Not $400.

I am old enough to remember when boxes of Topps Finest Baseball cards were not $400.

Looks like I am also now old enough to remember when they were $400.

Greedflation at its finest.  

Luckily, for us collectors on a budget, there are people who buy $400 boxes and sell the single cards on Ebay. Finest comes with two autographs per $400 box, so I started out trying to find a nice pair of autographs for less than $400.  I ended up find 3 autographs rather than two. The total cost of the three cards was less than $20 after shipping. All three cards fit perfectly into my little collection of baseball cards.  

First, an autograph of Giants catcher Patrick Bailey. 

I have several other cards of Bailey in my collection from his time playing at NC State and USA Baseball, but this is my first autograph of him since he turned pro a few years back. Patrick has shortened his signature down considerable over the years.......

but I still love this Finest autograph. Beyond attending NC State, Patrick Bailey also was the Giants catcher for Blake Snell's no-hitter. I really need to post some more Patrick Bailey autographs. Maybe next Monday......

The Bailey autograph was the majority of the not-quite-$20 I spent on these three cards.  

Next up is a pair of Durham Bulls players, one current and one former.  

Curtis Mead is a consensus Top 100 prospect with Baseball Prospectus ranking him highest at 42. Mead actually spent several weeks up with the Rays, but struggled with his bat before being demoted back to Durham. I am a big fan of the Australian third baseman and think he has a bright future somewhere. 

Last card. 

Tristan Gray was on the Durham Bulls the past three seasons. He hit a ton of home runs for them, but never got much of a chance with the Rays. Gray is an older prospect at this point, late twenties, and was traded to the Marlins in the off-season.  I am kind of surprised that he is not on the Marlins on all of his 2024 cards, although I think it's a bit of a surprise that Topps included him in any of their products. 

Anywho, his cards are very inexpensive and I enjoyed watching him play for the Bulls. 

Monday Morning Autograph - Tristan Gray

It's not the morning, but the important thing is that I am writing on my blog today.  

It's a Monday (while I am writing this).    

So much to catch up on since I last posted here a few months back.  

My school year ended.  

I went on vacation to Michigan and hung out by a lake.  

My school year started again last week.  

Last weekend, I ate French food.......

and went to see Mama Mia with my wife in Durham.  

A few other things happened in there, but the previous few sentences are a good summary of the past few months. That's a lot of non-baseball card stuff on a baseball card blog.  

On to the card.  

I cannot believe Topps Chrome is $44.99 or something like that at Target.   

No, thank you, Fanatics.  I am buying single cards off of Ebay from other people who spent at least $44.99 to open a few packs of Topps Chrome.  Since the Cardinals stink at the moment, I am working on adding some former Durham Bulls players to the collection. Tristan Gray was on the Bulls for a few years and his autographs hover around $5. Seems like a good reason to add this to the box of Bulls signatures.  

Back of the card.  

Gray is now on the Marlins and has received a whopping 7 at bats this year with the Major League team. He has zero hits and three strikeouts.  

I am still a fan. 

Only $9.99, Part 1

The past two years, the Durham Bulls have had some high-end prospects on their roster. It would have been fun to own a Durham Bulls team set from one of those two years, but unfortunately a small group of Ebay sellers bought the majority of the cards and are currently selling them at a small profit.  

The sets are $9.99 in the team store.

I honestly cannot comprehend spending $40 on a Minor League team set and am a little disappointed that people actually bought these cards at that price. 

You know what they say about feeding trolls.....

Nobody on the 2023 Durham Bulls has the ceiling of Wander Franco, but they are still a really good team with several Top 100 prospects. They are currently in second place and likely won't catch the first place Norfolk Tides (Orioles) before the end of the first half.

I attended a Durham Bulls game last week and had the good fortune to find a copy of the 2023 Durham Bulls team set.  

My view for the game.  

This is the first half of my $9.99 Durham Bulls team set.  

I am actually impressed by the number of cards included. These are typically between 25-30 cards, but the 2023 Bulls set comes in at 41 cards. I scanned them in groups of 6, but also made a single card scan of one card to give you a close up of the design. There will be 19 cards in this post, 21 in the second post.  

This is the last card in the set.  

Ripken The Bat dog appears at one Durham Bulls game per home stand. The team actually borrowed the concept from the Greensboro Grasshoppers who have had bat dogs for as long as I have lived in North Carolina. That's been a few minutes.  

Ripken is a bit of a local celebrity. He also retrieves the kicking tee at NC State football games and does puck drops with the Carolina Hurricanes.  

As for the design, it's simple and I really like it for a Minor League team set. Save the flash, give me nice photos of the players. The back is similar with a simple design, but I like that there is a second picture on the back. I will have to go back and look, but I don't remember another Durham Bulls set with this feature prior to this year.  

Ripken has a write up on the back, along with a few of the other coaches and staff member included on the checklist, but the player cards have their statistics.  

First group of cards.  

Basabe, Aranda, and Taj Bradley will all be regulars in the Majors at some point.  

Brigden and Bristo are 4A players.  

Not sure about my mind is made up about Roberto Alvarez. He's a good defensive catcher, but not the best hitter. Feels like good defensive catchers always stick around. I saw him Roberto Alvarez pitch a few weeks back in a game where the Bulls were losing badly.  

He was throwing in the mid 40s.  

He did not give up a run.  

Back of the cards.  

I like that they included a details about how the player ended up in the Rays organization. International Free Agents and Draft Picks by the Rays tend to turn out pretty well, signed as a Minor League Free Agent is code for journeyman Minor Leaguer. 

Second group of cards.  

Brujan is the only prospect in this group.  

The rest of these players have all been in the Majors at some point and are trying to get back there, or spending their time shuffling between the Durham and Tampa.  

It would be nice if the Rays left Vidal Brujan up in the Majors or traded him to a team that would leave him in the Majors. Maybe at the trade deadline this year.....

Last group of cards for this post.  

Two of my favorite Bulls players are in this group. I am a big fan of Niko Hulsizer and Tristan Gray. I don't think Gray is much of a prospect at this point, but he has a huge swing and hits a ton of home runs.  Last year, Gray led all of Triple A in home runs. He's slowed down a bit this year, but still fun to watch.  

Hulsizer is one of those sleeper prospects. He's been around for awhile, but every time I see him he looks better. He's got a couple of really cheap Bowman autographs, if you're into rolling the dice on prospects.  

The rest of these players are Minor League free agents who are hanging onto their careers in Triple A.  

Here are the card backs. 

Sorry, Trevor Kelley is crooked.