TuBalGo Tuesdays #4

Last week on TuBalGo Tuesdays, I discussed Carlos Gonzalez since he was the Rockies lone representative in tonight's All Star Game.  This week, I am going to talk about the other player on the All Star Team that has donned the Colorado purple over the years, Padres pitcher Huston Street.  Over the winter as I was discussing the multiple Rockies trades during the Hot Stove League, the trade that puzzled me most was the Huston Street trade.  It was a complete salary dump and has so far proven to be one of GM Dan O'Dowd's worst moves of the offseason and that is saying something considering Jeremy Guthrie and Guillermo Moscoso are also on that list.  I am trying my best to not make this a diatribe on the ineptitude of Rockies management, so let's go ahead and take a look at one of the best closers in Rockies history.

TuBalGo PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Huston Street

Total Cards Owned = 29

 2009 Topps 206 #247

Huston Street was acquired along with Carlos Gonzalez and Greg Smith in the Holliday theft of 2008 from Oakland.  Immediately he took over the closer job from Brian Fuentes who had departed via free agency to the Angels.  This card makes fantastic use of the alternate purple jersey.  The yellow background against the jersey makes for a great looking painted card even if it is a tad boring.

Card grade - B+

 2009 Topps Heritage Chrome #CHR155 Serial Numbered 1644/1960

All was not perfect in 2009 for Street.  He lost the closer job to Manny Corpas after two weeks in a move that seemed at the time to be too quick.  Following three weeks of poor Corpas performances, Street regained his position and held on tight.  This card is another example of me owning a parallel without owning the base card.  It is one of the better Rockies card from 2009 Heritage, not one of my favorite sets, mainly due to the letter coloring.  The yellow/white combo on blue background works though.

Card grade - A-

 2010 Topps Gold #147 Serial Numbered 0156/2010

Street proved to a key component of the Rockies fantastic run to the playoffs in 2009 blowing only two saves all season with an ERA just over 3.00.  However, in the playoffs Street did not fare so well.  He was the losing pitcher in 2 of 3 Rockies losses and he had a 13.50 ERA (albeit in a very small sample).  This landscape-oriented card from 2010 Topps is one of the better Rockies cards from that forgettable set.  This card also reminds me of the gold parallels returning in 2012 Update.  I really like them, even if some people are sick of them.

Card grade - B

 2010 Upper Deck #186

After the debacle of the 2010 playoffs, Street resumed his closing duties in the 2010 season.  It was not a bad season, but it was disappointing.  Street blew five saves over the season and his ERA went up to 3.60.  Most of the 2010 Upper Deck set was rather disappointing, but not this card.  The photo is phenomenal and has nice 70's feel to it with the random people in the background to go along with the intensity on his face.

Card grade - A+

 2011 Topps Hope Diamond #507 Serial Numbered 54/60

One scary moment during the 2010 season was when Street was hit in the stomach by a line drive during batting practice.  According to reports, he passed out several times from the pain he was experiencing and was taken off the field in an ambulance.  It turned out to be nothing serious and he only missed a few days, but it was still a chilling moment.  This card was featured in my first (and so far only) Taste the Rainbow posting.  A nice emotion showing card.

Card grade - B

 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Code Card #104

The 2011 season would be very up and down for Street (and the Rockies).  In the first half of the season, Street had 26 saves and a 3.29 ERA which was in line with his career with the Rockies.  However, the second half was full of injury, ineffectiveness, and finally losing the closer job to Rafael Betancourt.  This card is one of the code parallels that was finally solved after 9 months of me not caring.  It's a decent card, but as with most A&G cards, I could take it or leave it.

Card grade - C

2011 Topps Heritage #435

After losing his closer job and being paid too much to be a set up guy, Street was mentioned in many trade rumors of the 2011 offseason.  Of all the rumors, th least appealing was the one that actually happened.  Street was sent to the Padres for former #1 pick in 2007 Nick Schmidt.  Schmidt had a pretty good year in AA earning a promotion to Colorado Springs, but after getting promoted to AAA he has been getting lit up quite a bit.  There's still hope, but so far San Diego got an All Star and Colorado got a AAA pitcher that may eventually be something.  This card is one of my favorites from my favorite Heritage set.  I like the red-orange background, it really sets off the uniform well.

