I should get Locke-d up for this steal!!!!

For $1 delivered, I grabbed this autograph of Jeff Locke from 2014 Gypsy Queen.

You just can't beat that!!!!
The Bucs got Locke going tonight and I'm hoping he can shut down the Cards.

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.

Beats by Dri for $1.29, The Next Episode ALREADY

Last Sunday, I posted my reasons for not wanting to continue Football Sundays since my Steelers were eliminated, however....

2014 Bowman Inception Jumbo Patch 19/25

I came across this Dri (pronounced like Dray) Archer for $1.29 and instantly listened to a classic rap song, the Next Episode by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.  For the low price I couldn't ignore the massive jumbo patch and in the words of the original Dre "YOU KNOW WHO'S BACK UP IN THIS MUDDAFUCKAH"

The rookie special teams/back didn't do a lot for the Pittsburgh Steelers offense which set some NFL History records with Big Ben, Antonio Brown, and Le'Veon Bell.  I suspect that Dri will be used a little more in the 2015 season.

$15 Lil Man, put those team sets in my hand...

I've been on a roll adding some great ebay deals for $15 lately.  My latest acquisition is a bunch of Pirates 2014 team sets for $15 delivered.  For a winning bid of $11 I received complete or near complete team sets of 2014 Topps, 2014 Donruss, 2014 Topps Opening Day, 2014 Finest, 2014 Topps Heritage, 2014 Gypsy Queen, 2014 Bowman, 2014 Archives, 2014 Bowman Platinum and a few inserts as well.

Included were 3 really nice inserts or parallels of young outfield prospect Gregory Polanco

Also included were 4 different brands of cards using the same image of Pedro Alvarez.

Of course there were some Hall of Famers in there too with Clemente, Stargell, and Kiner all being represented.

Gerrit Cole made several appearances in the 102 card lot.
The white border Gypsy Queen is especially nice

A Nice Tyler Glasnow Purple Bowman Platinum was included

Along with a bunch of the Pirates top prospects (both hitting and pitching)

And of course it wouldn't be a Pirates lot if this guy didn't show up half a dozen times or more

Along with soooooo many others

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.  

I struck gold for a penny!!!! Tony Tuesday

I won the above card for only 1 cent!!!! 1 fricking cent combined with several other items that cost me a grand total of $6 delivered for 10 cards serially numbered 62 or less.  What a fricking steal!!!!

Best of all it's an ebay 1/10.  Do the math and you'll see what I'm talking about. LOL!!!  Next Tuesday I'll show off another Tony Sanchez that I won for a penny.

Buy More, Save More

I don't buy into the concept of buy more, save more very often.  Bulk stores like Costco and BJ's Wholesale don't often offer much more value than your average supermarket's sale price.  I should know, I work at a supermarket.

However, I do find ebay lots to often offer incredible savings.  Take the lot you see above for example.  Reese McGuire, Alen Hanson, and Gregory Polanco all show up on most scout's top 100 prospects while Blake Taylor and Nick Kingham profile to be mid rotation innings eaters.

I managed to win all 6 cards for $39 delivered.  That's around $6.50 a piece.
Only 3 of the 6 autos are on card (Blake Taylor, Reese McGuire, Gregory Polanco)
Let's see how I was able to save on this lot.

Blake Taylor was a 2013 second round draft pick southpaw that put up very strong numbers as a 17 year old pitching in the gulf coast league in his debut season.  Due to the shortened season and signing late, Taylor pitched in only 21 innings, but had  a WHIP of 0.762 with an ERA of 2.57 while striking out 13.  His fastball reaches low 90s and many scouts think he will add velocity as his figure fills out.
These normally go for under $5 delivered which could be a steal in the future.

Reese McGuire was the second 1st round pick the Pirates had in 2013.  Reese is currently in low A ball and had a tremendous season last year after quickly signing.  He doesn't have much pop yet, but is highly regarded for his defensive skill set and contact at the plate.  In terms of his skill set, I see him being similar to Jason Kendall but with less HR potential.
These base autos typically start around $5 delivered and run up to $10.

Alen Hanson is one of baseball's most promising shortstop prospects.  He profiles as a typical leadoff hitter with solid line drive contact, some pop, and lots of speed.
The base autos for Hanson run around $7 delivered

Gregory Polanco is one of the top ranked prospects in baseball right now and his Bowman Sterling on card autos are by far the best value if you are looking to add an auto of the young 5 tool talent.
The base autos start around in the range of $10 -$18 delivered.  

The base auto for Nick Kingham normally start at around $5, but often run up to $9 delivered.  The real highlight of the lot was the gold refractor numbered 5/50.  This card averages to around $20 delivered.

Taking the highs and lows of the lot, the average price for this lot would be in the $52-$69 range.  That's a savings of $14-$30 for a lot of cards that were all new additions to the Treasure Room.

The Best Ebay Lot EVER!!! Only 5 cents a card!!!!

While browsing for some good deals on ebay, I stumbled across this ridiculously cheap lot of 670 Pirates cards for $35 with FREE SHIPPING.  When you break that down, it's only a little over 5 cents a card.  Forget about your dimebox heroes, these are nickel heroes.

As part of the lot were 4 autographs from Francisco Cordova, the last Pirate to be involved in throwing a No-Hitter. Mike Kingery, Jon Liever, and Steve Cooke were the other signatures in the lot.

Also were 10 new Andy Van Slyke cards for my collection which I showed off yesterday.

It was overflowing with complete team sets from Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss, Gypsy Queen, Pro Debut, etc.

It had over half a dozen minis.

Plenty of duplicate Andrew McCutchens (31 to be exact)

Plenty of new Andrew McCutchens (8)

More Jason Kendall, Brian Giles, Freddy Sanchez, and Jack Wilson cards than I will ever know what to do with

A Garrett Jones 2010 UD Biography card I've been chasing for awhile along with some more favorites that are all new additions to the collection

Several gold, blue, sparkle parallels (but my favorite is the blue Alex Presley shown below)

Oddballs and Diamond Kings

Some Hall of Famers

and a boatload of rookie cards for Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Gregory Polanco, Josh Bell, Luis Heredia, Tony Sanchez, Nick Kingham and Austin Meadows including a 2013 Bowman Refractor mini of Jameson Taillon

Of course there was junk in there, but considering that the cards were only 5 cents a piece, I think I got my money worth.  What do you think?