Wolfpack are red. Blue Devils are blue. Tar Heels wear blue too.

Picked up a few new cards of some local players in the past week.  It just so happens that I managed to add one card from each of the local ACC baseball squads.  It was not my original intention to add a card of a player from each of these schools, it just worked out that way.  So, let's start with my beloved Wolfpack.....

This is the best card in this post for obvious reason.  First, it's an NC State player.  Second, it's an NC State player in an NC State uniform.  Third, it's a really nice looking card.

I have added a few Trea Turner Panini cards over the years.  A few of them have been from the USA Baseball sets, while the more recent ones have featured him in the red and white digs from his time in playing for the Wolfpack.  He was drafted in the first round of the 2014 draft by the Padres, behind teammate Carlos Rodon, who was viewed as the better at the time.  Turner was an excellent player during his college career.

The Padres traded him to the Nationals while he was a Minor Leaguer.  Still a little confused by that trade in so many ways.

My cool Trea Turner story: Five years ago, while Trea Turner was still in college, he actually favorited one of my tweets where I posted his average and slugging percentage from his summer play with USA Baseball.....

Hopefully, that tweet was liked out of some sort of motivation.  

Let's move on to the Duke card.  I am actually looking to add a few more cards of some of the players who are currently playing for the Blue Devils.  Griffin Conine is probably the biggest name, Jeff's son, but his cards are a little difficult to find.  Currently, Duke is a top ten team, and they have some really talented players on their roster.  That means that they have baseball cards from their days in high school.  

I recently posted about high school kids having their own baseball cards.  I do not get it, but here is the card......

I have seen Herron a few times over the past few years.  I usually make it to at least one Duke baseball game every year, so I have now seen Herron play a few times.  Pretty impressive player who should probably go in the first few rounds of the Major League Draft.  Not an exciting video, but......

                                        

he's got a nice swing, just a little short in the power department.  Herron has only hit 2 home runs this year, but he also had an on base percentage of .424 entering this weekend's series against NC State.  That has some value to someone, somewhere.  Hello, Billy Beane.  He also is an outstanding defender in the outfield.  

which brings me to the Tar Heel in my post.  There are few redeeming qualities about the school in Chapel Hill.  Fake classes, tailgating at football games with preppy clothes and martinis, that fake folksy vibe that Roy Williams tries to give off......

How do you feel about UNC, Roy?  

There is no wiggle room for UNC basketball players after they leave school, but there is one former Tar Heel baseball player that I have made some peace with since he entered the pros.  He's a good player, whom I enjoy watching, and has a little personality too.  

Tar Heels card.....

is of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager.  While Seager is not quite as popular as his brother, Corey from the Dodgers, he still has had a good career so for in Seattle.  He's entering his eighth season, seventh full, and has hit more than 20 home runs in 6 of those seasons.  In 2014, Seager made the All-Star team and won the American League Gold Glove at third base.  

Again, overlooked all of the time.  I liked his Player's Weekend jersey last year, which made fun of the fact that......

his brother is very popular with baseball fans.  I would agree with Corey being a better player, plus he was never on the UNC baseball team, but Corey is still a very good player in his own right.  I have a few other Kyle Seager autographs in my collection already, so I did not necessarily have to have this card, but when something is a really good deal, and it from a set that I really like, it's hard to pass up.  

Friday Five - Top 5 MLB Players From Duke

Last week I did a post on the Top 5 MLB players from NC State.  This week I am taking a 30 minute drive west on I-40 to do a post with the top former Blue Devils who have hit the field for a Major League baseball team.  Before I get to the top five, I have to give a tip of the cap to two former Major League players who were connected to the Duke Baseball program as coaches.

Probably more important to the program than almost every player on my Top 5 list....



Ace Parker 

Ace was a multi-sport star at Duke during the mid 1930s.  He was on the Philadelphia A's for 38 games in 1937 and 56 games in 1938.  That was the end of his baseball career.  One could argue that 90 some games is not really much to go on in terms of evaluating the quality of play.  However, when Ace walked away from baseball it was to play football in the NFL.  He won the 1940 NFL MVP and managed to put together a good enough career on the gridiron that he was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 1972.  Probably a good decision on his part.

Parker returned to Durham after his football career and initially worked as the manager of the Durham Bulls.  He also had a side job during the fall as an assistant coach on Duke's football team.  Eventually, Parker took over the coaching duties of the Duke baseball team in 1953.  He retired from coaching baseball in 1966.  Interestingly, he remained on the football coaching staff the entire time that he was also the head baseball coach.  During his time at Duke, Parker coached the Blue Devils to three ACC Championships, a Southern Conference Championship (Pre-ACC), and two appearances in the College World Series.

I am not sure how many people outside of central North Carolina know the name Ace Parker, I didn't before I moved here, but he is a tremendously important sports figure from the 1930, 40s, and 50s who had a huge impact on the school.  The numbers on his baseball card are not as good as the rest of the people on this list, but he's one of the most important figures in the history of Duke's athletic program.  


Jack Coombs 

Coombs actually went to college at a small school in Maine before he spent 14 years playing in the Majors with A's, Dodgers, and Tigers.  His best years were during the first half of his career with the A's.  The team was loaded with Hall of Famers including Chief Bender, Frank "Home Run" Baker, Eddie Plank, and Eddie Collins.  The team won back to back World Series in 1910 and 1911.  Coombs led the American League in wins during both seasons.  He won 3 of the 4 games needed to win the 1910 World Series against the Cubs, and added another victory during the following season's Series against the Giants.

After Coombs retired from baseball, he ended up at Duke as the baseball coach.  In all, he coached the Blue Devils for 24 years and retired with a .636 winning percentage.  Coombs helped the Blue Devils win the Southern Conference, the ACC had not been formed at that point, six times and advance to the College World Series twice.

Again, not a Duke baseball player, but a very important person to the program.  The modern Blue Devils split their games between the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and their on-campus baseball stadium, which bears the name of Jack Coombs.  There is a statue of the long time coach outside the stadium.

5. Chris Capuano 

Capuano is a native of Springfield, Massachusetts native who pitched at Duke in the late 1990s.  He earned an Economics degree while he was in Durham.  Originally drafted by the Diamondbacks, he was traded to the Brewers for Richie Sexson.  In all, Capuano spent 12 years in the Major Leagues between 2003 and 2016, half of that time was spent in Milwaukee.  His two best seasons were in 2005 and 2006.  In 2005, he won 18 games, pitched more than 200 innings, and set a career high with 176 strikeouts.  In 2006, Capuano was named to the National League All-Star team, and duplicated his innings pitched and strikeout numbers.

Capuano did not appear in a Major League game in 2008 or 2009 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.  The Brewers released him and then resigned him to a Minor League contract allowing him to work his way back up to the Majors through their system.  He returned in the middle of the 2010 season.   At the end of the season, Capuano signed with the Mets as a free agent.  He also spent time during the second half of his career with the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees before returning to the Brewers for 16 games in 2016.


4. Marcus Stroman 

I think the first two or three times I saw Marcus Stroman play for Duke he was a second baseman.  He starred for Duke for three years between 2010 and 2012, obviously he ended up becoming a star pitcher for the Blue Devils.  I first saw his pitching skills on display at USA Baseball's College National Team.  The Blue Jays made him the 22nd overall pick during the 2012 MLB Draft.  Obviously, he is not very far into his career, but I would guess he should be 2nd on the list if I revisited it in a few years.

Stroman has only played three full seasons with the Jays and has already won 37 games, had a pair of 200 inning seasons, and two seasons with more than 150 strikeouts.  He pitched a few games during the 2015 season, had a knee injury that shut him down for the year, but he just went back to Duke and finished the final year of his degree program.

Last season Stroman was a real bright spot for the Blue Jays.  He ended the seasons at 13-9 with a 3.09 ERA, and 164 strikeouts in 201 innings.  Stroman also won the Gold Glove Award for American League pitchers flashing some of those glove skills that I got to watch back when he was at Duke...

Again, early in his career, but Stroman has the potential to be one of the top two players on this list in the long run.  Someone might argue that Dick Groat has a bunch of World Series rings, that was anticlimactic to give away the top player on the list, but Marcus Stroman led the Majors last year in most appearances in rap videos.  

