In Person Autograph - Brian Schales

The Major League Baseball draft doesn't hold the same appeal as that of their NFL or NBA counterparts, mainly due to lack of name recognition and the immediacy of impact. Even the top draft picks typically don't make the big leagues until years down the road. Even so, I devour draft news and like to have a handle on who the top players are in the country. It was thus a total shock to me last year when the Marlins drafted Brian Schales in the fourth round of the 2014 draft. A shortstop at Edison High with a scholarship to Long Beach State, Schales was never mentioned as a top prospect in any publication or news site that I had visited. I recall that neither MLB.com or Baseball America even had a scouting report on him that day, which is uncommon for a top 5 round draft selection.

Still, I was very familiar with Schales since he was a freshman, as a friend at work had a nephew the same grade and on the same high school team. He sounded like a solid ball player, but I had no idea he had pro potential coming out of high school. Being a pretty high draft, I was thinking that there could be a chance that he could have a Bowman Draft and/or Donruss Elite card. When the checklists for both products came out, it was to my glee (and horror) that Schales was included in both products. While on the one hand, it would be cool to get his card, the horror would be in knowing there would be who knows how many parallel versions of the same card (turns out, waaaaay too many).

I've been able to pick up a bunch of the Bowman Draft and Donruss Elite base cards and I was able to get Brian to sign some at his high school alumni game. I asked, and it sounded like I was the first person to ever have him sign his baseball card. In fact, he had never seen his Donruss Elite card before and I gladly offered one up to him.  

In Person Autograph - Dominic Smith

Serra High and Orange Lutheran are roughly 35 miles away from each other so it was an absolute shock when Dominic Smith made an appearance at the Orange Lutheran alumni game over the weekend. The 2013 Mets first rounder had been staying with former OLu alum Jason Martin and decided to tag along for the game. The surprise appearance required me to make the trek back home to dig out some cards to get signed. Smith was extremely polite and humble and had no issues with signing everything I had, which was a lot. It was great to get an autograph of a local player who plays on an East Coast team that I would otherwise not have had the chance to acquire.

In Person Autograph - Kolby Allard and Lucas Herbert

With all the high schools across the country, the odds of having any one ball player making a Team USA roster are remote at best. What does that say about San Clemente High which happens to have TWO players from last year's 18Usquad? With my newly acquired Team USA base set from the previous post, I headed out to a fall ball game this evening in the hopes of snagging my first two autographs from the set, battery mates Kolby Allard and Lucas Herbert.

Allard is generally considered the top prep pitcher in the Class of 2015. If all goes well for him this season, he will never set foot on the UCLA campus. If that is the case, he will join a long list of UCLA signees who went straight to the pros. The autograph didn't turn out the greatest as it was signed in the dark.

Herbert is another UCLA commit, and the Bruins are expected to have a hole at catcher next season so there is a chance he winds up in school. An interesting tidbit from tonight's contest is that Lucas called his own game behind the plate. It's rare to see a college catcher allowed to call his own game, much less a high school catcher. I thought this signature turned out really well.

The base set also includes a team photo of the 15U, 18U, and Collegiate teams. It's basically a checklist that lists the roster on the back. In recent years, I've tried to get as many of the players to sign on their respective team card. The first two signatures took up a lot of space so I'm not sure how many more will be able to fit.

Box Break - 2014 Panini USA Baseball

The yearly Team USA products are generally one of my favorites. The autos and jerseys aren't that big a deal to me, as I am after the base cards to get IP autographs. For whatever the reason (perhaps the $90!! box price), I haven't seen as many of the base cards offered through the various online sources, and with the autograph season right around the corner, I've been getting a bit nervous.

The base set of 81 cards has been going online for ~$30 which seems a bit much to me. I've had a $100 Amazon Gift card from work just lying around, so I decided to bite the bullet and pick up a box for roughly $100 after tax and shipping. Sigh (I am rationalizing this as a free purchase). Trust me, boxes are definitely NOT my thing. Why spend money on a crapshoot when I can spend the same amount of money and knowingly purchase what I want? Anyways, the box arrived in the mail today, and here are the results:

Personally, I don't think the base cards have as nice of a design as last year's product, but beggars can't be choosers. Turang, Cameron, and Funkhouser look to be the top prospects from the 15U, 18U, and Collegiate teams, respectively. Turang is the son of former big leaguer Brian Turang, and Cameron is the son of long time major leaguer Mike Cameron.

Each box promises 9 "hits", 7 being autographs and 2 memorabilia cards. Of the 4 base autos I received, I was most pleased with the Garza and Molnar, two local products who I have seen pitch in the past. I have the ticket stub from Garza's first collegiate win for Cal State Fullerton, and I saw Molnar pitch a no-hitter last year. I happened to be scoring the game, and he signed the scorecard for me afterwards.

The three additional autos are of players I have not heard of before. I do like the look of the Gold AU, even if it is a sticker auto.

Last but not least are the 2 memorabilia pieces. I am not familiar with L.T. Tolbert (apparently he is committed to South Carolina), but the Jumbo Jersey Patch numbered out of 20 is probably my favorite card from the box. Just a beautiful looking card. 

