Guarantees

Trading in the blogging community is a beautiful thing.  Nothing quite beats finding a card and knowing exactly who will enjoy it.  A couple months back I bought some trade fodder online and among the group was a few Ryan Howard cards.  That is a guaranteed shipment to Brad's Blog. 

I kind of figured that Brad had both cards I sent, but it still didn't stop him from firing right back. 

I was hoping Garrett Jones would have stabilized first base for longer period, but he turned out to be more of a roll player that could only handle right handed pitching. Jones was a late bloomer as the Pirates signed him from the Twins.  Poor guy got stuck behind the likes of David Ortiz and Justin Morneau. 

Sticker autos aside, I was a huge fan of Triple Threads around this time.  The set featured so many Buccos to chase.

I had been on a Bay dry spell for a while, but this marks the second hit I've received in a trade this week.

The Desert Shield set seems to grow more popular every year. It also doesn't surprise me to see graded versions of the cards.  From what I've read a lot of fakes are out there.  People are the worst. The set is valuable because the print run per player was around 7000.  While that seems like a lot it is only a drop in the bucket compared to the regular mass produced junk wax set.

Fun to see a Delwyn Young card.  His most famous moment as a Pirate was taking Stephen Strasburg deep in his debut.

Neil Walker rookie card! Fun to see an Upper Deck Icons card.  One off sets always intrigue me and I seem to gravitate towards them when looking for unique parallels.

Another short lived set in Fleer Futures! Bonus that the card features Kris Benson in a Homestead Grays uniform.

The Pirates had quite the early 90's catching combo in Don Slaught and Mike Lavalliere

Collecting late 90's through mid 2000's Pirate Bowman prospects is a cruel yet fun venture. You just shake your head at all the missed draft picks. That my friend is how you have 20 straight years of losing.

That Polanco was one of my favorites from 2017 Topps.

Ending on a strong note here with a manager card and an iconic Tekulve.  That Teke pretty checks all the boxes.

Thanks for the nice surprise Brad.  You really found some cool stuff.

Thanks for reading!

Trade: Brad's Blog

The great trade package catch up continues on with a bubble mailer from my good pal Brad. It is always fun to receive cards from Brad as it is always a mixed bag. This time was no different. Three teams bags full of Pirate goodness.

 Let's start off with this beauty. In fact it is a refractor beauty.  Finest is a truly fine set.

 I'm borderline obsessed with all the obscure late 90's early 00's parallels. Brad hooked me up with this beauty from the easily forgettable Fleer Mystique. In came and went just like Chard Hermansen's career......zing!!!

I don't think their is a single pirate fan who can say one bad word about Jason Bay. The guy was productive from the first day he stepped foot in PNC park to the day he left. Also, Upper Deck is awesome.

Jung Ho Kang is on a rehab assignment after getting demolished by Chris Coghlan breaking up a double play. 

 More Finest!

 Flair is so fancy! It would probably cost $1000 a pack if they remade it today.

 I miss all the good budget sets. This would be a great chance for Panini to take some of Topps thunder if they could create a halfway decent looking cheap set. The abomination that was the most recent Triple Play does not count.

 Only Cutch and Marte remain from this group.

The mid 90's saw the Pirates transitioning from power house to perennial loser. I think you could classify the Fleer cards as "busy." 

 Work of art.

 Candelaria and Walk have to be related.

I've been the recipient of some really cool Van Slyke's lately. This Gold Rush is near the top.

This was just a small sample of the cards Brad sent.  He really hooked me up with a ton of cards. I'll be sure to hit you back soon Brad.

Thanks for reading.

Brad is a Cowboy Astronaut Millionaire

A couple weeks back Brad from Brad's Blog was getting rid of some excess cards.  The only requirement was you had to list your collecting interests. So I told him I collected Mike Trout autos and pre war, graded 10 tobacco cards. While Brad couldn't deliver any of those he sent me something twice as good.

 Four cards of the legend! Brad was just showing off by sending two 91 Fleers. I guess that makes sense since he is a cowboy astronaut millionaire!

 The highlight of this bunch is the 96 Pinnacle rookie of Jason Kendall. Supposedly Kendall was a huge asshole, but he was fun to watch. His skillset was so unique for the position as he had great speed to go along with a high obp and gap power.

