2008 Bowman Baseball Pack

Went out to Wal-mart today and got two packs of 2008 Bowman Baseball! Each of them cost $2.97 for those curious, so let's see what I got!

Breakdown:

5 Veteran Base

• C.C. Sabathia, Pitcher, Indians (Still pretty young [27] and has yet to have a year where his ERA is higher than the league average)

• Gil Meche, Pitcher, Royals (Not a bad starting pitcher, but not a particularly good one either...)

• Manny Ramirez, Outfielder, Red Sox (He's been a much nicer individual this year it seems, and he's a sure shot Hall of Famer with over 500 career home runs)

• Jered Weaver, Pitcher, Angels (Anthony likes the Angels, so here's to you!)

• Cole Hamels, Pitcher, Phillies (I forsee a great career for this guy. He's only 24, so he might win over 200 games.)

2 First Year Bowman Rookies

• Joseph Mahoney, 1B, Orioles (I don't really know much about most prospects, but my favorite team is the Orioles, so hopefully he'll be good)

• Matthew Buschmann, Pitcher, Padres (Again, don't know much about this guy. His card said he uses his fastball and slider well, and fields his position well, though)

2 First Year Bowman Chrome Rookies and 1 Gold

• Luke Montz, Catcher, Nationals (I decided to look at this guy's minor league stats, and he has a pretty high OBP for a catcher. So far this year, he's batting .296 in Double-A ball, but his OBP is .383; he seems to draw a good number of walks)

• Brian Barton, Outfielder, Cardinals (A 26 year old rookie...I'm not seeing anything special)

• Orlando Cabrera, Shortstop, White Sox (Hard to believe the guy's 33 now...)

Well, not too bad of a pack. The only bummer is that I already had both of the chrome cards that I got from the pack. I got another pack, but I'll just put that one up tomorrow. ;)

Peace,

Max

5 Thing You Probably Didn't Know

No card busting today! Instead I got five facts about baseball that you probably didn't know prior to reading this post (and if you did, congrats to you)!

5.) Only one player during the 20th century drove in over 100 runs, but scored less than 50 runs in the same season. The player? Vic Wertz in 1960 had 103 RBI but scored only 45 times. Vic Wertz also has the distinction of being the batter who hit the ball which Willie Mays caught in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series (you know, "The Catch").

4.) As of June 24th, 2008, the Pittsburgh Pirates have had 23 different occasions where one of their players hit for the cycle; the most by any Major League club. In second are the San Francisco Giants with 21.

3.) Ben Paschal, a member of the 1915 Cleveland Indians, got just one hit all year. However, his hit on August 16, 1915 broke up Bernie Boland's (of the Tigers) no-hitter with just one out left to go. For those curious, Paschal had nine at-bats that year.

2.) Sandy Koufax hit only one player more than once in his pitching career. That player was Frank Robinson, who was hit twice by him. Koufax hit 18 batters over the course of his career.

1.) Guy Bush, Pat Caraway, and Pedro Astacio enjoy the dubious distinction of being pitchers who pitched a minimum of 200 innings in a season, but had an ERA of 6 or more during that season.

Hope you enjoyed these five facts!

Max

Hot or Not: Slumping Phils, Roaring Twins.

Teams:

Hot: Minnesota Twins - After losing 7 of 8, the Twins appeared to be done, but fueled by a current streak of winning 9 of their last 11, the Twins remain relevant. In 8 of the 9 wins, the Twins starting pitchers have earned the victories, so they're doing their part in keeping them in the games. The offense has also come to life during this streak, they are averaging almost 8 runs a game in those 11 contests.

Record: 40-36, 2nd AL Central.

Not: Philadelphia Phillies - The Phillies had a chance to prove to everyone that they were legitimate contenders with a series against both the Red Sox and the Angels. They went 1-5 against the two teams combined, scoring an average of less than 3 runs a game against them. When the offense goes South, the focus on the pitching is magnified. After Cole Hamels, there really isn't much to write to home about. The bullpen has been magnificent so far, but if the starters can't hand it to them with the lead, what's the point?

Record: 42-35, 1st NL East.

Batters:

Hot: Jermaine Dye (Chicago White Sox) - Fresh off being swept by the Cubs, it was anyone's fault but his. During this last week he went 10-24, with 5 homers, 8 runs, and 13 RBIs.

Not: Chase Utley (Philadelphia Phillies) - Why not? So far, he has 1 hit in his last 27 at-bats. The good news is in those 27 at-bats, he has only struck out 6 times, so he's making contact. If the Phillies hope to have the threepeat in MVPs, he's going to have to return to tearing the cover off the ball.

