Another One Bites the Dust

Tonight is the Big 12 Tournament championship.  For the third year in a row WVU is going to be playing in it, but are still looking for their first win.  Hoping that we can finally get our first Big 12 title against Kansas tonight.  

In honor of the basketball game I thought I would showoff a recent addition to my Joe Alexander collection. 

I don't buy many basketball cards these days as it has been a while since WVU has produced an NBA player that could stick in the league (fingers crossed for Jevon Carter). All my focus is on legendary players like Jerry West, Rod Thorn and Hot Rod Hundley. Only Alexander and Devin Ebanks have seen time recently.  

I'm very weak on my knowledge of NBA sets, but I do know that some of these low numbered Murad cards go for big bucks.  I've lost a good bit of low numbered auto parallels from this set.  Even for a major bust like Alexander you can often see cards in the $20-40 range.  Thankfully this plate went for about $10 shipped.  Much more manageable and right about the max area I like to be on plates. 

If you do like throwback looking sets I suggest taking a look at the T-51 Murad set.  It is very cool.  

Thanks for reading and Let's Go Mountaineers!!! 

Exquisite

I'm still fighting with my home computer which is starting to piss me off.  At some point I may just have to cut the cord and buy a new one.  In the meantime I'm going to get a second opinion from an IT friend of mine.  The issue doesn't really effect me keeping the blog active it just has put my scanning behind.  

2008-09 UD Exquisite Joe Alexander Auto /10

While I collect all things WVU, Alexander is one of the four players I actively search on eBay for on a regular basis (Steve Slaton, Pat White and Devin Ebanks are the other 3).  Alexander is kind of fun to collect because being a lottery pick gets you on a ton of cardboard.  He also flamed out so quick that his rookie releases were the only cards produced.  So a ton of cards out of the gate, but nothing new past the rookie year has given me ample time to accumulate most of his releases. 

I'm to the point now that I'm only looking for lower numbered parallels and autos. One thing I've learned about NBA cards is that even though the player is out of the league, the set itself can still make the card expensive. UD Exquisite is one of those sets.  Fortunately this auction ended much cheaper than I expected at $3.99.  In the past I've had to pay $15-25 range.  

I'm probably more excited about this card than I should be.  I realize that showing off failed NBA prospects is not a great way to generate traffic on a blog devoted to baseball cards.  That is kind of the reason I picked late Saturday night to write about it, but still wanted to get it on here to show a few of my WVU buddies. 

Thanks for reading!

Euroleague Epack Insanity

2016-17 Upper Deck Euroleague Joe Alexander

While searching for some obscure former WVU players I came across this EuroLeague Joe Alexander card.  The price was right so I threw it in my cart and made the purchase.  It wasn't until I had the card in hand that I researched the set a little more.  It is a tad bit confusing.

This was the first year the EuroLeague set moved exclusively to ePack.  You're probably thinking how in the hell do you have a physical card.  Well, UD added a physical component, but it was kind of a pain in the ass.  The base set is 100 cards in which they are only digital.  If you collect 10 base cards of any one player you could earn a physical rainbow parallel.  The redemptions are made through COMC, thus explaining how I purchased this Alexander on there.  So while I initially thought I was overpaying for a base card it turned out to be a little more involved.  Either way I'm happy to have a new Joe Alexander card.  

Happy Friday! 

White Men Can Jump

I love basketball, but only pay attention to the college game. It would help if Pittsburgh had a professional team, but that is likely never going to happen. My only hope is that WVU produces a player that can sustain a long career.  

The Mountaineers last first round pick was Joe Alexander in 2008.  Alexander was a freak of an athlete that blossomed under coach Bob Huggins during the last couple months of his Junior season. He would take that momentum into the draft where he was picked 8th overall by the Bucks. 

Since you likely have never heard of Alexander you can probably guess how this story goes. I believe he became the first lottery pick in which his third year option was not picked up. As of last year he was still playing overseas. 

