Pacers PC Pickups: Roy Hibbert On Card AUTO!

The Pacers are having a great season and are leading the Eastern Conference.  The strong defensive efforts set by the team and quality depth are making them the favorite to win the East over the over hyped Heat.  I've been SLOWLY adding more and more cards to my Pacers PC over the past few months, but was very happy to add this on card autograph of one of my favorite Pacers, Roy Hibbert.

I was able to add the above card of one of the game's top centers for the low price of $13.50.

There's two players that I have to add on card autos to my collection from of the Pacers in 2014 and they are Reggie Miller and Paul George.  Anyone got lots of cash to send me?

My first AJ Relic

I really wanted Topps to make an AJ Burnett relic card in a Pirates uniform at some point over the past two seasons.  Unfortunately that never happened.  I really liked having AJ as a member of the Bucs.  He was extremely competitive and even when he didn't have his best stuff or felt like he was getting squeezed by the umpires, he continued to battle on the mound.  I'm going to miss AJ being a member of the rotation this year and think that he will greatly miss the defensive shifts the Pirates put on last year, which will inevitably make his numbers revert back to "normal".

Above is my first AJ relic I have purchased.  It features 8 members of the Florida Marlins Teammate Timelines.  The card is double sided with 4 members on each side.

The card also comes with it's own certificate of authenticity.

In light of bad AJ showing up at the mound today for the Phillies, it made sense to show off this 8 relic card...

Extra, Extra, Read all about it

I just got my newest Tony Sanchez in the mail today for the low price of $4.50

It hails from 2009 Panini Extra Edition and is the red di-cut numbered to 100. Tony hit a 3 run bomb in yesterday's first spring training game for the Buccos.

Smooth as Silk: Charlie Morton 2011 Topps Silk

I now own one tenth of the entire print run for the 2011 Topps Silk Charlie Morton cards.  My latest ebay acquisition ran me $7 delivered.  What makes this card more desirable than my other 4 silks from 2011 is that this card is Charlie's number (50) and is numbered to 50.

2011 Topps Silk Collection 50/50

That's a double ebay 1 of 1!!!!!

Considering a PC for a nonPirate?

During the 2012 MLB Draft, I was really hoping that high school catcher would have somehow fallen to the second round and that the Pirates would have been interested in drafting the teenage backstop.  That didn't happen as Stryker was drafted 26th overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks.  I considered buying his cards when they first started to hit the market but never actually made it a priority.

When I saw this 2013 Topps Heritage Minors printing plate hit ebay with very little bid activity, I decided to grab my first 1 of 1 of the man who's first name is my last name.

I doubt that I will go aggressive trying to grab his autos and low number parallels, but when something like this is available for a double 10 spot, I doubt I will be able to resist. After all, he's got an awesome first name.

McCutchen Monday: 2013 Black Friday Magenta Printing Proof

Back in December, I showed off my first Andrew McCutchen printing proof of my collection.  For $27, I have added a second.

Hailing from 2013 Panini Black Friday, I grabbed this magenta /5 printing proof of the reigning NL MVP.

A bunch of Bays from the Bay

I made mention that I recently bought a bunch of Jason Bay cards form ebay.  For $22 shipped, I received 100 different Jason Bays to add to my collection.  Of those, 24 were new.  The other 76 have been added to my Nothing But Bucs binder where I keep a bunch of doubles of Pirates in numerical order.

As I become more and more conscious of my ebay spending budget, I've found that these type of lots offer a much better value to my collecting needs.  Often I would just buy individual cards then overpay for shipping, but with patience, being able to grab lots like this when they present themselves are preferred.

The Finest Platinum Doubles

I like the idea of Finest, Platinum, and Doubles

Finest defined by the dictionary....

fine 1  (fn)

adj. fin·er, fin·est

1. Of superior quality, skill, or appearance

Finest...as defined by Topps

2013 Topps Finest Andrew McCutchen XFractor and Refractor

If the image above looks similar to another "high end" product released last year, it's because they used the same image on Cutch's base card for Bowman Platinum

2013 Bowman Platinum Andrew McCutchen

I've already complained about Topps reusing the same image for retired players year in and year out, but using the same image on active players for high end products.  C'mon Topps get your shit together.  If you're going to call something the finest, don't use the same image as Bowman Platinum.

