Happy Days Are Here Again

How sweet it is to sweep rather than be swept.

Well now that the Mets are at one of the peaks in their incredibly up and down season, all us Mets fans have to enjoy it and hope that the worst troughs of the season are behind us.

Tonight, to culminate the shutout sweep of the Phillies, Mike Pelfrey pitched. I have relatively few cards of Pelfrey (I'm in the market for more), but I do have a few nice ones like this one:


Jose Reyes, for the third consecutive game, made a difference offensively by scoring some runs. Here is an appropriately patriotic card of his in honor of Memorial Day this weekend.


Finally, Jason Bay is hitting and driving in runs which has finally gotten the Mets offense going.


It is hard to believe that the Mets have not shut out a team through an entire series sweep since 1969, and that they would do it both in 69 and 2010 against the Phillies.

It has been a very good six games for the Mets. Hopefully they can keep it up while in my current neck of the woods this weekend.

More Mets Autographs: Party Like Its 1999

These two come from Upper Deck SP's 1999 signature edition.

First John Olerud, whose praises I have sung before.


I was so happy to grab this off ebay when I did about ten years ago. Now, I am even happier. I does not appear that Olerud has many autographed cards out there, so this one has kept its value nicely. I guess that doesn't matter though, because I won't be parting with it anytime soon.

Second, here is the Al Leiter from the same series.



Leiter pitched a total of seven seasons for the Mets and though there were a couple of bad seasons in that mix, I remember him as a big game pitcher. He also had some stellar statistics during what was likely the heyday of the steroid era. His WHIPs were frequently below 1.30 and got as low as 1.50 in his first year with the Mets, 1998. He also had 8.1 K/9 that year with a 2.47 ERA in 193 IP. I'd take that line on my fantasy team any day.

Two Gems from the Card Show

For those of you in Northern IL today is your last chance to visit the card show I went to on Friady at the Hawthorne mall in Vernon Hills IL. I really wanted to post on two of the other cards I got there Friday.

The first is a 2007 Topps Sterling Base David Wright to go along with my White Suede Boarder version:


This looks more like traditional leather than suede and is numbered to 250 rather than 50 like the suede. Either way it looks nice next to the white suede one in my binder. I know the boxes are insanely expensive, but I like the base cards.

Second, is this game used Piazza bat card:

I really like the game used bat cards that are burned with extra embellishments. This may actually be the most intricate of those types of game used bat cards that I've seen. Both the shape and the design of the bat piece are pretty cool. While I am no Rangers or Astros fan, I would think this insert would look even cooler for those teams player considering the star design.

Hopefully Santana can win the match up of the lefties today. Let's go Mets!

Early Weekend Cardshow Haul and Contest Winnings: Two Autographed Manufactured Patch Cards

In fact, these are my first two. The letter patches are probably my least favorite of the manufactured patch cards, though I do like the more original ones like this one. Yet, I do like the autographed letter patch cards especially when the letter is a meaningful one. Now, I agree that the autographs themselves can come out poorly, and that is an important negative.

Let's take a look at my first two autograph patch cards and examine the highlights and lowlights of each.

The first, which I received first, was a carryout from BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet. Thanks very much to Mike for a fun, though grueling, contest. I was really excited to win and scored this wonderful Jemile Weeks card.


Jemile Weeks is posting a very respectable .859 OPS in AA this season so it would be awesome to see him make it to the majors eventually.

The cool thing about this card: the autograph is legible and nicely signed on two separate lines. Less cool is the fact that is an "S." Does anyone out there really collect each letter of an autographed patch? I can see the fun in collecting non autographed ones, that is doable and would look good in a binder, but five autographed patches seem like overkill to me.

So, let's take a look at the one I got at the card show today: a Jon Niese.


I like Niese. He is on the DL for the second time in two years, but it is not an arm issue. When he has pitched he has shown promise, and this Met fan hopes he can develop even further and perhaps top out as a good number two starter or great number three starter.

The cool part of this card is that it is an "N," this makes sense as it is the first letter in his name. What would I want with an "I" or an "S"? I wouldn't have bought it unless it was an "N." The not so cool part of this card is that the actual autograph is less than stellar (to be kind).

Despite the ups and downs of each card, I am really glad to have both in my collection. I'll be rooting hard for both players!

