Joel Hanrahan was traded during the offseason leading into the 2013 season. He was a 2 time All-Star closer in 2011 and 2012 and a very good setup man in 2010. He had season ending surgery earlier in the year and it is unsure what type of role his career will be in when he returns.
During the 2011 season, a lot of contending teams were seeking bullpen help. Since the trade deadline is today, I can only imagine what the Pirates might have received if they were willing to give up on the Hammer in 2011 with his 2 and 1/2 seasons of control left. Jurickson Profar might be too much to have asked for, but Chris Davis or Mike Olt could have been reality.
2012 Topps Tier 1 AUTO 145/399
Anyway, here's a card I recently grabbed of the Hammer off ebay for .99
The title may have you thinking of a children's movie from the 80s or the weirdest porno you've ever seen. In fact, it's actually about my first autographed card of Wandy Rodriguez. This is a baseball card blog afterall. Earlier in the summer, Topps released a Topps Tribute line of cards to celebrate the World Baseball Classic. It featured autographs, jersey relics, and base cards. You know, the normal Tribute line. There were different levels of rarity for the autographs, much like everything else that Topps did.
2013 Topps Tribute AUTO Wandy Rodriguez 8/35
Well for the low price of a high bid of 99 cents I grabbed the above sticker auto of Wandy Rodriguez. Wandy doesn't sign often and I have been impressed with him since joining the black and gold last year.
In his 24 starts as a Pirate, Wandy is 10-8 with an ERA of 3.66. He's become everything the Pirates were hoping for when they sent 3 prospects to Houston last July. Unfortunately, Wandy has faced several injuries this season and it's questionable if he'll be available to pitch at all before the playoffs.
My current favorite player in baseball today is Andrew McCutchen. Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own almost 300 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 400 by the end of the year. Amongst my cardboard collection of Cutch are many autographs, over a dozen 1/1s, and almost enough jersey material to put his jersey back together. Back in 2011, I created Morton Mondays, but with the lack of Charlie Morton cards available, I changed it to McCutchen Mondays so each Monday I will show off one new card from my Cutch collection. To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.
Growing up, I loved to read comic books. My favorites were the X titles (X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor, Generation X, etc). As I got older, my appreciation for the comics remained the same, but my tastes changed. I began to follow different artists rather than specific titles. At one point I had a huge collection of original artwork from all different genres of comics. My love for original art is still inside and when I can combine that with a limited print baseball card of my favorite player, well.....just pinch me.
2013 Topps Museum Canvas Collection 8/10
I grabbed this low numbered (#8/10) original art canvas collection of Cutch off ebay with a best offer of $60. The Harpers are selling in the $150-$250 range with many other players commanding at least a $100. I'm really happy I was able to add this unique card of Cutch to my collection.
Here's the back in case anyone wants to see it.
I don't mean to brag, but I have an awesome Andrew McCutchen collection. I'm happy to add another low numbered unique item to my Cutch collection.
The Pirates farm system has vastly improved over the past couple years. They've increased their scouting in the Latin America communities and we've already seen one of those players (Starling Marte) impact the major league roster.
MLB recently updated their top 100 prospects in baseball and the Bucs have 5 prospects in the top 100. More importantly they have 2 of the top 15 prospects in baseball (Jameson Taillon and Gregory Polanco). 3 of the Pirates top 5 prospects are latin players (Gregory Polanco, Alen Hanson, and Luis Heredia). The Pirates continue to rise through the standing thanks to a great farm system of homegrown talent.
2013 Bowman Inception DUAL AUTO Gregory Polanco and Alen Hanson 5/25
When this card was tipped off to me, I knew I had to pull the trigger on it unless it went over triple digits. Well, it barely went over triple digits which was hard to accept. However, if these guys pan out as planned, this card could be the equivalent of a Jimmy Rollins/Andrew McCutchen dual autograph as those are the comparisons of the players.
I'm now officially done with Bowman Inception after acquiring this card. I have the Gregory Polanco, Alen Hanson, and Barrett Barnes.
Team Logo patches are some of the most sought after cards available. When they feature a grimacing pirate, they just look f***ing sick!!! Case in point, the card below...
2008 UD Premier Swatches 23/50 LOGOMAN!!!!
You can see part of the scowl of the Pirate and his gold earing. The only thing that could have made this card better was if the Pirate was facing the right way. Matter of fact, I think Jason Bay is doing his best impersonation of the Jolly Roger on this card.
Numbered 23/50, I grabbed this for less than the price of a discounted blaster.
