Austin's April 3 Box Score

2002 Diamond Kings No. 92

A great game in the field with 3 catches and an assist. No errors. At the plate he was normal Kearns. Batting fifth in the lineup is giving Austin plenty of RBI opportunities. Batting behind Lastings, Zimmerman and Johnson make him a batter to watch this season. Man am I glad I have him on my fantasy teams.

April 3 vs. Phillies
1 for 4 at the plate 1 Run 1 Hit 1 RBI .250 AVG.

Austin for the Season
4 for 13 at the plate 2 Runs 4 Hits 0 HR 4 RBI .308 AVG.

Austin's April 2 Box Score

2001 Topps Traded No. T185

Granted the above sweet swing did not come into play, but neither did anyone else's. Austin posted the ol goose egg line in the box score.

April 2, 2008 vs. Phillies
0 for 3 at the plate 0 Runs 0 Hits 0 HR 0 RBI .000 Avg

Season Totals
3 for 9 at the plate 2 Runs 4 Hits 0 HR 4 RBI .333 Avg

Austin's 0/31/08 Box Score

1999 Bowman's Best No. 160

Austin against the Phillies
2/3 at the plate 1 Run Scored 0 HR 2 RBI .667 Avg.

Season Totals
3 / 6 at the plate 1 Run Scored 0 HR 3 RBI .500 Avg

Austin's 3 / 30 / 08 Box Score

Last nights season opener against the Braves in the new Nationals Park was great. Beautiful views. Great National Anthem, some chin music from the President and a bottom of the ninth win over a division opponent.

Great fielding. Austin Showed what it was like to challenge him. Nice catches. Always were the ball was. Laser accuracy with the cannon on his right shoulder.
So in honor of the first game in Nationals Park. Austin's first hit and RBI of the season and the Nationals first win of the season we have Austin's first MLB card.

1999 Bowman No. 200.

Austin against the Bravos:
1 for 3 0 Runs Scored 0 HR 1 RBI
Season Toatls : .333 / 0 / 0 / 1

Press Plate

2006 Topps Chrome
Yellow Press Plate
1 / 1

Not the best photo of Austin. But it is a press plate and therefore I had to buy it. Managed to pick it up for under fifteen dollars. Don't remember the exact amount.

Something I Found

I bought a ten $1 team bags in Reno on Saturday. They had the normal commons / 1 or 2 star mix. And then I saw this.

2002 Upper Deck 40 Man

This is the first time I have seen this card. And it is not too shabby. A decent photo of Austin. Interesting background. I liked doing this to my lawn back in Mississippi. It aggravated the poop out of the neighbors by showing them up. And I can hear Casey Kasem's voice announcing : And entering this weeks Top 40, the highest riser on the charts,. At number 28, Austin Kearns. The new kid drafted by his hometown Cincinnati Reds. This made me buy the whole team set of 2002 Upper Deck 40 Man. Not a bad looking set in my opinion.

Recent pick up No. 1

This is a treat for me to find.

2003 Ultimate Collection Autograph Butyback
2003 SP Authentic
5 / 9

This beauty was won on ebay about 3 weeks ago for eight dollars with the shipping. This was the first time I have seen any non-Donruss Buybacks for Austin. His signature looks good and fits the card well. You can tell he actually looks were to sign on cards instead of just signing away. Plus he has a good looking, non pretzel type auto.

I Bought A Buyback!

This is a 2003 UD Ultimate Collection
2003 Upper Deck 40 Man Buyback Autograph
29 / 33

These cards are bought off the secondary market and personally signed by the player. No sticker auto here. To me these are good ideas as the cards are hand signed and set collectors of 40 Man can add these without having to drop fifty dollars on a pack or waiting on a through the mail autos that may never come.

PRIME TIME!

For todays viewing pleasure we have:

2005 Prime Patches

Portraits Quad Jersey Prime 1/ 1 This beauty was picked up off of ebay around Christmas time last year. It has a swatch of each:

Top Left: Team Logo Patch
Bottom Left: Laundry Tag
Top Right: Name Plate Patch
Bottom Right: Number Patch

The number patch seems to have some dirt or maybe some blood discoloring it. This is the first time I have seen a dirty swatch of anything. Must have been one heck of a stain. I like this card because 1) It is a one of one and 2) It has so many different pieces of Austin's jersey. It's a cool feeling seeing the jersey he wore to dive and catch a scorcher off the bat of Craig Biggio to make him wait one more at bat 2 years latter for No. 3,000.

SWEEEEEEETTT!

I have obtained from the wilderness known as ebay, direct from a seller this awe inspiring card:



A 2007 Sweet Spot Signatures
Autographed Bat
No. 4 of 5 made

This is a way cool card. It is as thick as 3 of the eTopps fillers and the bat is inserted into the card itself. The gray around the wood is a shadow box type effect from wee the card edges do not meet the wood. The bat is curved and not flat like some I have seen. This is one of those cards that gives you bragging rights over other collectors.
Not that I have met any other Austin collectors. But I am looking.
While not a game used bat or having an action photo of Austin I can still see him slapping one off of Rich Hill to drive in Zimmerman with it.

Finally Done

This is the link

http://s213.photobucket.com/albums/cc257/oljoe73/Austin%20Kearns/

to all the Austin Kearns cards I have at the time. It took about 6 days to scan and then link into photobucket. As of today it is a total of 379 cards. Not bad in a year and a half.

