Pack Break: 2013 Bowman Platinum

Since I'm a pretty big Bowman fan, I somewhat look forward to new releases of the Bowman name.  This year's Bowman Platinum is no exception!  The cards are shiny as each card in the set looks like a refractor.  I'm attracted to shiny like a mosquito to a bug buster.

I made a dumb mistake at Target when I bought these.  I bought 4 of the value packs because the rack thingy it was hanging on said "Excell MLB Baseball 4.99".  Everyone knows that Excell stocks the cards in the section so I did a little math in my head and figured that either Topps was selling these rather cheaply or Excell made a mistake.  Plus with the cards literally being on the shelf for a day or 2 I wouldn't think they would have gotten stocked in the wrong spot.  WRONG.  I got to the register and they rung up at 9.49 a piece.  I should have put 2 back but I'm glad I didn't (I think).

I'll start off with my mojo autograph hit of Tayler Scott of the Cubs.  I seem to pull Blue Jays, Astros, Yankees, and Cubs hits out of everything I buy at retail.  WTF.  The autographs aren't too terribly hard to pull out of retail at 1 every 31 packs.  

Here's a gaggle of top prospects.  Notice the Cubs, Yankees and Astros are prevalent here!

Here's another one of the blue sapphire rookie reprints.  Not my cup of tea but I think somebody in the blogosphere is collecting these but I can't remember who.  Anybody know?

Here's one of the Baseball America inserts.  It's nice to see a prospect-centric set partnering with a prospect-centric magazine/organization to create an insert set.  Not that the design is groundbreaking or anything, just nice to see.

I guess these are called the gold diamond/ice paralells.  I also got a Braun but nobody wants to see his lying picture on my blog.  I should tape some of his cards to a bottle rocket and do a video feature here on the blog.  Any interest in seeing that?

I got a good pile of Purple refractors (12 to be exact) since they came 3 per value pack.  I'm really lucky and happy to get 2 of the Orioles brightest young farmhands.  I imagine if I would have put 2 of the value packs back on the shelf that knowing my luck it would have been the 2 that contained these cards!  I've had total crap luck this year when it comes to pulling O's cards from packs.  I didn't get any of the base cards from Bowman Platinum of the Orioles (there's only 3: Jones, Bundy, Machado).  Every card you see on this page is for trade except for the Gausman and Schoop.

Here's a visual list for all of the cards I have for trade from the product:

Bowman Platinum Prospect Autograph: BPAP-TS Tayler Scott

Gold Ice Parallel: 9 Braun, 32 Arcia, 78 Cano

Bowman Blue Sapphire Rookie Reprints: Chase Utley

Prospect Refractors: BPCP3 Brinson, 20 Dahl, 70 Nunez, 71 Choice

Prospect Purple Refractors: BPCP21 Lindor, 39 Sanchez, 57 Nicolino, 65 Hawkins, 68 Lee, 76 Hedges, 80 Davis, 87 Heaney, 90 Ozuna, 94 Hensley

Diamonds In The Rough: DIR-LM Merejo

Top Prospects: TP-JSO Soler, JB Baez, JS Singleton, GS Sanchez

Multiple Trade Post

I've received quite a few smaller trade packages in the mail lately.  While the volume of cards received might have been small, each and everyone of them filled a hole in my collection.

First up a Nick Markakis from 2007:

This one came from Dennis of Too Many Verlanders.  This package showed up in my mailbox as an unannounced surprise.  He was digging through some boxes at a card show an though I would like the card!  Boy, was he right!  When I'm dime box digging, I always try to think of my fellow collectors too.  Nothing beats trade bait on the cheap! BTW, this is the refractor version of the insert set and it's numbered 434/500.  It's tough to see the refractory finish in the scan.

Tom from the nice blog Waiting 'til Next Year sent me this Pro Debut from this years set along with a nice stack of 2013 Bowman to help with my set.  Schoop is probably the most advanced offensive prospect the Orioles have now that LJ Hoes is now an Astro.

Next, is a spanking-new Manny Machado Insert from 2013 Topps Series 2.  I think the Chasing History set is pretty well designed, but I think the "records" that are being chased are some what coincidental.  Manny never had a multi-HR game in the minors and on his second day after getting The Call, he smacked 2 dingers in a game.  So I guess that means he'll be chasing that record now....  I dunno, just seems like they had to get the best players in an insert set so they had to think up some off-the-wall records for them to "chase".

I think I will be forever chasing the UD Documentary set from 2008.  162 cards for the team set will keep me busy for quite some time.  BTW, the Machado above and the Markakis are from a reader of the blog named Kyle.

