Dingo 2013-14 Perth Heat - Series Two Checklist

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

Dingo 2013-14 Perth Heat Series Two Header/Checklist Card - front

Dingo 2013-14 Perth Heat Series Two Header/Checklist Card - back

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

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
065 Brendan Wise  (Australia, played 7 seasons with the Detroit Tigers organisation between 2005 - 2011 and one season with the Minnesota Twins in 2012.)
066 Tucker Nathans (USA, played in Baltimore Orioles organisation in 2013)
067 Anthony Claggett (USA, former MLB player)
068 Brandon Tripp (USA, played 7 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Florida Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies organisations between 2006 - 2012.)
069 Michael Ekstrom (USA, former MLB player)
070 Pita Rona (New Zealand, played in Baltimore Orioles organisation in 2013)
071 Joey Wong (USA, played in Baltimore Orioles organisation in 2013)
072 Jake Bowey (Australia)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Dingo advert on front / Release Schedule for Perth Heat card sets on back

Joshua Roberts - 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits

The man of the moment, Roberts, was suspended by the ABL yesterday for 6 games, following his hit to the head of Sydney's Daniel Arribas sparking Saturday's brawl between the Bandits and Blue Sox. This is Roberts' fourth ABL season with the Bandits in 2013-14.

2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Joshua Roberts card front - © 2013 Adam East

Casey Frawley - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

Frawley comes to the ABL: with four years experience in the Minors - having spent three with the Cleveland Indians and one with the Colorado Rockies before being released in 2012. Frawley is playing with the Canberra Cavalry as an American import during the 2013-14 ABL season. Given that over half way through the season Frawley is the ABL leader for Batting Average, Runs Scored and RBIs, his time in the ABL certainly hasn't hurt his chances of being re-signed by one of the MLB organisations.

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Casey Frawley card front - © 2013 Adam East

Dingo 2013-14 Melbourne Aces - Series Two Checklist

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

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

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

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

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
057 Ryan Casteel  (USA, played in Colorado Rockies organisation in 2013)
058 Phil Dale (Australia, Coach of the Melbourne Aces, played 4 seasons in the Cincinnati Reds organisation between 1985-1988)
059 Aaron Sayers (Australia, played  in the Detroit Tigers organisation in 2013)
060 Toshihiro Iwao (Japan, played in Seibu Lions organisation from the NPB in 2013)
061 Tyler Massey (USA, played in Colorado Rockies organisation in 2013)
062 Brett Zawacki (USA, played 6 seasons in the St Lous Cardinals and Miami Marlins organisations between 2007 - 2012)
063 Jared Schlehuber (USA, played in Colorado Rockies organisation in 2013)
064 Justin Trapp (USA, played in Colorado Rockies organisation in 2013)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Dingo advert on front / Release Schedule for Melbourne Aces card sets on back

Merry Christmas - Owen Reid - 2013-14 Perth Heat

Merry Christmas :)

In the spirit of Christmas, I thought I'd do something different. I've mentioned before that several ABL players have come up to me and inquired about getting copies of photos when I've been taking shots of them or other players, well a similar thing happened last weekend, but this time from one of the ABL team's staff. Owen Reid, the High Performance and Development Coach for the Perth Heat asked if I could send him a copy of any images I grabbed of him that I was shooting during the game. At the end, I didn't have many of him as I was obviously focussing more on the players but did have a few that seemed OK

I figured that rather than just send them to him, that I'd actually put up some mock cards of him onto the blog seeing as both Lloydy and Jelks have made it onto the blog in previous seasons. Owen also has the privilege of being the first Perth Heat card designs going up onto the blog for the 2013-14 season. So, Merry Christmas Mr Reid, here are a couple of shots of Owen Reid from the Perth Heat coaching staff  in the 2013-14 ABL season.

