Custom Card of the Day: Morse Edition

 

There are many advantages to being a word-of-mouth player. No, really.

 

A word-of-mouth player's career doesn't begin as a rookie. A word-of-mouth player settles into a number of teams, loses hope, and then all of the sudden sprouts out of absolutely nowhere, and starts playing well midway into his career. And then you look back into your collection and see this guy's been around for a while, and you might even have his rookie card and didn't know it.

 

R.A. Dickey is a great example of a word-of-mouth player, because the 2012 season alone landed him back in everyone's binders, solely due to everyone talking about how good he was. Mark Reynolds was another word-of-mouth player, because after his rookie year, he took like 3 or 4 years to sprout into this awesome player he is. Hell, I took JJ Hardy out of my binders for a period of time, and now look how he's playing. He's an early frontrunner for the All Star game, and this from a mediocre infielder from 2008.

 

But of late, Michael Morse has become the patron saint of the word-of-mouth player. Until the 2011 season, I don't think anybody outside of Washington knew who he was. I went to a Nats game in 2011, and all of the sudden the people were talking about Morse like he was some sort of God. And I'd never heard of him, really. I'd heard of Zimmerman and Desmond, but not Morse. And that game, Morse came late and promptly smacked the ball around. And there was the seed. From there, I scoured my collection for Michael Morse cards.

 

I didn't exactly find his rookie card, but I found a few cards of him on the Mariners (billed as Mike Morse) from 2006 and 2008. And I saw that he'd began as a middling, non-hitting outfielder, which was odd, because I thought the 2008 Mariners already had a Ben Broussard in their roster.

 

Yet last year, he really became a mainstay for the Nats. He was so powerful that he managed to hit a home run backwards.

 

Of course, now he's back with the Mariners, still hitting home runs, though his audience has gone down a tad. He's still good, he just sorta left the picture a little bit since he's on the Mariners, land of the dead prospects.

 

Yet I still enjoy it whenever he hits one out. Because I remember when I saw it like I'd never heard of him before.

 

Coming Tomorrow- He was awful in 2011. He was awesome in 2012. Now...he's alright, I guess.



Custom Card of the Day: Gattis Edition

I absolutely love this card, and it's probably one of the best I've done all year. It's that good.

Gattis is a strange case. And yeah, I mean that honestly.

Evan Gattis has been playing games this year behind the backstop for Atlanta. And he's been really, really good at it. He's a great hitter, great backstop, all around great addition to the squad. Justin Upton's not hitting, well who cares, we have Gattis. That's the mindset.

Only problem is that somebody else is competing with him for the job. Now, any other team, that somebody else would just be optioned or traded in a heartbeat. Here, we're talking about Brian McCann, an All-Star catcher, and the guy who took the stardom from Chipper when he left town last year. And he's competing with some guy who was called up in April.

Now granted, McCann spent the last few seasons on and off the DL. And also, he's beginning to contract Aging Catcher's Disease, (or Mike Napoli's Disease), where his days might be numbered solely because of his time spent behind the plate. But it must feel like an insult to come back from an injury only for the fans to NOT WANT YOU, because of this rookie that's doing your job better than you have. That must hurt.

I will admit that as of right now, I'm liking Gattis more than McCann. Gattis has a certain appeal to him, like he's more of a wild card than McCann, and he has more long term potential than McCann. Besides, there are a dozen other teams who need a really good catcher. We may see McCann somewhere like Seattle or even the Bronx next year.

But to conclude, I'm liking Gattis, and I hope he sticks around.

Coming Tomorrow- He had a nice season last year with the Nationals. Now, he's back where he started, panicked, depraved, and actually hitting.

Custom Card of the Day: Encarnacion Edition

The Blue Jays should be thankful that they still have Edwin Encarnacion, as he's the only one who's performing his job correctly, currently.

I mean, they got people like Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Emilio Bonifacio, and all these heavy hitters just to hit, and the only one that's actually hitting is the one they got 5 seasons ago. Not even Bautista's doing anything for them. It's become the Edwin show.

To be honest, this doesn't surprise me. Encarnacion has this Colon-esque way of being consistent for a long period of time after he barely performing at all. And besides, last season when Bautista was on the DL, in came Edwin, bashing away, and hitting homers, livening the team.

I wouldn't be surprised if Edwin racks up more homers than anybody else in the majors, and the Blue Jays still end up in last. That might even happen.

Coming Tomorrow- Yeah, I know I'm a little late, but FINALLY, here's a custom of that huge mega superstar rookie out of Atlanta.

Three Rack Packs of Topps Archives Baseball

I know, I know, I just got some last week. But the appeal was just too enticing, and I felt like I needed some more. So I got 3 rack packs full of the stuff. The results weren't as good as that of last week's, but it's still pretty good.
Since these packs had a few doubles, I will give an insult for every double, and a compliment/joke for every card I need. And to help all set builders, all the doubles are in italics

Pack 1-
123- Jean Segura. His team had a great surge, then their lack of winning any games plummeted them to the bottom of the division. Ha.
200- Mike Trout. Sadly, not as good as Bryce Harper.
2- Gary Carter. I know it pains me to say something bad about a Hall of Famer, but he's a bit overrated in terms of catchers.
77- Tony Cingrani. Don't know 'im.
1983 All Stars of George Brett, which is pretty awesome.
60- ROBBIE! Robinson Cano! One of the best second basemen in the game right now. I hope we hang onto him.
127- David Price. So...something nice about him. Uh...he's right? Sorry, I'm not used to saying something other than the Happy Gilmore line.
164- Dan Uggla. Another really good second baseman.
17- Hanley Ramirez. WOW! Both marlins rookies from 2006 back to back. That's awesome.
112- Kris Medlen. Was a lot better last year
176- Jose Altuve. Just mentioning that he's on the Astros is an insult in itself.
105- Mike Moustakas. To be fair, his Royals team is doing pretty well.
26- Jayson Werth. Not as good as he was with the Phillies
83- Jim Johnson. Not as good as he was last year.
65- Paul Konerko. I'm glad he's been so consistent for the White Sox.
146- Eddie Murray. One of the Orioles' best hitters.
167- Rod Carew. Another awesome Hall of Famer.
21- Adrian Beltre. Hmmm...I have to say something good about Beltre...no, I can't do it.

Pack 2-
57- Todd Frazier. He's yet to really determine his own staying power
105- Mike Moustakas. He's not as good as Hosmer and Butler
153- David Ortiz. One of the best DHs of all time.
24- Ben Zobrist. He's better than people give him credit for.
1983 All Star of Nolan Ryan. Jeez, Topps. Can't you at least step up the collation?
84- Coco Crisp. I absolutely love his name.
121- Ian Kennedy. It's hard to say something good about a guy who was just given a mondo suspension for a brawl, but he was good last year
161- Anthony Rizzo. The one guy on the Cubs who's doing things correctly
42- Mariano Rivera. Greatest closer of all time. AND Topps gave him his card number, 42. Which is awesome
(The rest of this pack is all doubles. And it infuriates me so. So if anyone needs a Gary Carter, Tony Cingrani, Paul Molitor, Kyle Seager, Doug Fister, Robinson Cano, David Price, Dan Uggla or Hanley Ramirez, please take these doubles out of my hands.)

Pack 3- (none of these are doubles)
88- Derek Holland, with a weird mustache
102- Matt Moore, who's been pitching well
169- Pedro Alvarez
25- Dexter Fowler, finally having a great season
Chris Sale Tall Boy mini
108- Austin Jackson, who's cooled down since his huge season last year
174- Ike Davis, who's inconsistent as the wind
7- Jon Jay. Oh, a Cardinal
55- CC Sabathia, one of the Yankees' best pitchers, and who I still think was robbed in the 2010 AL Cy Young race.
96- Edwin Encarnacion, who's hitting well
106- Tim Lincecum. The hell happened to this guy?
165- Stephen Strasburg, who suddenly stopped pitching really well this year.
27- Manny Machado RC, which is awesome
73- Aroldis Chapman, a dominating closer.
139- Matt Holliday
196- Johnny Cueto
13- Ryan Zimmerman. Remember when HE was the biggest star on the Nats? Like, in 2009?
87- AJ Burnett, who's done well for Pittsburgh.

