Happy Halloween!

Carved this Redskins pumpkin up a few years ago, Thought I would share it for Halloween.

Congrats to some former Rockies

As a Giants hater this World Series was pretty painful to watch, but there were two things that make me feel a little better about the Tigers losing. The first is my general dislike of Prince Fielder, I'm just not a fan of the guy, and second being Marco Scutaro winning a ring. Scutaro only played in 95 games for the Rockies and was a below average hitter over that time, but he always had professional at bats and played solid defense and converted me into a Scutaro fan. I am still a little disappointed that the Rockies traded Scutaro for next to nothing, basically giving him to a division rival to make a championship run, but that is not Scutaro's fault and he should not be blamed for ineptitude of the Rockies front office. A couple other former Rockies picked up their second World Series rings with the Giants, Javier Lopez pitched for Colorado from 2003 to April of 2005, going 4-1 with a 3.70 ERA and one save over 75 games as a rookie in 2003. Jeremy Affeldt spent the last half of 2006 and all of 2007 with the Rockies, going 4-3 with a 3.51 ERA over 75 games in 2007, helping Colorado to the 2007 World Series.

Custom Card: 1969-70 Topps Hockey Ivan Boldirev

A custom in style of "Cards that Never Were" we have a 1969-70 Topps Ivan Boldirev. A name that I had not heard of until recently looking back on the 1970's Bruins Cup winning teams, a player than not only has his name on the Stanley Cup, but went on to have a fairly impressive NHL career.

Born in Yugoslavia in 1949, Ivan Boldirev's family emigrated to Canada in 1951. Like any other kid in this country he found hockey and would be drafted by the Boston Bruins, 11th overall, in 1969. The NHL was a 14 team league at that time and the Bruins were a strong and deep team making it hard to crack the roster. After spending all of 1969-70 with the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central League, Boldirev was called up as a spare body for the 1970 playoffs, and despite never playing in an NHL regular season  or playoff game, his name was engraved on the Stanley Cup, as far as I can tell becoming the only non-goalie to appear on the Cup before playing in an NHL game. He would eventually make his NHL debut in 1970-71 playing in 2 games for the Bruins, then in 11 more in 1971-72 before being traded to the California Golden Seals mid-season. In 1974-75 he would play in his first playoffs, with the Blackhawks, 6 seasons after being immortalized on hockey's Holy Grail. For his career he would play in 1,052 games, scoring 361 goals with 866 points playing for the Bruins, Golden Seals, Blackhawks, Flames, Canucks, and Red Wings. He scored at least 20 goals for 9 straight seasons and reached a career high 35 three times.

Tim Thomas: Bruins Stanley Cup Auto

2011-12 Panini Dominion Stanley Cup Championship Signatures

 NHL Hockey is currently on hold, but this project is not. I paid more for this that I wanted to and blew most of my October card budget on this card, but on receiving it, I am very happy with it. A super thick high end card with an on card auto picturing a bearded Tim Thomas holding the cup above his head. Thomas recently flaked out and is taking a year off, a decision that has been kind of a moot point with the lockout, but he will forever remembered for leading the Bruins to a Championship and becoming the second American to win the Conn Smythe, and for this save
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVY0qixzie8

2012 Bowman Chrome Rockies Prospects

Another Bowman release, another wave of prospect cards that most people have never heard of. I follow the Rockies farm system fairly closely, but some of these guys are new to me, or never stuck in my mind. I am usually excited for obscure Rockies, but these airbrushed prospect cards don't do much for me personally, at least until a few years from now if any of these guys make it to Denver.  I largely find Bowman Chrome to be a waste of time and will wait for Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects to get excited about a Bowman product. Five of the six Rockies players played for the Asheville Tourists who won the Class A South Atlantic League title this season, with one player from the High A Modesto Nuts. The following is a small profile on each in case anyone cares and to give myself a little info on some potential future Rockies. All links go to Baseball Reference.

