Why I was away.

Well, it's been 11 days since I posted and I'm sure some of you are wondering if I fell off the face of the earth, or at least off the Rangers bandwagon. I suppose I owe you an explanation of my absence. I asked 2001 SGA bobblehead Pudge if I did and he shook his head yes so here goes.

On July 7th eleven police officers were gunned down in Dallas, Texas. Five of them died. A few days later a Missouri officer was ambushed and critically injured. Then an off-duty officer was forced to defend his family and home against a home invader. Yesterday four more officers were shot in Baton Rouge, Lousiana and two of them are dead. Frankly, those events have hit me hard. Very hard.

I try not to mention my profession to people I don't know well but, I am a law enforcement officer. I was stunned by the losses these past days and by the vitriol and hate displayed against police by our society. I knew things weren't good and I knew the President disliked us. For the President and others to figuratively stand on the graves of the fallen officers to scream their talking points was beyond angering. That's not up for debate. It was and is. You disagree, you do so elsewhere.

As I tried to shield my children from the news and watched other officers' children mourn for them, my motivation to write about the Rangers drained away. I needed some time to get my thoughts back together. That's where I've been. Thought you deserved to know and I appreciate you sticking around in spite of the lack of recent posts. I'm going to try to get back in the saddle and go back to talking about the Rangers and their cards. It's a manner of relaxation for me and a way to let the stress go a little. That and Pudge says I should get back to it.

New catcher checks in.

Well, after a great start to the Rangers 2016 season, the team seems to have stumbled a bit. The bullpen blew games on Tuesday and last night to drop to club to 1-2 on the infant season. While the guys in the pen were doing their part to lose, there were some positive points.

Yesterday new Rangers backstop Bryan Holaday made his debut. Acquired only a few days back from Detroit, Holaday had spent his time trying to get up to speed on the Rangers pitching staff and playbook. Apparently he was able to do so as he worked well with starter Colby Lewis. Bryan also threw out two base runners attempting to steal on him. Overall a nice intro for Holaday.

Not surprisingly, I don't have any cards of Bryan Holaday in a Rangers uniform. Former Ranger Ivan Rodriguez is going to stand in for him on this 2002 Fleer Flair Power Tools card that features a piece of one of Pudge's bats. Not that Holaday is to the caliber of Pudge, but the Rangers could use all the luck they can get right now.

Another bright spot in yesterday's game was Prince Fielder. He hammered a two run homer for his first long ball of the season. That's a good sign since Prince had average but didn't seem to have much power the first few weeks of last season. Of course, the Mariners hit nine home runs during the three game series so Fielder was definitely out-gunned.

At least the series is over. Time to move on to Anaheim for a series with the Angels. It would be good to see the guys put the opening series loss behind them and take the Angels.

Random Card and Thoughts.

Not much to report today. Only one through the mail return in this week. Rusty Greer though, so it made the week. Many thanks to the Red Baron for taking the time to sign and return a couple of cards that will fill holes in team sets I am working on getting signed.

Opening Day is creeping ever closer. The rosters keep contracting and Texas has announced that Cole Hamels will make the start when the Rangers open the season on April 4th. He'll be the seventh Opening Day starter for the Rangers in as many years. The results have been mixed. Hopefully Cole will do well against the Mariners. Seattle looks to potentially be a sleeper this season. It will be interesting to see how their recent moves work out.

Don't have any cards of Hamels yet. As such, I will leave you with this random Rangers game-used card for today. This particular card is a 2002 Fleer Box Score Amazing Greats jersey swatch card of Ranger great Ivan Rodriguez. Nothing better than a Pudge card to help pass the time until the season kicks off. Looking forward to it.

They're Back!

The boys are back! Pitchers and catchers report today! Baseball has returned and the world is a better place.

Former Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, shown here on 1990 Upper Deck card 245, is one of the special instructors working with Rangers catchers this spring. Hopefully some of his talent will rub off. Catching seems to be a weak area in Arlington at the moment.

Texas heads into Spring Training this year with several interesting story lines to follow. Of course, everyone is waiting to see if Yu Darvish will be able to make a complete comeback from his Tommy John Surgery. The answer to that will have to wait until later in the year though since Darvish is not expected back in the rotation until May. As such, the team finds a need for somebody to hold down Darvish's spot in the rotation. That competition is wide open.

