Random Rookies

First, I thought I would share a photo of my newest rookie, here is Katherine Elizabeth yesterday on her 5 day birthday.

Since this new rookie entered into our life, I thought it might be appropriate to share a few random rookie cards I have picked up over the last couple months, most of these are courtesy of Sportlots auctions.

First up is a pair of Kirby Puckett rookie cards from the same seller. These came very cheap and I am very happy to have them as part of my collection. I remember seeing Kirby in person at an Oakland A's game his rookie season and we were impressed with his hustle. He of course turned out to a great player and Hall of Famer.

Next up is another HOFer, closer Bruce Sutter.  I was able to pick up this card and the next one from the same seller for a total of $3.50 shipped which I think was a major bargain.  Sutter isn't sporting his huge, crazy beard he would later in his career but there are signs of it coming in.  The back of his card shows a pretty solid rookie year with a 6-3 record and an ERA of 2.71.  I had to go to Baseballreference.com to see that he also picked up 10 saves.  The following year would be the start of a streak of 9 consecutive 20 save seasons.  I was actually a little shocked to see that Sutter only played 12 season when looking up his stats, it just seemed like he played a lot longer to me.

The second half of that $3.50 purchase was one of the more iconic cards of the 1970s, a Mark Fidrych rookie!  I have the 1977 set but this is the first time I have had my hands on this card outside the set I purchased.  In my opinion this is a must have card in my collection and I was super excited to pick it up.  Fidrych had an amazing rookie season winning 19 games with an ERA of 2.34.  I like everything about this card, the rookie cup, the All-Star stripe along the bottom, the goofy look on his face, his kinda crazy signature, even the security guard hanging out in the background.  A truly iconic card and welcome addition to the collection.

Next up is a 1971 Bert Blyleven rookie card.  He is kinda hard for me to even recognize him off this picture, I am so used to the big beard and the older pictures on his later cards.  In reviewing Blyleven's stats and recalling his best in the game curve ball, I am still amazed it took so long for him to get into the HOF.   Would you believe I was able to pick up this awesome card for $4.25 delivered?  To me this is one of my better recent pickups. 

Speaking of good pickups, my most recent HOF rookie cards scored off a Sportslots auction is this 1966 Topps Fergie Jenkins.  This card isn't in mint condition with some corner issues but it is still a really nice looking card and for only $10 delivered it was impossible to pass up.

I am not really starting up a HOF rookie collection per se but when I see them for great prices I am going to jump on them. Hope you have enjoyed looking at the newest rookies in my collection!