Last year Alexander gave a scathing interview about the Bucks front office.  He said that when they drafted him they were going to ease him into a more active roll instead of throwing him out there to fail. This made sense as most draft experts liked Alexander, with the caveat that a team that drafts him let him develop slowly. Alexander also said that his numbers were not much different than other rookies given similar playing time. Whatever the reason the NBA is not like the MLB where prospects are given tons of opportunity to prove their worth.  If you fail early you are likely done. 

2008-09 Joe Alexander/D.J. Augustin Dual patch auto /10

I was so excited when Alexander got drafted 8th overall.  I knew I finally was going to have a chance to collect some modern basketball cards. Being that Alexander was a lottery pick he was in every set you could imagine. What I didn't realize was how expensive NBA rookie cards were. I basically avoided picking up any autos his first year. 

Once his career was over before it really got started I began picking up all his cards. Most base autos could be had for about the price of shipping while parallels and high end sets were in the $5-10 range. I had accumulated so much that it would be months in between cards I needed would show up on eBay. 

The majority of cards I'm still looking for are ones that Alexander is featured with a prominent star. The 2008 draft featured the likes of Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love. All three sell very well on the secondary market. 

The card featured above is out of UD Black.  It is a set in which about 3 million variations exist for every good rookie. Over the years I've accumulated most of the cards featuring Alexander alone, but these low numbered dual cards are super hard finds.  This one features Alexander and DJ Augustin who was drafted 9th overall in 2008 and is still active in the NBA.  At release these are the type of cards that sell for well over $100, but with Alexander flaming out I picked this card up for about $15 shipped. The only reason it sold that high is likely people who collect Texas players like Augustin. It easily becomes one of my favorite Alexander cards. 

Thanks for reading.  I hope you can now answer obscure NBA questions about Joe Alexander! 

Gimmicks Galore

For the first time ever I went to a postponed Pirates game. I've been to quite a few rain delays, but the torrential downpours and lightning was too much to overcome. The game was called after 4 innings. Hopefully the makeup game will be at a convenient time. I did manage to snap a few pictures in between getting soaked.

Cubs fans always travel pretty well to Pittsburgh. They might be my favorite visiting fans as 100 years of losing usually keeps you pretty reserved. Pirates fans can relate to them very well since we had our own unique losing streak. 

Now for a little cardboard. 

My basketball card purchases are few and far between these days. The desire is always there, but WVU just hasn't produced any NBA talent. Devin Ebanks and Joe Alexander have a fair amount of releases, but I've been able to pick up most over the years for just a few bucks. Other than that I usually come across a few Jerry West cards I like and that is it.

That leaves higher end/obscure cards to track down.  Last year I found this odd combination on eBay.

I may be the only person in the world that chased this card because of Joe Alexander, but I love it! The set this card came from is 2008-2009 Topps Treasury.  This set was full of weird gimmicks. It had rip cards, minis and every parallel under the sun. Complete craziness, which explains why the set had a short life.

When examining the checklist further I did notice that their were Larry Bird variations of the card above. Well, a year later I found the Bird/Alexander

2008-09 Topps Treasury Larry Bird/Joe Alexander Auto /39

It had been a while since I've added a new Alexander card so I was pretty excited about this purchase. The extra bonus is that it was a neat way to justify a Larry Bird auto. I wish I could say I got this for a great price, but it still ran me about $45. That is about an average cost for one of his autos with similar numbering. I was hoping that the complete flame out of Joe Alexander's career would yield a greater discount.

One of these years I hope that Bob Huggins can develop some more NBA talent. I would love to be more of an NBA fan, but this won't happen unless I have a vested interest in a player. Until that happens I'll still be stuck searching for obscure Joe Alexander autos....

Thanks for reading.

Premier Cards

2008 UD Premier Clemente/Parker/Bay Triple Jersey /50

If you were a Pirates collector in 2008 variety was hard to find. Most new releases included Jason Bay with the possible sprinkling of Freddy Sanchez. One of the hidden perks with Bay being in every release was that he helped bring down the cost of cards that would normally be too expensive for my tastes. 

