Lacking Hot Takes

You probably don't read this drivel for hot takes about whats happening in the world of cardboard. In fact I don't really know why you read my nonsense, but I'm grateful you come along for the ride. My guess is you all secretly think I'm Bob Walk or love hearing about a new middle reliever auto I picked up! 

As most of you know I'm not a set collector.  I'm always jealous of fellow bloggers that can dissect a set so perfectly and then compare it to sets across years.  These posts are important as they are nice change of pace from the "sick hits" collecting mentality on most social media sites. I feel like the blogs help as a nice way to show that people can appreciate all types of collecting.  Sometimes it is good to have a little base card appreciation 101. I'm just not the person to teach it. 

My collecting brain tends to focus more on content than design. I can look past a lot of design flaws if some obscure Pirate or Mountaineer is featured.  I love base cards, but don't feel like I'm a good person to give a review of an entire set.  The set as a whole could be piss poor, but if a Pirate middle reliever got his first card you better believe I'm buying that card.  I'm also likely posting said card on the blog and praising whatever Panini Pantheon Spectra Triple Play Onyx set it came out of.  

In some ways I kind of wish my collecting brain would tell me "hey that card is kind of ugly." Unfortunately the side of the brain that likes well thought out design is overruled by the one who likes variety. "Hey Matt this is your left brain, that 2015 Panini Prizm set looks like shit." More powerful right brain, THAT SET HAS A JARED HUGHES CARD!!!!.  That pretty much sums up my collecting and why I rarely do set reviews.  

Ok, I better show some cards now.  Maybe I'll try and do a review! 

Contenders is a well known football and basketball set that features a deep rookie checklist. I've long been a fan because deep checklists means I can find obscure Mountaineers.  When I heard they were making a baseball version I was excited.  The 2015 set was a personal favorite because it featured 3 Black Bears.

Whenever you feature college baseball you are obviously making a niche product. On the flip side it makes for a nice way around the MLB licensing issue.  If you like prospect autos you should check out this set.  You can get some big names for a fraction of the Bowman price.  I think all three of these cost me around $7 total.  Both Hayes and Newman are big prospects in the Pirates system and Kramer is coming off a huge season. 

Now all of you go out and buy Contenders autos based on this glowing review!

Thanks for reading!

Doing my Best and Showing my Best

My daughter recently started preschool which has in turn required me to change my blogging schedule. For the last few years I've been a creature of habit on when I scan, write, organize etc.  With school my daughter comes home absolutely wiped out so some adjustments are being made with her much earlier bedtime.

The main issue is scanning time.  The office area in my house is in close proximity to my daughters bedroom.  Being that she is a light sleeper I'm always a little tentative scanning more than a couple of cards after lights out.  This makes it tough to get those trade packages scanned in a reasonable time.   Time to call an audible.

I live extremely close to where I work so I often come home for lunch.  Since I'm not cooking myself a Michelin Star quality meal, actual eating time is short.  Scanning problem solved! In the past I would often utilize my lunches writing the text to my posts or just reading other blogs.  Now I use the lunch hour to scan and use the post bedtime hours to do the quieter blogging tasks. For the immediate future these changes should keep me on my normal posting schedule. I envy my friends that have sound sleeping kids.

Now for some cards.

Bowman Best autos tend to sell cheap as I was able to get this lot for around $8.50 shipped. I probably saved a few extra bucks because the seller only had 10 feedback on eBay. The Taillon and Diaz are considered rookies.  Newman and Craig are both former Black Bears and first round picks so that is pretty cool too.

Thanks for reading 

The Bear Project

One of the great aspects about my hometown of Morgantown gaining a minor league team last year is just starting paying dividends the last couple of weeks. Now that the WV Black Bears are entering their second season, cards featuring players in the Black Bear uniforms are starting to hit the market. With the release of Topps Pro Debut both 2015 first round pick Kevin Newman and 2nd round pick Kevin Kramer are featured prominently.

I've decided to accumulate as many cards as I can of the local team.  Since this team is a Pirate affiliate this is really nothing new for me to collect other than I'm going to make a conscience effort to keep track of what I'm accumulating.

Here are a few of the cards I've found so far....

Kevin Newman is very affordable on the secondary market so it has allowed me to chase some higher end cards that I would normally pass on. These two plates popped up not long after the Pro Debut went live.

 This is a blank back 1/1 that I actually was excited to own.

 The orange parallels are /25.

This is a gold parallel of the Distinguished Debuts insert /50.  

The Kramer blank back went live the same time as the Newman.  Kramer items are also very affordable. 

I've also picked up a few lots of the base cards to add to my collection.  I hope at some point to be able to pick up a printing plate of Kramer, but I've yet to see one hit eBay.  

Could you imagine all the Seinfeld references if these two make it to Pittsburgh?  I'm sure that would get old quick. Plus these guys were probably in Kindergarten when Seinfeld went off the air.  

If you happen to pull any Black Bears cards I'll be happy to take them off your hands. 

Thanks for reading! 

Newman!

I'm pretty pumped up tonight.  WVU basketball plays host to #1 Kansas in what should be a fun atmosphere. WVU beat Kansas in Morgantown last year and took them to overtime in Lawerence, but this Jayhawk team is much better. The last time the Mountaineers beat the AP #1 team was 1983 against UNLV. We are due!

Baseball card time.

Have you checked out the new Panini Contenders set? If you are a fan of the football version this set is for you. Right about the time it went live I started looking for a few of the Pirates. This package had a little bit of an adventure getting to my house, but it arrived safe and sound.

2015 Panini Contenders Kevin Newman Auto and Variant Auto

I got to see Kevin Newman a few times when he was a member of the Black Bears, but his time in Morgantown was brief. He got sent to Charleston when Cole Tucker went down with injury. I'm not sure what to think of Newman as a prospect. I think the key is being able to stay at short which so far seems to be the case. I'm guessing the Pirates will push him through the system quickly as he was an advanced college player who was a first round pick.  Hopefully he'll crack AA this year.

Let's Go Mountaineers!