Sunday Best–October 4th, 2009

Hitters				Pitchers
Pujols	99.8	Cardinals		Greinke	88.2	KC
Mauer	89	Twins		Carpenter	69.2	Cardinals
Hanley Ramirez	80	Florida		Sabathia	58.1	Yankees
Jeter	67.6	Yankees		Lester	55.6	Red Sox
Utley	62.9	Phillies		Jimenez	50.2	Rockies
Tulowitzki	60.8	Rockies		Jered Weaver	49.5	Angels
Youkilis	52.9	Red Sox		Wolf	49.2	Dodgers
Kemp	50.4	Dodgers		Happ	47.5	Phillies
Morales	39.9	Angels		Baker	32.2	Twins

The best hitters and pitchers on each playoff team, and the best hitter and pitcher not in the playoffs, by VORP. I flipped a coin for Minnesota/Detroit and Minnesota won. I’ll rescan on Tuesday if the coin flip proves wrong.

The Angels don’t have a single hitter over 40 VORP, but they have ten over 15.

I don’t have a single card of A.J. Happ, but I rode him pretty hard as a free-talent pickup in my Roto league. I will commemorate him with a purchase from Sportlots.

The Week’s Best

The best baseball and baseball card blog articles of the week (as voted on by a panel of one):

JayBee Anama displays some hard-to-find inserts from 2k6.
Dinged Corners goes off topic, and I gotta feeling it’s gonna be good good fun.
Mark’s Ephemera decorates a man-cave.
Night Owl breaks out the blender to relieve some stretch-drive frustration.

Sunday Best–September 27th, 2009

NL PA Leaders

AL PA Leaders

National League
1	#Jimmy Rollins	PHI	697
2	*Prince Fielder	MIL	684
3	*Ryan Howard	PHI	673
4	Ryan Braun	MIL	673
5	Albert Pujols	STL	668
6	#Shane Victorino	PHI	666
7	*Chase Utley	PHI	664
8	*Andre Ethier	LAD	662
9	Ryan Zimmerman	WSN	660
American League
1	#Chone Figgins	LAA	703
2	Aaron Hill	TOR	700
3	Derek Jeter	NYY	698
4	#Mark Teixeira	NYY	686
5	Dustin Pedroia	BOS	683
6	#Brian Roberts	BAL	681
7	Marco Scutaro	TOR	680
8	*Nick Markakis	BAL	677
9	*Curtis Granderson	DET	669

The players with the most PA in each league. I guess the Phillies have been healthy and good all season.

Hard to believe that I don’t have a single Pedroia card. I’ll have to get one off of Sportlots.

The Week’s Best

The best baseball and baseball card blog articles of the week (as voted on by a panel of one):

PunkRockPaint delivers a whale of a pirate card.
EdS is not ashamed to re-collect a classic. Roll out the doubles, everyone.
Dinged Corners does a blaster-less review of Goodwin.
EdS breaks some 2006 Flair Showcase.
Night Owl tells the story of Frank Smith.
PunkRockPaint goes vigilante after spotting a pack searcher.
Condtion:Poor goes a little bit nuts over his first TTM success.

National League
1	#Jimmy Rollins	PHI	697
2	*Prince Fielder	MIL	684
3	*Ryan Howard	PHI	673
4	Ryan Braun	MIL	673
5	Albert Pujols	STL	668
6	#Shane Victorino	PHI	666
7	*Chase Utley	PHI	664
8	*Andre Ethier	LAD	662
9	Ryan Zimmerman	WSN	660
American League
1	#Chone Figgins	LAA	703
2	Aaron Hill	TOR	700
3	Derek Jeter	NYY	698
4	#Mark Teixeira	NYY	686
5	Dustin Pedroia	BOS	683
6	#Brian Roberts	BAL	681
7	Marco Scutaro	TOR	680
8	*Nick Markakis	BAL	677
9	*Curtis Granderson	DET	669

Sunday Best–September 20th, 2009

NL Leaders, SLG Against

AL Leaders, SLG Against

The best pitchers in each league, by SLG against.