With the trade deadline looming and the Rockies appearing to be sellers, which players (if any) will become All Stars for their new teams?  Only time will tell.

Thanx for reading.

Mashburn Mondays #4

Last week, I discussed the Hornets which is the team most associated with several of the Wildcats I collect.  The main reason I talked about them was the fact that Anthony Davis was the #1 pick for the Hornets least week as well.  Draft chatter often surrounds this week's Random Cat of the Week as well.  Unfortunately, that chatter is negative at best and downright cruel at worst.  But before I get into that, we can check out some great Jamal Mashburn cards as well.

Let's take a look.

Jamal Mashburn 

Total Cards Owned = 502

1994 Fleer Pro Visions #1

Some of my favorite baseball cards from the "overproduction era" are the painted cards.  The best ones in my opinion were the Fleer Pro Visions.  I know that in the baseball version of this set, the entire picture, made by putting all 9 cards together, is a Wizard of Oz type painting.  This is the only card I have from the basketball set, so I don't know what the big picture is although from pics online it looks like a space motif.  It's not one of my favorites, but has its good points.

Card grade - C+

Other players on the card
none
 

1998 Bowman's Best #71

Basketball and Bowman has always seemed like an odd match.  Particularly due to the fact that, with a couple of exceptions, Bowman's Best was transferred but the base Bowman set was not.  I understand why because Bowman in the late 90s featured minor leaguers at its crux and basketball had no minor leagues at the time.  It's still odd that the Bowman's Best name was carried over.  Topps should have come up with a basketball-related set name in place of Bowman.  This card is not bad, but the oddity of the set name just drags it down to me.

Card grade - D

Other players on the card
76ers - Tim Thomas

2003 Ultra Platinum Medallion #57 Serial Numbered 065/100

In the history of all cards, there has never been a bigger hit-or-miss set line than Fleer Ultra.  Some Ultra sets are some of the best sets (IMHO) ever like 1997 or 2004.  Others (1995, 2002) are just downright boring.  Design-wise, 2003 is quite boring.  However, the fact that the medallions are die cut in a very cool fashion makes 2003 one of the better Ultra sets.  This card is the only card in either sport I collect in which I have a full Ultra rainbow (base, gold, platinum).  That and it's a great shot with a nice record of Gary Payton in Milwaukee.


Card grade - A

Other players on the card
Bucks - Desmond Mason, Gary Payton

RANDOM CAT OF THE WEEK

Sam Bowie

Total Cards Owned = 45

1986 Fleer #13

You all know the story with Sam Bowie, but just for clarity's sake.  Bowie was drafted #2 overall by the Trail Blazers in 1984 after Hakeem Olajuwon and before Michael Jordan.  While Bowie was not on their level in terms of career, he did make the All Rookie Team in the 1984-85 season, nearly averaging a double-double.  This card is from the super expensive 1986 Fleer set that features the Jordan rookie among many others.  It's a great card that shows one of the best players of all time with the rookie center.

Card grade - B+

Other players on the card
Lakers - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Blazers (behind Kareem) - Darnell Valentine

1990 Hoops #194

After missing much of the next 4 seasons with injuries, Bowie was traded along with a 1st rounder that became Mookie Blaylock to the Nets for power forward Buck Williams.  Bowie had his best years in a Nets uniform, but by this time he was already being criticized because of the careers of the others (Olajuwon, Jordan, Barkley) drafted around him.  Despite all the negativity, Bowie averaged 12 points and 8 boards in 4 years in Jersey.  This card is from the 2nd Hoops offering.  It is perhaps the only gray/silver bordered set that I like.  This card just screams basketball to me.

Card grade - A-

Other players on the card
Lakers - Magic Johnson (I think)

1994 Stadium Club #116

In the summer of 1993, Bowie was traded to the Lakers in exchange for fellow under-performing high draft pick Benoit Benjamin.  By the time Bowie was in L.A., his many, many injuries finally took their toll on the big man.  He lasted two nondescript, injury-plagued seasons with the Lakers before calling it a career at the relatively young age of 33.  This card is the 3rd in this series that features Bowie matched up with a Hall of Famer.  It was a happy accident on my part, but it does show that when he was on the court you needed your best guarding Sam Bowie.

