I just recently strolled across another great blog called The Card Investor and in a short amount of time it has grown to be one of my regular reads. My favorite series of posts he has is called "Significant Cards", where he covers cool cards in the hobby. However a couple of days ago he started something called the C-Note Project. In short, he's going to document a $100 sports card investment over a one year period of time. Click here if you're interested in checking it out.
Anyways... a few weeks ago he held The Great Card Set Giveaway. If you were interested in receiving a free set all you had to do was:
A. Follow his blog.
B. Send him an email and write about what you liked about his blog.
C. Last, but not least... you had to include in the email your mailing address.
Well a few days ago... I received my free set. The Card Investor sent me a set of 2008 Bowman Draft baseball set. The set has 55 cards and one checklist. Here are just a few of the set's key rookies:
The first rookie card is of one of my favorite current A's pitchers... Brad Ziegler. Mr. Ziegler holds the MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings to start a major league career. The set includes the rookie card of another record breaker. Max Scherzer holds the record for retiring the most consecutive batters (13) in a MLB debut as a relief pitcher. And if that's not impressive enough... Mr. Scherzer has struck out 358 batters over the past two seasons.
Next up... two rookies cards from two of the most popular teams in baseball. One of the best pitchers on the Dodgers' starting rotation is Clayton Kershaw. At the age of 22, Mr. Kershaw has already started 83 games for the Dodgers and has a career ERA of 3.17.
Then across the country... almost 2,500 miles away... Brett Gardner is the starting center fielder for the New York Yankees. Last season he had the 3rd highest batting average and the highest on base percentage among the Yankees' starters.
Jaime Garcia had an amazing rookie year in 2010. He started 28 games for the Cardinals and finished with a 13-8 record and a 2.96 ERA. He finished third in NL ROY voting.
Over in Cincinnati, twenty-three year old Jay Bruce finally had a well balanced year by hitting 25 home runs, while maintaining a .281 batting average.
This past season, Carlos Gonzalez won a Gold Glove for his spectacular play in left field. In addition to that... he won the National League batting title in just his third season of play. But that's not all. He also won a Silver Slugger Award.
Honestly... I've never heard of this guy... but knowing that he once wore an Oakland Athletic's uniform kind of makes me sick.
Out of all of the rookie cards, Evan Longoria has the highest book value ($3) and rightfully so. He was the 2008 AL ROY and has been an all-star in each of his first three seasons. This guy is impressively "consistent".
Last, but not least... this set includes a rookie card of this year's National League MVP. Joey Votto hit 37 round trippers and had the 2nd highest batting average in the NL. On top of that, he led the NL in on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Thank you WiggumPI for this awesome set. It's the first time I've seen it, since I don't bust much baseball... but I can promise you that I'll take good care of it.
Readers... please head over to his blog: The Card Investor and check out his posts... I don't think you'll be disappointed.
This brings me to tonight's question.
Out of the nine players I showed off... who would you want to start a franchise with?
TGIF... I love short weeks (I had Monday off). This week flew by... and I can't wait to watch some football on Sunday. Go Pack Go! G'nite everyone.
7 comments:
Without a doubt, Evan Longoria.
Longoria, definitely.
I'm a Dodger fan. Got to go with Kershaw.
Sumimasen Fujimotosan. Glad you liked the set and thank you for a great write-up of my blog.
To answer your franchise question. I would have to go with Longoria based on position scarcity at the hot corner, otherwise, I may be inclined to go with Votto.
Taking into account age, talent & consistency It'd be the Rays 3rd baseman, He also just looks like someone you could build a team around.
I suppose this slightly touches on fantasy baseball, the first few rounds are all hitters unless you draft Lincecum or Halladay. You need somebody who takes the field everyday like Longoria.
Although Gardner is my fav current Yankee (I love the way he plays hard and runs the bases), he's not a franchise type guy. I'd have to go with Longoria.
Never heard of CarGo? His numbers are a bit Coors infalted (aren't they all?), but for a while last year NL MVP was a three man race between him, Pujols, and Votto. Gonzalez cooled down due to an injury and a lot of road games near the end, but he still had a fantastic year in what was his first season of more than 90 games. Sky's the limit for him, and so I'd probably go with him as my franchise starter (even if Longoria is more proven).
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