Ben Alsup - Drafted by the Rockies in the 18th round of the 2011 amateur draft. The second year pro finished his first season with the Ashville Tourists (Class A) with an impressive 14-5 record with a 3.63 ERA. Low walk totals (2.7/9 innings) with mediocre strikeout numbers (5.2/9 innings). Alsup threw a complete game one-hitter against the Charleston RiverDogs with August, carrying a no-hitter into the 7th inning. Looks to be a solid innings eater (6.5 innings per start average) who pitches to contact and doesn't walk many.

A Royaly Random Trade

Another Zistle based trade, this time with fellow blogger Royals and Randoms. He wanted my Billy Butler 2012 Gypsy Queen Relic card and while I am hesitant to trade away GQ cards, this is my second trade with Josh and I know he will appreciate it much more than I will, so into the post it went along with assorted Royals and randoms. Coming my way was the usual Rockies including catcher Charles Johnson, some obscures from Topps Total and a couple 2003 Fleer Authentix that I really like, along with and few randoms, how sweet is that 1987 Franco card and Dante Bichette looking weird in a Reds jersey. I always liked Glavine as a kid, and something I recently realized I was missing was a Tom Glavine rookie card, this trade remedied that with a 1988 Donruss Glavine. For set needs, one more card knocked off the 2011 Gypsy Queen want list, and 15 cards from 1992 Pinnacle bringing me to within 26 cards of the series 1 set and finishing off the first page in the binder with card #7 Willie McGee. As an extra he threw in a Rockies program, I have a few of these from pilgrimages to Coors Field, but nothing from this season so it's greatly appreciated. As always, thanks for the great trade.

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The Jim Tracy Era Ends

Possibly lost in the excitement of playoff baseball this weekend, the fifth manger in Rockies history, Jim Tracy, resigned after Colorado put up the most losses in franchise history. Being a regular guy with a regular job, I never feel good about someone losing their job, but it was time for Tracy to move on, and I am glad he realized this on his own.

The Jim Tracy era started on a high, taking over for Clint Hurdle after 46 games in 2009, Tracy led the Rockies to a 74-42 record, reaching the playoff via the Wildcard. I personally started to sour on Tracy in 2010, after dropping to 11 games back in August, Colorado rallied and were only 1 game back on September 18th. The Rockies would then lose 13 of 14 games and finish 9 games back. Tracy rode staff ace Ubaldo Jimenez hard that season with 221 2/3 innings and while Jimenez responded with third place finish in the Cy Young voting and a 19-8 record, Jimenez has never been the same after going 19-30 with a 5.03 ERA after that season.

Custom Card: 1971 Topps Bryce Harper (All Aboard the Nat's Bandwagon)

The Rockies are mercifully done the abyss that was 2012 today, so no more watching the Tulsa Drillers and Colorado Springs Sky Sox rosters playing in Rockies uniforms. As an old Expos fan I am officially jumping on the Nationals playoff bandwagon. It's not much of a stretch as at work I listen to Washington radio for Redskins updates so I have followed the Nats for a few seasons now. So now it is officially time to take the Larry Walker powder blue Expos uni out of the closet and hope my presence on the bandwagon does not jinx the Natspos.

All credit for the photo used in this custom goes to www.photoshopsports.com

2012 Update Rockies Team Set

I might be a little weird, but I am alright with that. As a team collector and fan of obscure players on Rockies cards the Topps Update set is the highlight of card collecting calender for me. I am the kind of collector that get more excited about Matt Belisle getting a base card than collecting stars like Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez or Todd Helton. My breakdown of the 2012 Update Rockies team set is as follows:

eBay Mailday: 2011 GQ SP's

Nothing overly exciting, but I am posting it anyway in the interest of keeping this blog updated. More cards in my quest for the 2011 Gypsy Queen set, this time it's 17 short prints, 13 of which I needed giving me 27 of the 50 in the set. I ended up paying 50 cents a piece for these shipped, which is a good deal with two of the #316 Lou Gehrig cards which are currently $6.00 on COMC and a Rockie I didn't have yet in Dexter Fowler.

 My full 2011 Gypsy Queen wants and tradelist here.