PWE From Portland

Today is just a brief post to post a quick thank you for a recent PWE I received from Gavin over at the popular Baseball Card Breakdown blog. We did a small swap as I sent him a Benchwarmer card that didn't fit my collection and a few extras I had. In return, he sent over a fun PWE.

The PWE he sent over was only a handful of cards but they're cards that definitely fit my collecting interests. First up, this foursome of Sasha Banks cards. I really enjoy the run she and Bayley have been having as a tag team in the Women's Tag Team division. It's too bad they lost the Women's Tag Titles already to the Iiconics in the four corners match at WretleMania recently.

There were also a few Reds cards included. The Cueto and Wilson Valdez cards are obviously parallels. I'd honestly forgotten completely about Wilson Valdez as a backup infielder on the Reds. Taylor Sparks is currently a Reds farmhand stationed with the AAA club in Louisville and is not a part of the 40-man roster. Last year in 126 games with both Louisville and AA Pensacola, he hit .206/.279/.383 with 14 HRs and 47 RBIs.

Finally, as is tradition in Gavin's trade packs, he always includes a custom card. This is a mini he made of Ken Griffey Jr in the Moeller High School uniform. Pretty neat if you ask me. Moeller High School also happens to hold a very large card show twice a year which I'm hopeful to get to at some point.

Thanks for the impromptu trade Gavin! Let's do it again sometime.

Reds Opening Day Pitchers

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Yesterday, the Reds named Luis Castillo the starting pitcher for Opening Day 2019. I think it's a good choice as he was by far the best starter the Reds had last year in the dumpster fire of a rotation they had. Hearing this gave me an idea for a blog post, that would be looking back at the Reds Opening Day starters since 2000. Since I'm currently nowhere near my card collection as I write this, I'll use COMC for help in showing off some cards and I'll provide some quick notes as well.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Homer Bailey - 2018

Homer Bailey got the call for Opening Day and it went down as one of his 14 losses of the season. The Reds went 3-15 in the first 18 games in 2018 which saw Bryan Price get canned after the miserable start and Jim Riggleman leading the team the rest of the way.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Scott Feldman - 2017

The well traveled Scott Feldman took the mound for the Reds on Opening Day in 2017 and didn't fare too well. He allowed 3 earned runs, 7 hits, and 2 walks in only 4 2/3 innings. Feldman's lone season with the Reds was his last of a 13-year career.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Raisel Iglesias - 2016

Iglesias was probably the best choice to start in 2016 as the Reds rotation consisted of such notables as John Lamb, Tim Adelman, and Brandon Finnegan.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Johnny Cueto - 2012-2015

Johnny Cueto started four straight Opening Day games for the Reds, beginning with the 2012 season where they just steamrolled the NL Central and culminating in 2015 where he'd start his final Opening Day in red before being shipped to Kansas City at the trade deadline.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Edinson Volquez -2011

The Reds in 2011 had just come off their first winning season since 2000 and a surprise NL Central title. Volquez got the Opening Day assignment in which turned out to be his last season in Cincinnati. 

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Aaron Harang - 2006-2010

Aaron Harang was one of the few reliable pitchers (aside from Bronson Arroyo) in the Reds rotation in the mid-2000s. Acquired from Oakland in 2003 for Jose Guillen, he spent 8 seasons in red. His best season with the Reds was 2007 where he went 16-6 with a 3.73 ERA. 

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Paul Wilson - 2005

Paul Wilson pitched all of 9 games for the Reds in 2005 after being one of the better starters the Reds has in 2003 and 2004. Opening Day 2005 though will always live in Reds lore as the game where the Reds won on a walk-off homer by Joe Randa in the bottom of the 9th.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Cory Lidle - 2004

Cory Lidle's lone season with the Reds in 2004 was highlighted by his Opening Day start against the Cubs. However, he didn't even last the whole season with the team. He was traded to the Phillies in August for two minor leaguers and a player to be named later.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Jimmy Haynes - 2003

Jimmy Haynes has the designation of being the person to throw the very first pitch at Great American Ball Park in 2003. Honestly, that was probably the highlight of a 2003 season where he only won 2 games in 18 starts.

