Custom Cards: Pirates Greats 2

Honus Wagner 1908- I couldn’t resist on the picture. As an amateur trading card collector there is one “Holy Grail”. Not the Alpha Black Lotus. Not the first edition, mint Charizard. The Honus Wagner t206 is the most famous trading card ever. My mother has no idea who Honus Wagner was or how amazing of an offensive player he was before Babe Ruth ever played. Even she recognizes pictures of his card as important works of art. He lead the league in OBP 4 times. He stole 723 bases paired with 252 triples. His 11 OB, speed A card for 580 points only is marred by his +0 fielding… He did have 50 errors. It makes him more fun not less in my opinion. Have guts and play with this legend.

MLB Showdown 2012: Starters 60-90 Points

Rick Porcello	2012	2	80	5	0	20	17-19	0	12-16	6-11	3-5	1-2
Zach McAllister	2012	2	80	5	0	20	17-19	0	12-16	8-11	3-7	1-2
Will Smith	2012	2	60	5	0	20	17-19	16	10-15	6-9	3-5	1-2
Johan Santana	2012	2	60	5	0	20	17-19	0	12-16	8-11	3-7	1-2

Dallas Keuchel	2012	1	80	5	0	20	18-19	17	12-16	5-11	3-4	1-2
Ervin Santana	2012	1	60	5	20	0	19	18	12-17	7-11	3-6	1-2

Luke Hochevar

2012

0

70

6

0

20

19

18

13-17

8-12

3-7

1-2

#ShotsFriday: Team Building Forum

Sadly we had no Shots last week which makes me sad. I hope that gives everyone some motivation to think about baseball all day long today at work and tweet in a great pick tonight. Just a reminder you may tweet in selections for #shotsfriday anytime during the week. The top 3 winners will get to make 3,2 and 1 custom card of their very own at the end of the year. Even new players can make a dent quickly. Remember if your player homers one week you get and extra pick the next week for each homer they hit. So you can make up ground quickly with good picks. Plus it makes it more fun rooting on your favorite players to get better MLB Showdown cards for 2013. Send in your picks using twitter #shotsfriday.

Custom Cards: Pirates Greats

Barry Bonds 1992- Want to know what I thought the other day? I feel like Showdown needs 1 more great Barry Bonds card. 2000 was great but 9, 16-20 homer was a dime a dozen then. The 2001 was a nice addition to pair with McGwire but only a 10 OB... A little light don't you think. Then we had the 2004 highest OB ever created for Showdown with the 13 OB card. This guy is a tank, just as good as any of the others just in different ways. I can't imagine this is the last Bonds card we will be commissioned to make. There is still a 2001 card with 73 homers no one has asked for (remember the WotC 2001 card was for 2000 stats). There is a 1996 40/40 year which has still yet to be made. Give it a few weeks another Bonds should show up.

MLB Showdown 2012: Pitchers 100-140 Points

Cole De Vries	2012	3	130	5	20	0	17-19	0	9-16	6-8	3-5	1-2
Felix Doubront	2012	3	100	5	0	19-20	18	16-17	11-15	8-10	3-7	1-2

Carlos Zambrano	2012	2	140	6	0	20	19	17-18	13-16	7-12	3-6	1-2
Luis Mendoza	2012	2	110	6	0	20	18-19	17	13-16	7-12	3-6	1-2
Patrick Corbin	2012	2	110	6	0	20	18-19	17	11-16	7-10	3-6	1-2
Marco Estrada	2012	2	110	6	0	19-20	18	0	12-17	9-11	3-8	1-2

Ricky Romero

2012

1

140

6

0

20

0

17-19

13-16

7-12

3-6

1-2

Travis Wood

2012

0

130

6

0

20

19

0

12-18

9-11

3-8

1-2

#ShotsFriday: New Tabs

               Welcome back from your All-star break everybody. Hope you all enjoyed a productive week of work without baseball around to distract you. Now it is time to get back to play and enjoy some more baseball and MLB Showdown. Someone who has been pulling double duty for the past month or so is @Tomwyliehart. He has been scanning the internet for any spoilers for the new Magic the Gathering set and predicting Friday night home run hitters. No idea how successful the MTG spoiler search is going but he is spot on with #shotsfriday predictions. Last week was no different picking Chris Davis. That is @tomwyliehart’s eighth and Chris Davis’s third. At this pace we should be looking for 2014 MLB Showdown spoilers from him, as he is on pace to get to have 3 custom cards made if no one catches him. The positioning seems to be for second and third place. The prizes of 2 and 1 custom card a piece there is still worth fighting for. Text in your picks for who will hit a homer today and enjoy your favorite work appropriate beverage.

