Cub, Cub, Cub, Cub, but no Pie

Another great and unexpected bubble mailer arrived today, this one from multi-blogger P-Town Tom, who was gracious enough to send me a handful of serial numbered cards.

Let's start with former Cub, Blue Jay, Dodger, Athletic, Yankee, and Expo (!) Ted Lilly.  I never thought much of Ted to be honest, but I learned that he reeled of 9 straight 10+ win seasons.  Ted is serial number 1459.

The Triple Threads line has been very beneficial to the SNI project.  The Derrek Lee card you see here is the 57th card from the TTT line, and as you can plainly see, this card is serial numbered 843.

Richie was a 4th round pick of the Cubs in 2003 out of FSU.  When this card was released in 2004, he'd only appeared for part of a season in A ball for the Lansing Lugnuts (love that name).  Tony progressed as high as AAA ball in 2008 before calling it a career.  This card is serial #'d 671 in case you were wondering.

Tom was more than gracious enough to spare this horizontal beauty of Marlon Byrd sliding into home plate.  If I'm guessing correctly, he is trying to take out John Buck at home plate.  Byrd is serial numbered 587, and these 4 cards bring the Cubs total up to an even 40.

This next card cost me about 15 minutes of my evening, and it wasn't to get some Pie either.

This card is serial numbered 875.  It also made me look like an idiot (like I needed any help with that...right??).  I go through the spreadsheet, and there's already a card in that spot.   I check the binder to make sure.   Yep, 875 is there.

Ugh.

The next 15 minutes are spent comparing the spreadsheet with the want list on the blog page.  I probably deleted about a dozen numbers, and actually had to add a couple back.

Hopefully the want list is up to date now.  I do know that I now have 1130 out of the 1500 cards needed, just 370 to go.  That is until I receive the next duplicate that is my fault because I don't know how to properly maintain a want list.

Tom, thank you for the cards, they are greatly appreciated!!  I am grateful that you paid Wes' hospitality forward.

thanks for reading, Robert

Six serial numbered cards, only five of them are crazy

I had to look twice.   I had to think twice.  Brian did this to me.  He sent me a card that fits two collections.  Ugh...

Serial #'d 442.  I need that.  Jim Thome 1998 Topps Stars  #132.  I need that for the Thome PC.

Unbelievably, the decision was easy.  There are thousands of other Topps cards with the serial #442, so this goes into the Thome PC.  Besides, Brian sent me 5 other cards that fit the SNI profile.

Serial # 1328

Not to be confused with the Sweathog teaching, poker playing Gabe Kaplan.  Kapler is the 39th out of 50 Red Sox cards to become part of the SNI set. 

Serial # 788

I'd forgotten that Dempster was a Red.  I'm sure that he'd like to forget those two years in Cincinnati.  8-12 with a 6.37 ERA.   Ouch.  This is the 37th Reds card out of the 50 needed.

Serial # 1309

Great looking horizontal card.  I need to follow baseball a little closer, because I'd never heard of this fellow until I saw this card.   Only 4 years in the bigs in the mid 00's I guess is the reason.  This card is the 26th out of 50 for the Rockies.

Serial # 505

I think I prefer this next Beckett a little more:

Yea, that's much better.

Serial # 494

Come on, somebody has to sign JP.  Only 6 more games to reach the magic 2000 number.  Beckett and Pierre are the 33rd and 34th Marlins to be part of SNI.

Just 405 more to go!   Thank you again Brian, great stuff!!

thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 1031-1035

Believe it or not, this is the final post for the SNI set this week (try to hold the cheering down please).  After this post, I only have 2 cards on my desk that haven't been documented, so I guess you could say I'm caught up.

These 5 cards bring the set to 69% complete, and I'm quite happy that I have been able to proceed this far in the set.  With another trade proposed to me today, the goal of 1100 by the end of the year still has a small chance of being completed.

With all that being said, here's the last 5 cards of my mini "marathon".   Enjoy.

Card # 1031:  Richard Hidalgo

Serial Number:  251
45th card out of 50 for the Mets

There has been a lot of Mets cards on the SNI posts for the past week.  Remember the 2000 season of Richard Hidalgo?  44 HRs, 122 RBI, .314 average for the Astros.  This card shows him during his only season as a Met, one in which he hit homers in 5 consecutive games.  Hard to believe that he was out of the major leagues by age 30.

