A few months ago I attended a card show in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, at the Soaring Eagle Casino on the reservation. They do a couple cards shows a year here, but this was the first one I'd ever gone to, even though it's the closest to my home town. I happened to be visiting the 'rents on a weekend when they were having one of their shows.
So, hells yeah I took a drive to the casino.
The room they were in was your basic mid-size conference hall, and there were about a dozen different card dealers, as well as a dozen different coin dealers. This was also the first time I ever shared my card show with coins. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Do coin shows have dime boxes, and if so, are they actually dimes, and if so, then that's probably not much of a bargain.
Well, I didn't ask the coin dealers about their dime boxes, but the card show had some.
I'm always on the lookout for dime box rookies, and here were a few nice snags. Starting top right, we have one of the players involved in the epic naughty Tigers trade of Furbush for Fister. My wife's favorite joke: "Fister, I hardly know her." Yeah, my wife is awesome.
Technically, this isn't Cole's rookie card, but it's close. I really dig Ramon Hernandez 1996 rookie. What a classic catcher pose. I was surprised to find that Ramon is still playing ball. I thought he'd retired a while ago. And he's still catching at 36.
Believe it or not, this was the first time I saw an '86 Topps Canseco in the dime box, which is considered his XRC, as is the 2003 Upper Deck Michael Bourn. I dig XRCs. They're like rookie cards but ever Xier.
I was happy to add an Andrelton Simmons to the collection, as well as another McCann and Werth rookie. The Kimbrel is an X-Fractor, which is not an XRC, but it is about as crazy as putting a quarter in a dime box at a coin show.
Glorious Pudge Rodriguez dime box cards! Love 'em. I'm totally hoarding 1991 Topps Traded Pudges.
These were three for a dollar, and great deals. This Greenberg card is a masterpiece. And this Cabrera is not a rookie, XRC or otherwise, but it's close and I needed it for the collection. I just had to have this Zumaya card. Poor Joel. He was throwing more 100+ fastballs than any other pitcher before he got injured in 2010. What a sha--Hey! That's Mr. Verlander by Joel. Sweet!
I'll save most of the huge "hits" for next post, but I'll show a few autos I got for one dollar a piece. Ryan Perry is no longer a Tiger, but he was on this card, and I love the design of these 206 autos. Personally, I think we made a big mistake trading this kid for Collin Balester last year. Perry is still pitching for the Nationals, and I think he has some potential.
Speaking of Tigers that are no longer Tigers, here's my favorite current traded Tiger: Casper Wells. I have a few of his autos from Razor. I love the look of his signature, and his name is so cool. Plus he's from Grand Rapids, Michigan. It looks like Casper might get some real playing time next season with the Mariners. I hope so.
Next post, come back to see the big hits!
Psst: they're not that big.
I'm a bit late to be talking about tradeline news, but I'm always late on the blog posts, as I am in life.
So, the Tigers picked up Doug Fister before the trade deadline, and that's great. We desperately needed another solid starter, instead of pushing rookie after rookie into the fifth spot, or, worse yet, turning a good relief man into a bad starter. That's like turning a Coke into a Pepsi. No one needs a Pepsi starter. So, I'm happy to welcome Fister. Hell, he's probably thrilled, since he's had no offensive support from the Mariners.
I was happy until I found out who we were trading. I knew we'd offered up Furbush and two ambiguous prospects. (Um, we traded Furbush for Fister--the twelve-year-old in me can't stop giggling.) Well, stop laughing. This is far from funny. One of those prospects was Casper Wells. Nooooooooo!
He hasn't been great for the Tigers in 2011, but he's more than a solid outfielder, and his bat has a lot of potential. I started collecting him over the winter, perhaps because he's from Grand Rapids, which is about an hour away from me. Hometown pride and all. Plus, he has one of my favorite names in baseball. Anyway, I picked up this auto over the winter:
Snagged it off ebay for around $3 shipped. Casper has a great sig, this interesting spiral going on with a strike threw it. It's unique, the kind of sig a collector could dig.
I picked up this one a few weeks ago:
This one is numbered 12/199. I did a best offer on ebay of $2.50 shipped and was surprised when the seller instantly accepted it. I was thrilled to get this card, but now, what do I do?
Do I become a diehard Fister fan? Do I trade off my Casper collection?
Nope. I'll stick with the guy. He's still a Michigan native and a player I enjoy watching. Really, this trade will likely be the best thing that could happen for his career. Now he'll get more play time, not having to compete with a Tigers line-up full of consistent sluggers. The Mariners need his bat, and they'll use him. It's kind of a similar situation to Scott Sizemore, who went to the A's earlier this year. Since leaving the Tigers, Sizemore is hitting a career best .236 with 5 home runs and 27 RBIs in 182 at bats. In 39 at bats with the Mariners, Casper already has 4 home runs and 14 hits, batting a zany .359. OK, maybe he's not so much like Sizemore, because he's really blossoming into some great numbers.
So, maybe what's heartbreaking for me is best for Casper. I'll stick with you, Casper, and keep on collecting. I'm sure he was pretty nervous about losing me as a fan.
Any Mariners fans reading my blog? How happy are you guys to have Casper?
Ever since last year when every veteran player on the Tigers seemed to be getting injured, I had a chance to get acquainted with their AAA players. Even though our season circled down the toilet bowl, the rookie players made for some interesting baseball.
Of course you've heard about Brennan Boesch and Austin Jackson, who had great seasons. And you probably heard, or at least have seen cards of this guy:
Scott Sizemore had a decent start last year and promises to be a useful player on the roster. I know My Cardboard Mistress is a fan.
You probably haven't heard much about the next two guys, though.
Will Rhymes had a great start last year, batting .304 in his first 54 games. He's really solid at second. I like Carlos Guillen, but I feel a bit more comfortable with Rhymesie covering the base. If you have any cards of Will, I'd probably be interested.
Casper Wells is the other fella you probably haven't heard much about. He started late in the season last year, but was pretty impressive. He has some power, and might even outpower Boesch if given the playing time. I picked this card up off of Ebay for about $3 shipped. It took a while to find a good deal, though. Collectors seem to be jumping on my Casper Wells bandwagon. By the way, isn't that a great name, Casper Wells? If you have any Casper cards, I'm definitely interested in trading.
And I wonder if anyone knows the reference of the title of this post. The Young Ones was a terrible British comedy show that had great bands just randomly start playing on the set. Anyone else ever watch this?
