Birthday Present

I trade birthday presents each year with an old friend whom I'll call BB. We're both ex-pat Philadelphians who have adopted our new city's home teams but have never lost our love of Philly teams. Our gifts are small and usually have some connection to Philly teams.  For my birthday last week, he sent me some baseball cards.

2012 Bowman Platinum Prospect Autographs David Buchanan

 Buchanan was drafted by the Phillies in the 7th round of the 2010 draft. He made is ML debut in 2014 and started 20 games, with a 6-8 record and an ERA of 3.75. Not Rookie of the Year numbers but considering how bad the Phillies were this year, not too shabby. He looks to be a part of the starting rotation next year. Buchanan cards are hard to come by. Beckett.com lists 36 cards but most of them are parallels of just 3 cards. This one, a 2012 Topps Debut card and a 2014 Topps Update. I already had the other two so now my base-card collection of David Buchanan is complete.

2013 Panini Prizm Band of Brothers Juan Castro/Jose Altuve

I'm not too interested in Jason Castro, but Jose Altuve is a 2-time All-Star in 4 years with the Astros. He's always been a good performer but this year he was outstanding. He led the league in BA (.341), hits (255) and stolen bases (56).  He's a pretty good fielder as well. The Astros have him under contract until 2019. Let's hope the team can build on Altuve.

He sent two other Altuve cards I already had.

2011 Topps Update #132

Take a close look at this card. The guy hugging Altuve seems to have his head turned completely around!

2013 Topps Chasing The Dream #23

I like this card so I don't mind having two.