Walk and Papoy Collaboration #7 (Our Best Pull)

Kevin and I are finally back to breaking some boxes. This time around it was my turn to pick. Part of the reason for the gap between breaks was that I was waiting for Stadium Club to come down a little in price, but it stayed pat the better part of the month.

I decided to go with 2013 Hometown Heroes and Diamond Kings. HH is a good set to provide autos on the cheap as 3 are guaranteed and DK gave us a chance for some high end cards at a very reasonable price (plus I love the set).

I'm not going to showoff the base of Hometown Heroes or DK since I've done that a few times on the blog. I have plenty of doubles of the HH commons as well as a few DK. Just let me know if you need anything. 

I've always been a magnet for Pendleton cards over the years. He was never one to have a ton of autos, but the few he did have always found a way in my collection.

 A couple of Brewers. You need these Tony?

Ron Darling has an interesting signature........

Two things to take note from these autos. First we pulled an extra auto! The box guarantees 3, but we pulled the 4th. This is the second time this has happened to me opening Hometown Heroes which is pretty cool. The second item of note is that that all the players were NL which means they stayed with me on the breaks. Both Kevin and I always feel a little guilty when this happens, but we always end up sending a ton of cards to each other anyway. We're all winners! 

Now for some DK! 

 This is a cool parallel /99.

I know he is struggling right now, but this is one of my better pulls in a while. I knew something good was coming out of the pack because of the thickness, but we lucked out that it was the auto/patch variation. If you recall from our last break I pulled a Steven Strasburg dual patch /10. 

 Here is the back with the serial number on the top right, 5/5. Not too shabby.

This was one of the those breaks where I felt a little guilty since both box boxes were NL dominated. The important thing is that we actually pulled some nice cards. Much rather one of us hit big than pulling nothing at all. We are finding out over time these tend to equal out over the long run.

Thanks for reading!

It's Alive

After two weeks I finally have a fully operational home computer. Hopefully this will be the last of the computer struggles. I really need to take a day off work and just scan cards and prepare trade packages to get caught up.

One of the downfalls to replacing a hard drive is trying to download all the old programs I had saved. Everything from anti virus software to Itunes needed to be reinstalled. That has been a decent chunk of my evening. Thankfully cloud services salvaged most of the important items like pictures.

2015 Diamond Kings Starling Marte Mini Patch /25

I can't get enough Diamond Kings. Part of it has to do with my love of the early to mid 2000's version because it gave a crappy Pirates team a lot of love. The other half is I just like how it looks. I've cherry picked some Buccos and even busted a few boxes. One of which I just opened the other night and had a major pull! Will be showing that off in the next few days.

This Marte cost right around $10 which is not bad for the Bucco's outfielder. Marte continues to play a vital role for the Bucs and has found a home in the 2 spot of the lineup. He seems to be getting a little better with each year so their is reason to believe we haven't seen the best of him yet. If he ever learns to get rid of his annual month long drought he will be an All Star.

Thanks for reading!

Broken Computer and Pitcher

2015 Diamond Kings James Taillon Dual Patch /5

My home office computer decided that it needed a break last night and went completely haywire. I have had pretty good luck with my computer choices over the years, but this is not a good sign. The computer is relatively new and used lightly. If it is anything serious I may switch to a Mac. 

In the meantime here is the card I intended to show last night. Since Taillon has been hurt the better part of two years his cards have bottomed out in terms of eBay prices. I added this dual patch for $15. Not too shabby considering it is a new set that sells really well. 

This offseason is going to be critical for Taillon. He still is in the long term plans for the Buccos, but he will need to show some progress. Many Pirate fans still want to see a rotation featuring Cole, Glasnow and Taillon. 

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Thanks for reading! 

Walk and Papoy Collaboration #5 (2015 Diamond Kings)

I'm going on vacation next week so I wanted to make sure I got a box busted and shipped out before the end of this week. Out of all the boxes Kevin and I busted to date, I feel Diamond Kings gives the most variety. The base set has a nice checklist, the auto's and relics are unique and the overall look of the cards is nice.

As for the results of the box I finally ended my cold streak. For this break I had all the NL teams. The box guarantees two hits and I got them both.  While I didn't pull any jaw droppers I did walk away with a few nice cards.

I was feeling good about my box right away as the first pack yielded a Honus Wagner mini. I believe we got two or three minis in the box. 

 Some of the Pirate base including the standard Honus. Not bad looking for non licensed cards.

 The inserts are not near as exciting as the main issue cards. My favorites are the nickname cards.

 Some more base cards.

These are the framed parallels. Some variations are numbered, but these were just the standard frame cards.My crooked scan doesn't do these justice. They are really nice and have a unique feel.

The first hit pulled was this R.J. Alvarez rookie auto. He has been a busy man in his short career. Originally drafted by the Angels he was traded to the Padres as part of the Huston Street deal last year. This past offseason he was traded to the A's in the Jesse Hahn/Derek Norris deal.

The rarest hit of the box was this dual patch of Strasburg /10. Pretty sharp looking card.

I'll probably pick Diamond Kings again as it was a very enjoyable break. The main downfall is that the box has only 12 packs, but it still produces a nice variety.

Sorry I shut you out Kevin, but I guess that is just the nature of the game we are playing. Before this break I was sure I was going to pull you one of those Babe Ruth cut autos. When it is all said it done I think both of us are happy that at least one of us does well. Thankfully, that has been the case in all of our breaks. Now we just need one box to give us both a really nice card.

With that being said....USA wins!!!!

Thanks for reading!

Diamond Kings

With all the recent trades I haven't had much time to show cards I've purchased the last few weeks. This is a new mini that I've added to my collection.

2015 Diamond Kings Jameson Taillon Mini Patch /25

I rarely by jersey cards on eBay, but I will often pull the trigger on nice patches if the price is right. Normally I'm looking for some of the late 70's Pirates, but this popped up and caught my eye. It is a pretty big patch for the size of the card. Plus, I really like the new DK set. 

Taillon is always one of my regular eBay searches as his cards are very affordable. He was the 2nd overall pick in the loaded 2010 draft. Obviously the Pirates thought a lot of him as some of the notable guys picked after were Manny Machado, Matt Harvey and Chris Sale. 

After climbing the system it looked like Taillon would be making his debut at some point in 2013, but his arm gave out. Tommy John surgery caused him lose the entire 2013 season. While his rehab has reportedly been going great the Pirates are not rushing him. He may help the team in September, but 2015 is most likely the target. 

Thanks for reading.