The Gyorko Store Called

A lot of fun stuff going on.  Tonight I had my last fantasy football draft. This league is my favorite as it has had the same group of guys for an extended period of time.  We have league shirts and a custom made title belt!  I'm not if I should be proud or ashamed.  You guys can decide.

2015 Topps Series 1 Jedd Gyorko Silver Frame /20

It has been really cool to watch Jedd Gyorko have a nice bounce back year with the Cardinals. He is the only WVU player in the majors right now so I'm really pulling for him. He has been one of the reasons the Cardinals have stayed relevant through all the major injuries to guys like Carpenter, Peralta, Diaz and Adams. Gyorko has played all four infield positions this year. 

I'm still pissed Topps made the silver frames 1/1's. I tried to win a Michael Morse the other day and the damn thing went off for $40.  No thanks. 

Hope everyone is ready for September baseball and the start of college football.  Lots of stuff going on in Morgantown this weekend! 

Thanks for reading. 

I'm a Sucker

I'm a bonafide sucker for team cards. From vintage to modern day I love cards that feature multiple Buccos. For the last couple of years the team card featuring the Buccos has been a big time chase card for me.

I've been lucky in the past few months to find the above printing plate and Topps Mini /10 parallel. While I really enjoy these cards I haven't hid the fact that I'm a huge fan of the silver frame and acetate parallels.  Well, patience paid off!

2015 Topps Series 1 Acetate Parallel /10

Finally!!!! It had been quite a long time since the acetate has shown up on eBay.  For about $18 shipped I finally secured a card that has avoided me for well over a year. The only thing that would make this card better is if Starling Marte was on it, but I still love it.  

Hope everyone has a nice weekend! 

Non Tendered

I'll be at the Pirates/Dodgers game this afternoon. This is actually a belated Christmas present from my Mother in Law. Every year she lets me pick one game and also books a hotel for the night. Also, this is the one game a year where my wife goes with me, so said game has to have fireworks or a concert. This year it is a concert, as O.A.R is performing after the game. I've seen O.A.R several times over the years and they put on a pretty good show so it should be fun.

2015 Topps Series 1 Pedro Alvarez Silver Frame /20

I'm getting close to having all the silver framed Pirates I set out to acquire. While I would love to have a McCutchen or even a Neil Walker, the prices have been extremely high (Cutch was $70 and the Walker was $35). My mission from the get go was to focus on newer Pirates and guys that don't get a lot of relic or auto love.

Pedro was never high on the list to go after, but this one fell into my lap at a good price at ~$10. Usually the only guys that fall cheaper are bench/AAAA type of players. I think Cory Hart cost me less than $5.

Pedro is all but certain to be non tendered at the end of the season. He has essentially made himself a player that can only be rostered by an AL team. It will be a sad end to what was once a very promising career. The silver lining is that the Pirates probably saved themselves millions by not extending Pedro after his breakout 2013.

White Whale #2 Secured

A couple months back I started a small list of cards on the right side of the homepage that have avoided me over the year(s). These are not necessarily high priced cards, but either rarity or bad luck have kept them from my collection. The Card Papoy helped me out with one right away by supplying the Heritage Bill Virdon auto. Finally I was able to knock one off this past week.

Of all the cards I had on my list I figured the easiest to locate would be the Pirates sliver framed team card /20. The difficult part with this card is that the prices for the silver frames have been strong on the secondary market. The first few that hit were selling for over $30 which was way more than I was willing to go. I even found the printing plate of the team card for just over $20. Thanks to stumbling on a buy it now auction I was able to find the card for $16. Not a great deal, but I was happy to get a card that I wanted since Series 1 was released.

2015 Topps Series 1 Pirates Team Card Silver Frame /20

I've made it known that I'm not a huge parallel fan. The only ones in recent years to really catch my eye are the acetate and silver frame cards from Topps. Usually the only players I chase are Pirates that don't get much love relic or auto wise. This card kind of falls in the middle somewhere as it was just so unique I had to have it. Since I have the printing plate and the silver frame it would be kind of cool to locate the acetate, but not a necessity. Just glad to put this one to bed. 

I have a pretty extensive list of cards that could go on the White Whale list, but for now I think I will try to keep the list at a manageable 10 cards. To keep with the 2015 theme I think the new venture will be the Starling Marte base photo variation from Gypsy Queen. Not a super expensive card, but I've tried to win it about 10 different times and failed. Time to hunt for a deal!

Thanks for reading.

A Weird Result

I've mentioned several times that my favorite card from Series 1 is the Pirates team card. While I have no desire to chase the rainbow I was looking to add a few parallels.