Anytime you have a game used Clemente card you can expect to pay top dollar. In some instances the inclusion of certain players can work in the buyers favor. While Bay at the time was putting up star numbers he was not expensive in the world of cards. I can't remember exactly what I paid for this card, but the price must have been low enough to get my attention. I'm guessing it would had to been less than $50 maybe ever more.

I made a similar purchase when I got a Magic Johnson/ Joe Alexander dual auto. I'm the only person on earth that wanted that card because of Joe Alexander and it showed as the price was well below what a normal Magic auto would pull on eBay. 

One of the more one sided dual autos you will ever find. 

While I want all Pirate and WVU players to do well, it sometimes can be rewarding to use the secondary market shortcomings of one player to acquire one that normally would be out of reach. Thanks Jason and Joe for helping me obtain Roberto and Magic!

Blockbuster

This past Friday Keith from The Home Run Apple and my buddy Micah came over to my house to bust a box of 2012 Archives.  Micah by far had the best box pulling a Don Mattingly and Bill Madlock auto. Nothing of note to show from my box as both Keith and Micah are going for the set so they will pretty much end up with everything.  My autos were a little bit on the weaker side as I pulled Cleon Jones and Von Hayes.  I gave Keith Cleon and the Hayes is up for trade if anybody wants it.

The real highlight of the night was some extreme trading by Keith and I.  Keith is a collector of WVU like myself.  Within his collection is a card that has long been the object of my desire.  A triple auto of Michael Beasley/Kevin Love/Joe Alexander.  Keith has always been willing to trade it to me, but it has taken some time for me to find something that he would want and be of comparable value.  Kevin Love autos have always held good value and now they are going even higher.  I may be the only person on earth that wanted this card because of Joe Alexander.  I've yet to see another one of these hit eBay.

This is where it gets fun.  I have a lot of good non Pirate cards so I offered him the following cards.

Keith gladly accepted the offer as he was going to keep the Polanco auto and sell the Bagwell and Biggio.  I was fine with this as I had doubles of the Polanco and Bucky Dent and had just recently pulled another Bagwell and Biggio.

While we were admiring our blockbuster trade I remembered that I had one really good Met auto.

Knowing this Keith traded back the Bagwell, Biggio and Bucky Dent card for the Wright/Schmidt dual auto.

Long story short Keith received two great cards (Wright/Schmidt dual and Polanco), while I got a card that I've been trying to trade for the past 6 months. Here are some of the other cards I added in smaller trades.

As you can see I really made a dent in my WVU collection.  A couple of new Gyorko's, the UD Black Joe Alexander and a Bruce Irvin.  

I forgot how much fun trading in person was.  We have been opening boxes for almost six months now so our trade bait arsenal is getting larger.  Here's to more monster deals.  Also follow The Homerun Apple and let Keith know how terrible the Mets are.  In all seriousness Keith is a good guy who will be more than happy to work out a trade with you.  

Thanks for reading!

A Somebody and a Nobody

With the Pirates being off today I thought it would be a good time to show off a card from my WVU collection. This is a 2008-09 Topps Treasury dual auto of Magic Johnson and Joe Alexander hand numbered 3/39.

This card tells two stories.  Obviously Magic Johnson is one of the games greatest point guards and an all time legend.....Joe Alexander not so much.  Alexander was drafted 8th overall in the 2008 draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.  Scouting reports listed him as one of the best "athletes" in the draft, but a project to develop offensively.  Things never worked out for Joe.  He barely received any playing time and rarely made it off the bench for the Bucks.   The Bucks declined his option and that was pretty much it in the NBA for Alexander.  I believe it is one of the first instances where a team has declined an option year with a lottery pick.  He has played overseas and in the D League last I checked.

I was upset things didn't work out for Joe Alexander.  Lots of fond memories of him blocking shots and throwing down dunks when he was in college.

Hey, at least I have a Magic Johnson auto right!  I may be one of the few people alive who bought this card because it had Joe Alexander on it.