Tales From The Bargain Bin – Jeff Baker and Adam Lind

Names: Adam Lind and Jeff Baker

Position: Lind – OF / Baker  – 1B, 3B, and OF

Team: Lind – Toronto Blue Jays / Baker – Colorado Rockies

Age: Lind – 24 years old / Baker – 27 years old

Best Season: Lind – 2008 – 0.282/9/40 / Baker – 2008 – 0.268/12/48

Set it’s from: 2007 Upper Deck Exquisite

How obtained: eBay auction

Why this Card?: I really wanted an Exquisite card, and to get two of my favorite young players on one card was a real coup for me.  I have gone on and on about Baker over the past few months.  He is very flexible as far as where he can play, plus the guy has good raw power and with time a solid eye for the strike zone.  As far as Lind goes, this was another year of testing for him.  His 0.282 batting average is a good indicator that he can hit for 0.280, look for his homer totals to hit the 20 level with about 80 RBIs.  In other words he should be a solid contributor one day in the not so distant future.

But What About the Set?: What can I say? The 2007 Exquisite is an amazing high end set.  Boxes go for a crazy $150+ for one pack of 6 cards.  Card one is a regular base card or parallel, card two is a rookie signatures card, card three is an autographed memorabilia card, card four is a multi signed autograph card, cards five and six are also autographed cards.  The autographs are very heavily laden on rookies so buyer beware.  Still, $150 for 5 autographs seems a bit steep since you can usually get them on eBay for 1/4 of book.  I got this one for 5% of book.

Beckett’s Value: $50.00

eBay Value: I got it for $2.75