3. Ron Northey 

Ron Northey played for several different teams during the 1940s and 50s.  He played baseball at Duke in the late 1930s and was actually hard of hearing in one ear because of a bean ball incident from his time in Durham.  Northey started his journey through the Minor Leagues in the early 1940s, reaching the Majors with the Phillies during the 1942 season.  The Navy found him unfit for duty twice due to his hearing loss.  Eventually the Army drafted him in 1945 and he was stationed out of Fort Lewis, Washington.  

Before his time with the Army Northey had improved drastically each of his three seasons with the Phillies.  In 1942, he hit only 5 home runs with a .250/.300/.331 slash line.  His 1943 season was a little better, but 1944 showed that he had the talent to be an All-Star caliber player.  That season he hit 22 home runs, 104 RBIs, 9 triples, 35 doubles, and posted a .288/.367/.496 slash line.  He finished in the top 10 in dozens of offensive categories that season.  

The post-war version of Northey was not able to match his production from his 1944 season.  In 1946 he only managed 16 home runs with a .249 average playing full time with the Phillies.  The Phillies eventually traded him to the Cardinals where he found a niche as a part-time player with pop off of the bench.  

In 1947, the Cardinals gave him 361 plate appearances and he put up 15 home runs and 19 doubles with a .321 average.  He followed with similar lines for the Cardinals the following season before falling off with the home run totals and average during the 1949 season.  Northey spent the later years of his career bouncing around between the Reds, Cubs, White Sox, and made his way back to the Phillies before retiring as a player in 1957. 

After his playing career Northey worked as a scout and coach, including a stint with the Pirates in the early 1960s.  

2. Bill Werber 

Werber was a two sport star during his time at Duke and was actually the first All-American basketball player at Duke.  He led the Blue Devils basketball team to the Southern Conference Basektball Championship game twice.  They lost both games, but it was a pretty remarkable feat to even get that far considering the team had exactly five players.  

The losses came against Alabama and NC State who, according to local legend, decided that having five starting players and a few substitute players was a better way to win stuff with your basketball team.  

Werber played three season on Duke's baseball team under the aforementioned Jack Coombs.  He hit .400 each of his three seasons on the baseball team.  After graduation he joined the Yankees, whom he had toured with as an amateur player in 1927 before attending college.  Werber played a total of 7 games with the team between two stints with the team in 1930 and 1933.  During his first at-bat he drew a walk, but quickly scored his first Major League run when Babe Ruth hit a home run as the next batter.  

Werber lived to be 100 and was the last living teammate of Ruth's at the time of his death in 2009.  

As for the rest of his Major League career, Werber went on to spent time with the Red Sox, Reds, A's, and Giants.  He led the American League in stolen bases three different times during the 1930s, twice with Boston and another time with Philadelphia.  Probably the best accomplishment of Werber's Major League career was his appearance in back to back World Series with the Reds.  The 1939 squad lost to the Yankees in four straight games.  The 1940 squad did better, beating the Tigers in a seven game series.  Werber hit .370 and scored 5 runs for the Reds.  

1. Dick Groat 

Werber was the first All-American at Duke, but Dick Groat was the first Duke basketball player to have his jersey in the rafters of Cameron Indoor.  He was an All-American basketball player twice and played one year of basketball in the NBA with the Pistons.  All of this time Groat also was playing baseball.  His first season with the Pirates was in 1952.  Groat played 95 games that summer before missing the 1953 and 1954 seasons due to military service during the Korean War.  

He returned to the Pirates for the 1955 season and his career took off over the next few seasons.  In 1957, Groat finished in the top 5 in batting in the National League behind some other decent players: Stan Musial, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Frank Robinson.  He made his first All-Star team in 1959 and in 1960 won the National League MVP while helping the Pirates win the World Series.  

Groat made three more All-Star teams in the early 1960s and finished second in MVP voting in 1963 while playing for the Cardinals.  The following season, in 1964, he helped the Cardinals win the World Series against the Yankees.  He ended his Major League career by playing a few years with the Phillies, and a final season with the Giants in 1967.  

