Happy Easter from the PTR

Remember when I did that Animal nickname post in February?

If not...go check it out.  I got some cool cards I showed off and put some quality thought into it.
Today's post is short and simple.


Here comes Rabbit Maranville hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppity, Easter's here today!!!!!!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday today.

Walter "Rabbit" Maranville was a shortstop who played in the early 20th century.  He has the 8th most triples all time (177) for players who played their careers after 1900 and has an all time putout record for all shortstops with 5,139.  He played 3 seasons with the Pirates from 1921-1924 and was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1954 with a near 83% vote.

The Springfield, Massachusets native got his nickname for his tiny stature as he stood only 5ft5 and weighed 155 pounds.

The 2012 Panini Cooperstown card was purchased at a mall card show last month for $1. 

TTM Success: Jay Bell

And another 1991 Fleer TTM success
34 days

AJ needs a ring

In a statement made by AJ Burnett earlier in the week, he will most likely retire after this season.  After 20 losing seasons, wouldn't it be awesome to send him out with another ring? They say the 3rd time is the charm.  He's already got one with the Marlins (2003) and one with the Yankees (2009).

The above on card auto of AJ is from 1999 Upper Deck Signature SP.  It cost me only $7 of the 40th player in the history of the game to pitch an immaculate inning (9 strikes for 3 strikeouts).

HONUS WAGNER T206!!!!!

As a baseball card fan and a Pittsburgh Pirates fan to be more specific, I have always wanted to add a Honus Wagner T206 to my collection.  I have 3 options regarding this goal.
1) Sell my house to buy 1 baseball card and live in my car.
2) Give up the dream
3) Get a reprint version that is worthy of being on display

After getting back my tax return I decided to splurge and go for option 3.

This Honus Wagner T206 from 2002 Topps T206 features an actual bat relic of Honus.  The card is fricking gorgeous. 

Check that off the bucket list.

Casey McGehee is a funny dude

what does it feel like to be back in Milwaukee?
"It feels like the girlfriend you broke up with that you don't really hate"

classic response by Casey regarding what it felt like to go back to his old team's home.
I found this card online for a couple quarters with free shipping. Who cares if it's bent in the corner and some cardboard is missing.  Check out that nice blue swatch. Casey will be playing in Japan this coming year, but I managed to pick this up last year during his stay with the black and gold for a meager $0.55 shipped.

The Best Damn McCutchen Collection...just got better

I take pride in my Andrew McCutchen collection.  I like the fact that I really started to collect Cutch in his rookie campaign and have been getting more and more aggressive adding to my collection every year.  The fact that he has blossomed into one of the most promising young superstars in the game today, only makes me more proud of it.  Prior to the 2009 season, guys like Alcides Escobar, Travis Snider, Colby Rasmus, Cameron Maybin, and Rick Porcello were all ranked higher than Cutch.  While all are servicable major leaguers in the game today, none of them are doing what Cutch is capable of.

Anywho, I decided to recently treat myself to some cardboard.  Here's what I came up with.

Up first is a nice 3 jersey relic of 2011 All-Stars Curtis Granderson, Justin Upton, and Cutch from 2011 Topps.  This serially numbered gem is an ebay 1/1 or as we call it in the real world 25/25.  This marks my 4th jersey relic featuring Justin Upton and Cutch on the same piece of cardboard.  This ran me $30 which is much less than some that I've seen sell for up to nearly triple digits.  

So many people have been posting about how they want to see Panini get a license and how annoying the Topps monopoly is.  I would have to agree, but that's a subject for a future post.  The above patch relic which actually has some stitching on it is numbered 15/25.  I managed to grab this for only $9.99.

 This might be my favorite multiplayer card featuring a Cutch relic I own.  Willie Pops Stargell is my favorite "vintage" player.  Andy Van Slyke was one of my favorite players from my youth and Cutch is my current favorite player.  Add in the fact that this marks my first AVS bat relic and the numbering of the card to 18 (AVS number) and the serial number of the card 8 (Stargell's number) and the saying "Pure Steel" .....well this card is just flat out awesome!!!!

Topps 5 Star is a really nice line of cards.  They are crazy overpriced, but sometimes you can find them on the cheap when the player's name is listed incorrectly.  This Cutch cost me only $8 shipped thanks to a no reserve and a low starting bid.  I will not release to you my saved searches for f-ed up spelling errors, but I love it when I can grab cards like this so cheap.

