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.  

What Brand Was This Again?

I picked up a Kyle Seager autograph awhile ago and left it sitting on the coffee table in my baseball card room.  It made it's way to my scanner and then into one of my boxes of autographs.  Honestly, I know I bought the card off of Ebay, but I am not quite sure when it happened.  It's no longer in my purchase history, so it's been here more than 90 days.

I really liked the card when I first bought it.  The card had a cool looking texture with a raised area for the signature and a blue cut out area on the right hand side of the card and a small cut out on the bottom left hand corner.  Here is a look at the card....

After all of the time away from this card I came back to the scan this week.  I flipped through my blog to make sure I hadn't started a draft on it somewhere, but had nothing.  That's when I noticed something a little bit odd about this card.  Even though it was out of my purchase history I went back and scanned through Ebay for another copy just to make sure it wasn't something wrong with just this Kyle Seager card.  Nope, they are all this way.  What's wrong?

This card is from the Topps Supreme set, but there is nothing that identifies the brand of the card.  Anywhere.  We just have the players name, signature, name, picture, and Mariners logo.  The last two years Topps has included something to identify this brand in previous years.......

Last year......

and the year before.......

Both cards have something to identify them as being from the Supreme product.  I thought it was an odd touch and cannot think of another brand that did not have some sort of text to distinguish themselves.  Still a really nice card, but definitely something different that stuck out to me after a long break from this card.

2012 Topps Tier One Kyle Seager Autograph

I am going with a Tar Heel today for my blog post.  Kyle Seager is currently the Mariners third baseman and was drafted from the University of North Carolina in the summer of 2009.  During his time at UNC, Seager was an elite hitter, but was always viewed as the second best hitter on his college team featuring Mariners second baseman Dustin Ackley.  Ackely was drafted in the first round by the Mariners, but also managed to also draft Seager during the third round.  Seager first arrived in the majors for a cup of coffee at the end of the 2011 season when he hit a pedestrian .258/.312/.379 with 3 home runs in 200 plate appearances.  So why would I pick up a Kyle Seager card?

2012 Topps Tier One Kyle Seager Autograph

Seager returned to the Mariners as their third baseman for the 2012 season.  Many people would argue that over the last season, Seager passed his former Tar Heel teammate as the best young player on the Mariners.  Seager's overall line for the season ended at .259/.316/.423 with 20 Homers and 86 RBIs.  More impressive is Seager's road split away from pitcher friendly Safeco Park where his line was .293/.324/.511 with 15 Homers and 60 RBIs.  I ended up with Seager on my fantasy baseball team last season and he really helped me out and I became a bit of a fan.  Hard to say about a Tar Heel.  Anyway, I've had my eyes open for a Seager autograph for awhile and was happy to finally add one to my collection.  

 

2012 Topps Heritage Set

I am spending my weekend putting together the final touches on my second set of the year.  I usually put together a couple of sets each year, the base Topps set is a definite, and for the past twelve years I have always worked on a Topps Heritage set too.  In 2001, the very first box of Heritage I opened might have been my best box ever.  I pulled a Classic Renditions Barry Bonds autograph and a Nomar Garciaparra autograph (photographic proof on another day).  Sold both of them later that week for $1200.  The first thing I love about the Heritage cards is the design.  The older Topps cards always had great designs and it's great to see them again.  I wonder what will happen in thirty years when Topps gets to the early nineties designs?  Anyway, this years base cards are based on the 1963 Topps base set.

2012 Topps Heritage Matt Holliday #190

Like other Topps Heritage sets, this years set also has several subsets which are borrowed from the original 1963 set.  My favorite from this years set is the World Series Highlights which celebrate the Cardinals-Rangers series from last fall.  The sample below might be the best card in the set.  

2012 Topps Heritage Cardinals World Series Card #148

The base set also features 75 short prints and variations which start with card #425 and run through #500.  I try not to fuss over the variations, but I do slowly pick up the short prints.  The card below features North Carolina native and (sigh) a former Tar Heel.  

2012 Topps Heritage Kyle Seager 

One of the biggest complaints with this set year after year is the inserts.  Most of the inserts do not change and they aren't very hard to chase.  Sure there are autographs and jersey cards, but most years they are one per box and not a slam dunk on quality.  Other inserts like the Now & Then insert, featured in every Topps Heritage set since 2001, can be found inexpensively.  This year's set features Stickers and Flashbacks which can also be easily assembled.  

2012 Topps Heritage Stickers Albert Pujols

2012 Topps Heritage Now & Then Miguel Cabrera and Carl Yastrzemski 

2012 Tops Heritage Flashbacks Alcatraz