I spent some time this weekend going through cards to put together a few packages for some folks, and I noticed that I had a few relic cards that don’t really have a place in my collection. Chances are, my “clunkers” are clunkers to you as well… but if you see anything that would have a home in your collection, please let me know.

My wantlist is posted, but I’m open to any Mets card offers. I could also be persuaded to take Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals cards if you can get them to me within the next two weeks.

Who is this? Todd Zeile, first baseman for the New York Mets in 2000, 2001 & 2004

What is this? An autographed 8×10 photo of Zeile, apparently taken during spring

Where’d I get it? I purchased it from autograph dealer Bill Corcoran

How much did it cost? $15

When Todd Zeile made his Major League debut in 1989, he was one of the most highly-regarded prospects in the game. And he was a catcher. Cardinals manager Joe Torre saw that Zeile’s bat was better than his glove, so he decided to convert Zeile into a third baseman. He played there for most of his St. Louis career.

In 1995, the Cardinals traded Zeile to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Mike Morgan and two minor leaguers. It started a journey that would send Zeile to 11 different clubs in a nine-year period.

In the winter of 1999, the Mets signed Zeile as a free agent to replace John Olerud, who had left as a free agent to go to Seattle. While Zeile wasn’t good enough to make anyone completely forget Olerud, he was a competent replacement. In 2000, he hit .268 with 22 home runs and 79 RBI for the National League Champion team.

In 2001, Zeile hit for a similar average and drove in 62 runs, but his power numbers went way down — he had just 10 home runs. That offseason, the Mets included him in a three-team trade that sent Zeile to the Colorado Rockies and brought Jeromy Burnitz back to New York.

The Mets decided to bring Zeile back in 2004 after watching Jason Phillips and Tony Clark split time at the position the year before. Zeile was more of a utility man in his second go round, playing in 67 games at first base and 46 games at third. He hit .233 with nine home runs and 35 RBI in a part-time role.

Zeile had announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2004 season, so Art Howe allowed him to catch during Tom Glavine’s final two starts of the year. In his last at-bat, Zeile hit a three-run homer off of Montreal Expos pitcher Claudio Vargas. It was the final home run surrendered by the Expos in their 35-year history.

Zeile finished his 16-year Major League career with 2004 hits and a .265 lifetime batting average, 253 home runs 1110 RBI.

Since he retired from baseball, Zeile started a film production company in California and has appeared in a few films.

After skipping the product for 2008, Topps brought back the Turkey Red line as an insert in this year’s base set. There were 50 cards in Series 1, another 50 in Series 2, and the final 50 came in Topps Updates and Highlights. Six Mets were included.

TR35 David Wright

TR53 Francisco Rodriguez

TR74 Carlos Beltran

TR84 Jose Reyes

TR117 Gary Sheffield

TR130 Johan Santana

I was not a huge fan of the Turkey Red line when Topps first introduced it in 2005, but over the years it has grown on me. I think that making it an insert this year was a smart move.

The three cards I’m missing are on my wantlist.

Francisco Rodrguez

When I was in Target today, I had to check out the baseball card section. I ended up buying a couple $5 packs of Series 1&2 Upper Deck, hoping to get the two update set cards I still need for my team set. No such luck, though I did get three Mets cards I already had.

(I also got a couple of rookies named Hanson and Wieters. I think they’re supposed to be pretty good. )

Here’s the checklist for this year’s Upper Deck Mets.

240 Daniel Murphy
241 Nick Evans
242 Jose Reyes
243 David Wright
244 Carlos Delgado
245 Luis Castillo
246 Ryan Church
247 Carlos Beltran
248 Moises Alou
249 Pedro Martinez
250 Johan Santana
251 John Maine

Ramon Castro

252 Endy Chavez
253 Oliver Perez
254 Brian Schneider
255 Fernando Tatis
256 Mike Pelfrey
257 Billy Wagner
258 Ramon Castro
403 Jonathon Niese
414 Robert Parnell
433 Team Leaders
471 David Wright Checklist
749 Livan Hernandez
751 Carlos Beltran
752 Jeremy Reed
753 Oliver Perez
754 Duaner Sanchez
755 J.J. Putz

Jeremy Reed

756 Mike Pelfrey
757 Brian Schneider
758 Francisco Rodriguez
759 John Maine
760 Daniel Murphy
761 Johan Santana
762 Jose Reyes
763 David Wright
764 Carlos Delgado
765 Pedro Feliciano
962 David Wright
965 Carlos Beltran
971 Francisco Rodriguez Checklist
U15 Gary Sheffield
U40 Fernando Martinez

Who is this? Mets pitcher Fernando Nieve

What is this? An autographed card from the 2006 Upper Deck Ovation Spotlight Signatures insert set

Where’d I get it? I bought it from an eBay seller

How much did it cost? $3.99 shipped

In early June, Fernando Nieve was called up to replace J.J. Putz on the roster. After one relief outing, he went into the starting rotation to fill in for John Maine.

