Trading to completion: Part 1

Hello, happy trading card fans! It's been awhile, eh? 

With a cross-country move, a new day job, and the other site taking up a considerable amount of time, there hasn't been much time or energy for writing about baseball cards. It's not unusual for me to go through stretches where cards take a backseat to life. The good news is that the interest usually comes back, especially if I can tie it into a quest.

Will this quest actually come to completion? Hopefully, mainly because I'd like to keep my streak of completing sets going. Most of the time that involves buying at least one hobby box and a ton of blasters or hanger packs and then ending up with hundreds of doubles that I try, but fail, to trade out or sell. 

So, this year, in my attempt to complete the 2024 Topps base set, I'll be trying to finish things off strictly through trades. A few weeks ago, when it was released, I headed out to the local Walmart to pick up a couple of packs and was able to get 88 unique base cards along with 12 duplicates. 

The original plan was to try and pick up all 350 cards through trades, but where is the fun in that? After all, ripping packs is half of the fun. Okay, it's more like 75% of the fun. Unfortunately, another overarching goal is to actually reduce the amount of space that the cards are taking up in the closet, so going down this road again and ending up with a couple of rows of dupes is not what I wanted to do. Also, saving money is pretty nifty. It's a lot cheaper to get 18-20 cards that I need for the price of postage than dropping $10 and ending up with more dupes than needs. 

So, I figured I could knock off a couple of goals at the same time. I could get rid of some duplicates, get cards I need, and save money if I acquired the remaining 262 cards through trades. After dilly-dallying for a few weeks, I finally got around to completing a trade through Trading Card Database and am proud to announce that the want list has been knocked off by two, that's right TWO, cards.

What we have here is Nathaniel Lowe (card #174) and Pete Alonso (card #20).

These two first-basemen combined to hit 63 home runs last year. Lowe might have had fewer bombs than the Polar Bear, but he lifted more championship trophies at the end of the season. The good news is that I was aware of both of these players before I received their cards. That won't be the case for some of the future acquisitions.  

There was a total of 7 cards in the deal, a couple of Orioles base cards and some 1985 Topps needs came along with the two 2024 cards. I sent 9 cards the other way so it was a net deduction of two cards. Woo-hoo!

2022 Topps Heritage Blaster - One Pack a Day "Break" - Day IV

 Now we're in the groove. I'm currently writing this up at a Starbucks in the greater Tampa Bay area because I needed to get out of the house for a little bit. Visiting family is great, but there is only so long that you can stare at the walls. 

It's kind of funny that everyone around me seems to be working on some serious stuff. Lots of school books out on tables for the middle of June. Then you have me, sitting alone and taking crappy cell phone photos of baseball cards (yes I wiped the table down first). Gotta love being a low-paid blogger some days. Here we go with today's pack.

#362 D.J. Stewart

Back-to-back Orioles! Well, kind of. Mullins was the final card of the last pack and Stewart was the first of this one. The only problem, Stewart isn't currently on the 40-man roster. It was a bit of a surprise this spring when Baltimore DFA'd him, but unfortunately there is a glut of outfielders in the organization and the emergence of Anthony Santander kind of crowded him out. He is is still with organization and recently returned from the injured list in Norfolk.

#241 Tim Anderson

As they say, you don't walk out of Tuscaloosa and Andersen has seen very few pitches he doesn't think he can't hit. With a lifetime batting average of .290 and an on-base of .318 you can tell he doesn't take many free passes. His career walk rate is just 3.5% which is awesome. Go up their and hack, kid. 

#264 Jurikson Profar

Another player that you wonder what could have been if injuries hadn't slowed him down at various points in his career, Profar has settle into a defense-first, play anywhere in the field kind of guy. After debuting as a middle-infielder with Texas he's spent most of the last few years in the outfield playing more than 20 games in left, center, right, and first base in 2021. He even chipped in 10 games at second base last season. He had some pop at points in his career with back-to-back 20 HR seasons.

#343 Luis Torrens

Another member of the young group of players in Seattle, Torrens has just 563 at-bats over five seasons in the majors. He's still only 26-years-old and showed decently in 2021, the one year he saw somewhat regular action. In 378 plate appearances he slashed .243/.299/.431 with 15 home runs. He hasn't found the seats yet this season in 93 PA, so that's a bit concerning.

#394 Emmanuel Clase 

A Topps All-Star Rookie trophy card! Probably my favorite reoccurring subset in Topps sets. Clase throws 101 and has a 94-mph slider. Seriously, how does anyone hit major league pitching.

#68 Home Run Leaders

The nice thing about these leaders cards is that it's a cheap way to get a card with some legends on it. I can get a 1965 Topps Mantle for $40 raw or I can get a 1965 HR Leaders card that has his face along with Harmon Killerbrew and Boog Powell on it for just $12.50. As a cheap person I'm going $12.50 all day long. Plus, BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGG

#273 Hoy Park - RC

Pirates rookie card! Get your next Yankees star cheap. Okay, that may not be the case with Park as the 25-year-old doesn't crack the Pirates top prospects list. Also, he was already with the Yankees as he signed with them as a free agent in 2014 before heading to the Pittsburgh organization in a 2021 deal for Clay Holmes. Park was called up last week when Ben Gamel went on the IR, but sent down the next day later after the Pirates acquired Yu Chang from the Guardians.

#138 C.J. Cron

Hit bombs. That's pretty much Cron's approach to baseball. It's worked well for him as he's hit 160 HRs in 3054 at-bats for a 4.8% career HR%, well above the league average of 3.0%. He's done it without striking out that much. The University of Utah product strikes out in  22.7% of his at-bats, just above the league average of 21.8%. Not a bad way to earn an estimated $23 million in salary over a 9-year period.

