Spastik Headliners

It took way too long for Mr. SpastikMooss of The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame and I to trade. I'm a frequent reader of his blog because he is a Jarrett Brown collector who happens to be a WVU alum like myself. Also, who doesn't like reading about cool names like Razor Shines and Pete LaCock.

A couple weeks back SpastikMooss posted some trade bait that included a parallel of Pat White from Sage Hit that I didn't have. I'm also a sucker for 90's Finest cards so I asked for a Finest card of former Pens winger Markus Nasland.

They call these parallels "Make Ready."  Basically they are a black and white copy of the base card. Also, I'm a sucker for anything that features the WVU uniform.

Finest cards are awesome. I think pretty much everyone would agree. I even like the new version of the set, but the price point is pretty steep. If they would lower the cost to Stadium Club levels I think the bloggers would really hit it hard. 

I was warned that their would be a surprise in the package as well and that it wasn't cards.....

Headliners!

I was an avid sports figure collector growing up. Starting Lineups were my main cup of tea. I have hundreds in storage containers at my parents house. Every so often I would branch out to bobble heads and these Headliner figures. I think my favorite in the pic was Jagr, because it shows his glorious mullet. The Headliner figures were underrated in my opinion. The detail was very nice considering the small size. 

What a cool surprise! Thanks so much for the trade. I'll hit you back very soon.

Thanks for reading.

All the Fancy Words

1999 Fleer Ultra Platinum Medallion Edition Ed Sprague /50

I'm trying to alternate trade package and new card post to keep things interesting up to Xmas. So many cards, so little time! 

The run of late 90's early 2000's parallels continue. I love how Ultra gave this parallel an ultra fancy name by calling it Platinum Medallion. SO LUXURIOUS! While these are not as sought after as the Super Rave parallel I showed off last week they can still can be hard to find. The other issue is that you really need to find a seller on eBay that has other cards you need so you don't pay more for shipping than the actual card. I believe I paid .99 for the card and picked up a few other Pirate parallels from the same era to use the combined shipping. 

This is the drink of choice tonight as my Mountaineer play in state rival Marshall in basketball.  Let's Go Mountaineers! 

Thanks for reading. 

Sister Hazel and Cardboard Kindness

You remember the band Sister Hazel. They play kind of a radio friendly bluesy rock and scored a hit with the song All for You. While they haven't had a hit since the 90's they still tour relentlessly and release new music. My wife and I going to see them tonight. From what I read they have a good live show. I guess if you are still touring with your original lineup things work like a well oiled machine. 

Now on to some cardboard kindness. Recently I was approached by Adam from Cardboard Clubhouse as he wanted to send me some cards for commenting on his blog. Obviously I'm not going to say no to free cards so sure enough a week later I had an Xmas card stuffed with some Pirate goodness. If you haven't checked out his blog I highly suggest doing so. He seems to find some cool stuff.  Check this out....

It is easy to relax when you are Bob Walk. The guy has everything. He was probably scoping out some chicks for after the game. 

Obviously Stadium Clubs allure is with the base set, but the diecuts are pretty cool too. Extra bonus for being Cutch.

I was reading a good article about the Pirates the other day.  With the Cubs making so many moves and the Cardinals being the wizards that they are, the Pirates will need to get lucky and have another position player turn into a star. The obvious candidates are Marte and Polanco.  Polanco is one of those players who can be a productive guy without having to hit.  If the bat develops he could be a star in the making.

The Pirates are going to have to find some starting pitching as Burnett retired, J.A Happ left for free agency and Charlie Morton was dealt. Jon Niese was acquired from the Mets, but their should be at least one more move for a pitcher......hopefully tow.

I always enjoy getting Jack Wilson cards in trades. I'm to the point where it is getting hard to add new ones to my collection. In terms of relics and autos I'm to the point of mainly needing parallels.

Sid Bream was out at home.

Thanks for the card full of cards Adam! This will help break the ice for an ongoing trade. I'll be hitting you back very soon. 

A Cracked Bat

It has been a fun couple weeks at Bob Walk the Plank Headquarters. My mail box has been getting a workout as of late. When I first started receiving trade packages in the mail my wife was pretty confused.  I think she just thought I was spending way too much on eBay. Now she is getting use to it and just tells me I got a bunch of packages from my friends. I think friends sums it up pretty well. 

One such friend is Julie from A Cracked Bat. First off an apology to Julie. This post would have been up yesterday, but my daughter decided to projectile vomit. Baseball games have rain delays, blogging has vomit delays. She is doing much better today. 

Julie hit me with three bags of Pirate goodness. As usual it was a well rounded package. Take a look...

If you look hard enough you can see the "90's" oozing right off this card. I actually think 2016 Topps is supposed to have some type of "laser" component for some of the inserts.  Not sure if they are trying to tie it into this old set or if that is just some fancy new technology for card creation. Whatever the case all I know is this card is awesome! 

The other McCutchen. Daniel wasn't bad as a Pirate, but like most bullpens nowadays you have to throw 200 mph, that was not McCutchen.

Kip Wells seemed like he had all the tools to be a really good pitcher, but never quite put it together. He was able to carve out a decently long career, but I'm not sure if that was from his performance or the fact that the Pirates had no one else to take his place during this time.

Cardboard legend Kent Tekulve!

