2012 Summer Clearance Trade Results #4 (for Brewers)

Scott, who doesn't seem to have a blog, took my excess Brewers (and there were a bunch of them) and sent me some nice cards. Thanks Scott!

1982 Topps #636 Pete Rose/Steve Carlton

I have nearly every 1980 Phillies major issue card, but I didn't have this one.  Can you imagine that people used to actually check off the cards they got on the checklist cards? What were they thinking?

1986 Topps #6 Pete Rose

The first 7 cards of the 1986 Topps set were a tribute to Pete Rose. I didn't have this one, which features Pete as a Phillie.

1991 Upper Deck - Another early Upper Deck set I'm trying to complete. Scott sent me 10 Astros from the set I didn't have. Here are a few.

A future Phillie.

A former Phillie.

1992 Kellogg's All-Stars #10 Mike Schmidt

One of the first post-career Mike Schmidt cards. Thanks Scott, one of my favorite cards from the big 2012 Summer Clearance Trade.

2007 Bowman Chrome Prospects #104 Evan Englebrook

When you're a team collector, these are the cards that drive you nuts, a parallel card of a minor league player who never made it to the majors.

Movie Review - The Bourne Legacy

What can one say about a movie like this? One the one hand, it seems to be competently acted and competently directed. The action scenes have a lot of action. The locales are exotic, from the mountains of Alaska (probably really Alberta), the high tech control rooms and Singapore. The plot actually makes sense, at least internally, which in a movie involving superhuman spies is the best you can hope for. At least it started to make sense after the first 30 minutes or so. On the other hand...

So what's the problem? The problem is that the movie is almost complete pointless. It seems to exist only as a bridge between the Matt Damon Bourne movies and hopefully some future Bourne movie which may re-capture the original Bourne movies excitement.

For me, most of what made the previous Bourne movies so good was that you cared for the Jason Bourne character. Either because of the story, the direction or Matt Damon, you cared. It was impossible to work up any emotion for Jeffery Remmer in this movie. He plays Aaron Cross (I had to look up the characters name on IMBD.com because I wasn't sure, I thought is name was Erin something). Cross is a super agent, made super by modern chemistry. He spends the first 30 minutes or so wondering around the wilds of supposed Alaska popping green and blue pills and taking blood samples.  Rachel Weisz is Dr. Marta Shearing and only someone who hasn't seen an action movie before won't know that despite Aaron being in the wilderness and Marta being in a glitzy sci-fi lab, they will get together.

Ed Norton is, well it hardly matters what his name is. He's heading a team looking into the Treadstone disaster. Although his team spends most of it's time looking at paper and giant computer monitors, and talking on the phone, they are all stone cold killers. Here's where this only makes sense from an internal standpoint.

Aaron and Marta manage to stay one step ahead of Ed as they head to Singapore to get Aaron meds. They should have gotten completely away except super intelligent Aaron slips up (maybe because the blue pills were wearing off). Watch for the scene where Marta gets eyeballed on an overhead TSA camera in an airport. All she needed was a floppy hat!

Anyway, they end up in a wild car/motorcycle chase in Singapore being chased by the police and yet another superspy born of chemistry (who doesn't have any moral scruples). We were expecting a big physical showdown between Aaron and this guy (Larx?) but that ended as disappointingly as the final confrontation between Batman and Bain.

And then... And then the movie just ends.

My prediction. The next sequel will be about Aaron (T-101) being chased around the world by another Larx character (T-1000). Aaron will win because humanity always wins out over gutless technology (at least in the movies).

In the sequel after than, they will finally figure out how much money they need to get Matt Damon back. Jason Bourne and Aaron Cross will team up and...sorry, my imagination (and interest0 fails me.

One final comment. Note Albert Finney's name in the credits on the poster. He has about 10 seconds of screen time in a grainy video.

2012 Summer Clearance Trade Results 3 (for Braves)

James over at the Chipp 'n' Dale site (as in Chipper Jones and Dale Murphy) took my excess Braves cards for a nice selection of Phillies and Astros. He wrote up the cards I sent him here.

1989 Upper Deck #135 Gerald Young

I'm not too interested in Astros cards prior to 1995 but I am trying to fill out the 1989 Upper Deck set. Did he catch the ball or not?

1990 Leaf #346 Danny Darwin

 1990 was the inaugural year for Leaf and I don't mind getting these as well.

1992 Classic Best #76 Kevin Stocker

James sent me 3 cards from this minor league set. Stocker is the only one of the three to make it to the majors.

1994 Leaf #431 Mitch Williams

After the debacle of the 1993 Phillies World Series, the Phillies traded Williams to the Astros for Doug Jones and Jeff Juden. Mitch pitched into 1997 but his career was basically over after 1993.

1994 Topps #692 Mickey Morandini

1994 Topps is one of my favorite sets from the 1990s and this was the last Phillie card from the set I needed.

2005 Topps Heritage #72 Phillies Team Card

I didn't buy much 2005 Topps Heritage so I was happy to get this.