#165 Rodolfo Castro - RC

A Pirates rookie hot pack. Sweet! Castro had 5 home runs last season. They also happened to be the first five hits of his major league career. In case you were wondering, yes that is a record. Here's how his career started:

SO - swinging

GO to first

GO to third

Walk

SO - swinging

HR!

PO to first

SO - swinging

SO - looking

GO to second

GO to short (double play)

HR!

HR!

Walk

GO to second

SO - swinging

GO to short

FO to center

FO to center

GO to second

FO to center

HR!

HR!

That's an interesting first nine games. At that point he had a .238/.269/.833 slash line with 5 HRs and 7 RBI. His first non-HR hit came a few days later and it was a ground-rule double. His first hit that actually stayed in the park came a few days after that and was a ground ball single up the middle. So far this season he has 14 hits and just one of those is a HR.

Running count through four packs

Inserts - 1 (Baseball Flashback)

Parallels - 1 (Chrome Refractor)

Short Prints - 1

Wander's - 0

Orioles - 2 (Cedric Mullins, DJ Stewart)

2022 Topps Heritage Blaster - One Pack a Day "Break" Day Three

We're back with the third pack of the break and we pick up an insert and an Oriole! Not a bad pack for a retail blaster.  

#142 Logan Gilbert

We ended the last pack with a Mariner and we start this one with one. Logan Gilbert with the sneaky double first name name. He's off to a nice start in his second season in Seattle with a 5-2 record, 3.09 FIP, and 167 ERA+. 

#26 Charlie Blackmon

Blackmon is a member of the three-time draft club having been picked by the Marlins in the 28th round of the 28th round of the 2004 draft, the Red Sox in the 20th round of the 2005 draft, and finally the Rockies in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft. He's now in the 12th season of his MLB career and is two hits shy of 1500 for his career. While he's definitely enjoyed a Coors Field bump, his road stats are still respectable at .262/.318/.426 with 85 of his 200 career home runs.

#199 Ryan Zimmerman

Another recently retired player, Zimmerman made his debut for the Nationals in 2005, their inaugural season in the nation's capital. He struck out as a pinch hitter against Atlanta's Jim Brower. A mere 1,799 games later he retired after the 2021 season as the franchise leader in games played, at-bats, plate appearances, runs scored, hits, total bases, doubles, home runs, RBI, strikeouts, runs created, extra base hits, and times on base. He may not be a hall of famer, but he'll definitely have his number 11 retired by the organization.

#332 Jason Heyward

The first round draft pick of the Braves burst onto the scene in 2010 with an all-star season where he hit 18 home runs, slashed .277/.393/.456 and posted a 6.4 WAR as a 20-year-old. Not too shabby. After five seasons with Atlanta he would be traded to St. Louis in the ill-fated Shelby Miller deal as they knew they wouldn't be able to afford his big free agent contract. Heyward signed that big deal with the Chicago Cubs - 8 years, $184 million. 

He never quite lived up to that big money, posting just 9.2 WAR during his 7 years with the Cubs and it's looking more and more like he won't make it to the end of the contract (which expires after next season). 

#364 Franmil Reyes

It looked like Reyes had his breakout season last year as the then 25-year-old belted 30 HRs, knocked in 85, his highest totals since 2019 when he racked up 37 home runs between San Diego and Cleveland. Injuries have slowed him a bit to start this season as he's struck out 57 times in 145 plate appearances with just 3 bombs. The 39.3%  SO% is well over his career 30.3% number. If he can come back healthy, the Guardians could make a run at the NL Central. They may be 25-26, but they are only 4 games back of Minnesota.

#13 Buster Posey

The recently retired parade continues with a possible Hall of Famer. Buster Posey (who I still think of a 24-year-old prospect and not a 34-year-old veteran) hung up the tools of ignorance after a 12-year career with the San Francisco Giants. With 1500 hits, a MVP, 3 World Series, rookie of the year, a batting title, and a five-time silver slugger award his numbers make for a borderline Hall of Fame career. 

#BF-5 Bench Hammers Three Homers off Carlton (1:18 packs)

This insert takes us back to May 9th, 1973 (I was -3 years old). The sideburns are long, the pants are tight and checkered. Watergate is in the news, Columbo is on the TV and Johnny Bench is socking dingers for the Cincinnati Reds. On this day he belted 3 home runs off of some lefty named Steve Carlton to give the Reds a 9-7 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. After homering in his last at-bat the night before, Bench was credited with 4 home runs in 4 at bats, which tied the National League record. With a chance to set the record in his final at-bat, he grounded out. 

When asked about it after the game, he told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "I couldn't help thinking about Roberto Clemente. He hit three homers and drove in eight runs against us and the Pirates still lost the game."

It wasn't the first time he'd gone deep three times in a game, either. On July 26th, 1970 he went yard a trio of times against the St. Louis Cardinals. The guy on the mound that day - some lefty names Steve Carlton. 

#143 Tommy Edman

The back of the card highlights an unusual play from last season. The Cardinals had runners on second and third against the Brewers when Edman drilled a 2-0 change-up to deep centerfield. Lorenzo Cain (hey, we got his card in yesterday's pack!) made a nice leaping play to catch the ball and quickly flipped it to Avisail Garcia. It wasn't fast enough to prevent Harrison Bader from tagging up at second and following Edmundo Sosa across the plate for the rare 2-run sacrifice fly. 