I recently grabbed another auto of Bill Mazeroski. This is only my 4th AUTO of Maz and my first on card autograph of the 8x Gold Glover and 2x World Series Champion. Maz hit one of the most memorable homeruns in the history of the game when he hit a walkoff homerun in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series.
2012 National Treasure HOF AUTO 17/25
On card autographs by HOFers are rarely cheap, but this National Treasures numbered to less than 25 copies ran me under the price of a blaster. Yeah, I'll take that for another Maz auto.
When I went on my Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon kick in early May, I came across this extremely low numbered dual relic of the future aces from 2012 Topps Heritage Minors. Since the card is numbered 7/25, today feels like an appropriate time to show it off.
2012 Topps Heritage Minors Dual Relic 7/25
Topps Heritage Minors and Topps Pro Debut often have fewer print runs because the players aren't yet in the majors and the demand isn't as strong for those players.
However, you can find some incredible cards of up and coming stars that belong in your collection and often are cheaper than what you would pay for a Topps flagship or Bowman release of the players.
The above dual relic numbered 7/25 was grabbed for around $25 and features two jersey relics of the future ace arms. I can only assume that the jersey relics are from their 2012 Futures Game jerseys as they are powder blue and no minor league team in the Pirates farm system wears jerseys like that.
As the trade deadline draws near, I figured it would make sense to show off the Pirates worse trades over the past decade.
I'm sure anyone who has the MLB Network has seen the show Prime 9. Well it got me to thinking about who the top players at each position the Pirates have given up on since the new millennium began. I'll take a look at each position and say who I think the top player is. I'll show off some cards I own of that player in a Bucs uniform and move on to the next position.
Why Prime 9? 9 Players 9 Innings
This is my Prime 9 of the Players the Bucs gave up on for nothing.
1) Pitcher Jason Schmidt
When thinking about pitchers that the Pirates had let go for nothing 2 names came to mind and oddly enough they are both connected.
In 2001 the Pirates traded Jason Schmidt to the San Fransisco Giants for Ryan Vogelsong. Schmidt went on to have 3 All-Star appearances and a 78-37 record with the Giants while averaging a strikeout per inning. Damn! Imagine that type of pitcher taking the hill every 5th day with the bats of Kendall, Giles, Ramirez, and later Bay, Sanchez, and Wilson.
Consequently the player the Pirates acquired Ryan Vogelsong went on to have a terrible career with the Bucs. He appeared in 2 games before needing Tommy John surgery. Once returned from the surgery he struggled mighty and was later sold to a Japanese team. His return to the states though in 2010 showed vast improvement in his performance. Since begining anew with the Giants, Ryan went on to become a 2011 All-Star and a key piece in the 2012 Giants World Series Championship run.
The card pictured above is from 2006 Topps Update. There aren't any hits of Schmidt wearing the black and gold that I know of, but for $2.84 shipped I couldn't pass up this card of the former Bucco wearing the black and gold at the 2006 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh representing the National League and the Giants.
2) Catcher Jason Kendall
2001 Upper Deck eVolve AUTO Bat/Jersey
Sure, Jason's career was on the downward path when the Bucs traded him to Oakland after the 2004 season. He was a 30 year old catcher whose main offensive tools (contact and baserunning) were trending in the wrong direction. In 9 seasons with the Bucs, Kendall had an average of .306 with 140 SB and 65 runners caught stealing. Those are numbers you normally don't see come from the catcher's position. However after leaving the Pirates, Kendall went on to hit .271 with 22SB and a .321 slugging percentage in 2 1/2 seasons with Oakland. Good numbers, but nothing great.
A more interesting choice is a player the Pirates decided to non tender a contract that signed a one year deal with the Minnesota Twins last year, then a 2 year extension. Yes I am talking about Ryan Doumit.
Doumit is one of those players that is made for AL baseball. He can't play any position well, but can play corner outfield positions, 1B, and Catcher well enough so he doesn't make too much of an embarassment of himself. Well then I remembered this play and it reminded me that Kendall was the player the Pirates wish they had probably kept.
3) 1st Base
2007 Allen & Ginter Adam Laroche
Adam LaRoche
Ok so Adam LaRoche is generally thought of as a slow starter. His April and May numbers are generally down right awful. However come mid summer, LaRoche is downright scary what he can do with the bat and glove. He never gets recognized, but will put up 25+ homeruns every year and play above average defense at 1B. The Pirates traded away LaRoche to the Boston Red Sox for two minor leaguers. LaRoche lasted only 6 games with Boston before being traded to the Braves for Casey Kotchman. The above 2007 Adam LaRoche was picked up for $1.40 from COMC and I gotta say I didn't overpay one penny for this card.
4) 2nd Base
2008 UD Jersey
Freddy Sanchez
When you ship out a player who won a batting title a few years after winning it, your organization is generally looked upon as dumping salary. When that same player is a fan favorite, your organization is generally looked upon as not caring for the fans. When that same player is traded for a failed prospect who hasn't pitched successfully at AA even at the age of 25, well you can be sure that you have made a pretty bad trade. Such was the case in 2009 when the Pirates sent fan favorite Freddy Sanchez to the San Fransisco Giants for Tim Alderson. The above Freddy Sanchez UD Jersey card was won for $2 with free shipping on ebay. The seller tried to stuff the card into a normal size toploader, then must have realized the card wasn't going to fit properly so he proceed to ship it in a PWE with a piece of cardboard and half the card sticking out of the case. The card above is the results of AN IDIOT. It would have been a nice addition to my collection and I guess still is for the price paid, but c'mon use some common sense.
5) 3rd Base Aramis Ramirez
2002 Stadium Club License to Drive Bat Relic
Aramis Ramirez was still very young and had his prime years ahead of him when the Pirates dumped his salary to the Chicago Cubs in 2003. He was traded with Kenny Lofton and became part of the Chicago Cubs team that would reach the NLCS that year after losing 95 games the year before.
Ramirez committed the most errors at the hot corner among all 3B in 2003, but would go on to hit 239 HRs in 9 seasons with the Cubs before joining the Milwaukee Brewers as a free agent in 2012. He currently has the 9th most career homeruns at the hot corner with 342 round trippers.
The License to Drive card above is one of my favorite ARam in my collection. Something about the simple design made to mimic a Pennsylvania driver's license with the bat relic just makes me love this card. The fact that it was just a couple bucks makes me appreciate it even more.
6) Shortstop
When you think of the Pirates shortstops over the past decade, there is one name that stands out above the rest...Jack Wilson. Jack was a fan favorite and one of the most undervalued players at the position. He deserved to win gold gloves, but was never considered. He was traded to Seattle in 2009 for a bunch of players that didn't work out for the Pirates.
However, the player the Pirates should have held onto, but was never given a fair chance to perform is a guy the Red Sox picked up for nothing. NOTHING!!!! Pedro Ciriaco
1/1 Blank Back 2011 Topps Heritage Pedro Ciriaco
Ciriaco was acquired from the Diamondbacks in 2010 when we traded 3 bad offseason signs for the expensive contract of Chris Snyder. Ciriaco was a throw in and immediately became our top fielding SS prospect in the organization. He played in only a handful of games in 2010, but had clutch hits and stellar defense. In 2011, the same thing happened, BUT was never put in the game. He really racked up frequent travel miles though going from Indy to Pittsburgh.
The Red Sox grabbed Ciriaco and he played in 76 games for the team as they battled through injuries at 2B, SS, 3B, and the outfield. In only 76 games he posted a .293/.315/.390 line which means his OPS was .705. Pedro is a slap hitter that doesn't take many walks, but he does have a habit of turning singles into doubles by swiping 16 bags and being caught only 3 times while with Boston. Pedro has since gone on to be acquired and released with 3 teams this year (Boston, San Diego, Kansas City). If John McDonald can continue to get work, I'm sure the speedy Ciriaco will continue to find a role as a super utility pinch runner, defensive substitution with some team.
I don't have many cards of Ciriaco, but this blank back 1/1 Topps Gimmick card seemed appropriate to highlight. I won it a few years ago for $9.99 when I was trying to put together the entire 2011 Heritage Blank Back Pirates set..
7) Right Field
This is probably the hardest one because there are two players that went on to have successful careers at the corner outfield position after being traded by the Bucs
Brian Giles and Jose Bautista
2011 Topps All-Star Jersey Relic 19/60 (jersey number)
I honestly have to give it to Joey Bats though just because he is still playing and the Pirates got practically nothing for Joey Bats who has gone on to hit 160 HR since leaving the Steel City.
I picked up the above Joey Bats jersey relic for less than $10 a year ago. It's an "ebay 1/1" cause the card is numbered 19/60 which is his jersey number.
8) Center Field
It's hard to imagine the Pirates without a good centerfielder since Cutch arrived. Before Cutch there was Nate McLouth who was also pretty good (All-Star, Gold Glove, 20/20 production). Before McLouth though there was Tike Redman who was not so good. However if you can go way back to 2003 there was the speedy Kenny Lofton patrolling center for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
2003 Donruss Signature Series 125/500
Lofton was already in his age 36 season when he signed with the Pirates during the 2002 off season. Proving that he still had plenty of gas left in his tank he went on to hit .305 with 96 stolen bases through the next 4 years. What I find to be the most impressive though is that Lofton stole bases at a 82% rate from his age 36-40 seasons. That's incredible! Lofton went on to finish his career with the Indians, but was part of the "Salary Dump" to the Cubs in the 2003 season along with 3B Aramis Ramirez.
The above Lofton is from 2003 Donruss Signature Series and is numbered 125/150. I managed to grab this auto of the potential HOFer for a small fee of $14 shipped. I've often seen this card sell in the $40 range so I was pretty excited to grab it for such a great price.
9) Left Field Jason Bay
2005 UD Artifacts AUTO 317/599
The single worse trade the Pirates have done in the past 5 years. Bay should have brought in a good return, but instead he failed to bring in even one top 10 organizational prospect. Only one player remains with the Bucs from that trade (Bryan Morris) and he just got called up last year. Granted Morris has been a quality late inning bullpen arm, but the Bucs needed more for a guy that went on to hit 45 HRs in 200 games for the Red Sox. To make matters worse, you guys all know that Jason Bay is one of my favorite players.
The above 2005 UD Artifacts (on card) AUTO of Jason Bay is the cheapest Bay AUTO I've ever purchased. Numbered 317/599 this gem cost me a measly .99. I love buying AUTOs off the dollar menu.
ADDED BONUS: Relief Pitcher Juan Carlos Oviedo aka Leo Nunez
2003 Just Minors x/25
Ok so "Leo Nunez" may have been an illegal immigrant and the subject of controversy once it was revealed that his name wasn't really Leo Nunez, but the Pirates had the one time shutdown closer signed as a teenager before trading him to the Kansas City Royals for Benito Santiago who played in only 6 games as a Bucco. Talk about giving away something for free basically.
The above 2003Just Minors Leo Nunez was purchased from COMC over a year ago when everything came out about Juan Carlos Oviedo. I decided to use that opportunity to grab an autograph because most likely his stock would never be lower. I was right as I managed to grab the above card for $2.25.
So to recap who took the Pirates Prime 9 players.
Looking at this makes me really happy that the deal with the Red Sox this offseason for All-Star closer Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt for the best setupman in baseball (Mark Melancon) and prospects is working out well. Our Red Sox trades never work out in the past.
Boston Red Sox:
Pedro Ciriaco, Adam Laroche, Jason Bay
San Fransisco Giants:
Freddy Sanchez, Jason Schmidt
Chicago Cubs:
Aramis Ramirez & Kenny Lofton (same trade!!!)
Earlier in the month I showed off some of my Alen Hanson collection. Hanson remains one of the top shortstop prospects in baseball and is a trade target for noncontending teams looking to unload veterans. While I know the Pirates need to add a bat to their lineup, I don't want them giving up any of their elite prospects (Taillon, Polanco, Hanson, Glasnow) for anyone not named Giancarlo Stanton. There's rumors that Hanson may be moved for Alexei Ramirez or Alex Rios from the White Sox. NONONONONO!!!!!
Hanson has cooled down a bit over the past 10 games, hitting only .256, but does have 12 RBI, 1 HR, and 3 SB in those 10 games.
2013 Bowman Inception AUTO
I managed to grab this Alen Hanson Bowman Inception auto on ebay in a lot with a Jose Fernandez auto for $20 shipped.
2013 Bowman Inception Jose Fernandez AUTO
The 2013 All-Star selection Jose Fernandez is going immediately to my brother who happens to be a Marlins fan.
My current favorite player in baseball today is Andrew McCutchen. Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own almost 300 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 400 by the end of the year. Amongst my cardboard collection of Cutch are many autographs, over a dozen 1/1s, and almost enough jersey material to put his jersey back together. Back in 2011, I created Morton Mondays, but with the lack of Charlie Morton cards available, I changed it to McCutchen Mondays so each Monday I will show off one new card from my Cutch collection. To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.
Cutch has been appearing in more and more of the high end releases year after year and Topps has been making some really nice cards as part of their Museum Collection. When you put those two things together along with a pair of HOFers and a Cuban sensation, well you get a really nice card featuring Cutch and a Team Logo patch.
2013 Topps Museum Primary Pieces
Yoenis Cespedes, Reggie Jackson, Andrew McCutchen, Willie Stargell
45/75
Earlier in the month I showed off a card featuring Adam Laroche and Tom Gorzelanny that got me closer to my collecting goal of 38 different players to appear on a Jason Bay hit. That card gave me 33 unique players to partner up with Jason on a piece of cardboard.
I made mention of how the seller was basically selling off his entire collection on ebay and I was able to pick up some very nice and low numbered hits of the former Steel City star for low prices.
Today I'm going to show off another of those bargains I found.
2008 UD Premier Trios Patch Version 11/15
For the low price of $9.99 shipped I grabbed this SICK 3 patch card featuring Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and Freddy Sanchez numbered 11/15. I previously had a bat card with Freddy, but Xavier Nady is new to the Partner Project.
I now sit at 34 different players to have either an autograph or relic with the 2004 Rookie of Year. Only 4 more to go!!!! Here's a list of the others that I have memorabilia cards with Jason Bay *if bold and yellow it means I also have an autograph of them with Bay too
Albert Pujols
Alex Rios
Alfonso Soriano
Andruw Jones Bill Madlock Bobby Crosby
Carlos Lee
Craig Wilson
David Wright
Edgar Martinez
Freddy Sanchez
Gary Carter
Jacoby Ellsbury
JD Drew
Jose Castillo Justin Morneau
Ken Griffey Jr.
Kenny Lofton
Mario Lemieux
Mark Teixeira
Manny Ramirez Matt Holiday
Nick Markakis Ralph Kiner
Torii Hunter
Xavier Nady
And here is a list of the players that I have autograph cards with Jason Bay
Adam LaRoche
Bill Mazeroski
Casey Kotchman
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Dustin Pedroia
Tom Gorzelanny
Willie Parker
It's pretty embarassing when you hold a record for highest ERA in the history of the game with a minimum of 75 innings pitched. But like all things Buc from the early millenimum it fits with the trend of the team.
Imagine if the Pirates had used the 8th overall selection on someone that went 38th overall in the 2001 draft. If your google skills are not rock solid and super fast let me give you a hint.
Yup the Pirates passed up David Wright to select JVB with the 8th overall pick. Granted many didn't view Wright as a top 10 selection but he was on draft boards. It frustrates the hell out of me that the Pirates took a guy that lead the college rankings in homeruns and converted him to a pitcher. A terrible one at that.
Well JVB you had 19 games with the Bucs and currently hold the major league record for highest career ERA with at least 75 innings pitched with an ERA of 9.20.
These segments of He was a Pirate make me very angry and realize why we couldnt' have a winning season.
There's few things in this world that you can get for $1. Here's my latest pickups for $1 or less a piece.
1966 Topps #235 Don Cardwell and #182 Jerry Lynch
Today's post is retro as I go way back to 1966 and cross off two vintage Topps needs from the Pirates team sets. 1966 is the team set I'm closest to completing. I'm down to 6 cards, 2 of which are stars (Bill Mazeroski and Willie Stargell).
I don't buy high end product packs. They're too big a gamble for me to want to lay down $120 a pack. Granted, I'm guaranteed a total of 5 autographs in that pack, but I'd rather spend my $120 on something I actually like. Like, oh I don't know....another Gregory Polance autograph for $19.
In case you don't know who Gregory Polance is, let me introduce you to his baseball reference page here.
Batting .301/.363/.450 with 28 stolen bases, 8 HR, and 49 RBI through 81 games.
Those don't look like bad stats, do they?
Remind you of anyone?
Andrew McCutchen at his age 21 season
.283/.372/.398 with 34 SB, 9HR, 50 RBI through 135 games
I'm not saying that Polanco will be better than Cutch or that he'll even be as good as Cutch. I'm saying that most likely him, Cutch and Starling Marte will be what people thought the Braves and Angels outfielders were capable of. Best of all, they should be playing together in 2014 through 2019 together.
I hate to say this, but if you can find a Gregory Polanco autograph cheap, snatch it up.
I've been wanting to add more of the Pittsburgh Pirates HOF players relics to my collection over the past year and came across a handful of Panini relics featuring the HOF Waner Brothers. All these cards below were added to my collection for less than $10 a piece over the past couple months.
Known as Big Poison (Paul) and Little Poison (Lloyd) were key pieces of the Pirates early success in the 20th century.
2012 Prime Cuts Biography BAT RELIC Paul Waner 87/99
Paul went on to collect 3,152 career hits (2,868 in a Pittsburgh uniform) and finished his career with a .333 career batting average over his 20 year career. Paul also won the MVP award in 1927 (second year in majors) with his .380 batting average and 131 RBI.
