Blogging With a View

This is the view from my porch this morning.  The only bad thing is the humidity is killer right now.

Lindsay Wagner 2014 Panini Golden Age Auto

I pulled this out of a box of Golden Age a few weeks back.  The Bionic Woman is an SP so it was a pretty good pull.  

Hope everybody is enjoying the long weekend and college football.  My Mountaineers lost to Alabama but held strong the whole game.  I guess when you play Bama you are allowed to have moral victories.  

My Bucs are on fire.  Only 1 game out of wildcard and 2 back in the division!  Beat Cueto!

A Beach Vacation and a Big Bull

Tomorrow I'm leaving for the beaches of the Outer Banks in North Carolina for my younger brothers wedding.  This will be a nice getaway as my mother in law is taking my daughter so my wife and I can get a mini vacation.  With my surgery we were unable to take a trip this year so this will be a much needed break!  I'll still find some blogging time and my buddy Micah is going to help out on Sunday and Monday.  Maybe I'll find some cards while I'm gone.

2014 Topps Jumbo Patch Pedro Alvarez /99

I've had my eyes on this card for a while.  My patience paid off as I nabbed this for $10 plus shipping.  I'm not a big fan of the card design, but it is a great patch.  The Big Bull has been struggling this year and has recently moved to first base.  I hope he has one of his power surges left in him this year as he can carry a team when he is hot.  

Let's go Bucs

Let's go Mountaineers.  Beat Alabama!

Have a great weekend!

Trade: Too Many Verlanders (HOF Cut Auto!!!!)

Dennis from Too Many Verlanders and I swap cards all the time.  Our usual protocol is the blind trade, but I changed things up this time around.  A while back I was able to get a good deal on a couple of Miguel Cabrera autos from a seller on eBay that I've purchased from a lot over the years. Knowing that I had two on the way I immediately thought of Dennis. One of the great things about being a part of the blogging community is associating teams and players with certain bloggers. While this Miggy showcases him as a Marlin, Dennis was more than happy to work out a trade.  Here is his write up on the deal.

The fun part of this trade was that Dennis was building up the drama.  He emailed me and told me he was investigating my sportscardalbum.com database and was pretty sure he found the perfect card for me.  This got me pretty excited.  My immediate thought was that he went the WVU route as he has hooked me up with some great Mountaineers in the past.  I was partly right as these were part of the deal.

Dennis told me he purchased a repack box of football cards and that it was a Tavon Austin hot box. The Topps Chrome insert on the bottom right is a really cool card. Also, the Geno Smith Topps Gold is a card I did not have.  I can always count on Dennis to find great Mountaineer cards for my collection.  Maybe I need to go off the grid a little bit and find some cool Michigan cards to send his way

While the WVU cards were great, they were just the appetizer.  The big card Dennis added was this beauty.....

2011 Panini (Donruss) Limited Cuts Max Carey Auto /49

I have a large Pirate auto collection so I wasn't sure how surprised I would be when I opened the mailer.  Needless to say, I was pumped.  This is my first Max Carey auto.  Max was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1961.  Here is a good write up on his career.  Carey was described as one of the last toolsy players whose career bridged the gap between the speed and bunting era to the homerun era.  

Awesome trade Dennis.  Hopefully we can complete another blockbuster in the near future!  

Canadian Club

Do you believe in miracles!  The Pirates actually beat Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals this afternoon.  I escaped from work and went home to watch a few innings on my lunch break and was pleasantly surprised.  The Pirates had two big series against the Brewers and Cardinals and responded by winning both.  Hopefully we are catching the Reds at the right time as Votto and Bailey are still out.

Canadian Club Classic Willie Stargell Auto

No license, no problem.  I've had this auto for several years, but recently added another copy thanks to a friend of mine.  I bought some cards off of him several different times and he threw this in as a thank you.  

