Babe I Never Knew Ye.

I had an e mail from my Dad yesterday, attached to it was a group of cards I didn't know I had. Most were good old fire starting 90's junk. The one card that held my eye was this Babe Ruth, it's 1992 Conlon Babe Ruth collection card (value $not much). Babe Ruth cards always interest me for the simple fact the guy was baseball back in the day. Of course the fancy Babe cards are well out of my price range, so it was a nice surprise to find I had a Babe tucked away. I love the picture on this card, I can just imagine the ball flying away in the bleachers and scruffy little kids fighting over it. Also worth noting is the lack of body armor being worn by Babe. No helmet, no shin guard or elbow guard and no batting gloves. Of course helmets are a very important part of the game now, but do todays players really need all their armor? What would the Babe have thought of todays players?

Error?

2008 Ballpark Collection. My question to you cardboard collectors is this, is this card an error card. Look closely at the Kazmir swatch, have the Rays ever worn pinstripes? Did the Big Unit's swatch get swapped with Kazmir's? I have been curious about this ever since this card landed on my doormat.

Arms Race.

With opening day almost upon us I thought I would highlight the Rays probable rotation. Tops of the pile is David Price,shown here on a gold bordered Bowman 2010. Price finished second in the Cy Young race in 2010 and Rays fans are hoping he goes one better in 2011.

Number two in the rotation is my guy James Shields. He had a down year in 2010 going 13-15 with an ERA over 5. This year I expect him to knock at least on run off his ERA. Shieds is a proven innings eater so expect him throw 200+ again this year.

Third is Jeff Niemann, the 6'9" hurler had a solid year in 2010 going 12-8. If he can stay healthy and improve his pitching with runners on first, he was easy to steal off last year. I think the big guy could have a break out year. He has all the tools to become a star.

Wade Davis will be fourth in the Rays rotation this year. Wade was 12-10 last year. He has had a pretty rough time in Spring Training, but expect a solid year from the big righty. Another who needs to stay healthy. Like Niemann he was another high draft pick who is finally seeing his potential realised.

Fianlly we have the great hope for the Rays pitching staff. Jeremy Hellickson is a highly touted prospect who is going to fill the cleats of the departed Matt Garza. A brief stint in the Majors last season where he went 4-0 with a 3.47 ERA. Much is expected of the Young Mr Hellickson, but as with David Price in 2009 it will be a big learning curve for him. I fully expect him to hit his full potential in 2012. He should be ready for the opening of the season after a hamstring problem shortened his spring training.

Hank Makes a Bad Week Good.

The past seven days have not been too happy on a card colecting
front. First off there was the Topps 2011 James Shields Platinum 1/1, sniped at last second. Next was the Bowman Chrome James Shields Superfractor 1/1, sniped at the last second. Curse you slow I-Net connection. So all in all I was feeling a tad glum about cards in general.

My week was certainly perked up by a package from the good ole US of A yesterday though. Inside was a Hank Aaron 1961 Topps. I had completly forgotten that I had purchased this card. Getting old is a bugger you know. Anyhoo, the card is in a very good condition,I'm not sure how it would rate on the BGS/PSA grading scale, but it is a nice looking card and I'm happy to have a Hank in the collection.

In 1957 Hank hit 44 Homers 132 RBI's and had a batting average of .322. A great year rewarded with the NL MVP trophy.

Shuffle Up and Deal.

I love playing Poker and watching Poker. So I am very happy to have this Razor Poker Auto of poker legend T J Cloutier. T J has won 6 WSOP bracelets and finished in the top 5 of the main event 4 times including runner up twice. As well as being a great player he is also a prolific author of poker books. T J has made over $9.5 million in tournament winnings with neary $5 million being won at the WSOP. What I like most about T J is that he is an old school player,no baseball cap on backwards, no shades and not covered in website ads. If you play poker I can heartily recommend reading his books, very easy to follow and very very helpful. Mr Cloutiers advice helped buy me a new car once!!!