Fences and a Trip to Houston.

Wow! I knew I had gotten busy this summer and slacked off the blog. I didn't realize it has been almost a month since I posted. Lots going on that ate up my posting time. In the meantime the Rangers managed to get their magic number to clinch the American League West down to two games. Looks like they might well clinch in Oakland again.

Perhaps the biggest thing I had going was a fence replacement. This last spring a portion of our back fence blew down. The neighbor and I repaired it but it was obvious the time was short before a new fence would be needed. We crunched numbers and decided to wait until September to get the project done. Out came the old fence and in went the new. At least for about 60% of my yard. Now one of the other neighbors is talking about replacing the fence between us within the next month or so. That's going to take some more time but will almost completely give me a new fence to keep the dog and kids in.

In the midst of the fence endeavor, Spiff Jr and I took a short trip down to Houston to follow the Rangers to Minute Maid Park. We watched the game on September 12th. Took some time to walk around the park before the game. It was my first time in an enclosed stadium and I wasn't really impressed. Not that there was anything just terribly wrong, Minute Maid is a nice park. I just prefer outside baseball I guess. Hopefully the Rangers new enclosed park will be left open most of the time. The other thing that struck me was that there were almost as many Rangers fans there as Astros fans. Hopefully the Rangers can avoid that problem as well. The Rangers winning the contest in extras put a great finish to the night.

Of course, we had to check out the local card shop before the game. I found the Houston Sports Connection online prior to our trip and we made it a point to get there. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't Duane's Sportscards in Arlington. The shop employees were friendly and we picked up some needed supplies. The shop was cluttered though and seemed to be focused on high-end cards and autographed memorabilia. I didn't see a single quarter box or very many common cards at all, even of the Astros. We did manage to find several game-used and autographed Rangers cards though, including the pictured 2004 Leaf Second Edition Kevin Mench auto. The prices on those weren't unreasonable but it didn't take long for Spiff Jr to run through his budget. I think he would have preferred some lower priced cards to take a look at. All things considered, if I am ever in Houston again I will probably try to stop by again.

All in all the trip was great. We had some guy time, hit a card shop, and got to a game. Can't beat that. Unfortunately the fall is just as busy as the summer was. Another fence project, Spiff Jr back to playing ball, and several other family activities could make it a challenge to keep up on the posting. I'll do my best though to stay on top of things and not be a stranger.

Random day.

Lots of random today, starting off with this random Rangers game-used 2005 Leaf Cornerstones card #CM6. The card is numbered 25/50 and supposedly features swatches from the uniforms of then Rangers Mark Teixeira and Hank Blalock. I have to admit, I do like the tri-color piece for Tex.

The Rangers have seven players who filed for arbitration. Normally Texas does not get to the hearing process with any of their players but there are one or two I might be tempted to try it with this go round. The list of Rangers filing includes Shawn Tolleson, Jurickson Profar, Jake Diekman, Tanner Scheppers, Tom Wilhelmsen, Mitch Moreland, and Robinson Chirinos.

How Profar can expect his salary to do anything other than go down is a mystery to me. Tolleson, Moreland, Diekman, and Chirinos probably deserve raises. Scheppers was pretty bad last season. Not sure how Wilhelmsen stacks up. Regardless, the Rangers will likely try hard to reach agreements with all these players before the arbitration. The last player they went to arbitration with was Lee Stevens in 2000.

Texas pitchers and catchers report on February 18th. The whole squad is due in Surprise on February 24th. Baseball is just around the proverbial corner. Wahoo! Strat-O-Matic is a great game but it doesn't really replace the real deal during the long winter months. I am ready for some baseball.

Speaking of getting ready, Spiff Jr and I are dusting off the sharpies and getting ready for Rangers FanFest 2015 on January 23rd. So far I haven't seen a listing of the players appearing but, if the past two years are any indication, it should be a great list of guys. This will be our third year going out to the ballpark for the FanFest and it's becoming a tradition. If you are planning on attending and want to meet up, let me know.

Closer than the FanFest, tomorrow actually, is the eighth anniversary of Texas Rangers Cards. I started this blog on January 15, 2008. Eight years later I'm still learning and having a great time. I enjoy every comment and all the support the readers of the blog have given over the years. Hope you will continue to hang around and I look forward to sharing more Rangers cards with you.

