Torren' Up Cards: November 2018

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

The Fourth Sport

Over the last calendar year I've experimented with non-baseball sports. Mainly because focusing on baseball alone is a great way to burn myself out on it. You've all seen me dabble in hockey, that one time I talked about football, and here's my first basketball post.

Yesterday I went to a semi-local Westchester Knicks game. They're a G-League/minor league basketball team and as you'd imagine, they're the Knick's farm team.

The minor leagues in the basketball world have an interesting dynamic. If you look at the way the rosters are constructed you'll find that not all of the players on it are part of the Knicks organization even though the team is called the Knicks and they're definitely an affiliate for the New York Knicks.

To be sure, most of the guys there are in the Knicks org but there are also a few who aren't and are basically up for grabs if any other team really wants them. I'm still not 100% sure how it works, but I do know that there is a draft for the G-league itself so that the teams can be constructed. Also in a lot of cases you'll find a lot of former NBA prospects who got waived or recent draftees on their first or second year contract playing on these teams. Even a few guys who got on through local tryouts.

I'm pretty sure I botched that entire explainer. When I get a better grasp on it I'll try and restate it in a way that makes sense. The point is that not everyone is a Knicks prospect but the ones worth keeping an eye on are.

As for the game itself it was great. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my first live basketball game ever but it's definitely the first one I actually remember. The Knicks took on the Windy City Bulls, the Chicago Bulls affiliate. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect but what I found was that the atmosphere was pretty nice. Plus it's basketball so you know the game is going to go a lot quicker than if it were baseball or even football or hockey.

Also no autographs this time. Then again I wasn't exactly trying. I was still racking my brains about how the assignment system works, and I didn't even bother looking to see if the players had any cards (some might but not all of them I'm guessing). All I really knew that I was supposed to keep an eye on Isaiah Hicks and Luke Kornet. Both had pretty nice games. In the end the Knicks won against the Bulls (it feels weird to write that), 91-72.

All in all I'm glad I got to see a minor league basketball game. Now to see if I'll ever be able to watch every other sport ever live.

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

Friday, November 16, 2018

Liking It Somewhat Unironically

For the better part of the past 30+ years, the world (read: western world) has made fun of the big charity song, We Are the World. We've all seen the "Fucking Ben Affleck"s (boy does that title not work here in 2018) and the millions of other parodies roasting it at one point in our lives.

I always knew the original WAtW existed but didn't really care to seek it out until the remix came out in 2010. The original from 1985 was made to raise money to combat starvation in Africa, while the 2010 version was made to raise money to help millions of people in Haiti who had just suffered one of the worst Earthquake disasters ever. Both issues are still major ongoing issues (in their same locations no less) today, so I do applaud the people involved for at least trying to do a good deed and at least trying to make a difference.

At the same time I do get why people shit on them so much. Given how self indulgent this all is when the song needs to make this about "us" and "our children" and "saving our own lives" in order to actually help others. It also doesn't help that these tend to be very busy, very long and not something you'd listen to by choice. Admit it, you've never listened to these songs during your morning commute to work or school and never will.

In spite of how this is all just a bunch of celebrities from western civilization flaunting how they - and by extension westerners - are going to fix everything because the rest of world apparently can't (although to be fair, no one can), I've often given it a pass. I mean look, I don't want to be a cold heartless bastard who hates people doing right things even if I don't necessarily like the means. Good will like donating and charity work are great and I encourage everyone who can afford to do it to actually do it.

My cynicism towards this song probably reflects a part of the American part me. I grew up in the 2000's which means that I have some sense of irony (a leftover from the 90's) but also some sense of sincerity in wanting/hoping things get better (the 2000's have yet to be defined by any attitude other than fear and paranoia, but work with me here), and boy do they go at odds with each other when I try to be a critical thinker about anything. Also in this instance I have some 2010's attitude/reality mixed in where ultimately "I wish I could help but I'm broke, blame the Lehman Brothers".

In turn, my idealism towards this song might probably be the Japanese reflection of me. It's funny, I remember when the Haiti version came out in 2010 the music critics I read that were based in America/Europe trashed it for being as gaudy and pretentious as the last one, while the Japanese music-focused media I read/followed tended to be a lot more favorable to it. "Those daring Americans are at it again", they'd write. Of course even here the "I wish I could help but I'm broke, blame the Lehman Brothers" attitude still wins. Yeah the subprime loan mortgage crisis screwed everyone over, not just America.

