So, the HOF Ballot Came Out.....

     Yes, it did. I'm keeping this really low-key for now. I always make a post about this on my other blog, but times have changed, and Don Cardwell is entering the limelight. Anyway, here's what we got on the BBWAA ballot, starting with the squatters -- er, guys who have already been on it. Yeah, them. The guys I'd vote for will be in bold. (Sorry for the lack of cards. I was feeling way too lazy to take any pics, so instead we're going with good old internet pictures)

Billy Wagner 
Andruw Jones 
Carlos Beltran
Alex Rodriguez
Manny Ramirez
Chase Utley
Omar Visquel
Bobby Abreu
Jimmy Rollins
Andy Pettitte
Mark Buehlre
Francisco Rodriguez
Torii Hunter
David Wright

    As you can see, my ballot's a little bit all over the place. 

    

    Wagner is an obvious choice, and he's getting gypped in that he's not in already. Billy Wagner was one of the most dominant closers....ever (I hold that he's better than Trevor Hoffman, but that's just me). A career 422 saves and 2.31 ERA. What are we doing BBWAA? I feel that they always miss at least one or two guys on the ballots every time.

    A premier fielder and power hitter, Andruw Jones won 10 Gold Gloves (in a row, might I add), and hit 434 homers. This included that one insane 51 home run campaign he had back in '05. I usualy wouldn't vote for a sub-.260 batting average, but he deserves it.

    This picture may be a bit blurry, but it's too cool to leave out. Chase Utley was another great fielder, but at second base rather than the outfield. He was a very good hitter (.275 batting average, 259 home runs). Utley won four Silver Sluggers in his 16-year career. He also prompted a rule change; although being the guy who slid into Ruben Tejada probably doesn't help his case. Hopefully it doesn't hurt it.

    Alright, alright, this one may be a little bit biased. In my defense, David Wright was a pretty great player. The third baseman hit .296 with 242 home runs in 1,585 big-league games. He also won two Gold Glove awards. The only problem is that injuries ruined him at the end of his career. In his last three seasons Wright played in a combined 77 games. His career was just too short. While he seemed like a Hall-of-Famer on the field, he didn't spend enough time on it to land him a spot in Cooperstown.

    This leaves me with six votes left going into the newbies. Let's see who we got:

Ichiro Suzuki
CC Sabathia
Dustin Pedroia
Ian Kinsler
Felix Hernandez
Troy Tulowitzki
Ben Zobrist
Curtis Granderson
Hanley Ramirez
Russell Martin
Adam Jones
Brian McCann
Carlos Gonzalez
Fernando Rodney

    Okay, spoiler alert: I would only actually go for two of these guys.

    I think Ichiro will make it on the first ballot, and that he is probably the best player on the ballot. Okay, not probably. Ichiro has the most professional hits, including over 3,000 in the Bigs. He holds a .311 batting average, 1,420 runs, and 509 steals in 2,653 major-league games. He was also a very good fielder. This should be an easy choice.

    CC Sabathia got 3,000 strikeouts. Case closed. However, his ERA was slightly high at a 3.74 mark, so I kind of doubt that he'll get in first ballot, but I'm confident he'll make it.

    Alright, so Tulo shouldn't actually get in. But he's one of my favorite players, so I figured, 'why not?' Troy Tulowitzki had an outstanding 13-year career in which he batted .290 and hit 225 home runs. He was also a very good fielder, acquiring two Gold Gloves in his career. However, aside from playing at Coors for so long, the shortstop's problem is lack of games, and injury seems to be the culprit. Tulo only played in 1,291 games. And though those were 1,291 really good games, you can't really expect to make the Hall with so little.

    Alright, so I guess for guys who I think should get in, it goes as Billy Wagner, Andruw Jones, Chase Utley, David Wright, Ichiro, and CC Sabathia. And then of course I added in Tulo with the courtesy vote, but he'll probably get booted off after his first time. There's a reason I don't get to vote 😂

    Other guys who I may have voted for include Carlos Beltran and Bobby Abreu. I actually probably would vote for Bobby Abreu (I decided to add him in while writing this paragraph), and I bet Beltran will make his way in. I love Ben Zobrist and Ian Kinsler, but wouldn't vote for them.

    Well, thanks for bearing with me to the end. There will be cards for my next post, that's a promise. Thank you for reading, and let me know in the comments what you think of my ballot and who you think should get in. Y'all have an amazing weekend, and happy collecting!