#232 Cedric Mullins

Our first Oriole! In a bleak season for the Birds, Mullins was a shining beacon as he became the first player in Orioles history to post a 30/30 season. He also showed that the COVID-shortened 2020 wasn't a fluke and that his decision to drop switch-hitting was the right one. He slashed .277/.337/.451 off of lefties after spending his entire professional career hitting from the right side against them. Also, this is an uncorrected error card as they have his name listed as Cedric Boyce Mullins on the back and according to Baseball Reference it should be Boyce Cedric Mullins. 

Inserts - 1 (Baseball Flashback)

Parallels - 1 (Chrome Refractor)

Short Prints - 1

Wander's - 0

Orioles - 1 (Cedric Mullins)

2022 Topps Heritage Blaster Box - One Pack a Day "Break" Day 2

 Wow, just the second day into this thing and I'm already a day behind. I'll blame the fact that I am on vacation and that time is just a construct instead of the actual reason - laziness. That being said I did have a nice little day  and enjoyed some of random things  I like to do when I'm back in the area - Cuban sandwich and spicy gumbo from Tampa Cuban, drive down Alt-19 and see the water, over to Tampa and stop at a museum (Florida Museum of Photography this time) and a nice stroll along the Riverwalk before heading to a hockey game.

The Lightning won and a good time was had by all (except all of the Rangers fans that came down here to get sunburned and watch their team lose back-to-back games). Enough about me, though. You're here for the cards. Let's get right to it.

Pack #2

#90 Vidal Brujan - RC

We kick things off with another Tampa Bay Ray! It's the other Ray Rookie folks were excited about last year. Currently the 4th ranked prospect in the organization according to MLB.com, Brujan has scuffled a bit at the plate so far in his major league career with a .115/.163/.146 slash line in 34 career games.

#174 Lorenzo Cain

Here we have Cain pictured reflecting on his long (12 seasons) career. Now in the final season of his 5-year. $80 million deal it's likely that things are near the end for one of the best defensive outfielders of his generation. He's now in that unenviable position of seeing his playing time reduced as the Brewers look to the future in the outfield, still it sounds like he's willing to accept that role and see what the future holds.

#150 Shohei Ohtani

Hey, hey it's Shohei! The beauty of Heritage is that there are SEVEN different versions of this card. Alas, this is just the regular base as far as I can tell, but it's still cool to have the card of the reigning MVP.

#234 Mark Melancon

Are we sure Melancon isn't a left-handed reliever? He's put together a Jesse Orosco-esque career that has now spanned 14 years and and 9 teams. Coming off of a 2021 where he saved 39 games for the San Diego Padres, Melancon has scuffled a bit in his first season as the Diamondbacks closer but still has 11 saves (despite a 1.800 WHIP).

#66 2021 Saves Leaders

It's a Mark Melancon hot pack! Here he is smiling away in his Padres uniform with an equally happy Liam Hendricks. Gotta love those league leaders cards.

#367 Cal Raleigh - RC

It's a rookie card. Quick. Slab It and Flip It! Or, you know, just go ahead and throw it in a box and wait for a Mariners collector to trade/sell it to. Raliegh may not be hitting for average (.163), but he does have a little pop in his bat (6 HRs in 95 plate appearances this year) so he's your typical modern day baseball player, I guess. 

Ohhhhh.... the next card was backwards in the back!

Variation? Chrome? Auto?

#458 Johnny Cueto - SP

Nope, nothing uber-special. It was just the standard short print for cards numbered 401 and above. Cueto is with the White Sox this season for his 15th season in the big leagues.

#126 Taijuan Walker

It's been almost a decade since Walker was a can't-miss prospect with the Seattle Mariners. Injuries have sent his career on a different path, one that has led to the Mets and a decent (but healthy) start to this season. He's 3-2 with a 3.28 ERA in 9 games.

#281 Colton Welker - RC

Welker had his first taste of the major leagues in 2021 with 37 plate appearances. It might have been more if didn't have to serve an 80-game suspension for PED use as well. Injuries have also hampered the progress of the former 4th-round pick. Just last week it was announced that he would be undergoing shoulder surgery. 

Running count through two packs:

Inserts - 0

Parallels - 1 (Chrome Refractor)

Short Prints - 1

Wandar's - 0

Orioles - 0

2022 Topps Heritage Blaster Box - One Pack a Day "Break"

 I'm currently on vacation in Florida. Hanging out with some family and have a ticket to Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers. Other than the fact that I forgot how much fun it is to do anything in humidity, it's a nice relaxing break from my, well, not so stressful regular life.

While on some errands we stopped at a Wal-Greens and they happened to have some cards behind the counter. So, on a whim, I picked up a blaster of 2022 Topps Heritage. I have no plans of collecting this set. I wasn't even going to go out of my way to get the Orioles out of the set (already grabbed one of the Ryan Mountcastle relic cards from a dollar box). So consider all of these cards available for sale (unless of course I pull something that I really, really want). 

Let's see how we did with Pack Number 1

#363 Yandy Diaz

How appropriate. I'm in the Tampa area and the first card pulled is a Ray.  

#59 Matt Chapman

In the grand tradition of Heritage as an early season release, Chapman is pictured as an Oakland A. He was traded to the Blue Jays on March 16th, so there is an outside chance he is pictured in his Toronto uniform in the extended series release.

#111 Tucker Banhart

Barnhart joined the Tigers in a November 2021 trade and is scuffling along with a .226/.258/.252 slash line.

#233 Josh Harrison

Harrison had a brief stay in Oakland as he was part of a deadline deal between the Nationals and A's. He finished out the season there before signing with the Chicago White Sox in the off-season. 

#6 Liam Hendricks

Speaking of the Southsiders, Liam Hendricks is next up. Unlike some of the previous players in this pack, Hendricks is off to a strong start in 2022 with a league-leading 16 saves. 

