Delivering the Goods

One of the fun aspects of the box breaks with Kevin and Brian is that we can keep a nice blind trade going when we ship the contents.  I was a little disappointed in my shipment to Brian last time as I wasn't able to accumulate Twins cards as easy......Now I feel even worse as Brian hit me up with some big names. 

A lot of people don't like All Star relics, but I'm a big fan.  Anything to add a little life to something that has gone a little stale is a plus.  This blue piece of All Star jersey beats out the plain white swatch any day.

Looks like you could get a splinter from this Bautista bat card.   I've actually been trying to accumulate some more Joey Bats cards from his Pirate days.  During his peak Blue Jays time card prices soared. Couple of down years has things going into the more reasonable price category.  Might be the time to snag a couple autos I've had my eyes on.

Scoop! Love getting autos of the late 70's Buccos.  So many memorable guys.

Maz cards are not coming out quite at the pace they were a few years back. National Treasures remains one of my favorite non licensed sets of all time.

JR House is interesting because he hits both of my main collections (Pirates and WVU). He is from WV and owns just about every high school quarterback record you can think of.  Instead of trying college he opted for the baseball draft and got selected in the 5th round by the Pirates.

After toiling in the minors he decided to enroll at WVU to become their backup QB in 2005.  After the season he went back into professional baseball.  After it was all said and done he only got a cup of coffee in the MLB with the Orioles and Astros.

I've slowly built a nice Josh Bell collection.  Generous trade partners like Brian have really helped.

This is kind of a Twins card Brian, what are you doing? Grossman was once considered a high end outfield prospect for the Pirates, but ended up being dealt to Houston for Wandy Rodriguez.  He played a decent amount for some really bad Astros teams, but was eventually released once the Astros system got stocked with high end MLB ready outfielders. He eventually signed with the Twins where he serves as a utility outfielder.

Another guy who I've been buying like crazy.  Man, I hope he pans out.  The Pirates really need him to be good.

A variation I could actually spot! Yellow Letters.

John Jaso looks like an actual Pirate so I appreciate any cards of him I can get.

You don't see a ton of Topps Stars cards being traded around. It was kind of obscure when it was released.

YES!

I think every 55 Bowman card I have in my possession has came from blog trades.  That is pretty cool.

Thanks for the great trade Brian.  I'm going to hit you back with more authority next time!

Thanks for reading!

Hawaiian Punch

No need to prove me wrong.  I now can say without a doubt that I own two of the best cards ever produced.  The first one was shown here....

And now thanks to my pal Brian......

BOOM!!!!! A million times better than any sick hit. I'm thinking about buying a replica of this jacket. The ladies would be all over me. 

This one might even be a shade better than the previous one I showed off last month.  The jacket really puts it over the top.  The living legend often talks about his time playing minor league ball in Hawaii fondly during Pirate broadcasts.  One can only imagine the fun he had.

Brian of course did not stop with the greatest card of all time.

Cole Tucker is a former first round pick out of high school. His first couple of seasons were injury plagued, but the seemed to recapture some of his prospect status this year.  The Pirates haven't been great lately at producing high end middle infielders so it would be nice to see one actually pan out.

I love these old "silk" cards.

ERROR CARD!!! Give me all the money.  It is spelled Gorzelanny....

I feel like every old time hockey player looked 20 years older than his real age.

I'm pro manager card.  This is an all time great one.

Dread Cutch.

You have to love a 55 Topps of two sport star Dick Groat.

The new Platinum cards kind of remind of the newer Finest sets.  That is not a bad thing. I'm pro wild/colorful design.

I'm excited to get a copy of the National Baseball Card Day Cutch. It still pains me to see so many "normal" posed Cutch cards.  Please card copies make more unique Cutch cards.

I've actually received a good bit of Optic this year as it seemed more of the blogging world gave it a try. The Marte backswing pose is a nice way to get around the licensing.

Brian was even nice enough to throw a couple Stanton cards my way.  I've mentioned a few times that I have a few cards of the Marlins slugger as I've been a fan for a long time.  I love watching him destroy baseballs.

I was pretty excited when I read that Topps was producing this card.  Neverauskas is the first Lithuanian born player and Ngoepe was the first African born player.