Random Autograph.

Well, here we are on Christmas Eve. Things are getting busy around the Spiff household and, I trust, around yours as well. Wishing you and yours a great time of fellowship and reflecting on the greatest gift of all.

No through the mail returns this week so it's time to take a look back at a random Ranger autograph. In this case it's Bobby Witt's signature on his 1996 Leaf Signature Series card. While I don't particularly care for this picture of Witt, I have always considered this set to be a nice looking one.

No big news on the off-season front either for the past couple of days. Looks like Kansas City may be losing the Alex Gordon negotiations. Hard to predict those things though, they may end up hugging and making up. Look for things to heat up news-wise after Christmas as the clubs try to address their roster needs and the players look to avoid being the last free agent off the bus.

AS break doldrums.

You know, some years the All-Star game is something I find intensely interesting. Other years, not so much. The Rangers being in contention or not doesn't seem to have much to do with it. This year was an off year. I voted and tried to get the anticipation going but just couldn't do it. Didn't even listen to the game, just looked up the score the next day. I'm ready for the regular season to resume.

Decided to post this 1996 Leaf Signature Series autograph card of Roger Pavlik today. As I said last week, this is a great set. About the only thing I would change might be the location of the logo, everything else is perfect. Of course, you can't beat an on-card autograph either. Not sure who all I am missing from the set but this is one of the few autograph sets I am actively trying to get the entire Rangers team set of. Let me know if you have any and I'll see if I need them. Maybe we can work a trade.

I got nothin'.

I got nothing. It's been a long week of Rangers losses and a sinus infection while working nights. Not much to comment on in those areas.

Going to leave you with this 1996 Leaf Signature Series autograph of former Ranger Damon Buford. This is a great set with the on-card autographs.

Quick auto.

Have a short turn around for work today due to not getting off until 0300 this morning. Not much time to pick a card or topic.

As a result we have Benji Gil on his 1996 Leaf Signature Series card. Why? Just because.

Hope everyone got their taxes in and is enjoying the young baseball season.

Looking for luck.

Trying to give the Rangers some good vibes today with a signed 1996 Leaf Authentic Signature card of former Ranger Dave Valle. With the injury to Yu Darvish, the Rangers need all the help they can get. Could be a really long season if things don't break Texas' way.

I figured Valle was a good card for such a mission. Dave wasn't a starting catcher on one of the Rangers early division winning teams but he was a glue guy for them. One of the players who helped hold things together by doing the little things and working hard. Here's to hoping the Rangers have a Dave Valle, or two, this season.

The Hiatus is over.

Arriving in the mail last Thursday were two packages of cards. I already reviewed the first package from reader John H. Today it's time to take a look at the second package. This one was from Tony over at Off Hiatus Baseball Cards.

Tony sent 34 Rangers cards and batted 1.000 with all the cards hitting holes on my Rangers wantlists. The selection of cards was great with recent Topps Heritage cards along with some older, more difficult to find cards. One of the latter was this 1987 Leaf #7 card of former Ranger Charlie Hough. It doesn't say Leaf of the front like the rest of the set but Charlie is listed on the back as a Lanceur. The back blurb is also printed twice - once in English and once in French. Great card. There was at least one more old time Leaf card and one 1987 O-Pee-Chee card in the package along with a SportFlics card I needed. Can't beat that.

Thanks a ton for the cards Tony! I really appreciated the care you took in assembling the package. If anyone out there hasn't checked out Off Hiatus Baseball Cards you should head right on over and take a look.

Random Rangers auto.

Well, the holidays are officially over for the Spiff household. For work reasons my side of the extended family normally gets together after the first of the year. This year was no different. We all had a good time and the last of the family took off for home on Tuesday. Now it's time for the task of getting back into the every day groove. Hope to start getting some free card packages sent out soon.

In spite of all the family activity, there hasn't been much going on for the Rangers. The FanFest is rapidly approaching and Spiff Jr and I have our tickets. Other than that it's been pretty quiet.

Since I don't have much specific to write about I'm going to post a random Ranger autograph. Today we have this 1996 Leaf Authentic Signatures card of Mark McLemore. I like this set. Nice clean design and on card signatures.

