Player Profile: Jeremy Barfield

I have two cards of Jeremy Barfield. This one is from 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects.

Playing career: Outfielder Jeremy Barfield, son of former Yankee star Jesse Barfield, was drafted by the A's in 2008 and has moved steadily through their system, reaching double figures in home runs in each of the last four seasons.

Where he is now: He started the season at AA Midland, and after hitting 8 HR in 99 at bats was promoted to AAA Sacramento. In 16 games at AAA he is hitting .241 with 3 HR and 11 RBI.

My memories: He kindly shared his thoughts on baseball cards with this blog in 2011.

Google Autocomplete results: He is third when you type Jeremy Ba, between Jeremy Bailey, a new media artist, and Jeremy Barbour, an architect. There do not appear to be any other prominent Jeremy Barfields.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Jesse Barfield.

Player Profile: Brian Barden

I have four cards of Brian Barden. This one is from 2007 Ultra.

Playing career: Infielder Brian Barden played for the Diamondbacks, Cardinals and Marlins from 2007 to 2010. In 193 at bats, he hit .211 with 4 HR and 14 RBI.

Where he is now: Last season he played in Japan, though his season ended with surgery. You can follow his progress on his wife’s blog. He's back in the US in 2013, playing at the Dodgers AAA club in Albuquerque, hitting .231 with 1 HR and 11 RBI in 45 games.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Google Autocomplete results: He is first when you type Brian Bard, ahead of Brian Bardell, Director of Volunteers of America. Another prominent Brian Barden is a surfboard artist.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Jeremy Barfield.

Great Trade with Dime Boxes

Got a whole bunch of cool cards in a trade with Nick of Dime Boxes. He writes one of the best baseball card blogs out there. Here are a sample of the awesome variety of cards he sent me.

Not too often you see the number 97 on a baseball uniform.

 Shiny John Olerud.

 Here's an interesting photo, plus a bit of shininess.

 This at first looks like a simple play at the plate card, but check out the background. Not too often you see a wind-blown plastic bag in play on a baseball card.

Player Profile: Josh Bard

I have eight cards of Josh Bard. This one is from 2006 Topps Updates/Highlights.

Playing career: Catcher Josh Bard played for the Indians, Red Sox, Padres, Nationals and Mariners from 2002 to 2011, hitting .254 with 39 HR and 220 RBI.

Where he is now: In 2012 he played for the Dodgers AAA team in Albuquerque, hitting .331 with 6 HR and 32 RBI in 45 games. He retired after the season and chose to remain with the Dodgers as a Special Assistant.

My memories: I remember him most as the catcher who had so much trouble catching Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball with the Red Sox that they had to lure Doug Mirabelli out of retirement. Turns out only seven of his 586 major league games were with Boston. Funny how the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry really skews your perception of a player.

Interesting stories: Shortly after the 2010 season he was a passenger in a one-car accident that killed his best friend. Bard and the driver were buckled up in the front. His friend who was killed was sitting unbuckled in the back seat of the pickup truck. Always remember to buckle up, and never sit in the back of a pickup truck.

Google Autocomplete results: He is fifth when you type Josh Bar, between Josh Barro Bio, referring to a political journalist, and Josh Barbanel, a real estate journalist. There do not appear to be any other prominent Josh Bards.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Brian Barden.

Player Profile: Daniel Bard

I have four cards of Daniel Bard. This one is from 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter.

Playing career: Daniel Bard came up with the Red Sox and enjoyed three-seasons as a lights-out set-up man. Bobby Valentine tried to convert him to a starter, with disastrous results.

Where he is now: Trying to bounce back from a lost season where he went 5-6 with a 3.65 ERA, and saw his strikeouts/nine innings ratio go from over 9 to under 6. In 2013, he has pitched only one inning for the Red Sox, and is struggling at AAA Pawtucket, with a 6.39 ERA in thirteen appearances.

My memories: As a Yankee fan, it was fun watching the Red Sox implode last year. Bard’s troubles were just one part of it.

Google Autocomplete results: He is seventh when you type Daniel B, between Daniel Bedingfield, a singer, and Daniel Bruhl, an actor. There do not appear to be any other prominent Daniel Bards.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Josh Bard.

Player Profile: Homer Bailey

I have one card of Homer Bailey, from 2008 Topps.

Playing career: Homer Bailey was the Reds’ first round draft pick in 2004. He has pitched in the majors since 2007, but had his first particularly good season last year, going 13-10 with a 3.68 ERA. He also threw a no-hitter last September.

Where he is now: In nine starts this season, he is 3-3 with a 3.08 ERA. This afternoon he beat the Cubs, allowing two earned runs in six innings in Cincinnati's 5-2 win.

