Random Ray - 1994 Leaf

 I have sorted out two Leaf sets the past two nights.  

You can make the argument that the mid 1990s Leaf sets have better card backs than card fronts, but that is for another post. For tonight, I am going to just focus on one Ray Lankford card from one of these stacks. I am going to go with the left pile and the 1994 Leaf.  

Card front.  

Decent design. I don't love the marble look at the bottom, but it's a good backdrop for the name, team name, and Leaf card logo. Colored marble was hip in the 1990s. That could be the counter in a movie theater.  

The full color photo of Ray taking a swing during a day game at Wrigley Field is great. I feel like he had a lot of card photos in Wrigley Field during the mid 1990s. That could be another post. Meanwhile, there is nothing unique enough about this photo to help me track down the game like I did in my last Ray Lankford post. The way he is looking, I would guess this is a foul ball behind third base or into left field.  

There are still two oddities in this picture, at least for Ray Lankford.  

First, I am not going to make a huge collage, but Ray Lankford always (apparently not) wore Franklin Batting Gloves with a single Franklin sweatband on his glove hand, or bottom batting hand. I do not even know what brand those gloves are in the photo. Here is a photo of prime Ray Lankford and old Ray Lankford wearing Franklin Batting Gloves.  

Second, Ray Lankford always (apparently not) used a Louisville Slugger bat. They varied in color, but always that brand of bat. I have one in my baseball card room that will be on an upcoming post.  That bat on the Leaf card is a Rawlings with the red ring around the middle. 

Weird that those two things are different on the card. I know players are particular about their equipment.  

Back of the card.  

Are those Franklin Batting Gloves?  

Yes, they are Franklin Batting Gloves.  

I really like the back of the Leaf cards from this era, just really colorful. Yes, the stats are a bit of an afterthought, but we have color photos taking up the entire back of the card. It doesn't seem like a big deal in 2023, but it was mind-blowing in 1994. 

Love the contrast of Busch Stadium at night with the photo of Ray running during a Spring Training game. It's the only time the Cardinals would wear their batting practice jerseys like that.  I also like the ticket stub with the biographical information, team logo, and portrait photo.

Every Once In A While

The number of Ray Lankford posts I make on here have dwindled over the years.  There are not many cards that I am missing for my collection, and the ones I am missing frequently end up costly crazy amounts of money.  Every once in a while, one pops up and the bidding/price of the card stays reasonable.  

I found a Lankford card missing from my collection, and it cost me right around $10.

So, I swooped in and bought the card.  After a long journey across the country, it arrived in my mailbox earlier this week.  Just a little busy at work this week, so it's been sitting on my desk for a few days.  

Excited about this card.  

The marks are on the top loader and sleeve.  

This is from the 1998 Leaf set, which had all sorts of parallels and die-cuts.  It's an overly complicated baseball card set, further complicated by the fact that there is actually a Chrome style parallel set of the 1998 Leaf set that was packaged with parallel sets of Donruss and Donruss Elite. 

It's true, all of it.  

I have a few different Lankford cards from this set, but not this one.  The card is serial numbered to 50, which seems like a pretty high number in today's baseball cards, but this was a tough pull in 1998.  

This is the lowest serial numbered parallel set in the 1998 Leaf set, so I now own a complete run of all the Ray Lankford cards in the 1998 Leaf set.  Always a good feeling.  When I get a free moment, I need to find the other parallels and put them in a single post.  

Cards I Love Part 9 - 1948 Leaf Stan Musial

I do not know if anyone has ever done a list of the greatest Cardinals baseball cards, but the 1948 Leaf Stan Musial would be near the top of the list.  I also really like his 1948 Bowman card, I just don't own one, so this Leaf card is the best Musial card in my collection.  It's one of the best cards of the best Cardinals player of all-time. 

I picked up a copy of this card about five or six years ago after having a good month selling off some cards from my collection.  It felt like a bit of an accomplishment to pick up this card.  There is not a really cool story, other than the fact that I found a pretty clean copy, and went for it.

This is my copy.  

The centering is way off, and I am fine with that.  The surface has a few little dings, and I am fine with that too.  The edges and corners pretty are clean.  

I had a dream card as a kid, and it's got a post coming up in a few days.  As an adult, I am not sure that I have had a singular dream card, but this has been one of my favorite cards I have picked up over the past couple of years.  If I had to rank all the vintage cards that I have added to my collection since I have been blogging, this would be at the top of the list.  

