Friday, November 29, 2013

James Albury - 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits

Albury is a Brisbane local who is returning in 2013-14 for his third season with the Brisbane Bandits. Despite his longevity in the ABL, these were my first ever photos of Albury. I chose this shot as my favourite of him - kicking back against the dug out fence whilst sharing a joke with team mates.

Albury spent two seasons playing Rookie level ball with the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2005, and a short stint at A level with the Chicago White Sox in 2009, as well as playing several seasons in independent leagues in the US.

2013-14 Brisbane Bandits James Albury card front - © 2013 Adam East

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Dingo 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox - Set One Checklist

Here is the checklist for series one of the 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox cards released by Dingo Cards on the 1st November 2013.


Dingo 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox Series One Header/Checklist Card - front

Dingo 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox Series One Header/Checklist Card -back



Here are the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox Series One set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
033 Chris Oxspring  (Australia, former MLB player)
034 Craig Anderson (Australia, played 9 seasons with the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orikoles organisations between 1999 - 2008)
035 Trent D'Antonio (Australia, played 3 seasons in the Florida Marlins organisation between 2005 - 2007)
036 Wayne Lundgren (Australia, played 6 seasons in the Boston Red Sox, St Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds organisations between 2000 - 2006)
037 Mitch Dening (Australia, played 5 seasons in the Boston Red Sox organisation between 2007 - 2011)
038 Zach Shepherd (Australia, signed by Detroit Tigers in 2012)
039 Tim Atherton (Australia, played in Minnesota Twins organisation in 2013)
040 Todd Van Steensel (Australia)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Release Schedule for Sydney Blue Sox card sets

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Beau Bishop - 2013-14 Adelaide Bite

Bishop is a New Zealander who comes to the Adelaide Bite via an unusual route. Bishop was signed by the Boston Red Sox as a baseballing project back in 2011. I say he was signed as a project as at that point he was a 17 year old softballer who had been selected for New Zealand's national softball team.

Bishop spent 2011 in the Major League Baseball Australia Academy Program on the Gold Coast, before debuting with the Rookie level GCL Red Sox in 2012.  Bishop had a further two games with the GCL Red Sox in 2013 before being released by Boston.

2013-14 Adelaide Bite Beau Bishop card front - © 2013 Adam East

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Dingo 2013-14 Perth Heat - Series One Checklist

Here is the checklist for the 2013-14 Perth Heat series one set of cards released on the 1st November by Dingo Cards.





Here are the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Perth Heat Series One set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
025 Tim Kennelly (Australia, played in Texas Rangers organisation in 2013)
026 Sam Kennelly (Australia, signed by Pittsburgh Pirates in 2012)
027 Allan de San Miguel (Australia, played in Baltimore Orioles organisation in 2013)
028 Corey Adamson (Australia, played in San Diego Padres organisation in 2013)
029 Warwick Saupold (Australia, played in Detroit Tigers organisation in 2013)
030 Cameron Lamb (Australia, played in Houston Astros organisation in 2013)
031 Daniel Schmidt (Australia)
032 Luke Hughes  (Australia, former MLB player)
unnumbered - Header Card / Checklist
unnumbered -  Release Schedule for Perth Heat card sets


Monday, November 25, 2013

Toshihiro Iwao (岩尾 利弘) - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

A member of the Seibu Lions in the NPB, Iwao is a Japanese import playing with the Melbourne Aces for the 2013-14 season. Iwao made his NPB debut in 2010, pitching 2 games for the Lions. It would take until 2013 before he returned to the Lions for more regular appearances.

I had two images of Iwao that I particularly liked, so decided to go with an alternate card fronts for Iwao. I have him listed as a starting pitcher on the card, but I will probably need to update it to relief pitcher. He's a reliever fro the Lions, but started for the Aces early on in the season. he appears to have moved back to his usual role in relief now though.