The Canadian Club autos are nice options if you are looking to add some great names to your autograph collection and keep on a good budget. By no means the most stylistic card ever created, but you get a nice up close photo and a sharp auto.  

Trade: The Dutch Card Guy (Part 2)

Here is the last part of the trade that I made with Jeroen aka The Dutch Card Guy.  This is a beautiful boxloader of Andrew McCutchen.  As soon as I saw Jeroen pulled this I immediately contacted him to see if he was willing to trade.  A few weeks later is is safe and sound stateside and part of collection.

Thanks again Jeroen.  It arrived unscathed!  Time to get the next bunch of cards ready for you!

Cutch and Jones Dual Auto

It was fun working my way through another wave of trade packages.  I think in the past month I filled up a whole binder of Pirate cards just through trades.  Great stuff!

Adam Jones/Andrew McCutchen 2011 Tier One Dual Auto /25

I'm thankful that Cutch is a quick healer.  After what looked to be a serious rib injury, Cutch only spent the minimum time on the DL.  It couldn't have come soon enough as the Pirates were in the midst of their worst losing streak of the season.  Thankfully it looks like we are getting healthy at the right time.  Gerrit Cole is fresh off the DL and Neil Walker has been back in the everyday lineup.  Should be a fun September.

I purchased this card for a few years back before Cutch autos exploded to outrageous prices.  It has been a while since I've seen this card hit eBay.  I believe I paid $40 to $50 at the time.  I'm guessing it would go at least double that now.  Prices have gotten to the point where I rarely search for the Bucco center fielder anymore.  

Adam Jones continues to be a consistent force for the Orioles.  The only knock on his game is the ability to take a walk.  While this hurts his obp, his damage to contact ratio is very high.  The Orioles and Royals are probably are the two biggest surprises of the season.  I love Buck Showalter so I always root for the Orioles.

Let's go Bucs!

Trade: Remember the Astrodome

I contacted Bru from Remember the Astrodome to let him know that I was sitting on a ton of Astros trade bait.  From that a blind trade was born.  I sent Bru a good chunk of modern releases while Bru hooked me up with a vintage extravaganza.

A nice mix of 74's.  Topps made sure to let everyone know that Ed Kirkpatrick was traded to the Pirates.  I would love to see that in modern releases.  Jon Lester TRADED to the A's.

Bru told me he had a bunch of Swell cards for me.  He sent a long some great names including two Mazeroski's!

 Always fun to see some SSPC cards.

 As you can see Bru covered many years.  I really like the Blass

 Some Topps Chipz and an old Bonds coin.  I remember as a kid having the whole set of the Topps coins.

 Here are some more modern releases.  The Triple Play Pirate Parrot card has always been a favoirte.

The Bob Veale card might be my favorite from the whole group of cards sent by Bru.  I don't have many 60's Buccos so this was exciting to see.

 Some of the big name Buccos from the 70's.  I love the Murtaugh card showcasing the other managers.  Always love seeing a Pops card too.

I've seen a bunch of the 68 Topps playing cards, but this marks the first one in my collection.  

Thanks for a great trade Bru.  Look forward to our next deal.  If you are hanging on to some Astros cards be sure to contact Bru.  He is a very generous trader.

Trade: Off Hiatus Baseball Cards (200th post)

It is my 200th post!  What better way to commemorate it than having a trade post. Trading is the reason I started Bob Walk the Plank.

Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball Cards sent me a package earlier this week, but decided that wasn't enough. Today I received one of the most eclectic group of cards I've received in a while.  No matter what your taste is in cards this package had it.

Let's start off with my favorite cards Tony delivered.  What a great mix of Kellogs 3D Super Stars.  Lots of big names in the group but my favorite has to be the Candelaria.  He is a personal favorite of mine from the late 70's teams.

 Next up is mini extravaganza.  From Kent Tekulve to Jameson Taillon and everything in between.

Some 78's and 79's!  The top row are former managers as well.  Ken Macha has been helping out with the Pirates post game show this year.

