The exciting shipment I mentioned a couple of posts ago arrived safely. As you can see in the poor-quality cell phone photo above, the highly-anticipated package contained a bunch of team bags full of 2013 SEGA Card-Gen cards. Most of my Card-Gen energy had previously gone into the 2012 set, and I had some aspirations of collecting the full thing if at all possible.
But a little while ago the same seller who I'd purchased most of my Card-Gen collection from posted a COMPLETE SET of 2013 SEGA Card-Gen. I decided that such a chance wouldn't come around too often, and if the price stayed below a certain amount I would make it mine, completing my goal of building a full SEGA Card-Gen set in one step.
I put in my bid and waited. The auction eventually ended with no other bids being placed, possibly because of the sticker shock of the starting price. It was a pretty high price to pay up-front, but it came out to about 56.5 cents per card, with all of the stars like Jeter, Machado, Kershaw, McCutchen, Harper, Trout, Pedroia, Ortiz, Cabrera, Verlander, Pujols, Mauer, Votto, Darvish, Tulowiztki, and any other 'name' player you might think of, as well as piles of role players and relief pitchers. Heck, I paid a few dollars for just the R.A. Dickey single a while ago, so to get all those guys for less than 60 cents per card and to avoid the hassle of tracking them each down individually made this feel like a steal for me.
I will be scanning all of the cards individually (actually in blocks of nine which I will then crop up into individual images) to upload the images to Zistle, so I will be posting them here as I work through them. I had considered doing one giant mega-post with the whole set in it, but as the set is broken down by teams I will probably just post each team as I get to it.
First up, the Baltimore Orioles, who get 11 players in this set. That's not quite enough to build a full roster from. The average number of cards per team is 13, but some teams get a lot more run than others. The Boston Red Sox have 16 cards in the set, while the lowly Astros only get 9 players included. Most teams are within a couple cards of the average.
I am not sure that I will be able to provide commentary on each player in the set. That seems like a tall order. Wieters is a pretty decent player when he's not injured. He gets a bad rep in the fantasy baseball community for not living up to his draft position each year, but that's not really his fault. He's still a top-12 or so catcher.
Chris Davis' card appears to predate his big breakout. It will be interesting to see how he is valued in the 2014 set, if there is a 2014 set. In the card photo, he appears to be plying his trade, watching a ball fly high in the air. He has been a bit of a disappointment so far in fantasy this year, probably because I drafted him in most of my leagues. Sorry, Baltimore fans.
Machado just came off the DL and seems to be doing okay. He's one of the bright young stars of the game. Hopefully he's got a long and exciting career ahead of him.
J.J. Hardy is one of those shortstops who in the past has been able to rack up the home runs, pretty useful in fantasy leagues, especially when platooned with a speed guy. That hasn't been the case this year, though, as he has yet to hit a home run or do much of anything this season.
Adam Jones is another guy who found his way onto a lot of my rosters this year. He hasn't quite delivered the value that he provided in 2012 and 2013 yet, but there is still a lot of season left. He is valuable because he doesn't hurt you in batting average, and he delivers 30 HR / 15 SB with good totals for runs and RBIs, too. In this photo I particularly like 'celebration guy' in the upper left of the picture.
I don't know how I feel about Markakis. It feels like he's been around forever. He is consistently productive. I keep using these words and impressions and then realizing that what I think about the player is what the makers of these cards put on the little blurb next to the player's total rating.
I guess there is some value in being a journeyman replacement-level player. He hung around for a long time, and made a career out of filling in a roster spot.
Hammel has been pretty good this year for the Cubs, earning 4 out of their 15 wins so far. I am glad that the Astros have a little competition for the worst record in baseball.
Strop is the second guy in a row who is now with the Cubs, currently on the DL with a groin issue. There was talk of him competing for their closer role, but it looks like Hector Rondon has that role for the moment.
The Baltimore closer situation is in flux right now, with Tommy Hunter having difficulty holding it down. O'Day has been in the conversation for the spot, but Zach Britton got the most recent save. O'Day has been a pretty good reliever over the past few years, although his K-rate isn't the best of the bunch. He tends to have pretty good ratios, though.
Johnson had a good couple of years as a solid, if unconventional closer for the Orioles, but that success hasn't translated over to his performance with the Athletics, where he has lost the closer role and struggled in middle relief. He'll probably get another shot at the role given that he is being paid closer money, but not if he keeps giving up runs.
And that's the first team in the set down. I can't say for sure how long this will take, but I hope to get through all of the teams eventually. I am about to disappear into the heart of summer semester, with my current batch of classes shaping up to be quite difficult. I may be able to keep up a regular posting schedule, but I can't say for sure what the next couple of months will bring.
2013 SEGA Card-Gen Directory
Wow, never thought I'd see a full set up on eBay. Very nice pick-up(s).
ReplyDeleteAlthough one peculiar thing is that you mentioned Mariano Rivera. In 2013 Sega Card Gen Rivera wasn't a part of the regular base set. He was a special exchange card/short print in 2013.
I guess he's not in there. My bad. I flipped through most of the cards and must've blown through the Yankees assuming he was there.
ReplyDeleteA helluva pickup. Perhaps you could scan the singles you already purchased … for trade bait. ?
ReplyDeleteI will probably get around to that at some point. That or maybe at least a list of what I have doubles of, followed up by scans as I get them ready to go. Is there someone in particular you are looking for?
DeleteDon't Griffeys exist for Card-Gen? I could swear I've seen one or two floating around the blogs.
ReplyDeleteZippy Zappy has a Griffey from the 2010 set up on his blog.
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