Could this be a piece of the infamous bat flip?

One of my favorite bloggers, Mark from the This Way to the Clubhouse blog, recently "retired" from the blogging game.  A shame for me, because his was always one of my favorite blogs to read.  Naturally, I had wished him a fond farewell, and on twitter he mentioned that he had a Jose Bautista card to send my way.

It arrived yesterday, and for me it's a beaut...

2015 Donruss Elite bat card!!  Very nice.  Since it's from last year, I'll pretend that it's part of the bat that was flipped against the Texas Rangers in the ALDS (sorry Rangers fans...).  I'm 99.99% sure that it isn't that particular bat, but nonetheless it's still a great add to the Blue Jays hits page, which I'll be updating here shortly.

Mark, thank you for the card, it really is appreciated!!  Enjoy your retirement, and yes we will certainly stay in touch.

Thanks for reading, Robert

Will we see something unique and low priced in the future?

"One of the card companies should be able to do something better than Triple Play as a low priced option."--Matt

This was a comment on my post from last Tuesday by Matt of Bob Walk the Plank fame.  Matt commented about the Jose Bautista card that was sent to me that was part of the Panini Triple Play release from 2012.

Not that I look a gift card in the mouth (thank you again Tony), but thinking about this card and other low priced sets like Topps Opening Day made me wonder...

Are we ever going to see anything similar to Collectors Choice that Upper Deck released in the mid 90's?

Collectors Choice was a great low priced set that offered something different for collectors young and old.  If I remember, it was just 99 cents a pack and the sets were big and worth putting together.

Panini Triple Play?  A little too cartoonish in my opinion.  Topps Opening Day?  Using the same photos as the flagship and adding a little opening day design just doesn't cut it for me. 

I'm no designer by any stretch of the imagination.  There is no way that I'm going to provide an answer for the question posted in the title.  But I truly believe that there is someone out there that can design a set that isn't that doesn't mimic another set or turn players into something that I used to watch on Saturday mornings. 

The question is, is there anyone out there that would want one?  Besides me of course...

thanks for reading, Robert

By the page--Jose Bautista

Finally dug out the monster box of Blue Jays cards, which means it's time to start getting the cards into pages and putting them away.   The only thing that's missing from this page is the bat flip....

Top row:  Parallels

Wish I had a '13 Heritage Bautista Chrome parallel to finish the row.  The Wal Mart parallel kind of pales in comparison to the Chrome cards, but the blue glove adds a bit more color to the top row.

Middle row:  A&G with a bit of Turkey (red)

3 cards, 3 photos featuring Joey Bats with his bat.  I guess hitting all those HRs will do that to your reputation.

Bottom row:  Some more chrome with a Panini

I thought about putting the Finest card in the top row with the Heritage cards, but in the end I thought the Bowman Chrome card should have a mate on the bottom.

Looking at the page, the one card that I notice right away is the Finest in the lower left corner.  Showing off Bautista's leg kick is something that isn't seen too often on cards, so I think this is cool. 

Thanks for reading, Robert

It's been a few years

You've seen it, and hopefully read about it once or twice.   My love for the Blue Jays on this blog is no secret.  Yet, I haven't been to a Jays game live since 2008.  Every summer I found reasons not to go.   Even though Cleveland is less than a 2 hour drive from my house, I never took time out to make the trip to see the boys in blue.

But when I found out during the winter that Toronto was going to be visiting PNC Park, I had no excuse.  I immediately starting making arrangements and calling friends.   Last night, I spent the evening in the upper level of PNC and watched quite an entertaining ball game.

One of the guys that I really wanted to watch was Jose Bautista...

Easily the most entertaining player that the Jays have had over the past few seasons, I wanted to see the presence he brought to the plate up close and personal.   Jose did not disappoint, rocketing a Vin Mazzaro 1-2 pitch into the left field bleachers in the 6th inning.  The Jays bullpen went on to blow a 6-2 lead and lost 8-6, but the game was great, and it was really fun watching the game with my wife and a few of our friends from back home.

Jose is also in the middle of a great streak to start the 2014 season.  His 2 walks today saw him reach base for the 31st consecutive game, which is a Blue Jays record.  I'll be keeping an eye out to see how far he can carry that streak, and the numbers that come with it. 

$14 million for this year and each of the next two years may still be quite a steal the way he's playing right now....

thanks for reading, Robert

Falling further behind is a good thing

It's the middle of winter.   I know that when I get up in the morning, my work day will already have been decided for me.   A huge storm that is hitting the eastern seaboard is going to dump a foot or more of snow on eastern PA, which means I will be calling a ton of customers to tell them that we aren't going to be picking up packages.

Yet, my pile of Blue Jays that sits beside me here on my "desk" keeps growing.  Guys are digging out of tons of snow, and cards, to send me another pile of the latest and greatest in Blue Jays cardboard wonder.

One of those fine gents is Max at the Starting Nine blog.  While I was on vacation, Max sent me an email (that I didn't read until after I got home) stating that more Blue Jays were on my way.

Fantastic. 

How about we start with a near complete team set from this year's series 1.

I know that there is at least a couple of more Jays cards out there. Mark Derosa throwing a football is one, and Melky Cabrera is the other that I remember.  I haven't seen Reyes, Dickey or Lind anywhere yet, so I'm assuming they will be in series 2. 

It scares me to think that 10 players times the infinite # of parallels means a lot of chasing this year.  I think I'll stick to something more attainable, like building the base set...

How about some Chrome goodness for your viewing pleasure.   There's even a refractor of E-squared for your troubles.

I don't wear ball caps anymore, but if I ever did buy another one for the Jays, it would be the one Roberto Osuna is wearing on the right.  Simple.

I took a look at the Killebrew/Bautista card and wasn't sure if a comparison between the two really was in order.  Then I took a look at Killebrew's stats, especially in the early 60's.

I had no idea the man played in the outfield for three years between 1962-1964.  I always knew him as a third/first baseman.  His 142 HRs during those 3 years led the AL.  Both of them played both the infield and outfield back and forth during their careers.  While Jose hasn't had quite the extended level of power numbers that "Killer" had during his career, with a handful of big seasons potentially ahead of him, Bautista might start to resemble Harmon's career a little more.  Time will tell.

I really like the Hudson T206 and the Delgado Turkey Red cards as well.  A lot of people didn't like the Jays logo with the Maple Leaf predominantly in the background, but for me it worked.   The bird looked a little goofy, but still I had no problems with it. 

This final card in the package is my favorite.

Normally, anything unlicensed and devoid of team logos is something that I would avoid.  But this card really jumped out at me when I saw it.  I don't know what it is...maybe the "band of brothers" is what grabs me, or the quality of the pics of all 3 players.  If I ever get around to doing a Blue Jays countdown, I'm sure that this will fall somewhere in there.

Yes, I've only fallen 16 more cards behind in the great sorting process, but a reminder of summer during this brutal winter is definitely a good thing.

Max, as always thank you very much!  A great package!

Thanks for reading, Robert