COMC Black Friday Parade: NW Arkansas Naturals

Last weekend, the Naturals release their upcoming promotional calendar.  There was some great stuff (Wil Myers Bobblehead!) and it started getting my juices going for the upcoming season.  I also picked up a few cool cards of former Naturals on COMC.com's Black Friday sale that I will now show you:

I really, really hope Christian Colon gets a shot with the Royals this year.  He, at least in my limited dealings with him, was a super nice guy and was awesome to my 8 year old.

I think this may be the year Hosmer turns into the beast many thought he could be.

FanFest Part Two: The Topps Booth

The Topps Booth was relatively small, and was manned on two sides:  one side was selling special All Star Game editions of the 2012 Factory Set (only 600 made is what I’ve heard), and the other side was where you could redeem wrappers for special All Star Game cards.  Forgive me for the lack of and poor quality of pictures of the booth:

 2012 Products

Man, those are terrible pictures.  I don't know what happened here.

The Factory sets were only $50, which is what you'd pay at retail anyway, so I went ahead and got one.  They come with a special pack of cards in each box, and I'm tempted to break the seal and see what is in the pack.  I haven't broken the seal yet, but I probably will soon.

Each set also came with a special All Star Patch card, numbered to 150.  Bryce Harper patch cards were already gone, but I gladly settled for a Yu Darvish:

Not that I would sell this, but I have seen that these Darvish cards are going for around $40-50 on eBay. 

After this, I caught a mild case of card fever and decided to get a redemption card too (different than the packs in the sets and the patch cards).  Redemption cards were available for 3 wrappers per card.  I bought 3 packs of 2012 Pro Debut at a nearby dealer and redeemed those wrappers for a Bryce Harper that was still available:

The Pro Debut packs were only 3 for $10, which I didn’t think was too bad.  I got the cool Harper card, plus a few good minor league prospects in my Pro Debut packs:

 Happy to get a card of personal favorite, John Lamb...

I wish I would have had the presence of mind to see if these Harpers were already selling on eBay and for how much.  Had I taken 30 seconds to look this up on my phone, I would have seen that they were going for $30-40 a pop.  I would have gladly bought a lot more packs to get a lot more Harpers.  Oh well, I’m happy with the one I got.

Topps was also handing out little 4 packs of 2012 cards and a free kids book:

I’m anxious to read this to my boy, and I’ll give a full review later.  Just kidding.  I won’t unless it is just super awesome.

Although we didn’t get anything to speak of in our packs of cards, it was a nice gesture from Topps, and my kids enjoyed opening them. 

Other than kicking myself for not getting more redemption cards, the Topps booth provided some nice adds to my collection.

Oh baby are those Naturals?

They're Naturals, and they're spectacular! (Seinfeld)

I didn't think much of the Topps Heritage Minor League set that was recently released, but I was surfing around on eBay and saw that there were a handful of relic cards from Northwest Arkansas Naturals (KC Royals AA) prospects.  I still won't do much with this set, but I really wanted these and got them all for under $10 shipped. These cards are especially fun because my boy and I were able to meet all of these guys at a pre-season autograph session this past year.

I still remember how nice guy John Lamb was to my boy.  He was a top 50 prospect according to Baseball America (#18), but had Tommy John surgery and won't be available until late next season.  He seems like a really decent guy and I hope he gets back on track and has a long career in the bigs.

Christina Colon seemed like a typical college kid.  He was late to the autograph session and was pretty sheepish about it as the other players ragged him.  #51 on the prospect list,  he will probably start the season in AAA next year.

And finally, the prospect that many have said has as bright or brighter future than Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas is Wil Myers #10 on the list.  He's really young, and didn't exactly tear it up this year in Arkansas, but had his moments.  I'm hoping we get to see him one more year before he heads to AAA.

Getting relics of Naturals jerseys was fun, and I hope Topps keeps this set going.  The best part?  I can pretend the blurry guy in the seats in the background of the Myers card is me.

Naturals Night

What a fun evening last night!  It was my first game of the season, and it was just about perfect.  The weather was a nice 80 degrees, and a couple of big time prospects were on the hill.  Some highlights of the evening.

- The guy from Jag was in town promoting his new movie, and threw the first pitch.  I don't remember his name or the movie, and didn't take his picture.  But not a bad celebrity to throw out the first pitch at a AA game.
- John Lamb and Casey Kelly were on the hill for the Nats and the San Antonio Missions (San Diego's AA team).  Prospectors and Red Sox fans probably recognize Casey Kelly's name.  He was the central piece to the Adrian Gonzalez trade.  Both looked pretty good early, but both started struggling after a while. 
- I was thrilled to be able to once again partake in Funnel Dogs.  Yes, it's a hot dog wrapped in funnel cake.  Yes, it's delicious.

- Wil Myers (Baseball American Top 100 prospect)  is young (20) and pretty skinny.  But he hits the ball... hard. At least he did his first at bat.  Then he walked and struck out and I don't remember what he did his fourth time up.  These pics are with my camera phone, and it stinks.

- Christian Colon, the Royals #1 pick last year had some nice hits as well, and few nice plays at short.  I wouldn't be shocked if he is called up late this year. 
- The Missions left fielder, Jaff Decker, was throwing lasers out of left field all night.  He is listed as one of the Padres top prospects.
- Last, but certainly not least, SHE was at the game:

That's right, Miss Arkansas, and runner-up Miss America, Alyse Eady was at the game.  I got a big old crush on Alyse, and my wife doesn't even care.  Not only is she ultra hot, almost on par with my lovely wife, this is what she did for her talent show at the Miss USA pageant:



That is seriously the most awesome thing a Miss USA contestant could possibly do, and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise.

Jag guy, MLB prospects, funnel dogs and Miss Arkansas.  What a night!

Naturals Night

Last night at the Fayetteville Mall, the entire NW Arkansas Naturals team was signing autographs, so I packed up the family and we headed out.  As a father, it was exciting to see my son getting a baseball and a few cards signed.  He’s five, so I don’t think he was all that stoked about it to begin with, but as we went around the table, and he was more comfortable talking to the players, he really began to enjoy himself.  When we were done and his ball was completely covered with signatures, he was very excited!  I was too, thinking, “This is the year he really becomes a baseball fan, and we can really enjoy the game and the cards together.”   Then he saw the Cookie Co., handed his ball off to his mother and didn’t mention the Naturals the rest of the evening while he savored every bite of his true prize of the evening.   

Overall, the players were very pleasant and gracious.  Most took a moment to look my boy in the eye and say hello. A few just took the ball, signed it and passed it down without looking up, which as a father kind of ticked me off.  But I imagine this kind of event kind of gets to be a grind for a player, especially with how pushy and obnoxious some fans can be.  But come on, talk to my boy just a bit.  He is, after all, the cutest 5 year old on the planet.

I would like to mention John Lamb in particular as someone who was very gracious with my son.  He is considered a top 100 Major League prospect, and a good bet to be on the Royals roster in the next year or two.  As a card hobby enthusiast, I was thrilled that he signed a couple of cards that will mean more to my son over time, and I wish him the best.  I also found cards of Derrick Robinson and Christian Colon who were very nice as well.  One player I could not find a card of was Wil Myers, who is a top hitting prospect, and supposed to be on par with Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer.  I know I have his Bowman 2010 card somewhere, but couldn’t locate it.  At least we got his signature on the ball and poster.

Here are some of the fruits of our evening: