Autographed Nik Turley 2012 Tampa Yankees baseball card from my collection
The Trenton Thunder will take on the Harrisburg Senators for the Eastern League title tonight, starting a best-of-five playoff series at 7:05 p.m. at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton.
Nik Turley will take the hill for the Thunder against Blake Treinen for Harrisburg, the Washington National’s Double-A affiliate.
The series will continue in Trenton at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday night, when Bryan Mitchell of the Thunder takes on the Senators’ A.J. Cole.
On Thursday, the series shifts to Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg, Pa. for Game 3. Games 4 and 5 will be played on Friday and Saturday, if necessary. All will be 7 p.m. starts.
Can Am-League Playoffs
After falling behind 3 games to 1 in the best-of-seven Can-Am League Championship Series, the New Jersey Jackals won the last two days to force a deciding Game 7 in Quebec tonight. If the Jackals win, it will be their first Can-Am League title… if the Capitales win, it will be their fifth straight.
Autographed Nik Turley 2012 Tampa Yankees baseball card from my collection
The Tampa Yankees are the New York Yankees’ Single-A affiliate in the Florida State League. Manager Luis Sojo led them to a 65-70 record last year.
I did not see the Tampa Yankees play in 2012, but many of the players included in their baseball card team set moved up to the Double-A Trenton Thunder by the end of the season. It’s a good bet that many of the players in this set will also start the 2013 season in Double-A, so I picked it up earlier this winter to see how many cards I can get signed.
Minor league pitcher Nik Turley, a 50th round selection in the 2008 draft, was a free autograph guest at MAB Celebrity Services “Pinstripe Glory Days” autograph show this weekend, so he got to be the first player to sign his card in my set.
Andy Pettitte’s 2012 Tampa Yankees baseball card
Unfortunately, none of the players Baseball America rated as the New York Yankees’ top 10 prospects are in this set. (Catcher/infielder J.R. Murphy was ranked the Yankees’ #9 prospect before the 2012 season, and he is included.) Andy Pettitte fans may be interested to note that even though the New York Yankee star only pitched seven innings for Tampa, he was included in the team set.
Grandstand produced a 36-card unnumbered set with full-color fronts and backs, printed on non-glossy cardstock. The photos are almost all game-action shots, and the designer did a good job of making sure we got a look at some of the alternate jersey the Tampa Yankees wore last year. The majority of the cards use a standard vertical design, but there are a few with a horizontal orientation for variety.
The back of J.R. Murphy’s 2012 Tampa Yankees baseball card
Here is the checklist:
Tampa Yankees All-Stars (Rob Segedin, J.R. Murphy, Mark Montgomery)
Rigoberto Arrebato – LHP
Manuel Barreda – RHP
Sean Black – RHP
Tyson Blaser – C
Kelvin Castro – 2B
Aaron Dott – LHP
Ramon Flores – LF
Mario Garza – Coach
Shane Greene – RHP
Kyle Higashioka – C
Tom Kahnle – RHP
Garrison Lassiter – 3B
Neil Medchill – OF
Lee Meyer – Athletic Trainer
Jose Mojica – SS
Mark Montgomery – RHP
J.R. Murphy – C
Zachary Nuding – RHP
Michael O’Brien – RHP
Andy Pettitte – LHP
Brandon Pinder – RHP
Hector Rabago – C/INF
Jose Ramirez – RHP
Kyle Roller – 1B
Rob Segedin – 3B/OF
Jay Signorelli – Strength Coach
Kramer Sneed – LHP
Luis Sojo – MGR
Eduardo – Sosa – OF
Jose Toussen – 2B/SS
Matt Tracy – LHP
Nik Turley – LHP
Justin Turner – Coach
Jeff Ware – Coach
Zachary Wilson – 3B
You can still get the 2012 Tampa Yankees card set from the team for $7. (They also have older sets from 2006-2011 and various Florida State League prospect sets from 2004-2012. Shipping is a very reasonable $3 per three card sets, though you will have to write out your order and mail a check or money order – the Tampa Yankees don’t do online shopping.)
Kyle Higashioka’s 2012 Tampa Yankees baseball card
— Members of the Trenton Thunder staff joined volunteers from the Lakewood BlueClaws, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and Reading Fightin Phils to provide Hurricane Sandy cleanup assistance on Monday.
“It was our own ‘Baseball Volunteer Day,'” said BlueClaws General Manager Geoff Brown in a statement. “We thank all of these teams who came from a significant distance away during a busy time of the year to help out in our communities. That says a lot about all of these great teams. We are thrilled they are part of our baseball family.”
The Lakewood BlueClaws posted photos from the event on their Facebook page.
The New York Yankees added 2012 Trenton Thunder pitcher Brett Marshall to their 40-man roster today (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
— Tonight is the deadline for major league teams to add players to their 40-man rosters to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 draft. (Minor League players with four seasons of experience that were signed before age 19, or five years and were signed before age 18, and have not been added to the 40-man roster are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft.
PaulHadsall.com 