Tag: Nolan Ryan

Posted in Baseball

Old & new

Posted on by Paul

Last week, John from California found a Nolan Ryan reprint in some packs of 2017 Topps Series 1 baseball cards that he’d opened, and he offered to send it my way.

Ryan is the only Met featured in a 10-card “Rediscover Topps” promo set. The fronts are reprints of classic Topps cards of some of the game’s biggest stars of the past and present, ranging from Jackie Robinson to Mike Trout. The backs talk about Topps’ traditional baseball cards available at retail and hobby shops, Topps Bunt digital baseball cards and Topps Now cards available for 24 hours only at Topps.com.

Continue reading “Old & new” →

Posted in Uncategorized

Mets baseball cards on the final 2014 Topps Series 1 checklist

Posted on by Paul

While football fans are getting excited about the Super Bowl next week, baseball card collectors can look forward to the the arrival of Topps Series 1, marking the beginning of the baseball card collecting season.

For Mets fans, Topps did a better job this year than in 2013 – almost all of the players appearing in the Series 1 base set as Mets are still on the team. Highlights include “Rookie Cards” of Travis d’Arnaud and Wilmer Flores, even though most collectors probably won’t view as “true” rookie cards.

Zack Wheeler, David Wright, Nolan Ryan and Travis d’Arnaud are among the players who have signed autographs for this set.

Beckett Media has posted the full “final” checklist from Topps, and I’ve listed the New York Mets cards below:

Continue reading “Mets baseball cards on the final 2014 Topps Series 1 checklist” →

Posted in Autographs, Uncategorized

New additions to the Mets bullpen & my autograph collection

Posted on by Paul

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.

Signed Jack Egbert baseball card from my collection, obtained through the mail in May 2012

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.

Continue reading “New additions to the Mets bullpen & my autograph collection” →

Posted in Uncategorized

Link: Nolan Ryan Bit by Coyote, Helps Inspire New Baseball Cards

Posted on by Paul

At the Cardboard Connection, Ryan Cracknell wrote about how a freak injury to Nolan Ryan inspired an unconventional series of baseball cards more than two decades after it occurred.

In 1985, Nolan Ryan, then with the Houston Astros, was bitten by a coyote while reaching into a dog pen. In 2006, Amelie Mancini left Paris to move to New York and fall in love with baseball. These two seemingly insignificant events collide with a new set of handmade baseball cards that mix pain and art.

To learn more, visit Left Field Cards.