Project Durham Bulls #32 - Jeff Niemann

2007, 2008, and 2011 Durham Bulls 

Background-

Niemann was a great college pitcher at Rice University in Houston.  His best season at Rice was in 2003 when he went 17-0 with a 1.56 ERA, he was consensus All-American.  The Owls ended that year by winning the College World Series.  There were actually three pitchers on that college team that ended up getting drafted high in the 2004 MLB Draft: Niemann, Philip Humber, and Wade Townsend.  

The right handed Houston native is probably best known for being one of the tallest Major League players in recent history standing at 6'9.  Niemann started his Rays career in 2005 with stops in Visalia and Montgomery.  He missed part of the 2006 season after having a shoulder operation during the offseason.  Niemann reached Durham in 2007 and 2008.  He had two solid seasons as a member of the Bulls before joining the Rays at the end of the 2008 season for a few starts.  Throughout Niemann's time in the Minors he was regarded as a good prospect making Baseball Prospectus Top 100 Prospects list every year between 2005 and 2008.  The following spring in 2009 the Rays made him apart of their rotation.  

Not exactly Cy Young, but he definitely had his moments.....

Niemann had double digit wins during the 2009, 2010, and 2011 seasons.  He started out the 2012 season strong, but had his leg broken by a ball hit back through the middle of the field.  At the end of the 2012 season he had shoulder surgery, that was the end of his career.  Niemann was granted free agency at the end of the 2012 season, never signed with another team, and he never attempted a comeback of any type after recovering from his shoulder operation.  

Card-

The 1990s versions of Stadium Club were great.  The current reincarnation of Stadium Club has been pretty great too.  In between, there was another attempt by Topps at a Stadium Club product in 2008.  It did not go over very well.  The base cards were okay, nothing special.  The design was boring.  There were some Stadium Club like insert sets, but they were just boring rehashes too.  Even the autographs were kind of uninteresting.  Most importantly, it lacked the cool photography that is the signature feature of that set.  

Most of the autographs were of younger players, many of them flopped.  A few noteworthy names made it into the set, but not many.  As a Durham Bulls collector, I was first introduced to the autographs in this product when I found one of Evan Longoria.  Niemann's autograph was also a nice plus as a Bulls fan, and he was a good prospect at the time of this card's release.  I also like that this Niemann card was an on-card autograph.  There are plenty of sticker autographs in this product, some of them are a mess.  Imagine this Niemann card with a silver Topps autograph.  Terrible.  

Niemann has a ton of different autographed cards from both his playing years and time in the Minors as a prospect.  His cards started coming out in the mid 2000s, so there are a ton of sticker autographs mixed in there.  Still, there are a few nice Upper Deck and Topps products that are nice and come with on-card autographs.  I also considered getting a Sweet Spot autograph, but the Stadium Club ended up winning out in the end.  

30 Year Top 50: 2005 Bowman Chrome

#4- The 2005 Bowman Chrome set is the best collection of rookie autographed cards produced in the last 30 years.  There were many important rookie cards issued during the 2005 baseball card calendar.  Andrew McCutchen, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ryan Bruan, Billy Butler, and Jered Weaver just to name a few. A quick glance at some of the card sets from 2005 will show that many of the important rookie card players made it into some of the sets.  There are even a few sets that included an autograph or two from the spectacular list of rookie players.  However, this set has them all on cardboard and almost all of them have an on-card autograph in this set.

2005 Bowman Chrome Justin Verlander Autograph

Like many of the chrome re-hashes of Bowman and Topps base sets, I did not initially collect this set when it was issued in 2005.  Instead, I slowly picked up the cards over a few years.  My first card that I went after was this Justin Verlander autographed rookie card.  I did not follow the Tigers too much in 2006, Verlander's first full season, until the Tigers reached the playoffs.  I was impressed by what I saw and decided that a nice Verlander rookie card would be a good addition to the collection.  

2005 Bowman Chrome Ryan Braun Autograph

About a year later I added the Ryan Braun autograph when the Brewers called him up and I decided to just pick up the rest of the set.  The set was really well thought of when it was released in 2005, but in the years since it's release the cards have really taken off in value and popularity.  In my opinion, there are seven key rookie cards in the set: Ryan Braun, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp, Andrew McCutchen, Jered Weaver, Ryan Zimmerman, and Jacoby Ellsbury.  

2005 Topps Chrome Matt Kemp Autograph

There are other good players in set and I've heard people argue the pros and cons of the Stephen Drew, Billy Butler, and Matt Garza cards too.  However, I think that the three aforementioned players fall short of being included in my group of seven key rookies from this set.  Spend a few minutes looking them up on Baseball Reference and there is clearly a line here between the elite players and good players.

2005 Bowman Chrome Jered Weaver Autograph

One of the best ways to rate a great set is to pick out the great cards in the set and then try to determine their effect on the rest of the set.  If a set is not dynamic or spectacular the key cards will stand alone in spite of the rest of the set.  With great sets, the key cards have heavy demand and value, but also drive the popularity, price, and demand on the rest of the cards.  

2005 Bowman Chrome XFractor Jeff Niemann Autograph

For example, one of my first cards I picked up after the Verlander was this Jeff Niemann card.  He was the third overall draft pick in the 2004 draft and was a highly thought of prospect in the lower minors.  I watched him for a year in Durham playing for the Bulls and he seemed like a solid pitcher, but nothing spectacular.  His rookie cards generally reflect Niemann's level of performance on the field.  Most sell for less than $5 and are pretty easy to find.  However, Niemann has an autograph in the 2005 Bowman Chrome set which regularly fetches over $10 and often has competitive bidding on Ebay.  The only explanation for this specific card being twice as valuable as the other Niemann rookie cards is that it is valued more because of the set, rather than the player.  

2005 Bowman Chrome Jacoby Ellsbury Autograph

This set can rarely be found for sale as a whole, but collectors can assemble the set card by card.  All of the cards are still available on the secondary market and haven't really dried up.  Most of the good rookie cards in the set sell north of $100 with paralleled serial numbered versions going much higher depending upon how limited the print run.  I worry about the health of Matt Kemp and Jacoby Ellsbury, so I could see a slight slide with their cards in the future.  However, players like Justin Verlander and Ryan Bruan are not going to get any cheaper and I think as the continue to compile good career numbers these cards will be harder to find and even more expensive.  

New Card and My Marquee Collection

Ladies and Gentleman,

I wish you a good evening and thank you for your visit to my little corner of the blogging world.  For your enjoyment this evening I present to you a fabulous new card which I received this afternoon in my mailbox from a trade last week.  The card is a 2011 Topps Marquee Matt Kemp Gametime Mementos Quad Jersey Quad.  However, you will note from the scan posted below the top-right hand box of the card features a piece of blue patch.  Nice.  Remember that you have until Sunday to enter my first month trivia contest (please read the rules) and the question has been reposted below along with several other scans of Topps Marquee cards which you may, or may not, enjoy looking at during your spare time.


Thank you,
The Snorting Bull

2011 Topps Marquee Matt Kemp Quad Jersey 

Trivia Question
Contest #1 Question- During the summer of 2007 Evan Longoria played briefly for the Durham Bulls.  Who was the primary third baseman that season for the Durham Bulls prior to Longoria's arrival?


Some other random cards: