A Tribute of 9

The Lost Post....this post (#199) was to run on 10/24/13 here it is in it's entirety 

I have been trying to be creative in my collecting and have been binder-ing it up and finding ways to keep some good cards, but still not accumulate too many outside of my Tigers collection.

You may recall that I purchased three huge binders of Tigers years 1992-2010, and they have since been placed in top loaders & penny sleeves and organized accordingly in their respective boxes.  What to do with all those pages?

So for now, I have been grabbing singles of players that I like (Beltran) or maybe had an MVP year (Morneau), or are just damn good players and can't possibly part with (Rivera, YMolina, Pedroia) and stashing at least 9 cards in pages in one of my binders.

It's simple, no overgrowth of page upon page of commons.  Sweet, to the point, concise, you get it.

Let's face it only a select few of these guys will make the Hall of Fame and to me it keeps the memories of summer alive by going through some cards and thinking back to great baseball players and  moments.

I am not really crazy about Votto or really any player from the NL, but the least I can do is have 9 of their best cards.

I am sure some get more pages than others once I keep this going.  For some reason I have a large amount of Rickey Henderson.

By doing this, I think it keeps me collecting.  The Tigers were so lousy for half of my life that I lost interest in collecting.  Now that I have rediscovered the hobby and have a passion for baseball again it will keep me longer to appreciate other great ballplayers AND their cards.

'Cause you never know who is going to be the next favorite!

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

The Latest Find

The Lost Post....this post (#198) was supposed to run 9/17/13, here it is in it's entirety.

I acquired this slick 1909-1911 T206 Sam Crawford PSA 2 recently.  The funny thing is there was a 2.5 grade card with a little more wear on the card then this as a two, a killer find to me!

If you didn't know Sam Crawford is in the Hall of Fame, he carried the torch for the Tigers with outstanding outfielders following Ty Cobb.  I have six of his cards, five post 1980, so a gem to say the least.

This card adds to my slow growing tobacco cards and I am sure this is my most valuable card to date, but the admiration is much stronger for the pickup!

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

You Gotta Be Kidding Me

I went a couple miles outside of  my regular purchasing radius over the weekend and thought "What the heck, let's see if I can get some variety in collecting" So I added two hanger boxes of Update and this is what I found

Box 1

Yan Gomes Auto
Prince Fielder Chasing History

slick

Green Parallel

Jose Valverde Gold Parallel

ok!

mini
duo insert

Robinson Cano HR Derby
Prince Fielder HR Derby
Matt Lindstrom
DJ LeMahieu
Joey Terdoslavich
Joey Votto
Craig Kimbrel
Chris Collabello
Hisashi Iwakuma
Marwin Gonzalez
Dioner Navarro
Pedro Alvarez
Ian Kennedy
Jeff Bianchi
Jeanmar Gomez
Juan Lagares
Michael Pineda
Michael Morse
Kevin Gregg
Randy Choate
Nate Freiman
Luke Gregorson
Jose Fernandez
Marlon Byrd
Brett Marshall
Jared Cosart
Hyuan Jin Ryu
Aroldis Chapman
Carlos Beltran
Alberto Callaspo
Johnny Hellwig
Pedro Alvarez, Again
Ian Kennedy, Again
Jeff Bianchi, Again
Felix Hernandez
Reid Brignac
Pedro Strop
Luis Avilan
Grant Green
Mariano Rivera
Chris Archer
Logan Schafer
Sonny Gray
Danny Salazar
Ben Zobrist
Jason Grilli
Dan Bard
Dice K
Wade Davis
Casey Kotchman
AJ Pierzynski
Darren O Day
Gerit Cole
Bryce Harper
Michael Young
Yadier Molina
Joe Smith

Box 2

Lou Gehrig SP
gold
green
mini
duo insert

Robinson Cano HR Derby
Prince Fielder HR Derby

wait?

Matt Lindstrom

that's weird...

DJ LeMahieu

huh?

Joey Terdoslavich

no way!

Joey Votto

it can't be!

Craig Kimbrel

It is! NOOOOOOOOOO!

Chris Collabello
Hisashi Iwakuma
Marwin Gonzalez
Dioner Navarro
Pedro Alvarez
Ian Kennedy
Jeff Bianchi
Jeanmar Gomez
Juan Lagares
Michael Pineda
Michael Morse
Kevin Gregg
Randy Choate
Nate Freiman
Luke Gregorson
Jose Fernandez
Marlon Byrd
Brett Marshall
Jared Cosart
Hyuan Jin Ryu
Aroldis Chapman
Carlos Beltran
Alberto Callaspo
Johnny Hellwig
Pedro Alvarez, Again
Ian Kennedy, Again
Jeff Bianchi, Again
Felix Hernandez
Reid Brignac
Pedro Strop
Luis Avilan
Grant Green
Mariano Rivera
Chris Archer
Logan Schafer
Sonny Gray
Danny Salazar
Ben Zobrist
Jason Grilli
Dan Bard
Dice K
Wade Davis
Casey Kotchman
AJ Pierzynski
Darren O Day
Gerit Cole
Bryce Harper
Michael Young
Yadier Molina
Josh Collmenter, go figure (if you're still reading)

Wow, I guess I haven't seen it all in this hobby yet!  I mean seriously? What are the chances?

Disappointed.  Dejected. Only added six cards to the set.  May just depend on the blog-o-sphere for the remaining 30-something cards.

Clearly I will be willing to unload these dupes, and  the dupes of the dupes.

My Needs:
1, 8, 23, 27, 48, 61, 66, 75, 82, 86. 94, 107, 117, 134 SP, 144, 160, 163, 167, 170, 172, 174, 178, 185, 193 SP, 194, 204, 218 SP, 220, 228, 231 238, 240, 242, 244, 245, 247, 250 (Yes, really), 254, 269, 276 SP, 285, 287, 302, 318, 326 (Need 40 cards, 87.9% Complete)

1990 Revisted

The Lost Post.... this post (#197) was supposed to run on 9/16/13...here it is in it's entirety. 

For some reason I have had a hankering for 1990 cards.

Over the last year of diving back into the hobby I have completed the Topps, Score, Donruss, and now Upper Deck sets with Bowman on the way!   1990 may have been the height of my initial collecting as a kid and there was so much to like (I realize that many of you dislike the Topps design, and I can see it, but it's too unique for me and for the most part it was the fashion of colors of the 90s.)

My dad hooked my brother and I up with two hobby boxes this year of Topps and Score.  What an awesome guy!  A quarter a pack.

No way did I think I could finish the UD back as kid, the top-shelf item.

My one and only gripe has been the Upper Deck Holograms....the box states, "an assortment of holograms".
My thought upon opening said box, "Wow there is more than 30 in here, there has to be all the teams"

Discovering my old school SWAG (Scientifice Wild @$$ Guess) to be false, I came away a tad disappointed

Several Blue Jays, Cubs, and Braves...some White Sox

(why?) and to my chagrin, no Tigers hologram cards. Sorry for the pic, but it looks as good as I feel about this.  I need this hologram, please help.

I am not sure how far this 1990 craving will keep up as I don't like Fleer design.  Bowman may be the last of it.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

It Won't Be Lloyd

McClendon was the first to interview for the vacant Tigers managerial post this past week.

Lloyd has been our illustrious hitting coach for the past several seasons. A pretty hefty list of accomplishments with four batting titles (Cabrera w/3 & Ordonez) and mentoring the best hitter in baseball. Kind of like a QB coach for Peyton Manning.  Prior managerial experience (like most Tigers coaches) was in Pittsburgh.

Well, Lloyd will interview in Seattle soon, So I am assuming the front office said "Thanks, but no thanks." No offense Mariners, but why would the Tigers lets L-MAC be head West and entertain any other offer if he was there man?

Good luck Lloyd!

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

200 - Update Hits & Misses

200 Posts? Wow, let's make it count!

Speaking of making it count, I was looking forward to the release of '13 Update very much.  Plenty of change in Detroit with a couple of trades, some key role players, and rookies looked like a solid team set headed this way.

I am not too bummed about this year's set.  I am not sure that 5 Yasiel Puig's is necessary, there were some other inclusions & omissions: did Roy Oswalt need a card with Colorado? The Matt Garza Texas shot looks pretty close to the base Cubs throwback. Really, Michael Pineda plays baseball? Cespedes gets an All-Star card and HR Derby card, when he wasn't an All-Star, huh?

I had wished for Rondon, who looks to be the heir apparent to Benoit or the musical chair leader for next season's closer.  This is my favorite of the lot, however, you can see how much strain he's putting on that arm and we surely needed him in the ALCS and Bruce was home with a sore elbow.  Another Zumaya?

The spectacular Jose Iglesias was no surprise to be included and I can say I have always envied the teams with superior shortstops (Vizquel, Jeter, you know) and now we have one of our own!  The best is yet to come!

My second choice was to include Bryan Pena and sure enough he got a card in the set (first time since 2011 Update) Did his job perfectly this season --- filling in for Avila, coming off the bench and getting a hit when needed, and passes Fielder with 1 RBI in the post-season.

Another solid role player I had hoped would make the final cut, his first card since 2010 Update.  Tui will be with another team I suppose, unless we dump Dirks.  

I was doing pretty good with my first four hopefuls, I guess this counts, but not the right team.  Veras will be the goat for giving up the granny to Victorino, but he had owned him all season.  Bummer dude.

