Undervalued Wax – 2007 Tristar Prospects Plus

When getting a box of cards, what do you want? An autograph of an aging veteran, whose best days are past him? No you ether want a superstar or a very hot rookie. Well guess what? You probably aren’t going to be getting it with a box of 2008 Topps Series One or Two or 2008 Upper Deck Series One or Two. Chances are you are going to get a USA baseball player (which isn’t half bad) or a rookie / marginal player (such as Fred Lewis, Nyjer Morgan, or Bronson Sardinha). What do you really want? Joba? Jay Bruce? Evan Longoria? Yes, Yes and Yes right? Well why not try your luck with Tristar’s Prospect Plus series?

They have not released the 2007 version of this set but for the price of a hobby box of Topps Series One or Two (around $50), you get 10 guaranteed autographs. Are they all going to be superstars? Not a chance, but you will find some nice autographs being the players signing the cards are the cream of the crop for 2007. The set boasts 100 cards. All the players signed cards, here is a list of the set:

Card #	Player	Team	Affiliate	Designation
1	Price, David	N/A	Tampa Bay Devil Rays
2	Kozma, Peter	Johnson City Cardinals	St. Louis Cardinals
3	Frazier, Todd	Billings Mustangs	Cincinnati Reds
4	Smolinski, Jake	GCL Nationals	Washington Nationals
5	Weathers, Casey	Asheville Tourists	Colorado Rockies
6	Porcello, Rick	N/A	Detroit Tigers
7	Mortensen, Clayton	Swing of the Quad Cities	St. Louis Cardinals
8	Dent, Ryan	GCL Red Sox	Boston Red Sox
9	Detwiler, Ross	GCL Nationals	Washington Nationals
10	Dominguez, Matt	GCL Marlins	Florida Marlins
11	Heyward, Jason	GCL Braves	Atlanta Braves
12	Ramirez, Neil	AZL Rangers	Texas Rangers
13	Lotzkar, Kyle	GCL Reds	Cincinnati Reds
14	Hamilton, Brandon	GCL Tigers	Detroit Tigers
15	Alderson, Tim	AZL Giants	San Francisco Giants
16	Zimmermann, Jordan	Vermont Lake Monsters	Washington Nationals
17	Arencibia, Jonathan	Auburn Doubledays	Toronto Blue Jays
18	Kulbacki, Kellen	Eugene Emeralds	San Diego Padres
19	Runion, Sam	AZL Royals	Kansas City Royals
20	Rike, Brian	Tri-City Dust Devils	Colorado Rockies
21	Moustakas, Mike	Idaho Falls Chukars	Kansas City Royals
22	Schmidt, Nick	Fort Wayne Wizards	San Diego Padres
23	Brown, Corey	Vancouver Canadiens	Oakland A’s
24	Desme, Grant	Vancouver Canadiens	Oakland A’s
25	d’Arnaud, Travis	GCL Phillies	Philadelphia Phillies
26	Burgess, Michael	GCL Nationals	Washington Nationals
27	Hagadone, Nick	Lowell Spinners	Boston Red Sox
28	Moskos, Daniel	GCL Pirates	Pittsburgh Pirates
29	Fairley, Wendell	AZL Giants	San Francisco Giants
30	Scherzer, Max	Visalia Oaks	Arizona Diamondbacks
31	Vitters, Josh	AZL Cubs	Chicago Cubs
32	Mesoraco, Devin	GCL Reds	Cincinnati Reds
33	Adkins, James	Great Lakes Loons	Los Angeles Dodgers
34	Williams, Jackson	Salem-Keizer Volcanoes	San Francisco Giants
35	Luebke, Cory	Eugene Emeralds	San Diego Padres
36	Main, Michael	AZL Rangers	Texas Rangers
37	Parker, Jarrod	N/A	Arizona Diamondbacks
38	Mangini, Matt	Everett AquaSox	Seattle Mariners
39	Welker, Duke	State College Spikes	Pittsburgh Pirates
40	Withrow, Chris	GCL Dodgers	Los Angeles Dodgers
41	Payne, Danny	Eugene Emeralds	San Diego Padres
42	Ahrens, Kevin	GCL Blue Jays	Toronto Blue Jays
43	Revere, Ben	GCL Twins	Minnesota Twins
44	Roemer, Wes	Yakima Bears	Arizona Diamondbacks
45	Brackman, Andrew	N/A	New York Yankees
46	Kline, Will	Columbus Catfish	Tampa Bay Devil Rays
47	Bumgarner, Madison	N/A	San Francisco Giants
48	Culberson, Charlie	AZL Giants	San Francisco Giants
49	Mills, Beau	Mahoning Valley Scrappers	Cleveland Indians
50	Gilmore, Jon	GCL Braves	Atlanta Braves
51	Cumberland, Andrew	AZL Padres	San Diego Padres
