World's Ugliest Cards: 2011 Bowman Grady Sizemore

From time-to-time I come across cards that are historically ugly, here are some of the worst.

Today I bring you 2011 Bowman Grady Sizemore, one of the most talented and smooth players to grace the diamond in recent years. He must have pissed someone at Bowman off for them to choose this image to grace his Bowman card.

New Blog Update: Cards of Future Fenway Stars

To avoid any possible confusion between Sox Prospects' Cards and the website Sox Prospects, I have chosen to go with a new name, but same mission, for my new blog. So please check out Cards of Future Fenway Stars for news about minor league prospects and new releases from a Sox Prospector's perspective.

www.futurefenwaystars.blogspot.com

New Blog: Sox Prospects' Cards

Please check out my new blog Sox Prospects' Cards for the most complete and up to date information on the card of the Boston Red Sox Top Prospect.

www.soxprospectscards.blogspot.com

It's Been Awhile

It has been too long since I last posted, but I have had a very busy two months. Since last time that I wrote, I have gotten married, went on my honeymoon and started a new job. But, going forward, I plan on writing more regularly.

For card collectors that focus on baseball prospecting, this time of year is very exciting. Topps Pro Debut Series 2 was fantastic; 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition looks strong again, especially since DE3 has gone back to the 100 card base set after a 50 card DE3 base set in 2009; and soon 2010 Bowman Chrome will be released, with the promise of many more great prospect cards.

I just thought that I would briefly discuss some of my thoughts about these sets.

Thought #1: None of these sets include cards of super-prospect #1 Pick Bryce Harper. While Harper's absense should help to keep the cost of packs and boxes lower on the secondary market, his star power could have driven any of these sets to 2010 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects hype levels.

2010 Topps Pro Debut Series 2: The Futures Game Mega-Swatches are the highlights of the set. Although the Autograph list includes top prospects like Jesus Montero, the Mega-Swatches from some of the top prospects in the game, like Hank Conger, Ben Revere, Mike Trout, and Stolmy Pimentel (pictured at top), are what will keep people busting this wax. Although packs are a bit pricey, singles of prospects like Jose Iglesias, Lars Anderson, Kyle Gibson, Mike Moustakas, Austine Romine, and Bryce Brentz (heretofore known as "The Other Bryce") can be found for cheap.

2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition: Featuring an impressive list of 2010 draft picks, DE3 offers everything that a prospector could ask for (minus Bryce Harper that is).

My Trip to the Big Sports Card & Autograph Show in Mansfield

Today I went to the Big Sports Card and Autograph Show at the Mansfield Holiday Inn, the first time that I’d been in a little over four years. To be honest, I didn’t really expect the trip to be too productive, but it was only about a half-mile from my apartment and I wanted to show my fiancé what a card show was like. Plus, today the show was having a promotion that if you wore Red Sox or Bruins clothing you got in free.

So, we got to the Holiday Inn around 9 o’clock and walked to the ballroom where they were holding the show. At the door, the show’s organizers gave us two packages of cards, which I later opened and found 2010 Sage HIT Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen and Ryan Mathews cards. Not bad for free.

When we entered the ballroom, there were probably already four or five dozen people there and close to fifty venders. Not having been there in awhile, we walked around the ballroom to get a general feel for what different venders were offering. There were a good number of vintage dealers, some dealers specializing in unopened boxes, lots of tables of high-end autographs, game-used and refractor cards, and some tables with boxes full of cards for 10-25 cents each.

Since I’m getting married in a few weeks and don’t have too much extra money to be spending on cards, I set a $20 budget for myself and wanted to get the most for my money, so I decided to dig through the cheap boxes and hope to find some gold. I found one seller who was selling 2008-2010 Bowman and other assorted cards for 25 cents each, 60 for $10, so I went to town.

$16.25 later, here’s what I got.

2010 Bowman Topps 100 Donavan Tate, Mike Moustakas (x2), Dustin Ackley, Mike Stanton (x2)

2010 Bowman Expectations Domonic Brown/Ryan Howard

2008 Razor Jordan Danks, Ike Davis (sold for $5.20), Brett Wallace and Jason Castro.

2009 Upper Deck Own the Rookies Shonn Greene, Jeremy Maclin, Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez, Chris "Beanie" Wells, Josh Freeman, Percy Harvin.