He's also had a fairly successful career post-baseball too.  in 1979, Groat was hired as a radio broadcaster for the Pitt Panthers basketball games.  In recent years, he has stopped working most of their road games, but still can be heard when Pitt plays home games.  

A Venerable Old Card Part 61

I have been looking for a card for a Project Durham Bulls post the last few weeks.  It's a little different set of cards for me, more in the vintage football card department.  Not my usual.  I ended up finding the card, but along the way I found a few other cards of the former Durham Bulls player and manager.  Kind of excited about the whole thing and I learned something new along the way.

Let me introduce you to Clarence "Ace" Parker.  He was the star athlete at Duke University in the mid 1930s.  He played football, basketball, and baseball for the Blue Devils.  Football was his best sport.  In 1935 he was second team All-American.  In 1936 he was a consensus All-American and finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting.  

In 1937 Parker ended up playing baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics and football for the Brooklyn Dodgers.  His career in professional baseball was extremely short lived.  In two seasons, 1937 and 1938, he played roughly 100 games and batted just .179 with 2 home runs.  While his professional baseball career was less than notable, his professional football career landed him in the Professional Football Hall of Fame.  He played a total of 7 seasons in the NFL, missing 1941-1944 to serve in the Army, and was one of the best passers, runners, and punters in the league.  In 1940 he was the NFL MVP.  

So how does he get to the Durham Bulls?  

After he retired from professional football Parker joined the Chicago Cubs Piedmont League entry in Portsmouth, Virginia as a player.  He spent three years with the Baby Bears Minor League team before returning to Durham to become a player-manager for the Bulls, who were the Tigers Piedmont League team at that time.  He ended up spending 4 seasons with the Bulls before he got the head baseball coaching job at Duke.  

Now, the only baseball item I have really found of Parker are a few random baseballs and a Durham Bulls matchbook from the early 1950s.  I am not really sure how authentic the baseballs are and I am not really digging the whole match book thing.  Which has brought me to track down a football card of the former Durham Bulls manager.  

I found my autograph of Parker for my Durham Bulls post, but I actually ended up picking up an extra card through the whole thing.  I ended up trading with a life long Duke fan who lives locally, loves some of the older college athletes who played nearby, and has a pretty cool collection of some of these players. 

I ended up with this 1975 Fleer Immortal Roll Call card of Ace Parker as an extra.  

The card has a crease, but cannot really complain about free cards ever.   Since I am not really much of football card guy, I am not sure how much I can really tell you about this card outside of the year and manufacturer.   I am pretty sure that the picture is from his days in the NFL, but I am not certain as to what NFL team this would have been back in the 1930s or 1940s.  I have seen a few Duke things with him wearing number 7, but I think they are pictures that people just colored in blue.  Most of the Duke athletics pictures show him with a 34 jersey.  

Definitely a different type of card for my collection that made me step out of my comfort zone a bit to find and track down.  I cannot wait to share the Ace Parker autograph with everyone in the next week or two.  

Dunks That Do Not Count For $500 Alex

Last season was a painful year for college basketball in Raleigh.  At the beginning of the season my Wolfpack were predicted to be competitive in the ACC with several talented returning veterans along with two super freshman.  One of the freshman was an international recruit from Turkey, Omer Yurtseven, while the other was Dennis Smith Jr., a point guard from Fayetteville.

I got to see Smith's first regular season college game last fall against Georgia Southern in Raleigh.  Not Dennis Smith Jr.'s best game, but still enjoyable to see him play in person.  Yurtseven was ineligible because of something for the first seven game of the year and never really got going last season.  He will be back with NC State next season.  

Smith got a lot better as the season went along.  It started out with a few dunks during the non-conference schedule against a few cupcakes......

and then there was a triple-double against Virginia Tech at the beginning of conference play.....

The highlight of State's season though had to be a win against Duke at Cameron Indoor.  It's hard to imagine that the Wolfpack went from a win against a local rival, in one of the most hostile road environments in all of college basketball, to being a team that lost to Wake Forest by 30 something a few weeks later.  The coach, Mark Gottfried, was fired.  

Let's stick to the Duke game for a second.  The game featured Smith's most iconic shot in his single season at NC State.  It didn't even count, but it put an exclamation point on a great win.  I post a lot of videos in my posts, but I have to go with a picture of the dunk first.....

