Premiere Date

Adrian Brown 2000 Pacific Premiere Date /37

Premiere Date parallels are probably the least sexy of the Pacific brands line of parallels and inserts. While people will pay hundreds of dollars for Cramer's Choice Awards and Reflections, Premieres tend to be quite affordable. Often times $5 will be enough for everyone minus the premium stars. 

These cards always appeal to me because Pacific featured a lot of Pirates that came and went in the blink of an eye.  Brown was drafted in the 48th round (!!!!) so he didn't get a ton of love. He managed to carve out a bit of a career in the early 2000's so some of the bigger sets gave him a few releases. 

I paid a shade over $2 and utilized a sellers combined shipping to nab a few for a couple of trade partners! 

Long live Pacific!!!!

Walk, Papoy, HSCA Collaboration #18

Lately our box breaks have taken on a nice early/mid 2000's theme. More often than not these sets offer the perfect combination of price, hits and uniqueness.  Kevin continued the theme by choosing 2005 Absolute Memorabilia and 2005 Zenith.

When the Biebs is around the blogosphere you know things are about to get extra Frenchy. 

 This was the big hit out of the Absolute Memorabilia.  Pretty nice dual relic of the Rocket. I'll eventually pass this on to one of my Red Sox buddies. -obligatory "he should be in the hall of fame comment."  Seriously though, put him in Bonds in.

Last month I was reading an article from Jon Heyman how he voted for Bonds and not Clemens. It made no sense. If you vote for one you pretty much have to vote for the other.

 There was about 9000 parallels of the Tools of the Trade cards.

 Here is the plain insert of the relic card above....

 Some base cards of note. I always forget that Nomo was a Ray at one time. I do the same thing with Smoltz and the Red Sox. The lone Bucco was Bay.

 I dig the Z Team cards. Kevin usually gets the AL East in our breaks so this is weird getting all these Red Sox and Yankees cards.

 The Boggs is my favorite out of the base cards.

 The Zenith inserts are not bad looking. The Arod has a cool chrome look to it.

 Kevin was nice enough to send some extra Pirates that he pulled over the holidays. We have been on a bad stretch pulling our own teams the last couple of breaks.  Really appreciate the extras.

Now for the main event.

 Leaf Sportscasters cards are probably one of the more odd parallels in recent memory. They look nice, but the actual numbering is a little confusing. Basically the numbering was derived from the emblem on the top right of the card. Teal card with guy in fielding glove means /35.

Back when card shops existed in my area I accumulated a ton of these.  Some of you have probably received these from me over the years. They make for a great/unique trade bait.

Check this bad boy out

Kevin really blew me away with this one.  He was sneaky and hid this behind the Bieber card inside a top loader. Kevin has sent me a few Clemente's over the years and it blows my mind every time. We have some uber generous people in our great community.

Well Kevin and Brian it looks like I'm up to bat.  What to choose....???

Thanks for reading.

I Traded a Common for All This.....

A few months back I noticed that Gavin had the 2011 Update Mike Trout on his "Wishful Thinking" want list. I shot him an email and told him that I had that card and would be happy to send it his way.  The funny thing  was I ended up trolling Gavin without even knowing it at first. When putting the package together I accidentally sent him the reprint version.  I noticed the mistake before he even got my package so I was able to warn him before the package was opened.  In hindsight it would have been a funny joke if I hadn't told him.

It took me a while to actually get the "real" Trout to Gavin as the holidays came and then I was on the road a bunch. Finally this past week Gavin received a card that I had promised three months early. Sorry for making you wait for so long....

Gavin being the cool dude that he is was immediately ready to fire a return shot back my way. Last week a bubble mailer arrived with some heavy hitters.

 Diamond Kings was one of my all time favorite releases because it was full of Pirates. This card is extra special too......

 Boom!!! A super cool 1/1 of former Pirate second baseman Jose Castillo.

 One of these years I need to really examine my Jason Bay collection.  I don't really super collect, but for the longest time he was one of the few guys worth buying on the active roster. I accumulated a ton of his cards.  Love getting Bay autos in trades!

 Jack was a Pirate forever. He took over the shortstop gig right around the time PNC Park opened and kept until 2009. He was a pretty steady hand for all those years, but didn't get a lot of love via cardboard. Only a few autos and relics exist so a lot of times I was chasing parallels.

 Cutch is still a Pirate!!!!  for now.......

 This is a cool card of the Pirate ace. Hoping for the 2015 version of Cole this year as the injury bug hit pretty hard last year.

 Buechele played in the big leagues forever.  He long stints with the Rangers and Cubs. Super cool to have an auto in the Bucco uniform.

