The Sickest Sketch Card EVER!!!!

I've been showing off some amazing sketch cards that Chris Henderson has done for me over the past year.  One of my latest is by far his best sketch to date, at least in my opinion.

This 1/1 sketch card is of Travis "Lunchbox" Snider.  I asked Chris to draw one of the most memorable moments from the Pirates 2014 season which happened on Easter Sunday when Carlos Gomez of the Brewers started a bench clearing brawl with the Bucs that resulted in Travis Snider being sucker punched in the eye by Martin Maldonado.  Emotions got the best of both teams and Russell Martin came to his Pirates teammate's support by suggesting that Maldonado get pinned down while Snider sucker punched him.

Snider went on to play in games after the Easter brawl sporting a black eye.  His season was by far his best of his career posting a 2.1 WAR in limited appearances.  He set career highs in batting average and on base percentage and fell only 1 HR shy of his career mark.  Snider looks to be the 4th outfielder next season as it has all but guaranteed that Gregory Polanco will be the starting right fielder for the coming season.  I would like to see Snider take some reps at 1st Base to improve his ability to come off the bench.  He'll only be 27 to start the year so there is still hope for a breakout campaign similar to Josh Harrison's performance last year.

Lunch Box Hero!!!!

Earlier in the month, I showed off a pair of Topps SegaCardGen cards released in Japan of Jason Grilli and Garrett Jones respectively.  I mentioned that I grabbed a few of the 2013 cards from the same seller and with the recent hot streak that Travis Snider aka LunchBox has had with Andrew McCutchen being out now would be a good time to show off one of my few Travis Snider's Pirates cards. Even with McCutchen being back in the lineup tonight, Lunch Box will be staying in the OF to give Gregory Polanco a day off.

I wish that these cards were produced in 2014.  They're fun unique items that are tough to chase down.

We all complain about Topps using the same images on multiple products.  They do it on their overseas products as well.  Looking through your basecards for the image I am referencing?  You won't find it.  The image of Snider holding up the Zoltan symbol was a 2013 Topps Team Set exclusive variant.

I showed it off here last September.  I included the picture of the variant below.

Purple Rain from the eBay

No I'm not talking about a song from that formerly known as artist, I'm talking about a couple of baseball cards with purple variations.

2012 Bowman Chrome Purple Variant 186/199

Up first is my main man from 2012 Bowman Chrome.  This Cutch card is numbered 186/199.  This was had for a winning bid of .99.

2013 Topps Toys R Us Travis Snider 

Next up is a purple Toys R Us variant from 2013 Topps of Travis "Lunchbox" Snyder.  Snyder was once considered one of the top 10 prospects in baseball.  His career hasn't taken off the way many people thought it would, but he's still just 25 years old so there's still time for him to break out into a star like many thought he would.

The last card just might be my favorite.  The photo used for this Gerrit Cole card is great looking and gives an interesting perspective.  It's from the new 2013 Topps Chrome series which just hit shelves last week.  I may chase the rainbow of these Cole cards.

Zoltan!

For those that don't know the Zoltan! sign, it's from the movie "Dude, Where's My Car?"  One night at the Pirates clubhouse, the team was watching the ridiculous movie and after a Rod Barajas homerun with the Z symbol coming home, it just kinda stuck.  Well, to further implement that the Pirates are the team of destiny this year, the Steelers have just signed a punter named Zoltan Mesko.  Pittsburgh is going to go nuts!!!!!

Since the Zoltan craze started for the Pirates last year Topps has had a few releases showing the Zoltan symbol being used.

The first was Josh Harrison's Topps card from last year.

While it is exciting to remember Josh's walkoff, it's incredibly depressing to remember that he had no idea how to make a Z.  No Mr. Harrison, that is an S. Not a Z.  This is why you had to go back and forth between the minors and majors last year.  Learn the symbol, then you can come back up and play with the big boys.

2013 Topps Museum Collection Momentous Material 8/50

The first card from this year to feature the Z is a Topps Museum Andrew McCutchen jumbo jersey relic.  The same image of Cutch is also shared on a booklet with Starling Marte from the Museum collection.  So far no other releases have shown the "Z"

2013 Topps Pirates Team Issued Travis Snider 

The 3rd card that I became aware of using the Z was the Pirates Team Set version of Travis Snider.