It is a thing of beauty to see that many Duke students with their hands on their heads in the background.  I don't mind Duke as much as I mind the Tar Heels, but still it's a great thing to see a State player get that sort of reaction.  Here is the video.....

Again, the dunk was after the buzzer.  

As a Wolfpack alumni and fan I feel like the basketball program really squandered Smith's talents during his single season in school.  I am sure that he is going to be a great NBA player and is currently projected to be a top 10 draft pick.  In some of the mock drafts he's even been projected as a top five pick.  

Luckily I found a keepsake of Dennis Smith Jr. in cardboard form.  One of the best parts of attending an NC State game is visiting the promotional table which is usually filled with all sorts of pocket schedules and team posters.  Last few years the school has also been giving out basketball cards. 

Its provided a great opportunity to find cards of players who will likely end up in Europe, D-League, or just becoming a normal person and not in the NBA.  Players like Cat Barber, Ralston Turner, Scott Wood, and BeeJay Anya have all been happy additions to my collection......

and while Dennis Smith will definitely be in the NBA, and definitely have plenty of basketball cards, I am not sure that I am going to go crazy tracking down cards of a basketball player who is a top draft pick.  I am just imagining his cards as being pricy.  So, for the moment my NC State basketball card of Dennis Smith Jr. will have to live with this one sweet Wolfpack card for awhile.....

I have actually considered making some of these cards that have been given away at games into a set project.  The team gives away one per game, and while the bigger names that have played at State like Dennis Smith and T.J. Warren are fairly easy to find, there are other players who are tougher to find.  I am about to knock out a few of the set projects I have listed up at the top, this idea is getting some serious consideration....

State also has given out cards at other sporting events too, most importantly baseball.  However.....

Unfortunately people who have the baseball cards for sale online are asking incredibly ridiculous prices.  I mean, I am a big fan of Trea Turner, but not for $365.  Welp, I guess I am sticking with the basketball card sets for the moment.  

Finally Matuella

A quick post for your Sunday morning.  Hoping to post a little more this week than I did last week. 

Two years ago I had the opportunity to see Micahel Mattuella pitch a game for the Duke Blue Devils.  He was easily the best player on the field and I was excited to follow his college career.  Heading into his junior year, last year, many thought of him as a candidate to be the first overall pick by the Diamondbacks.  However, early in the year he was shut down and ended up having Tommy John surgery.  His stock dropped, but the Rangers ended up picking him in 3rd round of the draft last summer. 

Matuella will be making his first appearance in a Minor League game at some point this summer.  I am hopefully that he can bounce back from the Tommy John and be a serious prospect for the Rangers.  In the meantime, the talented former Blue Devil has started to pop up on some baseball cards.  One of the best parts of going to college baseball games is watching players, seeing them drafted, and then finding their cards a few years later. 

This is my first Matuella baseball card, but certainly will not be my last.  I am usually not into the Leaf cards, but some of their draft cards look nice in spite of the fact that the logos are airbrushed off of the uniforms.  I like this card with the giant North Carolina flag in the background.  Really nice card.  Hopefully I will have a few more Matuella autographs soon.  I have two other autographs of his on my radar, one with Duke, another with the Rangers. 

2014 International League Top Prospects

I went to a Durham Bulls game last week and was happy to see that the team was selling off some of their old baseball cards cheap.  I could not pass that buy, so I loaded up on a few things from their team store.  Really, I love looking at minor league sets and probably need to post a few of these sets on here.  There is always some star power in these sets, but there are some fun players too.  Here's a look at last season's International League Top Prospects set.....

First couple of cards and there are a few favorites in here:

 Jesus Aguilar because he was in the Triple A All-Star game last year and seemed pretty impressive.  He also recently pulled off the hidden ball trick against the Indianapolis Indians.

Christian Bethancourt because nobody should run on him, ever.  

Hak Ju Lee because if he ever learned to hit consistently he would be awesome.  Until then his slugging percentage is .250.  (Sigh)

Kevin Kiermaier because this is fun to watch.  The Cardinals win this game?  

