A New Cutch

2014 Donruss Series 2 Andrew McCutchen Auto

I can count on one hand the number of McCutchen autos I've been able to add in the past year. The prices have skyrocketed to the point where finding one is hard to do for less than $50. When Series 2 of this years Donruss came out I noticed Cutch was on the checklist. I figured he would be a redemption as he has a few Panini products that have yet to be filled (I have 2 outstanding myself). To my surprise this card was live. I was able to purchase it a few months back for around $28 shipped. 

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. 

Leaf Memories of the Candyman

2014 Leaf Memories John Candelaria Buyback Auto /45

I finally broke my eBay silence when I saw this card. I'm a sucker for the buyback autos especially if it is John Candelaria. The card ran me less than 10 bucks so I'm giving myself a reprieve for breaking my eBay no buy November rule. 

How about the uniforms for the Buccos during this time period! Mix in Candelaria's flowing hair and you got yourself an awesome picture. I'm just waiting for Leaf to release a Bob Walk version and the floodgates will open.  I may try to obtain everyone.

Hope everybody is enjoying their Thanksgiving break. I'm off to watch the now ranked WVU mens basketball team take on the College of Charleston tonight. Nice to see the basketball team taking a step in the right direction. 

Thanks for reading. 

Trade: Baseball Card Breakdown

I always enjoy swapping cards with Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown. His trade packages always seems to have great variety. This time around it was no different. We have vintage, relics, modern and WVU all represented.

Pete looks like he is 65 years old instead of his actual 27, So much to like about this card. The black warmup underneath and the use of the word bespectacled on the back sets it over the top.

 Really digging the Pops. Extra bonus for the card being in pretty nice condition.

One of my favorite current Pirates. The Pirates are really banking on the big right hander to become a dominating front line pitcher. Health permitting I think it may happen.

 Freddy looks really happy to be an All Star. Awesome card!

This may be my favorite card of the bunch. One thing with collecting the Mountaineers is that most of the guys are pretty cheap. That has allowed me over the years to buy up most releases for guys like Owen Schmitt. To my surprise I actually did not have this card which is awesome. Love this card!

Nice mix of Gyorko's and a Geno. Let's go Mountaineers. 

Donruss is a fun box to open because the price is cheap. I actually just picked up a few more boxes on Dave and Adams during their Black Friday sale. The base set leaves something to be desired but the inserts and recollection autos are nice. I always find myself being a little bit of a Panini apologist, but they seem to offer a better bang for your buck most of the time.

As always thanks for the trade Gavin. I'm sure I'll round up some more stuff for you soon to keep it going. 

Thanks for reading. 

Trade: Sportscards From The Dollar Store

Hope everyone is having a nice Thanksgiving. I find myself enjoying the holiday even more these days as it is nice to actually slow down and enjoy the day. Normal protocol at my house is try to get through meals as quick as possible before the baby has a meltdown or makes a complete mess of everything. We are normally so busy we rarely sit down for more than ten minutes at a time. Today is all about enjoying the day with loved ones. As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate family gatherings more.

Card time.

Yesterday I received an envelope from Doug from Sportscards From The Dollar Store. Doug always has a knack of finding me obscure cards with WVU ties and this time was no different.

A while back Doug busted a box of the new CFL release from Upper Deck. Turns out this set has quite a few WVU players in it. I was pumped to see this Slaton. Along with Slaton I believe Pat White and Jock Sanders have cards. Glad to see these guys found a place to continue their careers.

My second favorite set of the year was Finest. I didn't bust a box, but I have picked up a few cards via trade and eBay. Doug was nice enough to surprise me with the Andrew Lambo auto. For some reason Topps went crazy with Lambo autos this year. 

Glad to see Geno is getting another crack with the Jets starting gig. Hope he takes advantage.

 Bob Walk!

Couple nice Tavon's!

Thanks for all the cards Doug. Hope you like the return package. Thanks for always looking out for me. You always seem to surprise me. 

Penguins

I'm heading to Pittsburgh tonight for the Pens/Maple Leafs game.  This is a belated birthday present from my wife and brother. My brother is a season ticket holder so it is nice to have a source for tickets. Pens tickets can fetch a pretty good price so being able to pay face value is a nice perk.

Here is some old Pens given to me by vintage master Mark Hoyle.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trade: Cards from the Quarry

Johnny aka Hiflew of the awesome blog Cards from the Quarry  was one of my very first trade partners when I started Bob Walk the Plank. After posting the contents of one of my box breaks Johnny mentioned he liked a Tulowitzki insert, thus a trade partnership is rekindled.

In return for the Tulo I received some great Pirates.

I don't have many of the orange refractors from Chrome so it was nice to see these. For some reason Marte has seen a pretty significant price hike on the secondary market lately.

I continue to add Polanco's at a crazy pace. I have not purchased one card on eBay this month and I've still managed to keep my pace via trade and box break. 

Back in 1999 I have fond memories of driving to Kmart and opening a good bit of Pacific Private Stock. I was a carefree Sophomore in high school. It is funny how some cards still can spark a memory.

 I forgot about the minis in the Pacific set. I'm digging this Kendall.

I like to assume this is Johnny's new calling card for trades. Either way this is a cool unopened pack of Jonny Quest trading cards.