So take a look at each card or just play the slideshow. Clicking on the card will bring up the serial number under it if you are Interested in that.

Junkie done got me high on Kearns

That Cardboard Junkie is doing his best to get me high on baseball cards.
I say bring it on, man! Bring it on! Cause only one thing can happen when I get to jonesing for more Kearns Cards. And nothing is gonna get in my way.

Card one from my pusherman

A brilliant 2005 Topps Heritage
No. 207
Good ol Kearnsy making the running catch to rob Chipper of a dying quail for a single.


Card two takes the form of:
2003 Fleer Box Score
No. 82
I never noticed how natural it was for Austin the round the spots section instead of the bases.


Card three is comin atcha
2004 Leaf Second Edition
No. 122
Austin holding up on a wayyy inside curve against the Phillies.

Card four makes me blue
2003 Topps
No. 70
Austin singling up the middle past some scrub on the Cubs.
A SINGLE?
AGAINST THE CUBS?
COME ON!


Card five
2004 Fleer Tradition
No. 178
Look at Austin as he proves he is the best Right fielder in the National League by tracking down a Derrek Lee hit.

and finally,
A 2008 (Banned)
No. 169
Did some dude just ask Austin to write his digits on the ball or something? I have not seen a deer in the headlights look like that in a while. Since I hit a deer frozen by my headlights. Doing 80. In a semi. Found some fur in the grill but that was it.

How many parallels can I post?

From 2004 Leaf Certified Materials we start out with a plain old base set card.

Silver. Shiny. Addictive.

I feel like a five year old counting bugs splatting on the windshield.
Just. Can't. Stop. Buying. Parallels.

The card that started it all:
2004 Leaf Certified Materials
No. 16 Austin Kearns


Mirror Black 1 / 1
Mirror Blue 10 / 50
Mirror Red 027 / 100

Mirror White 036 / 100
Mirror White Autograph 30 / 50

Mirror Gold Autograph 02 / 25

Mirror Blue Autograph 048 / 100

Mirror Red Autograph 013 / 200

Mirror Red Bat / Fabric 148 / 250

Mirror White Fabric 030 / 100

Mirror Red Fabric 051 / 150

Mirror Gold Fabric 14 / 25

Mirror Blue Fabric 060 / 100

Mirror White Bat 032 / 100

Mirror Red Bat 009 / 150

Mirror Gold Bat 12 / 25

And there you have it! And yet I do not have enough of these parallels. I feel the need to find the Mirror Gold base parallel and two Mirror Black Materials parallels. Talk about a lost cause 4 years after they come out. But I shall carry on with the same determination of a five year old on the way to Disney World counting bugs on the windshield. Just so Dad can travel in peace. For a while.

These 3 little guys came in from a trade with the Cardboard Junkie. Ol Dayf wants Kearns on the Braves as much as we want him on the Reds. So what do we have today?

2007 Bowman Heritage
No. 137
A very nice card. Austin ready to slam one over Frenchy's head while Mulder shakes his head in disgust. The signature is a little larger than he normally signs. The old time photo look. Kind of like those memographs everyone smelled to get a slight buzz when you were handed a test in school.

Next we have
A 1999 Bowman Rookie! Austin in action! Ready to throw out the runner who dared try to go home in Rookie ball. The cannon unleashed like only Vlad can do.


And lastly
A 2004 Leaf Player's Collection Jersey. This is the one Jersey card I did not have from the set. I have the other parallels but never got this one. Talk about a sweet trade for some Braves scrubs.

Big Card. Little Photo

Kinda like fat guy in a little coat. This card is well.....big in blank spot.
1999 SP Prospects
Chirography Autograph Insert
AK - Austin Kearns
A teeny little photo. A teeny little logo. A medium size signature. Then a overly large white area. Sure it is a minor league issue, but why no thought into the design? Upper Deck sure did have some bad ideas for insert sets around the turn of the century. This is just a poor layout idea. Austin's name is a quarter the size of the name of the insert set. What team is he playing for? I see Reds. But what affiliate? What level?
The back is not much better. Same size photo and name. Huge white area. Blah.

But it is mine!

White Sox trade for Kearns

Steve at White Sox Cards included these two gems in a recent trade.

2004 Donruss Studio This is a nice card. The skyline of Cincinnati always makes me happy when I drive through. It is a good looking city at night. The muti colors and the eclectic skyline. It's not bland like coming into Denver or Chicago. Can't wait for my first game at Great American Ballpark this summer.

2007 Bowman
This card is not a great card. Why am I looking at the back of Austin? Why are there empty seats? Why the large name area and small name. No mention of the Nationals. Small signature in a large signing area. Just a poorly laid out card. But it is mine!

So Famous she is IN-FAMOUS

Thank you Infamous Tatiana!

Last week I saw her pleading and groveling for new Derek Jeter and Hanley Ramirez cards. So I felt the need to be an enabler in this hobby of ours. I contacted her (so I thought) and proposed a trade (through Mario). Trade was accepted (with a Canseco thrown in). I got a few more cards than I thought I would. But this not an unhappy post. This is a post of rejoicing! Below is the part of the treasure trove of Reds and Austin Kearns cards I have received over the past three days.
Thursday brought me these from The Infamous (Mario) Tatiana:
2007 Goudey No. 131

2007 Bowman Chrome No. 43