 The core of the early 90's Buccos.

 A lot of cool cardboard here. The Van Slyke is a Sunoco oddball which is pretty cool. I've received a few of these since I started the blog. Not many Sunoco's in my area so it was nice to receive them.

I saw that Jay Bell still ranks in the Dbacks top 5 free agent valued contracts of all time. Obviously Mr. Grienke sits on the very top.

 Legends! I've always been partial to that Honus tops card. One of my favorites.

 A gaggle of Cutch cards.

 Not quite sure what the plan is for Josh Bell next season. The Pirates non tendered Pedro Alvarez and don't have much in the way of a major league first baseman. I'm sure at some point during the season the job will be his to win.

The Cole Train!

 The Hanrahan card in which he is doing his best Bo Jackson impersonation is pretty cool.

The Pirates tend to turn over their roster pretty quick in order to keep costs down. Only Liriano and Cole remain from this group of 2013 Topps Buccos.

This was only about half of what Brad sent. It was a nice mix of old and new in which I only had to leave a comment to have them sent my way. Thanks so much for your generosity Brad, as I'm sure that was a good bit of work to put all those packages together. I'll hit you up with some Phillies soon!

Thanks for reading.

Trade: Brad's Blog

Brad and I have a great blind trade going. He always keeps his eye on good Buccos for me, plus he has hooked me with great Topps Chrome cards from his annual case break. This time around he found some great cards of two of the Pirates biggest stars.

Nice cameo of a sad looking Tulo behind Cutch! I'm still not quite use to seeing Cutch dreadless. I'm hoping one more good week of voting and Cutch will be a starter for the NL this year.

 I've been the recipient of several Virdon autos in trades.

 That hair! Feathered and lethal.

 This is one of the best Pirate cards ever. Nice Field of Dreams action shot.

 I'm a sucker for All Star game cards so that is probably my favorite of this bunch.

I think these are the Toys R Us purple parallels. I've received several of these in trades which is nice since the closest Toys R Us from my house is about 45 minutes away.

I really hope Pedro can salvage his season with the Bucs. Either way I don't think he'll be with the team next year, but if he has any hope of playing down the stretch he will have to drastically improve his defense or start hitting bombs at a ridiculous pace. 

 Some nice flashback cards from my childhood. How can you not love that Jose "Chico" Lind!

Here is the showstopper. I'm a huge Marte fan so anytime I can add an auto it is a good day. Thanks a ton for this one Brad!

Thanks for the trade Brad. How about you tell Ruben Amaro to give the Pirates a nice discount on Cole Hamels! I'll be on the hunt for some more Phillies for you.

Thanks for reading.

Some Ireland Pictures and a Trade with Brad's Blog

Back in 2012 my wife and I went to Ireland over Thanksgiving for a vacation. In honor of St. Patrick's Day here a few pictures from my trip.

 The perfect pour!

I was picked to do a tasting from my tour group. At the end I received a certificate in which I'm more proud of than my college diploma.

Card time.

Frequent trade partner Brad from Brad's Blog hit me up this week with another great trade package. Brad is able to hit card shows throughout the year and when he does he always seems to find cool cards to send my way.

Adam LaRoche has had a nice big league career in which he seems to be getting better with age. I wasn't a huge fan when he was with the Pirates as his good counting stats were somewhat on the empty side. He was a notoriously slow starter and would put up the majority of his numbers late in the summer after the Pirates were already buried in the standings. He seemed to figure things out with the Nationals and has had his best years in his mid 30's. The White Sox signed him as a free agent in the offseason.

 Looks like Lambo has a good chance of making the Pirates as a left handed bat off the bench.

 Arbet is a guy scouts believe can stick at shortstop, but question the bat.

Mathisen was drafted as a catcher, but looks to transition to 3rd base as the Pirates are stockpiled with good young catchers. The Pirates really like Mathisen so it will be interesting to see if the bat continues to advance.

Purple refractors! The closes Toys R Us is about 40 minutes from my house so it is always nice to get these in trade.

Man Myth Legend!

Thanks for all the great cards Brad. I'll be sure to hit you up with some Phillies soon!