There's A New Matz In Town And His Name Ain't Daisuke!

Where to begin on this guy,man!Steven Matz had probably one of the most memorable major league debuts by a Mets pitcher since.....shit I don't know,but what a debut It was!Matz went 7.2 innings ,fanned 6 while allowing two runs on 5 hits.He was even more impressive at the plate ,going 3 for 3 with a two run double and two singles that also drove In a run.He became the first pitcher In major league history to drive In 4 runs in his big league debut.Reading about It Is one thing ,but watching the kid on at the plate(no batting gloves) ...you'd think you were watching a regular position player. Matz looks like a hitter .Oh,and he can pitch ,too!95 plus stuff Is what hitters can expect to see when facing the young lefty.He's fresh off of a minor league rehab assignment and Is about to be reinserted Into the Mets rotation sometime In September.What Matz has done In his short stint In the majors Is sample size,and I don't wanna go nuts over him prematurely.The kid does have talent,though,and will be high on my want list as far as his cardboard goes.

Singles Only- Rant Edition

A couple more pick ups on the cheap.First we have a 2014 Bowman Draft Top Prospect Kris Bryant.When I stopped collecting back In '08-'09 ,I don't think Bowman Draft  had any  "Top Prospect " subsets back then.It was just Bowman Prospects , Bowman Draft or Bowman Draft Draft.It kind of drove me nuts back then,but once accustomed,It all made sense,I think.It would be selfish of me to say "I wish baseball card companies would just keep It simple and limit the amounts of inserts,subsets etc.",because so many collectors nowadays love that kind of stuff.But I said It,so I guess I'm selfish.

RANT BELOW

That's why I love the Topps flagship brand,which centers It's attention on  ..wait...Topps Pro Debut? Again,when I stopped collecting a few years back,there was Tristar and Razor If you wanted to get your Minors fix on.I loved  2007 Tristar Prospects Plus!Well apparently Topps  has taken the wheel from past minor league card companies  and In 2010,began releasing their own brand of MILB cards.I wish they  had there own ,distinct look,rather than just mimicking the flagship design.This Is Carlos Correa's third Pro Debut card ,his first being In 2013  ,which would make It his real "Pro Debut" card. If your a seasoned collector,then you know what your getting into when you pick up any of these Pro Debut cards.Beginners or kids may be fooled into thinking that these are the players official "Pro Debut" cards upon looking above the number on the backs ,which read "Pro Debut".Maybe Topps should rename their MILB product and only use the Pro Debut logo accordingly.It's kind of like what Upper Deck did with their "Future Stars" line that contained mostly established players,and hardly any rookies.It's pretty sneaky and low down If you ask me.

     

Celebrating The Undervalued and Quite Often Underrated Second Year Card

I love rookie cards just as much as the next guy or gal who collects baseball cards.It's a players first card.If your lucky enough to have picked up a players rookie card before his rise to super stardom,chances are you scored It In a pack or you paid very little for the single.On the other hand ,If  you had to see It to believe It, and decided to hold off until a particular player became an established star,then you probably ended up paying a fortune for his rookie card. I paid 70 bucks a couple years back for a 2001 set of Fleer Tradition,for the Pujols rookie.Then I sold It when I found myself needing the extra cash. I've since regretted getting rid of that Pujols  and while his rookie cards aren't nearly as expensive today as they were at the height of his popularity,I still wouldn't be able to afford one.Which led me to hop online and search for an earlier ,not quite as expensive as a rookie card but still a nice representation of  the Ruthian slugger a s a young buck. I came across a bunch of listings for Pujols's second year Topps card,a rookie cup card at that,all for about a buck a piece!What a difference a year makes,huh?It suddenly donned on me that this may become habit forming.From here on out ,I'm hunting down second year cards of  players whose rookie cards are just far too expensive to covet.A few names quickly come to mind.Vladimir Guerrero,David Ortiz,Alex Rodriguez,Mariano Rivera, and Rickey Henderson.I decided to dig through my collection to weed out  some of my favorite second year cards (In chronological order).

FRONT

BACK

Wait,what?!?Is that Placido Polanco on the back of the  great King Pujols's baseball card?!?No respect :( 

                                                                          

This Is one of my favorite Prince Fielder cards.The rookie cup logo and the full body shot shows how immense of a player Fielder was even In his younger years!

I recently picked up a Trout second year base card but had to pick up It's Chrome counterpart as well.  

This Is just an awesome shot of  Puig rounding the square bases ;) 

While still not an established super star,DeGrom Is well on his way.

Singles Only

I've been looking around and reading posts of other bloggers lately and realized that there are tons of trades being executed between them.Since jumping into the  sports card foray,I've only traded 3 times If my memory serves me correct.I'm looking forward to completing more but as of now things are gittin' a lil' tight around here,so when I do decide to get trading again (a month or two give or take),packages will be of the white mailing envelope variety.Not too stacked but decent enough.In fact I wouldn't even consider them trade packages. I'd like to think of them more as thank you gifts to those of you who take the time to comment and stop by every once and a while even If you decide just to read and not say much.If your on my blog roll ,then chances are I'll be contacting you some time down the road.Also that month window gives me time to accumulate and sort out potential give away fodder.With that out of the way,I'd like to move on to the "Singles Only" portion of  this blog.For new readers,these posts will feature new singles that have recently entered my card collection via E bay  as well as other card marketplaces around the net,but mostly E bay. Like i previously stated ,monetarily I'm In rough shape so as much as I would love to post a barrage of new singles, expect to see only about 2 to 4 pedestrian,lower profile RC's and/or  base cards of players I'm collecting.Today for instance,we have a 2011 Topps Lucas Duda RC (which is an awesome looking card btw) and a 2013 Bowman Platinum Noah "Thor" Syndergaard.

