Morton Monday: 2010 Topps When They Were Young

Charlie Morton's CAREER statistics through Monday August 1, 2011
19 Wins
35 Losses

5.39 ERA
70 Games (69 started)
3 Complete Games (2 Shutouts)
362.2 Innings Pitched
236 Strikeouts
1.59 WHIP

Charlie Morton has struggled throughout most of his MLB career until having early success this year.  There's no need to sugarcoat it, he was absolutely terrible in 2010.  That doesn't change the fact that I consider myself a Charlie Morton super collector.  Charlie and I were both born in the same town, but probably never met one another until this year's PiratesFest.  A lot of the players are very friendly at those type of events, but Charlie seemed to really appreciate his fans a little more than the other players. I got a chance to talk to him for a couple minutes about his early life in NJ and playing guitar.  Each Monday I will post something relating to Charlie Morton and his climb to become a solid major league pitcher.

This is a 2010 Topps When They Were Young insert card.  WTWY-CM

Remember Jose Bautista?

The non-waiver trade deadline came and went yesterday.  The Pirates were very smart in upgrading their offense for practically nothing.  They got veteran 1B Derrek Lee from Baltimore for Low-A 1B Aaron Baker.  They also were able to pickup veteran outfielder Ryan Ludwick for a PTBNL or cash considerations.  The PTBNL is going to be selected on January 1st, 2012 so I suspect that it may be someone that will not be protected by the Rule 5 draft.

The Pirates in the past have often been criticized for "trading away all their good players."  Sometimes I support the trades, other times I don't.  Clearly the Jason Bay trade could have worked out better and that stands out more than any other trade in recent memory.  However, I think a lot of the other trades the current front office has made benefited the team's future.  What has Nate McLouth done recently?  Xavier Nady? Jack Wilson? Ian Snell? Demaso Marte? The list goes on and on, but does anyone remember a power hitting 3B that struck out a lot named Jose Bautista? He seemed like he would have a lot of potential when he was playing for the Bucs in the mid-late 2000s.  Jose was traded during midseason of 2008 for Robinzon Diaz and a box of crayons.  I wonder what he's doing these days....

UPDATE: Evidently he's still playing in Toronto and doing fairly well.  He has a line of .324/.459/.656 and an OPS of 1.115.  Seems fairly respectable by today's standards. Oh and he also has 31 HR and 71 RBI through only 97 games in 2011.  I want a bat like that in the Bucs struggling offense so bad.  I hope the Pirates don't give up on Pedro Alvarez too soon, because I think he could have Bautista like numbers in the not too distant future.

Here's a 2005 Bowman Futures Game jersey card of Jose Bautista that I recently won off eBay for $9 shipped.

MAILDAY YAY!

I just got a 2011 Andrew McCutchen Allen & Ginger relic in the mail today.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

How about them 1st Place Bucs?

I got to admit, at the start of the season I was not expecting the Pirates to be competing for the NL Central let alone be winning it after the All-Star break.  Clint Hurdle and Ray Searage have done a tremendous job at instilling confidence into the team and the pitching staff has been absolutely amazing.  Here's hoping the Pirates continue to dominate the NL Central teams as they did in the 1st half of the season.

SOOOOOO MANY CARDS NEED TO BE ADDED

I'm slowly figuring out this blogging this, so be patient as I update pieces.

Pirates win! I win!

With the Pirates winning their 2nd road series to start out 2011, I decided I should celebrate by winning some eBay auctions.  After all, the Pirates only won 17 road games last year so the fact they are 4-2 on the road seems reason to celebrate with some game used jersey and autograph cards that could be found cheap on the internet's biggest garage sale.

Up first is 2 game used jersey Willie "Pops" Stargell cards that I got for less than $5 total.  This brings my total of Stargell jersey cards to 19.  I'd like to get up around 50 by the end of the year.  I never got the chance to watch Pops play in person or even see a game with him in it from when I was younger, but watching all the highlights and the '79 World Series DVD I can tell why he was such a fan favorite. 



Up next is an Autographed 2010 Topps T-206 Joel Hanrahan card.  Joel is just absolutely filthy so far as he leads the National League in Saves.  The Pirates have a very strong bullpen this year with Veras, Meek, Beimel, and Hanrahan.  I've also been impressed with Michael Crotta thus far.  I won this Hanrahan card for $6 including shipping.  Not a bad pickup at all.

Speaking of the Pirates bullpen, I also won an Evan Meek autographed card.  This is my 8th Evan Meek certified autographed card.  Meek has been my favorite reliever over the past couple years and is one of the nicest guys in person too.  I know that he struggled 2 outings this year, but that doesn't worry me at all.  He's a great pitcher that throws hard and has very good command.  This card is from the 2010 Upper Deck Signature Sensations insert.  This card cost me about $15 but I've never seen it before and since I got the Stargells so cheap I said why not. LOL!

BASEBALL IS BACK!!!! Bucs beat the Cubbies

Neil Walker goes yard for his first career Grand Slam as the Pirates beat the Cubs 6-3.  To celebrate today's victory on Opening Day, I've added the Neil Walker gallery.