1996 Leaf Authentic Signatures - McLemore

1996 Leaf Authentic Signatures - McLemore

Early off-season.

The off-season is trading time. All the teams engage in wheeling and dealing. I know, the off-season doesn't officially start until the World Series is over but we're close enough. I haven't had a trade in awhile and would like to remedy that. Of particular interest would be Rangers game-used and autographs I don't have. They don't have to be stars, ones like this 1996 Leaf Authentic Signatures card of Matt Whiteside would be fine. This section of my collection is a bit thin and I'd like to bulk it up a bit.

Of course, I'm also still trying to knock out the Rangers base team sets. I'm always interested in trading for any cards off my wantlist. Senators are welcome too, especially off the Washington wantlist. I'd even consider a blind team lot trade, if anyone is interested.

Other than the Rangers, I occasionally pick up cards of Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and Stan Musial. I'd also consider any Royals parallels or inserts. Mark the Royals fan has most of the base cards already so it doesn't do me much good to pick them up. Of course, if you have anything of Jon Matlack from the Matlack wantlist be sure and let me know.

I've been slowly revamping my tradelist so if you see anything there you might be interested in, now is the time to speak up. Some of the cards listed will be disappearing in the coming weeks. I'd like to trade base for base, vintage for vintage, inserts for inserts, etc. but if you make an offer I'll listen. I'll even look through your tradelist if you see something off mine you like. I also have some Ivan Rodriguez memorabilia not listed on the trade list that I'd like to get traded to a good home so let me know if that catches your interest.

Well, that's my attempt to kick the hot stove season off to an early start. Let me know if we can work a deal.

Pre-LCS musings.

No playoff games yesterday or today thanks to sweeps and 3-1 wins in the Division Championship Series. The Royals, Orioles, Cardinals, and Giants waiting the kick-off of the ALCS tomorrow and the NLCS the day after.

Since I really don't have any game-used cards relating to the playoffs I decided to go with this 2003 Leaf Hard Hats card of Ivan Rodriguez. It's numbered 18/100. What's really interesting about it is that it has a bit of one of Pudge's batting helmets embedded in it. I don't think I've ever seen another card with a piece of a batting helmet in it. Makes it pretty unique in my opinion and one of my favorite game-used cards.

As far as favorites in the LCS, the NLCS is easy, Cards. I know a lot of Rangers fans hold 2011 against St Louis but I don't. The Rangers beat themselves in that series. Besides, the Cards were my backup team before that and still are. Mostly due to my grandfather being a Redbird fan before the Rangers moved to Texas and my Dad being a big fan of the 1960's St Louis teams. Besides, Brian Sabean, weed, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, and It Gets Better have overcome any soft spot Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Willie Mays, and Will Clark might have created for the Giants. Really hoping to see the Cards win it with a sweep.

The ALCS is a bit harder. Both the Orioles and the Royals have been out of the World Series for a long time. Both have compelling stories. The Orioles have been able to overcome the richest division in baseball and that's worth something. I rooted for the Royals in 1985 though, the first World Series I remember watching. Of course my Dad and Grandfather were pulling for the Cardinals. I was living in Kansas though and the excitement of the home team coupled with Jim Sundberg being on the team won out. Those memories have some sway and I really don't have that kind of connection with the O's. Sorry Baltimore, going to have to root for KC in this one.

However it turns out, the series both have the potential to be great. I would like to see a re-creation of the 1985 I-70 series but any match-up that doesn't include the Giants would work. Of course, if the Giants make it I'll have a clear favorite to win.

Trading autos.

A short while back I was looking at some of my regular favorites in the blogging world and clicking on links they had posted to various other blogs. One such blog I discovered was LV's TTM Autographs and Baseball Cards.

Laurie regularly posts TTM successes and trades over at LV's, mostly highlighted by autographed cards. She's also a big Cubs and Royals fan. I had a few Cubs TTM autos on my tradelist that nobody ever bit on so I left her a comment offering to work a deal. Laurie emailed me right back and we got a trade worked out - three for three. I picked up two autos of Dean Palmer, including this signed 1992 Leaf card, and one of Matt Harrison.

