So here are a couple “Award Winners” cards I put together for the 2011 season. First is Matt Johnson who won the MINK League manager of the year award. This was well deserved, he managed what was almost undoubtedly the best squad in the MINK League. I have also always liked the way Matt Johnson uses his pitchers as well. I know pitching coach Matt Wilson has a lot to do with this as well. The pitching staff for a summer league team like this is a tricky situation. These players all play for colleges that could get very upset if their players are overused and it effects their performance for the universities. The Mustangs rotation varied but had about 7 starting pitchers in it.
Kris Koerper won the Community Service award this year. The award just gave me an opportunity to use this nice pic I had of him waiting just outside the batter’s box.
This is the last of my 2011 Mustangs players cards. I ended up with 32 players I think. I will be putting up some other Mustangs cards during the World Series commemorating the season. Don’t worry Rally the mascot is coming too. My apologies go out to Mike Garza and Will Mulligan as two players I know of that I never ended up with pictures of, there might be a couple others too (I think one pitcher made one appearance) I missed.
My Just Fair card series comes back to honor Ervin Santana who threw a no-hitter today against the Cleveland Indians. Another Angels pitcher who can be dominant. This team could be really dangerous in the playoffs.
1955 Topps is an interesting set. The cards are all sideways, one of very few sets ever to do that. The card also features two pictures and a signature. The one picture is typically a close up and the second is a full body shot. Most of the full body pictures were the typical baseball card poses, a pitcher having just thrown, a batter in his backswing, etc. They are all poses of some sort. The solid color background is a gradient and were usually red, green or yellow. The pictures on the card were usually painted looking. I don’t think I achieved the “painted” look and I think that is the most difficult part of re-creating these early cards.
“You know what you get when you squeeze oranges? orange juice. You know what you get when you squeeze us? Champions.”
-Jordan Clark after winning MINK championship (to the best of my recollection)
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.
If my calculations are correct; 3 different players have worn the number 31 for the St. Joe Mustangs this year. Beyond that; all 3 have been second basemen. The current number 31 on the Mustangs is Shane Segovia who only has a couple games under his belt with the team. Ryan Richardson preceded him for a while and the first number 31 was Ryan Rush.
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.
A Hair Off Square 