Viene el Otoño

We're now in the final days of August. Minor league baseball is coming to a close (the GCL/DSL leagues have already ended), and we're getting to the awful time of the year where baseball itself is winding down and people are more preoccupied with how Jimmy Garoppolo is going to make or break their fantasy team.

So to cherish the time we have left to watch baseball this year, I went to a Staten Island Yankees game yesterday.

My first autograph of the night was courtesy of Ricky Surum. Surum was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 16th round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. A jack of all trades, master of none type of infielder, he's already been yo-yo'd up and down between multiple levels this season as he's been tasked with basically being a warm body off of the bench at single-A Charleston, high-A Tampa, double-A Trenton and triple-A Scranton. Seriously, he's been everywhere in the system this year except Pulaski and the rookie ball leagues.

My next autograph was from Luis Gil.
Gil was originally signed by the Minnesota Twins as a non-drafted international free agent back in 2015. He was traded to the New York Yankees in the trade that sent Jake Cave to the Twins. At the time of the trade Gil was seen as an under the radar type who had the potential to blossom into something special but had missed some time due to shoulder injuries. A few months later and he's a top 30 prospect in the deep Yankees farmsystem. Gil's fastball sits in the mid-90's and can even reach 101 mph at times. He also has a curveball and a changeup which are both work in progress pitches. His ceiling is anywhere between a really good back of the rotation starter or a really good reliever.

Here is Ron Marinaccio.
Marinaccio was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 19th round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. During his time with the University of Delaware he found success as both a starter and reliever but he really stood out after converting into a reliever full time. His low-90's fastball and slider allowed him to miss a lot of bats and as a college senior it wouldn't surprise me if he manage to dominate for the lower levels before reaching double-A.

My last autograph for yesterday was from A's prospect, Alfonso Rivas.
Rivas was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Player Draft out of the University of Arizona. The lefty hitter is a first basemen at the moment but did play some outfield in college so there may be some versatility in his game. Offensively he's still growing into his power but he has pretty good contact skills. With some line-drive power he could be an impressive corner outfielder.

And those were my autographs.

As for the game itself, it was a slaughter. The Vermont Lake Monsters (A's affiliate) pummeled the Yankees 10-3. The game was pretty close for the first few innings but things got really out of hand in the eight inning when the Lake Monsters scored six runs.

So was there anything else to the game?

We are excited to announce that @vermontlakemonsters will be wearing their pink jerseys in support of our GM Jane Rogers during tonight’s game for Breast Cancer Awareness Night!

If you’re coming to the ballpark, be sure to wear pink or donate $15 to receive a Rogers ‘99 t-shirt! pic.twitter.com/uvqopv8AbR

— StatenIslandYankees (@SIYanks) August 29, 2018

Yes, it was breast cancer awareness night. In honor of the Staten Island Yankees GM Jane Rogers, who herself was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The team (both teams actually) wore special jerseys which were auctioned off (all proceeds went to cancer research). There were also special t-shirts you could receive if you donated $15. Those proceeds also went to cancer research.

Very cool and worthy cause in my book. Cancer sucks. Even though humanity is going to be wiped out one way or another within the next 100 years, I hope the human race can at least find a cure for all forms of cancer before that happens.

On a more selfish/personal note, I did manage to receive a ball. A foul ball landed near the Yankees bullpen and reliever Aaron McGarity caught it. I was the only one around the area so he asked me if I wanted it. I said yes and he gave it to me. In return I gave him and the rest of the bullpen two packs of Hi-Chews. One thing I've known since childhood is that gaijin's LOVE Hi-Chews. The Yankees were "addicted" to Hi-Chews back when Hiroki Kuroda would get free ones by the caseload. The Marlins and Red Sox were addicted to these back when Junichi Tazawa and Daisuke Matsuzaka shared them with teammates. I think even Gosuke Katoh gets some cases for free even as a minor leaguer. The guys chilling in the Staten Island bullpen all seemed to enjoy the Japanese taffy. At least now I have another gift idea for future players lol.
(Sidenote, I also got my workplace addicted to Hi-Chews this past summer, it was great lmao)

And that was yesterday's game. A lousy score, but a very noble cause was carried out and I made a fun little personal memory. With there being so few games left (and with Staten Island looking like it's not going to make it to the playoffs), I'm cherishing the few games we have left.

Because I'm going to miss it all when it ends.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 68 (almost nice!)

Three for Three

Went on the longest streak I've had in a long time where I managed to get autographs on back to back days with three yesterday.

Yup. Made a trip back to Brooklyn for another neutral game between the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Connecticut Tigers.

