Wantlist - 1997 Fleer.

So, Colby Lewis looked pretty sharp in his outing against the Diamondbacks yesterday. Two runs in 7.1 innings. Not too bad. Keeps the Rangers in a position to win when the starter does that. In other news, the team is still pondering the need for a back-up right-handed hitting first baseman. Matt Brown is the leading candidate at this point. Ian Kinsler is most likely going to start the 2010 season on the DL as a result of his sprained ankle.

Juan Gonzalez started the 1997 season on the DL as well. He was still featured on card 747 in the 1997 Fleer set, a Rangers team checklist. This is another set design by Fleer that I like. Minimal design and no gloss so good for autographs. Nice looking set and one that I am only a couple of cards away from completing. Here is what I need:

1997 Fleer
219 Will Clark
222 Rusty Greer

Only two cards left. If you have either or both and are willing to part with them (or have any cards previously listed on wantlist posts) then shoot me an email. I am sure we can work out a trade.

1973 Topps - Bill Fahey.

So Andres Blanco seems to have won the utility infielder position and might even be the Opening day second baseman if Ian Kinsler isn't ready. That's got to be a blow to Joaquin Arias and Esteban German who have been trying to get that spot nailed down all spring. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is back to playing in A games and is hoping to be ready by Opening Day. Still some uncertainty behind the plate though. It will be interesting to see how everything shakes out with less than a week to go before Opening Day 2010.

1973 must have been a year of uncertainty behind the plate for Bill Fahey, seen here on card number 186 of the 1973 Topps set. After spending parts of the 1971 and '72 seasons with the Senators and Rangers he spent the entire 1973 season in Triple A. Apparently with Ken Saurez, Dick Billings, and Rick Stelmaszek on the roster the team just didn't have room for Bill.

Bill didn't waste his time in the minors though. He posted a .278 batting average with 44 RBI in 104 games. He also posted a .987 fielding percentage. That was almost as good as the Rangers starting catcher, Ken Suarez.

Minor League Monday - Dale Mohorcic, 1986 ProCards.

I know, we just had a minor league card on Friday. So what's up with another one just a couple of days later? Well, with the only big news out of Rangers camp being that Scott Feldman will start opening day I was wondering what to post. My wife suggested that I start a Minor League Monday to go along with Topps Tuesday, Wantlist Wednesday, and Senators Saturday. Seemed like a good idea. With that in mind I will try to keep the minor league cards to Monday.

Although not the first minor league card Dale Morhorcic will be the first on an official Minor League Monday. Dale's not too excited though, by the time he appeared on this 1986 ProCards Eighty-Niners card he was a minor league veteran. Of course his lack of excitement could also be attributed to the fact that ProCards couldn't get his last name spelled right.

Dale started his career in pro ball with an unaffiliated team in Victoria, British Columbia in 1978. At the end of that season the Mussels sold him to the Blue Jays who assigned him to Single A ball. In January of 1980 the Jays released him. In April of that year the Pirates picked him up and he was back in Single A ball. Four years later he had made it to Triple A just in time to be granted free agency.

The Rangers signed him in May of 1985. He played one season for OKC before becoming a free agent again that September. Texas waited until February of 1986 before re-signing him. 16 games later he got the call and hopped the OKC-Arlington shuttle. After eight plus seasons in the minors, Dale Mohorcic was off to the Big Show.

Senators Saturday - Frank Howard, 1968.

Frank Howard had shown flashes of what was coming in 1968 but that year was the the start of his reign as Washington's undisputed power king. Here we see Frank on card number 320 of the 1968 Topps set.

As the team's starting left fielder in '68 Frank appeared in 158 games. He logged 1,337.2 innings in the field, the majority in left field although he did play some first base. He handled 655 chances in that time and made 19 errors for a .971 fielding percentage. That was below the league average.

At the plate is where Hondo really shown. In 1968 he had 663 plate appearances. 54 of those he worked for walks and 164 for hits. His .274 batting average was top in the Senators' starting lineup and his .338 on base percentage tied for the top team mark. He also led the team in home runs (44), RBI (106), doubles (28), runs scored (79), total bases (330) and slugging percentage (.552). His 141 strikeouts were also the most on the team.

Frank's home runs, total bases, and slugging percentage led the league as well as the team. His RBI were second in the league. That resulted in an All-Star appearance, Howard's first. The Senators may have gone off the cliff in 1968 but Big Frank Howard was just hitting his stride. The future looked bright for the bespectacled big leaguer.

