Hall of Fame Autograph /10 for under $15....um ok

This year I really wanted to increase my collection for non Pirates. I've been adding a lot of Pacers recently because despite making it to the Conference Finals twice in the past 3 years, no one really notices that they exist in the cardboard community. The team is filled with plenty of young talented fast defensive guys that can put up the points. This current roster with the additions of Monta Ellis, Jordan Hill, and rookies Joe Young and Myles Turner are a lot of fun to watch.

The Pacers don't have many players in the Hall of Fame. The most recognized from our generation is obviously Reggie Miller and his performance against the Knicks in the mid 90s is the main reason I root for the Pacers.

Mel Daniels was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. He finished his career averaging double double stats in both points (18.4ppg) and rebounds (14.9rpg). He is one of only four players to have his number retired by the Pacers.

This 2013 Leaf Metal green parallel numbered 5/10 was acquired for under $15. The card features an on card autograph, which sadly isn't possible anymore. Mr. Daniels passed away last year from complications with heart surgery.

The Outlaw makes his appearance

I've been super busy with real life lately that I haven't had much time to blog. On top of that, my scanner is not functioning again.

Today kicks off NFL Free Agency which for football fans is the start of the 2016 season. The Steelers have already resigned some of their current team by restructuring contracts. In addition though, they lost a long time Steeler great when Heath Miller retired.

They will look towards young tight end Jesse James to take over the mantle. I'm not sure if he has the nickname, The Outlaw, officially but that's what I'm going to call him when I root him on.

I picked up my first (of hopefully many) Autographs of him recently for under $10.

It continues the All Green month

A cup of green coffee

I recently picked up this green parallel of Gregory "El Coffee" Polanco for $2.99 delivered. The 87/99 parallel from Finest is my first Polanco card I have acquired this year.

Cole Tucker Auto

I have added a few Cole Tucker autographs in the past few months and many of them fall under $10. Today's card ran me $3.66 which is a steal if Cole can recover from his season ending surgery he suffered last season.

Cole possesses a few above average skills (defense and running) and could become a better than average hitter. His personality and work ethics are above average too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the best St. Patrick's Day Insert Ever!!!

When I was looking for my National Treasures cards for a reverse box, I came across this Xander Boegarts card.  I knew that I had to have it.

There were initial reports in 2011 that the Red Sox were interested in trading for Joel Hanrahan and there was even some speculation that Xander Boegarts could be traded 1 for 1 for the Hammer.  Hanrahan would eventually be traded to Boston along with Brock Holt for 4 players including 2013 All-Star Mark Melancon.

The back of the card is actually interesting...check it out

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY EVERYONE!!!

McCutchen Monday: An Ebay 1/1

I never seek out "ebay 1/1s".  These are the first or last cards in a print run or the player's jersey number.  However, when an opportunity presents itself to snag a jersey numbered card of my favorite player for a reasonable price I will jump at it.  I managed to grab this Green parallel of Cutch back during COMC's Black Friday sale.  I'm about 3 months behind schedule with my posting of that lot.  Rest easy though followers, you will see some of them this month as part of the "Go Green Initiative" for St. Patrick's Day.

2014 Topps Finest was a great product.  I felt it was the best the company has put out in recent years.  It featured a fun amount of parallels, some great inserts, and of course those 1994 throwback inserts.

Go Green: More PG Greenies

January and February brought me some fine additions to my slowly growing PC of PG (Paul George).  The latest additions were cheap buys and features green yet again.

George will most likely miss the entire 2014-15 season after injuring himself during an intersquad game for Team USA basketball.  Because of this, the Pacers seemed to be destined to solidify a top 10 pick in next year's draft which I was hoping will be one of Kentucky's many young future stars and elite defenders.

However recent play has the Pacers 13-2 since February 1st and the #8 seed for the weak Eastern Conference.  IF PG is able to get healthy for the playoffs, I'm going to get very excited for another deep NBA playoff run for the Pacers.

The back of the card compares Paul George to Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen.  The serially numbered to 199 card was purchased for $3.

If PG turns into a Hall of Famer, I'll be a very happy Pacers fan.

