Draft Day

I'm upset that the Mountaineers got eliminated by Villanova last night, but we have a big silver lining. One of the things I love about college basketball is it provides a perfect transition into the greatest sport on earth, baseball! I'm trying not to pay attention to the fact that it is 40 degrees....

Since this is the last weekend before opening day it means it is fantasy baseball draft day.  We do both and NL only and AL only league.  This is a fun way to play when you only have 5 or 6 people participating.  All the baseball talk and roster construction will get me in the right mindset for Thursdays first pitch.  We also use it as an excuse to try a bunch of beer and eat unhealthy food. You know you are getting old when you look forward to a day to eat unhealthy. 

New card time.

2016 Triple Threads Mark Melancon All Star Patch /9

For a long time I would actively chase these All Star patches. For whatever reason they always struck a cord with me. For one they would often create cards of obscure All Stars when the Pirates were terrible.  Did you know former Pirate reliever Evan Meek was an All Star?! It is the fanciest versions of the obscure I crave. 

The other benefit is that like most patch cards prices can be all over the place. One day this card could sell for $15 and the next $40.  Patience usually pays off.  This one was had for about $20.  Not great, but it had been a long time since I added one so I splurged a little. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the last weekend without baseball for around 7 months!!!!!

Thanks for reading! 

Triple Threat

I've been away from home most of the weekend, but I wanted to showoff this bad boy. It is one of the nicest cards I've added in a long time. 

2016 Triple Threads Marte/Polanco/Harrison Auto /27

You don't often see triple autos that feature three every day players, but such is the case with this awesome Triple Threads card sent to me by my good pal Kevin of Card Papoy fame. He had told me to expect a high end direct delivery from eBay, but you don't really prepare for an awesome triple auto. 

I have a bunch of cards from Kevin to showoff soon, but obviously you can see why this one needs a post all to its self.  Wow Kevin!!!!!!!!

Performance Enhanced Blog Posts

Starling Marte was busted for PED's a couple weeks into the season. His suspension has had quite the trickle down effect for the Buccos.  Coming into the season you could make the argument that Marte was the Pirates best all around player and maybe the hardest guy to replace. His suspension, plus some other key absences has put the Pirates behind the eight ball at what has turned out to be a wide open division. Who knows where the Pirates would have been having a non cheating Marte plus a sober Jung Ho Kang. That is about 8 War worth of players right there.

While I'm angry at Marte's greediness I still like to collect his cards. Maybe that is a bit hypocrytical of me, but hey....it is my collection.

Marte has a good following on eBay.  His new releases sell for good money.  The deals can be found on older releases.  It also help that some people have soured on him after the suspension. The below lot cost me about $10.

 While Prizm lacks a license you do get a nice on card auto.

This is a sepia auto parallel /75 form 2016 Triple Threads. 

The seller had several Pirate cards, but the only other one I could win was this Brock Holt Chrome rookie auto.  Holt made his major league debut as a Pirate, but was traded the following offseason to the Red Sox in the Mark Melancon deal.  The trade was odd in that Melancon and Holt were secondary pieces at the time, but turned into the centerpieces almost immediately. 

As a fan of the Pirates I'm upset that Marte knowingly cheated the system. Ultimately he has to answer to his teammates and the fans. I'm just not one of those holier than now people that shun a guy after the suspension.  Once he serves his time I will continue to root for Marte. I have better things to do than boo athletes.  

Thanks for reading.