My memories: I remember him as a high-profile rookie but had pretty much forgotten about him until his no-hitter last year.

Interesting facts: His name is David DeWitt Bailey. Homer is a family nickname. He has allowed 82 home runs in his career but has hit none. Homer Bailey Chardonnay is a wine whose sale benefits the charity Outdoors Without Limits, which helps the physically disabled enjoy the outdoors.

Google Autocomplete results: He is sixth when you type Homer, between Homer Laughlin, which manufactures fine china, HomeRunDerbyUS, an online baseball game.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Daniel Bard.

Player Profile: Scott Barczi

I have one card of Scott Barczi, from 1990 ProCards.

Playing career: Catcher Scott Barczi played four seasons in the Pirates organizations, hitting .235 with 7 HR, 101 RBI and 39 SB. Speedy catcher.

Where he is now: Owns Barczi Builders in Naperville, IL.

My memories: Only know him from his card.

Google Autocomplete results: He is tenth when you type Scott Barc, after Scott Barclay, Surescripts, a healthcare technology executive. There do not appear to be any other prominent Scott Barczis.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Daniel Bard.

Another epic trade with Scott Crawford

I recently completed another epic trade with Scott Crawford. About 2,500 cards changed hands in this one, and I don't think it's even the biggest we've ever done. Here are just a few of the tons of awesome cards I got in this deal.

Baby Johnny Damon. I wonder if he could even grow a beard at this point?

 Maybe the best use of shadow I've seen on a card.

 This picture makes me thirsty.

Wouldn't you love to hear this conversation?

 Nice Yankee Stadium dugout shot.

 A great card of under-appreciated Yankee Matt Nokes.

 Super-shiny!

 A shiny purple Giambi!

 I've seen baseball cards that were supposed to look like credit cards before, but never one designed to look like a frequent-flyer card.

 The back even has a "magnetic strip".

 Nice father-son card.

 Here's weird, wacky card. The funniest part might be the dirt stain on Martinez's shorts.

Baseball Cards and Race

When Topps recently issued a card of Dodgers rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu and couldn’t tell the difference between Japan and Korea, I thought it would be interesting to look at the issue of race and baseball cards.

It turns out this is a legitimate area of scholarly research.

Because baseball cards have one player with an easily identifiable race, and also have well-publicized prices that are driven by the consumer market, they have been a fruitful hunting ground for economists looking at the impact of race on consumer behavior.

There are even at least two scholarly articles on race and the placement of star players with "hero numbers" (100, 200, 300 etc) in Topps sets through the decades.

Check out my piece at the Hall of Very Good where I examine the existing research on race and baseball cards.

Hugh Quattlebaum on baseball cards

Infielder Hugh Quattlebaum played four seasons in the Tigers and Orioles organizations. His best season was 2000, when he hit .301 at Oneonta. Now a youth baseball coach in California, he kindly answered my questions about baseball cards.

- Do you have any stories about cards of yourself or of other players?  

To be honest, I'm not real sure how I even had a Topps rookie card made.  Seems to have been the result of some sort of fluke as I was NOT a top prospect with the Tigers.  I remember when they came to take pictures at our instructional league for cards, there were several first rounders they could have used instead of me.  Maybe they thought my last name was funny and wanted it on a card.  Or maybe my photos were the only ones that came out right.  Who knows?  I remember the day I first saw it, we were in Fort Wayne, Indiana and someone handed my card for me to sign and I signed it without realizing it was a Topps card.  There are all kinds of goofy cards out there for individual minor league teams, etc.  Sometimes fans will just put pictures of you on cards to make it look like a card, too.  So, at first, I was thinking that was the case, but then another one popped up a couple days later.  I told my teammates that I had a Topps rookie card out there and they laughed at me, wisely surmising that there wouldn't be a rookie/prospect card of me because I wasn't a prospect!  Nonetheless, it turned out to be a legit card and I'm just grateful that Edwin Encarnacion has picked up the statistical slack for the poor schlub on the other half of the card.

I met Edwin at a spring training game when he was with the Reds and introduced myself telling him that we shared that rookie card together.  He was very nice and it really is cool that he has gone on to such a productive career, but I'm pretty sure he left our conversation asking himself, "who the hell was that guy?"  I'm sure he still signs that card almost every day and he's gotta be wondering what the hell ever happened to that Quattleschmuck guy.  Quattlebaum doesn't exactly roll off the tongue in Spanish or English.

- Do you have a favorite card of yourself or of another player?

There's an obscure set of Frederick Keys cards from when I played there where a few players were accused of adding props to their undergarments to enhance their appearance in them.  I can neither confirm nor deny these accusations.

- Do you collect baseball cards?

I do not collect cards myself, no. 

Thanks!