National League
1	*Clayton Kershaw	LAD	0.287
2	Tim Lincecum	SFG	0.292
3	Chris Carpenter	STL	0.313
4	Josh Johnson	FLA	0.329
5	Ubaldo Jimenez	COL	0.331
6	Javier Vazquez	ATL	0.348
7	Adam Wainwright	STL	0.348
8	Danny Haren	ARI	0.362
9	Joel Pineiro	STL	0.363
American League
1	Felix Hernandez	SEA	0.320
2	Zack Greinke	KCR	0.341
3	Scott Feldman	TEX	0.359
4	*C.C. Sabathia	NYY	0.361
5	*Jon Lester	BOS	0.363
6	Justin Verlander	DET	0.376
7	Gavin Floyd	CHW	0.379
8	Matt Garza	TBR	0.380
9	*Cliff Lee	CLE	0.382

Jimenez and Garza and Feldman all elude me. To Sportlots I go.

The Week’s Best

The best baseball and baseball card blog articles of the week (as voted on by a panel of one):

The Other World shows us the view from AT&T Park’s upper deck.
Doc offers a great tip for a cheap way to store lots of cards.
Beardy shows off a literally priceless 1/1.
Mark’s Ephemera gives us the lowdown on ’92 Stadium Club.
Dinged Corners interviews two daughters of baseball.
Night Owl presents his All-Aught Dodgers.
A preview of 2010 SlangKo Heroes of the Diamond.
Dayf is a mad pirate genius.

National League
1	*Clayton Kershaw	LAD	0.287
2	Tim Lincecum	SFG	0.292
3	Chris Carpenter	STL	0.313
4	Josh Johnson	FLA	0.329
4	Alberto Arias	HOU	0.356
5	Ubaldo Jimenez	COL	0.331
6	Javier Vazquez	ATL	0.348
7	Adam Wainwright	STL	0.348
8	Danny Haren	ARI	0.362
9	Joel Pineiro	STL	0.363
American League
1	Felix Hernandez	SEA	0.320
2	Zack Greinke	KCR	0.341
3	Scott Feldman	TEX	0.359
4	*C.C. Sabathia	NYY	0.361
5	*Jon Lester	BOS	0.363
6	Justin Verlander	DET	0.376
7	Gavin Floyd	CHW	0.379
8	Matt Garza	TBR	0.380
9	*Cliff Lee	CLE	0.382

Sunday Best–September 13th, 2009

NL Leaders, TB

AL Leaders, TB

The sluggiest sluggers in each league so far this season, by Total Bases.

NL
1	Albert Pujols	STL	343
2	*Prince Fielder	MIL	303
3	Ryan Braun	MIL	302
4	*Ryan Howard	PHI	301
5	Hanley Ramirez	FLA	292
6	Mark Reynolds	ARI	290
7	Ryan Zimmerman	WSN	284
8	*Andre Ethier	LAD	280
9	*Adam Dunn	WSN	275
AL
1	Aaron Hill	TOR	299
2	*Robinson Cano	NYY	294
3	#Mark Teixeira	NYY	294
4	Miguel Cabrera	DET	293
5	*Adam Lind	TOR	290
6	#Kendry Morales	LAA	287
7	Evan Longoria	TBR	275
8	Michael Young	TEX	273
9	Derek Jeter	NYY	268

Pujols = Man among boys.

Mr. Morales, I will find you on Sportlots.

The Week’s Best

The best baseball and baseball card blog articles of the week (as voted on by a panel of one):

Stusigpi pays tribute to Mr Pack Searcher Guy.
Dinged Corners invents the six-cards-in-30-seconds test.
Night Owl shows us that he is no punkrockpaint.
Stusigpi exposes some eBay patch frauds.
Night Owl revisits the magic of sixth grade.
Some great hockey cards from this years UD set on Shoebox Legends.
Night Owl shows off some great horizontal cards.

Sunday Best–September 6th, 2009

The best defensive players at each position in each league according to the excellent series Diggin’ in the Defensive Dirt by Brian Joseph at Baseball Daily Digest. (Brian did not cover pitchers, so I made my own all-time selections to fill out the pages.)

	National	American
C	Yadier Molina	Gerald Laird
1B	Casey Kotchman	Paul Konerko
2B	Craig Counsell	Ian Kinsler
3B	Andy LaRoche	Joe Crede
SS	Jack Wilson	Marco Scutaro
LF	Seth Smith	David DeJesus
CF	Matt Kemp	Franklin Gutierrez
RF	Randy Winn	Nelson Cruz

I need to grab a DeJesus from Sportlots this week.

