Friday 5: Top 5 Former Durham Bulls in the League Championship Series

I had five minutes this afternoon while I was eating my lunch to gaze at the rosters of the team's left in the two League Championship Series.  I had planned on writing up a Friday Five post this afternoon when I got home from work, which I am still doing, but decided to change my topic.  The original one was pretty good, but I can get to that next week.  For the time being I am going to tackle what I found on the rosters of this year's LCS participants: former Durham Bulls players.

What else can I say about my favorite Minor League team that has not been said over the few years that I have written on my blog.  Their parent team is not even in the playoffs, we have been seem a wild card round, a division series round, and their are still players from past Bulls team's still vying for a World Series ring.  As Bulls fans we see the "Building Champions" motto around the park and can see the evidence on the field every year come playoff time when we get to watch some of our former favorites take the big stage in October.  Here are five former Bulls players to watch as the League Championship Series start this weekend:

5. Dioner Navarro- Toronto Blue Jays - C

The Blue Jays backup catcher appeared for the Bulls during the 2010 season splitting the year between the International League and the Rays.  In 43 games with the Bulls the backstop had a slash line of .284/.387/.390.  The is Dioner's second season with the Blue Jays.  Last year he appeared in 139 games for the Jays, but settled into the backup role behind Russell Martin for the 2015 season.  This is his third trip to the MLB postseason.  Navarro also appeared on the 2008 Rays American League Champions team and the 2012 Cincinnati Reds.  

4. Jason Hammel- Chicago Cubs - P

The Cubs starting pitcher appeared for the Durham Bulls during the 2005, 2006, and 2007 seasons.  He even tossed a combined no-hitter for the Bulls.  Hammel's has also been a solid starting pitcher throughout his 10 year career in the Majors.  This is his second go around with the Cubs after being traded to the A's in between stints for some shortstop prospect named Addison Russell.  Hammel's made one start during the National League Division Series against the Cardinals, but did not factor in the decision.  This is Hammel's fourth appearance in the playoffs.  He also appeared for the 2009 Colorado Rockies, 2010 Orioles, and the 2014 Oakland A's.

3. Ben Zobrist- Kansas City Royals - 2B

The Royals seem content with player Zo at second, but it's nice to see the super utility player back in the playoffs.  Zobrist played for the Bulls during the 2006, 2007, and 2008 seasons.  He played all the infield positions for the Bulls, except for 1B, and did his usual job of getting on base posting a .415 rate in his three Triple A appearances.  He started off the year with the A's after the Rays traded him this offseason.  The A's traded Zobrist to the first place Royals in the middle of the season.  This is Zobrist's fifth appearance in the playoffs.  He made four appearances with the Rays in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2013.

2. Wade Davis- Kansas City Royals - P

Way back in 2008 and 2009 Wade Davis appeared for the Durham Bulls as a starting pitcher.  He was a top prospect for the Rays, but found a home in the bullpen starting during the 2012 season.  A year later he was involved in the Wil Myers trade and found himself starting again for the Royals.  Luckily the team moved him back to the pen where the hard throwing righty has had an impressive two year run.  Davis ended the season as the closer for the Royals and has been lights out for the team so far in the playoffs.  So far, with 4 innings pitched, he has 5 strikeouts and allowed only a single hit.  This is Wade's fourth appearance in the postseason.  He also made the playoffs with the 2010 and 2011 Rays and the 2014 Royals.

1. David Price- Toronto Blue Jays -P

Price was one of the best prospects in baseball when he rolled through Durham during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.  It was cool to see him in Durham to start the 2009 season considering he helped the Rays advance to the World Series during the 2008 postseason.  The Rays traded the talented starter to the Tigers last year, who then turned around and traded him to the Blue Jays this year.  The 2015 Postseason marks his sixth trip to the playoffs.  He made four appearances with the Rays and one with the Tigers.  He has not had the same results in the Postseason as he has had in the regular season, but I am hoping he can turn it around this year for the Jays.

More Trips To The Local Card Store

I had an influx of in-laws into my house this week for my wife's cousin's wedding which was last night.  Pretty fun event.  Anyway, in-laws in town meant that my brother in-law was in town from Michigan.  Over the last year he has taken up baseball cards, but has no local card shop.  Showing up in Raleigh seemed like a good excuse to make a trip into my favorite local card shop Big D's Sports Cards.  