I know I talked shit about the last game I saw between these two teams, but I was bored and with the SI Yankees out of town and minor league baseball season dying down, I wanted to absorb as much of the baseball I could that was still left to be played.

Turns out yesterday would prove to me that Brooklyn isn't all bad.

Let's first start with the autographs and go from there.

My first autograph was courtesy of Briam Campusano, who was also the Cyclones' starting pitcher yesterday.
Campusano hails from the Dominican Republic and was signed as a non-drafted international free agent by the New York Mets back in 2015. Armed with a low-90's fastball, curveball and a changeup, Campusano was a bit on the older side when he first signed his pro contract (he was 19 years old), but he made up for it by dominating the competition quickly in the lower levels. So much so that he's already made it to short-season ball where his age (22) is about the league average. Campusano's year so far has been mixed. He's had dominant outings where he can shut out the opposing offenses for six innings, he's also had a few dud outings where he barely lasted five innings. He's also alternated between being a starter and a reliever, although all signs point to the Mets trying him out as a starter until he shows he can't do it anymore. As far as his performance last night goes, it wasn't the worst but he did allow four runs in four innings pitched, while also wracking up eight strikeouts.

Next up is an autograph of Adam Hill.
Adam Hill was drafted by the New York Mets in the fourth round of the 2018 MLB Player Draft. Drafted out of USC, the right hander is armed with a low-90's fastball that is said to reach 95 mph, a slider and changeup. Although there is potential for him to give it a go as a starter in the future, for this season he appears to be spending his time in the bullpen where his fastball and breaking pitches can be even more effective.

Finally (but definitely not least) was this autograph courtesy of Ezequiel Zabaleta.
Zabaleta was signed by the New York Mets as a non-drafted international free agent back in 2015 out of Colombia. Zabaleta's climb up the Mets org ladder has been very slow but also steady. After coming stateside in 2016 he was given an opportunity to be a starter, but unfortunately the results were pretty meh. He has gotten a chance to face some good competition over the years though, even last year he was in the World Baseball Classic as a member of the Colombia baseball team. Eventually he was converted into a reliever where his easy velo projects to do much more. At 23 he's right around the appropriate age for the NYPL and he's been a dominant force for the Cyclones out of the pen this year. Wish nothing but the best for this guy. Why?

Well you see, Zabaleta is especially cool because he literally pulled up a chair and sat next to me.

You see, I was sitting in the first row and at the very end of the first baseline seats. Meaning I was sitting basically next to the bullpen area. Zabaleta, being the baseball fan he is, pulled up a chair and wanted to see the game a bit closer.

I tried to speak Spanish with him using my very very weak command of the language (I know I used the wrong words and phrases a lot like an idiot, I just know it). He also tried speaking in English. It was awkward, but we managed to make a few conversations happen.

For instance, I asked him who his favorite player was and he said Julio Teheran (who is also from Colombia). Even he uses a Julio Teheran model glove (the one you see there). I found it super cool. I asked him if it wasn't Jose Quintana (another Colombian) and he said no lol.
Naturally I pulled out my Luis Torrens wallet card and told him that he was my favorite player. Even though I'm 99.9% sure that Zabaleta has never even heard of Torrens before (different country, different farmsystems, etc...).
In retrospect I regret not asking him what his pitching arsenal was.

Still, I appreciate Zabaleta for being cool and even giving me an autograph after the game (I actually stayed for the whole game this time). In return I wrote his name in Japanese for him. Something I usually only do for TTM requests or Yankees prospects.

Eventually I moved away from the seat because a swarm of kids came up to Zabaleta and started asking him for a ball. Kids will be kids, but I ain't sticking around to hear that shit lmao. Neither did Zabaleta as he only had one ball to give away and after that he had to start warming up and get ready to go into the game. Zabaleta pitched one scoreless inning last night and did the best out of all of the Cyclones pitchers by default.

Speaking of which, there was a game right?
Yes, this time the Tigers won and the Cyclones lost 7-2. The Cyclones put themselves in a hole really early on and were never able to get out of it. There were a fair number of misplays and gaffs on Brooklyn's part. Combined with pitchers trying to really nibble. I'm still surprised the game was a mere three hours and two minutes since that's usually a recipe for a long boring game that lasts well into four hours.

Also for some reason the benches cleared after the very last out of the game was made. No big brawl or anything erupted, but this did mark the first bench clearing I had seen. I can finally add that to the list along with a walk off walk, and a walk off balk.

Anything else?

Well the team gave away these pink mesh hats for free (courtesy of Maimonides Medical Center, one of Brooklyn's premier medical centers) as a special promo. That alone probably justified the $15 I spent on the ticket (as if sitting next to a pro for over half of the game wasn't enough lol).

