Nachos Grande Group Break Results

I'm a sucker for group breaks that feature a lot of different products. This time around Chris decided that variety was the best way to go so I knew I was in. It doesn't hurt that the products chosen feature a good bit of Pirates either....

As for the results I didn't do very well. The silver lining was that I got a nice mix of the base and Chris always throws in some extras.

The main core of the break was Topps Chrome, High Tek, Stadium Club and Heritage High Numbers. I'm a sucker for any break that has High Tek, but unfortunately the Pirates went hitless on that one.

 Chris misspoke when he said the Correa auto from High Tek was the best card. Obviously he was unaware of the value of this 89 Donruss Bob Walk.

 Always nice to get a new Cutch frome Chrome.

The Heritage High Numbers was probably the most satisfying of the breaks for me. It allowed me to add more obscure Pirate cards of Sean Rodriguez and Corey Hart. I'm guessing Hart's tattoo artist is a busy man.

 I was pretty well set with Buccos from Stadium Club the last couple of years, but it is nice to add a few extras to pass along to a few of my Bucco trading buddy's.

 Cooperstown Collection is always a nice choice for group breaks as it yields a crap ton of cards. Fortunately for me many Buccos were pulled. The Arky Vaughn is my favorite.

As with all of Chris's breaks he will bust some extra packs and throw in some variety for everyone. This helped ease the wound of a poor break.

 The Kendal Pacific card is by far my favorite. I've been on a mission lately trying to add some cards from the more obscure early 2000's sets. Pacific was ignored for the most part, but now carries considerable value on the secondary market.

These were some of the best looking cards I received. The Cedeno card is kind of cool with the all black backdrop. He was a frustrating player as a Pirate, but he got immortalized in a pretty cool card. The Al Martin card from Stadium Club is a cool shot too. So focused! 

As usual this was just the tip of the iceberg on the cards sent. I wanted to make sure to showoff my favorites, but their were a ton more.  I have a few Reds cards set aside for you Chris. As soon as I get a little free time I'll be sending them your way. 

Thanks for reading. 

Have no Fear

A few months back Zach "The Underdog" participated is some random group breaks in which his designated team was the Pirates. Being a cool dude he contacted me about a trade. I was able to find him a few high end Padres in order to secure these beauties.....

This is kind of a crappy scan, but this card was the main attraction. 2014 National Treasures was a great set for Buccos. This Cutch is /99 and features his nickname to go along with a jumbo jersey piece. Awesome! 

 I can remember if Bowman Sterling was part of the break or if Zach had this one put aside for me. Either way I'm happy to add McGuire cards to the collection.  Reese is a high end prospect in which the Pirates drafted along side Austin Meadows in the first round a couple years back. Most prospect evaluators loved what the Pirates did that years as both McGuire and Meadows look to be top talents.

 The other high end card of the trade is this Gregory Polanco auto jersey. Obviously I'm a huge fan of Polanco as he has high ceiling. Even with his bat still trying to adjust to major league pitching his defense and baserunning allow him to be a very valuable player. If he learns to hit a little more he would be a comparable to someone like Alex Gordon but with more speed.

 Some GQ Buccos. I was a fan of the Walkoff winner subset. The card featuring Walker was a walkoff homer opening day.

 It is looking more and more like Josh Bell might play a significant role in Pittsburgh next year at first base. Always exciting when the home grown players make their debut.  If all goes well Top 10 prospects Tyler Glasnow, Jameson Taillon, Josh Bell and Alen Hanson should debut.

Some of the hardest cards to get my hands on are commons from the high end sets like Museum Collection. Always thankful to receive those in trades!

Thanks for the trade Zach. I'll be sure to hit you back in the near future. I've been accumulating some trade bait since our last deal.

Thanks for reading.

Playing the Odds

The Mountaineer basketball team won the Las Vegas Invitational tonight beating Richmond and San Diego State and decisive fashion. Nice to win that thing for a change. We had made the championship twice before and lost in 2008 and 2012.

I'll be attending the final regular season WVU football game this afternoon. While some people are viewing the season as a disappointment, it really has played out exactly how the odd makers said it would. The Mountaineers 4 losses were all in a row and to high tier opponents. I think the sequencing just left a bad taste in peoples mouth. We lost in overtime to Oklahoma State and had to play on the road against Oklahoma, Baylor and TCU.  On a positive note the home games next year are going to be top notch!

On a side note former Mountaineer and current St Louis Ram Stedman Bailey was shot twice in the head a few days back. Miraculously he is expected to recover. The situation is still being investigated so no details have been released.

