Happy Opening Day

My first 2019 Dan Vogelbach card arrived in the mail this week. It's the morning of Opening Day and thanks to an earlier two game set in Japan The Vogelmonster is already leading all of MLB in OBP.

That's right. I don't drink coffee in the AM, I go straight to the Vogelbach Kool-Aid.

Dan, just keep your head down and let your play (and myself ) do all the talking for you.

Last year Vogelbach was selected to be a part of the Mariners' factory team, but he wasn't awarded a card in S1, S2 or Update. What a farce that was.

This year he was included in the factory team set again . . .

. . . which leads me to the only preseason prediction I'm going to make for 2019.

Vogelbach will do enough this season, at the big league level, that Topps will be forced to give him a card in Series 2 or Update. 

Baseball is back and I couldn't be happier. Enjoy the season!

HOF Binder: Page 11

Welcome to our eleventh installment of the Hall of Fame Binder. There are a couple of very big names within this page, but it's also a page that I feel needs a lot of work. I'm thankful for the 1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals set, but three cards from one set on a page is a glaring flaw in my eyes.

 Let's break down the cards/players!

2017 Panini Diamond Kings, #26 - Max Carey

 Max Carey is ninth all-time in career stolen bases. A veteran of twenty years, Carey was a speedy outfielder who batted 0.285 and had an on-base percentage of 0.361. When he got on base he terrorized pitchers, as he led the league in stolen bases during ten different seasons during a span from 1913-1925.

1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals, #86 - Billy Hamilton

 Are all professional baseball players named Billy Hamilton lightning quick? This Hamilton played from 1888-1901, owns a career average of 0.344, and he led the league in stolen bases, walks, and on-base percentage five times each. He is third all-time in stolen bases behind Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson.

2005 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic, #6 - Bob Feller

 Bob Feller is one of my favorite Hall of Famers. I've written about Feller a couple of times on my blog. My two favorite facts about the Heater from Van Meter are 1. he is one of only two players to strike out as many players in a game equal to his age and 2. his high school graduation was broadcast across the country by NBC radio. Lastly, he had already led the league in strikeouts four times before he left to serve in World War II at age 23. How crazy is that?

2012 Topps Archives, #39 - Jackie Robinson

 Like Feller, Jackie Robinson is in my top 5 favorite Hall of Fame baseball players. Arguably, he is one of the best athletes to ever play the game, but he'll forever be known as the man who broke the color barrier. I've read a number of books on Robinson, saw the movie 42, and wrote my senior year term paper on him and Branch Rickey. I have a couple of dozen Robinson cards in my collection, but I like this one the most because it looks about as vintage-esque as possible.

1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals, #90 - Edd Roush

 Edd Roush is the third center fielder on today's page. Roush batted 0.323 during his eighteen year career, which was mostly spent with Cincinnati. He won two batting titles and had some doubles and triples power. He led the league in sacrifice hits (33) and in slugging percentage (0.455) in 1918. It was a different game back then!

1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals, #91 - John Clarkson

John Clarkson, a 300 game winner and owner of a career 2.81 ERA, pitched exclusively in the 19th century. Twice he logged more than 600 innings in a season! He pitched for the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs) and Boston Beaneaters (Braves) during the prime of his 12 year career.  I love the old-time hat and mustache in that colorized photo!

According to my records I'm supposed to be scouring the card collecting world looking for upgrades for all of these cards.  The Max Carey Diamond Kings card isn't bad, and I don't mind having one card for the TCMA set, but not three. Someday I would like to splurge and get an actual vintage card of Robinson and/or Feller, but I think I'll need to do some saving first!

Thanks for stopping by!

Brackets, Baseball and Ogle that Vogel!

As an assistant coach for a high school baseball team I've been hearing a lot of chatter about college basketball. All my players are talking about Duke, Zion Williamson and Ja Morant. It sounds like each player has at least different brackets filled out!

I did fill out a thoughtless bracket, but I haven't watched one minute of the action so far. My hometown Bradley Braves made the tournament for the first time since 2006 and they had a strong showing against Michigan St. in the first round. Unfortunately, the Braves game started while I was teaching and finished during the middle of batting practice. The other assistant coach was the listening to the audio feed and reported with updates during BP, but that's as connected to the madness this March as I've been.