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Joey Hamilton - 2002

I have zero recollection of Joey Hamilton pitching for the Reds in 2002. However, he has the honor of starting the final Opening Day in Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy Field history. 

Scan courtesy of COMC.com

Pete Harnisch - 2000-2001

The Reds picked up Harnisch as a free agent before the 1998 season and was one of their better pitchers through the 2000 season before injuries set in again in 2001 and he only pitched in 7 games. The 2000 Reds squad went 85-77, finishing second in the NL Central. The 2001 squad bottomed out at 66-96 finishing dead last.

So there it is, every Reds Opening Day starter since 2000. I didn't remember half of these pitchers and some I forgot even played for the team. This was a pretty fun walk through the past and looking at the 2000s, I'd forgotten how bad some of those teams were (especially that 2001 team). Here's hoping the 2019 team can be one of the better teams in recent memory.

Cards and Snow

It snowed this weekend .... a lot.

According to the local National Weather Service office, my town received 8 inches officially. I felt every bit of that 8 inches as well when I went out this morning and shoveled and salted the driveway for three hours.

But I know you didn't come here to read about my adventures in the snow. No, you came here to read about cards. 

I received cards a few weeks ago from Marc at Remember the Astrodome. Marc is from Texas, someplace where it's warm and they don't have to battle with snow and salt. Let's see what Marc sent.

First off, Marc hit on a bunch of my player collections. There were about 18 new Jeff Bagwell cards included, which helped increase my Bagwell collection substantially. The nice thing is too is that they're from all rages of Bagwell's career.

There were also some Craig Biggio cards.

Some new Nolan Ryan cards as well.

And finally some Eddie Taubensee cards. These are two brand new cards to me. I also

Moving on, from the player collections, Marc included a great number of other cards, including this Cesar Cedeno card from 1981 Fleer. This may seem like just a random card but it's a nice card of a former Red.

There was also a good pile of Reds cards, including these cool cards from the 80s. I really like 1981 Topps and feel like it's a forgotten set. 

90s cards! These are right in my wheelhouse as I love collecting Reds from the 90s. They had some fun teams and lots of great players on those teams like Hal Morris, Reggie Sanders, and Benito Santiago.

I remember this card from my initial foray into collecting when I was a kid. At the time, I'd never heard of Eppa Rixey but I came to realize he was a star for the Reds in the 1920s. In 13 seasons with the Reds, he appeared in 440 games with a 179-148 record and a 3.33 ERA. Before the Reds, he spent 8 seasons with the Phillies and was just as dominant. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1963 by the Veterans Committee.

Closing out the package from Marc, here's some more recent Reds cards, including Johnny Cueto and Billy Hamilton, two Reds who are no longer Reds. Hamilton was non-tendered by the team this winter and signed with Kansas City as a free agent.

Lastly, here's some 2018 Allen and Ginter Reds cards. I spent exactly zero dollars on A&G packs and such last year and I intend on continuing that trend this year. Castillo and Mahle will be battling for a spot in the back end of the rotation this season that looks to already be vastly improved from last year.

There were also some cards that Marc sent that I didn't include here, like some additional Bagwell cards and some Ken Griffey Jr. cards mainly because when I took the pictures, they didn't turn out all that well. I appreciate Marc sending these over. I'm building up some Astros to send back in return, once spring hits and all the snow melts.

You've Got Mail #46: The Lost Collector

It's November! Consider yourself lucky that you survived Halloween. I myself may have overdone it a bit on the pumpkin spice and sugar intake but I had fun anyway. I hope everyone enjoyed Project Halloween, it'll be back in some form next year not sure exactly how though. Anyway, with Halloween officially over and done with until next year, it's time to dig back into what built this place to begin with and that is cards ... and lots of them.

