Off to the Trop!

After a successful trip to Minnesota the Rays are back in Tampa Bay. The Red Sox are in town and tonight it will be Matt Garza against Dice K. I haven't been able to go to many games this year, so I was THRILLED when my wife surprised me with tickets. I am psyched to see the Rays, to see them battle Boston and to see the All Star starters including Longo and Carl Crawford. As you all know I am a pretty big Carl Crawford fan. He will be making his fourth All Star trip, but his first start. He is having a fantastic season so far-batting .316 with 6 triples, 7 homers, 29 steals and 41 RBI. At just 28 years of age he is climbing the All Time ranks in several categories, too. He is leading the AL in triples this year and is also the active MLB leader in that category. On the All Time list he is in a 5-way tie for 162nd place. Among those tied with Crawford are Hank Aaron and Andre Dawson. He will pass them with his next 3-bagger. His 391 career stolen bases ranks him 2nd among active players (behind Juan Pierre) and 73rd All Time. In the past year he moved past names like Willie Mays, Rod Carew, Sam Crawford, Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Nap Lajoie and Barry Larkin. He is just 60 steals away from breaking into the top-50 of All Time and can conceivably reach that by the years end. Anyway, starting the All Star game is a major coup for CC and a major source of pride for me as a fan. In celebration here are a few random new CC cards to add to the collection. The most amazing for me is this card from 2009 Topps Tribute. This product still sells for 300 bucks a box with 6 packs in a box. Single packs still sell for $75 each. With those prices I never thought I would see a card from this product, but the prices for singles have gone done dramatically. This card was selling for $100.00 last year but can be regularly be found in the $10. price range. I got mine for under 5 bucks. The whole card is refractor shiny, has a great shot of CC in basestealing pose, has a bat sliver and a sticker auto. It is numbered 01/99 on the back. Looking at the back it makes me laugh-for 300 bucks a box they didn't waste much time proofreading... Congrats to CC and all the Rays All Stars! I hope that Garza, Niemann, Soriano and Zobrist get a little consideration as reserves. Go Rays! Lets beat Boston! Troll out.