2010 Press Pass Portrait Edition Sam Bradford (x2), Tim Tebow (x2) (sold for $8.60 each), Jimmy Clausen (x2), Rob Gronkowski, Tim Tebow Headliners, Sam Bradford Headliners, Tim Tebow/Jevan Snead Face to Face.

2009 Bowman Mat Latos (x2), Neftali Feliz, Tommy Hanson (x2), Chris Tillman (x3)

2007 Topps: Rookies of Phil Hughes, Adam Lind (x4), Miguel Montero (x2), Kevin Kouzmanoff (x4), Yunel Escobar (x2), Ryan Rowland-Smith (x2), Micah Owings (x3)

2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects Dominic Brown, Ivan Nova (x2)

2009 Upper Deck USA Star Prospects Garin Cecchini, Sean Coyle, Matt Newman, Connor Mason, Nick Pepitone, Asher Wojciechowski, Ladson Montgomery, Sonny Gray, Tony Zych.

2010 Topps Pro Debut Jared Mitchell

2009 Topps Platinum Chris “Beanie” Wells, Brian Cushing, Donald Brown, Rhett Bomar (refractor 096/499)

2009 Topps Unique Donald Brown (Red/Orange 434/799)

2007 Allen & Ginters Alexander Graham Bell (mini-A&G back), Jared Satalamacchia (black mini)

2009 TriStar Obak Mike Stanton mini

2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Legends Drew Bledsoe (287/375)

25 Ulta-Pro Toploaders

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchases, and am confident that I will be able to easily double my money re-selling these cards. I am especially happy with a number of the baseball prospect cards that I was able to pick up for a steal. I never cease to be amazed at the number of card dealers who do not take the time/effort to research the players before throwing them in junk boxes, and how few collectors and prospectors are willing to put in the time to dig through the boxes and find cardboard gold.

However, the most interesting part of my card show experience came when I was digging through the boxes trying to get to 60 cards when a younger collector, probably 17 to 20 years old, came over to the table where I was going through the box and tried to sell his NSA Tiger Woods/Michael Jordan dual relic card. He told the dealer that he had bought the card at Target for $50 and was looking to sell it for $50. The dealer kind of looked at it funny and said that he had never heard of the company. So I chimed in, "Do either of you read the blog, "Sports Cards Uncensored?" They both looked at me like I had 5 heads. "Well, it is one of the best blogs on the intenet, and the guy who writes it did a thing a couple months ago about how most of the NSA stuff is definately fake. I wouldn't touch the stuff." The dealer quickly handed the card back to the kid, and said that he wasn't interested. Later, when I was still looking through the boxes, another guy came over with a Chris Johnson Topps Rookie Premier Auto card. I decided that I couldn't do all of the dealers research for him, so I didn't bother mentioning how all of those are fakes, too.

Michael Bowden called-up to Boston

Just days after adding a "Michael Bowden Mania" page to the Pessimist Card Collector, the Boston Red Sox have promoted 23-year old Michael Bowden, the Red Sox 2005 first round pick who was recently converted from a starter to a reliever, from AAA Pawtucket. To see my collection of autographed Michael Bowden cards, check out Michael Bowden Mania.

Good luck Michael!

2008 TriStar PROjections Red Sox and Yankees- Final Thoughts

I was a fan of 2008 TriStar PROjections well before I bought these eight boxes. In fact, I believe that 2008 TriStar PROjections is the best modern-day minor league baseball card set produced. The clean, sleek design that is both visually appealing and great for autographs puts the set in a league of its own, in my mind.

Although I already had the complete set and have gotten close to 50 cards signed, I jumped at the opportunity to buy and open these boxes for $38.00, which I thought and still do think was a steal. These were the first packs of cards that I have opened since last December and it was a fun time pulling multiples of Justin Masterson, Daniel Bard, Jesus Montero, Jose Tabata, Michael Bowden, Ryan Kalish and Lars Anderson.