I'm sitting on a bunch of trade packages that I need to recap and I'll try to do them in the order they were receieved. I'll start with this package from A.J., the mind behind the Lost Collector (and a guest on Beckett Radio back in the late summer). He dropped a bubble mailer full of Reds cards on me right about the beginning of September. Since I was already committed to Halloween and fall content, I had to sit on this until I started covering cards again, which just happens to be now.

I remember opening a lot of packs of Collector's Choice when I was a kid, mainly because it was only about a dollar a pack and even I, being in middle school at the time, could afford that. I always liked this design because of the different illustrations for the positions on the bottom left and the stripes reminded me of notebook paper. Jose Rijo didn't pitch much for the Reds in the mid-90s after injuring his elbow, but he sure appeared on lots of cards doing random things like toting a Super Soaker and sporting these crazy shades. Jeff Brantley is now a TV and radio broadcaster for the Reds. I remember when the Reds signed him as a free agent in 1994, it made the Reds bullpen incredibly solid and helped take them to the 1995 NLCS.

1998 Score is another product I have fond memories of opening. I remember for Christmas that year my aunt and uncle bought me some sort of retail pack that had about 10-12 packs in it. Ever since then, it seems like it's incredibly hard to find stuff from this period at card shows. I always liked mid to late 90s Score, the photography is always pretty solid and the designs were fairly catchy.

Let's move on to a couple of sets I don't remember, that being 1998 Donruss and 1997 Stadium Club. I really like the design of the Donruss and I might have to start looking for more of these to grab. Not a big fan of the Stadium Club design but it gives me new cards of Pete Schourek and Dave Burba who anchored the Reds staff from 1995-1997, so I won't complain too much.

Moving from the 1990s into the 2000s now, this is where my collection lacks a lot. Bob Boone managed the Reds from 2001-2003 and had a 190-238 record to show for it. Of course, the teams he had didn't exactly set the world on fire and his first season out of the gate was a disastrous 66-96 season. During that time though, the Reds did have a few good players, Sean Casey being one of them. It's nice to add this card to my Casey collection. The Phillips card is a nice early Reds card of his. Now the Reds want to deal him to free up salary room since his contract is up after next season.

This next batch has a bunch of pitchers that I'd forgotten about, so let's do a little Reds career recap of each one:

Jung Bong --- Appeared in three whole games for the Reds in 2004

Luke Hudson --- Played parts of three seasons (2002, 2004, 2005) in Cincinnati, mostly as a starter. Compiled a 17-18 record and a 5.11 ERA during his Reds career.

Jimmy Haynes --- Finished up his career with the Reds from 2002-2004, started the first game in Great American Ballpark.

Hey Topps, how about more Topps Total with fun designs and obscure players please!

Moving on to more recent cards ... Jay Bruce really struggled after his trade to the Mets back in August. It'd be nice to see him back in a Reds uniform sometime but I don't think that will ever happen. That card though reminds me of something from the 90s with all the colors. Another person who the Reds sent off in a trade for prospects was Todd Frazier. He's done pretty well for the White Sox this year and hopefully he can sustain is momentum. These are guys I'll still collect, no matter what team they play for. Speaking of prospects, John Lamb really couldn't find his footing, being part of the Springfield tire fire that was Reds pitching this year. I'm hoping that he can get more seasoning down in the minors and get whatever affliction that causes him to never win games fixed.

Now the two gems of the package. First this framed Allen & Ginter relic card. I'm not a big Ginter person, but if I can find cheap singles of players I like I'll snatch them up. I'm not sure what part of uniform this relic came from but it's definitely unique. It's grey mostly with some tinges of blue, so perhaps its from a road uniform.

Then there was this, an extremely well loved Johnny Wyrostek card. You can tell someone really cherished this as at one point it got ripped apart and a kind soul hastily put it back together with tape. The tape has faded over time and has now become part of the card itself. It definitely gives this card some character and oh if it could talk, what a story it would tell.

