They're Here.

I shared a Kent Merker card from an old Durham Bulls set earlier in the week.  It was from the 1997 BellSouth Bulls to Braves set, which I have been trying to track down forever with little luck.  For whatever reason, someone listed half the set on Ebay earlier in the week.  I made an offer, it got accepted, and now the cards are here.  Definitely some positive feedback for shipping.  

I am pretty excited.  

There are a few cards here that are duplicates, but there are also cards here that I have never even seen before the Ebay listing, like Chipper Jones.  

Here is a look at the set. 

The checklist has the 9 players included in this half of the set, but also a brief description about the player selection.  One thing that I really like about the Bulls to Braves set was that they included players who great while they were in Durham.  It would be really easy, especially with a long running Minor League team, to just throw together 10 players who were good in the Majors.  Love that we get cards of Dennis Burlingame and Melvin Nieves who made their mark with the Bulls for various reasons.   

Player cards.  

Good career with the Braves and Padres.  Ryan Klesko had cool sideburns and liked surfing.  

Avery was toast as a Major League player when this set was released.  The Braves had let him walk as a free agent where he ended up signed with the Red Sox.  If you talk to people who watched the Bulls in the 1980s and 1990s, he was apparently absolutely incredible in the Minors.  Scary that he was 18, fresh out of high school, and was that dominate right away.  How do you lose 4 games with an ERA of 1.45?  I know the answer, I am just saying. 

Burlingame is sort of a local legend with the Opening Day perfect game.  He was on the same team as Steve Avery, only his ERA was even lower at 0.50 in 11 starts.  He was a top 50 prospect as a teenager, but as the card says, his career was ruined by injuries.  

Turned out to be a pretty good player.  

Hit 300 home runs, and was not happy that the Oakland A's had a soda machine that changed players $1 for can of Coke.  

Maybe skip this one if you're a Padres fan.  

Melvin had a career year in 1992, which included time with the Bulls.  I have run into the occasional Padres fan who will use unkind words about Melvin, but I have met more Braves fans who are really grateful that he played so well in A Ball.  As the card states, Melvin was traded for Fred McGriff.  Melvin made it to the Majors, played a few years with the Padres, Tigers, and Reds.  

Another really good Major League player.  He killed my Cardinals during the 1996 NLCS.  They could not get him out.  He hit .542 with 7 extra base hits (2 home runs, 5 doubles) in 7 games.  

Second time this week I have posted a copy of this card.  Great Minor Leaguer, solid Major Leaguer.  

Good Minor Leaguer.  Decent outfielder for the Pirates during the 1990s.  Although, Harry Carey once compared an Al Martin home run against the Cubs to Babe Ruth hitting home runs.  There is even video. 

Friday Five: Greatest Former Durham Bulls Postseason Performances

Many Durham Bulls players have graduated to the Majors and have had the opportunity to shine on baseball's biggest stage during the postseason.  There have been a total of 9 former Durham Bulls who have won a Postseason MVP Award, which includes former hitting coach Gary Gaetti who won the ALCS MVP with the Twins in 1987.

Which are the five best?  Here's my take with a few baseball cards mixed in.....


Honorable Mention- Adam Kennedy 2002 American League Championship Series MVP 

The long time Cardinals and Angels infielder played in Durham during the 2009 season while trying to work his way back to the Majors.  In 2002, while playing for the Angels, Kennedy won the ALCS Award in route to the Angels taking home the World Series Championship in a hard fought series with the Giants.  The Angels took on the Minnesota Twins in the ALCS and Kennedy had one of the best Postseason games in the history of baseball hitting three home runs.



If I were ranking individual game performances of former Durham Bulls players in the Postseason I would probably have a really hard topping Kennedy's game 5 barrage against the Twins.


5.  Javy Lopez - 1996 National League Championship Series MVP 

The 1996 Braves were the favorites to win the National League after winning the World Series in 1995.  However, they found themselves in a 3 to 1 hole against the upstart Cardinals in their first season with Tony LaRussa.   During the first four games the Braves had been done in by a two home run game by Ron Gant, a Dmitri Young triple followed by a Brian Jordan home run, and a Gary Gaetti grand slam off of Greg Maddux.  Lopez and the pitching staff led the Braves back over the last three games.  He ended the NLCS with 2 home runs, 5 doubles, 6 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.607.  The Braves went on to the World Series, but lost in 6 games to the Yankees.




