Project Durham Bulls #37 - Alex Cobb

2011-2012, 2016 Durham Bulls 

Background- 

The Rays drafted Alex Cobb in 2006 out of high school in Vero Beach, Florida.  It took him a few years to reach Triple A with the Bulls, but once he made it there he pitched great.  During his first year with the Bulls Cobb went 5-1 with a 1.87 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning.  His work in Durham was good enough to get him onto the Rays for a few starts that season.  In 2012, the majority of Cobb's time was spent in Tampa, but he also made a few starts in Durham.  From 2013 forward he stuck with the Rays and became a dependable mid rotation starter.  In 2012, 2013, and 2014 he won double digit games each of the three seasons.  His ERA was consistently below 3, but his strike outs dropped once he reached the Majors.   

He missed 2015 with arm problems, had Tommy John surgery, which is why he ended up back with the Bulls in 2016.  Cobb bounced back and had a good 2017 season before leaving the Rays for the Orioles via free agency.  His time with the Orioles has been rough so far.  

Card- 

I have a pretty nice collection of Cobb autographs.  He is not someone that I have actively sought to collect, it's just kind of worked out that I have been in the right place at the right time.  Low print runs, shiny cards signed in silver pens, sparkly surfaces, I have them all.   A nice card is a nice card, right?  So, in looking for cards for these posts I am looking for cards that are from a good product with an on card signature if possible. What else is there?  I found this Alex Cobb autograph for next to nothing.  Topps Chrome is always a quality product, expect for 2010 when the cards did that crazy bending thing, and are nice autographs long run to own.  I like on the 2011 cards that they have a big whitish space for the player to sign.  Gives the cards a little cleaner look than having the player sign over their picture.

I'm Going To Build These Different Frames, With Gold Colored Metal...."

So what's the deal with all of these cards having gold frames these days?  This all started a few years back when Topps put a bunch of these gold framed inserts into their 2014 Topps Update set?  Did we need a gold frame around Joe Morgan?  He's a great second baseman and all, former Durham Bulls player too, but why can't we just have a baseball card with him on it.....

I mean is the frame holding the card together or is it a decorative thing?  If I pull the corner apart will the whole card just crumble, or will it look like a baseball card without a gold frame?  I rather like Joe Morgan, so it's not like I am going to pull the frame on this card apart.  Just when you thought they were going to leave the gold frames here, nope here come even more gold frames.

If Topps had known they were going to have this many cards with gold frames they should have called up Eric Sogard back when he was in contention for the "Face of MLB Award", and gotten him to switch to gold framed glasses, it would have been the perfect marketing campaign for a brilliant idea.  

Maybe just as good as selling just the tops of muffins.  What do you do with the bottom of the muffins?  The same thing could be asked about all of the baseball cards Topps makes without gold frames.  

 

Topps also had these guys in Museum Collection with the gold frames.  Do you think a card with a gold frame, but signed in silver ink is sort of like wearing a black shirt, black shoes, but you are wearing a brown belt?  I personally don't like the combination.  but I don't mind breaking some of those fashion rules at times.  White shoes with black jeans seems like a good idea.....

So after all of these other gold frames someone over at Topps had this great idea to put some more gold frames baseball cards.  When these cards came out I was thinking maybe Topps really likes this look, or maybe they got some bulk deal on gold card frames.  I don't really look around when I go to places like Costco, maybe the gold baseball card frames are sitting up on one of those top shelves with all of the shipping crates with the plastic wrap...

Since Topps is saving money by buying the gold frames bulk at Costco it means that this time around they had the chance to get a few different Major League Players to sign the cards inside the gold frame.  It's not Keith Hernandez or anything, but this is one of the cards.....

This guy is supposed to be baby Pedro Martinez, who was on the Mets for awhile, but he couldn't win a World Series.  He's not Dwight Gooden.  Either of them.  

Since when did they have baseball in Tampa?  

People go to Florida to die, not to play baseball.  This guy is kind of young, probably not making any money yet, so he's probably eating dinner at 4:30 so he gets the Early Bird Special.  

A Box of Rays Will Ease The Pain

You must play the music as you read the post.  I rarely put music into posts, I am asking for very little.  If you're at work, put in some headphones or something. 