Also, at the risk of talking smack about kids who I know don't know any better, last night gave me important insight into when I'd bring my offspring to their first baseball game.

I won't.

Kids will be kids, they are little fireballs bursting with an infinite amount of energy and the parents can only pray that they can keep up before their offspring potentially hurt themselves. Looking at the parents trying to make sure their little tikes don't stray too far and running after them made me think about how I'd fare in the situation.

As such my foolproof plan is to not take my own demon spawn to a baseball game until they're angsty teens who couldn't give two shits about sports and spend the entire game uninterested and on their phones.

You may think I'm robbing them of a childhood rich with professional baseball related fun, but I'll have you know that they'll be inheriting my copy of 1997 Backyard Baseball the minute they're old enough to get their very own 1999 Windows desktop computer. That should be more than plenty.

Also note that my plan only applies to:
A). professional baseball games
B). situations where I'm the one who'd have to be the responsible adult

If it's a little league game my demon spawn is playing in, yeah I think I need to go and take them. Conversely, if it's the coach of the said little league team or someone else of that nature that's taking my demon spawn to a game and chaperoning, they can. Just as long as I don't have to tag along or claim any responsibilities/duties or just act my age in general.

Oh yes, I'd be a great father.

Anyway, I think I'll wrap this post up on that note. I had a pretty great time yesterday. Making "friends" with a baseball player is always great (Ezequiel and I follow eachother on Instagram now BTW), even if they don't quite play for your favorite organization. It also gives the game you're watching an extra edge as this game was elevated from a boring game where I was a neutral observer, to one where I was basically wondering if my boy "Zeke" could get some work in and dominate. Which he did. He didn't wrack up k's but that half inning was quick, which is the best possible thing you could say about a reliever's performance.

So yeah, Brooklyn scored some major points with me yesterday. Will it convert me? Absolutely not. But I'm not going to avoid it like the plague like I did for all of 2017 anymore. It has it's moments too.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 64

Free?

What constitutes as free? Do you think of it as there not being a price tag? Or do you also consider other factors?

Those of you who've followed my blog long enough know that I consider nothing to be free. Not when I'm constantly weighing opportunity costs and the value of my time against anything.

For instance, I went to Staten Island yesterday to get a post-game autograph (the Yankees had a day game that ended around the time I managed to make it to the stadium following my day at work). I got that autograph of Matt Sauer, who as always is super cool and I can't appreciate his kindness enough. Thanks again Matt!

Still, I did time how long it took me to get from my office to the stadium, then from the stadium all the way back home. Let's just say that in the time I spent on the subway and ferry moving around, I could've earned enough to pay for a Bowman Chrome autograph on eBay. So was this really free?

Oh fuck it. I'm in way over my head here. I just needed a quick post to say I got that Sauer auto and it turned into this mess of a post. Fucking Redbull's wearing off on me when I need it most. Damnit.

Also regardless of whether it's free or not, ultimately the very experience of meeting Sauer in person and getting this card signed before my eyes is where the real value in all of this lies. To me, that's priceless.

That's also super cliche, but it's true.

Alright, goodnight. Zippy out (this post was written around midnight, roughly six hours before this post was due to go up).

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 61

Spinning Out of Control

With only two weeks or so left of minor league baseball left this year, I decided to go see a game yesterday. It was between the Staten Island Yankees and the Lowell Spinners (Boston Red Sox affiliate).

Gasp! My first autograph wasn't from a Yankee but from a Red Sock. Cole Brannen was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the second round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. His best skill is his speed, which experts grade at anywhere between 60-70. That's insane speed. Due to his youth he's still developing and growing into his frame so it's expected that he'll add some much needed pop to his game when he grows some power and strength.

Next up is Xavier LeGrant who was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 27th round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. Even though he's been on various amateur circuits for a while (the Team USA card clearly shows that), I can't really find a whole lot about LeGrant. Or why he was drafted so low. But clearly there's some potential there that the Red Sox took a flier on. Good luck Xavier.

My last autograph of the day was from the Yankees' trainer Jon Becker. I can't find much info about Mr. Becker (the back of the card is blank), but a quick Google search reveals that he used to be a trainer for Nashville Community High School. Apparently he's also qualified to be a teacher and fill various other roles in a school setting. Very cool. Follow your dreams Mr. Becker.

And those were my autographs for yesterday. Kind of a light haul, but I got in for free (long story) so nothing seriously lost there.