So yeah no, I won't be listening to either WAtW or putting them on my iPod anytime soon, but I do un-ironically like and appreciate the song for what it is. If nothing else the way the original song has Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Michael Jackson, and Bob Dylan together on one track is amazing in concept. Even if you may disagree with the execution (admit it though, the second chorus on the original is pretty sweet).

As always thanks for stopping by and rest assured that those mofo's on Wall Street will probably cause another economic recession during our lifetimes and none of them will get prosecuted for it (again!).

Take care :).

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

40 In One Day

The most TTM returns I've had in one day was probably 10 back in 2015. I remember ~~bragging to~~ telling The Lost Collector about it. Well just this Monday, I got 40 in one day.

Yes, 40. Quadruple my best record, and probably even more than my IP auto record in a single sitting.

Three of those 40 were of the sports card variety. A return from a baseball player, a return from a hockey player and a return from a football player. Those three will be shown in my month-end wrap up post.

But that's only three returns, where did the other 37 come from?

From this.

That is a big poster for the 2018 Detroit Lions cheerleading squad. Signed by all 37 members to boot.

In alphabetical order they are...

Alexandria, Alexis, Alexis P., Alie, Alison, Amber (Captain), Angela, Austin, Autumn, Ashley, Brittany B., Brittany C., Caity, Courtney, Courtney, Danielle, Dianne, Holly (Captain), Jazzmine, Jenna, Karoline, Kathryn, Lauren, Lexi, Lindsey, Mary (Captain), Micah, Nicole (Captain), Paige, Peyton, Sammi, Savannah, Shelby, Tianna, Veronica and Zarah.

Woof.

The best/kinda tragic thing about this is that I'm sure that these signatures are legit. The way Caity's signature got kind of smudged on the lower left is pretty much proof that these were signed by legit pens at one point. At least it is to me until someone shows me that all of these are like this.

The back looks like this. With all 37 members represented with the four captains in the middle along with Rebecca Smoker and Jordan Haag (the cheer squad's director and coordinator respectively) in the middle.

Along with a sweet little message on the upper left.

Big props to the Lions cheerleaders and the various people involved for this awesome gesture.

Not bad for my first NFL TTM return in over two years eh?

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

Monday, November 5, 2018

Journey To The Upside Down

Even though I consumed thousands of hours of TV as a kid, the amount of TV I've watched since turning into a young adult has dwindled. A lot of that has to do with how I don't have cable anymore and I only bother watching Netflix. Even then I can go months without renewing my service and be just fine.

But every now and then a show I want to watch slips through the cracks. Enter Stranger Things.

Stranger Things is Netflix's most popular original show to date. The show itself is set in the 80's and is basically everything you loved about Spielberg movies and the overall style of the decade. In true 80's fashion, it even got a card set released by Topps.

Topps is a bit late as this set is about season one of Stranger Things. The season was released back in 2017. This set was released just last week on the first. Guess it took a while for them to work out a licensing agreement?

Granted when I say that this was released last week, I only meant the retail version. The hobby version of this won't be coming out until around Thanksgiving. Works for me. I don't necessarily care for the relics or autographs, and I was a bit intrigued by what the special patch cards could be. So I picked up two blaster boxes. Something I don't do too often for any product.

The blaster boxes for these are pretty unique. Right off the bat you can tell that they're meant to be opened different from other blaster boxes.

Once you open it you're greeted by the pack with the patch card, 10 retail packs, and some styrofoam to help fill up the box bloat. I don't know if it's because of the card stock, wrapper material, ink or the Styrofoam, but there's a strong odor that protrudes from these the minute you open these. The kind that makes me think "is this some old crummy 80's garbage from a swap meat?". Luckily it's not.

There are 100 base cards in the base set. I managed to get 88 of the 100 cards between my two blasters. They all commemorate notable moments of season one.

The cardstocks are reminiscent of older card stocks of the 80's. So much so that I'm kind of sad there's no gum or wax wrappers. The backs offer short blurbs about what was going on in the scene on the front of the card.