Next is a Gold parallel from this years Bowman that was delivered from Brian of Play at the Plate.  I still don't have the base version of this card though.  I'm sure with "Crush" hitting so many dingers this year, we'll be seeing more and more of his cards in products.

This Machado comes to me from Bryan of Golden Rainbow cards.  I've seen several cards that are in this insert set and I like them a lot.  I love action shots on baseball cards more than posed shots so the Chase it Down insert set is right up my alley.  I won't be collecting the set, just picking up the Adam Jones and calling it complete.

Bryan also included this sweet Miguel Gonzalez gold parallel in a later PWE in the trade.  I'm not quite sure why Topps didn't put the rookie card logo on any of Miguel's cards this year.  As far as I can tell, he hadn't had any cards issued before this year.  If Topps isn't going to put the designation on all of the cards, then don't do it at all!

Thanks to all the great traders that sent these awesome cards!

Trade with Ryan of Ryan's Pitch

Here's a trade that came together rather quickly last week.  Ryan from the excellent blog Ryan's Pitch posted up a wantlist for some 2012 sets he's trying to finish up last week and I was happy to help out (and clear some room out of my commons boxes).  I was very happy to be able to get these cards in return:

A Javy Lopez patch card!  If I remember correctly, this one is numbered 70/100.  I vaguely remember Javy's time in Baltimore since it was a time when I wasn't collecting much or paying that close attention to the Orioles.  I do remember my roommate at the time who was a Braves fan being pretty upset that Javy switched teams.  I guess it was the personal connection he had since he had seen him play in person for the Braves Triple-A team at the Diamond here in Richmond.

There's a rumor that the Orioles are interested in bringing back Matt Lindstrom to the flock for the upcoming season.  I'd welcome that move since he pitched really well during the 2012 season before he was shipped off to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Joe Saunders.  To be quite honest Lindstrom would be preferable in my eyes over the re-upping of Saunders.  You can't teach a 98 MPH fastball that Lindstrom possesses but  we don't need to sign Saunders to a multi-year deal that blocks the path of Dylan Bundy and Kevin Gausman to the major league rotation.

Luis Ayala pitched really well of the O's this past year.  I really hope that he can keep it up this year.  For once, the Orioles bullpen has some stability and reliability.  This particular card is one of my favorites of 2012.  It's like Luis is pointing the bat at the photographer saying "don't even think about making fun of my pink batting gloves, my daughter gave them to me!"

The next big offensive prospect in the Orioles pipeline is Jonathan Schoop.  I've gotten his autograph in person a few times and he has been quite pleasant each time.  I believe he is going to start the year in Triple-A Norfolk playing everyday.  He played very well in the Arizona Fall League after having an average season at Double-A Bowie.  I'll be following him closely this year to see how he's progressing!

Thanks for the trade Ryan.  I hope we can get together on another trade soon!

8-20-12: Bowie Baysox @ Richmond Flying Squirrels

Since the Baysox were in town playing the Flying Squirrels on Monday night, I decided to head over to The Diamond and see the game.  Oh yeah, and Dylan Bundy was also making his second AA start.  If you haven't heard, he's kind of a big deal in baseball news right now since he's one year removed from getting his high school diploma and having the success he has had this year in the minors.

So I loaded up my autograph with Orioles prospects and headed out.  When I first arrived, I got my ticket and went thru the gate.  As you can see from the scan of the ticket above, the Squirrels were giving away Nutzy and Zinger Salt and Pepper shakers.  Nutzy is the Squirrel Mascot and Zinger is the Acorn sidekick.  Here's a pic of the set:

They are fairly well done in ceramic.  I thought they were going to be some cheap plastic crap from China.  But since the Squirrels have been in town for the last 3 years, they have really paid a lot of attention to the fan experience which I like.  The Richmond Braves didn't seem to go too far out of the way to please the fans when they were here.

So onto the autographs:

Mike Belifiore was one of the first signers.  The Orioles got him for Josh Bell earlier this year.  I used the fine tipped (wrong) Staedler pen instead of the medium tipped (correct)  version.  GRRR....

Aaron Baker is on the DL right now and not expected to play for the rest of the season.  You can see I used the correct pen this time.

I got Jonathan Schoop to sign multiples. (with the wrong pen again, dammit!)

Ronnie Welty signed and was very pleasant.  He even remarked at how nice of a night it was for a ball game even though he was on the bench.

Here's the customs that I got signed.  From the upper left going clockwise: Andy Loomis, Mike Wright, Jacob Pettit, Ty Kelly, and Antoan Richardson.  Loomis, Wright and Pettit haver really nice signatures.  Ty Kelly needs some penmanship work.  Antoan Richardson is kind of a dick saying that he wouldn't sign in the white spot because he doesn't want it counterfeited or something. Dude, you're 28 and in double-A, get a clue, you're not a top prospect!  