Jimmy had already set aside a really nice David Price autograph for me earlier in the week from the 2009 Topps Finest set.  I really like these cards.  Basically a rip off of the SP Authentic By The Letter cards, but if you are going to copy a set that's not a bad one to do...

This was all before the Rays decided to part ways with one of my favorite Durham Bulls of all-time.  I was open to the idea of stopping my Price collection if he ended up with the wrong team (Cubs), but I can handle Price as a Tiger.  I picked up three other items at Big D's.....

A camo Yadier Molina card from the Panini Prizm set.  I know I can rail against non-licensed products at times, but this is a really cool card with the catchers equipment on Molina.  No logos to airbrush.  Perhaps Panini could just make cards of catchers wearing their catching gear.  You're welcome Panini.  

Jayson Nix.  He was a Durham Bull for awhile this year, played well, but was released this week to make room on the roster for the newly acquired Nick Franklin.  I'm going to put this card right next to my stack of Adam Kennedy cards.  Both briefly Bulls.  Hey, they played.  

Finally, back to Yadi.  This short print is from last year's Allen & Ginter set.  Still working on those short prints.  Hey, I also picked up a big box of Ginter cards from this year for $10.  Maybe I will finish that set and last year's set too.  

New Ginters

I have always really liked the Allen & Ginter cards.  They are part baseball card and part mail catalog encyclopedia.  That's how the original Ginter cards were designed though and Topps always gives a really good effort with making this recreation as close to the original as possible.  Last year I spent a few posts steering my readers through my favorite non-sport Ginters which included the likes of D.B. Cooper, the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, dogs, flags, and so much more.  That's a huge link.  This year's Ginter offer much of the same as previous years.

This year's insert sets feature World's Capitals, Fighter Jets, and Parties (not shown, but they're there) ...........

There are some baseball inserts too.  I think these Pastime's Pastimes cards look sharp with the dark background and the white writing and frame around the player picture......

Of course there are hit cards too.  I did not land an autograph in my box, but I did have three relic hits.  I had two baseball hits with a Joey Votto and David Price.  My non-baseball hit belongs to Mike Pereira who was the head of the NFL's referees and then did some TV work after his career with the NFL.  I had never heard of him until I pulled his card, but he sits on some sort of Fried Chicken Sofa and gives shouts out to kids watching football....

Here are my hit cards......

and then there are the cards from the base set.  There are young players, old players, swimmers, weight lifters, comedians, ESPN personalities.  Chuck Todd.  All kinds of people.  Here's a look:  

Lastly, I would like to offer this piece of advice.  After you have opened up your packs of Allen & Ginter, sort back through your cards carefully and check through all of your cards.  You never know.......

when something that's looks ordinary, is going to turn into something that is extraordinary.......

David Price and (shakes head) Raymond

I have already posted one of these cards last week with Cardinals first baseman/right fielder Allen Craig paired up with Fredbird.  I found a copy of the David Price/Raymond card last week on Ebay dirt cheap, so I decided to pick it up.  If it had cost more than a couple bucks I would have let this one go by....  David Price was one of my favorite all-time Durham Bulls, so it's hard to turn down his cards.  However, the inclusion of Raymond on this card is a little disappointing.  I believe most Major League teams have a mascot, but clearly not all of them are really that great.  Fredbird is okay.  Mariner Moose is a pretty cool one.  Why isn't the Phillie Fanatic in the set?  Or Billy the Marlin?

Big D's Sports Cards

I was shocked a few weeks ago to find out that a new card shop started up recently in Raleigh.  I was really excited at the prospects of finding new places to find cards.  If you read those cool places to live lists Raleigh, Durham, and its immediate suburbs often appear on those lists.  Money Magazine recently rated my corner of North Carolina, Apex, as the ninth best place to live in the US.  In reading all of these lists and accolades the writers often do not take into account the fact that the Raleigh-Durham metro area has almost zero card shops.  How does a metro area of almost two million people end up without any decent card shops? 

