Player Profile: David Bacani

I have one card of David Bacani, from 2002 Topps.

Playing career: Second baseman David Bacani played seven seasons in the Mets and Red Sox organizations, hitting .268 with 20 HR and 214 RBI.

Where he is now: Head baseball coach at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in California.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Google Autocomplete results: He is fourth when you type David Baca, between David Baca Artist, a painter and David Baca Facebook, an architect. Another prominent David Bacani is a realtor in Boston.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Jeff Ball.

Player Profile: Odannys Ayala

I have one card of Odannys Ayala, from 2001 Topps. As you can see, Topps really butchered his name.

Playing career: Outfielder Odannys Ayala played four seasons in the Royals and Rangers organizations, hitting .259 with 8 HR and 95 RBI.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Where he is now: Anyone know where Odannys Ayala is now?

Google Autocomplete results: Odannys Ayala is not in autocomplete, and there do not appear to be any other prominent Odannys Ayalas.

Coming up next: The next profile will be David Bacani.

Bob Filotei on baseball cards

Second baseman Bob Filotei played three seasons in the Reds organization. He then became a scout for various teams, most notably signing current Cardinals star David Freese. Now the National Cross Checker for the San Diego Padres, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"Topps gave you a $5 contract so they could print your card. Most players kept theirs as a token of their career. I kept mine. Others cashed them for the $5 check.

I grew up a big Pirate fan (grew up in Philadelphia but my father’s family was from Pittsburgh). I would always buy Topps cards at the convenience store and tried to get all the Pirates lineup. Probably threw away more cards than I had. I got Willie Stargell’s card and was able to get him to sign it at a game. However after a few years it started to fade so I traced over it. Probably ruined the value of the card!

I had twins born in 1992 and every Christmas I got my daughter a holiday Barbie and my son a set of Topps baseball cards.  I still have a Converse sneaker box that I had cards from 1978, 1980. I took it out recently to look at it. They had the cards with the three guys who were rookies, some were pretty good, others you never heard of. Interesting to see how different they were from cards from today."

Thanks!

Cards from Night Owl

Got a bunch of cool cards in a trade with Night Owl. Here are some highlights:

Always love a Mattingly.

 Looks like the 1991 World Series?

 Another base card taken during the playoffs.

 Another great Mattingly.

 The back is even better. Who's catching? That's not Stanley, Nokes or Leyritz. Maybe Mike Humphreys?

Bryan Rekar on baseball cards

Bryan Rekar pitched for eight seasons in the major leagues with the Rockies, Devil Rays and Royals, starting over 100 games. Now a Sales Consultant for Southern Wine and Spirits in Tampa, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"One good card story is about me trading a Wade Boggs rookie card for a Bob Horner rookie card back when I was young and Wade was just in his 2^nd year.  Then I ended up playing together with Wade in 1998 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and told him about that trade as it always drove me nuts growing up that I let that card go.  Wade told me “Heck that sounds like a good trade. I would have done the same.”

My favorite card of myself is my 2001 Topps card that mentions on the back that I enjoy the Simpsons and South Park.  I figure not too many people can say that about their baseball card.

I did collect baseball cards as a kid and I was a huge fan of Nolan Ryan, so I tried to get as many of his cards as I could. The oldest I ended up with was a card from 1974."

Thanks!

Player Profile: Pablo Arias

I have one card of Pablo Arias, from 2002 Topps.

Playing career: Pablo Arias pitched four seasons in the Tigers organization, going 28-19 with a 4.29 ERA.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Where he is now: Anyone know where Pablo Arias is now?

Google Autocomplete results: He is first when you type Pablo Ari, ahead of Pablo Arizmendi-Kalb, Latin America General Manager for Starbucks. There are no references to the ballplayer on the first page when you google Pablo Arias. The first reference is for a member of the European parliament.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Odannys Ayala.

Anyone have either of these to trade?

Of the nine Topps sets I got from a guy on Craigslist a few weeks ago, there were two that were not shrink wrapped - 1999 and 2002. Sure enough, both were missing the two most expensive cards in each set. The '99 was missing the McGwire and Sosa home run cards, but I already had those. Turns out the '02 is missing the Bonds home run card and the Joe Mauer rookie. (You can tell how behind I am that I just discovered this now). Anyone have either of these to trade?

#365 Barry Bonds Race to 70 (any version)

#622 Joe Mauer

Player Profile: Nick Alvarez

I have one card of Nick Alvarez, from 2002 Topps.

Playing career: Outfielder Nick Alvarez played seven seasons in the Dodgers organization. His best season was 2001, when he hit .286 with 21 HR, 71 RBI and 14 SB for Vero Beach.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Where he is now: Anyone know where Nick Alvarez is now?

Google Autocomplete results: He is seventh when you top Nick Al, between Nick Alleva, a pharmaceuticals consultant, and Nick Alexander BMW, a car dealer in Los Angeles. The ballplayer is fourth when you type Nick Alvarez. The first is a fashion designer.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Pablo Arias.

Phil Schneider on baseball cards

Phil Schneider pitched in the Rockies organization from 1993 to 1995. His best season was 1994, when he went 10-8 with a 3.12 ERA for AA New Haven. Now a Resource Center Instructor at Hawthorne High School in New Jersey, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

"The only story that I have that I will never forget is the time that my baseball card was included in a Major League set.  My baseball card was included in 1995 Topps.  My neighbor who I had grown up with had taken her son to a baseball card show and they happen to buy a pack of cards and I was in the set.  When I was home visiting my parents they came up to me and mentioned they found my card.

 

I was never really into collecting cards (my brother was), but I would say all of my cards are my favorites.  I have one for each minor league year I played, and the special one is the one that was included in a Major League set."

Thanks!

Cards from The Diamond King

Got two PWEs from The Diamond King yesterday, and they were full of awesome cards.

This 1992 Andy Pettitte card I already had, so it is up for trade. 21 years later and he is still their most reliable pitcher (Monday's debacle notwithstanding).

 The rest of the cards are to show off. This is a "tint" variation - never heard of this kind of card before, but it's pretty cool.

 Shiny!

 Shiny autograph! Grant Hansen ended up pitching in only sixteen professional games.

 Shiny again! I love shiny cards.

 Rick Elder autograph. He played four seasons in the Orioles system and one in the Indians system.