More vintage!  I'm digging the Gene Alley card.  I'm also wondering if Dock Ellis was on LSD for the photo.

Skinny Bonds!  I use to get so excited as a kid when I pulled a Bonds out of a pack of cards.  Always nice to see him show up in trade packages.

A beautiful gold refractor out of this years Archives /199.  Marte has really been swinging a hot bat since returning to the lineup.  Hopefully with him, Mccutchen and Walker all healthy the Pirates can string together some wins.

To finish things off is a 2008 A&G framed relic of Jason Bay.  As most of you know Bay was my favoirte Pirate in the mid 2000's so I'm always happy to make any card of his a good home.  

What a great package of cards to look through.  Thanks again Tony!  You should be receiving a return package in the mail and I just ordered a card that has your name all over it.  It will be heading your way soon.  I'm sure most of you already follow Off Hiatus, but just in case get on over there and check it out. Tony is a very generous trader who will be more than willing to take your Brewers off your hands.  

Trade: Cervin' Up Cards

A few weeks back I sent Zippy Zappy a few Yankees for his collection.  I wasn't expecting anything in return but the master of the TTM auto sent a great package anyway.  If you are not following Cervin' Up Cards please do so now.  You won't regret it.  Check out the great Buccos.

The bottom row makes up some of the Pirates biggest prospects.  I really like the Polanco.  I'm disappointed that I didn't get to add more Polanco's to my collection before his callup but the prices were high. My hope is that I'll be able to add some autos in the offseason.  Alen Hanson is a middle infield prospect whom I'm hoping will help in the near future.  The Pirates are pretty slim at middle infield.  Josh Bell is probably the hottest Pirate prospect right now.  He has been getting a lot of great press lately as a multiple tool power hitting corner outfield.  I wonder if a position change is in the cards for him as the Pirates seem pretty set for the future in the outfield.

A trifecta of Reese McGuire cards.  McGuire is a highly touted catcher who was drafted last year out of high school.  His defense was advanced for his age so hopefully he will continue to develop and make his way through the system quickly.

Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh were the subjects of the movie Million Dollar Arm.  I still need to see that movie.

Some mini cards of Walker and Grilli.  Nice to see Jason Grilli doing well in LA.  Change of scenery seemed to work for him.

One of my all time favorite Pirates.  I have a ton of Bay cards, but I do not have this parallel.  I'm pumped Zippy threw this one in.  It is numbered /99.

I was hoping Neil Walker would have some more auto releases for 2014, but there has been nothing yet. Walker was on pace to shatter all of his career records, but injuries have slowed him down over the past month.

A really nice Luis Cruz auto.  

Thanks so much for the cards Zippy.  I need to find you some Arods so we can deal again.  

Have a great weekend.  

Finest 1/1

My wife and I just spent the last hour baby proofing our house.  Our little girl is mobile so we need to keep her confined to one room. She is at the point where if you take your eyes off of her she is gone.  The new gate we put up will keep her in our family room, but we have a running bet on who will be the first one to run directly into it forgetting that it is there.  My guess is me.

2008 Finest Steve Slaton Black Printing Plate Auto 1/1

The Pirates were off today, so that means WVU showcase! 2008 was a big year for running backs with such guys as Jamal Charles, Ray Rice, Matt Forte, Darren McFadden and Chris Johnson all being drafted. To this day I still see Slaton cards pop up that I've never seen before.  He has many high end releases featuring him along with all those I mentioned. 

Injuries and fumble issues cost Slaton his career, but his cards still sell.  People who collect WVU have such fond memories of Pat White, Owen Schmitt and Steve Slaton that collectors still hoard their cards.   My Mountaineer collection is not as big as my Pirates, but I cherish it the same.  I actively hunt for rare pieces that I missed when they were released.  

