Orioles Victory Card Number Twenty-Four (1987 Season Edition): Eddie Murray hitches a ride around the stadium

Baltimore Orioles Victory #24: 4-3 over the Oakland A's

2019 Topps Update Eddie Murray Short Print Variation

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.

Ahh, short print variations. Love them or hate them, they are probably going to be cropping up for the foreseeable future in Topps flagship product and update series. Like a of things in this industry I can take or leave them. Usually, if I pull one they're on eBay before the pack wrapper is in the trash. Mr. Murray has a few scattered among the recent sets and I picked this one up off of eBay for a really good price the other day.

It features a rare smile of Murray smiling in Baltimore. It's based on a Getty Images photo that was taken on June 7th, 1998 prior to a game against the Atlanta Braves.  A year after he played his final game in the MLB and two seasons after he last suited up to play for the Orioles (he was in uniform in 1998, serving as a bench coach for Ray Miller) Murray finally had his number retired by the ballclub.

Why do I say finally? Well, because the ball club announced in 1989 that they would retire the number 33. That's right, with nine seasons left in his career the Orioles had already signaled that he would be remembered among the greats of the organization. If that wasn't awkward enough, the announcement came roughly three months after the Birds had traded his contract to the Dodgers for the slightly underwhelming return of Brian Holton, Juan Bell, and Ken Howell. 

The initial announcement wasn't handled well. John Steadman, longtime columnist for The Baltimore Sun, lambasted the decision calling it a "sham and an insult to players, past and present, who hold a deep affection for the city". He then made a case for the club retiring the number of Willie Miranda before Murray's 33. Murray, for his part, seemed indifferent at the announcement, offering up a "what do you want me to say?" when informed about it. The parting, as you can see, was a bit contentious.

Time heals almost all wounds, so by the time this photo was taken, past insults were forgotten. A 1996 trade had brought him back to Charm City for the stretch run and in time to hit his 500th home run in an Orioles home run. So it was all smiles and "Ed-die, Ed-die" chants that day as he toured the permiter of the field in a 1998 silver Corvette.

I would love to say that the 1998 Orioles showed Eddie Murray a tremendous outpouring of respect and prevailed against the Braves that day. They did not. Fellow Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux put on one of his clinics as he twirled a 4-hit shutout, facing just 30 hitters (with 20 of them hitting groundballs). It was the first time in 129 games the Os had been shut out and Maddux made it look easy. Doug Drabek, starting for the Orioles, made it look difficult as he gave up five runs in three innings. The Orioles would drop the game 9-0 in a somewhat quick-paced 2:25.

There was just a bit of star power in Camden Yards that day.. Five Hall-of-Famers (Maddux, Chipper Jones, Cal Ripken, Jr., Harold Baines, and Roberto Alomar) played in the game. Three more hallowed members (Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, and Bobby Cox) sat on the bench for the Braves while the Orioles had Mike Mussina and his future Hall-of-Fame self on the bench. Both GMs - John Schuerholz for Atlanta and Pat Gillick for the O's - have their names in the Pioneer/Builders wing in Cooperstown as well.

Eleven total future members had some hand in the game while already enshrined members Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, and Frank Robinson took part in the pre-game ceremony (Brooks Robinson sent a video tribute). Including Murray, that makes fifteen (!) Hall-of-Famers at the Yard that day. Not too shabby for a random day in June.

For those wondering what's going on in the 1987 Orioles season - we'll get back to that with the next post. I realize that we are way off when it comes to dates (the Orioles 24th victory took place on May 25th) but trust me it'll all work out. There is a bit of a swoon coming up so I figured it would be better to spread things out a bit. Since it doesn't look like there will be 2020 baseball any time soon we'll be sticking to the 1987 season for a little while longer.

Orioles Victory Card Number Twenty (1987 Season Edition): Catching up with a trade Post

Baltimore Orioles Victory #20: 15-4 over the Seattle Mariners

1987 Ralston Purina Eddie Murray


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.

I am not great at keeping to a schedule. Just when I was caught back up with this series I abandoned it for a few days right in the middle of another Orioles winning streak. For the record, the Orioles 20th victory of 1987 happened on May 19th. I'm writing this on May 26th, so I'm only a week behind, which is better than I thought. I'm not going to lie, dates are a little hazy for me right now. That's a side effect from not working for almost two months.

