Missing My Favorite Upton, Carl Too.

Not Kate, nor Justin.

I have reached my fall break and have all sorts of fun activities planned for myself.  I am three days into break, I don't have to teach students again until October, and I am feeling really productive. I have been doing carpool for my middle schooler everyday, gone shoe shopping for my first-grader, planned and cooked every meal this week, folded laundry, and replaced the rollers on the upper rack of my dishwasher. 

I could post pictures of my food, but I am more proud of fixing the dishwasher.  

I am going to do some caulking and yard work the second half of this week.  

I have also been working on filling some holes in my old Durham Bulls cards. 

It's amazing how much cheaper cards of prospects are when you revisit them after the player has retired and the card is more than 15 years old. I don't know where to find pricing data from 2007, but B.J. Upton was a pretty popular prospect back in the day. Doubtful that an Upper Deck autograph numbered to 50 would for less than $10, but today......

Too good to pass up.  

I missed this card back in the day. Not only are there several B.J. Upton cards in the UD Black set, but it was also had Justin Upton autographs, who had been the first overall selection in the 2005. Both Upton brothers in one set. Sorry, Kate was not included. Also not sure if B.J./Melvin and Justin had dual autographs, but it seems like something Upper Deck would pull off.  

I miss the backs of the Upper Deck cards. 

The autographs were always upside down in the packs and the first thing you saw was that Richard McWilliam signature and the "Congratulations" banner across the top of the card. You knew you had found something good.  

Slightly less expensive, I also found a really cool Carl Crawford autograph out of the 2005 Fleer Patchworks set. Carl was in Durham before I moved to North Carolina, but helped lead the team to their first International League Championship.  He was the first star player the Durham Bulls had as a Triple A team.  

I have always dabbled in Carl Crawford autographs, but never outright collected them. Might start dabbling with his Rays cards a little bit more here in the near future. Not sure I can touch his Red Sox or Dodgers cards, but his early cards seem like they are fun.  

More early 2000s Durham Bulls tomorrow.  

Project Durahm Bulls #26- Carl Crawford

2002 Durham Bulls 

Background- 
The Durham Bulls have been successful throughout their tenure as the Triple A team for the Tampa Bay Rays/Devil Rays.  The 2002 squad was the second Bulls team to win a division championship in Triple A, but the first team to take home the league crown.  The team's star players included Crawford, Rocco Baldelli, Aubrey Huff, current manager Jared Sandberg, and Toby Hall.  Carl Crawford only appeared in 87 games that season for the Bulls before he was promoted to Tampa where he closed out the season.  He had 7 home runs, 9 triples, and 17 doubles during that half season stint with a .297/.335/.456 line.  Crawford would go on to play 15 seasons in the Majors with the Rays, Red Sox, and Dodgers.

While playing for the Rays, Crawford led the American League in triples and stolen bases four times, made the American League All-Star team four times, won the All-Star Game MVP in 2009 after making a game saving catch....

on what would have been a home run by Rockies first baseman Todd Helton.  

I always felt like Crawford took a lot of unnecessary criticism during the second half of his career.  He left the Rays for the Red Sox after the 2010 season for a 7 years and 142 million dollars.  He played what amounts to a season and a half in Boston.  One season was definitely subpar, the second was filled with injuries.  The Red Sox eventually dumped him on the Dodgers where he played a few more partial seasons before he was released.  Can't really blame Crawford for taking a large contract offer, or slowing down because of injuries.  

Card- 

The Traded/Update set disappeared for awhile in the mid to late 1990s.  Topps skipped the set in 1996, 1997, and 1998.  After a three year hiatus we got the 1999 Topps Traded set which was sold as a complete set with one autographed card per box.  There were some nice names in the product including Carl Crawford, C.C. Cabathia, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn, and Mark Mulder.  The autographs on these cards weren't Crawford's best signature, but he was just removed from high school when he signed these cards.  He actually ended up with a pretty decent signature by the time his career wound down.  

At the time of the sets release, and throughout the early 2000s, the autographs of the successful players in this set had good value.  Most of the autographs of the players listed above, including Crawford, are very affordable at this point.  If you are not a huge autograph collector, but like these cards there was also a Chrome version of this set.  There were no autographs in that version of the 1999 Topps Traded set.  

2011 Topps Finest Carl Crawford Finest Moments Jersey/Autograph

It's way too early in the season to give out awards, or speculate about things that are going to happen at the end of the long and grueling baseball season.  However, an early candidate for the Comeback Player of the Year honor has to be Dodger's outfielder Carl Crawford.  I was a pretty big Crawford fan back in Rays days and picked up quite a few of his cards.  He also played for the Durham Bulls in the early 2000s.  Crawford was a nice player during his time Tampa offering a little bit of pop, a little bit of speed, and he even flashed some leather every once in awhile too.  However, I was shocked when the Boston Red Sox signed him to a 7 year/142 million dollar contract.  Nice player, but not sure he is $20 million a year great.  Anyway, Carl Crawford did not live up to the hype in Boston and was dumped on the Dodgers doorstep last season.  Along the way, the price of Carl Crawford cards fell off a cliff.  I am not complaining.

