What were they thinking?

That question could mean a lot of things depending on the "they" you're asking about.   If you're talking about your boss, it could mean how on earth did he get a promotion instead of me?  If you're talking about the Texas Rangers, it could mean how on earth did they give Alex Rodriguez that ridiculous 10 year, $250 million contract?

I don't think upper management took the advice of this MLB Showdown card before they signed that deal. 

Maybe you're not asking the question about your boss or some random GM and a demented team owner.  Maybe your asking the question of someone who makes cards. 

What company in their right mind would manufacture a card that scanned this poorly?  Didn't Sportflics realize this 1987 Pete O'Brien would need to be shown on a blog 25 years down the road?  Sure, it doesn't look quite that bad in person, but in person means NOTHING to the blogosphere!!

What's better than using one goofy picture?  Putting a close up of the same picture on the same card!! Brilliant!

How about we use our magic aging machine and make Mark Teixeira look like he's got a big ol' beer belly?  I guess this shot is from his softball league, circa 2028. 

Last, but most certainly not least, is the Breast Cancer crossover promotion MLB does on Mother's Day.  Having the players wear pink accessories and use pink bats and then auctioning said items to raise money for charity is a great idea.  Upper Deck was ahead of the curve by putting Carlos Lee on what might be the least masculine card ever produced.  The scan does the amount of pink on this card a severe disservice.  

Don't go away thinking I hate these cards.  I'm a team collector and I need at least one of every single Rangers card ever made.  That means I love these cards.  The more I stare at the Lee card, the more love I feel.  *Creepy*. 

These are just a few more cards I have to thank Dustin aka Coot Veal for and so I will, thanks Dustin!!

Same Studio, Different Acts

Welcome to the Studio, circa 1993.

Hall of Famer

Hall of Shamer

 Legend

Pariah

Beat up Robin Ventura

Sent his brother Ozzie to fight in his place in a celebrity boxing match

324 wins, 5,724 strikeouts, 3.19 ERA

0 wins, 0 strikeouts, 27.00 ERA

Fans love him

Not so much

That's just a couple of the great cards I got from Dustin at Coot Veal and the Vealtones.  I'll be showing off some more in the days ahead.   Thanks Dustin!

All Star Game Recap

Verlander, bad.  

Harrison, bad.  

Cain, Sandoval, Cabrera, good.  

Braun, good.  

Jones, good for you.  

Home field, N.L.  Bad.  

Old School Kansas City

I predicted Robinson Cano would win the Home Run Derby.  I hope my predicting skills are better when it comes to saying the A.L. is going to win the game. 

The Kansas City Athletics may not play in KC anymore, but I'll take an Athletics card over just about every Royals card ever made (except the Brett rookie card.  Maybe.). 

Here we have one of those beautiful 1956 play at the plate cards.  This Gus Zernial card is in amazing condition.  This card came to me from the one and only Cardboard Don. 

Al knows I like presidential stuff and included this great Ronald Reagan Presidential First Pitch insert from 2011 Opening Day. 

I know Gypsy Queen seems to draw a lot of different responses from people, but I'll take any and all Rangers blue parallels.  This Adrian Beltre is #557/599. 

Al threw in a couple of bat relics too.  The interesting thing is that even though these were made by different manufacturers, they both have the "Piece of the Game" name.  This is a 2000 Upper Deck SP Game Bat Edition Ivan Rodriguez relic.  That's a mouthful. 

The other is a 2002 Playoff Juan Gonzalez Piece of the Game bat card.  This card is nice enough, but the best part is on the back. 

This is one of those rare cards that shows the actual bat the sliver came from and it's a shame that Topps can't do the same thing today.  It would take seconds to get a picture and load it onto a computer. 

Al, thanks for the great cards and Go AMERICAN LEAGUE!!

That's how you do unlicensed cards

I think we're all familiar with the concept of the unlicensed baseball card at this point.  There is a right way, a wrong way and then the very Upper Deckian "illegal" way of doing unlicensed cards. 

Take this 2010 Upper Deck Darren O'Day card.  As a former submariner, I can appreciated the "submariner" motion of the photo.  As a Topps lawyer (not really), I don't appreciate the unlicensed card showing the logo of the Rangers on the cap.  Upper Deck really stretched when it came to the 2010 set.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a 2010 Upper Deck blog start someday just to highlight the cards that push the envelope. 

Hey...no, no NO!  You don't have time.  Sorry, the voices in my head were calling. 

You want unlicensed done right?  How about 2010 Obak.   That David Clyde is awesome.  He looks like one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, coming down to pitch plagues and famine across the land.  Unlicensed cards should be interesting, not "barely legal".  I'd take one of these Clyde cards over the whole 2010 UD set any day. 

These cards came to Texas courtesy of Rod over at the great blog Padrographs, Abner to Zimmer.  He had a package of Rangers ready to ship so I claimed it.  Of course, I need to find him so Padres to send back.  That shouldn't be too hard. 

Rod sent over a couple of cards from sets I didn't have the chance to buy even a single pack. One was this 2011 Topps Heritage Minor League Barrett Loux.  Loux is playing for the Rangers AA Frisco Rough Riders.  He is 12-1 with a 3.61 ERA in 16 starts this season.  Not bad.  Not bad at all. 

I've never bought a pack of Topps Pro Debut so it was nice to get a Ranger from that product.  Luis Sardinas is a well regarded shortstop prospect.  He's only 19 and is currently playing with the Single A Hickory Crawdads.  He's hitting .296 with 17 RBIs and 21 steals in 59 games this season.  He's blocked at SS by Jurickson Profar in the minors and Elvis Andrus with the Rangers, so if he doesn't get traded, he'll probably change positions. 

What to say about this card?  It's ugly, but it's Josh so I needed it. 

