New additions to the Mets bullpen & my autograph collection

Staten Island native Jack Egbert, who played college baseball for Rutgers University, is the 35th player to appear on the New York Mets active roster this season. The Mets selected his contract from the Buffalo Bisons on Friday after they optioned Robert Carson back to the Binghamton Mets.

Egbert had a 2-3 record with a 2.08 ERA in 17 appearances (including one start) for the Bisons this year. He walked five while striking out 17 in 26 innings. He has allowed  one home run and has held opposing batters to a .234 average against him. (For more about Egbert, check out this ESPN New York article.)

Should the 29-year-old right-hander make it into a game for the New York Mets, he would become the 930th player in the team’s history. And then I’d be able to add this signed 2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition card to my Mets autograph collection.

This week, I’ve also added a few other autographed cards to my collection this week, removing three names from the list of players I was missing and “upgrading”   a fourth player to a signed Mets card.

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen these two cards already. The Nolan Ryan card was obtained through a signing held by Sports Collectibles of Houton, while the Endy Chavez card came courtesy of Ryan of the Great Orioles Autograph Project.

(Yes, I really chose to send in a 1990 Topps card for the Ryan signing. It was the first mainstream Nolan Ryan card that I ever owned that pictured him in a Mets uniform)

The other two additions to my autograph collection are more obscure, current Mets reserve catcher Rob Johnson and 2011 Mets reliever Blaine Boyer… both pictured with other teams on card company certified autograph inserts acquired cheaply from CheckOutMyCards.com.

Have you added any neat items to your collections lately?

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