COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

Happy College World Series!!! Watching the games over the past week, I got an idea that I really enjoy and hope you do too -- to put various cards in their "college" forms. Now, I didn't make cards that actually reflect players college stats, because (a) small sample sizes, (b) the competition makes it hard to make cards that you can actually use without being too unrealistic or too useless either way. So to compromise, these are basically "special edition" versions of cards. So the card below is the 2012 Buster Posey card (his MVP season), but with his Florida State image and logos/colors. 

As a special treat to memorialize the CWS, we changed the "skins" of a card at every position, plus two Starters, a Reliever, and one very special bonus! Not only will these be fun alternate cards, but some are from player's seasons that haven't been published on this blog yet! I hope you enjoy the walk down memory lane as well as adding some very unique cards to your set. Let me know if you'd like to see more of these "college cards" (or other more unique, "special edition" sets) in the future -- honestly this was a blast to make and I can't personally wait to play with them!

Buster's 2012 MVP Card is the one we selected for the College World Series special, harkening back to Posey's dominate days at Florida State. His senior season at FSU, Posey had a .463 AVG and .566 OBP!!! Posey also hit 26 HR in just over 300 PAs. These stats were accomplished while catching, dude was an absolute beast! 

Mark Teixeira gets his 2009 card, where he helped the Yankees win the World Series while finishing second in the MVP race, made into an homage to his Georgia Tech days! Barely playing in 2001, Teixeira's more memorable season was in 2000 as a sophomore, where he hit .427 with a .547 OBP and 18 HR in just over 300 PAs. He kept that combo of power and consistent hitting going into the majors, where his career saw him star for Texas, LA, Atlanta, and the vaunted Yankees.

Dustin won the MVP in 2008 while playing gold glove defense and hitting 50 doubles (hence the huge double range on this OB 9). At Arizona State, he was an even greater terror! He hit over .400 as a Sophomore and had an OBP over .500 as a junior. Of the 216 hits he collected during his last two seasons, Pedroia had 75 extra base hits -- including 58 doubles. He beat out Ian Kinsler (who transferred to Mizzou) and won the team's prestigious "On Deck Circle Most Valuable Player" award. The one difference is Pedroia used his incredible glove at SS at ASU, which ensures he would've definitely had a +5 at 2B! 

Trea Turner is the youngest player in this collection, but he's one of my favorite young players today. While he's struggled with OBP at the MLB level, he hit well over .300 and had an OBP solidly over .400 all three years at NC State. His speed is what's so fun in the majors and he tore it up college, swiping 57, 30, and 26 bags across his three years at NC State. 

The 2016 MVP is back in San Diego powder blue, showing off the powerful, coiled spring that helped him launch over 40 homers in 2016.  He launched an amazing 31 home runs at San Diego his junior year, aka once every 10.26 at-bats. That rate is very close to Barry Bonds' pace in 2001! Those HR totals led college baseball and Bryant was named to the All American team while also winning the Golden Spikes Award for the best player in college baseball. Bryant wasn't pure power though, as he hit over .300 and had an OBP over .480 all three years as a collegiate athlete. What a stud!

Benintendi is currently putting up an impressive season in Boston, but for now this is as good as his card gets. Right now, his alma mater is in the 2018 College World Series. Benintendi was an absolute monster at Arkansas, putting way better power numbers than he has in Boston. His junior year, Benintendi launched 20 homers while hitting .376 with a near .500 OBP. His OPS? A whopping 1.205!!! After leading the SEC in average, OBP, and home runs, he was named SEC Player of the Year. Nationally, he won the Golden Spikes Award winner and Arkansas made its Eighth ever appearance in the CWS ... and now they're looking for their first ever National Championship against Oregon State!

