McCutchen Monday: Dimwit's break & Contest Update

Sam from The Daily Dimwit busted a couple boxes in his latest group break.  I chose the Pirates and got the Expos as my random.  All the Expos are for trade if anyone is interested or you can win what's not grabbed in trades by cheering on the Pirates as they face off against the formerly called Expos, Washington Nationals.

Sam also included this Andrew McCutchen 2012 Topps Museum base card that I had expressed interest in.  Cutch has been given a couple days off as he was fighting off flu like symptoms, but is expected to return in Tuesday's game against the Nationals.  Don't forget to root for the Pirates to win some great cards of Expos/Nationals.  Cards given away will be listed after I show off the group break stuff.  

Here's my Pirates from Topps Gallery.  Topps Gallery was a beautiful set.  Kenny Lofton played for lots of teams over his MLB career, but only half a season was with the Bucs.  This is without a doubt the nicest Lofton I have in a Pirates uniform.

 Also in the break was Topps HD.  This is a set that I had never collected, but now I have the complete team set plus a numbered Brian Giles parallel.

2001 Fleer Game Time was also included in the group break.  I managed to get only 3 Pirates in the break, which oddly enough is the complete team set.    

Bazooka baseball cards are a lot like their gum.  Not exactly the tastiest, but certainly fun and you get value for what you pay for it.  I managed to only get a few of the Pirates collecting 40% of the team set.  I still need Jason Bay, Kip Wells, and Jack Wilson.

 

The final box that got busted was Upper Deck Vintage.  Vintage looks awfully similar to 1971 Topps.  I got 5 of the 9 cards in the team set.   

From the Expos side, I got 18 cards which are all pictured below.  If you're interested in any of them let me know.

 

Any cards not claimed by Tuesday evening will be included in the Let's Go Bucs Contest! along with these two relic cards and Strasburg mini pictured below.  The Randy Johnson Topps Gallery card is stunning!

LET'S GO BUCS!!!! BEAT THE NATIONALS!!!!

Trading Post with Napkin Doon

Napkin Doon had seen the SP Gatorade bath card of Eric Hosmer I pulled in a 2012 pack and was interested in trading for it.  Having no admiration for the Royals other than hoping Hosmer performs well on my fantasy team this year I decided to take him up on the offer.  I was pleasantly surprised to see what he gave up in exchange for that 2012 SP.

Here's what I got

 1953 Red Man Chewing Tobacco Murry Dickson.  Vintage tobacco cards are always welcome at the PTR.

 a collection of random Pirates.  I really miss those Topps HD cards.  They were sharp looking.

 a 1965 Manny Mota Topps that I needed for my team set.  I'm getting closer to completing that year.  Anyone got the Clemente or Stargell to trade cheaply?  LOL!

 1999 Topps HD Bobby Bradley.  Bradley never made it to the majors but was selected 8th overall in the 1999 draft.  I recently did a Former Prospect profile on Bradley which you can read here.

 1964 Topps Smoky Burgess

and finally a 1955 Gair Allie

Former 1st Round Draft Pick: Bobby Bradley

Bobby Bradley was the Pirates first round draft pick of the 1999 MLB Draft.  He was selected 8th overall out of Wellington High School in Wellington, Florida.  He reportedly signed for a little over $2.3 million which was overslot at that time.  He began his professional career that year and was voted to the 2000 Futures All-Star Game as a 20 year old.  In 2001 Baseball America had him ranked as the 20th best prospect in all baseball.

Leading into the 2001 season, Bradley had pitched 119 innings with 149 strikeouts, 1.04 WHIP, and an incredible 2.47 ERA.  It seemed like Bradley would be fast tracked to the majors and may provide the first true ace pitcher the Pirates had since Doug Drabek in the early 90s.

Bradley however started to have many injuries including Tommy John Surgery and never made it to AAA until his age 24 season in 2005.  After only 12 innings of work in AAA, he was ultimately released to make room on the 40 man roster for Zach Duke. 

Bradley attended Marlins spring training in 2006, but left after only one day of workouts.  He finished his minor league career with a 18-12 record with 334.2 IP (327 K, 1.28WHIP, 3.25ERA).

The fact that he never got a cup of coffee in the majors is really a sad story and just goes to show the risk in taking pitchers in the draft.  There's a lot of risk involved in developing pitchers and it's a shame that many of them don't get a chance to see their big league dream come true.  I think if Bradley had not been injured, he could have been a legitimate ace based on the scouting reports I've read and his makeup. 

I picked up the above 2 cards for less than $2 a piece from COMC which I will highlight some other of my sweet pickups tomorrow.


For those reading, who is the biggest let down of first round draft picks for teams you root for?