Another Rays Prospect.

Picked 42nd overall in the 2010 draft Drew Vettleson was one of the shining lights in the Rays Roookie ball team. Overshadowed in the draft by his fellow Washington state native Josh Sale, Vettelson went on to make Sale look very mediocre.

Playing for the Princeton Rays of the short season Appalachian league young Mr Vettleson put up some very nic numbers. He had a batting average of .282 which is pretty good for his first season using the wooden bat. He hit seven home runs and had forty runs batted in. He is also a threat on the basepaths with twenty steals, although he was caught six times. His fielding was very solid with only three errors committed from the outfield, he also had six outfield assists.

To my mind he is certain to start next season in full season Low A ball with the Bowling Green Hot Rods. At only twenty years old Drew seems to have a very solid career in front of him and is near the top of my Rays prospects watchlist for 2012.

Goodies From New York New York.

1968 the year I was born,also the year Topps did the baseball game insert. The cards above are from that set, these were accquired in another great trade with AJ from The Lost Collector blog. AJ has completed the 33 card set and these are some of the dupes he had. I sent AJ three vintage Yankees which will look much better in his collection than mine.

I love these cards as they are a cheaper way of getting some cool HOF'er cards. I think I will chase down the rest of the set now that AJ has given me a healthy head start. The Mantle and the AAron will be the most expensive ones to track down, but looking at the prices on ebay they do appear very affordable. As this is a vintage set I won't be in a huge hurry to finish it due to other pc considerations, but I am determined to get it finished off.

As always many thanks AJ.

Big Game James Pick Ups.

The last couple of months have been slim pickings for my James Shields PC. I have picked up a few base cards from various years and the odd refractor to fill some holes in the PC, but cool cards have been very few and far between, so far there have been no Shields autos in any set and until Update arrived no Game Used Either. Also appearing in Update was a Shields fake glove card, I'm not much of a fan of these type of cards due to the fact Topps sees them as a hit when clearly the are not. The cards come in the unnumbered tan style, the numbered to 99 black as we see above and the ever popular nickname card numbered 1/1. My chances of owning the nickname card are zero or less. To be honest I think it's a pretty cool card and am happy for it to sit in the collection. The card cost a massive $1.95 + $3.00 shipping, a bargain in my mind. My problem now is getting the more available tan version, these seem to be costing more than the numbered ones, go figure.

The other nice "card" I managed to get my grubby paws on was the 2011 A&G printing plate you see above. I think it's the magenta one and I can't be bothered to check the back to see if I'm right. I love A&G, I honestly think it's the coolest set of the year, mainly because Shields is always in it and there are some nice variations of the cards to collect. This is my first Ginter plate and at a cost of $20 a bit of a steal in my humble opinion. The new glossy set has just been released and a Shields glossy is on it's way to Tampa Towrs as I write. The only A&G 2011 card I am missing is the wood mini which surpassed my limit for a non auto card a few weeks back, I have a feeling I know who owns it and he has the best Shields PC I have ever seen, so there is no chance it will appear in my collection.

So as the sun sets on another baseball season the hunt for cards continues.