Retiring My 2006 Prospects Collection

At the end of 2006, I developed a method for picking prospects who I thought had a reasonable chance of one day becoming Hall of Famers… often before they even played a single Major League game. The point was so I could start collecting the players’ cards before they became stars.

My inaugural collection of players was as follows (the percentage indicates the player’s chances of one day becoming an MLB All-Star):

63% Alex Gordon
52% Howie Kendrick
50% Matt Garza
44% Alexi Casilla
43% Gregor Blanco
43% Jered Weaver
43% Josh Fields
42% Matt Kemp
40% Brad Lincoln
38% Tim Lincecum
36% Billy Butler
35% Adam Jones

All of these players are now retired, and none of them ever reached a status where they would be in serious contention for the MLB Hall of Fame. At first glance, it looks like my 2006 prospects list was a bust. However…

This list of 12 players played for a combined 131 seasons in the Major Leagues and made 20 trips to the MLB All-Star Game. That’s an average of 11 MLB seasons and 2 All-Star appearances each!

Although none of these players achieved legendary Hall of Fame levels of play, these players were all successful professional baseball players. The least successful among them still played 5 seasons in the big leagues, while the most successful made several trips to the All-Star Game and earned multiple accolades.

Today, I’m retiring my 2006 Prospects collection of rookie cards and autographs. That means I’m no longer collecting these players and will probably end up selling these cards on eBay for whatever they’re worth these days. (On a side note, I did own Alex Gordon’s autograph at one point, but someone offered me $125 for it several years ago and I sold it)

Here’s a look at my 2006 Prospects collection:

And here are the final results of each player’s career:

1. Alex Gordon (retired MLB 14-year veteran, 3x all-star)
2. Howie Kendrick (retired MLB 15-year veteran, 1x all-star)
3. Matt Garza (retired MLB 12-year veteran)
4. Alexi Casilla (retired MLB 9-year veteran)
5. Gregor Blanco (retired MLB 10-year veteran)
6. Jered Weaver (retired MLB 12-year veteran, 3x all-star)
7. Josh Fields (retired MLB 5-year veteran)
8. Matt Kemp (retired MLB 15-year veteran, 3x all-star)
9. Brad Lincoln (retired MLB 5-year veteran)
10. Tim Lincecum (retired MLB 10-year veteran, 4x all-star)
11. Billy Butler (retired MLB 10-year veteran, 1x all-star)
12. Adam Jones (retired MLB 14-year veteran, 5x all-star)

For a look at my most recent prospects, check out the Prospects page.