Those were some alright packs. Wish there weren't as many doubles, though.

Custom Card of the Day: Phillips Edition

(Is it cocky to have an All Star banner for a player who's ahead of the AS voting weeks before the All Star game? Yeah, but I've been right before)

Brandon Phillips is one of those players that has a number of consistent seasons, yet nobody really talks about him. The last time he played less than half of a season was the 2005 season, which he spent with the Indians, hiding behind Ronnie Belliard. He's had an incredibly consistent career, appearing in two all star games, and becoming one of the stars of the Cincinnati roster. Yet if people talk about the Reds, they bring up Votto, or Chapman, or Cueto. Not Phillips.

Is it because Phillips lacks the star power? Phillips should be a star in his speed, defensive ability, and leadership aspect, yet people still think of Votto as the leader. Is it because he's like the one they always forget, leave out? Is it because people think he isn't as good as he is?

Either way, Phillips is likely going to get the All Star nod this year, unless Chase Utley stages a last minute comeback. And then, maybe, people will see that he's a halfway decent ballplayer.

Coming Tomorrow- Though his team is doing awfully, he's hitting a lot of homers.

Custom Card of the Day: Beltran Edition

I don't hate Carlos Beltran.

Yeah, if you know me, you know that I hate the Cardinals with every fiber of my body. But I don't have Carlos Beltran. Why? Because he was good with the Mets, I guess. I never really had a problem with him, he never spat in my teams' faces, and he always seemed like a fun player.

There are other people on the Cardinals that I absolutely despise. Daniel Descalso, Yadier Molina, Allen Craig, even, yes, David Freese. And there are some that I'm just indifferent about, like Matt Holliday and Michael Wacha. And I have no problem with Beltran. Which is odd.

It's like not having a problem with David Ortiz. Like I think he's a great player, but my hate is reserved for the rest of that team. I can respect Beltran's stuff, and he can stand out from that dreary team.

Yet having the one player you like on a team you despise is much better than having a player you despise on a team you like. Like, seeing Cody Ross on the Giants was infuriating for me, because I liked the Giants. However, sometimes it just feels weird. This weekend, I watched Chien-Ming Wang pitch a game for the Toronto Blue Jays, a team I sorta dislike. And it's kinda weird.

Still, I'm glad Beltran's playing well again, and I hope he keeps it going. If not, I'll just have to root for Wacha.

Coming Tomorrow- The generally consistent Reds 2nd baseman.

Custom Card of the Day: Napoli Edition

And so, yet again, the Red Sox are on top. This was sort of bound to happen, as the Yankees and Red Sox have been alternating 1st and 2nd like those two kids on the block that would always wear matching shirts. It just becomes redundant after a while, to the point where you just want one of them to stop.

Unlike last year, the Red Sox actually have some respectable players on their team. Unfortunately, Mike Napoli is not one of them.

Napoli...I really don't get why he appealed to people with the Rangers. He was a sub-par catcher who hit .250 and just belted homers when he was healthy. He was in no way shape or form an impressive player. He was good, and he had some sort of fan following there, but there was a reason why he shared playing time with Bengie Molina during his last season.

Thankfully, Napoli has been hitting well for Boston, which I can understand. I mean, after all, they do feed off of players who do nothing but hit (see Ross, Cody and Ortiz, David). Napoli is at least having a nice season so far, but not to the point of deserving an All Star nomination. He may be good, but he's not THAT good.

As long as he's good enough to make Boston fans happy, he's fine by me.

Coming Tomorrow- One of the less infuriating Cardinals, and I say that solely due to his efforts in Queens.