2015 Archives Stack

Someone's playing catch-up. Posting about last year's Archives well after I posted about this year's set. In general bloggers seem to like 2016 Archives better than previous years.

A closeup of Julio. Glad the Braves decided to hold onto this guy. Some of the text on his card is hard to read because of the Braves uniform. Same thing on the Freeman and Chipper. Nice cards otherwise. Hoping Freeman sees some better pitches to hit now that Matt Kemp is in town.

A trio of Orioles. Eddie Murray is my favorite in this row. Fancy sideburns. Gausman is turning in a pretty solid season for the Orioles, who are right in the playoff race despite a pretty poor rotation overall.

Love this card of Hahn, a former Virginia Tech Hokie pitcher. He's been in AAA Nashville for a good portion of this season, but recently had a strong start for the A's. Hopefully he gets another opportunity for some consistent starts before the end of the season. He's proven he can be a reliable starting option over the last few seasons.

I was sad to see Alex Wood traded as part of the deal to acquire Hector Olivera from the Dodgers. We saw how that played out for Atlanta. Looks like Alex Wood might be back from injury in September and used in a reliever role.

This Kershaw is probably the best card in this post. He sure has some great cards over the last few years, doesn't he?

I would like the Braves from this row if the top part of the border was red rather than purple. The Machado looks great! Both of the Braves are of course with other teams. Shelby Miller has not fared too well since leaving the Braves, making his trade look even more lopsided as of now.

I agree with the verdict that 2016 beats the 2015 version of Archives, as nice as a few of these 2015 cards look.

Bowman Chrome Card Backs

In previous posts I've ranked Topps Heritage as my top base set for 2014, and with the season coming to a close, chances are slim that Heritage will be topped. If I had to rank card backs though, 2014 Bowman Chrome would best that list.

I admit that the Orioles playoff run has led me to favor them slightly in my recent pickups over my other wants, and I think it's understandable. A recent lot of Bowman Chrome from Just Commons reflects that tendency.

The away Orioles uniforms are my favorite in baseball right now, followed by the Braves alternate navy uniforms. So that's led me to go after some team sets for this memorable O's squad. Let's start with the guys that played in the playoffs.

And the guys I wish could have played against the Royals.

Now for those card backs I was referring to. Stats are nice, but graphics combined with stats are where it's at.

Maybe my favorite graphic on these card backs, the Spray Chart. Look at all those arrows for Chris Davis, showing all 53 of his HRs from 2013. Looks like the most went to right center.

Schoop, being a rookie, gets minor league organizational ranks, stats compared the average, and some 'insight', which is a random stat. So this card back would suggest that Schoop has some power despite batting near the bottom of the O's order this season.

And for Machado we see how he hit against left and right handers in 2013. Look at those averages up and in!

While I've been focusing on Orioles lately, I'm still picking up non-Orioles that fit in my Braves and player collections. Really excited to see what Alex Wood will do in 2015.

Freeman basically feasted on right handed pitching in 2013 based on the right graphic.

And my second favorite back behind the HR spray chart, the strikeout chart for Kershaw. Look at all those swinging strikeouts against the curve.

Very impressed with these card backs, and the fronts aren't bad either. This moves Bowman Chrome into 2nd on my 2014 set rankings. Here's the top 5...

1. Topps Heritage
2. Bowman Chrome
3. Gypsy Queen
4. Allen & Ginter
5. Topps Chrome

I moved Ginter above Topps Chrome after getting a lot of Ginter in recently.

NBA season starts tonight, coinciding with the potential World Series clinching game, and although the NBA kickoff may not excite too many of you out there in the baseball card realm, it's one of my favorite times of year. I am expecting the excitement to wear off fairly quick this year, as it looks like the Pacers will be mediocre this season. Good luck to whoever you're cheering for tonight, whether it be baseball or basketball!

Now Collecting- Alex Wood

The Braves have somewhat righted the ship after a slump that put them 7 games behind the Nationals in the AL East and several games out in the wildcard hunt.  One of the reasons for them remaining in playoff contention has been 23 year old starting pitcher Alex Wood.  Wood is 10-10 with a 2.92 era for the season.  In his most recent start he struck out 12 Marlins in 8 innings, scattering 5 hits and not walking a batter.  You could argue Wood may be the long-term ace of the staff.  Add in the fact that Wood is from Charlotte, NC where I spent 5 recent years of my life and he's also a lefty, and you've got a player I want to collect.  I picked up a small lot of his cards off Just Commons to start off the collection.

A few rookies from 2013.  Apparently these two Chrome cards are from different sets, Bowman Chrome and Bowman Chrome Draft, but you could have fooled me.  They do have different color backs which I guess would make them easier to identify.

I enjoy a good minor league card.  It's especially neat to see minor league cards of players from teams in the South Atlantic League.  I was able to catch a game between the Rome Braves and Greenville Drive this year.  Just a few years too late to see Wood pitch there.  Also in this row, the most recent Topps design and a gold parallel.

Not the biggest fan of this year's Donruss, but for 15 cents I added it to the stack.  This year's Topps Heritage is one I will want a Braves team set from.

I noticed on the back of the Donruss card Wood is listed as throwing lefty and batting lefty.  On his Topps Heritage and 2014 Topps cards, Wood is listed as batting right handed.  Which is correct?  It appears batting right handed could be a recent development for Wood, or maybe the other cards simply have it wrong. 

A good start to the Alex Wood collection! Looking to add more, maybe cards from some minor league team sets.  I'll post my have list on my What I Collect page.