$1 for 2 Tony on a Tuesday

I picked up this lot of 2 Tony Sanchez cards off ebay earlier in the year for $1.  They're not numbered or licensed, but hey it's the Pirates top catching prospect in the system and a former 1st rounder who recently got promoted to AAA.

LET'S GO BUCS!

 

McCutchen Monday: Cutch jersey, prospect trade bait, and the contest winner is....

I recently saw a nice lot of 5 prospect autographs and a 2012 Heritage McCutchen jersey on ebay for a low price of $15.  I pulled the trigger and am happy to list some new trade bait.

First up though is the 2012 Topps Heritage jersey relic of Cutch.  This is not for trade.

Cutch had a huge game yesterday driving all 3 of the Pirates runs.  He hit a double in the 1st inning to put the Bucs ahead 1-0 then hit a 2 run two out linedrive homerun over the left field wall to put the Bucs up 3-0.  There was some shananigans when Cutch came up in the bottom of the 7th inning as Mitch Maier dove over the wall in foul territory and appeared to catch the ball, but once his glove hit the ground, he flipped over causing the ball to roll out under his back.  As the umpire was running up the line he reached behind him and showed the ball and Cutch was called out.  Karma came back though as Maier struck out looking with the bases loaded in the 8th on a borderline strike call. 

So who wants to see some prospect autographs up for trade?

First up are two Tampa Bay Rays autographs that Troll might be interested in, but no one has claimed yet.

The most notable is Mike Mahtook (card on right) who was taken in the 1st round by the Tampa Bay Rays last year. 
Mahtook is currently the Rays 3rd best prospect in one of baseball's best farm systems.
The Mahtook is numbered 207/299 and features an on card autograph.


Jeff Ames is the Rays 18th best prospect.  He currently has a very good 11.6 K/9 in his first season in proball.  The Ames sticker auto is numbered 142/299

The Pirates play the Arizona D'Backs again this year, so if there is no interest I may put the Anthony Meo auto (middle card above) in for the Let's Go Bucs contest instead of my Randy Johnson patch I was planning on using.  Meo is numbered 216/299 and is currently the D'Backs 13th best prospect.  In 62 professional innings he has a 3.47 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and 10.1 K/9.

Neither Jared Hoying (Texas) or Hernan Perez (Detroit) are in their team's top 20 prospects as ranked by Jon Mayo.

If you're interested in any of the cards, shoot me an email or leave a comment. 

Now to find out who won the Royals free card swag since they got swept by the Bucs

 It was a 3 game series

 that the Pirates were able to sweep from the KC Royals

Our winner is superduperman99 who runs the blog Fantastic Catch.  I will need your mailing address Mr. SuperDuperMan99

Remember to cheer for the Bucs all season long for a chance to win free cards as the Pirates attempt to have their first winning season since 1992.

LET'S GO BUCS!

Another Contest Winner announcement

Last night, the Pirates beat the Royals 5-3 ensuring yet another series win for the Bucs, their 5th straight series win. 

I will be putting the randomizer to work again either after the game today or sometime tomorrow to see whose going to win the Royals swag.

The Pirates will have an off day tomorrow before heading in to face the AL East Division leaders Baltimore Orioles for a 3 game series in Baltimore.  I live about 3 hours away from Baltimore and am thinking about attending the game on Tuesday.
If the Pirates can sweep the O's in the 3 game series I'm going to include this
Adam Jones 2012 Topps Tribute AUTO

 If the Pirates just win or split the series, here's what's available to the lucky winner

a vintage Jim Palmer Topps Boyhood Photos of the Stars, Brian Roberts jersey relic, and a small sampling of 2012 Topps Orioles


Normal rules apply
1)Leave a comment prior to the first pitch of the opening game of the series saying Let's Go Bucs! Beat the O's and you get entered into the randomizer for possible card winnings
2)If the Pirates win or split the series I will randomize all the entrants.  The person's name who appears at the top of the final randomization wins the cards
3)If you pimp the contest and provide me with a link you get entered twice
4)If the team the Pirates are playing are your favorite team and you root against your favorite team cheering for the Bucs, you get entered twice.  (Just let me know that _____ is your favorite team in the comments.)