Cobra

I'm finally caught up on all my trade packages that I received in the past week.  Thanks again to everybody who sent cards my way.  Bob Walk the Plank is all about trading so it was a blast to receive so many great cards.  

2005 Prime Patches Dave Parker Patch Auto /36

This card popped up on Ebay recently and I had to have it.  For $26 shipped the auction was mine and just a couple days later it was in hand.  I was happy with the price as I was willing to go a good bit higher. Patch cards of the older players are hard to come by and when they show up they usually command a premium price.  This makes for one of my nicer Cobra cards and a welcome addition to the collection.  

Thanks for checking a post that wasn't a trade!  

Trade: Baseball Card Breakdown

Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown commented on one of my posts saying he had some Pirate cards to send my way.  I always enjoy reading Gavin's blog so I was pretty pumped to finally be able to make my first trade with him.  He sent a wide range of cards my way spanning vintage to present day....

I was excited when I saw the shiny Pacific cards in Gavin's package.  These cards just ooze 90's.  I'm still working out the kinks on my new scanner so they are a little hard to pick up, but rest assured they are very shiny.

Here are some new cards of older players.  I'm always partial to John Candelaria.  I've mentioned on the blog before that I've met him and he was beyond nice.  Plus that awesome Pirates hat and 70's mustache make for a great baseball card.

Always fun to see a Bob Walk.  Here are some late 80's early 90's Buccos.  The last winning Pirates until last years team put the streak to bed.

I've been receiving a ton of Starling Marte cards lately which is awesome.

Gavin was nice to throw in this Kendall relic and auto.  I have quite a few Kendalls in my collection, but I didn't have either of these cards.  I've always heard that Kendall was a huge asshole, but he was always one of my favorites during a time when the Pirates didn't have many players to root for.

To finish things off Gavin threw in some Bucco vintage and one of my favorite mid 2000's Bucco cards.  I always liked the action shot of Jack Wilson mid swing.  

Thanks for all the great cards Gavin.  A return package left my house today destined for Oregon, so be on the lookout. Hopefully we can swap again in the near future.

Trade: Off Hiatus Baseball Cards

Tony from Off Hiatus Baseball Cards contacted me last week to see if I wanted his Pirate Ginter cards. I said sure and a week later I had a package at my door.  I'm not sure how many times we swapped cards, but Tony is one of my more frequent trading partners.

I do love how this years set looks.  It has a nice clean look to it.  I'm guessing this is pretty close to a team set so I want to thank Tony for doing all the hard work while I reap the benefits.  I love the Kiner and Clemente cards on the bottom.  Tony even threw in an extra Cole for me.

Now this is an awesome card!  Seeing this card makes me want to chase the mini set, but I have way to many projects going on to start messing with Ginter.  All the short prints and parallels would make my hair fall out and bank account shrink.

Thanks again Tony for the cards.  I'm digging up some Brewers as we speak to send back your way.

Trade: The Dutch Card Guy

I've traded with Jeroen aka The Dutch Card Guy several times now.  With his many player collections and set needs, finding something he needs is easy.  This traded centered around an Anthony Rizzo auto that I sent him and a Starling Marte that Jeroen pulled from a box.  As you all know it is not cheap to send cards overseas so the envelope was full of other great cards to fill the space.  Check it out.

 Really like the gold Gaby in the middle.

How the mighty have fallen.  Tabata was thought to be a mainstay in the Pirates outfield but injuries and under performance cost him his job.  Right now he is AAA.  With that being said this is an awesome black parallel numbered to /63.

Jeff Locke has been seen it all in his short career.  He has been an All Star, demoted to AAA, and back again.  

Marte is one of my favorite Pirates.  He still very raw with his skill set, so I'm hoping that he continues to improve. Always nice to add an auto.

 Miscellaneous Pirates!  Spans a good part of 20 years.

Love the blue border Gypsy Queen cards!

Thanks for the trade Jeroen.  I'm sure we will be doing it again soon!