Trade: Wish They Still Came With Bubblegum

Jeff hasn't been active blogging but he's still super active on Twitter discussing Braves prospects. That is a busy job these days as the Braves probably have the deepest farm system in baseball.  They may not have the sexy names like the White Sox, but holy crap do they have a ton of high ceiling guys. 

The other day I received a PWE from  Jeff with some cool Buccos and Mountaineers inside. 

Every Stadium Club card is awesome compared to most sets, but I'm always kind of underwhelmed with the Cutch cards.  You would figure that some better shots exist other than swinging the bat. Either way I'm still very happy to get a gold foil card of the Bucco superstar.

The black foil cards only fall two or three a box so this is a nice get.  The Pirates traded Liriano at a good time.

Glasnow is back in the minors dominating like he always does.   I'm sure he will get called back up in September but not sure how much he'll pitch if the Pirates are in the race.  It is always going to be about command with him.

Everyone should have  a chance to rediscover 1986 Topps!

Marte is back from his PED suspension. He won't be eligible for the playoffs if somehow the Buccos sneak in.  I would imagine if the Pirates get hot in August they make a move to try and acquire an outfielder before the waiver deadline.

Purple refractors from Heritage have a nice look.

I got to see a good bit of Kevin Newman when he was a Black Bear.  A few weeks back Keller pitched there on a rehab assignment and currently Meadows is in Morgantown rehabbing,

Jeff and I are big college football fans so he always helps out my Mountaineer collection.  The Prestige card is pretty cool.

Thanks for all the cards Jeff!

How Could You Not Like the Drake.....and Jeff

Seriously though, it is oddball gold.  

My good pal Jeff (Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum) has been on a little blogging hiatus, but is still actively reading and trading.  Recently he sent me a picture on Twitter to let me know he had this beauty waiting for me.....

I think Jeff has single handedly given me about 75% off all my Kevin White cards in my collection. Blog trading is a beautiful thing. 

Jeff could have easily stopped there, but his awesomeness knows no bounds. He sent me a bubble mailer full of great cards. 

Maybe the number was closer to 90%.  It has been a great month for me in terms of my WVU collection. So many great cards have been coming in via trade and eBay buys. Really making up for the lackluster year for Pirate releases.

 The parallels in Score can be tough to find. Of course I love this card because Karl is sporting the WVU colors. Joseph is a relative unknown because he was hurt his last year in Morgantown, but was still drafted in the first round by the Raiders.  He was one of the few guys I remember seeing on the defensive side for WVU and saying to myself this guy is going to be awesome.

 The greatest Mountaineer ever.

 Nice to see Wendell have a breakout game for the Eagles two weeks back. Hopefully he stays in the mix.

I always comment how glad I am to receive high end base cards. The Museum Collection Polanco is a very welcomed addition.

One of my guilty pleasure sets is Panini Prizm. The price point was great and the auto checklist was top notch.  I pulled guys like Biggio, Bagwell, Jose Fernandez and Noah Syndergaard.

Tim Foli was one of the last athletic looking Pirates of all time. He looks like a substitute gym teacher.

 When your favorite team makes a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs it feels like the offseason lasts about 2 weeks.  I swear the Pens just had the victory parade last week.  They played an exhibition game the other day.

I require all notes to be written on Neal Heaton stationary.

Thanks so much Jeff. I loved all these cards. You really gave my WVU collection a nice boost with this stack.

Thanks for reading.

Jeff Sends Some Matches

My good pal Jeff sent me something pretty cool last week.....check this out. 

 A Pirates schedule circa 1940 located on the inside of a book of matches.

Here is the front.  Considering how these are it is in good shape.  It seems the American Hotel is long gone, but his a picture I found. It dates around 1909

How about one more! 

The Library Confectionery offered everything from cold drinks to cigars! I'm sure if this place was still open it would be a hipster mecca.

While the matchbooks were the main event, Jeff sent some awesome cardboard as well.

I think this might be my first card from the Strata set. I have a Polanco Strata auto, but I think at the time they were inserted in Topps flagship. The relics are pretty cool because you can tie them back to a specific game.

Cole is one of my favorites so it is always nice to get a high end relic in trade.  He makes his debut on Saturday.

 I waited a good year before I even started pulling the trigger on Tavon cards. They came out of the gate at high prices.

