Summer break is over and school is back in session full force. I didn't intend to take the whole summer off from writing, but I basically did(I did write one blog!). My wife and I took an Alaskan cruise that was absolutely amazing. If you haven't gone, it is definitely worth it. It was our first cruise too. Took a little adjusting to get used to it, but it was wonderful. Highly recommend it. On to the ramblings!
*Most of you know my stance on grading (I'm not a fan if you were wondering). Well now, there's something out there that grades already graded cards. MBA, Mike Baker Authentication, is the newest thing in graded cards. Basically, MBA is going to tell you if the card that you had graded has good eye appeal. You've got to be kidding me! Grading the already graded cards? AND you're going to tell me if the card looks good? Not gonna lie, this far outweighs getting cards graded in the first place. At least if you get a card graded there is some assurance that the card is authentic. Okay, okay, I know that there are fake cards that have been graded and proven out, but that's not the norm. As for MBA?? I'm sorry, but I don't need someone else to tell me if my card is a good looking card or not. I can use my own eyes. I think the worst part of this is people now wanting an upcharge on their card if MBA scores it higher. My outlook on this? If I see a card with the MBA sticker on it, I'm moving on to another card.
*The AL West is crazy! It's like nobody wants to win this thing. I know that my Rangers are in that mix, but this is bad. The thing is, I don't think it's bad baseball. I know for my Rangers, the hitting has been bad when the pitching was good and the pitching has been suspect when the bats got a little hot. The injuries have put a damper on the team as well. I don't know about Houston, but if the Rangers can sync up the hitting with pitching they might be tougher in the playoffs than people think.
*I did pick up some cards this summer.
Found both of these on Ebay and got them for really good deals. I really like the Carter auto.
* Picked up a couple of deals of Topps Chrome, Topps Platinum and Topps Finest lots from guys on Facebook. I think I got over 30+ cards for my player collections. Now I'm trying to decide what I do with the rest. I have put some in TCDB for trade and listed some on buysportscards.com but unsure about what to do with the rest. You know me, being the set collector, do I try and collect the set? I think it's going to be really difficult to do. I might try and do a couple of the subsets. I don't know. I do know that I've got stacks of cards all over my desk I've got to do something with!
* Pete Crow Armstrong is having an awesome season.
I love the speed and the all-out play that I've seen. He's impressive. The big question is this a short term or a long term thing. It wasn't that long ago that Cal Raleigh was the next big thing, only to fizzle out this year. Only time will tell.
* All of the talk seems to be about Ohtani or Pete Crow Armstrong for NL MVP. I haven't heard hardly in talk about the AL MVP. Normally the talk would have been about Aaron Judge, but with him missing almost the whole season he's not really an option. I did read that Yordan Alvarez was the hands down favorite in the American League. I believe it. I think he hit .750 against Texas this year. Not really. He did hit .467 with 8 homers in 13 games against Texas. I've said for the last couple of seasons that he was underrated. I hate positive talk about anything associated with the astros, but Alvarez deserves it.
That wraps up the ramblings for now. Hopefully, life gets into more of a routine and I can get back into writing more.
Peace,
Michael
Isaiah 40:31