    Also, Don Cardwell hit 10,000 views yesterday, so thanks for that.

Yes, it is today

     Break out the Topps Turkey Reds, 'cause it's Thanksgiving!

    There's a lot to be thankful for. The day has been pretty chill thus far for me, which is just right. Hope it's been a great day for y'all!

    I don't know how many times I'd need to watch this to stop laughing.

    I'll keep it short so y'all can get back to enjoying your day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

      What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

The New Yorker Book of Baseball Cartoons

    I have been able to get a few baseball books for free via the website BookMooch. The New Yorker Book of Baseball Cartoons is one of such books that I was able to get. The book is filled with little comics by the writers of The New Yorker America from the last 80 or so years. It's a delightful little book, filled with humorous little drawings that I can imagine were extremely fun to write.

    Here are ten of my favorite cartoons from the book (it contains 100). There are some more in there that I really like, but they’ll need to wait for another day…

This is my favorite one in the whole book.

I think this one comes in second

    

    Okay, I know someone who I think might actually do that last one. The whole book is really good, though without many words, as you can see. I have a few other baseball books I gotta finish and then stick into the blog, but I think this one is a good start.

    Now then, y'all make sure to have an amazing rest of your week, thank you for reading, and of course, happt collecting!

A New Carter for my PC

    On the sixteenth, a friend of mine sold me my latest Evan Carter card. I guess he sells baseball cards regularly, which I didn't know at the time. I made it a kind of a goal to get any reasonably-priced card of his that I found, so I was more than content with this find.

    We see another 2024 Bowman card, which both my friend and I agree is an excellent set. I like Bowman as a whole, but this one is one of their better jobs, in my opinion. I realize that all my favorite sets are newer. Probably because I wasn't around until fairly recently (😂), and didn't really start collecting cards until 2019.

    Now I wanna take this time to state my hopes for Carter and the Rangers moving forward. I'm not expecting a ton from the Rangers next year, which saddens me. But if they can get a rejuvenated and rolling Evan Carter, as well as a full season out of Jacob deGrom, we'll never know. Of course, they could use a few more arms and a productive Adolis Garcia too. I will just need to wait patiently until the beginning of the 2025 season. One can just hope for now.

My Very Brief Commentaries on the MVP, ROY, and CYA

     The 2024 baseball season was filled with some extreme talent. There were two triple-crown winners among pitchers, and we had some rookies carrying their teams. All in all, the awards I'm giving my opinions on today should have been:

1) Fairly obvious choices

2) Well-deserved

The Rookie of the Year awards were announced on November 18th.
The Cy Young awards were announced on November 20th.
And the MVP awards were announced today.
I don't really care too much about the Manager of the Year awards.

NL Rookie of the Year:

Winner: Paul Skenes
My Choice: Jackson Merrill
Correct Choice: Either Skenes or Merrill

    I would have loved to see Jackson Merrill win the Rookie of the Year award. He not only was the most clutch hitter in MLB, but played stellar defense in center and took his team to the playoffs. However, it's hard to beat a flamethrower who posted an 11-3 record and 1.96 ERA. I think it could have gone either way, but of course, I'm a little bit biased :)
    What do y'all think? Who should have taken this one?

I don't have a Paul Skenes card :(

AL Rookie of the Year:

Winner: Luis Gil
My Choice: Mason Miller
Correct Choice: Mason Miller

    Mason Miller wasn't even a finalist for the Rookie of the Year. I feel they kind of jipped. He throws 104, threw to a 2.49 ERA, and collected 28 saves. His opposing slash line was .160/.233/.262, so he was near impossible to hit. Don't get me wrong, Luis Gil was solid (15-7, 3.50, 171 K), but he was inconsistent. At times he was lights-out, and at other times he looked horrible. I really think this one should have been Miller.

I don't have any Luis Gil cards either

NL Cy Young Award:

Winner: Chris Sale
My Choice: Chris Sale
Correct Choice: Chris Sale

    This one isn't very hard. Sale won the triple crown (18 wins, 2.38 ERA, 225 K). Though we have two dominant starters as the other two finalists in Zack Wheeler and Paul Skenes, you can't beat a triple crown. 

I do have Sale, but not with the Braves...