2013-14 Melbourne Aces Toshihiro Iwao card front -  © 2013 Adam East

2013-14 Melbourne Aces Toshihiro Iwao alternate card front -  © 2013 Adam East

Friday, November 22, 2013

Aaron Sloan - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry


After winning the MVP of the 2013 ABL Championship Series, Canberran youngster Sloan returns to the Cavalry lineup for the 2013-14 ABL season. Sloan's showing a lot of emotion in this picture - that's because he's yelling encouragement at fellow Canberran youngster Robbie Perkins to the right of frame who has just had his first hit in the ABL - a home run that also brought home Sloan and Robbie's older brother Kyle.



2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Aaron Sloan card front - © 2013 Adam East



Thursday, November 21, 2013

2013 Asia Series Championships! ... would make a nice card set :)

The ABL Championship winning team has been invited to the last three Asia Series. Perth Heat went a combined 0-5 in their two visits to the series against the Championship teams from Japan, Korea and  Taiwan in 2011 and 2012. Practically everybody expected the Canberra Cavalry to be making up the numbers when they arrived in Taiwan last week for the 2013 Asia Series. The Cavalry have an operating budget of $47,000 for the entire season, compared to the star studded Asian teams with budgets in the tens of millions of dollars..They were seen not as underdogs, but as small fry for the bigger fish to feed on.

Well, the small fry bit back. Not only did they manage to win a game, they went 3-1 for the series and won the Championship.  I was up til nearly 1AM this morning watching the video stream and listening to the English audio broadcast of the Championship game where the Cavalry blew away Taiwan's Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (the 2013 CPBL Champions) by a score of 14-4 to win the series.

Congratulations to the Cavalry!.


I know that the designer of the current ABL cards being released by Dingo cards commented that it would be nice to see an Asia Championship set to go with the ABL Championship set that was released several weeks ago.









Box Break - 1996 Futera Australian Baseball League

Whilst in Melbourne on a rare work trip, I managed to pop into CardZone, one of the few remaining brick and mortar card stores in Australia. Before heading on my trip I went through some of my old card sets to see which sets I needed to still complete and took a list with me on the trip.

Unfortunately, the store only had complete boxes of the old ABL sets for sale, and weren't selling commons or packs from those sets anymore. Still I needed most of the 1996 Australian Baseball League set released by Futera. A box of the 1996 cards was cheap too - $45 for a box , so I dutifully plonked down my hard earned money and was rewarded with a box of 40 packs to break at a later date. I savored the box and left it unopened until after my flight home where I dutifully broke it open.


Here's what the box potentially offered.

  • 40 x 9 card packs
  • Set of 110 common cards (85 player cards, 6 ABl Awards cards, 12 ABL All Stars cards, 7 Retrospective / Checklist cards) - Checklist of all players on cards
  • Bottom of the Ninth insert set (ea #d 3000) - 9 cards - inserted at a rate of 1:8 apckets
  • Gold Prospects insert set (each #d 2500) - 6 cards - inserted at a rate of 1:18 packets
  • Scott Metcalf Redemption card (ea #d 900) - 1 card - inserted at a rate of 1:288 packets
  • Scott Metcalf Autograph Redemption card (ea #d 100) - 1 card - inserted at a rate of 1:2400 packets
Of the insert sets, the key cards  in my opinion are the cards of former Australian MLB players David Nilsson (BON9) and Mark Ettles (GP5).

With the stated odds, with normal distribution I should expect to get 5 Bottom of the Ninth inserts, and 2 Gold Prospects inserts.



Here's what my box (box #d 1617 of 6000 boxes) contained:

  • Set of 110 common cards: 108/110 with 247 duplicates
  • Bottom of the Ninth insert set: 4 cards - BON2 Steve Hinton, BON3 David White, BON8 Scott Tunkin, BON9 David Nilsson
  • Gold Prospects insert set:  1 card - GP2 Glenn Reeves
  • Redemption cards: nil

1996 Futera ABL Bottom of the Ninth BON 9 David Nilsson (#d 3000)
1996 Futera ABL Gold Prospects GP2 Glenn Reeves (#d 2500)


So, thoughts on the break. Really disappointed that I couldn't get a full set of 110 cards from the 360 in the box. I got all of the key commons, but missed out on a common player and one of the All Stars cards. I also was short changed on the inserts by one BON and one GP card, but the main reason I was buying the box was to try and complete the commons set. I would have been more excited at the Nilsson BON card, except that I'd already bought this card many years ago.

