McCutchen Mailday #108-112: Heritage Lot

I couldn't believe that I won this lot for only $8 delivered a week after Heritage was released. It features both the base cards of Cutch and Pitt Power (which I showed off in a previous post).

In addition to that though I got the 67 disc, the retail stand-up, the purple chrome, chrome (77/567) and the Clubhouse Collection Jersey Relic.

McCutchen Mailday #215-219: 5 more parallels of Cutch

Today was another good mailday as I got in 5 more Cutch parallels including

2015 Donruss 1981

a pair of Elite Die Cuts from 2011 and 2014
a pair of Chromes (2008 Bowman Chrome and 2009 Heritage)

McCutchen Mailday #181, 182, and 183: Going Old School with new Flair

My latest trio of Cutch cards to the PC this year includes some vintage designs with a bit of fresh 21st century spin.  Featuring designs from 1966, 1983, and early 20th century designs these Topps Heritage Chome, Topps Archives Silver, and Allen & Ginter Box Topper fixed a need for my ongoing Cutch PC.  

I've previously shown off some other 2015 Topps Archives that I have acquired this year including the three 1/1s and base.  The silver border is /199

On the Heritage front I've shown the box topper, gum stain and photo variants, and even 3 Chrome parallels.  This chrome is 749/999

Sadly, I need a lot of Cutch's Allen & Ginter cards from 2015.  I will go search for some soon...

For now though, this 5x7 box topper will have to do. 

McCutchen Mailday #57 & 58: More Chroooooomes!!!!!

These McCutchen Maildays are starting to seem a little silly as I compile my updates nearly a month late all the time.  Numbers 57 and 58 in my Quest for 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards added to my PC by year's end bring me two new Chromes (one of which is a die cut).

The Bowman Chrome Fit the Bill is very tough to find and often times will go for around $30.  The seller had listed it with a 1 day auction for a BIN of $9.99.  No one bought it and I decided to try my luck and ask the seller if he could try it again.  

Thankfully the seller elected to take my offer and I grabbed it for $10 with free shipping.  It marks my 3rd die cut I've added to the PC this year.

McCutchen Mailday Numbers 42, 43, and 44: A lot of Shine!!!!

Big mailday today as 3 new Andrew McCutchen cards came in the mail from eBay in my pursuit for 100.

These three beautiful low numbered parallels hailing from 2014 Topps Chrome, Prizm, and Finest cost me a grand total of $32.  That might seem pricy for only 3 pieces of cardboard that don't have any relics, signatures, or manufactured pins on them.  That's all true, but if you looked at these 3 cards and the way they refract light and shine on a page, you'd change your mind.

All 3 cards are numbered to 100 or less copies and are part of a bigger rainbow project I intend to complete of Cutch this year.

The lack of Spring Training at bats and now his knee problems are a sign of concern for the Bucs as they start the season 1-4. Every single game they lost in Cincinnati could have gone to them just as easily, but you can't make excuses for the loss column. 3 Games under .500 and 4 games out of 1st isn't worth panicking over in April. They've been there as recent as last year. Cutch's health, however, is a little worrisome. I thought he was Fearless as depicted in this card.

McCutchen Mailday #30-39: Card Show Pickups

I grabbed 10 new Andrew McCutchen cards all from one location last month.

For a combined $12, I walked away with a pair of numbered Opening Day blue parallels from year's past, a trinity of 2012 Topps Gold Parallels, a 2015 insert, and some vintage designs in recent years.

Overall it was a very good haul for me at that show because I also snagged a bunch of vintage cards that I will show off in the very near future.

The Quest for 100 is getting close to the halfway mark and the year isn't even a third of the way complete.

McCutchen Mailday #25: 2014 All-Star Stitches Topps Chrome

I thought that I had purchased an All-Star stitches relic card of Cutch each year for the past four years, but just discovered that I still never got his 2013 All-Star game jersey card held at CitiField.  I'll have to add that one to my wants as my Quest for 100 New Cutch cards in the Cutch PC reaches the quarter century mark in 2015.

I was very happy to add this 2014 Topps All-Star card to my collection for a winning bid of $4.99.

Now, I'm going to have to track down that 2013 All-Star stitch

Going Green McCutchen Mailday #20: 2014 Bowman Chrome

Here's a $9 purchase of Cutch in my pursuit to add 100 new Cutch cards by year's end.