Anthony

New Author

I'd like to give a big welcome to Anthony! He will be writing about the MLB throughout the season, and analyzing the game. He is a great addition to this blog. :)

Max

Introduction

Alright, I guess I'll be posting regularly on this blog from now on. My name is Anthony and I'm a big baseball fan, an Angels fan to be exact, I promise I won't be biased in anything I put on here. You're going to have to trust me on that. I'll be posting things here and there about the current season, yeah..that's about it.

2008 Topps Series 2 Pack

Alright, so I decided to go to my local Wal-Mart and pick up one pack of Topps Series 2. Twelve cards per pack, and if you're lucky enough to get a cut signature, they come with only five cards. The pack cost $1.97, and I figured I need to actually bust something on here, so why not? By the way, the picture on the left was taken on top of baseball book—100 Years of Baseball—with Joe Dimaggio on the cover (just in case you were curious on who that Pinstriper was).

Breakdown:

8 Veterans

• Taylor Buchholz, Pitcher, Rockies (apparently no relation to Clay Buccholz)
  




• Sergio Mitre, Pitcher, Marlins (having a career year, which I guess isn't that hard when your lowest season ERA was 5.71)
  




• Derek Lowe, Pitcher, Dodgers (an underrated pitcher who's 3.82 career ERA was 20% better than the league)
  




• Rod Barajas, Catcher, Blue Jays (it's probably just me, but I think this guy's name is fun to say)
  




• Matt Morris, Pitcher, Pirates (he's probably washed up now, but he was fun to watch in 2001)
  




• Andre Ethier, Outfielder, Dodgers (I'm told this guy is going to be a star, and from the looks of his stats so far, I can see it happening.)
  




• Noah Lowry, Pitcher, Giants (had surgery on his left forearm and hasn't pitched a single inning in 2008 yet)

• John Patterson, Pitcher, Nationals (I'll just type out what it says on the back of his card: "John is an ace-quality starter but, unluckily, he's had as many arm surgeries as victories the past two years." If you say so, Topps.)
  

3 Rookies

• Jayson Nix, 2B, Rockies (So far this season, he's 5-for-45...so yeah)
  



• Harvey Garcia, Pitcher, Marlins (no comment)
  



• Felipe Paulino, Pitcher, Astros (gave up 5 ER in 3 innings in his Major League debut)

1 Insert

• Campaign '76 card, Jimmy Carter vs. Gerald Ford (if you were paying attention during history class, you know who won this election)

So, all in all, everything I expected from this pack; nothing. But, that's what you get when you buy a retail pack of 2008 Topps Series 2. I was going to take pics of the cards, but I'm still trying to figure out how to set up a good layout on blogspot, so it might take some time.

I actually got some money, so I might even bust my first ever hobby box soon! I'm thinking Topps Chrome 2008, or maybe something high end for once. Stay tuned for more packs, boxes, baseball in general.

Thanks for reading!

Max

Alright, so...

I figured that I should be trying to post at least once a day on here. Now I had planned to go to Wal-mart and pick up some cards, but I got sidetracked throughout the day. So today, I've decided to write about a baseball book that I thoroughly enjoy, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract.

Okay, so, if you're a baseball nut like me, you've most likely already read this book (or at least part of it). For those of you who haven't, I really suggest picking it up from your local library. In it, Bill James describes each decade of play from the 1870s to the 1990s, and also lists the top 100 players at each position according to the Win Shares method.

However, the real draw of this book is the way James incorporates humor and interesting facts throughout it. My favorite has to be the comments he makes about Albert Belle:

10.) So far as we know, he's never killed anyone. 

I'll stop there so that I don't spoil anything else. ;)

Anyway, this is definitely a must read if you really enjoy reading about the game. I plan to actually bust cards later today (since it's about 3 AM as I'm writing this), so if you're one of the two people actually reading this (me and you), check soon!

Max

First Post

Hey there, people from the internet. I have started up this blog to post my pack/box breaks and to (hopefully) entertain you, the reader.

A little about myself: My name is Max, and I am a big baseball fan. I got into collecting baseball cards around 2003, although I had been a fan of the game since 2001. Being as I do not have much money and that I don't have a job (currently), don't expect any high end, Topps Sterling breaks. This blog will be for the casual collector, and for the record, I do not collect to turn a profit. I collect merely because I love baseball and baseball cards. :)

I might also occasionally post about anything else that doesn't involve baseball cards. Major League Baseball, funny happenings, great Youtube videos; heck, maybe even about world politics (although I highly doubt that).

Thanks for reading, and I hope to get some cards to bust for you guys and gals real soon. :)

Max