2nd Round Pick Mitchell Hansen has a Whole Bunch of Cards Already!

Our 2nd Round Pick (67th overall) in the recent draft, Mitchell Hansen, is no stranger to Baseball cards.  In fact, based on how many cards that include his image he's already a professional.  Heck, as I write this I'm a bit shocked at how many cards he has. I count at least 29 different cards in nine different sets.  And that doesn't include the various parallel cards that are available.

Wowzers!  You'd think with that much cardboard he would only be steps away from playing on a Major League field.  Obviously we know that is not the case.  He's got long road ahead of him, and given enough work and perseverance he'll find himself in Dodger Blue before you know it.

One thing is certain, though, with that much of a spotlight he must be a good prospect.  Check out my report on him here.

I've done my best to capture pics of all the different Hansen cards that are available.  Check them out below.

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2014 Bowman Under Armour Baseball Factory All America

2014 Bowman Under Armour Baseball Factory All America card of Mitchell Hansen was only given out to attendees at a spotlight game played on August 16, 2014 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The card is numbered UAA-8. These cards were not for sale to the general public.  

#UAA-8 Mitchell Hansen

Take a Look at some Kyle Funkhouser Baseball Cards - Our 2nd 2015 1st Round Pick

I still find it strange that amateur ballplayers have Baseball cards on the market.  How can this be?  They obviously (at least, I think) aren't paid for inclusion into this product, and you'd think there wouldn't be a huge market for it.  On the other hand, the cards available of our compensation 1st Round Pick (35th overall), Kyle Funkhouser, are of the Team USA variety, so I guess that's OK.

BTW, our first pick of the draft, Walker Buehler, doesn't appear to have any cards available at all.  He never played for Team USA, and I couldn't find his name connected to any other "prep" card sets on the market.  No doubt, that will change soon.

As for Funkhouser, he is found in two different Team USA Baseball cards sets.  He has several cards available in the 2014 Panini USA set and in the recently released 2015 Panini USA Stars & Stripes set.

As with most Panini products today there are a bunch of parallels, and the checklist provided is a bit of a confusing mess.  Nevertheless, I have been able to track down most of Kyle's cards I am aware of.  Check them out below.

Over the next few days I'll try to track down cards of all of our other draft picks, so stay tuned.

2014 Panini USA Baseball Cards

Base Set

#11 Kyle Funkhouser

2015 Panini Stars & Stripes USA Baseball - All the Dodger Cards - Corey Seager

Last week Panini released their 2015 USA Stars and Stripes Baseball set, and from what I can tell it includes only one Dodger player - top prospect Corey Seager.  Go here for a complete checklist.  If I erred and there is another Dodger in the set please let me know.

There a re a ton of different Seager cards in the set; including a couple of autograph cards.  Unfortunately, I have yet to see any of the autograph cards, so a checklist of them is directly below.

• Longevity Signatures - #25 Corey Seager  (See below in UPDATE)
• Longevity USA Flag Black Signatures (#/1) - #25 Corey Seager

Base Set

#25 Corey Seager

Blog Kiosk: 4/7/2015 - Dodger Links - Rollins Big Opening Day, SportsNet LA and Don Zimmer

Jimmie Rollins received an obligatory liquid bath (watch it here, via StadiumBound) from his teammates after a stellar performance at the plate on opening Day against the Padres.  He has no doubt adorned himself to Dodger fans the world over.  Rollins recorded two hits on the evening; including the eventually game-winning three-run home run (Earl Weaver style) in the 8th inning to put the Dodger on top for good.  The photo above is via @Dodgers on twitter.  BTW, you can check out a whole bunch of fantastic photos of the day from Jon SooHoo here.

Clayton Kershaw was good - just not good enough.  He went six innings in a no-decision, recorded nine strike outs and walked two.  New addition Chris Hatcher recorded the first Dodger save of the season.  BTW, Matt Kemp was his old self for the Padres.  He bested Kershaw by getting two hits against him (including a double) and drive in all three runs against our ace.

On a side note, I've seen photos of the Fried Dodger Dog that is now available at Dodger Stadium and I am not impressed.  You can see it here via a tweet from Arash Markazi of ESPN.  I had figured that it would be breaded (kinda like a corn-dog) and fried, but no.  Instead, it looks like a wrinkled and over-done dog.  I'm a little disappointed with what I've seen.  The Meatball Marinara Cone, on the other hand, looks fantastic.

Below are some links to check out:

• Per CBSLA.com, 60 people were given citations for drinking alcohol in Elysian Park on Opening Day. 
• Howard Cole at Forbes shares his recent interview with a talking head at Time Warner regarding the SportsNet LA blackout.  Check it out here.  Based on the complete lack of response from the spokesman, I think it's fair to say that you should not expect any movement towards a broadcast deal for the 70% of customers any time soon.
• Via Jane Wells at CNBC, "Dodgers CEO on TV shutout: 'It's a difficult blow for us.'"

"For us to still have this many fans unhappy, it's a difficult blow for us," said team President and CEO Stan Kasten in an exclusive interview with CNBC. He called the standoff the most difficult customer relations challenge he's ever faced. "I don't know when the solution will come, but it's not for lack of trying, and until it's fixed, we won't give up." 

• BTW, Sling TV CEO (a part of Dish) publicly stated that they are opposed to the Comcast-TWC merger, via a Bloomberg video. 
• Via Corey Brock at MLB.com, "Cheerful Kemp returns to LA with 'good feelings.'"  As you know, Kemp received a standing ovation prior to his first at-bat (JP Hoornstra shares a video here), then received a chorus of boo's during his second (after knocking in a run against Kershaw).

"Weird," Kemp said. "This is my first time on this [visiting] side, so it's a little different, but I've got good feelings about being here today.

• Kershaw's Challenge has released new t-shirts for the 2015 season.  Go here to check them out.  Clayton is modelling it below.  As you know, proceeds benefit Clayton Kershaw's charity.

• Panini America unveiled a bunch of preview pics of their upcoming 2015 Stars & Stripes USA Baseball card set, and Dodger prospect Corey Seager will be in it.  Check out a couple of Seager's cards below.  Go here to check out the other cards in the set.  I am unsure if there are other Dodger players in the set.  BTW, it releases this coming Friday.

• Awesome!  Via Lane DeGregory at the Tampa Bay Times, "Don Zimmer's wife documented every day of his 66 years in pro baseball (w/video)."  Heck, it goes all the way back to high school - when they first met.

"I started it our senior year, just saving everything," she said. She bought the scrapbook at a dime store, along with some of those cardboard corners people used to use to hold pictures.

After doing her homework and having dinner with her parents, and when she wasn't cheering for Don at a game, she would sit in her room with a stack of newspapers, clipping stories about her boyfriend, underlining each mention of his name.

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