I can’t even imagine the excitement when a baseball player gets the call to the big leagues. Salvador Perez got the call last night and I heard he said he couldn’t talk for 2 hours. This is a shocking call-up to me. I am very excited about it. Here are a couple cards I have made of Perez so far. Tonight he will get his major league debut card as I have done for the other 10 Royals to make their major league debut this year.
Jim Thome is going to hit his 600th home run any day now. The guy epitimizeses what a power hitter should be, it is all or nothing with him. He hits balls a mile, he sends the crowd into a frenzy. He is limping to this feat as he should be. Barry Bonds didn’t limp to 600 but he had a little “help.”
The feat is going largely unrecognized to this point. I wish he would get a little more publicity for this. I made this 1980 Topps card of him to drub up some publicity. My favorite part of the card is actually the signature. I traced it from an autographed baseball for the card and couldn’t be happier with the result. I hate the colors of this card though, just plain ugly. Oh well, it was 1980 I guess.
When Manny Pina made his major league debut on August 3rd I posted this card. I said that Johnny G was next to get a major league debut card, I never thought it would only be 2 days later. Gio landed with a splash the same way Manny Pina did. He went 2-3 with a double for his first major league hit. He also drove in a run, stole a base and looked comfortable in the field. His scrappy Dustin Pedroia-like play is sure to win over Kansas City Royals fans. His call-up got a lot of momentum of late, so fans were really excited to see him in the lineup. It was great to see the infield of Hosmer-Giavotella-Escobar-Moustakas, that is a lot of young talent on one field.
Manny Pina made his major league debut on Wednesday August 3rd 2011. He was called up to replace injured veteran catcher Matt Treanor. He might not be up long but in his first start he caught a great game, threw out a runner on the bases and notched 2 hits. He was 2-4 with a double in his major league debut against the Baltimore Orioles.
As is a tradition now on this site, each time a Royal make his major league debut he will get a card in this design dedicated to him. This is Pina’s, Johnny G could be any time.
Mike Aviles’ last stand.
So Mike Aviles recently commented about not liking his utility infielder role with the Royals. I think that was what stamped his ticket out of town. Aviles was traded to the Boston Red Sox for Yamaico Navarro and a single A pitcher today. A good move for the Royals I feel. Aviles wasn’t happy and really didn’t fit in the scheme for the future for Kansas City.
Aviles had a chance to be an everyday player for the Royals on Opening Day. He proceeded to bat around .200 and get sent to AAA Omaha. He also played horrible defense this year. That is the most important thing for a utility infielder so it makes sense that Aviles didn’t fit the role. I would like to see Johnny Giavotella fill the roster spot instead of the newcomer Navarro but I don’t see that happening unless Navarro is unable to play the middle infield (I don’t know if he can or not)
I just predicted this would be the only move the Royals would make before the deadline this morning on Pine Tar Press. I believe the Royals are done trading now.
I’ve already said that it would be a crime if Alcides Escobar doesn’t win the American League Gold Glove award. This card is a little more of a leap than Escobar’s was. Eric Hosmer is excellent defensively. He is good enough to at least be on the short list of Gold Glove candidates at first base. He is increasingly smooth for his age. It is very nice to have a solid defensive first baseman even if it means that Billy Butler is strictly a DH now. Eric Hosmer should also get some consideration for AL Rookie of the Year too. He and Royals reliever Aaron Crow are both having seasons worthy of being candidates.
I recently picked up a couple Paul Splittorff rookie cards and immediately thought of doing this with the design. Splittorff’s rookie was the nice black 1971 Topps set. He was on a dual rookie stars card with Jerry Cram. I couldn’t resist the urge to do this card with Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer. Right now Hosmer is a lot more of a rookie star than Moustakas but they are both everyday players in the major leagues and are well deserving of this card.
I just posted a 1999 Topps card of Jair Jurrjens yesterday and now I’m posting the same year of the guy who is 2nd in ERA in the NL, Jeff Karstens. The Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher is under the radar because…well…he’s a Pittsburgh Pirate. The Pirates are contending! This guy must be helping a lot. In his last 9 starts he has given up 2 or more earned runs 2 times. 2 times in 9 games? That’s insane. He posted an ERA just under 5.00 last year and now he is currently locked in with a 2.28 ERA. He must have figured something out this offseason. This great for the Pittsburgh Pirates and players like this are great for major league baseball as well.
Jair Jurrjens is leading the National League in both wins(12) and ERA(2.26) right now. Those are great numbers and should put him right in the running for the NL Cy Young award until Tim Lincecum starts to get hot. Jurrjens has been a huge reason why the Atlanta Braves are currently leading the NL wild card. It would be great to see Chipper Jones make the playoffs one last time. He will go down as a truely historic player so it would be good to see him on that kind of stage again.
Jurrjens gets the custom card of the day today simply because I don’t know who he is and don’t think I have seen him pitch. I am an AL guy so that hurts me seeing guys like this. Hopefully I will get to see him pitch in October.
Will Smith’s no-hitter on Tuesday made me dig out this card I made this spring training. At that time I really thought that either Everett Teaford or Will Smith were going to make the opening day roster.
A Hair Off Square 