We also decided on an impromptu trip down south this weekend. The walls of the apartment were closing in a bit and with travel restrictions easing up out west we decided to hit a state park during the holiday. The state just happened to be in Nevada. Hotel rates (I still get a discount despite being furloughed) were pretty outstanding so we hopped in the car and drove to Las Vegas.

It was kind of sad to be in the town and not have the chance to gamble (the casinos were still closed), but at the same time it was nice and relaxed. We wandered around Valley of Fire State Park for the better part of the day and enjoyed being in a different town for roughly 48 hours.

I'm not sure we could have socially distanced more if we tried. Aside from a few lizards we had the entire 8 mile trail to ourselves. I guess people didn't feel like wandering around in a canyon for four hours during their holiday weekend. 

Making the trip even better was that upon our return, I had a couple of non-machinable envelopes waiting in the mail. The trade machine is in full working order and I've been averaging two or three trades a week. 

In this case I worked out a deal with user rsemu in order to bump up my Eddie Murray collection by one. In exchange for a potpourri of base cards (including a couple of checklists), he sent back the wonderful Ralston Purina card above along with some other needs.

Whenever I see a Ralston Purina card it makes me think of Cookie Crisp cereal. I believe as a little kid that would have been the delicious, nutritious breakfast of choice when I wanted to pull some cards out of a box of sugar. I really wish Topps would get back into the cereal / baseball card partnership game again. It's been ages since I've seen a baseball card in a box (although I know there are some MLS cards on the back of certain boxes). 

As for the Murray card, that marks the 301st different Eddie Murray card I have recorded. According to TCDB that ranks me 8th among Murray collectors. Not bad, but moving up the list from here will take some time. I need another 45 different cards to get to 7th, and over 100 to get 5th. The top collector has 1,148 of the 4,540 cards in the database so I don't think I'm catching him this year. 

Personally, Murray is the player I have the most different cards of, which is good because I do label myself a Murray collector. In second place, at no surprise, Cal Ripken, Jr. What may be a surprise is that I've put no real effort into picking up his cards and I have 289 different Ripken cards.

This sweet Joe Orsulak 1989 Upper Deck was also part of the deal. Nothing beats seeing Joe standing around the batting cage waiting his turn. I only have about 55 of the inaugural Upper Deck cards in my collection (almost half of those are Orioles cards) at this point so it's always fun to see a new one come into my life. It really is a perfectly designed card. 

Most importantly he finished off my 1991 Upper Deck needs. The best card of the lost?

Upper Deck loved throwing these triple-exposure cards in their base sets and it broke up the routine of normal exposure cards. 

Now, I see it completed my set, but according to my records I have 799/800 of the base set. The one "missing" card - the Chipper Jones rookie card. Which really pisses me off because I know I have that card somewhere. I also know it's not where the bulk of my collection is because every time I stumble across it I think, "Wow, I should really put that with my other cards." 

Such is the joy of moving twice in two years. Things get jumbled up in different boxes. I have a vague idea of where it may be and I'll dig through the box tomorrow to see if it's there. I really hope it is because I know if I trade or buy another copy I'll immediately find the original. 

All in all, not a bad weekend considering the circumstances.

Trade Post...and a return to a more active site?

Well now. It seems it's been a month of Sundays* since I last posted. Time just kind of gets away from folks from time to time I guess. The good news is, as a member of the hospitality trade, I'm gearing up for a bunch of free time. That's bad for my bank account, but good for those of you who enjoy rambling trade posts and other random things.

We'll get back into the swing of things with a nice basic trade post. Things have been going well in that department as I'm shuffling cards around on a consistent basis. I usually have two or three trades in the works at a time which makes checking the mail a fun event. It's also helping with that goal of getting 2,020 cards out of the door.

Let's check in with the card-o-meter:

-443

That's 443 more cards out than in so far in 2,020. It seems like a good number, right? Unfortunately at the beginning of the month it was at -870. Then Heritage was released (had to get a box of that, right?). And along with that box, Dave and Adam's had a really good deal on 2002 Upper Deck Vintage - the original 1971 throwback set. So had to buy a box of that.

