April Pickups

[t206blogcom]

[CW]

Old player, new card.

[ALR-bishop]

And a great item Chuck

[CW]

Thanks, Al. Hope to pick up a bold Mantle from that issue someday...

[t206blogcom]

[the 'stache]

I've gotten a couple really nice cards in the last few days.

Two raw, the Kemp being the one I've wanted for a while now:



And three graded, though I'm going to have to try and clean the slabs. They're a little scratched up, and not making for good scans.



That Miller took six months to get. There are only 8 Beckett Graded 9.5 base autos, and that's one of only two with all 9.5 subs. I'm very happy to have it!

[chaddurbin]

nice kemp, altho following the team closely i've held off buying his card because imo his power hasn't recovered and he's due for a down year

[the 'stache]

Nice autos, Quan. In person, or ttm?

I've been watching Matt, and ya, he is struggling. I think he'll rebound at some point, and his power will return. And I figured knowing that, best for me to buy it at a price a little lower than normal. It's a gradable card, so I said what the hell.

[the 'stache]

It's a coincidence that we're talking about Kemp with that Eric Davis card. Davis is the closest recent player I can think of with the same skill set (save for Bonds). He was a great fielder, fast as hell, and he could destroy the ball. 27 home runs (in 415 at bats), and 80 stolen bases in the same season is...mind boggling. Then he hit 37 bombs, drove in 100 (in 474 AB's), hit .293, scored 120 times, and stole 50 bases, while winning the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove. Yet he only finished 9th in the MVP.

If he'd been healthy later in his career, there's no telling what his numbers could have been. 282 home runs and 349 stolen bases is still pretty impressive in only 1626 games.

[chaddurbin]

davis was a signing, boggs ttm.

eric davis or darryl strawberry same skill set. being a dodgers fan i was elated when they were reunited in la in the early 90's...just too bad their enormous potential went unfulfilled because of injuries and in strawberry's case drug problem. i'm often frustrated with kemp also because i expect so much from him.

the kemp has a strong auto for the card. i often see this card with a faded auto, and that's always a turnoff.

[chaddurbin]

i participated in a profar signing. in the end it costed me about $45 between the refractor card/sig. i could've bought the base certified one for $80-$90 but where's the fun in that? plus here i got a big sig.

i do think taveras will probably have a more distinguished career between these 2 "can't miss" prospects.