Kouz is back in the majors

Happy Day!

Kouz is back in the majors.

On Wednesday, I headed for the Yankees game and listened to the Texas Rangers game while on my way to the ballpark. Yes, I have something of a baseball problem too, but that’s not the point. As I was listening, there was a name mentioned recalled from the depths of my collection – Kevin Kouzmanoff.

He did well in Spring Training with Texas, but they sent him to triple-A to start the season. However, Adrian Beltre tends to get a bit banged up during the year, so I wondered if Kouz would eventually get a shot.

It came sooner than expected.

Kouzmanoff pinch hit in the top of the seventh and singled off Boston’s Junichi Tazawa. I screamed in my car like a little girl on her birthday getting  shiny new bike – or something like that.

Kouzmanoff hasn’t played in a Major League game since 2011 with the Colorado Rockies. He spent the last two years in the minors in the Kansas City and Miami organizations. I wondered if he would ever make it back because he is 32 years old. He started his career the flashiest way possible – he hit a grand slam on the first Major League pitch he saw.

One of Kouz’s best years was in 2007 where he hit .275/.329/.457. In 2008, he had a career-high 23 home runs. However, his career regressed from there. He never hit higher than a .260 batting average and never hit more than 18 home runs.

He did have defense on his side though. In 2009, Kouz broke the National League single-season record with a .990 fielding percentage and his glove wound up in the Hall of Fame (FYI, Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman won the gold glove that year).

I got a chance to check it out when I visited the Hall of Fame this winter.

No matter what happens to him this season, I’m happy to see him back in the Majors. I think he could be a serviceable backup while Beltre deals with a quad issue. He may even prove a little useful off the bench.

Who knows? I may even see a few more cards in my Kouz collection. 

Here are a couple of past posts on Kouz and my collection:

Dec. 17, 2008: A little fun with ... Kevin Kouzmanoff

Oct. 13, 2009: Kouzmanoff in the Hall of Fame

June 6, 2011: My collection just took a drastic hit

July 27, 2011: Chasing a minor leaguer

Chasing a minor leaguer

Ever since Kevin Kouzmanoff was sent down to the minors, I find it a little difficult to want to chase his cards. I have bought some here and there because they are cheaper - not that they were expensive before.

I know card companies need checklists ahead of time and we always wonder why someone is left off, but here is a case where a player, who many thought would stay with the club despite struggling, is in a set.  Kouzmanoff was included in 2011 Allen and Ginter.

A short-print, no less.

I got the base card, a mini or two floating around.

But what am I supposed to do about this? The wood card.

I don't even remember what I paid for one of the 1/1 wood cards last year - for some reason he had two - but I remember it being expensive. And, oh yeah, the card isn't even wood.

Kouz is still my boy. I love that he's doing well in the minors and hopefully a team that is in need of a third baseman will trade for him soon. But how much money do I want to shell out for a minor leaguer who is not a prospect?

My collection just took a drastic hit

Being away from a computer all day feels pretty good, especially when you're logged in on one as much as I am. But being away from a computer and not checking Twitter and the sorts for updates also means I might miss a bit of news.

Today, Kevin Kouzmanoff was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. He has not played well this year (.221 average, nine errors), but I am fairly disappointed.

Kevin Kouzmanoff is the only non-Yankee whose cards I chase. Several years ago, I learned 'The Crushin' Russian" was actually Macedonian. Being of Albanian heritage, I was thrilled to find this out because there are not many players from this region of the world in baseball.

That's when my Kouz collection started.

I have 285 original Kouzmanoff cards.

Here's the breakdown:
autos - 79
game-used -25
rookies - 4
1/1 - 4

As Chris Olds pointed out on Twitter, I could probably find some good deals on the guy now as people may look to unload his stuff cheap. It'd funny because in the last several hours, a 1/1 and a rare rookie parallel have both popped up on eBay. Perhaps, I'll chase a few more cards.

Unfortunately, this doesn't bode well for Kouz's future. He's 29 years old.

Even though Kouz struggled, I think this move caught a lot of people by surprise, including the man himself.

"Surprise, shock. I didn't see it coming," Kouzmanoff told MLB.com. "As everybody well knows, I started off slow on both sides of the ball. I was unsatisfied with my play so far this season. I got the news that I'm going down, and all I can do is just go down and get my reps in and keep working and try to work my way back."

Hopefully, he could turn it around and maybe get back with the club. Perhaps there is team out there willing to trade for him - preferably some place on the East Coast.

Another reason it stinks - the Oakland A's are scheduled to play Philadelphia in two weeks. I haven't seen Kouz play live in two years. :(

Think Topps will add Kouz to their minor-league sets?

Do players change their autograph this dramatically?

Players change their autographs over time. As they sign more and more autographs every day - some for fans, some for money - they find ways to make their autograph easier to write thousands of times. Other parts of their autograph merge with other letters and a new creation is born.

There is a clear transformation in Derek Jeter autographs.

Here is a 1994 Derek Jeter auto when he was just a little boy thinking of making it big.

It's very big and loopy. Sort of like the little whipper snapper was thrilled to get his name on baseball cards.