Steven Souza because the guy can hit......

Marcus Stroman because he is one my favorite ACC baseball players I have seen in person

Allen Webster and Mike Wright?  I have got nothing here.  I listened to this great Pixies show while I was typing this post.  Give it a listen. 

Opening Weekend!

While a large majority of baseball fans are getting ready for the beginning of spring training this week the college baseball season kicked off this weekend.  As a resident of Raleigh-Durham that means that the big 3 ACC teams returned to action Friday afternoon.  I wish there would be a year where I could attend the opening of college baseball, but they tend to play their first games during the day and there is a little matter of work.  For me, Friday met work with a meeting where I was a presenter.  I did not make it to a baseball field.  Instead I followed along on Twitter.

The Tar Heels got started early in the day and had dozens of posts leading up to their early afternoon game against Seton Hall.  The sixth ranked Heels defeated Seton Hall 7-1 behind some great hitting from outfielders Tyler Ramirez and Snorting Bull favorite Skye Bolt.  The Heels have a good core of players returning this year and should go deep into the NCAA tournament this spring.  If you get a chance to check out a Tar Heels baseball game this year I would watch the two aforementioned outfielders along with Landon Lassiter and pitcher Trent Thorton.

My primary rooting interest, and alma mater, NC State also played a mid afternoon game on Friday.  While I was analyzing student data looking at gaps in achievement levels and text levels for students at the mid year point, the Wolfpack were battling Villanova.  The Wolfpack won the game 14-5, but put the Wildcats in an 11-0 hole after the first three innings.  The offensive star of the game for the Pack 9 was Preston Palmeiro, son of Rafael, whose three run bomb in the second made the score 10-0 and essential sealed the win.  NC State had two first round draft picks last year, Trea Turner and Carlos Rodon, and about six or seven other players on the team selected afterwards.  This should be a year where the team takes a bit of a step back, but if you watch a Wolfpack game be sure to check out Palmeiro and senior Jake Armstrong.

And last up was Duke's game on the west coast against the Cal Bears.  While Duke does not have the talent or ranking of UNC's squad they have the best player in the area in pitcher Mike Matuella (pictured above).  The triangle area has had a good run of pitchers from all three schools over the last decade from Andrew Miller, Daniel Bard, and Matt Harvey at UNC to Carlos Rodon at State, and Marcus Stroman at Duke.  Matuella appears to be the latest in that line and should be off the board in the first couple of picks in this summer's MLB amateur draft.  Of all the players I want to see this spring he is absolutely at the top of the list.  Might happen next weekend.

So, outside of getting to see each of the triangle area ACC baseball squads play here are my goals for this college baseball season:

1.  See Mike Mattuella pitch for Duke.

2.  See an NC Central game at the original Durham Athletic Park.

3.  Go to the ACC Championship game at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park

Buy Local Part 2: Dick Groat

A little Duke flavor for my second Buy Local post features the greatest Duke basketball player to appear in a Major League Baseball game.  I understand that the average sports fan in this country cannot stand Duke and they are one of those teams that attracts all sorts of fair weather fans and all kinds of hate.  Locally, there are plenty of alumni around North Carolina and as a school with billions of dollars in endowment money, they do a lot of good around the community.

As a graduate of the red North Carolina school, Duke is about ten times better than the other blue Carolina school which has problems with agents working as assistant coaches on the football team, football players plagiarizing papers, fake classes, parking tickets,Tyler Hansbrough reading like a third grader, and I could provide four links for P.J. Hairston.  Poke fun at Duke and Coach K all you want, they run a clean program.  If you don't like Duke, click here, and skip the video below.  If you like Duke basketball, click below and enjoy. 

Before the current run of the Coach K lead Duke Blue Devils, the team still had some really good players and some really good NCAA tournament runs.  One of their really good players during the early fifties was Dick Groat.  

Groat was an All-American for the Blue Devils in 1951 and 1952 and his jersey hangs in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium.  He also played a little bit in the NBA for the Fort Wayne Pistons after they used the third overall selection in the 1952 NBA draft to select the guard.  Of course, many people know Groat like this...

