RBI Collecting - Ryan's Baseball Item Collecting

RBI (63) More 365 TTM goodness...

2012-02-29T13:25:00.000-08:00

Yup the replies have slowed a bit but they're slowly making their way back as I send them out. This time I was able to get a reply back from from Tigers catcher Mike Heath.

Mike was drafted in the second round of the 1973 draft by the New York Yankees at only 18. The high level prospect was given time to develop and made his debut for the Yankees in 1978. Heath was included in the trade that brought Dave Righetti to the Yankees and sent to Oakland for a substantial portion of his career. While he was with the Oakland A's in 1983 he caught rookie Mike Warren's no-hitter on his final start of the season.

He eventually moved again via trade and eventually caught on with the Detroit Tigers. While he was with the Tigers he was part of their banner 1987 season where they advanced to the ALCS after a 98-64 season. As a Tiger Heath was known for his strong arm and defense that helped the club as well as a reasonable bat that kept him fighting his way on base. After the Tigers Heath went on to play a final year of baseball for the Braves.

When he retired Heath had played for 14 season in the MLB across 5 clubs. He had appeared in 1325 games and crossed the 1000 hit mark. With only 86 Home Runs and 469 RBI, Heath still maintained a respectable .252 average to go along with a .300 OPB. What's surprising is that as a catcher not known for too much pop Heath ended his career with an impressive 27 Triples.

Mr. Heath was nice enough to sign this 1987 Topps card sent to his home address and get it back to me after only 14 Days.

Balk 8 - This guy is kinda famous...

2012-02-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

I've always thought it would be really cool to end up in the background of a player's trading card. I'm kinda in the background of Bobby Abreu's 2012 Topps card seeing as I was at the game sitting 6 seats to the left 15 rows back, but the crowd isn't in the actual photo. I know I was there though seeing as Abreu made 18 appearances in left field all season and the photo may look cool, but he almost missed the catch AND after he made the catch almost fell down into the bullpen wall. Hence his very not so confident face in the picture. So yeah. I was there for Bobby Abreu's 2012 Topps photo. Cool.

Anyways. My friend David was on TV for the Albert Pujols press conference and is pictured on Yahoo's fantasy summary of the 2012 Angels AND is in Sports Illustrated. Did I mention he got Pujols to sign his ball too? Some guys get all the luck. David has a blog that many of you are already reading, but those not reading can find it see his goodies at David's Autograph Signings.

I guess since he was in SI I should get his autograph too. Just another thing to put on the to do list.

Oh and ps. Moneyball was robbed at the Oscars. Billy Beane was there though to see it happen supposedly. I wonder if he went to check out the remnants of Mannywood too.

RBI (62) More 365 TTM inbox goodness...

2012-02-23T21:44:00.000-08:00

Yup that's right folks another reply for the challenge, and it's an especially cool one. With spring training just beginning one of the big 2012 story lines has been a fairly regular one, who's healthy. This is especially true for the San Francisco Giants who hope Buster Posey will hold up through the season and Brian Wilson will as well. Did either reply to me TTM? Nope, but the photos of Brian Wilson dominating the blogosphere made me "fear the beard" 1989 style a la the original beard, Jeff "Terminator" Reardon.

Reardon was a amateur free agent signed by the Mets in 1977, and eventually broke into the bigs with them in 1979. He was very consistent for the Mets and they ended up trading him to the Montreal Expos where he would make a name for himself as a dominating closer. For 11 consecutive years of his career Reardon would Save at least 20 games and twice hit the 40 Save mark. For the next 16 seasons he would be a linchpin closer for several clubs such as the Twins, Red Sox, before slowing down in the end of his career with the Braves, Reds, and Yankees.

When he finally walked away from the game Reardon was at the time the All Time Saves leader with 342 career Saves before his record was broken and eventually shattered by others along with Trevor Hoffman and Mariano Rivera. He was a 4-time All-Star, World Series Champion with the Twins, and was the NL Rolaid's Relief Man of the Year. His career line in 880 appearances would be 73-77 with 877 Strikeouts and a 3.16 ERA.

Mr. Reardon was kind enough to sign this 1989 Topps card sent to his home address and return it to me quickly after only 10 Days.

RBI (61) The 365's 8th TTM reply...

2012-02-21T20:24:00.001-08:00

And it's a pretty good reply from a durable player. Former Tiger's pitcher Mark Thurmond was nice enough to still be a consistent performer, but this time as an autograph signer.

The Houston native Thurmond was taken in the 5th round of the 1979 draft by the San Diego Padres. He would eventually make his debut in 1983 for the club, finishing in the top ten for the NL Rookie of the year. He was a pretty consistent starter for the Padres but eventually traded to Detroit for Dave LaPoint. With the Tigers he was part of the 1987 bullpen that had the Tigers put up a banner year 98 Wins and advance to the ALCS. After his time with the Tigers he went on to play for the Orioles, Astros, and Giants.

When he finally retired from baseball he had a respectable career line after his 8 seasons. After 97 starts in 314 games he finished with a 40-46 record, 3.69 ERA, and 320 Strikeouts. Thurmond's time in the bullpen also gave him 21 Saves as an occasional closer in the later part of his career. Interestingly despite playing in 314 over 8 seasons and being shuttled repeatedly between the rotation and the bullpen Thurmond never spent time on the disabled list. Besides his time in the MLB Thurmond was also a member of the 1978 Amateur World Series where his team took the Silver.

Mr. Thurmond was nice enough to put a really nice signature on this 1989 Topps card sent to his home address after 8 days. He added the inscription "Romans 1:16" under his pretty interesting but very legible signature.

4th batch of the 365

2012-02-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

With baseball season right around the corner I started to think back to all the great milestones and games I saw the past season. A few highlights I was there to see CC Sabathia collect his 2000th strike out, Jordan Walden tie the franchise record for saves by a rookie, and Dan Haren reach 100 wins. I'm excited to see what sort of milestones and accomplishments I'll be there for this year.

Thinking about 2011 made me think about the big stack of 1987 Topps cards and what went on that year. I started to research the season and found out the '87 Tigers had a huge season and powered their way to a MLB best 98 Wins. '87 was their last post season until the 2011 season. I decided to write a few letters to key guys from that team.

Jack Morris, Morris was a linchpin in 3 World Series Championship teams and one of the dominating pitchers of his era. I'm thinking he's advancing to Cooperstown in the next year or two after drawing 67% of the vote this year.
Mike Heath, Pitching was a big part of the Tigers success that year and Heath caught 90 games while batting a strong .280 I'm curious as to how he saw the club that season.
Mark Thurmond, a consistent piece of the bullpen that helped the club grind through the season as an occasional closer and late inning guy.
Justin Masterson, Today is when pitchers and catchers reported across the league and I wanted the first current player I write to during the beginnings of 2012 baseball to be one I have a connection to. I was at Masterson's first career start and am really big on him. I wear his player shirt to every game of his regardless of it being a Sox tee and him being on the Indians. Really hope he write back.
Jerry Dipoto, I'm not really sure why, but I felt really inspired today an wrote a fairly lengthy letter to the Angels GM.
Mike Cameron, Cameron just announced his retirement and I wanted to send a letter offering him my best wishes for his life after baseball.
Brandon Morrow, I've wanted to write to Morrow for a while after seeing him for so long with the Mariners, but was always hesitant about sending a letter to Toronto. Now that he's in the States for spring training I want to get him.
Jaime Moyer, My thoughts about Mike Cameron and Tim Wakefield's retirement made me think about the old guard moving on, and Moyer is trying to fight father time and do the opposite of his peers attempting a comeback at 49.
Ron Roenicke, While writing the letter to the Mr. Dipoto I started to think about the previous championship of the Angels and an unsung hero in their performance former 3rd base coach turned manager chasing his own ring Roenicke.

RBI (60) More 365 TTM letter responses...

2012-02-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

I was pleased to open my mailbox and see a quick reply from former Angel pitcher T.R. Bryden. I was pretty excited to see the reply from his as it's another step closer to working on the 1987 Angels team set. I think the most difficult person to get from the '87 Angels team will be Reggie Jackson which could prove to be ironic.

Bryden was signed by the California Angels in 1981 as an amateur free agent, but didn't make it to the show until 1986. The Washington native's career only lasted through the '86 season in which he appeared in 16 games. While with the club he posted a 6.55 ERA with a 2-1 record, but was then returned to the minors for 2 final years in baseball.

Mr. Bryden was kind enough to sign this 1987 Topps card for me in only 10 days from his home address. I think he has a great signature, and considering how short his cup of coffee in the bigs was I really appreciate him taking the time to sign with such care and promptness. He was also nice enough to answer the questions in my letter and share about his MLB experiences:

How did you find out you were being called up in '86?
I probably should have checked his lone season's game log before I asked this question, but I think it's a testament to his abilities that he "Made the team out of spring training!" especially when looking at his minor league stats you see Mr. Bryden was productive, but not dominant before making the team. He must have given the club quite a dominant spring to earn his roster spot.

What was it like pitching to Bob Boone?
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Boone through the Angels 50th Anniversary celebration, and it was great to meet the 7-time Gold Glover. It's easy to understand why he was so well regarded as a catcher when you add how he called games since Bryden admits "I shook him off 1 time!"

What was it like to collect your first win?
Considering he was only able to collect 2, I'm sure each one was special to him especially since he came into the game as a reliever so he never knew what the result be besides "Shock!"

Did any player especially try to help you adjust to life in the MLB?
"Reggie M. Jackson" Needless to say I was a little shocked when the sure Hall of Famer was the player named to welcome the career Minor Leaguer into the bigs, but it only adds to what it means to be a man of Hall quality.

RBI (59) My foray into 2012 Topps was a hit...

2012-02-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

That's right folks. I went to my local card shop and bought 2012 Topps. I highly doubt I'll buy any more now that I've wet my taste buds and have been pleasantly surprised but honestly not all that interested in the set.

Not only did I buy 2012 Topps, but I invested in a hobby box of 36 packs. I know some of you may be surprised seeing as the pack hits I've always shown were blaster, jumbo, or even rack pack hits, but I decided to live a little. With 2012 being so mixed and me already being able to secure a few Angel cards to work on this season I decided if I were going to get a taste I may as well invest in something that would leave me happy. The major selling point for me though was not only the Gold Rush Wrapper Redemption going on, where I was pretty intrigued in the design and autograph possibilities, but my card dealer offered to give me the final 14 hobby wrappers I'd need to finish my required 50 for FREE.

I scored a fair amount of parallels to try and get in person or mail out and went right on the average with the redemption cards online. I was able to get a nice pair of cards out of the box.

A Detroit Tigers Ryan Rayburn black parallel number 57/61.

And more importantly a Jordan Zimmermann Golden Moments autograph. I'm big on Zimmermann in general and I think the card is a pretty nice looking one as far as the inserts go. Jordan is a key part of the Nationals' resurgence into relevance providing a strong 1-2-3 punch with Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez. Last year was his first season back from Tommy John surgery and he posted a respectable 8-11 record with 3.18 ERA before he was shut down to watch his innings. I'm looking forward to big things from the former second round pick.

Not a bad pair of items to find in my box. I'm pretty pleased with them both and fairly sure I'm done buying series 1 of 2012.

RBI (58) The 365's 6th TTM signer has been busy...

2012-02-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

Oh yes A's General Manager and partial owner Billy Beane has been quite busy this off season. The popular General Manager and former player is credited as one of the driving forces for modernizing the game of baseball into it's current incarnation of stat and metric savy front offices.

Beane's story is a famous one in part due to his unusual transition from player to successful front office member and the bestselling book turned film Moneyball. Billy was taken with the 23rd pick in the first round of the 1980 Draft by the Mets who also drafted Daryl Strawberry in the first round. Despite receiving a full scholarship to Stanford Beane signed with the Mets. Believing Beane to be an advanced player the Mets put him in Class-A ball while Strawberry got to take a slower approach to develop into a more complete player. Beane struggled with the level of competition, and would never be given the opportunity to fully develop before being forced into the Majors.

From 1984-1989 Beane was essentially a quad-A player for the Mets, Twins, Tigers, and A's. Being brought to a higher level of play each season only to falter and be sent down to the minors where he would show he was starting to harness his abilities and be rushed back up to the Majors for a few games where he wouldn't be able to stick. Finally Beane walked out of the clubhouse and into the front office where he became an advanced scout for the A's and never left eventually becoming General Manager and a part owner.

As GM Beane helped popularize "Moneyball" throughout baseball. Using metrics to determine players' true values based on statistics such as OBP, SLG, and advanced defensive statistics. With one of the smallest payrolls in baseball Beane found success in the early 2000's setting the American League record of 20 consecutive Wins and 4 strong appearances in the playoffs. Since his success other front offices such as the Red Sox, Angels and the Blue Jays have strongly invested in the principles of sabermetrics and the landscape of the game has rapidly been changing.

Beane signed this 1987 Topps card sent to his office at the Oakland Coliseum in only 7 days. Interestingly it was postmarked and sent back at the same time Beane is to have been signing Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. I guess since Beane got Cespedes' autograph on his contract he decided to give out a few of his own.

RBI (57) 5th TTM return of the 365 and it's a nice one...

2012-02-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

I know part of the first wave of 365 send outs were current players, but I did reach back a bit for this one. I wrote to former Mets pitcher Craig Anderson, a member of the inaugural 1962 Mets team. Having secured Eli Grba's autograph the first player ever to be an Angel, I thought it was important to recognize baseball's other child of the 60's the Mets.

Craig Anderson was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before the 1960 season and made his MLB debut for them in 1961. Anderson was then taken by the Mets as their 8th selection and the 16th selection overall in the 1961 Expansion Draft. Anderson played in the MLB for 4 seasons before leaving baseball behind. He would retire with a 7-23 record, 5 Saves, and a 5.10 ERA.

What Anderson does have is a special place in Mets history beyond just being a member of their inaugural team. Anderson collected the first Save ever for the Mets franchise. He was also the losing pitcher for the last baseball game played at the Polo Grounds.

Mr. Anderson was kind enough to not only autograph this 2011 Topps Heritage News Flashback card but also answer a few questions:

How did you learn you were taken in the 1961 Expansion Draft?
In todays digital world it's pretty easy for teams to communicate with players and agents, but occasionally you still find a story with Twitter breaking news of a trade before the player is even told. In the 60's players found out they were being shipped out in the draft at the same time as everyone else by picking up a "St. Louis newspaper".

What was your favorite memory playing in the Mets inaugural season?
With only 7 career Wins every one must have been special but Anderson was remarkable by picking up a pair by doubling down and "Winning a doubleheader on 5/12/62" over the Milwaukee Braves.

What was Red Ruffing like as a pitching coach?
During the Golden Era of the Yankees Red Ruffing was a pitching stalwart and for the first year the crosstown rival Mets existed they reached for an ace to teach their staff to set the tone. It wasn't quite effective but the players all got to learn from a Hall of Famer who was an, "Easy going, nice man".

How do you think the game is different now from when you were in the League?
Playing in the 60's is definitely different than now in many regards but in Anderson's view the biggest difference is, "more speedy players".

Mr. Anderson was kind enough to autograph my card and reply to my letter sent to his home address after only 11 Days.

Balk 7 Fantasy Baseball preseason thoughts

2012-02-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

Today was a big day for me in the world of imaginary baseball, today I made my selection of players for my 2nd season in a keeper league. Seeing as I won the league last year I'm feeling big pressure to repeat my ring. I'm not sure how the pros do it, because it's the off season and I'm already wondering about my selections and draft strategy.

Anyways, I'm now in the mood to talk a little fantasy baseball.

Hanley, how you burned me last year Mr. Ramirez. For being my first round pick last year your production left me less than pleased. With Jose Reyes joining the Marlins and Hanley being slid over to 3rd will this be a bounce back year? I'm hopeful but not quite so sure. Hanley's a historically fickle player and there are no reports that he's in love with Reyes being on the team and taking his position. The Marlins hitting coach has already said Hanley looks healthier but there is still room for improvement. The advent of Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison do however make this a sneakily good line up. The trick to Hanley will be determining his true value. If he was a pure 3rd baseman I'd probably have him in the top 8, but as a shortstop eligible he's still top at either position. I'm predicting a .293 90 Run 95 RBI 20 Home Run 25 Steal year from him. Not a bad year but I'm going for Tulo before Hanley, but Hanley still above Reyes.

There are a few players I'm going to be trying to target this season and am expecting nice years from.

Gio Gonzalez is someone I've always been high on but never been able to snag. With him out of Oakland I'm thinking people will be less confident in him but essentially his numbers are the same on the road. Leaving the AL and going to the NL where his career starts are essentially lights out I think is going to make him an undervalued ace to steal.

Josh Reddick formerly of the Red Sox and now of the A's is someone I'm going to be keeping my eye on. He's being given the starting job in right for the A's due to the complete lack of other options and he has a history of struggling in his previous looks, but last year he was more than serviceable with the Sox. With no other real challenges for a high batting order spot and Coco Crisp and Jermile Weeks hitting ahead of him, I think Reddick has the chance to be a sneaky pick up for some cheap rbi numbers and a little pop. I'm not sure about his year long numbers being spectacular but I can see him being an undervalued Hunter Pence still in Houston type player.

Casey Kotchman with the Indians. The Indians are a solid club with good young players that play for a team expecting bounce back years from several key players so he should come cheap. Even better the revival Kotchman had in Tampa is supposedly due to him having a corrective eye surgery. I'm not seeing it as a fluke and if Jason Kipnis, and Grady Sizemore can be even marginally productive the contact hitting Kotchman should find a nice spot to drive in the runs. I'm not thinking he's going to be top of his position because of his lack of power, but when the DL bug bite or you have an extra utility spot needing use I'm reaching for Kotch.

RBI (56) 365 Returns are rolling on in now...

2012-02-09T17:48:00.000-08:00

I was able to get another score in the mail this week, though I was kind of sad when I opened up the return envelope. I have a good mental track of what areas I send cards out to, and typically I try to avoid sending cards out to the same area so to help my organic organizer. I actually thought the post mark meant it was a certain pitcher I'd been hoping to get but instead it was a excitingly fast reply from Second baseman Danny Espinosa.

Danny is another local talent from Southern California who was taken in the 3rd round of the 2008 draft by the Washington Nationals. He sped through the minors and was a September call up for the Nationals in 2010, and became the regular starting second baseman in 2011. Espinosa is part of the Nationals hopefully less expensive homegrown core that will provide run support for Strasburg, Zimmerman, and Gio. If he follows up his rookie campaign with another solid season it's not unreasonable for him to put up a 20/20 season.

Despite a .232 average between the season and his 2010 call up, he crushes the ball when he makes contact with 27 Home Runs and 33 Doubles in only 186 games. When on the base paths due to a remarkably steady eye that has given him a .323 OPB despite the low average he's proven to be a surprising nuisance to opposing pitchers with 17 steals. He's actually proved to provide a reasonable glove though I'm not sure he will be winning any Gold Gloves anytime soon.

Espinosa signed this 2008 Razor Signature Series card for me from his home address in only 5 Days. I think it's an awesome card and especially like that he signed across the light part of the card though I think it would have been beautiful in blue.

You can find Danny Espinosa's twitter here.

3rd batch and a theme for the 365

2012-02-07T21:17:00.000-08:00

That's right folks I was hit with some inspiration this week as I pondered over what letters to write. As I was browsing through the blogs I saw the first few breaks of 2012 Topps. Don't worry I know the controversy the set has caused and am far from pleased with the gloss' effect on test autographs, but there was a little inspiration in it.

I'm sure some of you have already guessed it. The 1987 mini inserts just look too sweet, so I went to a local card shop and bought an unopened complete 792 card 1987 Topps set. I won't be sending out the 1987 set exclusively, but I will be including a fair amount of them in my mailings and saving some for in person attempts this coming season. The cast of characters in the '87 set is just right and the tie to the 2012 release is too good to pass up.

Here's the 3rd batch:

Bill Buckner, That's right. A Red Sox fan writing to Billy Buckner and I don't even mention the World Series. Buckner wether you forgive him or not put a big stamp on the franchise so I had to try.
Billy Beane, Since I wrote Hatte I decided to write the guy who signed him and is making so many high profile moves this offseason. With his latest extension it seems like he's going to see if he can outlast Pujols in the AL West.
Terry Francona, Most people send Tito things related to the Sox and the World Series championships, but I wanted something from his playing days. As fas as I'm concerned 2011 collapse or not Tito can do no wrong and will be great in the booth this coming season.
T.R. Bryden, I've actually got a fair amount of the '87 Angels cards signed from the 50th Anniversary events the Angels ran so I decided to keep working on the team set.
Marty Barrett, the '86 ALCS MVP who was a fixture in the Red Sox lineup throughout the eighties as a scrappy contact hitter with strong defense I like to think of him as Pedroia without the pop.
Jeff Reardon, I think Reardon was one of the original closers of the eighties to make you fear the beard...and his pitches. Anytime your card is the lone image for a almost 800 card set on Wikipedia you know it's a pretty sweet card that needs to be sent out.
Charlie Leibrandt, With George Brett in the news recently, I decided to look through his teammates from the lone World Series Championship he won in '85 and Leibrandt was a key name that caught my attention.
Turner Ward, I'm not really a fan of just card searching but while looking at all the 2012 Topps inserts I browsed my '91 Donruss and saw the "Rated Rookies" inserts. Ward caught my interest as a rookie worth making an insert with who eventually made his way through the Majors to a Minor League Managing position.

A VERY puzzling 365 challenge return

2012-02-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

I'm going to break my normal format and ask a question to you fellow collectors. Today I was thrilled to come home and see on my table one of my return envelopes post marked from Massachusetts. I knew the only letter I currently had out from that area was to Jim Rice. Needless to say I was incredibly excited to have a return from him, especially since he was the first letter I wrote for the challenge.

I grabbed the envelope only to see it had already been sliced opened. I found that curious and spilled the card out from it. My correct card was there. With no autograph. No letter. No notecard. Nothing.

I'm not really sure what happened. Here are some scenarios running through my head, what do you think happened.

