My Reverse Box: Topps Tribute edition

I decided to steal an idea from Plain Gray Swatch and make a reverse 2013 Topps Tribute box.
Boxes fetch between $250-$275 and I wanted to make it more budget oriented, so I went with the $250 approach.
Here's what I plundered.  Take this Topps!!!!

3 Autographs $54.49

2013 Topps Tribute Starling Marte Sepia AUTO 18/35

Starling Marte sepia
numbered 10/35
Cost $28.50 shipped

2013 Topps Tribute CJ Wilson AUTO 43/99

CJ Wilson
numbered 43/99
Cost $11 shipped

2013 Topps Tribute Gary Sheffield AUTO 22/24

Gary Sheffield stickered auto
numbered 22/24
Cost $14.99 shipped

4 Relics $69.79
My reverse box was a Pirates hot box. It even contained 4 relics

2013 Tribute Retired Remnants BAT 88/99

Roberto Clemente Retired Remnants
numbered 88/99
Cost $31.24

2013 Tribute Retired Remnants GOLD 10/15 Jersey Willie Stargell

Willie Stargell Retired Remnants Gold
numbered 10/15
Cost $20.41

2013 Tribute to the Stars 68/99

Andrew McCutchen Tribute to the Stars Jersey Relic
numbered 68/99
Cost $12.99

2013 Tribute to the Stars 31/99

Jose Bautista Tribute to the Stars
numbered 31/99
Cost $5.15

Base Cards

Andrew McCutchen $1.45

Willie Stargell $1.50

Rather than spending money for the actual base cards, I just estimated them at $1.50 a piece.
22x$1.50 = $33
So to recap
3 Autos (1 Sepia) $54.49
4 Relics (one gold) $69.79
$124.28
24 Base Cards $36 (estimate)
$150.28 for 4 hits that I actually wanted and 3 autographs of players I actually like.  This equated to $100 less than the price of the actual box.  Um....yeah, I think I'll stick to buying singles of high end products.

Another Charlie Morton 1/1?????

Topps keeps coming up with more and more gimmicks to sell to us collectors.  Each year a new parallel hits the market.  Gold numbered to the years, well that's a classic and easy to obtain.  Black parallels, diamonds, cognacs, anniversary, camo, blue, red, sparkle, emeral, and yes even pink.  Well...over the past few years Topps started to produce wood parallels of most of their products numbered to 5 or less copies.  Flagship Topps is numbered 1/1 and Gypsy Queen minis are around 5 copies per card.

2012 Topps Wood Parallel Charlie Morton 1/1

Last year, I managed to grab the 2012 Topps Wood Parallel of one of my main players I collect, Charlie Morton.  This wasn't had cheaply though.  I had to pay $20 for this off center parallel.  BUT, it's just my 2nd Charlie Morton 1/1 so I couldn't pass up adding it to my collection.

I purposely didn't trim down the scan so that you can all see how poorly cut this card is.  It reminds me of my 1989 Topps collection.  Off center on so many levels.

The back is also off center and features the basic card back.

IP Auto: Andy LaRoche

Yesterday a couple of my friends and I went to see the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (AAA Phillies) take on the Buffalo Bisons (AAA Blue Jays).  I got to the stadium about an hour early to try and grab some autos.  It was largely a failure though.  Two players from the Iron Pigs (Adam Morgan and Tyson Gillies) were signing outside the Majestic store prior to the game, but the line was capped off at 6:15pm (a full hour before gametime).

Many of the Bisons players remained silent when fans approached them for autographs.

Former Royals prospect Clint Robinson signed for a short time for a few fans before starting his normal game day rituals.  Several other players would sign for a few fans then scatter off to do their pre game workouts.  I didn't bring many cards with me mainly because I was using this game as an opportunity to just hang with my friends and watch a game as summer came to a close.

The two players I was hoping to graph strictly for their Pirates ties were Buffalo Bisons 3B Andy Laroche and relief pitcher Brad Lincoln.  Both players were well regarded prospects in the Pirates franchise at one time.  Lincoln came out of the dugout and immediately ran to the bullpen allowing no time to even attempt an autograph.

2009 Heritage Andy LaRoche IP AUTO 

Andy Laroche signed a few cards for everyone though including the card you see above.  He had a terrible game at the plate grounding into two inning ending double plays and also striking out with a runner in scoring position.  Nevertheless I am grateful that Andy was willing to sign for the fans and am happy to add this IP Auto to my collection.

DUAL PATCH AND AN AUTO FOR $9.99?

It's no secret.  Jason Bay was one of my favorite players on the Pirates.  I have quite a ridiculous collection of that gent.  Last month, someone with a larger nicer Jason Bay collection than mine was selling off a large amount of Jason Bay cards on ebay and I jumped at picking up some of the nicer ones.  In doing so I was able to complete my Jason Bay Partner Project I've been working on for well over a year in addition to grabbing some nice patch and autographs.