AL Cy Young Award:

Winner: Tarik Skubal
My Choice: Tarik Skubal
Correct Choice: Tarik Skubal

    I think this one was even easier. Tarik Skubal was likely the best pitcher in MLB this year, and like Sale, won a triple crown too (18 wins, 2.39 ERA, 228 K). And it was his 28th birthday yesterday when the award was announced, which makes for a nice gift. Emmanuel Clase was a finalist, which is kinda cool since he's a closer. Clase had an 0.61 ERA and 46 saves, so it's well-deserved. Seth Lugo is the other finalist, finishing as the second place man -- he was the only finalist with an ERA of 3.00.

This is my favorite card of Ubals that I own

NL MVP Award:

Winner: Shohei Ohtani
My Choice: Shohei Ohtani
Correct Choice: You guessed it, Shohei Ohtani

    I'm not gonna lie: I'm not the biggest Shohei fan. But come on, he had a 50-50 season. Even as a DH, with an offensive season that good (and his popularity), he can't lose. The other finalists were middle infielders in Ketel Marte and Francisco Lindor. They were both elite; but beating 54 homers and 59 steals is near impossible.

Bomb Squad seems right for the year Shohei had

AL MVP Award:

Winner: Aaron Judge
My Choice: Bobby Witt Jr.
Correct Choice: >sighs< Aaron Judge

    Bobby Witt played outstanding defense and was an incredible hitter (he won the batting title you know) from a harder position than Aaron Judge. But Aaron Judge did Aaron Judge things, belting 58 homers and batting .322. Not to mention his 144 RBI, 122 Runs, and OPS of 1.159. I think he'll be the next guy to win a triple crown for batting. They got it right, though I wanted Witt.

I don't know, I just like the picture on the card

Also, I gave my Stars of MLB Judge as part of a birthday gift

    

    There we go. I think for the most part, the BBWAA got the awards right. I would not have complained had Jackson Merrill won ROY or Bobby Witt MVP, but the winners were deserving of the award. What do y'all think? Did they get the awards right? What would y'all have done differently? 

    Well, thanks for reading, congrats to the winners of the awards, and happy collecting! Enjoy the rest of you week!

    I know that I said I didn't care about the Manager of the Year award. However, I would like to point out that Mark Kotsay made the leaderboard. The A's manager had a record of 69-93 -- he didn't get a vote for his record. I bet he got a vote for the way he dealt with his team leaving Oakland. Kotsay couldn't control the situation, but dealt with it the best he could. His speech on that last home game was great, and I think the fans appreciated it. I can commend that vote, even though he didn't win 100 games. 

Redemption

    A couple years ago I gave this up in a trade; the green Holiday Bowman Luis Robert numbered 14/99. I tried for a long time to get it back from John (GTT), and succeeded to do so on my birthday this year.

    This is Luis alongside the guy I traded him away for (2016 Topps #447 Ben Zobrist). Let's just say I didn't yet appreciate, or understand, the value of serial numbering. Neither did I know what a parallel was. I didn't have to give up a ton to get the card back, and John was pretty cool with the deal. THANK YOU!

    My birthday was ages ago. I just never posted on my 'gifts' from my friend John, though I've been planning on doing it for a long time. Better late than never I guess. 

    Besides trading me back my Luis Robert for a pretty cheap return, he made some other trades with me, and sold me a bunch of cards for a nickel apiece.

    I shall start with the oldest card traded/sold to me that day. 1959 Topps is an interesting set. Honestly, I kinda like the design. I like the bordering for the pictures. I'm not a huge fan of facsimilie autographs though (and yet one of my favorite sets is 2007 Topps). Wally Post had a solid 15-year career with the Reds/Redlegs, Phillies, Indians, and Twins. He played 1,204 games and hit .266/.323/.485 with 210 home runs. He finished 12th in MVP voting in 1955 when he hit .309 with 40 home runs while playing a league-leading 154 games. 

    I also acquired a handfull of 1961 Topps. They may not be in the best condition (especially you Joe Pignatano), but I will never complain about cards over 60 years old, and John is my main source of these.

    Next we have some 1966 Topps. The most notable player here is Lee Maye, who had a solid 13-year career.

    Moving ahead a few years to 1980. I do really like this design, as well as all three of these cards. Frank Tanana is one of my favorites, and I could muse over Ozzie Smith for a long while. 