It's been a fun couple of weeks for a baseball fan like myself and basketball hasn't been able to captivate my interest. Here's a list of recent baseball happenings and my take:

• Machado and Harper signed . . . 
• I'm happy Harper went to a "hitter's park" in Philadelphia. I think MLB needs to market its stars better in an attempt to keep/recruit a youthful fan base. Bat flips, home runs, and flashy play are what attracts attention . . . Harper seems to enjoy the spotlight and I hope MLB and the Phillies take advantage of that.
• I'm even happier that Manny Machado is playing for a small market, west coast team that is largely forgotten by the national media. Good for San Diego for landing the big fish, but personally, I'm not a Machado fan . . . There's a line between hustle and dirty play and another line between showmanship and immaturity . . . and Machado showed on a few occasions last season that he doesn't know where that line is.
• Extensions have been signed by Trout, Goldschmidt, Sale, Bregman, Snell, Eloy Jimenez, Brandon Lowe and Verlander.
• The deals for Bregman, Snell, Jimenez and Lowe seem to make sense for both the young players who desire financial security and the teams who believe in their talent. I suppose the Verlander extension makes sense as well because it's only for two years and the Astros have everyone already locked up for the duration of his contract. They know their short-term budget and know how Verlander fits into the puzzle.
• But, wow, that Trout deal! I get it, Trout is the best ballplayer and should be paid like it, but you'd think the Angels would be somewhat snake bitten after the Josh Hamilton and Albert Pujols deals? If Trout wanted to play for a winner, then why handicap the team you're going to be playing with for the next 12 years with such a big contract? I have no experience as a millionaire, but how exactly does the lifestyle and priorities change for someone who makes $430 million versus "only" $200 million? 
• Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel still haven't signed. Personally, I feel Kimbrel will go to Milwaukee, but I could see the Braves swooping in. I still don't quite understand the way the baseball markets have played out the last two off seasons and the driving force behind it. The players' union is talking collusion, while the owners are pointing the finger back at the players. Go figure. 
• Baseball in Japan!
• Seattle won a couple of games and lots of homers were hit! But the big show centered around Ichiro, and rightfully so. Players of his caliber and character don't come around everyday.
• I also thought it was cool Yusei Kikuchi was able to make a start in front of his countrymen.
• Lastly, did you see who replaced Ichiro in the first game of the season? The VOGELMONSTER! In his only at-bat he was plunked on the elbow and eventually had to be removed from the game. It sounds like Vogelbach will be alright, but I heard the baseball suffered from internal fraying and a lacerated core. 

Hey, another low-numbered Vogelmonster arrived in the mail this week. 

This one comes the 2018 Panini Chronicles set. I already have the "base" auto of the Select Signatures card and the gold (numbered 09/10) only leaves me chasing the 1-of-1. "Only" two parallels for the base? I can get behind that!

Good luck on your brackets and fantasy baseball drafts!

HOF Binder: Page 10

We've reached a milestone of sorts with Page 10 of the Hall of Fame binder. At the onset I was wondering if I would be able to follow through with my goal of posting a page per week and I'm pleased to report I haven't hit a speed bump yet. In fact, I'm a little more than a quarter of the way finished with this series.

Prepare yourself for an education, for there aren't a bunch of household names in this post!

1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals, #78 - Ray Schalk

Ray Schalk was not an offensive juggernaut at the plate, but he was a defensive force behind it. His career numbers include 11 homers and a 0.253 batting average over 18 seasons, but he also threw out 52% of all would be base stealers during his career. In fact, in 1925 Schalk cut down 61 of 85 base runners, 72%, which led all of baseball. Wow.

1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals, #79 - Dazzy Vance

 Honestly, I knew nothing of Dazzy Vance before today, but he had quite a nice career. In 1924 he won the pitching Triple Crown and the MVP with 28 wins, a 2.16 ERA, and 262 strikeouts over 35 games pitched. From 1922 to 1931 he led the league in multiple pitching categories with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes, #20 - Joe Cronin

 Joe Cronin was on my radar before this series started, but that's only because I knew him as Moe Berg's manager at the beginning of The Catcher Was a Spy movie. Cronin had a great career and earned MVP consideration in eight seasons and was an All-Star in seven seasons. Mostly a shortstop during his 20 year career, he batted 0.301 and provide nice pop with 60+ extra base hits in eight different seasons.

2010 TriStar Obak, #19 - Hank Greenberg

Hank Greenberg, the biggest name on today's post, is another player whose ball career was put on hiatus when he served in World War II for 3+ seasons. Here are some of his career highs, which were set in parts of different seasons: 63 doubles, 16 triples, 58 homers, 143 runs, 184 RBI. and 119 walks. What a masher. In 1938 he had tallied 58 homers with five games to go in the season and only needed two more to tie Babe Ruth's record. Wouldn't that have been something if Hammerin' Hank owned the single season home run record until Maris?

2014 Panini Classics - Home Run Heroes, #23 - Sam Crawford

 Give Sam Crawford's career a quick peak . . . you won't be disappointed. To start things off he led the league in homers in 1901 and 1908 with sixteen and seven, respectively. The outfielder of nineteen seasons played before the All-Star game came to be, he never won a world championship and was only given MVP votes during four different seasons. Personally, I think he was highly underrated and maybe playing for Cincinnati and Detroit hurt him a little in the public eye? He was a 0.309 career hitter, stole 367 bases, and is the career leader in triples with 309. Your average player won't hit twenty triples in their entire career . . . he swatted twenty in a season five different times!