The inserts feature one regular subset printed on regular cardstock, and two subsets of stickers. The former being these "Character Cards". I only pulled six here and need 14 more to go.

The first sticker set is an assortment of character stickers. Most of the stickers I pulled in my two blasters were dupes so I only got nine out of the 20 total character stickers.

The second sticker set is a set of "Scene Stickers". I got four out of the 10 total scene stickers.

As far as the patches go I managed to get a Shepard - Hawkins National Laboratory patch.

As well as a Nancy Wheeler - Hawkins High School patch.

If you've been paying attention you can probably tell that this break was heavy on Nancy. That's because one of the blaster was basically a Nancy hot-box. No complaints, but I wanted more Steve and Eleven.

As far as I can tell the hobby version is going to have guaranteed hits like relics (of course) and autographs. Chances are you have better odds of pulling stuff like the "upside down parallel" or printing plates. Neither of which showed up in my break. Apparently you can also pull 1/1 sketch cards. A staple in the non-sport world.

Given how I'm THIS close to completing the base set I will complete it at some point. Maybe after the hobby version comes out and the singles can be had for far cheaper. The inserts might be a bit tougher though.

In the mean time I put up a page for my Stranger Things card wants, as well as some dupes I managed to get in case anyone wants to trade.

If you look at my sidebar you'll notice that I've put up a new section for pages called "Projects". These are all long term projects I'm working on. Right now only the ST set is there, but expect some other page to join it in the near future.

As for the set build, hopefully it goes a lot smoother and quicker than my Star Wars Rebels build did. As far as the "big hits" go, I don't see myself going after much beyond Natalia Dyer or Joe Keery autographs (assuming there are any). Nancy + Steve 4eva.

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

Sunday, November 4, 2018

Month-End TTM Roundup: 10/01 - 11/03

It took a while but I finally got my first returns from an actual MLB ballpark this period. Three of them in fact. Keeping the hopes and dreams of many a young fans alive!

Received On: 10/01/2018

My first return this period came from none other than veteran reliever, Brad Ziegler.
Ziegler was originally drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 20th round of the 2003 MLB Player Draft. The side armer made his MLB debut in 2008 with the Oakland A's after being released by the Phillies barely one calendar year into his professional career. The A's turned him into a bullpen mainstay for a few season before trading him to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Brandon Allen and future Chunichi Dragon Jordan Norberto. After spending most of the 2010's with the D-Backs he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. He pitched for the Marlins for all of 2017 and most of 2018 before being traded back to the D-Backs. Recently the righty reliever announced his retirement after 11 seasons of solid work in the big leagues, leaving with a 13 bWAR for his career.

Received On: 10/01/2018

Next up is a return from former Detroit Tigers prospect, Bennett Pickar.
Pickar was drafted by the Tigers in the 11th round of the 2012 MLB Player Draft. Pickar was a glove first catcher who showed incredible defensive prowess behind the plate. Unfortunately he never developed the bat to accompany it and his career only lasted three season in the minor leagues. He's since made good use of the education he got at Oral Roberts University and now works in the medical field. Sort of.

Received On: 10/12/2018

Here's a return from Padres southpaw, Robbie Erlin.
Erlin was originally drafted by the Texas Rangers in the third round of the 2009 MLB Player Draft. Drafted out of high school, Erlin had a promising start to his career as a teenager with a fastball, curveball and changeup that he used to lead the SAL in ERA. After a very promising 2010 season he was traded in 2011 to the San Diego Padres in the Mike Adams (remember him?) trade. Unfortunately after 2012 his career continued to get marred with injuries. But he did eventually manage to make it to the big leagues in 2013 and was poised to be a young and exciting member of the new Padres pitching core. In 2014 he had a mixed season and in 2015 he barely pitched at all in the big leagues. In 2016 he started the season on an okay note but needed Tommy John surgery. TJS also knocked him out of action for all of 2017. In 2018 he finally made his return to the mound and to ease him into it he was a reliever in the early going but was back in the rotation by the end of the season. Erlin's one of my low-key favorites outside the Yankees org so I'm definitely hopeful that he can make up for lost time and make major steps forward in spacious PetCo Park.