Nieve’s first start came the day after the Luis Castillo game. Nobody expected anything, but he pitched well and the Mets got a win. I caught the end of the game when I got home from the Binghamton Mets victory over the Trenton Thunder, but Nieve was already out of the game.

I didn’t get my first look at Nieve until June 19 when he made his second Mets start against the Tampa Bay Rays. I figured that the Yankee game was a fluke… payback for the Castillo game. I was wrong. For six innings, Nieve kept the Rays off-balance and limited them to just one run. Two starts, and Nieve was 2-0. Five days later, Nieve took his record to 3-0 by shutting out the Cardinals for six innings.

It was the last time I’d see him pitch in 2009. He made four more starts: a blowout loss to Milwaukee, and closer losses to Philadelphia and Cincinnati. His final appearance of 2009 came on July 19 against the Braves. I was in Trenton again, so I didn’t get to see the quad injury that ended Nieve’s season. But my friend Greg called me to share the news. It was that kind of season.

Who knows what the Mets have with Nieve? Even without the health concerns, he was a question mark. But for a couple of weeks this summer, Fernando Nieve was a bright spot in a disappointing season. Maybe next year, Topps will even produce a card with him in a Mets uniform.

In a post at Mets Police, Shannon poses five questions for the average Mets fan.

Here are my answers:

1. When did you start following the Mets?

I have some fuzzy memories of 1986, but my first clear ones are from the 1988 season.

2. What is your favorite Mets memory?

A relatively meaningless 1991 game. The Mets were playing the Giants on a Saturday afternoon, and they were down 4-2 going to the ninth. Mackey Sasser and Mark Carreon hit back-to-back pinch-hit homers to send it to extra innings, and HoJo hit a two-run shot to win it in the 12th. It was a magical game in a disappointing season. And because I only got to go out to Shea once or twice a year with my family, it was the first time I got to see them win in person.

3. What is your worst Mets memory or experience?

The 1993 season. The 1992 Mets got the book, but the 1993 team was the worst one I’ve ever watched. They lost 103 games. Anthony Young lost 27 consecutive decisions, dating back to the the 1992 season. Vince Coleman was throwing firecrackers. Bret Saberhagen was filling water guns with bleach. Every day something else seemed to go wrong, and it felt like the Mets would never, ever be good again.

4. If you could change one off-field thing about the franchise what would it be?

I’d like to make the fans feel more welcome. Listen to their concerns. Bring back banner day. Make the stadium look like the Mets’ home. Make some players who aren’t starting available for pre-game autographs occasionally. Bring back the Shea Stadium batting practice policy.

5. If you owned the team starting tomorrow, what is the first thing you would change?

Make sure that my general manager had a plan for long-term success. I’m tired of seeing my team handicapped by limited farm system depth and over-market multi-year deals to players on the downsides of their careers.

For a Tuesday in mid-November, there were a lot of Mets news items today.

• Tim Teufel was officially named the manager of the Binghamton Mets for 2010.
• Sandy Alomar Jr. will leave the Mets organization to become Cleveland’s first base coach.
• The Mets will make a formal announcement about changes to CitiField, new uniforms and the Mets Hall of Fame next month.

Dennis Hamil of the Daily News also had a nice article about Carlos Beltran visiting a VA hospital, and Joe Janish of Mets Today had an article about Wally Backman visiting Park Terrace Care Center in Corona.

I’m looking forward to getting to meet Tim Teufel next year. Hopefully he is as pleasant as the other 1980s Mets that I’ve had the chance to meet.

I really hope that the Mets don’t buy into the mistaken belief that CitiField is too much of a pitcher’s park. They didn’t hit home runs in 2009 because too many of the home run hitters spent too much time on the disabled list. (After all, it’s not like they hit them on the road, either.)