I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 75 - Omar Oliveras

Omar Oliveras was a second generation Cardinal.  His father Ed played briefly for the Cardinals in the early 1960s, appearing in games for both the 1960 and 1961 teams.  In all, the elder Oliveras had 35 at bats in his Cardinals career, and picked up exactly 5 hits.  Omar did a little better.  

Ed Oliveras does not have a Cardinals card, but does appear in the 1962 Topps set as a Colts prospect.  

Omar Oliveras made his debut in August of 1990 after the Cardinals season was more or less over.  He would spend two seasons as a starter, and then two more as a spot starter and long reliever.  I don't want to talk too much about Omar's numbers.  I should point out that he spent 12 years as a middle reliever and made $13 million.  

Really, let's talk about Omar's cards.  If the 1990s Cardinals cards had a superlatives list, Omar Oliveras would easily win "Worst Photography" and "Best Card Back".  The vote would not be all that close.  

Let's go positive first.  

Upper Deck might have started putting pictures on the back of cards, but these 1993 Leaf cards took it to another level.  Throwing a pitch centered in between the legs of the Arch.  This should probably be the picture on the front, only it's not.  

Here is the front of the card.  

I feel let down.  

Now, the worst photograph on a 1990s Cardinals card.  Surprisingly it's on an Upper Deck card.  

The batting helmet is airbrushed.  The bat is flying out of his hands.  No idea where the ball is headed.  The bat and ball are blurred.  I know there are worse looking cards, but this takes the cake for 1990s Cardinals cards.  

Shall we look at a few more?  

I like that he wore 00 for part of his time as a Cardinal.  Pretty catchy.  If only they had shirseys in the early 1990s.  I would buy a 00 Oliveras shirt.  

Last one for Omar.  He is a long reliever after all.  

I like this landscape style card with the catcher and umpire out of focus in the background, and Oliveras throwing in the center of the picture.  Well played Topps.  

I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 72 - Vince Coleman

I think of Coleman as being a 1980s Cardinal, but he did appear with the team in 1990.  I have done several other players from the 1990 team, which was one of the worst in the history of the franchise, who were similar in that they just spent the single season with the team.  Just looking at the names on the roster, you would think that they would have at least been decent, but there were too many players who underachieved.  It has been a long held opinion of many, including former manager Whitey Herzog, that half the team was playing for a paycheck in 1991, rather than playing the team oriented style that made the 1980s team successful.   

Some big names on that team were free agents to be.  There were players like Terry Pendleton, who hit .230 with a .277 on base percentage, and had a career worst season.  Then there were players like Vince Coleman.  He set career highs in almost every offensive category with the exception of stolen bases.  

While the quantity of stolen bases on Coleman's stat sheet declined, he became more efficient during his later years with the Cardinals.  

 

From the middle of September of 1988 through the end of July in 1989, Coleman was not caught stealing once.  In all, Coleman stole 50 consecutive bases during that stretch, which is a Major League record.  Given the lack of stolen bases in the game at the moment, it's a record that is likely to last awhile.  

On to the baseball cards.  Coleman is a name player, but only one season means that there is a limited amount of cards.  Just going with four 1990s cards for this post.  

My favorite.  

His 1990 Topps Record Breaker card.  This was a card for his consecutive stolen base record which was set in 1989.  The 1989 Topps Traded set had no record breaker cards, or highlights like some years do, so this was it.  The 1990 design seems to be hit or miss.  People either love it, or hate it.  I am fine with it, not high on my list though.  Just like that a stolen base record got a highlights card.  

If I had to go with a plain, regular base card from 1990, I would have to choose his Leaf card.  These are basically a white frame card, with that little grey thing in the corner.  I like the picture of Coleman batting.  In sitting down and flipping through his cards, it seems like there are not a lot of cards with him batting for whatever reason.  Stands out from the rest of his cards.  

This is the Cardinals checklist from the 1990 Upper Deck set.  I like it better than Coleman's actual 1990 Upper Deck card.  When I was a kid, everyone used to love the Donruss Diamond Kings drawings, but I think these were better done.  Plus the artist was Vernon Wells, father of Blue Jays outfielder Vernon Wells.  

One more.  

The last Cardinals card of Vince Coleman on a Topps card was in 1991 with his 1990 stats.  The majority of his cards that year were as a Met, which is where he signed after leaving the Cardinals.  Vince got a nice contract, but did not do well in New York. Interesting that his last Cardinals card has a picture in Shea Stadium, not sure if it was a coincidence, or done intentionally.  He played until 1997, and retired after a very brief stint with the Tigers.  