Laurie worked quickly to finalize out deal and packaged the cards well for shipment. I'm pleased with the trade and would recommend her to anyone else looking to trade signed or unsigned cards. Thanks again for the trade Laurie!

Ups and downs.

Got a random auto for you today with this 1996 Leaf Authentic Signature card of former Rangers pitcher Kevin Gross.

Well, it's been a week of contrasts. Last weekend the family and I went up to Branson, Missouri to celebrate my sister's graduation from The College of The Ozarks with her degree in nursing. She starts her first job as a registered nurse on June 1st. That was great. The whole family got together for the first time in years. We always enjoy it but there are quite a few of us so it doesn't happen often. Kind of a watershed as well. My sister is the youngest of my siblings and the last to graduate. Probably no more college graduations until Spiff Jr gets there.

While I was off in Missouri having a good time, the wheels were coming off for the Rangers. They are now at a game under .500, in fourth place, and well behind the front-running A's. There's not a lot of light at the end of the tunnel either. The injury bug is chewing this team up.

Pitcher Pedro Figueroa underwent Tommy John surgery on April 30th so he's gone for the season. Kevin Kouzmanoff is recovering from back surgery earlier this month. Donnie Murphy hit the Disabled List with a neck strain on the 8th. Yesterday came the most crushing blows. Martin Perez has a partially torn UCL in his left elbow. He may be looking at Tommy John surgery. Even if he isn't, he won't be back anytime soon. Matt Harrison left Tuesday's game with back pain and the outlook isn't good. It seems highly likely that he will need back surgery again. This time a spinal fusion that could end his career all together.

Needless to say, the injuries put a real damper on the season. The rest of the schedule could be a real long road. With the entire rotation except Yu Darvish being sidelined, the outlook is pretty grim. As Eric Nadel said during last night's game, the Ranger ship is listing 20 degrees to port and taking on water.

Young, Berkman hang up the spikes.

Michael Young, shown here on card 110 of the 2005 Leaf Century Collection, is slated to meet with the press this afternoon. The press conference will take place at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and Young will appear as a member of the Texas Rangers. He will be announcing his retirement from Major League Baseball as an active player. After 14 MLB seasons Michael is hanging up the spikes.

Young spent all but one season of his career with the Rangers. He reportedly had contract offers from the Dodgers and Brewers on the table should he have wanted to continue playing. Apparently he decided it was time to go.

Michael was a workhorse for the Rangers. Since becoming a full-time player in 2001 he averaged 151 games a year for the club. He played through injuries and won fan hearts with an early career position move to accommodate prima donna Alfonso Soriano. Unfortunately he later became that prima donna himself and cried considerably over switching positions late in his career. Part of that crying was to publicly ask for a trade. It took a season or two but Texas obliged by trading him before the 2013 season. If it hadn't been for Michael's complaints, he likely would have played his final season for Texas. Even while complaining Young kept up his work ethic, making successful switches to third base and then to an everyday utility player.

Young retires with a career .300 batting average and .346 on-base percentage. He has 1137 runs scored, 1030 RBI, 441 doubles, 60 triples, 185 home runs, and 90 stolen bases to his credit. He's been an All-Star seven times, won the All-Star MVP once, the American League batting title in 2005, and was awarded one Gold Glove. He leads the Rangers for all-time numbers in most offensive categories.

Truly an impressive career. Hall of Fame? Maybe, the voters will decide in five years.

Yesterday former Ranger Lance Berkman also announced his retirement as a player. Berkman played 15 seasons in The Majors but just one with Texas. His retirement is not a surprise since he battled through the last part of last season with injuries and talked about hanging it up. Since he spent the majority of his career with other teams I'm going to skip the recap of his career. Lance is another player who will get Hall of Fame consideration but might be on the bubble.

Decisions: Final Installment.

Time to close out TR Sullivan's list of the top 50 decisions that made the Rangers who and what they are today. Kind of a big chunk to finish things off but I couldn't get the list to end evenly so here it is:

#43. Band-aiding the Stadium - Arlington Stadium was originally a minor league park. When the Senators moved to Texas the capacity was hastily expanded from 20,000 to 35,000. The Rangers spent the next 20 years trying to fix it. It ended up looking like a child's Play-Doh creation.