2013-14 Perth Heat Owen Reid card front - © 2013 Adam East

2013-14 Perth Heat Owen Reid alternate card front - © 2013 Adam East

Dingo 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits - Series Two Checklist

Series Two of the Brisbane Bandits cards were released on the 1st December including three of the Tampa Bay Rays affiliated players who are playing with the Bandits for the 2013-14 ABL season.

Of note is card 053 of Aussie pitcher Rhys Niit. Both Niit's card and the checklist card mis-spell his first name as Ryhs instead of Rhys. The card designer has advised that if/when there is a second print run, the spelling error will be corrected, so a potential variation to watch out for in the future.

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

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
049 James Albury  (Australia, played 2 seasons in the Boston Red Sox organisation between 2004 - 2005 and one with the Chicago White Sox in 2009)
050 Logan Wade (Australia, played in Minnesota Twins organisation in 2013)
051 Alex Kaminsky (USA, played one season in the Cleveland Indians organisation in 2010)
052 Justin O'Conner (USA, played in Tampa Bay Rays organisation in 2013)
053 Rhys Niit (Australia)
054 Connor MacDonald (Australia)
055 Joey Rickard (USA, played in Tampa Bay Rays organisation in 2013)
056 Tyler Goeddel (USA, played in Tampa Bay Rays organisation in 2013)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Dingo advert on front / Release Schedule for Brisbane Bandits card sets on back

Brock Hebert - 2013-14 Adelaide Bite

Hebert is an American from the Seattle Mariners organisation who is playing as an import for the Adelaide Bite during the 2013-14 ABL season. Hebert moved between Seattle's low, high and single A affiliates throughout 2013 but had the most games with the Clinton Lumberkings of the single A Midwest League.

I like the colouring of this photo - it was one of the few I salvaged from my Melbourne trip. Hebert is bathed in the golden glow of the sunset - add to that the green of the outfield and red of the infield and it "works" for me.

2013-14 Adelaide Bite Brock Hebert card front - © 2013 Adam East

Dingo 2013-14 Adelaide Bite - Series Two Checklist

I received the rest of my Series Two team sets of ABL cards last week. A couple of quick observations before details of the Adelaide Bite Series Two team set.

1. Whereas the Series One sets were exclusively Australian players (except for Canberra) drawn from photos taken last season, the Series Two sets mainly feature import players from the current season with a small number of Aussies.
2. The cards were once again packaged in hard plastic card holders. This didn't stop my cards being slightly damaged in transit. Despite the card holders being bubble wrapped, the Post Office had managed to damage two card holders - one smashed that badly that it literally fell aaprt when I tried to open it. Unfortunately some of my sets therefore have "dinged' corners from these broken card holders.
3. Series One featured a postage discount for orders containingonly cards from the online ABL store. This no longer seems available for Series Two. Series One cost me $6 to get 5 sets shipped. Series Two cost me $18 to get 5 team sets shipped. I emailed the ABL online store to see if there was still meant to be a "cards only order" discount on shipping, but didn't receive a reply.

Here is the header/checklist card for the Adelaide Bite Series Two set of 2013-14 Dingo ABL cards.

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

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

Here are the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Adelaide Bite Series Two set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
041 James Campbell  (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
042 Joe Sclafani (USA, played in the Houston Astros organisation in 2013)
043 John Cannon (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
044 Blake Holovach (USA, played in Seattle Mariners organisation in 2013)
045 Brock Hebert (USA, played in Seattle Mariners organisation in 2013)
046 Chris Jacobs (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
047 James Baldwin (USA, played in Los Angeles Dodgers organisation in 2013)
048 Matthew Williams (Australia, played 6 seasons in the Minnesota Twins organisation between 2005 - 2010)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Dingo advert on front / Release Schedule for AdelaideBite card sets on back

Connor Whalen - 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox

Whalen spent 2011 and 2012 playing in the minor leagues for the Milwaukee Brewers before being released. He is playing as an American import for the Sydney Blue Sox in the 2013-14 ABL season, having spent 2013 playing independent ball for the St Paul Saints and Lake Erie Crushers. Whalen is having a successful enough season Down Under that he played in last nights ABL All Star Game - pitching the third inning for the World All Stars against the Australian All Stars.