It's a process. 

On to the trade!

A few weeks ago I sent a blind trade request to user 3bCollection at the Trading Card Database. He saw some additional Braves inserts that weren't on my trade list. Being that I had no need for them, we reswizzeled things a bit and came to an agreement. The inserts and a pile of 2001 Topps dupes went to Georgia and in return came these cards:

1982 Orioles Team Leaders

Yup, another Eddie Murray card for the personal collection. That makes for 284 different Murray cards or 6.8% of the listed cards on TCDB. 10% or bust!

The best part of the card was the back. I love it when checklist cards were actually used for checking off cards in the collection. I'm also in the middle of adding my regular 1982 collection to the database and noticed all the checklist cards I had marked up back when I was a little kid.  Ahhhh memories.

1985 Baltimore Orioles Topps

The 1985 design has really grown on me lately. I'm not sure I'm going to start building it, but I'll at least finish off the Orioles that I need. Lowenstein's combination of sunglasses and mustache is peak level 1980's baseball while Cruz magnificent quaff of hair should never have had to have been contained by a hat or helmet.  

 

2019 Bowman Prospect Hall and Mountcastle

We don't know when baseball will start in 2020, but when it does, it'll be that much closer to the next generation of Orioles taking the field. Mountcastle and Hall are hopefully a big part of that. 

 

2019 Topps

I'm never going to finish this set. TCDB tells me I'm 99.4% complete. I don't believe it. Every time I get a card, the set size will increase by one card. I know that's what is happening.

Thanks 3bCollection!

   

Orioles Victory Card Number 25: The O's turn the tables

Baltimore Orioles Victory Number 25: 9-6 over the Tampa Bay Rays

1989 LJN Toys Baseball Talk Collection Eddie Murray

For what seems like the first time this season the Orioles were the team that kept the game close and then blew it open late. After surrendering a 3-1 lead, Baltimore teed off with six runs in the top of the ninth against the Rays and then held on in the bottom of the inning to walk away with a 9-6 win.

John Means, he's an All Star you know, had another strong outing as he went 7 innings and gave up 3 runs. Mychal Givens made a nice run-saving play at the plate to pick up his first win of the season while Shawn Armstrong put the fire out in the ninth to pick up his 2nd save of the season. He is now tied for second on the team in saves with Miguel Castro and Richard Bleier as manager Brandon Hyde continues his search for someone to take the role as closer on the team.

On offense it was Rio Ruiz and Renato Nunez banging 3-run home runs to provide the bulk of the offense. The Orioles, for once, were the ones who took advantage of miscues to pull away with the win. The Rays provided a wild-pitch, a dropped throw at home plate and an ill-advised diving attempt in centerfield all in the final frame that keyed the Orioles victory.

Means' strong start came on the heels of a couple of debuts earlier in the season. Recently acquired pitchers Tom Eshelman and Asher Wojciechowski started the first two games of the season and did alright. Both went at least five innings, but weren't able to find the win column as the Rays pulled away in the later frames of both games. With the starting rotation in turmoil don't be surprised if both hurlers get another chance at a starting a game before the season (or month) is over.

As for the card at the top of this post. It isn't often that I find a Murray card from his playing days that either I don't have or haven't seen before. That goes double for 1989 cards. Yet, here we are. I was flipping through COMC.com putting an order together and this "card popped up".

It's made by Topps and is styled after the 1989 base collection but uses a photo that isn't from the base set. For his regular card, Murray is hitting from the right side in the gray road uniform. Asyou can see from the photo above in this one he's at home against the Brewers. It's most likely a photo from 1987 as I believe that is Bill Schroeder doing the catching for the Brewers.

Schroeder only appeared in one game in Baltimore that year and it was a replacement. While Murray was did hit in the game, he most likely would have been swinging from the right side of the plate as Dan Plesac, a lefty would have been on the mound. Schroeder, who wore number 21, did play in the entire April series in Baltimore in 1987, so it's most likely that the photo was taken during that series.

So what the hell was the LJN Toys Baseball Talk? It was a 164-card "set" that included cards of players and, current and past, that had a plastic "record" on the back. The cards are a lot bigger than a regular trading cards. According to baseballcardpedia, they measure 5.25 inches by 3.25 inches. When inserted into the Baseball Talk player it would play 2-3 minute of audio, usually recounting a famous moment in that player's career.