This might be the best value card I grabbed.  For $9.99!!!!!

2005 Donruss Portraits Prime Patches Dual Patch/AUTO 15/25

It's a 2005 Donruss Prime Patches Dual Patch and Auto numbered 15/25.  Prime Patches offered up some really nice cards during it's release.  I've gotten several Jason Bay including a bat and jumbo jersey swatch and recently grabbed a Dave Parker PATCH AND AUTO numbered 52/72.

You can click on the link below to see some of the other Jason Bay cards I won from the same seller.
Triple Autograph: Jason Bay, Adam Laroche, Tom Gorzelanny
6 player booklet: Russell Martin, Jason Bay, Shawn Hill, Justin Morneau, Rich Harden, Erik Bedard
2008 UD Premier LOGO Patch 23/50 SICK!!!!!!
2008 UD Premiere 3 player patch: Xavier Nady, Jason Bay, Freddy Sanchez 11/15

Yesterday marked the 10 year anniversary of the Pirates trading their slugging right fielder Brian Giles to San Diego for Jason Bay and Oliver Perez.  I explained how the Pirates were moneyballing for years before the A's were and you can read my article (and see some sweet cards while you're at it) by clicking this link.

McCutchen Monday: It came from Japan!

My current favorite player in baseball today is Andrew McCutchen.  Quite honestly, he might be my favorite player I've ever gotten a chance to see play. I currently own almost 300 unique cards of Cutch and hope to get that number closer to 400 by the end of the year.  Amongst my cardboard collection of Cutch are many autographs, over a dozen 1/1s, and almost enough jersey material to put his jersey back together.  Back in 2011, I created Morton Mondays, but with the lack of Charlie Morton cards available, I changed it to McCutchen Mondays so each Monday I will show off one new card from my Cutch collection.

To see all my Andrew McCutchen relics, autos, printing plates, manupatches, etc ... check out this link.

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you may remember that I picked up several video game cards produced by Topps for the Japanese market.  I highlighted those cards back in February which included Jason Grilli, Garret Jones, Joel Hanrahan, and of course Andrew McCutchen.

I found a seller of these cards who has a shop on ebay and added him to my favorites.
I recently saw that he had listed several of the 2013 Topps SegaCardGen cards so naturally I had to pick them up.

2013 SegaCardGen 

Here's the 2013 SegaCardGen gaming card of Cutch.

2013 Sega CardGen back

 Above is the back of the card.

In addition to Cutch, I grabbed 5 other Bucs and a former Buc.  Below you'll see Pedro Alvarez, Jared Hughes, James McDonald, Neil Walker, AJ Burnett, and Joel Hanrahan.

I don't have any idea what the back of the cards say, but I think my favorite description is for Pedro Alvarez. I wonder if El Toro wears a cape when he disguieses himself as  Power Hitting Hot Corner Man.

Ralph Kiner ate his Wheaties

Everyone knows what 1952 Topps did to the card market.  Prior to that, very few cards were found to be mainstream.  Sure you could get cards as bonuses in tobacco or cereal products, but nothing like what Topps was able to accomplish when they released the 1952 series.

I've previously shown off a few of my 1952 Topps cards I've picked up at shows, but just recently came across this little gem for $3.

It's a 1952 Wheaties side panel featuring Ralph Kiner.  Clearly it doesn't have the same market or resale value that a Topps card would have and the cutting of the "card" was not done perfectly, but for $3 I will gladly add this to my binder of Pirates HOF players.

Oh Canada! Jameson Taillon WBC AUTO

I recently showed off the booklet that FINALLY gave me 38 different players to appear on a relic or autos with Jason Bay.  It featured all Canadian born players including Russell Martin, Jason Bay, Rich Harden, Justin Morneau, Erik Bedard, and Shawn Hill.

While Jameson Taillon wasn't born in Canada, his parents were so he was qualified to play for Team Canada in the recent WBC.  As is customary for Topps, they produced cardboard of the players involved.

There were several Pirates players featured in the 2013 Topps Tribute WBC release including Jameson Taillon, Wandy Rodriguez, and Jason Grilli.  I still need a Grilli auto from the set, but have already shown the  sepia Wandy Rodriguez I grabbed for 99 cents.  

2013 Topps Tribute WBC AUTO 35/35

Taillon pitched only 4 innings in the WBC allowing 1 earned run while striking out 3 member of Team USA (Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Braun, and Shane Victorino).  He threw 34 pitches of 52 for strikes so his command was pretty strong against an All-Star worthy lineup.  Not too bad for a kid that had never pitched above AA prior to the WBC.

I've said it before, the Pirates pitching staff should be very strong in the next couple years as more and more homegrown players begin to appear in the majors.  While many predict Cole to be the more dominant pitcher, I think that Taillon will one day surpass him strictly because his curveball is nasty.

The above card is my 18th certified auto of Jamo.