Since retiring Coleman has worked as a coach for several teams.  He was also elected to the Cardinals team Hall of Fame.  

Coleman has occasional appeared on baseball cards since his retirement.  His autographs are affordable, and he's got a nice signature.  Definitely a high priority for me when they pop up.  

Plus, while Coleman ended up playing for a bunch of different teams during the second half of his career, all of his post retirement cards have been in a Cardinals uniform.  This one above is nice, but my favorite is actually a Panini.  I know, no logos.  

Beautiful.  I was always surprised someone took the time to make this card.  

College Cards

I spent last week working on some cards of players who share a college with me.  I have two degrees from two different school, and managed to find a card from each school.  The idea of finding a card of a player from NC State is not all that surprising, but the whole Southeast Missouri State thing is a rarity.  Throw in the fact that one of these cards was an exchange, which never seem to actually pan out in my world, and I did not even know of the other's existence before this month.  

Let's start with the NC State player, who is also a prime Cardinals prospect.  

Andrew Knizner was drafted out of NC State a few years ago.  The infielder, turned catcher, was a good college player, but was a bit of a mess defensively before entering the Minors.  While in Raleigh, Knizner was switched from third base to catcher literally before the start of a game.  He's been a bit of a project on defense, but apparently has improved.  The Cardinals always have some catcher in waiting behind Yadier Molina, but Yadier never seems to slow down.  I am not sure if the team is serious this time, or if Knizner will end up playing somewhere else.  Meaning either a different position, or in a different town.  

I am not a big fan of Leaf cards, but this is the only Knizner autograph that is out there.  The card also uses a picture of Knizner from college.  The red looks good on a Cardinals card, but check out the sleeves on the jersey.  Check out the sleeves on the catcher's jersey in this picture....

The mask and chest protector are different in this picture, but this is Knizner from college.  Sleeveless jersey, red stripe on the side of the pants.  Pretty cool that Knizner's first Cardinals autograph also has him wearing an NC State jersey.  

Next.  

This was an exchange card from Bowman Chrome last year.  I never count on these to actually show up anymore.  This one showed up.  

Lucchesi went to Southeast Missouri State a few years back.  It has been awhile since there has been a player from that school in the Majors.  In the past twenty years there have been a total of four players from the small teacher's college: Lucchesi, Justin Christian, Shae Simmons, and Kerry Robinson.  Not a lot there.  The fact that Lucchesi played an entire Major League season pretty much makes him the greatest player to ever come out of Southeast Missouri.  

The school even gets a shout out on the back of this card.  

Lucchesi has a good stuff, and the card does a good job of describing the pitches he throws, but there are also a lot of arms and legs in his delivery.  This does not do his pitching motion justice, but I think he is definitely a hard player to hit against....

especially for lefties.  Last year he struck out slightly more than one-third of the left-handed batters that he faced.  I think he's going to be around for awhile.  

Before we go, y'all know I hate those Topps stickers on the exchange cards.  That's no way to enjoy a baseball card.  I want to see the card, not a giant white sticker.  

That's better.  I should have taken it out of the top loader too, which always shows every scratch and scuff mark on cards with reflective surfaces.  For another day though....

I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 66- Bryn Smith

Bryn Smith is pretty emblematic of the Cardinals ventures into the world of free agency during the 1990s.  The long time Montreal Expos pitcher signed with the Cardinals in late November of 1989, towards the beginning of the free agent signing period.  Salaries were different then, but 3 years and 6 million dollars seems like it was a pretty fair contract at that time for a mid-rotation starter. 

O-Pee-Chee was like clockwork with the "Now With....." 

I know that 1989 was long before the world of sabermetrics and analytics and the number crunchers that are around the game today, but there was a lot to like about signing Bryn Smith.  While he only won 12 and 10 games in 1989 and 1988, Smith was actually coming off his two best seasons as a starting pitcher.  There was not WAR and ERA+ back then, but Smith was at 5.1 WAR in 1989 and 125 for ERA+.  Those two numbers were just about equal to Greg Maddux's numbers that season.   

The point is, the Cardinals signed a good pitcher.  Further, playing in a pitchers park like Busch Stadium should have helped his cause, along with having a left side of the infield with Ozzie Smith and Terry Pendleton.

Smith likely was out in Montreal after ripping the city in a Sports Illustrated article that ran in 1989.....