There is nothing special about this 2012 Topps Derek Holland card, but I showed it to highlight the difference on this Alexi Ogando card. 

I had no idea what this card was at first.  The Gold Rush stamp in the upper left corner through me off.  A little internet research led to the answer.  This Gold Rush card was part of a 30 card promo sent out to some shop owners before 2012 Topps hit the street.  I don't have a full checklist, but I'm glad to have what I hope is the only Ranger in the set. 

Rod also included this card of Kenny Rogers.  I have a Kenny Rogers autograph that I got on a program.  It looks a little bit like this one, but not as sloppy.  I'm not conviced this is real, but if it is, it'll be my first Kenny auto on a card. 

Rod, thanks for the cards.  Be on the lookout for a package of Padres! 

Big Boppers

The Home Run Derby is only about an hour away.  I'll probably be in dreamland when it starts.  Such is the life of a night shift worker.  I'm glad the Rangers don't have anyone participating.  They need to rest for the second half push and you know the Angels are hot on their tails.

Here you have the winners of the last 5 Home Run Derbys.

2011--Robinson Cano.  Hit hit a total of 32 bombs, including 12 in the final round, to defeat Adrian Gonzalez.

2010--David Ortiz.  He hit 32 homers, with 12 in the final round being enough to beat Hanley Ramirez.

2009--Prince Fielder.  Fielder hit a total of 23 home runs and only needed 6 to beat Nelson Cruz in the final round.

2008--Justin Morneau.  Morneu's total of 22 was outdone by Josh Hamilton's total of 35, but 28 of Hamilton's came in round 1 and Morneau won the final round 5-3.

2007--Vladimir Guerrero.  Vlad's total of 17 is low by today's standards and it only took 3 in the final round to beat Alex Rios.

The home run totals have gotten higher and higher each year.  I wonder how many the winner will hit this year.

Your contestants for 2012 are:
Jose Bautista
Carlos Beltran
Robinson Cano
Prince Fielder
Carlos Gonzalez
Matt Kemp
Andrew McCutcheon
Mark Trumbo

My money is on Cano to repeat, but I hope Trumbo lasts until the final round.  Speaking of hope, I hope Matt Kemp isn't making a mistake by entering the Derby.

So, who's going to win?

By the way, if by some miracle you haven't seen it another blog, go check out Plaschke's hunt to win a Sandy Koufax auto from some magazine that I wrote about the other day.  He needs your vote!

What All-Star "Break"?

I love that the Texas Rangers are tied for the most wins in the majors at the All-Star break.  I love that they are one loss away from having the best record in the majors at the All-Star break.  I love having a team like this to root for after so many years of mediocrity.  I love that Ron Washington is managing the A.L. for the second straight All-Star Game because that means the Rangers went to the last two World Series.

I'm not so sure I love having 8 players on the All-Star team.  A team that is limping into the break with a pretty good roster of pitchers on the D.L. needs the time off.  A team that finished the first half of the season "only" winning two of three from the Twins, never mind that both wins were of the extra inning variety, needs the time time off.

Well, there won't be much of that for these guys.

Mike Napoli, starting catcher, 4,317,718 votes.  Don't get me wrong, I've grown to like Napoli as a Ranger, but an All-Star?  Maybe last year, but not this year.  He beat Joe Mauer by 1.4 million votes.  That says a lot about the Rangers fans punching ballots, but not the truth about the season he's having.  I hope he shakes off the slump and tears it up during the 2nd half.

Adrian Beltre, starting 3rd baseman, 4,613,180 votes.  Beltre beat Miguel Cabrera by about 420,000 votes.    Cabrera has a few more homers, a few more doubles and 17 more RBIs.  Beltre plays for a team with the highest attendance in the A.L.   You can argue which guy should start, but at least they both made it. 

Josh Hamilton, outfield, 11,073,744 votes.  That's an 11 people.  He beat Curtis Granderson by almost 5.5 million votes.  Of course he deserved it, but I'm glad he's not doing the Home Run Derby.

Elvis Andrus, reserve shortstop, 4,065,719 votes.  Derek Jeter beat Andrus by 2.6 million votes.  That's not a shock as I see Jeter starting at that position until he retires.  Stats wise, the other best option would have been Asdrubal Cabrera, but again, it comes down to fan attendance.

Ian Kinsler, reserve 2nd baseman, 4,967,247 votes.  Kinsler led the voting for quite a while, but Robinson Cano took the lead and won by almost 900,000 votes.  You can't argue with Cano one single bit.  That guy, as much as I hate to admit it, is MVP quality.  The only category Kinsler leads Cano in is stolen bases.

Other notable position playing Rangers were Mitch Moreland who was 4th in 1st base voting, but did beat Albert Pujols by 6,000 votes.  Realistic?  No.  Funny?  Oh yea.  Nelson Cruz and David Murphy were 5th and 6th in outfield voting and Michael Young, who is having a slow year, was 2nd at the DH spot.

Yu Darvish garnered over 7.3 million votes in the Final Vote campaign, beating out Jake Peavy.  Peavy got on the roster anyway as a replacement for C.J. Wilson who has a blister on his hand.  I was sort of hoping Ron Washington would make Wilson pitch all 9 innings of the All-Star Game.  Hey, he's on the rival Angels.

Matt Harrison is tied for the league lead in wins with 11.  He is deserving of his spot.

Joe Nathan has 18 saves, 7th in the A.L.  Of the relievers that didn't get selected above him, Rafael Soriano has the best argument that he should have been picked instead.  Nathan has him beat in WHIP and strikeouts to walks so it wouldn't be much of an argument.

Good luck at the All-Star Game Ron Washington.  Don't work our boys too hard, but win home field advantage for our third consecutive World Series!