The composition of the bullpen is also far from set. There are a number of arms looking for a spot in the Texas pen but a final decision on who's in and who's out is likely to wait until the final few days before the start of the season.

For the most part, the starting lineup is set and nobody is really expecting huge roster battles in that area. There is room for surprises however. Rougned Odor and Delino DeShields had good seasons last year. Both are young though and have not yet completely nailed down their starting jobs. Odor could face a challenge from a finally healthy, and still unproven, Jurickson Profar. Outfield prospects Lewis Brinson and Nomar Mazara could also mount challenges if DeShields shows any weakness or if Josh Hamilton turns out to be less than healthy. Of course, Joey Gallo is always lurking in the wings as well.

The Rangers are also hoping to extend third baseman Adrian Beltre's contract for at least another year before the team breaks camp. 2016 is the final year of Adrian's contract and Texas would like to keep him at the hot corner. Apparently Beltre is open to the possibility but with Scott Boras involved there is no way to tell if the two sides can reach an agreement.

However these various stories work out, I think we can all reach an agreement that it is very good to have baseball, and the boys of summer, back.

HOF musings.

Well, the Hall of Fame ballot results came out yesterday and there are sure to be some critics. Ken Griffey Jr set an all time vote record with only three voters leaving him off their ballots. Mike Piazza also made the cut. Just missing were Jeff Bagwell, Trevor Hoffman, and Tim Raines.

Of course, there will be much discussion about the exclusion of Raines, Bagwell, and Hoffman. The only one I really have heartburn about being left out is Bagwell. I wouldn't consider either of the other two unworthy though.

Things should get interesting next year. Bagwell, Hoffman, and Raines will still be at the threshold. Vladimir Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, and Ivan Rodriguez will headline the first-timers on the ballot. Potentially six inductees. I doubt Ramirez makes it with the way his career ended under PED suspension. Hoffman will have to go from fifth place this year to get over the mark and HOF voters take time to warm up to most relief pitchers. Bagwell and Raines stand an excellent chance. The issue with Guerrero will be if his extended stay at DH hurts him. That leaves Pudge, shown here on a 2002 Ex Essentials card bearing a piece of one of his cleats.

Rodriguez has never been conclusively linked to PED usage but played in the era and was on the same team with distributor Jose Canseco. Of course, Mike Piazza also played during the same era and his election casts a new light on I-Rod. Like Pudge, Piazza was suspected of PED use by some but was never conclusively linked or named in any investigations. On the field there is no doubt he was never the player Rodriguez was. Offensively he was better but that was it. I-Rod ran circles around him in every other area and stayed pretty close at the plate as well. That seems to bode well for Pudge come voting time next winter. Perhaps we will see another Rangers cap in the Hall in the near future.

Almost back.

Ok, last pre-scheduled post for awhile. I am planning on being back to regular posting after today.

Posting this 2002 EX Behind the Numbers game-used card of Ivan Rodriguez in hopes of keeping the Rangers luck running. Even though the card only shows a very small piece of Pudge's jersey, it's still a nice card.

Would love to see Pudge throwing out the first pitch again in another post-season series in Texas. In spite of my pre-season predictions, this might be the year. This team definitely didn't play the .500 ball I was expecting and that is a nice surprise.

So long, Yogi.

Hall of Famer Yogi Berra passed away this past Tuesday at the age of 90. Yes, Berra was a Yankee but, he was still a good guy. As a kid I remember being fascinated by his and Satchel Paige's remarks. He played a role in hooking me on baseball. He's probably also the reason I latched on to Pudge Rodriguez, shown here on card BB-11 of the 2002 Donruss Elite Back 2 Back Jacks set.

2002 Donruss Elite Back 2 Back Jacks #BB-11

2002 Donruss Elite Back 2 Back Jacks #BB-11

Always displaying a positive attitude, Yogi was there for some big moments. D-Day, Don Larson's perfect game, ten World Series championships. He played alongside Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Phil Rizzuto, and many other Yankee greats. In his first year of managing, he took the Yankees to the World Series. In typical Yankee fashion, they fired him immediately afterwords. He still came back years later and endured another firing before writing the team out of his appointment book. It took a lot to get to Berra though and he eventually forgave the team and returned to the fold.