4.  Steve Avery - 1991 National League Championship Series MVP 

The Big 3 started out being Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Steve Avery.  Avery was the youngest of the bunch and probably the most hyped of the three Atlanta pitchers.  He had a nice 1991 season going 18-8 with an ERA of 3.38.  In the postseason the Braves were pitted up against the favored Pittsburgh Pirates led by Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla.  The series went a full seven games with Avery shutting down the Pirates in Game 2 and Game 6.  The Game 6 performance forced a Game 7, which got the Braves into the 1991 World Series.  In the 2 wins, Avery pitched 16 innings, struck out 17, and did not allow a run.


3.  Hideki Matsui - 2009 World Series MVP 

Matsui excelled for many years in Japan before joining the Yankees in 2003 at the age of 29.  By the time 2009 rolled around the power hitting outfielder was at the end of his time with the Yankees.  The Bronx Bombers reached the World Series and were matched up against the Phillies, who were the defending champions.  Matsui did not do much in the ALDS against the Twins, nor the ALCS against the Angels, but the World Series was a different story.  During the 6 games series, Matsui had 8 hits in 14 plate appearances, which included four extra base hits.  Three of those extra base hits were home runs.  Matsui would go on to spend time with the Angels and A's before landing with the Rays in 2012.  Before joining the team in Tampa, the Rays let Matsui spend a little time with the Bulls.





2. Ben Zobrist - 2016 World Series MVP 

There were players on this list that had better Postseason numbers than Zobrist did last year in the World Series, but I figured contributing to the end of the Cubs long championship drought had to count for something.  Similar to Matsui, Zobrist did almost nothing of value in the playoffs before reaching the World Series.  He hit .188 against the Giants in the NLDS and .150 against the Dodgers in the NLCS.  In the World Series he hit .357 with three extra base hits.  One of those was pretty important......





1. Mickey Lolich - 1968 World Series MVP 

Lolich is a no-brainer here.  The Tigers were heavy underdogs to the defending World Series Champions, the Cardinals, in 1968.  The Cardinals jumped out to a 3 to 1 Series led by ace Bob Gibson.  St. Louis put up 21 runs in the 3 games that they won, the lone bright spot for the Tigers was Game 2, which was won by Mickey Lolich.  The Cardinals had 3 games to put the Tigers away with Bob Gibson pitching the seventh game if the Tigers got that far.  Lolich started Game 5 and the Tigers managed to rally to win the game after the Cardinals scored 3 early runs.  Game 6 went to Detroit too, setting up a Game 7 match-up between Lolich and Gibson.  Gibson had won 7 straight World Series games stretch back to the 1964 match-up against the Yankees.  Included in those seven straight World Series victories were two Game 7 wins in 1964 and 1967 against the Red Sox.  Lolich pitched shut out ball until a Mike Shannon home run in the ninth, but that was the only run the Cardinals scored in a 4-1 Tigers win.  Lolich ended the Series a perfect 3-0.

2002 Topps Barry Bonds Autograph

I have some really good autographs rolling in this week from a few different trades.  I worked hard on a big one last night that netted me a really special card that I will share later in the week.  In the meantime, I found an outstanding autograph a few days ago that a collector was eager to unload.

2002 Topps Barry Bonds Autograph

I can completely understand why some collectors hate Bonds, but steroids or not, the guy is still an incredible talent.  Probably the best left-handed hitter that I ever watched in person.  I really like the fact the autograph is signed on card and that the design allowed the player to sign in a clean white area of the card.  I picked up two other cards in the trade pictured below.          

   

The first is a 2001 Pacific Private Stock Barry Bonds bat card.  Bonds has a jersey and a bat card in this set, and while I already had a copy of this card, I am not going to say no to the words "throw-in".  I also picked up a 2000 Upper Deck MVP Javy Lopez batting glove card.  Three really good additions to the collection.  

2001 Pacific Private Stock Barry Bonds Bat Card

2000 Upper Deck MVP Javy Lopez Batting Glove