1986 ProCards - Jeff Kunkel.

It seems like I am getting in a rut on Fridays with minor league cards the last two weeks and now today. Going to be nice to see the regular season start and at least have games to talk about. Not that I dislike the minor league angle but I would rather have the season rolling and have some variety.

Jeff Kunkel's position designation on his 1986 ProCard is about as accurate as one can get. To be totally accurate though it would need to read "E" for everywhere. Jeff was a utility player in the truest since of the word. A quick look at his MLB career shows that he played every position except catcher. That includes DH and pitcher.

Jeff was the Rangers' first round pick in the 1983 draft and the team held high hopes for him. In fact, by the time the 1986 season rolled around, Jeff had already made his Major League debut. In 1986 though he would appear in only eight games for the Rangers, the rest of his season would be with Oklahoma City.

Baseball-Reference has no fielding records for Jeff while he was with OKC in 1986 other than to indicate that he played shortstop. His offensive numbers are there but have some pretty big gaps. In 111 games he had 409 at bats and managed 100 hits. 16 of those hits were doubles, four were triples, and 11 were home runs. All that translated into a .244 batting average and a .384 slugging percentage. Most of the rest of the numbers are missing. Makes it kind of hard to say what sort of season Jeff had for the Eighty-Niners.

Ten days out.

So it's getting down to crunch time in Spring Training. Players are getting cut or sent down and rosters are getting finalized. Only ten days left until Opening Day 2010.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia says that he is pain free now. He took batting practice this morning and said everything felt fine. This after being sidelined for a week with muscle spasms. Hoepfully he will be able to get in shape quickly. He only has about eight more games he can play in before the start of the season. It will be interesting to see if he makes the Opening Day roster.

Ron Washington says that he isn't bothered just yet by the Rangers record this Spring. He does say that this is the day to start ramping things up for the season. Time to get in the habit of winning. Good idea. Ron is also impressed by Julio Borbon's play in center. Apparently Borbon has made some marked improvement over last year. This is good news as it will probably save some wear and tear on Josh Hamilton. Vladimir Guerrero is also on Washington's good list. So far he's been impressed with what he's seen. More welcome news. I would like to see this signing work out well.

Coming down to crunch time in the Devil Rays camp as well. Former Ranger Hank Blalock is surprisingly still in camp. Hank, shown here on a auto/jersey version of his 2003 Donruss Gamers card (46/50), wasn't given much of a chance to make the team when he reported in earlier this month. Manager Joe Maddon even said that he didn't see Blalock being with the team when they broke camp. Now Joe says that, "I think Blalock coming in and doing as well as he has, has raised questions I didn't have in the beginning,"

It's about time to answer some of those questions in all the MLB camps. The teams only have about ten days to come up with their final answers. Here's to the Rangers getting an "A" on their answer.

Wantlist - 1996 Fleer.

Well, after a horrific design in 1995 Fleer came back the following year with one of it's better ones. The 1996 cards, demonstrated here by Ed Vosberg on card number U91, were a marked improvement over the preceding year. I generally like the border-less look and 1996 Fleer is no exception. It also helps that the cards are not glossy and so are ideal for autographs.

I'm still quite a ways from completing the Rangers team set from 1996 Fleer though. Here are the cards I need:

1996 Fleer
248 Jeff Frye
253 Roger McDowell
255 Otis Nixon
256 Luis Ortiz
257 Mike Pagliarulo
258 Dean Palmer
261 Kenny Rogers
262 Jeff Russell
264 Bob Tewksbury
U92 Craig Worthington

Still quite a number of cards left. If you can knock out any from this list and are willing to part with them (or have any cards previously listed on wantlist posts) then shoot me an email. I am sure we can work out a trade.

Speaking of trades. I have noticed in my collecting that there are some teams (e.g. Yankees, Dodgers, White Sox, Red Sox, etc.) that seem to be very popular. So much so that I can hardly build up a decent stack of their cards before a trade proposal comes in. There are other teams however where the exact opposite is true. Here are the slowest-moving teams in my trade box:
Expos/Nationals (mostly Expos but they are all mixed in)
Mariners
Giants
Rockies
Cubs
Orioles
Astros
Braves
Tigers
Some of these teams are to be expected while others are a surprise. It doesn't really shock me to see the Expos in the mix. The Cubs and Braves are a bit more unexpected. If you are interested in doing a team lot trade for any of them shoot me an email.