Please continue to leave comments on this blog....

I went to Virginia Beach and all I got were these old pieces of cardboard...

Last week, my girlfriend and I were traveling to North Carolina to see Luke Bryan and Lee Brice perform.  It was my Valentine's Day gift to her and I made sure we had really good seats (6 rows from the stage to be exact).  On our way down, she told me to google to see what card shops we may hit in Virginia Beach since she wanted to go to a Western Wear country store anyway.  We decided to hit up Heroes Sports Cards & Collectibles before they closed up for the day.  

I'm not going to lie, I was very hesitant to stop in and check it out since we were on a time restraint, but I sure am glad we did.  

Within a few minutes of walking around, I found the vintage section of the store.  I pulled out my phone and loaded my vintage want list from the website.  I hit a homerun on the 1960 needs.  I was able to add 11 new cards to the collection, allowing my needs to drop to only 7 cards for that team set.  1960 is one of my favorite vintage sets so grabbing this many cards including the high number Paul Giel really helped make the trip worth it.

Above are the rookie cards for Manuel Javier and Jim Umbricht along with the Pirates coaches card from the 1960 set.

I also picked up a single 1961 Topps card I needed for my set.  This card commemorates Bill Virdon's great catch in game 1 of the 1960 World Series when the Pirates won 6-4 over the Yankees.

Here's the back of the card with the highlights for the game.

Most of the cards I grabbed were in the $4-$6 range, the lone exception being the High Number Paul Giel, which ran me a little more than the price of a discount blaster. 

I say hello, you say goodbye

Hello, hello to my latest addition to the Pacers PC.

Say goodbye to the man depicted on this piece of autographed cardboard.

The Pacers have traded former All-Star Danny Granger to the 76ers in exchange for Evan Turner and LaVoy Allen.  I really like this trade a lot.  Evan Turner could become a much better shooter when he's surrounded by other talented shooters like Paul George, David West, George Hill, Roy Hibbert, and Lance Stephenson.  I really think this trade will help push the Pacers towards becoming the Eastern Champs.

The above card was recently purchased for $13 delivered and is my first Pacers auto in my collection.  It reminds me of the classic Beam Team inserts from the early-mid 90s like the Reggie Miller I showed off earlier in the month.

I have several more Pacers autos on the way including a really nice one of my current favorite basketball player.

Black is the New Black: Charlie Morton 2014 Topps

My latest black parallel is of Charlie Morton.  It's from the recently released 2014 Topps Series 1 and is numbered 45/63.

For a small fee of $6.35, I added this low numbered parallel of my favorite Pirates pitcher.

Tyler Glasnow Patch and OnCard Auto!

Keith Law recently released his Top 100 Prospects in baseball and I was surprised to see that Tyler Glasnow ranked higher than Jameson Taillon.  While I considering them both to be incredible talents, I still consider Taillon to be higher.  Glasnow was ranked 20th by Law which was the highest anyone ranked him prior to the start of the 2014 season.

2013 Leaf Trinity Tyler Glasnow AUTO/PATCH

Recognizing how incredibly talented he is, I decided to buy this on card auto and patch of the teenage flamethrower.  This ran me $17.50 delivered around Christmas time and I couldn't be happier to add it to my collection.

Its not quite as nice as yesterday's dual relic/auto of Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole but damn is this a great looking on card auto and patch for less than the price of a blaster.

McCutchen Monday: Dual Auto Cutch & Cole 2/5

If this had been on card instead of sticker autos, this would be my favorite card in my collection.  This extremely low numbered (2/5) was purchased on ebay and features dual autos and dual patches of the two faces of the Pirates current organization.  Andrew McCutchen is coming off an MVP season and Gerrit Cole was the rookie flamethrower that still has 6 years of dominating pitching ahead of him.

What piece of cardboard can possibly top this for my favorite card purchased in 2014?
There's still 9 months left....but this will be very tough to top.

This marks my 69th certified Cutch auto added to the PC

My newest Jason Bay is Red

I recently bought a new printer and computer and am still trying to get used to all the apps and workings of this.  Hence, why my posts last week have been less frequent.  But....I did manage to buy a large lot of Jason Bay cards off ebay.  This was the highlight of the haul for me.


2011 Topps Chrome Red Parallel 14/25

A really nice looking red refractor from 2011 Topps Chrome of Jason Bay numbered 14/25.  It may have ran me $10 but is the first of many Jason Bay cards I have added to my collection over the past few weeks.  My goal was to get 36 new Bays by the end of the year and I have already come close to doubling that total.

2 new 57s for the Treasure Room...and they're sharp

For $16, I add two new 1957 Topps cards to my ongoing pursuit to collect every flagship Topps Pirates card.  These fine specimens of vintage cardboard feature the 1960 Cy Young winner Vernon Law (#199) and outfielder Roman Mejias (#362).

In six seasons with the Pirates Mejias batted .245/.286/.367 while providing 17 homeruns and 83 RBI over 800 plate appearances.  He would leave to go to the Houston Colt .45s during the 1962 season and hit a team leading 24 homeruns over 610 plate appearances.  He finished out his MLB career with the Red Sox in 1964.

Vern Law played all 16 seasons of his major league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  His best season was in 1960 when he won the Cy Young award by going 20-9 with a NL leading 18 complete games and a 3.08 ERA.  He finished his career with a 162-147 record pitching with a 3.77 ERA, 119 complete games over 2,672 innings.

Happy Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day!  Enjoy it with your signifcant other.

Don't enjoy it with a signature sensation from Kevin Hart.  I swear his signature looks like it could be written in Japanese Kanji.  Hart appeared in 10 games for the Pirates in 2009 and went 1-8 with a 6.92 ERA.  His lone win with the Bucs came on August 17th, 2009 against the Milwaukee Brewers when he went 6 innings, giving up 2 homeruns, allowed hitters to hit .292 against him, and allowed 4 earned runs.  I'm so glad these type of pitchers are gone from the Pirates system.

Oh and since this guy shares a name with a very popular comedian, I will also like to make note that I do not like the comedian either.

It's the little things in life...

In my haste to complete and organize every Topps flagship Pirates baseball card, I didn't realize I was missing card #611 from the 1973 Topps Set.  This high number card features a rookie card of Pirates outfielder Richie Zisk. 

Zisk was a member of the Pirates famous Lumber Company in the 70s.  However Zisk's best years came after leaving the burgh.  In 1977 and 1978 Zisk was a member of the American League All-Star team when he played for the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals respectively.  He finished his career batting .287 with 207 HomeRuns and nearly 792 Runs Batted In over the course of 12 seasons. 

The other players depicted on this rookie card went on to have meaningful careers as utility players and 4th outfielders.  Wohlford played 15 seasons, only getting more than 500 at bats in a season once and Coggins played 5 seasons finishing sixth in Rookie of Year voting in 1973. 

I won the above card for only 99 cents and as a bonus, the seller included these two stickers below.
He must've known that I was a big Pirates fan.  It's the little things like this that just put a smile on my face.

This Lil Card has eluded me long enough

Back in 2011, Topps released their Lineage card line.  It was a brand new design that had inserts that paid homage to series of years gone by.  One of the inserts was 1975 minis.  The Pirates had three active players get the 75 mini treatment Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, and Pedro Alvarez.  To this day, I've rarely seen them pop up for sale.  After 2 years, I finally have added the Pedro Alvarez to my collection.

For a small 99 cents I was able to add this mini sized card of the Pittsburgh slugger.

If you see the Neil Walker or Andrew McCutchen minis pop up, please let me know.

My latest collecting habit

I know baseball is right around the corner, but with no football and my favorite hockey player (Kris Letang) suffering a stroke last week, I've been watching A LOT of basketball lately. 

Growing up I had three players that I loved to root for: Reggie Miller, Penny Hardaway, and Jason Kidd. 

By far, my favorite was Reggie though.  Due to the Pacers great depth this year, they are a very fun team to watch and root for.  Paul George and David West have rekindled my love of Pacers basketball and that is why I'm going to start up a Pacers PC. 

But first I need to rebuild my Reggie collection. 

This 92-93 Beam Team I bought awhile ago for 50 cents at a flea market will be the first of many Reggie cards I plan on posting.