#47 Yasmini Grandal

White Sox hot pack! We're back on the struggle bus. Grandal is slashing .163/.274/.213, but he does have 2 home runs!

#334 Bryan De La Cruz RC - Chrome Refractor #92/673

Hey now, a retail hit! According to the back of the wrapper these refractors come 1:176 per pack in the blasters. It ain't sexy, but I'll take it. Love me some shiny cards. In his second year with the Marlins, De La Cruz is playing part time, but has put up 8 stolen bases in 37 games. After working his way up through the Astros organization De La Cruz was traded to the Marlins in 2021 and had a pretty decent rookie campaign.

#374 Kyle Seager

We follow that card up with our first retired player card. Seager announced his retirement in December of 2021 after an 11-season career with the Seattle Mariners. In nine of those seasons he posted 20+ homeuns and finished with 242 in his career. A nice solid career.

#89 Whit Merrifield

I'm pretty sure Merrifield is the active leader in trade rumors per season in the league. It seems every summer the Royals infielder is involved in speculation that has him getting moved to a contender. As of now he hasn't moved and continues to be a steady performer in the middle of the field for Kansas City. Not sure if you know this, but he's led the American League in stolen bases three times in his career and is currently ranked 14th among active players with 166. 

That's pack number one. We'll be back tomorrow with the next one. If you see anything you like, hit me up in the comments. 

The backs of cards and other things

 

While at work earlier this week I noticed that the flags at the convention center across the way were at half-mast. I found it a little odd since, despite the unending amount of terrible news flung at us on a daily basis, there didn't seem to be anything that warranted the President needing to order the flags lowered. I also dragged myself away from my desk long enough to peek up at our flags to see that they were ratcheted all the way to the top. So, that led to me to think this was a state ordered decision.

In fact, it was. The Governor had ordered the flags at half-mast for all state-run buildings, which apparently the convention center is, to honor Col. Gail S. Halvorson. It wasn't a name I recognized, nor would I expect anyone else to know who this Salt Lake-native was. Luckily, I had some free time and access to Wikipedia so that led to a quick run down a rabbit hole.

Col. Halvorson passed away on February 16th at the distinguished age of 101. While that alone is commendable, it's what he did as a relative young age of 28 that led to the honor dispatched to him by the man at the top of the chain in Utah. If you do the math, you can figure out that Col. Halvorson was part of the so-called greatest generation, one of those that was in his twenties during World War II and like so many others volunteered for military service. He ended up flying C-54's for the U.S. Air Force right after the war and was part of the Berlin Airlift.

If you're not familiar with the Berlin Airlift, imagine a fleet of airplanes supplying an entire city with it's daily needs of food and fuel. Your quick history lesson. After World War II, Berlin was divided among the conquerors. East Berlin, West Berlin, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, all that stuff. From June of 1948 to May of 1949 the Soviets blockaded all the land routes into the portion of Berlin controlled by the Western Allies.

In order to make sure the people living in those areas didn't starve to death, the U.S., England, and Australia flew in the supplies needed on a daily basis. It's estimated that over 2.3 million tons of supplies (mostly coal) were delivered by air during that time. Our friend, Col. Halvorson was one of the pilots flying the cargo planes dropping off those items.

While he on the ground in Berlin, the Utah-native would walk the city taking photographs and noticed some children watching the planes take off and land from the airport. He also noticed that those kids had next to nothing so he provided some gum to them. When he saw how they reacted to the small treat he was inspired to do more. So he told them that the next time he was flying over to make a cargo drop he would also drop some candy to them. They would recognize his plane because he would wiggle his wings as he flew over. 

So he did. With home-made parachutes made out of handkerchiefs, Col. Halvorson dropped candy and treats that he had pooled together with some of the other members of his squadron. Just like that "Operation Little Vittles" (a takeoff of the official "Operation Vittles" name for the Berlin Airlift) was born. As an unofficial operation at first, he made the drops about once a week. However, as word of it spread, it received official endorsement by the military and by the time it ended in May of 1949 over 23 tons of sweetness had floated from the skies, buoyed by over 250,000 tiny parachutes.

Col. Halvorson was dubbed Berlin Candy Bomber, among other nicknames, for his humanitarian efforts. When he returned to the States he married his college sweetheart, Alta Jolley, and continued his service in the Air Force while attending Brigham Young University. He had a long career working in the technical and research side of things helping to design, among other things, plans for manned reusable spacecraft.

The candy drops he inspired continued well after World War II as Col. Halvorson helped organize similar efforts in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Guam, Japan, and Baghdad. Among other honors he was a centerpiece of the Congressional Gold Medal.

So what does all of this have to do with baseball cards, the subject this often neglected blog is supposed to be about? Col. Halvorson's story is one of those fascinating little facets of history, often neglected by traditional learning institutions, woven into larger tapestries of well-known events.  This is why I love history and majored in it in college (sorry for the waste of money, parents). It's also why I always loved the little factoids on the back of baseball cards.

Yes, the stats were always nice to see, especially when Topps would list out the entire career of a 20-year veteran in type so small even a 12-year-old would need seemingly need a magnifying glass to read. As much fun as it was to see how many hits Marty Barrett had in 1987 (164) it was the random factoids that interested me much more. Remember, as a child of the 1980s I didn't have the internet. Any baseball knowledge I accumulated came from magazines like Baseball Digest, Sports Illustrated, or Inside Sports (or if I had saved enough money for the game and didn't blow it on a flat coke, maybe a team media guide). 

There were also the tales our elders told us, but many of those, while making for good stories, probably weren't true or distorted to the point of legend instead of actual fact. What did we know, again we didn't have the internet to fact check the stories.