Back in the day, this would have been an awesome toy to have just for the audio. Look, we didn't have the internet in 1989.  We couldn't just dial up Hank Aaron's historic home run or "The Shot Heard 'Round the World" on YouTube  Usually, the only time I heard old radio broadcasts was during rain delays or during some sort of retrospective show. You might be able to get a VHS from the local video store that had some highlights on it, but that was about it. It was truly the dark ages.

I have no idea what highlight is used for Murray because I have never seen a player live in person. I vaguely knew about this as a kid, but since it wasn't an actual baseball card as I pictured it, I ignored it. I wasn't a bright kid.  If you have a working player and the complete set of 164 cards you can probably get $150-$200 out if it. Most of the cards will set you back a buck or two, but there are a few (like Babe Ruth) that might cost $10 or more if you can find them.

Not a bad addition to the Murray personal collection if I do say so myself.

Zistle Trade 92- Picked up Some O's

I fear this is turning into a “Look at Justin's trades” blog. Well, so be it. There will be more content in the future (promises, promises). For now, enjoy my quest to 100 (trades, don't thing I'm going to live that long). Here is trade number 92. Yup, skipped one, don't worry about it, we'll get there at some point.

Once again we go to Zistle. I reached out to user bdlehman18 for a quick PWE trade. For those who don't trade cards on the internet with strangers PWE stands for Plain White Envelope. When you're only trading a small amount of cards (usually 6 and under) it doesn't make sense to put them in a padded envelope and waste a bunch of money on shipping. Instead you use a regular envelope, some creative protection (usually cardboard) and hope for the best.

PWE can be frowned upon if you don't let the other guy know ahead of time. Or if you're shipping expensive cards. Luckily I don't any of those and Brian was ok with it. I dropped him a few extras I had (including a Goodwin Champions from a box that I had no valid reason for buying).

In return he sent the following:

2013 Topps Trevor Bauer

When you are putting a set together, not every card is going to be sexy. Sometimes you have to grind out the collecting and pick up cards that elicit exactly zero emotional response. Thus you end up trading for Trevor Bauer base cards.

2010 Topps Nolan Reimold

A double needed card! An Oriole card I didn't have and a card I need for the world's most annoying set – 2010 Topps. This is also, without a doubt, the most tentative fist bump of all time. Anything harder than a gentle whisper of a touch would land Reimold on the DL with a broken wrist.

1994 Topps Cal Ripken

I'm sure I have multiple copies of this card in the Florida vault (i.e. my in-laws house) but I do enjoy this piece of junk era cardboard. It's the perfect use of horizontal framing as it captures Ripken's follow through completely without cutting off an arm or a bat. Well done Topps.

1997 Collectors Choice The BIG Show Eddie Murray

God bless you mid-to-late 90s cards. Foil – check. Random use of sports celebrities to drive an unnecessary insert – check. Random multicolor text on the back of the card – check. Really, look at the back of this thing:

 It took me a few seconds to realize that Upper Deck had mashed two different thoughts together and alternated lines. Why? Why would you do this Upper Deck?

Also, if you look you see that Eddie Murray is rocking the top hand batting glove in this photo. I'm sure this is only interesting to me, but it is the first thing I check out on any Murray card I add to my collection. I am so intrigued I think I'm ready to write him a fan-boy (well fan-middle aged man) letter asking him why the hell he would do that.

I've developed my first theory. Murray was one of the best switch hitters to ever play the game. You could argue that Mickey Mantle is the only one that was better. Even though he was dangerous from both sides it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a manager to call a reliever in to switch him from left to right or right to left. So if Murray went to hit right-handed he only brought a batting glove for his left hand (most hitters if they wear only one batting glove wear it on their bottom “power”hand). If a manager called a right-handed reliever in to switch Murray around, maybe the slugger didn't like going back to switch batting gloves so he just rolled with it.

Seriously, I thought about this for about five minutes straight. I might have even ignored some things my wife told me while I thought about this. Women, this is why you should never ask us what we're thinking about. This is what we think about.