Card grade - B

Other players on the card
Knicks - Patrick Ewing



The one word I will never use with Sam Bowie (or Greg Oden for that matter) is "bust."  Sam Bowie was not a bust, he was injured.  When he was on the court, he was in the upper-echelon of centers.  Unfortunately, injuries killed his career.  Despite his injury-filled career, he still lasted 10 years in the NBA.  There have been many other first round picks that cannot say that. 

Thanx for reading.

Rating the Rookie Cups - 1980

This week I will Rating the Rookie Cups of the 1979 Topps All Star Rookie Team as they appeared on 1980 Topps.  This will be the first team that I have rated that does not have rookie cups on the card.  For reasons only known to Topps, the 1979-1986 sets (along with 1974) did not have any type of trophy on the Rookie All Star Team cards.  However, they still picked the teams so I still consider them rookie cup cards.
This is also one of the most poorly chosen teams ever, in my opinion, but I'll get into that later in the post.

Let's take a look at some rookie stars from 1980.

Once again ratings will be on a 1-10 scale for both rookie year and career.

Steve Nicosia - Pittsburgh - C -           (Rookie)  3    (Career)  2
Pat Putnam - Texas - 1B -                   (Rookie)  4   (Career)  3
Danny Ainge - Toronto - 2B -             (Rookie)  2    (Career)  1

John Castino - Minnesota - 3B -        (Rookie)  5  (Career) 3
Alfredo Griffin - Toronto - SS -         (Rookie)  8  (Career) 6

Jeff Leonard - Houston - OF -                  (Rookie)  5  (Career) 5
Billy Sample - Texas - OF -                      (Rookie)  5  (Career) 3
Scot Thompson - Chicago (NL) - OF -    (Rookie)  3  (Career) 2

Mark Clear - California - RHP -                      (Rookie)  4  (Career) 4
Ross Baumgarten - Chicago (AL) - LHP -       (Rookie)  5  (Career) 2



Strongest Team Members (in 1979) - Alfredo Griffin, Billy Sample, Ross Baumgarten

Strongest Team Members (Career) - Alfredo Griffin, Jeff Leonard, Mark Clear

Weakest Team Members (in 1979) - Danny Ainge, Steve Nicosia, Scot Thompson

Weakest Team Members (Career) - Danny Ainge, Ross Baumgarten, Steve Nicosia

Rockies on the team (Present and future) - 0


Overall Team Rating (1-10 compared to other RAST teams)    1
When Alfredo Griffin is your top star by a pretty good margin, it's not necessarily the best thing.  This is arguably one of the weakest Rookie All Star Teams in history, both in their rookie years and overall careers.  A few of these guys had decent careers, but I don't think any of them would ever really be considered superstars.  Mostly this team is full of platoon players, at best.

WOULDA, COULDA, SHOULDA

Here are the players I feel should have been on this Rookie All Star Team.  This is based on rookie year data only.

Catcher - Ron Hassey - Cleveland

This was a relatively weak class of catchers, that included Hassey, Nicosia, Gary Allanson, and Bruce Benedict.  However, none of them played much more than a half season.  Hassey did lead the group in both hits and RBIs and tied Nicosia for homers, so he gets my nod.

First Baseman - Willie Aikens - California

There were only two rookie first basemen in the entire league in 1979 and I think Topps picked the wrong one.  Although drugs destroyed his career, I think Aikens had a better 1979 than Putnam.

Second Baseman - Ken Oberkfell - St. Louis

I have no idea what Topps was thinking in picking Ainge.  Not only did he not get a card, but he wasn't even in the top three of rookie 2nd basemen.  Oberkfell is best remembered as a 3rd baseman later in his career, but he started at second and had a much better year than Ainge.

Third Baseman - John Castino - Minnesota

This was a tough choice between Co-AL Rookie of the Year Castino and Jim Morrison of the White Sox.  Their stats were similar, but Morrison only played a half season.  That means a better per game average for Morrison, but I went with the guy that was there for the entire season instead.

Shortstop - Alfredo Griffin - Toronto

This choice was a no brainer.  Griffin was also the Co-AL Rookie of the Year and his only competition was Nelson Norman of the Rangers who was less than stellar to say the least.

