This Morning 50% Cardinals, Now 0% Cardinals

Last weekend I picked up a pair of Cardinals autographs from one of the auction pages on Facebook. I got both cards for a pretty good price and was more than happy to add an an autograph of a current Cardinal (as of this weekend) and a former Cardinal (as of the trade deadline).  The former Cardinal first:

Joe Kelly has been gone since the trade deadline at the end of July.  I understand why the Cardinals decided to trade the goggle wearing right handed pitcher, but I still enjoy collecting his cards.  This was amongst his first autograph cards produced.  On card with the goggles.  Winner.  Second card.....

I was shocked to see Shelby Miller traded today.  I am not complaining, but just surprised that the Cardinals moved so fast.  I have really enjoyed collecting Miller cards for the past five or so years and will likely continue to check in on his cards from time to time.  He has a great signature and seems to sign a lot for Topps.  Anyway, I am off to find some Hayward cards and watch the end of the NC State game (and do a bunch of school work).

Working Through My Computer Pains

The Snorting Bull is computerless.  For the last few years I have sat down at my trusty IMac and shared my cards with everyone and anyone who was willing to stop by and read what I had to say.  This weekend, after an upgrade to OS Mavericks, the IMac was a little snarky.  As the week has progressed it has become worse and worse.  Now, it does not even boot it smart mode.  Sure, I could blame OS Mavericks (and I do), but instead I am going to make due for a few days until I get a new computer.  I can still come on here and talk baseball cards.  I'll just use another computer, but you will have to look at pictures instead of scans.  That's just the way it is......

 In happier news, I picked up three new cards from long-time card trader/seller on Facebook.  If you are ever looking to unload a cool Brewers card or are looking for some nice cards to buy Ryan Marcus King Dee is one of the best around.  I originally had asked him about a post he made feature a printing plate of former Rays prospect, now a National, Felipe Rivero.

I really liked Felipe and I am not quite sure why the Rays swapped him out with Jose Lobaton for Nate Karns.  Don't get me wrong, I like Nate Karns, but I am not sure that he's that much better than Rivero.  Although Felipe Rivero is having a rough start to his first season with the Nationals, and in Double A, he is still projected by most to be a possible middle of the rotation starter.  He's also a pretty cool follow on Twitter.  Never had a huge Felipe Rivero collection, but I still like his cards and I loved the 1964 Topps design that was used for the Heritage brand cards for last year.  Could not pass by the chance for a cool  printing plate. 

 I also snagged two other nice autographed cards from Ryan.  The first is a Joe Kelly Bowman autograph.  Pretty self-explanatory pick-up.  Cardinals player.  Autograph.  That simple.  Kelly actually has several autographs and I have been good about adding new ones as they are released, but still have some holes in some of the old certified autographs.  I think this might actually catch me up.  Maybe.  

Last card is more of a college baseball player than what he has done in the Majors, second baseman Derek Dietrich.  I was excited that the Rays drafted him out of Georgia Tech in 2011 with their second round pick, but they traded him to the Marlins in exchange for their current starting shortstop Yunel Escobar.  Dietrich was a good player at Georgia Tech, but was not super flashy or an all-conference player.  He just had a good all around game and was always a fun player to keep an eye on. 

Spring Break Spring Fever Joe Kelly

I love the beginning of the baseball season.  More importantly, I love that the beginning of baseball season always falls into my spring track out.  If you are not familiar with the concept of Year Round Schools (teach for 9-10 weeks, off for 3-4 weeks) it's similiar to having a Spring Break, but it just lasts a few weeks longer.  I spend time focusing on writing lesson plans for the next quarter and getting myself organized, but also leave plenty of time for baseball. 

I have been able to see a few Durham Bulls games during the past few weeks, watch plenty of the Cardinals and Rays, and also spend time working on my baseball cards.  Sometimes I miss having time to track down cards once I am in school.  Alright, I make time, but it's a small window.  Breaks, track out, Spring Break, whatever you want to call it gives me ample time to search and plan.  So, here's a Spring Break kind of card for my last full week of vacation.

Topps put these Spring Fever cards out last year too.  Something with wrapper redemptions or something.  I am not a fan of mailing things to Topps.  It should be an unwritten rule of baseball cards: Mailing things to Topps does not mean they are mailing something back to you (in a timely manner).  Or Something like that.  I like redeem redemptions or whatever you would categorize this card.  I sent Topps nothing, but I still own the card.

I am a pretty big fan of Joe Kelly and am happy to see him in the Cardinals starting rotation instead of the bullpen this season.  Recently, Peter Gammons offered a flattering comparison for the Cardinals hard throwing righty.

Carlos Martinez 94-99, command, but some of us think Joe Kelly is Tim Hudson II
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) March 20, 2014

So far this year Kelly has done pretty well in his two starts, but there is a long way to go in the season. 

2014 Turkey Red Joe Kelly Autograph

I have spent a whole bunch of time working on the Topps base set during the last month that I have not really gotten into the two other 2014 Topps releases.  Since the base set dropped, Topps has also issued their Turkey Red and Tribute sets.  They are both pretty nice looking products, but I passed on opening any of these cards myself.  Instead I am picking up cards from these two sets from other collectors who busted open these boxes.  Yes, it's less fun.  However, it's also the right thing to do with both of these products. 

Tribute is the more obvious set to pass on in terms of opening a box.  Atlanta Sports Cards is currently selling boxes of the Tribute product at $240 per box with six hits.  Yes, there are some nice autographs in the product and some great looking relics.  However, I am not sure there are $240 worth.  Not that I expect to get my money out of every box, but I am not going to take a beating either.  Stroll through the autographs listed on Ebay and there are way way to many autographs and relics from this product under $10.  Tribute looks like a box you'd spend $200 plus on and could conceivably walk away with less than half it's value.

Turkey Red is not as bad.  It's a $20 box sold on Topps.com, but it has one autograph.  Again, there are lots of inexpensive autographs in the product.  With both the Tribute and Turkey Red products most of the Cardinals and Rays cards are fairly inexpensive.  The Tribute has a Yadier Molina autograph which has been selling for more than $50, but the rest of the autos and relics from those two teams are cheap and probably not worth the risk of busting some wax.  I think Heritage and Donruss will probably be my next two boxes.  In the meantime, here's my first Cardinals card from the Turkey Red set:

 

Kelly had several autographs in 2010, but has had few since.  Of all the Cardinals young pitchers, Kelly is probably the cheapest of the group.  This card cost me a shade under $10 shipped.  Yes, it's a sticker autograph, but I still like that Topps got a Cardinals player other than David Freese and Lance Lynn to sign something this year.  I suspect that Kelly will probably end up in the bullpen again as the long reliever, but would probably be most team's third starter.  Maybe one day his cards will creep up in value when he's not mopping up games.