Hailing from 2014 Bowman Chrome, this numbered parallel is a wealth of information on the back.

Tony Tuesday: I struck gold!!!

For under $2 I was able to win a low numbered gold parallel of Tony's 2014 chrome update card.

Couldn't be happier with this purchase.  I just don't know where Tony fits into the Pirates plans for the 2015 season.  With Spring Training starting up, maybe we will get some answers soon.

McCutchen Mailday #17: 2012 Topps Chrome Dyanamic Die Cuts

One of my 2015 collecting goals was to add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards to my collection that I previously didn't have.  In order to achieve this goal, I would have to add an average of 8.3 new Cutch cards to the collection each month.  I am ahead for the goal and actually have several more already scheduled for post in March's Go Green month.

The latest die-cut to join the Quest is a 2012 Topps Chrome Dynamic Die Cuts that ran me $2.20 delivered.  The card is certainly a Die Cut, but I wouldn't classify the design as dynamic.  It looks more like randomly cutting edges for no reason.

The back of the card discusses many of Cutch's tools.  It notes him being a 20-20 player with good speed and some pop, and the ability to play great defense (lead all NL outfielders with 414 putouts in 2011).

McCutchen Mailday #15 & 16: A Pair of 2014 Topps Chromes

One of my 2015 goals was to add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards to my collection.  In my quest for 100, I have been snagging some pretty cheap parallels online lately.  My latest is a pair of 2014 Topps Chromes that cost me $6 delivered for both.

The Orange isn't numbered, but the blue is numbered to 199.

With just over a week to go for February I am hitting my target of adding on average 9 new Cutch cards to the collection each month.

My new way of doing business on ebay

I recently decided that I'm going to buy in bulk.  I have been coming across some nice sized lots of players that aren't in my PC, but I still enjoy collecting and I have been buying them in bulk.  For $14 delivered I bought 35 cards of Pirates infield prospect Alen Hanson.  The lot included several refractors and even an autograph.

Did I get a lot of value out of the lot?  Probably not a lot, but to be able to add 14 new unique cards to my collection PLUS another Bowman Chrome Auto of the young switch hitting Dominican, I thought it was worth the price.

Among the numbered parallels were a 2013 Bowman Sterling refractor /199 and a 2013 Bowman Platinum Green Refractor /399.

I also got a lot of dupiclates in the bunch so if anyone is interested in some Alen Hanson cards, let me know.

Feeling Blue: El Toro Chrome

Since the beginning of the month I've shown off a few of my recent ebay deals from the same seller.  This was the most expensive of the bunch coming in at $1.27.

2011 Topps Chrome Blue Parallel 90/99.  

El Toro had a down season this past year after posting over 30 HR in 2012 and 2013.

Due to his defensive errors and injuries, the Pirates removed him from their every day lineup as a third baseman and started playing him at first base.  It was my vision a few years ago that Alvarez would one day transition across the diamond due to his size and inability to stick at third.  He has made a lot of really good picks at 3B and I could see him being above average defensively at first.

I liked Ike Davis, but I guess the front office sees Pedro as being the key guy at 1B for the Bucs in 2015.

Earlier in the week it was revealed that the Pirates traded Ike Davis to the Oakland A's for a bonus signing pool in the international draft.  This gives the Pirates nearly an additional $300,000 to spend on Latin American ballplayers.

Don't think that's much?  Here's some guys the Pirates have signed in recent years for under that mark
Starling Marte 2007 $85,000 (gold glove finalist 2 years in a row, 11.7 WAR in only 2 seasons)

Gregory Polanco 2009 $150,000 (one of baseball's future 5 tool talents)

Dilson Herrera 2010 $220,000 (youngest player on Mets roster last season, used as key trade piece to acquire Marlon Byrd for 2013 Post Season)

Willy Garcia 2010 $280,000 (you'll be seeing a lot of his cardboard on here soon)

Gift Ngoepe 2008 $15,000 (1st South African baseball player signed)

Alen Hanson 2009 $90,000 (considered by many to be a top 75 prospect entering 2014)

Tony Tuesday: Another Slabbed Edition

One of my 2014 collecting goals was to try to get half of Tony Sanchez' 2009 Bowman Chrome Autograph rainbow BGS graded 9.5 or higher.