As an added benefit, as I mentioned in the video, these boxes contained exclusive variation cards from the regular set, including cards of top prospects Justin Masterson, Ryan Dent, Will Middlebrooks, Bubba Bell, Oscar Tejada, Nick Hagadone, Zach McCallister, and Arodys Vizcaino. Furthermore, the team boxes were the only places to find 2008 TriStar PROjections cards for Andrew Brackman, Drew Sublett, Chase Weems and Mark Wagner.

As for hits, I was more than happy to pull autographed cards of Yankees #1 prospect Jesus Montero and rising Red Sox prospect Anthony Rizzo. In addition, David Robertson is already a member of the Yankees bullpen and Bryce Cox was once projected to be the Red Sox closer.

While TriStar and similar minor league-based sets may not appeal to everyone, it is the perfect set for any prospector or minor league autograph collector. I could not be happier with my purchase and my pulls.

2008 TriStar PROjections Red Sox and Yankees Box Breaks (Hit City Installment)

For your viewing pleasure...the best boxes of 2008 TriStar PROjection I opened...

2008 TriStar PROjections Red Sox and Yankees Box Breaks (Installment Two)

Boxes Two and Three...Enjoy!

2008 TriStar PROjections Red Sox and Yankees Box Breaks (Installment One)

Boxes One and Two...Two more installments to come. Hope that you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed ripping it!



The Deal: 8 Boxes of 2008 TriStar PROjections (5 Boston Prospects, 3 New York Prospects).

Box Breakdown: 5 packs of 7 cards. 1 autograph of team prospect in each box.

Cost: Purchased Buy It Now on eBay from silvertownelp on July 6, 2010 for $3.50 a box and shipped together for $7.95.

Minor League Autographed Cards Update

Autograph Updates- 5.28.10

Enjoy, and let me know if you've had any look getting some great autographs this season!

A Tale of Two Pitchers

For Justin Masterson and Clay Buchholz, when one is having the best of times, the other is having the worst of times. Pitching on Monday, Buchholz and Masterson were again heading in opposite directions. By surrendering four runs to the Chicago White Sox in the first inning, assembling a high pitch count and being forced out after pitching only four innings, Cleveland’s Justin Masterson earned his eleventh consecutive losing decision and extended his winless streak to 16 starts dating back to August 20, 2009. At the same time, in Boston, Buchholz tossed six innings, striking out 8 Tampa Bay Rays and allowing only one run, collecting his 12th win since August 19th of last year.

What makes that situation so remarkable is that two years ago the situation was almost the exact opposite for the former teammates when they were both members of the Boston Red Sox. Clay Buchholz was selected with the 42nd overall pick in the supplemental portion of the first round in the 2005 draft out of Angelina College in Texas and Masterson was selected by the Red Sox a year later with the 71st overall pick in the second round of the draft out of San Diego State.

By spring training of 2007, both Buchholz and Masterson had shown their promise in the Boston farm system and were seen as top prospects in the organization. During the 2007 seasons, both Buchholz and Masterson met and exceeded the organizations expectations, with Masterson earning a promotion from High A Lancaster to AA Portland and Buchholz scaling the organization ladder from Portland to AAA Pawtucket to a late season call-up to Boston. While with the big club, Buchholz showed why scouts were so high on him by throwing a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles on September 1 in just his second Major League start.

Entering the 2008 season, Masterson and Buchholz were unquestionably the top two pitching prospects in the Red Sox organization. After his spectacular performance in Boston at the end of the 2007 season, Buchholz was awarded a place in the Red Sox starting rotation on Opening Day while Masterson began the season with the Portland Sea Dogs. From that point, their seasons went in opposite directions. For Buchholz, 2008 could not have been much worse. As a starter for the Red Sox, Buchholz went 2-9, with a 6.75 ERA in 16 games, eventually being demoted all the way back to Portland. In the meantime, Masterson flourished, being promoted directly from Portland to Boston to make an emergency start on April 24 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Masterson spend most of the rest of the season with Boston, pitching as both a starter and reliever as the team needed him and earning his first postseason win in Game 5 of the 2008 ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays by pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

