30-Day Baseball Card Challenge - Day 4

It's been a while, but I'm back on track and tackling the day 4 topic: a rookie card of one of my favorite players. I went back and forth about which player/card to focus on. Something that happened Friday night made my decision for me though. One of my favorite former Durham Bulls, Taylor Motter hit his second grand slam of the season(and career) for the Mariners. I'd venture to say that this one was far sweeter than the first because it came against his former team, the Rays! I hate that the Rays traded him during the offseason. He became one of my favorite players during his time in Durham. I even got the chance to meet him a few times at the ballpark. He's genuinely a nice guy and I had hoped he would earn the role of super utility guy in Tampa. While that won't be happening in the foreseeable future, I am still pulling for him to have a great season.

As it relates to the cardboard, I'm kinda cheating since I'm about to highlight two different parallels of one of my favorite player's rookie cards. I've had these tucked away in my collection for a few months now so there's no better time to show them off.

As any modern-day collector knows, there are typically 20-30 different RCs to chase of any given player. However, this is one of only two official RCs featuring Motter. That makes it easier for a player collector to go parallel hunting. Though you can't tell from the scan, the card on the left is the reverse stock version. These flip the finish from a 'normal' card. The front is rough and has a flat finish to it, whereas the back is smooth and slightly glossy. On the right, we have the red back version. These aren't serial numbered, but they have a reported print run of 10 copies. For what it's worth, I'm still looking for the far more common gum-stained back. If anyone reading happens to have one, I'd love to trade for it. Thanks for reading.

Patch Card Chronicles - Vol. 1

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I have envisioned a series that explores some awesome patch cards for quite some time. However, it's not easy to find unique and affordable relic cards. A few weeks back, I was able to do just that! I'm sure I won't be able to make this a regular theme on the blog, but I had so much fun prepping to write this one. Volume 2 will follow at some point.

There it is! I was thrilled to find this Kiermaier with such an interesting swatch(and auto) for a really affordable price. When I saw that patch, I knew I wanted to add this card to my former Durham Bulls collection. As I've previously mentioned, Kiermaier is one of my favorite players in the league right now. As I was waiting for this card to arrive, I started searching for where this piece of embroidered goodness came from.

I was able to find this pretty easily. This pic not only let me see the patch in its entirety, but it also gave me an idea of where to look for shots of it in game action.

There it is! Just like that the card became all the more awesome to me. The Rays wore that patch on their pseudo-retro faux-back jerseys. Like many of you, I dig the throwback unis and I especially love that Tampa developed their own version since they didn't actually have team history to draw from. Yes, I know that is a picture of Longo rocking the retro theme, not Kiermaier. It's one of the only pics I could find of anyone sporting the faux-back with the patch visible.

Speaking of 'the Outlaw'...

Like I said, this was a lot of fun to research/prepare. I hope I'll be able to write another post in this theme sometime soon. Thanks for reading.