#199: 2001 UD Minors Centennial Game Bat

I forgot I had this card incoming.  There was a seller who wouldn’t ship to Canada, so this one had an extra stop to make at a friend’s place before it made its way up here.  This is also a bit of a story about an awesome near-miss for what could have been my 200th Hamilton card.

First up, though – #199.  UD has its flaws, but design is usually not one of them.  2001 UD Minors Centennial was no exception.  The bat segment is nicely designed, calling to mind stadium bunting, and the black and white photo really works on this card.  It would look even more amazing with a nice autograph in blue Sharpie over the photo, but beggers can’t be choosers.  This card has been on my want list for a while, but I just didn’t get around to pulling the trigger (through an American based proxy) until now.

But that wasn’t all.  There was a bonus included with the auction.  Its scanned below.

No, my scanner is not on the fritz.  The bonus was five Brad Cresse bat cards out of the same set.  I’m not sure what exactly I will do with five Brad Cresse bat cards, but hopefully I can think of something.  I was checking out SportsCollectors.net, and it looks like he is a fairly reliable TTM signer.  I might send one out to test my theory that these cards would look awesome autographed.  If anyone wants one, drop me a note.  If Brad Cresses happens to google himself and stumble upon this, please drop me a note.

Now that the business of card #199 is out of the way, I’m going to move on to the near miss story about #200.  There was a very reasonable BIN for another card in this set.  It was a Hamilton GU bat paired with a Joe DiMaggio game used jersey.  I must admit, I never thought I’d be in a position to own a piece of Joe DiMaggio GU jersey, but the opportunity presented itself.   This was another one of those ‘won’t ship to Canada’ auctions, and when the card showed up at its temporary US home, it was badly creased around the jersey swatch.  I was sad.  😦  I’m not a giant stickler for condition on corners and edges, but surface damage really sticks in my craw.  I would have been annoyed every time I looked at it.  It went back to the seller for a refund.   So, I am still looking for card #200, and I still don’t have a Joe DiMaggio jersey card.  The highs and lows of card collecting.

Should he stay or should he go?

In center field, that is.  A few days ago, Texas Rangers president Nolan Ryan said that Josh Hamilton ” has got to go to right [field].”  OK.  I can see that as an option.  His reasoning seemed weird to me though:  “He’s too big to be a center fielder. It’s too demanding on him.”  Interesting.  Hamilton is a big guy – he looks more at home standing beside a first baseman than most MLB centerfielders, but he doesn’t really move like a guy who weighs 240 lbs.  He showed definite signs of wear last season at points, but with the pace he put up in his first full season in the majors, he might have worn down playing just about anywhere.

And now, Rangers GM Jon Daniels says the plan for Hamilton is staying basically the same.  He’ll be the team’s center fielder, and when he needs a bit of a break, he’ll head out to right or get a few games as the team’s DH.  We’ll see how many more times his position changes before spring training.