Non Secret Santa

Hope everyone had fun with the Secret Santa this year.  I have a few tweaks in mind for next year, but for the most part it looked like it went pretty well.

When I made the initial call for participants we ended up with 35.  Since it was an odd number I decided to take last name myself which happened to be my pal Dion.  While not being much of a secret, Dion and I were happy to swap some cards because it had been way too long since our last trade. I always enjoy trading with Dion because he collects all things autographs. He is the easiest person in the world to shop for!

Right before Christmas I received my package from Dion. It was a huge envelope filled with Pirate cards in 9 pocket pages and one beautiful 8x10

 Former Pirate great Dick Groat!

The card variety Dion sent was outstanding.

 Every time I get a gold 2011 Topps card I stare at the back looking for /2011 at top and finally realize the numbering is on the bottom.

The Steve Pearce auto is cool.  I'm so happy he ended up getting a nice career. He had so much talent, but just couldn't stay healthy with the Pirates.  Cool to see him get a two year deal with the Blue Jays.

 Almost World Series hero Rajai Davis.

 Love the throwback Jack Wilson.

 Weird to see Neil Walker as a catcher. It didn't take long for the Pirates to figure out that his future wasn't behind the plate.

 Adam Laroche was one of the more irritating players in Pirates history.  Probably didn't appreciate him enough during his time here.

 Those UD Spectrum cards were always weird.  Lot of instances where the player uniform and team don't match up.  Sure that drives team collectors mad.

 The Derrek Lee is my favorite here. He was a very short stay Bucco so cards of him are very limited.

 Cutch in a black tshirt. Not very creative with the non licensing. I did see a few pictures of 2017 Donruss and it looks like they are starting to go the way of Donruss football with the design which would be a good thing.

 6 cards of the legend

Thanks for participating in the Secret Santa Dion and big thanks for all the great cards.  That Dick Groat picture is fantastic.

Thanks for reading.

Break it Down

For whatever reason my mind went right to the old DX theme song when I started typing this post showing off cards from Gavin. DX was so cool.  Breakdown.....Break it Down

Obviously Gavin is one of the more creative bloggers in our community.  I'm sure just about everyone has seen the great rip cards he has done. I'm biased, but I declare mine the best.

I put this on Twitter right after opening the bubble mailer because I knew it was going to be a little bit before I got to posting about it.  Thanks for sending this my way Gavin.  A true 1/1 collectible.

While the rip card was the main event, Gavin sent some high end cardboard my way.

 I love UD football.  College uniforms and on card autos make for great cardboard.

 Luplow was a 2014 draft pick out of Fresno.  His numbers have been decent in all levels of A ball so I'm assuming he'll get a shot at AA fairly soon.

 I love me some Francisco Cordova.  He was a Mexican League star before coming to Pittsburgh at an older age and actually pitched very well as a Bucco.  Great auto from one of the better auto sets ever created.

I believe I remember Gavin pulling this card himself.  Super pumped he sent it my way.  Keller is the fastest rising prospect in the Pirates system and now is #2 or #3 in the entire system depending on what list you look at.  

 It is nice to see Harrison in a lot of sets. He went forever without get much of anything in terms of cardboard.  If you want to see cards early you have to be a prospect which Harrison was not.

 Taillon Heritage rookie /999

 Snell looks 12 years old here.

 This card is right up my alley.  When I buy blank back 1/1's I'm usually chasing guys like Vogelsong who are short stay Pirates. What a cool surprise.

 When PressPass first released it was mind blowing.  Beautiful on card autos and great college uniform shots.  The set looks much cheaper and has sticker autos now....

 Gavin hit the mother load on Bowman parallels. The blue varieties have a cool look.

 The Connor Joe is numbered to /75.  This is a big year for Joe has the Pirates used a supplemental pick a few years back on him, but he has had a hard time staying healthy.  Really needs to show some improvement or he'll likely be left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft.

 I laugh every time I see a Brian Bixler card.  During the 20 year losing streak Pirates fans would grasp onto every prospect thinking this is the guy who will turn us around.  Bixler was a big shortstop who showed a decent amount of power in the minors.  Well, big league pitching is hard to hit and he flamed out quick.  I have a lot of high end Bixler cards.......

Always cool to receive Mountaineers in trade and a surprise Steeler.

Thanks so much for the cards Gavin.  Always fun to swap with you.  By the way the correct Mike Trout card has been located and will be in the mail very soon.

Thanks for reading!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

My trading with Dennis from Too Many Verlanders has taken a life of its own.  We've slowed down the amount of packages to focus on some higher end cards.  This is mostly due to the fact that I've been having a little more trouble than usual securing Tiger cards.  So instead of every month or two we are more quarterly focused.  This in turn has made for some crazy trades.

I previewed this beauty the other day.

While I did everything but shout on rooftops to let everyone know I loved this card it was only one of many heavy hitters in the package....

 Of active Pirates, Cutch is still by far the most desirable on the secondary market. I've made it known on several occasions that I rarely look for new cards of the Pirate center fielder.  He just has too many super collectors to compete with.

When I saw this Bowman Originals auto pop out I was crazy pumped.  I think this is the first time I've received a Cutch auto in trade.  This card is a reissue of the Aflac rookie.

 Now we've reached ludicrous speed.

Holy crap,  a second Cutch auto! Dennis wasn't messing around this time. He went above and beyond with this trade package.  You my friend are crazy.

This is probably one of the more clear red ink autos I've seen from this set. The baseball signatures have a tendency to fade, but this one has held up just fine. Awesome card from a great set.

Dennis knows my collecting soft spots.  Bay autos are always welcomed.

 The craziness continues!  This is a cool cut auto of Pirate legend Ralph Kiner.

 Like Dennis, I'm a huge college collector.  Extra bonus if the guys featured are in their school colors. Panini Contenders is always a great set for the college collectors.

 I've completed "Mountaineers" once before on these letterman cards.  They look great if you can manage to find them all.

 The Steelers still utilize the tight end a good bit even after the retirement of Heath Miller.  James had a few big games at the beginning of the season as a red zone threat.

 IP Dan Miceli auto.  It looks like the sun was in his eyes.

 The Pirates probably paid the price bringing up Pedro Alvarez a little to early.  The power was ready but the discipline just never came.

 Polamalu was a fun guy to watch play.  I wish he retired on better terms with the Steelers.

Big Ben seems to actually get better every year. Love the Miami of Ohio UD card.

 Hines was my main collecting focus during my Steeler collecting hey day.

 I love this card.  Jagr is a freak of nature. He is a 1000 years old yet somehow still manages to stay productive.  One of these years I hope he can reconcile with the Pens and retire with them.

Pac Man is still going strong with the Bengals.  I think he had his coming to Jesus moment early in his career and realized his career might be going out the window.  Nice to see him right the ship.

Holy crap Dennis!  You really got me good with this one.  Time for me to game plan and see what 2017 will bring.  It will be fun my friend.