Joe Mauer, AL MVP

Congratulations to Minnesota Twins' catcher Joe Mauer, who won the American League MVP award for his efforts during the 2009 campaign. Mauer won in a nearly unanimous voting this year, the only other first place vote going to Miguel Cabrerra of the Tigers. That vote was from a voter out of the Seattle market. Not sure about that one...

Joe Mauer, in this writer's humble opinion, is the best catcher since Johnny Bench, and a player who will surely see his bronze likeness immortalized in Cooperstown following the end of his career.

Mauer is up for free agency after this next season, but I don't see him leaving his friends and family in Minnesota. He is an old school sort of guy, a player of the same caliber as George Brett (entire career played in Kansas City) and the one and only Rockin' Robin Yount (entire career played in Milwaukee). You just don't see guys like that anymore, and I just can't see Mauer leaving Minnesota.

I bring this up because I am connected to Joe Mauer in a loose way. My youth, I suppose, shall show itself in the following lines (that's right folks, this writer is a mere 27 years old).

In 1997, while a sophomore at Saint Agnes High School in St. Paul, MN (I commuted every morning from God's country of Wisconsin, folks) I had the pleasure of playing against young Mr. Mauer in a basketball tournament one weekend. His Raiders of Cretin-Derham Hall defeated my Aggies in a not-so-close contest, but history was set in motion. I went on to a wonderful college career of studying, later joining the Navy in defense of this great nation, finally ending up as a maintenace technician for the #1 steel producing company in the United States. Joe Mauer, however, followed a different path. He decided to use his athletic abilities and pursue a career in baseball. That decision has turned out okay.

A couple years ago, my best friend called me up and filled me in on some more information regarding Mr. Mauer. It turns out, our high school prep Alma Mater was in dire need of financial consideration, forced with the decision of possibly closing its doors. The school needed some $3 million to stay in operation. A wealthy alum (who financed this writer's entire senior year's worth of tuition through a student-athlete scholarship) donated nearly half of that sum out of his generosity. The remaining $1 million + was still up in the air. A quick phone call ended that problem.

It turns out, Joe Mauer's father attended my high school back in the day. A short phone call to his son, explaining the circumstances, was all the school needed. A few days later, the school recieved a personal check from Joe Mauer allowing it to stay in operation.

So again, congrats to Joe Mauer for winning the 2009 American League MVP Award. And thank you, again, for helping my alma mater provide a great education to young people in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Go Aggies!

MLK Day Breakout: '08 Upper Deck Timeline Blaster

Not that I need an excuse to buy baseball cards, but I decided to buy a blaster of cards to open today, taking care of a couple objectives in the process: Investigate a different set, and kill some time and take my attention away from the annoyance of the upcoming presidential inauguration and its historical context.  Speaking of the inauguration, I'll have some fun in store for tomorrow on this blog. Stay tuned for that!

But I digest...back to the cards. Like I said, I wanted to get some cards that I have few of, and try for another memorabilia or relic card.  This limited my choices, so I decided to go w/ the '08 Upper Deck Timeline blaster.  I was still looking for the Ryan Braun from this set, so we'll see if

 I have any luck.  Go grab some coffee, because this blaster has 10 packs...

Pack 1

#TM-WT Willy Taveras Game Worn Jersey

Whenever I open a blaster I go for the memorabilia card pack right away...I'm somewhat of an instant gratification sort of person. Not the one I was looking for, but it'll do. Although the swatch of jersey in this scan looks like a band-aid, I assure you it is the same color as the jersey in the photo. If anyone is interested in this card or knows someone who is, it's up for trade. Let me know.

#45 Vladimir Guerrero

#232 Kosuke Fukudome RC

#127 Rico Washington

Pack 2

#36 Jim Thome (who is, in fact, just as large in person as he is on TV)

#9 Mark Texeira (before he sold his soul)

#18 Ryan Braun

So far this year, I'm 2/2 in opening blasters and getting a Ryan Braun card,  finding both the All-Star card and the HR Derby card in a pack of '08 Topps UH two weeks ago.  Ah, the Hebrew Hammer.  Quickly he is becoming the object of my baseball card lust, much like Dave Justice was in the early 90's.  Brauny is my favorite player in the game today, especially so because ESPN can't do an "Outside the Lines" story on him...he's just a great baseball player. If I had to choose a player that HAS had an OTL story done on him, it'd be Josh Hamilton. Dude is amazing, his story is amazing, and he's clean. 

#27 Alex Rodriguez

#71 Ross Ohlendorf

#169 Lance Berkamn ATG

Pack 3

#45 Vladimir Guerrero

#50 Erik Bedard (the Mariner's bust of '08, but he didn't have his own "Soul Patch" night like J.J. Putz did here in Seattle...oh, the lengths organizations will go to in order to get butts in seats)

#184 Calix Crabbe RC

Apparently, I'm no Brewers fan, because I've never heard of this guy! A little digging, and I was able to find out that the Padres picked him up in the '07 Rule 5 Draft, and he was on their roster for a while in '08. They returned him to the Brewers in May, and he was assigned to AAA-Nashville in the Brewers organization. At the end of the year, we released him and he was signed by the Mariners to a minor league deal.  This photo must have been taken down in Phoenix at spring training last year, because he's never played at Miller Park. I wouldn't be suprised to see this guy in a Mariners uniform in '09 though, he's got incredible speed as of now is a spring training non-roster invitee.

#23 Matt Kemp

#115 Felix Pie

#306 Russel Martin

Pack 4

#49 Felix Hernandez

#4 Pedro Martinez

#313 Kosuke Fukudome RC SP

There are few things in this world that I dislike more than the Chicago Cubs. Among them are women driving large SUV's,  weak coffee, and Kirk Herbstreit. That being said, still a card I may hold onto. His first season here in the US was great. I love the story about some little girl in a Chicago-area school being sent home for wearing a "FUKUDOME" jersey to class one day.  As my wife said, "people in Chicago are dumb!". Amen.

#31 Manny Ramirez (in Dodger blue)

#112 Emmanuel Burriss

#244 Troy Tulowitzki

Pack 5

#15 Jason Bay

#33 B.J. Upton

#6 Hanley Ramirez

What an electrifying player, it's fun to watch this guy play. Especially when he has a huge plug in his mouth! 

#130 Tyler Clippard

#202 Nyger Morgan 

#216 John Smoltz

Pack 6

#42 Joe Mauer

Along w/ Braun cards, I collect every Joe Mauer card I come across.   He went to high school at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, MN,  4 1/2 miles from my high school.  During my sophomore year we played his team in baseketball...we lost.  His father Jake also graduated from my alma mater. A short while ago, when the school was in danger of closing,  Joe's father called him and told him that they needed some money to save the school. Without asking a single question, Joe wrote a check for nearly $1.7 Million and sent it to St. Agnes HS.  

#24 Matt Holliday

#43 Alex Gordon

#7 John Smoltz

#95 Yasuhiko Yabuta

#151 B.J. Upton ATG

Pack 7

#16 Lance Berkman

#34 Nick Markakis

#YSL 6334 Hideki Matsui

 

I like these cards, not enough to complete the set but they are an interesting read on the back. In case you were wondering, the code on the back of the card didn't win me a trip to the All-Star game in New York posthumously. 

#25 Brandon Webb

#103 Chad Billingsley

#230 Alfonso Soriano

Pack 8

#22 Jake Peavy

#40 Miguel Cabrera

#13 Alfonso Soriano

#385 Jonathan Van Every RC

#86 Jay Bruce RC

#160 Matt Holliday ATG

Pack 9

#5 Johann Santana

#41 Justin Verlander

#14 Derrek Lee

#32 Daisuke Matsuzaka

Turns out, that "Gyro-ball" that Dice-K throws is freakin nasty...it's fast like a fastball, looks like a cutter, but breaks at the end to buckle your knees and paint the corner. On MLB 2K8, though, Ryan Braun owns his ass. 

#68 Nick Blackburn

#178 Kosuke Fukudome ATG RC

Pack 10

#142 Albert Pujols ATG

#21 Tim Lincecum

#48 Ichiro

#12 Jimmy Rollins

#52 John Bowker RC

#193 Jeff Baker

All in all, not a bad box. It will have to do for now, however, as the 2009 Budget has just been approved and there isn't as much of a surplus this year for cards. We'll have to free up some funds in another department to secure some for the 'ol habit. 

The next break is coming up soon! For my birthday, the Mrs. ordered a pre-sale 2009 Topps hobby box for me, and I'm anxiously awaiting that arrival. Not a bad birthday present!