Here is his auto from 1998, his third full season in the league.

The loops are a little smaller and it doesn't seem as refined as the first autograph. Jeter's autograph stayed mostly within this frame, but has changed slightly over the years.

This is from 2010.

Now his signature looks like a roller coaster ride with all the loops.

This isn't the purpose of the post though. This was an example to show the transformation of someone's signature over the course of 16 years.

On eBay, I found this Kevin Kouzmanoff in-person autograph auction.

This is the first time I have ever seen his full name autographed on anything. Players will changed their in-person or TTM signatures from what they do on authentic pieces to curb resales of their items. But I have never seen his autograph look this way.

It's interesting that the auction states if you get this autograph authenticated by a third party and it's not real, you will get a refund. But who is going to spend the money to get something authenticated when then authentication would cost more than the card.

Then, I found another in-person autograph by Kouz on a bat. This auction even states, check his signature on eBay and bid with confidence. Only, this is just one of two autos I have seen like this and both come with COAs I would wipe my you-know-what with.

Here is Kouz's autograph on his first card from 2004. Notice he just writes 'Kouz' on it, which I happen to like better.

Then, in his rookie year of 2007, he signed a ton of autographs for card companies. I probably have over 100 autos of his because he is one of the filler guys in products.

And now this from supposedly this year's spring training.

Who thinks this is actually his signature?

It's not wood afterall

For years, when I saw the Allen and Ginter wood mini cards, I assumed they were made out of wood. Little wood chips the size of a regular mini with the picture on front. I don’t even think I thought there was a back to the cards.

I saw a Kevin Kouzmanoff for sale right before I went on vacation last week. I sniped that sucker and made sure I won it. I received the card the day before I left for vacation.

I tore into it quickly all the while thinking, how cool this wood chip card is going to be.

But it’s not wood. Since I have never seen one of these cards in person before, I really had no idea these cards weren’t really wood. It’s just cardboard - not that there is a problem with cardboard.

This card is just a regular mini from Allen and Ginter with a wood-tint finish on the front. They could really make the front any hue they want this way, but they chose wood and for years I went on thinking these were actual wood cards.

I’m not disappointed that I own another Kouz 1/1, but I was definitely disappointed to learn that this wasn’t real wood. … There are so many jokes I could make here, but I am just going to end this post in saying, yes, I like wood.

I finally found it and can't have it!

There is one Kevin Kouzmanoff card I've kept looking for. I have a search on eBay dedicated to making sure when this card pops up, I will be able to snag it.

Last week, the card showed up on eBay (auction link).

The seller is making my Kouz collecting life a living hell (or something like that).

First, the BIN price is absolutely ridiculous. I made two offers on the card (there are four total) and both were automatically denied. Didn't even consider what are reasonable prices for that card.

Second, I think the cards are up there for the sake of an advertisement. I don't actually think the auctions are actually for sale of the card. I feel the seller is using than as ways to find other bat knobs from Unique.

The rainbow is so pretty

I'd like to think I can be a patient person. I think that quality was a lot better when I was younger. However, when it comes to baseball cards, I've been decent with it when I've been looking for certain cards to fill my collection.

My Kevin Kouzmanoff is coming along nicely. I have all the base, most of the higher-numbered cards and many low-numbered cards. However, certain cards have eluded my grip over the last three years and, amazingly, two of them came into my hands last week.

The first is 2007 Bowman's Best gold auto /50.

The card wasn't actually difficult to find. A seller or two had it on eBay, but for a prize I wasn't willing to part with for this auto. Finally, one popped up in an auction and I snagged it. It didn't take many cards to complete this rainbow (I don't count 1/1 cards), but it's still very pretty to me.

What do I do with these cards?

Looking through Kevin Kouzmanoff in Topps Series 2, I saw that he had one of the hat patch cards.

My first concern was, do I really want to pick up this card where it shows an A's logo from last year's Independence Day celebration when Kouzmanoff wasn't on the team yet. Then, I looked closer.

That is not Kevin Kouzmanoff in that picture. Not only is that not Kevin Kouzmzanoff, but that man has never worn an A's uniform. It took me a few minutes to realize it was Chase Headley, this season's third baseman for the Padres. Headley played third in the minors, but moved to the outfield when he was brought up because Kouz played third. Kouz was traded in the offseason to Oakland and Headley moved back to third.

Then, I did more research on eBay and found this card:

Chase Headley's patch card EXCEPT that is Kouz pictured on top of the card.

So, now here comes my dilemma. I want to own every Kouz card I can. That's just the way I am as a player collector. However, in this situation of comedic errors, his name is one card and his picture is on another.

The options are:
A. Buy the card with his name
B. Buy the card with his photo
C. Buy both cards and glue them back-to-back (This was suggested by the boyfriend)
D. Forget both card and pretend like they do not exist because they are just so badly misrepresented.

What do you guys think I should do and what would you do if this happened to one of your players?

By the way, if you want to see more patch cards from Topps Series 2, click here.

A few recent Kouz pickups

Picked up some new additions to the Kevin Kouzmanoff collection. I'm pretty pleased with these cards, if I do say so.