2015 Topps Stadium Club Bo Jackson

Aww yeah. Bo knows Stadium Club. Not the most action-packed shot, but it did make me wonder – Is this the same fence from Bo's slightly more famous 1987 Topps card? 

I will argue that Jackson's rookie card is one of the ten best cards from the mid-to-late 80s. Not quite the Griffey 1989 Upper Deck, but close. Damn close.

That wraps up another trade, just a few more to get to that magical 100 mark.

Trade Time - Cardboard Not People

It's been a few posts since I've written about cards. Let's see, my last post about hockey or baseball cards was....still looking....still looking...October. Huh. It's been a while, hasn't it. Especially for what nominally qualifies as a card blog. I guess I should work a few posts in about cards. I haven't been buying too much lately due to a self-imposed financial limit and the fact that I haven't been “wowed” by much lately. So, how does one acquire new cardboard? Trades of course!

This one was sent to me by Trevor. I left a comment on his blog, he left one on mine. There were emails involved and then we finally hashed out a deal. He has the ambitious idea of completing a master set of 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee Hockey and I had some Rainbow Parallels hiding their light in a cardboard box. He had some cards I needed and with the help of the US and Canadian Mail systems I had some new cards.

2010 Topps “The Cards Your Mom Threw Out” Eddie Murray

One of several of Topps' “Hey let's just reprint cards we've made before!” inserts over the last few years. This one features the regular back as opposed to the “original back” which features, well, the original 1978 back of the card.

To my knowledge my mom never threw any of my cards out. Did you, Mom? DID YOU? She had plenty of chances. Most notably during college when I spent four years in Florida and kind of lost interest in collecting. In fact, if I'm not mistaken they actually moved the collection from my childhood house to the townhouse they lived in while I was in college. Thanks for not throwing out all of those Gregg Jefferies rookie cards!

2012-13 OPC Pavel Datsyuk and Tim Gleason

While not as ambitious as a master set, I have been trying to put together a complete set of the 2012-13 OPC hockey set for the last 3 years. At this rate I should be done sometime around 2021.

2012-13 OPC Bobby Orr Short print

One of the reasons it will take so long is because of cards like this. The dreaded short print. The regular base set is about 500 cards so why not throw another 100 short printed cards on top of it. Christ sometimes this hobby drives me insane.

1983 Topps George Brett

A set I'm a little closer to completing is the 1983 Topps baseball. I've actually knocked out most of the “big cards” like the Wade Boggs rookie. This is one of my favorite designs of all time. I like the action shot mixed in with the floating head.

When I think of the first cards I bought/owned it's the 83 and 82 Topps that come to mind. Those were the cards that I kept first in shoe-boxes (hey I was like 8 years old and didn't know better) and are the ones that have been in my collection the longest. I have since acquired older cards, but these are the ones that I look back on with the most fondness. I would have missed these the most if my mom had thrown them away.

And look at that uniform. No belt! Those are the baseball pants we grew up with, kids. You knew you were on a good team when you got a uniform that included a belt. If I remember correctly, I didn't have a belt until high school. That was a good day.

If you guys have some extra O-Pee-Chee lying around – head over to Trevor's site and help the kid out.

My NSCC Haul!

OK. So I didn't actually go to the National Sports Collectors Convention. It was in Cleveland. I've been to Cleveland twice and I think I've hit about all I need to see (except for the “Christmas Story house”. Besides, next year's NSCC is back here in Chicago and if I put in my request for days off now, I should be able to go (unless I'm paddling a kayak through some remote waterway like I was the last time it was in the Windy City).

However, I was so jealous of everyone posting their loot from the NSCC that I went online and bought some cards. A healthy PayPal account and a couple of hours to spare led me to pick up 17 new cards from COMC.com. For roughly the price of a blaster I added 17 cards to my shoeboxes. Here, presented with commentary are those 17 newest cards.

2011 Topps Finest Refractor Rookie Autographs Zach Britton

It's an Oriole. It's shiny. It has an on-card autograph. Winner Winner Winner. Britton has taken over as the closer for the first place O's and not doing a bad job of it. Say what you will about the O's front office, but they saved themselves some money by letting Jim Johnson ($10 million) walk and finding a way out of the Grant Balfour ($4 million) contract.