Nice to see obscure rookies get cards.  Osuna saw a decent amount of playing time while Marte served his suspension.

Love receiving Joey Bats in the Pirate uniform.  

Thanks for the trade Brian! 

Highly Subjective Trading

My good pal Brian always throws in tons of cool extra cards my way when he ships the contents of our box breaks.  Always nice when fellow blogger is looking out for your collection.  This time around Brian hit the Buccos, WVU, Pens and Steelers.

 This was my favorite card of the bunch.  A great looking 52 Bowman of Pirate great Vern Law.

 Another old Bowman card!  This time a 50 Bowman of Cliff Chambers.  Looks like the photo was taken in the middle of the forest.

 54 Topps had some lively colors.  What a great looking card!

 Now these are super cool.  The Pittsburgh Condors were part of the ABA in the late 60's, early 70's. Interesting timing that Brian sent me these cards as I was just in a debate with one of my friends on whether the Pittsburgh area could support an NBA franchise.  He thinks they could, I'm not so sure.  While Pittsburgh is a great sports town both the hockey and baseball teams have had hard times in the past 10 years or so. For it to work I think the franchise would have to get lucky and get a franchise type of player very early on.

 Nyjer Morgan before he went insane and turned into Tony Plush.

 I bet the Mariners kick themselves for taking Jeff Clement with the 3rd overall pick in the 2005 draft. That draft has been one of the deepest in recent history producing a ton of active major leaguers.  Guys like Justin Upton, Ryan Braun, Andrew McCutchen and Troy Tulowitzki were all taken in that draft. Only two of the first 12 picks didn't see significant major league time.

The Pirates got Clement in 2010 when they traded Jack Wilson.  That did not work out well.

 Sage was perhaps a little over zealous with brand placement on their stickers.

 It has been so fun watching Jedd Gyorko play well with the Cardinals.  The one time WVU great has been one of the more consistent players for the Redbirds ever since he was traded from the Padres.

Every old timey vintage football card seems to make the players look 60 years old.

Dennys cards were a big part of my childhood.  I remember always begging my grandparents to stop at one so we could get cards after our meal.  The love for these cards still exist....the love for bad diner food, not so much.

Two guys who may get traded. Love the Gold Label card.

That actually might be a new Bay card for my collection.  That is hard to do these days.

That Honus is super cool!

Recent Mountaineer greats!

Stanley Cup Champs!!!!!  Always happy to receive cards of the Pens captain.

Thanks for all the great cards Brian!

HSCA Delivers Mike Fetters and Bob Walk

Brian is one of the lucky ones that has card shows and shops at his disposal. I'm not that jealous though because Brian is always looking out for me.  Each time I get package it is chalk full of unique items.

Speaking of unique.  Where in the heck did you find this Brian?  How cool is this! 

Kevin Newman has become a legitimate high end prospect.  He is likely the shortstop of the future who might make his debut at some point next season. 

 Brian is starting to learn his obscure Mountaineers!

 I love this card, but now it makes me sad :(

 Jay Bell left Pittsburgh before the parallel/auto/relic explosion.  Always a fan favorite, I'm pumped that Brian found this.

 Another unique item.  Yes this is part of a used 79 World Series ticket.  With inflation that seat now cost 42 million dollars.

I'm a huge team card fan and also have a nice collection of manager cards.  This nails both spectrum's.

 A nice parallel of Josh Harrison.  If he could ever learn some plate discipline he would be a super valuable player.  Did you see a couple games back when he was hit by a pitch in four consecutive plate appearances....Ouch

 Fleer have several short lived fancy looking sets from this era.  Some of my favorites to find Buccos from. Love this Kevin Young!

Professional drinker Jung Ho Kang.

 Brian continues his WVU dominance. The Quincy Wilson east/west game card from Ultra is my favorite.

 Brian really helped my team set with all these GQ Buccos.

 Sexy beast Mike Fetters.

 I'm pro mascot card!

 A card I forgot to show yesterday with the Donruss break.

Sorry Mike Fetters, you are still a distant second to Mr. Walk.

Thanks for the trade Brian.  What an eclectic bunch of cards and memorabilia.  A+ effort my friend.

Thanks for reading.