We'll go in order of the cards numbered, highest to lowest.

Up first is a card from the 2007 Exquisite set. An auto, game-used combo numbered to /99. I had the one numbered to /199, so these guys will enjoy each other's company.

Up next is an oldie but a goodie. I happened to enjoy 2007 Moments and Milestones. I even cashed in on the Dice K with his rookie card, which bought a few hobby boxes for me. Here, is Kouzmanoff's auto card /40 (OMG! It's a 1/1 because it's 40/40).

Strange thing about this set is that Kouz has three base cards, but I only have two of them. The regular auto is easier to find than any of his base cards.

And, finally, we have a 2007 Bowman Draft yellow printing plate. Of course, 1/1. I have a few of his 1/1 cards. I don't actively seek them, but I will bid on them if I happen to see them on eBay.

Welcome to the family, guys.

Cards 229 and 230 in the Kouz collection

I've dipped back into the basket of bubble mailers to pull out these two cards, which came in the same package.


2010 Upper Deck baseball and auto cards.

I would like to think these are going to be the last Upper Deck baseball cards I ever buy, but that's not true. There are still so many cards I need to get to complete my collections, including that Heroes rainbow (which I am sure I have more cards of somewhere).

The base card almost makes him look like he's with the A's already.

Despite the shady business practices of Upper Deck, I will miss them. I enjoyed the competition they created in the industry and do hope to see them again in the baseball arena.

Cracking the Topps vault

This is one of my newer cards and not a card stuck in the pile I'm trying to sift through.

Topps Vault (ebay name: thetoppsvault) has a bunch of cards up for sale on eBay and I found this Kevin Kouzmanoff Topps Attax blank back 1/1, which by the way is not listed in Beckett so I can't add it to my collection. 

This is the box it came in, which certainly makes it feel like you're getting something from its vault.

Side note: I don't have the base card, but I have the 1/1. Go figure.

Having Topps sell their rare cards is an interesting aspect. For years, the trading card companies have seen the secondary market do well on the secondary market. So, the question becomes, how do they tap into it?

Here it is. They hold on to the 1/1 and sells them on eBay. Topps Attax are cheap packs mostly made for children. So, instead of putting the rare cards, the 1/1 in them, Topps keeps them and sells one card for the price of roughly three packs of Topps Attax.

Any Brewers fans want to go half with me?

Searching eBay found this auction for a Kouzmanoff card I don't have. Only problem there is a Rickie Weeks card with it that I don't want.

Here's the auction.

So, I was thinking maybe there is a Brew Crew fan out there who would go halfsies?

Any takers?

eBay's new look

I know there have been some changes to eBay over the last couple of weeks. I'm just getting used to all of them.

The biggest thing I've noticed is the sheer amount of listings now. I did a search for Kouzmanoff
like I do daily and now there number of card to get through is overwhelming. The inclusion of the store items with the auctions is a nice concept, but is there a way I can turn this off?

For the most part, the store auctions have base cards, which I don't want to sift through. I have all those cards and am now looking for rarer cards.

I could just ask to show auction-style formats, but that's take away from the BIN that are listed with the main group.

How do you guys feel about the changes with eBay?

Exquisite baseball drives me crazy

I don't own many Exquisite cards. I never bought a hobby box of the stuff. If I recall properly the stuff is really expensive.

But, I do have a few cards of 2007 Exquisite baseball - and it drives me completely crazy.

Why is this set so big? There are so many cards per player it makes it difficult to chase. Not only for the sheer number of cards, but because of the prize of the hobby box, usually you can't find many of these cheaply on eBay. I've seen Kevin Kouzmanoff card being offered for BIN at $80-plus (example). No one, not even his mother, is going to pay that much money for one his autographs.

Slowly, excruciatingly slow, I've managed to pick up a few cards through eBay and trades. There are 58 of the 2007 Exquisite card on my want list.

I have seven. This is even harder than the 2008 UD Heroes to complete.

This was the latest one I picked up on eBay.

2007 Exquisite Rookie Signature Collection College Ties Autograph with Lyle Overbay.They both played at the University of Nevada-Reno, just not at the same time.

Closer to the pot of gold

I tried to be clever with my headline, not sure it really worked, but I'm getting closer to completing the 2008 Upper Deck Heroes rainbow with Kevin Kouzmanoff.

For all my collections, I usually don't put anything numbered under /10 on my want list. I want all the cards, but I am not crazy enough to go after a 1/1 so I can complete my set. However, if I see a card that is numbered low, I will still go after it and think of it as a bonus to my collection. I actually have a number of Kouzmanoff 1/1 for this reason.

On eBay, I recently picked up (and by recent, this probably means about three months ago) a Kouzmanoff UD Heroes jersey card I was missing.

There are 28 different cards on my Kouz UD Heroes watch list.

Twenty eight.

That's a lot of cards (not YSL a lot) to chase. Right now, I need 11 more. What's funny is that I've amassed this pile of bubble mailers over the last several months and haven't updated my wants lists yet. I could actually have more of these Heroes cards and just forgot that they're in there.

As I slowly get through the process, you'll get to see all my brand new, shiny cards.