In 2009, the positions of Masterson and Buchholz had reversed. While Masterson broke spring training as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Buchholz was assigned to Pawtucket to show that he still had the talent that he had shown in 2007 and made so many fans and scouts believe that he would be a permanent fixture in the Red Sox rotation for years to come. Fortunately, both Masterson and Buchholz started the season off well. Buchholz bounced back from his disappointing 2008 season to dominate International League batters while Masterson was a reliable bullpen arm for the Red Sox. By mid-July, Buchholz earned a promotion back to Boston and showed that he belonged there, finishing the year 7-4 with a 4.21 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. Masterson, on the other hand, was traded, along with top pitching prospects Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price, to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Catcher Victory Martinez at the trade deadline. Working as a starter for Cleveland, Masterson had a 4.55 ERA in 57 1/3 innings pitched with little run support, going 1-7.

Now, with almost two months of the 2010 season in the record books, Clay Buchholz is on the top of the world while Justin Masterson has struggled to find any success. While Buchholz is making the case that he is the Ace in a rotation that includes Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey, Indians Manager Manny Acta has suggested that the Indians may return Masterson to the bullpen in the hope that he can once again find success as a relief pitcher that has eluded him as a starter.

Personally, I hope and believe that Masterson and Buchholz can end their career seesaw routine and both find success as major league pitchers.

Justin Masterson: A Diamond in the Rough

Simply looking at his win-loss record, it would be easy to give up on Justin Masterson. The Akron Beacon Journal recently featured a story about Masterson with the title, “Pitcher’s futility streak goes on.” Beginning the season 0-4 to extending his winless streak to 14 starts dating back to last August, many observers have concluded that the Justin Masterson as a starter experiment has failed and that it is time for him to return to the bullpen. But, if you go deeper into the numbers, it is possible to conclude that rather than being a mediocre starter, Masterson might just be the unluckiest pitcher in baseball.

Justin Masterson is among the league leaders in a number of statistical categories that more accurately reflect what a pitcher is doing, rather than whether or not he has a good team behind him. For example, Masterson is one of only seven starters in the majors to average a 10 or more strike outs per nine innings(K/9), a list that, in addition to Masterson, includes Brandon Morrow, Tim Lincecum, Jered Weaver, Clayton Kershaw, Yovani Gallardo and Tommy Hanson. In addition, Masterson boasts a league leading 3.53 groundball to fly ball ratio, attracting groundballs on 58.8% of balls in play as opposed to line drives on only 24.6% of balls in play. Unfortunately, mostly as a result of a poor defense behind him, he has a league leading .412 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Making matters worse for Masterson is that he receives the leagues seventh lowest run support at 2.61 runs per nine innings.

The Cleveland Indians are clearly not a good team, but rather than being the goat that he is being made out to be by the Ohio media, Masterson might just be the diamond in the rough that the Indians thought he was when they traded Victory Martinez to the Red Sox for him and young prospects Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price last July.



Personally, I have not lost an ounce of faith in Masterson's ability to be a dominant pitcher in the Major Leagues, whether it be as a starter or a reliever, although I am wondering what happened to the TTM cards I sent him over a month ago now.

Autographed Cards Update, Take Two

Hoping that you enjoy the videos and crossing my fingers that I will be showing off my autographed Stephen Strasburg and Drew Storen cards next weekend!

Still taking 50/50 Autograph Deals for Pawtucket Red Sox

I posted this before, but just in case anyone missed it last time around, I am happy to do 50/50 autograph deals for the following players.

Over the past year, I have built quite a collection of minor league baseball autographs. During that time, I have been introduced to the concept of 50/50 autograph deals. For those of you who are not familiar with the system, here's how it works. If you have cards of a player that you would like to get signed, but do not have the opportunity to get them signed yourself, you seek out a person who frequently gets autographs from that player's team, send them cards and then split however many cards they get signed.

For example, if you had 4 Bubba Bell cards that you would like to get signed, you could send them to me with a self addressed stamped envelope to return them, I would get them signed, and then return 2 signed cards to you and keep 2 for myself.

