James Russell

I 'm trying not to overload you on ATCRCS posts and have been doing at least every other post but that is all I seem to have going on right now. Luckily we're heading into the weekend when I'll do First Pitch Friday, One Game Wonder and a Where Are They Now Pro Debut posts so bear with me. Hopefully the extras in this post will cure any boredom.

This may be a first for me but I'll have to double check to be sure. Not only did I recently get back a James Russell ATCRCS card signed...

...but I also got back the 2013 team set card...



...and an upgraded 2012 team set card!



There are a couple of players I have three or more autographs from but I'm pretty sure this is my first trifecta that includes all three team sets I am working on. Despite a record setting 53 different players last year and another record setting 56 (so far) this year, there are only 21 players that can claim to be in all three sets.

Six of those 21 have already been traded away or released (Soriano, Garza, DeJesus, Camp, Clevenger & Marmol) so the chances they make an appearance in 2014 are pretty slim.

It will be interesting to see which of the remaining 15 will be the last man standing. Will it be one of the big name money guys like Anthony Rizzo or Starlin Castro or Jeff Samardzija? A middle of the road guy like Darwin Barney or Welington Castillo? Or one of the young pitchers like Chris Rusin, Brooks Raley or Blake Parker?

That reminds me, I have another bunch of 2013 cards to still make...

The Bullpen

I consider myself a baseball fan but I don't really follow any other team but the Cubs. Until they play the Cubs. But once that series is over, I forget 90% of the other team's roster. With that said, I'm not sure that any other team has as much uncertainty as the Cubs bullpen.

The Cubs have used 15 pitchers this season. They've had three different players designated as the closer already this year (Carlos Marmol, Kyuji Fujikawa and Kevin Gregg) although ten different pitchers have finished a game.

It is not a good sign when your closer has the same amount of blown saves as wins and actual saves.

Fujikawa became the closer but was then put on the DL, which led to the Gregg signing.

I believe there was a collective groan among Cubs fans when they re-signed Gregg. His first stint with the Cubs in 2009 didn't necessarily go as planned with seven blown saves and a 4.72 ERA. However, since his return, he has essentially been lights out. He has yet to allow an earned run and has a WHIP under 1.

Another unsung hero of the bullpen is the James Russell. The only lefty in the group, Russell went 7-1 last season after going 1-6 in 2011. He is keep up that momentum with a 1-0 record, a 0.61 ERA and is also sporting a WHIP under 1.

Despite the 17-23 record, the Cubs are actually under the league average in ERA. Let's get those bats going and provide the starting pitchers some run support! That way we don't have to watch the last couple of innings through the hands over our eyes.

PWE made of Gold?!?

We were at an all-day wrestling tournament on Saturday and another on Sunday so I was catching up on some blog reading Sunday evening. I was literally just reading JediJeff's Sunday post over at 2x3Heroes about some out of the blue cards in the mail when my wife brought me a PWE from Saturday's mail. I had already received all of my recent ebay/sportslot purchases so it was truly unexepected cards! And wouldn't you know it, it was from JediJeff! Strong in the force, he is with his Jedi mind tricks. And they were all gold cards to boot!

Topps Update came out last year when I was taking a small break from blogging. In the fall, I was in the process of starting big boy college after finishing up my associate degree at my local community college in the spring. I picked up a hobby box which yielded a complete set so I didn't think much of the tracking down the parallels.

JediJeff sent six (!) gold Cubs parallels from last year. He must have picked up a ton of Update to get that lucky with Cubs! One card was from Series One:

Starlin Castro (0599/2012)

One from Series Two:

Anthony Rizzo (1184/2012)

And four from the Update Series:



Brett Jackson (1502/2012)

James Russell (0900/2012)

Josh Vitters (1992/2012 & 0553/2012)

Thanks a ton Jeff! There will be some White Sox I've been saving up for you coming your way soon.

New Customs

I've been away for far too long. Well, from posting here anyway. I've still been reading what everybody else has been writing but I've also been cooking up a few things of my own in the meantime. I've been adding to my collection in my absence so I should be getting back to posting fairly regularly in the near future, although probably not daily as I once was.

One of the things I've been working on is a new custom card design. I'm not sure this will be the design for my 2013 Cubs set as each one takes a lot longer than the 2012 set, even with a template. But these have been fun to work on!

The gray area with the faded Cubs logo is where I anticipate getting an autograph. I'd be curious to hear what you think about the player obscuring part of their name and/or the omittance of the first name altogether. Let me know what you think!

Tony Campana, the Michael Jordan of bunting

Pitcher Chris Rusin legging out his first career hit (a triple!)

James Russell found something to celebrate in 2012

Matt Sczcur, future Cub

Again, let me know what you think!