Speaking of serious losses though, yesterday was a brutal beatdown for the Yankees. Starter Shawn Semple allowed three runs in the top of the first and the Yankees were never able to get their offense going. The relievers didn't do much better and all told the Yankees lost 0-8 to the Spinners. Yeesh. Was it because I got more BoSox autos than Yankees autos?

Strangely enough in spite of that lopsided score, the game itself was very tidy as it ended in 2:33 hours. Weird. I was super tempted to do some post-game autographs but the early morning caffeine in my system was starting to wear off and boy could I feel my body shutting down. So I left.

Still, despite the loss I had a great time. It was a fast game, it provided some nice highlights (Kyle Gray and some of the Spinners' infielders made some fantastic plays). I also felt pretty peaceful at some points in the game where I was just chilling in the stands looking at baseball happening and letting my mind wander. Almost as peaceful as the ferry ride back to Manhattan. Sometimes, a little live baseball action at night is all you need to remind yourself that the world isn't always on fire.

Also check this out. This mini-gavel was yesterday's giveaway. It's super cool. It's also a bit unfortunate the Staten Island Yankees couldn't market this to it's fullest potential since Aaron Judge never stopped by Staten Island. He was slated to join the team in 2013 but an injury kept him down in Tampa. *fart noise*.

So yeah, barely any Yankees autographs and a loss, but overall a fun night. I'm glad I went.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 60

How To Assemble A Rainbow

One of the few things you could call an "achievement" in this hobby that I actually managed to pull off was when I constructed a rainbow. Three of them actually.

And by rainbow, I am of course referring to obtaining one of every card parallel variant in a single product. The 1/1, the /5, /10, /15, /25, /50 etc...
Keep in mind that this doesn't include the printing plates (if there are any), or any parallels/variations that get released in other subsequent products. Those fall under the category of a "master rainbow".

All three of my rainbows are regular rainbows (I've yet to finish a master rainbow) and they were constructed in three different ways. So today I figure I'd offer some advice to people looking to make their own.

1). Adjust your budget accordingly and allocate funds to this mission

2). Be observant and expect cards you need to suddenly pop up

I'm combining these two because they're the most important and also go hand in hand with each other.

There is no set amount for what a rainbow could cost you. Obviously you can guess based on the product, the player and the team, but ultimately you won't know for sure until it's all said and done one way or the other. My Luis Torrens BoChro rainbow cost me a lot over $400. My Thairo Estrada BoChro mini rainbow barely cost me $100. You never know what could happen.

As such it always helps to keep money stashed away from your hobby budget specifically so that you have some money to spend when a card you need pops up. I probably should've mentioned that this is one of the ways I keep myself in check when it comes to buying packs the other day. If you already blew a month's worth of your hobby budget on another purchase, but then a card you really needed pops up on eBay not long after, you're going to be in a really tough pickle.

This is why I don't spend too much on non-Torrens cards. So I don't have to eat instant ramen for dinner for two weeks if/when I snag the newest 1/1 to pop up on the market.

If this is too big of a sacrifice then I'm sorry to say that rainbow building may just not be for you in the first place.

3). Be patient and expect cards you need to take forever to pop up (if at all)

This one and guideline number two go hand in hand too. Rainbows can be tricky because not all of the pieces you need can be easily found. Especially not the lower numbered ones. That said, make sure to study ahead of time and look for a complete list of all of the parallels the card you want has. Sometimes even the non-low numbered parallels can be tough to track down because they were super obscure retail exclusives, online exclusives, or exclusives limited to those prepackaged factory sets. You'd be surprised how so many people have everything except these obscure parallels.
Use the time you don't find anything to just keep saving up the money in the event that something does pop up and it costs more than you think it will.

But while we're here, let me also say that rainbow building is not something that can be done quickly. It can last years (it took me a year and a half to complete my Torrens BoChro rainbow), possibly even more. That's assuming you're lucky enough to finish it at all. Please know that you are risking spending a lot of time searching for cards that will never appear in the open because they either get opened by the olds without internet access or they don't ever get opened at all. You may never be rewarded for your efforts. If you want instant gratification or at least the assurance that the goal you're striving to achieve can be reached, I'm sorry but rainbow building isn't for you either. I'd recommend set building instead.

Of course the weird nature of card collecting dictates that when a card you need does appear, a couple more will pop up immediately after you buy it. Why? Because the universe hates you and is trying to convince you to spend your money wiser that's why. Or at least that's how I felt when it happened to me.

4). Start with the lower numbered stuff first

This should be a top three rule, but it slid all the way down to number three because I wanted my key points to be made before everyone stops paying attention to this post by this point.