1996 Futera ABL cards 97 Kimera Bartee (All Star subset) and 65 Geoff Blum

1996 Futera ABL cards 15 David Nilsson and 34 Kelly Wunsch

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Justin Trapp - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

I was impressed with Kansas City Royals minor leaguer Justin Trapp. Trapp is playing as an import for the Melbourne Aces during the 2013-14 ABL season. On seeing me taking photos of him before a game, Trapp came over to chat with me, asking if I could email some of the photos to his mum. I agreed, and asked if he wanted to do a posed shot as well. The photo on this card is the result.

I have tried emailing the address he gave me to make sure it was the correct, but I haven't heard back from it, so I'll need to recheck with him to make sure I had the correct address.

Trapp spent 2013 playing for the Wilmington Blue Rocks in the High A level Carolina League.



2013-14 Melbourne Aces Justin Trapp card front - © 2013 Adam East

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Dingo 2013-14 Melbourne Aces - Series One Checklist

Here is the checklist for series one of the 2013-14 Melbourne Aces cards released by Dingo Cards on the 1st November 2013.

Dingo 2013-14 Melbourne Aces Series One Header/Checklist Card - front
Dingo 2013-14 Melbourne Aces Series One Header/Checklist Card - back

Here are the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Melbourne Aces Series One set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
017 Brad Harman (Australia, former MLB player)
018 Josh Davies Australia, played 5 years in the LA Angels and San Diego Padres organisations between 2004 - 2008)
019 Darryl George (Australia, played in Tampa Bay Rays organisation in 2013)
020 Justin Huber (Australia, former MLB player)
021 John Hussey (Australia, played in San Diego Padres organisation in 2013)
022 Andrew Russell (Australia, played in Atlanta Braves organisation in 2013)
023 Lewis Thorpe (Australia, played in Minnesota Twins organisation in 2013)
024 Scott Wearne (Australia)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Release Schedule for Melbourne Aces card sets

Monday, November 18, 2013

David Holman - 2013-14 Adelaide Bite

Heading Down Under from the Seattle Mariners, American import David Holman has joined the Adelaide Bite as a starting pitcher for the 2013-14 ABL season. Holman spent 2013 playing for the Clinton Lumberkings of the A level Midwest League.

I was down in Melbourne for work last week and was able to see the opening home game of the Melbourne Aces last Friday night. Unfortunately, the position of the sun and stadium layout made it difficult to get many decent photos of the players. I'll write up the evening in more detail in another post. For now, Holman becomes the first of the Adelaide Bite card designs for 2013-14.

I know that there are a lot of problems with this photo, but I do like it, despite the glare and contrast issues.


2013-14 Adelaide Bite David Holman card front - © 2013 Adam East

Friday, November 15, 2013

Jeff Lyman - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

Lyman is an American import who spent seven seasons (2005 - 2011) playing minor league baseball primarily with the Atlanta Braves, but also with the Oakland Athletics and St Louis Cardinals before being released. He spent 2013 playing for the Amarillo Sox in the independent American Association. Lyman joins the Canberra Cavalry as a starting pitcher for the 2013-14 ABL season.


2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Jeff Lyman card front - © 2013 Adam East

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Dingo 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits - Series One Checklist

No big writeup on the Dingo release as a whole - please check out my write up of the Adelaide Bites Series One checklists for a LONG blurb about the releases in general. But here's the checklist image for the 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Series One set of cards.


