Super Sized

Vintage master Mark Hoyle recently came into a whole bunch of Topps Super and Topps Foldouts. He has been busy spreading the non Red Sox all over the blogging community.  I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of the Buccos and will provide an assist getting the Blue Jays to The Card Papoy.  Thanks for thinking of me Mark!!!!!

Pretty cool, right? Even in the later years of his career Pops still had some great cardboard.  

Cobra is pondering life or just reminiscing gunning guys out who dared run on him.

Foldout time....

I totally need to get a throwback warmup jacket.  I would rock that bad boy all time time.

Obviously the gem of the bunch is cardboard God Kent Tekulve.   While he is not in his signature submarine pitching motion the man can do no wrong.  This card could just be a picture of him shopping for groceries or pumping gas and it would still be awesome.  Some players just have the gift and Tekulve is one of them.

The Foldouts are two sided and check out one of the "other guys."

Scoop! While the Pirate uniform is always preferred, being featured as an Expos is a close second.

Thanks for the cards Mark.  I'll be sure to get Kevin his portion of the package. If you don't follow Mark on Twitter please take the time to do so now.  He is always posting pieces from his awesome collection.  Click here.

Thanks for reading!

Vote Hoyle

Hope everyone got out to vote today.  My town had several options for early voting so I was able to finish up Friday.  Not the most inspiring election, but my town/state had a bunch of open seats that are important .  We also had a school levy up for vote that is essential for public school funding. Some people get too caught up in the presidential race and forget about state and city government.

Technically I was off today, but I went to work this morning to work a little on an ongoing project. This afternoon I'm watching my daughter and messing around with cards. Figured it would be a good time to show off a pwe from my good pal Mark Hoyle. While this package was dominated by newer cards the one vintage card packed a big punch.

 Just your run of the mill 1939 Play Ball Lemuel Young......!!!!!!  Mark is well known for his vintage card shenanigans, but his generosity continues to boggle my mind.  Love this card!!!!

This didn't scan well because it is the gold version /2016. cool photo of Cutch and Josh Harrison having a little pregame fun.

 I feel like this Impact set came out at the wrong time.  People were going relic/auto crazy in the early 2000's so no one cared about an affordable set.

 The photos were decent in the set, but the borders are probably a little too distracting and big. I went back and looked at the suggest retail price of a pack of this in 2000. How about .99!  That price would make me look past any lackluster design flaws.

 The two most popular Pirates in 2000.

 I haven't bought any Update cards yet on eBay. My blogging friends have been nice enough to share many of them.

Future is pretty bright for Taillon. After losing a couple of seasons to injury he finally made his debut and was very solid. He and Cole should make a nice front end of the rotation.

Ivan Nova was awesome for the Bucs.  He is a free agent and will likely get overpaid because the pitching market is probably the worst I've seen in the last 20 years.

 Chad Kuhl made a solid debut for the Pirates this year as well. He doesn't have the upside of Taillon, but looks to be a solid major league pitcher.

This is actually a sample card from Larry Fritsch Cards. It looks like this card can be used for a coupon to receive a discount on a complete set.  How cool is this, right? I don't have much in the way of cardboard that shows the Homestead Grays. I probably should remedy that.

Thanks for all the cards Mark. I think you and I were on the same wavelength as we sent cards out to each just a day or two apart. I'm sure we'll each hit back again soon.

The Rest of the Hoyling

I've mentioned a few times on the blog and Twitter about the cards Mark Hoyle gave me in person, but this time I wanted to make sure to fully acknowledge them with a trade post.  I've been trading with Mark for a couple of years now and his generosity knows no bounds. The guy is top notch.

We had a good laugh because Mark told me I've probably given him most of the relics he owns and I told him he has single handedly gave me a respectable vintage collection.  Our collecting styles make for easy blind trades with each other.

First was a new card that celebrates an old.  Great looking card.  I've been frustrated with Topps as they continually use unflattering pictures of Maz late in his career.  This is a much better choice.

 A true vintage card of the Pirate great.

 This trade package was very Maz oriented! Maybe I should try and put this Maz tattoo on my daughter...

Recently I was reading an article and Maz that basically said Maz was an undeserving hall of famer. If you look at the numbers it is hard to argue his case.  It helps to have one of the defining moments in World Series history to put you over the top.  Maz's issue was his bat.  While not a liability he never had anything close to resembling a hall of fame type of offensive season.  His value was always tied to his glove. Probably the closest case in recent history to Maz would be Ozzie Smith, but Ozzie played a premium position.  I'm glad Maz is in, but definitely understand where people are coming from saying that he is fringe at best.

I've shown this card a couple of times, but it is just so cool that I continue to show it off.  I'm all for cigarette companies making cards again along with every other oddball type of issue.  I agree with Mecca Cigarettes slogan on the bottom, "Perfect Satisfaction."

Thanks again Mark.  Hopefully we can meet up again soon.  You need to come to PNC next year.

The Little Things

Today the stars aligned and my wife and I were able to go out for a nice dinner and actually talk like adults.  It was something that we took for granted as newlyweds, but now it is the ultimate luxury.  It had been a while since we had both sat and talked about our jobs and shared stories without having to be on the lookout of our daughter. Thank God for grandparents!