Again, trying a different approach with some of the player photos this year - trying to get more of their emotions in and around the games rather than trying to get any action shots per se. I liked the expression and lighting on Whalen's face in this pitch follow through and decided to choose this shot rather than the more traditional pitching shots.

2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox Connor Whalen card front - © 2013 Adam East

Robbie Perkins - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

Having  much of his rookie ABL season cut short by injury in 2012-13, the younger of the local Perkins brothers has returned to the Cavalry with gusto in the 2013-14 ABL season. In 2013 Robbie also made his debut with the Colorado Rockies Rookie league affiliate, the Grand Junction Rockies of the Pioneer League.

I like this photo - it precedes the one of Aaron Sloan that I published recently. in this photo, Robbie has just made his first ever ABL hit - a 3 run home run bringing home Sloan and Robbie's older brother Kyle. This photo is of Robbie rounding third and heading for home with Sloan and Kyle waiting for him.

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Robbie Perkins card front - © 2013 Adam East

Mickey Jannis - 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits

Jannis is an American import playing for the Brisbane Bandits in the 2013-14 ABL season. Jannis spent several years in the Tampa Bay Rays organisation before being released in 2011. He has spent the last two seasons playing independent ball, primarily with the Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League.

2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Mickey Jannis card front - © 2013 Adam East

James Baldwin - 2013-14 Adelaide Bite

No, the Adelaide Bite haven't imported American novelist and playwright James Baldwin, but his much younger and more alive namesake from the Los Angeles Dodgers organisation for the 2013-14 ABL season. Baldwin spent 2013 playing for the Great Lakes Loons in the A level Midwest League.

I wasn't happy with the shots I got of the Adelaide players down in Melbourne recently, and hope to get some better ones in Canberra in the new year, but Baldwin's was one of the few photos I liked.

2013-14 Adelaide Bite James Baldwin card front - © 2013 Adam East

Jon Berti - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

Berti is a member of the Toronto Blue Jays organisation playing with the Canberra Cavalry as an import for the 2013-14 ABL season. Berti spent 2013 playing for the Dunedin Blue Jays in the high A level Florida State League.

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry John Berti card front - © 2013 Adam East

Dingo 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry - Series Two Checklist

Here is the checklist for series two of the 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry cards released by Dingo Cards on the 1st December 2013.

Dingo 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Series Two Header/Checklist Card - front

Dingo 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Series Two Header/Checklist Card - back

Here are the ten cards that make up Dingo's 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Series Two set of cards:

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
129 Mike Crouse  (Canada, played in Toronto Blue Jays organisation in 2013)
130 Casey Frawley (USA, played 3 seasons in the Cleveland Indians organisation between 2009-2011 and one season with the Colorado Rockies in 2012)
131 Robbie Perkins (Australia, played in the Colorado Rockies organisation in 2013)
132 Jon Berti (USA, played in Toronto Blue Jays organisation in 2013)
133 Michael Collins (Australia, Coach of the Canberra Cavalry, played 10 seasons in the Angels and Padres organisations between 2001-2010 )
134 Aaron Sloan (Australia)
135 Michael Wells (Australia)
136 Shane Opitz (USA, played in Toronto Blue Jays organisation in 2013)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Release Schedule for Canberra Cavalry card sets

Joey Rickard - 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits

An American outfielder from the Tampa Bay Rays organisation, Rickard has joined the Brisbane Bandits as an import player for the 2013-14 ABL season. Rickard spent 2013 playing for the Rays single A level affiliate the Bowling Green Hot Rods in the Midwest League.

2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Joey Rickard card front - © 2013 Adam East

Dingo 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry - Series One Checklist

Here is the checklist for series one of the 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry cards released by Dingo Cards on the 1st December 2013. Originally scheduled for a release on the 1st November, apparently the late decisions on the Canberra roster delayed the card production and so it was decided to release them along with the Series Two cards the following month.