Did he open my envelope, read the letter I wrote, decide I didn't deserve an autograph but decided to mail my card back? Did he mail it back in my envelope even after accidently slicing the return envelope to open the letter? Did he have no tape if he had cut open my envelope? I honestly have no idea how he'd expect an open envelope flying across the country to manage not to having the card fly out.

Did he read my letter and answer my questions but not autograph my card? Did the letter fly out during the mailing process instead of the card if he had cut the envelope by accident?

Did he answer my letter, mail back the card unsigned, and someone opened my mail but left the unsigned card but took my letter?

Did someone open my mail and see the card was unsigned so they left it?

I feel like if Jim Rice didn't feel like answering he would have just sent it back RTS on the original envelope. Why open the envelope if that's the case?

Does this mean he actually reads all his mail and I fell short of the mark? Nice try, thanks for playing kid but hit the bench.

If that's the case I feel horrible. Horrendous and crushed. I wrote a full page, down to the last line, sincere letter to him explaining my passion for the sport and the Red Sox. I was proud of the finished product, the only letter that may have been more meaningful would be the letter to Pedroia explaining I worked hard and took extra shifts at my job in college specifically to afford his jersey when I was in Boston, and how much it meant to make it to Game 1 of the 2007 World Series to see him play in it. I'm tempted to write him again and ask what happened. If Jim Rice, a member of the pantheon of my Red Sox idols decided my sincerity and thoughtfulness wasn't worthy of his autograph...well I may as well just give up this hobby all together because I don't know what else I have to offer in my letters.

RBI (55) 3rd return of the 365

2012-01-28T19:49:00.000-08:00

Well amidst the RTS that I've been seeing there was a positive that came in the mail. The 3rd return of the challenge is a nice big name, Texas Rangers outfielder Rusty Greer.

A Georgia native, Greer was taken in the 10th round of the 1990 draft by the Rangers. He wouldn't debut in the majors until 1994 playing in 80 games his rookie year. Once he made it into the bigs he refused to leave despite a rash of injuries hindering him throughout his career due to his hard nosed playing style. His put it all out there approach was highlighted when he made a diving catch to preserve Kenny Rogers' perfect game in 1994. Combining his strong offensive skills with high energy defensive play made him a long time fan favorite.

Through 9 seasons playing only for the Rangers he put up impressively consistent numbers despite the severity of his injuries requiring surgery. When he finally ended his comeback attempts his career average stood at .305 with an impressive OBP of .387. Not only did Greer consistently find a way onto the base paths he slugged his way through them with 119 Home Runs in his 1166 hits. For his tireless service he was inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame in 2007.

Mr. Greer signed this 2001 Topps card for me in only 16 days from his home address. I'm pretty disappointed in myself for the bad autograph. The card was the first of that year that I had and I didn't have a test card to play with. It's pretty obvious by looking at the signature that the gloss was stronger than I hoped. It seems like Greer started to give a nice one but scrawled the end as the sharpie had begun to streak and bubble. Considering I think of Rusty Greer as the Ranger counterpart to Tim Salmon during their playing days I'm pretty frustrated with myself.

365 Letters, 2nd batch

2012-01-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well as the challenge goes on I've realized I'll be running into one major problem consistently. Out writing my supply of stamps when I really get on a roll. It's not like it slows down the process very much, but still it's a bit of a hassle to get to the point where I just want to drop the letters in the mail but have to make myself get to the line in the post office.

It's a little frustrating when after making it finally down to the post office and working my way through the letter writing process, it comes back unopened. As much as I enjoy the research, its tough to learn so much and want to know more only for your letter to not even be read. It's like that sneeze you feel but can't get out. Oh well, that's part of why it's such a thrill when you see that familiar sized return envelope with your own handwriting on the outside. Each RTS just makes every response that much more cherished.

What's even more frustratingly confusing is the RTS from Mr. Phil Hughes. Sharpied next to his address with an arrow through it is "RTS" but then stamped next to the address is "Undeliverable Commercial Mail Receiving Agency No Authorization to Receive Mail for this Addressee" Really Phil Hughes? Really? A commercial mail sorter that rejects fan mail? It's hard to believe you have a commercial mail agency that doesn't have the authority to accept your mail. It kind of defeats the point.

I was a little delayed getting to some of the letter writing because of a charity event I went to that you can see here. It was a great even for a nice cause that was definitely worth delaying a few letters.

The theme of this batch gets a little bit of inspiration from the event I was just at and from my previous batch.

Trevor Cahill, while I was reading about Phil Hughes for his letter I thought back to the regular season and realized Cahill also grew up in the area and wanted to know his opinion on playing for a rival of the local team.
Craig Anderson, when writing some of my letters I saw my Eli Grba signed ball and wondered about another expansion franchise. I checked my card collection against an original roster member from the Mets and came up with the interesting Mr. Anderson.
Brandon Inge, one of my favorite players a consistent team guy. I decided to write him after actually seeing a guy who looked like him at the event I was at (it wasn't him).
Scott Hatteberg, as an Angel fan it was interesting to see the division rival A's brought moneyball to town, and Hatte was a big part of that system. As a Red Sox fan Hatte was obviously a big part of the club through the ends of the 90's. I wish I wrote earlier though now that I'm sure the movie has him swamped by other collectors.
Danny Espinosa, I had actually heard that Espinosa was going to be at the event I went to since he was a local product. When it was announced that he wasn't going to be there I was pretty disappointed and added him to the letter list.
Jason Bay, One of my favorite recent Red Sox outfielders, I'm pretty upset about his recent injury woes with the Mets. When I lived in Boston and made it out to Fenway, it seemed like Bay was always starting a game winning rally.
Robin Ventura, taking over after a manager like Ozzie won't be easy but if there's someone who is used to making slick game changing plays it's this guy. We'll have to wait and see how the South Side of Chicago adapts to life post Guillen.

RPS (2) Trinity Bat Home Run Challenge and Cory Hahn Benefit

2012-01-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday January 21st, Trinity Bat Company took part in hosting a charity Home Run Challenge to help former Southern California prospect Cory Hahn's family after a tragic injury during his second collegiate game. Trinity Bat Co. combined with sponsors such as The Inland Empire 66'ers, the Rex Hudler Wonder Dog Show, Chick-fil-A, and to help raise awareness of Cory's unfortunate situation and of the great lengths he is going to stay positive and an inspiration to those in tragedy. Trinity has gone so far to offer a Hahn model bat with proceeds going to assist Cory's family with the rising costs of the tragedy.

The Home Run Challenge had categories for people of all ages, but the main show was the professional players who came out to support. The showing was actually pretty impressive with a large sized crowd coming to support the Hahn family. A ticket into the event actually got you a fair amount. You got 2 tickets for a raffle featuring items such as autographed bats, jerseys, balls, and even custom framed autographs. Chick-fil-A gave away coupons for free food, free sandwiches, and sweet tea, and players were very friendly about signing autographs for those who asked.

Even though it was a little overcast in the morning, the sun came out and beside a light breeze it was a nice day out there to hit. Prospect Matt Hobgood of the Brewers took the first at bats for the pro's.

Matt was followed up by prospect Nick Ramirez.

Even though the show had been impressive to that point, it was time to "pop the chain" and YouTube sensation Domingo Ayala went up to the plate. It was pretty funny to watch him bat in person and watch him actually crank one out.

After Domingo warmed up the home crowd, Angels catcher Hank Conger took to the plate to showcase some of the muscle we'll hopefully see this coming season.

Trace Thompson of the White Sox system was next up.

Aaron Northcraft a prospect from the Braves also took up a bat.

Padres prospect Austin Hedges was the final participant before they cycled through to hit again.

The show was so entertaining that former Angel player/broadcaster Rex Hudler couldn't resist popping on the announcement system for a few high energy words.

He was so energetic that the 66'ers mascot couldn't stop himself from going out into the outfield to try and shag a few flyballs too.

Part of the draw was from Conger announcing he was going to be hitting bombs and the 2011 Angel contender for Rookie of the Year Mark Trumbo announcing he would also be in attendance to sign autographs though he couldn't hit due to injury. Mark sat down to sign an item for each fan that stood in line, taking his time to give an actually very nice signature.

There was also a surprise guest who appeared to watch the festivities and show his support. The Pittsburgh Pirates choice with 1st pick of the 2011 MLB draft, Gerrit Cole.

It was a very nice event, and I'm glad there was such a strong showing for the Hahn's. Definitely worth making the trip out there and see the prospects, and more importantly the community of regular autograph collectors from Angel stadium. A great day that made me anxious for the coming season.

If you're a social networker and want to follow some more baseball players twitters, you can find:

Mark Trumbo's twitter @mtrumbo44

Hank Conger's twitter is @hankconger16

Nick Ramirez's twitter is @nickramirez3314

Matt Hobgood's twitter is @matt_hobgood48

RBI (54) 1st batch, the 2nd TTM return...

2012-01-21T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well we're on a roll and it's the second return from my first batch of letters in the 365 day challenge. I'm actually slacking a little on the letter writing because of work and going to an event that I'll be posting up as a part of the RBI Photo series.

The second return is a familiar face in the our collecting world, TTM all star Mr. Carl "Ersk" Erskine. Mr. Erskine signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946 and made his debut in 1948. While technically only one franchise, "Ersk" played for two teams during his 12 season pitching career, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A consistently solid producer, Erskine was a part of the core of the famed "Boys of Summer" era of Dodger baseball helping to win the Dodgers their first franchise World Series Championship. The year prior he earned his lone All-Star appearance in 1954. He would also author 2 no-hitters, against the Cubs in 1952 and the New York Giants in 1956. When finally ready to leave the game, Erskine would walk away with top tier stats from his era. He would sport a 122-78 record, 4.00 ERA, 71 Complete Games, 14 Saves and 981 Strikeouts.

Mr. Erskine was kind enough to send me a card from his personal collection since I wasn't able to track one down to send with my letter. I really appreciate him taking such an effort to increase my collection and it makes the reply that much more special along with answering my questions.

What do you consider to be your career season?
Considering how many great seasons he's had there were plenty for him to choose from and he elected, "1953 - League Leader 20-6, 3rd game World Series 3-2 game win vs Yankees 14 K's Record."

With 122 Wins were any especially meaningful to you?
A no-hitter is a quite the special and unique thing. Some aren't created as equal and some opportunities are unique to the time and place never to be repeated, "The Giant no hitter and winning the first game in LA."

Did you feel added pressure when you realized you were working on your second no-hitter?
Showing the old school mentality that I've found to be common amongst the men who played the game at a high level for sustained time Erskine responds, "No-Just one pitch at a time."

How did you celebrate each no-hitter?
Showing why he is a such a strong character guy, "Out to dinner with my wife and friends."

What was relocating the franchise like? Did it change how you played?
"It was a big adjustment for those of us who had already had our best years in Brooklyn. Pitching in the Coliseum was different than Ebbet Field."

Mr. Erskine was kind enough to send his custom card and respond to my letter from his home address after only 9 Days.

RBI (53) The 1st 365 Challenge TTM return...

2012-01-19T12:29:00.000-08:00

The first return is quite appropriate I think. Adam Kennedy, an alumni of my high school and former Angel is the first person to be a success for the 365 Letter challenge, and I'm pretty happy to score the card. I've actually had a good amount of difficulty getting his autograph in person since he's from Southern California and is normally chatting with his family or friends before games. I don't really like to interrupt that (even though I know his dad and haven't even considered asking him to get it for me) and with him being on an out of state team consider that family time not to be disturbed.

Kennedy is a native of Riverside, California and was taken in the 1st round of the 1997 draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He would make his debut with St. Louis in 1999 but would be traded to the Angels as part of the package for Jim Edmonds. From 2000 to 2006 he would be a fixture in the Angel lineup and helped to power them to the franchise's first World Series Championship by slugging the Angels through the ALCS earning the 2002 ALCS MVP.

He would leave the Angels to go back to St. Louis, on to Oakland, Washington, Seattle, and now currently back to Southern California with the Dodgers. Since moving on from the Angels teams have asked him to play every infield position but catcher, and shortstop allowing him to be highly versatile and successful defensively in each position.

So far in his 13 season career he has been a reliable infielder with some pop batting .276 with a solid .326 OBP and 78 Home Runs. Only once in his career since his debut in 1999 has Kennedy appeared in less than 100 games for a club, so I'm sure so long as his glove stays steady and bat reasonable he'll be able to eventually decide when to hang up his cleats himself as opposed to teams not being interested in his services.

Kennedy responded to my request sent to his home address after only 7 days and autographed this 2011 Topps card for me. I think it's not a bad signature considering he was nice enough to sign in blue sharpie and tried to fit the signature across the Mariners gray instead of the blue arms in the picture.

I debated sending out an Angels card, but actually am making a mini task of seeing how many cards of the 600 card set I can get signed myself. It's not a goal so much as just an interesting part of the hobby seeing as I doubt I'd be able to get all of the superstars to sign for me, let alone me wanting to use such an opportunity on not a rookie card or baseball.

365 Letters, the first batch...

2012-01-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

Well folks the challenge has been underway for a few days now, and so far my preparations have been going well. I've sent a want list to a friend to track some specific cards down for me, and hopefully they'll come through in the next few weeks.

It's been an interesting task so far. I've always seen each autographed card as a gift that the player decided to give to me. I felt lucky that the player enjoyed my letter and chose to give me their autograph. When a player goes even farther and responds to the questions posed in my letter I truly do appreciate them sharing an insight into their life and playing career.

Even though I do have a high goal for the number of requests I'd like to send out does not mean I care about the number more than the player. Every player's career from the Hall of Famer or the bullpen contributer is valuable to me. I have way more than the 365 cards I need to send out, but each letter sent out is chosen for a specific reason, some aspect of their career or the card itself that speaks to me and makes me want to know more. I don't want to cheapen the experience by just thumbing through a stack of dollar packs and cranking out letters.

Part of that means then that I'd like to share the reason I've sent out each request and talk about the experience.

Jim Rice, I picked Mr. Rice because as a big Red Sox fan, I can't imagine undergoing a task of this sort without writing him. Having met Fred Lynn in person, I'd really like to complete interacting with such a fabled Red Sox outfield.
Rusty Greer, When the Rangers come to town there is always so much talk about Michael Young and what he means to the Rangers. But I wondered, who were the Rangers before Michael Young became such an essential part of the franchise? That'd be Mr. Rusty Greer. So what does he think of the Rangers now?
Mike Davis, With the Dodgers now struggling their last glory was in 1988 and Mr. Davis is the actual run scored by Kirk Gibson's walk off home run. How does he reflect on his time with them now?
Lee May, with David Ortiz having been up for a new contract as one of the top DH's in the league I wondered who was the Big Papi before Papi.
Richard Dotson, I've always been interested in the starters who could routinely go the distance despite not having huge strikeout numbers. What was the key?
Bud Black, I found one of his older cards in my collection that I didn't realize I had. He's a continuation of getting the 2002 World Series Angels.
Derek Lowe, Winning pitcher that broke the curse of the Bambino for one of the greatest playoff runs in MLB history? Essentially Derek Lowe can do no wrong in my eyes.
Barry Larkin, Congratulatory letter on his recent induction to the Hall.
Carl Erskine, all star TTM responder who I've never had the pleasure of interacting with.
Adam Kennedy, local boy done good to win the Angels first World Series title. Enough said.
Ryan Howard, My little sister recently completed her first art piece that was screened onto canvas. It was of Ryan Howard and I had to write him as a result.
Jed Lowrie, With the Astro's coming to the AL West, I decided it was necessary to write someone while they're still in their native NL. What's better than a former Red Sox player?
Will Venable, While researching past Angels I stumbled on his dad. Seeing a baseball family is always interesting let alone one where the players stay close to their roots made me want to collect him.
Dave Stewart, With Matt Kemp being brought up due to the Braun MVP controversy I looked up details on his extension. Realizing his agent was a former player who also threw a no hitter and part of multiple World Series winners meant I had to write him.
Matt Cain, with CJ Wilson coming to the Angels I thought about his performance in his first World Series and decided to write the man who out dueled him on the way to a World Series upset.
Al Fitzmorris, a member of the Royals who was a consistent producer along the lines of Richard Dotson I wanted his opinion on going deep in the game.
Phil Hughes, another hometown boy who has done good. He actually pitched in the All Star game at Angel Stadium, and I'd like to know what that experience was like.

It's been fun and I hope that I start to get a few of these responses back. It'd be nice to get the 2011 responses back, but getting a few of the responses from this task would really help me keep the motivation and carry on.

The 365 Letter Challenge

2012-01-12T18:40:00.000-08:00

While everyone has already cranked out their 2012 to do list, resolutions, and goals I decided to wait a bit and really take everyone's ideas in for my first New Year with this blog. I thought back to the helpful comments that were left in the Balk 6 - Calling all readers... post and have decided to make a few tweaks that will appear when baseball season resumes.

The Challenge:
I'm really planning on picking up the pace on my TTM collecting this year. While I think my first few months in the hobby have been fairly productive in getting responses and autographs I really think I can do better. Some of the responses I've gotten have just left me with so many more questions and needing to know more about the men who played the game.

As a result I'm looking to begin a huge undertaking, one that is undoubtedly going to leave a hefty mark on my wallet at the least from the stamps and envelopes let alone the cards. 365 letters mailed by December 31st 2012.

While I doubt that I'll be writing a letter every actual day and will be doubling/tripling/bakers dozening up, that's the goal. 365 letters sent to players active, retired, and on the rise as prospects.

I'm really asking for the blogging community to help me with this task. I can already tell that there will be lulls and times when the task seems overwhelming. I'll still be posting my returns and letters as the challenge goes on, so please comment, email, or even write snail mail. Leave ideas of players or themes to keep the letter writing task interesting, some days I just look at my piles of cards and feel I owe more than just picking a card from the stack to these men. If I ask their time in my letter I owe them a thoughtful reason for interrupting their daily lives beside I got their card in a dollar pack and chance chose them.

This page View Page will list each letter in the order I write them all the way up to the final 365th. Please readers, pass this undertaking along so even more people can watch the craziness I'm about to force upon myself. Feel free to comment as I update and thank you all in advance.

RBI (52) A Slammin' Salmon...

2012-01-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

That's right folks the Tim "King Fish" Salmon. Angel readers need no introduction to the King Fish, but the rest of you can enjoy the recap to the franchises' greatest homegrown player.

A native of Long Beach, the Angels took Salmon in the 3rd round of the 1989 draft. Salmon eventually made his debut in the bigs in 1992 for a cup of coffee in the form of 23 games.

The Angels would keep him up for the following 1993 season, and Salmon would overcome his 1992 difficulties to mash his way to Rookie of the Year Honors. The power would maintain throughout his career and in 1995, he was given the Silver Slugger award. Salmon would patrol the outfield for years, but in 2001 have a largely disappointing season as his elite power and average would leave him. 2002 would prove to be a bounce back year as the Fish would help the franchise win it's first World Series Championship, and he would claim the AL Comeback Player of the Year award. When he finally hung up his cleats after 14 seasons with the Angels he would have 299 Home Runs, 1016 RBI, .282 average, and an impressive .385 OBP.

When the Angels hosted the 2010 All Star Game they were sure to include Salmon in the festivities and he won the celebrity softball game's MVP award. He also flexed his muscles in a home run derby contest to wow fans with his ability to still drive the ball.

I was able to get Mr. Salmon's autograph on those at Angel stadium during the 2011 season when he began doing pregame broadcasts for the team. The first is a 1994 Upper Deck, a 1996 Score, and lastly a 1996 Topps signed "To Ryan Tim Salmon ROY '93" When I asked Mr. Salmon if he could "Please sign 'ROY'," he asked "Why?" I couldn't think of a response beyond the most obvious and truthful, "Because you're awesome and it'd just look really cool."

I was able to get the King Fish to sign this ball during his signing during the Angel 50th Anniversary celebration.

There is some debate as to whether Salmon's numbers are worthy of entry into the Hall of Fame when comparing his numbers to those of his peers. However if you realize that he did them clean in a era of baseball highly in debate, it's a tough sell to deny him entry. Especially as a broadcaster he's been media friendly, so unlike some candidates there shouldn't be an overwhelming lockout for personal reasons/clashes. I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see him get a plaque in Cooperstown....except it won't happen via the BBWAA vote. On Salmon's first year of eligibility he was given 5 votes, well below the minimum needed to stay on the ballot. I like how 5 voters shared the same wave length that I did, but any trip to Cooperstown will have to be as a vacation unless the Veterans Committee decides to give Salmon a nod.

RBI (51) A TTM and In person success...

2012-01-01T14:51:00.000-08:00

It's not often that as a fan you have access to a former player, that's part of why TTM collecting and getting letter responses is so special. It's even less often that the player is someone of the top tier. I was able to have a few opportunities to get closer Troy "Percy" Percival's autograph.

The Southern California native was taken in the 6th round of the 1990 draft by the California Angels. Originally drafted as a defensive catcher, Percival eventually made his debut in 1995 as a pitcher when coaching staff members realized his throws back to the pitcher were faster than the actual pitch. When Percival debuted in 1995 he stayed with the big league club making a astounding 62 appearances his rookie year. Since his call up he was a reliable anchor of the bullpen as a career closer.

For his 14 season career he would play primarily for the Angels but would spend the end between the Tigers, Cardinals, and finally the Rays. Injuries would make closing a difficult task, but clubs continued to bet on the ever reliable "Percy" in hopes to find a diamond in the rough. Eventually he would retire and end his comeback attempts with stellar stats. 8th all-time with 358 Saves, Percival would have a career 3.17 ERA to go with 781 Strikeouts and a 35-43 record. He would be be a 4-time All-Star and member of the 2002 World Series champion Angels.

The 8th and 9th inning would always be the favorite part of the game for me when Scot Shields and Percy would come to lock down the game and send the Angels home with a win. Knowing Percival came from a mere 20 minutes away also made me root hard for the hometown boy. I also know he has been active coaching locally for his son's team and helping coach at a local high school. I'm really appreciative he's giving back still to Southern California baseball.

