Brad Harman - 2015-16 Melbourne Aces

Former MLB player Harman returned for his fifth straight ABL season for the Melbourne Aces in 2015-16.

2015-16 Melbourne aces Brad Harman card front - ©2016 Adam East

Brad Harman - 2014-15 Melbourne Aces

Veteran Aussie MLBer Harman returned for his fourth year with the Melbourne Aces during the 2014-15 ABL season. He is still a mainstay of the lineup, playing in 40 games throughout the season. With the end of season retirement of fellow MLB Alumni Justin Huber, who held the Aces' Designate Hitter spot, it will be interresting to see if Harman continues on in a positional role or if he graduates to the "old timer's" role as DH.

2014-15 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman card front - ©2015 Adam East

Brad Harman - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

The web has had several articles about Aussie former MLB player Harman following his gametime with the Southern Thunder against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers. There's speculation about him being offered a minor league contract. Harman hasn't played affiliated ball since 2009, so it's been a while between drinks. In the meantime, Harman has been playing in the ABL, with his 2013-14 season with the Melbourne Aces his third in the ABL.

2013-14 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman card front - © 2013 Adam East

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

Inaugural COMC Motherload - Part 2 - Brad Harman

Part 1 of these posts showed the Grant Balfour cards I picked up from my recent bulk purchase from COMC. This post will feature the cards of Aussie Infielder Brad Harman who had a short stint in the Majors with the Phillies in 2008.

All up, there were ten Harman cards in the shipment, and they range from the downright crappy, to some really nice cards. Some of these cards like the Bowman Chrome WBC cards are just downright nasty - boring player shot, unimaginative design - if it weren't for the fact the cards featured an Aussie MLB player, I wouldn't go anywhere near them.

Brad Harman 2008 Bowman Chrome Prospects X-fractors BCP99  #d/275

Brad Harman 2008 Bowman Prospects BP99

Brad Harman 2008 Bowman Chrome 196

Brad Harman 2008 Bowman Prospects Gold BP99

Brad Harman 2009 Bowman Chrome WBC Prospects BCW60

Brad Harman 2009 Bowman Chrome WBC Prospects Blue Refractors BCW60

Brad Harman 2009 Topps Chrome World Baseball Classic W50

In contrast, the SP Authentic, the SPx Authentic WBC and Sweet Spot cards are all classy looking cards. The Brad Harman Card of the Buy™ though ends up going to the 2008 Sweet Spot card. It's a nice colourful photo, embossed, serial numbered and autographed rookie card - it ticks all the right boxes. The fact that it's the last numbered card of the serial run just puts the icing on the cake.

Brad Harman 2006 SPx WBC All-World Team AWT-2

Brad Harman 2008 SP Authentic 163 #d/999 

Brad Harman 2008 Sweet Spot 105 #d/699

Trade with Klattsy - Refractors & Relics

I recently completed some trading and purchases from Klattsy over from the OzCardTrader website in return for some cards of Yankees players that I was able to add to his collection. The most exciting card for me and Card of the Trade™ is the low production Liam Hendriks 2009 Bowman Sterling WBC Relic Black Refractor. Thanks Klattsy!

Brad Harman - 2008 Bowman Chrome Refractor  196

Brad Harman - 2008 Bowman Prospects Blue BP99

Rich Thompson - - 2007 Bowman Chrome Draft Futures Game Prospects  X-Fractor  BDPP78

Liam Hendriks - 2009 Bowman Sterling WBC Relics Black Refractor LHH #d/25

Liam Hendriks - 2009 Bowman Sterling WBC Relics LHH

Ebay Goodness - Aussie Serial Numbers Galore

A recent bulk purchase on eBay of serial numbered Australian MLB player's cards. Thought I would share the goodness. Most of them aren't particularly low production runs, but the serial numbers still command a premium when trying to purchase them. The award for Card of the Buy™ goes to the Liam Hendriks 2012 Finest Rookie Jumbo Relic Autograph Gold Refractor.