The cards are numbered 081-088, indicating tht the set was numbered after all of the Series One cards (001-040) and Series Two cards (041-080) for each of the other 5 ABL teams.

Dingo 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Series One Header/Checklist Card - front

Dingo 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Series One Header/Checklist Card - back

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

Card Number: Player: (Nationality, current or past MLB affiliation)
081 Jack Murphy  (USA, played in Toronto Blue Jays organisation in 2013)
082 Brian Grening (USA, played 3 seasons in the Cleveland Indians organisation between 2008-2010)
083 Jeremy Barnes (USA, played 4 seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies organisation between 2009 - 2012)
084 Antonio Callaway (USA)
085 Sean Toler (USA)
086 Eric Massingham (USA, played 2 seasons in the Philadelphia Phillies organisation between 2009 - 2010)
087 Chris Motta (USA, played in Philadelphia Phillies organisation in 2013)
088 Ben Warner (Australia)
unnumbered - Header / Checklist Card
unnumbered -  Release Schedule for Canberra Cavalry card sets

Daniel Arribas - 2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox

Arribas is a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organisation who has joined the Sydney Blue Sox as an import for the 2013-14 ABL season. Although born in the USA, Arribas moved to the Netherlands, his mother's home country as a youngster, and was signed by the Pirates as an International Free Agent in 2011. Arribas played Rookie level ball for the GCL Pirates in 2013 following two seasons in the Pirates' Dominican Summer League affiliate.

Arribas was very friendly at the game, coming up to me as I was taking photos, asking about them, etc. When I said that they were for my own "baseball cards" he commented that he hadn't been on a baseball card yet and to make sure I spelt his name right :) I explained that unfortunately, they were just ones for me and not ones that anybody else would see except for this blog, so hopefully he gets to read this, or gets an official card made by Dingo in one of the later Sydney Blue Sox series.

2013-14 Sydney Blue Sox Daniel Arribas card front - © 2013 Adam East

COMC - A Nice Bunch of Aussie MLB Autos

Several months ago I did a flurry of buying and selling on Ebay, having the cards I bought shipped to my COMC account.Eventually I had them all shipped to me along with a number of cards I picked up on COMC. Besides a number of Aussie MLB Parallel cards, these were the more notable cards in the shipment. The Card of the Buy™ goes to the Grant Balfour 2013 Topps Tier One Crowd Pleaser Autograph GB1 variation card simply for the design and on card Balfour autograph.

Grant Balfour 2004 Topps Total Signatures GB

Grant Balfour 2013 Topps Tier One Crowd Pleaser Autographs GB1

Grant Balfour 2013 Topps Tier One Crowd Pleaser Autographs GB2

Grant Balfour 2001 Bowman Draft Futures Game Relics FGRGB

Justin Huber 2003 Topps Blue Chips Autographs JH

Mark Hutton 1996 Leaf Signature Autographs Gold 114 (#d 500)

Travis Blackley 2013 Pinnacle Autographs 68

Liam Hendriks 2011Bowman Draft Futures Game Relics LH

Graeme Lloyd 2002 Topps Chrome Black Refractors 178 (#d 50)

 

Steven Chambers - 2013-14 Brisbane Bandits

Gold Coast born Chambers returns for his fourth season with the Bandits for the 2013-14 ABL season. This however has been the first time I've been able to get a photo of him so this marks his first card design by me. Steven is a bit of a journeyman, having played in both the Czech Republic and independent ball in Japan during the Australian off season.

2013-14 Brisbane Bandits Steven Chambers card front - © 2013 Adam East

Nachos To Go - Free ABL Card Promotion - And Rare Boss Moanaro card

Nachos To Go is running a promotion that features a free ABL card in every box of nachos, in combination with other ABL discounts (15% off ABL online store, and 2 for 1 Adult Tickets and 2 fee kids tickets to ABL games).

