Jeter At The DBAP

I have lived in North Carolina for roughly ten years.  Over that time I have managed to pick up quite a few bobbleheads and statue giveaways from the Durham Bulls.  I have also managed to go back and find quite a few of the team's giveaways that occurred before I moved to the area.  The recent giveaways are obviously not hard to track down, same with most of the older ones too, but there are a few tricky ones.

The two hardest stadium giveaways that I have been searching for are a Dan Johnson/Charlie Montoyo/Jeremy Hellickson triple bobblehead celebrating the International League MVP, Pitcher of the Year, and Manager of the Year.  The other was a statue the Bulls gave out to commemorate an appearance Derek Jeter made in Durham while he was on an injury rehab assignment in 1998.  Both items have been rather elusive.

Except, I found one of them last week.

A look at the front of my Derek Jeter Statue

Jeter is wearing a Columbus Clippers uni on the statue.  There is a faux autograph on the top, serial number out of 1,500 on the side, and the front has his name and date of appearance at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.  I am not sure exactly when the statute was given out by the Bulls, there are several different dates that I have seen floating around the internet.  The Bulls do stagger their giveaways at times between the different season ticket plans, but some of the dates aren't even within the same calendar date.  The statue is similar in style to a David Price figurine the Bulls gave away about seven years ago.  

The bases are done in similar styles with the faux black wood base, the sponsor stamp in silver in the corner, and some other similarities on the figurines.  A few of the dates I have seen had the Jeter statue being a giveaway as early as 2000, but I think it has to be much later.  

The back of the Jeter Statue.....

and finally a side of the statue from a lower angle.....

Overall, I really happy to have been able to find this piece and will have to find it a space on my Durham Bulls shelf sometime this week.

The Clipper Contestant

I had a great time this last summer attending The Triple A All-Star Game hosted by the Durham Bulls.  The team did an outstanding job of hosting the event and showcasing the best players from the International and Pacific Coast Leagues.  I still have my program from the game handy and still have some strong opinions about some of the players I had a chance to watch.  The PCL players I do not get to watch outside of the highlights on the Minor League website, but International League players I keep up with mainly just by keeping up with the Bulls.  One of the players I was eager to watch at the All-Star Game was Indians prospect Jesus Aguilar.

Aguilar actually played for the Carolina Mudcats (Indians High A team) back in 2012.  He's was a big guy without a real position, and while he got on base and hit for a good average, it was not clear that he had enough pop in his bat to really make a huge impact in the Majors.  Two years later he was in the International League playing for Columbus Clippers and was one of the bigger offensive threats in the league.  Aguilar was named an All-Star based in large part to his first month of the 2014 season where he hit .356/.440/.667 with 7 homers and 16 RBIs.  I had seen Aguilar in games before, but it was fun to see him hit in the Home Run Derby.  

Tonight, @JAguilarCLE will represent the International League in the #TripleAHRDerby! #ClipShow pic.twitter.com/H6chP3SsR4
— Columbus Clippers (@CLBClippers) July 14, 2014 

His raw power was really impressive to see in person.  He has a great swing and generates a good deal of power.  I usually do not like to buy into a lot of the comparisons that people throw out there about Minor Leaguers.  However, the comparisons between Aguilar and Boston's David Ortiz could be pretty spot on.  Aguilar has been kind of late bloomer, has good power, hits for a good average, and draws a lot of walks.  Hopefully the Indians will be a little more patient with Aguilar then the Twins were with Ortiz.  Unless they want to trade him to the Cardinals or Rays....then I am game.  Here's a look at Aguilar during the Derby.....

Jesus Aguilar #indians #columbusclippers #tripleahrderby #asgdurham

A video posted by The Snorting Bull (@thesnortingbull) on Jul 7, 2014 at 4:43pm PDT

After watching Aguilar I immediately went out and tried to find a couple of his cards.  The problem?  There are not very many at all.  A couple of team issues, a Leaf product or two, and an odd or end in a Bowman set, but nothing really to fun looking.  Enter Topps Supreme.....

Aguilar has several different autographs in the product.  Most are flying way under the radar compared to most high end prospects.  His Leaf autographs have been selling for slightly less than $5 over the past couple of months, but his Supreme autographs are only slightly more expensive and can be had for a little more than $5.  It seems that the really low print runs do not add much of premium onto the price of his cards yet either.  My copy of his autograph from the Supreme set cost me $7 and is limited to just 35 copies.  The purple version of this card, numbered out of 25, sold for just a dollar more.  

Aguilar should be a contender for the American League Rookie of the Year next year, especially if the Indians move Nick Swisher and free up some at bats for Jesus at first base and DH.  Last season the Tribe ran Swisher out to first base and DH for 86 games and he hit .206/.278/.331.  Pretty pathetic.  Aguilar can do much better for a lot less money.