The Week’s Best

The best baseball and baseball card blog articles of the week (as voted on by a panel of one):

Night Owl appreciates Nomo cardboard.
Dayf gives a brief review of 2009 SPx.
Mario puts Icons baseball and football side by side.
Dayf gets all excited about some beat-up old card.
Thingpen shows us Larry Walker when he was yet a spry lad.
2008 A&G Card-scape breaks Adam Jones’ ankle, and gets a smeared auto for karma.
Night Owl eschews Reggie for a surprise entry into the Badass Club.
Night Owl bemoans the marriage of a certain Dodgers fan.

C	Yadier Molina	Gerald Laird
1B	Casey Kotchman	Paul Konerko
2B	Craig Counsell	Ian Kinsler
3B	Andy LaRoche	Joe Crede
SS	Jack Wilson	Marco Scutaro
LF	Seth Smith	David DeJesus
CF	Matt Kemp	Franklin Gutierrez
RF	Randy Winn	Nelson Cruz

DBacks in the Mail from Stats-on-the-Back

If you are ever fortunate enough to get an unexpected package in the mailbox and the return address reads “stats-on-the-back,” you are in for a treat. A while back I was treated to such goodness as this:

A Dback sandwich on toploader bread

With a note from Mark

And a LOT of meat

Naturally I gobbled it up. Or, rather, I unwrapped it and spread out the contents. Here is what I beheld:

A great big pile of awesome

Mark, I can’t say thanks enough for such generosity. It has been too long since I’ve just sat down with a big ol’ pile o’ dbacks and watched a ball game. I think I’ll do that right now.

Sunday Best–August 30th, 2009

NL WXRL Leaders

AL WXRL Leaders

The best relievers in each league in 2009, by WXRL.

National League
1	Ryan Franklin	SLN	4.294
2	Jonathan Broxton	LAN	4.163
3	Heath Bell	SDN	3.78
4	Huston Street	COL	3.704
5	Ramon Troncoso	LAN	3.398
6	Francisco Cordero	CIN	3.342
7	Carlos Marmol	CHN	3.244
8	Jeremy Affeldt	SFN	3.209
9	Rafael Soriano	ATL	3.121
American League
1	Mariano Rivera	NYA	5.317
2	Jonathan Papelbon	BOS	5.163
3	David Aardsma	SEA	4.673
4	Joe Nathan	MIN	4.027
5	Fernando Rodney	DET	3.898
6	Andrew Bailey	OAK	3.76
7	Matt Guerrier	MIN	3.59
8	Matt Thornton	CHA	3.511
9	Michael Wuertz	OAK	3.211

How amazing is Mariano Rivera? Normally by the time someone is considered a legend of the game, they are past their prime. Mo is still leading the big leagues. There’s HOFers, and then there’s no-doubt, first-ballot, should-be-unanimous HOFers.

I’ll be headed to Sportlots for a Thornton and a Wuertz.

The Week’s Best

The best baseball and baseball card blog articles of the week (as voted on by a panel of one):

Trader Crack takes a closer look at the 1996 Pinnacle Christie Brinkley Collection.
Dinged Corners produces a Magnum Opus on the Mets in 1983 Topps.
Jeff Lubbers discusses the implications of Magglio’s playing-time incentives.
JayBee presents the all-time Hawaiian team.
Mark’s Ephemera plays “What Would Mark Buy?”
Mmosely shows us a denizen of the old school.
Thingpen shows off the complete set of Big Unit rookie cards from 20 years ago.
Night Owl imagines the O-Pee-Chee studio scenario.

National League
1	Ryan Franklin	SLN	4.294
2	Jonathan Broxton	LAN	4.163
3	Heath Bell	SDN	3.78
4	Huston Street	COL	3.704
5	Ramon Troncoso	LAN	3.398
6	Francisco Cordero	CIN	3.342
7	Carlos Marmol	CHN	3.244
8	Jeremy Affeldt	SFN	3.209
9	Rafael Soriano	ATL	3.121
American League
1	Mariano Rivera	NYA	5.317
2	Jonathan Papelbon	BOS	5.163
3	David Aardsma	SEA	4.673
4	Joe Nathan	MIN	4.027
5	Fernando Rodney	DET	3.898
6	Andrew Bailey	OAK	3.76
7	Matt Guerrier	MIN	3.59
8	Matt Thornton	CHA	3.511
9	Michael Wuertz	OAK	3.211

Sunday Best–August 23rd, 2009

The highest paid players in each league (source).