Dingo 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Series One Header/Checklist Card - front

Dingo 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Series One Header/Checklist Card - back


Here are the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Series One set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
009 Brad Dutton (Australia)
010 Josh Roberts (Australia, played 3 years in the Cleveland Indians organisation between 2004 - 2006)
011 Ryan Battaglia (Australia, played in Cleveland Indians organisation in 2013)
012 Jason Kilby (Australia, signed by Cincinnati Reds in 2013)
013 Ryan Searle (Australia, played in Chicago Cubs organisation in 2013)
014 Andrew Campbell  (Australia, played 2 years in the Cleveland Indians organisation between 2011 - 2012)
015 David Sutherland  (Australia, played 5 years in the Los Angeles Dodgers organisation between 2003 - 2007)
016 Josh Warner (Australia, played in Philadelphia Phillies organisation in 2013)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist card
unnumbered -  Release Schedule for Brisbane Bandits card sets

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Brett Zawacki - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces


Zawacki is an American import playing with the Melbourne Aces during the 2013-14 ABL season after being a part of the inaugural ABL draft in 2013. Zawacki spent six years in the minor leagues split between the St Louis Cardinal and Florida Marlins between 2007 and 2012. He spent 2013 playing for the Joliet Slammers in the independent Frontier League with fellow Aces import Corey Klimes.


2013-14 Melbourne Aces Brett Zawacki card front - © 2013 Adam East

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Dingo 2013-14 Adelaide Bite - Series One Checklist and Initial Thoughts on the 2013-14 ABL Cards

I received five of the 2013-14 ABL team sets produced by Dingo Cards in the mail last week, which when added to the 2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Championship set of cards I bought at the ABL's opening game, means that I have all of the sets from the first "wave" of releases ... I think

The uncertainty is because it's still a bit unclear to me as to how many sets were meant to be released. The way that I had read the initial advertising was that each of the 6 teams were meant to have an 8 card set released during each of the three waves, making 18 sets, plus the Canberra Cavalry 40 card Championship Edition set making a 19th set.

The Series One 8 card set for the Cavalry failed to materialize at the merchandising stores at games, andis  not appearing in the online ABL shop. I'd hazard a guess to say that the Championship Edition set is the only Canberra Cavalry release we'll see during the first wave, and that we will only see 18 sets released in total. I'll try and chase down what has happened to Canberra's Series One release - it's definitely shown on the Release Schedule cards as existing separate from the Championship Edition set, but it doesn't seem to have been released yet, despite advertising to the contrary.

Here are some quick thoughts on the 8 card team sets.

  • Australian players. There appears to have been a focus on choosing Australian players for the team sets with no imports making it into the first wave of team sets (although the Canberra Cavalry Championship set is another matter entirely, featuring most of the 2012-13 Canberran roster which is mainly made up of non-Australian players)
  • Affiliated players. Although focussing on Aussies, there was also a focus on Australian MLB affiliated players. The 40 players included 4 former MLB players, 14 players who played in the Minors during 2013, 3 players currently signed by MLB teams but yet to play in the Minors and 9 players who have previously played in the Minors, leaving only 10 players across the 5 sets who haven't played for a MLB organisation (and 6 of those were from the one team - the Adelaide Bite).
  • They're really 10 card sets. Although they're listed as 8 card sets, each card holder contains 10 cards - the 8 numbered player cards, plus two unnumbered cards. The first unnumbered card is a Header card with the team logo, set information, and the set checklist on the back. The second card set is a release schedule for that teams cards. The release schedule card includes images of three header cards for that team - presumably the header card for the team set released during each wave. Master set collectors will need six of these Release Schedule cards -  one card from each team.
  • Blurry images. The preview images online came across as being quite clean and crisp, however a number of the player photos on the cards appear to be a bit soft and blurry. The card text is pretty crisp, suggesting that the image issue lays more with the photos that were chosen for use on the cards rather than anything to do with the card printing.
  • Card quality. Although there are some question marks over the images, the card stock itself is fairly strong and the cards have a strong glossy finish, giving them a professional look.
  • Good packaging. The card sets themselves are released in rigid plastic card holders that hold ten cards, rather than the usual foil or cellophane wrapper or cardboard box. The team sets I had received in the mail were also bubble wrapped inside the Express Post bag. I mention the bubble pack wrapping as last season there were issues of card sets just being thrown into directly into packages in their team set plastic baggies, and arriving to customer with dinged corners. Having said that, the plastic card holders are going to make these expensive to try and send overseas.