Outfield - Billy Sample - Texas, Jeff Leonard - Houston, Dwayne Murphy - Oakland

Dwayne Murphy led all rookie outfielders in homers, so I have no idea why Topps chose Thompson over him.  Another contender that I (and Topps) left off was Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, but his rookie year was not really noteworthy and not nearly as good as the other three.

RHP - Rick Sutcliffe - Los Angeles

Out of all the snubs and bad decisions on this team, this one is the biggest.  Rick Sutcliffe won the NL Rookie of the Year and won 17 games for the Dodgers.  Clear had a decent year, but it wasn't even comparable to Sutcliffe.  I also considered John Fulgham of the Cardinals who career was ended by a rotator cuff injury, but had a great rookie year.

LHP - Ross Baumgarten - Chicago (AL)

Baumgarten's career did not turn out like many expected, but he definitely had a career year in 1979 and was better than his closest competition, teammate Steve Trout.

LAST WEEK'S TRIVIA ANSWER

Last week's question

Which two players selected for the Topps All Star Team (for all seasons) did not get a card in the set that should have featured their cup card? 

Answer

Danny Ainge - 1980 Topps Second Baseman

Charles Johnson - 1996 Topps Catcher

I have no idea why Ainge was left out of 1980 Topps, unless it was due to his college basketball career at BYU at the time.  He first appeared on a Topps card in the 1981 Traded set.

Johnson's first Topps cards were actually in the 1991 and 1992 Topps Traded sets as a member of USA Baseball, but he didn't get his first professional Topps card until 1999 Topps.  I am guessing that he just didn't sign with Topps, because he had a LOT of other cards in 1996.

ROOKIE CUP TRIVIA QUESTION

What are the four franchises that have had the most total members of the Topps All Star Rookie Team?

Answer to appear next week, but feel free to guess in the comments.  (Hint: 2 AL teams and 2 NL teams)

NEXT WEEK'S PREVIEW

The 1990 team appearing on 1991 Topps.

Thanx for reading.

Todd and the Todd-lers Thursdays #3

Last week was "One Card Wonders Week" here at the Quarry in which I showed off the Rockies with which I have a single card.  Because of the sheer amount of one card wonder in the Todd and the Todd-lers era, I decided to show Part 2 this week.  For those of you that may have missed it, click here for Part 1.

Let's go ahead and finish out the One Card Wonders with the final dozen from the 2000-2005 era.

TODD-LER(S) OF THE WEEK

The One Card Wonders

Total Cards Owned = 1 each

Let's start off with the two biggest names on this list.  Kent Mercker is remembered as a Brave.  With Atlanta, he took part in two no hitters (1 solo), but he wasn't nearly as good for the Rockies.  He pitched in 58 games in relief for the 2002 Rockies.   His card is similar to the Sandy Alomar from last week in that I only have the gold parallel of the short printed 1st 100 from 2002 Topps Traded.  Turk Wendell is remembered more for his quirkiness than his pitching (although he wasn't that bad).  Wendell pitched 12 games for the 2004 Rockies to end his career.

Next up is a pair of solid workhorse relievers.  Mike Myers was a journeyman that was one of the best left-handed relievers in Rockies history.   He pitched in 151 games over two seasons and deserves more than one card in my collection.  Rick White was a bright spot in the bullpen for some really bad Pirates and Devil Rays teams in the late 90s before he joined the 2002 Rockies.  His spot dimmed quite a bit in Denver and he was released in mid-season after pitching in 41 games.  I do love that 2002 Topps card though with the excellent shadow behind him.

Now here are a pair of back up catching prospects that never really found their footing with the Rockies.  Adam Melhuse, pictured on this great 2002 Upper Deck card, played in 63 games with the 2000 and 2001 Rockies before finding a bit more success in Oakland.  He returned to the Rockies in 2008 for a quick 7 game stint.  Jorge Piedra is another one of those players in which I possess the parallel, but not the base card.  This one is from 2003 Topps Traded.  Piedra played in 142 games for the Rockies from 2004-2006.  He bounced around the minors for a few years after that, but never saw the big leagues again.

Next up is the final three position players in my collection.  Chris Richard, shown on a 2003 Topps Total card, had a couple of good years for the Orioles before joining the 2003 Rockies.  He only played in 19 games in Colorado before taking a six year break from the majors.  Elvis Pena, shown on a 2001 Fleer Triple Crown card, is from the shortstop hotbed of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic.  He never panned out in the big leagues though and only played in 10 games for the 2000 Rockies.  Jason Romano, shown on a 2003 Fleer Tradition card, played in 18 games for the 2002 Rockies before bouncing around the majors with several other teams.