For those of you in the Illinois area I got the Niese card at a card show that ran from today through Sunday at the Hawthorne mall in Vernon Hills IL. I was a bit worried at first since there were only two underwhelming tables on the bottom floor, but the show got a lot better on the second floor. As luck would have it the last table I visited was the best. Michael, a White Sox fan, from Field of Cards in Richton Park IL and I had a fun talk about prospects and he gave me a sweet deal on some Mets Finest and Bowman stuff. He also gave me a couple of prospects' card to go after. He was awesome and ensured that I left the show with a smile.

Also, it is nice to go to a card show in a city other than the one your team plays in. I got several Mets cards for a good price that I wouldn't have been able to touch had the show been in New York. That includes the Niese which I scored for a very reasonable $5.

I'll probably get around to posting some of the others in the next few days.

Enough Already Contest

Hey check out another sweet contest that is being hosted over at Enough Already: http://annoyanceatitsfinest.blogspot.com/2010/05/giveaway-time.html

Recovering A Stockpile of Autos (pun intended)

As you could see from my previous post, I was back in New York a couple weeks ago. While there I was able to find two binders full of my older Met cards (including all my Doc Gooden stuff) and early 90s stars (including my Griffey Jr and Frank Thomas collections). That was fun, and I am still working on recombining that stuff with my newer stuff.

However, I also found a bunch of autographed cards: some of which I remembered and others which I had totally forgotten. There are seven in all, and my plan is to feature each of them in a post over the next week and a half.

I thought I'd start with the only non-Met of the bunch: Duke Snider

The card is a bit of an odd ball, and to be honest I have no idea how I got it. If I had to guess I would say it was a mail away offer from Nabisco cookies. However, the card does come with a separate Certificate of Authenticity card, so that is always good.

I was a fan of the Duke of Flatbush as a kid, and I still am. You might have noticed from my screen name that I have strong connections to Brooklyn. I was born there and returned for my entire undergraduate and most of my graduate schooling. I also had my first adjunct professorship there. It is a great place, and the Brooklyn Dodgers perfectly symbolize the area. All that AND they broke the color barrier. It is hard not to be proud that the Dodgers played in Brooklyn, despite a lack of World Series victories to show for it.


So to round out this post, I thought I would include a picture of another oddball Duke Snider collectible I own. I saw this in a discount store across the street from my graduate school one day and knew I had to have it. It is numbered 13 of 275 on the bottom, but I am pretty sure more than 275 were produced. For those who are interested it is a '57 Chevy. Let me know what you think.

Big D Custom Contest

So Big D, who you may remember from one of my previous trade posts, is having a contest to win one of his cool custom cards. Check it out, and good luck: http://heythatsmine-bigd.blogspot.com/2010/05/big-d-customs-no-purchase-necessary.html

Becoming the Comeback Kids

So, I was able to make it to my first Mets game of the season this past Sunday on a trip back to New York. I was especially excited by two things: the new Mets Hall of Fame and Tim Lincecum pitching against the Mets.


The Mets Hall of Fame did not disappoint. Here are a couple pictures I took of it.



Timmy was good, but he did not dominate. The Mets were able to drive up his pitch count and get two runs off him after ceding him a 4-0 lead. To be fair to Lincecum the Giants fielders tried their hardest to give the game away to the Mets, so by the time Lincecum left it was 4-2 Giants.


Yet, Mr. Met was not done with his rally cry and the Mets were actually able to take the lead off the Giants bullpen.


However, an Aaron Rowand HR that several commentators have said "hit a jetstream" on an incredibly windy day in, addition to Brain Wilson, sealed the deal for the Giants.


I was, nonetheless, impressed that the Mets came back even if they did not win. They also took 2 of 3 from one of the better teams in the NL. Then, yesterday they actually completed a comeback against the less imposing Nationals. It is good to see the Mets have some heart again.

PS: It was Mothers Day, and, yes, I did bring my Mom to the game.

The Bright Side of a Bad Series

Now, don't get me wrong, like most Mets fans I was cursing pretty heavily when Santana walked Moyer, andI had a feeling the grand slam was going to follow. Also, do not mistake me for someone who thinks that the Citizen Bank Park is not a joke of a bandbox (though Santana cannot blame his performance on that fact alone).

At the same time, it is still early in the season and I cannot give up on the Mets even now, especially not after that streak they put together last week. I also am interested to see how they rebound in Cincinnati and how they play the Giants next weekend.

Additionally, it is hard for me to forget this man's performance on Friday night:


Similarly, this man's at bats are so encouraging that I am impressed even when he does not get a hit.



Lastly, though this man had a bad game, he did not pitch nearly as bad as his stat line from Saturday looked.