Instead they installed former starting rotation savior Britton in the closer role and he's thrived. He's converted 24 saves while striking out 51 batters in 58 2/3 innings. All for the low, low sum of $522,000. Which once again proves that teams that spend more than $4 million on a closer are insane.

2008 Topps Sterling Eddie Murray

One for the personal collection. For some reason I never know what to make of these Sterling cards. I like the fact that they frame the action, but the serial numbering seems excessive. Is there any reason to only make 250 of these cards? Other than artificially driving up the value of course.

2012 Topps Heritage Dee Gordon

I have a deal with myself. Anytime I buy cards on COMC I have to knock at least one card off of my “Wanted” list. I'm pretty sure that I had this Gordon card at one point and then traded it away because I am bad at keeping track of things. Oh well.

2010 Bowman Platinum Jake Arrieta

I've been in Wrigley for two of Arrieta's starts this year. Both times he's taken a no-hitter past the 5^th inning. I've never been to a professional game where a no-hitter has been pitched. Much like knocking down a hole-in-one,I would like to attend a no-hitter before I die. I should put together a sports-related bucket lists of things I'd like to see that are out of my control. I'd also like to catch a foul ball, just once. My niece is five and she already has a foul ball. Life isn't fair.

2012 Topps Heritage Aroldis Chapman

He throws really, really hard. I like the fact that there is someone who just brings the heat. I also like the fact that he doesn't have any wins this year. If you're a closer you should either get the save or the loss. When I see a closer that has 5 or 6 wins I think, “He's probably blown a lot of leads only to get bailed out by his offense in the bottom of the inning.” That's not cool. Don't be a wins poacher.

2013 Bowman Dylan Bundy

The price was right for a rookie card of the O's best prospect. I'm glad that they made it through the deadline without parting with any of the big three young pitchers in the organization. While the pressure to make a big deal to WIN NOW there is something to be said for holding on to your prospects. Especially pitching prospects since projecting their success is pretty much a crap shoot. Bundy is working his way back from Tommy John surgery and it isn't unreasonable to think he might make it back to the majors in time to help the O's in September.

2012 Topps Chrome Wei-Yen Chen

If I was to tell you Chen is 12-4 this year would you believe me? No, you would probably go look it up and say, “huh – how about that”. On a staff without a true ace Chen is at least the most consistent of the starters. He goes out there every start and gives the O's about 6 innings of solid work. He doesn't dazzle nor does he get knocked around. He's only had one start where he's gone less than 5 innings (June 28^th against the Rays) and has only one start where he's gone eight innings.

2013 Topps Manufactured Rookie Card Patch Eddie Murray

Card number two for the personal collection. Normally I'm not a fan of the manufactured patch card, but at least it's not a fake jersey letter. I kind of like the reprint of the rookie card on a cloth background. I also like any card that says “Congratulations” on the back. Thanks for the inspiration Topps!

2008 Razor Signature Series Bobby Bundy

And Justin G. goes WAY off the board for this pickup. Honestly, at this point I was just looking for an on-card autograph at a reasonable price. The older of the Bundy brothers, Bobby is also working his way back from elbow surgery. After showing some success in the A level, Bundy has struggled a bit over the last few years. If he can work his way back from the elbow issue, maybe he can find a spot in the organization as bullpen arm.

2009 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects Chris Tillman

I guess Tillman is the “ace” of the staff. Or at least the number one starter. Well, he was the opening day starter. It's kind of weird to think that he is only 26 years old. Oriole fans have been on the phenom/bust/phenom/bust roller coaster with him for what seems like a decade.

He has nine wins on the year which is boosted slightly by the 4.76 average in run support he gets during his starts. Come stretch run/playoff time he's going to have to turn it up a notch as he won't be seeing that type of support against quality teams.

2014 Bowman Blue Kevin Gausman

2014 Topps Kevin Gausman

2013 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects Blue Refractor Kevin Gausman

2013 Topps Finest Refractor Kevin Gausman

Yeah, I kind of went on a Gausman run there didn't I? When I went back to Baltimore this summer for a wedding (Congrats Little Cuz!) it was in the midst of the Jeff Samardzija trade talks. It kind of surprised me that the popular consensus in the Charm City was that if the O's were going to pull off the trade it would be better to ship Dylan Bundy to Chicago instead of Gausman. Now granted some of that could have been due to the “what have you done for me lately” syndrome. With Bundy on the shelf and Gausman contributing it would be easy to forget that Bundy is the top-rated prospect.

