Football Sunday: The Final Chapter (for now)

Well, as far as I'm concerned football season is over and I have 44 days of watching hockey until pitchers and catchers report.  The Steelers lost in disappointing fashion yesterday at home to the Ravens eliminating them from further playoff appearances.

A lot of people I work with know that Le'veon Bell is my favorite current Steeler and his absence was greatly missed yesterday.  However, when I got asked if I thought Bell could have given the Steelers a win, I had to say "probably not".  There's no doubt that the Steelers offense would have been better suited against the Ravens with Bell in the lineup instead of being on the sidelines. However, the Ravens rushing defense was downright filthy this year limiting opponents to less than 4 yards per carry.  Bell wasn't the reason the Steelers lost yesterday.

The team made a lot of costly stupid penalties that Joe Flacco capitalized on.  That's the reality.

Above is my latest Le'Veon Bell purchase that cost me a winning bid of $4.99.  I considered making an all green month for March to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but didn't know if it would be as well received as my Save Second Base, Save the Boobies month.  Would you guys like to see me Go Green for St. Patty's Month?  I've got a lot of emerald/green type cards I can show off.

Mandatory Penguins: Post 1

At least once a month I would like to post some new Penguins cards I have acquired throughout the year.  The Pens have been having exceptional years during the regular season and blowing their chances in the post season for the past few seasons.  Hopefully this year will get them back to the Stanley Cup.
Today's post features 12 new Kris Letang cards that I picked up for $6.  Nothing too exciting as they are all just base cards but the Panini Crown Royale is super awesome dicut.

Kris Letang has been my favorite player for the past 6 seasons.  For Christmas, my girlfriend got me a Kris Letang Alternate Jersey which caused me to give the reaction of "Whaaaaaat!!!!! Are you kidding me?  This is fucking awesome"  Keep in mind she's a Flyers fan so it's extra hard for her to want to purchase anything Penguins.

Chasing the Rainbow: Russell Martin X Fractor

I have been chasing the 2013 Topps Chrome Rainbow of Russell Martin for well over a year now.
I've already shown off the following cards
Blue Refractor
Orange Refractor
Pink Refractor of Russ numbered /5
black numbered/100

camo numbered 10/15

gold numbered 34/50

red numbered 12/25 and sepia numbered 45/75

The 1/1s will be extremely tough for me to pick up as I am missing all of them and don't even know if any of them have made the secondary market yet.

Today's latest addition ran me $0.76 delivered.

2015 Collecting Goals

2014 is in the past now and I highlighted my recap yesterday for how I did.  Everyone makes goals for the new year and my blog is no different.

My 2015 Collecting Goals will be pretty similar to the 2014 Goals.

I'd like to add another Hall of Famer Pittsburgh Pirate Autograph to the Collection
Max Carey, Paul Waner, Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner, Arky Vaughan, Pie Traynor, Fred Clarke, and Vic Willis top the list

I would like to complete at least two more team sets for my Flagship Topps sets.  1969-2014 are all complete along with 1965 which I completed in 2014.  That leaves 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967,  and 1968.

Continue to add any new Charlie Morton cards and unique items to the collection (excluding 1/1s there is only 1 Charlie Morton card not in my collection)

Add 2 Pittsburgh Steelers in the Hall of Fame autographs to my collection.

Add a Jerome Bettis autograph to my collection

Continue my yearly reverse box of Topps Tribute along with 1 other product

Have a certified autograph of every Pirate who played in the 2013 Wild Card "Blackout" Game against the Reds. (needs: Travis Snider, Tony Watson, Fransisco Liriano, Marlon Byrd, Clint Barmes)

Add 1 more Tony Sanchez 2009 Bowman Chrome BGS9.5+ to the collection

Add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards to the collection.

Add BowmanBlack autographs to the collection as desired

Complete 2015 Pirates team sets for flagship Topps, Allen & Ginter, Topps Heritage, Gypsy Queen

2014 Collecting Goals Recap

2014 might have been my most successful collecting year yet.  I added a lot of great cards to my collection highlighted by completing several Charlie Morton rainbows (2014 Topps, 2002 Bowman Chrome) along with several 1/1s of Charlie but none were more important than this 2012 Topps 24K Gold Embedded card.

I completed the 1965, 1969, 1971, and 1972 Topps Team Sets.

I managed to complete half of the Tony Sanchez Slabbed 9.5 2009 Bowman Chrome Auto challenge

I got a bunch of Bowman Black autos of all the Pirates I wanted including 3 copies of Tyler Glasnow which can be seen here, here, and here, Gregory Polanco, Jameson Taillon, Reese McGuire, and Alen Hanson.

I added well over 36 Jason Bay cards to the collection, but sadly fell short for Andy Van Slyke and Ryan Doumit.

I added my 75th unique Andrew McCutchen certified autograph to the collection with the following additions in 2014:
2014 Donruss Die Cut Elite Status /25
2005 Topps Chrome Refractor BGS 9.5
2012 Bowman Chrome Dual Auto with George Springer /25
2013 Panini Team USA /25
2013 Topps Museum Jumbo Jersey/AUTO /10
2008 Just Minors Black /25
2014 Topps Dual Auto/Dual Patch Face of Franchise with Gerrit Cole /5
2014 Panini Private Signings Fall Heroes /10

The Gerrit Cole/Andrew McCutchen Dual Auto/Dual Patch is just absolutely amazing!!!!

I added an autograph of a Hall of Famer in Pittsburgh Gear (Goose Gossage)

Another 2014 Goal Accomplished

Two weeks ago I showed off one of the toughest (and most expensive) Bowman Black autographs I have ever picked up.  That Austin Meadows autograph brought me done to needing only one Bowman Black autograph of the Pirates, Alen Hanson, who I recently purchased just in time to close out the new year.

Alen Hanson entered the 2014 season with the expectation that he could be a mid season callup along with Gregory Polanco if he showed continued improvement in the field.  The 21 year old middle infielder put up strong numbers at the plate in AA despite some minor injuries and an extended period of time missed that the reason still hasn't been revealed.

In 118 games, the switch hitting Dominican hit .280/.326/.442 with 11 HomeRuns and 25 stolen bases.  Many see Hanson as a future leadoff hitter that can play 2B, SS, or 3B.  Despite the struggle that Hanson suffered last year which dropped his elite prospect status, I personally still think that Hanson will be a very good major leaguer and given the right opportunity in 2015 could have a season like 2014 Josh Harrison.  He has incredible bat speed from both sides of the plate and possesses a good bit of pop for being only 5ft10.

Bowman Black will continue to be one of my favorite autographs to collect every year going forward.  I will most likely add Connor Joe and Cole Tucker to the list of players I want to get Bowman Black autographs from in 2015.  I may also continue to pick up Tyler Glasnow's bowman black cards as well since 3 out of 25 just isn't enough.

If you want to see the other Bowman Black autographs I got in 2014 click here.

McCutchen Monday: Remembering Yesteryear

As the year comes closer to an end, it's important to reflect on yesteryear.  What better way to do that then to show off this retro insert of Andrew McCutchen from the 2013 Topps Finest 1993 Retro release?

The above insert ran me a cool $1.99 on ebay that I was able to combine with some other purchases for resale
Have fun and be safe out there this week kiddies....