Here's the list so far
Blue /150
Xfractor /199 (posting soon)
Base (not numbered)

Here's what I don't have...
Refractor /500
Superfractor /1
Red /5
Orange /25

Once I post the XFractor that I have had for a long time, I will be sitting at half complete.  Unfortunately three of the four remaining are very tough and expensive to track down.

Here's my recent addition to the list though...a gold refractor numbered 12/50

McCutchen Monday: 2014 Topps Chrome SP Variation

Last week on McCutchen Monday, I showed off an Allen & Ginter insert that ran me 74 cents to purchase.  Today I'm going to show off an extremely rare Topps Chrome SP Photo Variant that ran me $37.

The above beauty runs 1 in every 5 cases of Chrome.  Multiply that by 25 players that got the variant treatment and you can figure out how rare this card is.  Other copies of this card have sold in the $75 range so I am VERY VERY VERY happy to have won it for half that price.

Thanks everyone for reading.  God Bless!!!!

Chasing Rainbows: Russell Martin Orange Chrome Refractor

Last month I showed off my Pink Refractor of Russ numbered /5.  It marked my 6th different parallel of this card I had shown off.

I had already shown off a few of the rainbow parallels in the past dating back to last year.

black numbered/100
camo numbered 10/15

gold numbered 34/50

red numbered 12/25 and sepia numbered 45/75

Today I'm showing off my 7th parallel of the recent free agent backstop.

It's the un numbered orange prallel.  I'm going to keep trying to add these to my collection as long as they come up.  This one ran me just $1.25 delivered.  

Seeing Red: Another penny deal of a silver slugger

It's been over a month since I showed a Seeing Red segment at the PTR and that's because of my Save Second Base charity event which raised almost $80.  Thank you to all who participated.  It was a lot of fun and helped a good cause.  I will be randomizing some cards off over the next few weeks or so to those that actively participated.

Earlier in the week I showed off a Tony Sanchez 2011 Topps Pro Debut Gold /50 that I won for a penny.  Today I'm going to show off another card that I won from the same seller for a penny also.

2011 Topps Chrome Red Parallel 11/25

For a penny, you can't really beat that price, but if you need further convincing that it was money well spent...here you go

Neil Walker won his first Silver Slugger award at 2B this year by leading all National League 2B in Homeruns (23) and On Base Percentage (.342).  

What's funny about Walker's 2014 season is that it got overlooked in Pittsburgh because their lineup had 4 players with higher wRC+ (Andrew McCutchen, Russell Martin, Starling Marte, and Josh Harrison).  That just shows how good the Pirates lineup was in 2014, if only their pitching hadn't struggled so much early in the season they could have had a good shot at winning the division.  

Football Sunday: Antonio Brown Topps Chrome Pink Parallel

Saving boobies isn't just for baseball cards, I am expanding my pink parallel Save Second Base charity event into my football card collection too.

Every year I join a Fantasy Football team with some family members and some of our close friends.  Last year, the winner got an autographed football of an active player of their choice.  I finished in second place losing the final week to the eventual champ by only 4 points.  Drew Brees had some monster weeks for me, but a large reason I was successful was because of my 7th round pick Antonio Brown.  Being a Steelers fan, I knew that he would be #1 on the depth chart for wideouts with Mike Wallace departing for Miami.  Week after week Brown was consistent grabbing me nearly 20 points a week.

Had I won the league, I would have chosen my autographed football to be of Antonio Brown.

2012 Topps Chrome Pink Parallel 217/399

Instead, I ended up with this 2012 Topps Chrome pink parallel I purchased for just under a buck and a half.

McCutchen Monday: 2009 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor

My last McCutchen Monday before my Save Second Base (the Boobies) event takes place is a 2009 Topps Chrome Blue Refractor numbered 89/199.  It cost me a cool $10 delivered and gets me very close to a historical 500 unique Cutch cards.  A contest for that will be held post October.

As a reminder please remember to participate (and often) for my 2014 Save Second Base all month long pink event at the PTR blog.

BayDay BayDay: Topps Chrome Heritage 2005

I'm very short on time today so its just gonna be a quick post to show off my newest Jason Bay. Its a 2005 Topps Heritage Chrome numbered out of 556.