Luckily, Oakland went all in for the Shark and O's fans can look forward to a future rotation with both Gausman and Bundy starting. It'll be interesting to see how much Gausman pitches down the stretch. He has been bounced back and forth between Norfolk and Baltimore quite a bit (12 starts in the majors and 11 in AAA) and is at about 112 innings pitched between the two. In 2013 he threw about 129 innings.

In spring training it looked like he would have an innings cap around170 innings, but since his last call up it seems like Buck Sholwalter might be removing that limit. I could see him moving to the bullpen once Miguel Gonzalez is recalled from the minors. Granted, I would rather see Ubaldo Jimenez sitting out beyond center field eating sunflower seeds, but you don't pay someone $11 million to pitch in blowouts.

2000 Skybox Matt Riley

Speaking about blowouts. Hey it's former prospect Matt Riley! I bought this card more because of the photo than of the player (Motion Blur-Jo!). The former 3^rd round pick was a hard-throwing, left-handed prospect during the lean years for the Orioles at the turn of the century. He lasted parts of three seasons before injuries and a lack of discipline derailed his chances of being the next Brad Pennington.

He was shipped to Texas for the legend that was Ramon Nivar (one career RBI for the O's) and then quietly faded away. Not before I stocked up on a few of his rookie cards, though.

2008 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Jake Arrieta

Another early card of the Cubs current ace. Arrieta was the opening day starter for the O's in 2012. By 2013 he was on the Cubs. The 2013 opening day starter for the O's was Jason Hammel. By 2014 he was on the Cubs. The 2014 opening day starter for the O's was Chris Tillman. Will he keep the streak going?

2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Chrome Draft Picks Hunter Harvey

The last card in the bunch has the longest set name in the history of baseball cards. Also, in keeping with the Justin G. curse the day I selected this card, Harvey was shut down for the season with an elbow injury.

Seventeen cards at an average of $1.44 per card. The most expensive card was the Britton and the least expensive was the Dylan Bundy Bowman. The card I feel like I overpaid the most for was the Matt Riley. The card that looks better in person than online was the Britton. The best value I thin was the Gausman Finest refractor.

New Cards at No Cost - It Must Be a Trade Post

Opening day is right around the corner – well it's actually right around the corner behind us if you buy into that whole “Opening Day Down Under” nonsense. Personally I do not. There will be a baseball post on this site at some point, hopefully in the next few weeks. For now, lets kill some time with a trade post.

Due to an early work schedule this weekend I missed out on the spring version of the Chicago Sun Times Show. So I didn't get a chance to wander around the convention center looking at the same dealer tables that I have seen several times over the last few years. OK, so I wouldn't say I missed out on that. What I did miss was meeting up with Sal, Tim and Nick and increasing my collection through their generosity.

With the self-imposed budget (which I've managed to eat up about ½ of three months into the year) I haven't been buying that much either. One thing I have managed to keep up with some online trading. Over the last three months I've swapped out five or six trade packages, keeping the collection fresh and the post office in business. Just this week a lovely white postal envelope showed up from our neighbors in the True North.

He goes by the handle Rosenort, needed some 2013-14 Upper Deck and runs a blog by the name of ConditionSensitive. I sent him a trade offer on Zistle and he accepted. In return for a handful of doubles that I had, the fine gentleman of Watson sent back the following.

2013-14 O-Pee-Chee Matt Carle – For the Lightning Collection

I often forget that Matt Carle is on the Lightning. Not in a bad way, or in a “God, I wish he was wasn't on the team” way. More like I'll be watching the game and he'll do something and I'll think to myself. “Oh yeah, Matt Carle is on the team.” That being said, he's had a decent year – chipping in 27 assists from the blue line.

2012 Topps Heritage Josh Johnson – Needed for a set

One of these days I'll finish this set. And one day Josh Johnson will be healthy again.

