Kouzmanoff in the Hall of Fame

At least his glove will be. San Diego Padres Kevin Kouzmanoff broke the single-season record for NL third baseman when he set a .990 fieling percentage.

Kouz had just three errors this year in 309 chances.

The Hall of Fame people asked Kouz to send over one his game-used gloves from the season. They aren't getting the one he used in the final game of the year. That's his to keep.

Looks like I will be making a trip to the Hall of Fame sometime soon. Hopefully, it will be on display when I get there.

Along with the Yankees championship for 2009. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?)

Imagine if ...

What would happen if one of your favorite players was traded to the team you hated? I never really had to think about this because the Yankees and Red Sox don't trade with each other.

Sure, in the days of free agency, this type of thing happens often, but not to me. The only player with the Red Sox that I liked was Gabe Kapler. But he's more eye candy than anything else.

While reading last-minute emails and messages before bed, I came across a post on a blog that mentioned Kevin Kouzmanoff and the Red Sox in the same sentence. It didn't say Kouz should get traded to the Sox, but it made me wonder.

What happened if the hat Kouz wore turned to this:

Mike Lowell isn't have a good year, and Kouz could certainly do better. The old 'change of scenery' trade might just shatter my Kouz card collection.

I like being prepared for the worst. So for those out there who have had to deal with their favorite player changing allegiances, what have you done with your collection?

(If I was good at photoshop, I might have actually tried to see what Kouz would look like in a Red Sox uniform, but then I would be afraid my eyes would bleed.)

An O-Pee-Chee Auto - Kouz style

Apparently, the odds of getting an O-Pee-Chee autograph aren't that great. But that never stopped me from getting the card I want.

I picked up this Kevin Kouzmanoff OPC auto for $1 (I think $4 shipped) and it actually is one of my favorite autos of his.



The card isn't too flashy and it's plain without being boring. The yellow border gives it just a little style and you can tell it's different than the base cards because it's glossy. The colors are actually so ugly that I like it.

Maybe I'm looking a little too much into the card, but it's one of my new favorite Kouz cards.

2009 Topps retail (it's boring)

Let me start by saying I had no hopes of anything great for two reasons, 1. the Goudey packs I opened, and 2. because it's Topps retail. So I am not disappointed by the packs.

To go along with Sooz's last blog about bad photography, I scanned three more examples.


We know the first one is Kouz because of his shirt, not that this couldn't have been some dude playing softball down the road (poor Sooz). Next, Nelson Cruz eating dirt. Glad I don't collect him. Then David DeJesus, or is it.... ???

Here were the "hits" if you will.






I am looking at these scans now realizing I missed sending some cards in packages today. Oh well, they will go out next time.

I am also too lazy to look on Beckett and it keeps forcing Firefox to restart, but if there is a blue Pujols ToppsTown please send me one (yes, that means you). I like blue, and I like Albert so that will work out quite well.

If anyone is looking to finish off Series 2 and needs cards, almost all my base cards are available for trade.

I am watching the O's/Tigers game right now and one of the announcers had no idea that Wieters was being brought up tomorrow. Why do I know that and they don't? I can watch lots and lots of baseball and not get bored. I will probably watch the Dodgers soon and I am hoping that I get the L.A. broadcast so I can listen to Scully.

This isn't me, right? RIGHT?

Being a Kevin Kouzmanoff fan, I like to read updates on him. It's a little more difficult to learn things about him because he is on the West Coast. So, information doesn't filter into New Jersey too often about him.

Here's a previous post explaining why I collect his cards.

Gaslampball.com is blog devoted to the San Diego Padres and they do a great job. So, occasionally I will check out if there is anything new on Kouzmanoff.

There are mp3 of interviews or photos of him out on the town. I like the interviews better because you can get a sense of his personality.

Then, I read this:

I was just thinking that some Padres players seem to attract fans that might be a little more passionate than the average fan or as I call them "psycho". These fans usually can fairly critique other players, but they lose all sense of reason when it comes to their man. In the past the Padres biggest psycho magnets were Khalil Greene and Trevor Hoffman. Hoffman was a little different because every one loved him but the psychos couldn't accept his decline. This year I see all the psycho fans gravitating towards Kevin Kouzmanoff. How many stalkers does that guy have?

Oh dear. There not talking about me, right? I mean, I only collect his cards and had one whole conversation with the guy. It's not like I know his shoe size or anything. Or where he likes to go to dinner.

I just have a 153 of his cards.
1. 5. 3.

That's not stalkerish, right?


And so what if I included a photo of Kouz and his dad. IT SHOULDN'T BE ON THE INTERNET FOR ANYONE TO FIND!

-Sooz

Catching up on Bubble Mailers, Part 1 (Surprise from a Yankee fan)

Bubble mailers tend to pile up in the crazy room (what Boyfriend and I have dubbed the office where my baseball cards are). I open them, put the cards back in the package and leave it in a pile to get scanned, filed and sorted.

I'm usually good at the last two, but scanning doesn't work too well for me.

I've finally done it.

I made a trade with Eric from The Pettitte Pursuit. I sent him the Pettittes doubles I had and threw in some Jeter doubles that I had. Eric threw in some extras as well and certainly something I wasn't expecting.

I received 19 Pettitte cards, a Kouzmanoff (AG mini black) and five Jeter cards.

It wasn't just the sheer volume of cards. Eric also sent me this:

Needless to say, I didn't expect a game-used card coming to me. Marie was in the room when I opened the bubble mailers, she can attest to my pleasant surprise.

Coming up: Bubble mailers from across the country.

A little fun ... with Kevin Kouzmanoff

There are only two players I have an avid interest in collecting. There are a few guys that when I see their card, I'll pick it up and put it in my binder (ARod, Cole Hamels), but I don't actively seek them.

The first (No. 2 in your scorecard and No. 1 in my heart) Derek Jeter.

The other is Kevin Kouzmanoff, known affectionately as KOOOOOOOOOOOZ!

I started collecting his cards because of his heritage. Sadly, at the time I didn't know much about him because I got rid of the MLB Extra Innings package and my San Diego Padres info was at a minimum. I knew Jake Peavy. That was really it.

He's Macedonian (although I've recently learned they call him the Russian Rocket or something goofy like that). My parents were born in Montenegro and are of Albanian heritage. Many Macedonians are also of Albanian heritage and I don't know if that's Kouzmanoff's case, but Macedonian is about as close to Albanian I'm gonna get these days.

Lee Elia is Albanian and I actually met him in New York when he was the pitching coach for the Seattle Mariners, but I'm not really into collecting his stuff. But if you haven't heard his rant, listen here on a YouTube clip. It's not Safe For Work, but it's awesome.

However, back to Kouz.

So, now I collect him. I am really just going for his pre-2008 cards. If I get cards from this year, I put them in my binder, but I haven't sought them out as much as I have his 2003-2007 cards.
Last week, I received a card that felt great to put into my binder. There was a little empty space in the Topps Co-Signers area. Then, I opened a bubble mailer and there it was. One of about three Co-Signers I was missing from last year's set.

Ba-ba-ba-baaaaaaam.

That was the sound the card made as I pulled it out of the bubble mailer, Link-style. (Anyone who plays any Zelda games knows that I'm talking about).

So, in honor of that card here are my Kooz Topps Co-Signers.

The only cards I am missing from the Co-Signers is the one numbered /50, /5 and /1.

Here's a little extra. This is my favorite Kouzmanoff card that I have.

My Mailday

I got some other cards, but these two were by far my favorite. The UD Elements Auto is 15/15 as well. I love it.