It appears that around 20 of the 65 unique player cards are of guys that may be in my area this year. As such, I will try to keep a running track of any IP successes during the year.

Early Christmas Present from Brad at Red Sox Fan In Nebraska

I generally have a good idea of my ongoing trades, but in my stack of mail last week was an envelope from Nebraska. Now, I know I had just completed a trade with Brad from Red Sox Fan In Nebraska, but I had already received my end of the trade. Looking at the last name, I was sure that it was from Brad, and I was thinking that maybe he had found a couple more of my set needs. When I opened up the envelope, I instead found this...

Whaddya know, a 1998 Red Sox Score #15 Shane Mack! It has probably been a few years since I have been able to add any new cards to the Mack collection, so I was pretty fired up when I saw it. Thank you Brad for taking the time to look over my wantlist and surprising me with the card. Your generosity will definitely be remembered in the future!

.10 Card Show Pickups

A couple of weeks back, my standby card show got some new dime boxes in. Typically, this is just tons of early 90's junk, but these boxes were actually semi-loaded. It's always tough for me to say no to a numbered card or a tough parallel. Here's what $3 got me:

'04 Absolute Memorabilia 141 Hideki Matsui 0292/1349
'04 Absolute Memorabilia 169 Jason Schmidt 1111/1349
'04 Absolute Memorabilia Tools of the Trade TT-91 Mark Prior 005/125

'13 Bowman Chrome Refractor BCP180 Tyler Heineman - I will always have a soft spot for "Heiny", as he was affectionately known at UCLA. Does all the little things that go unnoticed. Hope he gets a chance to make it to The Show
'02 Fleer Genuine 113 JJ Putz 0587/2002
'06 Fleer Tradition Black and White 50 Scott Rolen
'12 Topps Heritage 476 Prince Fielder SP
'04 Throwback Threads Gold Century Proof 121 Nick Johnson 074/100

'85 Fleer Update U-43 Greg Gagne - I'm not sure if I already have this card, but I always appreciated Gagne's efforts as the glue of the Twins infield during their '87 and '91 World Series runs

'09 O-Pee-Chee New York New York NY15 Xavier Nady - I've never seen, much less heard of this insert set, but doing some research, this is a 30-card Yankee set seeded 1:40 packs.
'09 O-Pee-Chee Walk-Off Winners WK7 Johnny Damon
'08 Upper Deck X Xpotential X3-HM Hideki Matsui
'14 Topps Opening Day Superstar Celebrations SC-4 Freddie Freeman
'11 Topps Heritage Minor Tint 154 Jonathan Singleton 604/620
'09 Upper Deck Starquest Emerald Super Rare SQ-36 Curtis Granderson
'10 Upper Deck Celebrity Predictors CP9/CP10 Chris Martin Gwynth Paltrow
'01 Fleer Premium 204 Jaisen Randolph 1373/1999
'05 Prime Cuts 17 Tim Hudson 314/449
'15 Prime Cuts 2 Roger Clemens 397/499

'05 Zenith White Hot WH-1 Scott Rolen - pretty neat looking remake of the '95 Pinnacle inserts of the same name. Odds were 1:65 packs
'12 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini Gypsy Queen Back 332 Nick Swisher
'12 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini Gypsy Queen Back 91 Tim Hudson
'12 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini 235 Orlando Cepeda
'11 Topps Lineage Diamond Anniversary Platinum Refractor 105 Ty Cobb
'99 Just Spotlight JS10-AS Alfonso Soriano
'08 Ultimate Collection 44 Garrett Atkins 320/350
'05 Ultimate Signature 61 Carlos Delgado 278/825
'10 Upper Deck Supreme S-35 Cole Hamels

A Return and a Farewell

It's been five months since I last posted, but since it is the day before Thanksgiving, today is as good a time as any to get back in to the swing of things. A few weeks back, Marcus from All the Way to the Backstop sent over a few cards from his trade list, the most prominent being a 2014 Topps Orange parallel of Hank Conger.

I specifically requested this card because Hank was my favorite "under the radar" Angel. Sure, anyone can collect the big names like Trout and Pujols, but I have always had a soft spot for Hank. The hometown kid from Huntington Beach is a fun loving guy and seemed to be good for clubhouse chemistry. Many an Angels fan wondered why he never got a true shot at being the everyday catcher. Well, that is a moot point now, as after I inquired about this card, Hank was traded to the Astros. Baseball wise, I felt it was a good deal for the Angels. They got a cost controlled young pitcher and a potential future backup catcher, something that seemed to be Conger's destiny if he stayed with the club. Personally, I feel conflicted. On the one hand, Hank will get a clean slate with the Astros, but on the other hand, it feels that the Angels wasted another high draft pick. Regardless, I wish Hank the best with his new team.

Now, back to the main point of this post. As this is the time of year to give thanks, I would like to give a big Thank You to Marcus. He was the one who initially encouraged me to create this blog. Though the posts have been lacking, I have still managed to make numerous trades with members of the blogosphere world this year. Though we all have our own reasons for collecting, the common theme is that we share a strange affinity for cardboard. Be safe all and have a Happy Thanksgiving.