You theoretically could start with the easily accessible cards first, but let me just say that for optimal rainbow building you should really prioritize the lower numbered and rarer stuff first. Most of the cards/parallels printed in huge quantities can and will likely be readily available on COMC or eBay if you ever need them. I say save them for last. There's no feeling quite like finishing off a rainbow with the base card or a not-so rare refractor.

5). Daily searches and phone/email notifications are a must

The name of the game is finding the cards you need as quick as possible. As such it's imperative to have saved searches on sites like eBay or wherever and make sure you're the first to know if a card you could potentially need is put up on the site. If you've got time to spare maybe even hit up places like baseball card Twitter or the online forums. They're cesspools for sure but you need to cast a big ass net to land hits as precise as rainbows require you to. So you'll have to hold your breath and dive right in.

6). The newer, the better/the older, the harder

If I had to guess, there's probably a four year window where building a rainbow has a relatively good shot of being completed, but after that window closes those odds go down considerably.
If you're dealing with a new product (preferably the newest on the shelves), then you'll likely benefit from EVERYONE opening it like crazy trying to land the biggest hits in the product before everyone else. In the process you'll find a lot of neat rare stuff that will be nearly impossible to find as the product's release date gets farther and farther away in the rearview mirror.

Like, if your goal is try to assemble a rainbow from 2003 Topps Chrome from scratch here in 2018, I don't think you'll get very far. If it's been nearly over five years since a product came out, the odds of people still opening that set are very very small. Almost as small as the odds the cards you need to complete the rainbow aren't already in the hands of various collectors already.

Keep it recent, or else you'll likely never even see the gold (refractor), let alone the rainbow itself.

7). Cards from all over

I can't say this will always be the case, but there is a more-than-zero chance that you will find yourself getting cards from all over the country/world doing this. Combined shipping does not exist when you're rainbow building (unless you saved a bunch of common cards on COMC until last). You'll get one card from, say, California, then the next one from Nebraska and then maybe Taiwan. If you're afraid of buying cards from sellers overseas, your prospects of building that rainbow could potentially go significantly down. Keep that in mind if you decide to begin building a rainbow.

8). This is basically just extreme player collecting

It really is. This is player collecting at the nth degree. You're after specific cards of a specific player. If you're naturally a player collector you might pull all of this off one day. If you're not, again I'd like to redirect you to set collecting instead.

So there are my eight guidelines for building a rainbow. I'm sorry in advance if I came across as being super negative and like I'm actively discouraging people before they even start, but I really felt I needed to hammer home the risks people MUST take into consideration before they start a rainbow.

As someone who's built three (technically four but I refuse to acknowledge the fourth right now), rainbows, I can say for a fact that it can be a frustrating endeavor with seemingly no end in sight. I consider myself lucky that I did actually finish the rainbows. Some people never do. As such all I can really say is that I want everyone's biggest takeaway to be that rainbow building isn't for everyone. You have to be the type of collector who has narrowed their vision to a point so small that the rainbow is pretty much the only project they're working on. You have to be willing to talk to people in the hopes of either finding stuff you need or networking so that people will actually come to you with stuff they think you might need. Above all, you need patience and focus. You'll be tempted to just give up or leave the project dormant after the three week mark. I guarantee you will. Whether you give into that or just keep going will determine in the long run if you have what it takes to see it through.

Because when it goes right and you actually build it, it can be the best thing ever.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

That Other Team In Town

Yesterday I saw a minor league baseball game. Yesterday the Staten Island Yankees played a game at home in S.I. The game I saw was not a Staten Island Yankees game (GASP!).

Yes, I went to see a Brooklyn Cyclones game instead.

The main reason for this was because I thought I could use a bit of change of scenery and return to Brooklyn for the first time since 2016. The last time I went there I ended up writing "I hate baseball" in the recap blogpost. Basically I just wanted to get myself the 2018 team set and any of the ones from previous years they had left for my collecting buds overseas who're Mets fans.

And of course there was a rain delay before the game :P. It was just a passing rainstorm but man, I just do not have any decent luck here as a regular viewer.

Anyway the opponents were the Connecticut Tigers so this was supposed to be a neutral "I have no allegiance to either team so I just want good baseball" game. I didn't even bring my normal autograph collecting gear because I just wanted to get the cards and then sit down and enjoy the game.

As you could reasonably expect that did not happen. Neither of those things happened.

The team store had the Top Prospects set in stock and I bought it. I quickly found out that both of the Tigers reps had cards. Like Sam McMillan here who signed for me before the game. McMillan was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the fifth round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. The Tigers lured him away from a strong commitment to the University of Florida, so much so that they even pooled money from the rest of their bonus rounds to give him a bigger bonus. McMillan is all about projection at this point in time and the idea of what he could be is pretty appealing. He's a high school catcher so there's still a long ways to go in terms of development but his bat has been said to be pretty solid. Same with his defense. That said there's a lot of growth that needs to happen and that's mainly on the physical front as McMillan figures to add some more pounds to his frame as time goes on. Right now he's not on the Tigers' top prospect rankings but he could end up there in a year or two with some improvements.

Next up is Gio Arriera. Arriera was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the fourth round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. Arriera is armed with a low-90's fastball that is said to have heavy sinking action and a curveball. Although he does have a tendency to get hit hard sometimes, he is more than capable of racking up a ton of k's. Such as how he k's 12 batters in seven innings earlier this season. Going forward it'll be interesting to see how his development progresses further, good luck Gio.

From the Mets side I only got two. Jose Miguel Medina was one of the two and is actually a repeater. Last year he was one of the Cyclones' best young hitters and got promoted to single-A Columbia (he even had a brief stint in high-A St. Lucie). However his results at those higher levels were mixed and he's back in Brooklyn this season. Good luck to him.

My last autograph was from Ross Adloph. Ross was drafted by the New York Mets in the 12th round of the 2018 MLB Player Draft and projects to be a solid centerfielder. Whether he reaches the majors remains to be seen, but he seems like the quintessential Mets OFer. As in, every player comp (I hate player comp but these make too much sense) ties him to the likes of Matt den Dekker and Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

And that was it for the autographs. The rain delay gave me a bit more to time to go after autographs on both teams but the Cyclones dugout was crowded. After a while I remembered why I never come to Brooklyn for autographs. Let's just say that you take one look at the people doing that shit and you're like "I do not want to be seen as one of these people". Thankful for the players that did sign though, especially the two Tigers.

As for the game itself it was at least better than the last Cyclones home game I went to. This one had a bit more action, probably too much action, in the form of a five run second that knocked Tigers starter Kacey Murphy out of the game. The bullpen didn't give the team a lot of relief either.

The rain ruined most of the seats, and being a neutral observer of a delayed and slow moving game just made get really bored really quickly. So I ended up walking around the ballpark.

My favorite part of the MCU Bank Ballpark is the Cyclones bullpen area. The stuff you see on the ground there are prizes. You see the bullpen sets up a cup where people above in the concourse can throw coins into the cups. Whoever throws one into the cups gets a prize of their choice.
Personally I love this dugout because this is where I saw Luis Torrens get ready before his appearance in the 2014 NYPL All Star Game.

Man, that was a fun night.

According to the official box score, the Cyclones won 9-2.

Actually no, they weren't the Cyclones yesterday. They were Los Brooklyn Jefes. It was Puerto Rican Heritage night so they were "The Brooklyn Bosses". Throughout the night they were doing all sorts of special promotions for New Yorkers with Puerto Rican bloodlines, lots of charity events for recovery efforts after Hurricane Maria and lots of Latin American (presumably Puerto Rican?) music playing throughout the night. Despacito only played once that entire night, so you know the entire promo team made sure to put an insane amount of work into planning that promotion. Props to them.

So did the trip out make me realize that Brooklyn is a good place to watch baseball and that I should go more often?

No.

If anything it made me dislike traveling to Brooklyn even more. At this point the ballpark in Staten Island is the one I'm used to and the ONLY one I'm used to. Every time I go to Brooklyn I end up thinking "hmm, is it okay that I'm out this late? Should I get home before the trains stop?" I don't have that with Staten Island (even though it's literally an island that's closer to New Jersey than it is to my house), because the ferries operate twice an hour and go directly to downtown Manhattan. From there the 4/5 lines are relatively reliable because they pass through the entire affluent parts of Manhattan (the east side basically). Meanwhile, Coney Island is on the very edge of Brooklyn and getting from there to Manhattan is always a mindfuck because the subway trains are inconsistent due to the MTA only caring maintaining efficiency in the richer, more affluent parts of the boroughs. And they can't even do that right.

But I did get the team sets though. I guess that's what I really went there for anyway. Very cute that the team added rehabbing big leaguers Noah Syndergaard and Jason Vargas to the set. I'm sure all of the autograph collectors groaned knowing that those two are never going to be signed and their sets will be incomplete forever.

So in summation:
*The Puerto Rican heritage night was very well done
*Going to a neutral baseball game is boring unless you're there to see someone specific
*Neither the Tigers or Cyclones Jefes had any top prospects on their rosters and yet a game was played
*Rain delaying or postponing games is the theme for baseball in New York this year
*The programs in Brooklyn now cost $1 each, which is some real BS

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 57

Slow Yet Not So Steady

Apparently I am not the only one buying Luis Torrens cards.