2012 Panini Cooperstown, #65 - Zack Wheat

Zack Wheat played nineteen years (eighteen with the Dodgers) and the left fielder won the batting title in 1918 with a 0.335 average. Wheat, in my opinion was very much like Crawford. Both were outfielders, batted lefty, hit over 0.300, could hit a double or a triple, they walked more than they struck out, and both could steal a base.

There's definitely some talent on this page, but Cronin and Greenberg were the only names I was familiar with before crafting this post. As far as the cards go, the 1980 TCMA Baseball Immortals set is really saving my butt here, but I sure would like to find some other cards to put in their place, especially when there are multiple of them on the same page. My favorite card is the Joe Cronin card and it's also the only one which has a vintage-like feel in my opinion. I'd like to replace the others, especially, the Greenberg card with all the lightning in the background.

Next week we'll see two of my favorite Hall of Famers as we'll see the classes from 1961, 1962 and part of 1963.

Thanks for stopping by!

One Gesture Leads to a Second

Back in December I posted a feel good story about passing on a baseball card to one of my high school's maintenance workers from his playing days. Alex, a blog reader, enjoyed the story and decided to make a significant contribution. A week or so later I received a yellow padded envelope with about twenty more Roberto Batista cards. There were numerous duplicates in the package, but even better was that at least one copy of every card produced from his playing days was included.

Shortly thereafter I hit up Dave at Minor League Singles and cleaned out his Roberto Batista inventory. There was a spell back in January and February where I'm sure I was ultimate Roberto Batista collector! I had 31 copies of his cards from his minor league days.

Seven of those cards went into a card frame I picked up on Amazon.

I filled out the other two card slots with a team photo card and a Cardinals logo card from Fleer.

Twenty-three of the remaining cards went into a clear plastic case with a bow placed on top.

Card for Alex

The last card was to receive an autograph to send back to Alex. I was able to locate a few other cards to send to Alex as part of a thank you package for being so generous with his card funds to surprise a former minor leaguer, who he has connection to, with a nice gift.

The generosity from Alex did not stop with Roberto cards though. Somewhere during all the planning and waiting he slipped a PWE into the mail with a Brooks Kieschnick in-person autograph. Score!

Planning and waiting . . . Well, I wanted to surprise 'Berto with the frame and all the duplicates for his birthday, which was March 10th. I placed everything into a gift bag and it sat in my closet at school for the entire month of February. Sometimes waiting is the hardest part! On March 8th my school had a half-day and I was able to track down 'Berto at lunch and I pulled him aside into one of the nearby faculty lounges for some privacy.

He saw the gift bag and he started shaking his head, left-to-right, and repeating, "What did you do?" I tried to explain as best I could about how I collect cards and then write about them on my blog on the internet. I mentioned how one fellow collector thought he should have more cards from his playing days than just the one I gave him back in December.

I handed over the gift back and his hand found the clear plastic case of cards at the bottom. I don't think he knew what to make of it at first and I explained they were all duplicates to keep or to pass on to family and friends. He then reached in again and pulled out the frame.

At first he was kind of speechless, save the occasional "Oh, My God." He sat down, placed the frame on the table and started pouring over the cards. I interjected that I thought there was a copy of each of his cards in the frame. He then said, "Yeah, a card for every team I played on except the summer league."

The card in the top left is from 2000 when 'Berto was 18. I guessed, "The Dominican Summer League?"  He responded with, "Yes, where I played before coming to the US." To the best of my knowledge cards have never been produced from the Dominican Summer League.

'Berto then repeated something he said from our initial baseball card encounter back in December, "I don't have much from my playing days."

He continued with more, "They sold everything. When I didn't make the majors they got rid of it all."

I didn't prod, but from what I could tell his baseball mementos, although priceless to him, could be had for the right price if it meant helping his family. He mentioned something about how he doesn't even have his All-Star trophy. I'm assuming that was from his 2003 season where he led the NYPL in saves with a 0.88 ERA.

Roberto, humble and gracious as always, was truly touched by the gift. We parted with some smiles and a handshake and I made off for my afternoon meetings. Later, on my way out of the building to baseball practice, I bumped into another maintenance worked and she commented how nice the card display was and how appreciative 'Berto was of the gift. I thought it was pretty cool that he thought enough of it to show off to his co-workers. That made me smile.

I want to thank Alex for reaching out and providing so many more cards for this endeavor. I had plans of my own to grab one of each of his cards, but Alex really came through with his package of twenty cards.

It's been about ten days since I surprised 'Berto with the cards, but I've seen him a few times since then, while coaching the baseball team, and I always get the biggest smile and a wave.