Here is the last card I picked up of Stedman.

2014 Panini Limited Geno Smith/Stedman Bailey/Charles Sims Auto /5

Pretty sharp looking card of three former Mountaineers. I went hard after this card since I wasn't sure if another copy would show up. Thankfully the final total was only around $30 which is a pretty high end purchase for my WVU collection but a nice centerpiece. At the beginning of the year this card would have carried more of a premium as it was looking like Geno was going to start and Sims was going to play a prominent role in Bucs offense. Now with Geno riding the bench and Doug Martin regaining his form from a couple of years back the value of this card is only driven up by die hard WVU fans. Plus it helps not having Tavon Austin who continues to sell pretty well. 

Thanks for reading.

Zapped and Blown Away

Kenny has made it a habit to hook me up with a ton of great Pirate prospect cards.  In terms of cardboard this most recent trade continues that trend, but with one major exception.  I knew this was heading my way, but it did nothing to temper my excitement when it was in hand.

Seriously, how cool is this! Candelaria is one of my favorite Pirates as his unique look made for some great cardboard over the years, but this 8x10 is something even more special. Kenny took it upon himself to get the Candy Man to personalize it for me with the Bob Walk the Plank inscription. A true 1/1!

To go along with this great piece Kenny sent me a traditional Zapping....

It was a pretty big deal when the Pirates signed Heredia. He was being courted by all the big teams, but he had been tied to the Buccos the whole time. Heredia was only 16 when the deal was done, but many scouts believed his size and arm strength was very projectable. Today Heredia is still in the Pirates system, but the prospect status is long gone.  I doubt he would he even fall into the top 20 prospects within the system anymore. Some of that is testament to how good the system is, but Heredia hasn't shown any progression with his stuff. I'm guessing this coming year will probably be make or break for him as a Pirate.

 Tucker got hurt relatively early last season so he pretty much lost his first full year of development. The Pirates are high on both him and Kevin Newman so it will be interesting to see there development. I suspect Newman will be fast tracked since he was a college player.

 First of all this is really cool looking card. The blue wave parallels are really nice. Glasnow will make his debut at some point next year barring injury. He is the Pirates top prospect and projects to be a front line starter which would be a very nice compliment to Gerrit Cole The only downside is command issues as Glasnow is a huge kid.  I got to see him pitch the very first Black Bears game as he was on a rehab assignment and you could tell his stuff was nasty and that his fastball had a ton of velocity.

 Vintage Buccos are always welcomed!

Meadows has been a nice pick by the Buccos. He seems to be moving through the system quickly as a high schooler. Also, I'm always happy to get his cars in trade. He is very expensive on eBay.

 3 of the more accomplished Buccos and Andrew Lambo who was just claimed by the A's.

 A nice mix of Bowman Buccos. Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire are both pretty big prospects.

The last big surprise was the NY Penn League All Star Game program from 2014.

Thanks so much Kenny for the Candelaria and all the extras. Rest assured I'll find something unique for you to keep the trade momentum going. I plan on framing the Candy Man and maybe putting it in my office at work!

Thanks for reading!

Trade: Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum

I've been on the road a good bit recently so I'm a little backlogged in trade posts. I'm off work until Monday so that should give me some time to plug away.

Jeff of Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum fame is quickly moving up the list of most frequent trade partners. He is also one of my trade partners that frequently hits other collections beside the Pirates. Here is the latest installment.

Kang has been the hardest Pirate to collect in recent memory.  His cards demand a premium price even with a ton on the market. Any help from the blogosphere is greatly appreciated as my collection is very small. Thanks to Jeff I can knock this beauty off.

This is a sweet looking card. Kordell experienced a ton of highs and lows during his tenure in Pittsburgh. I was always a huge fan.

I've accumulated a nice collection of Kellogg's cards since I started blogging. You will be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't like these. 

I believe Slaton is officially retired from football now.  He played in Canada last year, but last I heard his intentions were to go to culinary school and become a nutritionist for athletes. I've seen his name pop up a good bit recently for appearances in the area as well.

I'm always a sucker for cards that showcase the WVU uniform.

 Jerry Reuss card reeks of the 70's.

I loved Gridiron Kings baseball so I'm sure the NFL version is great since they actually have a license. If I were to start opening football cards again it would probably be my first choice.

Kevin White! I really want to go nuts buying his stuff on eBay, but I keep telling myself to be patient.

