I'm thankful for...

Well it's finally the all-star break and we're more than halfway through the MLB season. At the start of the season, I had little expectations for either of my favorite teams. Both the A's and the Padres lack any significant superstars (yes, they have some minor stars, but no major super stars... if they did, they would have been traded by now). Instead, they rely on their youth and their pitching. So after thinking about it for a few minutes, I've come to realize that I have several things I need to be thankful for.

#1: The Padres are in 1st place and have the 2nd best record in the National League with a 51-37 record.

#2: The A's aren't in last place. Okay, so there not playoff bound and they're nowhere near being great. But, they aren't bad either. In fact, they were in 1st place for a few weeks at the start of the season.

#3: The Padres have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. They lead the league in ERA & WHIP, are 2nd in shutouts, and are ranked 3rd in strikeouts.

#4: The A's actually have decent teams stats. They're 8th in ERA, 9th in WHIP, and 10th in batting average. By the way, those statistics aren't just for the American League... it's based on all 30 MLB teams.

#5: Adrian Gonzalez is still with the Padres and has earned himself a spot as a reserve on the National League all-star roster. He's leads the Padres in runs, rbi's, and homeruns. Hopefully the Padres continue their hot streak, so they'll hold onto him.

#6: Trevor Cahill is having a sensational sophomore season. He has 9 wins and only 3 losses with a 2.93 ERA. These stats have earned him a spot on this year's all-star roster. Unfortunately he pitched today, which means he's unable to pitch in Tuesday's game. However this actually helped one of his teammates out (see #8).

#7: Both of my team's relief pitchers have been announced as replacements on this year's all-star teams. Heath Bell replaces injured Yovani Gallardo for the National League. Don't fret, he's no charity case. He currently has an 1.88 ERA with 24 saves.

#8: Since Cahill is unable to pitch (see #6), Andrew Bailey will step in for him. Like Cahill, Bailey is having a great sophomore season too. This is his 2nd all-star appearance in his short 2 year career. He has 18 saves and a 1.70 ERA.

So there you have it... halfway through the year and neither of my teams are in last place and both have at representatives on their respective all-star rosters. What about you... how's your team doing?

Sports Card Bust #17, 18, & 19: Pitcher Edition

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again. I love checkoutmycards.com. I've purchased hundreds of cards off of there at well below eBay prices. The ability to combine shipping allows me to build up my inventory and ship at my convenience.

Recently, I purchased ten new cards for my Sports Card Bust PC for a total of $17 ($5 was spent on a single card... the most I've paid for a sports bust to this date). If I bought these off of Beckett or eBay the price would have easily been double. So, if you buy singles and you haven't checked out the site... what are you waiting for?

Now... onto my newest additions to my Sports Card Bust PC. All three of today's additions were highly touted pitchers, who never lived up to the hype.

In 1994, the New York Mets had the first pick in the MLB amateur draft and they selected Florida State's Paul Wilson. Back in 1994, I was busting tons of Signature Rookies packs in search for Paul Wilson's autograph, because I though he would become the next big superstar. Well... 17 years later, we can officially label him a bust. He had a career record of 40 wins & 58 losses, with a 4.86 era. Sure, he lasted seven seasons in the MLB, which is a respectable amount if you're a 15th round pick. But not if you're the number 1 pick in the draft.

Then in Y2K, Adam Johnson was selected by the Minnesota Twins with the 2nd overall pick in the MLB amateur draft (Adrian Gonzalez was the #1 pick, chosen by the Marlins). Out of the three pitchers highlighted today, he pitched the fewest amount of games. During his 2 years in the bigs, he pitched in 9 games for a total of 26.1 innings. Luckily for the Twins, they drafted Joe Mauer with the #1 overall pick the following season. However, this still doesn't keep Mr. Johnson from being added to this PC.

Finally, we'll finish things off with Bryan Bullington, who was drafted by the Pirates with the 1st overall pick in the 2002 MLB amateur draft. He's the only one out of these three pitchers who's still playing baseball. In fact, Mr. Bullington has pitched in 3 games this year. He is 0 - 6 in his career with a 5.57 era. As of right now, he's definitely a bust for being a number 1 pick in the draft. However, maybe this is the year that he'll turn things around.

PC Spotlight #1: Anthony Randolph

On July 1st, I bought a seven card jersey lot of Anthony Randolphs for $15 on Sportscardforum.com. I originally purchased it to use as prizes and possibly trade bait for some of my students who collect Golden State Warriors cards.