National League

Manny Ramirez, LAD     23,854,494

Carlos Beltran, NYM      19,243,683

Carlos Lee, Hou             19,000,000

Johan Santana, NYM       18,876,139

Carlos Zambrano, Cubs     18,750,000

Barry Zito, SF                  18,500,000

Alfonso Soriano, Cubs     17,000,000

Aramis Ramirez, Cubs     16,900,000

Todd Helton, Col           16,600,000

American League

Alex Rodriguez, NYY     $33,000,000

Derek Jeter, NYY         21,600,000

Mark Teixeira, NYY      20,625,000

Magglio Ordonez, Det     18,971,596

Torii Hunter, LAA        18,000,000

Ichiro Suzuki, Sea       18,000,000

A.J. Burnett, NYY          16,500,000

CC Sabathia, NYY          15,285,714

Vladimir Guerrero, LAA     15,000,000

The Week’s Best

The best baseball and baseball card blog articles of the week (as voted on by a panel of one):

Night Owl    All-Dog Nickname Team
mmosely    Confesses His Love for Chipper (And Other Transgressions)
Trader Crack    Wonders Why the Hobby Likes Pretty Girls
Bill Baer    Analysis of Smoltz’s current effectiveness
dayf    A Great Idea for Upper Deck in ’10
Mario    Recaps old-school Pinnacle

National League

Manny Ramirez, LAD     23,854,494

Carlos Beltran, NYM      19,243,683

Carlos Lee, Hou             19,000,000

Johan Santana, NYM       18,876,139

Carlos Zambrano, Cubs     18,750,000

Barry Zito, SF                  18,500,000

Alfonso Soriano, Cubs     17,000,000

Aramis Ramirez, Cubs     16,900,000

Todd Helton, Col           16,600,000

American League

Alex Rodriguez, NYY     $33,000,000

Derek Jeter, NYY         21,600,000

Mark Teixeira, NYY      20,625,000

Magglio Ordonez, Det     18,971,596

Torii Hunter, LAA        18,000,000

Ichiro Suzuki, Sea       18,000,000

A.J. Burnett, NYY          16,500,000

CC Sabathia, NYY          15,285,714

Vladimir Guerrero, LAA     15,000,000

To The Winner Go These Spoils

Zach over at Autographed Cards was the winner of the Cali V World contest I ran on APAD. Here is the prize package I put together for him. His favorite team is the Royals and, as you know from his blog, he has a strong hankering for on-card autos. I only have one on-card in my collection (non-DBacks division), so he gets that, and a mess of Royals.

A Barmes on-card Auto and a Bo bat bit.

Some olden Royals.

Some golden Royals.

Some random Royals and a mini.

Zach, I hope you enjoy the cards. If I manage to get more than one auto of Guillermo Quiroz during the Southern league playoffs, I’ll send you one as well.

Thanks everyone for playing. I’ll be running another contest on APAD pretty soon. I hope you have as much fun with them as I do.

First Card of 2009: Topps Guillermo Quiroz

I know it’s only about seven months late for this, but here it is for posterity.

I had no idea who the guy was, but he was my First Card of the Year(tm), so I did some research. Turns out he’s a former big-time prospect from Venezuela who was derailed by injuries and didn’t quite develop a MLB-caliber bat. Okay. Good for him that he made it to a baseball card in the big leagues. He’s the kind of guy fans don’t remember, but card collectors might just fixate on. He’s my first card of the year, so he goes in my wallet for good luck.

Then Dinged Corners opens their first 2009 Topps pack, and they get a GOLD Quiroz. Sweet ladies that they are, they send it to me just for the asking.

A month later I open a Target Throwback blaster, and I get the retro version of the Quiroz. Sweet. Now if I ever see the guy in person I have a non-glossy card that I can get signed. Fat chance of that happening.

I find out a bit later that Q was actually playing for West Tennessee in the Southern League early this season. By the time I found out, I had already missed the Diamond Jaxx series in Birmingham. In late May he was called up to the Mariners for a spell. He played in 4 games and got 4 hits in 15 AB. He’s back down in AA now, where he’s hit .248/.303/.411 with 4 HR in 41 games. If I get lucky, West Tennessee will win the North Division race in the second half and have a playoff series against my Barons. If that happens, I may be the only fan all year long that begs Quiroz for an auto or three and actually knows who he is.

Also, if anyone has the blackout version or the black-bordered version or the silk version or the banana peel version or whatever other versions Topps put out this year, hit me up for a trade.