Project Durham Bulls #22 - Brandon Guyer

2011-2014 Durham Bulls 

Background-

If you're a Cubs fan just go ahead and skip past the first part of the background section.  The Rays ended up with Brandon Guyer as a part of the Chris Archer for Matt Garza trade.  The Rays also received Hak Ju Lee, Robinson Chirinos, and Sam Fuld as a part of the trade.  Guyer's first season in Durham was his best year as a professional baseball player.  Guyer slashed .312/.384/.521 with 14 home runs, 5 triples, and 29 doubles.  Add in 61 RBIs and 16 stolen bases and Guyer seemed like he would be a solid addition to the Rays outfield.  The Rays called him up in September, but he did not hit.  Guyer spent the next three years bouncing in between Durham and Tampa.  He hit well in Durham, never faired as well in Tampa.  Last year he was traded to the Indians where he starred in the team's postseason run, including a .300 average in the World Series.  He appeared in all seven games.  Guyer has also started getting noticed for his ability to get hit by pitches.  Some pretty cool charts and diagrams out there documenting his ability to be beamed.  

Card- 

The 2011 Bowman Chrome autograph of Guyer I picked up is a little bit of an oddity.  The front of the card pictures the Guyer in a Cubs uniform and it even has the Cubs logo in the bottom left hand corner of the card.  However, Guyer was on the Rays during the 2011 season.  It would be one thing if the Bowman Chrome product was released early in the season and Topps did not have a chance to get an updated photo of Guyer.  However, the set was actually released towards the end of October of 2011.  Meaning, Guyer played an entire season as a member of the Rays organization and he still was put into a Cubs uniform on this card.  So, flip the card over and......

we've got a whole lot of Rays information.  The stat line on the bottom belongs to the 2010 season with the Tennessee Smokies, Cubs AA, but the top Resume section is all about his 2011 season with the Rays and the Bulls.  I don't know if I have ever seen a baseball card like this, but I guess there are many times when I don't read the back of the card.  I am learning the error of my ways.  

2011 Bowman Chrome Brandon Guyer Autograph

I have started to work on putting together some cards from the players on the 2013 Durham Bulls.  They are my local baseball interest and I usually spend a good deal of time hanging out at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park every summer.  I've been to one Bulls game this year and they looked very sharp in taking down the Gwinnett Braves.  In fact, the Bulls record of 10-5 has them out in front of the Southern Division of the International League after the first weeks of the season.  Better yet is the fact that there are lots of good players to collect on this year's version of the Bulls.

I already added a Wil Myers autograph a few weeks back, but took a little bit of a step back this week to pick up a card I missed out on a few summers back.

2011 Bowman Chrome Brandon Guyer Autograph

Brandon Guyer is currently serving as the starting left fielder for the Durham Bulls after spending parts of the past year and a half in Tampa.  Guyer first came to the Rays organization in 2011 in the Matt Garza trade.  He played the first part of the season in Durham and posted a .312 average with 14 homers and 61 RBIs.  Guyer was promoted to Tampa and spent the end of 2011 with the big team.  He started off the 2012 season with Tampa, but was injured and spent much of the year on the DL.

I guess the Tampa outfield is too crowded for Guyer, so he is back in Durham and is off to a fabulous start with a 3 homers and 9 RBIs in the first two weeks of the season.  I am guessing that he'll end back up in Tampa sooner than later, so I decided to stretch out and find a few cards of Guyer's from his days on the Baby Bears.

More Trade Highlights

I put a little sneak peek up for today's blog on my Facebook and Twitter page last night.  The last two post on my blog, the Shelby Miller and Matt Kemp card, were from the same trade.  Today's blog entry is some more highlights from that same trade.  After almost thirty years of collecting, and a few hundred thousand cards, I am trying to sacrifice some of the quantity from my base card collection for some quality in other areas.  The Kemp, Miller, and an Ozzie Smith card were the primary cards that I was targeting in this trade, but ended up with some other really nice pieces.  Today, I will start with the Ozzie.

2007 UD Premier Ozzie Smith Patch Card 

My other highlight card was a 2011 Bowman Platinum Jeremy Hellickson jersey/autograph.  The card is serial numbered out of 99 and took a lot of convincing to get it into the trade.  I have a few other Hellickson autographs, but did not have a copy of this card in my collection.  

2011 Bowman Platinum Jeremy Hellickson Jersey/Autograph 98/99

The rest of the cards in the trade were icing on the cake.  I got a couple of autographs, a few cool relic cards, and a plate as a throw in to make the trade complete.  Here are some highlights:

1997 Upper Deck Rey Ordonez Game Jersey Relic

2011 Topps Finest Michael Pineda Dual Jersey Autograph 

2009 Topps Tribute Prince Fielder Triple Jersey

2003 Topps Chrome Dennis Eckersley Record Breakers Jersey

2009 Upper Deck USA Baseball Triple Jersey Kolten Wong

2011 Bowman Platinum Brandon Guyer Autograph 

2008 Topps Opening Day Ryan Garko Plate 1/1