2010 Upper Deck Tape Measure Shots #18 Lance Berkman

Is this Berkman actually hitting the home run celebrated on the card? Probably not but at least it looks like a game in Wrigley Field.

2011 Topps Lineage Stickers #15 Mike Schmidt

2011 Topps Lineage was not my favorite set from last year but, hey, it's Mike Schmidt.

2012 Bowman Platinum

This is the third straight year for Bowman Platinum. I didn't care much for the 2010 version but 2011 was better. This year is at least as good as 2012. This is an expensive product which I don't buy much of. This year I bought a blaster and a rack pack. This pretty much means I'm not going to see a relic or an auto or any of the rarer parallels.

The base cards have a slightly different design than last year but retain the holographic foil board. For a card which costs 68 cents a pop, it looks good. I got a total of 47 cards.

According to baseballcardpedia, the hobby boxes are loaded but look to be going for over $100 on ebay.

The first card in the 100-card base set is last year's big rookie. This cards look real good when scanned as well.

I also pulled this years top rookie

Actually, I got two of these, one each in the blaster and the rack pack. The only duplicate I pulled.

I only pulled one Phillie

There are 5 other Phillies in the set, Rollins, Utley, Lee, Halladay and Hamels. Some team must be under-represented. If there are any Astros in the base set, I don't recognize their names.

I'm always to pull a 2012 Chipper.

There are lots of parallels. The base set comes in Emerald (1:10), Gold (1:5) and Ruby (1:20). I pulled two Golds and an Emerald.

In addition to the 100-card base set, there is a 100-card set of Prospects.

While featuring the same basic design as the base set, the backgrounds are different. The base cards have game setting backgrounds. The prospects have a weird radioactive sky background.

The Prospect parallels are called Refractors. They have a different finish than the base parallels, more like Topps Chrome cards.

These come in regular, Atomic, X, Blue, Gold, Green, Purple, Red and Super. I only bought the rack pack to get the Purple, which are exclusive to the rack packs.

You get three of them in a separate wrapper. They are real purple, not my favorite color.

There is a 50-card Top Prospects insert set. I pulled three of them. There is a die cut version as well.

There is also the 50-card Cutting Edge Stars insert set. This set is die cut with auto and relic versions.  I only got one of these.

It's a nice looking card but it illustrates one of my major pet peeves in baseball cards, the use of the same photograph on different cards issued in the same year. Here's Gallardo's Bowman card. I could be wrong but it looks like the same photo to me.

2012 Summer Clearance Trade - Results #2

My Blue Jays cards went to Nathan at Canadian Cardboard. Not only does he collect Blue Jays cards but any cardboard which features a Canadian.

Here's some of what I got from Nathan.

1994 Fleer Sunoco #15 John Kruk

This was a 25-card (including a checklist) set produced by Fleer and presumably available at Sunoco gas stations. I was collecting cards in those days but don't remember seeing these. Of course I didn't generally buy my gas at Sunoco.  The cards have the same basic design as 1994 Fleer, but feature different photos. I already had two cards from this set (Bagwell and Dykstra).

2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary #460 Cole Hamels

Always happy to pick up a Phillie or Astro I don't have from this parallel set.

2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary #586 Carlos Lee

 And here's an Astro (or I should say former Astro) from the set.

2011 Topps Cognac Diamond Anniversary #32 Chris Johnson

I only had one Astro from this set.

2011 Topps Cognac Diamond Anniversary #219 Carlos Ruiz

Nathan sent 4 Phillies from the set which I didn't have. Only two of them are still with the Phillies. Ruiz and Conreras.

2011 Topps Cognac Diamond Anniversary #267 Jose Contreras

The other two are Lidge (#242) and Werth (#325)

2012 Topps Opening Day Elite Skills #11 Roy Halladay

Halladay's "Elite Skill" is covering first base. I think the Phillies signed him more for his pitching abilities.

2005 Astros - Where Are They Now

I try to follow both the Phillies (my birth city) and the Astros (where I live now). The past few years my two teams have gone in the opposite direction. In 2005, the Astros were in the World Series but it's been all downhill since then. The Phillies finished 2nd in the NL East in 2005 and, except for this disappointing season, have been a great team.

The last player from the 2005 team remaining with the Astros this year was Wandy Rodriguez. Wandy was 10-10 with the Astros that year. There were no major league cards of Wandy from 2005. He was traded to the Pirates in July.

 I thought it would be fun to look at that 2005 Astros team and see where they are today.

2005 Donruss #201 Brad Ausmus

Brad was an 18-year player who retired in 2010. He spent 10 years with the Astros, in two stints. He won 3 Gold Gloves as the Astros catcher. Although 2005 was not a Gold Glove year but one of his best years offensively with a .258 batting average.

2005 Origins Old Judge Materials Jeff Bagwell

Jeff missed most of the 2005 season after shoulder surgery before the season. He returned to the club late in the season but had limited playing time in the post season. He attempted to come back for the 2006 season but retired during spring training.