  He is one of the more unique talents in the NFL as he already has multiple rushing, receiving and kick return touchdowns in his career.

 Some young Bucco talent. Bell and Glasnow should make their debuts at some point this year. Nick Kingham is recovering from arm surgery so he likely won't see the mound until August.

 This is a super cool oddball.

The Candy Man is cardboard gold on everything. Put him on a Kellogg's oddball and you have perfection.

Thanks so much for the thoughtful package Jeff. The matchbooks were super cool and the cards were fantastic. Look forward to hitting you back soon.

Thanks for reading!

Trade: Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum

I love this time of year.  March Madness is so much fun. It was nice to have the games streaming at work today.  If you don't have a team to root for you should adopt WVU. Plenty of room on the bandwagon! I'll even teach you how to burn a couch.

Now for cards...

My good friend Jeff is a frequent trade partner of mine.  Seems like I get something from him at least once a month. This time around it was the bubble mailer variety.

Kind of a weird choice of shots, but still awesome. I love getting Topps Laser in trades. This was about the time when card company designers went on a 5 year acid binge and created mid to late 90's sets. 

I've been trying my best to add some Kang cards, but he still remains one the more expensive Buccos out there.  Kang should be back by late April.  I'll never forgive Chris Coghlan.

 The Candy Man is one sexy beast.

This is one of those quintessential dimebox cards. Great card from a set that doesn't get a lot love. Mid 90's Score was pretty cool. 

Of all the big Pirate prospects, Meadows is the hardest to find good deals. By the time the year is over it is very likely that Meadows will be the highest ranked Pirates prospect and could possibly be a top 20 guy in all of baseball.

 UD Spectrum had a cool look, but for some reason they handled guys who were traded oddly. Obviously Nady is featured as a Bucco, but the Yankee emblem is prominent on the card. If I recall I think the same thing was done with Lastings Millege.

I love manager cards. Mclendon had one of the best meltdowns ever.

The trade of Charlie Morton was kind of weird as the Pirates rotation is pretty thin. I guess the thought process was that the young guys were going to be called upon this year. 

 Legends on newer cards! Love the Kiner.

 Lemieux is a legend, but could you imagine what his numbers would have been like without the injuries. He could of gave some of Gretzky's records a run for their money.

Thanks for all the great cards Jeff. It was a fun mix to look through.

Thanks for reading!

Taking Bribes

My good pal Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum was one of the winners of my most recent contest. I think the fix might be in. He has came out on top two of the last three. I swear I don't take bribes.....

In all seriousness I was glad to see Jeff's name pop up. He and I have a great blind trade going so this will help me search some stuff out for future trades. The pressures on now because just this week Jeff sent me a fantastic bubble mailer full of great cardboard.

 Cole Tucker was a first round pick in 2014, but has been injured most of his Pirates tenure. Kevin Newman who was Pirates first round pick in 2015 left Morgantown to take Tucker's place in Charleston. Hopefully Cole can get a fresh start in 2016.

The card featured is a very cool on card auto!

 Of all the top Pirate prospects my Meadows collection is the worst.  He had a decent amount of hype before the 2013 draft so no one thought he would drop to the Pirates. Well as luck would have it he did drop and the Pirates reaped the rewards. Scouts continue to give praise to the young outfielder and I would suspect he will be the Pirates highest ranked prospect once we graduate some of our pitchers this year.

With hype comes higher card prices, so I've only nabbed a handful of Meadows cards. Thanks to Jeff I can add this Chrome parallel /150 to my collection.

 Another guy who has been hard to collect this year is White.  Even with injuries keeping him out all season, prices continue to be high for the former Mountaineer. This awesome diecut is a great addition to my Kevin White collection.

 Some more prospect oriented cards of some of the bigger names in the system.  Ke'Bryan Hayes is former major league Charlie Hayes's son. Most think he will advance fast as he has some of the best plate discipline in the system.

 Always cool to receive some Pens. How cool is that Lemieux.

 Bowman Buccos! Hanson has a shot to make the team out of camp.

 Always a sucker for Cole cards.

 Vintage hockey is just the best!

 One of the best sets in the last ten years.

SPx was just so classy back in the 90's.

Thanks for all the great cards Jeff.  Did you get to witness the Gators clobbering of the Mountaineers in person? I think you guys shot something like 60% from the three point line. That game was pretty much over before it started.

Thanks for reading!