Brad Harman - 2009 Bowman Chrome WBC Prospects Refractors BCW60 #d/500

Grant Balfour - 2011 Topps Update Gold US135 #d/2011

Luke Hughes - 2011 Topps Update Gold US109 #d/2010

Liam Hendriks - 2012 Bowman Draft Blue 39 #d/500

Liam Hendriks - 2012 Bowman Draft Orange 39 #d/250

Liam Hendriks - 2012 Finest Rookie Jumbo Relic Autographs Gold Refractor LH #d/50

Liam Hendriks - 2012 Finest 77

Liam Hendriks - 2012 Finest Refractor 77

Peter Moylan - 2011 Topps Update Gold US45 #d/2011

Rich Thompson - 2011 Topps Update Gold US286 #d/20l1

Brad Harman - 2012-13 Melbourne Aces

Former Aussie MLB player Brad Harman is back again with the Melbourne Aces for the 2012-13 season. This is my card design for him for this season.

2012-13 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman card front - © 2012 Adam East

Review: Select ABL 2012 cards

I've been away on holidays for the last two weeks, and have only just gotten my grubby little hands onto the official Select 2012 ABL cards.

I've updated the checklists in my previous posts of the Select team sets with the actual card numbers. Even though the cards are being sold as team sets, the cards are numbered from 1 through 72 across the 6 teams. The breakdown is Adelaide has cards numbered 1 through 12, Brisbane 13-24, Canberra 25-36, Melbourne 37-48, Perth 49-60 and Sydney 61 to 72.

The back of the players cards feature

• a head shot of the player, 
• stats for each season of ABL play, 
• a personal bio,
• logo for the ABL, Select, Subway and WhoDat. 

I'm presuming that the Subway and WhoDat advertising is due to some type of sponsorship of the cards. Subway - international fast food chain. WhoDat - small collectibles store in suburban Perth that I'd never heard of before ... and I'm originally from Perth :) Good on 'em!

The back of the team's logo card features the 2012-13 game schedule for the respective team.
The back of the mascot cards contain the checklist for the cards for the respective team set.

The official Select 2012 ABL card team sets. 

From what I've seen so far, they've mainly used action shots for the players, and they're a bit hit and miss - some are good and clear, others are grainy, unclear, or the players face is obscured. I'd have been happy to let them use some of my photos of these players :)

Each team set comes in their own resealable polybag. I noticed that one of my cards had a scratch on the front, whilst a colleague advised that several of her team sets came damaged in the mail, presumably during the shipping process. Hopefully these are isolated issues and not a quality control issue with the shipping process or at the manufacturing stage.

Otherwise, fairly happy with these - great to see official cards. The collectability of the various team sets depends on different factors. Melbourne have 4 current and former MLB players in their set, whilst Sydney have three. Canberra has included a number of American and Japanese imports in their set, whilst all teams feature a number of first ever cards of Aussie players. I'm happy to have them all :)

Checklist - 2012 Melbourne Aces Select

The official 2012 Melbourne Aces baseball card set created by Select features cards of the following players:

2012 Melbourne Aces Logo card by Select

• 37 Melbourne Aces Logo
• 38 Elliot Biddle
• 39 Travis Blackley
• 40 Josh Davies
• 41 Darryl George
• 42 Brad Harman
• 43 Justin Huber
• 44 Shane Lindsay
• 45 Daniel McGrath
• 46 Andrew Russell
• 47 Scott Wearne
• 48 Mascot "Maverick"

The Melbourne Aces team set of 12 cards can be ordered from the ABL Online Store for $AU9.99.

Brad Harman - 2011-12 Melbourne Aces

Former Australian MLBer Brad Harman missed the inaugural year of the ABL due to a 14 month suspension due to breaking the "Wherabouts Rule" of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority. Following his suspension he was able to come back and play for the Melbourne Aces in the 2011-12 season. I was fortunate to grab a few photos of him at one of the games - unfortunately nothing fantastic.

2011-12 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman card front - © 2012 Adam East

011-12 Melbourne Aces Brad Harman alternative card front - © 2012 Adam East