Robbie Widlansky was a hero for the Baysox this night.  Lets set the scenario.  Dylan Bundy and Clay Schrader had held the Flyin Squirrels to only 2 runs on the night while Bowie was flailing away and hitting tons of at'em balls scoring none.  In the top of the 8th inning the skies opened up and caused an hour and 15 minute rain delay (yes I stayed cuz I'm hardcore like that, and I'm glad I did for 2 different reasons.)  Reason #1 is Robbie jacked a 3 run bomb in the top of th 9th inning letting Bundy off the hook for the loss and the possibility of going another game up on the Richmond for the wild card spot.  It wasn't meant to be because Kyler Newby (Bowie's closer) ruined that and Richmond scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to win it.

So after sticking around for about 4 hours, I decided to try and get what I came for.  Yeah, I came to watch Dylan Bundy pitch and Bowie play but I also had other motives for the trip.  I was unsuccessful before the game in getting Dylan's autograph so I decided to stalk stake out the players entrance and see if he would sign while leaving.  I wasn't the only one there.  I had the company of about 12-15 other autograph seekers looking to get some late night 'graphing action.  We all patiently waited for about 20 to 30 minutes letting the other players walk by (who I'd already gotten earlier in the evening).  Most of the other seekers didn't even know who they were other than me because I have a photographic memory.

Then he comes out, talking in the phone.  This is usually when most guys "big league" you and walk right on by without even acknowledging you have a pulse.  He circled around inside the little fenced in area for a few minutes and then walked over to us while still chatting on the phone.  I was the 3rd person in line and here it is:

SAWEET!  His signature looks great on the new Bowman Platinum!  I was really thrilled to meet him but I really wish I could have chatted with him for a few minutes but he was on the phone and I didn't want to be rude.  I did say thanks, though!  He seemed like a good kid.  ( I can call him kid because he's almost 10 years younger than me).
I think he pitched pretty well during the game and he even hit 96 mph on the stadium gun IN THE 6TH INNING which I think is about 1 or 2mph slower that what it actually is.  While I think that he is better than some of the pitchers currently on the Orioles 25 man roster, I don't think he should be called up for the stretch run.  I think a month or 2 in Triple-A next spring will do him good and then he can be promoted.  A lot of people are calling for him to be activated now but I don't think that he's quite ready.  I say just let him go home rest, and then start working out, and gettting ready for next season while letting the experiences of the 2012 season sink in a little bit.  But that's just me, the guy who has to pay to get into the ballpark.

So it was a great night (other than the rain delay) and I plan on going to one more Squirrels game this year next Tuesday.

5-1-12: Bowie Baysox @ Richmond Flying Squirrels

The big move is getting closer but I still had enough time to sneak out to a Flying Squirrels game this past week. I usually only go when there are free tickets involved or the Bowie Baysox are in town.  I had this date marked on the calender since the schedule came out because I really wanted the travel coffee mugs that they were giving away that night........ NOT!  Well the coffee mugs are nice I really went because I wanted this:

And I GOT IT!  Say what you will about Pro Debut, but this autograph turned out awesome!  And not to mention it's Manny freakin' Machado!  He comes as advertised.  He made some great defensive plays in the field and had a decent night at the plate going 1-3 with a walk.  I can't wait to see him play on MASN on a regular basis.

I also got Ronnie Welty on 2 cards which turned out great.  Ronnie's played pretty good so far this year so Triple-A might not be too far down the road for him.

I also got Jonathan Schoop on both of these cards from last year.  He's struggled a bit so far in Double-A but I'm sure he'll figure it out and start mashing again soon.

And the mystery autograph for the night.  Anybody that guesses who this is gets the satisfaction of knowing who it is.  He's been mentioned on the blog before (that really narrows it down).  He's a player that did a really nice thing for me at a Squirrels game last year.

The Baysox won the game 2-0 with a great pitching performance from Zach Clark and some timely hitting by the offense.  I had a good time talking to some of the other fans at the game and just being able to spend sometime not thinking about packing and moving.

Orioles @ Tides IP Autograph #15

It's IP autograph weekend here at "O" NO!!! Another Orioles Blog.  I'm featuring each and every in-person autograph that I obtained this past Wednesday when the Orioles played an exhibition game against their AAA affiliate, The Norfolk Tides.

#15) Jonathan Schoop


I was surprised to see Jonathan at the stadium because he was assigned to AA Bowie earlier in the week.  Once again I was unprepared without cards for him to sign so he signed my custom.