So, a lot of little pockets of knowledge, most of it mundane (from his 1991 Topps - Bob Walk led the Eastern League with 135 strikeouts in 1970), but every once in a while there would be something that sticks out. Kind of like on the back of Joc Pederson's card above.

Who doesn't like a story about waffles? A quick internet search of "Ian Happ waffles" generates plenty of results so it isn't like this fact is new, but back in the day, outside of a passing mention by a broadcaster on TV or radio, reading about the waffle maker on the back of a card would have added some character to the card and player.

Much like the story of The Berlin Candy Bomber adds a human dimension to the story of the Berlin Airlift, these little anonymous factoids on the backs of cards add a little something other than just numbers. 

Orioles Victory Card #8: I got nothing

 Baltimore Orioles Victory Number 8: 7-5 over the Miami Marlins

2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Mychal Givens

Well, this post is two days (and one loss) late. Wish is was because I was crafting something excellent for you to read. Unfortunately, it's not. I do like this card, though. It's always fun to see prospect cards for a player listed at a position they ended up switching from. As you may recall Mychal Givens did not make it to the Orioles as a shortstop. Rather he sent 5 1/2 seasons as a reliever that was occasionally dominant and occasionally extremely hittable. 

Last year he was traded to the Rockies at the deadline for Tyler Nevin, Terrin Vavra, and Mishael Deson. That could be a sneaky good trade for the O's on the road to a rebuild. Nevin and Vavra are ranked in the Orioles Top 30 prospects by MLB with Vavra coming in at 13th and Nevin at 23rd. Deson is a bit more of a project as he is only 18-years-old and has yet to appear in a game in the U.S. as he spent 2019 playing in the Dominican Summer League.

After a rough (I originally typed "rocky" but didn't want to go the pun route so early in the season) start for Colorado last season, Givens is back to throwing strikes in the National League. He has worked 8 innings, walked two (one intentionally), and struck out eight. He has allowed two home runs already (both at home) which is interesting because his flyball rate (14%) is way below his career average of 23.9%. If he puts together a strong year, he'll probably be on the move again this summer as Colorado is struggling in the standings (last place in the NL West).

The Orioles are hanging around in the AL East and have run their record back to 8-10 as their starters have done...okay. Their rotation was a huge question mark heading into the season, but they've probably gotten more than they've expected so far. The one major drawback is that, outside of John Means, the other starters haven't worked deep into ballgames, taxing a bullpen that features two Rule V picks.

On the other hand, that does give the team an opportunity to showcase a few arms to other teams that might be willing to add Paul Fry, Scott Armstrong, or Tanner Scott at the deadline. If Mike Elias and his staff can orchestrate a deal similar to the Givens trade, that will give them a few more lottery tickets in the system.

Orioles Victory Card Number Sixteen (1987 Season Edition): Slugging their way to victory

Baltimore Orioles Victory Number 16: 4-3 over the Kansas City Royals

1996 Upper Deck SPX Holo Roberto Alomar


With the sporting world on hold due to the novel coronavirus shutting down the world for a few months we here at The Hopeful Chase are going to our rain delay programming. For the last two seasons we've posted a baseball card following every Baltimore Orioles victory (I know, talk about the minimum commitment required). It's fun and keeps us writing about baseball and collecting. Rather than sit back and stare forlornly at the outside world we've decided to continue the series with a season from the past.  The season of choice - 1987. Please enjoy.


"This ballpark is the worst to pitch in. I'd rather pitch in Fenway. It's ridiculous. In any other ballpark maybe it's a single, double, or an out. I can't see how anyone likes this park. If I played here, I could hit 10 home runs."

It doesn't sound like Brett Saberhagen is happy about pitching at Memorial Stadium. His attempt at going 7-0 to start the season died at the bat of Orioles catcher Terry Kennedy. The first-year catcher's 4th home run of the year broke a 3-3 tie and put the Orioles back in the win column.  It also showed signs that Kennedy (who had been booed in the previous game after striking out four times) might be emerging out of his recent 5-for-42 slump.

If so, then he'll join the rest of the line-up that, as the weather has turned nicer, has started launching balls over major league fences. Earlier in the game, Cal Ripken, Jr. had hit his league-leading 11th home run off of Saberhagen. 

While his dad had preached a dedication to pitching and defense as a return to the Orioles winning ways, it's been the long ball that has juiced the recent run of success for the Birds. Heading into the series with the Royals, the Orioles had hit a major league leading 47 home-runs (they hit another 5 in the series). Not only that, but 47% of the 163 runs Baltimore has scored have come via the long ball. 

Ripken, Jr. (11) and Eddie Murray (9) were leading the way, but following the win against Saberhagen and the Orioles, every player on the current roster with the exception of the newly reactivated Mike Young had gone yard at least once.

On the flip side their pitching staff wasn't exactly inducing a ton of ground balls. As a staff they'd surrendered 44 home runs with Ken Dixon giving up 8 in just 35.1 innings. It's not even June yet and the ball is leaving the park at a frantic pace.

Granted, this wasn't just a fluke thing happening in Baltimore. Around the league the balls were leaving stadiums at a historic pace. While everyone likes to talk about the balls being "juiced" or being wound tighter in Haiti there were probably a multitude of factors that led to the boom of big blasts like increased physical training or just a bad year for pitching.

Now, there was a physical issue in Baltimore that did lead to a few more home runs leaving Memorial Stadium. In 1985 the team installed a new "Diamond Vision" scoreboard in right-center field. According to Baseball References "Ballpark Factors" Memorial Stadium went from a pitching friendly rating of 94 in 1984 to a slightly less friendly 97 in 1985. By 1987 it was a neutral 100. 