Anyway, enough of my commentary. Here's the front and back of the Adelaide Bite Series One header card.


Dingo 2013-14 Adelaide Bite Series One Header/Checklist Card - front

Dingo 2013-14 Adelaide Bite Series One Header/Checklist Card - back


And here's the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Adelaide Bite Series One set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
001 Stefan Welch (Australia, played in Pittsburgh Pirates organisation in 2013)
002 Chris Adamson (Australia)
003 Josh Cakebread (Australia)
004 Jeremy Cresswell (Australia)
005 Darren Fidge (Australia, played 5 years in the Minnesota Twins organisation between 1992 - 1997)
006 Ben Lodge (Australia)
007 Richard Olson (Australia)
008 Angus Roeger (Australia)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist card
unnumbered - Release Schedule for Adelaide Bite card sets


Monday, November 11, 2013

Shane Opitz - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

Opitz is an American import from the Toronto Blue Jays organisation playing with the Canberra Cavalry during the 2013-14 ABL season. In 2013 Opitz played with fellow 2013-14 Cavalry imports Jon Berti and Michael Crouse at the Dunedin Blue Jays in the High A level Florida State League. The Dunedin Blue Jays were a veritable second home for past and present Cavalry imports, also featuring KC Hobson, Jonathon Jones and Marcus Knecht from the 2012-13 Cavalry roster, and Kenny Wilson from the 2011-12 Cavalry roster.

Being so early in the season, I'll likely get many more photos of the Canberra players, so the final photos I use for printing could be different by the end of the season than the ones I use now, but I do like Opitz's staring competition with the bat weight ... a look of intense concentration before going out to bat

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Shane Opitz card front - © 2013 Adam East

Friday, November 8, 2013

Komei Fujisawa (藤澤亨明) - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

Japanese import Komei Fujisawa is playing for the Melbourne Aces during the 2013-14 ABL season. Fujisawa hails from the Saitama Seibu Lions, but unlike many of the NPB players who are sent to the ABL, Fujisawa has yet to debut in an NPB game according to the NPB website.

I ended up with a lot of photos of Fujisawa, but this was probably my favourite. I do like to try and get shots of catchers with their catching gear on, but with their face visible. I was happy to grab this action shot of him during one of the games.

2013-14 Melbourne Aces Komei Fujisawa card front - © 2013 Adam East

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Dingo 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition Set Checklists

Here's a consolidated checklist of the cards that make up the 2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set of baseball cards, released 1st November 2013 by Dingo Cards.

The set contains 40 numbered cards, and 3 unnumbered cards. Details of the unnumbered cards were posted previously. Cards are numbered 89 through 128, presumably as a part of the continued numbering of the other Australian Baseball League sets that were also being released.

2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition card 127 front

2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition card 127 back

The checklist cards, cards number 127 and 128 are pictured. I've also included a full list of the cards for the set with details of where the players were from, both in a country sense, and which team they were affiliated to or played with in 2012 where relevant.

2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition card 128 front

2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition card 128 back

Checklist - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition Set by Dingo Cards