As of right now, I am willing to go 50/50 (maximum of 10 cards per player) for the following members of the Pawtucket Red Sox...

Dustin Richardson
Mark Wagner
Dusty Brown
Lars Anderson (only 2009 TriStar Projections and any Just Minors cards for now)
Gustavo Molina
Torey Llullo
Gerald Perry
Randor Bierd
Fernando Cabrera
Fabio Castro
Robert Manuel
Adam Mills
Joe Nelson
Ramon A. Ramirez
Tug Hulett
Jorge Jimenez
Ryan Khoury
Angel Sanchez
Bubba Bell

If anyone is interested in 50/50 with me for any of those Paw Sox, please leave a comment and/or email me at georgebianchijr@gmail.com

Remember, although I will make every effort to get as many cards signed as I can, and, as seen in my videos, I do get quite a few cards signed, success is never a guarentee. In the event that I cannot get the cards signed, they will be returned. Please contact me if you're interested.

In Person and Through the Mail Autographs from April 2010

Sorry about the extra footage of me trying to stop the recording. My webcam decided that it didn't want to stop, so you get to see my puzzled face as I kept hitting the stop button until I gave up and ended the whole program. I thought about re-shooting the cards, but I decided to just go with the raw and un-cut version of me and my autograph collection.

What the heck am I doing with this blog?

As you can tell by reading this blog, I don’t really know what the heck I am doing with this blog. So far, my blog has been a collection of posts about Red Sox prospects, why I hate exclusive licensing deals, some of my thoughts about player collecting and why I think that buying singles makes more sense, financially, than busting wax. Having spent the last few months as a regular reader of a number of great card blogs, I have found multiple blogs that focus on one of those topics individually, but few that are characterized by an apparent fetish of having no overarching raison d’être like mine.

Having been a part-time blogger for nearly two months now, I don’t entirely know what to make of my blog. To be honest, my original reason for blogging was to serve as a form of social media to promote by Amazon.com store, George’s Card Shop. But, concluding that business was going about as well as could be hoped and seeing no benefit of bugging past and/or future customers with my musings about sports and card collecting, I soon abandoned that idea. Giving up on that plan, I decided that I would blog in private for a few months, figure out what the hell I was doing, and then reveal my work to the world once I was confident that my blog could compete with the best. But, for the better, I think, some people stumbled upon the blog and I have been trying to learn on the fly and improve my blog with every post.

So, for now, I have decided to continue doing what I have been doing: writing and recording videos about Red Sox minor league prospects, collecting autographs, player collecting and card prospecting. Tell me what you think. Is what I am writing worth reading? What is the most interesting? What is the least interesting? Is there an aspect of card collecting that is not covered or not covered well enough in the card blogosphere that I should concentrate on?

The Pleasures and Frustrations of a Player Collector

If I had to declare what type of card collector I am, I would probably have to say that I am a player collector. With so many sets coming out every year, collectors have to settle on some sort of collecting strategy or they will end up like a kid on a sugar-high running after every shiny thing that catches his eye. For me, that strategy is putting together the best Justin Masterson and Daniel Bard player collections that I can.

A few months ago, over at Sports Cards Uncensored, Gellman discussed How Competitive Personalities Affect Our Collections. In the article, Gellman looked at how the competitive personalities of many collectors impact the card industry and our personal collections.

For me, what makes player collecting an interesting part of the hobby is the fact that every collection is unique. For example, there are as many collecting possibilities as there are players. Considering how many players there are for collectors to select from, it is fascinating to see who people choose to collect, what cards they acquire, how much they are willing to pay for them and when the collecting mission is accomplished. Making matters more complicated is the reality that some player collections are more difficult to assemble than others. For example, it is a lot easier, and cheaper, to collect every card, or almost every card, of Daniel Bard or Justin Masterson than it is to collect every card of Albert Pujols or Derek Jeter.

Furthermore, the proliferation of game-used relic cards, autographed cards, autographed relic cards, and low-numbered/refractor varieties of almost every card creates new challenges and opportunities for collectors. Most importantly: when can you say that you have every card of a player? Can you say that you have every card if you have every base card? What about every base and chrome version of every card? What about refractors? Do you need to assemble the refractor rainbow for every card to truly complete your collection? What role do 1 of 1 cards have in player collections?