"There are two things that really get to the players. They don't serve ketchup with french fries. They serve gravy. Then when you order a Coke, they don't put ice in it. They don't know how to make iced tea. Ice is hard to come by, and if you ask for it, they tell you in French that you're stupid because you get more Coke without the ice."

so the Cardinals made a good landing spot. 

While on paper it seemed like a great idea, just like so many other 1990s Cardinals free agent signings, Smith did not work out very well for the Cardinals. 

On to a few baseball more baseball cards.  The O-Pee-Chee card was obviously one of the first Bryn Smith cards as a Cardinal, sans uniform.  He also had a Topps Traded card.  Smith did have a few regular issue cards that did not include a giant "Now With Cardinals" stamp across the picture. 

The two best in my opinion were....

his Bowman, which came out of the "Rainbow" set.  I bought a bunch of packs of these back in 1990, did not really care for them very much at that time.  They have really grown on me over the years.  There are a lot of good update type cards in this set with these posed photos from Spring Training.  Kind of a good way to give a veteran player their first card with a new team without having collectors wait all the way until the end of the year. 

He was also in the regular edition of Leaf.  Although, this picture looks like someone snuck up to him to take the photo.  Still, the Leaf set is one of the better products that came out in 1990, so it's nice that they snuck Smith into the Cardinals cards.  

The 1990 Cardinals were terrible,.  Smith had a 9-8 win/loss record, he had an ERA north of 4, and missed a chunk of time at from the end of July to the beginning of September.  He only ended up pitching 141 innings on a team that could have used some quality innings.  No matter the metric, Smith was a below average player during his first season with the Cardinals.  

He had a few traded cards released towards the end of the season.  I like the Score Traded card.  It's bright orange and has a decent action shot of Bryn Smith.  

His 1991 was a little bit better on the field, but still not great.  Between 1991 and 1992, Smith had a decent slate of cards.  Most interestingly was Topps using nearly identical photos, one on the road and one at home, on his 1991 and 1992 cards.  

His 1991.....

which was taken on the road.  Leaning towards Shea Stadium.  

His 1992........

Astroturf.  Blue walls.  Early 1990s Busch Stadium.  

Two more cards.  

A little front and back of a Cardinals team issued card.  I have put up a ton of these on recent posts, was thinking about just doing major releases for this week's 1990s Cardinals post, but I like the stove cartoon on the back of his 1992 Cardinals team issue.  

Last Cardinals card.  Well, sort of Cardinals card.  

Smith left the Cardinals after the 1992 season and signed with the expansion Rockies.  His last card, as far as I can tell, with a picture of him in a Cardinals uniform is his 1993 Fleer.  During his final season with the Cardinals, Smith only appeared in 13 games, with just one start.  He missed almost the entire season.  Yet, the Rockies signed him and gave him a starting slot.  In fact, he started their first home opener.....

Smith ended up winning this game.  He pitched seven shutout innings.  However, by June his ERA was over 8 and the Rockies ended up releasing him at the beginning of the month.  He did get a few Rockies cards though....

He has done some coaching both in the Minors and college levels since his retirement.  

I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 42 - Bernard Gilkey

No pictures of Bernard from Men In Black. 

Bernard Gilkey was in the wave of prospects that the Cardinals called up in 1990 to replace the WhiteyBall Era players.  Willie McGee was traded towards the end of the season, still won the National League batting title, and Vince Coleman was not going to re-sign with the team.  The Cardinals reconstituted their outfield with Felix Jose, who came over in the trade for Willie McGee, along with Ray Lankford and Bernard Gilkey. 

According to Baseball America, Lankford was the 19th best prospect entering the 1990 season, Felix Jose was the 51st best prospect, and Bernard Gilkey was not on the radar for whatever reason.  Admittedly, he showed little power in the Minors and mainly just stole a bunch of bases every year.  Gilkey did have good discipline at the plate, so he at least drew a lot of walks.  His career Minor League on-base percentage was .361. 

In 1991, Lankford and Jose both established themselves as everyday Major League players.  Gilkey hit .216/.316/.313, which earned him a spot on the bench and only slightly more than 250 at bats.  It didn't help that Milt Thompson had a career year of sorts. 

Baseball card wise, I am not sure that any Gilkey rookie card was highly desired enough to be considered valuable.  There are a bunch of them, they have never had any value, and can be found for pennies all over the internet, or in the cheapy boxes at card shows. 

I am partial to his 1990 Leaf card. 