Speaking of luxuries, I have had the pleasure to trade with vintage master Mark Hoyle on numerous occasions. This marks the 17th time I've received a package from him. Check these beauties out!

 Cutch is having a bad year which makes me really sad. The Pirates have tried just about everything to get him going, but nothing has worked. Things have gotten so bad that the Pirates sat him the entire series against the Braves.  Hopefully he can right the ship this weekend.

Ivy card! this is one of the better Cutch cards in recent memories. The Wrigley Field backdrop makes for great cardboard.

 2007 Topps was different......2007 was also a very bad year for the Pirates.

 This is how I always picture Josh Harrison.  Even though he is struggling this year he continues to keep this same demeanor.

Obviously you all know what card is best. Aroldis Chapman be damned! The greatest fastball in history belonged to Bob Walk!

Thanks for all the great cards Mark!

My First Taste of Heritage Compliments of Hoyle

I'm still recovering from the loss my Mountaineers took last night. Thankfully it was overshadowed by Middle Tennessee beating Michigan State and UNI's halfcourt game winner against Texas. March Madness!

My good pal Mark Hoyle has been working overtime with the trade packages. I just posted one from him about a week back and just a few days later I received another pwe. This time around Mark took a break from his normal vintage route to hook me up with some brand new Heritage.

 Manager cards are always fun. It has been a while since a set has done current manager autos, I think it is about time.

Hurdle has been a great fit for the Pirates. Managers are more about keeping guys motivated and together these days then actual in game management as analytics has taken over a good part of that job.

 Sometimes simple is a good thing when it comes to cardboard.  This is one of my favorite Jung Ho cards. A big part of the Pirates success will be how Kang performs in his Sophomore campaign.

 The camo jersey!

Locke has changed his delivery this year and so far his velocity has been up a couple of notches. Over the last couple of years he has been on of the more frustrating Buccos, but management continues to stick with him.  Hopefully patience will pay off and he finally has a breakout year. 

Nice old school spring training pose.

Keon Broxton was traded to the Brewers this offseason for Jason Rogers. Being an outfielder with no options on the Pirates makes it hard to make it on the team. The Brewers will be a good fit for Broxton as he should be given every opportunity to succeed. The glove and speed is definitely big league level, but the bat remains the big question.

It is always nice to get new cards via trade. I've been pretty quiet in terms of new releases this year. Thanks Mark for giving me a preview of Heritage. I'll probably try and track down the rest of the Pirates soon.  Also, Vern Law has a real one auto this year!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Trade: Mark Hoyle

I've been a frequent recipient of Mark's generosity ever since I started blogging. The funny thing was that it had been a little longer than normal and our internal trading clocks must have noticed. I think two days after I received Mark's package he confirmed that he received mine. Great minds think alike and trade baseball cards, or something of that sort....

This package was a little different than normal. As usual it contained baseball mainly of the new variety. Here were my favorite of the baseball cards.

 One vintage card....

I keep hoping that a Leaf Buyback will feature an auto version of a Walk card.  My mind would explode. 

The Maury Wills was super cool because I had no clue what it was. From what I can tell on the back of the card this must have been a gas station oddball from the Atlantic Richfield Company.  Awesome! 

Mark had some other baseball, but the main event of this trade package was vintage football and hockey. 

Mark was nice enough to send cards of  pretty much the greatest Steelers in history. My vintage football collection just got one hell of a boost.

But wait we are not done....

 So many great cards. I love the Roy Gerela. It looks like he is eating his hand.

Mark gave me my introduction into vintage hockey. Now he is taking it to a new level.

The hair game was in full gear for the Pens. I know nothing about J Bob Kelly, but he looks pretty scary.

 The coach card was by far my favorite of the bunch. Boileau reminds me a little bit of the announcer from Slap Shot.

The Penguins sometimes bring back the original jerseys as an alternate. Very unique design. 

Anytime I see hockey cards from this time period my mind keeps going back to the movie Slap Shot. To this day it is still one of the funniest movies I have ever seen and I would have it in my top 3 sports movies of all time.  

I bet Mark Hoyle puts on the foil. 

Thanks for the great cards Mark. 

Smoke Em if You Got Em

A couple days back I mentioned how Tony from Off Hiatus is synonymous with oddball cards, well the same can be said about Mark Hoyle and vintage. Even since I started blogging Mark has sent me probably a binders worth of vintage. In turn, I'm able to help him out with some of the more modern Red Sox. It is a good relationship.

In terms of quantity this package was small, but packed a huge punch.

How about a T-205!!!! I've been on a nice little roll lately landing some cool vintage on eBay, but this really puts things on a whole other level. Thanks for sending this my way! Tobacco cards are the coolest.

Mark also threw in these Felipe and Matty Alou cards.  Maybe one of you guys can educate me a little more on these releases.

In the mid 2000's up until about 2011 I was a pretty avid Steelers collector. I would keep up with releases and buy a decent amount off eBay. Once I got married I knew a few of my collecting habits had to change for fiscal reasons so I pretty much stopped buying Steelers. Blog trading has helped me fill that desire to still collect the black and gold. I have very little Steelers vintage so adding this Lynn Swann is pretty cool. 

To round things out Mark sent this cool Dick Stuart stamp.

Thanks so much for the cards Mark.  You really blew me away with the tobacco card. I'll be hitting you back very soon.