#44. Charlie Hough - Purchased on the cheap from the Dodgers in 1980, he went from reliever to starter to ace of the staff. Charlie, shown here on a signed 1988 Leaf card, was the heart and soul of the Rangers pitching staff for a decade.

#45. Opportunity lost - Jim Sundberg rejected a 1982 trade that would have sent him to the Dodgers for Orel Hershiser, Dave Stewart, and others. That same year the Rangers traded pitchers Walt Terrell and Ron Darling to the Mets for Lee Mazzilli. Think about the pitching staff they could have had if the first trade went and the second fell through.

#46. Short to Corbett - Brad Corbett bought the team from Bob Short in 1974 but couldn't keep his hands off. The Rangers ended up running in circles during his time as owner.

#47. Denny McLain - Ted Williams advised against the trade that sent Ed Brinkman, Aurelio Rodriguez, and Joe Coleman to Detroit in exchange for a washed-up Denny McLain. He was right. The three were front-line players for Detroit's division title team in 1972 while the Rangers were getting hammered.

#48. Big Broadcasting - In 1981 the Rangers started broadcasting on cable television for the first time because of the leadership of Merle Harmon. In 1982 Mark Holtz and Eric Nadel were paired together on radio for the first time.

#49. Frank Howard - The Senators sent Claude Osteen to the Dodgers on December 4, 1964 as part of a deal for Frank Howard. Hondo would become the marquee player for the Senators.

#50. Sundberg/Hargrove - Each had just one year of minor league experience when manager Billy Martin kept them on the Opening Day roster for 1974. Those were two of the key moves that sparked the Rangers turnaround season that year.

Here we are at the end of Sullivan's list. Some of it I disagreed with and some I had never heard of. Most of it was spot on. I hope you enjoyed the series.

Sizing up the swoon.

Not much to report today so I'm going to go with this 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Statistical Standouts game-used card of Ivan Rodriguez. Been awhile since I posted a game-used card. This has to be one of the odder game-used cards in my collection, a piece of an on-deck circle. Not exactly sure how that relates to a single player but there it is.

The Rangers June swoon continued with another loss last night to the Indians at home. The A's are now a full game ahead and showing no sign of slowing down. Is it time to hit the panic button? Time or not there are some who are hitting it. I'm not inclined to just yet.

Several reasons why I am not in despair mode. First is that it is still early in the season. We aren't even to the All-Star break. It is conceivable the Rangers will be back in first and might even have a game or two lead by the break. They will need to take advantage of the A's being here for four games and the last series before the break against the Astros.

Second reason is the return of some injured players. The last time Texas had their full roster available was in Spring Training. Ian Kinsler should be back by the end of this week and Mitch Moreland is healing up nicely. Matt Harrison started a throwing program. He is still looking at September but at least he's making progress. Now to get Colby Lewis back on track. If some of these guys can come off the disabled list and make an impact the team could start streaking.

Third is that you can't figure the offense will be down forever. Lance Berkman could be done (it's doubtful, but it could be). A.J. Pierzynski, Adrian Beltre, David Muprhy, and Nelson Cruz aren't and should be able to locate their bats again soon.

Fourth reason is that while the offense has been struggling of late, the pitching seems to still be on track. Subtract Michael Kirkman's performances and a couple of recent rough starts and the staff is still dominant. That will keep the team in games late and give the scuffling offense chances to break out.

So it's not time to panic. Yet. That time is on the horizon though and could be closer than it appears if some things don't change soon.

2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars Statistical Standouts #SS-3 - See more at: http://s50.photobucket.com/user/Spiff45/media/Rangers%20GU%20and%20Autos/2001LeafRookiesandStars.jpg.html?sort=6&o=18#sthash.GoAHOFik.dpuf

One of those days...

It's one of those days. The Rangers lost to the White Sox last night. It's a game they should have won.

Overnight the temps dropped from the 80's to the 40's. Supposed to get into the 30's tonight. That could cool off the offense and increases the risk of injury.

On the injury front it's more of the same. Matt Harrison's back surgery seemed to be working. Yesterday the team announced he would be needing a second surgery because his disc herniated again. Looking at an August return now if he makes it back this season at all. Of course with his back appearing to continue to break down, his long-term future now comes into question.