Card # 1032:  Grady Sizemore

Serial Number:  598
38th card out of 50 for the Indians

Injuries cut this very talented outfielder's time in Cleveland down, but I just read an article here that states the Phillies may be interested in signing Sizemore as an extra outfielder.  This guy is too talented to have his career end the way it did in Cleveland, so I'd really enjoy see him getting a chance to play somewhere with a fresh start.

Card # 1033:  Ryan Perry & Rick Porcello

Serial Number:  1438
27th card out of 50 for the Tigers

It's been a long time since I had a multi player card come into the set.  Porcello has been a mainstay of the Tigers rotation since his rookie year of '09, and '13 was his best season for K's (142) and WHIP (1.282).  Perry has had a bit of a rough time after his first two seasons, 2011 and 2012 were not good statistically, and 2013 was spent in the minors between AAA & AA.  At 26, he's got some time to get it back together and find his way back to the majors...

Card # 1034:  Chris Narveson

 
Serial Number:  610
29th card out of 50 for the Brewers

Narveson is the first card from the '13 Update set that I've shown off here, courtesy of Pat from the Hot Corner Cards blog.  Narveson pitched in only 2 games for the Brewers in 2013, before being sent to the minors where he spent the remainder of the season in AAA.  At only 31, and being a lefty, I'm sure he'll end up somewhere in 2014.

Card # 1035:  Kyle Lohse

Serial Number:  509
30th card out of 50 for the Brewers

Would love to know what he learned to turn his career around.  In his first 10 big league seasons, he only had only one season with an ERA below 4, and 4 other seasons his ERA was above 5.  The last 3 years, he's won 41 games, his combined ERA is 3.19 and WHIP is 1.140.  What changed?  You'd also think that with a turnaround like his, he wouldn't have had to wait until a week before the '13 season started before landing a contract.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Serial Insanity cards 1011-1015

Here's something that you don't see in a serial insanity post.

5 cards, 5 different sets.   A little variety for a change! 

Enjoy

Card # 1011:  Brett Myers

Serial Number:  437
31st card out of 50 for the Pale Hose

It'll be interesting to see if Myers lands with a team for the 2014 season.  The 2013 season wasn't a great one for Brett, only pitching in 4 games with the Indians, before going on the DL and eventually being released by the club late in August. 

Card # 1012:  Jason Phillips

Serial Number:  718
41st card out of 50 for the Mets

This card was released the year after he had his best season in the majors, hitting .298 with 11 HRs while splitting time at first and behind the dish.  I sure don't remember him as a part time player for the Jays in '06/'07.  The 1 HR in 80 games over 2 seasons is probably why.

Card # 1013:  Dan Wheeler

Serial Number:  1189
24th card out of 50 for the Astros

Keep those Astros cards coming guys!  Dan is the 2nd pitcher in this post to finish up recently with the Indians very poorly.  The 2012 season saw him pitch in just 12 games with an ERA of almost 9.  Dan spent the first part of the 2013 season with the Royals AAA club, but struggled and was released in May.

Card # 1014:  Brandon Phillips

Serial Number:  476
34th card out of 50 for the Redlegs

Drafted by the Montreal Expos (!) in the 2nd round, he was part of the Cliff Lee/Bartolo Colon trade in 2002.  After only one real shot to play the next 4 years in Cleveland (2003), he was traded to Cincinnati, and 4 gold gloves, 3 all star games and a silver slugger later, he is one of the best 2nd basemen in the game today.

Card # 1015:  Craig Wilson

Serial Number:  496
37th card out of 50 for the Braves

I knew this name sounded familiar, but I didn't remember that he was a Blue Jay draft pick (2nd rd, 1995) and was traded to the Pirates in 1996 as part of the big deal that brought the Jays Orlando Merced, Dan Plesac and Carlos Garcia. He was a solid utility player for the Pirates, and enjoyed a pretty good season in 2004, hitting 29 HRs and driving in 82.  Eventually traded to the Yankees in '06 and finally wound up his career with the Braves in '07 with only 58 ABs. 

thanks for reading, Robert