2011 Topps Finest Carl Crawford Finest Moments Jersey/Autograph

Ninety-Nine percent of the Carl Crawford cards that I own are Rays cards.  Some are actually Devil Rays cards, but that's okay too.  I was really trying to avoid any Crawford cards as a Red Sox, but for less than $5 this card is a great value.  Especially given that Crawford has started off the year well for the Dodgers.  Currently he has a line of .392/.446/.569.  I fully expect him to cool off and probably hit a few more gloves over the course of the year, but a hot start and a clean slate in Los Angeles might be just the thing to get Carl Crawford back to his numbers pre-Boston.

Trade with Dodger Bobble

Three weeks left in the school year and I just completed my last hard week.  Really happy with my students and I have some time to catch up on my blogging and trading.  I completed another trade last weekend with fellow blogger Dodger Bobble.  He's got a great page and would strongly encourage everyone to check out his cards and bobbles.  Dodger Bobble also has a Facebook page.  I traded a handful of Dodgers autographs and a Matt Kemp Topps Marquee Jersey Card for three autographs and three jersey cards.  My cards included:

2012 Topps Marquee Carl Crawford Jumbo Jersey

2012 Topps Marquee Zack Greinke Jumbo Jersey

2012 Topps Museum Jaime Garcia Autograph

2009 Topps Tribute Andre Dawson Autograph

2012 Topps Museum Ian Kinsler Quad Jersey/Patch

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Johnny Cueto Autograph

Bautista and Garvey

It's been a busy week and I've had a little less time for blogging.  I am hoping to get caught up this weekend.  The highlight of my week was getting to see Dice-K pitch on a rehab assignment in Durham.  Hideki Matsui and Kevin Youkilis also appeared in the game.  Best of all the Paw Sox got shut out and Henry Wrigley (there is such a player) hit a three run jack off of Dice K that cleared the Bull by at least twenty feet.

I've been working to put together a Bowman set and will post a little bit more about that tomorrow morning.  In the meantime I did make a bunch of small trades this week and landed a bunch of relic cards.  The two highlights were a 2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Steve Garvey Jersey and a 2011 Triple Threads Jose Bautista relic card.  The other cards were small additions, but still some good finds.  Enjoy!

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Steve Garvey Jersey

2011 Topps Triple Threads Jose Bautista Triple Relic Card

2004 Leaf Certified Carl Crawford Jersey Card

2002 Topps Ten John Burkett Jersey Card

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces Lance Berkman Jersey Card

 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces Miguel Cabrera Jersey Card

2012 Topps Alex Avila Jersey Card

2011 Topps Triple Threads Andre Either Jersey Card

A D-Bull and Two Trades

One of the best parts of living in the Raleigh-Durham (the Triangle) area is the awesome baseball.  Sure we are known for our basketball, but the quantity and quality of baseball is pretty awesome.  We have two teams in the immediate area, the Durham Bulls and the Carolina Mudcats, and several more within an hour or two.  The Durham Bulls are by far the most recognizable minor league franchise in these parts and they are often quite talented.  I usually pull together cards of players on the team and am pretty happy with the cards both in the short and long term.

This year has been difficult for the Bulls.  For the first time in a long time they are bad.  Really bad.  There are really very few players to be excited about.  Alex Cobb is the team's ace at this point and he is not a star in waiting.  Tim Beckham has been suspended for 'roids and there are a lot of thirty somethings on the team.  So, I have been reduced to finding cool cards of scrubby players.  Example:

2010 Donruss Elite College Patches Kyle Hudson Autograph

I also picked up a bunch of different materials cards and an autograph in two separate trades this week.  The autograph is an Eric Gagne from 2005 Showcase.  This is my second copy of this card, but the person trading it was looking for very little in return.  

2005 Showcase Eric Gagne Autograph 

I also picked up a few Rays and Cardinals relic cards from a trade on Facebook.  I also picked up a few 2012 Topps relics including a David Price, Justin Verlander, and a dirty Evan Longoria.  The cards all came from Ryan who is a fabulous and reliable trader.  Always looking for some good Brewers.   

2001 Fleer Final Cuts Wade Boggs Jersey Card

2010 Topps Allen & Ginter Jon Jay Bat Card

2009 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection Ryan Ludwick Jersey

2012 Topps Evan Longoria, Justin Verlander, David Price, and Sergio Santos Jersey Cards

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen James Shields Jersey Card

2008 Bowman Sterling Carl Crawford Refractor Jersey 14/25