1954 Topps Dick Groat

Groat was one of the first North Carolina I took an interest in collecting when I moved here in 2006.  Sure, he's not really from North Carolina, but the connection to Duke makes him quite popular locally.  Basketball fans love him and baseball fans too.  While Groat was a very good baseball player his cards are quite affordable.  Most of his early cards can be pricy if you are looking for great condition, but otherwise they are quite reasonable for 1950s Topps cards.

Groat spent the majority of his career with the Pirates where he made three All-Star teams and won the 1960 National League MVP, but also appeared for the Cardinals and Phillies during the second half of his career.  Of course, I try to pick up the Cardinals cards, which are all under $5 on Ebay, but still really love to dabble in the 50s Pirates cards.  

2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Dick Groat Autograph

Groat has also been a very good signer, especially for some of the early Greats of the Game and Archives releases.  He has a nice signature and the prices of his autographs are quite reasonable.  Groat also signs while he is at work broadcasting basketball games for the University of Pittsburgh.  While I have several baseball autographs of Groat as a Cardinal and Pirate, I do not own a copy of a Duke Blue Devils autograph.  I am hoping to remedy that missing piece of my collection soon. 

Repeat Cards

Somedays I see really cool cards that I already have in my collection.  I often pass them by and go on with my day and do not give them a second thought.  This past week I ran into a collector who was shopping around a few nice cards.  Amongst the cards in his photo album was a nice looking Stan Musial seat card from the 2011 Topps Heritage set.  It looked nice, but I picked up a copy of this card a few years back.

So what to do?  My first inclination was to pass and move on, but how often do you run into a sweet Stan Musial card.  I asked about the price and settled on a few nice Rockies autographs.  So, for the second time I added this great looking card to my collection.

2011 Topps Heritage Stan Musial Seat Relic 

My trading partner found a small Larry Walker jersey at the last moment and offered a few Cardinals cards, but again ran into a bunch of cards that are already in my collection.  I will go double on Stan, but there are limits on Daniel Descalso and Jon Jay.  We were switched over to looking at some Rays and USA Baseball cards when he offered a sweet card I could not pass up.  It's also a double.

2011 Topps USA Baseball Marcus Stroman Triple Jersey/Autograph 

I picked up a copy of this card almost a year and a half ago in another trade.  Stroman starred locally at Duke and also appeared for the USA College Team which is also here locally in Cary.  I love the look of these cards, so it obviously was an attractive option when it popped up in the discussion.  However, I have also been really impressed by Stroman's performance in the Blue Jays system and do not mind having a few extra cards of his hanging out.  Stroman pitched for Toronto's Double-A team in New Hampshire posting a winning record of 9-5 with an ERA of 3.30, more than a strikeout per inning, and a WHIP of 1.12.  Really impressive.  

So, while I do not like to take on doubles in trades and am not going to make a habit of it, I guess that some cards are nice enough to be an exception to the rule.  A nice Stan Musial card is worth a little rule bending and so is the awesome Marcus Stroman card.  

Facebook Goodness

The world of Facebook trading has slowing turned into some sort of raffle frenzy which has left me trading other places.  I do not chance on possibly getting a good card, I would much rather just go out and buy or trade for the pieces I want to add to my collection.  Luckily, I ran into one of my favorite Facebook card people a few days back in the way of Ryan Marcus King Dee.  He's one of the best card collectors on Facebook and always has plenty of cool cards for sale or trade.

This week I picked up four cards from Ryan which helped out my collection in several ways.  Let's take a look at the cards that I added:

2008 Topps Triple Threads Justin Ruggiano Autograph/Jersey

I have collected Justin Ruggiano cards for several years.  While Ruggiano is currently playing for the Marlins he spent quite a few years hanging out in the outfield for the Durham Bulls.  Ruggiano was always a pretty good player for the Bulls, but he always seemed to be blocked for one reason or another at the big league level.  Ruggiano left the Rays organization as a minor league free agent at the end of the 2011 season, played briefly in the Astros system, before landing some playing time with the Marlins.  Ruggiano leads the Marlins in almost every major offensive category this season.   While he has moved on to the Marlins, I still spend time searching out his cards and was happy to add another Triple Threads color variation to my collection.

