Topps Finally Sent Me My Redemption!!!!!

It took a few more months than I would have hoped, but Topps did it, they finally sent me my BASE auto/jersey of Gerrit Cole from 2013 Bowman Platinum.

The card is beautiful and features a nice swatch of blue jersey (likely from the 2012 Futures Game) along with a sticker auto.  I had started to see these pop up on ebay and was wondering if Topps was ever going to send me mine.  Thankfully I received it last week.  I am however still waiting for my Jeff Locke redemption from a few years ago.  Is it really that hard to get one of them redeemed, Topps?

Cobra in the Mailbox: This is why baseball cards are fun...

Collecting and having a hobby should be fun.  It shouldn't consume your life or try to make a profit.

I collect baseball cards because they're fun to look at the stats, read the backs, and see nice photography.  In recent years though, a lot of that has gone away.  Maybe it's because, I'm older, but it doesn't seem fun anymore.  It seems like a job.

Then something like this insert set comes along and makes me feel like I'm 8 years old again and I suddenly fall in love all over again.

The backs are just as fun filled as the fronts.

If you're a team collector, player collector, or just like fun unlicensed cards check out the Nicknames inserts from 2013 Hometown Heroes.  There's a lot of fan favorites, under the radar names in this set.

Good Jordy, this card looks nice!

One of my favorite blogs, BobWalkThePlank recently showed off their copy of a Jordy Mercer patch card from 2013 America's Pastime.  I recently grabbed a copy of the card as well.

2013 America's Pastime Future Fabrics Jordy Mercer Patch 4/10

Sadly I paid $5 more than what my blogging buddy paid for his copy though.

Based on the color of the patch, I think that the material used could be from an alternate uniform used by the Pirates in 2013 (Memorial Day uniforms perhaps?)  The jersey material is more brown than grey.

Any ideas?

I dream of Jamo

I've been waiting since June 7th, 2010 for Jameson Taillon to make his MLB debut.  I was ecstatic that the Pirates front office had the guts to try and sign a front of the rotation starter who was only in high school.  For sooooooo many years, Pirates fans had to deal with the Pirates front office drafting safe college pitcher picks like Daniel Moskos, Brad Lincolns, Bryan Bullingtons, and John Van Benschoten.  The last time the Pirates had drafted a high school pitcher in the first round was Sean Burnett in 2000.

Jameson Taillon is not only one of the top prospects in the Pirates farm system, but he is one of the top pitcher prospects in all of baseball.  I've said it many times.  I think Taillon will be just as good as Cole.  Which is frightening for the NL Central hitters opposing these two fireballing prospects.

So far Jameson has only made one spring training appearance, but in those two innings of work he allowed only an "excuse me" single while facing the minimum batters.  Jameson is the real deal.  Don't be fooled!

I dream of the day Jamo makes his debut.  Let's Go Bucs!!!!

The above card was part of a massive lot of Pirates cards I recently purchased on ebay.  It averaged out to 15 cents a card.

McCutchen Monday: Thunderstruck!!!!!

My latest unlicensed insert of Andrew McCutchen comes from 2013 Select and is from the insert set Thunder Alley.  This chromed out card was recently had for a cool dollar.

I really wish that Panini could have gotten a license.  I would love to see the players with logos on their uniforms considering all the neat insert sets that they are producing in their products.  At least, they are using images of the players where it's not as noticable that they don't have a license.

The Hit Collector

Matt Hague was given the nickname, the Hit Collector during Spring Training 2012 when he collected 22 hits in 25 games including 7 homeruns.  During his Spring Training career he has a .386/.400/.659 slash line which equals a 1.059 OPS.  He's also collected 21 RBI over the course of 88 plate appearances.  If he were to keep up his Spring Training numbers over the course of an entire season he would be putting up MVP numbers.

2012 Topps Chrome Refractor 69/75

But that's why you can't trust small sample sizes.

When the Pirates traded for Gaby Sanchez in 2012, it was clear that they didn't view Hague as a consistent major leaguer.  He's decent with the glove at first, but isn't known for his defense.  In addition, he hasn't shown enough versatility to make the team as a utility corner infielder/outfielder so he's basically just a right handed bat off the bench.  The Pirates wouldn't consider carrying someone like this on their roster.  Hopefully Matt can see some playing time when the Pirates play interleague games in AL parks because his bat would make for a good DH for a few days.

I purchased the above 2012 Topps Chrome Sepia Refractor AUTO for $6 delivered.  The card looked nice enough to add to my collection for that price.

2014 Topps Series 1 Inserts: #BUCN style

I have really been watching my budget more closely in 2014 than in previous years.  I used to feel the need to buy every single auto, relic, black parallel, gold parallel, insert, shortprint, etc from the Topps Flagship launches.  This year, I'm sticking to just the base, the "cheap" inserts, the Charlie Morton parallels, and maybe one relic or auto just to say I have it.

The Pirates have several players appearing in the 2014 Topps Series 1 Inserts.

 Up first is one of the greatest right fielders to ever play the game as pictured in 2 of this years inserts (Upper Class and Before they were Stars).  Roberto Clemente was signed by the Dodgers, then drafted by the Pirates in the old version of the Rule 5 draft.

Gerrit Cole, last year's flame throwing rookie pitcher, was featured on the 50 years of the draft.

Similar to year's past, there are inserts were you enter codes online to win prizes.  The fronts of the cards look exactly like the base cards, but have the Power Players logo.  The backs have online codes. 2013 All-Stars Andrew McCutchen and Jason Grilli represent the Pirates in Series 1.

My favorite inserts from 2014 are the 1989 minis.  I had ripped so many of these 1989 packs back in the day, that this is still sadly one of my favorite designs.  Cutch and Clemente are the Pirates representatives for Series 1.