I just bought a large lot of Pacers cards on ebay and am hoping that they arrive before I head out to North Carolina for vacation. 

McCutchen Monday: 2013 Panini Select Team

Is anyone else experiencing trouble with blogger not applying the correct times to posts?  The post I scheduled for yesterday applied this morning at 12:15am.  Oh well...

My latest Andrew McCutchen is an unlicensed card from 2013 Select that the seller greatly overcharged me on shipping.

For the low price of only 99cents I won the above 2013 Panini Select Team.  The seller decided to ship the item in a plain white envelope inside a toploader.  Call me crazy, but that doesn't seem like $3 to ship.   

$2 Well Spent: Chrome Coles

For the low low price of 50 cents a card, I was able to add these Gerrit Cole rookies to my collection.  Sure, it's nothing even close to the bargain I got on the 1965 Roberto Clemente I found at a flea market last year, but I'm still happy to add the Pirates future ace chrome rookies to my collection.

R.I.P. Ralph Kiner

I may have already had 13 autographs of the Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner, but for less than $12, I couldn't resist adding another to my collection, especially since it's on card!  Welcome to the collection, number 14.

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game ON CARD AUTO

Sadly, news broke of Ralph's passing a few hours after receiving this card. My condolences go out to the Kiner family, the Mets and Pirates organizations and all those whose life the great HOF slugger impacted.

More Game Used Charlie Morton Equipment

Back in December, I showed off my Charlie Morton game issued jersey. from the 2011 season.  It's no secret that I might be the biggest supporter of Charlie Morton on the planet.

I've recently come across a seller on ebay that is selling many game used baseballs and they are all authenticated by MLB.com.

My most recent purchase for $19.99 shipped is a ball that Charlie threw in the dirt against Jesus Guzman from the September 18th, 2013 season in PNC Park.  After rewatching the game, I noticed that this is the same ball that was used to get Tommy Medica out on a groundball out 2 pitches earlier.

Here's a few pics of the ball.

Green is Good - 2013 Topps Update Emerald Sparkle

My recent pickup of an emerald sparkle from 2013 Topps Update likely wouldn't excite many people, but for a supercollector like myself...I love this card.

The emerald sparkles are the nicest of the recent parallels that Topps has put out.  I am still in search of several other versions of this card including 3 of the printing plates (cyan, magenta, yellow)

McCutchen Monday: my 68th Cutch auto is super rare!

One of my collecting goals for 2014 was to get to 75 unique Andrew McCutchen certified autographs.  By adding this super rare (less than 10 copies) 2013 Panini Fall Heroes Private Signings auto of the recent NL MVP, I'm now at 68 unique autos of Cutch.

This card was far from being cheap.  It ran me a cool $100 shipped which is the most I've spent for a Cutch auto this year (keep in mind, the year is very young).

Cutch is still one of my favorite players to collect, but his cards are getting way too expensive.  When I first started to PC him, I could grab autos of him for around $20.  I may have to start to PC someone else soon.

Blowout specials from Blowout: PC Pickups of Morton, McCutchen, El Toro, and Walker

While browsing the blowout card forums, I came across a seller that had discounted parallels really cheap.  For $3.15 shipped, I received the assortment of Target Reds, Bowman Internationals, and Serially Numbered Greens you see below.

2013 Topps Update Charlie Morton Target Red

2012 Bowman International and 2012 Bowman Gold Andrew McCutchen

2013 Topps Update Target Red Mark Melancon

2011 Bowman Green Pedro Alvarez (numbered 054/450)

2011 Bowman Chrome International and 2012 Bowman International Neil Walker

Overall a pretty nice haul for the price.  Each of these came packaged securely and arrived very quick.  Thanks Dave for such a great transaction!

Somewhere near a rainbow: 2013 Chrome Russell Martin Purple

Because I am somewhere on this baseball card, I am trying to complete the 2013 Topps Chrome Russell Martin rainbow.

I've already shown off a few of them in the past

black numbered/100
camo numbered 10/15

gold numbered 34/50

red numbered 12/25 and sepia numbered 45/75

My latest acquisition ran me under $2 shipped for the purple variant (not numbered).

One more down, just a few more to go.