Boo

Well hello there old friends.  Didn't mean to scare you.

It's your old friend Matt providing a proof of life.

Thought it was an appropriate time to provide an update so Google doesn't throw my blog in the trash. Being that my last post was in October the death blow could have happened any day.

Thankfully I don't feel as cardboard isolated as I was expecting when I shutdown the blog. Twitter has given me a nice platform to stay in touch.  While nowhere near as fun as blogging I can at least give proof of life to my old friends.

Like most social media Twitter is a vast wasteland of festering garbage, but over time you can make it a handy tool.  You just have to learn to navigate the 1000 people trying to sell you crap and "trendsetters" trying to tell you what you should be buying.  As you can tell by the use of two gifs Twitter has already polluted my brain.

Collecting wise I have had some fun developments over the past months. I had mentioned that I was close to finishing my WVU organization project.  Happily I can say that it is complete.....at least the first stage.  I have everything in binders in alphabetical order.  Some players had so much that they got their own.  While I'm still not at the Excel sheet or Trading Card Database level of organization I can at least open a binder and see if I have a card in a short amount of time.  The long term goal would be Excel sheet level, but baby steps.....

Back in October I had also made reference to planning the great Pirate sorting project.  While I still have no idea what the hell I'm doing.  I'm giving it the old college try.

The sorting trays are at least helping me see what players are best represented.  This has allowed me start binders for some of the long term Buccos like Cutch, Marte and Bay.  Its a big project....like 10 monster box and multiple plastic storage containers big, but its rewarding to see things taking shape.  I also enjoy doing it which helps. Everything just comes down to time.  Sorting is one of those things that in order to clean up a mess you have to make a mess. 

Between all the organization projects I've still managed to add some cards.  The majority of my focus has been my Jevon Carter collection. 

Basketball collectors go crazy over Prizm, but so far my favorite additions have been the Rated Rookies and Certified Material parallels.  I guess I like cards that if you stare at them long enough may cause a seizure. 

The Pirates will always be the main focus, but honestly I haven't bought too much in that area. I still scour checklists for guys getting their first cards, but the majority of the acquisitions have been potluck/obscure.

I'm a sucker for obscure autos like this.  Sets like Topps Lineage and Heritage have some great names and I've been making my way through the lists.  This Bob Del Greco and Gair Allie is my most recent acquisition. 

He has a terrible auto, but I don't care.  Look at that beauty. Bonilla and Manny Sanguillen were always the top of the list for needing Pirate certified autos and finally over the past two years both have came to be. Now we just need the Holy Grail.....BOB WALK

When I first started blogging I had made reference that I use to collect everything under the sun, but consolidated to make the Pirates and WVU the main focus.  A fun loophole is adding dual autos like this Trevor Story/Josh Bell auto. 

How about an obscure patch card! When I saw this it was a must buy too. 

If you like to "prospect" but don't want to spend crazy amounts of money, alternatives exist.  If I were to buy the Bowman alternative to this Contenders card it would cost $100's.  This cost me less than $10. With that being said I love Bowman cards and try to get all the Pirates that I can.  In my experience their is almost always a lull in which to prices come down to a more manageable amount.  For every Trout/Harper you have tons of other guys that either get hurt or don't perform at some point that causes said player to lose some prospect luster. 

Obviously I'm speaking as a Pirate collector but I'm fairly certain this holds true across the board.  Even the "hot" players now like Austin Meadows, Cole Tucker and Tyler Glasnow had points you could pick up autos on the cheap.  Tucker and Glasnow were at $5 for extended periods of time.  Tons of stories of Aaron Judge autos selling for less than $10. Patience is always a big thing if you want to save money.   

I saw a superfractor 1/1 of former Pirate prospect and current Blue Jay farmhand Reese McGuire sell for over $1300 back in March.  His ceiling is likely of a backup at the MLB level.  Even if he turned into an everyday player that is still a crazy amount.  You could literally buy an auto of Trout, Pujols, Harper, Jeter, Betts and multiple other people and still have money to spare.  You could even get a Mike Trout Bowman Sterling auto for about $1300.  That is always what is mind boggling. 

The beauty about collecting is their is no wrong way.  My thought process is always going to be as a collector rather than an investor.  So it probably is true that when you get that big player it more than pays for tons of misses.  I just have a hard time grasping the gold auto /50 of a guy that is not even rated as a "top" guy in that system going for $1000's.  I just feel if you waited at least 6 months past release you will save yourself a lot of money.  I guess its the Mike Trout/Albert Pujols syndrome.  The fear of missing out on the next big thing. 

Ultimately my inability the grasp the thought process behind these purchases doesn't mean they are wrong.....In some ways I do enjoy the attention these bring to the hobby.  The overall sportscard catalog is vast.  If you can't find something you like you probably need to take a long hard look in the mirror.   Its reasonable to question the direction the hobby is heading but trends generally come and go.  Just sit back and enjoy the ride. 

Enough of that.  See what card Twitter has done to me. 

Travel wise I've been pretty dormant over the winter.  That is about to change here in a month as I'll be in San Diego and Orlando in May.  Baseball trip and the cartoon mouse will be a lot in a short span, but both will be fun in their own way.

Hope everyone is enjoying the baseball season.  The Pirates can't hit worth a damn, but the pitching has been awesome so things are going pretty well.  Probably not sustainable, but I'm enjoying the ride.

Thanks for reading.