Jose Fernandez 2014 Topps Series 2 – 1989 Topps Die Cut Mini

Jose Fernandez 2014 Topps Series 2 – 1989 Topps Die Cut Mini

At the same time that I landed the Giancarlo Stanton ’89 Die-Cut mini from this year’s Series 2 set, I also brought home the card of Jose Fernandez.

It’s a nice one, but I am ready to move on.

So, here is a quick peek at the card:

 

 

And now, it is time to chase a few rainbows!  Fernandez has two cards in the Series 2 checklist and now that I have the base cards and inserts out of the way, it is time to see how many of the colored parallels I can track down of each.  There are a lot of cards to try to find, but I am eager and ready to start the hunt.

Wish me luck.

1975 Topps Set Card 214/660 – #536 – Bob Moose, Pirates

1975 Topps Set Card 214/660 – #536 – Bob Moose, Pirates

Progress: 214/660

Player Name:  Bob Moose

Team:  Pittsburgh Pirates

Position:   Pitcher

Image Style:  Game Action

Years In The Major Leagues:  10 seasons, 1967-76

Notes From His 1975 Season:  Bob Moose made just 5 starts for the Pirates in 1975.  He went 2-2 and amassed an ERA of 3.72 in 67 innings of work.  Moose allowed 63 hits and 30 runs in 1975 while also striking out 35 batters and walking 25.

Notes From Career:  Bob Moose spent all of his ten seasons in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  He started 160 games for the team, and compiled a win-loss record of 76-71 with 35 complete games and 13 shutouts.  Moose worked 1,303 innings during his 10-year career, allowing 1,308 hits and 566 runs.  He is a member of the 1971 World Series Champions.

1985 HEADLINE: Tom Seaver Joins The ‘300 Wins Club’

1985 HEADLINE: Tom Seaver Joins The ‘300 Wins Club’

On this day back in 1985 Tom Seaver recorded the 300th win of his career!!

Battling against the most popular team in the sport, Seaver’s White Sox team was at Yankee Stadium to take on ‘The Bronx Bombers’.

The Sox won the ball game with a 4-1 win and Seaver won the 300th game of his career at the age of 40.  Here is a quick look at his numbers from this historic event:

Innings pitched	9
Hits allowed	6
Strikeouts	7
Walks	1
K’s : Walks	7:1
Runs allowed	1

Not a bad effort for the 40-year old baseball history making machine huh?  For Seaver, it was an incredible effort and another amazing accomplishment during his brilliant baseball career.

Happy Anniversary to ‘Tom Terrific’!!!!

Happy Birthday Roger Clemens!!

Happy Birthday Roger Clemens!!

Roger Clemens turns 52 years old today.

And I have to imagine that if he wanted to, he could come back and still perform for any one of the playoff contenders out there right now!  Luckily there appears to be no interest in that happening…

I used to love watching ‘Rocket’ pitch.  To  this day I have never seen a more dominant pitcher in the game that was able to maintain that kind of success throughout the majority of their career.  As great as Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser, and Randy Johnson were, each of them saw a significant drop-off in their ability to out perform all opponents at some point in their careers.  But not Clemens, he was truly in a league of his own when it came to posting successful year after year.   12 years of 200+ strikeouts and 17+ wins certainly backs up that claim.

With all of the recent news that surrounds Clemens’ name and his issues with both illegal PED usage and court issues in the same vein, I find it heart-breaking that a player with his kind of resume is first thought of for the ‘bad’ that he did.  It is so sad that his name has been added to the long list of fallen superstars – and he did it all to himself…

Still one of my favorites, but it is hard to let it slide as well.

Happy Birthday Mr. Clemens!!!

I Found This Pretty Neat Collectible And I Ripped It Open!!

I Found This Pretty Neat Collectible And I Ripped It Open!!

While shopping at Target this weekend, I made my way to their small, but crammed, trading card aisle.  As usual, the area holding the sports cards was unkept and a mess.

Still, I dug in to see if anything caught my eye.  I have not purchase a lot of new products lately through retail – the last was a blaster of Gypsy Queen right after the release.  So, I was hoping to find something neat and new that would get me excited.

And I did.

But, it was not resting on a shelf – it was hanging on a peg.

It was a 2014 Topps NL All-Star Team set.  And it featured a clear, plastic shell allowing me access to see the top card.  A card of Mr. Bryce Harper.

So, I examined it to see what the story was as I had not seen this kind of set before.  And then I took it to one of those self-scan price check machines – $4.99.  I was sold.

I bought the set.  Here it is:

An it has a pretty deep, 17-card checklist, though not all of these players actually made the squad this season…

The cards are the same as the cards from Series 1 and Series 2, but they have a neat NL All-Star logo right above the team logo.

And after much deliberation, I decided to rip the package open.  Why?  Because the set has four of the current players that I collect included, and a search on Ebay for these singles did not net me any positive results.

For $4.99, I added cards to four of my player collections:

And now I have all of these ‘extras’ to enjoy as well!!

I’s say that was a good $4.99 spent.  And to get technical, my wife has a Target credit card so she saved 5% with the purchase so the set actually cost me $4.74 or $0.28 per card.

Not too bad, huh?!?!?