              

MLB Showdown 2012: Starters 150-190 Points

Ivan Nova

2012

5

190

6

20

18-19

17

15-16

10-14

7-9

3-6

1-2

Phil Hughes

2012

4

180

6

20

19

18

16-17

9-15

7-8

3-6

1-2

Phillip Humber	2012	3	180	6	0	20	18-19	15-17	11-14	8-10	3-7	1-2
Josh Beckett	2012	3	180	6	0	20	17-19	15-16	10-14	6-9	3-5	1-2
Tommy Hunter	2012	3	150	6	20	0	16-19	0	11-15	6-10	3-5	1-2

Matt Garza

2012

2

180

5

0

20

18-19

0

14-17

9-13

3-8

1-2

Kevin Millwood	2012	1	190	6	0	20	18-19	0	11-17	7-10	3-6	1-2
Tim Lincecum	2012	1	190	6	0	20	0	18-19	13-17	9-12	3-8	1-2
Jon Lester	2012	1	170	6	0	20	19	18	14-17	8-13	3-7	1-2
Henderson Alvarez	2012	1	170	6	0	20	19	18	13-17	6-12	3-5	1-2
Jeff Samardija	2012	1	170	6	0	20	19	18	13-17	10-12	3-9	1-2
Bud Norris	2012	1	150	5	0	20	19	18	13-17	9-12	3-8	1-2

Big surprise @tomwyliehart found his 7^th shot of the year going with Joey Bats. Jose Bautista gets credit for his first shot. This is a surprising turn of events for a player known for power. The only hope for slowing down @tomwyliehart is that he gets caught up in the new Magic the Gathering: M14 set and forgets to post for a little bit. Not likely to happen. More likely he tries to use his connections at Wizards to make a Puig blue monster card. More important that that is that I finally found my home run swing with Danny Muscles, Dan Uggla. Finally got to play the #shotsfriday theme song. That is mine and Dan Uggla’s first. Hope everyone finds time to send in your picks for #shotsfriday.

MLB Showdown: AS Break Projections

We make our top 10 in ERA custom cards to help spread some quality charts around. Here are the 10 who project to be in that range.

Player	ERA	IP/Start
Clayton Kershaw	1.89	7.3
Jeff Locke	2.15	6.1
Adam Wainwright	2.30	7.4
Matt Harvey	2.35	6.8
Patrick Corbin	2.40	6.8
Stephen Strasburg	2.45	6.2
Jordan Zimmerman	2.57	7.0
Felix Hernandez	2.69	6.9
Travis Wood	2.69	6.5
Bartolo Colon	2.69	6.7
Clay Bucholtz (non-qualifier)	1.71	7.0
Francisco Liriano (non-qualifier)	2.20	6.3

Relievers over 25 saves

Player	Saves	ERA
Joe Nathan	30	1.36
Jim Johnson	30	3.92
Mariano Rivera	29	1.89
Jason Grilli	28	2.09

MLB Showdown 2012: Projections from AS Break

We are taking a week off focusing on last year and taking the week to begin thinking about next year. Here are some projections on what players are on pace to earn in regard to OB and power. We will add similar content all week.

On	1B	2B	SS	3B	C	LF/RF	CF	DH	Utility
11	1			1
10	3	2	1	2	2	4	3	1	6

Power	Player	Position/project OB
Elite (10: 16-20 or equivalent)	Chris Davis	1B/10
Great (10: 17-20 or equivalent)	Miguel Cabrera	3B/11
Great (10: 17-20 or equivalent)	Carlos Gonzalez	LF/RF/9
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Adam Dunn	1B,DH/6
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Edwin Encarnacion	1B/8
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Dominic Brown	LF/RF/7
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Nelson Cruz	LF/RF/7
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Pedro Alvarez	3B/6
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Raul Ibanez	LF/RF/6
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Paul Goldschmidt	1B/10
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Jose Bautista	LF/RF/8
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Robinson Cano	2B/9
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Carlos Beltran	LF/RF/8
Good (10: 18-20 or equivalent)	Mark Trumbo	LF/RF/1B/6

#shotsfriday Stadiums 4

#ShotsFriday: Stadiums 

               Looks like the rich got richer this past week.  @Tomwyliehart had two picks and to make up for lost time both of them went deep. That extends his lead from 4 to 6 homers. That is the first shot for both Dunn and Reynolds. He was joined by the Captain of the Pirate ship @Eddiezone44 with Andrew McCutchen. That is @eddiezone44’s second. It is also Andrew McCutchen’s first shot. Hope everyone finds time to tweet in a pick today on who will improve their 2013 MLB Showdown card by hitting a homer tonight. Then sit back and enjoy your favorite work appropriate beverage while you wait for the weekend.

MLB Showdown: Custom Cards

MLB Showdown: Custom Cards 

               Here is the second part of one of our series on 10 cards that one of our fans had created. It is obvious that he wanted to make cards for 10 of the greatest seasons every and here is the list with some cards many of you have been looking forward to.

Barry Bonds 04- Maybe the most impressive statistical seasons I have ever been able to witness. Barry Bonds got on base roughly an extra half as many times as the league leader most years. I scoffed at the 16 Bonds that Wizards of the Coast made under their new play style when it came out. A .608 OBP with 45 homers is beyond impressive. The problem with this card is how does he create runs? He is slow and he walks up to a 15. He is not going to single people in. You can’t steal in in front of him or people will intentionally walk him or they will pitch to him and he will walk. For 900 points I think he hurts the line-up more than he helps it. Easy for me to say until I face a team with him in the line up.

MLB Showdown: Starters 200-240 Points

Josh Johnson

2012

1

230

6

0

20

19

0

12-18

8-11

3-7

1-2