I was able to get this Topps 2011 Angels team card signed through the 50th Anniversary promotion. I got a nice sense of symmetry having my favorite Angel player growing up sign the Topps 60th Anniversary team card in the Angels 50th Anniversary year.

I sent this 1996 Score card to Percy's home address, I love the trademark expression he's making in the action shot. It always looked like he was excited to bare down and make the pitch count. Percival was nice enough to sign and return the card in 61 Days.

The crown jewel though was this ball. While at an Angel game I heard from a friend that Percy was actually in attendance and they knew where he was sitting. Deciding to not intrude on his game experience we watched the game away from his section, and waited to ask him if he could sign for us on his walk out at the end of the game. Percy didn't seem to mind signing for a few people on his way out and was really nice about it, even sweet spotting it unprompted. The ball is a game used certified by MLB from Jered Weaver to Russell Martin foul ball from the September 9th, 2011 Yankees and Angels game.

I'm not sure if the Angels will retire his number or add him to the Angel Hall of Fame, but if I got a vote he'd be in there for sure.

RBI (50) A dream Weaver...

2011-12-23T12:33:00.000-08:00

Or at least it the level of pitching he has on the mound is the thing of dreams. Jered "Weave" Weaver, resident Angel ace has always been a tough cookie both on the mound for hitters and as a signer for collectors.

Weaver was taken in the 1st round of the 2004 draft by the Angels as the 12th pick, having slid due to clubs being wary of the ability to sign him. The Angels took a gamble on the Southern California native and Long Beach State product and it went down to the wire before they were able to sign him. The gamble has undoubtedly paid off for the Angel organization, and he has been a bargain for the level of pitcher they signed.

Despite being in a rotation featuring Dan Haren, CJ Wilson, and Ervin Santana, Weave is the undisputed ace. In six seasons so far with the Angels he has an 82-47 record supported by 977 Strikeouts and a 3.31 ERA. Weaver is already a 2 time All-Star and led the American League in Strikeouts in 2010. He finished 5th in AL Cy Young voting in 2010, and improved to 2nd in 2011, only being topped by a historic performance by Justin Verlander. Having signed a massive extension those impressive statistics and accomplishments will only continue to improve as Weaver remains with the Angels at least through 2016.

What is also impressive is the amount of charity and community work that Weaver is involved with. Weaver has long been a ambassador for the Special Olympics Southern California and makes repeated appearances in support of the organization and youth charities.

As with all players of that elite caliber, getting an autograph can be difficult but I have been able to be successful on occasion. At the press conference where Weaver and the Angels announced his extension I was able to get Weaver to sign this 2006 Topps Rookie Card.

When I was at the CJ Wilson and Albert Pujols press conference, Weaver walked over to the crowd before he spoke to the media and started to sign. Already having the rookie card signed, I opted for something more themed and asked Weave to sign this Topps 2011 All Star card since Weave had the distinction of starting the 2011 All Star game.

I'm definitely proud to have both of these cards in my collection and glad to have Weaver leading the Angel pitching staff for years to come.

RBI (49) Memorabilia from a career 1st...

2011-12-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

Though it most certainly will not be the last. I'm not quite sure if it's shown but I am a big fan of Angel center fielder Peter Bourjos. Not only was Pete my first TTM success (visible on the link) but he's an Angel product through and through. In person he's a great signer and I really do enjoy getting to interact with Pete at the stadium and he's been nice enough to sign a few things for me.

I'd have to say the greatest thing that I've been able to get Pete to sign is a pretty significant piece of memorabilia from his career. I was able to purchase his Game Used Jersey from his first career MLB Jackie Robinson Day. Certified by MLB and covered in dirt from US Cellular Field. Pete went 1 for 3 with a Walk in the Angels win.

I was really excited to be able to get Bourjos' jersey because in 2010 I could tell that this would be a breakout season for him. While I do think he was robbed of the 2011 Gold Glove in center field, I'm sure he's going to get plenty of hardware throughout his career.

Here you can see that Pete was nice enough to take the time and put his full signature and number on the front of the jersey number.

You can see the back of the jersey with the Angel patches for the 2011 season, the traditional "A" altered so the halo would be gold for the 50th Anniversary instead of silver.

Again you can see the anniversary gold Halo, club house Sharpied number on the inside, and the sweet dirt Pete picked up during the game.

Definitely one of the best highlight pieces I'll ever be able to have in my collection. Here's to a promising career of Peter roaming center field and tearing up the base paths Jackie Robinson Day after Jackie Robinson Day.

RBI (48) One heck of a TTM Barr...

2011-12-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season rolls around I wasn't sure if there would be an increase in TTM response or a decrease as people became busy with family functions and holiday celebrations. In the case of former pitcher Jim Barr, it was speedy holiday cheer he sent me.

A California native Barr was a 3rd round draft pick by the San Francisco Giants in the 1970 June Secondary out of USC. He actually has the distinction of being able to play almost his entire baseball career for a California team since he went from USC to the San Francisco Giants to the California Angels and back to the San Francisco Giants. There was a brief stint with the White Sox farm club the Edmonton Trappers, but never a MLB appearance and California won't hold it against him.

Barr was a consistent producer for the teams he played for regardless of the role he filled. In the rotation or bullpen he was a consistent out producer, setting a record for number of consecutive batters retired in 1971 until Mark Buehrle broke his mark of 41 in 2009. By the time he finally hung up his glove he would have a 101-112 career record across 454 Games Appeared and 252 Starts with a 3.56 ERA. Of those 252 Starts he would have 64 Complete Games, an astounding 25% of his starts ending with him still on the mound. His time as an occasional closer would also be successful as he would have 12 Saves spread across his career as managers entrusted him with the game despite only modest Strikeout numbers.

Mr. Barr is known to be a very active in helping youth grow an appreciation for the game. For 16 years he was the pitching coach for Sacramento State University helping mold young pitchers with his strong work ethic. He's kindness and passion for the game is clearly evident in his responses to my letter:

What was it like to get your 100th Win with the Giants?
For some pitchers the milestone is fleeting and a big focus, for Barr he demonstrates why he was such a great clubhouse guy throughout his career, "I never knew I was at that mark until reading about it - I was trying to focus on my next win an how the team did."

How did you prepare to transition from starting to closing?
Most starters have their pre-start ritual every 5th day, but as a reliever there's no luxury of having time to prepare to come into the game. Barr not shutted between the rotation and bullpen throughout his career but did it effectively, "The biggest difference is mental. You prepare yourself to pitch every day as a reliever."

What do you consider to be your career year?
Consistently a club focused player he writes, "1976 was good but I think my most productive year to the team was 1972" selecting his 8-10 record with a 2.87 ERA over 44 games and 18 Starts with 2 Saves over the 15-12, 2.89 ERA, 252.1 inning full year he spent in Giants rotation.

What was your favorite city to play in as a visitor?
Surprisingly despite all his years in the MLB's western divisions, "Chicago probably was my most favorite."

How were you able to consistently throw Complete Games?
Of his 252 starts not only were 64 Complete Games but 20 of those games were Shut Outs, "Being able to focus till the end - Not just till I get tired. Pitching well to the end was more important than just 5-6-7 good innings."

Mr. Barr was kind enough to autograph my Topps 1981 card I got through the Diamond Giveaway and respond to the accompanying letter sent to his home address in only 7 Days.

The Pujols-Wilson Press Conference...RPS (1)...

2011-12-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

Well folks it's been a long time aspiration for me to get a better camera to help document my adventures in the baseball collecting world. I figured there's no better debut to the RBI Photo Series (RPS) than the epic Angels press conference introducing Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson as members of the Angel organization.

I arrived at Angel Stadium at approximately 9:00 AM and made my way to the press conference set up in front of the stadium between the two famous hats. The stadium crews were setting up the stage area still and I was able to get a decent spot by the rail.

When things were finally ready to start the special guests came out from inside the stadium and owner Arte Moreno emerged to the waiting throngs of fans. He came out and took a well deserved victory lap around the barricades giving fans high fives and shaking their hands.

There were plenty of Angel notables on hand including Dan Haren, Torii Hunter, Jered Weaver, Bobby Grich, Mark Gubicza, Dino Ebel, Steve Soliz, and Mickey Hatcher.

There were remarks and introductions by multiple organization members from Victor Rojas, Arte Moreno, Mike Scioscia, and Jerry Dipoto.

CJ was the first player introduced followed by King Albert Pujols.

Just one big happy Halo family for the next 5-10 years. Not too shabby.

I hope you all enjoy the photos and the future photo series that will make guest spots here on the blog. I do request though if you do share or use these photos you use them for personal use and not for any commercial purposes. And please don't edit the RBI tag from the image.

RBI (47) This TTM Bell finally rang...

2011-12-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

And it appears he also rang the cash register and will take whole truckloads of millions from the Miami Marlins in the coming season. Of course I'm referring to closing stalwart Heath Bell, who is quietly known as a reliable signer in person and TTM.

The Southern California native Bell was signed by the New York Mets as an Amateur free agent in 1998. He wouldn't make it to the big show until 2004 and would shuttle between the minors and Major League club for 3 seasons. Finally the Mets opted to trade the little used Bell to the San Diego Padres where he would become setup man for likely Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman.

As a member of the Padres he became a quick fan favorite known for his energy and antics. From his trademark Yoda Star Wars backpack to carry gear to the bullpen to his running full speed to the mound to lock down a save, Bell is definitely a presence in the clubhouse and on the field. During the 2011 All-Star Game weekend Bell was quoted as saying he was barred from signing autographs during the on field activities and gave a replica of his bag filled with previously autographed cards and balls to young fans in the stands asking for his autograph.

When Hoffman departed Bell became the Padres closer and he demonstrated the dominance he learned from watching Hoffman for two seasons. By the end of his tenure in San Diego he would have 134 Saves with a 2.53 ERA as his Padre career line. So far he has been elected to 3 consecutive All-Star games and twice been the NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year. While he does have markedly dominant stats at home in San Diego, his road numbers are still very strong and I'm sure Bell has the intensity to work to make the best of his new home park to continue his success as a closer. After watching for so many seasons Trevor Hoffman's career reaching it's pinnacle I'm confident that Bell will apply the same work ethic and be as dominant for the Marlins.

Mr. Bell was kind enough to autograph both of these 2011 Topps cards that I sent to him at Petco Park. Normally I don't send out multiple cards to players, but the second is a team card of the Padres and I liked his signature celebratory yelling face too much to not include it with my request. Heath's not just quick to the mound as he signed both of the cards and mailed them back to me in only 22 Days during the season.

RBI (46) Another TTM with the "Fire" Trucks...

2011-11-30T00:40:00.000-08:00

Well folks as the holidays begin to roll around I decided to appreciate one of the best TTM gifts our community has available to itself, another interesting conversation with Mr. Virgil Trucks. The previous post including a pair of autographs and further interview questions can be seen here.

Without further ado here is my next set of questions with Mr. Trucks, at the bottom are now copies of the original letters:

Was there a time during your no-hitters you realized you had no-no's going?
While most pitchers in their post-game interview tend to deny the thought crossed through their mind, Mr. Trucks admitted what I've always suspected, "Yes. Only the 8th or 9th inning."

What were the most difficult parts of keeping them going? Was the 2nd as hard as the first?
"There was no difficult parts of of keeping them going. Just keep getting them out. Yes the second game was tougher, because it being the Yankees who had greater hitters like Mantle, Berra, Mize, Noren, Baur, and more."

How did you celebrate each no hitter?
I've always been curious about the post-game celebration for such a milestone. When Galarraga had his perfect game blown on the last out, he was given a car. Other guys buy their defense watches, in the previous era of baseball it was a little different, "I just sit around with the guy then going out to dinner. Nothing different. As for the Yankee game. We left after the game for Boston. So again nothing unusual."

Who do you consider the greatest players you played with? Why?
This is a veritable who's who of the Hall of Fame, "With-Hank Greenberg. Charlie Geheringer. Al Kaline. Rudy York. George Kell. Mickey Mantle. Yogi Berra. Sherm Lollar. More than I can mention. Against (Gac) Cronin. Ted Williams. Jimmy Fox. Bill Dickey, Ted Lyons. Joe DiMaggio and many more."

What did you think of your time in Kansas City?
"Kansas City. I Loved."

What did you think of Bud Daley? What sort of teammate was he?
Having heard earlier from Mr. Daley earlier, I was curious to write Mr. Trucks about his accomplished former teammate, "He really wasnt with the club that much. I really didn't know him very well. Nice person."

What is your favorite memory from being in and winning the World Series?
It's special that Mr. Trucks was able to serve his country and then still be able to get one of the highlights of his career, "It was my first W.S. in 1945 and just getting out of the Navy in time to play in the series and winning a game will always be one of my favorite memories."

Do you think the World Series is the same now? Is it as meaningful today as it was when you played?
Baseball definitely doesn't resemble how it was when Mr. Trucks played. Expansion, instant replay, playoff format, it's all different and even the Championship itself has gotten a facelift, "The W.S. is a different type than when I played. You won the pennant you played the one that won the National League pennant."

Is there anything you wished you accomplished before you retired from baseball?
"Not really. I won a WS game and Allstar game. Pitched 2 no hitters in one year. Won 20 game in a season. I'm very happy with what I accomplished."

Mr. Trucks was kind enough to write back to my letter sent to his home address after 14 days. It's always nice to hear from such a great player and I hope everyone continues to appreciate his signing especially here in the holidays.

Balk 6 - Calling all readers...

2011-11-23T23:11:00.000-08:00

Well folks as the off season marches on it's time for this blogger to do what all good writers must...reflect. It's been an interesting foray into the hobby of TTM and autograph collecting, one I've thoroughly been enjoying. Months later I still browse my sent list and wonder if there will be a response coming my way this coming holiday season. When I finally see the familiarly shaped return envelope with my handwriting on the front, I get a thrill to check the postmark and rack my brain to solve the puzzle before I open it. It's a thrill I expect to survive on through the years.

But that part of the hobby is an individual thrill. The other part is sharing it with all of you. I want to know how can I improve that? So here's the deal, I won't actually call this a contest but there will be a reward for those who participate. It's a secret but it will be a fairly enjoyable reward for a few moments of your time.

For those of you who read the blog, please give me feedback and let me make your reading experience more enjoyable.

1) What are your two favorite posts I've put up?

2) Do you enjoy the format of the posts or find it tedious?

3) Would you like scans of the letter responses included in the post?

4) Should the Big League Moment posts continue next season?

5) Does anyone miss the weekly/monthly summary posts of the Angels baseball performance? Should I bring it back or expand it?

6) Are the separate pages for In Person and TTM autographs inconvenient and you'd like a single master list or is it fine separating by interest?

7) Any general comments, questions, or additional feedback?

RBI (45) A pair of Hall of Fame hits...

2011-11-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

Well not just a hit, but a true hitter. While we are in an era of slugging first basemen, Hall of Famer Rod Carew was never an elite home run hitter, but he was someone you were fearful of every time he came up to bat throughout his career.

Carew was signed as an amateur free agent by the Minnesota Twins in 1964, and while he made his name with the Twins he is an Angel fan favorite. Carew's career spanned 19 seasons and saw him be one of the most dominate pure contact hitters of his era using the entire field to punish opposing pitchers.

He would finish his illustrious career with a .328 average and 3,053 hits. The magical 3,000th hit would fittingly come against Frank Viola, a member of the Twins in 1985. Despite his 1015 RBI he only had 92 Home Runs at the end of his career, but managed to hit 445 Doubles and 112 Triples for a career .429 SLG. His ability to put the ball into play and drive runners in was possible due to his great plate discipline, retiring with only 1028 Strikeouts against 1018 Walks.

While he didn't win a World Series championship, Carew's career was highlighted by his perennial appearances in the Mid Summer Classic, being an 18-time, all consecutive, All-Star. Carew also won the 1977 AL MVP award and 1967 AL Rookie of the Year Award with the Twins. In 1991 Carew was a first ballot Hall of Famer with 90.5% of the vote, and has had his #29 retired by both the Angels and Twins franchises.

Even now Carew's popularity is visible as an episode of the USA network show Psych contained a scene with a photo of Rod being joked about by the main characters.

These cards are a 1986 Topps and 1982 Fleer that I received from Tom at The Angels, In Order. I was able to get Mr. Carew to sign these cards on separate occasions at Angel Stadium through the Angels' 50th Anniversary celebration. I was actually on my way out of the door to head to the stadium when the mailman luckily pulled up with the package containing the cards or I'm not sure what I would have had Mr. Carew sign.

RBI (44) A TTM champ who came off the bench...

2011-11-11T11:50:00.000-08:00

And he was definitely a much appreciated guy to have on that bench. Slugging catcher-first baseman-designated hitter Cliff Johnson had a very solid career that was highlighted by his home run hitting powers and a dash of infamy.

Drafted by the Houston Astros in the 5th round of the 1966 draft, Johnson wouldn't make his debut until 1972 and became a regular contributer in 1974. Once he finally broke into the regular roster Johnson made the most of it and stayed in the Majors for 15 seasons. Despite playing for seven different teams, Johnson made the most of his time with the Yankees winning World Series Championships in 1977 and 1978. His tenure with the Yankees came to an end when he famously got in a locker room fight with future Hall of Famer Goose Gossage in the showers after Goose began to tease him. The jokes became nasty and eventually turned to blows with Johnson breaking Gossage's thumb resulting in the Boss shipping him out to finish the 1979 season with Cleveland.

Johnson retired with a .258 career average, 699 RBI, and 196 Home Runs. What's most impressive of those homers, is that 20 of them were pinch hit, good enough for the MLB record until Matt Stairs broke the mark in 2010.

Mr. Johnson signed this 1977 Topps card I got from the Topps Diamond Anniversary. He responded after 55 days to the card sent to his home address.

RBI (43) Another World Series Champion...

2011-11-01T01:02:00.000-07:00

Yup, the World Series may have gone to the Cardinals in 2011, but in 2002 it went to another scrappy wild card team. That would of course be the Angels. A key to the 2011 Cardinals success and the Rangers downfall was an effective bullpen. The Angels had just as effective a bullpen in 2002 with some key role players like setup man extraordinaire Scot Shields.

Taken in the 38th round of the 1997 draft Shields broke into the Majors in 2001 with the Angels. After he joined the bullpen Shields provided a shield of any lead given to him as part of the bridge to the Angel closers. He was a reliable arm for the better part of a decade appearing in various roles as a starter, setup man, long reliever, and starter. In 491 Games with 15 starts he had a career 3.18 ERA to go along with a 46-44 record.

Despite getting a solid 21 Saves as an occasional closer the real magic was his 156 Holds across 697 innings. It's absurd to think about what Shields career record would be had injury not eventually limited his effectiveness at the end of his career given his 6.62 and 5.28 ERA in his last two seasons. Without his ability to maintain leads closers Troy Percival, Francisco Rodriguez, and Brian Fuentes would not have been able to come into so many games to reach the elite level they did during their Angel careers.

Shields was a key part of the Angel championship run and success as American West Champions throughout the decade, with him eventually being recognized by Sports Illustrated as the Setup Man of the Decade. Normally closers get all the glory and recognition, but without a topnotch setup man and relievers, teams can't truly play championship level baseball. Shields is one of the best to play the game, and it really was amazing to watch him work through opposing batters with his two-seamer. It's shocking he was never taken to an All-Star game, but he got the ring he deserved.

I was able to meet Scot through the Angels 50th Anniversary celebration and he was nice enough to sign this Topps 2007 Angels Team Card for me with a "2002 WS Champs" inscription.

RBI (42) A true champion's TTM response...

2011-10-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

There's no need for a cheesy introduction for this signer. The man needs no introduction, but has had such an epic career it's necessary you honor him with one. He's a 10 time All Star, Cy Young winner, 6 time World Series Champion, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and had his number retired by the New York Yankees. Yup folks, Whitey Ford.

The accomplishments and titles speak for themselves, but he's got the statistics to go along with them. A 2.75 ERA over a 16 season career gave Whitey 236 Wins with only 106 Losses. In 438 starts he had 156 Complete games with 45 Shutouts, making him an almost guaranteed off day for the bullpen. 9 times he was in the top 30 for the MVP award, an award that even in his Cy Young year eluded him.

Throughout all the annals of Yankee lore, you hear about Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio but the Babe, Mantle, Iron Horse, and Joltin Joe were never Chairman of the Board. For all the mystique of the Yankees the glory always falls onto the power of the long ball and elite hitters. It's not unexpected as home run swings make better photos than strikeouts, but as seen in today's game without an Ace it doesn't matter how many home run kings you have in your line up.

Mr. Ford was kind enough to take a break from his busy duties as member of the Baseball Assistance Team advisory board to sign this 2011 Topps Lineage cloth sticker card. That's right readers, the sticker card. I really hope you take the time to look at the close up of the card. The cloth material gives it a nice weathered vintage look that I couldn't resist. I'm extremely grateful the Chairman took the time to sign the card, and this is one that I really will cherish. Mr. Ford signed this after 9 days.

RBI (41) He threw 2 no-hitters but is a TTM hit with me...

2011-10-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

And I'm sure he's a hit with all TTM collectors. I'm sure the title gave it all away, but I'll douse your curiosity and confirm the all-star TTM signer I'm referring to is Virgil "Fire" Trucks.

While I'm sure many of the usual readers are well aware of the exploits of Mr. Trucks, I'll enlighten those just starting TTM. Virgil made his MLB debut in 1941 for the Detroit Tigers, a club he would play for 12 of his 17 MLB seasons. He was a stalwart member of almost every pitching rotation he joined as a front end starter or reliable reliever. He was a fireball hurler and would make any manager drool to have him a member of his rotation today. Trucks is a great example of what a true starting pitcher was in the 40's and 50's of Major League Baseball when pitchers were expected to grind out the win anyway possible.

When his 17 season career ended Trucks appeared in 517 games, pitching 2683 innings with a 177-135 record. He threw 124 Complete Games, 33 Shutouts, and 2 no-hitters (both in 1952 to be the 3rd pitcher to toss 2 no hitters in a season), showing what a true workhorse he could be in the rotation. At the end he would rack up 1,534 Strikeouts to pair with an astounding 3.39 career ERA. To go with the 2 no-hitters he would be a 1945 World Series Champion, and be named a 2-time All Star.

Mr. Trucks is known for being one of the kindest signers in the TTM community and it's really amazing how above and beyond he goes for collectors. I really appreciated his responses, and hope the community of baseball fans and mailers do too.

Mr. Trucks signed this photo for me, even taking the time to switch pens for his "Fire" nickname. I wasn't able to find a card for him at a few card shows and through my collector pals, but I really wanted something by Mr. Trucks so I printed this photo out at home. On the side he also kindly inscribed "2 No Hitters - 1952, 5-15-52 - 8-25-52, 2x Allstar 1949 - 1954" I mean how amazing of an inscription is that? Not only did he write two no hitters, but dated both and put the two All-Star selections with each year. I can't say how much I appreciate Mr. Trucks being so generous with his time and inscriptions, especially at a time when more and more of players from are charging to sign let alone give so many notable inscriptions.

Mr. Trucks also included in his reply his own custom Diamond Signatures card inscribed "Best Wishes, Virgil Trucks". First off, it's a great photo of Virgil on his this custom card made exclusively for his personal use. To have him decide to allow me to add this card to my collection is truly special. Secondly, I love the old time feel of the card from the framing to the color.

Having seen how generous he was with his autograph, I'm sure you readers are expecting him to be just as giving with his letter response. I'm glad to say that he goes above and beyond meeting our expectations in his kind response.

Dear Mr. Trucks,

"Glad to sign and answer your questions, Sincerely Virgil Trucks"

Which of your no-hitters was the most difficult to finish?

This response really isn't surprising considering the men named, "The 2nd one against the Yankees. The last 3 hitters - (Mickey) Mantle, (Joe) Collins, and (Hank) Bauer." Not only did Trucks face Mantle to lead off the 9th inning, but he struck him out for the second time that night as his 8th K. The roster also included Yankee great Yogi Berra batting 4th after Bauer.

Having played for the Kansas City Athletics and St. Louis Browns, how do you feel about franchises that relocate?

As previous responder Bud Daley showed, players seem to have an affection for Kansas City, "I don't think the A's should have left K.C. The Browns made the right move as one club in St. Louis is enough."

Were any of your 177 Wins especially meaningful to you?

With so many wins over a long career Mr. Trucks had plenty to choose from, but he didn't throw a curveball selecting three games any other pitcher would love to have on their resume that are truly memorable, "The 2 no hitters are and the 1945 W.S. win was a special one."

What do you consider to be your career year?

I always find it interesting when baseball cards or commentators pick a player's career year. Sometimes it's obvious but when you have a player of high caliber I think the player really should be able to decide what they consider their best year. Mr. Trucks actually disagrees with his wiki page's career year, "I would say 1949 - 19 Wins - 41 games Lost 11, 278 innings - 183 K's - 2.61 ERA."

What was your favorite part of being an All-Star?

Trucks really highlights the difference between the All-Star players of previous generations compared to today's 70 man roster, "Just being an Allstar, I won the 1949 - Saved the 1954 game."

Where was your favorite place to pitch as a visitor?

A familiar mid-sized city made the cut, "Chicago White Sox - Comisky Park"

How did you find out you were being called up to the Majors?

"I was called up at the end of the season at Buffalo NY. I knew I would be recalled with 2 weeks of the American League season left."

Do you still actively watch baseball? Did you ever stop?

Mr. Trucks is definitely a true baseball lifer, "I watch baseball all season long on TV. No baseball parks. No I never stopped."

How do you think the game has changed since you were a player?

"Money wise. Plus a bunch of arrogant baseball players of today."

Mr. Trucks is someone I would really recommend the TTM community write to. Not only is he a kind and fast responder, he signed and responded to my letter sent to his home address after 8 Days, but he's a player who has a treasure trove of memories about a golden era of baseball and respect for the game we collectors should preserve for the ages.

RBI (40) 2011 Team Ball and 2011 Season Summary

2011-10-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well folks as I mentioned in the Big League Moment 3, Grant Balfour gave me my first 50th Anniversary baseball for the season. In honor of the ball and anniversary year for Angel baseball, I decided to turn the ball into my 2011 team ball. With no further ado...here's the ball.

1 Joel Pineiro 7 Ervin Santana 11 Rich Thompson 16 Mike Trout

2 Jerome Williams 8 Mark Trumbo 12 Kevin Jepsen 17 Torii Hunter
3 Howie Kendrick 9 Hank Conger 13 Jordan Walden 18 Peter Bourjos
4 Fernando Rodney 10 Tyler Chatwood 14 Andrew Romine 19 Bobby Wilson
5 Scott Downs 15 Bobby Abreu 20 Jered Weaver
6 Vernon Wells

Yes Trout is on the ball on the top, but I'd rather showcase Weaver on the bottom. I'm pretty excited for this ball there's a good amount of history and story lines on the ball from this season.

Joel Pineiro reached his 100th win.
Howie Kendrick was named a 2011 All-Star.
Ervin Santana threw a no-hitter and broke 1000 strikeouts.
Mark Trumbo is a possible ROY.
Jordan Walden set a club rookie record with 32 Saves, and a 2011 All-Star.
Bobby Abreu moved into a tie for 24th all-time for doubles.
Mike Trout made his MLB debut and set up a run for 2012 ROY.
Torii Hunter reached the 1000 RBI plateau.
Peter Bourjos is a gold glove contender and tied for 1st in the AL for triples.
Bobby Wilson caught a no-hitter.
Jered Weaver put himself in the Cy Young debate and was a 2011 All-Star.

Now for the 2011 season summary of my stats:

74 games attended at Angel Stadium.
10 baseballs snagged, 3 of which were 50th Anniversary balls.
149 autographs received in person.

All in all it was a very good season.

Big League Moment (3) Grant Balfour

2011-10-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

While at Angel Stadium I was hanging out during the Oakland A's batting practice and noticed a few people with some noticeable accents. By noticeable I mean awesome as there were a few Australians in the stands. It turns out that these were ball players from Australia who knew aussie Grant Balfour.

We had a pretty brief encounter as I hung out listening to their conversation (obviously listening not eavesdropping but they didn't seem to mind) about other Australians in the league and a few minor leaguers. It's a pretty small community and nice to know that they had a pretty good handle on all their countrymen in the US trying to make it in the bigs. It was also cool as he leaned in and shared some insider knowledge that hadn't been announced to yet, that he was told earlier in the day that he was going to get the shot as closer after Brian Fuentes' woes on the diamond.

After the guys left Balfour's family was actually there and he chatted with them for a while (I took a few steps away down the wall so they could have family time and didn't listen in). When his parents started to leave I reclaimed my spot on the wall and talked to Balfour myself for a minute.

Since this happened the first time the A's were in town, Balfour saw a ball come his way and started to check out the 50th anniversary logo stamped on the ball. I told him he should snag a few for his family since it's a pretty nice ball and he seemed to like the design. He handed the one he had been checking out to me and it was actually my first 50th anniversary ball (more on that ball later). He offered to get me a better ball since the 50 stamp was "Pretty beat up" as a thanks for the tip on the anniversary ball, but I declined and thanked him for the offer since it was my first 50th anniversary ball.

His family was on the way back so I had Grant autograph a ball for me then asked him the one question I had been dying to know about the former Tampa Bay Ray.

Did you like playing as a visitor in Boston or New York more?
(Insert Australian accent) "Oh New York mate." I probably should have asked him which stadium in general he liked to pitch at because Balfour's stats against the Sox and Yankees especially away aren't anything he'd be overly fond of. At Old Yankee Stadium he posted a 3.00 ERA and had batters hitting .393 against him. At Fenway a 6.75 ERA and .295 average awaited him.

I didn't have a chance to catch up to Grant the second time the A's came to town, but it was nice to share that little moment at the start of the season.

Balk 5 - Award predictions

2011-09-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

American League Cy Young
Justin Verlander

Do I really need to write anything here? Weaver put up a great fight, but it was Verlander's award since August.

National League Cy Young
Roy Halladay

Kershaw has a lower ERA, WHIP, and more Wins and Strikeouts. He won 2 more games, a .07 lower ERA, .06 lower WHIP, 28 more Strikeouts, and gave up 19 more Walks. He also had 9 starts against the Padres and Giants. Call me biased, but the schedule Halladay faced was more imposing in a more difficult park yet he still gave up fewer walks and homers than Kershaw. Doc also had 8 complete games against Kershaw's 5.

National League MVP
Matt Kemp

I don't think I really need to explain this pick. Some give it to Braun, but it's Kemp's season considering the lack of supporting cast, management controversy, and position difficulty.

American League MVP
Jacoby Ellsbury

Sorry Bautista, but Jacoby played in 8 more games with no DH appearances compared to your dozen. 154 games in center produced 0 errors compared to Bautista's 8 errors in fewer games in the field. Attention all Yankee candidates, the fact that there is more than one of you means none of you were "most valuable" to the team let alone league. Jacoby also hit .358 during the Red Sox September slide. Without that performance the Wild Card race doesn't go down to the final game and the Sox collapse is even more epic.

National League Rookie of the Year
Craig Kimbrel

The Braves decided to pitch their rookie closer until his arm fell off and fell out of the wild card race as a consequence. But throughout the season Kimbrel was dynamic and lockdown with his 46 Saves, securing himself his own piece of hardware if not a post season appearance.

American League Rookie of the Year
Mark Trumbo

I know Eric Hosmer, Michael Pineada, and J.P. Arencebia are getting a lot of media time in the AL ROY debate, simply put they shouldn't be in the mix. Arencibia was a monster for game appearances but batted .229 on the year. Pineada won his last game in July and had a second half ERA of 5.12 as the season wore down on him. Ivan Nova is tougher but with 7 starts the year before I don't really count him as a rookie. Hosmer has been on fire since August. Great, I'm sure the Red Sox wish there weren't a previous 3 months in the season too but unfortunately there were. Trumbo as a rookie won his team's MVP award and had them on the cusp of a decisive series before breaking a bone in his foot. For a guy expecting to only be a place holder for star Kendrys Morales for a few weeks at the start of the season, I think that's ROY material if I've ever seen it.

National League Comeback Player of the Year
Ryan Vogelsong

Journeyman who last pitched in 2006 for a MLB club turned vital part of the Giant's rotation and All-Star in 2011. He went from AAA player to innings eater who was flat out dominate at times throughout the season. Easy call even though I know some throw Berkman's hat in the ring.

American League Comeback Player of the Year

Jacoby Ellsbury

An injury wasted 2010 didn't slow Ellsbury down from propelling himself not only into the MVP debate, but easily secures his comeback award.

American League Silver Sluggers

Catcher Victor Martinez

First Miguel Cabrera

Second Dustin Pedroia

Short Asdrubal Cabrera

Third Adrian Beltre

Right Field Jose Bautista

Center Field Jacoby Ellsbury

Left Field Alex Gordon

Designated Hitter Michael Young

A few comments. Victor Martinez is a no brainer despite being not a full catcher. Cabrera same deal. Pedroia vs Cano came down to a higher OBP, more steals, and almost the same number of RBI despite the horrendous April and September the Sox went through. The parity of production despite the epic decline of the team really pushed Pedroia over the top.

National League Silver Sluggers

Catcher Miguel Montero

Pitcher Daniel Hudson

First Prince Fielder

Second Brandon Phillips

Short Jose Reyes

Third Aramis Ramirez

Right Field Justin Upton

Center Field Matt Kemp

Left Field Ryan Braun

I don't think any of these actually need to be explained.

American League Gold Glovers

Catcher Matt Wieters

First Adrian Gonzalez

Second Dustin Pedroia

Short Jhonny Peralta

Third Adrian Beltre

Right Field Nick Markakis

Center Field Peter Bourjos

Left Field Alex Gordon

Pitcher Dan Haren

National League Gold Glovers

Catcher Yadier Molina

First Joey Votto

Second Neil Walker

Short Troy Tulowitzki

Third Placido Polanco

Right Field Jay Bruce

Center Field Matt Kemp

Left Field Ryan Braun

Pitcher Hiroki Kuroda

RBI (39) Another local boy done good...

2011-09-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

It seems to be a general theme with the Angels especially that they like to acquire Southern California natives. This proved to be true with Long Beach native former catcher Mike Fitzgerald even though it was only for a lone season.

Fitzgerald was drafted by the New York Mets in the 6th round of the 1978 draft after attending Lakewood High school. It wasn't until 1983 that Fitzgerald made his debut for the Mets, appearing in only 8 games. Fitz' had the distinction of being one of the few Major Leaguers to hit a Home Run in his first Major League at-bat. Following the '83 season Fitz' became a regular player for the Mets appearing in 112 games before being traded to the Montreal Expos.

Fitzgerald played the majority of his career for the Expos and in seven seasons from 1985-1991 acted as a primary catcher for the team appearing in 633 games. He displayed solid glove work and when needed moved from behind the plate to play in every position except for pitcher and shortstop. Offensively Fitz' made modest contributions, but his defense, versatility, and ability to get on base were positive enough for the California Angels to take a stab at the Long Beach native in 1992.

After his lone year with the Angels, Fitzgerald hung up his cleats and retired from professional baseball. He ended his career with a .235 average to go with 48 Home Runs and 293 RBI. Most impressive though, was the catcher's ability to draw a walk throughout his career despite his low power numbers. Fitz retired with a .321 OBP and an astoundingly few number of double plays grounded into for his 10 years in the bigs, a mere 65. In today's metric analyzed game I'm confident in saying his talents would most definitely be appreciated by GM's.

Mike was an amazingly kind veteran to have the opportunity to meet. I was able to get his autograph through the Angel's 50th Anniversary promotion, but when I first got into line I was planning on having Fitz autograph a ball since I couldn't find a card for him. When a few friends got their autograph they came back and showed Mike had actually brought his own very large stack of cards from throughout his career and was signing the item and offering an autographed card to go with it. I couldn't believe it and really do appreciate Mr. Fitzgerald being so kind to offer that. I know all the fans walked away happy and grateful that the local boy treated everyone so well.

Also I think the signature is one of the more unique and almost artsy signatures that I've seen. This 1988 Score card from Fitzgerald's Expos days is definitely a keeper.

RBI (38) Some Bucks are worth more than others...

2011-09-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Especially when the "Buck" is former Major League player, manager, and coach Bob "Buck" Rodgers. A baseball lifer, it was great to have the chance to meet Buck as part of the Angels 50th Anniversary promotion.

Rodgers signed as an amateur free agent in 1956 with the Detroit Tigers, but he made his MLB debut in 1961 with the Angels. In 1961 he played in 16 games and would make the 1962 Opening Day roster for the halos in 1962 as the starting catcher at the tender age of 23. Despite his young age he dazzled on both sides of the plate throughout the season. Amazingly the rookie not only played in 155 games, but also caught Bo Belinsky's no-hitter, the first no-hitter thrown in Angel franchise history. The rookie workhorse batted .258 and notched 61 RBIs, eventually when the season came to a close he came in second for the AL Rookie of the Year.

He'd play top level defense behind the plate for the Angels for 9 seasons before eventually hanging up his hat in 1969. The switch hitting catcher would retire with 31 Home Runs, 288 RBI, and a .232 average. Despite only playing for 9 seasons, Buck appeared in 932 games, an astounding average of 103 games a season.

The ironman didn't take any time off in his retirement and begin serving as a coach or farm manager throughout the 70's. He was finally made a Major League manager in 1980 taking over the Milwaukee Brewers. He would move on to manage the Montreal Expos where he'd win the 1987 NL Manager of the Year award. Eventually Rodgers came full circle and manager the California Angels until the team bus he was traveling on crashed and gave him serious injuries. Rodgers would miss half the season recovering and when he returned the magic that made him a Manager of the Year was gone and he'd finally retire from baseball in 1994 with a 784-774 managerial record.

I bought this 1963 Topps card at a card show and was able to get it signed as part of the Angel's 50th anniversary celebration. I was a big fan of the card and had the option of getting Buck's rookie card, but this All-Star Rookie sophomore card was too nice to pass up. When I saw Buck signing the card, I noticed he was writing more than he had for the previous few people. Before he handed back the card, he leaned in to the Angel handler and said quietly "That was always my favorite card." When I compared my card to some of the balls that he'd signed I realized all the other autographs were just 'Buck Rodgers' and I really appreciated Buck taking the time to give me a special full name autograph because he favored the card.

RBI (37) Hats off, or should I say...

2011-09-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

Capps? Minnesota reliever Matt Capps that is. I've had unconfirmed reports that one of the going nicknames for Matt is the "Mad Capper" and when you take a glance at his signature you may be inclined to agree.

The native Georgian was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 7th round of the 2002 draft, and was intended to be developed into a starter. He didn't find much success as a starter, but in 2005 he was converted to relief work and made quick work of the minors eventually appearing in 4 games for the Pirates.

Since those 4 games in 2005 Capps has been fairly successful bouncing between the Pirates, rebuilding Washington Nationals, and currently Minnesota Twins as a setup man/closer. After signing with the Nationals when he wasn't tendered by the Pirates in 2010 the "Mad Capper" posted a strong first half earning himself his first All-Star selection. His first half was so impressive the Twins gave up a jewel in their farm in a top ranked catching prospect Wilson Ramos.

Capps was fairly reliable and especially necessary for the playoff hunt since the Twins lost elite closer Joe Nathan to injury in the 2010 season. When Nathan returned healthy the two went through a battle trading the closer role until Nathan regained his top form and closing role while Capps took a minor step back from his 2010 success. 2011 has seen Capps collect 15 Saves but also 8 Blown Save opportunities with an 4.11 ERA in 63 appearances.

For his career Capps has a 28-28 record and 3.48 ERA over the past 7 seasons. In 408 appearances Capps has finished 251 games, 124 of which were for a Save. His fastball and slider have netted him 297 Strikeouts which has him punching out batters at a pretty reliable rate. While the closer role may have eluded him in Minnesota Capps has the ability to continue pitching in the league with a solid amount of success and should be around for seasons to come.

Matt autographed this numbered Topps 2011 Gold parallel for me at Angel Stadium before a Twins-Angel game. I was able to get his attention after he warmed up with another reliever I couldn't identify and asked him if he could sign his gold card. He was really nice to grab a water and then walk over to sign it for me before he started doing autographs for other fans. I'm thinking that somehow when he walked over he changed from Matt Capps to the "Mad Capper" because it's a pretty crazy signature and at first thought he put an extra "S" before I realized those are 5's next to the "C". Regardless I got it signed and I was pretty happy with it.

Big League Moment (2) Zack Hample

2011-09-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

Well I woke up on the holiday morning a little bit latter than normal and logged onto my computer to see a wonderful surprise. Author, blogger, and ballhawk extraordinaire Zack Hample had altered his West Coast road trip to include the September 5th game at Angel stadium. To say I was excited is to an understatement. I immediately went into action with the necessary preparations for a surprise visit by his ballhawk-ness.

Less you readers forget, or don't know, Zack is the ballhawk/author who has written the books How to Snag Major League Baseballs, Watching Baseball Smarter, and The Baseball while updating readers with his blog The Baseball Collector in his ball collecting supremacy. I've only read the latter two books and follow the blog, and can firmly recommend all three as entertaining and necessary reads.

But, back to the preparations. I snag baseballs as needed typically with a specific use of the ball in mind when I start. Shockingly I will admit I've always barehanded balls or gotten them handed to me by a player or coach. I've actually only had one drop this season and that was when I was knocked on the arm by someone next to me. Anyways, in honor of Zack I decided the time was right to finally get a glove. I also decided it was necessary to get a hardcopy of his book The Baseball, because my copy was a digital one on my Nook. Thus off I went in the rain to buy both book and glove.

While waiting for the stadium to open it happened, my friend spotted Zack and we went over to introduce ourselves. I'll say it once and I'll repeat it as often as needed, Zack's a nice guy. He not only signed his book but wrote a nice inscription and personalized it to me. I really did appreciate him sitting down to get a better position to sign. We discussed the layout of the stadium a bit and I let him do his thing with a local reporter who was following up on the hero of the first Mike Trout homer. Here's a quick photo outside.

If you're interested in reading the article about Zack in the OC register you can find it here.

I was able to catch up to Zack inside after he had gone on a bit of a snagging spree after I caught my glove's first ball, a nice toss up by Trayvon Robinson in Center Field. It's a pretty high throw but Trayvon put it right on the money and the fresh glove caught it perfectly though stiffly.

I went down to the seats behind the visiting Mariners dugout where Zack was and he let me tag along with him for a bit to answer a few questions and watch him work trying to get a ball for the warming up Mariners.

It was a bit loud so I couldn't record the interview, but I did take notes. The answers if they seem short and sharp are only because I couldn't write full response in my notes while at the game, but I will say Zack gave great and complete answers to everything I asked.

You've talked about a few helpful players in your blog and books, who are the players that really help you out with balls?

"Brian Stokes, D.J. Carrasco, Livian Hernandez even though he always asks me how many he's given me this season."

Are there any players who go out of their way to not give you a ball or help?

"It's been a while since a player did that. Probably a few years."

Citing my own failure to reel in a ball by Felix Hernandez, he threw it in the sun and I was completely blinded, are there any big players you'd like to get a ball from?

"Texiera, Matt Kemp even though he's hard to get a ball from, Robinson Cano, plenty of good players it'd be nice to get one from."

Do you have any balls you'd like to get still?

"I'd really like to get any 100th ball from someone."

I was wondering if you thought about trying to get in on Thome's 600th.

"I thought about Thome, but when he was at 598 he was in Detroit. He homered twice in that game, and it's really tough to get balls from there."

Referring back to my earlier drop I had to ask how often Zack dropped a ball. He was pretty candid and put my drop into perspective.

"Even the pros have an error or two and misplay a ball. I probably don't really drop a toss up but can miss a homer on the fly. If it hits the edge of my glove it's probably because I wasn't focusing enough. Earlier I misplayed BP and started to leave when I didn't realize there was another BP group."