McCutchen Mailday #21: Second Auto of 2015 added

I may not only add 100 new Andrew McCutchen cards to the collection by the end of the year, but I may come very close to reaching 100 unique certified autographs of Cutch by year's end as well.

My latest addition in the quest for 100 is the unnumbered green parallel Turn of the Century from 2014 Donruss Elite.  Cutch doesn't sign much anymore and it appears that he only has a handful of releases with Panini each year that he signs.  Last November I showed the gold version of this card /50 that I picked up for $50.  This green parallel ran me just $38.

I still miss the days when I could grab Cutch autos for $25 or less, but $38 seems fair for one of the top players in the league (even if it is a sticker auto)

Going Green: Best Mustache Award!!!!

I mustache you a question....

I remember listening to an interview with Jameson Taillon and Nick Kingham (who I featured in a card post yesterday) that they were growing team mustaches in 2013.  Because of that, Topps in their frequent tardiness captured both young men with their mustaches for the 2014 Topps Heritage Minors release.  I showed off the Kingham last year.

Going Green: Nick Kingham Autograph

My optimism for Nick Kingham might be higher than others in the sports card collecting world.  Maybe it's because I own his Superfractor or it's because I've seen his stuff in person and it is incredible stuff, but I think that Kingham will be a key piece to the Pirates success in 2015.

Nick has a unique signature which is actually kind of cool.  Check out this numbered to 100 sticker auto to see what I'm talking about.

Going Green McCutchen Mailday #20: 2014 Bowman Chrome

Here's a $9 purchase of Cutch in my pursuit to add 100 new Cutch cards by year's end.

Hailing from 2014 Bowman Chrome, this numbered parallel is a wealth of information on the back.

Seeing Red and Going Green: JaCoby Jones Green Ink AUTO /10

This is a first time on the PTR folks.  We got ourselves a dual color feature card.  Combining the month of Going Green and bringing back the Seeing Red feature we have a very low numbered green ink autograph of Pirates prospect, JaCoby Jones.

Jones had a breakout season in 2014 when he belted 23 HRs and batted .288 as a shortstop in A ball.  Before Bowman introduced JaCoby to the sports collecting world with his autograph, I was fortunate enough to grab this from Elite.  It's my first green ink autograph in my collection.  I will likely show off my /75 JaCoby Jones autograph from Bowman this month as well, but this card has been in my possession for nearly half a year and I thought now was a good time to showcase it.

McCutchen Monday: Going Green 2013 style

I never showed these two parallels off when I got them in 2013.  Today seems appropriate.
Enjoy

Andrew McCutchen had a breakout season in 2012 and looked to be on the way towards an MVP season before he fell apart in September and ultimately lead to the Pirates finishing below .500 for the 20th season in a row.  He finished the year batting .327 just behind that year's MVP winner, Buster Posey.

Cutch was playing in his 3rd Midsummer Classic in 2013 and was the only player to steal a base in the 2013 All-Star Game.  Prior to the All-Star Game, Cutch had 10 homeruns and 20 steals batting .302 in the first half of the 2013 Pirates magical season.

Also in my collection is a 2013 Bowman Chrome Green Retail Exclusive which you can see below...

I think I probably spent no more than $3 for all three cards above.

Football Sunday: Going Green with Troy

I bought a total of 4 blasters and rack packs of football product in 2014.  One pack of Valor yielded me this awesome numbered green parallel of Troy Polamalu.

Troy is getting up in age, but his presence on the field is still incredibly strong for the Steelers defense.  He's a natural leader and when he isn't on the field for a game they have had a losing record since he came into the league.

I'd like to add an autograph card of his to my collection one day, but in the meantime I'll be happy with my autographed 8x10 plaque I got as a Christmas gift many years ago.

There's been a lot of talk about Troy retiring this season and if he likely doesn't retire, he will most certainly be cut for the 2015 season.

The 2 for 1 Reverse Box Challenge continues...

With only $37 left to complete my hotbox of Pirates from 2014 Triple Threads I happened to grab another Jumbo Relic/Auto.  It's not nearly as awesome as the patch/auto of Grilli numbered to /10, but it features a 5+ WAR outfielder who is on the cusp of having a breakout season soon.

I grabbed this emerald beauty for $13 last year and have been waiting until my Go Green month to show it off.