LET'S GO BUCS!

Andrew McCutchen now has 500 career hits since arriving 475 games ago on June 4th 2009. 

I picked up this 2012 Limited on card auto off ebay for just a bit over $12.  Not a bad price to pay for another Cutch in my collection.

Feels like something magical is happening in Buctown

The Pirates kicked off the series with the Royals with a 4-2 victory.  Heads up baserunning again played a huge part in this ball game.  Rod Barajas was able to score from second on a single by Clint Barmes on a ball hit to left field.  Rod is huge guy and looks like a locomotive trying to get started when running the bases.  The throw had beaten Rod to the plate, but with cat like reflexes dodged the tag by Quintero, then crawled to homeplate to avoid a second tag. 

Another heads up play was when Jose Tabata got picked off first base with Pedro Alvarez on 3rd.  Tabata was able to keep the fielders distracted long enough in a rundown for Pedro to score. 

It looks like something magical is happening in Pittsburgh at the start of this summer as the Bucs keep winning series after series and opening with series wins.

I found this video on youtube today when checking out the comments section in bucsdugout.com
I highly encourage you to watch this video.  It's really well put together and will make you believe in the Bucs in 2012. 

The song was actually used a lot for promos during the early 90s when the Pirates were heading into the post season year after year thanks to their All-Star loaded lineups of Bonds, Van Slyke, Bonilla, Drabek.

What's amazing about this video is that it features Chris Resop's fist pump striking out Ryan Ludwick when he picked up his 2nd career save in last night's extra inning affair with the 1st place Reds.  Resop was the last available pitcher for the Pirates in a seesaw battle with the Reds.  The video also features Tabata's shotgun throw from right field to nail Joey Votto at home which proved to be a game saving run.

Since this is a baseball card blog first and foremost, here's an Andrew McCutchen dual auto with Royals CF Lorenzo Cain (currently on the DL) numbered 6/25.  It marks my 5th Cutch dual auto just minors auto.

To recap here's my other Cutch dual autos
 

 Cutch with Cole Hamels

Cutch with Gio Gonzalez

Cutch with Pirates 1st round draft pick Daniel Moskos

Cutch with Jason Heyward

LET'S GO BUCS!

Pirates win 4th straight series so we've got another contest winner

The Pirates have been on a terror beating up the NL Central lately.
They've managed to beat the Reds 2 of 3 at home, sweep the Cubs at home, take 2 of 3 in Milwaukee, then take 2 of 3 of the Reds in Cincy.

Let's see who our winner for the most recent Let's Go Bucs contest is

 it was a 3 game series

 so I have to hit the random button 3 times

Jeff won this contest.  I will need your address to mail you the Barry Larkin jersey card.

For most of June, the Pirates will try their skills against the AL Central.  Up first the Kansas City Royals in Pittsburgh.  This looks like a series that the Bucs should be able to possibly sweep.

In addition to the cards shown yesterday, I've decided to include this Brooks Pounders auto card too if the Bucs can win the series against the Royals.  Brooks Pounders was traded from the Bucs to the Royals last year and is a strikeout machine.  He is still struggling with his command though as he has 19 walks in only 50 innings so far this year.

Jose Tabata's heads up baserunning and rifle throw to nail Joey Votto at home played a huge part in yesterday's game.

Hopefully he can continue to make those clutch plays.

LET'S GO BUCS!!!!

BEAT THE ROYALS!!!!

Trade Post: GCRL

FIRST THING'S FIRST!  THE RUBBER MATCH BETWEEN THE 1ST PLACE REDS AND 2ND PLACE PIRATES IS TONIGHT.  IF THE PIRATES ARE ABLE TO DEFEAT MIKE LEAKE AND THE REDS TONIGHT, THEY PULL WITHIN 1 GAME OF FIRST PLACE!!!!  LET'S GO BUCS!