Part of me wishes Starling Marte was in this shot, but Harrison makes for a unique combination with Cutch and Polanco. This picture must be from when Marte was on the DL before the All Star break. Either way it is a cool end of game celebration.

My initial search was to find the silver framed parallel /20, but the price was just too high. So I browsed eBay aimlessly to see if something else would pop up that caught my eye.

2015 Topps Series 1 Yellow Printing Plate

This card popped up on eBay a couple weeks back and when it was all said and done I won it for about $22. Go figure, cheaper than the silver framed. A very welcomed addition to the collection. I'll still keep my eye out for the silver framed, but I'm content having the plate. 

Silver Framed

Late post as I was watching the Mountaineers beat Texas. Looks like we are getting hot at the right time of year.

I'm not one to chase the Topps parallels. In my mind I keep thinking it would be cool to try and complete a rainbow, but to date I've been able to talk myself out of it. I'll leave that to crazy people like Zippy.

With that being said a couple of the parallels have caught my attention in Topps. I'm really digging the /10 acetate cards and /20 silver frame cards. I made one big acetate purchase last month by picking up the Gregory Polanco. Since I spent a good bit of money on that card I figured I would go for a more complimentary player rather than a star with the silver frame

2015 Topps Silver Frame Parallel Jordy Mercer /20

First off these cards are thick and more solid than I expected. When Chris pulled the Hamels in the group break it didn't look that thick to me. Either way I was intrigued and wanted to get one for my collection. This Mercer was a nice compromise at less than $10 shipped. Overall I still like the acetate cards a little better, but these are a nice change of pace. For better or worse at least these have a unique characteristic. 

If I were to chase another silver or acetate card I would probably go for that Pirates team card. 

This was my favorite Pirates card in Series 1.

Thanks for reading.

Nachos Grande Group Break: 2015 Topps Series 1 (Angels, Braves and Pirates)

Before I started blogging I wasn't a big participator in group breaks. Most of this stems from the Pirates never having a lot to choose from in sets during their losing years. Now with a loaded farm system and a bona fide superstar in McCutchen I usually try to join whenever Chris gets one going.

This time around I picked my Buccos and decided to take a flyer on the Angels and Braves since no one claimed them. Figured this might be a good chance to get lucky with a high end Trout or Chipper Jones. While I struck out for the most part with my extra teams, I did really well with the Pirates.

As a whole I thought the base set looks pretty nice. As usual their are too many inserts and manu-relics. The auto selection is nice, but our case was a little weak on name value. Our case made up for the lack of named autos by hitting some big name relics, parallels and a sweet David Wright stamp/coin card.

Our gracious host. Can't thank Chris enough for holding these breaks. They take a lot of time. 

Angels:

 Of the inserts this is my favorite. I was really happy with my Pirate version below.

 Gold parallel numbered to /2015. Pretty nice card featuring two of the bigger names in the game.

Braves:

 Here are the two rainbow parallels. These look better in person.

 Random assortment of inserts. Series 1 went heavy with Maddux and Aaron.


The Main Event

Really happy to get the Clemente version of this card. A really sharp looking card of the best insert set in Series 1.

I have a nice little collection of these custom Ginter cards. This is my second favorite behind the Parrot. 

Pirates new first baseman Pedro Alvarez. Glad they moved him out of third. He was going to kill some poor guy in the seats with all of his throwing errors.

My favorite base Pirate card was the team card so I was extra pumped to get the gold version. I would love to get the silver framed parallel one day if the price is right. Outfield celebrations are fun.

While I could hear the collective sigh when this card was pulled out early in the break, I was happy. As an avid Pirates auto collector it is always exciting to see a player get his first auto in the Pirate uniform. 

John Holdzkom is a really interesting story in that he was a bust of a prospect. A pirates scout found him playing independent ball last summer and noticed the velocity and high k/rate. The Pirates signed him and he shot through the minor leagues. By the time August rolled around he was mowing down guys at the big league level. He looks to play a key part in the bullpen this year.

Buyback of a 1974 Jackie Hernandez in really nice shape.

I'm not a fan of the manu-relics, but at least they are making them look nicer. Extra bonus that this was McCutchen. These cards are super thick. Since McCutchen hasn't signed any autos in a few years this is about as good as I'm going to get "hit" wise of the Bucco superstar.

Thanks as always for running a great break Chris. Looking forward to seeing what you choose next.

If anybody needs any base of the Braves and Angels I'm your man!

Thanks for reading.