My wife and I, along with our five year old, make a fair amount of road trips every year to see different places and different people.  This year we decided to travel to Northern Michigan to see my wife's family.  It's about a fifteen hour drive from our doorstep to my in-laws doorstep.  Long drive, but her parents house is relaxing and I dig being in a small town for a week or two.  I can walk to see Lake Huron and I actually get to see some snow.  

Right before we left for our trip I had made a trade with another member of a group of local card collectors around central North Carolina.  One of the groups members has an incredible collection of Ben Zobrist cards and was looking to move a few doubles.  I had made a few trades with him before and I had a Zobrist 1/1 that could probably use a better home than mine.  He posted a picture of several autographs including an Evan Longoria, Cole Figueroa, Jake Ordorizzi, etc.  I gave up a 1/1 Zobrist autograph thinking I was getting back a handful of Durham Bulls cards.

I had actually not really thought too much about mail walking back in my door after driving home.  About thirty minutes after we got home my postal carrier dropped off all of our held mail including box of cards.  There were several boxes of cards within the box.  All kinds of different things...autographs, relics, serial numbered cards, and just about a complete set of Panini Classics.  Throw in a few Bowmans, a couple of Gypsy Queen cards, and some Triple Threads base cards.  I was blown away at the generosity of my trade partner.  

It would take awhile to scan all of the cards and post them on here, so I am going to narrow it down to five cool Rays/Durham Bulls cards that I enjoyed seeing in the box.....

5.  2010 Topps Tribute Evan Longoria Triple Relic Autograph 

This is probably the most obvious keeper in the box.  Longoria is one of the best Durham Bulls players to wander through town since the team became affiliated with the Rays.  I have posted a ton of Longoria on here and have always enjoyed collecting his cards.  Great card.  

4.  2013 Bowman Inception Jake Odorizzi Autograph

I have a bunch of these Odorizzi autographs.  I don't have the whole rainbow of cards or anything, but this was a really really good looking set.  Not sure how many of the 2013 Inception autographs are in my collection, but it's plenty.  Another great card.  

3.  2013 Gypsy Queen B.J. Upton Jumbo Relic 

I have heard a lot of garbage about B.J., or Melvin, over the last few years since he has been on the Braves and Padres.  While his career has slowed down from his days with the Rays, he still remains one of my favorite former Durham Bulls.  He was an amazing talent while he was a Bull and enjoyable to watch.  Sometimes Minor League talent does not translate into Major League talent.  B.J., I mean Melvin, had a good run in Tampa, still a favorite of mine.  This card looks awesome with the black border.  

2.  Topps Supreme Alex Cobb Autograph 

This was an Asia only release.  I have picked up a few of these including a Chris Archer, but I am still missing a few cards of some of the Cardinals, Rays, and former Durham Bulls.  This was one of them.  It's not an impossible card to find, but every time I ran across one it was too expensive, or I got outbid, or something.  Don't need many more of these to close out the Bulls/Rays/Cardinals. 

1.  2012 A Sign of History Cole Figueroa Autograph 

Easily my favorite card in the box and it's not really close.  I really liked watching Cole Figueroa play for the Durham Bulls.  Not the best player on the team, but a fan player to watch.  Plus he was on the team for several years, Minor League fans usually don't get to hold onto players too long.  There are many Minor Leaguers who sign for different Topps, Panini, and Leaf products, but Figueroa has never been in a single set.  No certified autographs.  I have an in person autograph, or two, from Figueroa, but those are autographs on top of facsimile autographs on a Bowman card.  I have long wanted a certified autograph of Figueroa and I am happy to finally have this card.  Best part about it is that there were actually two of these in box full of Rays.    

Four Rays From Twitter

I had the chance to pick up a couple of great looking Rays cards last weekend from a collector on Twitter.  I started out looking at a card and ended up taking home several.  Here's a look at the cards.....

This is the card that started the whole transaction.  I already own a copy of this card, but Mike Montgomery is kind of a favorite, I did see him throw that no-hitter last year, so I had to inquire.  The price was right so I pulled the trigger.  However, while I was there I spotted another Rays card of catching prospect Nick Ciuffo.

The Rays took Ciuffo in the first round of the 2013 MLB Draft, but I have not done a lot with his cards.  I believe he has some autographs in one of the Bowman products, but this looked really nice, so this seemed like a good card to pick up.  So, there are two cards.  I figured after landing two Rays cards I should go back and got one more that I had tried to trade for/buy a month or two ago, but could not close the deal......

