Fantasy Baseball Keeper List

Now that the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series it’s time to get serious about next year’s fantasy baseball team. I won one of my fantasy baseball leagues this year (got high of the week in NFBC but fell short otherwise) so I’m pretty well stacked.

Here are the 5 that I’m leaning toward:

Ryan Braun 3B $1
Hunter Pence OF $1
Jose Valverde RP $1
Tim Lincecum (“The Franchise”) SP $1
Yovani Gallardo SP $1

I also have Kelvin Escobar $1, BJ Upton $9, Oliver Perez $1, Joakim Soria $1, and Manny Corpas $1. The Fantasy 411 advised me to keep BJ Upton in lieu of Lincecum or Gallardo but I can’t bring myself to give one of them up and I like the extra $8 on draft day.

Ty Cobb Portrait Red Background Vintage T206 Card

I bought this sweet T206 Ty Cobb card with the winnings from one of my fantasy baseball leagues. It’s a PSA 2 so it’s not in the best shape but it’s clearly adequate and should display well. I prefer T206 cards with at least somewhat rare backs – Sovereign isn’t the rarest of T206 backs but it’s solid for a Ty Cobb.

Shop for Ty Cobb T206 baseball cards on eBay!

Vintage Baseball Gear from Ebbets Field Flannels

Found this site on shopping on MiLB.com - Ebbets Field Flannels. They specialize in vintage baseball caps and jerseys. I like their approach to design because they go out of their way to really create authentic baseball memorabilia. Pretty cool stuff – I have a Havana Sugar Kings hat on my x-mas list! (size 7 3/8)

Looking for T206 HOFer for Fantasy Baseball Winnings

I won the first best out of 3 playoff series and tied up the championship series 1 to 1 in one of my fantasy baseball leagues. In anticipation of a nice payday I’m looking to get a nicer than usual T206 card. I like buying baseball cards better than blowing winnings on something like a TV because the card is an asset that will appreciate over time. I checked eBay and have some cards in mind: John McGraw, Cy Young, Walter Johnson (portrait, I already have his other card), Tris Speaker, Christy Mathewson, and Nap Lajoie.

Buy T206 baseball cards with Hall of Famers on eBay!

Ryan Braun Autographed Baseball

I say Ryan hit 2 home runs against the Nationals this year but missed my pre-game chance to get his autograph. I decided to take a total shot in the dark and mail a baseball with self addressed return mailer to him at the Brewers ballpark. I was totally psyched when I got the ball back 2 weeks later.

Ryan Braun’s 3 run home run late Sunday afternoon got one of my fantasy baseball teams into the finals – pretty sure he’s my favorite ball player at this point.

Find baseball memorabilia with Ryan Braun’s autograph on eBay!

Q&A on Bond's home run ball

I found this question on Yahoo! Answers and thought I came up with a pretty good response - see below.

Q: IRS forcing sale of Bond's homerun ball? - what would prevent the kid from donating it to hall of fame and claiming it as a tax write off, then collecting money from the IRS as charitable contribution.

A: That's a very good question, I think having to pay tax on an baseball like that with no intrinsic value is BS, who's to say what the baseball may or not be worth so to get taxed on memorabilia like that is garbage

So if it's worth 1,000,000 and he sells the ball he probably gets 700,000 after taxes (depending on the tax rate which I have no clue about), if he donates it and wrights it off he'd probably save 300,000 in taxes so he's still better off selling it

I think what he should do is find some hot shot lawyer who's looking to make a name for himself and take the IRS to court over the issues, he could probably find someone to do it for free just for the publicity, if he drags it out in court for a while the hype could increase the value of the baseball substantially - it could be the most famous baseball ever, so then win, loose or draw against the IRS, he might be able to sell it for 2,000,000 and keep 1,400,000! How does that sound?

Display Case Design Help from The WoodWhisperer.com

I’ve been a big fan of the WoodWhisperer podcast since I came up with the ideas to design and build the ultimate premium baseball card display case. I emailed Marc with my preliminary design ideas for the case and he was kind enough to take some time and make some recommendations.

“One of my favorite things to do with picture frames is splined miters. It involves cutting a tablesaw kerf through the miter and inserting a thin piece of contrasting wood. Very elegant.”

I’m not entirely sure what that means but Marc knows his stuff so it’s probably something that I’ll want to incorporate into the final display case design once I see some pics.

If you’re into woodworking be sure to check out his site and podcasts – www.TheWoodWhisperer.com

If you happen upon this and have any design ideas for the ultimate ultra premium extra deluxe baseball card display case – be sure to drop me an email.