Pinnacle always had some cool shots, but for some reason they always seemed a little less vivid than sets like Stadium Club. Kind of a cool play at the plate shot and early interleague shot all in one.

Manu-relics don't do a whole for me, but when I heard Joey Bats was going to be featured in the Pirate uniform I knew I wanted it.

Jack Wilson was a long tenured Pirate, but really doesn't have a ton of autos/relics to chase. Always nice to get some thrown into trades.

I may have just bought the 1/1 plate version of this card for way too much money......Damn you Update and your awesome Pirates checklist.

Cobra!

I was glad to see the Soria card. The Pirates traded for him right before the deadline and he did a pretty good job. 

Jacoby Jones is what the Pirates sent to the Tigers for Joakim Soria. Not long after the trade Jones was suspended 50 games for substance abuse.

Julie always hooks me with high end base cards. Nice to receive the Polanco and Cutch from this years Triple Threads set.

Mid 90's O Pee Chee steals the show here.

Matrix parallel of Cutch!  Man, I wish they would call them that. 

9 year old Matt is going crazy over that Bonds. Those Fleer cards were so awesome.

That Murtaugh is awesome as well!

The Van Slyke on the top right is a Collectors Choice card. I had a ton of that stuff in the mid 90's because it was cheap. Kind of feel like Topps needs to make something else besides Opening Day for those on a budget.

We'll finish things out with two of my favorite Buccos. I'm hoping that the Pirates can extend Cole and buy out a year or two years of free agency. If they don't get it done this offseason I have a feeling it would become too expensive to approach.

This was a fun one to sort. It had a little bit of everything. I think my next package I send your way will have more of an Astros theme to change things up.

Thanks for reading!

Famous Cards

I was born in 1982 so I have a certain fondness for the junk wax era. I'm well aware that the cards from those days are worthless, but some of my greatest cardboard memories were during this time. I remember like yesterday my mom giving me money to walk to the convenience store right next to my house to buy packs.

It was so much more convenient to buy cards back then. I would venture to say in 1989 you would be hard pressed to have to travel more than 5 miles to find a place that didn't have a pack of Topps.

Obviously the landscape of card collecting has changed. People began to realize that the cards they accumulated during this time were pretty much worthless. I still have all my cards, but they are now more facilitators of stories rather than valued collectibles.

Not all was lost during this time period. Maybe you have an 89 UD Griffey or the Frank Thomas error rookie card. These are still very sought after today. My favorite during this time period was this beauty....

1989 Fleer Billy Ripken F*ck Face

This card was something of a legend in the small town I grew up in.  Many of us had heard about it, but most had never seen. I'm guessing the first time I heard about it was from my brother. We would laugh uncontrollably at the thought of owning it. I can't remember the first time I actually saw the card in person.  My guess was either a card shop or card show while we were on vacation. I'm sure a reaction was some mix of shock and chuckles.  

I picked this copy up from a seller that I pick up trade bait from for a few bucks. I'm pretty sure either my brother or I have a copy of this card stashed somewhere, but we couldn't remember whose house it is at. Last time he was over at my house I just handed it to him and said look and it got a pretty big laugh. Over 25 later and we still laugh at it....We are mature adults. 

Thanks for reading! 

Smoke Em if You Got Em

A couple days back I mentioned how Tony from Off Hiatus is synonymous with oddball cards, well the same can be said about Mark Hoyle and vintage. Even since I started blogging Mark has sent me probably a binders worth of vintage. In turn, I'm able to help him out with some of the more modern Red Sox. It is a good relationship.

In terms of quantity this package was small, but packed a huge punch.

How about a T-205!!!! I've been on a nice little roll lately landing some cool vintage on eBay, but this really puts things on a whole other level. Thanks for sending this my way! Tobacco cards are the coolest.

Mark also threw in these Felipe and Matty Alou cards.  Maybe one of you guys can educate me a little more on these releases.

In the mid 2000's up until about 2011 I was a pretty avid Steelers collector. I would keep up with releases and buy a decent amount off eBay. Once I got married I knew a few of my collecting habits had to change for fiscal reasons so I pretty much stopped buying Steelers. Blog trading has helped me fill that desire to still collect the black and gold. I have very little Steelers vintage so adding this Lynn Swann is pretty cool. 

To round things out Mark sent this cool Dick Stuart stamp.

Thanks so much for the cards Mark.  You really blew me away with the tobacco card. I'll be hitting you back very soon.

Friday Super Rave

Friday Rave!

Friday Super Rave

1998 Skybox Thunder Super Rave Francisco Cordova /25

So I paid around $15 for this card.  If you are not familiar with this parallel you might be thinking holy crap that is a lot of money to pay for an obscure Pirate. In actuality that is pretty much market rate. Not long ago I saw a Chuck Finley sell for $70 and an Edgard Alfonso for about $20. These cards are hard to get and when they hit eBay they usually go for good money. Star players like Maddux and Randy Johnson will sell for over $100. 

If you watch a decent amount of eBay auctions you will definitely see a trend of mid 90's/early 2000's inserts and parallels going off at higher prices. These were cards that were largely ignored for the longest time, but player and set collectors are going back to complete holes in their collections. Take a look at this auction for a Pacific Cramer's Choice card. If you collected during this time it might be worth your time to take a look through some old boxes. You might be sitting on some high end cardboard without even knowing. 

Enjoy the weekend!