I know when certain teams come to town there's a drop off in homers. When the Nationals came there was a bit of a drop. Do you notice if it's harder to get a BP ball in an National League stadium than an American League since there's no designated hitter?

"Really? The Nationals have some power guys. Michael Moorse? I don't really notice a difference."

What type of glove do you use?

"Mizuno and the one before this was Mizuno."

How old is that glove?

"This one I've had for about 15 years" Zack then showed that despite the pretty well used and worn exterior, he had redone the interior of the glove and "hope the glove survives this trip."

Zack was traveling around the stadium with his friends and had been shadowed by a representative of the media due to him catching the Mike Trout homer. I had to ask how many times he's been at a game with the media and if it affected him.

"I don't have an actual statistic or tally on that. Probably about a half dozen or so times this year. I may miss a ball or two while we're doing something and be a few seconds too late, but it doesn't hurt too much."

Did you end up getting that Mike Trout jersey? (He asked Trout's mom for an autographed jersey since he was nice enough to return Trout's first career homer, but didn't force the issue and demand it from Trout as a trade for the ball)

"No. I mean I could have insisted on it at the time, but it just wasn't something I was looking to do. I didn't want to come off looking like I was taking advantage of him."

All the locals will want to know, how does Angel Stadium stack up on your West Coast road trip?

"It's medium, an okay stadium to look at with not too much going on. It's a little tough since the double bullpens take away prime power alley space. It's tough to go side to side since you have to go up and around to go from Right to Left. And they stopped me from using my glove trick, so that's a knock."

Really what happened?

"I used it once and a Mariners player who saw it wanted me to do it again. He set up a ball and I did the glove trick. Security came down, made me show them my ID, filed an incident report, and cut the string for the trick."

Zack and I finished watching the Mariners warming up and unsuccessfully tried to get a ball from Adam Kennedy. Kennedy I know is from Riverside, CA and I've seen him give away balls before but I think they were to his own kids or family friends so that didn't really surprise me and is pretty fair I think. I thanked Zack for the chance to watch him work and told him I'd try to get back down to behind the dugout after the game, but wasn't able to make it down. It really was a pleasure to meet Zack and have the chance to ask him questions as we hung out.

You can follow Zack on twitter @Zack_Hample

RBI (36) This butcher sure has some skills...

2011-08-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

But not in the deli, Angel pitching coach Mike Butcher has his skills working with guys on the mound. Though I've learned that apparently Mike has some skills in the kitchen as last year he put out some pretty seriously tasty chili at an Angels charity cook off. It may help that he's had some professional help in the form of his cooking assistant/sister-in-law who is a trained chef.

When it comes to pitching Mike needs no assistance as he's got a fairly extensive background in it and especially in Angel baseball. Mike's about as homegrown as they come considering his 4 seasons in the Majors were all spent with the halos as a reliever. In 115 games Butcher posted a 4.47 ERA with 96 Strikeouts, good enough for a 11-4 record with 9 Saves.

From 2000-2005 Butcher served as a pitching coach or consultant within the Angels minor league system before he was called up to the big show to join former Angel bench coach Joe Maddon in Tampa Bay for the 2006 season. Since the 2007 season he's come back home at the "Big A" as Mike Scioscia's pitching coach. Angel starters are thriving under his tutelage as they consistently are among league leaders in Wins, ERA, and Strikeouts. Fans have seen the consistent emergence of front line starters and homegrown relievers with Butcher in the system with Jered Weaver, Ervin Santana, Jordan Walden, and Tyler Chatwood being among the prominent names coming from the system.

Having Butcher as pitching coach is definitely something Angel players have acknowledged as a pleasant benefit of being in the organization. Ace Jered Weaver went so far as to acknowledging Butcher as positive reason for staying in his recent press conference announcing his extension. As an Angel fan, I'd hate to see Butcher developing the arms of the prospects emerging from the Texans, Rays, or Braves.

Mike was nice enough to go the extra step to sign these cards for me before a game at Angel Stadium. I asked him to sign them on the way to watch a Dan Haren bullpen session, but he had to get going and told me he'd get me on the way out. Unfortunately the session went on a little longer than normal and I got distracted by batting practice and wandered away from the bullpen area. Luckily when rookie Tyler Chatwood was warming up for the game Butcher had a free minute and came over when I called out to him. He told me "There you are. I was looking for you earlier," when I passed him my pair of cards.

Butcher has a really legible signature and I was pretty happy to see him take his time signing the cards. It's not too often I see anyone handing him a card, normally it's an Angel hat or ticket with the occasional photo a fan took. I was especially happy about the cards, since I've had the Upper Deck 1994 card since I was 6 as a souvenir team set from an Angel game. The 1993 Topps card I was able to get through the Diamond Giveaway and there is a sweet little golden emblem marking the inaugural season of the Rockies embedded into the card.

Big League Moment (1) Scott Downs

2011-08-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well readers I thought it was about time for me to start adding a new feature to my blog. Many of you actually check in on the blog fairly frequently and I truly do appreciate your readership. After all my hours spent hunting around Angel Stadium I've had a few run-ins with current and past players that don't always make it into the blog post or have an autograph to showcase in the normal RBI format. Rather than let those moments go to waste I've decided to add the "Big League Moment" where I'll post up my interactions with the guys from the big leagues.

This inaugural post includes someone I've actually had trouble getting an autograph from, mainly because I don't have any cards for him. It seems every time I run into Scott Downs when he's signing I've already wrinkled or had my ticket signed, don't have a clean baseball, or haven't been able to get ahold of a card yet. This natural frustration led me to finally take advantage of hanging out before the game and asking him a few questions on his way into the stadium.

(Me standing along the fence and calling out) "Hey Scott, can I ask you a few quick questions?"

(Mr. Downs turning to face me and take a few steps closer) "Sure."

"What's your favorite city to play in as a visitor?"

Without missing a beat Scott responded "Boston." This is actually a fairly surprising response to get from Mr. Downs, and I'm actually fairly certain it has more to do with how nice the city of Boston is, than actual baseball performance. Lifetime Downs has only appeared in 14 games in Fenway where batters hit .317 off him with a 4.70 ERA to go with that high average. Considering he spent 6 seasons with the Blue Jays those are actually surprising for him to have that few appearances and those kind of numbers.

"Who's the toughest guy for you to get out?"

This response was also immediate and the numbers do support Downs answer, "Hideki Matsui. I have no idea why but for some reason I can't get that guy out." In 24 at-bats, Matsui has had 12 hits including 2 Doubles and a Homer. Matsui has only struck out 4 times while driving in 7 runs. He's tied for most plate appearances against Downs with Robinson Cano at 27 and just ahead of Bobby Abreu's 26. Both are top caliber professional hitters in the same if not higher tier as Matsui, but against Downs only hit .231 and .261 respectively. Seeing as Matsui is a lefty I'm as stumped as Downs as to why he is so successful against the southpaw reliever.

Having responded to my pair of questions Downs turned to go into the clubhouse when I tossed out my final question, "Can I get a ball inside?"

(Still walking away Downs looked back) "Maybe during batting practice."

It was quick, and it was awesome. I really appreciated Scott taking a few minutes out of his day to talk to me, maybe even as much as I appreciate how lockdown he's been in the back end of the Angel bullpen.

If you readers enjoyed this Big League Moment post, please leave a comment or shoot me an email and when I have more to share I'll be sure to post them.

RBI (35) A semi-embarrassing TTM response...

2011-08-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well readers, sometimes the internet is a wonderful tool that teaches you lots of new things. Other times it leaves you hanging high and dry with incomplete information. Hopefully this blog is more of a complete source with interesting baseball tidbits, autographs, TTM information, in-person tips and stories. A few websites however led me down the wrong path with former pitcher Bud Daley.

Daley played for the Cleveland Indians from 1955-1957 and put up okay numbers while with them, but wasn't having too much success. In 50 games, including 11 starts, Daley only managed a 4.87 ERA with a 3-9 record. The Indians traded him to the Kansas City Athletics in 1958 and his career had a revival as a Kansas City starter.

Moving to the rotation allowed Daley to find a groove and he dropped his ERA a full point, putting up All-Star caliber numbers being selected to the 1959 and 1960 All-Star games. This was interestingly during the time period when there were actually 2 All Star games played in an effort to boost the player pension fund, with one game played in an NL park and the other in the AL. Daley may have been a two time All Star but attended 4 All Star games.

Having been moved to the bullpen in Kansas Daley was moved to the New York Yankees during the 1961 season. He finished 1961 as a Yankee starter and made two postseason appearances as a reliever and a starter during the World Series. He went on to be a member of the 1962 championship Yankees but as a reliever having been relegated to the bullpen besides a few spot starts for the rest of his career.

Daley's career after 10 seasons in the big leagues would leave be fairly accomplished as he'd hang up his hat a 2 time All-Star and 2 time World Series Champion. He had a 60-64 record and a 4.03 ERA with 549 Strikeouts. Of 248 games played, Daley started 116 going the distance for 36 Complete Games. Surprisingly despite his ratio of Complete Games in his starts only 3 of his Complete Games would be Shutouts.

Mr. Daley not only penned a nice signature on a1960 Topps Card I got through the Diamond Giveaway but he also took the time to answer a few questions. This is where my online research failed me and I got to a bit of a rocky start.

Were there any challenges to being a lefty kunckleballer?
Much to my chagrin Bud's response is short and to the point. There's not much else I can add or say about this besides the fact that I'm highly embarrassed and wanted to omit the response were it not for my journalistic integrity. Bud pointed out, "I was not a knuckleball pitcher"

How did it feel to have Berra, Mantle, and Maris behind you when you took the mound?
I'm going to guess my first question rubbed Bud the wrong way because his response wasn't a peak into hallowed memories of three Yankee legends. Instead Mr. Daley decided it was "Great"

What was your favorite part of being an All Star?
Seeing as this year we had 80 something All Stars, being named an All Star has lost a bit of it's allure. Considering the rosters weren't as enormous in '59 and '60 Bud seemed to appreciate being selected "Being from KC on a last place team"

Was either of your World Series Championships more meaningful?
Bud selected something that most people can agree is a great accomplishment and honor. Despite having started with the Kansas City Athletics he went to the New York Yankees and in "1961 being the winning pitcher in last game"

Of all your years in the Majors, was there ever one moment or memory that stuck with you throughout and after your career?
Recognizing the roots of his success and career revival I think Daley picked something pretty personal when he shared "KC All Star game" as his career's highlight memory forgoing the two Yankee rings.

After reading his responses I'm very glad I was able to get a Kansas City Athletics card since he seemed to cherish that time even more than his championships in New York. The signature is clean, tight, and in a great location for one of my favorite autographs.

Mr. Daley was kind enough sign the card and respond to my letter sent to his home address in 8 days.

RBI (34) A familiar face...

2011-08-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well I've already posted a few items signed by former Angel pitcher Clyde Wright, but Clyde's such a great guy I've gotten a few more autographs and had a conversation or two with him while at the stadium.

I think sometimes we Angel fans take having a former Major Leaguer like Clyde so easily available to us for granted, but I definitely appreciate him being so ready to sign for fans. I especially appreciate him taking the time to put inscriptions on anything you ask him to. It's nice having an old timer who has such an accomplished record really show he's in it for the fans. I've never tried getting Clyde TTM since he's around the stadium so often, but I suspect he'd be a great player for new collectors to start with. I'm sure he'd be happy to write down the no-hitter if asked for it with your request.

The Angels had a TV special where Clyde is interviewed and he made one of his regular jokes about being in a rotation with Nolan Ryan. I spotted Clyde sitting out having a soda by one of his two BBQ stands in the stadium the home stand after I saw the interview and walked over to him. I told him I saw the interview and thought it was funny and as he signed for he told me the second part of his Ryan jokes. They go as follows and are even better when you imagine them in Skeeter's Tennessee accent..."What no one ever realizes is that between me and Nolan Ryan we had 8 no-hitters...he had 7 and I had the other." The second part was equally as amusing, "Between me and Ryan we had 6,000 strike outs. He had 5,700 and I got the rest."

When he was signing the bottom card I asked him to write the 100 Wins he finished his career with. Laughing Clyde started to sign the card and said "Yeah I'll write the 100 Wins, but only if I don't have to put the 111 Losses." Like I said, Clyde's a fun guy to have around and meet.

The Angel card is a 1972 Topps that I got at a card show, and the Brewers is a 1975 Topps I got through the Diamond Giveaway. Clyde signed these Topps cards on two separate occasions at Angel Stadium.

RBI (33) A star card...

2011-08-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Okay well maybe it's not really a card of a literal star, but there are a few stars involved. Angel rookie All Star closer Jordan Walden's 2011 rookie star to be precise. There's a new star in Southern California and Anaheim is on the way to becoming "Wally's World 2.0" where the speed limit is 100 MPH.

The Texas native was taken by the Angels in the 12th round of the 2006 draft and is proving to be a bargain steal for the halos. The young closer previously had been working through the Angels' minor league rotations until 2010 when he was converted into a reliever. It was a short jump from the minor league bullpen's into the Major League club's pen at the end of the 2010 season.

2010 was a good beginning for Walden when he flashed promise in 16 games, including his first career save, racking up 23 Strikeouts to post a 2.35 ERA in his appearances. In 2011 he was to be a key part of the bridge leading to Fernando Rodney in the 9th, but Rodney's early struggles led to Walden being the club's closer a week into the season.

It's been a strong season for Walden so far with some analysts even putting him in the Rookie of the Year conversation with Michael Pineada and teammate Mark Trumbo. It's been so strong a season Walden was Mariano Rivera's replacement in the 2011 All Star Game, marking his first of hopefully many appearances in the Mid-Summer Classic.

The Angel's 50th Anniversary has had many celebrations for the franchise's history, the fans, and individual player accomplishment's. This has been a year of celebrating and establishing new milestones for the players and franchise, and on July 21st Walden etched his name into the franchise record books. When he nailed down his 23rd Save against the Rangers at home Walden set the new franchise record for Saves by a rookie.

The 2011 season has seen Wally post a 3-3 record with 26 Saves, 49 Strikeouts, and a 2.74 ERA in 48 games. Batters have only been able to hit .217 against him, and those stats are even more impressive when the controversial call at the plate during the Dodger's series is taken away.

Jordan was nice enough to autograph his 2011 Topps Heritage Rookie Card for me before the game he set the new franchise record for rookie saves. Wally signed the card for me and as I was getting ready to put it away he was in need of a sharpie to sign for some younger fans. I passed him my sharpie back, and he was nice enough to put his number and "ASG '11" on my card after he was finished signing for the kids. It was great to have him add that touch to remember his rookie year, and I really appreciated him taking the time to do that for me.

RBI (32) An interesting TTM combination...

2011-08-07T18:19:00.000-07:00

At least that tends to be the way former pitcher Bob Milacki got things done throughout his career. Mr. Milacki has had some interesting highlights throughout his career and I'm sure he's having some of those moments still as he works for the Phillies Organization.

Milacki was taken in the 2nd round of the 1983 draft by the Orioles, and made his MLB debut in 1988 with Balitmore. It was with the Orioles he gained most of his career's shine by pitching in two memorable games. In his rookie year he led the American League with 36 games started and posted a 14-12 record with 3 Complete Games and 2 Shut Outs.

On April 23, 1989 Milacki posted a complete game shutout against the Minnesota Twins, but did so facing only the minimum 27 batters. He wasn't credited with a perfect game or no hitter as he gave up 3 hits and 2 walks, but he was able to escape trouble thanks to coaxing 4 key double plays. The game was not only his first Shut Out of the season, but was also his first win for the year.

Two years later while still an Oriole Milacki combined with Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson, and Gregg Olson to no hit the Oakland A's. Milacki had put up six scoreless frames with no hits, but had issued out 3 walks prior to being pulled by manager Johnny Oates.

Baltimore would be the highlight of Milacki's career as he left at the end of the 1992 season for Cleveland, Kansas City, Seattle, and a stint pitching in Japan. He would only make 22 starts in the 3 MLB seasons he played after leaving Baltimore, despite having 109 starts in his 5 years with the Orioles. In 143 appearances, Milacki would post a 39-47 record with 8 Complete Games, 5 Shut Outs, 387 Strikeouts, and a 4.38 ERA.

Mr. Milacki was nice enough to take a few moments of his time to autograph this 1992 Score card mailed to him at the Double-A Reading Phillies facility. He responded to me after 54 Days.

RBI (31) An impulse pull...

2011-07-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

A while ago I was out and about picking up some batteries for my reading light and of course the closest battery rack to the door is normally on the checkout aisles. Well next to the checkout aisles as you all know there are the card racks, and I couldn't resist wandering over to see what was there. I decided to have a little restraint and grabbed the last pack from the box.

I was pleased to see my first 2011 autograph from the Topps 60 inserts. I'm a little unsure about the signer though. Chris Tillman was the Mariners 2nd round pick in 2006, but was traded to the Orioles with a host of prospects for Erik Bedard. He's been ranked as the best pitching prospect in the Orioles organization and second best prospect only behind All Star catcher Matt Wieters.

The Anaheim native has had a bumpy Major League career and since 2009 has made 34 Major League starts. He shows flashes of potential but against big league hitters continues to be pummeled having a career 5.35 ERA not including a shelling by the Yankees today. He fails to get the strikeouts necessary to survive with runners on as he has been unable to coax the groundouts needed to escape the perils of the AL East.

His time in the minors has been more successful as he threw a no-hitter against the Gwinnett Braves for the Norfolk Tides in 2010. He also finished as a 2010 International League ERA leader with the 4th best ERA a 3.34 with Norfolk. Despite his struggles so far with the Orioles it's likely they don't give up on their pitching prospect as a combination of Tillman and the still developing Brian Matusz can give a strong 1-2 punch to help pull the Orioles out of the AL East cellar in future seasons.

I pulled this Topps 2011 Series 1 Topps 60 insert from a loose pack box.

Sac Fly (2) Winner...does anyone have his email address?

2011-07-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

Well folks it's that time again...time to announce a winner! I'm going to have to apologize for disappointing all of you with the autographs I got, because not many of you actually guessed the players I got. I guess Adrian Beltre, Darren Oliver, and Matt Harrison aren't very popular guys with many of you, but I did appreciate them signing a few things for me.

With a grand total of 2 points our winner is...mmmrhubarb who correctly guessed Harrison on a Tuesday. Congratulations on winning, I'll be contacting you unless you beat me to it.

RBI (30) Gracefully moving on...

2011-07-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

Well maybe moving on down to the minors is more like it. That's how Angel rookie catcher Hank Conger took his recent demotion from the big show due to recent struggles at the plate.

When the season began the Angels had Jeff Mathis, Bobby Wilson, and the 25th overall pick from the 2006 draft on the roster. Most were surprised the Angels carried three catchers, but Conger played his way onto the team and complicated the catching situation. With Mathis and Wilson out of options and likely to be stolen by another team before they cleared waivers back to AAA Salt Lake, Conger forced the Angels to carry all three with his strong spring.

When the season began Conger batted a strong .273 in April, but the following months were tough and dragged the promising young catcher's average to .214 on the season. The Angels "Hammering" Hank had been able to crank out 5 Home Runs and 7 doubles in 50 games, but with the Rangers on the hunt the Angels were unable to let the rookie catcher work through his struggles with the big league club anymore. While hitting better than Jeff Mathis, Conger's problem were compounded by nabbing only 8 of 56 base stealers and Mathis being paired with the aces of the staff.

When asked about his demotion, Conger showed poise and the big league polish he picked up when discussing the news. He definitely is a key cog to the new core of the Angels led by Peter Bourjos, Jordan Walden, Mike Trout, and Mark Trumbo. Having seen Hank earn his 2010 Futures Game MVP in person, I'm confident he will be sure to have a promising career under a halo in the future when the catching situation in the organization opens more big league at-bats for him.

Conger stopped to do a few autographs at Angel Stadium before a game he wasn't appearing in. It was pretty nice of him to come out of the dugout for the fans, and he put a great signature on his 2011 Gypsy Queen rookie card.

Balk 4- Important Contest Update

2011-07-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well folks, unfortunately my card delivery didn't include the hobby packs that were supposed to be there for the Sac Fly (2) prize. So I went out and bought 2 value packs of 2011 Allen and Ginter and hope that you all think that is a comparable prize to all you who have entered so far.

Really sorry everyone, I guess I jumped the gun and won't be having the dealer I went through acquire me packs anymore. If anyone has an issue who has already entered feel free to email me and I'll see what I can do to make everyone happy.

Sac Fly (2) A divisional contest...

2011-07-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well the Angels and Rangers may be locked in a tough race to see who will win the division, but it doesn't stop me from appreciating good baseball players. So I'm going to have a contest like Sac Fly (1) but with a little bit of a twist.

Prize:

-2 Value Packs of 2011 Allen and Ginter.

-Additional cards from my collection of your selected team.

How it works:

The Texas Rangers were in town this last home stand and I was able to get a few in person autographs of members of the team. So here's the contest: 3 different Ranger's players signed autographs for me, guess which ones signed. Each correct player is worth a point.

Now here's the twist...I got all 3 autographs on the same day despite having gone to all three games (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). Guess which day I got the autographs on as an additional point to add to your score.

Most points wins.

The winner will be the person who gets the most points earned from their guesses. If there is a tie I will use a random number generator for all valid correct entries. If no one guesses any of the players correctly I will use a random number generator for all entries to determine the winner.

How to enter:

All you have to do to enter is comment your guess. You can leave a second guess as a valid entry if with your second entry you post a link to your own site announcing/linking this contest (2 entry max).

Contest will close Thursday July 29th at 11:59 PM PST, and the winner will be announced Friday July 30th.

Also for my regular readers, sorry for the lack of posts the past week. I just started a new job and as soon as I'm settled into my new routine I'll be sure to continue posting at a regular rate again. Though I'm not actually sure if there are any regular readers...if you're a regular reader comment that too in your entry and if you win I'll see what I can do to spice up your prize.

RBI (29) An MVP TTM...