Thanks for the trade Johnny! I'll keep holding back some Rockies for you so we can continue the fun.

Premier Cards

2008 UD Premier Clemente/Parker/Bay Triple Jersey /50

If you were a Pirates collector in 2008 variety was hard to find. Most new releases included Jason Bay with the possible sprinkling of Freddy Sanchez. One of the hidden perks with Bay being in every release was that he helped bring down the cost of cards that would normally be too expensive for my tastes. 

Anytime you have a game used Clemente card you can expect to pay top dollar. In some instances the inclusion of certain players can work in the buyers favor. While Bay at the time was putting up star numbers he was not expensive in the world of cards. I can't remember exactly what I paid for this card, but the price must have been low enough to get my attention. I'm guessing it would had to been less than $50 maybe ever more.

I made a similar purchase when I got a Magic Johnson/ Joe Alexander dual auto. I'm the only person on earth that wanted that card because of Joe Alexander and it showed as the price was well below what a normal Magic auto would pull on eBay. 

One of the more one sided dual autos you will ever find. 

While I want all Pirate and WVU players to do well, it sometimes can be rewarding to use the secondary market shortcomings of one player to acquire one that normally would be out of reach. Thanks Jason and Joe for helping me obtain Roberto and Magic!

Trade: Off Hiatus Baseball Cards

I frequently benefit from Tony's card show trips. Seems like every visit yields something unique for me. It may be a game used card, or some vintage goodness. This time it falls somewhere in between. Who likes TCMA cards? I love these things, and ever since I've started Bob Walk the Plank I have received several in trades. Tony was also nice enough to throw in some extras!

 My favorite Pirate during a terrible period of Pirate teams. Helped make a terrible team watchable.

Mini Polanco from Bowman Chrome. I'm hoping he can secure right field out of spring training. I really don't want Travis Snider winning that job

A lot of people were upset when the Pirates traded Nate Mclouth to the Braves. He was in the middle of a career year, and their hadn't been many rumors that the Bucs were shopping the center fielder. It turned out to be a shrewd move as Mclouth never matched his career year. The trade also netted Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke. The cherry on top was that it opened the door for Andrew McCutchen. 

I've mention before, but this was one of my favorite Pirate cards of 2013. I liked the Glove Stories inserts.

Topps Finest is a really nice set, but one I've never opened. The price point is always just past our comfort zone when we hold our monthly box breaks. My hope is that one of the online dealers has a special during the holidays so I can finally bust a box.

TCMA Madness!!!

Jose Pagan

 

 Jim Pagliaroni

 Andy Rodgers

Don Schwall

Bob Veale

Don Leppert 

Don Cardwell

Joe Gibbon

John Schofield

Ronald Kline

Thanks Tony for the awesome cards. The TCMA's are always fun to look through. I'm sure I'll come into some more Brewers soon for you. 

Go to Off Hiatus Baseball Cards and trade all your Brewers to Tony.

Thanks for reading!

Trade: The Prowling Cat

Another new trade partner! I reached out to Zenus from the blog The Prowling Cat to let him know I was holding a few extra Mariner cards. The trade took a while to come together as I was trying to get Kyle Seager auto from a friend of mine which took some time. Thankfully it worked out and I was able to get the trade rolling.

Yesterday I received the return package.  Check it out.

The Pirates had a rough time replacing Jack Wilson at short after he was traded to the Mariners. A standout defensively Jack had great range and a good throwing arm.

Jason Grilli was a former first round pick that could never get much traction at the Major League level. A journeyman most of his career until he found a home with the Pirates. He found new velocity and was a key component when the Pirates finally ended their 20 + year losing streak. He was traded to the Angels this past season. I'm always a sucker for the Update All Star cards.

I love the Renaldo Turnbull rookie card. WVU churned out quite a few NFL players on the defensive side of the ball during the 90's.

Thanks for all the great cards Zenus. I actually just came into a few more nice Mariner cards that I can send your way.

Thanks for reading.

Trade: Mark Hoyle (Hangover Edition)

WVU played Kansas State last night. Back when I was in school we played a ton of Thursday games when we were in the Big East. I remember loving the environment and skipping class to tailgate. Now that I'm a working stiff I hate Thursdays game.  It is a logistical nightmare. I live less than mile from the stadium and I have to plan out my route like I'm taking backroads all the way to Florida.

I did manage to go the game and watch us lose again. Also drank too much in a short period of time which made my head fill like it was going to explode at work today. A good reminder that I'm not 20 years old.

Card time

I think Mark is now the official leader among my trade partners.  This marks our eighth trade! At this pace he'll be sending me Goudey's by spring :)

Bob Walk intermission.

I saved the Blass and Face for the end as they were my two favorites. It would have been interesting to see how Blass's career would have turned out if he hadn't lost his ability to throw strikes. It was dubbed Steve Blass disease. The fielding version is sometimes called Steve Sax syndrome. Pedro Alvarez dealt with this issue at third base this year. 

Roy Face revolutionized the relief pitcher.  He held may of the all time relief pitching stats up until the early 80's. He had pitched in 846 games! A lot of his records were broken by Kent Tekulve.

Thanks for all the great cards Mark. I always get excited when I see an envelope with your name on it. 1960's Pirates were a blast to look at. Your return package will be on the way shortly!

Have a good weekend.