The 2 for 1 Reverse Box Challenge for 2014 Topps Triple Threads is complete.

Base Cards
Alvarez, Cole, McCutchen, Polanco, Piazza (ok technically I didn't complete the base card challenge, but I'm sure I can find some cheap base cards to say I did it if I really wanted to spend the money just for trade bait.)

Parallels:
McCutchen (emerald /250)
Clemente (emerald /250)
Polanco (gold /99)
McCutchen (Gold /99)
Alvarez (Gold /99)
Alvarez (Amethyst /325)
*Cole (gold /99)
*Cole (amethyst /325)
*The Gerrit Coles will be shown off in a future post after "Go Green" month is complete

Rookie Autograph
Polanco (/100) 

Triple Relic:
Beltre/Alvarez/Sandoval "Hot Corner" /36
Cutch/Bautista/Cespedes "Pure" /27

Triple Auto/Relic:
Lambo (Emerald /50)

Autographed Jumbo Relic
Marte (this post)
Grilli (prime patch /10)

Unity Jumbo Relic:
Cole /27 & /36

Going Green: Tyler Glasnow Autograph

I just don't know what to say about Tyler Glasnow that I haven't said already.  I flat out can't wait for him to get to the majors.  He's got incredible stuff.

For less than $12 delivered, I couldn't resist adding another autograph of the super pitching prospect to my collection, even if it is a sticker auto.

He made his Spring Training debut yesterday going 1 inning and striking out 2 batters.

Green and Blue: Gerrit Cole 4 card lot

Late last year I purchased a 4 card lot of Gerrit Cole 2014 Bowman Chrome Refractors for a ridiculously good deal.  Included in the lot were base, base refractor (/500), blue refractor (/250), and green refractor (/75).

I've been saving them to show off for this month.  I hope you enjoy.

Sorry for the crooked scan for the base, but it slid during scan and I didn't have the patience to fix it.

Cole pitched well in his Spring Training debut going 2 innings, striking out 3, and allowing a hit and walk.

Going Green McCutchen Mailday #19: 2008 TriStar

When I was planning out my posts for March 2015 I knew that I had to show off 3 Andrew McCutchen's that I purchased early in February, but would have to wait to highlight them to create the "Go Green Event" I have planned.  All March leading up to St. Patrick's Day I plan to highlight green parallels I've purchased over the past few months that haven't been shown on the blog.

 The green on this card really pops.

 This 7 year old cardboard numbered to only 50 copies ran me under $9 delivered and marks the only card I have of Cutch wearing the Altoona Curve uniform.

I will only be highlighting 3 cards this month in my Quest for 100 because quite frankly I haven't been able to add many greens of  Cutch in 2015.

Going Green: Paul George Game Film 5/5

My Pacers collection has been steadily growing over the past year.  With rising star Paul George out for the season, there hasn't been much to root for regarding the Pacers and their sub .500 season.  However, because of that I have been able to add some really neat cards to my collection for much less than they were fetching a year or two ago.

A year ago, this green parallel numbered to 5 of Paul George would have gotten over $100 on the market.  Purchased earlier in the year, I was able to snag it along with 3 other Pacers cards for under $50.

The above card features actual game film of Paul George as the Pacers marched to having the best record in the Eastern Conference for the 2013-14 season.

Thrown in as free bonus are the above 3 cards featuring my other favorite Pacer, David West on a numbered Gold Standard card.  The Jonathan Bender is my first autograph of the former Pacer.

George has started his first full practice so with the chance to sneak into the playoffs, I'm going to get a little more excited as the season winds down.

McCutchen Monday: Going Green, well...emerald to be specific

Last year I showed off a bunch of cards when I was doing a 2 for 1 reverse box challenge of 2014 Triple Threads.  I successfully put together 2 boxes of Triple Threads of only Pirates for the price of 1 box.  I even got some low numbered parallels which I was super excited about.  There were 3 cards that I have been waiting to show off from that reverse box challenge, but due to my plans for an All Green month of March I have had them on the backburner.

Wait no longer as this Andrew McCutchen joins the Roberto Clemente from yesterday to finish off my parallels in the reverse box challenge.