2005 Leaf Century Material Fabric Position #117 Lance Berkman

 

 Lance hit .293 for the 2005 season with 24 home runs. He had a great postseason. His best days seemingly behind him, the Astros unloaded him to the Yankees in 2010. He's been with the Cardinals the past two years. He was the NL Come Back Player of the year in 2011.

2005 Leather and Lumber #30 Craig Biggio

 Craig was in his 18th year with the Astros in 2005. He had a pretty typical year for him, batting .264 with 26 home runs and 98 runs scored. After 2 years of playing the outfield, the Astros moved him back to second base in 2005.  He retired after the 2007 season.

2005 Topps Total #66 Eric Bruntlett

One of the Astros part time players in 2005, Bruntlett appeared in 91 games mostly as a pitch hitter or late game replacement. He was traded to the Phillies after the 2007 series and got back to the World Series with them in 2008 and 2009. He retired after the 2009 season.

2005 Donruss Team Heroes #137 Chris Burke

 Burke mostly played outfield and sometimes spelled Biggio at second. He hit .248 for the season. Chris was in the running to be the baseball coach at his alma mater University of Tennessee last year but didn't get the job.

2005 Flair Row 2 #29 Roger Clemens

Roger started 32 games for the Astros in 2005 with a record of 13-8 and an ERA of 1.87. He played again for the Astros in 2006 (after teasing them for months about whether or not he'd come back). He signed with the Yankees in 2007. He is currently trying to rebuild his reputation after being cleared of contempt of Congress charges from drug hearings.

This card is a 1/1 that I pulled from a blaster box.

2005 Topps Heritage #138 Morgan Ensberg

Ensberg had a career year in 2005, hitting .283 with 36 home runs, 101 rbis and an All-Star berth. He was a big part of why the Astros made it to the post season in 2005. He was never able to repeat anything like that in future years. He was traded to the Padres in 2007 and then bounced around from there to the Yankees, the Indians and Rays, who released him before spring training in 2009.

2005 Topps #242 Adam Everett

Everett was a first round draft pick of the Red Sox in 1998, who never really lived up to his potential. He'd been with the Astros since 2001. He was a free agent after the 2007 season and played for the Twins, Tigers and Indians. He was released by the Indians in June last year. He's currently working in the Indians front office.

2005 Topps Cracker Jack #133 Phil Garner

Scrap Iron managed the Astros from 2004 to 2007. He led the Astros to an 89-73 record and a wild card spot in the playoffs only to lose 4 straight to the White Sox in the World Series. The Astros were 82 and 80 in 2006, missing the wild card spot by several games. The Astros replaced him in late 2007 with Cecil Cooper. They had a 58-73 record under Garner. He's currently a Special Adviser to the A's.

2005 Fleer Tradition #266 Mike Lamb

Mike mainly played first base for ailing Jeff Bagwell in 2005. A .236 average and 12 home runs were not exactly Bagwellian. He was a free agent after the 2007 season and is currently playing for the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees.

2005 Studio #133 Jason Lane

Jason, in his 4th year with the Astros was a pretty popular player in town. He also had a career year, hitting .267 with 26 home runs and playing in 145 games. He was traded to the Padres in 2007 and has been with 6 other teams since then but has not played in the majors since 2007. He last signed a major league contract with the D-Backs and made one spring training appearance in 2011 as a pitcher. He later signed with the Sugar Land Skeeters, a non-aligned minor league team playing in the Houston area.

2005 Zenith Brad Lidge

Lidge had an "up" year in 2005. He was third in saves with 42 and an ERA of 2.29. Lidge has had 2 great years in his career, 2005 and 2008 when he helped the Phillies win the World Series. He signed with the Nationals for 2012 but was released in June.


2005 Reflections #35 Roy Oswalt

Roy O was a 20 game winner for the Astros in 2005 after winning 20 games in 2004. He won 3 games in the playoffs and was the NLCS MVP. The Astros traded him to the Phillies in 2010 where he went 7-1 and helped the Phillies into post season play again. In recent years he has suffered from injuries. The Phillies did not sign him after the 2011 season. He recently signed with the Rangers. After going 4-2, the Rangers have apparently assigned him to the bullpen.

2005 Ultimate Collection #8 Andy Pettitte

Andy was 17-9 in his second of 3 years with the Astros. He was another big factor in the Astros reaching the World Series. He went back to the Yankees in 2007. After retiring after the 2010 season, he's back with the Yankees in 2012.

2005 Topps Update #83 Willie Taveras

Willie had a cup of coffee with the Astros in 2004 but played a full season in 2005. He hit .291, scored 82 runs and had 34 steals. He was runner-up to Ryan Howard for Rookie of the Year. The Astros traded him to the Rockies in December 2006 for pitcher Jason Jennings, who was a total bust for the Astros in 2007. Taveras stole 68 bases for the Rockies in 2008. Willie seems to have burned out early and hasn't played in the majors since 2010.