089 Adam Buschini (US, signed by San Diego Padres after 2012-13 ABL season)
090 Jeremy Barnes (US, released by Philadelphia Phillies in 2012 prior to 2012-13 ABL season)
091 Kohei Shibata (Japan - Hanshin Tigers) 
092 Kody Hightower (US, played with Mr Cocker HCAW in the Netherlands in 2012)
093 Adam Jacobs (US, played with Hawaii Stars in the independent North American League in 2012)
094 Ryan Stovall (US, signed by Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2012-13 ABL season) 
095 Antonio Callaway (US, played with Mount Olive College - NCAA Division II - in 2012)
096 Jack Murphy (US, Toronto Blue Jays) 
097 KC Hobson (US, Toronto Blue Jays) 
098 Marcus Knecht (Canadian, Toronto Blue Jays)
099 Jonathon Jones (US, Toronto Blue Jays)
100 Michael Wells (Australian)
101 Ben Warner (Australian)
102 Aaron Sloan (Australian)
103 Josh Matavesi (Australian)
104 Lee Mills (Australian)
105 Robbie Perkins (Australian, signed by Colorado Rockies prior to 2012-13 ABL season)
106 Brian Grening (US, played with Kansas City T-Bones in the independent American Association in 2012)
107 Robert Dickmann (US, released by Tampa Bay Rays in 2011, 2012 activities unknown)
108 Chris Motta (US, played with Concordia College - NCAA Division II - prior to 2012-13 ABL season)
109 John Holdzkom (US, released by Cincinnati Reds in 2012 prior to 2012-13 ABL season)
110 Sean Toler (US, played with Kansas City T-Bones in the independent American Association in 2012)
111 Eric Massingham (US, played with Evansville Otters in the independent Frontier League in 2012)
112 Dustin Loggins (US, played with Kansas City T-Bones in the independent American Association in 2012)
113 Kyle Perkins (Australian)
114 Steve Kent (Australian, played with Kansas City T-Bones in the independent American Association in 2012)
115 Hirokazu Shiranita (Japan - Hanshin Tigers)
116 Masanori Fujihara (Japan - Hanshin Tigers)
117 Brodie Downs (US, released by Seattle Mariners in 2010, running business in 2012, ABL was comeback) 
118 Chris Morgan (Australian)
119 Bryan Herrera (US, played with Hawaii Stars in the independent North American League in 2012)
120 Mascot - Sarge
121 Triple Crown Award - Adam Buschini
122 Series MVP - Aaron Sloan
123 Manager - Michael Collins (Australian - San Diego Padres)
124 Coach - Clayton McCullough (US - Toronto Blue Jays)
125 ABLCS Game One
126 ABLCS Game Two
127 The Handshake - Checklist One
128 Championship Team Photo - Checklist Two


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Antonio Callaway - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

American import Callaway returns to Canberra for his second ABL season in 2013-14. Unlike the other players, Callaway took a very different path during the American summer - he ended up earning himself a card onto the Pro Bodybuilding circuit during 2013. Lest anybody be concerned in the current climate of steroid using baseballers, Callaway was competing in the Natural Pro Bodybuilder circuit, which stresses being drug free, and requires polygraph and drug testing to maintain a clean program.

Callaway is a bit like Allan de San Miguel to me - photogenic players who make for a great shot almost every photo. I took these two photos from the opening series that I both particularly liked, so decided to give Callaway two different card fronts.

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Antonio Callaway card front - © 2013 Adam East
2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Antonio Callaway alternate card front - © 2013 Adam East




Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Reflections on the ABL Opening Day and Series

The Australian Baseball League Opening Day was last Thursday, featuring a game between the Canberra Cavalry and the Melbourne Aces. Official attendance for the game was 1842, which is a good crowd by ABL standards. Most things went fairly smoothly, with my only pet peeve being the disorganisation around player identification.

Apparently there have been some issues with the naming kits for the uniforms not having arrived, meaning that none of the players had their names on their uniforms throughout the series.

Melbourne Aces players line up before the anthem is sung on Opening Night © 2013 Adam East

 Just to make things even more difficult, players didn't seem to have settled on their numbers either, with both the series program and the ABL website failing to list the uniform numbers for most players. That made it even harder to try and identify which player was whom. It didn't help when the Aces management accidentally put their players in the wrong positions on their team sheet one night as well, which resulted in the PA announcer calling out the wrong player names at various times.

The Cavalry wore a special uniform for the opening game. It was a typical white home uniform from last year, but with gold trim and patches proclaiming  them as the Centenary Champions. Canberra celebrated it's 100th birthday in 2013, so it's a dual reference to it being Canberra's first game since winning the 2012-13 championship, and celebrating Canberra's Centenary.