I’d guess that we are about due for some kind of uniform change – particularly if the Mets don’t sign Matt Holiday. They need something new to sell in the gift shop.

And in case you didn’t know, the Mets do have a Hall of Fame.  A the moment, it only exists as a web page and the last player induction was in 2002. Let’s hope the Mets will give us someplace we can all visit when we’re at CitiField next year… I’d hate it if whatever they come up with gets locked away in the Ebbets Club.

It’s also well past time to induct Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, John Franco and Mike Piazza.

The Newark Bears have unveiled their 2010 schedule. They open the season at home on April 22nd against the Camden Riversharks.

The  are home for Memorial Day, playing the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, but they will spend the Fourth of July in Central Islip, N.Y., playing the Long Island Ducks. And for some reason, they are off on Labor Day.

They finish up at home on Sept. 12, also against the Riversharks, and end the season on the road in Camden one week later. And in a nice change of pace from recent years, the Bears will see each team at home at least once before the end of May.

If I’m reading the schedule correctly, the Bears have three doubleheaders scheduled: one on Saturday, May 8th, against York and two against Bridgeport on Tuesday, May 16th, and Tuesday, August 31st.

Game times have not been set yet. Hopefully they will not move them around after they start selling tickets next year.

Check out the full schedule on the Bears’ website.

Last week, another Paul offered to send me some Upper Deck First Edition Mets to help me finish my team set. He knocked out all of the series one cards on my wantlist, and even included the six cards from the First Edition Update set that I hadn’t realized that I needed.

I know I’m in the minority, but I actually liked the First Edition set. Even though card companies have been using it for close to two decades, I don’t like that gloss finish on base cards.

Here’s the Mets Checklist:

185 Daniel Murphy
186 Nick Evans
187 Jose Reyes
188 David Wright
189 Carlos Delgado
190 Ryan Church
191 Carlos Beltran
192 Pedro Martinez
193 Johan Santana
194 John Maine
195 Endy Chavez
196 Oliver Perez
197 Mike Pelfrey
198 Jonathon Niese
349 Livan Hernandez
350 Jeremy Reed
351 J.J. Putz
352 Francisco Rodriguez
352 Johan Santana
354 Jose Reyes
355 David Wright
SQ9 David Wright Starquest
SQ15 Jose Reyes Starquest
SQ16 Johan Santana Starquest

He also sent along a few extra cards. A lot of the other baseball card bloggers have been opening 2009 Sweet Spot packs. I’m glad people enjoy them, but I just can’t accept the idea of a $20 pack of baseball cards.

And that’s a problem because the base cards are really pretty nice. Paul sent along a Francisco Rodriguez card from the set. There are 6 other Mets that I’m now going to want to track down.

2009 Sweet Spot Mets Checklist (base set only):

12 Carlos Beltran
27 David Wright
32 Francisco Rodriguez
55 Johan Santana
60 Jose Reyes
101 Bobby Parnell (autograph, /699)
110 Fernando Martinez (autograph, /330)

On a similar note, he sent along a Upper Deck 20th anniversary card commemorating David Wright’s Major League debut.

So far, there are 15 Mets cards in this set:

1456 Baseball Season Opens In Japan
1457 Baseball Season Opens In Japan
1458 Baseball Season Opens In Japan
1459 Baseball Season Opens In Japan
1460 Baseball Season Opens In Japan
1956 David Wright
1957 David Wright
1958 David Wright
1959 David Wright
1960 David Wright
2261 Tom Glavine
2262 Tom Glavine
2263 Tom Glavine
2264 Tom Glavine
2265 Tom Glavine

It’s nice to have one of these 20th Anniversary cards that actually fits somewhere in my collection, but I don’t see myself chasing the other ones down.

Thanks Paul. I’ll have some Hanley Ramirez cards and some bonus Marlins on the way to you by the end of the week.

Who is this? Sergio Ferrer, an infielder for the New York Mets in 1978 and 1979

What is this? A signed card from the 1991 Wiz Mets stadium giveaway set

Where’d I get it? I got the autograph through a private signing conducted by a SportsCollectors.Net member

How much did it cost? $6

Sergio Ferrer was apparently the Wilson Valdez of the late 70s.

Ferrer was primarily a shortstop, but he also played second and third base for the Mets. During his two years in New York, Ferrer appeared in 69 games, but he only had 40 at-bats and recorded just 7 hits. Still, a fair number of Mets fans remember Sergio.