More Pirates AUTOs

I've been adding quite a few autographs to my collection lately. 
The first four cards I will show off are this blog's residential cardboard heroes:
Andrew McCutchen and Jason Bay.

I picked up a few other Andrew McCutchen autographs for my ever growing Cutch collection.  This 2008 Just Minors is numbered 40/50 and features a pre-dreadlocks Andrew McCutchen.  $12 shipped and it's another Cutch in my collection.

Topps Museum is one of the nicest things that Topps has ever put out.  The card design is gorgeous and truly does mimic museum quality cardboard with their nicely framed designs.  The player selection is great and nearly every card featuring a jersey has a patch on it.  Great job Topps.  I couldn't resist picking this up for $25 when I saw it on ebay.
This brings my Cutch autos to 46 cards. 

I had my eye on this card for a long time.  What's not to love about a dual auto featuring Dale Murphy and Jason Bay?  Well, for one thing the $40 price tag the seller had been asking for it.  Recently a few more have been popping up on ebay, but all with buy it nows around $30.  When someone decided to list the card with a no reserve auction, I had a feeling I would finally add it to my collection.  And add it I did, for a measly $16.50 shipped.  Under $10 a signature seems fair to me.

I also picked up another dual auto this time featuring 2 former Pirates: Jason Bay and Bobby Crosby.  Bay and Crosby won the ROY awards in 2004.  Bay went on to have a successful career after leaving the Pirates in Boston before becoming injured in NY.  Crosby's career went downhill after winning the Rookie of the Year with Oakland and signed a 1 year deal with the Pirates in 2010.  He lasted only half a season in Pittsburgh before being traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Once he arrived in Arizona he played in only 9 games before being released by the team.  He has not played professionally since.   This was picked up a few months ago for around $15 if I remember correctly. 

Jarek Cunningham is an injury plagued prospect with upside of being a utility middle infielder in the majors, but will most likely just be organizational depth.  The 22 year old is currently in AA Altoona where he has put up only a .183 batting average in 22 games.  While Jarek will probably never be a star or even a regular in the majors, I just couldn't pass up this card for $0.99 shipped.

This was probably the card I most overpaid for because he was last year's number 1 draft pick.  However, I am still happy to add this on card auto of Gerrit Cole to my collection for $30.  It's not low numbered.  It's not even licensed.  It is however a future ace pitcher with a triple digit fastball and great command (46K/13BB in 45 innings).  He's currently in the top 10 of all advanced A pitchers in nearly every pitching category and looks like he will be earning a promotion to AA in the very near future.  He draws comparisons to Stephen Strasburg and Justin Verlander and may be the Pirates first Cy Young candidate since this guy...

Doug Drabek was one of my favorite pitchers when I was younger.  He could flat out pitch.  He didn't blow people away with high 90s heat, but his command was some of the best in the majors.  He even won a Cy Young in 1990.  This 2012 Archives Fan Favorites on card AUTO was picked up for $15 off the bay. Doug's son is currently pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays organization and was a key part of the Roy Halladay trade.

The Twins and Pirates will face off tomorrow in the rubber match looking to take the series win for the Bucs.

Let's Go Bucs!