Robbie Perkins and other Cavalry players in the Centenary Champion uniforms © 2013 Adam East

The Manager and GM were presented with a championship banner and a key to the city of Canberra by the Deputy Government Leader before the start of the game.

Sarge, Manager Tubby Collins and GM Thom Carter with championship banner and key to the city © Adam East

I discovered that each team this year has three possible uniforms they can wear - both the home white uniforms and grey away uniforms from last year, but also the "coloured top" uniforms used as home uniforms in 2010-11 and away uniforms in 2011-12.

I really hope they continue with wearing the coloured top uniforms - they give the teams a far more distinctive look and feel than the more generically bland white or grey uniforms. I reckon they look better on cards too. Melbourne wore their coloured top uniforms throughout the series, whilst Canberra also wore those each night apart from the Centenary Champions uniforms on opening night.

Canberra players in their orange top uniforms. © 2013 Adam East


On a side note it was funny to see some of the players a bit perturbed by the tens of thousands of bogong moths that descended on the ground on Saturday night when the lights were on. Canberra is in a migratory route for these moths, and they certainly came out in numbers during the evening, and even in the crowd you would occasionally get hit by moths that were a part of the huge ensemble.

Bogong moths invade Fort Narrabundah - © 2013 Adam East

Monday, November 4, 2013

Jared Schlehuber - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

This card features American import Jared Schlehuber, a player from the Kansas City Royals system who is listed as one of several designated hitters for the Melbourne Aces in the 2013-14 season. Schlehuber spent 2013 playing for the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the high A level Carolina League.

I was able to get out to the Australian Baseball League's opening night in Canberra last Thursday as well as the doubleheader on Saturday between Canberra Cavalry and the Melbourne Aces. This means that I now have a good selection of photos with which to start making my 2013-14 ABL cards. I'll write up some observations about the ABL Opening day later in the week, but for now, following my two "concept cards" for the series using photos from last season, this is my very first proper card for the 2013-14 ABL season.

Normally, I try and avoid having other players or people in my card designs, but I love this photo. Schlehuber was playing first base during the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, and Canberra player Kyle Perkins had just successfully reached first. I don't know what Perkins is saying to him, but the expression on Perkins face tells me that he's whispering something into Schlehuber's ear ....

2013-14 Melbourne Aces Jared Schlehuber card front - © 2013 Adam East

Kyle did actually comment to me after I wrote this up that "We were talking about how I only saw a couple fastballs all day". I still think he was trash talking him .... despite Kyle's insistence that he'd never do that because he's "a nice guy". :)

Friday, November 1, 2013

Dingo 2013-14 ABL Cards - Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition Set and Further Release Info

I am now the proud owner of the 2012-13 Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set of cards released by Dingo Cards.  The set contains 43 cards in total, of which 40 of the cards are numbered between 89-128. Presumably this is a number continuation from the rest of the individual team sets that are to be released today as well.

2013-14 Dingo Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set - header card front

2013-14 Dingo Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set - schedule card back

  Breakdown of the 43 cards in the set are as follows:
  • Cards numbered 89-119: Canberra players (31 different)
  • Card 120 Mascot
  • Cards 121 - 122 Award Winners
  • Cards 123 - 124 Coaches
  • Cards 125 - 126 Finals Games
  • Cards 127 - 128 Checklists
  • An unnumbered Header card
  • An unnumbered advertising card for Dingo Trading Cards
  • An unnumbered card outlining the card release schedule
2013-14 Dingo Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set - schedule card front
Important information from the card with the release schedule:

Wave 1 of team sets and the Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set to be released on November 1st.
Wave 2 of team sets to be released on December 1st.
Wave 3 of team sets to be released January 1st .

2013-14 Dingo Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set - schedule card back

Apparently some of the photos for the future team set releases are being taken this weekend, so there are likely to be some new 2013-14 players featured in the card releases.

I'll do a checklist and start providing more card images over the coming weeks.

2013-14 Dingo Canberra Cavalry Championship Edition set - Dingo ad card front