Along the way, the Orioles pitching staff had also gotten worse while their philosophy in position players had changed as well. Defense first players like Rich Dauer, Al Bumbry, and Rick Dempsey were gone and replaced by free agents like Fred Lynn (who may have had 450 career home runs if he'd been healthy) and trade acquisitions like Kennedy. Even their prospects like Larry Sheets and Jim Traber were more known for their offense than their defense.

For now the Orioles offense was allowing them to outhit some of their pitching woes, most notably in their once-again realigned bullpen. Don Aase was back and Jack O'Connor replaced Mike Kinnunen as the lefty in the pen. Ken Dixon was working his way into a set-up/closer hybrid while Dave Schmidt was humming along as the long-man (9 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings). Mark Williamson was still working in relief as well, having settled down a bit from a rough early stretch. 

They were still finding their stride. Previous to this victory, Mike Boddicker had worked a tidy 7 innings against the Royals and left the mound in the 8th with a 4-1 lead. O'Connor blew the save by allowing a three-run homer in that inning, Aase gave up a run in his 1.1 innings of work, and then Williamson lost the game by allowing two runs in the 12th inning. 

Still, the O's were winning and crawling their way back to a .500 record.  An West Coast trip is in their immediate future. Can they keep the long ball going? We'll find out!

Orioles Victory Card Number Six (1987 Season Edition): Back in the win column

Baltimore Orioles Victory Number 6: 4-1 over the Cleveland Indians

1987 Topps Don Aase

With the sporting world on hold due to the novel coronavirus shutting down the world for a few months we here at The Hopeful Chase are going to our rain delay programming. For the last two seasons we've posted a baseball card following every Baltimore Orioles victory (I know, talk about the minimum commitment required). It's fun and keeps us writing about baseball and collecting. Rather than sit back and stare forlornly at the outside world we've decided to continue the series with a season from the past.  The season of choice - 1987. Please enjoy.


Thank you to the Milwaukee Brewers for knocking a little bit of realism back into the season for the Baltimore Orioles. Nothing like getting swept (and no hit) to deflate a little early season optimism. While outscoring the Orioles 20-7 in the three game series, the Brewers ran their record to 9-0, not a bad way to start the season.

It was all bad for Baltimore as their starting pitching wasn't actually that bad. Scott McGregor worked into the 8th in the first game while Mike Flanagan was solid for most of the third game. Ken Dixon did have some trouble with the long ball as he gave up four home runs in five and two-thirds innings during the middle game. The offense just kind of disappeared against the Brewers.

Along with the home runs allowed in the 7-4 loss on Tuesday, the Orioles lost the one sure thing they had in the bullpen - closer Don Aase. After appearing in limited work during the opening week of the season he faced two hitters to close out the top of the ninth inning. While he worked his usual magic and didn't allow a run, he wasn't able to lift his arm the following day - not a great sign for a pitcher. 

Diagnosed with tendonitis of the right shoulder he was put on the disabled list and instructed not to throw a ball for ten days. Again, not exactly what you want out of your closer. There had been some hope that the Orioles wouldn't have to lean on him as much as they did last year. In fact, one of the major criticisms of Earl Weaver's final season in Baltimore was that he used Aase (only two years removed from major elbow surgery) way too much.

The big right-hander appeared in 66 games for the O's, including 46 of the team's first 106. That doesn't include the times Weaver would have him warm up and not use him. He was effective over that stretch with 28 saves, a 4-3 record and a 2.02 ERA. That workload did seem to take its effect on him, though. His final 20 appearances (which coincide with the Orioles rapid descent) produced a 2-4 record with a 5.32 ERA and only six saves.

The hope for 1987 would be that he wouldn't have to work quite as much hence the off-season flirtation with Ron Guidry. Thanks to his early season injuries it seemed like that plan would work out. Just not in the ideal way the Orioles would have hoped. 

The team called up left-hander Mike Kinnunen to replace him in the bullpen. To be honest I never heard of that man in my life. Kinnunen had been signed by the Orioles as a free agent prior to the 1986 season and appeared in nine games. According to his stats he shows up in 18 games in 1987 for the Orioles, pitching a total of 20 innings without recording a win or a loss. In fact, in 48 major league games between the Orioles and the Minnesota Twins (his original team) he never factored in a decision. Ahhh...the life of a left-handed reliever.

Aase's injury didn't really factor in any of the losses the Orioles suffered against the Brewers, after all you don't need a reliever if you're never ahead (insert meme of guy knowingly pointing to his forehead). It did, however, make a questionable bullpen even more so. Rookie Mark Williamson moved into the closer/short relief role while Kinnunen joined Tony Arnold (9.00 ERA so far) and Dave Schmidt as the middle relievers.

First of all, can we talk about how different the 80s were? A freaking four-person bullpen. Could today's managers even handle that? Five starters and four relievers don't even get teams out of a doubleheader theses days. Right along with a 92 MPH fastball being considered "hard stuff" that may be the most mind-blowing differences between baseball in 1987 and today.  Oh, and the pitch counts as well. Juan Nieves no-hitter against the O's only took a tidy 128 pitches.

Anyway, back to the ballclub. Having seen their offense sputter, manager Cal Ripken, Sr. finally started to tinker with line-up. Defensively John Shelby had been fine in the outfield. Offensively, not so much. Following that home run we talked about last time he had struck out in five consecutive at bats. Insert veteran Lee Lacy.  Rick Burleson and his constantly dislocated shoulder were scheduled to be benched, but his replacement, DH Alan Wiggins was left out of the line-up due to a boil on his back that needed to be lanced. Wiggins's absence did open up a spot for Larry Sheets (hitting .455) in the order.