Received On: 10/15/2018

Here's my first hockey return since the 2018-19 season started, courtesy of Peter Holland!
Peter Holland was originally drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the first round (15th overall) of the 2009 MLB Player Draft. After a few seasons in the minors he made his NHL debut with the Ducks in the 2011-12 season. In the following season he spent most of his time in the minors but also spent some time in the NHL, a theme that would follow him around until he got traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Jesse Blacker trade. With Toronto he got more consistent playing time but was eventually push down the food chain thanks to the emergence of several centers like one Auston Matthews. He was traded to the Arizona Coyotes before departing as a free agent. Prior to the 2017-18 offseason he signed a one year deal with the Montreal Canadiens and spent all of his time in the minors before being traded to the New York Rangers in the Adam Cracknell trade. He saw some time with the Rangers but this season he's started the season in Hartford to give the Rangers' up and coming prospects some NHL veterans to gain wisdom from. The Rangers have a fair bit of center depth so I'm not sure if he has a shot at making it back to the NHL (at least until trades/injuries happen) but we'll see.

Received On: 10/15/2018

Back to baseball with a cool Chad Kuhl.
Chad Kuhl was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the ninth round of the 2013 MLB Player Draft. Kuhl is armed with a mid 90's fastball, a slider and a changeup. None of which are particularly dominant pitches but Kuhl's crafty enough to get key outs when he needs to. Kuhl's climb up the Pirates organization was pretty slow and steady. Despite his low ceiling he managed to make it to the big leagues in 2016. In 2017 he managed to stay in the big leagues for an entire season and in 2018 there were modest expectations that he could do the same again. Unfortunately he sat out portions of 2018 due to various injuries like a forearm injury and he underwent Tommy John Surgery back in late September, effectively putting him out of action for all of 2019. Sucks, but if anyone can rebound from TJS it's probably Kuhl. Best of luck to him as he begins his rehab.

Received On: 10/17/2018

Here's a return from Rangers defenseman, Rob O'Gara.
Rob O'Gara was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL Player Draft. After several seasons in the minors he managed to make it to the NHL in the 2016-17 season as a member of the Bruins. He got more time on an NHL roster in 2017-18 as a Bruin but was traded halfway through the season to the New York Rangers in the Nick Holden trade. With the Rangers O'Gara is seen as a depth defenseman who might end up seeing most of his playing time with their minor league affiliate (the Hartford Wolfpack) but at 25 he's still young enough that he might be able to make something of himself one day.

Received On: 10/22/2018

Next up is a return from current Cubs GM, Theo Epstein.
Epstein graduated from Yale and was later a law student at USD Law while serving as the director of player development. He then later moved to the Boston Red Sox and served as the youngest GM in the history of the MLB when he was hired at 28 years old in late 2002. Epstein had the monumental task of breaking the Red Sox's World Series-less streak and implemented bold strategies (such as looking at OBP like they do/did over in Oakland) while adding Boston's financial muscle in the mix to fully capitalize those strategies. Unfortunately Epstein was never able to bring a World Series title to Boston, but he did leave a big enough impression on baseball to net a five year contract with the Chicago Cubs following the 2011 season. With the Cubs he laid out a plan to develop a perennial contender from the ground up, being one of the first teams to undergo the "extreme rebuild" method. Although the Cubs suffered a few 90+ loss seasons, they eventually did manage to deliver on their efforts and they finally won the World Series in 2016, ending a 108 year drought in the windy city. Not a bad resume for the 44 year old executive.

Received On: 10/25/2018

Here's a super awesome return from Ty Ronning.
Ty Ronning was drafted by the New York Rangers in the seventh round of the 2016 NHL Player Draft. Ronning is an incredibly solid forward (primarily winger) from Canada who's made a big positive impression on the Rangers brass, talent evaluators and fans alike since he was drafted. His long term role in the Rangers org is still undecided, but now he's made it to Hartford where the Rangers can take a longer and better look at him to see how he fits into their plans. At the present, his (at worst) a really nice depth piece to have around who may just crack the roster as a regular (third/fourth line?) winger. You take that everyday from a seventh rounder.

