Buster Posey - Catcher for 3 World Series Teams and 3 No-Hitters

I don't think I have a Chris Heston card,  Rather than digging around looking for one of his cards we are going to post one of Buster Posey who joined a pretty elite group himself last night. 

2010 Topps #2 Buster Posey (rc)

Posey became the 16th catcher to work 3 no-hitters. The all time record is four held by Jason Varitek.
At 28 years of age Buster is young enough to catch Tek, However...

We don't know how many games Posey will actually catch for the remainder of his career. He is spending about a quarter of his time at first base now and that ratio will likely increase as Posey's
career continues.

2010 Topps #2 Buster Posey (rc - b-side)

Congrats to Chris Heston and Buster Posey. In a year where we are covering the Year of the No-Hitter it is exciting to see the first No-Hitter of 2015

Sources and Links
Baseball-Almanac
Baseball-ref

2014 Playoffs: Giants Buster Posey and the Queen of the Indies

Tonight we look at the Giants catcher who some folks have referred to as the Next Derek Jeter

2009 Obak #23 Buster Posey

As we mentioned in a prior posting, the Giants starting 8 during their World Series run has only two recurring regulars Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey.

Posey at age 27 has collected a Rookie of the Year Award, Batting Title, and MVP AND he is also playing in his 3rd World Series.

That is a solid resume for any player even more so at the demanding position of Catcher. Those tidbits are among the facts folks will cite when beginning the Jeter conversation.

2009 Obak
I really enjoyed opening a Hobby Box of 2009 Obak, For the Highlights check this posting.

Obak is an unlicensed product that consists of a mix of minor league prospects, MLB Alums, and historical figures related to the game. The first 31 Cards in the 100 card 2009 base (non-SP) set were dedicated to prospects.

Cards #22 and #23 feature a couple players that made me think there was a film fan at Obak.

2009 Obak #22 Jarrod Parker  
2009 Obak #23 Buster Posey 

Do these two cards make anyone think of a certain Indie Movie Queen?

Think about it.

Ok if you have given up click here

Yes originally I thought this was a wink to the actress Parker Posey. She seems to be involved in a lot of fun projects and I have always been a fan.

2009 Obak #21-29

See there they are in Numerical Order - top row middle and right Parker, Posey right next to each other. Whoever numbered the cards had to be a Paker Posey fan, right?

Unfortunately this doesn't appear to be the case. If you look at the page more closely you will notice allthe players are simply presented in alphabetical order. Indeed card #1 in the set is Pedro Alvarez, The last card in among the Prospects is #31 Brett Wallace.

Side Note: Just want to point out right next to Jarrod Parker we have #21 Mike Moustakas - another participant in the 2014 World Series.

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Teams
Triistar productions
imdb
baseball-ref

Snapshots: 2014 07 21 Giants 7 @ Phillies 4

The Return of Cliff Lee turned out to be a Meh event in a disappointing season. The Phillies lost to the Giants 7-4 in a game that had a lot of hits but few fireworks. Not much else to add on this one so right to the pix.

Snapshots

Lee's velocity was down and he had trouble finiahing hitters. He did little to enhance his trade value.

Grady Sizemore is the latest veteran the Phillies have added to the roster.

Former Phil Hunter Pence was in town and did some damage with 3 hits including a triple and a couple of RBIs.

There game featured 29 hits, but only one Home Run which was provided by rookie Adam Duvall.

Cliff Lee facing Buster Posey in the 5th inning.

Allen & Ginter Blaster Break!

2010 Allen & Ginter, that is.  Sorry if I got you withthe tease, but I found this A&G blaster at the Big K discounted $12.71 including PA Sales Tax.  Here are the highlights:



Some favorite cards and Stars (click any pix to enlarge):

2010 Allen & Ginter King Tut
2010 Allen & Ginter Buster Posey
2010 Allen & Ginter Raul Ibanez
2010 Allen & Ginter Matt Kemp

The Ibanez card was the sole Phillies card in the pack.  Kind of like there season - 1 Phils Card per Blaster, 1 Phils Win per week.

Short Prints

2010 Allen & Ginter Alex Rios
2010 Allen & Ginter Scott Sizemorer
2010 Allen & Ginter Jonathan Broxton
2010 Allen & Ginter Ben Sheets


Sheets is going to be back in baseball w/ the Braves I think.  Sort of a Phungo favorite. 

Minis

2010 Allen & Ginter Mins
Rafael Furcal
Regis
Jose Lopez
Trevor Hoffman
Olympus - Hades
Biggest - Mountain, Everest
Seven Seas - Francisco Vasquez De Coronado
Animals o the World - Bull Spain



Inserts

I got one of the two "This Day in History"/Birthday Cards I needed.  The Matsui Card celebrates one of the crummier days in recent Phils history - and it is a Dupe in the Phungo Collection - Fail.