The Yankees' loss was the Mets and Astros gain. They latched on to Yogi as if he had been part of their clubs. He led the Mets to an improbable World Series title. They didn't fire him immediately afterwords.

The world is a poorer place without Yogi Berra and we will never see his like again.

I got nothing.

Since I have nothing to write about I am just going to post this 2001 Upper Deck Ultimate Copper game used jersey card of Ivan Rodriguez. Hopefully it will help you pass one more day of the off-season. After all, each day that passes is one less that we have to do without baseball.

This particular card is numbered 24/24. What makes it interesting to me are the two visible lines in the fabric where some kind of stitching was pulled loose. Not sure if that was a seam or if a piece of trim used to run along those lines. Either way it's a different look from the normal uniform swatches on these types of cards.

Spring Training and a new MLB rule.

Quick rundown of the news out of Spring Training.

Matt Harrison is good to go but not too good to go. He probably won't be ready for Opening Day but should be in the rotation shortly thereafter. He has been cleared by a doctor though and there's no sign of a physical problem.

Ron Washington likes prospect Rougned Odor. He thinks Odor needs to slow down a bit but figures that will be addressed by the end of camp. Apparently Rougned tends to rush to make the plays. Ron's opinion is that this is a result of youth and will resolve itself with seasoning.

Washington may get a chance to manage Odor when he hits the Majors in a few years if things keep going well. Texas extended Ron's contract as manager through the end of the 2015 season. That seems like a good deal to me. I'm a big fan of continuity. As long as it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Major League Baseball has finalized the new rule concerning home plate collisions. Most aren't as one-sided as the one shown here on card number 59 of the 1993 Cardtoons set and there has been some noise about trying to protect catcher. The play at the plate will not go away but the new rule is supposed to minimize the serious injuries to players. I'm a little conflicted on this one. I don't like the idea of trying the make the game risk free. I do like the idea of keeping players from flattening the catcher when there's no need. Going to have to turn rule #7.13 over in my mind a bit more. Will be interesting to see how it looks in action during the 2014 season.

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

End of the Pudge era.

Well, I just finished watching the last part of Ivan Rodriguez's retirement press conference from the Ballpark in Arlington. Thanks to MLB.com I missed the first part.

So Pudge, seen here on card 140 of the 1998 Dugout Axcess set, is retired. Seems hard to believe. After all, it was just a few short years ago that my Grandfather and I were discussing this new kid that Texas had just called up in 1991. Reminded him of Jim Sundberg behind the plate, that's what Pop said. My Dad doubted. Sunny was good, very good. There was no way this kid could be that good. Then we saw him play.

He was that good. Every bit that good. Snap throws to first to catch a sleeping runner. Caught the great Rickey Henderson stealing by five feet. Pick offs on third. 13 Gold Gloves (10 as a Ranger). He was every bit that good behind the plate.

Ivan's glove was what got him noticed and kept him on the team. His bat came along later, after he had been in the Majors for two or three years. Then it came. Seven Silver Slugger awards (six as a Ranger). 311 career home runs. 572 career doubles.

Of course the steroids and performance-enhancing drug issues stained I-Rod with the rest of the ballplayers of his era. That caused pain and disappointment. Ivan's vague "Only God knows." answer to the obvious questions only caused more. That ended the player collection but not my firm belief that with or without any type of PED's, Pudge was something special.

14 All-Star games (10 as a Ranger) and the 1999 MVP award showed how special a lot of folks thought he was. My willingness to forgive baseball after 1994 showed how much I thought of him. More that any other player on the field at the time, Rodriguez pulled me back to the sport.

And now it's over. 21 years and 2,543 Major League games. Ivan Rodriguez is done crouching behind the plate and gunning runners down. Two questions yet remain. Will Pudge make the Hall of Fame? Will we see another catcher as good as he was any time soon?

End of the line.

Today marks the end of an era. One of the best catchers to ever play the game has announced his retirement. After 21 seasons in the Major Leagues, Ivan Rodriguez is hanging up the spikes and mask.

Pudge, shown here on card IR of the 2001 SP Game-Used Edition Authentic Fabric set, broke into the Majors with Texas in 1991. For 12 seasons he thrilled Rangers fans with his bat and defense. The cannon arm snuffed out runners about as fast as they could get on base.