    We enter the 21st century with some Cal Berkely alumni. Of course, I had to get my hands on Marcus Semien, who cost me only a nickel, and then I added Tyson Ross to make sure Marcus doesn't get lonely. Ross played from 2010-2019. He didn't have the flashiest record in the world at 44-70, but he was an all-star in 2014. I also have the Mark Cahna card from this set, but forgot to take a pic :)

    Tulo is a PC guy for me, and I will not complain about his roommate, Bringer of Rain. The 2016 Topps Back to Back cards have a most interesting and unique design. I like it. The backwards letters are cool, and I like the effect starting on the top and going down the middle of the card where it looks all broken up. 

    I also got these. I like to gather the old contest cards and checklists, which makes it super easy to trade cheaply with every person I do face-to-face trades with.

    I wasn't entirely sure what to make of this card when I got it from John. It's cool to get a card of a senator/actor that has at least something to do with baseball. After reading the back I appreciate the card more.

    Also got the Ketel Marte rookie card. I didn't know who he was until I added him to my fantasy team in 2019. It's funny to think that I knew almost nothing about the baseball players until 2019.

    And I will finish with these two packs of 1994 Upper Deck Denny's Holograms. After seeing on the internet what these bad boys look like, I may open up these single-card packs soon, because they're awesome! It's only a 28-card set; once I open these, I will probably try for the whole package, assuming they're easy enough to find and the prices are acceptable.

    I got plenty more cards from John, but these were the 'highlights' of the day, so to speak. So, months later, I thank you again John for the cool cards. I'm looking forward to when we can trade again.

    I'm afraid I've reached the time when the post ends and I have to sign off. Until next time, thank y'all for reading, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting! 

One Thing Leads to Another

     This is post #100 for Don Cardwell. I didn't think I would make it this far, but here we are. 

    I found this card yesterday in one of my boxes:

    To start, I really like the 'Future Stars' design on the front of this card. I kind of like the 1988 Topps set (not sure how popular it is though). However, I do wish they did something a little bit better with the player names, which kind of just linger on the bottom right side of the card. And I'm still looking for Elster's position.

    Anyway, seeing this card reminded me of a card store pickup from however long ago. Now, this pickup wasn't from my local card shop. Alas, this particular store raised their prices and started focusing on Pokemon cards and the like, which isn't really my thing.

    Seeing the Jeff Huson autographed photo again reminded me of his 1990 Fleer card (because I really like his card from that year).

    I'm not a huge fan of 1990 Fleer as a whole, but I do like this card. Though I don't particularly like the set, I found it almost complete for $3, so picked it up. I forgot how many cards were missing from it, but I've added a few in there since.

    And while putting the autographed photos away, I saw the autographed cards from when I went to the Rangers Fan Fest in 2023.

    That was the first Fan Fest I've ever been to. It was definitely a fun experience, though lines were long. My family and I waited over an hour to get Jon Gray's autograph. I wonder how long folks waited for Corey Seager and Pudge Rodriguez. Yikes.

    Well, I thought this ended up being an interesting 20 or so minutes of my life. I'm glad I found those autographs of Elster, Vosberg and Huson again though, because I had forgotten about them. Thank you, 1988 Topps Kevin Elster.

    Thank you for sticking with me for 100 posts. Have a great end to your week, thank you for reading, and happy collecting!

    P.S. Jackson Merrill won the Silver Slugger for NL centerfielders. Let's go!

A couple new blogs

    I've been trying way too hard to put a post out today. No ideas are coming to mind for something to just throw together really quick, so I'm just going to announce two new blogs. One has to do with baseball cards, and one does not. I think my brain is broken because I've been working on a tactful way to throw these into a post, and just couldn't. So here they are.

    

    My brother just started up a card blog, Tanner Bibee's Lumber Co. He kind of has this obsession with players and facial hair, but he makes things funny, so go ahead and check that out.

    I've been reading through the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and am turning into a LOTR addict. Therefore, I just yesterday started a blog, He's Known as Strider. If you like Lord of the Rings, then maybe you'd like to check it out.

    

    There. I did it. In a few days I'll have a real post out. I've been working on a few for a while now, but need to find a few cards that are lost in one of my boxes. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your week, and happy collecting!

    A-ha! I will throw a card in here. I just realized that Jeff Kent got kicked off the HOF ballot in January, and consequently won't be on the ballot for this year. I'm really bummed about that, because he completely deserves entry into Cooperstown. Come on BBWAA, get your act together.

