Stefan Welch - 2015-16 Adelaide Bite

Adelaide veteran Welch returns for his sixth season with the Bite during the 2015-16 ABL season.

2015-16 Adelaide Bite Stefan Welch card front - ©2015 Adam East

Stefan Welch - 2014-15 Adelaide Bite

After spending 2014 playing with the Portland Sea Dogs, the Boston Red Sox' Double A affiliate, Welch returned home to the Adelaide Bite for his 5th ABL season in 2014-15

2014-15 Adelaide Bite Stefan Welch card front - ©2015 Adam East

Stefan Welch - 2013-14 Adelaide Bite

Adelaide born Welch started 2013 with the Double-A level Altoona Curve in the Pittsburgh Pirates organisation, before being traded in June 2013 to the Boston Red Sox, starting in their High A Salem Red Sox affiliate. Following his time Stateside, Welch returned for his fourth ABL season with the Adelaide Bite in 2013-14

2013-14 Adelaide Bite Stefan Welch card front - © 2014 Adam East

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

2013-14 Official ABL Cards by Dingo Cards? Here's Hoping

Saw a post on Facebook last night by Very Graphic Designs promoting designs for 2013-14 Australian Baseball League cards. Appears to be promotional work for a company called Dingo Swap cards - I've not heard of them before, but I have to say that the preview cards look very nice. There are some great player shots on these cards - love the Hightower card especially.  I'm presuming that they're done by Very Graphic Designs - the same gent who designed the Brisbane Bandits team issued sets last year.

Here's the promotional ad:

And here are the card previews put up onto Facebook (Just to reiterate, these aren't my card designs):

Dingo Swapcards Promotional card design for 2013-14 ABL cards (from Facebook)

Dingo Swapcards Promotional card design for 2013-14 ABL cards (from Facebook)

Dingo Swapcards Promotional card design for 2013-14 ABL cards (from Facebook)

Dingo Swapcards Promotional card design for 2013-14 ABL cards (from Facebook)

Dingo Swapcards Promotional card design for 2013-14 ABL cards (from Facebook)

Dingo Swapcards Promotional card design for 2013-14 ABL cards (from Facebook)

Dingo Swapcards Promotional card design for 2013-14 ABL cards (from Facebook)

It's a great idea - I hope they get traction. The Select cards last year were a step in the right direction, but were let down by poor quality control and average photography choices. One of the gimmicks Dingo are trying to use is the concept of producing a card for every player from every team. I'm not sure exactly what that means - the rosters do change over the season, so it would be a reasonably large set - probably 210+ cards, maybe closer to 250, and there were several players who only made extremely brief appearances fro single games.Still, it would be nice if they can get the licencing.

Stefan Welch - 2012-13 Adelaide Bite

First a quick blog admin post. The World Baseball Classic starts tomorrow, and in celebration, I'm trying to get up as many of Australia's 2013 WBC roster as I can whilst the tournament is on. I started oN Wednesday with Luke Hughes, and will continue on over the enxt week or two to get up as many that I still have 2012-13 card designs for.

Today's card is Adelaide Bite player Stefan Welch. Despite having been with the Bite since their inception, this is my first card of Welch. Welch is also a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates organisation, and finished the Northern summer playing with the Altoona Curve of the AA level Eastern League.

This is Welch's second WBC, having also been a part of the 2009 Australian roster.

2012-13 Adelaide Bite Stefan Welch card front - ©  2013 Adam East

Checklist - 2012 Adelaide Bite Select

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

2012 Adelaide Bite Logo card by Select

• 1 Adelaide Bite Logo
• 2 Tom Brice
• 3 Josh Cakebread
• 4 Jeremy Cresswell
• 5 Darren Fidge
• 6 Scott Gladstone
• 7 Wilson Lee
• 8 Paul Mildren
• 9 Dushan Ruzic
• 10 Stefan Welch
• 11 Ben Wigmore
• 12 Mascot "Chomper"

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