2012 Prime Cuts Icons Bat Relic Lloyd Waner 74/99 BAT RELIC
Lloyd, Lil' Poison, was not as talented as his older brother but still manage to have a long and successful career himself. He finished his career with 2,459 career hits and a .316 batting average. What's most impressive of the younger Waner though is that he struck out only 173 times over his 18 year career. 5 players in baseball had more strikeouts last year than Lloyd had in his entire career. That's insane!!! It would be nearly 45 plate appearances before Lloyd would strike out. Only 2 players have better numbers in the history of the game (Willie Keeler and Joe Sewell).
One of my 2013 Collecting Goals was to get an autograph or relic of Jason Bay with 38 different MLB players. Through early July I was at 31 after acquiring my Dustin Pedroia dual auto with Bay. I've now added 2 more players by adding the 2008/2009 firesale of Pirates players
2007 UD Black Triptych Triple AUTO 10/15
Tom Gorzelanny and Adam Laroche. Gorzelanny has been a servicable reliever for the Chicago Cubs, Washington Nationals, and Milwaukee Brewers.
Since leaving Pittsburgh, Laroche has played with the Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves, Arizona Diamondbacks and Washington Nationals. He's consistently put up 25+HR since leaving the Steel City and was in MVP discussion last year while also winning a gold glove at first base.
I won the above card for a winning bid of $9.99 from a seller who had many other Jason Bay and Pirate items available for sale. It seemed like he was selling his entire collection and let's just say I got some great steals and combined shipping on everything. Be sure to look for the next month as I show off more and more of those auctions I won.
I now sit at 33 different players to have either an autograph or relic with the 2004 Rookie of Year. Only 5 more to go!!!! Here's a list of the others that I have memorabilia cards with Jason Bay *if bold and yellow it means I also have an autograph of them with Bay too
Albert Pujols
Alex Rios
Alfonso Soriano
Andruw Jones Bill Madlock Bobby Crosby
Carlos Lee
Craig Wilson
David Wright
Edgar Martinez
Freddy Sanchez
Gary Carter
Jacoby Ellsbury
JD Drew
Jose Castillo Justin Morneau
Ken Griffey Jr.
Kenny Lofton
Mario Lemieux
Mark Teixeira
Manny Ramirez Matt Holiday
Nick Markakis Ralph Kiner
Torii Hunter
And here is a list of the players that I have autograph cards with Jason Bay
Adam LaRoche
Bill Mazeroski
Casey Kotchman
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Dustin Pedroia
Tom Gorzelanny
Willie Parker
License or not, In the Game has some interesting designs on their products. They also have a diverse group of players to autograph their products. In 2011 ITG released Heroes and Prospects and got Jameson Taillon to sign a bunch of cards for them. These are the most affordable Jamo cards on the market if you're looking for an autograph of the future Pittsburgh ace.
Even though I already grabbed a copy of one of these earlier in the year, I couldn't pass up the chance to grab another for $2 shipped.
I also managed to get the card above for $4 shipped.
Jameson is pitching very well in AA and will likely get a promotion to AAA before the year is up, similar to what the Pirates did with Gerrit Cole last year. He's striking out almost a batter an inning and has an ERA under 3.
My current favorite player in baseball today is Andrew McCutchen. Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own almost 300 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 400 by the end of the year. Amongst my cardboard collection of Cutch are many autographs, over a dozen 1/1s, and almost enough jersey material to put his jersey back together. Back in 2011, I created Morton Mondays, but with the lack of Charlie Morton cards available, I changed it to McCutchen Mondays so each Monday I will show off one new card from my Cutch collection. To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.
The 2013 MLB All-Star Game festivities kick off tonight with Pedro Alvarez representing the Pirates in the Home Run Derby. To celebrate the Pirates having 5 All-Stars make the NL squad, I'm going to show off one of my favorite cards in my collection.
2012 Topps Triple Threads All-Star Game Jersey Laundry Tag booklet 1/1
It's a 1/1 booklet from 2012 Topps Triple Threads featuring a laundry tag of Cutch. I have a Panini National Treasures Laundry Tag card of Cutch which I showed off last month. As nice as that card is, this card is just flat out ridiculous!!!!
It has a piece of the patch from the 2011 All-Star game jersey along with his laundry tag and authentication sticker from MLB on the card.
Don't believe Topps' jersey relics are authentic? Well I guess MLB.com is lying too.
And just to show off the outside of the booklet I did a scan of that too.
This is my 6th booklet of Cutch!!!!
The 1st booklet I owned featuring Kemp, Pence, Braun, Heyward, Upton, and Cutch is here
My dual auto/dual relic booklet with HOF Ralph Kiner can be seen here
The bat barrel nameplate of Cutch with a letter nameplate of Pedro Alvarez can be seen here
My 2010 Triple Threads auto and nameplate booklet can be seen here
My auto and quad relic booklet of Cutch from 2011 Topps Marquee is here
I said I wanted to add 5 new Ralph Kiner autos to my collection this year. As much as I like adding more of the HOF leftfielder's autograph to my collection, I don't like spending a lot of money to do it. Ralph signs A LOT!!! Nearly every Topps release now has a Ralph Kiner autograph you can pull. To try and diversify my collection a little bit, I went to the unlicensed card company Panini and their National Treasures release earlier this year.
I LOVE NATIONAL TREASURES!!! So many cool autographs, relics, and a much more unique group of players are available.
Now that I have 16 autographs of Mr. Kiner, I can safely say that this Immortal Cuts is probably one of the neater penmanship autos I have. Many of the autographs of Kiner from Topps get a little scribbly and smushed. This is clean and clear.
For the first time in over a decade the Pittsburgh Pirates have a core nucleus in place at the major league level and some promising prospects on the horizon. The upper levels of the minor league system feature power arms that will be ready to help the major league club this season while the lower levels feature toolsy players ready to join the team in 2-3 years. Once a month I will profile one of the Bucs intriguing prospects and highlight some of the cards I own of that player.
This month's Pirate Prospect Profile is on Alen Hanson
Hanson is an interesting player to highlight. He wasn't even considered to be one of the Pirates top 20 prospects heading into the 2012 season, but emerged with a breakout season last year as a 19 year old playing in short season A ball. He's currently ranked the 54th best prospect by MLB.com and 61st by Baseball America.
2012 Leaf Memories AUOT 10/25
When I saw that Leaf was able to get Alen to be part of their 2012 Memories Autograph line, I knew I would have to add a card to the collection. I put what I thought was a really high bid to ensure that I would win the auction. Evidently, the person I was bidding against thought to do the same thing and the limited print run (25 made) stickered auto card of the young shortstop went for $37. Looking at similar completed listings though I guess I didn't overpay too much as many others have been sold for similar prices.
Hanson also appeared as part of Bowman's Best which I managed to grab this diecut for just over $2.
Far and away this Bowman Sterling is my favorite of the bunch though as the parallel just looks awesome in black and gold.
2012 Leaf RIZE of the Prodigy Print Proof 94/100
I recently grabbed this Rize Inaugural Edition Proof of the young shortstop also.
Hanson is currently playing in A ball as a 20 year old shortstop. He has a batting line of .289/.346/.446 which means his OPS is .792. That's a very strong line for a middle infielder who just turned 20. Take away his terrible April start in which he batted only .255 and he would have an average over .300 and an OPS around .900. Add in the fact that he has 5 HR and 20SB through only 72 games and you're looking at a future top of the lineup hitter and top prospect.
I wanted to get a total of 5 Charlie Morton 2011 Silk Collection cards as part of my 2013 Collecting Goals. I'm now just one away after adding serially numbered 20/50 to the list.
I now have 20, 33, 38, 40 out of the 50 card print run.
2011 Topps Silk Collection 20/50
I'll be at the Pirates game tonight watching Charlie and the Bucs take on the Mets.
I'm halfway to making my own 2013 Gypsy Queen Garrett Jones cards. I just picked up both the Cyan and Magenta printing plates for a total of $35. I've yet to see the yellow printing plate pop up for sale and the black printing plate just recently sold on ebay, unfortunately not to me.
I'm on vacation this week and am heading to the beach for a few days.
I've got my sun tan lotion packed, my Pirates beach towel, and a pair of sunglasses. Hello hot days of summer!!!
Stay cool everyone!
2013 Topps Sunglasses Variant
I recently came across this card on ebay and had to have it for the $6 shipped price tag. It's nice to see Cutch getting some SP variant loving from Topps lately, but it's hurting my wallet.
Once in awhile, I will show off a really nice card from one of the Pittsburgh Pirates prospects. I will call this feature of my blog Prospect Prizes.
Today's prize is a 2013 Onyx Platinum (ON CARD) AUTO of Gregory Polanco inscribed with his jersey number.
I grabbed this card off ebay for just shy of $20 and if Polanco keeps producing like he's capable of, it will be a steal.
