Curtis Granderson Tees Off in Tiger Stadium West

Last night, with The Ballpark at Arlington's Tiger Stadium-esque right field, Curtis Granderson performed like the Tigers mashers of old.

2009 Bowman #26 Curtis Granderson Gold

2009 Bowman #26 Curtis Granderson Blue (#003/500)

He hit a Home Run to lead-off the game in the first inning. Then he followed it up with a 2-run shot in the second.

2009 Topps #CBR-CG Curtis Granderson "Career Best" Silver (#08/99)

Those two home runs tie his career best for most home runs in a game, something that he had only done one other time.

The most interesting note actually came after the first home run. According to John Lowe over at the Detroit Free Press, the leadoff home run was Granderson's 20th of his career. This puts him second on the All Time list for Detroit Tigers leadoff home runs. Second! This is only Granderson's 4th full season! The only man in front of him is none other than this guy:

That's some pretty select company, considering that Lou played for the Tigers for 17 full seasons and was on the hall of fame ballot (and was inexplicably snubbed by not staying on the ballot after his first year). How many leadoff home runs did Sweet Lou have? 23. That's only three more than Granderson has in his 4th season! Pretty impressive if you ask me, or can read into what excessive bolding of words in this post implies.

All of this happened in a game in which Justin Verlander also tied his career high for strikeouts in a game with 13. I'll bet he was pretty pleased about that.

2007 Goudey #286 Justin Verlander "Heads Up"

Yep.

All of these cards (except the Whitaker) are recent and previously unposted-about acquisitions that seemed perfectly appropriate to showcase after last night's game.

This Just In: A sticker autograph I'm okay with

A very brief lunchtime post here.

I had trouble deciding whether I was going to include this card in my Granderson collection or in my Topps Tigers Team set collection. Right now it's in the Granderson box, but we'll see if it stays that way. Either way, my internal battle is no reason to keep the card from the public eye:

2009 Topps #BCA-CG Curtis Granderson WBC Autograph

Yes it is a sticker autograph. No, I don't care. Who can resist a Granderson card in a Team USA jersey? Not I, apparently. For the moment this is a unique item in the collection for that reason alone. Of course, that can all change in a wink, especially with Updates & Highlights giving us a dose of WBC Dual and Triple relics this fall. Count me in. Anything to prevent another plain white jersey swatch.

This Just In: Bonjour, Curtís

Ok fine, the new O-Pee-Chee cards aren't just french versions of Topps cards anymore, relax. However, they are (sometimes) really nice. I've battled over whether to pick up an OPC Tigers team set this year. It's about $9 plus shipping and gives out 20 cards (there are actually 21 cards in the set, but nobody is including the Miguel Cabrera RBI leaders card) and includes a good selection of this year's team, including newbees.

Of the few O-Pee-Chee's that I have, all of the game action shots are really nice looking, but the studio portraits are less than impressive. From what I can tell, the Tigers have a disproportionate amount of studio shots which is something I'm none too enthused about. This isn't one of them though:

2009 O-Pee-Chee #331 Curtis Granderson

That there is one of the better posed baseball card shots that you will find. The cropping works well, his body is at a slight angle to make it more interesting, he isn't looking right at the camera, there is something other than a gray curtain in the background and oh, did I mention--he has the largest smile ever seen on a Curtis Granderson card? Look it up.

Not to be outdone, the black parallel counterpart checks in very highly as well. I go back and forth between which card I like better, so we'll call it a draw.

2009 O-Pee-Chee #331 Curtis Granderson Black Border

I've yet to see a mini black border or a blank back black border surface, but seeing as how they will all look the same as these cards, they're probably pretty nice.

Friday Ginterization

This has been the most exhausting and difficult week of work that I can remember in quite some time. Sadly, I've got some more to carry me into the weekend. Happily, I've now got these to carry me through - my first Allen & Ginter cards of 2009:

Let's start with the perpetual man of the hour on this blog, you might recognize him from round after round of Gint-A-Cuffs. He was worth 5 points as an SP after all.

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #332 Curtis Granderson (SP)

Next, we have Magglio, still with his Samson hair, in what may be the best pose of the set. In my pessimistic state though, I'll just assume that he's either searching for his power or watching one of his standard issue pop-ups. Boy, I really like this card though.