Following the 2002 season Texas was foolish enough let Ivan walk. Florida signed him and he helped lead the team to a World Series title in 2003. On to Detroit in 2004 where he played for almost five seasons before being traded to the Yankees. The 2009 season saw I-Rod starting the season with Houston and then making a triumphant homecoming with the Rangers at the trading deadline. Two seasons with the Washington Nationals finished off the run.

I am a little torn to see Pudge retire. Several years ago I would have figured he was a lock for the Hall of Fame. Now I am not sure. His inability to conclusively deny steroid use could block any bid he might make for a plaque. That would be a tragedy. Aside from Bench, Ivan is easily the best catcher to play the game in recent history. For him to allow the specter of steroid use to loom over his career truly makes no sense.

Nix the Napoli hearing.

For the 12th straight off-season the Rangers will not be appearing at an arbitration hearing. Yesterday the team signed Mike Napoli to a one year deal. Since I have only one Mike Napoli card and am saving it for a future post, you will have to settle for another big name Ranger catcher - Ivan Rodriguez on card number 45 of the 2001 Fleer Authority set.

According to MLB.com, the deal with Nap is a one year deal and is worth about $9.4 million. That gets Texas one more year of Napoli fever and leaves just the pre-arbitration players left to sign. It also puts the Rangers over budget and with little flexibility heading into the season.

I like Mike and in a vacuum I could handle this deal. What bothers me a little is the inability to make a move mid-season should the situation dictate. Hopefully this will pay off and the budget will work out. The Angels are starting to get hungry after two seasons off in October and even the Mariners and A's are making a little noise. Not a good time to be caught short in a critical spot.

Nap time.

Well, last night was a change. For the first time in a long time I watched the Rangers in a critical game and didn't think to myself, "I wish they still had Pudge." Catcher Mike Napoli did a pretty good impersonation of Ivan Rodriguez, shown here on card numer 96 of the 1996 Aficionado set.

Nap did just about everything for the Rangers last night. He hammered a two run double in the eighth inning. That added to the two solo home runs the Rangers had already scored off Chris Carpenter courtesy of Adrian Beltre and Mitch Moreland. 4-2 ended up being the final score.

Pretty good night for Nap eh? Well, in addition to his RBI performance Mike also made three great plays in the field. He caught Ranger nemesis Allen Craig stealing. Twice. Once on a missed hit-and-run play and once on the back end of a strike-out throw-out double play. The batter at the plate both times? Albert Pujols. On the final play of the game Neftali Feliz struck out Lance Berkman. Napoli missed the ball and it hit his left shin guard before shooting up the first base line. I figured that the Cardinals had just gotten an extra out. Up popped Mike and raced down the line. He outpaced the sprinting Berkman and pounced on the ball about three quarters of the way to the bag. An underhand toss to Moreland and the Rangers have a 3-2 lead in the Series.

Back to St. Louis with the lead. I'll take that. Go Rangers!

Catching up.

Ok, so I was out of town this past weekend and didn't get any posts scheduled to go up while I was gone. Time to do some catching up.

On Friday the Rangers kicked off a three game set in Seattle. The first game didn't go well as Texas lost 4-0. Former Ranger prospect Blake Beavan held the Texas offense scoreless through eight innings. C.J. Wilson had an uncharacteristically rough night as he gave up four runs in his seventh loss of the season. It was an indicator of how the night went that only one of the runs was earned. Fortunately for the Rangers their former teammate Tommy Hunter tossed a loss at the Angels. That meant the Rangers divisional lead did not shrink below 3.5 games.

Saturday was Colby Lewis' turn to start. He stumbled badly as he gave up six runs in 5.2 innings. The offense and bullpen rode to the rescue though as the Rangers pulled out a 7-6 win over Seattle. Anaheim lost that night so Texas pushed their divisional lead to 4.5 games.

Last night was all Matt Harrison. For the third time in four career matchups he out dueled Felix Hernandez to get the win. Harrison lasted 6.2 innings and allowed no Mariner runs to pick up his 13th win on the season. In spite of Ian Kinsler's overturned home run Texas was able to plate three runs against the M's. That's all they needed to come out on top 3-0. Anaheim also won so the divisional lead stays at 4.5.

The Rangers are off tonight - their last off day of the regular season. Tomorrow they start a visit the A's in Oakland. Oakland is where the team clinched last year. With the magic number at six a repeat of that is unlikely but it would be nice to see happen again.