Brenton Doyle in 200 Words

     Brenton Doyle was born on May 14th, 1998 in Warrenton, Virginia. He attended Kettle Run High School, and won 3A East Region Player of the Year honors as a junior. Doyle went to college at Shepherd University, and played there for three years before being drafted by the Rockies in the fourth round of the 2019 June Amateur Draft. He won the batting title in Rookie Ball in 2019, batting .383 in 51 games. Doyle came back in 2021 after a cancelled 2020 season, and batted .280/.336/.454 in A+. He would play 132 games between AA and AAA the next year, and needed a mere 12 games in 2023 before meriting a call-up. Doyle struggled mightily at the plate his first big-league season, batting just .203/.250/.343 in 126 games. He did win the Gold Glove though, playing stellar defense in center field. Things seemed to come together in 2024 though, when Doyle had a crazy mid-season hot streak. He ended the campaign with a .260/.317/.447 slash line and 30 steals. Doyle also won his second Gold Glove in as many years. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do once 2025 rolls around.

A Thank You To Johnny's Trading Spot

    Got a shorty for today. 

    Yesterday, a couple cards showed up from Johnny's Trading Spot. He very generously sent them to me for telling him some players born on October 31st. 

    Methinks John knows what I like: 2024 Topps, Evan Carter, and shiny cards. Can this day get any better? I submit that it cannot! And yes, the Stars of MLB card reads SMLB on the back (I don't know what the deal with SLMB is). 

    I am happy to add these new additions to my PC (now that I've decided to have one, though it's small). Thanks again John for the sweet cards! You've probably dealt me close to, if not half of the Evan Carter cards I own. 

    Now, I shall leave y'all to your days. Enjoy Sunday and the start of the week, and happy collecting! 

Mission Accomplished

     This Wednesday I went back to the local card shop. I grabbed some things for an upcoming event, and then spent some extra time picking out a few cards for myself. Most of these personal acquisitions came from one of the many quarter boxes at the front of the store. 

    These seven 2023 Topps Chrome Anniversary cards came from said quarter boxes. My favorite in the bunch is probably J.T. Realmuto. They didn't show up great on camera, but I think they look really good in-person. I like the color-scheme of the cards. Had I more time, I probaby would have added a lot more of these cards to the mix, but I'll take what I can get, of course.

2024 Bowman #85 Pete Crow-Armstrong

    PCA cost me a quarter too. I really like what the young rookie brings to the table and think that with a few touch-ups he could be a really good player for a young Cubs offense. I think the 2024 Bowman design is great, but I have heard mixed answers when it comes to that. I also just plain like Bowman.

2024 Bowman Prospects #145 Jackson Merrill

    This was the best card of the day for me (the mission accomplished). This is the first Jackson Merrill card I've gotten, which is surprising considering how much I talk about him on the blog. He's become one of my favorite players (probably my second all-tim; Buster Posey will always be #1, and Evan Carter gets the bronze), and I was very happy to find this one in the quarter boxes. I spent a little bit of time looking for more of his cards, but in vain. The individual cards aren't organized by team or player or anything, so I gave up.

    You can't see the picture very well, but it caught my eye immediately with the tongue-sticking mainly. The autograph is of the guy in the middle, Jackie Moore. Moore was a catcher who played 21 games with the Tigers in 1965. He batted 5-for-53 in his only big-league season. He managed the Oakland A's for 2+ years from 1984-1986, accumulating a record of 163-190 in that time. Moore also coached for multiple teams, including parts of twelve seasons with the Rangers. This picture/autograph was only $5, so even though I didn't know who it was at the time, I grabbed it anyway. And hey, I'm not complaining.

    I've saved this card for last.....don't ask why, it just felt right at the time.

2023 Panini Elite Extra Future Threads Relic #FT-CF

    The final card from the trip cost $2, and is a jersey relic (though not from any specific event or game). Cole Foster played at Auburn from 2021-2023, and was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2023 MLB June Amateur Draft. The card boasts of his bat-to-ball skills and ability to switch-hit. The middle infielder, now 23 years of age, is playing A-ball in the Giants organization. He has a minor-league batting average of .225 in 109 games in Rookie Ball through A+. As for his contact skills, he's struck out 134 times in those 109 games, but I guess that's part of getting used to a higher level. I wish him the best of luck moving forward.

    

    That'll do it in terms of my acquisitions from the last card store trip. As I said, the Jackson Merrill was the icing on the cake for me. I would consider this trip a win. The cards don't need to be worth money to make me happy.

    Thank y'all for reading, please enjoy this Friday and your weekend, and I'll catch y'all later. Happy collecting, and see you next time.