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #262 Magglio Ordonez

With all of the recent confusion, I thought a picture of the real Rick Porcello might be useful:

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #316 Rick Porcello RC (SP)

I'm liking these National Pride Inserts--too bad not all the WBC Tigers were included:

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #NP9 Carlos Guillen National Pride

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #NP59 Miguel Cabrera National Pride

Of course, how could I leave out the best Tiger card in the set? I'm a big A&G fan, but I'm an even bigger fan when they look like this. Wow.

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter #54 Carlos Guillen

These cards all come from a team set (w/ SPs and Inserts) that I picked up on eBay for $5.50--including shipping, which I am ecstatic about. Oh, and there was one other thing that I paid twice that much for, but was worth every penny:

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter Detroit Tigers Mini Team Set

Welcome to the weekend!

Elsewhere in Cyperspace: Topps Backlash Edition

My full thoughts on the "Topps screwed us all with this retail BS" situation are now up on the Cardboard Connection. No, it's not just me up on a soapbox.

Here's an excerpt from the full article:

By pulling what was essentially a bait and switch, Topps has screwed the whole thing up. Sure, people may buy a blaster for the novelty, but they have wrecked the set and team collectors that were looking forward to this release. It is now either financially impossible or simply too frustrating to go after these cards in their limited release and they will turn elsewhere.

In writing this, I looked back on the first article I wrote about these retail cards, back when I was excited for their release. I couldn't help but notice what now appears to be an ominous closing paragraph:

So now, with Series 2 upon us, I can’t wait for Topps to tell us which UPC codes to use this time so that the chase can begin. Somehow, through some dark magic that I will never understand, Topps has gotten me excited to collect three versions of the same basic set. Kudos. Just don’t do something tricky or secret to screw it all up. We may be idiots, but we’re not dumb.

No, we're not. Read the full article, "Topps To Collectors: Drop Dead" over at the Cardboard Connection.

Up For Trade: Alex Gordon/Billy Butler 1/1 Dual Autograph

This is the first time that I have posted an open trade offer like this, and it will likely be the last. However, something has come up.

First, my 2007 Sweet Spot Black Ink/Black Stitch 1 of 1 Alex Gordon & Billy Butler Dual Signed card has arrived from Upper Deck. My camera cord has gone MIA, but I'll get a picture of it up as soon as I can. It is this card that is up for trade.

Second, I am putting up for trade for this reason. It seems as though my dream card has become available again. There it is just sitting on eBay, waiting for me to buy it. Unfortunately, I'm a little short on that whole "money" thing. However, I do have a newly acquired asset to swap--that 1/1 mentioned above.

So here's what I'm proposing: I will trade the 1/1 Gordon Butler Dual Auto for whoever will buy me (or trade me) this card.

For the link-clicking averse, you might recognize it as this:


I'll get a picture up as soon as I can find my camera cord. The card is still in its original packaging from upper deck, but does suffer from the typical signature issues found on 2007 sweetspot. Still, it is a 1 of 1 card, of two young guys with big bats. Anybody interested in pulling this off can leave a comment or send me an email. The auction ends in 4 days. Any bloggers who feel like spreading the word are welcome to do so as well.

Ultimate Checklist: 2009 UD Icons Detroit Tigers

To be honest, I don't really care much about this set, but here's the checklist I've been able to gather so far through my typical eBay perusal:

27 Curtis Granderson
67 Justin Verlander
73 Magglio Ordonez
80 Miguel Cabrera
102 Rick Porcello
129 Ryan Perry

Porcello and Perry are Rookie cards numbered to 999. The regular base cards appear to have a silver parallel version as well. There are also a few inserts numbered to 999:

IC-JZ Joel Zumaya
IC-CA Miguel Cabrera
IC-GU Carlos Guillen

Some relics:

IC-VE Justin Verlander
IC-CA? Miguel Cabrera

An "Immortal Letterman" manufactured patch card that spells out "MR TIGER" and is numbered out of 60:

IL-AK Al Kaline

And, most interestingly, what I believe is the first Rick Porcello autograph card since he became a pro, numbered to 100:

154 Rick Porcello



Ooh! Is that signed on-card?! Do you think that Porcello noticed that he was signing a picture of Ryan Perry?


Oops. I know that it can be confusing for those poor, overtaxed card companies, but you should really strive to get the right picture of players, especially in this day and age of digital photography and especially when that player is the organization's #1 prospect.

As always, I'll flesh out this list as more information becomes available. Any updates, and the rest of the 2009 checklists can be found right here, a link to which is also provided in the sidebar.