Speaking of the Beavers, here's the 2017 stud of a card put up by talented, yet sadly brittle alumnus Michael Conforto. Conforto was a two-time Pac 10 Player of the Year at Oregon State, earning All American honors and leading Oregon State to the College World Series. His OBP was never below .437 in his three college seasons, including a senior season where he hit .345 with a .504 OBP. His slugging was a gaudy .527 as well, giving him an obscene OPS. As a sophomore, Conforto was an all College World Series player after going 7-16. Beavers fans are hoping the 2018 squad can channel that consistency this year and pick up the school's THIRD World Series title this century! 

One of the older college players on the list, Ryan Braun was a must have addition to such a big Brewers fan like myself. Unsurprisingly, Braun always hit above .300 and had an OBP over .400 at The U. His junior year, Braun came extremely close to hitting .400 and started playing third base, where he'd get his MLB start. He was named ACC Player of the Year, was an All American, and came close to winning the vaunted Golden Spikes award. The Hebrew Hammer has tarnished his reputation in many fans eyes (and rightly so), but it's still fun to remember how devestatingly awesome he was in college and in 2011/2012, when he was the arguably (albeit tainted-ly) best hitter in baseball.

A first team All American at Indiana, Schwarber was a power hitting catcher that lit it up! He hit 18 HRs as a Sophomore and was consistently hitting over .300 while reaching base at a better than .400 clip. A current fan favorite in Chicago, it's fun seeing the stud in action and playing a position he's probably best suited for. Yes, he was a C in college, but in 2016 he barely played and was a DH in our set (pretty much just used our 2015 stats and then limited him). Anyway, this is one of my favorite looking cards and a devastating power hitter to add to your collection!

The greatest San Diego State athlete besides Tony Gwynn and Marshall Faulk, Strasburg was a sensation coming out of school. The #1 overall pick and dominating the Pittsburgh Pirates not long afterwards, Strasburg was an absolute stud. Although his career has been injury prone, he put up an awesome year last season, earning this Control 6, on at 16 with no doubles card. Meanwhile, in college, Strasburg was even better -- He went 8-3 with a 1.57 ERA his sophomore year, followed by going 13-1 with a 1.32 ERA during his junior season. He struck out an ungodly 195 hitters in 109 innings as a junior, absolutely unbelievable. Strasburg is the best college pitcher in recent memory and was a MUST HAVE addition to this set!

He's an older card, but we couldn't do a list of college legends without Roger Clemens donning the Burnt Orange! If Strasburg is the best college pitcher recently, Clemens has to be the best college pitcher EVER! Here's his card from a fabulous, Cy Young winning campaign in Toronto molded into young Roger on the Longhorns. At Texas, Clemens set a NCAA record with 35 consecutive scoreless innings, was a 2x All American, and led Texas to the 1983 College World Series title. Moreover, he was the first Longhorn to have his jersey retired and the annual award for the best college pitcher is named "The Roger Clemens Award." What an absolute legend, a definite precursor for all the Cy Young awards he would wrack up in the big leagues!

Now known as one of the more dominate relief pitchers in baseball, and a huge factor in the recent changes in how managers utilize their bullpens, Miller was predominately a starter at UNC. He had an ERA under 3 all three seasons with the Tar Heels, culminating in a junior year where he went 13-2 with a 2.48 ERA. Just like in the majors, Miller struck out over a batter an inning during his junior year. Here's his 2016 card, where his dominate "shut the door when the other team is threatening in the middle innings" legend really went nationwide and the Indians barely lost to the Cubs in the World Series. That Tarheel blue is CRISP!

BONUS

I *had* to include one of football player Jeff Samardzija! My family's Catholic, so there's plenty of Notre Dame fans around me (we're very excited for the inner-tension when Wisconsin takes on Notre Dame a few years from now at Lambeau and Soldier Field) and we loved watching Samardzija catch passes from Brady Quinn. Spurning the NFL for baseball, it seems Samardzija made the right choice after he signed a 5 year, 90 million dollar deal with the Giants. In his last two years of football however, Jeff reeled in 27 touchdowns for over 2,200 yards, averaging 77.5 catches per season. On the diamond, Jeff went 21-6 with a 3.82 ERA in 31 starts (and 50 total appearances) for the Fighting Irish. I hope you have fun with this card!