Mascot cards are probably my favorite aspect of Opening Day. The Pirate Parrot auto is a prized possession of mine. The fan shots were a cool idea as well.

 I'm hoping Taillon can right the ship this year and get his career back on track. He has lost the better part of two years with injuries. The pedigree is there as he was considered one of the best high school arms in the past 10 years, with many scouts saying the best since Josh Beckett. Pretty high praise considering Beckett was a mega prospect.

Thanks for the cards Jeff.  I've been accumulating some cool Braves cards recently so a return is in the works!

Thanks for reading.

Front and Center

This past Thursday I went to the Penguins vs Avalanche game in Pittsburgh with a couple of guys from work. What made this game extra special was that I had seats right on the glass. I made sure to arrive early enough to get the full experience and grab some pictures. 

The coolest aspect of the game was during the warmups when a puck fell right at my feet.  Makes for a pretty cool souvenir.  Maybe if I play my cards right I can get it autographed at some point. The interesting thing is the pucks says "official warmup puck." I'll try and post a pick tomorrow as the picture I had saved on my phone was too blurry. 

As for the game the Pens won 4-3.  The Avalanche made a couple of huge errors in their own zone that cost them a couple goals which ultimately lead to the loss. 

Check out the pics...

Contest Results

The contest was a nice success with 55 people joining in on the fun. Since the turnout was so good I'll pick 3 winners.  Just give a little time to accumulate some cards specific to your collection.

And the winners are......

There were 55 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. madding
2. gcrl
3. the junior junkie
4. al kawamoto
5. kevin papoy
6. defgav
7. dodgerpenguin
8. tony l
9. nick
10. arpsmith
11. fuji
12. the dutch card guy
13. the lost collector
14. cyncicalbuddha
15. brian stryker
16. spastikmooss
17. jwilden27
18. daniel wilson
19. julie owens
20. big tone
21. jon
22. keith g
23. need more cardboard
24. adam
25. shane kroeker
26. angus
27. mark hoyle
28. corky
29. raz
30. dennis
31. the prowling cat
32. richard nebe jr
33. reds card collector
34. greg zakwin
35. dion's ip autos only
36. nachos grande
37. jaybarkerfan
38. robert
39. jedi jeff
40. the angels in order
41. john hazen
42. xavier higgins
43. jacobmrley
44. lonestarr
45. rob
46. stealing home
47. sport card collectors
48. adam kaningher
49. tim b
50. night owl
51. reds cardboard
52. play at the plate
53. jeff jones
54. ptown tom
55. brads blog

Timestamp: 2015-11-23 00:14:22 UTC, IP: 73.236.110.176

You have randomized this list 3 times.

Congrats to Madding, GCRL and the Junior Junkie.  

Trade: Sportscards From the Dollar Store

Doug is a fun guy to trade with because he pays attention to details. He has found me some very unique cards for my collection that go well beyond Pirates. He has sent Steelers, WVU and even more obscure things like WWE wrestlers who are from WV. When I see an envelope from Doug it could be literally anything inside.

This time I figured I might be getting some Pens cards because Doug recently attended a show that is hockey heavy. I was right.....

Crosby saved hockey in Pittsburgh. The team was in turmoil before his arrival and faced pending bankruptcy and possible relocation. Fortunately things worked out and the draft gods blessed us with Sid the Kid.

 I love watching Kris Letang. The guy can flat out play, but just has the worst injury luck. He even had a stroke a couple seasons back. The skillset is truly elite, but if the Pens ever want to get another chance at a cup he has to stay on the ice. Injuries to defensemen have absolutely killed the Pens.

Old school sticker card! I'm digging the scarf. 

 In usual Doug fashion he didn't stop with just the Pens. The highlight of this group has to be the Heritage Minor cards. You get a great shot of Cole Tucker featured in the WV Power uniform and former Bucco top prospect Jameson Taillon pitching for the Indianapolis Indians.

Obviously the SP Signature Edition set was a bomb. It was a sticker dump for Upper Deck as they were getting out of baseball.  While the set is poor it has a silver lining for Bucco fans.  This is one of the few Pedro Alvarez certified signatures. For some reason he has refused to sign just about anything showcasing him in a professional uniform.

The final card is former All American Kevin White. I keep telling myself I'm going to go on a binge to pick up his cards since he is out for the season, but they seem to be holding value. Always nice to receive these in a trade. 

Thanks a ton Doug. I'm been hoarding some cards for you for our next deal, so you shouldn't have to wait long for a return shot. 

Thanks for reading!