Thank god the Cleveland Indians came into town. Mike Boddicker took the mound and did something he hadn't in his last 15 appearances - he won. He gave up five hits over seven innings while striking out seven and walking only one. Williamson took over and worked two hitless innings and the Orioles were back in the win column.

The offense was sporadic but effective with the team generating only five hits, but they were timely. Tom Candiotti walked four and hit a batter so it provided enough runners for the Orioles to scratch across four runs. It was a scrappy win for a team that's starting to look a little thin roster-wise.

The First Post of the Year. Some goals, some cards.

Ahhh, the first of the year. When bloggers from across the card trading world post about goals and ambitions and the like. Wait, it's the end of January and not the beginning? How did that happen? Whelp. I guess there's no need for a long detailed post about what I plan on doing with my cards this year since I'm already a month behind.

Might as well just wait till March and a return to the Orioles Victory Card series. Already have 15 cards scanned, that should get me into early June. Oh god, it's going to be such a long summer. The good news is that, if plans hold, I'll be at opening day (my first ever) to hopefully see a valiant effort against the dastardly New York Yankees. I'm also holding out hope that I'll be able to see Pearl Jam at nearby Royal Farms Arena (haven't been there since the original Baltimore Blast were in town).  Based on how ticket sales went last week, that's highly unlikely, but you never know.

As far as collecting, I do actually have some plans for 2020. As I've tried to do every year since I've had to start lugging this collection around (from Florida to Chicago to Pittsburgh to Salt Lake City) I plan on reducing the amount of cards I own. 

Now a couple of times I've said, "I want to get rid of 1,000 cards this year" or something to that effect, and I've done it. The problem, I've also taken in more than a 1,000 cards that year. So, in the end, I still ended up with more cards than I started with, which is a problem. 

This year, I've refined the goal. My plan is to get rid of 2,020 more cards than I take in. Thus eliminating roughly one shoe box worth of cards from the closet. You're welcome, whatever moving company moves us next.

So far I'm off to a decent start with a -674 card count as of today. Granted 550 of those cards went out in one transaction, but who's counting (technically I guess I am). Also, I haven't bought any boxes of new product yet either. That leads into goal number two.

Limit the buying of boxes. I love ripping packs. It's one of the top things about this hobby that keeps me interested. Whether it's a single box/pack of SP Game Used or 20 some packs of Topps Big League, the joy of not knowing what's going to pop up in the next pack is so much fun. 

My plan for Series One is to just buy a collated set. Those tend to not be too expensive on eBay and will keep the extraneous cards to a minimum.  That will severely hamper the chances of me flipping any inserts or variations for Series One, but that's ok. God knows I have enough from the last few years that I haven't posted or tried to sell yet so I should be able to keep at least some money flowing into the Buy More Cards fund. 

I will most likely buy a few boxes of Heritage or Allen & Ginter when they roll out later in the year. That will give me some time to eliminate more cards and I do love the 1971 design for Heritage this year. I'm sure I'm not alone in that which means box prices should remain nice and high (being smarter was never going to be a goal this year).

Other goals include continuing to build the Personal Collection (currently consisting of Tampa Bay Lightning cards, Vincent Lecavalier cards and Eddie Murray cards). I did manage to get 99.9% of my Lightning cards loaded into TCDB which allowed me to post a Want List for the ones I don't have. That makes trading a little easier. 

I also plan on having my entire collection entered into TCDB by the end of the year, if not sooner. I'm roughly 40% of the way there and it gives me something to do while mindlessly watching TV. Entering cards has shown me that I have plenty of duplicates (thanks junk wax era) and surprisingly, there are people out there that are looking for those cards. I've ripped off a bunch of trades already this year and offers keep coming in every time I finish loading a set. 

My goal in regards to trading is to make sure I send out more than I receive in at least 95% of the trades I make. That will help chip away at that 2,020 fewer cards thing. I've never been huge on getting equal value out of trades, especially since it's mostly base card duplicates that I'm sending out, so throwing in an extra four or five cards a trade isn't going to kill me. 

Woe to those that list any late-80s, early 90s cards on their want lists. If I see you need 1989 Topps cards, you're getting some, no you're getting a lot. I have 2,170 duplicate 1989 Topps cards. that's too many by about 2,000. So beware of your want lists. I will ambush you with extra cardboard.

I do want to finish off a few sets. Last year's base set is still incomplete as is the 2016 base set (that one feels like it will never end). I've completed 46.2% of the 1976 Topps base set so I doubt I'll finish that off, but if I end up close to 75% I'll be happy. There are a couple of older sets that I'm almost done with that I'd like to finish off as well (1991 Upper Deck 88.1%, 1989 Fleer 87.7%), but they're not exactly a focus.

As for singles, I will still be buying PC cards, but also want to pick up some cards of classic players, or classic cards. I picked up a few last year (Griffey Upper Deck rookie, 1971  Thurman Munson, 1985 McGwire that may be a fake, etc). This year I'm looking for cards of the old players like Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente. Throw in some of the Robinson boys and Boog Powell as well and I'll be a happy camper. 

Other than that, I just want to have fun. I try not to get wrapped up in drama in this hobby, because, after all, it's just a hobby for me. I'm not in it for the money, just the memories.

In keeping with my goals here are a few cards I picked up recently.

1964 Topps Sandy Koufax World Series #136

I went online with the intention of buying a Koufax card from his playing days. Found this one that was not only affordable, but I really liked the photo of Koufax at full stride, probably right before he made yet another hitter look foolish. 

1976 Topps Dennis Eckersly

The "biggest" rookie card I needed for the 1976 set, Eck came at a reasonable price due to some soft corners. Still, it's pretty well centered and will look good on the page. Now it's just a matter of finding the other 300+ cards I need to finish off the set.