See back for complete listing...

I was looking through one of my Rangers card books today and came across this 1992 card of Ivan Rodriguez. I can't remember where I got the card from other than it had to have been a few years ago when I was big into collecting Pudge.

Looking at the front of the card it appears to be just another early nineties unlicensed card. The border is blue with gold stripes. "Superstars" appears in gold lettering in the upper left of the picture. What really caught my eye was the back of the card.

When flipped over, the card shows copyrighted to Superstars in 1992. It is numbered 92-26. Nothing too odd there. The strange thing is that there are no stats and no write-up. No predictions or blurbs about how great Ivan was going to be. Not even a comic. What is on the back is a list. Titled "1991 Card Checklist" the list gives the card numbers for the major sets in 1991. For several sets there are no numbers, just a dash. Apparently that indicates that either the set did not have a card of Rodriguez included or the maker of this card was unaware of it.

I must say that I found the list of cards to be rather interesting. A small and apparently unlicensed set that includes a checklist of cards put out by the major card companies. Unusual to say the least.

Opening Day!! Sort of.

So today was Opening Day! Well, kind of. The Rangers don't open the season until tomorrow. Still, baseball was happening.

Ivan Rodriguez, shown here on his 2005 UD Game Face Gear card numbered GG-IR, and his Washington Nationals lost to the Braves 2-0. The Evil Empire beat the Tigers 6-3. The Reds stunned the Brewers with the season's first walk-off win 7-6. The Royals stumbled early as they lost to the Angels 4-2. The Padres beat the Cardinals in the first extra inning affair of the season 5-3. Right now the Dodgers and Giants are scoreless in the second inning.

Great thing to see those scores posting. Baseball is back and it's time to put on your game face.

Wantlist - 2003 Donruss.

Decided to use Ivan Rodriguez on card number 209 of the 2003 Donruss set for the wantlist today for several reasons. In fact, I have more reasons than cards I need from this set.

First is Matt Treanor's ninth inning heroics with his pinch-hit two RBI triple last night. That hit allowed the Rangers to go on to win the game in Florida. Matt wasn't with the Rangers in 2003 though so I thought about using Frank Catalanotto's card since Cat was a professional pinch-hitter. I found that I had already used Frank's card though. That left me with Pudge and the catcher connection.

Second reason is that Michael Young passed Pudge tonight as the all-time Rangers hit leader. I thought about using Michael's card from this set but found that I had already posted it as well. I'll post a nice Michael Young card tomorrow to mark to achievement but for now it's back to Ivan.

Hope you can handle Pudge two wantlists in a row. Here is the last card I need to complete this team set:

2003 Donruss
8 Alex Rodriguez DK

Just one card and I can put this set to bed. Please let me know if you have it. My tradelist is here and I am sure we can work some kind of trade. Thanks!

Wantlist - 2002 Donruss.

So the Rangers pulled off a win last night to scratch their way back into first place by half a game. Time to get to building on the lead guys. Could be a good stretch to do just that going through June. Most of the teams Texas faces this month are struggling.

Realized that I hadn't posted a Pudge card in awhile so I decided to do so today to give an example of what the 2002 Donruss set looks like. Today we see Ivan on card number 144 of the set. Still need four cards to be able to put this set to bed:

2002 Donruss
1 Alex Rodriguez
179 Mark Teixeira RR
188 Andy Pratt RR
211 Rafael Palmeiro FC

If you have any of these cards, or any from wantlists past, please let me know. I would love to work out a trade with you. If you would rather not trade then at least consider entering the Strat-O-Matic contest and winning a free game.

Goodbye again.

This is why I hate this time of year. Why I am not sure that Curt Flood did the right thing. Ivan Rodriguez turned down arbitration last night. Today he signed a two year deal with the Washington Nationals.

I was thrilled this past season to have Pudge back in a Rangers uniform the way he is depicted on card number 165 of the 1994 Topps set. Having him back erased some of the pain of losing him the first time. Now I have to say goodbye again.

It's happened twice. Neither time was a trade. Blasted free agency both times. This time at least the club made an effort to keep him. Still stinks though, to say goodbye again. This time I am afraid it's for good, I don't foresee Ivan back in a Rangers cap until he enters Cooperstown.