set pursuits, Jason.

Thanks for reading!