To be honest, I think that there are as many answers to those questions as there are player collections, and there is no one right answer. Factor in the difficulty and expense of collecting some players, and any neat or cookie cutter answer goes out the window. For example, while it is relatively easy and inexpensive to collect every refractor, game-used, and autographed card of Daniel Bard or Justin Masterson, Pujols and Jeter collectors would be lucky to pick up one autographed card of their favorite player in their collecting lifetime. That financial reality creates different expectations for each player collection.

Nonetheless, there are few feelings in the life of a card collector quite as satisfying as adding a new card to your player collection, especially if it is one that you have had your eyes on for awhile. Let me know if you have a player collection and/or what you think about player collections.

Red Sox Prospecting

Now that baseball season has begun, I will provide a bi-weekly report on the top prospects in the Red Sox organization to look at whose hot and their newest cards. Today, I offer the five prospects that are off to the best starts in the 2010 season.

#1. Lars Anderson, 1B, AA Portland (.316 BA, .381 OPB, 1.013 OPS, 3 HR)

2010 Topps Pro Debut

After a disappointing 2009 season at AA Portland and a sub-par spring training performance with the big league club, Lars is off to a great start in 2010. Written off by some fans at the end of last year as a bust at 22 years-old, Lars has regained his form that made him Baseball America's #1 Prospect in the Red Sox organization before the 2009 season. If Lars maintains his hot bat, look to see him earn a promotion to AAA Pawtucket in May and get a look at Fenway sometime this year.

#2 Stolmy Pimentel, SP, High A Salem (2-0, 1.64 ERA, .158 BAA, 11 IP, 8 K)

2009 Bowman

Beginning his third professional season in the United States and still only 20 years-old, Stolmy continues to wow scouts and fans with his stuff and maturity on the mound. With a number of talented pitchers in the high minors, Pimentel is likely to spend most, of not all, of 2010 in Salem as the Red Sox continue to be patient with the young righty. However, if the Red Sox look to trade for a big slugger like Adrian Gonzalez in mid-season, Pimentel could very well be one of the prospects to go. In that case, he could see time at AA, AAA, or even get a Cup of Coffee in the majors by seasons end. The sky is the limit on Pimentel's potential, it is just a question of when.

#3 Oscar Tejada, SS, High A Salem (.375 BA, .381 OBP, .981 OPS, 2 HR, 3 SB)

2009 Bowman Sterling

Like his teammate Pimentel, Oscar Tejada is only 20 years-old and is dominating Carolina League competition. Often overlooked after a mediocre 2009 campaign in Single A Greenville and taking a back seat to fellow Red Sox minor league middle infielders like Jose Iglesias, Derrik Gibson, Yamaico Navarro, and Ryan Dent, Tejada has been the spark in Salem's line-up and attracted the eyes of a number of scouts. In a pure numbers game, it looks as through Tejada will remain in Salem for most of the year, unless, again, he is involved in an anticipated Red Sox blockbuster deal for Adrian Gonzalez.


#4 Casey Kelly, SP, AA Portland (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 5 IP, 4 K, .238 BAA)

2010 Topps Pro Debut

Despite his small sample size and restrictive pitch count, it is difficult to overlook Casey's ability and leave him off the list. At only 20 years-old, and with only half a season of professional pitching at Single A Greenville and High A Salem, Kelly is off to an impressive start against Eastern League batters. As the Red Sox take off some of Kelly's training wheels, look for him to continue to dominate and show why the Red Sox are so high on him.


#5 Anthony Rizzo, 1B, High A Salem (.313 BA, .370 OBP, .500 SLG, .870 OPS, 2 HR)

2009 Tristar PROjections

The only question for Rizzo is how long Anderson will continue to block his promotion to AA Portland. After an impressive 2009 season split between Greenville and Salem, Rizzo has kept up his impressive performance at the plate and in the field in 2010. Often overlooked by prospect evaluators, Rizzo is gaining fans and admirers with every at-bat.