Meanwhile in Triple A Mike Olt is on the sidelines. Olt finally told the club he has been having vision problems. Not sure yet what the problem is but tests are being run.

Ok, time to get things back on track. Jake Peavy for the Palehose tonight and Jason Grimm for the home team. Hopefully this 1996 Leaf Signature Series auto from former Ranger great Rusty Greer will bring the guys some luck.

Best Seasons: Rodriguez - 1999.

Number seven on T.R.'s list of best seasons is Ivan Rodriguez's 1999 performance. Pudge is shown here on card number 174 of the 2001 Leaf Limited Lumberjacks set. The card features a piece of Ivan's bat and is numbered 399/500.

By 1999 Ivan Rodriguez was established as the Rangers starting catcher and as a defensive genius behind the plate. At age 27 he had been in the majors for eight seasons and had been an All-Star seven times. He had also won eight Gold Gloves and five Silver Slugger awards. It seemed that it would be hard to top such performances. Top them he did though.

Pudge played in 144 games in 1999 and went to the plate 630 times. In those trips he posted a .332 batting average (1st on the club) and a .356 on-base percentage. He collected 199 hits to lead the team in that category. Of those hits, 35 were home runs, and 29 were doubles. Ivan scored 116 runs (team best) while picking up 113 RBI of his own. He also stole 25 bases while getting caught 12 times.

In the field Rodriguez continued his remarkable defense. He committed just seven errors all season for a .993 fielding percentage, two points above the league average. He also allowed just one passed ball all season. Stealing on Pudge was not a safe undertaking. He threw out 41 would-be base thieves while only 34 runners survived the attempt. That gave him a league best 55% caught stealing rate.

Rodriguez's defense had always been good. In 1999 he finally put together an outstanding offensive year as well. People noticed. Once again he won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards and was named to the All-Star game. He was also named the MVP of the American League.

2,000!

Lots going on in the last couple of days with the Rangers. First off, a comeback win last night against the Indians bullpen to hang on to first place in the American League West. Great to see the team not give up and pull out the victory.

In last night's game Michael Young, seen here on card number 110 of the 2005 Leaf Century Collection set, went 2-for-4 at the plate. Not too bad a night. It was the second hit though that stirred the most reaction from Rangers fans. Michael's infield hit didn't score a run but it was hit number 2,000 for his career. All 2,000 hits have come in a Rangers uniform. That puts Young in some pretty nice company career-wise and cements his status as the player with the most hits all-time as a Ranger. Congratulations Michael Young. It would be nice to see number 3,000 come in a Rangers uniform.

Some bad news for Arthur Rhodes this morning. After signing with Texas in the off-season he experienced some early success. Then came the struggles and the addition of Mike Adams to the bullpen. Following that trade Rhodes was designated for assignment. Less than a week later the team has placed him on release waivers. That means he becomes a free agent on Wednesday. Tough ride for Arthur.

Former Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers had a smoother ride. On Saturday he was inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame. I missed his speech but apparently it was pretty well done. Congratulations to The Gambler.

Moving around.

So I've spent some time thinking over the Rangers recent signing of Adrian Beltre. It's been several days since the deal was finalized and I am still not sure what I think. Seems like there are pros and cons to the deal. Hard to tell at this point which are more numerous.

Beltre is supposed to have better range at third than Michael Young. He is also a decent threat at the plate. Having said that I have read that his clubhouse presence leaves much to be desired. With a young team that can hurt. Also, after the Alex Rodriguez debacle, I am just a little leery of any long-term deals to free agents who haven't proved themselves with the club.

One of the other things I pondered was Michael Young's reaction. Young, shown here on his 2004 Leaf Certified Mirror Red game-used card (66/250), agreed to give up third base and become a designated hitter and "super sub." This is Michael's third position change in his time with the Rangers. He's won gold gloves at two of the three positions he's played and with each move has a stronger case to insist on staying put. He hasn't though. When asked why, he stated that he wanted to win and wanted to play his entire career with Texas. Could be lip service, could be he's telling the truth. After all, he's already got a long-term deal with the team and has little reason to be tossing out nice-sounding tidbits that he doesn't mean. Mike's got a reputation as a team player and all-around nice guy. Sure would be nice to see him with the Rangers until he retires.