2010 Topps Heritage First Pack

My first 2010 Heritage pack was a Retail Pack from Wal-Mart, where the packs go for $3.16 including PA Sales Tax. The pack proved to be a bit insert heavy.

2010 Topps Heritage

#22 Ross Ohlendorf
#295 Rick Ankiel #251 Jarrod Washburn

Nice first couple of cards. Hats off to Ohlendorf for being the First Heritage card of 2010. Wonder if he has ever been first at anything else before. Ankiel is now with the Royals - not sure if he kept the -stache. Washburn remains a free agent, but still gets a Heritage card from the 2 months he spent with the Tigers in 2009.


#114 Buster Posey
#105 Tim Hudson
#180 Robinson Cano (b-side)

I like the second half of the pack much better. Three pretty decent young players. I chose Cano for the B-Side Rep basically because he is a stinkin Yankee. Buster Posey only needs a rookie cup to have three different rookie designations thrown on his card.


#BF1 Baseball Flashbacks Roger Maris
#61RM-13 Maris Chase '61 13th Homer
#TN7 Then and Now White Ford, Justin Verlander

I like the Baseball Flashback card. Nice action shot of a player that has basically been denied his place in history twice.

Can somebody explain the Maris Chase cards going for bonkers bucks on ebay?? several #13 cards that appear similar to this one have gone for $7 plus shipping. According to the packs they fall one every four packs. They cannot be that uncommon.

I am pretty sure the Then and Now came out of a different pack. If someone can explain to me why Mr Verlander has been married to Mr Ford on this card, It would be appreciated. According to the leader board on the flip side of the card Ford finished 3rd in the league in Ks while Vernlander led the league - no symmetry there. It's not like the Tigers didn't exist in 1961. How about Jim Bunning he was a Tiger and was among the strikeout leaders in 61.



#BF1 Baseball Flashbacks Roger Maris
#61RM-13 Maris Chase '61 13th Homer

The B-sides of the two Maris cards for anybody that's interested.

Not a bad start to the year. I have already decided I am collecting only the Phils, plus one player from each other team from the base set. Undecided on the inserts.

Phungo's Two Cents - 2010 Topps Base Cards

In all I picked up 5 packs of Topps and had mixed results. Here are my thoughts on the five packs. I have posted a full break of the first pack previously.

Foul = Dearth of Phils Cards

My Biggest complaint is I had to get all the way down to pack #5 before getting a Phillies card. 2010 Topps Joe Blanton

Generally I think it is a plus to get the ball in an action shot, but I think there is to much wasted space in this shot. Regardless it is good to get the first Phil of the year. It appears Blanton will be the Phils 3rd/4th starter for the next few years and he seems like a good player for the role.


It's a Hit = Photography
2010 Topps Chris Iannetta
2010 Topps Zack Greinke Cy Young Award

Despite my above complaint on the Blanton Photo, I think overall the quality of the Topps photos is good and there are many interesting shots, including this pair. The Greinke shot is worthy of a Cy Young award winner.

It's a Hit = Landscape Cards
2010 Topps Jose Valverde
2010 Topps Daniel Hudson

I usually prefer the portrait cards - but for this years edition the Topps design works well for the landscape variety. I am not a fan of Jose Valverde - he is a bit to demonstrative on the mound for my taste or else I would consider this the best photo of the lot.

The swoosh on the side of the Hudson card flows right into his pitching motion and makes for a cool looking shot.

Foul = New Rookie Card Logo

2010 Topps Netali Feliz
2010 Topps Buster Posey

I am not a big fan of the new rookie logo. I think the Red/White/Blue color scheme clashes with that of many of the teams. I am not sure why Buster Posey qualifies for the logo, while Neftali Perez does not - and the Perez card would actually handle the RC logo pretty well. Placing the Rookie logo at the same spot on every card is also a mistake.

Going forward I think the Rookie Card Logo is going to clash with a lot of designs. I am definitely thinking it will not look good on Heritage.

One last note, I ended up with five or six Rangers between the 5 packs.

Rain Outs = Cincinnati Reds Cards and Mis-Stamped Foil

2010 Topps Brandon Phillips
2010 Topps Joey Votto

I think both of these Reds cards were photographed on the same dreary day in what appears to be Wrigley Field. I would like to hear an opinion from Nahcos Grande, but if all of the teams shots appear like this, I think I would be a little disappointed. Everything is just to dark. The Brandon Phillips card has the added problem of the mis-stamped foiling.

Between the five packs I picked up 11 base cards had the problem with the foil. I expect to have a future post detailing that further.