For eight years I have been perplexed at the lack of card shops.  It's not that there are none, but it's more like the ones that are here are a little disappointing.  The major hurdles facing card shop in the area are plentiful, but I mainly blame two factors.  First, college sports rule in central North Carolina.  While there are college sports products and memorabilia, it's a little bit of difficult market to base a whole card shop around.  Second, Raleigh-Durham is a huge transplant area.  During my twenty-five minute commute in the morning I am often astonished to see how many NFL, NBA, and NHL team stickers and license tags I see on different cars.  Name a major sports team, drive around Raleigh for a day, and you will see something of that team attached to a car.  Imagine trying to stock a card shop for a city with a diverse population of different fan bases.

I can be a little bit tough on card shops, but I have my standards and I stick to them.  Finally, almost eight years to the day that I moved to Raleigh-Durham I found a card shop that I not only bought cards from, but I will return to the shop and buy more cards.  So, here's my run down on Big D's Card Shop:

The card shop owner Jimmy is an awesome person.  Knowledgeable and friendly about cards and sports.  He's also tech savvy and can be found on the internet using the information on the card posted above, or by visiting his Facebook page and his Twitter page.  He posts pictures of cards to his pages, so even if you are not in central North Carolina he's a great person to follow and talk cards with via social media.  You know that I am a baseball only collector, so I cannot give you a complete and detailed run down on all of the different sports, but he does have a nice variety of football, hockey, basketball, and college sports items with a good range of prices from high end stuff all the way down to dollar boxes and common boxes. 

The display cases are well organized and it's really easy to find cards in the shop.  The display cases are full with all kinds of cards, but the items for sale are stacked and organized so they can easily be looked at and seen by customers.  Jimmy is also great at pointing out cards of interest without being high pressure and is more than willing to pull cards out for closer inspection.  When I entered the store we talked for a few minutes and he did a great job of helping me try to pick out some nice Cardinals and Durham Bulls cards.  I had my choice of several nice cards of Bob Gibson, Matt Holliday, David Price, Matt Moore, and the list could go on.

I usually try to limit my first visit to a store and have a set number of dollars to spend entering, but Big D's Sports Cards made that rule a little bit challenging.  I had several nice single cards to choose from along with wax which was priced very competitively.  I would go so far to say that Big D's has the best wax prices of the card shops in Raleigh-Durham.  I haven't really dabbled in the Bowman Draft set yet, but I would have a hard time beating his prices on Blowout Cards or Atlanta Sport Cards. 

So, after much deliberation I settled on having myself a Durham Bulls kind of day during my first trip into Big D's.  Here are the cards that I walked out with at the end of the day:

 2013 Topps Chrome Jake Odorizzi

2012 Topps Triple Threads David Price Jersey

 2013 Topps Museum Collection Matt Moore Quad Jersey-Nice 3 color patch

2013 Topps Triple Threads Jake Odorizzi Jersey/Auto

2011 Bowman Sterling Wil Myers

2012 Bowman Chrome Wil Myers All-Star Futures Game

I have also picked up a pair of non-Durham Bulls too.  Love the Tulo. 

2013 Topps Triple Threads Troy Tulowitzki Quad Bat

1983 Topps Archives Miguel Cabrera 1983 All-Star

This was clearly the best card shop I have ever been to in North Carolina and it's not even close.  The variety and quality of single cards cannot be touched and the wax pricing is great.  Single card pricing was great too.  I was happy to find a store where I could find Cardinals cards and also find some really great additions to my Durham Bulls collection.  Finally, I would not be doing fair or quality work as a blogger if I did not mention the Braves cards.  Jimmy has an absolutely incredible selection of Braves cards.  There is a little taste on his Facebook page, but the store display is awesome.  If you are a Braves fan, Big D's is a must stop.  If you are not a Braves fan, shop at Big D's. 

The Finest of the Finest

One of the best sets during the time I have spent collecting was the initial 1993 Topps Finest set.  To this day, the set is very popular and the refractor set cards are still one of the great chase sets floating around.  If you have a favorite 90s players, tracking down a copy of their 1993 Topps Finest Refractor is an item that should be on every collectors bucket list.  

1993 Topps Finest Refractor Egardo Alfonzo

If you do not have a favorite player from the 90s, it's okay, you can still pick some of these great cards off on the cheap.  While stars from the set generally push triple digits, sometimes you can sneak through a minor star like Edgardo Alfonzo for a fraction of that cost.  

