Game Day Ticket

2007 UD Black Adam Laroche Game Day Ticket Auto /50

I've had this card for several years.  It would have been a great candidate for my white whale list as it was a huge pain in the butt to find. For whatever reason these Game Day autos don't show up much on eBay.  Right now only 10 are listed with most having high BIN prices. Some combination of scarcity, obscure set  and player checklist plays into it I guess.

Visually these cards look really nice.  The scan doesn't do the auto justice as the silver really pops on the actual card. The only deceiving part is that I believe this is a sticker auto.  It is tough to tell but when I ran my finger across the card I'm pretty sure I can feel the edge of the sticker.  I guess if you are going to make a sticker auto, hiding the actual sticker is not a terrible idea.  

LaRoche had a really interesting tenure as a Pirate.  When the Pirates traded for him he was suppose to be a cornerstone piece into turning the franchise around. While he put up decent numbers he just never took him game to the next level. He also was a notoriously slow starter so most of the numbers were put up late in the year when the Pirates were out of the race. Wish we could have gotten a few of those huge years he put up with the Nationals.  

Thanks for reading! 

A Few Drops Still Remain in the Well

2007 UD Black Jason Bay Bat Barrel Auto /10

Well, I had no idea this card existed. I'm probably tuned in to Jason Bay cards more than any other player in my Pirates collection, but this one still slipped through the cracks.  Obviously the low print run is the reason why, but I'm still surprised that I've never seen this card pop up.  I even searched UD Black a lot over the years because Tom Gorzelanny and Adam Laroche had some nice cards within the set.

Finding new Bay autos these days us pretty tough so when I first saw this I put a good sized opening bid in.  Bay cards don't sell for much these days, but I figured this one would at least approach the $15-20 range because of the high end set and rarity.  For whatever reason the card sold for under $7 and even with shipping stayed under the $10 mark.   That was a pleasant surprise. 

Bay is the only player in my collection that I have a completest attitude towards. I must subconsciously credit him for keeping my Pirate fandom alive even when the team was hard to watch. Thanks Jason Bay! You will live forever in my saved eBay searches.  

Thanks for reading. 

Gonzo for Gorzo

I haven't really decided if it is a good habit or a bad one, but I often utilize seller's combine shipping. Sometimes I feel I trick myself into thinking I'm getting a good deal, but in reality I'm probably just spending extra money on a card I really don't need. Other times I'm happy I did the search as it can be a treasure trove of cards I needed. Such was the case recently......

Recently a seller had a Tom Gorzelanny auto that I wanted. It just happened he had quite a few Gorzo autos after exploring his eBay store.

 2007 Exquisite Jason Bay/Tom Gorzelanny Auto /10

 2007 UD Black Tom Gorzelanny/Adam LaRoche Auto /15

 2007 Exquisite Tom Gorzelanny Auto /20

2008 UD Baseball Heroes Auto Jersey /75

What made this deal so great was that it also included a low numbered refractor of Marc Bulger. The whole lot was just a shade under $12 shipped. 

The card that originally got my attention was the Exquisite featuring only Gorzelanny. I hadn't seen that card for a long time and knew this would be a good opportunity to pounce.  The big bonus was being able to get the Bay/Gorzo auto for cheap. That card would have carried a good price tag back when that product was released. 

Gorzo is still hanging around as a reliever, but really hasn't had much success sticking around long term. A typical season will see him get a decent amount of innings, but also shipped to AAA a few times. I'm hoping his career trajectory will be that of Zach Duke and that he can get a job solidified in the bullpen.  

On a side note Gorzo was part of the trade to the Cubs that netted Josh Harrison. At the time Harrison seemed more of a throw in as Kevin Hart was the main piece. 

Hope those on the east coast is surviving the storm.  We are expecting about 18 inches here.  Yuck!