This is obviously a really cool card.  I have seen the metal framed autographs that Topps put out last year, they are similar to the gold framed Gold Label inserts they put in Topps Series 2 last year, but I did not own one of these signatures.  Cobb is a former Durham Bull and I love the look of the silver signature on the black background.  Throw in the fact that there are only 15 copies and this card is a great add to my collection.  The collector who sold me these cards also threw in a really nice card to make this an even better mail day.....

This is from last year's Topps Chrome set and is the Cracked Ice parallel of Alex Cobb.  Again, I have seen one of these, but I do not actually own one.  Cool looking parallel card if you ask me and serial numbered out of just ten copies on the back of the card.

Did I Mention Gypsy Queens?

I had an incredible time opening up some Gypsy Queens a few weeks back and swung back through Big D's Sports Cards during my delicious day out last week.  I did pick up a really cool Gypsy Queen patch of Tigers pitcher Rick Porcello, but I also decided to try a little more Gypsy Queen.  Here's a run down of my box, which was nice, but was not quite as good as my previous boxes.  Is the bar too high?  Maybe. 

Gypsy Queen boxes have two relics and and two autographs.  My two relics were pretty ho hum, but I was pleased to see a copy of former Durham Bulls star Alex Cobb in my pair of relics.  Elvis is okay too. The Andrus is a mini framed relic while the Cobb is just the regular relic card.  Neither card is serial numbered. 

My autographs were hit and miss with one really cool pull and another autograph that was a duplicate from my first box.  The duplicate was Jeremy Hefner who is currently not playing after undergoing Tommy John surgery and then was non-tendered by the Mets.  Heffner was a pretty good pitcher for Buffalo in the International League in 2012 posting a 2.77 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP in 9 starts, so maybe he will bounce back somewhere later this summer. 

My other autograph was the real prize out of this box of Gypsy Queens:

This Adam Jones autograph is limited to just 25 copies.  He also seems to be one of those players who signs a lot, but I never seem to land a card of the O's talented outfielder.  I love the darker frame and the on-card autograph is sweet.  This card is a keeper all the way.  Outside of the Jones autograph I did manage to pull two other cool cards out of the box.  Both of the same player.....

 

This is the regular Jose Abreu rookie card which is a short printed high number card.  If you have not checked out Abreu this year he is having a great year playing first base for the White Sox.  At this moment he is battling Albert Pujols for the American League lead in home runs.  "You can put it on the board"

I also managed to pull a copy of Jose Abreu's miniature card from the Gypsy Queen box.  This copy is the variation of the mini which features Abreu wearing the White Sox Sunday Softball Specials.  Why is there not a picture of Lamar Hoyt airbrushed into the background? 

2013 Topps Museum Collection Prince Fielder Quad Jersey

I picked up another great pair of Topps Museum cards for my collection yesterday by adding a quad jersey card of Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder and an autograph of former Durham Bull Alex Cobb.  First the Fielder.  The quad jersey cards are a staple of Museum Collection sets and they come in a couple different forms.  My card is the most basic form of the quad jersey cards with just four pieces of plain jersey and no signature.  Still a much nicer card than a basic jersey card.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Prince Fielder Quad Jersey 

I know that many people pay attention to what Miguel Cabrera is doing, but Prince Fielder is having a great year so far too with a line of .276/.408/.506.  Add in the fact that he's on pace for another 30 home run season and also over 120 RBIs and Prince could have a pretty special season.  I picked up a few Prince Fielder cards last year during his first year in Detroit and might have to add a few more to my collection this year.  

2013 Topps Museum Collection Alex Cobb Patch/Jersey Autograph

My second Museum card belongs to former Durham Bulls, and current Rays starter, Alex Cobb.  While Cobb is not a top of the rotation starter he's a solid Major League starting pitcher.  In fact, this season he's had a pretty good year posting a 5-2 record with 54 strikeouts in 9 starts.  This card was really inexpensive for a hit card from a high end product and I like the patch piece of the left.  I believe that the blue stitching on the bottom of the window is the mountain on the Majestic logo meaning that the patch piece above is the bottom of the ray patch.