The popularity of 1993 Finest set, paired with the set's 20th anniversay, prompted Topps to include an insert set based on the 1993 base set.  The cards sell similar to the originals on Ebay.  Base cards from the 2013 Topps Finest 1993 Reprint set can sell for a few dollars with the refractors, numbered to 25, selling for considerable more money.  

I have not picked up a refractor yet, but have picked up a few of the cards from the Rays and Cardinals to add to my collection.  Topps did a fabulous job of recreating these cards and I am hoping to assemble the complete set of Cardinals and Rays over the next few weeks.  Maybe a vlog post.  Without further ado...The 2013 Topps Finest 1993 Reprint Rays and Cardinals...

2013 Topps Finest 1993 Reprint David Price 

2013 Topps Finest 1993 Reprint Adam Wainwright

2013 Topps Finest 1993 Reprint Yadier Molina 

2013 Topps Finest 1993 Reprint Matt Holliday 

Durham Bulls David Price 2008 Minor League Player of the Year Statue

I am keeping with my Durham Bulls theme for the weekend for the Labor Day holiday and featuring some cool items I have picked up from my favorite minor league team over the past year.  So far, I have posted a Chipper Jones bobble head from his jersey retirement ceremony and a game used Tim Beckham bat.  My third item comes from Rays All-Star pitcher David Price.

One of the great challenges in collecting the Durham Bulls is the fact that many of the Stadium Giveaways are limited to full and partial season ticket holders.  Single game ticket purchasers are often left out on promotional items.  My wife started buying my a package every year for my birthday and I also get the set of tickets along with a pair of tickets which I can trade in for a promotional item on certain dates.  Having the tickets for a pair of promotional items does not guarantee you that you will walk away with the coolest promotional items, so there are years where you have to back track and find the items away from the stadium.

Over the years I have done pretty well putting together the different bobbles given away by the team.  I did not even live in North Carolina during the 2002, 100th Anniversary Season, but I have most of the set of bobbleheads that the team gave away that summer.  By my count, I am still missing an Andruw Jones and a local radio host (blah).  I am also missing a Jeremy Hellickson bobblehead from 2009 or 2010 and a triple bobble of Hellickson, Dan Johnson, and Charlie Montoyo.

Until recently, I was also missing the David Price statue which only was only given away to 1,200 fans.  That is a really low number for a stadium giveaway.  To compare, I also collect the Cardinals and one of their more limited bobbles was the 2001 Mike Matheny which was only given to the first 20,000 fans.  I realize there is a huge difference in the size of the stadiums, but 20,000 is probably 40% of Busch Stadium.  1,200 is 10% of Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Luckily, I was able to track down the Price statue recently and add it to my collection.  Let's have a look:

At first glance I really liked this statue.  The Durham Bulls have always given out bobbles, so it was nice to see them give away something a little bit different for once.  The details in the uniform are also fairly strong at first galnce.  For example, from this view you will notice that the 125th Anniversary of Minor League Baseball Patch appears above the uniform number on the left-hand side of the jersey.

The back of the jersey is also pretty awesome with the accuracy on the double patch, USA flag and Minor League logos, located at the top back of the jersey.  You can also see the facsimile signature of Price located on the base along with the numbering showing the copies of the SGA at 1,200.  After first glance however, I dug a little deeper and became a little bit more disappointed in the statue.

My first disappointment in the statute was head of Price.  I know David Price.  This is not David Price. I am not sure it's in the same zip code as David Price.  It's hard to be accurate with bobbles and statues, but you've got to come a little bit closer than this.  At least throw the David Price stubble onto the statue.

The biggest problem with the statue however is seen in this picture above.  It's a little bit like find that Goldbug guy in the Richard Scary books, but the second you realize what is missing from the statue you will kind of be shocked a team, or statute manufacturer could overlook such a detail.....Compare to the real David Price on the Durham Bulls circa 2008....

A little hard to see in this picture, but the right panel-back panel on Price as a left-handed pitcher, has the Durham Bulls logo.  The statue?  No.  It's a little hard to believe that a statue can get every little detail correct from the special Minor League Baseball patch to the double Minor League and Flag Patches on the back to the fact that Price wore 41 on the Bulls and not his usual 14...on and on and on. Yet, the team logo is left off the jersey.  Face plant.

