2014 Spirit Base: 531-540

#531 - Jimmy Rollins
Rollins is a free agent after the 2015 season. I wonder if he'll have a good contract year and the Yankees will throw a bunch of money at him, even though he'll be 37.

#532 - Jeff Locke
Have you heard this story about one of Locke's childhood "friends"? It's kinda fascinating and pretty alarming.

#533 - Allen Craig
Craig had a bummer of a 2014. Maybe a long offseason will help him turn it around next year.

#534 - Will Venable
I'm kinda bummed that one of his eyes is covered up by his glove but I had to use this photo anyway. Cool shot.

#535 - Tim Hudson
I really hope Hudson's late-season turd impression was just a result of him being a little worn out. The Giants have the least reliable rotation of the playoff teams unless all the old guys magically get right now that the regular season is over.

#536 - Tom Wilhelmsen
The Mariners came close but didn't quite make the postseason. I'm sure this offseason will be one of the most optimistic their fans have had in a long time.

#537 - Yunel Escobar
Maybe it's the anonymity of playing in Tampa, but I haven't heard anything negative about Escobar since he joined the Rays. I guess he grew up a little bit?

#538 - Kevin Kouzmanoff
Kouzmanoff only played in 13 games for the Rangers this season but he made such a splash I had to give him a card here. He actually won a Player of the Week award during his short renaissance.

#539 -  Drew Hutchinson
Hutchinson had an encouraging 2014 campaign after missing all of 2013 for Tommy John surgery.

#540 - Scott Hairston
Hairston finished the season below the Mendoza Line and struck out in a third of his at-bats. Still, he gets a card.

Won Hundred

After I published my previous post, I noticed it was entry number 99. Which meant the following post would be my 100th of the blog. So instead of passing the milestone with another 2014 Spirit Base entry (which I'm sure you're all tired of by now), I decided to commemorate it with some relevant content. After searching for  a subject that revolved around the number 100, I saw the list of active pitchers with 100 career wins was right around the 20-player mark, which is right in the sweet spot for insert if you ask me. Then once I came up with the punny name, it was a no-brainer.

Even though pitcher wins as a stat is losing its relevance, it's still a nice sign of a pitcher's longevity and effectiveness to be able to stick around the league long enough to pile up Ws. And taking a look at the checklist, you'll see a mix of top-of-line aces as well as some guys that probably don't get their due as effective starting pitchers.

1. Tim Hudson
2. CC Sabathia
3. Mark Buehrle
4. Bartolo Colon
5. A.J. Burnett
6. Cliff Lee
7. John Lackey
8. Bronson Arroyo
9. Justin Verlander
10. Josh Beckett
11. Dan Haren
12. Kyle Lohse
13. Jake Peavy
14. Jered Weaver
15. Aaron Harang
16. Felix Hernandez
17. Zack Greinke
18. Ervin Santana
19. Jon Lester
20. Adam Wainwright
21. James Shields

For the front of the design, the big elements are 100 stacked above a big W, which works as a frame for the player cutout. The title 'Won Hundred' is wedged between them but since the players make it pretty unreadable, I have it tiled in the upper left corner. There's a circle in the bottom right corner for the team logo. Below that is the player name stamped in gold foil. Keeping with the '100' theme, each card is serial numbered to 100, stamped vertically in the left corner.

On the backside, there's an action photo filling the exaggerated W frame with the full 'Won Hundred' title and 100 unobscured to the right. With the name at an angle below, there's a brief write-up on the right along with a big bold wins total on the left.

Overall, the design is simple but with enough little details to keep it interested. I like the subdued color-palette as well as the asymmetry on both sides.

Thanks for taking the time to read any of the 100 posts I've made in the last 2+ years. Hopefully somewhere along the line I've done something to inspire you and whomever else may be out there in the card collecting/designing world. Let's see how the next 100 posts go.