Javier Lopez began his career in Colorado by pitching in 142 games for the Rockies from 2003-2005.  He is still active in the bullpen for the Giants in 2012.  Over 12 seasons Kevin Jarvis pitched for 10 different franchises including two stints with the Rockies.  He pitched in 24 games in 2000 and 2 games in 2004 for Colorado.  Mike James was a decent middle reliever for the Angels and Cardinals before joining the 2002 Rockies.  He only pitched in 13 games in 2002 before his major league career ended.

I'll close this out with a pair of pitchers that you may have forgotten about, if you ever knew them in the first place.  Allan Simpson pitched in 34 games for the 2004 and 2005 Rockies before being traded to the Reds.  Cory Vance was a highly thought of pitching prospect that pitched in 11 games for the 2002 and 2003 Rockies before injuries ended his career prematurely. 


That concludes my look at my One Card Wonders.  Hopefully, I can add a handful more new guys to this list while removing some guys by getting more cards of them in the future.

Thanx for reading.

Wednesday Bombers #3

Before I begin, I would like to wish a Happy Fourth of July to everyone in the U.S. and a Happy July 4th (it is still that date) to the rest of the world.  July has always been my favorite month for many reasons.  As a kid, it was the month that was furthest away from school and I have always preferred warm weather.  In baseball season, July is my favorite month for one particular reason...the trade deadline.  I love the season of buyers and sellers and old faces in new places.  In the early years the Rockies were relatively quiet at the deadline, but there were a few deals made in the last week of July.  Throughout this month, I will be shining the spotlight on these deadline deals and seeing whether the trade was beneficial for the Rockies, the other team, or both (or neither for that matter).

Let's start with the rare deal in which the Rockies were the buyers.

July 31, 1995

Rockies receive                                                   Mets receive
Bret Saberhagen                                                  Juan Acevedo
David Swanson                                                   Arnold Gooch

ROCKIES HAUL

Bret Saberhagen was acquired to be the ace that the Rockies had never had.  He is, to this day, the only Cy Young Award winner to ever wear the Rockies uniform.  Saberhagen started 9 games down the stretch for the Rockies and had a 2-1 record with a gaudy 6.28 ERA.  While Saberhagen was not that beneficial for Colorado with regards to stats, his veteran leadership and presence probably helped quite a bit.  It didn't hurt because Colorado ended up winning the Wild Card in 1995 before losing in the playoff to Atlanta.

The following season did not work out that well for Saberhagen.  He injured his shoulder and had major surgery which cost him the entire 1996 season.  The Rockies allowed him to leave via free agency after the season.

David Swanson was a pitcher that was selected in the 9th round pick in the 1991 draft.  He was originally a starter, but was converted to a reliever before he was traded to the Rockies.  He never made it out of Class A and was let go at the end of the 1995 season.

METS HAUL

Juan Acevedo was Colorado's #2 prospect in 1995 (#55 overall) and had already seen the majors earlier in 1995 with moderate success.  The Mets took their time with him.  He went to the minors and spent the rest of 1995, all of 1996, and a good chunk of 1997 with AAA Norfolk.  They called up in mid-1997 and he pitched in 25 games, mostly in relief.  After the 1997 season the Mets traded him to St. Louis for Rigo Beltran, who was later traded to the Rockies in a deadline deal.  Ah, the circle of life.  Acevedo pitched in the majors until 2003, including a second stint with the Rockies.  As of 2012, he is still active in the Mexican League at the age of 42.

Arnold Gooch, who has an awesome name, was a 9th round pick in the 1994 draft.  He was a very young starting pitcher in Class A.  He lasted in the Mets organization until 1998 making it as high as AA Binghamton.

THE JUDGMENT

Saberhagen never became the staff ace that he was acquired to be, but the Rockies made the playoffs.  Acevedo never quite lived up to his top prospect billing, although he did have a decent career as a journeyman middle reliever.  The minor leaguers are an obvious push.

I will give an ever so slight win to the Rockies on the basis of a playoff berth, although it was close to being a push.

Your thoughts?

Thanx for reading.