The Legend

The Legend

Thursday, May 22, 2014

A Nice Mix of Old and New

2004 SP Prospects Dual Auto Johnny Bench/Neil Walker 43/50

Neil Walker was drafted in 2004 as a catcher in case you were wondering of the odd combo.  Walker converted to third base in 2007 and eventually found a home at 2nd base as an everyday player.  It wasn't an easy road to the majors for Neil as his prospect status was beginning to fade by 2010.  Opportunity presented itself through an injury to Aki Iwamura and fortunately for Walker he took advantage.  He has been a mainstay at 2nd and continues to show improvement every year.  He is off to his best offensive start of his career and may be on his way to his first All Star game appearance if he can keep pace.  I'm curious to see what kind of numbers he could put up if he stays healthy the entire season

That Johnny Bench guy turned out ok.....Don't think I need to go in much detail about him. 

I also featured the triple auto version of this card a few months back.  That Piazza guy was good too...


5 comments:

  1. Very nice card! I've always thought Walker was underrated.

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    1. Walker is one of those guys who doesn't really stand out, but you miss if he is out of the lineup. One of the main reasons the Pirates collapsed in 2011 was that Walker missed significant time in the second half of the season.

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  2. Cool card. Does the back of the card explain the connection between the pair? I know we've all heard of Walker. But who the heck is this Johnny guy?

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    1. I think that Bench guy was a journeyman catcher who played with a bunch of teams over a handful of seasons. He may have bit someones ear off too...

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    2. Oh yeah. The ear guy. Mystery solved.

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