A while ago I was outbid for a second printing plate of his that popped up on eBay. And someone actually paid money on a Platinum parallel 1/1 of Torrens too.

Those people are people looking to get Torrens cards for me, or they're the most die hard Padres collectors ever. In either scenario, I've lost my will to go after the Series 2 Torrens rainbow.

Still, when I get decent deals I take them. Like when I got this sparkle foil parallel for roughly 60 cents (shipping cost me six times that though).

Normally I wouldn't bother spending money on parallels numbered to anything over 50 until a good four years after the set's release, but this is one of those "factory set exclusive" parallels that you don't see too often if you're a player collector. So I pounced on it.

I also got two parallels of Torrens. A Father's Day Powder Blue and a vintage stock. A Japanese collector who currently lives in Connecticut found me through mutual friends on Twitter and a few DMs later I got these in my hands through them.

Lastly I finally got the base card thanks to a special package from Night Owl Cards. You know 2018 has gotten weirdly out of control when even Night Owl is sending me Luis Torrens cards.

As a sign of contempt, N.O. included cards of Padres prospects that I plan on giving to Gavin. I love prospects, but as time has gone on I've come to really think negatively of the Padres. Their system is loaded and has both high caliber top heavy talent in addition to depth in the lower parts too. But I'm concerned they're going to mess up Torrens' development. I can feel it. Austin Hedges is terrible and probably an indicator of what's to come for pretty much all of their catching prospects. Granted he's a holdover from the previous regime and probably just a stop-gap until the real catchers that AJ Preller is banking on arrive like Francisco Mejia, Austin Allen and Luis Campusano. Although all of them are at risk of ending up falling far below expectations. Mejia's likely going to turn into an OFer making his bat significantly less valuable and Allen's probably more of a 1B at this point. Campusano shows potential but, he's a Padre.
That same wart is what plagues Torrens. Someone free him before the Padres hurt him by virtue of being a Padre.

Well okay, this is probably a bit too harsh on my part on the Padres. At least they don't make terrible blunders like trade/sign human trash accused of domestic violence charges or contemplating signing convicted sex offenders. A low bar to hold any MLB team to, but I'm finding that that bar isn't as low as you'd think (for reference Yankees have their own piece of human garbage closing out their games). We'll see what happens when they're finally ready for a playoff push and will have to pit the values they have for players against their own values/morals and see which wins.

Night Owl also made sure to send along some nice cards like Andres Gimenez (one of the few Mets prospects worth caring about), Jon Duplantier (who is already up in double-A, woof), and a bunch of Yankees. Some of which were Aaron Judge and one of the 2018 wonderkins, Miguel Andujar.

Big thanks to Night Owl for the cards though. I needed that base card :).

So yeah, I'm building this rainbow, but extremely slowly. My top priorities are the lower numbered stuff (like 25 and below) and then seeing where the others fall as the calendar turns from 2018 to 2019 and 2020 (and beyond). This is my recommendation for anyone looking to start a rainbow BTW. Lowest serials and rarities first, focus on the rest later.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

Rained Out

On Saturday I made my way to Staten Island to see a double header between the Yankees and the Connecticut Tigers (a Detroit Tigers affiliate). The game the night before on August 3rd had been postponed due to the field being declared unplayable.

Due to unplayable field conditions, both games of tonight's doubleheader (Saturday, August 4) have been postponed.

For more information, visit our website at https://t.co/9Pgt8nJ4fi. pic.twitter.com/Q3KUTV9QJl

— StatenIslandYankees (@SIYanks) August 4, 2018

Unfortunately a minute before the gates were set to open the games were postponed again due to wet grounds. On Saturday it was very sunny, hot and overall nice baseball weather but I guess the rain from the night before still left the field in poor condition.

It wasn't a total loss though. When life gives you lemons, you run to the employee entrance/exit to wait for players to come out to get autographs.

Ken Joyce is the current hitting coach for the Baby Bombers and he was one of the first to come out (which is odd since the coaching staff usually stays at the ballpark the longest). Mr. Joyce kindly signed both the card I wanted him to sign and the one I wanted to give him. Apparently he got a big stack of them for himself. I'm guessing that means the team/company started giving the card subjects some samples then? I hope so.

Thanks to Mr. Joyce I only need two more autographs to complete the 2018 SIY team set (minus the eight players who were already elsewhere when the set came out).

That was very cool and made making the trip out to SI worth it. But what really pushed the worthiness of the trip over the top was this.

BOOM!

This is a Recommended Viewing insert from 2017 Bowman Draft and the first ever dual autograph card I ever finished. Best of all it features Clarke Schmidt and Matt Sauer, who were the Yankees' first and second rounders in the 2017 draft respectively. I bought this card early last week on eBay (yes, I actually bought an insert card on eBay on it's own, don't judge me - the shipping was free!), it arrived on Friday and it was signed by both of the players on Saturday.

The card is a bit on the darker side in terms of lighting (the parallels don't appear to make it that much brighter FWIW) so the signatures are a bit tough to see. I'm aware that the 5x7 versions of this card a bit more lighter, but 5x7's suck.

Still though, it's not like the signatures are impossible to see and I love this card. Two top Yankees draft picks on one card (SIGNED!) is a quick way to my collecting heart. The best part is that no certified autograph version of this insert set exists. I have myself an exclusive here!

So yeah, the games not being played sucked. Especially since it was the very last Saturday game for the Yankees Pizza Rats this summer (according to the schedule there are only weekday games and one Sunday game left). Bummer. But on the bright side I can watch another game by trading in the ticket I scanned up top, and since I already got these sweet autographs today, whatever I get on that day will just be gravy (actually I still need two autographs of the SIY team set guys so maybe not just gravy).

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 53

Camp Day

We're in August now folks. Can you believe it?

I took the day off from other obligations yesterday to go see a rare noon game in Staten Island. Of course when the SI Yankees host a noon game that can only mean one thing, Camp Day. The fun filled day where local camps and groups come to the ballpark and enjoy themselves some minor league baseball by guys they've never heard of.

A lot of "graphers" tend to stay away from camp day since the stadiums get a lot more crowded and there are a lot more kids around. Personally anything that keeps away the autograph hounds is good in my book. Plus it's nice to see the stadium actually be packed and full of energy for once. The youths man, they're our futures. If the iGen (post-millennials, Gen-Z if you will) have shown us anything, it's that they don't fuck around.

Plus a lot of the groups and camps don't really arrive to the stadium until a good 5-10 minutes before the game. Allowing me to get a few signatures.

Starting us off is a custom of Brandon Lockridge. Unfortunately Lockridge arrived in Staten Island too late to get his own card but he is a highly capable outfielder and it'll be fun to see how he progresses. Plus he's just a cool dude. So much so that I made this for him.

This autograph got smudged to hell and back, but it's still a MIGUEL FLAMES autograph. Flames was one of the bigger names in the 2014 International Amateur Free Agent haul, unfortunately his value came from his being a high caliber catcher but he's outgrown the position now.

I managed to get two autographs of Matt Sauer. Recently I was asked about the 19:26 inscription and it's a Bible verse. Matthew 19:26 to be more precise (getting more mileage out of his own name there, smart).

Drew Finley has been able to stay healthy since moving to the bullpen, but his performance is a big mixed. It's a big bummer that it hasn't worked out quite as well as many had hoped, but I'm still putting for Mr. Finley.

Obviously this isn't for me. It's for a certain West Virginia University alum/collector named Matt. Unfortunately that "Matt" character doesn't have a blog anymore so I have to do it for them.

Finished off the day with not one, but TWO Clarke Schmidts. Schmidt was the Yankees' first round pick in 2017 and he's finally returned to the mound after rehabbing from the Tommy John surgery he got when he was still in college. I am pumped to see what he can do now that he's healthy.

And those were my autographs.

As for the game itself, it was really good. The camp day kids got a really nice game.

From a prospector's point of view (ie my point of view), the Yankees side had no shortage of good names. For starters the starting pitcher and catcher for the Yankees were Juan De Paula and Josh Breaux respectively. Both are top 30 prospects in the org and were definite "to watch" guys in the game. On top of that you had fringe guys like Canaan Smith and Kyle Gray in the lineup to provide some key moments (more on that in a bit). The Ironbirds (O's affiliate) had some notable guys in Milton Ramos, Austin Hays and Gray Fenter (who was also their starting pitcher).

De Paula was solid overall but this start wasn't exactly smooth. From the get go he had some issues with command and allowed some hard contact in addition to a few walks. But overall he had a solid outing where he went 5.2 IP with five K's and allowed three runs (all earned). His fastball sat in the 89-91 range and it even hit 97 mph at one point. Woof!

Canaan Smith and Kyle Gray brought some pop to the game by socking dingers to give De Paula some support. Smith hit a key three run home run and provided four of the Yankees' eight total runs that day. Gray socked a two run home run to really pad out the Yankees' lead when it almost looked like the Birds were catching up.

The Yankees managed to win by a final score of 8-3. The campers all got to go home happy (some with awesome souvenirs) and I got the autographs I was after. We all won!

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).

2018 IP Auto Count: 49