 Did you know Evan Meek was an All Star for the Pirates? It was not fun being a Pirates fan at that time.

 A nice higher end rookie of the Cole Train.

 Josh's dad was the former GM of the Pirates....nepotism ???

 I think this is one of my first 10th anniversary Ginter cards.

 Two of my all time faves on one card.  This parallel out of CoSigners is /50.

Here is the main event! A lot of people don't like these blank back cards as some people feel like they are a money grab by Topps. For me they are super cool finds for more obscure Pirates. John Jaso fits that bill perfectly. I love getting rare cards of Pirates that are short stay or role players. This is by far the coolest Jaso in my collection.  Extra bonus for Jaso actually looking like a real Pirates.

Thanks for all the great cards Gavin!

Fusion

Do you remember Topps Fusion? It was one of those sets that will leave you scratching your head.  Basically the whole idea is that the set "fused" five Topps brands into one. You could get a card in the mold of Bowman's Best, Finest, etc.  Hard to believe it only lasted one year.....

As most of you know I'm a sucker for these obscure sets. Many were ahead of their time and are starting to see a nice rebound on the secondary market. Others like Fusion have long disappeared without anyone caring. 

With that being said even the worst of sets are not without their bright spots. 

2001 Topps Fusion Willie Stargell Bat Relic

Seems odd that a card from 2001 is 16 years old. The design gives this card a cool 70's retro vibe. With all the lines I feel like if you stare enough you will see a hidden Pirate ship or something. Kind of trippy. 

This card was made when relics were still a new and exciting.  The relics were actually more difficult to pull than the autographs. How times have changed. Unless the relic is a super premium patch many collectors have no use for them. Thankfully that leaves deals for people like me. If I recall this card set me back around $7 which is a nice deal for a 2001 Pops. 

Thanks for reading! 

Breaking the Ice

I'm always excited to break the trading ice with another blogger. This is one I wasn't sure would happen since Billy from Cardboard History is a basketball guy.  Thankfully he surprised a with few Buccos so this will allow me to send him some random basketball cards I have at BWTP headquarters.

 This is a heck of way to get things going.  We are going to be great friends Billy. Vintage Maz is never a bad thing.

 I'm always on alert for new Cole cards. This is a sharp looking card!

 Reprints of rookies that are not old to begin with are kind of strange, but I'll never complain about a new Cutch card.

Round thing out with a trifecta of Pirate legends. For whatever reason Panini always has a nice selection of both Waner brothers while Topps rarely produces much of either. Just another reason why I always mention Panini for the unique checklists.

I miss Upper Deck baseball

Thanks for the nice surprise Billy.  I'll hit you back soon.

Vault Metal

For the love of Teke this is awesome!

2016 Topps Legacies Kent Tekulve /135

I'm usually pretty good about checking out new sets, but I had no clue about Topps Legacies.  After a quick glance at the checklist it seems that it was a high dollar/high risk set.  It also had no Pirate hits so that explains why I never noticed on eBay until recently.

As for this Teke it seems that Topps gave a metal backing to some Topps Vault pics and created an insert. As soon as I saw this card I knew I had to have it. Bask in the glory of Teke! 

Thanks for reading! 

A Cracked Bat

It was nice to see Julie blogging again. I know I'm not alone in saying that she was truly missed. Our community lacks the female perspective.  If you don't follow Julie do yourself a favor and hit the link. She is a great story teller.

Right after I got back from my vacation I had a bubble mailer waiting for me from Julie. As usual it was a nice mix of old and new.

 Jason Bay is always a nice way to start out a trade.

 I didn't buy any Optic as the checklist was light on Pirates. Always nice to get a little help from a trading partner!

 Lenny Kravitz's Dad.

 Conan O'Brien's Dad.

/not Lenny's and Conan's Dad, but super cool to receive some 58's.

 A real Pirate in Captain William Kidd! I like the Diamond King minis even if looks like Starling Marte is on fire.

 The mid 2000's were such a tease as a Pirate fan. Jason Bay blossomed into a star. Guys like Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez and Adam Laroche were serviceable regulars. The freaking pitching staff sucked something awful.

I always enjoyed the Fleer sets as they were more economical to open. The oddest thing about them was the random color schemes on the bottom, but it didn't really take away from the photo too much.

 Parallels!

 The chrome Kang is /999.  I'm a big fan of the purple refractors.

 I'm so glad Cutch stayed a Pirate.  I thought for sure he would be dealt.

Loved the Taillon Update rookie. Always cool to get the pitching coach in the shot!

Thanks so much for the cards Julie.  Hope you are enjoying your time back. I know we all are.