I had hoped for a Bonderman reunion card, but these two round out the staff.  Too much Alburqueque meant Rondon was hurtin'.  Luke holds a special place in the Hot Corner Home as the namesake for the youngest. I did pull a nice #d/25 light blue parallel of A2 to boot.

WASTE OF CARDBOARD ALERT 

Don't get me wrong, Valverde was clutch in 2011, perfect.  However, the 2013 version needs not be revisited.  These extras are headed to 2x3 for long term storage.

Can you guess who is missing from the All-Star Six?

Jhonny Peralta

This post is now, OUTTA HERE!

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

Down on the Farm

Lately I have been consumed with work (aren't we all?)

Although I haven't been as active in collecting or blogging, I appreciate those that pump out quality posts day after day.

One of the team sets I have completed, fairly easy, but maybe something for me to turn to, now that my beloved Tigers are out of the Fall Classic.

I pulled the lower two and finished the set with some eBay bids.

Vasquez is the player we sent to Houston for Jose Veras (still bummed he wasn't included as a Tiger in the Update set)

I don't know much about Thompson or Smith, but most likely will be groomed even further in the minors unless they can provide some middle relief help.

Finally, the Golden Boy, Castellanos has been the long awaited prize to make an impact in left for the Tigers next year.

I sure dig the minors editions, a fun mini team set to collect.

Here's to the future!

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

7,617 Tigers on the Wall

this post was originally slated to run on 9/30/13, for whatever reason it did not, here it is...

What a rotten way to end the regular season, congrats to Miami's Henderson Alvarez.  I hope we are all well rested and ready for a dominating run toward a title!

I also normally joke in extra innings that it's free baseball, and today is super free baseball with game 163 for Tampa Bay and Texas, go Rays!


These things really don't sit on the wall, that was the original thought coming back into the hobby last fall was to start decking out my "man cave" with Tigers cards as wall paper as I experienced at the ESPN Zone in New York way back in early 2000.

Enoigh! Here are some of the recent highlights this month.

These pickups courtesy of a recent dive in to the dime box at the LCS

2013 Topps Heritage Chrome Refractor

These three 2013 Topps Opening Day Blues round out the team set, my favorite of 2013.

Looking forward to what the Fall will bring!

Keep it hot on the corner, pat.

It's All Over...

My sister in law always says at some point during a Detroit Lions game "We know how it's going to end..."

And I kept having this awful, pit in the stomach, anxiety ridden, feeling once Game 5 in Detroit ended.

We have to win, we have to win two in Boston.  And that's a phrase that I normally used kicked in.

"It's All Over but the crying...."

And now that today is the worst day for all fans experience sooner or later, the fact their beloved baseball team's season is over.

Here are some more folks that it is over for...

My guess is first out the door will be Jhonny.  He won't be the scapegoat, 'cause he hit well in the playoffs. We got an upgrade in the form of Iglesias and yes, he used PEDs...

....but before folks start banging the drum on the Tigers for selling out (after the joker served his suspension) I seem to remember another big slamming, PAPI, apolgizing for his connection with PEDs.  

Another one, Omar Infante, hit well all year.  Would complement Iglesias, but there will be more money out there for him than in Detroit.  He wants to be back, he is tight with Cabrera, Martinez, among others.

Next out, I believe Joaquin is a free agent, who knows where he will go.  We may sign him back, but we have young arms and he may want more money somewhere else.

I am not one to fault Jimmy Smokes for the collapse that was the Boston series.  If Tigers fans may remember prior to his first season in 2006 (which they made the World Series) the Tigers had endured several years of futility including the AL record for most losses of 118 in a season ---- which even the Quad A Astros this season couldn't eclipse.  

The reason why Jim Leyland was voted by the players as the best manager in baseball, is because, he is.

Although, I think it's over for Leyland, there won't be too much cryin'.

Pena and Santiago are also Free Agents.

And then there is a slew of decisions as Cabrera, Scherzer, Fister, Jackson, Porcello, all are eligible in 2015.

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.

Shutting them Up, Shutting them Down

I have been distracted with work and preseason plans for the upcoming winter season but I just couldn't stand  by and let the joker known as BALFOUR run his mouth.

Good for VMART for tellin' him to chill out....let's get some fire going, who's ready to fight for this series?

Then I remembered a certain high energy closer for the the Motown Kitties that most of America probably detested his own antics

Wow, what a game tonight, GAME 4, win or go home, Fister did what he needed to do and Scherzer comes in and makes it happen.  Austin Jackson picked a good time to come out of the slump.  Jhonny makin' good for the suspesion.  ALL GOOD ON THE HOT CORNER!

Let's Do this!

Keep it Hot on the Corner, pat.