Archive for Cy Young Award

Rookie Card Showcase: 1995 Bowman Chris Carpenter

Posted in Rookie Card Showcase with tags , , , , , on October 10, 2009 by Cardboard Icons
Who would have thought this guy would be a CY Young Award winner?

This is why I keep ALL prospect and rookie cards -- you just never know.

I’m going to double-dip today with Cardinals pitchers because I wanted to show some respect to a card that spent a lot of time in a common box but managed to stay mint long enough for me to unearth it.

Here we’ve got the 1995 Bowman Chris Carpenter rookie. It’s not a highly valuable card, but it’s refreshing to find these “older” obscure rookies of some of today’s best players.

I think I only purchased two or three 1995 Bowman packs and I managed to pull a Vlad Guerrero. Unbeknownst to me, I also pulled a rookie card of a future CY Young Award winner.

This is the part three of an ongoing series. To see other parts in this series, click here.

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Rookie Card Showcase: 2000 Topps Traded Adam Wainwright

Posted in Rookie Card Showcase with tags , , , , , , , on October 10, 2009 by Cardboard Icons
00TTWainwright

They told me to stop smiling, but how could I? I've been told that within a decade's time, I will be a Cy Young Award winner.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this should be your 2009 National League Cy Young Award winner. He also should be the winner of Game 2 of the NLDS versus the Dodgers, but we won’t go there, right, Mr. Matt Holliday Mr. Ryan Franklin?

What Wainwright accomplished during the 2009 regular season was simply spectacular. He won 19 games, posted a 2.63 ERA, struck out 212 batters and posted a strikeout to walk ratio close to 4:1. Tim Lincecum and Wainwright’s teammate Chris Carpenter deserve looks for the CY Young award as well, but Wainwright should be the winner.

The Cardinals stud is shown here on a 2000 Topps Traded rookie card, available only in factory sets. Wainwright, formerly of the Braves, only has a handful of rookie cards, none of which are horribly expensive. He also has a Chrome version of this card, which I do not own.

This is the part two of an ongoing series. To see other parts in this series, click here.

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Random Rookie Recap: 1987 Donruss David Cone

Posted in Random Rookie Recap with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2009 by Cardboard Icons

1987donrussdavidconeThis is part 20 of an ongoing series. To see the rest of this series, click here.

When I said “random,” I meant it. For this first “Triple R” post, I reached into one of my four rookie boxes and pulled out this mint condition 1987 Donruss David Cone card.

This Donruss series was always a hit with me. It is filled with rookie (or rookie year) cards of several stars from the late 1980s and 1990s. And the design I felt always made these cards seem better than they really were. The black borders immediately rewarded collectors who took care of their cards. And aside from the Mark McGwire “Rated Rookie” in this set, this David Cone was always a standout to me. Continue reading →

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Card of the Day: 2001 Fleer Tradition Oakland Athletics Checklist

Posted in Card of the Day with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2008 by Cardboard Icons

I love team checklist cards. Some collectors hate them, but I enjoy them, especially when I find they possess information that I did not know or realize before. The Oakland Athletics were American League West Champions in 2000, featuring a fearsome trio of young, up-and-coming pitchers. There was Tim Hudson, the 20 game winner; Barry Zito, a rookie of the year contender; and Mark Mulder, the supposed clone of Tom Glavine.

But believe it or not, none of those three aces led the team in ERA, not even Mr. Hudson, the runner up for the Cy Young award that year. Continue reading →

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Card of the Day: 1970 Topps Vida Blue / Gene Tenace rookie card

Posted in Card of the Day with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 29, 2008 by Cardboard Icons

Imagine a dual rookie card featuring an American League MVP and Cy Young award winner, and the MVP of a World Series. What would that be worth? Well, if that card were produced today in any of the Bowman Chrome sets we’d probably be looking at a card worth at least a hundred dollars, maybe more depending on what else the guys did in their career. But what about one featuring two players with the same accolades produced some 38 years ago? A whopping $4, or less than the price of a pack of 2007 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects.

Of course the card I’m discussing today in the 1970 Topps Vida Blue and Gene Tenace dual rookie card. Continue reading →

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