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Dealing Aces Matt Moore and Roy Halladay – Needed for a set

At some point this season David Price will be a former-Ray and I think Moore will be the one to step into the number one starter role. If the Rays are in contention at the trade deadline, Andy Friedman is going to have a huge decision to make.

A few years ago I wrote that, among active pitchers, Halladay had the best shot at winning 300 games. At that point he was mowing people down like it was a video game. He retired this winter with 203 career wins. Another great prediction by Justin G.

A Trio of 1989 Upper Deck Orioles – For the Orioles Collection

Oswald Pereza was acquired for Mike Flanagan. Good for him. He was a highly touted prospect, but 1988 would be his only season in the minors. Arm injuries stalled his career and he was out of baseball by 1992.

Tom Niedenfuer was a middle of the road reliever who had numbers that weren't horrible for the Orioles. If he was pitching today he'd probably only make $8 million a year.

Terry Kennedy was a veteran catcher who came to the O's in a 1987 trade along with Mark Williamson. After being the number one guy in '87 (hitting 18 home runs while playing in 143 games) he lost the role in 1988 to a young switch hitter by the name of Mickey Tettleton.

All three of these players had a role in the horrendous 1988 Orioles team. A team that ranks as my second favorite worst team of all-time. Surprisingly enough, none of these guys would be involved in the “Why Not?” season of 1989.

1997 Fleer Ultra Eddie Murray – Personal Collection

Murray hit the last three home runs of his career in an Anaheim uniform. It's a toss-up between Anaheim and the New York Mets for oddest uniform to see him wear. The rarely seen double batting gloves for him.

1991 Donruss Eddie Murray – Personal Collection

Murray during some more productive years. He is so ingrained in my mind as an Oriole that it's hard to remember that he grew up in California. All uniforms that aren't orange and white look weird on him. Notice no batting gloves.

2011-12 Upper Deck Steven Stamkos – For the Lightning Collection

The Bolts are rolling again and Stamkos is scoring. With a relatively easy schedule remaining they can hopefully hold onto the second spot in the division. Great photo of the lightning bolts on the old uniform pants. I miss the lightning bolts. (ed. note - after watching Monday's game I realized they still have the bolts on their pants.  My bad. I'm old.)

1993-94 Leaf John Tucker – For the Lightning Collection

The first trophy winner in Lightning history. His 131 points in a Tampa Bay uniform is good for 19^th all time in franchise history, 2 points ahead of “The Captain” Dave Andeychuck.

1995-96 Upper Deck Peter Bondra – Personal Collection

Bondra scored 34 goals in 1994-95, which is pretty impressive since this photo suggests he didn't play with a hockey stick. In his career he scored roughly 674 goals against the Lightning. I really like the simple layout of this set. I'm tempted to go find a box of it and rip open some old junk wax.

1992-93 Topps Rob Dimaio – For the Lightning Collection

Dimaio was an original Bolt who played two seasons with the team in their infancy. He was traded to Philly for Jim Cummins and a 4^th round draft pick. The Lightning then traded that 4^th round pick back to Philly for......... Alex Selivanov. DiMaio had a second stint with the Lightning, signing as a free agent in the summer of 2005.  However, a concussion he suffered early in the season ended his career.

2013-14 Score Ondrej Palat – For the Lightning Collection

Despite my undying love for Tyler Johnson, I'm pretty sure that Palat has a better chance of winning the Calder. He has been on fire since January.

2011 Topps Gypsy Queen Jake Arrieta – For The Orioles Collection

Jake went from Opening Day starter to Chicago Cub in the span of two seasons. I hope he gets a start against the O's when they come into town this summer. As a matter of fact, the O's could also face last year's opening day starter Jason Hammel as well in that series. Chicago – where Baltimore pitchers fade into obscurity.

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Dylan Bundy – For the Orioles Collection

It looks like the best case scenario for Bundy's return from Tommy John surgery is June. Bundy's injury shows that no matter how much care you take with your prospects it's almost impossible to keep them from getting injured. The good news is that (unless you are a member of the Braves organization) most pitchers bounce back from Tommy John rather well these days.

A nice smattering of cards that hit needs all over the board, from set needs to personal collection to team collection. Not a bad return for some extra base cards, eh?