Since the Reds series has already started, entries for that contest are over, but the Bucs take on the AL Central in Interleague games starting tomorrow.  First up, the Kansas City Royals.  The Pirates will return to Pittsburgh for a 3 game series with the Royals Friday.  If the Pirates win the series against the Royals, here's the cards up for the contest.  Same rules apply as always.  Leave a comment saying Let's Go Bucs and if the Pirates win or split the series, I randomize the entrants equal to the number of games in the series.  The person whose name appears on top of the final randomization wins.

LET'S GO BUCS!

Now onto the actual trade post

I recently made a trade with Jim from the Dodgers blog GCRL  for my Dee Gordon auto I offered up for the Dodgers vs. Pirates series earlier this year.  Since the Dodgers swept the Pirates I still had the Gordon auto available.

In exchange for the Dee Gordon and a few random Dodgers, I received 49 (!) Brian Giles base cards, some random 2010 Bucs and 2 hits of Brian Giles.

First up are some of my favorites of the Giles base cards. 

Here's some others.  These look retro, but they're not.

Of the 49 unique Brian Giles cards sent to me, 36 were new to my collection.  That's an impressive average.

and finally the hits...

Prior to last month I had never owned a baseball card with an actual piece of baseball in it.  While this card doesn't look as well as the Giles/Ramirez I purchased the stitching of the baseball is relevant and I like the player selection more.  Jason Kendall is still one of my favorite Pirates of all time.

This 2001 Fleer Feel the Game bat relic of Giles has a nice design to it.  It's nothign too flashy nor is it too dull like many of Fleer's inserts.  The card isn't numbered nor can I find a print run online for it.

Jim also included 2 new Clemente cards for me to add to my collection. 

Check it out a KMart Topps card from 1982.  SWEET!!!!

Jason Bay to return tonight

According to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com, Jason Bay is likely to return to the Mets lineup tonight against the Nationals.  Bay has been plagued with injuries since signing with the Mets in 2010.  He's been on the DL with a broken rib. 

It's going to be nice to see Jason start to get regular playing time when he returns.  He'll likely be inserted back into his home in left field and bat somewhere around the middle of the lineup.  The Mets have been playing well without Bay. 

My Jason Bay hits collection currently sits at 90!!!!

Another player that has had to deal with injuries a lot over the past couple seasons is Justin Morneau.  It wasn't too long ago that he was an MVP for the AL.  However in his 2010 and 2011 seasons combined he has only played 150 games.  The Twins despite having a healthy Justin Morneau recently have not been playing well all season since his return from the DL.  I manage to pick up the dual auto 4 jersey swatch 2007 UD Black card above for $20 off the bay.  This brings my Jason Bay dual auto total to 5. 

I finally got myself a Jason Bay booklet.  It's kinda lame and not very thick, but it features a patch of JB.  It's numbered out of 99.  The seller also included the below card for free because he incorrectly showed it in the auction, but didn't mention it was included.

So I got both of these Pirates Dynasty Foundation booklets for $18.
The booklet also features Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski, Jack Wilson, and Craig Wilson.  it would be really nice to fin a booklet with all 5 relics on it.  That sounds a bit more expensive though.

I picked up this 2006 Bowman Buyback Original AUTO off COMC a few months back for $15.  I'm not a huge fan of buyback encased cards, but this one is Jason Bay's jersey number (38) when he was with the Bucs.  Besides it was cheaper than buying a blaster.

This was a card I had sitting in my needs to be scanned pile for quite some time.  It's a quad jersey card featuring Andruw Jones, Alfonso Soriano, Jason Bay, and Alex Rios.  Not a single player pictured on this card is still with their same team from 2006.  This was had rather cheaply if I remember.  I think it was around $12 or so.