The cards arrived at my house on Tuesday and I had a change of heart. I've always liked Randolph's potential and have considered collecting him in the past (along with Brandon Wright). The only problem is that he's so injury prone. But after checking out the cards and putting them together with the three other Randolph cards I own... I decided right then and there to start another PC... a Anthony Randolph PC. I was pretty excited and even went onto Checkoutmycards.com and purchased a refractor rookie of his.

The next day, I heard the trade rumors involving Randolph and David Lee. Simply put, if Lebron picked the Knicks... the deal would be off. If not, it was a green light. Well, we all know what happened last night and so it's official... Anthony Randolph is now a New York Knick.

And me... well... I've decided that I'm going to finish what I've started and chase Anthony Randolph under the following conditions.

a. I'm only chasing his 2008/09 cards.
b. I want each of his true rookie cards.
c. I'll also collect his refractors, memorabilia cards, and autographs.
d. I won't chase anything that's numbered 25 or less.
e. I'm not going to collect any multi-player cards.

So, if you have some Randolphs that fit this criteria, check out my bucket and let me know if you're interested in trading. Have a great weekend everyone!

My Favorite Rookie Card

This blog entry is in response to a contest (actually, I'm not sure it's exactly a contest... if it is, then it's probably over since the original post was over 2 months ago) over at For Card's Sake. It's simple, write about your favorite rookie card. The only catch is that the card can't be autographed, serial numbered, a parallel, or contain a piece of memorabilia.

Before I even finished reading the first paragraph at his blog, my favorite rookie card popped into my head. It's been my favorite card for over 20 years and has been in my collection since the day I pulled it out of a pack. Before I reveal what card it is, I'll give you some hints and reasons I love this card.

#1: The card features my favorite baseball player of all-time.

#2: It comes from my favorite set of all-time. It's hand's down the best designed set of the 80's in my book.

#3: He made the all-star team 15 times in his career and won the silver slugger award 7 times.

#4: This guy (along with Kirby Puckett) showed me that you can play baseball even if you have a few extra pounds.

#5: This card was pack pulled from my early hobby years.

#6: He won the NL batting title 7 times and is 18th all-time in career hits (3,141).

#7: My favorite player wasn't only a hitter, he could field too. He won 5 Gold Gloves.

#8: In 1988, he struck out 40 times. That was the most strikeouts he would ever have in a season. He struck out once every 21.4 trips to the plate. I couldn't find anyone who's played in the past three decades with a better strikeout to at bat ratio.

#9: I teach my students the importance of having good character traits. The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award is given to players who best exemplifies Gehrig's character and integrity both on and off the field. This gentleman won that award in 1998. In 1999, he won the Roberto Clemente Award for his commitment to the community and helping others.

#10: Last, but not least... this player was loyal to my favorite team. He had opportunities to play in other cities for a lot more money. However, he chose to play his whole career (20 seasons) with the San Diego Padres.

I'm sure you've figured it out by now... but my favorite player is Tony Gwynn. My favorite baseball set of all-time is 1983 Topps. And my favorite rookie card is Tony Gwynn's 1983 Topps rookie card.

It's your turn, click the link and reveal to everyone in blogworld, your favorite rookie card.

Hidden Treasures #2: Joe Mauer

Have you ever reached into your pocket and found money? It's one of the best feelings in the world. Sort of like hitting the lottery. Well, this weekend... I had the opportunity to experience that feeling, except I didn't find money... I found something better (well IMHO).

On Saturday night, I was digging through my collection looking for cards of Team USA players in honor of America's birthday. I came across a small stack of USA autographs that I had pulled from 2004 Upper Deck USA Baseball sets that I had busted years ago. I found autographs of John Olerud, Robin Ventura, and Shawn Green. All of these players were popular at one time or another in their careers, so I pulled them aside when I opened the sets.

In addition to those three, I also discovered that I had an autograph of Twins catcher Joe Mauer. He has been one of the best catchers in baseball the past few seasons. I've always appreciated players who hit for average and Mauer is the epitome of a pure hitter. He would probably be one of my favorite, but unfortunately he plays for the Twins (. Regardless, I've been wanting to buy an autograph of his for awhile now, but they're way out of my price range. I guess now, I won't have to... because I now have one resting in my PC.

First a Roy Halladay autograph, now a Joe Mauer. Thank goodness for hidden treasures.

What about you, have you ever flipped through your collection and found a card you didn't remember having?