OT: Trout vs. Mantle

[Peter_Spaeth]

The difference speaks volumes, to me. A 21 year old being paid megamilions can't even bother to sign his 9 letter name. Pathetic.

[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The difference speaks volumes, to me. A 21 year old being paid megamilions can't even bother to sign his 9 letter name. Pathetic.

You know I was just giving you a hard time. We're on the same page. Though, I don't know how much of the fault I'd lay at Trout's feet. When they had him come in to sign, he likely did the nearly 3,000 Bowman Chrome cards in one sitting. Then he had to do the Bowman Sterling and Platinum stickers, though they were probably done at a different time.

I think the most blame should be laid at the feet of the card companies. Autos sell their ridiculously expensive boxes. Something like Topps Museum, or Topps Tier 1, will cost upwards of $200 a box. And you get like 8 cards per box.

Topps owns Bowman. They are the only company with the MLB license agreement. The other card companies cannot use team logos. So Topps can print as many different sets as they want every year, and they're out of control. Per my count (and I may be missing something), Topps will have released a total of 25 different baseball lines by the end of the season. Think I'm kidding?

Sports Card Radio release calendar 2014

Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects
Bowman Sterling
Bowman Platinum
Topps Chrome
Topps Series 1 & 2
Topps Elite
Topps Museum
Topps Tier 1
Topps Heritage
Allen & Ginter
Topps Tribute
Topps Turkey Red
Gypsy Queen
Topps Opening Day
Topps MLB Chipz
Topps Pro Debut Baseball
Topps Archives Baseball
Topps Finest Baseball
Topps Heritage Minor League
Topps Supreme Baseball
Topps Update Baseball
Topps Stadium Club Baseball
Topps Dynasty Baseball
Topps High Tek Baseball
Topps Five Star Baseball

And almost all these lines will want Trout to sign. Yes, Trout signs the contract, but think of how many stupid autos he has to sign. It's ridiculous.

Remember when you collected as a kid, Peter? Remember when it was possible to do a master collection of your favorite player? You may have had only Topps. You may have had Topps, Donruss and Fleer. You may have also had Upper Deck. But each released one set. It wasn't hard to get the 4 cards for your favorite player.

Now it's next to impossible to get all the players, or even anywhere near all the players. Trout is in his third season. Know how many cards are listed on his Beckett checklist?

2,282
The number of Mike Trout cards in Beckett's database.

Good luck trying to get those, kid.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

You know I was just giving you a hard time. We're on the same page. Though, I don't know how much of the fault I'd lay at Trout's feet. When they had him come in to sign, he likely did the nearly 3,000 Bowman Chrome cards in one sitting. Then he had to do the Bowman Sterling and Platinum stickers, though they were probably done at a different time.

I think the most blame should be laid at the feet of the card companies. Autos sell their ridiculously expensive boxes. Something like Topps Museum, or Topps Tier 1, will cost upwards of $200 a box. And you get like 8 cards per box.

Topps owns Bowman. They are the only company with the MLB license agreement. The other card companies cannot use team logos. So Topps can print as many different sets as they want every year, and they're out of control. Per my count (and I may be missing something), Topps will have released a total of 25 different baseball lines by the end of the season. Think I'm kidding?

Sports Card Radio release calendar 2014

Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects
Bowman Sterling
Bowman Platinum
Topps Chrome
Topps Series 1 & 2
Topps Elite
Topps Museum
Topps Tier 1
Topps Heritage
Allen & Ginter
Topps Tribute
Topps Turkey Red
Gypsy Queen
Topps Opening Day
Topps MLB Chipz
Topps Pro Debut Baseball
Topps Archives Baseball
Topps Finest Baseball
Topps Heritage Minor League
Topps Supreme Baseball
Topps Update Baseball
Topps Stadium Club Baseball
Topps Dynasty Baseball
Topps High Tek Baseball
Topps Five Star Baseball

And almost all these lines will want Trout to sign. Yes, Trout signs the contract, but think of how many stupid autos he has to sign. It's ridiculous.

Remember when you collected as a kid, Peter? Remember when it was possible to do a master collection of your favorite player? You may have had only Topps. You may have had Topps, Donruss and Fleer. You may have also had Upper Deck. But each released one set. It wasn't hard to get the 4 cards for your favorite player.

Now it's next to impossible to get all the players, or even anywhere near all the players. Trout is in his third season. Know how many cards are listed on his Beckett checklist?

2,282
The number of Mike Trout cards in Beckett's database.

Good luck trying to get those, kid.

True Hobby Bliss ended with the 1981 issues...how appropriate there was also a players strike that year.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Bill, that is startling, truly. And I thought 2001 and the number of Pujols cards was out of control -- last time I paid any attention to the shiny stuff.

[DixieBaseball]

I have not read through all the posts, so if the facts/comparison have been posted on their careers thus far, then please pardon me if this is repeat info... I am very curious regarding the OP's post, so I went to BR for a comparison.

Trout & Mantle both started at 19 years old, so we have 4 years to look at, with Mantle having 100 more AB's at this point. (The AB's should be about even by end of season, so we can update these stats, as Trout will accrue more stats over the next 100 AB's) :

Mantle (5 ft 11 - 195 lbs):

AB's 1,894
Hits 561
Home Runs 84
RBI's 346
Runs 389
SB 25
OBP. .387
BA. .267, .311, .295, .300
SLG .443, .530, .497, .525
OPS .792, .924, .895, .933
K's 382

Trout (6'1 - 210 lbs) :

AB's 1781
Hits 547
Home Runs 92
RBI's 290
Runs 349
SB 99
OBP .372
BA. .220, .326, .323, .290
SLG .390, .564, .557, .559
OPS .672, .963, .988, .934
K's 453

- My opinion after comparing stats is these 2 players are mirrors of each other after 4 years of play. One bloated category that Trout has over Mantle is Stolen Bases, but Mantle makes up for the SB's with less K's by a reasonable margin. The remaining stat categories are about the same. Obviously Mantles legend is incredible, and we know that Trout is the best overall player in the game at present, and I have been watching ball for 35 years and have not seen a better all around player in their first 4 years. (I would put Pre-PED Bonds right behind Trout) With that being said, I will have to defer to the guys who saw Mantle play the OF on a regular basis for comparisons in the field. I know Trout is an absurd athlete who is incredible in the field, so I am guessing they are either a push in the OF or Trout is slightly better. (You weigh in...)

Final Conclusioin = We are witnessing a modern day Mickey Mantle. Both are tit for tat through 4 years. The only question for me, is can Trout do it for 10 more years?

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by DixieBaseball

Final Conclusioin = We are witnessing a modern day Mickey Mantle. Both are tit for tat through 4 years. The only question for me, is can Trout do it for 10 more years?

thru 4 years there is no comparison, trout has been the better player ainec. it's like comparing pre-juicing bonds to a ped-bonds (and bonds was pretty great pre-juice!)