Received On: 10/25/2018

Next is a SP auto return from Rays pitcher, Jacob Faria.
Faria was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 10th round of the 2011 MLB Player Draft. Drafted out of high school, it took a few years for Faria to find his footing but in 2015 he finally started to tap into his potential and turn into a decent prospect. His fastball velocity went up as he started fitting into a bigger frame and he had a curveball and changeup to accompany them. His 2016 and 2017 season were more about polishing those pitches to a point where he could effectively use them. He added a slider into the mix and ultimately did well enough in that regard to earn a call up to the big leagues in 2017. Faria missed some time in 2018 due to an oblique injury but managed to return by early August. Only to be sent down again when the team needed space on the 25-roster for Yankee killer Tommy Pham. He was brought back up later when rosters expanded in September.

Received On: 10/25/2018

Told you this still counts as a TTM.
Dave Rajsich was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur undrafted free agent back in 1974. The tall lefty made his MLB debut in 1978 and was used as a LOOGY for most his tenure with the Yankees. Rajsich was later traded to the Texas Rangers in the trade that brought Dave Righetti to the Bronx. He spent a few seasons in the Rangers org (parts of two with the big league club) before deciding to go to Japan. He signed with the Hiroshima Carp for the 1984 season and was originally going to be used as a starter, but unfortunately the team had a lot of pitching options (both in the starting rotation and in the bullpen) and he ended up making most of his appearances as the mop-up guy in losses. He does hold the distinction as the first foreigner to ever pitch for the Carp though. Unfortunately Rajsich wasn't even put on the Carp's postseason roster, and the team eventually won the Championship by winning the Nippon Series over the Hankyu Braves (now the Orix Buffaloes). Making it the second time poor Dave was left off a championship winning playoff roster (first time was in 1978 when the Yankees won the World Series). He came back stateside and pitched in the minors but he never returned to the big leagues and eventually retired. He later went into scouting and player development. Now he does work as a coach.

Received On: 10/29/2018

Here's another awesome hockey return from Rangers prospect, Tim Gettinger.
Tim Gettinger was drafted by the New York Rangers in the fifth round of the 2016 NHL Player Draft. A primarily left wing prospect, Gettinger had a pretty nice season in 2017-18 and has done well overall during his climb up the ladder. Right now the Rangers have a lot of forward depth and giving Gettinger some ice time in Hartford isn't the worst thing in the world, but if he continues to impress the front office he could find himself getting some playing time with the big league Rangers after some of their forward depth is sorted out (likely through a combination of trades or injuries). Best of luck to Gettinger regardless though going forward. He'll be a fun one to watch.

Received On: 10/29/2018

Next up is Phillies prospect, Connor Seabold.
Seabold was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the third round of the 2017 MLB Player Draft. The former Cal State Fullerton product already ascended to double-A in his second year as a professional (and first full season). The righty is armed with a low-90's fastball, a curveball and a changeup. All of them are perfectly serviceable and used to get a lot of swings and misses. If all goes well Seabold could pan out to be a really solid back of the rotation starter (4th or 5th starter type). Which is not bad at all for a third round pick. An intriguing third tier prospect to watch for sure if you're a Phillies fan.

Received On: 11/02/2018

Here's a return from Dodgers prospect/rookie, Kyle Farmer.
Kyle Farmer was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the eighth round of the 2013 MLB Player Draft. Farmer was originally a third baseman/infielder in college but converted into a catcher shortly after turning pro. The Dodgers have a laser focus on getting agile guys to try to catch before seeing if they should move to someplace else (see: Will Smith, Connor Wong and Austin Barnes). Farmer's climb up the Dodgers ladder was pretty steady. No big injuries or struggles. That said the more time he got the more he showed himself to be a backup catcher in the long run. The Dodgers kept him on their postseason squad in 2017 and although he wasn't on the rosters in 2018, he was present in the dugout as an emergency option should something have happened to Yasmani Grandal or Austin Barnes. Maybe I'm reading into it a little too much but for now it looks like Farmer is the ideal depth catcher for LAD. Not someone they want to trust into the backup catcher role, but someone they're perfectly okay with being the third catcher who spends most of his time in triple-A. With Grandal's looming free agency and a bunch of questions behind the plate for the Dodgers, Farmer might play a bigger role than we think come 2019. Let's hope it's for the good reasons.

Received On: 11/03/2018