2011-07-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

Ok well maybe not a league MVP, but the 1998 Angels' team MVP Gary DiSarcina. Gary didn't respond to my letter but the former shortstop was kind enough to take the time to autograph and mail back my card.

DiSarcina was the California Angels 6th round pick in the 1988 draft and shot through the system making his first appearance in the Majors in September of 1989 to play in 2 games. The following two seasons he played in only 18 games a season, but by 1992 he took over as the Angels starting shortstop. He had an All-Star first half in 1995, but only appeared in 99 games by the end of the season. In 1999 DiSarcina appeared in his lowest number of games since taking over as starting shortstop, playing only in 81 and finally a mere 12 apperances in 2000 before he finally retired, ending his 12 year career as an Angel.

DiSarcina was a career .258 hitter, retiring just short of a hitting milestone with 966 hits. To go with his almost one thousand hits, he scored 444 Runs thanks in part to 47 Steals and 28 Home Runs.

Despite his playing career ending, DiSarcina continues life in baseball having been a manager for the Red Sox affiliate Lowell Spinners from 2007-2009. He returned to the Angels family in 2011 as a special assistant to General Manager Tony Reagins.

DiSarcina was scheduled to throw a first pitch for the Angels 50th Anniversary, but did not sign autographs during the game. Amazingly the game he threw the pitch for was on a Monday, and that Thursday I received my card in the mail. I guess he went through some fan mail and sent out a few! DiSarcina responded to my request mailed to Angel stadium after 56 days.

RBI (28) A halo that shines...

2011-07-12T00:46:00.000-07:00

Okay maybe not shining but Angels second baseman Howard "Howie" Kendrick is sparkling like an All-Star right now in Arizona for the 2011 All Star Game. One of the three Angel representatives, Howie is a first time All-Star but from initial reports coming out of Arizona is handling the experience like a pro.

Howie was taken in the 10th round of the 2002 draft by the Angels and has proven to be a steal. Considering the 2002 MLB draft was the focus of the book with an upcoming movie by the same name Moneyball, I guess as much as I love sabermetrics they don't always nail it. Since being drafted by the Angels, Howie has worked his way from fringe prospect to All-Star second baseman rostered only behind 2011 Home Run Derby Champion Robinson Cano. Hopefully the clinic Cano put on in the Derby will have tired him out and let Howie get lots of playing time behind starter Jered Weaver.

Since 2006, Howie has made the best of every opportunity to play and became a stable fixture in the Angel infield playing more games every season especially after Adam Kennedy walked in free agency before the 2007 season. While his power continues to develop Howie has maintained a strong batting average, hitting at least .279 in every season and over .300 in two seasons.

2011 has obviously been of a high caliber and Howie has been a true team player. Due to injuries he has been moving out of his own position at times and has played in left field, at first base, and at second. While his position may not be consistent, his hitting is and at the end of the first half Kendrick has been hitting .302 with 8 Home Runs and 9 Steals. Not only has Howie accumulated 29 RBI but also scored 43 Runs, including a critical run that gave starter Dan Haren a 1-0 victory over Detroit's Justin Verlander to collect his 100th Win. If he keeps up the pace Howie will have the best year of his career so far with plenty more to come.

Howie signed his Topps 2006 Rookie card for me at Angel Stadium the day the All Star rosters were announced. I made a "Congrats 2011 All Stars" sign with Howie and Weaver's numbers (I later added Walden's number after Ron Washington added him) and Howie came over and signed for a few fans. I was hoping to have him autograph the sign but was too excited watching him sign his rookie card to remember to ask.

You can follow Howie Kendrick on Twitter @HKendrick47

RBI (27) An especially polite TTM response...

2011-07-08T01:42:00.000-07:00

Not that all the players who respond aren't nice, but Mr. Steve Searcy former pitcher for the Tigers was especially nice in his response this week.

Taken in the 3rd round of the 1985 draft by the Detroit Tigers, Steve Searcy looked to be a promising prospect, and in 1988 he was named the International League Pitcher of the Year. Searcy was a lefty reliever and starter for the Tigers between 1988 and 1991 before being traded to the Phillies for the end of the 1991 and 1992 season. Despite coming out of the bullpen on occasion, Searcy never logged a Save despite finishing 15 games in relief. When he finally retired after 5 seasons and 70 career appearances with 21 starts, Searcy had a 5.68 ERA and logged 140 Strikeouts.

When asked in my letter:

When you threw your complete game did you think you would go the distance at any time?
Showing off the attitude of his generation of pitchers before the even more watchful eye on pitch counts and innings tossed reached the level we see in pitchers today Searcy said, "I always wanted to pitch a complete game every time I started a game."

What was the hardest part of throwing a complete game?
This time Searcy showed how the game started to change in the 90's even if his pitching mentality didn't he wrote, "Because of the way the game is now they will put in a closer or short man even if you're pitching well."

How did you adjust going to the National League from the American League?
Reflecting the work ethic that allowed him to bounce between the bullpen and starting rotation Steve said, "Same game. Just had to try to remember how to hit."

With more than 100 strikeouts were any especially memorable or important to you?
Proving even ball players are human and they all have heros too, Steve shared a really nice moment from his career and personal life, "Yes. Don Mattingly. He was one of my favorite players when I was in high school."

What was your favorite place to pitch at?
Showing why he was happy to shuttle wherever the Tigers and Phillies needed him to go, Steve showed a real love of the game itself responding, "Anywhere they would give me the ball."

Mr. Searcy responded to my letter and autographed my card sent to his personal address after 12 days. He was nice enough to sign my 1990 Fleer card with an extremely clean signature, but not only did he sign the card he went one step forward. He also was nice enough to go an extra step by including a note that thanked me for my letter and offered me his best wishes with his signature. I can't thank him enough for such a personal touch.

RBI (26) Send him home...

2011-07-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

Or at least that's what I tend to call out to Angel 3rd base coach Dino Ebel before every game. Today it happened to work out quite nicely, considering 2011 All-Star Howie Kendrick was sent and scored the deciding, and only, run for Dan Haren's 2-hit gem and 100th career win.

Dino was actually a member of the other Los Angeles organization, the Los Angeles Dodgers for 6 years as a professional player in the minors after signing as an undrafted amateur free agent. He was named Gulf Coast League Player of the Year in 1988 as a rookie, but despite advancing through the minors to Triple-A ball as a utility player, Dino never made it to the big show.

However through all his minor league and winter ball experience, Ebel gained significant baseball knowledge and acted as a player-manager, and eventually full time minor league manager and coach. Despite spending 17 years with the Dodgers Ebel decided to leave the organization in 2005 to join the Angel Triple- A affiliate coaching staff. Eventually after Joe Maddon left to turn the baseball and math worlds on their head (sorry Joe, but 9 doesn't equal 8 and it won't until you win a World Series) Dino was brought up to the bigs as Mike Scioscia's 3rd base coach.

He's served the Angel offense well since taking the position, and I'm sure Vlad Guerrero appreciated him coming down the freeway since Dino served as his pitcher when he won the 2007 Home Run Derby.

Dino was nice enough to sign this Topps 2011 Heritage Angel Team card right below himself in the photo, prior to a game at Angel Stadium while on his way out of the bullpen area. To be honest this is a really meaningful autograph for me, because prior to this I was unable to get a single Angel autograph besides Steve Soliz signing his hat I bought from the yard sale. I guess all I had to do was get Dino to sign and he opened the flood gates for the autographs to keep on coming home.

RBI (25) You're fired...

2011-07-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Or at least that's what one Donald says, but not former Angel infielder Donald "Donnie" Hill.

The southern California native was taken with the 1st pick of the 1981 draft by the Oakland Athletics, but didn't make his debut in the Majors until 1983 at the age of 22. After breaking into the MLB with the A's he stuck around as a part time player never appearing in more than 123 games in his 9 year career. Hill would eventually end his career after a partial season with Minnesota in 1992. He would be a career .257 hitter with 26 Home Runs and 228 RBI.

Donnie signed this 1991 Fleer card card for me as part of the Angel's 50th anniversary promotion.

RBI (24) A quick TTM send back by a come back player...

2011-06-25T16:55:00.000-07:00

Speed on the base paths isn't all that Lonnie "Skates" Smith has, he's also pretty quick at responding and sending back things mailed out to him.

Lonnie Smith is a great personal story of his battles with illicit drug use during his playing career only for him to rise above it and be a championship caliber player. Making his debut with the Phillies in 1978, Smith finally cracked the lineup regularly in 1980, where he batted .339 in 100 games. His performance helped propel the Phillies to a World Series berth against the Kansas City Royals where the Phillies would emerge victorious.

Despite being a solid performer for the Phillies Lonnie was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals where he would continue to be successful and have an All-Star season in 1982. He would continue to thrive in 1982 so he would eventually be second place in the National League MVP voting, losing to Dale Murphy. What he would not lose to Murphy though, was the 1982 World Series where the Cardinals topped the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Cardinals would send him to the Kansas City Royals, a mistake seeing as the Royals would eventually face and beat the Cardinals in the 1985 World Series. Eventually he would be a free agent and have difficulty finding a team due to his drug use. He would be given a chance to join the Braves and despite a rough initial year in 1988 he would be named 1989 NL Come Back Player of the Year. In 1991 and 1992 Smith's turn around would help propel the Braves to World Series appearances though they did not win the championship. Smith would then bounce around a few years with the Pirates and Orioles before finally hanging up his hat to return to Atlanta to live in retirement.

Lonnie would end his career after 17 seasons as one of the best run scorers and base stealers averaging 91 Runs and 37 Steals per season. He would have a final career average of .288 and .371 OBP which allowed him to constantly pester pitchers for a career tally of 370 Stolen Bases and 909 Runs scored.

Lonnie Smith signed this 1990 Fleer card for me and was nice enough to also respond to the letter I sent to him. Lonnie's signature is a great one to look at, it's very legible and fluid, and his hand writing in the letter as just as nice.

When asked:

What was your favorite part of being an All-Star?
Lonnie took a light hearted and genuine approach to his lone appearance at the All-Star game in 1982 saying, "The great players that were in the All Star Game. By far the best team i ever played on !!! :)" and yes Lonnie really put a smiley face in his response.

Which of your World Series Championships is the most meaningful?
Keeping up with his MVP caliber year Smith said, " '82 Team. We were more of a family of friends."

What was your favorite city to play at as a visitor?
Despite only playing there sparingly since all of his career was for teams in middle America or the east coast, Lonnie kept up his kind hearted approach and responded, "L.A. because it is the city I grew up in with family and friends."

When you set the franchise record for 5 steals in a game for the Cardinals in 1982 which was the most difficult?
Unknowingly I asked him about what seems to be the most memorable and favorite season he spent in the Majors, "Man just getting on base is the most difficult, you have to get on at least 3 times"

Lonnie Smith responded to my letter mailed to his home address after 13 days.

RBI (23) A TTM return from a rock star...

2011-06-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

Ok well maybe not a rock star, but a player who has the same name. Cleveland Indians catcher and first baseman Carlos Santana responded to my TTM request though he didn't respond to the letter I included.

Santana was a Dodgers prospect signed in 2005 until he was traded to the Indians with John Meloan for Casey Blake in 2008. While in the minors he played for local minor league team the Inland Empire 66ers and did his part to become the organization's top prospect.

In June, 2010 Santana was called up to join the Indians and immediately slotted in the line up 3rd. He was having a solid rookie season until he walked the hallowed halls of Fenway Park. While covering the plate, Red Sox rookie Ryan Kalish came in trying to score sliding cleanly through Santana's legs. Santana was carted off the field and three days later he had to have season ending surgery to repair his torn lateral collateral ligament in his knee.

2011 has been full of ups and downs for Santana and the Indians as he deals with some struggles at the plate against right handers. However despite his poor .232 average, Santana is tied for 4th in the AL with 49 Walks and still shows flashes of power with 10 Homers. His ability to go yard has etched his way into the Indians' record books by being the first Indians catcher ever to end a game with a grand slam.

His defense however still has much to be desired and it's not clear how long in his career he will stay behind the plate as Santana has only caught 7 of 40 base stealers. When he is behind the plate Indians pitchers have a pedestrian 4.29 ERA and 26-23 record. The 4.29 ERA is even more surprising when you consider as a team, Cleveland has a 3.90 ERA.

Santana was nice enough to sign the Topps 2011 Opening Day card I sent to the Indians stadium, and got it back to me after 41 days. It was awesome to get the card signed, but less awesome to see Santana put his thumb on his first name while signing his last name. I suppose it just means it's authenticated with his fingerprint.

RBI (22) Another nice 'mann' responded TTM...

2011-06-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

This time though it was a sweet return from Mr. Tom Timmermann of the Tigers and Indians. Tom was nice enough to not only sign and personalize my card, but he also responded to the questions in the accompanying letter.

Timmermann signed as a amateur free agent with the Detroit Tigers in 1960 and eventually played for the Tigers and Indians from 1969-1974. Beginning his career as an effective reliever he was converted to a starter and bounced between the rotation and bullpen. His rookie season would prove to be his best when at the age of 29 he would in 31 appearances carve out a 4-3 record and 2.75 ERA.

In 1972 the Tigers moved Timmermann into the rotation where in 25 starts he would put up a 2.89 ERA but only manage a 8-10 record. Looking to be a reliable starter the Indians acquired him from the Tigers in 1973, but he would not be effective in Cleveland and hold a 4.96 ERA in 33 appearances. Eventually Timmermann would retire with the advanced age he got his break at seeming to prevent any second chances with another organization as his six-year career would end at the age of 34 with a 35-35 record and 35 saves to go along with a 3.78 ERA.

Mr. Timmermann was nice enough to personalize and sign his 1974 Topps card I got through the Diamond Giveaway. It was nice to see that he really has a crystal clear signature, and that he signed across the most visible part of the card with a extra fine point. I'd have to say it is one of the best looking I've seen.

When asked in my letter:

What was it like moving from being a reliever into the starting rotation?
Showing why he was voted Tiger of the Year by the Detroit BBWAA in 1970, Timmermann responded "You do what you have to do"

What was your favorite city to pitch in as a visitor?
Surprisingly despite the most common response so far to have been the larger east coast cities, Timmermann selected a city he had plenty of experience pitching in, "Kansas City"

Was there any moment in your career that stood out to you as your favorite?
Picking what is a meaningful moment to many players, but especially so after his long service to the organization, Tom picked a very nice memory. He responded, "Telling me to report to the Tigers after 9 years in minors"

Is there any pitch you tried to learn or wanted to master?
Probably as a result of being around professional baseball and players of all types for so many years, Timmermann responded "All of them"

Mr. Timmermann responded to my letter and request that I mailed to his home address after 20 days.

RBI (21) An original super utility player...

2011-06-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

Or at least one of the best. Tony Phillips played in the Majors for 18 years and on 6 teams in almost every position a player can man. While some think teams ask a lot of Michael Young and Ben Zobrist, Phillips played second, shortstop and third regularly while also logging more than 100 games in left and right field with 3 games short of 100 in center.

The 1978 first round pick was selected 10th overall by the Expos but surprisingly despite his 6 teams he never played for them. Instead he debuted with the Oakland Athletics in 1982 and would be a member of the 1989 World Series championship team after being defeated in the 1988 World Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Phillips left the A's to join the Tigers and he would master the skill that would extend his career to almost two decades, the ability to take a walk. In hist first year with the Tigers Phillips would end the season with 99 Walks against only 85 strikeouts. For the rest of his career he would excel as being an on base machine and be driven for 90+ Runs 7 times and 4 of those times would be for more than 100 runs.

Phillips would have two terms of service with the Angels, joining them as a California Angel in 1995, and as an Anaheim Angel in 1997. As a member of the Angels, Phillips would smash a single season career best 27 Home runs and be driven in 192 times.

At the end of 18 seasons he would have scored 1300 Runs and collected 2023 hits. Even more impressively Phillips would have 1318 Walks which combined with his .266 average for a .374 career On Base Percentage, good enough for 220th all time.

I was able to get Tony Phillips to sign this 1997 Score card for at Angel Stadium as part of the 50th Anniversary celebration.

RBI (20) Sometimes TTM is like climbing a hill...

2011-06-14T22:57:00.000-07:00

And this time I was able to make it to the top. Former catcher Mr. Marc Hill was nice enough to make a quick TTM return to me and shed a little bit of light about his career in the Majors for me.

Marc Hill was able to play for four different teams from 1973 to 1986 as a backup catcher primarily for the White Sox and Giants. Through his 14 season career Hill was only a team's main catcher twice, for the San Francisco Giants playing a career high 108 and 117 games. Marc eventually end his career with a .223 average and 34 Home runs.

Hill would be a part of the 1983 "Winning Ugly" Chicago White Sox where then Manager Tony La Russa won his first Manager of the Year award for the scrappy club ending the season with a blistering 60-25 second half. The White Sox wouldn't be able to translate their second half success into October parades after being knocked out by the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS 3 games to 1.

Mr. Hill was nice enough to send this 1980 Topps card I got through the Diamond Giveaway back to me with a nice and clear autograph above the original on the card facade. It was cool to see decades later his signature even with a sharpie hasn't changed very much.

It was even nicer of him to respond to a few questions I included in the envelope I mailed him. When asked in my letter:

What did you see as the key to having so many years played at the Major League level?

Perhaps taking a page out his dad's professional playing career as a pitcher in the St. Louis Brown's organization in the 40's, Hill responded "Consistent and to enjoy the game the people you meet"

What was the clubhouse like during the "Winning Ugly" 1983 White Sox season?

Considering his previous response and how was kind enough to share a few thoughts in the letter I think the response was pretty in character for Mr. Hill "Just having fun - Season went fast"

Who was your favorite pitcher to catch throughout your career?

Harking back to his White Sox days from 1981-1986, Hill picked a few of the pitchers he worked with. They just happen to both be pitchers who not only won their own Cy Young awards, but one is even in the Hall of Fame "Tom Seaver - LaMarr Hoyt"

What was your favorite city to play in as a visitor?

Considering he seems to be quite the standup guy Hill picked a city to match "Boston"

Mr. Hill responded to my letter after only 10 days to his home address.

RBI (19) It's going, going, gone...

2011-06-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

Or at least it was when former Angel Rick Reichardt was the first player to hit a home run at Anaheim Stadium in the 1966 season. Rick is a historic player not only for Angel franchise history but also for the entire league as he is one of the primary reasons Major League Baseball established a Draft.

A slugging outfielder from Wisconsin, Rick was a two-sport star who was the starting fullback for the Badgers making two Rose Bowl appearances on the team. Eventually in 1964 baseball clubs got into a bidding war for the prospect in the 1964 off season with the Angels eventually winning the player for a $205,000 signing bonus. To avoid such further bidding wars the Major League draft was instituted to protect the interest and finances of the franchises. The initial Draft may have provided such protections, but now with the current player signing bonuses some players may turn out to come at a discount if such bidding still occurred compared to their draft slot bonuses.

He played only sparingly in the 1964 and 1965 seasons before becoming a regular in 1966 when Anaheim Stadium opened. He was the first player to go deep in the new stadium and on April 19th he hit a solo shot off Tommy John. He was having a promising season but was eventually cut short of his promise by a congenital kidney blockage that forced the removal of his kidney.

He was able to play a further seven seasons in the Major Leagues but was never able to play at the same caliber as before his surgery, only cracking 20 homers once in his career. Reichardt finished his major league career in 1974 with 116 Home runs and a .261 batting average.

Reichardt signed this Topps 1966 Angels Team card for me that I was able to get through the Topps 50th Anniversary Diamond Giveaway at Angel Stadium due to the 50th Anniversary promotion. I wasn't all that pleased with the quality of the card with all the creases, bends, and missing corner; but for a 55 year old card I guess it was the best Topps was able to do. Thankfully Mr. Reichardt had a nice signature that he put on the card to help add some wow factor back to the card.

RBI (18) A great 'boone' to the game...

2011-06-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Or at least one named Bob. Son of late third baseman Ray Boone, and father of second baseman Bret Boone and utility player Aaron Boone, former Angels catcher Bob Boone Has been around the Majors in some sort of capacity since the 70's.

The San Diego native began his career with the Philadelphia Phillies after being taken in the 6th round of the 1969 draft. He was the definition of a defensive catcher, winning 2 Gold Gloves with the Phillies and being recognized as an All-Star 3-times. Most notably however, he was part of the 1980 World Series championship team.

In 1982 Boone was shipped to the Angels where he played the second half of his career where he continued to rack up Gold Glove Awards and another All-Star selection. He contributed to Angel lore when he caught Mike Witt's perfect game on the last day of the 1984 season against the Texas Rangers on September 30, 1984.

Boone signed on as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals but he lasted only a season and a half before finally retiring as a player and moving into other roles as a manager and currently member of the Washington Nationals organization. With top prospect Wilson Ramos in the organization I'm sure Nationals fans are excited at the idea of Strasburg, Harper, and Boone taught Ramos forming a dynamic core for years to come.

When his 19 season career was over Boone's career batting line would only have a .254 average with 105 Home runs. However he would have an illustrious 7 Gold Gloves, 4 All-Star selections, and a World Series Championship.

Mr. Boone was nice enough to sign his 1987 Topps card for me at Angel Stadium as part of the Angels 50th Anniversary celebration during the Angels vs. Red Sox series.

RBI (17) The A's manager may go...

2011-06-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

But Gio Go-nzalez isn't going anywhere this week but to the mound. As mentioned before in my first contest I was able to get Oakland Athletics pitcher Gio Gonzalez to sign for me before a game at Angel Stadium. Gio put on a pretty good show during batting practice running around competing for fly balls against some of the other pitchers and when a ball was in doubt used the always reliable method of throwing his glove at the ball to knock it down.

Gio was a 1st Round supplemental pick for the Chicago White Sox in 2004 but was traded around as a top prospect before finally breaking into the Majors. He was sent from the White Sox to the Phillies, back to the White Sox, and eventually scooped up by Oakland's Billy Beane in 2008 where he would finally make an MLB appearance.