Gilkey had a really unique stance, video in a few minutes, but I am not sure he had it when he first got called up to the Cardinals.  

Not a rookie card, but an early card and one of my favorite all-time Gilkey cards is his 1992 Upper Deck.  He's running over the bullpen mound in Busch II catching a ball.  

The picture is everything on this card.  Great action shot.  

After a shaky first season, Gilkey turned around his performance and became a good player for the Cardinals, save for a down year in 1994.  He ended up surpassing Felix Jose and Mark Whiten as the complementary piece to Ray Lankford in the Cardinals outfield.  Gilkey had OPS+ of 127 in 1992, 129 in 1993, 85 in 1994, and 124 in 1995.  100 is an average player.  The Cardinals ended up settling on an outfield with Gilkey in left, Lankford in center, and Brian Jordan in right.  

After the 1995 season the Cardinals traded Gilkey away to the Mets after signing away Ron Gant from the Reds.  The Cardinals were looking for offense and more power, Gilkey offered the least of the three outfielders prior to Gant's signing.  Gilkey went on to have a career year with the Mets in 1996.  He hit .317/.393/.562 with 30 home runs, 117 RBIs, and 33 doubles.  

Some say the season got Bernard an acting gig in a Will Smith movie.  Something about aliens running around New York City.  It would be funny to see a UFO flying over Shea.  

Gilkey had some off the field issues, which hurt his on field performance.  He bounced around between the Diamondbacks, Red Sox, and Braves for a few years.  Gilkey was out of professional baseball by the end of 2001.  

A few more cards.  

I have always been a huge fan of this card.  It's a 1993 Upper Deck.  Gilkey and Lankford are on the sides of Ozzie Smith and Geronimo Pena is in the back.  These were the three young players who eventually stood out amongst the group of players that were promoted to replace the WhiteyBall Era players.  Pena is the least recognizable of the group, good player when he was healthy.  He was never healthy.  Kind of a good passing of the torch card from Ozzie, the best player on the 1980s Cardinals, to Lankford and Gilkey.    

Two more.  This is a great picture of the old Busch Stadium on this 1995 Upper Deck.  I would recognize that blue color on the dugout walls and the outfield walls in the background anywhere.  If you go back up to the Upper Deck card where Gilkey is running over the mound, the wall behind him in left field is that same color.  The blue went away in 1996 when the team switched over to a grass field.   The walls turned green.  I also like that you can see the arches on the top of the stadium.  Great still shot that does a great job of capturing some of the signature elements of the stadium.  

 Last card for this post.  This is also from 1995, it's a Flair.  Really nice set from the mid 1990s.  The design from this era is a little bit more gaudy than the designs from the 2000s, but I dig the sparkly stuff in the background.  The card stock on these are really nice too.  One of Gilkey's last cards as a Cardinal, this is my favorite from the tail end of his run in his hometown.  

I Love The 1990s Cardinals Part 38 - Ozzie Canseco

The player born on July 2nd with the most home runs?  Most RBIs?  Most WAR?  Most hits?  All of the answers to this question are the same.  They are all former Oakland A's outfielder Jose Canseco.   Obviously not a Cardinal.....

at any point during his career, but the Cardinals did sign Jose's less successful, less expensive twin brother.  It was a true 1990s Cardinals move.  Jose Canseco would have cost a lot of money.  He was brash and over the top.  So, enter Ozzie Canseco.  What was Ozzie Canseco like?  I honestly have no idea, outside of the fact that he was on the Cardinals.  He also had baseball cards.

The whole Ozzie and Jose situation reminds me a lot of The Simpsons episode where Springfield hosts a film festival, Mr. Burns decides to enter a film to spruce moose up his image, but goes cheap and hires Senor Spielbergo instead of Steven Spielberg.

Jose was known for his combination of power and speed.  He hit long, loud home runs.  The one I best remember was his home run against the Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series against the Blue Jays.  

That highlight clip of Jose's features one more home run than Ozzie hit during his entire Major League career.  That's right, Ozzie had zero Major League home runs.  He also only had 65 at bats in the Majors over three season.  

If you collect baseball cards, you probably better remember Ozzie Canseco cards with the A's in the early 1990s.  They were pretty popular, pretty much just based on the fact that he was Jose's brother.  I am pretty sure that there were some pretty horrific trades back in the early 1990s based on collectors getting their hands on Ozzie Canseco cards.  

Maybe not that popular, but yes.....