 A trio of Vinny Cards

These three cards put me up to 285 different Vincent Lecavalier cards. That's roughly 7.4% of the available cards he has out there. I'm currently ranked third among collectors on TCDB who have Lecavalier cards. I think with a little work I can get to second (310 cards), but first (374 cards) may have to wait until next year.

Orioles Victory Card 11 : A tale of two prospects

Orioles Victory Number 11: 5-4 over the Chicago White Sox

2019 Topps Dylan Bundy


Baseball is a funny game and projecting success or failure of prospects is more or less a shot in the dark. Of all of the professional sports picking which player will succeed and which will be selling cars three years after they're drafted baseball has to be the toughest. It's also the longest journey for prospects. Kids drafted this summer may not make an impact for three or four years.  And that's for the ones drafted in the top two or three rounds.

Even if those prospects make it to the majors, year-in and year-out success can be tough to maintain. Just because someone was a first round pick doesn't mean he is going to win 20 games. Vice versa, just because a player is drafted in the 46th round doesn't mean he is going to be a career journeyman. Sometimes that 46th round pick can be leading a team in victories while the first round pick is just searching for a start where he doesn't give up a home run.

In 2011, the Baltimore Orioles made Dylan Bundy their first round pick and the fourth person chosen in the major league draft. He was the fourth pitcher taken following Gerrit Cole (Pirates), Danny Hultzen (Mariners), and Trevor Bauer (Diamondbacks). It took them all summer to sign the strapping righthanded high-school pitcher from Oklahoma, but with his skill set (two breaking balls and a bat-breaking 98 MPH fastball) the consensus was that he wouldn't be long in the minors.

That same year, way down in the 46th round - a round where favors are cashed in and family friends are drafted, the Atlanta Braves selected John Means, another high school hurler from fly-over country. According to Means, he was surprised at being drafted and was injured at the time the scout came out to visit him in Kansas City.  The scout actually advised against him signing at the time and so Means went to college. After a year at a nearby community college, Means ended up at West Virginia and then, after his junior season, was drafted in the 11th round by the Orioles in 2014.

By 2014, Bundy had already made his major league debut, a 2-appearance, 2-inning cup of coffee in 2012, been subject to a pitch count controversy, and was recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was also in the middle of a 5-year $6+ million contact. He was also a leading figure in the next wave of great Orioles pitchers that would return the organization to their former glory.

After sailing through the minors in his first year in professional baseball (from Delmarva to the majors in just one summer) the pain in his elbow kept him on the shelf for over a year. Recovery and rehab consumed all of 2013 and the beginning of 2014. He lasted just nine semi-productive appearances in Fredrick and Aberdeen before shoulder pain shut him down for the rest of the summer.

Means shared roster time with Bundy on that 2014 Aberdeen IronBirds. Following a brief stay in rookie ball, the left-hander made nine starts in Aberdeen and pitched fairly well, striking out 33 and walking only 2. He would spend the next four years working his way up through the system, never once making a top-prospects list for the Orioles, but also never getting to the point where he was in danger of being released. He gave up hits, but walked few and kept the ball in the park.

In 119 minor league starts from 2014-2018 Means had a pedestrian Win/Loss record (35 and 41) and an uninspiring 1.323 WHIP. There were some positives, he only walked 2 per game and gave up .8 home runs per game - a dreadfully important stat for pitching in the bandbox that is Camden Yards. With the Orioles in complete burn down mode, he earned a late-season call-up to the majors. He appeared in the first game of a double header against the Red Sox and gave up five runs on six hits in a 19-3 blowout. He didn't walk anyone but did give up a 3-run homer to J.D. Martinez.

Bundy had pitched in the game prior to Means' debut and lasted about as long (3 innings) and also surrendered a home run, a 2-run shot by Mookie Betts. He was saddled with the loss, his 16th of the season. The home run was the 39th out of 41 that he would give up during a trying season.

He was no longer the upper-90s power pitcher that had debuted with such promise six years earlier. That electric fastball, when left in the middle of the plate, was knocked around by hitters in ballparks all across the American League.  Bundy is still the de facto ace on the Orioles, now more by attrition than by sheer talent.

There are moments when he can look untouchable. He spots the fastball and then mixes in a sharp breaking slider that has hitters looking foolish. It's still there, that spark of a dominating pitcher, but all too often he labors around the strike zone. He fails to hit the corners and falls behind in counts. Then he is forced to come over the heart of the plate, and there it is extremely vulnerable. Despite several years in the majors he is still learning to pitch within his current talents. He now has to be more Greg Maddux than Roger Clemens.

Meanwhile, John Means has succeeded by being John Means. Mix speeds and pitches (according to FanGraphs he uses his change-up about 33% of the time and his fastball about 54% of the time with an 11 MPH difference between the two). He works fast and doesn't give up home runs. Well, at least until his last start when the White Sox tagged him for two bombs and jumped his hard hit percentage from 16% to 20%.

All of Means stats come with the usual small sample size warning. As he pitches more, the hitters will develop a "book" on him. His tendencies will become known and it's on him to figure out the next step, how to get major league hitters out when they know what you're throwing.

The summer is long, especially if you have any investment in the Orioles, and John Means may never win another game in the majors. Bundy could figure it out and become a dominant, soft-tossing ace.

For the record, John Means currently has zero officially licensed baseball cards. There are some minor league cards floating around, but he has yet to have one issued by Topps or even by Panini. On the other hand, according to the Trading Card Database, Bundy has 1,064. That will most likely change over the summer as Means will pop up Topps Update series and a handful of other releases.