I also grabbed the above 9 cards I needed for my collection in a mega lot purchased for $25.  I had the sticker somewhere, but evidently misplaced it somehow.  The Heritage base cards I had in my Heritage team set binders, but not in my player collection binder.  The real gems of the above lot are the SP 2013 Heritage, the 2 2013 Heritage Refractors, and the 2009 T206 City Skyline variant.  I was most excited about the skyline variant as I have never been able to find that card for less than $8 by itself.  Also included in the lot were a few other Cutch cards I already had along with the below 2011 Lineage AUTO.  I already have that card, but if anyone wants to make a trade for the on card auto of one of baseball's promising young superstars let me know.

All those are nice cards, right?  While I like them all, they fail in comparison to this

CLEMENTE!!!! & CUTCH!!!!

Ok, so the design isn't jaw dropping.  The plain bat relic and jersey relic aren't anything to get excited about. But C'mon it's Clemente & Cutch TOGETHER on a card numbered to 50!!!

Jose Bautista SomethingFecta Completed

Ok, so I've had a Joey Bats trifecta for a bit over a month now, but I want more of the 2 time AL HR champ and former Pirate prospect.

I've shown off my auto, jersey, and rookie of the 2011 Most Voted Player for the All-Star game, but I never had a bat relic until now.  This card above isn't serially numbered nor can I find any kind of print runs for it, but there are several variations of this bat relic.  This batting average engraved bat relic being in the middle tier in terms of pricing.  There's a base with no writing on it and a blue variant with the Pirates logo engraved on the bat relic which is harder to find and much pricier.  The above card cost me $6.05 which is probably reflective of his struggles early in the 2012 season and injuries.  However, for a $40 card I will take it any day.

I think here's a good place to show off my other Jose Bautista relic I had picked up last year.  This diamond parallel is from last year's Update Series and shows him in his All-Star jersey.  This card is absolutely beautiful.  It is serially numbered 19/60 (his jersey number is 19).  The swatch of jersey matches the jersey he is wearing on the card.  I just love this card for the $10 I paid for it.

Goodbye Mr. Wallace

It was reported by Yahoo news that former Pro Bowl Wide Receiver Mike Wallace will be leaving the Steel City for sunny Florida in the 2013 football season.  I wish Mike the best, but feel that by sitting out during camp he damaged his performance last year and any hopes of staying with the Steelers beyond the 2012 season.  Best of luck to you though Mike. 

Here's 2/3 of the Mike Wallace Trifecta I was starting to complete.  Just need a basic rookie card to complete it and be done with this.

The Goose is Loose

I love to add autograph photos of Pirates of Yesteryear to my collection.  It makes it even sweeter when they are immortalized in the HOF.

Rich "Goose" Gossage played one season for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1977.  The only card featuring him in a Bucs uniform is from Hostess Baking Company.  His only season with the Bucs gave him an 11-9 record with 26 saves in 72 games.  He had a 1.62 ERA that season while pitching 133 innings.  The Goose would enter many games in the 6th or 7th inning and finish them out and helped to evolve what the current closer role is today.

Goose was elected into the HOF in 2008 for his 310 saves and 9 All-Star appearances.

I should send out my Hostess card to get signed by Goose.  I showed off the unsigned version in a previous post where I highlighted a bunch of Pirates players who have had animal nicknames.  If you didn't read that post, go check it out.  

Cutch Kemp Upton together again

I've picked up a few Andrew McCutchen cards with other "5 tool" outfielders over the past year.  I even managed to grab a booklet with Cutch, Kemp, and Upton together last year for around $40.  I'm happy to add another card of these power and speed NL All-Stars.

From 2011 Triple Threads I got a 21/36 jersey relic featuring the former MVP runner ups.

Another Jason Bay

Jason Bay started his Cactus League debut with his new team, the Seattle Mariners off with a bang.  A home run bang opposite field.  It's such a shame that he spent the past couple years plagued by the Mets free agent curse.

The above 2007 UD Ultimate Ensemble Swatches 2 numbered 51/75 was picked up for around $8 shipped and features dual jersey swatches of Jason Bay and J.D. Drew.  The above card marks the 27th different player to appear on a relic card with Jason Bay that I own.  Remember, my goal for the year is 38.