So, how did Ozzie Canseco get on to the Cardinals?  Awhile ago, unfortunately I cannot find it, a fellow collector argued with me that Ozzie was a part of the Willie McGee trade in 1990.  Not really, that was Felix Jose.  Ozzie Canseco, Ozzie Smith, Jose Canseco, Felix Jose, it's all confusing.  Right time frame though.  The A's released Ozzie, not Jose, was released at the end of the 1990 season.  Ozzie Canseco, not Smith, spent 1991 in Japan, before he signed with the Cardinals in 1992.  That was a team with Ozzie Smith.  

Ozzie Canseco played a few games with the Cardinals in 1992, but spent most of the season in Triple A Louisville.  He played a total of 98 games that year in the Minors, he hit 22 home runs and drove in 57 runs.  He did not do much with the Cardinals that season.  1993 was similar for Ozzie, he spent most of his time in the Minors, did little with the Cardinals, and was traded to the Brewers at the end of the season.  

So, what 27 year old Triple A prospect gets a bunch of baseball cards?  Ozzie Canseco.  

He had a couple, I am going to look at three really quick. 

First up is his Donruss card.  What is going on with this card?  Not much, Ozzie is hitting, or maybe striking out?  You decide.  

Now, it's time for my favorite two Ozzie Canseco cards.  First, there is a 1993 Stadium Club card.  The Cardinals wore their batting practice jerseys in Spring Training games, so this is from some time during a practice game.  There is a slight resemblance to Todd Zeile in this picture.  

Todd Zeile probably played with his batting gloves while he was running the bases.  Todd Zeile was also not that buff.  Last one.  

I used to love getting the Cardinals giveaway set.  There were some really great cards in these sets.  The 1993 set, which this card comes out of, is probably my least favorite.  However, it's still a really nice looking set.  I like the view of the mullet on this card.  

The Mayor Of Kings Mountain

There are only about 10,000 people in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, so I am going to give a few little facts about the town.  A quick map shows where it is in comparison to the cities you may know in central North Carolina.....

It's really not all that far from Charlotte.  When I first heard of the town, I assumed it was somewhere out in the western parts of the state.  I assumed that nobody really lived in the town.  Not really accurate.  

The town is also really important to our country's history.  It was the location of a battle during the Revolutionary War.  The British had won most of the battles in the southern colonies before the Battle of Kings Mountain.  The fight ended up being a win for the colonists.  

President Theodore Roosevelt actually mentioned The Battle of Kings Mountain in his book The Winning of The West: 

"This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution" 

There are also a few baseball players from the small town of Kings Mountain.  Otto Briggs played in the Negro Leagues during the teens, twenties, and thirties.  Jake Early, a catcher for the Senators and Browns during the 1930s and 1940s also hailed from Kings Mountain.  He was one of the best defensive catchers from his era.  

No more major war turning battles have taken place in Kings Mountain in recent years.  People wise, there has been a country singer, I don't listen to country music, and an actress from some daytime soap opera.  There is also another pretty good baseball player, who is currently starring for the NC State baseball team.....

Will Wilson is the team's current shortstop and one of the better players in the ACC.  He was named the All-ACC First Team shortstop for this season and made the Collegiate Baseball's All-American Second Team.  

Wilson's success in Raleigh has earned him the nickname "The Mayor of Kings Mountain" 

The Mayor of Kings Mountain, Will Wilson, singles as the UNC LF misreads the ball. Run scores. Bases loaded with no outs in T5. Pack, 3-0.

— Pack Pride (@PackPride) April 16, 2017

 

This tweet from the NC State fan site Pack Pride is the first time I have found him mentioned as "The Mayor of Kings Mountain".  All the of tweets and social media posts prior to the one embedded above appear to be about the actual mayor of Kings Mountain.  

Luckily, we are also living in a day and age where high school kids have baseball cards.  Will Wilson managed to get into two different sets.  I am still trying to find a copy of his USA Baseball card, which was in a Panini set, but I have been able to find his Perfect Game card.....

I am not a huge fan of Leaf cards, but this is one of their nicer products.  I believe these are their only baseball cards that do not have all of the logos airbrushed off the pictures.  The base cards are really nice too, I will have to try to find one of Wilson.  

Wilson will likely also end up on the USA Baseball College National team this summer.  Hopefully.  That should net him a few more Panini autographs and maybe a few other nice cards until he ends up in the Major League Draft.  Wherever Wilson ends up as a professional, hopefully his nickname will stick with him.  

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.