Gio had a tough rookie year and in his first 30 appearances between '08 and '09 he had given up 92 runs in only 132 innings for an abysmal ERA. However 2010 led to a breakthrough and batters were held to a .229 average and in 33 starts Gio held a 3.23 ERA with a 15-9 record.

Building off his success last season Gio has made 2011 a strong year for him so far. In 12 starts despite the slumping A's offense he has a 5-4 record with an outstanding 2.62 ERA despite having 33 Walks due to a .233 average hitters have against him. Who knows with the way the A's offense has been, no dominant closer, and 4 other starters on the DL Gio's first half may make him the A's lone (and league required) representative to the All-Star game.

Gio was nice enough to put his awesome signature on his Topps 2011 card for me and then an additional (and awfully pretty) 2011 Team card after batting practice at Angel Stadium during a four game series in Anaheim.

RBI (16) A nice TTM return from a nice 'mann...

2011-06-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

I got a sweet TTM success today from a nice 'mann' named Mr. Glenn Borgmann. Mr. Borgmann not only signed the card I sent him, but also responded to a few questions in the letter that accompanied the card.

Borgmann played from in the Majors throughout the 70's for primarily the Minnesota Twins. He was a member of the Twins from 1972 to 1979. While on the Twins he had the distinction to play alongside baseball greats Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, and Bert Blyleven. Throughout his career he primarily played as a backup catcher after he lost his starting position in 1976 to Butch Wynegar.

After 1979 he signed for a lone season with the Chicago White Sox as a backup catcher. Unable to find a Major League roster spot Borgmann ended his career in 1981 with a career .229 average and 151 RBI with 16 Home Runs.

Glenn signed his 1978 Topps card I received through the Topps Diamond Giveaway program going on right now. The card was in very nice condition for it's age and he signed a nice signature in blue sharpie.

When asked in my letter:

What was your favorite place to play at as a visitor?
Mr. Borgmann responded "Yankee Stadium."

Who was your favorite pitcher to catch through your career?
Borgmann selected two-time All-Star and World Series Champion "Jerry Koosman" who posted 20-13 and 16-13 records while playing on the Twins with Borgmann.

Was there any pitcher you enjoyed hitting against?
"Bill Travers" of the Milwaukee Brewers and California Angels was chosen, a slightly surprising choice since he was among the league leaders in hit batsmen.

Is there any moment in your career that was especially meaningful and stuck out to you?
"1st HR off Jim Palmer" and that would be his first career homer off Hall of Famer Jim Palmer in a losing cause for Bert Blyleven in a 1-2 loss to the Orioles on August 19, 1972 in Baltimore.

Mr. Borgmann responded to my letter after only 7 days to his home address.

Sac Fly (1) Winner!

2011-06-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

Well here's the deal. I didn't actually say if the guesses were going to count as a total score or individually. Luckily you all solved the issue for me by not a single person who entered twice repeating a name. So every person if they submitted 2 entries submitted 6 separate names with none being repeated, meaning there was a general interpretation that it was cumulative. Which is what I intended for and why the extra entry was so valuable. The 3 players who signed for me were Grant Balfour, Brad Ziegler, and Gio Gonzalez. Meaning the winner was the lone person who correctly named 2 players in their guesses was.........Matt of Tenets of Wilson! So congrats Matt you're the winner of my first ever contest meaning the odds are high I send you an additional slightly meaningless prize with your main prize. For everyone else...you're all awsome and I enjoyed your guesses. I'll be hosting additional contests soon so keep an eye out.

As an additional note, Gio signed 2 cards for me and Ziegler signed a ball for me with someone else's gel pen (shudder) that immediately smeared and then resigned in my pen since I asked nicely at the end of his signing when he saw the awful smear on the original signature. He actually looked at the ball and said "gross I totally understand don't worry" (yay young pitchers) when I asked him to sign again while showing the horrendous smear. So I got 3 players but 5 signatures, which is why I said I had to repay the great karma I had by hosting a contest since Zeigler and Gio were so nice to me.

Balk 3 - Contest madness

2011-06-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

So while I have my contest going on I thought I'd plug a few others going on around the blogosphere.

Autographed Cards has a College World Series Contest going on.

The Diamond King will be posting want lists soon but until then you can drool over a few hits being given away.

Good luck everyone!

RBI (15) No longer green with envy...

2011-05-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

And now I'm sparkling with diamonds. The past few weeks I've seen people posting up some of the cooler cards they've gotten from Topps Diamond Giveaway and I have to admit I was always a little jealous of the Diamond Die Cuts fellow bloggers have gotten. Well I've finally been able to score my own when I was out picking up another few top loaders I couldn't resist the blaster sitting by itself on the top of the shelf.

It may not be a Red Sox or Angels card, but hey I'll take it. Especially since Jair is currently sitting with a 7-1 record and 1.51 ERA. Batters are only hitting .234 against him and he has 38 punch outs versus only 11 walks. If he keeps it up he could be this years All-Star selection taking up Tim Hudson's selection from last year.

Weekly Rundown 4- Angels Summary 5/16-5/29

2011-05-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well due to an afternoon game I wasn't able to post a Weekly Rundown last week. I'll try to make up for it now.

Since the 16th of May the Angels have gone an unfortunate 6-8 between a 7 game home stand and 7 games spent on the road. Of those losses the Angels played the A's 6 times and only won twice. The Angels are currently a game behind the Texas Rangers for the division lead and sit at 28-27, constantly flirting with a .500 record.

The offense has not been able to really get going for the past two weeks and as a result Angel aces Haren and Weaver continued to look for their first win in the month of May.

On the 28th Jered Weaver went 9 strong innings giving up no runs but received no run support at all for a game that eventually was settled in extra innings. In six May starts Weaver took 4 losses and 2 no decisions. Dan Haren finally received his first win since April 17th to finally hit the 5 win mark.

In injury news Angel starter Scott Kazmir made his first rehab start in AAA Salt Lake and was only able to last 1 2/3 innings. He continues to search for his best stuff and return to top of the rotation form. Outfielder Vernon Wells has increased his workout regimen to return to the Angels batting order and could be back in action in a week and a half. Second baseman Howie Kendrick hit the DL retroactive to May 20th due to tightness in his hamstring and has not played since May 19th.

I'll go more in depth with some of this news later this week when I post the Angels Monthly Summary.

Sac Fly (1) The first contest...

2011-05-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well seeing as I've been able to have a little bit of luck pulling cards this week and in person at the stadium I think it's time to spread some of the luck and host my first contest. I'll get more complicated and random fun with my contests as you can tell by this one.

The first contest I'll admit is a little self serving. For only having the blog up for about a month I've gotten a fair number of hits and am glad people have found interest in the stuff I'm putting up. So to continue working my way into this great community I need the word spread about what I'm doing on this blog. So here's the prize and the rules:

Prize:
-2 unopened packs of Topps Heritage 2011 OR Gypsy Queen OR 1 of each. Winner's choice.
-Additional cards from my collection of your selected team.

How it works:
The Oakland A's were in town this last home stand and I was able to get a few in person autographs of members of the team. So here's the contest 3 different A's players signed autographs for me. Guess who I was able to get and you win the prize. Also in your guess leave which packs you would prefer if you win.

The winner will be the person who gets the most players guessed correctly. If there is a tie I will use a random number generator for all valid correct entries. If no one guesses any of the players correctly I will use a random number generator for all entries to determine the winner.

How to enter:
Like I said, I'm self serving in this contest. Mainly because as it stands now there will most likely only be 2 entries in the contest if I didn't add this part. All you have to do to enter is comment your guess. You can leave a second guess as a valid entry if with your second entry you post a link to your own site announcing/linking this contest (2 entry max).

Contest will close Friday June 3rd at 11:59 PM PST, and the winner will be announced Saturday June 4th.

Balk 2 - TTTM

2011-05-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

But not the TTM you're thinking of. These would be some Trades Through The Mail that I've been pretty delayed talking about.

First off Tom from The Angels, In Order per usual set me up with some great cards to have signed by some Angel alumni. I'll put up photos from these as they get signed.

A while back ago The Lost Collector of The Lost Collector needed a lone Russell Martin card from the 2011 Topps Heritage collection. I sent it out and he was nice enough to quickly stock me up with my first Gypsy Queen card, a nifty Kendrys Morales and some additional team card goodness that I needed.

I took part in the Cardboard Heaven group break and was pleased to get some nice Gypsy Queen, Upper Deck, and Topps cards of the Angels and Padres (California bias) sent out to me very quickly. I was really happy taking part in the group break and will definitely be on the lookout to take part again.

Today was an especially joyous day as Colbey of Cardboard Collections sent me out a nice selection of base cards and inserts I needed for my Topps 2011 Series 1. To say I was happy was a serious understatement as I love this anniversary set and these inserts are taking me forever to get through packs. I was more than happy to send some Topps 2011 Heritage and 2011 Opening Day over for the cards that made a serious dent in my want list.

Sorry for the lack of photos in today's post but I spilled a soda earlier today and am letting the USB cable dry but really wanted to make up for my lacking trade posts.

Thanks for the great trades guys, you're all top notch in my book.

RBI (14) Bringing the wood...

2011-05-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

And I don't mean figuratively. The other day I converted some credit card bonus points into gift card credit for a store that won't receive free publicity unless I become sponsored by them (Target) and turned the gift card into a Topps 2011 blaster. The cards were all pretty generic but I was able to get a few needed cards from the base set and I think two inserts I needed.

Buried within the box though was a pack that felt a little funny. Of course within that pack there was a wonderful little goodie. An Aramis Ramirez wooden bat relic! This was my first relic from the 2011 Topps Series 1 so I was pretty excited. I'm not a fan of the Cubs, but I'm a fan hits and the Topps 60 insert set. Looking at the relic and grain on the wood I feel like it's from the base of the bat, but could be wrong.

Ramirez started his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1998 but since 2003 has been a fixture in the Cubs clubhouse. A two time All-Star he has been a fairly consistent 3rd baseman capable of putting up pretty impressive numbers. He has a .282 career average and in 6 out of 8 seasons has hit at least 25 home runs with plenty of RBI to go around.

With 1,046 career RBI 1,029 have been knocked in as a member of the NL Central Division ranking him 5th all time in division history. I'm not sure if the product of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic will ever catch the men ranked 3rd and 4th seeing as that is Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman, both of whom are still in the division and having a strong season.

This season Ramirez has continued to be passably consistent with a .290 average in 44 games but with only a lone homer to go with his 17 RBI, if he wants to catch Pujols and Berkman to be top man over Sammy Sosa's 1,296 he will need to pick up the pace. With the Cubs sitting 6 1/2 games back in the division with a 22-26 record I'm sure they would appreciate him bringing some more wood, maybe I'll have to send him back part of his bat.

RBI (13) A halo original...

2011-05-24T01:35:00.000-07:00

Or maybe I guess I should say the halo original. As I've made you all aware of the Angel 50th Anniversary and said autograph promotion I thought I'd put up a much delayed post. It was actually my first in person baseball autograph from the first Angel ever Mr. Eli Grba.

Eli Grba was the first selection in the 1960 MLB expansion draft, making him the first charter player of the Angels organization after being left unprotected by the Yankees. During his second season with the Yanks he posted a 3.68 ERA in 24 appearances with 9 starts. The Angels predicted good things out of him and he began the Angels inaugural season as a member of the starting rotation, and has the distinction of throwing the first pitch in the franchise's history.

Grba posted respectable but not outstanding numbers in his 3 seasons with the Angels (only 2 full seasons) and by 1963 his major league career was over. With the Angels he posted a 4.40 ERA with a 20-24 record in 92 appearances, 60 of which were starts.

Though never an All-Star, Cy Young Winner, Gold Glover, Silver Slugger, MVP, or the countless other awards given out throughout baseball Grba will forever have his name in the annals of baseball history. He may not have been a franchise cornerstone, but he was still the first piece of foundation for the Angels franchise to be built up from into it's current and future incarnations. For that I'm sure Angel fans everywhere will always be grateful.

Mr. Grba signed this Angels commemorative 2011 Opening Series baseball for me at the home opener of the Angels 2011 season celebrating the franchise's 50th anniversary.

Balk 1 - Halo Heroes

2011-05-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

If anyone has a card of any of these Angels (preferably from their Angel playing days) I'm very interested in making a trade. The years the player was a member of the Angels is listed so you have an idea of where to look if you think you may have a card. Let me know if anyone can help me out tracking down these guys and I'll see what kind of deal we can make. If you can help leave a comment or send an email to RJWritings At Gmail Dot Com


			Jay Johnstone - (1966-1970)
			Dean Chance - (1961-1966)
			Rick Reichardt - (1964-1970)
			Bob McClure - (1989-1991)
			Mark Gubicza - (1997)
			Dan Ardell - (1961)
			Mike Fitzgerald - (1992)
			Fernando Valenzuela - to Scioscia - (1991)
			Clyde Wright - (1966-1973)
			Scott Spiezio - (2000-2003)
			Frank Tanana - (1973-1980)
			Fred Lynn - (1981-1984)
			Buck Rodgers - (1961-1969, 1991-1994)
			Bobby Knoop - (1964-1969, 1979-1996)
			Rudy Meoli - (1971, 1973-1975)
			Brendan Donnelly - (2002-2006)
			Ken Forsch - (1981-1986)
			Jeff DaVanon - (2001-2005) & Jerry DaVanon - (1973)
			Mick Keller - (1982)
			Joe Rudi - (1977-1980)
			Bill Stoneman - (1974, 1999-2008)
			Jim Eppard - (1987-1989)
			Tom Satriano - (1961-1969)

RBI (12) Some crosstown action...

2011-05-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

A little action from the crosstown boys in blue came through the mail. Well if you saw the earlier post this week you know that I've applied for some fan pack action from a few teams. I sent an email to the Dodgers requesting a fan pack and this was the nice little package I got in return today.

First up with a Dodger Line Drives magazine. The neat little mag has a listing of different ticket plans and giveaways the Dodgers have running this season.

There was also a nice little pamphlet that had a listing of the stadium tour details. I may have to go see one on an off day.

There was a nice Hiroki Kuroda post card. Not a bad posed photo I must say.

I don't know if I bleed Dodger blue, but someone can definitely wear a little with these temporary tattoos.

The coolest little bit was this pin. "The Streak" refers to 84 consecutive saves done by Eric Gagne between August, 2002 and July, 2004 before he finally blew a save opportunity. Definitely a nice little addition to the collection of random baseball tidbits. Not as awesome as Fenway Dirt, but definitely up there.

RBI (11) Double header madness...

2011-05-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well I'm just so excited I probably should keep this for tomorrow, but I won't. Today in the mail I got my very first fan pack response. Many of you are probably aware of the fan pack challenge going on at JT's blog The Writer's Journey and his great number of responses from various teams. Well I thought I'd get in on the goodness and try my hand at requesting a few packs of my own. I thought I'd start off with the best team ever, The Boston Red Sox. Here's what I got in the mail.

Yup inked right on the outside of a very large envelope was some great news from oddly enough Florida. I'll be keeping the envelope as a keepsake plus the stamp was just awesome. The envelope itself has a return to Yawkey instruction printed on it too.

Inside tons of goodies fell out. Such as:

2 Pocket Schedules with Lester on it.

Awesome Wally the Green Monster promotional post card.

Josh Beckett about to hurl some heat post card.

Classic Sox logo sticker.

Some of the ever popular Fenway dirt to make home feel more like Fenway.

A full size 2011 wall calender?!?!?! Seeing as I'm addicted to drinking Coke (sipping one as I type) I was happy about the sponsor. This was definitely a great score!!

ANDDD a non pictured goodie because it refuses to scan very well because of it's circular nature. The fan pack included a "Live Strong"-esque rubber bracelet that was Red Sox red and says "Red Sox Nation" with the classic Sox logo on either side of the words. Needless to say I'll be proudly wearing it around starting tomorrow.

Moral of the story. Fan packs are awesome. And the Red Sox are even awesomer.

RBI (10) The Angels could knock these Sox off...

2011-05-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

Or at least couldn't knock them off Chicago White Sox reliever Sergio Santos. As mentioned in Weekly Rundown 3- Angels Summary 5/9-5/15 the Angels lost on May 11th to the White Sox after Santos came in for 2 shut out innings in relief.

Santos was drafted in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks as a shortstop out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. He eventually worked his way up through the Diamondbacks' farm system upto Triple-A Tuscon. After reaching AAA ball in 2005 Santos stalled and was bounced around through trade and free agency before finally landing with the White Sox only to be shipped off again. However, only two weeks after being sent in a trade he was brought back to Chicago with the plan to be converted into a pitcher.

Throughout 2009 he pitched his way across the White Sox system and made the 2010 Opening Day roster as a reliever, winning the final bullpen spot in Spring Training. In 56 appearances he held batters to a .261 average and 2.96 ERA.

His 2011 campaign has built off his 2010 success and batters are only hitting at .161 clip with a 0.00 ERA in 15 games. Though not formally named the closer for the team manager Ozzie Guillen has used Santos effectively and he has collected 2 Wins and 5 Saves. If he continues to use his arsenal of off speed pitches with his 90's fastball Santos will continue to rack up the K's already having 22 against 9 Walks. So long as balls keep missing batters' bats Santos will prove to be an important part of the White Sox pen.

Sergio signed this White Sox team card after throwing a bullpen session at Angel Stadium before joining the other relievers in shagging flyballs during batting practice. It was really nice of him taking a minute to sign on his way out to join the other players even though the signature is a little tough to read since he signed in the black of the card with my sharpie. At first I thought he wrote two numbers but realized it's three "S"s for Sergio SantoS.

Weekly Rundown 3- Angels Summary 5/9-5/15

2011-05-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Well it'll be an abbreviated rundown this week. The Angels won 2 games but dropped 4 between the home stand and beginning of a long road trip.

The Angels lost 2 of 3 to the Chicago White Sox, who ended the struggles they had coming into the series by thoroughly thumping the Angels twice. Edwin Jackson started the series with a 8-0 win. Joel Pineiro continued his successful 2011 campaign picking up the win over John Danks who continues to be a tough luck loser with his record now 0-6. The bullpen was put into action yet again taking another loss after Fernando Rodney and Jordan Walden combined to blow a 3 run lead in the 8th and 9th.

The blown save was Walden's second but the rookie continues to hold a solid lock on the closer position especially with Rodney continuing to be ineffective.

The Angels began a long road trip in Texas and lost 2 of 3 games to the Rangers. Jered Weaver took a shelling from the Rangers giving up 4 runs over 6 innings taking his 3rd consecutive loss. Over this time Weaver has a 5.50 ERA and 12 K's against 20 hits in 18 innings. Weaver's fastball is just failing to get the movement it needs and he is unable to use his secondary offerings. Dan Haren is also continuing his woes and sits at 4-2 still unable to get his 5th victory, not winning a game since April 17th.

The Angels also lost off season acquisition outfielder Vernon Wells to a groin strain. Wells is batting only .183 with 13 RBI's so the time on the DL could prove to give him the time he needs to find his swing. Losing wells has caused the Angels to move Howie Kendrick into left field on occasion and given a slight influx of playing time to the Angel infielders Macier Izturis and Alberto Callaspo. The return of outfielder Reggie Willits has given the Angels a solid defensive replacement for Wells though his bat has yet to register a hit.

The Angels play two games in Oakland followed by two in Seattle before returning home for the start of inter-league play against Atlanta. With a 22-19 record and tied with the Rangers for first following the two losses in Arlington the Angels will need to take advantage of the National League Braves and hope their lack of an ordinary DH will help them retake the sole lead of the AL West.

RBI (9) Since I missed a few days I better go big...

2011-05-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

As far as I'm concerned this is one of the biggest little superstars in the game. Now announcing...the starting second baseman for the Boston Red Sox....Dustin Pedroia the Destroyahhhhhhh. Yes the cornerstone second baseman who Jason Varitek has stated as being such an influence on the Red Sox that he would be worthy of wearing the "C" on his chest after "Teks" eventual retirement.

Dustin Pedroia is a California native from a place called Woodland. After leaving Woodland Senior High he went on to Arizona State University where he played with Andre Ethier and Ian Kinsler.

2004 was a great year for the Red Sox. After a prolonged and famous streak of championshipless years the Sox finally broke the Curse of the Bambino and won their first World Series of the 2000's. Not only did they win some shiny rings, they struck gold when they took Pedroia in the 2nd round of the 2004 draft.

After working his way through the minors as a tough little second baseman/shortstop he finally made his way into the Red Sox lineup as the regular second baseman in 2007. The Sox went on to win their second World Series of the decade with Pedroia also claiming the AL Rookie of the Year award.

Pedroia continued his grab for hardware taking the 2008 AL MVP award with a .326 average, 17 home runs, 83 RBI, and 20 steals. He tied for the lead in the majors for number of hits with 213. He became just the 3rd player to take the MVP award the year after being named Rookie of the Year.

2011 has been tough for the second baseman as he currently is only batting .237 with 2 home runs. Despite his hitting woes he has continued to get on base at a solid .355 OBP and named 5 steals. He is fighting his way on base like that spark plug he is known to be.

I bought this Topps Finest moments card while at the All-Star Fan Fest in Anaheim, California. It was my main souvenir to remember the fun day and I'm glad I was able to make the purchase.

RBI (8) Plenty of action from a certain...

2011-05-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Edwin Jackson. Yup the Angels got a little too much action from Edwin Jackson last night. Jackson pitched 7 shut out innings giving up only 5 hits and a walk while punching out 5. The Angels went on to lose 8-0 with Ervin Santana and Trevor Bell getting shelled.

Jackson was was drafted by the Dodgers in the 6th round of the 2001 draft and has been consistently inconsistent throughout his career. His solid potential and promise has caused multiple teams to take a chance on him when he begins to slump causing him to have been traded from every team he's been on. The Dodgers sent him to the Tampa Bay Rays, Rays to Detroit Tigers, Tigers to Arizona Diamondbacks, and finally Diamondbacks to his current Chicago White Sox.

The various teams and leagues have had Jackson accumulate a 51-55 record, 4.60 ERA, with 692 career strikeouts.

