Collecting the Durham Bulls: Robby Price

Next up on my collecting the Durham Bulls posts is infielder Robby Price.  Price is not on the Rays Top 20 prospect list and very little is ever mentioned of him, but he's one of those players every team needs around.  Price has spent time playing both second and third and has even dabbled a little bit in the outfield.  While his stat line does not show power or speed numbers Price is an excellent on-base guy.

During his four year minor league career the Kansas grad has posted a total of 215 walks versus 167 strikeouts and a career OBP of .383.  I would expect that Price will be coming off the bench for the Bulls, but I like the idea of having a player who can come in and provide good defense and make some pitchers work during the late innings.  Plus, I have been told by Biscuits fans that he was pretty clutch.

Baseball card wise the options are pretty limited for Price.  Unfortunately that can happen sometimes with minor leaguers.  The best option for collecting Price cards at the moment is to find the parallels of his cards in the 2012 Bowman set.  There were a ton of the them....

I have one.  I believe this is a Blue Wave refractor, but it could also be the icy one.  2012 Bowman had parallels by the dozens.  The Price cards are super affordable too.  Almost everything is a dollar or two.  Some of the really hard to find parallels look like they might touch $5, but if you are patient I am sure you can find them cheaper.  Price also has a few team issued minor league cards floating around too. 

I Feel Dirty Owning This Card.

We are down to the last day of the regular season and I am really close to conquering the 2013 Cardinals roster in certified autographs.  Molina, Beltran, Wainwright, Matt Holliday, etc, etc, etc.  I have them all.  There are a few players with no certified autographs such as Tony Cruz, Randy Choate, Kevin Seigrist, and Trevor Rosenthal.  So, I am down to two missing autographs which belong to backup outfielder Shane Robinson and seldom used pitcher Sam Freeman.  

Robinson has several autographs in the 2005 Upper Deck USA Baseball set including one with teammate Jon Jay.  I am still working on tracking down a copy, but if I cannot find one there are single signed cards of the fourth outfielder.  That leaves Sam Freeman.  Well...

Sam Freeman autographs are pretty easy to find and they are really cheap.  I just lack a little bit of enthusiasm in adding this card to my collection.  The Freeman autograph comes from the 2008 Donruss Elite college set, which I have stated is a personal favorite, except for Sam Freeman.  Let's take a look at everything that is wrong with this card...

2009 Donruss Elite Sam Freeman Autograph 

This card goes downhill from the top with the appearance of the Jayhawk on Sam's hat and the word Kansas written across his chest.  Of course, there is the Big XII (UT-Austin Conference) Conference patch on the side of Freeman's jersey.  Luckily, this card cost me a whole dollar which is the price I would expect to pay for a Kansas baseball card.  

An intersting quirk to this card is the fact that Sam Freeman played four years of college baseball, but only played one year at KU.  He started out at a community college in Texas and then went to KU.  Freeman was drafted by the Cardinals, did not sign, and played his senior year at Marshall.  The Cardinals drafted Freeman again.  So, that means that the year this card was made Freeman was actually a member of the Thundering Herd.  Why is he a Jayhawk on his baseball card?  I can handle a Marshall card and would have picked up a Freeman autograph sooner if he was pictured in their uni.  

Yes, as an NC State alum I am not a huge fan of the Tar Heels either, but I do respect the job that Mike Fox does with their baseball team.  UNC is also a really good school.  Kansas?  I don't think so.  As a long time resident of Missouri there is nothing more annoying than Kansas.  And their baseball team?  You like Tom Gorzelanny?  Steve Jeltz?  Hardly anyone does.  Somewhat happy to fill a whole in my collection and a little disappointed that it has come down to adding a Jayhawks card.