Nachos To Go ABL promotional banner from Facebook

I actually do a pretty mean nachos at home - my kids won't touch anybody else's nachos as "they're not as good as Dad's", so packaged nachos aren't the thing I'd usually buy. However, purely in the interests of research I purchased several packets two weeks ago to use for lunches at work. They were selling for between $4.90 - $5.90 at Coles and several smaller supermarket chains.

Packaging Front - Nachos to Go - ABL Promotional Box

The blurb states that the each packet of the mild Nachos To Go contains an ABL card. These cards are the same as the 2013-14 ABL cards created by Dingo. Of the two packs that I've opened so far, I've received card number 20 - Justin Huber from the Melbourne Aces. This card is the same as the Huber card in the Melbourne Aces Series One that was released on 1st November. The second pack contained card number 50 - Logan Wade of the Brisbane Bandits. This is from the Brisbane Bandits Series Two cards which were due to be released on the 1st December.

Close up of the promo on packaging

I've been told that there are 44 cards available in the promotion, consisting of the 8 player cards from 5 of the 6 Series One team sets (all teams except Canberra), and 4 cards from Series Two. Apparently the reason why the Canberra Cavalry series one set of cards wasn't included was due to the late finalization of their roster, especially their imports.

2013-14 Dingo Melbourne Aces Series One Justin Huber #20 and Brisbane Bandits Series Two Logan Wade #50

The four cards from Series Two to make it into the packs are Logan Wade (Brisbane, card #50), Brendan Wise (Perth, Card # ?), Jacob Younis (Sydney, card # ?) and Boss Moanaroa (Sydney, Card #73).

From a collectability point of view - the Boss Moanaroa card is the key card from these promotional cards. Why? Because Moanaroa was released from the final Blue Sox roster for 2013-14 late in the pre-season. The #73 card in the Series 2 Sydney set will actually feature a different player (unknown as to who at this point). That means that these Nachos To Go packets are the only way to get the Boss Moanaroa version of card #73 from this year's ABL card release by Dingo. Whereas serious card collectors might just have bought the complete team sets from the ABL online store, the exclusive Moanaroa card adds some roll of the dice motivation to grab the nachos for a shot at that card.

Rumour has it that there were a total of 50,00 promotional cards inserted into the Nachos to Go packs, but I have been unable to confirm if that number is correct. Assuming it is correct, and uniform distribution of cards, that would mean just over 1100 copies of each card were created.

Here's the promotional information on the inside of the packaging - sans promo code - you'll have to buy your own Nachos to Go for that :)

Inside the box lid

And the final question - how did the nachos taste. Well, they were OK - a lot better than many commercial nachos I've tried before ... but still "nobody makes nachos as good as Dad's" :)

John Hussey - 2013-14 Melbourne Aces

Hussey's return to the San Diego Padres in 2013 appears to have been a successful one, with Hussey pitching 35 games for the Lake Elsinore Storm in the high A California League, although he did post a high ERA  of 6.49. Hussey has returned back to his native Melbourne Aces in 2013-14 for his second season in the ABL.

2013-14 Melbourne Aces John Hussey card front - © 2013 Adam East

Steve Kent - 2013-14 Canberra Cavalry

Canberran local Kent returns to the Cavalry for his fourth straight ABL season in 2013-14. The 2013 off season appeared to be a quiet one for him - I've been unable to find any details of him playing after pitching for Australia in the World Baseball Classic back in March.

I've taken a different tack with my photo for Steven this year. I managed to grab a couple of photos of him playing with a young boy (I'm presuming his son Brayden, but I could be wrong) on the diamond between games of a double header. It's not the greatest shot with the ground staff's equipment in the background as they re-marked the playing surface, but I just loved the face he's pulling for the boy as they were playing

2013-14 Canberra Cavalry Steven Kent card front - © 2013 Adam East