2011 Bowman Platinum USA Baseball Autographs 

Stroman is one of my favorite all-time college players from the ACC.  He was a pitcher for the Duke Blue Devils and also played for the USA Baseball College Team.  Last year he was drafted by the Bue Jays and is currently playing for their AA team in New Hampshire.  Stroman should be a pretty quick riser to the majors and has tons of good, affordable autographed cards.  

2012 Leaf Valiant James Ramsey Autograph 

Ramsey is both a Cardinals draft pick and former ACC player at Florida State.  He was a nice player at FSU, but I think the first round was a bit of a stretch for the outfielder.  Ramsey has done a lot of signing since the draft and is a frequent user of inscriptions which are usually bible verses.  Interestingly, he rarely uses the same one very often.  I already had Romans 8:38, so this is a different (though slight) than the other version of this card that I own.  

20112 Leaf Pete Rose Autograph 

I have already given my two cents on Pete in this space before.  Cool that he signs so much stuff, but he signs so much stuff.  Might have to package a few of these together and see if I can get a non-licensed card of Pete in an Expos uniform.

Three New Bowman Sterling Autographs

I am still trying to catch up a little bit from December, but I picked these three cards up a few weeks ago and haven't had a chance to post anything about them yet.  I have been a little reluctant to add Bowman Sterling autographs before in the past since they are a high end product that I won't open myself and they tend to be sticker autographs.  The players in the Bowman Sterling set often have cards in the Topps Chrome set, Bowman Chrome set, or Bowman base set that are nicer in appearance and are on card autographs.

For example, a few years ago I had the opportunity to see Orioles outfielder Nolan Reimold play a few games against the Durham Bulls and was really impressed by him.  I came home and found a few Reimold autographs include a Bowman Sterling.

2009 Bowman Sterling Nolan Reimold

While this is a very nice card, and it was very inexpensive, I can't imagine that the person who pulled it out of the Bowman Sterling pack, $50 range, would be very happy.  I paid less than $5 for this card including shipping.  However, I don't like to settle for sticker autographs, so I also tracked down this Bowman Heritage.  The autograph is on card and I paid the same exact price for it as the Bowman Sterling.  

2007 Bowman Heritage Nolan Reimold

Over the last few years, little has changed with the Bowman Sterling product.  It continues to be a high end product that features sticker autographs and a steep sticker price.  I gave the product little thought as it was released a few weeks ago, but I did take a few minutes one day to check out a Chris Archer autograph.  I found several copies of the card on Ebay and COMC, but also saw that the card featured sticker autograph.  The card design was cool, but I figured I could get a copy of the Archer as a throw in as part of a trade.

A week later, I ran into a copy of the Marcus Stroman autograph and was really impressed by the card. The blue background was nice and simple compared to whatever is behind Nolan Reimold above and best of all, the autograph was on card.  Copies of the card were inexpensive on Ebay, but I also found a few available for trade.  I went the trade route and landed a copy of Stroman, who pitched at Duke, and a few other cards from the Bowman Sterling to go along with it.  (Smudges on the card protector)

2012 Bowman Sterling Marcus Stroman Autograph

I was happy to get the Stroman since I collect his cards, but I was a little bit more excited about landing a Nick Castellanos autograph too.  Castellanos is a Tiger's minor leaguer who hit over .400 last year in the Florida State League and also won the MVP award at the Futures Game in Kansas City last summer.  I've been trying to pick up a few more Tigers cards over the past year, so this card was a very welcome addition.  I am hoping he gets up to Toledo this summer, so I can see him play in Durham.  If not, I am sure it will happen soon enough.  

2012 Bowman Sterling Nick Castellanos Autograph 

My third, and final card, for the evening is another Bowman Sterling card.  I saw James Ramsey play twice for Florida State the past few years, once at an NC State game and another time at the ACC baseball tournament in Durham.  Ramsey was one of the better players on the FSU team, but I am not quite sold on him as a Major League Player.  He's a good player, but I am not sure he does anything really well.  A lot of people said the same thing about Jon Jay, from U. of Miami, and he has turned out pretty well, so I will hold on to the card and see how things turn out.  

2012 Bowman Sterling James Ramsey Autograph