Still cool and still going on the shelf.  Maybe I will print off a Durham Bulls logo and tape it onto the statue.

2012 Topps Five Star Jumbo Jerseys

There is an old adage that buying a brand car is a horrible investment since the second you drive it off the dealer's parking lot you've lost thousands of dollars.  Honestly, I like new cars and both of the cars I currently own I bought brand new straight off the lot.  They both had that terrific new car smell and are still both fun to drive.

 In many way baseball cards a little bit like new cars.  Last fall one of the last releases of the 2012 card year put out by Topps was the Five Star set.  Collectors loved this high-end product and flocked to buy up the wax.  Cards also popped up all over the secondary market and were really popular.  I picked up several along the way focusing mainly on the autographs.  Since they were low-print runs and on-card autographs, I figured that many of the cards would run dry after a short time on the market.  My favorite autograph I picked up was this Evan Longoria:

So, how does this all relate to driving a brand new car of the lot?  If you could move back the hands of time to the week that Five Star was released and set a goal to trade or purchase three jumbo Five Star jersey cards you would likely have paid fifteen to twenty dollars in trade for each of the cards.  Collectors opening wax were quick to throw the large jersey swatches up on Ebay and recoup some of their money.  I had three primary targets: David Price, Matt Moore, and David Freese.

The week of the Five Star release I had the opportunity to buy all three for around $65 delivered.  I did not like the number, so I waited.  While cards maintain there new card luster a little longer than a new car, the price eventually does float downward.  You just need a little bit of patience.  So, this weekend I was looking around for some cards when someone approached me with two Rays jumbo jerseys.

2012 Topps Five Star David Price Jumbo Jersey

 2012 Topps Five Star Matt Moore Jumbo Jersey 

I naturally picked up both cards and was able to swing a day later that day for my third, and final, jumbo jersey card from my target list.  David Freese.  All in all, it was a successful day and went a long way in wrapping up my collection of Five Star cards.  I have one more autograph I am trying to track down and I will be able to put this set to rest.

2012 Topps Five Star David Freese Jumbo Jersey

More 2012 Triple Threads

I continued to work on adding to my Triple Threads collection for 2012 this past week by adding three new cards.  The Triple Threads set has become one of my favorite annual releases by Topps and have enjoyed beginning the process of assembling some cards from this year's release.  My biggest challenge by far this year has been adding Cardinals cards.  They have drifted a little bit high on Ebay, COMC, and other secondary card spots and there aren't a ton of them out in the trade market.

 I always end up with a good group of Cardinals cards, but I feel like they might be high this year because of the team's current playoff run.  For example, Carlos Beltran only has a Unity Relic in this years release which features on small piece of jersey.  The cards sell between $12 and $25 on Ebay and trading...ridiculous.  One trader last week trader last week traded me a Carlos Beltran jersey from the Topps Update set for an Ian Kinler jersey, but wouldn't trade me a Beltran Triple Threads card for a Kinsler patch.  Really wanted the patch, but not for a plain Beltran patch.  Hmm.

Anyway, I was finally able to add an Allen Craig jersey/autograph later in the week.  The card is a Unity Relic Autograph and is numbered out of 99.  This is the second year that Allen Craig has appeared in the Triple Threads set with an autograph.  Honestly, I would rather have one of the portrait style Triple Threads cards with the multiple jersey pieces, but will settle for this one.  The design on this years single jersey piece Triple Threads cards are much better.

2012 Topps Triple Threads Allen Craig Jersey/Auto

My last two pick ups were also trades.  I picked up two other Triple Threads cards in two separate trades.  One added to my Rays collection with a nice David Price piece.  Price actually has several different pieces in year's Triple Threads set, but I like this card the best.  Some of the autographs are nice, but for some reason we are back to sticker autographs on high end cards.  Thanks Topps. 

2012 Topps Triple Threads David Price Jersey

Last card for the day is a sweet Matt Kemp Triple Threads card which I picked up in a trade for some sticker autographs of Giants players and a Joe Rudi.  This is the second consecutive year that Topps has made a Bison card for Kemp, but I still think they are sweet cards.  I have one more really cool Kemp Triple Threads on its way later in the week.  

2012 Topps Triple Threads Matt Kemp

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