In 2009 he was selected as an All-Star after a solid season in Detroit. After being shipped off to Arizona he went on to reach his career's biggest highlight so far, pitching the franchise's second no hitter against his former team the Rays on June 25, 2010.

2011 has been marked ups and downs for Jackson sitting at a 3-4 record with an 4.29 ERA. Despite racking up 39 Ks he has issued 19 Walks and batters are hitting .278 against him. In 8 starts he has been able to work his way out of jams giving up 3 or fewer runs 4 times but being shelled for 4, 6, and 7 runs in his other starts. Despite the flashy 39 strikeouts he racked up 13 against Tampa Bay and has only averaged about 4 strikeouts. He definitely has front of the rotation stuff, but allowing so many base runners will continue to cause him problems.

I pulled this Topps 2011 Heritage chrome out of a pack I got in one of the Topps 2011 Value packs. This is #1924/1962 and was a pretty cool pull. I'm definitely left wondering what he he's looking at.

Weekly Rundown 2- Angels Summary 5/2-5/8

2011-05-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well the first thing of note during the Angel summary for this week would have to be the record. The Angels went 4-3 with 4 games on the road against the Red Sox and 3 at home against the Indians. The Angels took revenge on the Sox for the 4 game sweep in Anaheim and split the series in Boston 2-2. At home the Angels beat the American League leading Indians twice with only one loss making their record against the Indians 4-2.

Angel ace Jered Weaver took his first loss of the year on the road in Boston giving up 3 runs in 6 innings in his first start since missing his previous scheduled start due to illness. When the Angels returned home Weaver again took the mound but was issued his first home loss lasting 6 innings giving up 4 runs. Weaver failed to strikeout a single batter for the first time in his Major League career having gone at least 6 innings.

With his next expected start to be against the Texas Rangers at Arlington Weaver will need to regain the movement on his fastball or could take his 3rd consecutive loss in the hitter friendly park.

Fernando Rodney picked up a pair of wins in relief work against the Indians but still did not leave fans happy this weekend. Rodney was credited with the win Friday off a bases-loaded single by Torii Hunter in the 11th inning. However, on Sunday Rodney entered in the 8th inning with a one run lead to hold onto. He proceeded to be credited with Blown Save number 2 after giving up 3 hits to the Indians, giving them a 1 run lead. His grasp on the set-up role is tenuous at best at the moment with free agent acquisition Scott Downs becoming healthy and pitching well out of the pen.

The Angels countered the Indians with their own 3 run rally lead by the youth movement again with Peter "Gorgeous"Bourjos driving in the tying run on an infield chopper to the pitcher and Erick Aybar continuing his hot hitting streak to double the go-ahead runs in. Rookie Jordan Walden entered the game, giving up a run but his only save in a week number 6. The game's starter Dan Haren remains stuck at 4 Wins with his last win coming against the Chicago White Sox on April 17th.

The Angels improved to 20-15 leading the AL West by 2 games. With the Angels win on Sunday, manager Mike Scioscia collected his 1,000 win. Mike "Sosh" is the 56th manager to hit the 1,000 win plateau and only 23rd to reach the milestone with a single team. During his tenure the Angels won their first franchise World Series, and he won the AL Manager of the Year Award in 2002 and 2009.

RBI (7) A shortstop who came up short...

2011-05-07T14:37:00.000-07:00

So today I went to the Living Spaces furniture store in Irvine for an autograph signing by Erick Aybar. Unfortunately the speedy little shortstop did not make his way over to the signing quickly...or at all. That's right, despite the Angels and the store advertising for more than a week that he'd be signing he no showed and no one called the store to inform them he wouldn't be able to attend. By 11:10 more than an hour after the scheduled start the store managers called it quits and officially informed the crowd it was canceled. I was more than disappointed to not have the opportunity to get Erick's Spring Training Jersey signed that I had bought a few weekends ago at the Angel's Yard sale.

While Erick may be having a hot month with some multi hit games, he burned through some fan respect and is not a hit with us at the moment. Rumor has it that he had previously no showed for the same event in a prior season, and Juan Rivera agreed to sign as a replacement. It's pretty disappointing that he didn't show up for the event, but it's even more disappointing no one from the Angels team or Erick's representation contacted the store to let the fans know.

So on the flip side I'll talk a bit about a consistent signer for the Angels. That'd be former Angel pitcher Clyde "Skeeter" Wright who was taken by the Angels in the 6th round of the 1965 Draft.

Wright pitched for the Angels from 1966-1973 and accumulated an 87-85 record with 3 Saves. With a 3.28 ERA and 571 strikeouts Wright proved to be a reliable Angel arm after the 1969 season when teammate Jim Fregosi convinced him to play winter league ball and develop a screwball and changeup. As mentioned before, Clyde was an All-Star in 1970, the same year he threw a no-hitter. Finishing the season with 22 Wins set the Angels franchise win record for a left hander, only tied once by Nolan Ryan in 1974. His efforts earned him the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award in 1970.

Since retiring from baseball Clyde opened the Clyde Wright Pitching School in Anaheim, California and he is a fixture at Angel Stadium.

As an Angel Alumni, Clyde took part in the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Angels franchise. The Angels have former alumni coming to each game to throw out the ceremonial first pitch with a golden ball embossed with the anniversary logo. After the pitch the alumni proceed to sign an autograph for some lucky fans. I was lucky enough to get his autograph and it's a beauty.

Thanks "Skeeter" for being so consistently great for signing autographs to Angel fans. It's nice to know some players/alumni appreciate the fans and will sign.

RBI (6) I better keep the blog from going wayward...

2011-05-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

And get back to talking about a cards with one from Heyward. That's right folks today as I was getting ready to leave for work I heard a few rings on my doorbell. I went to the door to see who it was, and it was my friendly neighborhood spider...I mean mailman. I was a bit surprised to see him as I hadn't ordered anything that I could think of when he handed me a small bubble package to sign for. I signed, went to the counter and popped it open it by pleasantly surprised.

If you've been keeping up and remember my very first pack ever was a Bowman Platinum that contained a wonderful Mike Trout autographed refractor. Well the second pack was pretty nifty too, you see it contained this weird little card inside.

I logged onto the Topps site and filled out the redemption information and proceeded to mainly forget about it since the site informed me it expected delivery in mid-June. Well here we are in the first week of May and the mailman delivered this!

Yup that would be an autographed Jason Heyward refractor with a game worn Jersey relic numbered 53/740. I'm not very well versed in Braves gear so I'd appreciate anyone who could help me identify what it came off of. This is definitely a crown jewel within my collection. To say I got lucky with my first blaster of Bowman Platinum is an understatement.

Heyward is a talent very similar to the other outfielder I pulled in the blaster, by that I mean a future franchise cornerstone. Named the 2009 Minor League Player of the Year by Baseball America and USA Today, and was the consensus number one prospect in all of baseball coming into the 2010 season.

Heyward was known for strong plate discipline and delivering towering home runs and demonstrated both when he joined the major league club. During the Braves 2010 Spring Training a Heyward homer broke the sun roof of Braves Assistant GM Bruce Manno and David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Manager Bobby Cox said the Braves would most likely install nets to protect the cars from $3,400 dollar damage estimates like Manno's.

When he began the season as the starting right fielder for the Braves he was assumed to be a lock for National League Rookie of the Year honors. He further fanned the flames of hype when he homered in his first Major League at bat off Carlos Zombrano. For his efforts he was elected a starter for the 2010 All-Star game, but due to a thumb injury that began to hamper his season did not play. He finished the season with only a .277 avg but a staggering .393 OBP in 142 games. His power numbers flashed with his 18 Home Runs, 5 Triples, and 29 Doubles with his 11 steals. Despite his strong numbers he was out shined for NL Rookie of the Year honors by fellow Georgian Buster Posey who ran away in the second half leading a resurgent Giants club to steal the NL West from the Padres in the final game of the season and eventually win the 2010 World Series.

In 2011 Heyward started the season the same way as 2010 and went deep off Livian Hernandez in his first at bat of the season and is helping the Braves stay in the hunt for the NL East title. In 32 games he is batting only .241 but again with a high on base percentage reaching at strong .346 clip. When he is connecting he's muscling the ball very well and has 7 Home Runs, a triple, and 4 Doubles. While he isn't hitting for average so long as he keeps being a constant long ball threat and taking walks, it's highly unlikely many in the Braves organization will complain.

You can follow Jason Heyward @JasonHeyward on twitter at http://twitter.com/jasonheyward

RBI (5) At a trading post like a gypsy...

2011-05-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

So today is a bit off track from the format the blog is going to normally follow. Mainly because I was out picking up shaving cream after running out this morning and seeing a "Gems Of the Game" box off to the side of the checkout stand as if some kid couldn't convince his parents to buy it, but didn't want to take it back to the rack. While waiting in line I picked it up to see what it contained and was intrigued by the prospect of a graded card being inside along with a plethora of random packs. Needless to say I added it to my purchase. So instead of the normal summary I give I'll just be posting some of the cooler cards, and no offense to the cards but they're all up for trade.

First up is the card that first intrigued me to buy the box. The graded card.

It's a 2006 Topps Mantle Home Run History Card, Home Run #170. And it's graded to be a 9 by Global. I think it's a fairly cool looking card of Mantle, and it being graded is just kinda nifty. Not exactly what I was hoping to pull, but I could have done far worse.

One of the packs inside was a weird one I hadn't heard of yet, a Goodwin Champions 2009 pack. Inside was a cool looking Justin Morneau, an Upper deck insert featuring Alex Rodriguez, and these two minis. I'm a big fan of minis so personally the money spent for the minis and Mantle was worth it just so I could get it out of my system.

The Manning is a black border with Gypsy Queen on the back. With the current Gypsy Queen set dominating the blogosphere I was wondering what all the hype was about. Reading about the price practices some hobby shops and internet retailers were using didn't really have me running around trying to track them down. Landing one randomly while out on some errands was pretty nice and I've got to admit now I understand the hype. I wish the Manning mini had been maybe baseball related, but if I had to get a non-related card his isn't one I mind.

Sometimes when I read about the other local team, the Dodgers, I forget how young Clayton Kershaw actually is. It was easy to see though considering this 2007 Tristar isn't very old and he doesn't look all that much different now than then. It may be a bit Loon-y but I think it's a nice addition (bad joke I know).

And while I'm talking about random I finally was going through my Topps 2011 Heritage and was trying to figure out what was a short print. Now if I'm right and know how to read the annoyingly confusing 2011 Heritage SP guidelines these are the #473 and #478 short prints. I know there are a few readers who collect the set and I thought I'd post these two as long as I was in a Gypsy trading mood while writing. And needless to say the cards look cut on the side, they aren't it's just how they lined up on the scanner. I'll send perfect scans if anyone is interested.

It wouldn't take much to get pretty much any of the cards posted today. To be honest I'm starting to get a lot of Upper Deck and I'm not overly in love with them and prefer Topps. Perhaps I'll post the lot of them sometime soon so someone can take them off my hands. Leave a comment and/or shoot me an email at RJWritings At Gmail Dot Com

RBI (4) A speedy return from a speedy Petey

2011-05-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well while the Angels are on the road in Boston I think it's a good time to bring up my first TTM success. On April 19, 2011 I popped a few letters in the mail, but I was most anxious over the one to my favorite Angel on the roster. This is a player with not only more nicknames than the average player, but pretty awesome ones. I'm referring of course to Peter Bourjos aka "Gorgeous Bourjos", "Speedy Petey", "PB n' J", and "Peter Rabbit".

Bourjos was the Angels' 10th round selection in the 2005 draft and has proven to be quite the prize for the Angels scouting department.

When he initially came up with the club in 2010 some were concerned over moving 9-time Gold Glover Torii Hunter to right field, but Bourjos' play is absolutely stellar and he has quieted all those concerned. Baseball America has ranked Bourjos as the Angels "Best Defensive Outfielder" as well as "Fastest Baserunner" and he has already accumulated an impressive highlight reel of would be doubles turned into outs. Despite being known mainly for his speed, Bourjos proved his arm is also an asset and has provided 10 Outfield Assists.

In 2010 Bourjos played in 51 games and had only a .204 avg over 181 at-bats with 40 strikeouts. However he showed signs of making the proper adjustments toward the end of the season and his average began to climb while he used his speed and surprising power to hit 6 Home Runs, 6 Doubles, and 4 Triples with 10 Steals.

Despite the addition of Toronto Blue Jays Gold Glove center fielder Vernon Wells the Angels kept Bourjos with the Major League club as the starting center fielder. I decided that my first batch of TTM attempts would have to include the speedy youngster and I sent a letter as well as two cards to him. Bourjos kept with his fast play and in only 8 Days I was opening my mailbox to find the 2010 Bowman Platinum Rookie Card I sent signed "Pete Bourjos 25".

Building off the 2010 success Bourjos is batting .297 with 2 Home Runs, 5 Doubles, and 4 Triples with 3 Steals in only 29 games. In the April 26, 2011 game against Oakland, Peter tied the Angels franchise record for triples in a game with 2. Despite a few errors initially as he adjusted to being flanked by two Gold Glovers he is learning to field the position well at the Major League level and continues to add to his reputation as one of the best new out fielders in the game. Without a doubt he's going to be a top competitor for the Rawlings Gold Glove in Center Field for years to come. Here's one image of his slick fielding on the second card he signed, his 2011 Topps card.

Peter Bourjos signed these two cards sent to him at Angel Stadium along with a letter asking him a few questions, which wasn't included in the return envelope. I just mailed out my thank you letter to him, sorry Pete, but I wasn't able to pick up stamps quite as fast as I wanted to but I appreciate your autograph.

You can follow Peter Bourjos @pbourjos on twitter at http://twitter.com/pbourjos

RBI (3) Before the Buzzer?

2011-05-02T23:46:00.000-07:00

Okay okay, there's no buzzer in baseball (unless Joe West is calling your game and you play for the Red Sox), but I had some technical difficulties and almost wasn't able to make a post today.

Continuing with the goodies found at the Angel Yard Sale I'll switch gears a bit and go to a subject very familiar to the readers of this blog, cards. I was able to purchase 2 Topps 2007 Series 2 Bonus Boxes with 11 packs of 6 cards, and 2 Upper Deck 2008 Series 1 boxes with 75 cards per box PLUS a 3 card superstar pack. The grand total for all four nifty little finds? 4 dollars. While I'll likely put up some of the cards I like from the packs, there is one that absolutely must be highlighted.

Buried for 4 years in the storerooms of Angel Stadium was this ironic beauty.

I'm going to have to take it as a continued blessing by the Angels for this blog despite the slight reservations Tom of The Angels, In Order has due to the purity of my support to the Angels as a Red Sox fan. And to answer a question a few people have already asked, yes I did take the photo used as my header at the 2010 All-Star Game, and I did so in a Dustin Pedroia jersey. But to be fair I wore my Angels jersey to the Celebrity Softball Game/All-Star Workout Day.

But back to the card. It's a nice Angels team card Gold Parallel #1374/2007 that has me smiling for a few reasons. The location I purchased the card from makes it pretty cool already, but I like the little things about baseball. For instance while waiting in line to go to the sale a few people noticed some John Lackey left over items being set up for sale, and the employees were booed for bringing them out by the crowd. Who led the team in ERA in 2006 according to this card? Current Red Sox pitcher John Lackey.

Keeping with the Red Sox theme, apparently if you look closely to the back of the card, the Angels finished in the same division. Yup, just for Topps/to confound my loyalties even more, the Angels finished 2nd in the AL East.

This incarnation of the Angels went on to win the AL West with a 94-68 record only to be swept in the American League Division Series by....yes readers, you guessed it. The Boston Red Sox. Here's a photo I took at the series clinching ALDS Game 3, and yes once again I was in Red Sox gear. It was nice to see one of my favorite pitchers ever, Curt Schilling, pitch a gem, while Jered Weaver took the loss after a pair of homers given up to David Ortiz and Manny Rameriz.

If memory serves me right, after sweeping the Angels the Red Sox went on to win the 2007 World Series. I'm fairly certain that happened, but I'll have to double check the photo I took while at Game 1 of the World Series where the Rockies were trounced by the Sox before eventually being swept.

But I'm getting away from the real purpose of this post. The card. It's a pretty nifty pull especially coming from Angel Stadium itself so many years later, so it's pretty gratifying to add it to the collection. It's nice to see a few players still with the team pictured such as a young Weaver pictured next to Lackey in the top row, and Erick Aybar wearing his old number 32. I sure do love having team cards, perhaps I should include a few future posts with a little more about them...

Weekly Rundown 1- Angels April Summary

2011-05-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Well April is officially over and today is the first day of May. Angel fans happily are winding their weekend down with the knowledge that their team starts the month tied for 1st in the American League West while the Red Sox remain in the AL East cellar at 5th.

The Angels went 14-12 with a 6-6 home record and a 8-6 road record. Jered Weaver and Dan Haren led the club with 5 and 4 respective wins, while rookie Jordan Walden took over closing duties from Fernando Rodney and went a perfect 4 for 4 in Save opportunities.

Rodney ended April with the same woes as he began it with taking the Loss against Tampa Bay to drop his record to 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA after opening the month with a Blown Save against Kansas City. Despite picking up an errant Save and 3 Holds, Rodney continues to allow too many base runners with 8 Walks and 6 Hits given up in 11 appearances.

The Angel line up continues to have massive ups and downs with Maicer "Mighty Mouse" Izturis leading the club with a .314 average over 21 games followed by Peter Bourjos at .309 in 27 games. Howie Kendrick is hitting a robust .306 with a club leading 6 Home Runs in 27 games. Kendrick is tied for 2nd in RBI's behind rookie Mark Trumbo's 13, but even more importantly Kendrick is not only hitting homers but also has 11 walks good for 3rd on the club giving him an outstanding .380 OBP.

While the youth movement is helping the club rack up the wins Angel veterans continue to struggle. Torii Hunter is ending the month with some signs of life in the last week but sits on a .214 average going 22/103 for the month with 10 Walks vs 26 Strikeouts. Hunter's problems are only slightly lessened when compared to teammate Vernon Wells who is batting .171 after going 18/105 with only 5 Walks and an alarming 21 K's. With both veterans batting in the 4-6 hole the Angels will need Hunter/Wells to figure out someway to improve their approach at the plate if the Angels are to maintain their success.

Catcher Jeff Mathis is hitting only .180 while rookie Hank Conger continues to provide offense with 2 Home Runs and a .273 average in 14 games apiece. If not for the success of the pitching staff and manager Mike Scioscia's preference for his experience handling them Mathis could feel a serious pinch to his playing time.

Kendrys Morales the slugging first baseman has still yet to see playing time and has seen yet another specialist in his rehab on his journey to return to active playing time. Morales would provide a much needed power threat to the line up, but his return could provide some issues as far as keeping hitters in the line up with rookie Mark Trumbo performing well at first and DH Bobby Abreu leading the team in walks and OBP at a .400 clip.

The Angels travel to Boston and then return home for Cleveland this week and will have a serious test to their position atop the AL West after being swept by the Red Sox at home and the Indians sporting the American League's best record at 19-8. With ace Jered Weaver losing 9 pounds due to a stomach virus and missing his first scheduled start of May, the Angels will need their veterans to provide steady leadership and hope the return of Joel Pinero will provide the boost needed to pull away from their tie with the Rangers.

Big Thanks to Tom from The Angels, In Order for the cards featured in this post.

RBI (2) A few treasures from around the yard...

2011-04-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well not really a yard, but the entrance to Angel Stadium at the Home Plate Gate Hats in Anaheim. Today was the Angels' Yard Sale located under/between the famed New Era hats sized 649 1/2".

For sale was a selection of t-shirts, hats, banners, general merchandise, and select memorabilia items. As a season ticket holder my family and I would be allowed in before the general public with the other season ticket holder's meaning we only had to arrive at 6:30 AM to get a good spot for the sale's start at 9:00 AM. I was able to score a plethora of goodies such as this luckily obtained chair I'm blogging from (but in doors) at this moment. I had attended the sale with my parents and while I was in the memorabilia section looking for things my mother was able to land the final chair available! Talk about lucky...

This comfy little item is one of the folding chairs used during the 2010 All-Star Weekend festivities when it was hosted for the 3rd time by the Angels. While I didn't get one a local article in the newspaper revealed some of the chairs available for sale were actually signed by players. Previously hosted by the Angels in 1967 and 1989, the National League went on to win the game raising it's record to 2-1 when the ironically American League Angels host the Mid Summer Classic.

While I was in the sectioned off memorabilia area I found one of Erick Aybar's Spring Training jerseys for sale. Needless to say I was quite pleased to snag the speedy shortstop's jersey just as the weather starts to warm up.

Aybar is the Angel's starting shortstop for the 3rd consecutive season after beginning to play with the club in 2006 after working his way up through the Angels organization. His career year so far was 2009 when he batted .312 (8th in the AL) with 58 rbi, 5 home runs, 9 triples, and 14 steals. 2010 wasn't as good to Aybar as his average dropped to .253 but when on base he remained a menace to opposing pitchers ending the season with 22 steals. In limited playing time due to injury, 2011 has shown great promise for Aybar as he has stolen 4 bags while batting .353 over 13 games.

Another great pickup I was able to make was a game used Steve Soliz baseball cap. Thankfully Steve doesn't wear a New Era quite as large as the Hats the register was under, and we both wear the same size fitted hat (7 1/4" all you trivia hunters). Unfortunately Steve and I don't quite wear the same size jersey and I couldn't bring myself to buy the on sale uniform. Maybe oversized shirts are good for yard work, but they aren't the best purchase at a yard sale.

Steve is the bullpen coach for the Angels for the 2011 season after being the bullpen catcher from 2003-2010. So far he has done a great job working with the other coaches and players, helping the Angel's bullpen hold opposing teams to 22 earned runs over 76.2 innings for a 2.58 ERA in relief even with a rookie closer and several new additions to the pen. Keep up the great work Mr. Soliz, and thanks for numbering your cap so I can know it's yours, hopefully I'll be able to get him to sign it from the bullpen during the coming home stand.

In the coming post I'll reveal the second half of my haul from the sale.