Deckle

2014 Topps Archives Deckle Mini Auto /25

Andy Van Slyke put up some monster years for the Pirates in the late 80's early 90's.  Some of my earliest memories at Three Rivers Stadium were of AVS manning centerfield for the Buccos. I'm always excited when I'm able to add an auto, especially a hard to find variation.  Normally I would open a box of Archives, but the prices sky rocketed this year with the popularity of the Major League autos. Someone in the blog world pulled the Charlie Sheen.  Was that your Raz? 

Hope everyone enjoys the World Series! I really don't have a rooting interest so I'm just hoping for a good series.  

Thanks for reading!

Surprised

A couple weeks back I was doing my normal searches on Ebay and came across this dual auto of Van Slyke and Mclouth from 2005 Upper Deck Update.  Being a frequent reader of Cardboardconnection.com I'm usually in tune with most of the Pirate autos and relics.  This one caught me off guard.  It seemed this one had fell through the cracks as it was the first time I had noticed it.  Numbered out of 25 it is rare, but not rare enough to avoid me all these years.  I had to have it either way.  For a shade over $20 I'm now the proud owner.

I always had a soft spot for Mclouth.  Part of me wished the Pirates had kept him, but trading him away had a lot of benefit for the Pirates.  We received Charlie Morton and Jeff Locke from the Braves and the open area in center was taken by some guy named Mccutchen.  It turned out the Pirates traded Mclouth at his absolute peak as he has not come close to his All Star numbers in Pittsburgh.

Random Combo

Growing up Andy Van Slyke was one of my favorite players.  I'm always trying to get my hands on autos and relics when they pop up on the market.

This is a nice 1980's flashback card from 2012 Triple Threads.  I picked this card up on Ebay last year and haven't seen many since.  This is the short print version /18. 

Here is the version that is numbered out of /27 which I picked up recently as well.

Van Slyke's accomplishments:
3 All Star Games
2 Silver Sluggers
5 Gold Gloves

What a trade for the Pirates when they sent Tony Pena to the Cardinals and received Van Slyke and Mike LaValliere.