I've watched Duda since he first got his shot with the Mets a few years back.I believe he started out In

the outfield and eventually made his way to first when Ike Davis was given his walking papers.My dad and I used to bug out every time he came up to bat because of a few locks of hair that always protruded the air holes at the top of his batting helmet.We thought It was pretty funny and dubbed It Dudas trademark.My dad and I are two of the biggest critics you'll ever meet,but we're usually justified in our criticisms. Castillo got It bad from us later in his Met career.So did Maine,Parnell Gary Mathews,Jr.,Ike Davis..the list goes on. Duda ,however, never got the brunt of any of our wrath.We always said he would come around,and he has.Nothing off the charts ,but back to back 15 homerun seasons In '12,'13 and 30 homers last year aint too shabby. My hats off to Lucas for keeping a cool head while on this media blazoned NY Mets team.He's kept moving forward seemingly unscathed.I'm not sure how much longer Duda will remain a Met but I will say this -  "If he can make It there,he'll make It anywhere"   

     

I've been wanting a Noah Syndergaard First Year card for a while now but I hate the fact that most of them are In a Toronto jersey. This Isn't a first year card but he's still pretty much a  budding prospect here and hes donning the Mets logo so that's cool. Also ,he's "Thor",so. 

"Ichiro Suzuki ties Ty Cobb with 4,191 hits in professional career" Congrats To Ichiro !

4,191 hits.The fact that he  compiled alot of those In Japan kind of waters It down for me but It Is still an amazing feat.With 2,913 career Major league hits,Suzuki needs less than 100  to get to 3,000.Ty Cobb Is still Ty Cobb ,but then again Ichiro Is Ichiro,and the guy can flat out hit.Seven 200 + hit seasons .That's on par with Wade Boggs and 2 more 200 hit seasons than the late great Tony Gwynn.

Yada,Yada,Yadier...

As a kid ,In little league,I had the utmost respect for kids who wanted to be catchers.They had balls.I had them too but they were much easier to get a beat on out in center ,the furthermost part of the playing field.I knew this one kid,Eric was his name,he'd sit behind the plate without a face mask,just a helmet turned backwards ,taking fastballs behind live batters like It was nothing.It made me cringe!He was fearless behind as well as at the plate.Most catchers are If you really think about It,though.They're like Liam Neeson out there  grinding It out on the field,calling the shots,throwing runners out and getting between  pitchers and would be mound chargers.They're grizzled and staunch defenders of  home plate who don't take shit from anyone ,and will even let a fellow teammate have It If he gets out of line or fails to hustle out there on the field.Guys like Fisk,I-Rod and Yadier Molina come to mind.I never paid much attention to Yadi early In his career with the Cards because of his offensive numbers,or lack there of.Then I began to watch more of his games and realized that offensive numbers aside, Yadi called one hell of a game.Now that his offense has come around he's become the total package and one that has been with his parent club,the Cardinals ,since day 1.I decided to look through my collection last night to dig up any and every Molina card I could ,because he's just too damn  awesome of a player to not collect. To my surprise I didn't have many.Just the ones you see below.I'll be looking to add more Yadi to the collection as soon as I can afford to because he's quickly becoming one of my favorite players. I've also decided to start a collection of cards depicting catchers either throwing,catching or sitting behind the plate.They have to have most of their gear on In some kind of game situation ,though.Stay tuned for that.

Quiet Time

I forgot how relaxing a little quiet time with your baseball cards could be.Years ago I wouldn't be caught dead at home on a Saturday night.These days I prefer  to chill  and ease my mind In a more introverted manner.Rummaging through my slabbed cards ,I came to a conclusion.Some of these cards just weren't top loader worthy anymore.The good thing Is I was able to free up a ton of top loaders while at the same time,re-appreciate the greatness of  baseball cards!Bowman '06 had some of the greatest looking chrome cards.Take this Humberto Sanchez.This guy went from being the shizz to fizz as things never panned out for him on the Major League level.It doesn't take away from the beauty of this 06 Bowman Refractor. Reading some of  Nick's Dime Box posts has helped me look at and appreciate my cards more for their individual qualities and not so much in terms of  their value.

Here's another guy who will go from top loader fame to commons box shame, Koby Clemens.And really ,I shouldn't shame this card at all as It still gets some  brownie points on the strength of  his last name.

All in all It was a pretty successful Saturday night as I was able to integrate and alphabetize my RC's and star players as well as free up some much needed top loaders.

Singles Only

Dee Gordon Is a player I've had my eye on since he first came up with the Dodgers. I remember thinking "Wow,this dudes pretty damn fast!But If he gets hit with a pitch he might shatter right there at home plate!"  He was extremely skinny!And he reminded me so much of guys like Willie McGee and Otis Nixon.That's what I liked about him.In a game where pitching and hitting remains at the forefront,the stolen base had gone the way of the T-Rex.Yeah there were guys like Trout who had both power and speed and could steal you double digit bases (49 in '11),but players like Gordon and Hamilton are on that field for one reason,and that's to get on base and steal bases.Lots of them.Gordon has yet to break the 70 mark but I wouldn't put It past him achieving that this year If he can stay healthy. He's also hitting the cover off the ball,hitting .330 so far this season.Will we ever see another 100 SB guy? I won't be surprised If  both he and Gordon do It at least once before their careers over. 

Ha!Dee Gordon's fast,but not fast enough to elude He-Man's powerful ability to photobomb! 

Here's a cropped  Gordon Minor League card.It's labeled Brandt,and I'm thinking this came from one of those team packs  you buy at the home teams gift shop.

While not his "first card" It's still a decent looking 2011 Bowman Chrome RC.I would have rather had his Topps RC.

I'm loving shot of Dee making the throw while avoiding the  hook sliding Topps Rookie Cup.