 Ryan Michael Westmoreland (born April 27, 1990), a former American baseball player, played minor league baseball after being drafted in 2008 by the Boston Red Sox organization. At the time, Westmoreland was considered one of the best prospects in baseball and had the stats to support it. However, he never got his chance to make it to the show since his career was cut short by a medical condition that required two brain surgeries. This is the story of the player known as “the left handed Mike Trout”. While attending Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island Westmoreland was named to the All-State team and Gatorade Rhode Island Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008. After high school Ryan committed to attend Vanderbilt University on a baseball scholarship to play for the Vanderbilt Commodores. Eligible in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft, at the end of his high school career, Baseball American rated Westmoreland the 113th-best prospect available in the draft. However, it was rumored that he would only consider signing a professional contract with the Boston Red Sox, his hometown team. Some believe this is why he fell to the 5th round and was not drafted sooner. The Boston Red Sox drafted Westmoreland in the fifth round of the draft, with the 172nd overall selection. Westmoreland signed with the Red Sox, receiving a $2 million signing bonus. Assigned to the Lowell Spinners of the Class A Short Season New York-Penn League, Westmoreland batted .296 with seven home runs, 35 runs batted in (RBIs), and a .401 on base percentage in 60 games during the 2009 season. Baseball America rated Westmoreland the 21st-best prospect in baseball prior to the 2010 season. Before the season began, Ryan began to experience physical weakness during training, and after having an MRI was diagnosed with a cavernous malformation in his brainstem. In March 2010, Westmoreland underwent brain surgery to repair the malformation. After surgery he continued to rehabilitate in an attempt to return to professional baseball in the 2011–12 offseason. Unfortunately following a setback in his rehabilitation, Westmoreland’s condition required a second surgery in July 2012. At this point Westmoreland and his doctors realized his medical condition would always hinder his performance and by playing he risked worsening his condition. Ryan announced his retirement from baseball on March 6, 2013. In June 2014, the Lowell Spinners retired Westmoreland's uniform number, 25, the first such honor by the Spinners for a player. A career cut short, who knows what might have been. Most people will never know his name, but given the opportunity he may well have been a household name in the city of Boston.     After recently purchasing a box of 2018 Topps On-Demand 3D Baseball Cards, I felt like I should share the experience. What a great set this is. Basically Topps takes the top 100 cards from the 2018 series of cards (Series 1, 2, and Updates) then reprints them on 3D Lenticular Trading Card Stock to give them that 3D look and the motion action on the inserts. You get only the best cards and in the best way possible. As a huge fan of the old Sports Flics Cards from the 80’s, seeing the reemergence of this trading card style really stimulates my inner child. Most of the places that I’ve seen these for sale, have been limiting buyers to one box per household since they are rumored to only be a print run of about 1700. When I purchased them a few weeks back the price per box was about 50% less than it currently is and it is continuing to rise as they start to show up in the secondary market. There are only 8 cards per box, in a factory sealed, acrylic, two piece clamshell. The are packaged with care as opposed to most cards you get straight from the pack. The break down per box is 5 base cards (which is just a 3D image, no motion) and 3 Motion Insert cards. The also have a good assortment of rookie cards in this set, but I’ve noticed that they don’t put the rookie badge on the Motion Inserts (example Aaron Nola’s cards). But assuming the average value of the cards could easily be $10 each buying a case for $80 or less is a good deal. Unfortunately at this point they have reached $90 per case on the secondary market so it would be easy to lose money on these if you get a bad box. But the boxes I’ve seen opened and the box I’ve opened myself contained way more than $90 in value, so it’s worth the risk for sure. These are some really impressive cards. I’ve seen lots of photos of them but they just don’t do the cards any justice. Video is the only way to really capture any where near what they exactly look like. But I will say, nothing compares to holding them in your hand. Definitely worth the money, the risk, the hassle, whatever. You want to buy these cards if you get the opportunity. The pictures just don’t do these cards justice, keep scrolling and check out the video, it’s better. Last night while watching the first round of the MLB draft, a few familiar names came up and I saw an opportunity to unite fans with some amazing trading cards. When the Kansas City Royals selected Bobby Witt Jr. with the number 2 over all pick (1st Round) I recalled pulling a crazy 2018 Leaf Metal Perfect Game All American Pre Rookie of Witt Jr. It was a PG Etch Silver on card autograph with a holographic foil background. As I was going through my archives to find it the Detroit Tigers picked Riley Greene with the 5th over all pick (1st Round). I actually pulled the same version of his card in the same box. While almost the same it was actually the Blue Variant (Limited to 30). I ran to my work station and got them both up and listed in the eBay store as fast as I could and not even an hour later they were both sold and ready to ship out first thing this morning. Two more happy customers and hopefully many more to come. We all follow a team or player in one sport or another. Sometimes over night, or sometimes over time that player can become a superstar. At that point their collectibles can become very valuable, and at a point unaffordable for the average collector. So if your a fan of Toronto Blue Jays superstar, Vladimir Guerrero Jr, here are 5 affordable options for a collector on a budget.  Thousands of dollars change hands each day in the Collectibles industry. Most of the time you only hear about the really large transactions like the recent story on the Hornus Wagner card. But there are many significant sales each day that can alter the value of many collectible items. Here are some Significant Sales that took place in recent weeks.      |
AuthorOnline retailer of sports memorabilia and collectibles. As well as an avid collector of all things collectable. ArchivesCategories |
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