Last year, Gregory Polanco had a ridiculously good season at West Virginia putting himself and team mate Alen Hanson on people's radar as some of the game's top prospects. Polanco started the 2013 season in Bradenton, but didn't stay there long as he was quickly promoted to AA Altoona where he's continuing to hit the crap out of the ball. His 2013 line for the year is .309/.370/.464 with an OPS of .833, 8 HR, and 28SB. Did I mention he has a 1.000 fielding percentage AT CENTER FIELD in AA?
In 2009, the Pirates brought up Andrew McCutchen. In 2012, Cutch 2.0 aka Starling Marte arrived on the scene. I wouldn't be at all shocked in Cutch 3.0 Gregory Polanco arrives next year.
2013 Onyx Platinum Prospects 57/300
The ebay seller was kind to include another Pirates Prospect card from the 2013 Onyx set for me free of charge. I don't know much about Wei-Chung Wang, but he's a 21 year old right hander from Taiwan that is pitching for the Gulf Coast Pirates. He's only thrown 12 innings professionaly, but has 16 strikeouts in those 12 innings.
My current favorite player in baseball today is Andrew McCutchen. Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own almost 300 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 400 by the end of the year. Amongst my cardboard collection of Cutch are many autographs, over a dozen 1/1s, and almost enough jersey material to put his jersey back together. Back in 2011, I created Morton Mondays, but with the lack of Charlie Morton cards available, I changed it to McCutchen Mondays so each Monday I will show off one new card from my Cutch collection. To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.
This will likely be the last "officially licensed" Upper Deck card we get to see of the 5 tool Steel City outfielder.
Cutch is starting to turn things around at the plate in July and should help contribute a lot to the struggling Pirates offense if Starling Marte and Pedro Alvarez continue.
One of my 2013 Collecting Goals is to get 38 unique players to appear on a jersey or autograph hit of Jason Bay. Through July 1st I was sitting at 30 unique players.
I haven't been able to add many multiplayer auto or relic cards featuring Jason Bay lately because I've dried up most of the market on them. Now I can add Bay's former teammate and former MVP Dustin Pedroia to that list.
2009 Topps Unique Dual Distinction DUAL AUTO 1/25 Jason Bay & Dustin Pedroia
When I saw this on ebay, I instantly bought it. No questions asked...
Not only do I really like Dustin Pedroia as a player, but this brings my total of multiplayer auto or relic cards to 31. My goal is only 7 away from being completed.
Here's a list of the others that I have memorabilia cards with Jason Bay *if bold and yellow it means I also have an autograph of them with Bay too
Albert Pujols
Alex Rios
Alfonso Soriano
Andruw Jones Bill Madlock Bobby Crosby
Carlos Lee
Craig Wilson
David Wright
Edgar Martinez
Freddy Sanchez
Gary Carter
Jacoby Ellsbury
JD Drew
Jose Castillo Justin Morneau
Ken Griffey Jr.
Kenny Lofton
Mario Lemieux
Mark Teixeira
Manny Ramirez Matt Holiday
Nick Markakis Ralph Kiner
Torii Hunter
And here is a list of the players that I have autograph cards with Jason Bay
Bill Mazeroski
Casey Kotchman
Dale Murphy
Dave Parker
Dustin Pedroia
Willie Parker
ONLY 7 MORE MULTIPLAYER CARDS TO GO!!!
The Red Sox play the Mariners today so it will be the first time that Pedroia and Bay have played against one another since Bay signed with the Mets a few years ago.
It was just announced that 2 positional players for the MLB best record Pittsburgh Pirates will be heading to NY for the All-Star Game. In addition to pitchers Jason Grilli and Jeff Locke, Andrew McCutchen and Pedro Alvarez are heading to the city that never sleeps.
Cutch and El Toro were supposed to give Pirates fans hope heading into the 2011 season after strong performances in the second half of 2010. Both men struggled offensively, but splashed on to the national recognition in 2012. This year, they are leading the Pirates to the best record in baseball with strong offensive numbers and solid gold glove worthy defense.
I picked up a jersey relic of Cutch from 2012 Topps Triple Threads last year, but never got to show it off that I added it to my collection. The card ran me just shy of $7 shipped and I am happy to add this piece of cardboard to my collection.
2012 Topps Triple Threads 15/36
I also grabbed an El Toro jersey relic from 2013 Topps Heritage. This is the gold hand numbered variation. This ran me just shy of $5 shipped which was a steal considering that Pedro is in the top 5 for HR and RBI entering today
