Sunday Funday: Pirate Parrot Auto

I just put in a 12 hour day and I am extremely exhausted and frustrated.  On top of it, the Pirates lost to the Reds in the 9th inning when Chris Heisy hit his 2nd homerun of the afternoon.  I don't know why, but it feels like Heisy is one of those guys that just kills the Pirates, but struggles against the rest of the league.

Oh well...

Here's an uplifting card

From 2014 Topps Opening Day it's an autograph of the Pirate Parrot.  I think this ran me around $20-$25 shortly after OD came out.

Sorta like a Holy Grail...

I've been a Charlie Morton supercollector since before the 2010 season and have been slowly adding more and more of his cards to my collection.

With the card below, I currently sit at 95.94% complete (excluding 1/1s)

Many of the Charlie Morton cards I needed for my super collection were extremely rare cards (1/1s), minor league cards, or low print runs (/50 or less) The low print run but accessible card I thought I would never see was Charlie's 2002 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor numbered to 50.

2002 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor 46/50

I have only seen 1 appear on ebay in the past 4 years and I was sniped on it.  Fortunately, through patience and a lot of detective work I was able to land this gorgeous gold refractor you see above for $18 delivered.

I naturally have Charlie Morton as one of my saved searches on ebay and a few months back a seller was selling off a large part of his collection which included the BGS graded 9.5 2008 Black Refractor (/25).  In the background of the image he had posted I saw the golden beauty above and knew I had to have it.  Through several emails with the seller I was able to convince him to let it go.

Only 3 non 1/1s remain for my supercollection and I fear that the 2012 Topps Update Factory Orange will be the toughest to acquire since many people who purchase the factory set don't open them for the orange variants.

These are the cards I currently need in my collection.

The red indicates that the card is more than 1 copy
Yellow indicates that it is a 1/1

As you can see most of my needs are 1/1s and I have actually crossed 4 off already this year.

2002 Upper Deck Prospect Premieres Future Gems Quads /600 (Val Majewski, Joey Gomes, Daniel Cevette, Charlie Morton)
2004 Rome Braves (minor leage Multi-ad)
2008 Bowman Chrome Printing Plates 1/1 (needs all 4: cyan, black, yellow, magenta)
2008 Bowman Draft & Prospects Printing Plates 1/1 (need all 4: cyan, black, yellow, magenta)
2008 Bowman Draft & Prospects Red 1/1
2008 Bowman Sterling Printing Plates 1/1 (need all 4: cyan, black, yellow, magenta)
2008 Bowman Sterling Red Refractor 1/1
2011 Topps Update #235 Gold Canary Diamond 1/1
2011 Topps Update #235 Platinum 1/1
2011 Topps Update #235 Printing Plates 1/1 (need 3: black, yellow, magenta)
2012 Topps #516 Factory Set Orange /190
2012 Topps #516 Platinum 1/1
2012 Topps #516 Printing Plates 1/1 (need all 4: cyan, black, yellow, magenta)
2012 Topps Mini #516 Printing Plates 1/1 (need 3: cyan, yellow, magenta)
2013 Topps Update Printing Plates 1/1 (need 3: yellow, magenta, cyan)
2014 Topps Heritage Printing Plates 1/1 (need all 4) I'm not even sure if these exist since Beckett doesn't have them listed.
2014 Topps Printing Plates (need 3 (magenta, cyan, black)

Black is the New Black: Tyler Glasnow is Back!

I'M NOT SURE WHY THIS DIDN'T POST 4 MONTHS AGO, BUT HERE IT IS...

I have stated numerous times how much I love Bowman Black autos.  I've got autographs of Gerrit Cole, Jameson Taillon, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, and Tyler Glasnow.  I recently added another Tyler Glasnow Bowman Black to the collection because the price was right.

This is the second I own and just recently purchased another, giving me 3 of the 25.  Maybe I can hunt down the other 22.  If you want to see the other Glasnow Bowman Black I bought, you can click here.

Throwback Thursday: Emil Brown AUTO

Normally I use Throwback Thursdays for players before the 90s, but due to a lack of time and the fact that I was given this card from a friend out of those repack Target "guaranteed autos" packs I thought it was a good time to highlight the baseball career of today's subject...

EMIL BROWN!!!!!


The End!!!!

Just Kidding!  The fact that anyone makes it to the major leagues is quite an accomplishment so I won't make fun of Emil anymore.  Emil was drafted in the 6th round of 1994 draft by the Oakland Athletics.  A few years later he was in the majors as a 22 year old playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  His performance in Pittsburgh was what most fans saw of the "talent" levels in Pittsburgh during The Losing Streak years.  In parts of 5 seasons wearing black and gold, Emil hit .205 with only a .310 slugging percentage.  His best season came during his age 31 and 32 seasons when he was hitting .286 and averaging 16 HR and 84 RBI while a member of the Kansas City Royals.  He last played for the New York Mets on June 6th, 2009.

My first RussMart jersey

Since the Pirates signed Russell Martin as a free agent after the 2012 season, I've been wanting to add a relic of his to my collection.  There were many options available from his Dodgers days, but I was really hoping Topps would produce something of his.  The only relic that I know of though that Topps has produced of Russell wearing a Pirates uniform was this 1/1 Bat Nameplate from Topps Museum I bought last year..

Fortunately Panini was able to pick up Topps slack and produce this Jersey King in 2014 Donruss Series 2 of the Pittsburgh Baseball Club backstop.  The card above cost me just $1.99.

Russ has had one of his best offensive years of his career this year and will likely be one of the key free agents on the market this winter.

I'm like Indiana Jones with this VERY RARE 1/1 find....

Being a supercollector can get boring during the "offseason" when no other cards are being produced of the player you collect.  What I do is improvise and add to the collection, other pieces of cardboard not found in baseball packs.  I came across a Game Used Lineup card from a Pirates game in 2009 when the team finished their regular season with a 62-99 record.  That terrible record was good for second worse in the majors that year.  Not many people would get excited for a piece of paper that the manager wrote on for a team that finished that bad.

My favorite pitcher, Charlie Morton, was called on to make his 18th start of the season on September 30th, 2009.  He had a 4-9 record entering the day with an ERA of 5.01.  Things were different though on September 30th, much different.  Charlie took the mound and pitched an absolute gem striking out 8 while sprinkling 4 singles and 3 walks over 9 innings for his first career complete game and shutout.

That's right, I am the proud owner of the lineup card from Charlie Morton's first shutout in the majors and thus his first complete game too.  Anyone want to try and beat that for their supercollection?  It cost me $35 and is now framed on my wall.

News broke last week that Charlie has suffered a sports hernia and could possibly be out for the duration of the season.  Being a supercollector, that's terrible news of course.  Today it was announced that Charlie will most likely begin a rehab assignment and could hopefully recover strong for the Bucs and help them to their second postseason appearance in as many years.

McCutchen Monday: 2011 Topps Chrome Gold

I purchased this Andrew McCutchen 2011 Gold Refractor a few months ago

2011 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor 27/50

I forget the price I paid for it and am too lazy to research it but I think it was around the $10 mark.