You've Got Mail #33: Wes (jaybarkerfan) - Part 1

I'm still sorting through the epic yard sale find from a few weeks ago so while I'm doing that, I've got a few Supertrader packages left in in the backlog so I'll plow through those before showing off the yard sale goodies.

JBF sent not one, but two packages out before stepping down as the team rep for the Braves in the Supertraders group (quick aside: someone needs to hit me up via email with the contact info and address for Johnny's Trading Spot please). There was so much madness and chaos contained within that it'll be hard to contain it to one post.

So, with this post, it'll be focused on the "hits" included, next part will just be base cards.

The scan of this card got all messed up but you get the general idea. It's a Giovani Bernard shadowbox style RC numbered 32/50. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Bengals bounce back this fall after a disastrous, self-imploding exit from the playoffs last year.

This Cueto card is pretty sweet. It's still strange to see him in a different uniform, especially for the dreaded Giants. I think the Reds could have definitely afforded him if they hadn't wasted a giant amount of money on Homer Bailey.

Some more Bengals hits. Yeah, the Mario Alford is another one of those shadowbox style cards, but my favorite has to be the Tyler Eifert card. Yes, it's just a normal plain white swatch but I really like the background design on it. Sometimes the beauty is in simplicity.

Another batch of Reds hits. Heisey never really got going as a reserve outfielder and has bounced around a bit since the Reds traded him off to the Dodgers for Matt Magill. The Sauer card not only my second card that has a Crosley Field relic in it but it's also my second Hank Sauer card. The Votto card is from this years Donruss, which so far is my favorite release this year.

Finally, Wes had offered up a bunch of cards for the taking earlier this year and I claimed these Wally Szczerbiak cards. While I'm not much of a basketball collector, I will grab cards I think are cool here and there. Szczerbiak went to school and was a college star 20 minutes down the road from me at Miami of Ohio, so I claimed these since he's a local guy.

Part 2 of the awesome envelope coming up soon!

A Blaster Box of 2015 Allen & Ginter

I'm getting to the end of the Christmas goodies finally and I decided to polish everything off this weekend. First thing I tore into was this blaster of Allen & Ginter. I got some free Ginter cards from the card shop back in the fall and enjoyed those, but I've never actually ripped into any.

First things first, the minis. I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of the minis, mainly because I have no good way to store them. However, there are a few cool ones out there. This blaster had one mini per pack and I ended up with three different kinds as shown above. The standard one is on the left (Johnny Cueto), the one in the middle is some sort of parallel, and the Micah Johnson is call the "Ginter back" since it doesn't have the stats on it. And yes, I actually had to research all of this because Ginter likes to be difficult.

I like the Appomattox Court House card mainly due to the historical significance, and the fact that I majored in history in college. The California Island card is neat mainly because I learned that when the original maps were drawn that everyone thought there was a strait running through there. I can definitely say I learned something new when opening this blaster.

As far as inserts go, I'd say my favorite of the A&G insert sets is the Staring Points, mainly because it features players from their original team and half the time, it's teams I'd forgotten they had played for. A prime example here is Anthony Rizzo. I'd forgotten all about his stint in San Diego. The Kluber card next to it will be going toward my new Indians collection when I finally decide to get that organized.

As for actual base cards, here are the highlights. Among the things that drives me nuts about Ginter is some non-baseball people they include. Mike Mills I'll accept as I enjoy some of R.E.M.'s music and I don't mind some of the actors and baseball related people they include but some of the other people like surfers, activists, comedians, and sportswriters seems like nothing but filler.

Here's a few more of the base cards I pulled. Pulling two nice rookies like Pederson and Soler is always good. Most of these base cards will be going in my 2015 binder.

So, will I buy another blaster of A&G? Probably not unless Target has them on a super discount, but I will pick up any singles I'm interested in.