52	Bachanov, Jonathan	AZL Angels	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
53	Wieters, Matt	Aberdeen Ironbirds	Baltimore Orioles
54	Doolittle, Sean	Kane County Cougars	Oakland A’s
55	Hunter, Tommy	Spokane Indians	Texas Rangers
56	Enright, Barry	Yakima Bears	Arizona Diamondbacks
57	Noonan, Nick	AZL Giants	San Francisco Giants
58	Jackson, Justin	GCL Blue Jays	Toronto Blue Jays
59	Donaldson, Josh	AZL Cubs	Chicago Cubs
60	Easley, Ed	Yakima Bears	Arizona Diamondbacks
61	Savery, Joe	Williamsport Crosscutters	Philadelphia Phillies
62	Magnuson, Trystan	N/A	Toronto Blue Jays
63	Cecil, Brett	Auburn Doubledays	Toronto Blue Jays
64	LaPorta, Matt	Helena Brewers	Milwaukee Brewers
65	Simmons, James	Midland RockHounds	Oakland A’s
66	Duffy, Daniel	AZL Royals	Kansas City Royals
67	Aumont, Phillippe	N/A	Seattle Mariners
68	Canham, Mitch	Eugene Emeralds	San Diego Padres
69	Smoker, Josh	Vermont Lake Monsters	Washington Nationals
70	Poreda, Aaron	Great Falls White Sox	Chcago White Sox
71	Kunz, Eddie	Brooklyn Cyclones	New York Mets
72	Borbon, Julio	AZL Rangers	Texas Rangers
73	Beavan, Blake	N/A	Texas Rangers
74	Vineyard, Nathan	GCL Mets	New York Mets
75	Kopp, David	Batavia Muckdogs	St. Louis Cardinals
76	Huntzinger, Brock	GCL Red Sox	Boston Red Sox
77	Middlebrooks, William	N/A	Boston Red Sox
78	Reynolds, Greg	Tulsa Drillers	Colorado Rockies
79	Grote, Taylor	GCL Yankees	New York Yankees
80	Rasmus, Colby	Springfield Cardinals	St. Louis Cardinals
81	Mather, Joe	Springfield Cardinals	St. Louis Cardinals
82	Angelini, Carmen	GCL Yankees	New York Yankees
83	Crosby, Casey	GCL Tigers	Detroit Tigers
84	Pope, Ryan	Staten Island Yankees	New York Yankees
85	Rizzo, Anthony	GCL Red Sox	Boston Red Sox
86	Larish, Jeff	Erie Sea Wolves	Detroit Tigers
87	Romine, Austin	GCL Yankees	New York Yankees
88	Mayberry, John	Frisco RoughRiders	Texas Rangers
89	Suttle, Brad	GCL Yankees	New York Yankees
90	Lo, Ching-Lung	Tulsa Drillers	Colorado Rockies
91	Tabata, Jose	Tampa Yankees	New York Yankees
92	Beato, Pedro	Delmarva Shorebirds	Baltimore Orioles
93	Cardenas, Adrian	Lakewood BlueClaws	Philadelphia Phillies
94	Mailman, David	GCL Red Sox	Boston Red Sox
95	Bell, Bubba	Lancaster Jet Hawks	Boston Red Sox
96	Arrieta, Jake	N/A	Baltimore Orioles
97	Snider, Travis	Lansing Lugnuts	Cincinnati Reds
98	Hilligoss, Mitch	Charleston RiverDogs	New York Yankees
99	Iorg, Cale	GCL Tigers	Detroit Tigers
100	Chen, Yung Chi	Tacoma Rainiers	Seattle Mariners

I would say that easily 70% of this set will see time in the majors, and possibly 30% of the set will become every day players. This is quite possibly one of the strongest minor league sets out there. Then compound the fact that you’ll be getting 10 of these players autographs in the box is just outstanding.

For years we have been led to believe that the minor league cards are worthless. The second tier of card collecting. But I’ll tell you what, if I have 50 bucks to spend on a box of cards, I want the most bang for my buck and this box guarantees 10 autographs and about 50% of the set, I’m sold. Forget about the Walmart and Target version of this box which is 7 packs and one autograph for $20, spend the extra 30 bucks and get yourself one sweet box of cards. Chances are you’ll get 2 decent autographs and 8 duds, but the decent autographs will be worth the price of the box.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am just sick and tired of the Upper Deck and Topps, high dollars for crap cards and only one autograph per box, and Tristar serves up a nice product at a nice price. Hit Upper Deck and Topps where it hurts (in sales), maybe they will do something about their pricing. Probably not though. Here are some of the autographs you can find: