Tag Archives: Jeff McNeil

2020 Mets Card Spr-ummer Preview

Posted by on 24 July 2020 1 comment

Baseball’s back, even though it probably shouldn’t be

So, um, right. Baseball! As a pandemic rages unchecked across the country and travel and gatherings of all kinds are frowned upon, MLB is back in action. Sure, there won’t be fans in the stands. And there may be complications along the way. But, in times like this, we need baseball to let us know that everything is fine and there’s nothing to worry about, even though it isn’t and there is. But, but, baseball!

What a wild ride it’s been through the first four months of the non-season. The growing animosity between owners and the MLBPA and the utter disdain for all things minor league were laid bare as negotiations to get the season started dragged on. In the end, nobody got anything they wanted, MLB declared that the season was happening under the rules agreed to in March, and a greater battle looms as the CBA is set to expire after next season. The fun never ends! Now on to the cards.
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2019 Mets Card Spring Preview

Posted by on 11 March 2019 Comments Off on 2019 Mets Card Spring Preview

Where do we go from here?

So, yeah, not much going on here these days. After a monster 2017, I took a step back in 2018 and have continued that in 2019. Keeping up with the current releases just isn’t as much of a priority for me because there’s just too damn much out there and most of it isn’t particularly interesting. After seeing what Topps did with 2019 Series 1 Jumbo, I’m not hopeful for a whole lot of value in their products this year. And with rising overhead costs on the secondary market, it’s getting harder to track down hidden gems on the low end. On the plus side, I’ve got tons of great stuff that has yet to be scanned, so I’m buried in work if I ever come up with something to put together. Not much of a plus side, but there it is.

2019 is a transition year for the Mets as the Captain has left the field and the front office had significant turnover. That translated into a flurry of offseason moves, but whether that turns into success has yet to be determined. Last year had to have been rock bottom (just look at how many cast-offs were on the roster), but there were still a few glimmers of hope (Cy deGrom) tinged with despair (deGrom’s extension talks). Basically, same old Mets.
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2018 Mets Debut Autographs

Posted by on 30 June 2018 Comments Off on 2018 Mets Debut Autographs

Well, that happened

The 2018 Mets included Adrian Gonzalez, Jose Bautista, and Austin Jackson. Someone really needs to tell Fred and Jeff that it’s not 2011 anymore. No wonder Jose Reyes started 48 games… Maybe half of the 2018 newcomers will be back in 2019, so is it even worth going over who did what to whom? A good number of them will probably never get a Rookie Card, much less an autograph card, so they’re largely irrelevant anyway. The back half was just Jeff McNeil and a bunch of random guys, so let’s just leave it at that. Sadly, that might also describe Mets Rookie Card offerings for the first half of 2019…

Adrian Gonzalez Todd Frazier Anthony Swarzak Jose Lobaton
29 March 2018 29 March 2018 29 March 2018 13 April 2018
Gerson Bautista* Corey Oswalt* P.J. Conlon* Devin Mesoraco
17 April 2018 25 April 2018 7 May 2018 8 May 2018
Luis Guillorme* Buddy Baumann Jose Bautista Tim Peterson*
11 May 2018 16 May 2018 22 May 2018 30 May 2018
Scott Copeland Chris Beck Drew Smith* Kevin Kaczmarski*
31 May 2018 15 June 2018 23 June 2018 24 June 2018
Tyler Bashlor* Drew Gagnon* Jeff McNeil* Austin Jackson
25 June 2018 10 July 2018 24 July 2018 27 July 2018
Bobby Wahl Jack Reinheimer Daniel Zamora* Eric Hanhold*
2 August 2018 15 August 2018 17 August 2018 4 September 2018

*MLB Debut

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The Essentials: 2014 Mets Autographs

Posted by on 2 February 2015 1 comment

The Prospect Boom Goes Bust

With all of the cards released across dozens of products in 2014, it can be hard to figure out what is worth collecting and what might as well be forgotten. What makes something essential? It’s a mix of collectibility, notability, and attainability. Popular brands/inserts and player debuts will dominate here, not big money low-numbered parallels or big stars. Just about everything mentioned here should still be fairly easy to find on the secondary market at reasonable prices.

2014 continued the Mets prospect autograph explosion that started in late 2013, but that fizzled out late in the year. While that meant lots of autographs for many top Mets prospects who had previously been overlooked, it was bad news for the Mets’ 2014 draft class, which is still waiting for its first autograph card from Topps.

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2013 Mets Draft Class Autographs

Posted by on 1 December 2013 2 comments

The top three are on the board

Full list of 2013 Mets draft picks

Less than six months after the draft, we’re seeing the first certified autographs from the 2013 draft class. Dominic Smith is all over the hobby with autographs in Topps, Panini, and Leaf products. Andrew Church and Ivan Wilson are somewhat less prolific with autographs in one product each. It’s a start, I guess.

1 Dominic Smith 2 Andrew Church 3 Ivan Wilson 3 Casey Meisner
4 L.J. Mazzilli 5 Jared King 6 Champ Stuart 7 Matt Oberste
8 Ricky Knapp 9 Patrick Biondi 10 Luis Guillorme 11 Tyler Bashlor
12 Jeff McNeil 15 Colton Plaia 17 John Magliozzi 25 Ricardo Jacquez

The Mets sign those who don’t sign cards

The general consensus on the Mets’ 2013 draft was fairly positive. They got the draft’s best pure hitter in Dominic Smith and a lot of top talent across the board. What they didn’t get were a whole lot of guys with baseball cards on the market. In fact, of the 41 picks the Mets made, only five of them have any available cards. Colton Plaia and Ricardo Jacquez have certified autograph and Team USA memorabilia cards, while Dominic Smith, Ivan Wilson, and John Magliozzi have a few base All-American game cards (some of which have been signed but are not certified). Really guys? That’s the best you could do? How am I supposed to fill out this piece when there aren’t any cards to show? I guess we’ll have to wait a few months for Topps and Panini to get caught up on these guys…

Previous Editions:

2012 Mets Draft Class Autographs
2011 Mets Draft Class Autographs